Mustang 50th Half Marathon Recap

If you follow me on Twitter, Facebook, or if you read yesterday's post, then you already know that I had a great time at the Mustang 50th Half Marathon on Saturday. :)

In a nutshell, I was simply out there enjoying the course, but I also pushed myself several times throughout the race. I enjoyed the scenery and the fact I was running on the speedway! I enjoyed the conversations I had with some of the other runners on the course. No PR, but I wanted to finish around 2:15, and I came pretty close. A PR would have been 2:11.

Overall, I'm very happy with the day and the race I ran.

What's for Dinner? Week of 4/20

OMG! I can't even tell you how great I feel after yesterday's half marathon. I'll do a full review of the race tomorrow, but let me just say, that I'm feeling so energized after the race. I can't wait for the next one! Lots of times after a race, I have to kind of force myself to get back out there.

Not this time!

Which is awesome news, since I have Ragnar Zion coming up this weekend. :)

I took it pretty easy last week. I think it was what my body needed.

5 Ways to Prepare for Race Day

Tomorrow is the much anticipated Mustang 50th Half Marathon. I'm super excited to be able to participate in this ONE TIME ONLY event! You may remember that I signed up for this way back in November at the Rock n Roll Las Vegas Expo. It's part of a celebration commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Ford Mustang, one of America's greatest cars. It's seems kind of monumental but not really.

Training-wise, I'm feeling pretty decent about the race tomorrow.

But there is still plenty I need to do today to prepare for a great race tomorrow.

It's National High Five Day!

Did you know that TODAY is National High Five Day? Yep. The 3rd Thursday of April, since 2002.

Image taken from their FB page. You can also follow them on Twitter.

So, let's raise our hands today and give everyone we know (and strangers, too) a big ole HIGH FIVE!

4 Tips to Relieve Stress

Let's face it. We all have stress in our lives.  Kids, work, school, finances are just a few of the common things that may spike our stress levels.

Since we can't really avoid it, here are a few ways I like to de-stress just a bit.

Image courtesy of Janaka Dharmasena / FreeDigitalPhotos.net

What's for Dinner? Week of 4/13

Remember how I met my 100 miles goal is March? And then 2 days later I got a 5k PR? Well, somehow accomplishing those two things kind of drained my running mojo.

Does this ever happen to anyone else?

So, let's just say this past week wasn't exactly up to par.

Fitness Friday 4/11 - Race Updates

HAPPY FRIDAY!! Anyone else ready for the weekend?

It's going to be a great one! I'm hoping to get in a couple runs tomorrow, and then Jeff and I are volunteering at GREENFest. We'll be working in the Green Vehicle area from 10-2, so if you're around, come and say hello.

And then, I may join  a few girlfriends for a  GNO. :)

Definitely a fun and exciting weekend ahead.

Here are a few other things that are exciting me this morning...

Around Vegas...

April is off to a great start! No waiting until the last day to check off some of our 2014 goals. :)

On April 1st, we attended our neighbor's wedding. It was a fun little wedding at The Aria. That, in itself, could probably count as something New in 2014 (our first Vegas wedding), but after the wedding, we went to Kaya Sushi to check off our 2nd New Restaurant instead.

If you like all-you-can-eat sushi, this is the place for you!

Of course, if you know Jeff and me at all, you know we don't like fish or seafood, so sushi isn't exactly on the top of our list.

Instead, we ordered a few non-sushi items, like lettuce wraps.

Which still had fish or something in them, but I mustered my way through.

We also had a beef bowl (Jeff), teriyaki chicken (me) and bacon wrapped asparagus (Jeff). The food was pretty good (for us non-seafood/fish lovers).

I can't forget to mention the Strawberry Soju. I'm still not sure what it was - other than delicious!

We were in our own private room for the wedding party, but I got to check out the rest of the restaurant when I went to the bathroom. It was super cute and cozy looking! Almost made me wish I loved sushi because the restaurant just had a feel to it that made me want to come back again and again.

On April 4th, we headed to Ageless Ascension Day Spa. We'd bought a Groupon back in January, and thought this would be the perfect time to redeem.

Now, we've definitely had massages before, but this was our first time ever getting a couples massage.

Unfortunately, we were quite disappointed. Boooo.

We arrived 15+ minutes early for our appointment, and then had to wait for 30+ minutes after our appt time for anyone to come and get us. They did put us in a little waiting area, and that would have been fine for 10-15 minutes. But after 45+ minutes it was just annoying and kind of soured us to the whole experience.

The room was set-up nicely, and the massage therapists were nice enough, but the massages weren't nearly as good as we'd had in the past. :(

I guess not everything we try in 2014 will be winners.

We might try another couples massage, but we'd definitely want to check out a different spa.

Do you like sushi?
Ever had a couples massage?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 4/6

Last week flew by so quickly! I think it's because I had plans Mon, Tue, and Wed evenings after work, so suddenly it was Thursday! And then Friday!! :)

A week that flies by is certainly better than a week that drags on. Am I right?

With all the craziness of the week, my running did take a small hit. Here's how it looked.

Stewart & Ogden at the Downtown Grand

If you read this post, you might remember just how fast March flew by! Suddenly, it was the end of the month, and Jeff and I hadn't done anything new!

The easiest solution would be to check out a new restaurant. It would not only count for something New in 2014...

But also checks off a new restaurant (our goal is at least 3 this year).

So, on 3/31 (nothing like last minute) I jumped on Yelp and searched for nearby Hot New Businesses. Stewart & Ogden in the new Downtown Grand Hotel & Casino sounded perfect!

#LVKickOffNight 5k recap

TGIF, my friends! Actually, this week really seemed to fly by! I could hardly believe that yesterday was Thursday, and now it's Friday already. Woot woot!!

Wednesday night after work, I headed straight to Red Rock Running Company for the #LVKickOffNight 5k fun run. I arrived just in time for the group to be heading out of the store. :)

I met up with George, and we were off!

The guy leading the group started out with a much faster pace than I'd expected, but I did my best to keep up with the group. Every time I glanced down at my watch and saw sub-9:00 paces, I couldn't help but smile just a little. Turns out this was going to be a tempo run.

March in Review

Unlike January and February, March really seemed to FLY BY!! Seriously, it seems like I was just writing my February review post. Work continues to be a bit crazy and filled with lots of changes, but somehow this month it really seemed to make the time go so very fast!

Here are a few highlights from the month.

I managed to successfully run 100 miles.
Jeff and I became friends with some of our neighbors.
We watched 3 seasons of Downton Abbey.
I met some friends who were visiting Vegas for brunch and fun on the Strip.
I hit the trails a few times with George.
I tried out a few fitness studios through Yelp's Fit Club.

I feel like I'm forgetting something...

So, let's just check in with my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitnesss goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
I'm very pleased with my training this month! Like I already mentioned, I ran 100 miles and tried out some fun fitness classes. Unfortunately, I didn't really do much yoga or strength training, but it's really hard to find the time with all the running! 3 weeks until the Mustang Half Marathon and 4 weeks until Ragnar Zion! Maybe after these two races, I'll be able to scale back my running a bit to include more variety of exercise, but right now those are my main focuses.

Blogging goals
Definitely could have done better with this one in March. With running and work and spending time with Jeff, something had to give. And that something turned out to be blogging. :( Hopefully, I'll be a little more consistent in April. I need to take a moment to make a plan before April is over and I've only written handful of posts. :)

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. We still haven't chosen a tri to do yet, but Jeff did start running in March. We even ran together a couple of times.

Read 3 books together. Well, we got Amazon Prime, so we watched a little too much TV in March. *ahem* Downton Abbey *ahem*

New in 2014 and Enriching Activities. Well, it's the last day of the month, and it's our last chance to get something new in for March, so we'll be hitting up a new restaurant tonight after work to check of our New thing for March as well as one of 3 new restaurants for 2014.
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What's for Dinner? Week of 3/30

How is it possible that tomorrow is the last day of March?! This month really flew by! I hope to write a Monthly Recap post tomorrow to share some of the things that made March a pretty great month. :)

In the meantime, let's check in with last week's workout and what I'm cooking up this week.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/24

My weekends days are really getting away from me! Here is it Tuesday morning already, and I'm just now getting around to writing my weekly workout review and menu post. Argh!

Sometimes, there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day! Work has been so crazy that I'm kind of having a rough time keeping up with blogging and social media. Not that I used to do this much during work, but work + training for a half/Ragnar are really making it difficult for me to stay caught up with blogging and social media. Hopefully, I'll get my groove back soon-ish.

After such a stellar week of workouts the previous week, this one was a bit lackluster.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/16

I'm so happy I did my long run yesterday morning, because the rest of the weekend was kind of a bust. It was fun, for sure, but not exactly what you would consider productive. Sometimes, those weekends happen, am I right? :)

And, maybe it was kind of a reward for a pretty stellar week of training.

5 for Friday: Running Edition

Happy Friday! Who's ready for the weekend? I know I am!!

I've been running like crazy lately. :) Well, crazy for me. Crazy good, of course. I've got a few running things on my mind, so I thought I'd share them all with you in one quick little post.

1. Running partners. You all know how I sometimes run with my little dog Sallie. She always excited to join me and wants to go out every time I lace up my shoes, but this past week, I had a new favorite partner to join me - JEFF! He started running a bit with our neighbor and joined me for 2 miles once this week. I'm excited to start logging more miles with him.

I also joined a Twitter friend for a trail run last weekend (and maybe tomorrow). We'd never run together, and it was fun to meet up with George for a loop at Red Rock.

2. Running Story. One morning last week, I was out for my morning run. As I passed by the Convention Center, a little old security guard got my attention to say, "If he wants you to look good, he should be out here with you." That totally made me laugh. And when I told Jeff about it a few days later, he thought it was the funniest thing. Definitely blog worthy. Ha!

3. Running Shoes. I'm starting to feel like a real runner. Check out this pile of shoes. And this is just what I've left in the living room. :)

4. Running Goal. You might recall that one of my goals for 2014 is to run a sub-25 min 5k. I've got a lot of work to do! My plan at the beginning of the year was to incorporate speed work into my training. I've decided to define that a little bit more. I'm hoping to do a tempo run at least 2x each month, starting in March. Each month, I'll increase my minimum tempo pace by 15 secs, so by Dec, my tempo pace will be 8'00". For March, my goal tempo pace is 10'15". Yesterday was my first tempo run of the month, and I blew this goal out of the water with an average pace of 9'22". If I can keep this up, I'll be looking good for this 2014 goal. :)

5. Running Link. Before my tempo run yesterday, I tested out this quick pre-run yoga routine over at Oiselle. I think it really helped to loosen me up for a great run. Try it out!

I'm linking up with Jill today for Fitness Fridays. Go check out how everyone else is celebrating fitness today.

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Tuesday's Tip #8

My goodness! Tuesday's have really been sneaking up me lately! I was so good at the beginning of the year about planning out my Tuesday's Tip post over the weekend, but the past several weeks now, suddenly it's Tuesday morning. Yipes!

I didn't want to miss another week, so I'm going to share two very simple tips to being a bit more green at home.

But first, I'm being spotlighted over at Racing Bananas today! You can check it out here and then come back for my tips on being green.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/9

Wow! Where did this week go? I can't believe I didn't write a single post since Monday. :( I guess it was a busy week.

Probably from all my awesome workouts. LOL. Seriously though, I'm pretty happy with how my week turned out - even though it was a bit of a slow start after last weekend's intense workouts. I seriously was walking SO slowly on Monday it was ridiculous.

What's for Dinner? Week of 3/2

Happy Monday! Happy March!! After my run yesterday, I got so busy with food prep and cleaning that I didn't have a chance to plan my menu for this week - let alone write up a post. :) So, it's a little late, but it feels good to have a plan.

But first, here's a look at my week of workouts. Much, much better than the previous week. Yay!

March will be EPIC!

Ok. Maybe not epic, but it's definitely off to a STRONG start! I woke up early this morning to pick up some produce and bread from Bountiful Baskets and head straight to a fitness class at Unleashed Body & Mind.

The class was a freebie as part of #YelpsFitClub going on in Vegas in March. The class may have been free, but it was definitely a killer.

You know it's a good workout when your legs feel like jello at the end. (@ Unleashed Body & Mind) on #Yelp http://t.co/VlAaIsV5rw
— Clarinda (@EnjoytheCourse) March 1, 2014

With jello legs, I headed straight home, soaked in the hot tub, watched a movie, and took a nap. Yeah. I totally skipped my run, but I'll just go tomorrow instead. :)

Here are a couple of photos from after the class.

All sweaty after class

A general idea of what we did in class

And a short peek at the studio. It looks pretty well equipped for any kind of class or to work out on your own.



You can read my full review of Unleashed over on Yelp, but I really enjoyed the class, the instructor, and the studio in general. I'd definitely recommend it and hope to go again sometime.

This morning, I did have a friend from work join me, which probably made the class even better! It was loads of fun to have her at the class, and next Saturday, we'll be doing a class at SurfSet, which seems fun but INTENSE as well. Can't wait!

How did you kick off March?
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February in Review

Oh February, for being the shortest month of the year, you sure seem to have taken your sweet time this year.

Anyone else feel like the beginning of the month was a very long time ago? No? Just me? Well, I wouldn't say that February was particularly bad. Just long.

We still did some pretty fun things. Like going kite flying for the first time. We also met up with a childhood friend of mine who was in town for a convention, and had a surprise visit from my stepmom and her sister! Like I said, definitely not a bad month. :)

Time to check in on my 2014 goals.

Individual Goals

Fitnesss goals - Run Faster and Train Harder
The month started out strong. I got a PR during the 5 by the 5th virtual 5k and kept up with my fitness goals for the first week and a half of the month. And then I got a cold and decided the best thing would be to get some good solid rest. And rest I did. This week I slowly started to get back to it. It's amazing how much can be lost taking 11 days off.

Blogging goals
Time to make some adjustments. I did pretty well keeping up - even when I was sick, but I think all the themes are taking away some of my voice on the blog and getting a little tedious. I ended up skipping my Monday Listicles and Tuesday's Tip posts this week. I needed a little blogging mental break.

And a little flexibility. So, starting in March, I'm going to change to doing Tuesday's Tips only twice a month instead of weekly. Monday Listicles will become optional as well. I'll try every week, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I miss a week here or there.

Goals with Jeff

Run a Triathlon. No news on this front yet. We haven't chosen one or started training specifically, but Jeff has really started to focus on getting more active. He's been doing a LOT of yoga, and yesterday he even went for a short run around our apt complex. We have to tackle this goal on our own terms, but I'm still confident that we'll get one in this year.

Read 3 books together. Haven't started this one yet, either. But the year is still young, as they say. Perhaps we'll start in March. Who knows? :)

New in 2014 and Enriching Activities. We went kite flying! This was both a New in 2014 activity AND an outdoors activities. :-D

I'm definitely OK with how February turned out - even if it felt a little long and slow going at times. :)

How was your February? 
Did you try anything new and fun?
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Let's Go Fly a Kite!

I can't believe it's taken me so long to write this post about our little adventure.

Did you know that Feb 8th was National Kite Flying Day? I had no idea! But I decided it would be a perfect opportunity to try something New in 2014 and bonus that it could also count as checking off one of our outdoor activities for the year, too!

I've never been kite flying. I can't really ever remember going as a kid - and definitely never as an adult, so we ordered a kite from Amazon and eagerly awaited it's arrival.

I'd read that Ivanapah Dry Lake was one of the best places to go kite flying in the country, and it was just over in Primm - less than an hour away. So, we grabbed a few snacks and headed out for a kite flying adventure.

Sallie is the most comfortable when sitting on the driver's lap.

Primm, NV, is barely a town. It's more like a couple of casinos and an outlet mall right on the border of NV and CA. There was no official entrance to get to the Dry Lake - just a little break in a fence. No sign. Nothing to indicate that we were there. There happened to be a security guard in the parking lot of Whiskey Pete's, and he told us that he sees lots of people entering through that break in the fence. So weird!

But once we were inside, there were definitely Bureau of Land Management signs, so we knew we were in the right place.

Putting the kite together is a bit more complicated than I expected, but it's a breeze once you've done it a couple times.

Unfortunately, Mother Nature apparently didn't get the memo that it was National Kite Flying Day. THERE WAS PRACTICALLY NO WIND! Which is obviously something very important when it comes to flying a kite.

We were able to get it airborne a couple times.

And had a total blast running around and trying to fly our new kite.

Sallie did not agree. Twice she ran back to the car to escape the huge flying creature in the sky that kept dive bombing. It hadn't really occurred to us how the kite would be perceived by her.

She sought the safety of the car and even jumped inside for protection!

She's all smiles now that she's in the safety of the driver's seat.

Here's a little video I shot of our adventure.



And here's a little Auto Awesome video that Google put together for us. Gotta love Google! :)



We felt kind of bad about freaking out Sallie so much, but we had a total blast! We definitely hope to do it again, but we'll leave her at home next time. And make a day out of it by checking out the rest of Primm (i.e. the roller coaster at Buffalo Bill's).

Have you ever gone kite flying?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 2/23

This is going to be the shortest weekly workout and menu planning post EVER.

Sunday - Saturday - REST

Yep. You read that right. I didn't do one ounce minute of exercise this past week. This little cold is kicking my pa-tootie. Ugh! I've been so wiped out and tired, and I'm not seeming to get much better, but I'm going to try to start up again tomorrow anyway. We'll see how it goes...

Instead of breaking down meals for each day, I'm just going to make a few soups this week. Each one will probably last us about 2-3 days.

Here are three I'm thinking about making. Or using for inspiration.



I'm linking up with Laura over at Mommy Run Fast and Jill at Fitness, Health, & Happiness. Go check out what everyone else is cooking up this week. Probably something more exciting than my 3 soups.

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5 for Friday

I hate that I'm being so whiny about this stinking cold. In some ways, it's gotten better, but in other ways it's gotten worse. I am really looking forward to the weekend, so I can sleep and rest and consume a LOT of liquids. :)

For Fitness Friday, I thought I'd share a few of the blog posts I've pinned in the past week. Click on the pics to go to the post.

Kristin at Exploring Domesticity shares her thoughts on week 2 of the Move, Nourish, Believe Challenge. I loved this image that she created. I know I need to remember this more often.

Three Things Thursday - 2/19

Even with a sick day on Monday, this week seems to really be dragging. Maybe because I'm still sick?? It's been a little slow at work, which I'm counting as a blessing, because I know it never lasts very long.

I've got 3 really exciting things to share with you today.

1. Lora over at Crazy Running Girl chose me to be one of the 50 Faces of Fitness!


How awesome is that?! Head over to her blog to read a little more about ME. LOL. And check out the other Faces of Fitness.

How to Get Over a Cold Quickly

The cold season is in full force! What is the fastest way to get rid of a cold? Here are my best tips.

10 things I have memorized

Good morning! Just wanted to say THANK YOU for all the get well soon wishes I received yesterday. I wish I could say I was on the mend already, but instead I stayed home from work today to let my body rest a bit more. Hope to be feeling much better tomorrow after a solid day of rest. :)

Now, for Monday Listicles....

When I first heard the topic for this week's Monday Listicles, I thought, I don't have anything memorized! Then it occurred to me that I have a LOT of passwords memorized. The tricky part is remembering which password works for which application.

10 PASSWORDS I HAVE MEMORIZED

1. Work computer
2. Work email account
3. Billing software
4. Billing applications
5. Ad server password
6. Voicemail
7. Personal email accounts
8. Social Media accounts
9. Financial accounts
10. Jeff's accounts

What are some things you have memorized?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 2/16

Happy Sunday!! I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine's Day weekend, and those of you who have tomorrow off for President's Day, I'm super jealous enjoy your long weekend.

I got hit with a nasty cold around Thursday, and it's continually getting a bit worse as the weekend has progressed. Let's just say that's why my workouts really petered off towards the end of the week. I'm sure it wasn't laziness at all.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day + Friday = AWESOME

Well, except that I am getting sick. Sucking on a cough drop right now to soothe my scratchy throat. :-( Booo.

We don't really have any plans tonight. Just gonna make dinner and have a nice low key evening. Maybe watch a movie. We're all kinds of crazy, I know.

Tuesday's Tip #6

If you haven't linked up for Wear Red Selfies, we're leaving the linky open for a few more days.

For today's Tuesday's Tip, let's talk Easy Ways to Be Active Everyday.

Exercise is very important for a healthy heart. It helps in weight loss, reduces blood pressure and bad cholesterol, and relieves stress. Obviously, I'm a runner and that's my go-to exercise of choice, but let's face it. We all get busy at times, and sometimes we just can't squeeze in a run or a workout.

But you know what? You're probably still getting some exercise and doing what you can, when you can totally counts!

10 Things in Our Apt Which Needed to be Fixed

When we moved into our apartment, they let us move in 10 days early. Even though we'd been watching the progress by the maintenance men, we were assured that it would be in move-in condition.

We were wrong.

Here is a list of the top 10 things that weren't fixed when we moved in:

1. Toilets wouldn't flush properly
2. Broken window
3. Cabinet under kitchen sink was broken and hanging askew
4. Walls needed to be painted
5. Water damage in spare room
6. Stove has mismatched oven racks and burner pans
7. Dishwasher was mildewy and wouldn't drain properly
8. Screen door to the patio was missing
9. Weather stripping was worn and incorrectly installed
10. Window pane needed to be sealed in place

And it only took SEVEN months, and a LOT of follow-up from Jeff, to get everything fixed or replaced. :-)



The theme for this week's Monday Listicles came from Christine. Now, why not head on over to Stasha's to read everyone else's lists.
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What's for Dinner? Week of 2/9

Thanks to everyone who suggested I keep track of my workouts old school - with pen and paper. Brilliant! I picked up a cute little calendar last Sunday, and it worked pretty well.

I still hope to log my workouts in DailyMile, but now if I don't have time to turn on the computer after my workout, I can still jot down a couple notes in my calendar and update DailyMile later

Monday - 3 mile run. Time - 27:03; Pace - 9:03.  This was Day 1 of my new training schedule. Just took it easy and enjoyed the run. I'd intended on hitting the treadmill, but I couldn't get into the workout room. :( I had to come back to my apartment and add some additional layers to run outside.

Arms - 15 dips; 15 countertop push-ups; 15 overhead presses (no weights).  I forgot about doing an arm workout until I was about to jump in the shower, so I did just a couple super quick reps right there in the bathroom.

Tuesday - StrongStride DVD. Program 1.

Wednesday - #5bythe5th 5k. Read more about it in this post.

Thursday - 15 minute partner stretch yoga. 2.5 hours shopping. I skipped yoga in the morning in favor of doing yoga with Jeff after work. Unfortunately, I also decided to go shopping for some Red for National Wear Red Day after work, so by time I got home from my little shopping trip, we only had time for 15 min of yoga.

Friday - 3+ hours walking the Strip. I was supposed to do StrongStride this morning, but blogged instead - Red Wear Selfies for National Wear Red Day. My evening didn't go as planned, but we finally met up with my friend around 9-9:30 and walked a LOT through several of the casinos. I did not wear appropriate walking shoes, so I was in a lot of pain by the time we got home.

Saturday - REST. We did drive to Primm, NV, in the afternoon for our first attempt at kite flying. {post coming soon} It wasn't really windy enough, so there was a bit of walking/running involved. More for Jeff than for me.

Sunday - 4 miles. Yoga. Since I didn't get in my run yesterday, I'll be heading out this morning. Just after I publish this post. Jeff and I will do some yoga together this afternoon. Yay!

So, that's how the week went. Could have been better, but definitely nothing to complain about.

Now, let's check out what I'm hoping to eat this coming week.

I finally remembered to order Bountiful Baskets for pickup yesterday. It was getting ridiculous. Our fridge was so bare, and I needed some fresh produce. We got lots of yummy stuff yesterday, and I'm excited to try it out for dinner this week.

Sunday - Baked penne with leeks and cheese



Monday - Leftovers

Tuesday - Zucchini burgers



Wednesday - Penne with asparagus. I'm not a fan of asparagus at all, but we got two bunches in our Bountiful Basket. Jeff loves asparagus, so I'm hoping this recipe with be tasty for both of us.



Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Slow Cooker Lasagna. I didn't get around to making this last week, so I thought it would be perfect for Valentine's Day! We're going to have a date night at home. I'm hoping to make a couple sides with this, too. Asparagus for Jeff; Zucchini for me.

Saturday - TBD

I'm linking up with Laura over at Mommy Run Fast and Jill at Fitness, Health, & Happiness. Go check out what everyone else is cooking up this week.

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Wear RED Selfies

Happy Friday and Happy National Wear Red Day!

National Wear Red Day is in its 11 year. Wow! I first heard of it back in the beginning years. I can't remember which year, but there was a big deal made about it on General Hospital (one my of guilty pleasures that Jeff doesn't share). That year, all month long they focused on heart disease awareness. Well, focused might be a strong word, but it was mentioned a lot. :-)

That's honestly when I first started becoming aware of the problem of heart disease. Crazy, right?

So, today I'm wearing red.

Why?

#1 - Red is one of my favorite colors. So bold. So powerful. Oddly, I didn't have much red in my closest, so I went shopping last night for something new. What do you think?

#2 - Heart disease is still the #1 killer of women. Too many women are unaware of their risks and the facts. By wearing red, I can help by raising awareness and starting the conversation. Plus it gives me something to blog about.

I don't really have a great story. I don't have a history of heart disease in my family. None of the women in my life have been affected by heart disease, to my knowledge.

That doesn't mean I'm risk-free and safe. It doesn't mean my loved ones are either.

I'm wearing red to remind myself to make healthy choices. And hopefully inspire others to take their health into their own hands as much as possible.

<a href="http://www.enjoyingthecourse.com"><img border=”0″ src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqzWPWg0I0kJ6PlpFwAk8uKvdy28GsBKs47EJ7gS2EoDAcy4MzLMz0THLygyh5PBc25KnqnIyxvWWeTLg0WK2l-B3wlZCKLmos6cKbUqyRzivtfrQ0BQOPOEqL0lR-IIVe8QSKK0iKzuj/s1600/national-wear-red-day.jpg"/></a>

Don't have a blog? Just want to share a picture instead of a whole post? You can still join us for Wear Red Selfies. Just upload a picture to your favorite social media platform using hashtag #wearredselfies. Then come back here to add your photo to the linky. Most likely the linky won't be able to pull the image from the URL of your photo, so you'll need to either upload your image or enter the URL of the image (not the post). Let me know if you have any questions or have issues adding your link/image.
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Three Things Thursday 2/6

This week seems to really be flying by! I can hardly believe it's already Thursday. Yay!! Almost Friday. :-)

I've got a few exciting things to share!

1. I ran the first race for this round of #5bythe5th virtual race series and GOT A PR! I waited until the 5th to run it because I had a tempo run on schedule for the 5th and thought that would be perfect! Turns out it was! It was only in the 40s, so I wore my new Crazy Compression sleeves and a LS shirt. I was still cold, but I think that made me run a bit faster. I was listening to one of my favorite Rock My Run mixes - Grrl Power. I tried to use the music to push me faster instead of just singing along. Whenever I was tempted to sing, I thought, If you can sing, you can run faster. So instead of singing, I'd run faster.

Here are the numbers:

Total Time	27:04
Avg Pace	8:49 min/mile
Mile 1	8:38 min
Mile 2	8:45 min
Mile 3	8:41 min
3.1	:59 min

I was pleasantly surprised - not only with the PR, but with actually pushing myself to run a tempo run. This is probably one of the few races I feel like I actually raced. With a goal of getting a sub-25:00 5k, I need to keep up with the tempo runs (and other speed work), but I feel like I'm heading in the right direction.

2. Don't forget that tomorrow is National Wear Red Day! Katie at From Ice Cream to Marathon and I are co-hosting a little linky party to celebrate - Wear Red Selfies. Be sure and stop back by tomorrow to share your selfie and why you're wearing red. For more information on heart disease and National Wear Red Day, visit goredforwomen.org.

Feel free to snag this little button for your post.

<a href="http://www.enjoyingthecourse.com"><img border=”0″ src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZqzWPWg0I0kJ6PlpFwAk8uKvdy28GsBKs47EJ7gS2EoDAcy4MzLMz0THLygyh5PBc25KnqnIyxvWWeTLg0WK2l-B3wlZCKLmos6cKbUqyRzivtfrQ0BQOPOEqL0lR-IIVe8QSKK0iKzuj/s1600/national-wear-red-day.jpg"/></a>
If you're not a blogger and still want to link up with us, you can still link up. I'll tell you how in tomorrow's post.

3. Jeff and I have some exciting plans for this weekend! I posted a teaser pic on Instagram last night. Can you guess what we'll be doing? Hint: I has nothing to do with the bikes in the background of the picture.

What's exciting you today?
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Tuesday's Tip #5

How to Customize Blockquotes in Blogger (pt 2)

In last week's Tuesday's Tip post, I shared with you how to customize your blockquotes by adding borders and background colors.

This week, let's tackle adding an image.

In my Tips for Drinking More Water post, you may have noticed I added a little bell and a question mark to my blockquotes. You might want to add something similar. Or a quotation mark, if your blockquote is actually a quotation. :)

1. The first thing you'll want to do is find the image you want to use. Or create something of your own. I'd suggest an image no more than 40px by 40px.

2. Upload the image to wherever you usually host your images. Or to a post to have Google host it for you.

Now for the coding of the blockquote.

<blockquote style="background: url('http://yourimage.png'); background-repeat: no-repeat; min-height: 45px; padding-left: 45px;">Enter your text here.</i></blockquote>

You can add a fun image like quotations marks or a bell or whatever would fit with the blockquote and your post.

3. Copy/paste this coding into the HTML tab of your post.

4. Replace http://yourimage.png with the URL of the image you uploaded earlier.

5. Depending on the size of your image, you made need to adjust the min-height and/or the padding-left.
Increase the min-height if the image you're using isn't fully showing.
Increasing the padding-left will move the text to the right, so it doesn't overlap the image. Unless you want it to, of course.
You may need to check the Preview of the post several times to get it looking just how you want it.

6. That's it. You're ready to publish. :)

NOTE: Do NOT switch back to Compose mode!

For some unknown reason that I can't figure out, Blogger moves the background-repeat: no-repeat; attribute to the beginning of the coding. When it's in front of the background: url('http://yourimage.png'); attribute, it disregards the no-repeat command and repeats your image over and over again. No bueno.

To avoid this, I'd suggest composing your entire post and adding the image to your blockquote as the final step.

I find the easiest way to do this is to write your post in Compose. Click on the Quotation Mark (3rd icon from the right) to begin the formatting of the blockquote. When your post is all finished, and you're ready to add your image, switch to HTML mode. Do a Ctrl+F for <blockquote class="tr_bq> to quickly find where your blockquote begins. Delete class="tr_bq" and replace it with the coding explained earlier.

Be sure and Publish from HTML mode.

If for some reason, you need to switch to Compose after adding your image, just be sure to Publish from HTML mode after you've moved the background-repeat: no-repeat; attribute after your image URL, so it matches the coding above.

It seems a bit complicated, but once you try it, it's really pretty simple. Give it a try! If you do, please let me know. Feel free to leave a comment with the URL to your post or share it with me on Twitter, Facebook, or G+.
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It's Monday! Time for another listicle. This week we're talking guilty pleasures, as suggested by Phoebe over at In Momopause.

Don't deny it. We all have at least a few guilty pleasures. Here's a list of 9 that Jeff and I share.

9 Guilty Pleasures

1. Chocolate. Really any form will do.

2. Driving Genie. This one is more me than Jeff, but we both really love driving our Scion iQ - even though we know we should bike more often and to more places.

3. Bread. Pretty much the same as chocolate. We could easily eat bread in just about any form. Sourdough. Whole wheat. Oat. Banana. Muffins. Dinner rolls. Etc. Etc.

4. Sallie. We love everything her. Her big black eyes melt our hearts. We snuggle with, and dote on, her more often than we maybe should.

5. TV. This one is a little more Jeff than me, but we both get sucked way too easily into TV and suddenly the night or weekend is over.

6. Shopping. Not together, but it's a weakness of both of us. He prefers to shop online; I prefer to go to a store. Either way, we can get sucked into browsing and spending money.

7. Travel. We LOVE to travel, but it's not without a little guilty. Guilt at spending money, but also guilt at leaving Sallie behind.

8. Dinner and Drinks. Pretty much the same reasons as for Travel. It's fun while we're out, but not without a little bit of guilt.

9. Fast Food. We've gotten much better about this over the past month or so, but sometimes those fries are just irresistible.

That's all we could come up with. We each have a couple guilty pleasures on our own, but nothing too crazy.

What is your #1 guilty pleasure?
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What's for Dinner? Week of 2/2

Did you notice that I didn't include my weekly workout recap in my Friday post? It had a good run in January, but I've decided to move the workout recaps to Sundays. Just makes more sense to me. :)

Last week wasn't the greatest, and I've definitely got to get my act together this week!

Sunday - A little yoga.
Monday - 20 sun salutations. 1.91 mile run. 2 moon salutations.
Tuesday - 28 sun salutations.
Wednesday - 2 mile run.
Thursday - I wanna say I did some sun salutations in the morning, but I'm having trouble remember back that far.
Friday - REST
Saturday - REST

My Sun & Moon Salutations challenge didn't go quite a well as I'd hoped. I really started slacking on it as the reps got into the double digits. Not sure why I have so much difficulty sticking to month-long challenges.

Also wanted to give a huge THANK YOU to everyone who attempted even a couple days of the challenge with me. If you took the challenge, I hope you enjoyed it and got some benefit from it.

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I've got to figure out a way to track my workouts better, so when Sundays roll around, I can remember what I did that week! I used to used DailyMile pretty avidly, but haven't been lately. Maybe I need to get back to that.

As I mentioned on Friday, tomorrow starts the beginning of a new training cycle. I really, really want to be diligent with this, so I've got to make the commitment to workout 1st thing in the morning. I've got some pretty big blogging goals this year, but working out is probably more important.  I'm going to try to keep up with both, but blogging might have to give a little.

That said, I've got a lot of great ideas for blogging in February, so hopefully I'll be able to manage both. :)

Since I'm starting my new training cycle tomorrow AND it's the first week of the month, which means work will be crazier than usual, I'm keeping this week's menu super simple!

Sunday - Beans and rice. I may experiment trying to make this in the slow cooker.

Monday - Out for dinner. An old friend is in town for a convention, and I'm super excited to meet up with her. Let's just say it's been MANY years.

Here's a picture of the two of us back in 1989.

Tuesday - Leftovers

Wednesday - Slow Cooker Lasagna. This recipe comes from Katie at From Ice Cream to Marathon. I tried it earlier this year, and it was delicious. I might tweak it to make it vegetarian this time around and maybe add in a little squash that needs to be used.

Thursday - Leftovers

Friday - Leftovers

Saturday - TBD

I'm linking up with Laura over at Mommy Run Fast and Jill at Fitness, Health, & Happiness. Go check out what everyone else is cooking up this week.

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Celebrate American Heart Month

Did you know that February is American Heart Month? I've always found that to be so fitting for the month of LOVE. :)

Here are FIVE easy ways to CELEBRATE this month.

Educate yourself. There are a lot of resources out there to help you better understand disease and how to reduce your risks. I wrote a couple helpful posts last year (here and here) and hope to have a few more out to you in 2014. Check out these websites for lots of great info and tips:

• American Heart Assocation
• National Heart Lung and Blood Institute
• Go Red For Women
• Women Heart
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

National Wear Red Day. This is the first Friday of every February. Feb 7th this year. It's been going on for more than 10 years now. Visit goredforwomen.org for more info. It's really a small thing, but it can help start a conversation about heart disease. Macy's is actually a pretty huge sponsor of Go Red for Women. Check out their page for tips and, of course, a Go Red Sale - complete with a 20% off coupon.

#MyHeart28. Join The Heart Truth for 28 days of challenges to help you reduce your risk of heart disease. Check them out on Facebook and Pinterest for the daily challenge + more tips and inspiration.

Taken from their Facebook page

Heart of Style Tour. Women Heart and Burlington Coat Factory have teamed up for a Heart of Style Tour. Check their calendar to see if they'll be stop in a city near you. The tour starts in February and runs until the end of March. They're not coming to Vegas, so I'll be following along on Facebook and Twitter: #HeartOfStyle

Be active. Walk, run, bike, hike. Ski, snowboard, snowshoe. Just get outside and get moving. Go on a Healthy Challenge Scavenger Hunt. Laugh. Play. HAVE FUN!!

These are just a few of the things I've found this morning with a couple quick Google searches.

What's your favorite way to celebrate American Heart Month?
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Note: This is not a sponsored post nor does it contain any sponsored links. Macy's and Burlington Coat Factory have no idea I'm writing this nor do any of the other organizations mentioned in this post. All information was gleaned from what I could find on Google and then visiting websites and social media.