Lessons Learned from the Palmer Paint the Towne 5K

Is it just me, or have the days been on fast forward lately?  I still can't believe it's November already, and it's also crazy that it's already Thursday!  I guess time flies when you're having fun...so I guess I'm just enjoying life!  One thing's for sure, I know Tequila certainly is!

Well, as I mentioned on Monday, I ran a 5K this weekend!  It was put on by Joe's school, Palmer College of Chiropractic, and the proceeds went toward scholarships for local high school runners.  Sounds good to me!

As a race recap, I thought I'd share some of the lessons I learned while running this race!

-Running in cold weather is HARD.  The temperature when I got to the starting line on Sunday morning was 41 degrees!  I was dressed for the weather, but afterward, I felt like my lungs were burning from breathing the cold air.  Mad props to those of you who run all winter where it gets cold--Florida weather has spoiled me!

For those of you who don't know how to dress when running in certain temperatures (myself, included!), here's a handy guide someone posted on the Team #runDisney Facebook page:

-I have to accept that I can't run like I used to while I'm pregnant.  I know that I need to do run/walk intervals while I'm pregnant, and I'm ok with that.  I got a little frustrated with myself, though, with my time.  I wanted to try to be under 33 minutes, but, while I was close, that just didn't happen.

I got a little down on myself, but then I remembered that I'm lucky I can even run at all while pregnant.  I've read some blog posts of people who had to stop running after a certain point in their pregnancy because of intense pain, and so far, *knock on wood* I haven't had that.  I'm lucky that I can still run these races and participate in my hobby/exercise at this point.  So, I need to just enjoy that rather than worrying about time.  I can work on getting faster after Baby Fish arrives :)

-"Old Daytona" is really beautiful!  We ran through a part of Daytona I'd never seen before, and the neighborhoods there were just lovely!  Beachy, yet still kind of old South looking--great combination!  Plus, you can't beat the palm trees and Spanish moss hanging from the trees lining the roadways.  One of my favorite things about Florida!

-Long-sleeved tech shirts are really comfy.  We got a long-sleeved tech shirt for running the race, and I wore it on a walk on Monday evening.  Even though the shirt is yellow (I don't like the way yellow looks on me), I really love the length and feel of it!  So comfortable!

-5Ks are so much easier mentally than half marathons!  This is a no-brainer, but I was shocked at how quickly the finish came!  I haven't run a 5K since March, so I felt like the time flew by!  I have another one next weekend, so I'm hoping to be able to push myself a little harder mentally.  A pregnant PR will work just fine for me :)

-I CAN push to the finish in races!  I'm normally really bad about saving some energy for a sprint to the finish, but this race, I actually did it!  As you can see on my watch above, I was running an 8:42 pace at the end of the race.  Go me!

I'm hoping to take what I learned from these races into my racing schedule for the rest of the year!  Here's what I've got on the schedule for the rest of 2014:
-Nov. 8th-Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon
-Nov. 15th-Take Stock in Children 5K
-Nov. 23rd-Women's Running Series Half Marathon in St. Petersburg, FL
-Nov. 30rd-Space Coast Half Marathon
-Dec. 6th-Ed Root Memorial 10K

Question for you: What's a lesson you've learned from a recent race?
I love any and all running advice :)

WIAW #42: Healthy Eats for Two!

Hey hey!  We're already halfway through the week, which is hard to imagine.  I guess when you have something to look forward to (the Wine&Dine Half at Disney World for me!), the work week goes by quickly. 

Did everyone go vote yesterday?  I did!

I don't know what it is, but I LOVE going to vote.  It makes me feel special, and I enjoy getting the sticker at the end.  I transferred my sticker to the t-shirt I changed in to after work so I could continue to feel special all evening :)

Ok, enough about that!  It's Wednesday and I remember to take pictures of food this week!  That means it's time to participate in one of my favorite blogging traditions...

It's been a LONG time since I've done a What I Ate Wednesday post, and I'm happy to be back!  Today's post will take a look at what I've been eating in my push to eat healthy for two this week (and for the rest of my pregnancy...and beyond!)!  Let's take a look, shall we?

As always, thank you to Jenn for the #WIAW link-up!  Head over to her blog Peas and Crayons to find out what What I Ate Wednesday is all about, and to check out other bloggers' food!

Breakfasts

I've been eating cereal each morning for breakfast.  I need something carb-y when I wake up, and cereal does the trick!  I've been eating Special K Oats 'n Honey for the last few weeks, and it's quite tasty!

Mid-morning Snacks

I've been eating Greek yogurt with some granola mixed in each day at work.  Pictured is Yoplait Lemon Greek yogurt with French Vanilla Almond Granola from NatureBox mixed in.

The yogurt packs some protein, and the granola adds a nice little crunch with some added staying power.  I really love this snack and look forward to it every day!

Lunches

Thanks to some food prep, I'm back to eating salads for lunch!  

This salad is spinach topped with tomatoes, orange peppers, onions, cucumbers, an avocado, and some southwest BBQ sunflower seeds (also from NatureBox).  I was concerned about the flavor combination of the southwest BBQ and avocado, but it wound up being delicious!  

Side dishes for lunch have varied, but I usually have some sort of fruit (apples or clementines this week) and either some Veggie Straws or carrot sticks

Afternoon Snacks

These have been a range of different things--anything from carrot sticks, a protein granola bar, or something sweet.  I really want to lean more toward the protein granola bar or the carrot sticks/fruit, but sometimes I just can't pass up the sweet stuff :-\  I'm working on it!

Dinners

I usually have a lean protein with some sort of vegetables.  Here's Monday's dinner of pineapple chicken served over rice:

And here's Tuesday's dinner of salmon pinwheels with steamed squash and zucchini:

I'm following a meal plan this week, which has made things so, so easy coming home.  I don't have to think about what to make, which really alleviates the stress!  Plus, I've planned for healthy meals, so there's no falling back on fast-but-unhealthy stuff.  Meal plan means no thinking about dinner at all when I get home!!

Vitamins before bed
I know that it's really, really important for me to be taking prenatal vitamins, so I made sure to pick some more up this weekend (I ran out of free samples from the OBGYN).

That'll help me make sure Baby Fish is getting everything he/she needs to grow strong and healthy!

There you have it!  Trust me, these meals are MUCH healthier than things I was eating over the last few weeks.  I'm happy to be back to my lunchtime salads, and I'm really loving having dinners planned out ahead of time.  I'm also feeling better since I'm eating good things to fuel myself and Baby Fish.  I'm hoping to ride this energy and excitement into the new few weeks to keep up the healthy eating, particularly through the holiday season!

Question for you: What are some healthy things you've eating this week?  Feel free to share recipes or healthy snack ideas--I'd love to try some new things!

Pregnancy Update: 19 Weeks + Eating (Healthy) for Two

Good morning, and happy Tuesday!  I've got to get moving this morning so I'll get to work on time, so let's just jump right on in to this week's pregnancy update!

Pregnancy Update: 19 weeks

How far along? 19 weeks (and two days)

Baby Bump progress: Although slightly blurry, I like this picture too!

Baby's Size? Baby Fish is about 6 inches long and weighs between 8-9 ounces--about the size of a mango!

What's happening this week?  

• The senses are developing!  Nerve cells are forming in the brain for sight, smell, sound, and taste.
• Baby is developing a protective coating over the skin, the vermix caseosa

Total weight gain/loss: haven't weighed myself, but at the last appointment I had gained 2 pounds since my first appointment.

Stretch marks? unfortunately, I think I have two around my armpits :( My boobs have grown, and I wasn't putting cocoa butter in that area.  They aren't too deep or dark, so I'm hoping they'll disappear after the baby comes.  Seeing them has made me up my cocoa butter applications to at least twice a day!

Sleep: still sleeping well!  I'm not super sleepy every day, so I just have to make myself keep to a consistent bed time so I don't run myself down.

Best moment this week: my best moment this week came after probably my worst moment this week. I realized just how important it is for me to take care of myself while pregnant and vowed to make it a priority for the rest of the pregnancy (and beyond)!  More on that in today's Baby Fish Feature :)

Miss anything?: my normal running abilities (more on that with my Palmer Paint the Towne 5K recap later this week)

Movement: I may have felt some movement on last Monday, but I'm not 100% sure.  We'll go with no since I'm not sure :)

Food cravings: lots and lots of candy!  Thanks, Halloween, for getting in the way of healthy eating!  My prayer for this week is to take care of myself with healthy eating all week.

Anything making you queasy or sick: not this week!  Thankfully :)

Gender: can't find out, and won't be finding out until Baby Fish makes his/her debut

Labor Signs: none (thank goodness!)

Symptoms: 

• some back pain after sleeping on the couch two nights this week
• this may be TMI, but really having to pee, then only having a little bit come out
• being forgetful (sticky notes and the Any.Do app have become my best friends!)
• being emotional (I feel like that's relatively normal for me, though!)

Belly Button in or out? in

Wedding rings on or off? on

Happy or Moody? Happy, but silly little things were making me tear up this week!

Funny moments this week: On Sunday night, Joe, Tequila and I were all sitting on the couch.  She kept licking up ALL over, NON-STOP!  I started pulling her toward me to kind of "hold her down", then Joe kind of pushed on her to get her away from him.  Well, she happened to be right on my stomach, so she was pressing in to Baby Fish's space!  He/she let me know that wasn't comfy and it started to hurt!  As soon as I told Joe, he pulled his hand back and started talking to Tequila about being nice to Baby Fish.  It was kind of a cute moment :)

Looking forward to: feeling the baby move and/or KNOWING that it's the movement!

Exercise this week: I did not do any strength training this week as I originally wanted to.  I still needed to take it easy after the Lighthouse Loop Half, and I didn't want to be too sore before the 5K on Sunday.  I took a walk on Saturday, ran a 5K on Sunday, walked on Monday, and that was about it.

Goal for this week: strength train at least once this week and take a walk every day.  Plus, I'm running the Disney's Wine and Dine Half Marathon on Saturday night, so I'm hoping for a finish on that race!

Baby Fish Feature!: Eating (Healthy) for Two

As I normally am, I'm going to be completely honest with y'all: I had a very unhealthy week of eating.  Before being pregnant, I never thought too much about it when that happened.  What I ate only effected me personally.  

Now, I'm eating for two.  So, when I eat Skittles for breakfast, I'm not really fueling myself for a day of growing OR getting Baby Fish the nutrients he/she needs to grow properly!  I also noticed that, on days when I ate particularly poorly, I had far less energy, got a headache, and wasn't motivated to eat healthier later on in the day.

I really started feeling bad about this on Sunday, beating myself up and worrying that I was messing up my child.  Well, I knew that I needed to take better care of myself AND Baby Fish and made a plan to do so this week.  Here are some steps I took to ensure that this week would be a week of healthy eating for myself and for Baby Fish!

• I made a meal plan for the week.  This is something I used to do and really need to get back in to!  Not only does it set myself up for healthy eating, but it alleviates the stress of "what am I making for dinner??" when I get home each day.
• I created a grocery list and stuck to it.  After making the meal plan, I wrote down what we needed for those meals, as well as our weekly perishable food needs, and stuck to the list while grocery shopping.  I avoided any sweets and made sure all the snacks I purchased were nutritious.
• Food prepped while putting the groceries away. One of the problems I've been having lately is buying veggies for a salad, not chopping them up right away, and then they'll go bad before I'm motivated to chop them.  So, not only do I not get my salads for lunch each week because the veggies aren't chopped, but I'm also being wasteful!  I don't want to do either of those!  This week, as I put the groceries up, I left out the veggies I needed to chop and cut them up right away.  That made for delicious salads for lunch this week :)

None of these things are new or by any means revolutionary ideas, but I personally needed to do them to make sure my week got off to a healthy start.  While I did eat a few small pieces of candy at work on Monday, I felt like my healthy meals and snacks gave me some room to do!

Question for you:  How do you set up for a week of healthy eating?

Relaxed Weekend Recap

Good Monday morning, everyone!  Can y'all believe that it's already November?!?  Good grief, where has this year gone!

This weekend, Joe was off in Jacksonville for the "World's Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party" aka the University of Georgia/University of Florida game.  It was just me and the animals at home, which made for a very relaxing weekend.  Let's go through what I did!

Friday
At work on Friday, the culinary classes were having a grilled-cheese cook-off!  The reading coach invited me to come judge, and boy, was that a great move!

The kids were able to get creative with their grilled cheese sandwiches, and I tried some really delicious sandwiches.  Some of them were dessert-based, so both Baby Fish and I were really pleased with everything we tried!

Next up, time to work at the pumpkin patch one last time!  I was very surprised by the number of people buying pumpkins on Halloween, but I had a good time working at the patch for the last time this year.

On my way home, I picked up some candy for the trick-or-treaters.  We had about 15-20 trick-or-treaters at our house, so that was fun to see the kids in costume.  In between door knocks, I cleaned out the DVR, then fell asleep shortly after turning off the porch lights.  Overall, a relaxing and fun Halloween!

Saturday
We woke up to some chilly temperatures on Saturday morning!  After letting Tequila out and back in, we wound up cuddling in a blanket to get the morning started.

The rest of the day was filled with football, football, and more football.  I watched the Virginia Tech game (another loss :()  then watched the UGA vs. UF game (a loss for UGA :().  Joe and my teams just did not have very good days on Saturday!

I'm pretty sure I fell asleep shortly after the end of the UGA game.  I drifted in and out of sleep the rest of the night, but at least I remembered to set my alarm!

Sunday
After gaining an hour of sleep, I got up early to run a local race: the Palmer Paint the Towne 5K!  The temperature was in the 40s, so it was a little hard to get out there for the race.  I made it with plenty of time to spare and was definitely happy that I did!

Not only was the race pretty easy after running a half marathon last week, but I got the most unique finisher's prize from a race ever--a paintbrush!  Goes along perfectly with the theme of the race :)  I'll be posting a race recap this week, so stay tuned for more later in the week.

I got home, warmed/cleaned up, then headed to church for the late service.  We had a great sermon about the sacrament of communion and being thankful for it.  It was really, really good!

The rest of the day consisted of errands, chores, and helping with youth group.  Joe was back when I got home, so I was really happy to see him (Tequila was, too!).

Well, there's my relaxing weekend for you!  In my mind, that was the perfect way to spend a cooler-than-normal weekend: wrapped up in a blanket cuddling with with puppy and kitty :)  Having the hubby to cuddle with, too, would have made it even better!

Question for you: What did you do this weekend?  What do chilly weekends look like for you?