run this amazing day

Hi, friends!  I'm back!  Did you miss me?   I missed you guys.  I'm currently wading through my google reader, but I'll try to get caught up with what everyone was up to ASAP.  If something REALLY REALLY important happened (you ran a race, broke your neck, got a new puppy, made cupcakes, etc.), drop me a comment so I can come check it out. As for us, we had a fabulous time.   There was food everywhere.  I think I am good on white carbs and dessert until at least August. We met a bartender who could mix martinis much faster than I could drink them.  So I'm probably good on alcohol until June August as well. I spent most of the week laying here, reading the 20 or so books I had with me and drinking pina coladas all day. Or laying here, just....laying. I did a little bit of running, a tiny bit of swimming and some yoga, but I mostly stayed horizontal (heh) all week.   The puppies had a fabulous time visiting in PA as well. But we are all happy to be home!  A

Today’s post is brought to you by my partner in Dr. Pereles-stalking-crime, the fabulous Amy Reinink !   I'm not a professional athlete. When I sign up for a 5K, I can say with almost absolute certainty that I'm the only person on earth who gives a crap about my time. I will never win prize money in a race. And while the sense of accomplishment upon crossing the finish line is always nice, it's not necessarily enough to keep me going on 20-mile training runs or 7K training swims.  So why do we bother racing, anyway? If you're a regular reader of Katie's blog, you know that she's faced some obstacles in her training, including some injuries that have made her wonder: Why is it so much harder for me than for other people? Having struggled through my own share of injuries, I've asked the same question myself. But I believe that getting past that question, and simply accepting our journeys for what they are, is the real reason we race.  I sign up for marathons a

Hola! I’m Heather, from  Dietitian on the Run , filling in for Katie today.  I used to wonder – if I wore a hat that said “I’m a Dietitian” while grocery shopping (humor me, assume that wouldn’t be an odd wardrobe choice), would I shop differently? Would I try to set that ideal example, or would I go on about my business buying whatever I wanted? Would I choose the “do as I say, not as I do” attitude, or walk the talk? First, I’ll assure you that my wardrobe is free of such choices. Secondly, now I can safely say I would theoretically wear it and shop fearlessly.   But then? At one point my cart was filled with those low-fat, low-calorie, low-sugar things. I rarely looked at ingredient lists, but assumed that the things I chose were “healthy”. At a glance, the following would presumably provide healthy meals/snacks: granola bars, low-fat/fat-free yogurt, oatmeal, peanut butter, fruit, veggies, whole wheat bread, deli turkey slices, low-fat ice cream or frozen treat of some sort, diet s

Katie goes on vacation and all you guys get is a bunch of guest posts... Who does she think she is spending the whole day layin' on the beach, wearin' nothin' but a smile, playin' kissy-kissy, smoochy-smoochy, talkin' mooshy-mooshy er... wait that's a Steve Holy song. Sorry! But you get the picture, must be nice to go honeymooning!!! (Just kidding, that girl earned this honeymoon! 70.3 last weekend anyone?!?!?) Anyway, when Katie first asked me to write a guest post I said, "But Katie, I don't even know what to talk about on my own blog! What the heck am I going to write about?!?!" In case you don't know me; Hi! My name is Morgan and I am the overly excitable redhead that writes: " Caution: Redhead Running. " For the last two months I've been dealing with an incredibly annoying, non-healing stress fracture that sidelined me mid-training cycle. Since then about the only other thing I've done besides aqua jog my life away is spe

I'm Lauren of Failed Muffins ... and I'm pretty psyched to be guest posting for Katie while she's off frolicking on her honeymoon! If you're like me, you read Katie's posts and think: Wow, that's awesome. Um... I do not have the motivation to bike every morning and then swim....and then lift...and then run... and then....  I am, for the purposes of definition, a recreational runner.  I don't consider myself an athlete, even after 11 half marathons, 2 marathons, 2 16-milers in the most god-awful hilly areas of NH, 2 200-mile relay races, and a random handful of 5ks and 10ks.  Nope.  I'm not an athlete. This has been a debate for awhile among bloggers and Daily Milers.  What does it take to call yourself a runner, a marathoner, an athlete, a triathlete?  If I were to suck it up and train for a sprint tri, I would not call myself a triathlete, although others may.  Where is that line and who defines it?  I don't really know.  As a recreational runner,

Or, how to not prepare for and then poorly execute running a 5K. Friday afternoon we drove up to Philly.  We went to the Phillies game that night and the traffic was so bad that I had to drink 3 beers for medicinal purposes (stress relief) pretty quickly once we got to the game. When we got home from the game, my dad was out drinking scotch on the porch, so of course I joined him for a glass (or 7).  I topped off the night with a Phillies cookie and went to bed. When I woke up the next morning, I had a pretty powerful headache.  I had looked up local races earlier in the week, but we decided to make a morning-of call on whether or not to do one, and I actually didn't even bring any race gear with me because I figured I would be too hungover tired from the game to follow through.  It was a gorgeous morning, sunny and humid and hot, but at least not raining, so we found a 5K in Perkasie and headed out.  We got there pretty quickly, registered and I ran an easy warm-up.   Check

1. The sound my phone makes when I get new email completely stresses me out. 2. I never drink soda, but I very occasionally crave the taste of real Coke. 3. I think boobies is a funny word. 4. I really hate it when people yell. 5. I never used to wear sunscreen, and I would almost never burn.  Now that I've had 72 different chunks of skin removed, I wear sunscreen, although still not as often as I should. 6. I keep thinking about cutting all my hair off, but then I remember what I looked like the last time I did that. 7. In the past 5 months, I have gotten married, finished my master's degree, completed a half-Ironman and brought home a new puppy.  Not to mention gotten injured and had at LEAST 5 bikini waxes (ow).  I am ready for this vacation. 8. I read books over and over and over.  I am currently reading the Stephanie Plum series for at least the tenth time. 9. I've been trying really hard to teach myself not to cross my legs while I sit at my desk

1. I tried to make my first smoothie this morning (I know).  I put in a container of raspberry yogurt, a scoop of protein powder, and a big handful of frozen mango.  The blender started to smoke but wasn't chopping up the mango, so I thought maybe it needed more liquid and dumped in an entire muscle milk light (the big one).  Then it was watery so I put in more frozen mango.  And on and on until the blender was full and I had to stop.  My smoothie is the consistency of a milkshake and tastes like muscle milk and nothing else and I will be drinking it for the next two days.  Where did I go wrong?  I tried to chip off some frozen spinach to make a green monster but it was frozen solid.  Maybe next time. 2. I've got some pretty awesome folks lined up to entertain you guys while I'm gone next week.  I'm pretty pumped about this (you should be, too!). 3. Recovery is going well.  I've been lifting every day and I'm really happy to be back in the weight room, but

I am going to miss these guys so much next week.