Recapping….again

It’s really hard to go back to blogging after not blogging for a couple of days.

Because I feel like I should catch you all up on my life but everything just keeps happening. The list of everything I need to tell you guys gets longer and longer and then I start forgetting the first things. Also I hate the idea of this being an online diary. I do realize that I talk a lot about what’s going on in my life and all that and that’s fine I guess but I DON’T want this to just be like an online diary for me. Because I have read some of my old diaries and they are boring and embarrassing for ME! So, I know how much MORE boring it would be for you all to read and I want to interest you.

Anyways.

With that said. I am going to give you a quick update:

I ran a PR with my 5K distance on Wednesday: 23 minutes even. That was awesome. This past week has been full of running ups and downs. I mean: I ran 6 miles on Monday. Then I PR’d on Wednesday! Of course, on Saturday I slogged out three merciless miles. Which was death. And then today, in an attempt to get a head start burning off all the Easter merriment, I ran two more miles with James. It was very sickening. To say the least. 😛 Anyways, but, because of those extra five miles, I ended up running a total of fourteen miles this week which is awesome because if I am going to complete my New Year’s Resolution of running 500 miles this year , I have to run nine miles each week. And when I was sick all those weeks in January I got REALLY REALLLY REALLLLY behind. 🙂 So far, I’ve run 85.4 miles which means I am behind my 9-mile-a-week schedule by 30.6 miles. Darn. That’s just a little disheartening.

What I’m hoping is that once I get more into marathon training I will start logging fifteen to twenty miles and catch up in no time.

Anyways. I had a fantastic Easter, full of fun, friendship and food. That is an example of alliteration at its very very best.

But seriously. I do do do love Easter. We go to this AMAZING Easter Vigil that lasts until midnight and we sing and dance and scream and praise God. It is so exciting. I absolutely adore it and I look forward to it every year. It’s the best in the world. I wish I could explain it but I wouldn’t do it justice. It’s just too amazing for words. Ask Li or Abby if you don’t believe me!

And then today, I woke up and partied. 60 percent of what I ate today was sugar. SICKENING. It was. But, hey, it’s only once a year. It was a beautiful day. I remember LOTS of Easters where the weather has been freezing but last year and this year was tanning weather, i.e. shorts and sleeveless. If I believed in global warming, I would say this was a pretty good example of it. But I’m not complaining. I will take this weather all the time, thank you! 🙂

Also, I am pretty excited because I might get to travel on down to LA this summer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And I just basically treated this as an online diary didn’t I!? Well, technically I didn’t because I would have written in more detail if this was my diary.  But I did tell you all about my past life instead of talking about something more interesting. Like. Well actually that’s basically what I talk about. But I guess you guys like it! 🙂

That’s all for today. I will be back again tomorrow! 🙂 Sorry I left you all hanging for so long (FIVE DAYS!! *GASP*) Hope you all had an amazing Easter! 🙂

 

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Rest Day

Hmm… what to write about today.

Truthfully, all I really did today was read books and eat food.

Truthfully.

Well, I worked out this morning (of course!!) and I went on a walk with my brother. And I did some school.

And then I went to the library, got about seven books, and read and ate food for the rest of the day.

It was very nice.

Well, we didn’t really have any GOOD food. And by GOOD food I mean sugar. Because we had this really good creamy soup for dinner.

No M&M’s. No Oreos. No nothing.

The only thing even remotely close to being classified as sugar is this trail mix we have which is: 90% cranberries and raisins, 8% almonds and walnuts, and 2% chocolate chunks. Yum? (It actually is kinda good although I am NOT a big fan of dried fruit, especially cranberries and raisins… BLECH!!!)

So, what did I eat? Trail mix and an old candy cane.

I have fallen so far.

😉

For the record, old candy canes should not count as sugar either.

Why on earth do I complain about this so much??

I must find something new to talk about.

Oh well, all I really did today was read… like I already said… so I really have nothing to tell you. No slightly humorous stories to tell. So I think I’m going to go re-plan my closet!! That’ll be fun. And if all else fails, I’ll go join the pick-up basketball game outside!! 😉

Have a good rest of your day all! 🙂

 

 

Girly-Girl Runner

I don’t like to think of myself as a girly-girl. And I really don’t think I am. Give me skinny-jeans and a t-shirt and I’ll be happy.

But I feel like my inner girly-ness is showing through my running fashion.

I have to admit that I have always been a little obsessed with those cute spandex running skorts. But that’s only because I have a bit of a fascination with mini-skirts…seeing as I’ve never been allowed to wear them. Generally I will just wear a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

My favorite fantasy running outfit would have to be my cute black running capris and my sparkly grey athletic shirt. That’s not really girly (except for the glitter). It looks more…chic, professional, and speedy! 🙂

For Christmas, I got grey ruched running capris. These are seriously awesome pants. And for my birthday, I got purple night-sky running capris and a baby pink “Life is Good” running t-shirt. I also have a hot-pink Nike jacket. And three that are grey. And a bright-blue one.

I envy those runners I see on the trail who actually look cute when they are running. Especially in the winter time. It’s really easy to look  good running when you’re wearing a racerback tank top and running shorts, accompanied by a nice tan. But in the winter, your skin is white and dry, your face is red, you’re bundled up in mittens and a jacket. And if you’re me, you’re wearing baggy cotton pants and a long-sleeve tech tee. Not cute.

But lately, because of my sudden increase in choices (due to my birthday) and also because of the sudden increase in temperature. i have managed to look halfway decent during my runs.

Today I went for a run. I ran 4 hard grueling miles. I thought I PR’d today but I actually PR’d on Monday with an average speed of 7:48/mi which equals out to 31:12. Today I was having issues with breathing and finished in 31:52, with an average pace of 7:57/mi. Both are great times for me

But I’m getting off topic. Today, I wore my purple night-sky capris. Sidenote: I’m sorry. I know that makes no sense to you. Night-sky? Really? It’s like different shades of purple, all swirled together with little white star-dots. Hard to explain. Sorry, I can’t find a picture! 😛 Anyways, so I wore my purple night-sky capris and then this pink v-neck oversized cotton tee from J. Jill. And a dark purple Nike racerback under that. I looked like…like….well I don’t really know how to describe it except for girly? Super feminine? Big pink bunny? No just kidding about the last one. But definitely NOT the kind of person who can pound out 4 hard miles in 30 minutes. (okay…31 minutes).

It was out of my usual style and when my sister saw me she said, “Wow! You’re really….pink and purple today…”

I had to agree. But, despite the girly-girl vibe of the look, it looked good.

Voila! Successful!!!!

Okay, so I didn’t quite reach the Miss America look but this is good considering many of my previous running looks… 😉

So, this morning, I was feeling pretty bad about this running week. You see, this week is different from my normal weeks because I am doing no-sugar. I’ve tried this before and have been…unsuccessful. But so far, I have been a really good little dieter. You see, on Monday, I was talking my friend who is off-sugar for Lent (4 entire weeks? Rue the day I ever consent to that) and saying how I was so incredibly impressed by her self-restraint, seeing as I would NEVER be able to do that. “I’m a little obsessed.” I told her. Wheeee-ooo. Wheee-oooo. Wheeee-oooo. <— Alarms going off in my brain. “Obsessed”? Obsessed is bad. So, I agreed to go off sugar for a week, with Lisa keeping me accountable. It was one of those, verge of the moment, non-thinking decisions I made. The ones people call “stupid”…yeah those. But I promised. Lisa said she had a head-ache the first day but then was fine. After my first day with no sugar, I didn’t have a headache and was incredibly proud of myself for turning down a SHAMROCK SHAKE. And since I didn’t have a headache I thought that maybe my “obsession” wasn’t as big of a problem as I thought. That was Tuesday. Wednesday (yesterday) was a beautiful day. It was sunny and windy and spring-y. Lovely lovely day. Horrible HORRIBLE night. Starting at about 4:30, I just crashed (right during my piano lesson). I seriously wanted to lay down and go to sleep. Where did that tiredness come from? I have no idea. Then came the crankiness. Omigoodness. Apparently, I respond differently to no-sugar. I’m just saying I’m bad when I’m tired. I will be very grumpy. With not sleep and no sugar? Don’t cross me. I will yell at you and probably start crying. Okay, so maybe I have an addiction. But, at the same time of my grumpiness, I feel really good. I have been sleeping really well. At first, I had a hard time sleeping, but last night I had such an amazing sleep and I woke up so refreshed. Also, I am proud at my self-restraint. It almost makes it worth it! 😉 Almost. I have noticed that it doesn’t really make my freak-out, super-stressed moments go away. I have had some pretty l0w moment lately. Mostly, tournament-related. I have no idea where the time went but my speeches are not well-memorized and I have 3 days. This causes mucho much0 stress (sorry, I talk spanglish fluently). But, it’s all going to be over soon enough. And I really just need to remember that.

So that’s what’s been going on in my life and I’m sorry if I haven’t been posting as frequently as  I usually do but I have been busy (as I said above).

ONE LAST NOTE: It’s clinically proven that a little sugar after lunch and dinner makes you happier. Just sayin’…

 

My relationship

I love food.

It is seriously the best invention in the world.

Like, whoever came up with peanut butter cups was a genius!

Trail mix is truly the best invention ever though.

I am pretty sure I have talked about it before. What’s better than nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate? NOTHING

Well, that’s how i feel anyways. My own recipe is salted cashews, dried fruit (whatever’s in your pantry), and chocolate chips. It is SO good. Also, Trader Joe’s sells these bags of every combination of trail mix possible. I love it so much!

Today i saw that we had peanut butter cup/cashew/dried berry/other nut trail mix and I couldn’t wait to get home and eat it!! It’s all gone now. But, it’s delicious!

 

Sugar

So, my family has decided that we are only gonna have 3 days out of every week when we have sugar.

This is slow death for me on the no-sugar days…which is exactly the POINT of the exercise… 😛

Regardless, yesterday was my first no-sugar day.

A bad day from the start because I was very tired. Which I should be used to by now seeing as it is NOVEMBER. Whatever.

But, at snack time there were these yellow cupcakes with that store chocolate frosting (i ♥ that stuff) and candy corn on top. I wanted one SO SO badly.

But I didn’t have any.

And I was really proud of myself afterwards. And this morning when I woke up, I felt really good and in shape. I have to be careful about what I eat so I can stay as fit as possible even though I can’t run. And so I can keep my abs. (Yes, I do have them. A 4-pack, in fact!)

Hey, small victories, right?

Today is a sugar day though. Hehehehehehehe! Sugar high!

Just kidding.

Kinda.

I didn’t get to run by a skeleton (how about a shower curtain??)

This girl just ran her first half-marathon!

Where do I even begin???

I can’t believe I actually ran it!!!! After all my training. I am finally a half-marathon finisher!!!! It was the hardest thing I have ever done in my WHOLE ENTIRE life.

I loved it!!!!!!

I ran it in 2 hours and 11 minutes which is GREAT!!! I had an average pace of about 10- minute miles. I had to stop every mile to drink and walk. So, I think next year I will be faster cause I (hopefully) won’t have to stop as much!!! But, I am SUPER thrilled with my time!!!

I love race atmosphere. It’s so friendly and fun. Since, this was a Halloween race a bunch of people were dressed up. That was cool too!! I saw some people dressed up as bride, groom, father of the bride, etc. And they are actually having a wedding in November. So that’s awesome!!! That’s so me in 12 years!!!!

Mom bought the awesome "monster" hat for me cause I was so darn FREEZING

Yep! My dear friend T came after all!!!! I was so glad to have her there! As well, as Abby, my mom, my Nana, and my aunt. They are great cheerleaders!

Little Miss Nothin-Gonna-Take-Me-Down

Yeah, I like making weird faces. That is before my race and I was SO SO SO excited!!! I had 10 million dreams the night before about my race and in all of them it went really great!! So, I was feeling pretty can’t-touch-me. Of course, as soon as the actual race started I realized I had some issues.

1. My knee hurt– and I mean like SEARING pain. For the first four miles, I just gritted my teeth through it.  When I did gymnastics, I got Osgood Schlater (did I say this already??) and i still feel the effects of it sometimes.. 😛

2. My belt was very bouncy– so I had to hold it down with one hand and then the other. It was annoying. Eventually, I drank enough water and it didn’t bounce anymore so I could pump both my arms.

3. I hadn’t run for 5 days– meaning I was a little out of shape. Whatever though, I had handled that before.

can't catch my breath but so very proud!!

stretching out hurts with sore legs and a bad knee

Anyway! I am going to do better next year. Here are my reasons why:

1) I (hopefully) won’t be sick…or recovering from a sickness next time!

2) I will continue to train and train and train…and train all year long!!! And get faster!

3) All runners continue to improve with every run.

But I am happy with how everything worked out!!

water, food, and a medal!!! I am set

And I am sorry that all my pictures are sideways but I cannot for the life of me remember how I flip them.

It’s really gonna bug me!!

More lovely pictures of me running to come as soon as they post them on the website!!!!!

I think I actually gained weight through this whole ordeal. 😛

I have eaten SO much good food!!!! Tonight for dinner I had blue cheese stuffed burgers, pesto fries, gluten-free brownies (so much better than they sound…they had orange extract in them!!!! mm…)… and yesterday after my race we went out to eat at Honey which was my choice and they have THE BEST mini burgers in the WORLD!!!!! I burned a thousand calories on my run…I think I have eaten a million!!!

I so love food.

I so love running.

I am so killing myself again for another half-marathon.

My very sugary no-sugar day

This is why one should always go running in the morning!

I always feel so refreshed after my morning runs!

For the past couple of days I have been feeling sucrose/glucose-intolerant (every time I thought of sugar I felt sick).

Today when I went on my morning run, a dear (very loyal) friend came along! It was great! I love running by myself but knowing that I am gonna be out in the freezing cold with my own thoughts doesn’t exactly *pop* me out of my bed in the morning.

However, I have found that at 7 in the morning I come up with “brilliant” ideas, like volunteering to go off sugar for a week with her.

I almost lasted a day.

Now, in my defense, my kind of sugar detox does not involve completely cutting out all sugar, just cutting out most of it.

Me being healthy

So, saying no to all sugar for a week..is well, something I would only say yes to at 7 in the morning!!

I had a very healthy breakfast and continued to “enjoy” my sugar-free day until I got home from Speech at 7 and started making brownies.

Let’s just say, Sugar-free week is starting tomorrow!

There is a little picture, hanging in my nana’s bathroom, with a picture of a rather fat hippopotamus staring into a river. The caption reads something along the lines of:

“No more pineapples,

no more guavas,

no more persimmons,

no more…

 starting tomorrow”

So…

Food keeps me going

I am tired.

Tired of training.

Tired of getting up early.

Tired of being tired.

To tell the truth, I can NOT wait for this half-marathon to be over with.

Yes. I love running far. I love how good I feel after my runs. I love all the attention I get (self-centered…but true).

But, I don’t think that now is the best time to be training for it. I truly do NOT have time to run right now.

So…my guess is that I am going to keep my half-marathon training to spring and summer.

This is not to say that I will stop running long distances after my race…I jsut won’t feel as much pressure to get up early and run far distances. I need my sleep. Every day, I pray that I can just stay healthy for 3 more weeks. I am a healthy person. iIhave a strong immune system and don’t get sick that much…but I need my sleep!!!

Mmm.

Without food, I would need to be locked up or something… I am a foodie person!! 🙂 I am lucky to be blessed with a very fast metabolism cause I eat alot! 🙂 Although, I am learning self-control! 🙂 My favorite foods are peanut butter, trail mix, and almonds, and chocolate (of course). Seriously, you can find me any day writing a post on here with a little ceramic bowl of trail mix to munch on! 🙂 It’s so good!! That was random…but very true!

 

How to cure pre-race jitters

1. Make sweet cinnamon rolls:

Yep! That’s what I have been doing!  Here are the instructions from my mom.

“Ok. Well, once the dough has risen over the side of the dish about an inch, take it out and roll it out on wax paper into a long rectangle. Then…do you see that stick of butter that I put on the counter?”

“Yeah?!”

“Well, just SMEAR that all over the whole rectangle of dough. Get every corner. Then you are gonna spread, over the butter layer, a layer of  brown sugar. About 1/2 a bag. Which is a pound. IT’s gonna seem like a lot, but htat’s cause…it is alot! (:) ). Sprinkle cinnamon all over it and then roll it up like a jelly roll. but roll it the longways so it’s long instead of fat. Do you get what I’m saying??”

“Yeah!”

“Okay, then you can cut it into 1/2 inch think circles and put it in the pan and then put it in the fridge for tomorrow, ok?”

So, I waited for the dough to rise and rolled it out, etc. I ALMOST forgot the cinnamon but remembered that at the last second! 🙂 And now, they are in the fridge, ready to be baked tomorrow and then eated as a breakfast of champions before my run! 🙂 It cured my jitters in a snap!! 🙂

Lucky kid!

How do you cure your jitters?

Canning Peaches with my Mom

Today i canned peaches! The epaches that we picked in michigan! It was fun! We made peach jam. You would NOT believe how much sugar there is in jam!!!!

skinned and cut peaches-what we start withafter we had done that we mixed it up with pectin, sugar, and lemon juice and boiled it in a pot. then we ladled it into jars:And boiled it in hot water to vacuum- seal the lids on. After 15 minutes we took them out:and set them on a cooling rack!!Our peach jam!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

it’s cool cause you know that the boiling worked if it makes  a little “pop” noise when it gets taken out of the water.

New post…

Claire Fischer