Victoria Secret Fashion Show

Day 2 of "My 7 days of Misery" is, well, its all done. Long and complicated story (short story is I failed, and should know better than to not eat anything all day and go running). I will update you all on this tomorrow. Quickly moving off that topic on to more exciting things.

I have no shame in saying how excited I am for the Victoria Secret Fashion Show tonight! I watch every year in awe of just how much fun the show is and how in shape the girls are. I'm sure I can get loads of crap for promoting this, because it does also promote a lot of unhealthy habits to girls everywhere.

I think for some people it is a nice idea to think "wow people actually look like that, that's awesome." It is when people think "I need to look like that and do everything I can to make this happen" that it becomes a problem. Most people have no idea what these super models do before shows to get ready and get in shape. While I am sure they eat completely differently, and probably cut out all sweets, carbs, etc. the amount of working out they do to prepare is over the top. I give them all the credit in the world for looking as good as they do the night of the fashion show.

I also like the show for the reason of no airbrushing. Everyone knows every picture taken of anyone is photoshopped, airbrushed, and so on. You name it, they have it done to them in the picture. In the show there is no airbrushing or photoshopping. This is what the models really look like, and they all look pretty incredible and in shape if you ask me. I think there is nothing wrong with giving credit to them for all the work they do. The problem is when people take it to the extreme to attempt to look like these women.

Moral of the story, I am so excited to go home tonight and watch the VS Fashion show, after Biggest Loser of course! Happy Tuesday all!

7 days of misery

My long weekend was great! Hope everyone got to enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving as well! I had a nice relaxing day at home Wednesday, followed by two days in Rhode Island with the family for Thanksgiving. Friday night was dinner with Paul and friends. Saturday and Sunday were a nice bonus to have to catch up on everything and nothing at the same time. There also may have been some hair dying going on Sunday night as well :) Pictures to post asap.


A nice run this morning was just what I needed to get my week started. I couldn't believe how nice out it was when I got out and am so happy I dragged my ass out of bed for it. It was absolutely the best run I've had in a long time which makes me excited to think I'm getting back into the swing of things!

This morning also starts another, less exciting, week in my life. With my travel season, and just life being life, I had started eating incredibly unhealthy. Then add the wedding and Thanksgiving, and my food choices are out of control. Whenever I feel this way I know what I need to do to get back on track, it is what I nicely refer to as "My 7 Days of Misery."

Basically, this is a 7 day detox, to get me to stop eating crap and get back on track with healthy eating. The idea is if I can cut out everything I eat for the most part for 7 days, when I start eating like a normal person again, it will be much easier to eat healthy. I have planned this several times. You can read about past detox's here. The two times I've done this I have only gotten to day 4. I have high hopes this time to at least get to day 5.

The basic idea goes like this:

Day 1: No solid food, only liquids, such as tea (unsweetened), no dairy, and more than likely no coffee
Day 2: Add in fruit
Day 3: Add in raw vegetables
Day 4: Add cooked vegetables and rice
Day 5: Add beans, lentils, nuts, and seeds
Day 6: Add whole grains and live yogurt
Day 7: Add fish

I know from experience, day 1 is the worst. Day 1 is especially horrible if unprepared. I, smartly, went to the store yesterday and got extra tea to make for Day 1. The only down side is I am working late today, which means we usually order food. I know I am going to struggle when I smell pizza and can't have any. The plus side is, after work I can go home and have some plain broth and then early to bed.

Again the main goal is to get to Day 5. I just need to stay prepared and focused on how much I need to get back into healthy eating, as well as getting all the crap I eat out of my system.

I'll keep you posted during the week on the 7 days of misery! Happy Monday!!

Turkey Time

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I get to spend it back in New England, in Rhode Island specifically!

I strongly believe Thanksgiving is a day to eat what you would like, as long as you do some sort of activity before or after. I hope you enjoy a fantastic Thanksgiving Day!:)

Wedding Weekend!

This past weekend was my cousin Sam's wedding. Putting it out there right now, no running got done for me this weekend haha. We got back late on Friday night, leaving late and traffic, but still managed to meet up with Carolyn (who I have missed so much!) and her bf Dan for a couple hours.

The attempt was to run at the hotel on Saturday morning, but unfortunately I didn't do my research and there was no athletic center at the hotel we stayed at Friday night. Long story, but we stayed at two different hotels on Friday night and Saturday night. Paul and I checked out of the first hotel Saturday morning and went to see my mom and my brother. We luckily got an early check in at the wedding hotel and checked in with plenty of time for met to get ready while Paul ran on the treadmill.

Sam and Jamie asked me to do the reading at their wedding, which I was excited about and kind of went with the theory of "no worries, I got this." While I was getting ready I decided I would attempt to memorize my reading, so that I wouldn't awkwardly read directly out of the Bible the whole time. I repeated it about 50 times out loud, which Paul nicely sat and listened to while giving advice. Finally it was wedding time! Sam looked beautiful and the whole wedding party looked great as well. Finally it was time for my reading and of course everything I memorized went out of my head. Luckily the Bible was in front of me so I could read along with what I had remembered.

Look it's me reading! Haha

Then almost as soon as it started, the wedding was done and they were married!

Then it was reception time! The location of the reception was connected to our hotel which was perfect! It was also only 2 minutes (if that) from the Church.

First Dance! 

Ton's of dancing and good time's had by all! 

Paul & I

After the wedding we all headed back to the hotel and continued with the after party. Eventually we went to bed after a night full of drinking, dancing, and lots of laughs. We had breakfast the next morning with everyone, food was delicious too which was a huge bonus. After a Starbucks run, and stopping back at my mom's house, Paul and I headed back to NY.

As happy as I am now in NY, it is always nice to go home to Boston to see friends and family! Bonus, I get to go to Rhode Island on Thursday for Thanksgiving! Double dose of New England for me this week :)

Happy Tuesday everyone!  

Work.Work.Work

As usual I've allowed my life to be taken over by work again. It is application season at work, which means I'm reading essays, transcripts, etc. all day long. Luckily, because of the change in work schedule I have been able to fit running into my schedule 2 days a week and then on Saturday and Sunday. Yay for getting back into the groove!

Yesterday was a day I was able to go into worker later so I decided I would try and do some constant running, no stopping to walk. I got a mile and thought I would die. It is so painful to see how slow I've become just from taking a a little over a month off from running. I knew it would be tough slowly getting back into it, I just didn't know how tough.

I went out again this morning, and it wasn't all that much better. Unfortunately the cold always hits me hard at the beginning. It was about 35 degrees when I went out, which isn't actually that cold compared to the upcoming winter months, but I always cough more when it first starts to get colder. Luckily I was able to stay warm with my awesome lululemon pants (no worries a whole separate post about my love for lulu) and my obnoxiously bright pink pullover from underarmour.

I am slowly going along though and know that getting out 4 times a week, no matter slow, fast, walking, getting out there is half the battle. 

In more exciting news, this afternoon I will be heading back to Boston for the weekend! My cousin is getting married on Saturday! Wohoo! Should be a fun weekend and I can't wait to get back there for a little while.

Happy Friday everyone! Have a great weekend :) 

The Runner's Diet

A few weeks ago, when I decided I need to get my life back on track, I found myself in Barnes & Noble. Paul was looking for a guide on training for a marathon, and I was looking for anything to help me. I stumbled on The Runner's Diet, a book that is from Runner's World magazine.

I picked it up and began reading a few pages in it. The author discussed how this book is mostly for people who use to consider themselves runners, and for one reason or another stopped running and got out of shape. That's me! I immediately decided to purchase this book and have been thrilled with this purchase ever since.

I went home and started reading right away. I flew through the chapters because they were all one's I could easily relate to. It gives great tips and advice about what to eat and what not to eat, when to eat and when not to eat.  It also gives some fantastic advice about getting back into running. The key is start slow and don't get down on yourself. Just because you use to be able to run 5 miles straight everyday at a 9 min/mile pace, does not mean you will be able to suddenly do that again. In fact, if you attempt to do that, you will immediately become discouraged that you can't and be more likely to stop trying.

Another key is to make your workout schedule realistic. Saying I will wake up every day at 6 am to run before work is nice, but completely unrealistic. I may do this one day and then never do it again. Instead you need to really look at your schedule, what you want to do for work outs, and make a reasonable schedule that you can stick to. This has been my new task that I've been working on recently. I will post my new training schedule soon, but the key to it is that it works around my schedule perfectly.  I never have the excuse of "I'm too tired," or "It's too dark," or "It's too much," to keep me from getting out there and doing my runs.

For me the hardest part so far has been to not get down on myself during the runs. I may be out there doing 3 miles or so 4 days a week, but I am still getting back into it, so my running involves walking as well. I hate this, in my mind I should be able to go out and run. I know this isn't realistic though, and that by running the way I have planned out (with the help of my running book) I will get back into running in no time.

Thank you too Runner's World and the fantastic author of The Runner's Diet, for helping me get my running life back!

NYC MARATHON!!!!

Yesterday was the NYC Marathon. So. Much. Fun!!! As I mentioned before, I was interested in volunteering for a race. Settling on the NYC marathon happened when I found out some famous people, Apolo Ohno, Jennie Finch, and other reality tv stars, would be running. (I only ended up seeing Apolo Ohno as he went flying by me, and a couple of reality stars, but thats ok). I received an email saying to arrive around 8:30 and to stay until around 4. I was excited for the whole thing and to see what people look like when they hit mile 25.

Paul and I woke up around 6 am to get ready to go. By 6:30 we were at Dunkin Donuts and then were off to the train station. Finally we got into the city (trains, subway, walking etc.) and made our way over to mile 25. We showed up earlier than scheduled but jumped right in to help out. Moving gatorades, mixing gatorade, and setting up cups. Paul and I took one table near the front to set everything up.

Tada! Finished product. There is something like 450 cups staked, and filled with gatorade. We then had to move all that gatorade cups around so that the G logo is in front. I started out the morning pouring, refilling, and stacking the cups.

The wheelchair racers started coming around 10 am, quickly followed by the first females and the first males. Paul was pretty excited because the first male (pictured below) took his cup of gatorade. He didn't take anyone else's after this at our stop, so basically his last bit of fuel before the finish came from Paul.

To say Paul was excited is an understatement. He also got loads of applause from all the other volunteers. Not that he needed the ego boost or anything... Haha

Around noon, when most of the runners started coming, one of the girls in front of the table told me she was too tired and hungry and needed me to take her space. I filled in for her and started handing out the cups. From that point on there was really no stopping in the flow of runners. Slowly all the other volunteers  started leaving. By 4pm Paul and I were the only volunteers left at our table. This was technically the time to leave but I found it really hard to. Watching all these people that have been working their ass's off all morning to get to this point, I couldn't just leave. Plus, this would be around the time I would probably come in if I ran the marathon. These were my people, no way I could leave!

Finally around 5, when Paul and I were both about to fall over from being so sore, and just about all the volunteers had left, we decided to leave. The number of runners coming in had significantly dwindled, and while I still felt bad, I knew I couldn't stay all night.

I had an amazing time out there seeing some of the runners and learned so much! First of all, way more work goes into every race than I ever imagined. Also saying things to volunteers like "thank you!" or "thanks for coming out, we really appreciate you volunteering" can absolutely make someones day. I like to think I thank everyone when they hand me water, but I will be sure to now for all of my races. I would say the day was a huge success, even though I was exhausted at the end of it! Huge congrats to all the racers, you guys were amazing and even though about 99% of you are strangers ( I did actually see 2 people I knew!) I am very proud of you all for what you accomplished!

Weekend Fun!

Tomorrow, Paul and I will spend the day volunteering at the NYC Marathon! I've never been to the NYC marathon before (only the Boston one) so I am excited to go in general. I had wanted to volunteer at a race this year and figured what better race to help out at than this one. We selected mile 25 to hand out water and gatorade at. I had wanted a stop after mile 13, mostly because I've seen what happens to runners up to mile 13, I never know what they look like after that.

Paul had said he wanted to make some signs to hold up, so the past few days we've been looking for some. We found a couple that we thought we might copy...

In the end we realized no signs would work. It isn't exactly easy to hold up a funny sign while also holding out water to runners. 

Even without the funny signs I can't wait for the race. There are a few famous people running (a couple of reality tv show stars, as well as Apolo Ohno, Jennie Finch, and Mario Lopez) so I'm excited to see them too! 

Happy Marathon Weekend! See you at the Finish! 

How the Rock 'N Roll DC came to be

So you may or may not be curious about how this new race came to be. It first started when Paul told me he signed up for the Rock 'N Roll DC, via his blog post. I knew he was interested in doing it, but was still shocked when I found out he had officially signed up for it. We decided a trip to DC would be our Christmas presents to each other. We did this last year in Vegas, hopefully this trip will not also cost us both thousands of dollars. Paul has never been to DC, and I am always up for a trip. So it was set, he would run the marathon and I would cheer on the sidelines. 

The marathon wouldn't of been my first race of Paul's I was standing on the sidelines for. A few weeks ago there was a half marathon that I had originally planned on doing in Newport, RI. This was my first half marathon that I ran 2 years ago. I had originally planned it as a redemption run, but I realized with my lack of training it wasn't going to happen. I decided to not go through with the race and instead go watch. 

Amazing view!

It was a gorgeous weekend in Rhode Island!

I was so jealous of the amazing weather Paul had for the race and the medal he received! 

Way cooler than the medal I got for this race! 

Overall, I'm a huge fan of the Amica Half Marathon and Marathon. It was sad having to sit on the side for this race, and know I will be back next year for my actual redemption race. 

After that race Paul had signed up for a Rock 'n Roll 10k in Brooklyn. Of course it was another gorgeous day, with another awesome course, and a fantastic medal! A race I will also be doing next year! 

I hadn't realized until after these two races just how much I disliked standing on the sidelines. It was a lot of fun to see the other side of the race, but I was jealous the entire time of all the racers. After watching the 10k I knew I wouldn't be happy sitting through the entire 26.2 miles watching the race. While I don't want to run a marathon, cause come on now I'm no where near ready for that, I would enjoy doing the half.

So that is how the Rock 'n Roll USA in DC came to be. I'm excited, scared, and some more excited for it. I know it's tough to train for a race in the spring, mostly because you have to train for it in the winter, but I think I have a good plan for it. Training plan to come! Happy Friday everyone, finally the weekend :)

Holy Crap it’s November!

How did November 1 already come and go? Also, how did a snow storm come and go? Craziness! Now that you are all nicely up to date on my past races, let me talk about my current running (or non-running) life. 

Travel season is finishing up…finally. I have about a week left of travel and this time next week my travel season will be DONE. Yay! Don’t get me wrong, travel season was fun, but having no time to run and eating crap 24/7 is not what I need in my life right now. I decided the best way for me to get back into my usual way of running life was to sign myself up for a race. I of course decided starting small would be better and have selected a Jingle Bell 5k Run! I’ve done a Jingle Bell Run before in Connecticut during college that was entertaining (if you take out the first half of it being directly up hill). So December 3 will be my entry back into the race world! 

My job is actually going to start to benefit my training schedule which I’m really excited about. Two days a week I have to stay late to call potential applicants, which means I don’t need to be at work till noon.  A perfect way for me to get two runs in a week before I go to work! This leaves me to figure out either two other runs during the week before or after work, or run on Saturday and Sunday. I more than likely will lean towards the running on Saturday and Sunday and my two late work days a week, cause really who wants to wake up early to run during the week or run after work. Long story short, this will all start next week after travel season ends and should absolutely help my intense training plan. 

Now an intense training plan is not really required for a 5k. However, it is required for a half-marathon. If you’re sensing a big announcement coming on you would be correct. I am officially running the Rock 'n Roll USA Half Marathon in DC on March 17, 2012! Yay! Lots more to come tomorrow on how this all came to be and my plans for this race.

Happy Thursday! Almost the weekend! :) 

Tri, Tri again...

I had slightly high hopes for my second triathlon. I figured it couldn't really be worse than the first one. Sadly, I was incorrect.

This time around I got a wetsuit because the race was at the end of September. I figured this would help with the colder water and Paul said it might help with my anxiety when I first got in the water.

Wetsuit up!

Basically we drove all around Long Island until we found a place that sold wetsuits. This was the first one I tried on and it's teal down the side, aka I love it. It helped get me a little more excited about the whole thing, which was nice since I was mostly just nervous before. As I mentioned recently, I had basically been consumed with work and had very little time to run, bike, or swim. The wetsuit made me feel just that little bit better about the whole thing.

Race morning came and Paul and I drove over to the site. Tons of volunteers were out helping which was nice to see. We got everything set up, put on our wetsuits, and went into the water. I will admit, I first got in the water to swim around and was nervous. Nobody was splashing around me yet, but I still couldn't see and hated that. I relaxed a little and was ready to go. To be honest, I don't remember which wave I was but i was definitely somewhere in the middle. I did my usual, find someone that looks slower than me and line up next to them, routine and started to walk with my group into the water. About a half a second before I got into the water my heart was pounding so intensely I thought I either was about to have a heart attack or was going to pass out, or both. I managed to stick with a pack of women this time around me who were my pace, and randomly yelling words of encouragement to each other. While I still was not thrilled with my lack of seeing in front of me, or the intense amounts of salt I tasted in my moth, I did enjoy this swim more than my first tri. I also was a whole 10 minutes faster on this swim, and again didn't drown! It's the little things in life. :)

Me coming out of the water!

Then it was time for the bike. I knew the course, it was also a lot shorter than the last tri's bike course. About 5 miles shorter. I was excited to get going and was happy with how much faster I was so far this time around. 

Transition 1...The only transition for me for this day haha

I went out on the bike and was going along well. It was a nice course and I was moving pretty fast. I figured if I could be faster on this bike ride, I would be so excited going into the run that I may be faster. Things were all going well until around mile 5. 

This was the towns first time doing this triathlon, and many people driving around in the town apparently felt uninformed and displeased with the amount of roads closed off for it. The bike course wasn't completely closed to cars and I could hear a car coming up behind me. I knew they weren't happy about the race and also knew that some times cars like to see just how close they can get to the bikers without running them over as a fun game. I decided moving over further to the side of the road would be a good idea. I moved over and didn't notice the pothole that had been in front of me. My back tire hit it, causing my tire to pop, and me to lose my balance. Yes, you are correct. This resulted in me falling off the bike, which hit the chain off the bike. The whole thing was a disaster. Some very nice bikers in the race stopped to make sure I was fine but didn't have anything for me to change my tire. I also was not aware of how to change my back tire. I know, I was very unprepared for this whole thing. A cop went by me at one point and told me "Listen, I'll be honest, you have over 5 miles left to go. You can walk it and then run 3 miles, or you can put your bike on my car and I'll drive you to the finish." I liked his logic, was totally over the race, and did not want to walk 5 miles to then run 3. So yes I quit. You can all start your lectures about how quitting is the worst thing to do. I know.

The other down side to this was I had to wait for the last biker to finish before the cop could leave that area and drive me back up. Unfortunately, Paul's parents were also there, and were waiting at the finish for me along with Paul (who had finished already). They then began to get nervous seeing the race crew bringing in the cones, signaling all bikers were in and out on the run. I'm pretty sure they thought I was dead. If you're keeping count, this is now two triathlons we're people thought I may have died during the race. The cop drove me to almost the race area and then I walked my bike a couple hundred feet past the finish and went and met up with everyone. 

Basically, the race was miserable. I was not happy, not prepared, and not a finisher. That was about the worst it could get. Paul on the other hand, did a great job and had a new PR. As usual, he kicked my ass. So that is the story of my second triathlon (also probably my last one for a little while), and my last race of the fall. My big lesson was to be more prepared before I decide to just up and do a triathlon with very little training, and also get everything I need to change a bike tire!

On an embarrassing side note..a week later I got an email from the race company that basically said "Dear Athlete, We noticed that you did not finish the event and want to make sure that you're okay. Please email us and let us know." FAIL!