for Boston.

I had a post i started writing this morning, but it seems overwhelmingly meaningless right now.  A lot of the bloggers seem to be taking a vow of silence to show respect for what we lost today, and i intend to follow suit.  Seeing as how the majority of my posts are light-hearted, snarky, whine-filled rants, i will be zipping this lip for a couple days to just absorb everything going on.  But first, i just wanted to say this.

I know we are all still in a haze over the tragedy in Boston this afternoon, but i wanted to point out what we should all take away from this day.  Love will always triumph hate.  Love for our sport, love for our comrades, love for our country, and love for our fellow man.  Nothing is greater than love.

And i love the marathon.  Even when i hate it, I LOVE IT.

And to whoever did this:
Whatever point you were trying to make - it wasn't made.  The meaning behind this?  No one knows.  YOUR message was not delivered.  YOUR brilliant masterpiece was a complete failure.  A few are filled with rage right now, but most are filled with concern, and compassion, and bravery.  I cried today, for my fellow runners, but none of those tears were for YOU. When we find out your name (which will be soon, no doubt)  I will just as soon forget it.  I will remember a lot about this day, but not you.  You don't matter, you aren't special; this is nothing new, or creative, or innovative, or memorable.  Just another insignificant person pouring hate into this world.  Your plan backfired, and only brought out the best in US.  YOU are nothing.  WE are marathoners.

And if your goal was to make me afraid?  You failed at that too.  I will sit here tonight, and mourn the way you violated MY sport by drinking martinis, and signing up for another marathon.  I have never been less afraid, or more inspired.

And for everyone who ran in the Boston Marathon today - congratulations.  This is still your day, and no amount of hate can ever take that away.

FOR BOSTON!

Everyday i'm tapering!

Thats all i have for today folks - Taper on!

**Kim pointed out that i am making grammatical errors left and right - does anyone else feel "less sharp" during taper weeks?  I am not brightest bulb to begin with, but man, tapering makes me feel physically AND mentally slow!  It's like my brain is on vay-cay...hopefully somewhere nice!

In the meantime, more coffee!!!

No words, just emotions.

where did you go weekend??

Dang, weekends go by fast!  


My weekend started out with an 18 mile run.  This was the first time in the past year where i actually thought to myself that i might be crazy.  Because at my pace, an 18 mile run gives you about 10 hours of time to talk to people you are running with, we were discussing what we were doing on that fine saturday.  (mine was boring - laundry and puppy time)  But who the heck has a saturday that goes like this:


Saturday:
wake up at 6am
eat granola bar, drink coffee
RUN 18 MILES
Take a shower
walk the dog
drink more coffee
make lunch
throw laundry in 
catch up on sitcoms
etc.


I actually at one point just started laughing at the absurdity of it.  (it could have also been the sugar high.  or the fact that i have actually lost my mind.)  Runners are crazy.  Straight up crazy.


Here's the real kicker though - the 18 miler wasn't that bad. I was tired at the end, and ready to get off my feet, but at no point did i feel like i was dying, or have homicidal thoughts about lashing out at those around me.  

The worst part was seeing the people around me struggle the last few miles - because i hate seeing other people suffer, and because i have been there - i know they were thinking about pushing me in the lake. I know it.  It probably didn't help that i talked about game of thrones for a solid hour.  


I felt pretty good after the run, just really stiff.  It kinda hurt we to take waffles for a walk after all that running, but i think it actually helped me feel less sore later on, because Sunday i did not hurt nearly as much as usual.  


Since Matt was out of town, i indulged in a Supersize vs. Superskinny marathon while i tried to conquer laundry mountain.  Supersize vs Superskinny is a british show that i am basically addicted too. They take an extremely obese person, and an underweight person, and make them switch diets for a week.  It's like biggest loser, only someone alway ends up pissed off.  Usually by day three of the 400lb person only getting coffee for breakfast, they are about to snap the skinny person like a twig.

Sunday, i ran a bunch of errands that included replacing all the air plants that i killed (for the second time)

I promise not to kill you all this time.

And making cake balls for a work baby shower

I told Matt he could eat the ugly ones because they were for an event, and he proceeded to find a flaw with every single one in an attempt to eat the entire batch.  Whatever, i thought they looked pretty cute!


And lastly, GAME OF THRONES!!!!!!!!!!
I won't give away anything for those who haven't seen it (or don't care) But it was AWESOME.  This season is positioned around a power struggle between five parties wanting to rule over Westeros.  I know which team i'm on!

I mean seriously?  She has dragons.  Game over.


I hope everyone's weekend was significantly more exciting than mine!!

In and around my face.

Finally, someone has answered my never ending cries of hunger.  I have made it well known that i have been struggling in an epic way with marathon nutrition.  I love to cook, but my recipes have always hung out in the low fat/meat free range.  Which is fine, but doesn't really supply the fat and protein required for 15 mile runs.  


Since i don't eat red meat, and only rarely eat poultry, AND have to limit dairy because of tummy problems, everyday becomes a battle to consume healthy fats and proteins, and not just load up on quick burning carbs.  


Artisana makes every kind of nut butter available:

I'm going to be perfectly honest, i ate an entire jar of cacao bliss this weekend.  Its a cocoa/coconut butter, and its basically heaven in your mouth.  I normally dislike chocolate, but this is a nice balance of coconut, and mildly sweet chocolate (none of that milk chocolate crap)  I am sure you can put it in oatmeal, or quinoa, or on bagels, or yogurt, or lots of things, but i liked just eating it with a spoon.  The only word of warning is that coconut by nature is high in saturated fat, so you probably shouldn't eat an entire jar in one sitting.


Artisana makes all their products in little 1 serving packets too, which works much better for me!

I have been having these babies on mini pitas at work when the 3 o'clock nightmare hunger strikes, and they are totally and deliciously doing the trick.  I have a hunch that if you put this on graham crackers, it would basically rock your world.  I just need to go to the store and buy graham crackers still.  

I think i might start eating these before my long runs on the weekends.  I still love luna bars, but its just not enough, and i become violently hungry around mile 14, even with a gu....and almost all protein bars taste awful to me.  I am thinking nut butter toast is my new long run fuel!!


I was going to give away some of the samples, but i honestly have eaten almost all of them in the past few days.  They are that good.  Luckily, they are super nice, and we are in talks to have an Artisana giveaway, so that they would ship a sampler directly to your house, therefore preventing me from eating them all!!! STAY TUNED FOR THAT!


Artisana PROS.
Tastes amazing.  Seriously.  I like these way more than standard peanut butter
I LOVE the single serves.  I have a bad habit of overserving myself anything.
They're organic and kosher.  The kosher thing doesn't really matter to me, but i am always paranoid about the quality of food going into my body, and this is quality.
It is safe for people with peanut allergies, gluten intolerance, and dairy intolerance.  That is seriously awesome.


Artisana CONS.
It's not in stores yet, you have to order it :( :( :( Here are all the online retailers
My mom is totally going to take credit for this excellent eating decision, and i totally made this one on my own!




And, in running news, I really want my Shamrock Shuffle time to be around 42:00 mins.  It is seeming a little impossible right now, because it takes me a solid three miles to not hate running.  That's more than half the race where my legs will be slow, angry, and unresponsive.  So unless i want to just run the last two miles as 6 minute  miles (HA!)  I need to figure out a plan of action, and fast.  Does anyone have any good warm up routines so that they start the race ready to race?  (I am looking at YOU all you speedy 5k people, how do you run a shorter distance race??)




And lastly, it had to happen:

WHO ARE WE ALL KIDDING?  

I've got a fever...

and it's called spring fever.


SYMPTOMS:
-completely grouchy that it's still cold
-wearing shorts and flip flops around the house
-looking at bikinis i could never pull off online
-dusting off all the sunglasses
-cleaned out closet to get rid of clothes that have holes (and to make room for new clothes)
-intense need to purge the apartment of anything unnecessary
-sudden awareness of how gross my feet and skin have become.


Yeah, it's full-fledged spring fever.  I just want to run around in the sun wearing only a light sweater, and no giant coat!


I can assure you though, it is definitely not spring yet.
Saturday morning i went on a lovely 15 mile stroll with my CARA group.  It went much better this week (for me anyway)  Now that i broke through that mental block, 15-16 miles doesn't seem so bad.  Although i guarantee you i will drop dead at even the thought of 18.  I just know it.  It was a chilly one Saturday morning, but mostly on account of the wind!  When the wind was blowing in your face, i felt like 10 degrees, so i brought a scarf.  However when the wind wasn't in your face, it was actually sunny and pleasant, so i overheated quickly and would have to start stripping.  I ended up taking the scarf off and wearing it as a gypsy belt for the second half of my run.  Because i am stylish.

Its so weird to see myself after 15 miles both standing AND smiling, especially after last week.  I actually thought about doing a couple more miles on my own, but this week we had two people in our tiny pace group have to quit the program because of stress fractures.  One girl even tried to run saturday and had to quit in tears. 


I am now living in constant fear of an injury, because if i had to quit now, i would be devastated.  Its a super important reminder not to push too hard, and not to over do it on mileage.  Seriously, take care of yourself first.  (i am saying this mostly because i need to hear it.)


I did actually experience my first injury of the season this week.  I was on the couch cuddling with the pup, when i had a very sudden sneeze, and i pulled a muscle in my back.  I seriously hurt my back sneezing.  Why do people even talk to me??  The silver lining of this is that it forced me to take a break, lay down, and catch up on sleep and relaxation.  I ended up watching the "Spirit of the Marathon" movie that Maggie recommended, and really like it!  It was kinda crazy to watch Deena Kastor- she is SO freaking fast.  Its hard to watch someone run so efficiently when you know that you yourself are on the bottom half of mediocre.

I also convinced Matt to take me out on a super fancy date Sunday night.  We have been in a bit of a puppy rut, and haven't been going out at all.  I am also in somewhat of a drifit rut, and have been dressing like a downright slob.  We got all fancied up and went to Sola in Lakeview.  It was DELICIOUS.  We go oysters AND scallops, so i am basically a spoiled brat.  The martini even helped me forget about my back hurting!  It was just nice to dress up, and eat a meal with out a puppy crying about the fact that she isn't sharing the meal!

judgement

Have you ever been in a store and had some one noticeably judge you based on your purchase? Well, i did on friday night.  


I stopped off at the grocery store looking for a few staples.  In my world, there are really only four food groups.  Vodka, Olives, Cheese, and Baguette.  Any other food is just par for the course.  (whatever that means, i have never golfed...)  

If i were to choose a last meal, i would stuff the cheese in the olives, drop the olives in the vodka, and eat the baguette as an accoutrement.  In fact, why wait for a last meal - thats what i did Friday.  And maybe Saturday too....


While i was purchasing these staples of life, i also noticed that valentine's day candy was 50% off.  That's an awesome deal!! I like to think of myself as more of an opportunist than a binge eater.  Buy candy at 50% just makes sense.  We're in a recession after all....

So, in the end, the contents of my basket were mostly candy, accompanied by vodka, cheese, olives, and bread.  And i thought nothing of this.  As i unloaded my basket on the to the conveyor thing at the check out, the woman in front of me who was being rung up looked at my items, then at me, and then she LAUGHED.  WTF LADY?  Sometimes a girl just needs to stock up on vodka and candy.  Who do you think you are?  All high and mighty, buying your eggs and salmon.  GEEZ.


Have you ever been secretly or not so secretly judged?  Or, have you been the judger?  Sometimes i give people disapproving looks when i see them order an awesome blossom at a restaurant.  I mean seriously- no good can come from eating that thing.




In other news, my legs are still kinda sore from Saturday.  I went and cross-trained for an hour, and went to hot yoga class, but they still feel TIRED!  they just don't want to move.  I even ran a sad pathetic mile yesterday just to make sure i didn't really damage anything.  The legs work fine, they are just heavy and tight feeling.  This is the first time i haven't bounced right back from a run since i first started running last summer.  Apparently, running 16 miles is no easy task.

A (F***ing Freezing) run for Sherry!

Well mother nature, you lose again.
As i mentioned in my last post, i had convinced my running group to do the virtual run for Sherry this morning.  And i also mentioned a storm was brewin.  To prepare for what would be a hard run, i spent the night at Boiler Room eating pizza, drinking beer, and taking shots of whiskey.  Obviously, i am fully committed to training.

contact me at imakebaddecisions.com

Well, the snow ended up being an inch or two, so nothing to really think twice about, however a brutal cold front set in.  I say brutal because i have been spoiled on nice weather all winter, so this has really been our first sub zero day this winter (which is weird for Chicago...)  The wind chill at 6am this morning was hovering at 10 below zero (awesome) so i literally put on every clean article of clothing i had.  Two pairs on compression socks, the pivot compression shorts, my one pair of pants, one tank top, three long sleeve shirts, a short sleeve shirt, the lululemon jacket, gloves, hat and scarf.  


Then i ate my luna bar, and got on facebook to see that the run had been cancelled because of the extreme cold.  HA!  This is Chicago, we are immune to both cold and rationality.  I drove down to the meet up spot to see if anyone was there.  There were a handful of people, and two girls from my 10:30 pace group.  We decided that since we were there, we might as well do a shorter run.  (it was supposed to be 7-10 miles, but we did 4)  This actually works out well, because i am doing a 8.5 mile trail run with Eric tomorrow.  I love it when the universe aligns!


Part of me wants to act like a badass and say the i ended up stripping off half the layers and then going out for frozen yogurt afterwards, but it was seriously really cold.  I still feel cold.  We were running a 10:20 pace, which is normally easy breezy for me, but i was struggling really hard to breathe, and around mile 3, i really missed my inhaler.  I think 4 miles was the perfect distance, because that was about when the cold started to catch up to me.  

 Hopefully other people running for Sherry had some more temperate weather, and hopefully Sherry herself had a sunny 60 degree day on the big bike-free running path in the sky.


In other news, after i got home and laid on the couch shivering for an hour, i decided to walk (bc i want to be outside in this beautiful weather as much as possible...)down to Babs & babs to finally get my hair cut.  I love this place.  The price is great, and i am always super pleased with the hair cut.  And they give you PBR while you are getting your hair cut.  <3


I tried to photograph it via photobooth, but waffles photobombed my picture by jumping up and sticking her tongue in my mouth.

so, so gross....

So i tried to take one with my camera instead:

but matt was feeling extra creepy

I. give. up.

I have to finish some cleaning, and then Matt and i are heading to rock vegas for the night for some drinking, karaoke, and a wing eating throwdown between Matt and my brother.

With that, i leave you with some inspiration for this weekend, because it's cold out there, and a little motivation never hurt anyone!

What have i done?

I will see you bitches at the Chicago Marathon.

motivation

I am almost more excited now for Running Worlds motivational mondays than i am for bagel day.
Todays poster:

And my response:

I ain't afraid of no cold...(or am i?!?!)

I have been religiously checking the CARA facebook page to see whether or not our run would still happen tomorrow.  My main concerns were this:

ouch.

But even more importantly, this:

Seriously, ouch.

They just sent out an email that said GAME ON, so i am in trouble.  To add salt to the wound, or to perhaps shame me into showing up and not whining like a baby, they put this motivational poster on their facebook page:

right...

And to that, i felt the need to respond with one of my "questionably motivational" posters.

What can i say?  I speak the truth.  The cold, hard truth.

Be sure to turn in tomorrow to see what i wear, at what point i curl up on the path and cry, and most importantly, my thoughts on the olympic marathon trials.

et tu???

COME ON!!!!!!!!

How is this even legal??? 20 CENTS???


I vaguely remember having a new years resolution to run a marathon or something like that, but now all i can think of is sugar sweet drops of heaven in my mouth for 20 cents a bag.  GOD DAMMIT WALGREENS.




I also came home to find another one of these....

OK, joke is over.  HOW ARE THESE GLAMOUR'S GETTING TO MY HOUSE???  Who is sending them to meeeee????  i have never had a subscription to glamour, but apparently they are sponsoring me for life.   Thanks i guess?


Today was day two of my marathon training, and i opted for the treadmill.  It was a little rough, but i still did it.  All three miles.  On a treadmill in a temperature controlled room.  I am a badass.  

See?? I'm on a treadmill....I must have ran!

The hardest part for me right now is motivation.  I really just dont want to run right now.  As soon as the days get longer and warmer, i will really truly enjoy running again, but right now it kinda blows.  I found myself thinking of a "motivational poster" i saw on the runners world blog.  I actually laughed for like 10 minutes over it, which is not cool when you are sitting at your desk and people are staring at you like you're some kind of creeper.

Seriously, this guy gets me.

In fact, i was so motivated, i made my own motivational poster.  You know, just something to think about once i really start putting in the miles and saying no to the drinks, pizza, and revelry.

ain't that the truth....