Tag Archives: half

The Train Is Back In The Station

Just returned from about 3 days in Vegas.

This is the third year in a row that we’ve gone in early December. We love it and it’s great to see Sin City decked out in holiday bling, but I must admit that it’s a hard time of the year to be away from home even if it is for just a few days. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, but I was thinking about the 150 Christmas cards that needed to be addressed {that I was SUPPOSED to get out before we left} and the baking that I need to start and the gift for the sweet boy that I need to get together for Jay to put under his work tree…

But the Vegas craziness is behind us and we can now refocus on the holiday hustle & bustle.

I must report that Jay ROCKED the Rock N Roll half marathon which was held after dark this year ~ pretty awesome, but pretty crowded.

Lining up in his corral

It was cah-ray-zee!

If you’re an elite runner or take your running seriously, you probably don’t want to run this race. This is more of a fun, wear a tutu, get married along the route kind of race….we ARE in Vegas after all. Jay really tried to beat his PR, but with the amount of people on the course, it was difficult.

And only in Vegas will you see a caged tiger at the starting line…

*****

And a visit to the strip wouldn’t be complete without a trip to the new{ish} Sugar Factory.

A fun place to visit at least once.

Loading up on gummy dinosaurs…

Not too soon after this, you could find him alternating between sips of milk and a gummy….parenting fail or not??!!??

Oh and the tooth fairy flew into town, found our hotel and slipped a few dollars under Elliott’s pillow…

It was quite the 3 days!

A huge THANK YOU to my sweet in-laws for meeting us over there and celebrating with us.

*****

I missed you all and promise to post regularly now!

Starting on my holiday goodies SOON and have a couple Pinte{recipes} up my sleeve for this week.

Happy 40-sumpin’ Birthday to my other half today, too.

Love you, babe!

XO

Hydrating

I’m bad at drinking water on a daily basis.

When I run or workout, I drink LOTS.

But the “8 glasses a day”…..not so good at it.

I need to hydrate and carb load the next couple days….that’s what the seasoned runners do. 😉

I tried this little pre-race concoction and it’s delish:

Cranberry Pomegranate Emergen-C

+

Vitamin Water ZERO Squeezed {lemonade}

=

Cold fighting, energy boosting, nutrient rich beverage!

Now to get the regular H2O stuff in my body, too!

On another note, I have a pain in the neck. Must’ve tweaked it last night in my sleep. I have to do the whole “turn your entire body” thing when I drive because my neck is so stiff! Ugh….heating pad where are you?

Could be worse.

T-minus 2 days and counting!

DEEP breaths.

Hopeful

I’m so glad Jay decided to run the Santa Clarita Half Marathon yesterday.

{He’s actually in this pic in the back of the pack}

Not only am I so proud of him and his time, but it also got me excited for the Vegas Rock & Roll.

Yes, I may have bitten off more than I can chew considering I have never even done a 5K.

And yes, I should have maybe joined a Team In Training group instead of “training” myself {hilarious, I know!}.

But I know I can do it.

I have 4 hours to complete the 13.1 miles.

Yes, I have done the math and that is an 18 minute mile.

My {goal} is to maintain a 15 minute mile throughout. That will put me at 3 hours and 15 minutes. I got some good insoles. The course is flat. It’ll be chilly. I think I can do it.

It will be close, but my goal is just to finish and get my paws on that medal.

After the morning of December 5, 2010, I may never want to run another 10 feet in my life or I may want to sign up for the one here in SC each year.

I won’t know until I TRY.

Please someone tell me that once you hear that gunshot signaling the start and are amongst the crowd, in the heat of the {half marathon} moment, that you find the will to keep putting one foot in front of the other…narrowing the 13.1 down to 12, down to 11 and so on. The spectators, the bands, the glory of finishing MUST take over and carry you through when you think you cannot go on, right?

Hoping the “runner’s high” hits me HARD!

I am hopeful that all things will come together and I will step on that pad, be proud of my time and be changed forever.

Beat The Runner

We wanted to cheer Jay on along the way this morning.

Fortunately we caught him at two locations before the finish line, but it wasn’t easy.

I forgot the stroller to I had to hustle with Holden on one arm, the camera on the other AND our banner!

But we made it and loved seeing Jay looking so strong at the 8.5-9 mile mark…

From here, we raced back to the car and sped down to the 12 mile mark and waited there.

Elliott & Emilie helped distribute water to the runners:

This sweet couple held the sign so I could take pictures:

Jay was behind a few people and I couldn’t get a good shot.

From here we RACED to the car and made it to the finish line just in time to see him cross. Again, couldn’t get a good pic.

But he finished and did great ~ just shy of 2:35.

His first half marathon under his belt.

Scott celebrated his birthday by running 13.1…

{Happy Birthday, Scott!}

{Notice Holden’s banana phone}

*****

We’re SO proud of you, Babe!

I’m next…4 weeks from today.

Yikes!

Just add an hour onto his time and that is what I’m shooing for! As long as I’m not the LAST one across the finish line I’ll be happy.

Better get running…literally.

*****

Hope you had a marathon of a weekend!

7am Start

Jay is just about to start running in his first half marathon.

He’s fueled with whole wheat pasta, steel cut oats, half a PowerBar and some Powerade…

{whole wheat spaghetti, lemon grilled chicken, feta cheese, marinated artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, fresh garlic & olive oil}

Elliott, Holden and a couple of their little friends made a big butcher paper sign. Holden put some finishing touches on it this morning…

The race passes by a little stretch at the bottom of our hill. We’re trying to time it so that we can cheer Jay on between the 8 and 9 mile mark. Then off to the finish line to greet him.

Good Luck, Babe!

Go show that 13.1 who’s boss!

*****

Racing For Rosettes

With my newfound love for making rosettes along with a sweet woman who stopped me and complimented my novice work, I decided that I am going to spread awareness and try to raise some money for CCFA. Next month’s Zappos.com Rock ‘n’ Roll Las Vegas Marathon & 1/2 is benefitting the Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation Of America.

{Did I mention that I am attempting the half…key word ~ attempting!}

I am rolling rosettes like mad and am going to be giving them as a thank you for those who would like to make a donation.

With each $5 donation to CCFA, you will receive a large rosette of your choice to add flair to just about anything…

a simple ribbed tank

a tee

a hat

a scarf

a handbag

a throw pillow

a Christmas stocking

They certainly make an ordinary, everyday casual outfit pop!

I will have some pins, magnets, headbands and I also have one pair of raspberry maryjanes {size 10 ~ they run small} with 2 zebra rosettes on each.

{I cannot take credit at all for these darling shoes…I saw them here and fell in love! Then I spotted them on clearance at Target and grabbed a couple pairs to experiment with. They turned out super cute!}

I made some hair clips, too:

I also picked up some bangles and took some rosettes and a glue gun to them:

Elastic headbands:

{back}

Refrigerator magnets:

*****

I apologize for this post being all over the place, bad photos, etc. but I just wanted to share my fundraising attempts as fast as possible!

Several people have stopped me and asked about these rosettes, so I figured I’d just glue them onto anything that isn’t nailed down and carry them around and when someone asks, I can pull them out and see if they’re interested!

Wouldn’t hurt, right?

If you’re local and want to check them out, contact me and we can meet up.

If you’re afar, let me know and we can work out some payment and shipping arrangements.

I will be in SD for Turkey Day so I will be pedaling my wares then, too! 😉

Thanks for looking and let me know what you like/don’t like…I just made a bunch of stuff not knowing what will be a hit and what won’t. I’m flying by the seat of my pants here!

So, start your holiday shopping and benefit CCFA at the same time!

Many thanks and much love!

Will Jog For Java

Well, yesterday morning I did it.

I left the “comfort” of our neighborhood and ran {aka slow jog} to Starbucks while Jay pulled the kiddos in our new bike trailer.

As the crow flies, Starbucks is 2.5 miles, but we took the paseo route which I estimate added about half a mile or so.

I jogged the whole way except for a few minutes when we “got lost” on the paseo and had to back track.

Here I am envisioning a venti iced americano….

It was a start.

I have a long way to go to get to 13.1 miles.

I felt good and could’ve kept going…

The kids & Jay were so cute, cheering me on from time to time.

“Hi Mommy!” ~ so sweet.

Jay Sean, Miley, Katy Perry and Maxwell were just a few that also helped me out along the way!

Ran about 3/4 of a mile on the way home and power walked the rest.

I’ll go for 4+ miles this week….

December 5th will be here before you know it!

Getting To The Point

I have to admit, lately I’ve not been as focused on my good eating habits and workout regimen as I had hoped to be.

A bag of pretzel or coconut M&M’s here….

A Monday evening glass (or two) of wine during “The Bachelorette” there…

A trip to Red Robin for Elliott’s graduation…

Too many Tootsie Rolls…

But, as of today, Monday, June 14th, 2010, I am going to “turn over a new leaf”, start with a clean slate, whatever….

I’m returning to the Weight Watchers point system and I am going to have you all be my witnesses and hold me accountable.

Each day, at the bottom of my regular post, I’ll include a brief summary of the foods I consumed and the point value assigned to them along with what I did exercise-wise. I know this may sound boring, but it will help me stay on track so I won’t be tempted as much because I am a TERRIBLE liar and so I will not sit here and say that I ate a rice cake when I really ate a double Whopper.

What I post that I ate, I ate.

I will also mention that in the interest of “all things in moderation” I will tend to splurge on the weekends. So when you see some good stuff on Saturday & Sunday, don’t think that I am slippin’….it’s just that I refuse to go through life saying that I will never eat another cheeseburger or ice cream cone or drink another margarita. That’s just not me, BUT I can eat clean and put in extra time at the gym or run during the week, but “enjoy life” a little during the weekends. I’ve done it before and I can do it again.

According to WW, I should consume 26 points per day. I am going to stick to 25 for now and then revisit in a month or so.

With that said, I am looking forward to my oatmeal and 1/2 banana this morning along with my coffee with MEASURED Coffee-mate!

Thanks for helping me get in shape for the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon in early December.

I promise there will still be fun posts and still some yummy recipes, though!

So, please…..if you visit flipflopfollies.com for the food, please be assured that I will still be baking and cooking and grilling! I may just have to learn how to make all sorts of awesome goodies to share with you all and NOT touch them myself!

Again, thank you for your support.

Happy Monday!

13.1

OK…I’m putting it out there so I have NO excuses.

I am planning on signing up for the Las Vegas Rock N Roll Half Marathon on December 5, 2010.

We were in Vegas last weekend when this was going on. I thought, “If The Biggest Loser peeps can do a FULL marathon, then I can certainly do a half with almost a year to prepare, right?”

So, there you have it. It’s out there and now I HAVE to do it!

Maybe I should ask for these from Santa this year:

nike-air-max-running-shoes13.1 miles…here I come!

Peppermint Brownies tomorrow ~ I promise! (Had to commit to the half-marathon first!)