Daddy’s Little Girl

This week’s theme is … Salute to Running Dads.  With Father’s Day around the corner, we thought it was only fair and fitting to redo our Salute Week that we did for our favorite running moms – but for all those great running dads.

My dad isn’t exactly what I would call a “running dad” but he is a supportive, loving and encouraging dad.  I don’t think that many girls have the kind of solid relationship with their dad’s as I do.  I have always been really lucky to have a friend in my dad.  When I was little my mom worked part-time at nights, thus leaving my dad and I at home together.  We would color, play hide and seek, play outside….you name it, we did it.  As a small kid he would take me fishing and miniature golfing.  Growing up he came to all my softball practices and helped out with coaching my town team.  We spent many nights watching basketball and baseball (and much to my mothers dismay, movies like Porkys and Revenge of the Nerds).  As an adult, I have maintained this great relationship with my dad; we get together every other week or so and watch a movie, a sporting event or sometimes just grab dinner.  I have always thought that the years I spent as a little girl really getting to know my dad laid the foundation for the great relationship we have today. 

Here is a picture of my Dad and I when I was little (obviously!).  It really epitomizes the beauty of our relationship. 

Breakfast for Dinner

All day I couldn’t decide what I wanted for dinner.  I wasn’t really in the mood for anything and couldn’t decide on a complete meal.  I didn’t even want any of my usual default meals.  To add to the frustration, I wanted something quick because I didn’t get home from the gym until late and after a bike/swim and strength session, I was starving!  Finally, when I exhausted all dinner ideas,  I decided on breakfast instead.  I LOVE breakfast for dinner!  And even better than breakfast for dinner is dessert for dinner.  Given that I was eating later than usual, I made an executive decision and I turned my meal into a dinner/dessert.  This was the best idea I had all day!  The bonus is that the meal was super healthy 🙂   

Have I kept you in suspense long enough?

Tonights Dinner/Breakfast/Dessert:  Two Vans Flax waffles with one scoop of vanilla ice cream, topped with a 1/2 cup strawberries and a dollop of whipped cream.

Best. Dinner. Ever.

Do you ever have breakfast for dinner?  What is your favorite breakfast for dinner meal?

Scott Coffee 8k Race Report

Yesterday was the Scott Coffee 8k, a race that I now plan to run every year. I ran it last year and lets just say my performance was less than stellar!  This year was a much better showing for me 🙂

Finish Time: 50:02

Overall: 652/778

Gender: 231/296

Age: 42/53

Considering last year I was 4th from last overall and last in my age group (I used to be really embarassed by that) I have REALLY come a long way.  Once again, what a difference a year makes! 

Pre-Race: I stayed at my parents house because my mom was coming to cheer me on and they live closer to the town where the race was held.  I woke up @6ish and got ready to go.  I forgot to bring breakfast with me and there was nothing at my parents I wanted so we made a pit-stop at WaWa.  WaWa as I learned, does NOT carry Peanut Butter. WTF? All I wanted was a bagel and PB. Nope. Wasn’t gonna happen.  Had a coffee and planned to grab something before the race but never did (not good).  As soon as we got to the race I realized I forgot my body glide. UGH- I need body glide. It is a must have for me, even in a 5k.  Luckily, The Running Company was sponsoring the race and opened early; my mom was nice enough to buy me some body glide- my mom is the BEST-crisis averted!  After our pit-stop, I made a potty trip where I ended up seeing a TT teamate and my uncle.  Walked over the start line and off I went.

Race: The course is almost all flat with the exception of a few small hills.  My knees were holding up strong and I was running great.  I hit Mile 1 @ 9:02 and Mile 2 at 18:50.   I began to slow down a little because I started to not feel so good.  I don’t know what time I got to Mile 3 because it was around this time when things began to go downhill for me.  The coffee was not sitting well in my empty stomach and I was feeling a bit off.  At the water stop I decided to drink some water and walk a little.  After about a minute I started running again.  BAD IDEA.  It took about a minute and up came my dinner from the night before along with what felt like a gallon of fluids. It was awful but I gotta tell ya…I felt a million times better and within a few seconds I was back running.  And running strong.  As I approached the finish I saw my friend Brian and we ran about 10 yds together before he went to look for another one of our friends.  As he left he asked me what time my watch had- I hadn’t even looked at it once I had been sick cause I knew I lost time and didn’t want to be all disappointed.  I looked and it was just about 49:00. Breaking 50 minutes was within reach.  I could see the finish line and I was sprinting as hard as I could and I could see the seconds 57….58….59….00….01….02. 50:02. I missed it by 3 seconds!!  Had I not been sick…had I not stopped for water…had I sprinted just a little harder….3 seconds!!!!!

Post Race: I was a little bummed about the 3 seconds but since my original goal was 55 minutes I got over it pretty quick.  Once I got some food in my stomach and a little water I felt so much better.  Met up with some teammates afterwards and took some pics (don’t have them yet 😦 ) and then mymom and I walked around a little (there were all kinds of street vendors lined up down the main street where the race is held).  After a little shopping, we grabbed some lunch it was time to get home and take a nap! 

________________________________________________________________________________________________

In other news, my whole weekend was super busy and fun filled.  I went to a grad party Sat night and then had dinner and drinks with my bestie.  It was a bit of a random night with a lot of laughs.  It is always nice to have down time with a good friend.  Today my Tri Team held a kids track meet.  It was so much fun.  Promoting a healthy active lifestyle in kids-   nothing better!  When I got home I was a cleaning machine…it needed to be done!  I took a quick break for a bike ride in the beautiful weather and then it was back to work.  Three loads of laundry and some food shopping and ALL this before dinner.  I just finished up dinner and I am enjoying a glass of wine while watching the Phillies. 

 

The past few weeks have been really tough- having this GREAT weekend really lifted my spirits!

Playing Catch Up!

I’m back!  Life is still stressful but it is better than it was earlier this week.  Tolerable. For now. 

You know what happens when you don’t write a real post for over a week….you have a lot to say.  In an effort to not bore you all (and by all of course I mean my 10 faithful readers :)) I will complete this post in list format. 

-I went with my gut and decided to be flexible with my schedule.  This seems to be working well for me.  I don’t feel nearly as stressed out when it comes to training.  The plan is to run 3x, bike 2x and swim 2x a week.  This week my training has been (and will be) as follows:

• Ran 2 miles Monday and 2 miles again on Wednesday.  I had planned to run 5 on Monday but there was a bit of a family emergency and I cut my run short.  Tuesday was an impromptu run; I had planned on a swim/bike but changed it to a bike/run because it was National Running Day 🙂 
• Rode 30 minutes on the bike.  I cannot believe how much I love my bike.  I am still (overly) cautious and (much) too slow but at least I am comfortable.  I actually look forward to biking.  Seriously. Love.
• I did one session of upper body strength and one session of lower body.  I tend to do a lot more arms/abs work and neglect the leg work because of how often I run (and now bike!!!) and because I actually like working out my arms/abs (like…as in, want to do it…as in, slightly nuts) so I default to that.  I am now making a conscious effort to incorportate more leg work.
• I have a race tomorrow and a swim/bike planned for Sunday. 

-By this weeks end I will have only missed one swim and one strength day.  Considering the shitfest my life has been the past week I felt lucky to get even a little training done.

-Lately I have been having some soreness in my right knee (I swear I have the knees of an old lady!) which is making me wonder if perhaps I am overcompensating with my right knee to relieve the left.  I have been icing and stretching to the the max but still feel a lot of tightness on the lateral side of my knee.  Seriously, the whole knee pain/soreness/tightness is getting really old really fast!!!  

-Despite the knee discomfort, I am running a race tomorrow. An 8k.  Last year I ran walked/crawled through this race as it was about 100 degrees out and I had never run more than 3.5 miles before that day.  Needless to say, if my knees hold up, I will PR this year! 

-Don’t worry….before the lectures begin…I WILL listen to my body.   I learned my lesson back in November about pushing it when your body says no, so I am planning to take it easy at the race.  Trust me…I could hop on one leg and finish faster than I did last year!       

-My original plans for racing this summer have changed quite a bit.  After looking over what I had scheduled, I felt like I might have been pushing it just a little.  I have some family obligations, a summer class and of course my full time job all on top of racing and training and I was starting to feel a little overwhelmed.  Plus, I definitely dont’ want to overdo it, so I went over my list of races and nix’ed two tris and one 10-miler.  After tomorrow’s 8k I don’t have any races planned until July 8, although I do intend to pepper in a few 5k’s.  I already feel less overwhelmed.  I guess that makes me whelmed?

-I don’t know about where you all live, but here in New Jersey it has been rain, rain, rain, rain!!! UGH! Today I was supposed to chaperone the 8th grade trip to Dorney Park but it was (thankfully) moved to next week.  This is probably a good thing as I don’t think my feet/legs/knees would have appreciated all the walking the day before a race but the rain has got to stop!!  Fortunately, the weekend weather looks fabulous!!

Alright, I think I am caught up!  Whew…a lot happens in a week!  Hope you are all having less rain, good training and better luck with your knees 🙂

Have a great weekend! 

PS: If you get a chance, head over to Sarah and/or Megan’s blog’s for a chance to win their great give-a-ways 🙂 I love give-a-ways!!