10 Miles: Frustration Rears Its Ugly Head

Another mentally tough week for me, although it was nice to see the scale go down three pounds. I earned my five pound loss badge from FitBit.

Monday's two mile run was a full on disaster. I walked it all and was insanely slow. I stopped my Garmin at thirty-five minutes. I iced a lot more this week and was looking forward to my long run.

I woke up on Saturday and things were already going to crap. My water bottle tasted how my dogs smell, I forgot to defrost my Uncrustable and had to microwave it (helpful tip...don't do it) and I forgot to Body Glide a few lower body parts.

I got to Umstead and was in pretty foul mood. My husband and I had a argument about running injuries the other night and it was stuck in my head. I was distracted by that and the fact a woman about seventy passed me.......walking. WALKING. I slowed down to a walk because when I run angry, I push too hard and then I actually do get injured. I didn't want to risk it, so I slowed down. I got a second wind at six miles and put on my music. Stone Temple Pilots, Foo Fighters and Stevie Wonder got me thru the last few miles. At eight miles, I realized that I miscalculated and had to run out another half mile and back. I wasn't pleased at all. When I finally finished, I looked at my Garmin and it read 2:28:16. My goal was 2:15, I drove home frustrated and pissed off.

This weekend I thought about my running and how frustrated I got. Everyone has bad runs, but I have felt lately, that I've had more bad runs than good. My goal of a 2:30 half marathon is fading further away every week. I'm really going to focus on relaxing and enjoying running and be out in the cooler weather. I still have the dream of at 2:30 half marathon, but I think anything under 2:53 will make me happy as well. I just want to do better than my best time. I'm definitely going to have to work on relaxing and enjoying the run....a lot. I'm going to try really hard, but c'mon. Let's be real-haha!

I checked out a video of the Manchester City Marathon half marathon course and it's hilly. Hills are tough, but luckily they are rolling hills. I can handle those. I'm a bit concerned about the River Road section, but I'm happy that the last part is downhill.  I'm excited because the course runs behind my parent's house, which is pretty cool.

Last week's interview with Kasie was my highest viewed blog ever! I want to thank Kasie again for the great interview. In honor of the Carolina Hurricanes Opening Night, I have a interview with Pete Friesen, the Hurricanes Head Athletic Trainer/ Strength and Conditioning Coach coming up on Wednesday. 

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Canes Game

For Christmas, my brother gave us Carolina Hurricanes hockey tickets. Matt and I are huge fans, so it really was a fantastic gift. Plus, it was Jordan Staal bobblehead night! Thank you, Derek!

We got to the game and quickly realized that we had some pretty sweet seats:

Since the Pats were playing at the same time at the Canes, I had to wear my Pats gear under my Hedican jersey. Devastating game. 

                         

As you may remember, I had joked about forgetting an epic kale chip picture. Well, here it is. Make fun all you want, these kale chips are fantastic. 

Matt and I trying to decide on whether to get a Fitbit Force or a Fitbit Flex. I have a FitBit Zip and I like it. We've read about some of the issues each device has (rashes, people losing them bc they think they have clasped it correctly etc), but I've heard that most of my friends that I actually know love theirs. 

Since 2009, we have participated in the Angels Among Us 5K that raises money for brain cancer. If you are interested, you can join our team, "Take That, Tumors!" or donate to our team. We are hoping to raise $2,100 since it is the 21st year. 

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Fun Weekend!

What a fun weekend! I actually did more than eat, sleep and run! We went to opening night, the International Festival, and celebrated our friend, Ryan's birthday with pizza and cake. 

Friday night we headed out to the PNC for opening night and met up with Jess and Ryan after eating at Assagios for dinner with Julie, Moseley and Stella.The Cane's lost (what else is new) but we had a great time. Stella did so well at the game, I was so impressed! Julie and Moseley are raising a great kid! 

I woke up on Saturday morning and headed to Shelley Lake for my 10 miler. I shocked when I saw a sign a mile or so in saying the trail was closed! Whhhaaattttt?! I don't do well with change at all, but I sucked it up and just ran. I ended up having to call Matt bc I got lost, so I' m not sure my time, but I felt good. Whenever I run at Shelley Lake, I feel like I'm in a really weird Disney movie, I see the weirdest animals: possums, snakes, geese, foxes and none of them look friendly. I'm supposed to do 24 miles next weekend, but I might just do 20, we'll see. After that, tapering begins! 

After my run, we headed to the International Festival at the Convention Center in downtown Raleigh and it was a lot of fun, We tried food from Brazil, Poland, the Philippines, and more. There was lots of singing, dancing and cultural booths. Very cool! 

Today was super lazy and I loved it. We slept in, went food shopping, napped and watched football and hockey. 

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Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Yes, I'm Irish, but I have never had red corned beef before, my family has always made the gray and it is AAMMAAZZIINNGG. Today, Matt made the red corned beef and little red potatoes and it was good! Matt HATES corned beef but he made it anyway for us. I'm pretty sure he is starving and will make up for it in ice cream. I have leftovers for days.

One Saturday, Rachel and I headed to the Art Museum for our eight miler. First off, we HATE the Art Museum....it is AWFUL. I swear it is all uphill and it is a nightmare. Anyway, we went super slow and easy since both of us are slightly injured. Thankfully, my knee is better and now it is just my heel that is bothering me. Next week, we have a 10 miler on Saturday on my birthday.

Saturday night we had our friends over to watch the Hurricanes game and had some fantastic ziti made by Matt. Julie and Moseley's daughter,Stella, is four months and getting so big! She is a nice little addition to our group!

Our pups were super lazy this weekend.

I also treated myself to a Shamrock Shake this week and it was so good! 

So, that's it! Hope everyone has a great week! 

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Damn You, Ham Biscuit!

Matt and I went to the Canes/Bruins game last night and we had a perfect view of the buffet and the ham. I love ham, pork, bacon, a piglet in a tutu. It is all equally delicious to me. I headed to Bojangles this morning and had my planned ham biscuit for 10 points. Normally, if I would have started out the day with that I would've shot the whole day to hell and ate whatever I wanted. I didn't do that, but I ate a lot more points than I wanted. I haven't gone over my weekly points though. I also was exhausted all day and knew I was going to struggle with my sixty minute workout tonight. I came home and napped for about 45 minutes and FORCED myself on the bike and lift those weights. I did it and pushed through, cursing creatively throughout the hour. 

I have an appointment with my nutritionist tomorrow morning and I'm anxious to see her, I haven't seen her since December. She and I will be going over what are the best choices to make at restaurants, no matter where I go.

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Exhausted Mentally and Physically

It hasn't been a great week, I gotta admit. My body feels tired and I feel mentally tired. I think I might be working out too much, bc I feel exhausted. I took yesterday and tonight off completely off and will get back on track tomorrow after work. I have been eating a bit more the past couple days and not working out, so I'm a little concerned about my weigh in. Fingers crossed.

Here are a few of my meals and snacks this week:

6 point lunch- Smart Ones Alfredo and Broccoli (which I picked out and replaced with spinach), green beans and 2 clementines. 

 My new favorite snack: pretzel chips and Laughing Cow Cheese: 4 points

Turkey burger, cheese, bun and fries, I needed a break from veggies. Worth the 10 points, it was so filling!

I also ordered this Hungry Girl CD to listen to in the car. It got really high ratings and people have been raving about it....we'll see! 

Tuesday night we headed to opening night for the Canes and had a good time...well, kinda, we lost, so that sucked. We will be going to Bruins game on Monday, so that will be great bc I love both teams!

We are having icy weather tomorrow afternoon, so I'm heading home early from work to avoid the clutter we dealt with back in 2005. We were stuck on the road for hours, I don't think we got in til almost 9pm! It was nuts!

So, that's it for now! I haven't decided on my recipes that I want to try yet. I think my bananas are finally ripe enough to make my bread. I'm thinking of making Shepard Pie, we'll see.

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Happy Hockey Day!

I'm so happy that the Canes play tonight, hockey is back. I have a lot of reservations with the lockout and everything. I'm a big hockey fan, but the lockouts put a huge damper on the sport, it's really sad. I want not to want to watch (ha, that was a mouthful!) but I love hockey. I hate that this was about the fan's money and the fans suffer. I guess keep forgiving, but never forget? I don't know. I'm tentative, but I'm happy hockey is back and I will watch with my Ray Whitney t shirt on.

Onto other news, I'm down another 2.1lbs for a total of 4.8lbs in about two and a half weeks. I'm happy for the loss, but I'm dying to hit my first goal of 10% loss. Fingers crossed it will be within the next two weeks. I'm a bit worried about losing my lean body mass bc every week it gets a little bit lower. Not sure why bc I do weights for 30 minutes three times a week plus a crazy amount of squats daily. Maybe not enough protein? Not sure.

This weekend I'll be trying three new recipes: Chicken Cashew Chicken (10 points), Red Velvet Cake (4) and Chocolate Marshmallow Fudge (2pts per per piece). I'm excited to try all of them. I've got some recipes for Superbowl Sunday that I want to try as well like baked chicken wings and a few different dips, but we will see. Normally, I just splurge and eat taco dip, but the whole thing has about 4,000 calories, so I'm a bit hesitant now-haha.

My dad is ok but he got hit by an alleged drunk driver last night. WTF is wrong with people?! He could've killed my dad and who knows who else. He could've ruined our lives bc he had to get behind the wheel hammered. Fucking idiot. I think my dad is more upset bc his week old truck is busted up.

I'm hoping to make my flight to New Orleans in the next two weeks, I've been watching prices like a hawk. I'm so excited to go there with my friends, take in all the sites and try some new food.

So, I guess that's it. Here's to a great weekend! Here are a few pictures from the last few days:

My nasty smoothie--YUCK! Not sure what I'm doing wrong, but the last few smoothies I've made are so disgusting! 

We made chipotle beef in the crockpot and it was good. I thought it was a bit too spicy but the leftovers are growing on me. This meal was 7 or 8 points, I believe.

Turkey meatballs from Trader Joe were great! I can't wait to have them again! I think it was one point per meatball.

Chicken tacos, one of my favorite meals! 8 points!

2 Point choices at work:

I have been drinking out of my Pats mug all week, can't wait for the game tomorrow! 

My babies

Guinness was driving us crazy last night until Matt picked him up, then he got all "Blue Steel" with the camera.

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