Orange Mango Smoothie December 14, 2009

Went for a run this morning and it felt warm out! A nice 46° which is very motivating when compared to 29°. It was a decent run, I felt a little tired, but still managed a good pace.

• Distance: 3.56 Miles
• Duration: 33:37
• Pace: 9:26
• Calories Burned: 360

I had a delicious bowl of Corn Chex this morning with some banana. I don’t know what it is about Chex, but they are so good, they are plain, but I love them. I had a massive bowl.

I didn’t have a very productive day today. I’m going to make a schedule for tomorrow so I can get some things done and be able to cross things off a list because I love doing that. Tomorrow will be better and then I have an interview for a writing gig on Wednesday that I just know I am going to get. I’m excited for it!

For lunch I made a grilled cheese with lettuce and tomato and I made an amazing orange mango smoothie. I also had half of an orange on the side.

In my smoothie:

• Half an orange
• Half a mango
• 1 cup of  guava mango Ssips juice drink
• a splash of Snapple Peach Mangosteen
• 4 ice cubes

It came out really good, nice and tart and refreshing. Off to make a TO DO LIST!

Grooming Day December 13, 2009

We randomly decided to give our cats a bath today. We also cut their toe nails and brushed them real good, now they hate us. Thought I’d share some of the cuteness.

GALADRIAL

LEELA

One Long Day December 12, 2009

Went out to Central Park again this morning to meet up with the TNT group, but let me tell you that my commute there was not pleasant. at all.  I left 10 minutes earlier today than last week and it still took me FOREVER to get there and I got there literally just in time. I was so annoyed, the C train took soooooooo long to arrive and once it did it kept stopping every 10 inches! It probably took me like an hour and 20 minutes to get there, which is ridiculous!

I bundled up good today because man it was COLD out there! I believe it was about 28° out there. I was worried about being cold, but once again after about a mile or 2 I was all nice and warm and felt great! The first 4 miles I ran with these two girls that are training for their first marathon in Paris! I almost wished I had signed up for that. It sounds so exciting and what a great excuse to go to Paris. I ended up running the last 4 miles by myself, which was fine, but somehow I always end up on my own. It was a great run though, I felt pretty strong throughout the whole thing.

• Distance: 8 Miles
• Duration: 75:31
• Pace: 9:26

I came home and jumped in bed with Derek because he was still sleeping and looked so nice and warm. Then I immediately scarfed down some steel cut oats. Sorry I ate them too fast to take a picture.

Derek and I met up with Sandy, our friend Cory’s mom and she brought us out to lunch at the Heartland Brewery, which was so nice, Thanks Sandy! Again, no picture, but I got a cheese steak with spicy french fries. It was good, but not great.

I loved this Christmas ornament sculpture they had! They also had a display of giant christmas lights, it was pretty awesome!

After that we headed over to Union Square to hit up the Holiday Market that was going on. The only thing I bought:

A BELGIAN WAFFLE! from Waffles & Dinges. It was delicious and they also had a sign posted that they are on Throwdown with Bobby Flay and their episode will air January 20th I think. I bet that they win that one.

It was a good day in all, but my legs sure are tired, a bath would be nice! I will leave you a picture of my delicious dinner that I had last night and a picture of my whale of cat!

Today has been a long day, good night!

Running in the Cold December 10, 2009

I decided it was time to give my blog a little makeover, I was getting tired of the same old theme. It took me a long time to decide which theme I wanted, but I am happy with my decision. I especially like the falling snow, it’s very wintery.

I had a pretty dull day today and my food wasn’t any better either. I went on a run this morning, but it took me a long time to actually get out there because I was dreading the cold. I better get used to it though, I’ve got a long winter of training ahead of me!

It’s getting colder outside and I really don’t like it. This is my first winter where I will be running outside as much as possible. The trick is to layer your clothes! It’s extremely important not to wear cotton, especially in the colder weather. Cotton will hold onto your sweat and will therefore become cold against your skin which could lead to hypothermia. You want to be wearing dry fit or polypropylene clothing. It will help wick away the moisture and keep it away from your skin. All of my running clothes are made of this material. If you don’t have enough polypropylene clothing to layer up just remember to keep the layers that are directly against your skin the correct dry fit material.

Also make sure to wear a hat and gloves when it’s really cold. These articles are also made in dry fit. Most of your heat escapes through your head so remember to keep that warm!

This morning I wore a thin tank top, with a long sleeved shirt over that and then another short sleeved shirt over that. I also wore a light shell jacket, but while I was out there I realized that it was too much. I was a little hot and uncomfortable. For my bottoms I stuck to my running tights, which are the thickest running pants I have and they work wonders. I need to get a second pair for the season. I also wore a hat. Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what is necessary, but the more you get out there and run the easier it will become.

I took my run slowly this morning, your muscles are a lot tighter in the cold and you will naturally run slower because of this. I felt great by the end and was glad I got out there.

• Distance: 4.8 Miles
• Duration: 46:11
• Pace: 9:37
• Calories Burned: 496

Breakfast was a green monster! I haven’t had one of these in quite some time. It tasted a little off though. I’m not sure what it was, maybe the mango?

• 1 cup of Milk
• half a Mango
• 1 scoop of Original Amazing Meal
• 1 tsp Peanut Butter
• 3 Ice Cubes
• small scoop of Pumpkin Ice Cream

This filled me up for a while, I did drink it pretty late in the day so I didn’t eat much for lunch. I used the rest of a loaf of italian bread and made a grilled cheese and mushroom sammie. It was pretty delicious.

Relaxing for the rest of the night….

My First Run In Central Park December 9, 2009

This is a little late, but it’s one of the more exciting things I’ve done lately. Last Saturday I woke up at 6:30 so I could meet up with the Team in Training group at Central Park. It took me about an hour to get there by subway and I arrived just in time at 8:30. The park is confusing if you are unfamiliar with it, which I am very much so. I stuck with the 6-7 mile intermediate group and we set off around 9 am. The first 3/4 of the run was great. I talked to these two women for most of the run until the last 2 miles or so. It was so great to run in a big group like that and actually have someone to talk to. It makes the run fly by! I’ve never really run with anyone else before. Okay that’s a lie, I’ve run with my roommate Matt, but he listens to his iPod the whole time and it’s never as exciting as this past run was. I was starving my by mile 4 and I absolutely could not wait to get back to my bag and eat the Clif bar I had brought with me. Overall it was a great run, but by the end I felt weak and couldn’t wait for it to be over. I think it was because I was so hungry and I ended up by myself during the last mile. How’d that happen?

It was exciting to finally run in Central Park, the place where so many other runners hope to be able to run someday. It was seriously running central over there, it was great!

• Distance: 6.05 Miles
• Duration: 61:11
• Pace: 10:06

I have not been eating anything to exciting lately, except I did have a perfectly cooked piece of steak last night for dinner. I don’t cook steak much, but surprisingly this came out great.

My friend Kelly taught me how to crochet a few months ago and I kind of just stopped one day. I was really hoping to make a few things to give away at Christmas so I figured I better get crackin. I made my very first scarf, well my very first anything and I am proud of it. I was making it for Derek for Christmas, but he talked me into giving it to him now!

One last thing…why I love living in New York is because yesterday it snowed A TON in New Hampshire and it was 52 and rainy here today.

13 Weeks for 13 Miles December 7, 2009

I know I haven’t been around the past couple of days, but I’ll be back in the swing of things starting tomorrow. I spent some time today planning out my Half Marathon training schedule. I based it off of Hal Higdon’s plan, but made a few tweeks so it would fit my needs.

NYC HALF MARATHON SCHEDULE

I have it so that it starts the week of December 20th and the race is March 21st.

Wish me luck!

and don’t forget to donate….

My Fundraising Page

I’m Engaged! December 4, 2009

I can’t even believe it! I don’t really feel like it’s actually hit me yet. It’s weird, yet extremely exciting and crazy! I was so surprised and I completely did not see it coming. Okay yes I’ve been hinting to Derek lately that I want a ring and I want to get married, blah blah blah, but I honestly did not think it was going to happen so soon. Here is how it all went down.

Derek has been working on a movie all week and they wrapped pretty early yesterday so he came home and said he felt like doing something since he had some extra time. He wanted to go out to dinner to a nice restaurant so we got all dressed up and headed into manhattan. We decided to try and get into Bobby Flay’s restaurant, Bar Americain, but they didn’t have anything open til 9:30 so we passed on that. We kept walking down the same street and stumbled upon this seafood restaurant called ‘McCormick’s and Schmick’s. The menu looked good and we were both craving seafood so it all worked out.

Unfortunately I did not take any photos of my meal because it would’ve been awkward. It was kind of a fancy place and there was another couple sitting directly next to us and I would’ve felt rude taking photos. But, the food there was AMAZING! Seriously by the end of the meal I felt so satisfied and content. I literally told Derek that it was probably the best meal I’ve ever had. I got Hawaiian Mahi Mahi with Sweet Potato and Blue Crab Hash and it was delicious. For dessert we split this Tiramisu truffle thing and it was just sooo good! I can not express how delicious everything there was.

We had plans to go see the Rockefeller Christmas tree after dinner because we had not seen it together yet. It really is so beautiful in real life. We got right up there and Derek put his arms around me and starting giving me this little speech about how much he loves me and how I’ve stuck with him through so many things. Then he he got down on one knee and proposed right in front of the Christmas Tree with a bunch of people around. It was so romantic and of course I started to cry. I’m weak when it come to really sappy things. Of course I said yes and I gave him a big hug! My ring is amazing, it’s too big and I am soo anxious to get it fitted.

Seriously I was shocked, I had no idea that was coming. Apparently my dad already knew because Derek asked him if it would be alright. So cute. He bought the ring at him mom’s jewelry store over Thanksgiving break. I almost didn’t go out last night because I had plans to go meet up with the Local Running Group, but decided to take the opportunity to go out on a date with my man.

I can’t stop staring at my ring, it’s so shiny and pretty. We haven’t discussed any details yet, but it’s crazy to me that sometime in the near future I will be planning my wedding! Ahhhh, I’m so excited and I couldn’t be happier.

Look at Bongo peeking into the picture! : )

ROCKEFELLER TREE LIGHTING December 3, 2009

I made it to the Tree Lighting at Rockefeller last night! There were a lot of people there, but I managed to find a pretty damn good spot. I got there around 8:30 so I only had about a half hour to wait. It was worth the annoyance of all the people because it was beautiful! It was so nice to be there to see it lit, of course it would’ve been better if Derek was with me, but he was stuck at work : (

I went alone and I’m glad I did instead of skipping out all together. I managed to make a little movie of it being lit with my camera. I also took lots of before and after pictures.

*The video is almost 2 minutes long, I would recommend skipping to the half way point, which is closer to when the tree actually lights up.

Officially Training for a Half Marathon! December 3, 2009

I went to the Team in Training information session last night and I must say it really exceeded my expectations. I was really impressed with how many people showed up and the benefits of running a race through TNT is amazing! I am also really excited about raising money. It is a very rewarding challenge. I am required to raise $1800, but I set a personal goal of $3000. I also had no idea that they provide you with coaches and training. After hearing that I was seriously considering signing up for a marathon! I got really excited about it and was thinking about doing the marathon in Vancouver. I’ve got this serious drive lately to run a marathon. I’ve been reading a lot of marathon recaps lately and they just sound so amazing and I can not wait to be there some day. Probably like 3 months ago I had the thought process of ‘oh yeah I’ll run a marathon some day, but not anytime soon thats for sure.’ But, seriously I feel like I am ready to tackle the marathon training very soon!

I also like to tackle distances in ascending order. My next big race is definitely a Half, then a Marathon. Anyway, I am psyched about Team in Training and the fact that I will be meeting up with people twice a week to run! Yay! I will actually be making new running friends. Oh and one more great thing about TNT is that there were so many people there that were completely out of shape and have no running experience at all and they were signing up for triathlons and half marathons! Amazing.

Help me raise money for the fight against all different types of blood cancers!

http://pages.teamintraining.org/nyc/halfnyc10/sbarkerf1a

I can not even express my excitement about the fact that my very first Half Marathon is going to be the amazing NYC Half!

Holiday Wish List December 2, 2009

So I think I’ve got a pretty solid plan for Christmas this year considering I don’t have much money. I’ve been feeling a lot better about it recently, which is very good! I love Christmas and being able to shower all my friends and family with gifts, but this year it has been stressing me out more than anything. Something kind of clicked the other day and now I feel a lot more into the holiday spirit. I’m so excited to see the huge lighted tree in Rockefeller tonight, that is one of the coolest things to me in NY!

Anyway, I thought I would share my wish list for Christmas:

1. A Garmin Forerunner with Heart Rate Monitor

2. A Nice Pea Coat that is really warm

3. These really bright and crazy adidas sneakers

4. Running Hat

5. Running Gloves

That is basically all I want. A few essentials that will keep me happy through the season. Also a warm running jacket would be nice because I am going to be a hardcore winter runner this year! I have to be because I am definitely going to go to the Team in Training meeting tonight and sign up. The Half Marathon will be in March so I must train all winter. I’m really excited to do it!