Friday, April 29, 2011

April Showers Bring May Races

There is still something in the air.  Everyone I know keeps having annoying things happen to them.  Last week I took the kids to the movies to see Hop, which was cute, but while we were in the theater someone broke into my Jeep and stole the DVD player and some of E's favorite flicks.  I hid the player under the seat, and I could have sworn I locked it, but we were running late, and maybe in my rush to buy tickets I didn't hit the lock button on my keys hard enough.  We've also had some nasty thunderstorms, and Wednesday night I saw that the basement ceiling was leaking, right above the treadmill! The carpet was soaked underneath, I have yet to plug it back in to see if it's okay or not.

But on the other hand, I've had some funny Molly moments.  Like when a guy at a recent training run asked me what time it was, and I told him it was 9:30, a.m..  You know, in case he thought it was nighttime.  Another morning I came downstairs after my shower, with just my bra and jeans on, since the shirt I wanted to wear was in the dryer.  I went by my desk and saw I had an email, so I stopped to read it, forgetting that my desk chair is in front of the window.  When I was done, I stood up, and the door bell rang.  So I'm sure the National Grid Dude enjoyed the view while he had it.




Sunday May 1st is Race Day, and I'm ready.  But the weather is going to be exactly the way I hoped it wouldn't be, with a low of 48 and a high of 74.  Just like last year, it will go from winter to summer over night, and since the race starts late, at 10:15, I'm sure it's going to be warm.  I ran six miles on Wednesday, and it was in the seventies, and it was a hard run, I was a sweaty mess when I was finished, I'm obviously still conditioned for winter temps. This morning I did a quick 3 that went great, probably because it was 50 degrees and cloudy.  But whatever the case, I'm ready to tackle 10 miles of hills, and I'm hoping for a decent PR. 

Now onto other important matters.....I woke up this morning at 5:45 and turned on the television.  I timed it perfectly, Kate was just leaving her hotel for the Royal Wedding.  I thought she looked perfect.  Granted, there is a lot of tragedy and despair going on in the world right now, but when you have a moment to escape into a true fairytale of happiness, I say go for it. 

Have a lovely weekend, and good luck to everyone racing.

: )

Wednesday, April 27, 2011

W.I.N. (weigh in wednesday)

This is what I look like this morning: 



I haven't showered yet, or put my contacts in since I'm going for a run this morning, but most of the time, it's a basic shirt, jeans or my favorite sweats. 

I weighed myself this morning, no change from last week, I'm surprised I haven't gained.  My activity level went down drastically, I've neglected my food diary, and I've had chocolate every day since Easter.  This is typical me, I have a couple of weeks of good behavior, then I start to slack off.  I've got to get back on track, especially since I have my 10 mile race on Sunday.

But on a positive note, I saw my friend Kelly the other day, and she said she could tell I've lost weight.  It's always nice when you hear something like that, especially from a friend because you know they're telling the truth.  And on Easter, I wore a pair of dress pants from my pre-baby days, which gave me another boost.

Here is the factoid for this week, from the May issue of InStyle Magazine:

"If you down too much liquid with meals, it dilutes your gastric juices, slowing digestion and causing bloating.  Wait 30 minutes after eating to imbibe."

Hope the scale was good to you this week!

Monday, April 25, 2011

Monday Procrastinating

I seriously considered crawling back into bed this morning after getting the kids off to school.  I even waited to have coffee so that I could fall right back to sleep.  But then I looked at my pigsty of a house, the laundry alone is going to take all morning, and it looks like Easter threw up all over my kitchen, so I realized I couldn't pull it off.

So instead, I read blogs for an hour. : )


I received some fun things in the mail recently, like this from Miss Zippy:





Not sure if you can see the un-eaten waffle on a plate in the background, and crumbs and legos on the table. Told you my kitchen is a pigsty. Anyway, I won the cool water bottle because I have an ugly running shirt, between the grey color and font, it looks circa 1974.





I also received a canvas from Megan at Easy Canvas Prints.  I'm really happy with how it came out, I went to their site, and uploaded one of my favorite photos of Luke and Eliza when they were little. My friend James Bass The Photographer took it, and I used it for a Christmas card. The whole process was easy, and took five minutes.  They turned the photo into a 16" x 20" color canvas, and it was cool how the image wraps around the edges of the canvas.  So far I have it hanging over the fireplace in the family room, which some of you may remember from the Great Television Debate.




Even my mantle is messy, with Littlest Pet Shop toys hanging from the nails that we use to hang Christmas Stockings.  And I don't know why that Post-It Note is hanging there.

Another shot:





This is how my kids look now, all cleaned up for Easter Sunday.  Although I forgot to buy them dress shoes this year.  And Luke doesn't go anywhere without a Lego in his hand.




Not happy with the quality of photos in this post, but you'll be happy to know I picked out my new camera and I'm buying it this afternoon. 

I'm going to try and run three miles tomorrow, my foot is feeling much better, so I'm going to take it for a test drive.  I'm feeling rather sloth-ish, so I'm taking Frank for a long walk after I post this.  He's been a P.I.A since I got back from my sister Meagen's house, he's into everything, I think he's pissed off that we left him for a few days. 

Some of you guys asked how my sister Ali is doing, she's much better, I got to spend time with her last week.  Thank you for asking : )

Is anyone else looking forward to William & Kate's Royal Wedding on Friday?! I'll admit it, I can't wait, mostly to see what her dress looks like.  I have the DVR set to record it, but if I "happen" to wake up at 4 a.m. Friday, I'm going to turn on the television.  I got up for Princesses Diana's wedding, so we'll see what happens.

My Mega Giveaway to benefit The Children's Tumor Foundation is coming together nicely, there are some great things in it, I'm hoping to post it next week.

Okay, enough wasting time.

Happy Monday : )

Friday, April 22, 2011

If it's not PF, it's the hamstring. Or the foot.

I have a confession to make, I haven't run since last Saturday. 

When I was walking Frank last week, I stepped off the edge of the path in a weird way, and did something to my right foot.  I iced it that night, and if felt okay during my long run Saturday, which was the last one I planned on doing on the Mountain Goat race course. 

Friday night Mike got home early, the kids were out playing, and we had a quiet minute alone, so he had a beer and I had a glass of wine.  Which turned into another glass of wine while I was cooking. Then one more with dinner. I got into bed early, but I woke up during the night to Mike's snoring, and I was awake for a couple of hours. When the alarm went off I seriously considered turning it off and skipping the run, but my friend Norine was picking me up, so I had to go.

I was tired when we were in the car, but perked up when we got to the start, nothing like running a non-race with 800 other people.  We got a lecture about following the rules of the road, and the fact that ipod's aren't allowed.  The roads are not closed for these runs, and I guess some people are acting like they are, so it's been causing a huge problem for the city. 

So we're off running, and my foot felt okay, it behaved on all the challenging stretches of hills, and I ended up with 9.33 miles in 1:31.  Iced it after I got home, and it was all good.

But now almost a week later, my foot is kind of bugging me.  I'm sure the two 4 hour drives I did this week didn't help anything, but I'm a little scared to run.  I was going to do six today, but now I might just rest another day or two.  Why is it that things flare up a week before a race?!?!  Seriously, why?

At any rate, I'm looking forward to the weekend.  Now that Lent is almost over and I can have chocolate again, I'm making my friend Jennifer's salted caramel brownies for Easter Sunday.  We've got an Easter Party for the kids, then an evening of dyeing eggs, and putting Peeps in the microwave. Have you ever done that? It's hilarious.

Happy Easter.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Feather Head

I got home just a little while ago after spending a few days at my sister's house in Westchester.......I wanted to get a quick post in since it's Weigh In Wednesday! 


But first, as per many requests, here is a photo of the feather extensions I have in my hair:





I took this photo while I was in the car with the kids, waiting for it to stop raining, which made my hair a bit frizzy.  There is one thin dark red one, and two thin black and white ones....if I tuck them behind my ear, you can't really see them, I think they're funky : )

On to the weigh in results.....this week I dropped the pound I gained the week prior, I really upped my efforts, so I'm glad that the scale moved in the right direction.  Although the other night at my sister's house, I had a scoop of ice cream, and my brother in law joked that he was going to take a picture of me cheating on my diet and post it to my blog.  I'm back to a total loss of five pounds, with just a few more weeks to drop another five, so we'll see what happens.

In honor of Easter, here are the calorie counts* of some of our favorite Easter treats:

5 Peeps = 150 cal
25 jellybeans = 150 cal
1 Cadbury Creme Egg = 170 cal
1 large 7 ouce chocolate bunnt = 1050 calories

GHA!!

I hope everyone had a successful week, now I'm off to catch up on everyone's blogs!!!


*souce: About.com

Friday, April 15, 2011

Fifteen for Friday

I signed up for another virtual marathon, at Barefoot Neil Z's blog, the I Can't Afford the Actual Race, starts April 17th and ends May 1.  I'm going to do 10 of the miles during my Moutain Goat Race on May 1st.

Speaking of The Goat, I think I'm going to do just one more of the training runs for it, tomorrow's run is 9 hilly miles.

I found this story interesting, at a local 13.1 race last weekend, ipods were prohibited.  At the finish line, the race organizers DQ'd runners who were using ipods.  I'm all for using my ipod when I run on my own, and even with friends if we're on a super long training run, but if there is a rule about them, I follow it.

I haven't posted a photo of Luke in a while....here his is the other day.  We were down at the pond near my house, and he fell back onto his rear end and sunk into some mud.  He had to pull his boot out of the muck with both hands.  But thanks to my superior laundry skills, all the dirt came out.





I discovered a new lollipop last weekend at Family Night at Luke's school, it's a Pucker Power Sucker.  They turn your lips blue, but it's worth it.

I had a little leftover Indian food for breakfast yesterday, rice and eggplant.  Give me a savory breakfast over sweet any day.

You know when people say that when you get one tattoo, you want another?  I'm kicking around getting a little daisy on the inside of my wrist......

I'm taking the kid's down to my sister's house for a few days of spring break, I think Frank is going to miss us.

Speaking of Frank, he's almost 50 pounds and still growing.  He likes to hang over the edge of the couch and look out the window. One of these day's he's going to launch himself right over.




Monday it was warm enough for shorts.  Thankfully my shorts from last summer still fit.

Survivor is really good this season.  But last night's The Office with Will Ferrel, eh, not so good.

The new Beastie Boys album comes out soon, I heard the new single, sounds like classic BB. Sabotage is one of my all time favorite running songs.

I had lunch with my friend Heather (my weight loss challenger), and she was telling me she brought her engagement ring to the jeweler because one of the prongs was loose, and her diamonds almost fell out of the setting.  So I looked down at my engagement ring, and holy cow, one of the settings is so loose, you could see a space on one whole side of the diamond!  Now I've got to take a trip to the jeweler.

I went to my hairdresser yesterday for a cut and color....and a feather hair extension.  She talked me into it, it's just three long, very thin black feathers blended into the side of my hair.  I can't take a good enough picture of it with my phone. It will look cool when I pull my hair back into a ponytail when I run.

Good Luck to those racing this weekend, and those running Boston, especially to my friend B.W., Monday will be his 20th Marathon!!!!

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

I have to get on the scale again?

I realized yesterday, that Monday marked my two year blog anniversary......that's a lot of blabbing about myself.......and there's no end in sight : )

It's Weigh In Wednesday, Week Five.  I found out that my scale seems fairly accurate.  I went to the doctor last week, and I planned on weighing myself on the same scale I use every time I go there, which is in a bathroom.  Of course when I got there, the room was occupied, so a nurse weighed me in the room where they take your blood pressure.  I took my shoes off, because I knew the number was going to be higher since I had my clothes on, and I had eaten lunch.  After I saw the doc and I was walking out, I saw that the bathroom was open, so I booked in there, shut the door, and whipped off my clothes and shoes, and weighed myself, I was a full 3.2 pounds lighter than what the nurse's scale said.  And it was one pound higher than my scale at home. 

Which brings me to this morning.   I was bad on Saturday, for the second weekend in a row we had to deal with an incident, that I won't go into, but it was annoying.  So for dinner Mike and I shared a spinach, onion, mushroom and cheese calzone, with beer for him and wine for me.  Weekends are especially tough for me, because we're usually running around, and half the time I'm starving, or I eat all day long.  I gave up chocolate for Lent, so Mike brought home a coconut cake, because he knows I like my sugar fix.  I haven't touched it, but it's things like that which make losing weight hard.  I did run 8 miles on Saturday, but that didn't seem to help.




I'm much better with my eating during the week, because I don't mind eating leftovers, or whatever I can find in the freezer or cabinets.  Monday I found a can of black beans, some whole wheat wraps, steamed broccoli, and cheddar cheese, so I made some brown rice, and threw it all together with salsa.  It was so good, and it filled me up. I could eat it again right now. yum.

Mike and I had a discussion about my training, now that I have my race schedule for the year set.  Mike vented a bit about our busy weekends, with the kids activities, and my running, and just life in general.  I felt bad, he works really hard all week, and he needs some time to do the things he wants to on the weekends.  He was so good about my training last summer.  So we worked out a plan, I'm going to be doing my long runs on Friday's when possible, while the kids are at summer camp, and in the fall when they'll be at school.  It's hard because he's supportive about my running, but I know it gets annoying for him at times.  He needs to get time to himself, I think he played golf once all last summer, and he needs to get out there much more this year.

Anyway, my scale said I gained a pound.  Which is better than two.

I have an interesting factoid for this week, that I read on Jesse's blog, Run to the Border:

That for every pound of weight you lose, you save 2 seconds per mile.

Ten pounds equals 20 seconds per mile, which grows to a minute-plus in a 5K, more than two minutes in a 10K, nearly 4-1/2 minutes in a half-marathon and almost nine minutes in a marathon.

this is where Jesse found that info.


Hope everyone had a great week!

Monday, April 11, 2011

The dust has settled, now here are some details

It's taken a few days for the excitment of learning that I am going to run with Team Endurance, in the NYC Marathon this fall, to sink in.

I can't believe I just typed those words.

I wanted to share more information about NF, and The Children's Tumor Foundation.  I sent off a round of emails and letters today, and I do need to get a link to my fundraising page up on my blog sidebar.  I can't tell you how motivated I am to do this, for so many reasons.  I'm in the process of putting together a couple of LARGE giveaways, where you can donate as little as one dollar to enter, and 100% of donations will go to the foundation.

But just a few quick notes:
  • NF is the term for three distinct genetic disorders NF1, NF2 and Schwannomatosis. 
  • Each causes tumors to grow along nerves throughout the body, and can affect the development of bones and skin.
  • NF can lead to learning disabilities, blindness, deafness, broken bones and cancer.
  • NF affects 1 in every 3000 births
  • NF affects both sexes, and all races and ethnic groups equally.
  • There is currently no treatment, and no cure.


I have been fortunate in my life. 

I am so very happy, and lucky, to be able to do something like this.

Game On.

Friday, April 8, 2011

Marathon #2.....I won't keep you in the dark any longer

Well, it's decided.

Marathon #2 is officially on the race calendar.

As a kid I was a spectator of this race, standing on the sidewalk in my Dad's Brooklyn neighborhood.

As an adult I stood several years in a row in my Queens neighborhood, cheering on my friends who ran.

Then, I ran my first Marathon, and I thought that I could, maybe, run this race one day.

And after reading many facebook updates that a friend from high school posted about her daughter, who has NF, I realized I could help in some way.

So this November 6th, I will be running the NYC Marathon, to raise funds for NF Endurance, Children's Tumor Foundation.

To help all those affected by this incurable disease.

Like Julia.






Wednesday, April 6, 2011

Muscle? or Fat? or Both?

Before we get into my weigh in today, I just wanted to say thanks for all the comments and tweets about my sister's accident, I really appreciate it.

Well, this morning the scale didn't move in either direction, which I'm attributing to some stress eating and wine drinking from the weekend's events.  I did the usual moving the scale around the floor again today, I've had the thing for probably ten years and I wonder how accurate it is.  But I have a plan. Tomorrow I'm off to the doctor for my yearly physical, and I trust his scale.  Once I weigh myself there, I'm going to do it again when I get home, to see if the numbers match.  And if they don't, I'm making Mike take the scale to work.  He works for a company that does calibration work, so I'm going to have them calibrate my scale. 

I would like to know my body fat percentage.  Here's why. Looking at photos this weekend, I saw this one taken about 8 years ago, and I'm wearing one of my favorite pair of jeans:





Yes, I'm doing a shot, I think maybe a lemon drop. This was back in my NYC/pre-baby days, you can see a race bib on my fridge from some NYRR race.  During that time I hit the gym sporadically, I walked everywhere and ran for exercise.  But what I find interesting, is that I can still fit into those jeans, but I'm a good 12 pounds heavier now.






I know that muscle weighs more than fat, so is it possible that even though I weigh more, it's some muscle and not all fat?  Granted, I have some extra weight in my belly, and I have a bit of a muffin top in the jeans, but my legs and hips fit fine.  Is it a valid theory??? I hope so.


I also hope everyone had a great weight loss week, one person in particular (BDD) is kicking ass. 


I don't have a weight loss factoid this week, but here is a quote from the great Jack LaLane:


"The only way you can hurt your body is by not using it."

Sunday, April 3, 2011

just a reminder

I planned on blogging about my fabulous seven mile run yesterday. How I lost my necklace, but then found it on the side of the road. How my ipod shut off for no reason a half mile in.  How I found a cellphone on a different stretch of road, and got it back to it's owner a few miles later. 





Then I was going to talk about how great it was having my sister Ali here for a visit.  How the kids were having a ball, that the sun was shining, and we planned on grilling steaks and asparagus for dinner.  But then she left to go pick up her boyfriend at the train station, and ten minutes later I got a phone call from a Fireman saying that she had been in a car accident and that I had to go to the Emergency Room.

I'm good about staying in the moment about things, I appreciate my family, friends, and home. But moments like that, when something can change in one single second, puts things into even brighter perspective.

Ali is my baby sister.  She's okay, aside from a broken hand, nasty bruises, and a couple of cuts.  Mike went to the scene of the accident and he saw her car (which Ali gave the name "Penny Lane" to), and it's totaled. Apparently she is very lucky, things could have easily been much worse. 

When we were leaving the ER, I went to get the car, and I realized the ignition key was missing.  I called Mike, and I started bugging out, and got all annoyed until I opened the car door, looked down, and saw it just sitting there on the ground.  I must not have noticed that it had fallen off the keychain. 

When Ali and her boyfriend got in the car, I told them about the key, and I was still annoyed.  Then I realized Ali was sitting next to me in the car, no longer in the ER, and I realized how was lucky I was to be driving her back home.

Perspective. 

Friday, April 1, 2011

making due with what's in the album

No camera, no problem.

My little sister is coming up tonight.  Break out the cork screw!





The movie The Doors was on television while I was sick, so now I've been playing their music all week, Peace Frog is a great song to run to. And dance to.  I was also thinking of the time we were in Paris, and we went to Jim Morrison's grave:





I need to make a new play list for solo runs. Speaking of running, the weather is so crappy, I'm seriously afraid that spring is going to skip us again, and race day is going to be extremely hot, which would be lousy since my body is only used to cold temps right now.  I ran a hard 10k a few years ago in the Adirondack Mountains, it started at 10:00 in the morning, which is late for a summer race, and between the heat and the altitude, Luke had to give me a push at the end. 




On the other hand, it would be nice to have iced coffee. I have a can of coffee from Cafe Du Monde just waiting for me in my fridge, which makes delicious iced coffee.  Which is making me think of New Orleans.   Such a fun city, except for the time I broke my ankle.  But it was still fun.





Ever been to Acme Oyster Bar in N.O?  So. Good.  I love raw oysters.  This past Thanksgiving, My Marathon Runner/Triathlete Dad brought up a bunch from Maryland.  




Growing up on Long Island, every October we looked forward to Oyster Fest.  It's a great time, with the freshest seafood.






Now I'm in the mood for fish.  Luckily it's a Lenten Friday, and I'm making fish tacos for dinner tonight.

My sister better get here soon. 

Happy Weekend!