Is it Spring?

It’s so warm out today! Back in New Hampshire it is in the low thirties and snowing!

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I had a very successful run this morning. I felt very strong and stayed on target throughout most of it. I did track work this morning and ended up running 5.45 miles in 52:55. Scheduled for today was: 6 x 800 with 90 sec. rest intervals.

Here are my stats:

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Target 800 Meter pace: 3:50

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Warmup 1 mile: 10:05

1 x 800:  3:49

2 x 800:  3:48

3 x 800: 3:50

4 x 800: 3:50

5 x 800: 3:51

6 x 800: 3:58

Cooldown 1 Mile: 11:35

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I have a lot to do today:

• Go to the bank
• Write 2 more articles for Health Kicker and Mapcidy
• Possibly some yoga
• Update resume (again!)
• Figure out a fundraising plan / strategy
• Blog about career and life changes

I have a little less than two months to raise $1300. Please help save lives and donate to                      Team in Training.

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A Wonderful Surprise

Last night I was just hanging out with the usual 46th street crowd, Derek, our roommate Matt and the two boys from downstairs, Dave and Ryan. Then all of a sudden cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery were all up in my face! Every cupcake had a lighted candle and I couldn’t have been more surprised. I was so happy and grateful, that was by far the best Birthday ‘cake’ I’ve ever received.

Yum! These are the BEST cupcakes ever! They are perfect and I had 12 to choose from! Chocolate, Vanilla, Red Velvet, and Banana Bread. There were three of each.

I chose the the chocolate one with chocolate jimmies. Ahhh it was soooo good! I obviously shared with everyone, but the rest are mine and Derek’s : )    So much for the cupcakes I bought at the store yesterday. Those will have to be saved for the party on Saturday.

Derek also gave me the sweetest card ever, I had to fight back some tears because it was so sappy, but very meaningful. It was a great 25th birthday!

This morning I did a scheduled Strength Training workout, but I felt very weak during the whole thing. It was very unfortunate. I feel really lazy and unmotivated to do much today. I need to get back to my To Do lists because I was doing so well with them before.

I am really craving a sandwich, I’m going to hit up the grocery store to pick up some lunch meat and all the other necessary ingredients.

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2009 – A Year In Review

This year has flown by! It has been quite the year for me and I am excited for what 2010 will bring. Here are some of my favorite and most eventful posts of the year.

A 5K PR!

Completed My First Triathlon!

Family Vacation

Found an Apartment in NYC

10.8 Miles! Distance Record

The Big Move

Celebrated 6 Years with my Boyfriend

Ate the Best Cupcake of my life!

My First Movie Premiere

I saw Giada!

I finally had Falafel

I got Engaged!

And I ate at these delicious restaurants:

Bareburger

The Heartland Brewery

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At the beginning of the year last year I made some New Year’s Resolutions and Goals. Here is what I was hoping to accomplish within this past year.

FITNESS GOALS

1. Complete a 10K race
2. Complete a Sprint Triathlon
3. Complete a Half Marathon
4. Run 750 Miles in 2009

While I may not have completed all four I did come pretty close and I am still very happy with my progress. As you know, I am signed up for my first half marathon this March. It was in September when I felt prepared to run a HM, but unfortunately that coincided with my big move to NYC, so I was therefore busy focusing on that. It sure was a hectic month and there was no way I could’ve fit a big race like that in there.

As for the 750 miles, I don’t have any excuses really, but I did come close to completing them. By the end of the month I will have around 715 Miles completed for the year! Not bad if I do say so myself.

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CAREER GOALS

1. Complete my claymation short film
2. Get a film oriented job

I did not complete a claymation short film and unfortunately that goal is set aside for now. I am however working on getting myself a film oriented job. Moving to NYC was a huge step in the right direction, I think I will need to give myself a little more time on this one.

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Now onto Resolutions for 2010!

FITNESS:

1. Run 750+ Miles
2. Run 2 Half Marathons
3. Do 30 push ups

CAREER/LIFE

1. Have a job that I love
2. Start Planning My Wedding : )
3. Make 12 recipes from ‘Mastering the art of French Cooking’
4. Be Happy and Stress Free

These are goals that I find extremely manageable with just a little dedication and work. Notice, I don’t have many specific goals in my career/life list and that is because I have no idea what this year will bring. I haven’t had a year like in a long time! I’m currently looking into 2010 with an open mind. Currently I do not have a full time/permanent job and new things are happening to me every day.

PS. I got everything on my Holiday Wish List for Christmas : )   And yes that means I FINALLY have a Garmin Forerunner!!!! I used it for the first time today and it was amazing. I couldn’t stop looking at it while I was running, I probably looked like an idiot, but I didn’t care. I’m so glad to finally have one!

What are your 2010 Resolutions?

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Orange Mango Smoothie

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!

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Holiday Wish List

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!

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Moving to NYC is hard work!

So I’ve totally been neglecting my blog lately and I’m sorry! This has seriously been the busiest week of my life! It’s crunch time for moving to NYC. I have been packing, cleaning, and rying to keep up with my running and by Sunday I am going to be EXHAUSTED!

I have been focusing on preparing for our yard sale that is this Saturday. It is a lot of work! We are getting rid of everything and I should’ve started two weeks ago instead of one.

I will be back to blogging normally after this weekend is over. When this yard sale is over I should be ahead of the game (I hope!).

Also, I am super excited because I am now a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher! Click on the link on my sidebar and check out their website.

My To Do List for the nex 2 days:

• Buy Posterboard
• Make Posters for yard sale
• Buy ingredients to make cookies
• Bake the cookies
• Clean and Price everything for yard sale
• Transfer everything over to my parents house
• Squeeze in a 4 or 5 mile run.

I don’t know how I am going to run my long run on Sunday. I foresee myself sleeping ALLLL  day!

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Roasted Potatoes with Scrambled Eggs

Busy, Busy, Busy!

Woke up early this morning (well for me) at around 9:15, made it to the gym by 9:30 and was able to pump out 4.3 miles on the treadmill and 10 minutes on the bike! Got back around 10:30 and woke up Derek. We searched for about an hour and compiled a list of places to call in order to set up appointments for this weekend. We are going to New York Friday afternoon to look at apartments and hopefully come out of it with a new place to live 🙂 So far we have about 3 appts. It’s going a little slowly, but I feel it confident we will find a place we like.

• Distance: 4.32
• Time: 40:00
• Pace 9:15
• Calories: 429

I have so much to do. I have to obtain references from work, possibly get a guarantor letter from my Dad and we have to set some more appts in place. Here is my To Do list for the next two days:

• Do a load of laundry
• Go to Grocery Store
• Run 8 or 9 miles
• Pack for NY, which includes food, important documents, and clothes
• Make a Veterinarian appointment for cats
• and go to work on both days

Here is my dilemma. Our stupid landlord people need to come in and look at our place in order to see what they may need to order for the next tenants. We scheduled it for next Thursday at 10 am, which we thought was perfect. We need to get the cats out of the house for that b/c we aren’t supposed to have them. I figured I would make a Vet. appt for that time next week and everything would work out. BUT! then I realized today when I was about to call the Vet office that I am working first shift next Thursday! I am running a 5K race in the evening therefore I needed to change my hours for that day. Now, I don’t know what to do. Derek has to be here for when they come, I have to leave with the cats, but that can’t happen if I am at work. I am considering just not going to work that day. I still have to make the appointment so we will see what happens.

Anyway, today I made a delicious dinner that started off with roasted potatoes, both russet and sweet!

I diced them up and coated them with some extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper. Oh! and a little bit of Lawry’s Season Salt!

In the oven at 400° for 30 minutes. They came out nice and crispy, just the way I like’m.

While they were roasting away, I sauteed a few thinly sliced red peppers and garlic. Then added some scrambled eggs and diced tomatoes. I’ve pretty much used just about everything we have to eat in the house. Our refrigerator is empty! I almost like when this happens though, it makes me feel like we aren’t wasting anything. It’s definitely time to go grocery shopping though!

I threw the scrambled egg mixture right on top with a little bit of cheese (or a lot).

It was so good! Derek liked the regular potatoes better, but I liked the sweet potatoes more. I have always loved sweet potatoes. My Dad always makes me a special baked sweet potatoes during our gatherings for the holidays. I love eggs, you can do so many things with them.

Oh and I have to mention that I ate a piece of Pepperidge Farm Coconut Cake last night for dessert. I am obsessed with PF cakes! They are so good. This has been in my freezer for a while, but I just took out one piece and let it thaw for about 10 minutes. It was still a little cold when I ate it, but it just made it that much better.

YUM!

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The Cycle of Organization!

There is always a cycle of organization for me. I just can’t seem to keep up with it 100%. I almost prefer it that way though. I love reorganizing things and starting fresh, but it never fails, everything I once organized and got under control eventually becomes cluttered and out of control. This seems to happen with everything in my life, not just the cleanliness of my apt. I must admit though, our apartment has come a long way since the last debacle of organization. The point here is that it is time to yet again reorganize and restructure. The summer time has hit and it is time to do a third round of spring cleaning. Especially when it is hot, that is when things need to be clutter free and spacious otherwise things will be even more uncomfortable. 

I’ve started my organizing with a triathlon training schedule. I have about 7 weeks to prepare myself for this immense accomplishment. I’m so pumped to do it! I haven’t officially signed up yet, but I will be doing it on Saturday. I want to make sure my family will be able to come and support me before I choose which one I do. 

Second on my list of organizing is getting rid of all the clothes that I do not wear, and there are a lot of them! I don’t know what it is, but I have a hard time parting with my clothes. I always think that I will wear them someday, when in reality if I don’t wear it now, I sure as hell won’t wear it in the future. 

Third is my money. I like setting goals for my savings fund and my credit card payments. I seem to be doing well with both and feel confident that I will be in good financial standing once I head to NY.

Fourth is actually cleaning my apartment. Now, I feel like I should set a goal to see how long a clean apt. can last. It’s hard work man! 

Sorry for this really long and boring post, but I must say it feels nice to get it all out there and organized. That’s the first step…making a list! 

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