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!!!!

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!

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.

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.

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."

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. 

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!