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5/19/12

5K Race Recap

I got up at 6:45 this morning to drive into lexington to run the Girls on the Run 5k. Why do races always have to start so early?! Too early for a saturday! Jack was very sweet and got the girls up after I left and brought them out to cheer me on at the finish line. (I promised him we could go out to breakfast afterward if he came ;)
This race was a little different than most because along with the other 600 or so regular racers there were about 300+ elementary school girls running in it who are a part of the Girls on the Run program. The 5k is like their grand finale for the whole program each year. It was a really fun environment, the girls had tutus on and their hair sprayed different colors.
They had the regular runners line up first followed by the Girls on the run participants. I positioned myself in the middle of the pack, I definitely didn't want to be in the front and have all the super fast men zoom past me right away. Once we took off, rather than being passed, I actually had to weave myself around a bunch of people in order to run the pace I wanted too.
The course was pretty flat with only a few small hills, which was nice. I'm used to running a lot of steep hills around my neighborhood, so that along with the adrenaline of running against other people allowed me push harder than normal. I felt great!
As I approached the first mile sign I looked at my watch to check pace, and realized I forgot to turn it on...drat! So I had no idea how I was doing, if I needed to push harder to reach my goal or not. So I just focused on keeping with a couple of men right in front of me. I knew I was running faster than normal so I hoped it would be enough.
When I was approaching the finish line and saw the clock read 23 minutes something I was ecstatic! My goal was to finish in under 26 minutes...I killed it!!!  haha!
Jack and the girls where standing near the finish line, smiling and waving!Well, Kara didn't notice me, but there were lots of balloons holding her attention :)


running it in...I was making a stinky face :(
 
I'm so fast...he almost missed me! lol!
 

We didn't stick around too long after the race, I wasn't sure if they were announcing the places or anything like that, plus I promised everyone a breakfast out. And we were hungry!


Celebratory breakfast at Cracker Barrell. She's ready for her pancake!


Kara loved this thing! She was concentrating so hard on pulling on the pegs out and putting them back in.


Rockin.


Since we left before all the runners had finished. I didn't know my official time or place until we got home and I was able to check the race results online. My official time was 23:23!!! I place 2nd in my age group and 5th woman overall! I never considered that'd I be able to place in the top 5. I was a little excited!!! Now I'm pumped for another!  

5/14/12

This week's meal plan + a couple "recipes"

Here's the meals I have planned for this week:

Mon- salsa chicken and rice
Tues- meatloaf, mashed potatoes, peas
Wed- grilled salmon, picatta pasta, green beans
Thurs- mandarin chicken salad
Fri- egg and spinach breakfast burritos, fruit salad


Tonight I made a new to me yummy mexican dish. Now this meal wasn't rocket science so I'm not sure it can even be called a recipe, but it was simple and delicious so I thought I'd share what I did in case any of y'all what to try it out.

Salsa Chicken and Rice Skillet

1 cup brown rice (cook per package instructions)
1 large boneless skinless chicken breast
1 cup salsa (maybe a little more, I just dumped some in)
1 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans (drained/rinsed)
1 tsp olive oil
salt
pepper
cumin
chili powder
garlic powder
1/2 c shredded cheddar cheese

Cut chicken into 1 inch cubes, season with spices. Heat oil in large skillet on medium high heat, brown the chicken until just done, add in salsa, beans, and corn. Simmer for 3-4 minutes.  Add cooked rice and stir until combined. Turn burner to low heat, Top with cheese, cover and let sit for 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
And your finished, enjoy :)

I ate mine on a bed of fresh spinach, while Jack and the girls just had their's straight up. You could even wrap it up like a burrito. If that's how you roll ; )


The other recipe I wanted to share has been floating around pinterest for quite sometime.
I have made these 4 time already, b/c they are so stinkin delicious. And they are a perfect little snack to have in the fridge. So if you haven't yet...you've got to give these a try!

http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.com/2011/08/no-bake-energy-bites-recipe.html

No Bake Energy Bites

1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup honey
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup ground flaxseed - (a super good source of omega 3's and fiber!)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla

Mix everything above in a medium bowl until thoroughly incorporated.  Let chill in the refrigerator for half an hour.  Once chilled, roll into balls and enjoy!  Store in an airtight container and keep refrigerated for up to 1 week.
 
I hope you if you all try these recipes you love them as much as I do!


5/12/12

Take me out to the ball game...

After living here for 3 years now, we finally went out to a Lexington Legends game last night. It was Faith and Family night and Jack got some free tickets through his work. We had so much fun! The ballpark was really nice and had tons of activities for kids too! This was Kara's first baseball game experience other than an Asbury softball game. It was a little hard to keep her in the seat, she kept wanting to walk up and down our row tapping the people in front of us. Thankfully we were surrounded by other AU families! There were teenage girls in front of us that LOVED Kara, and she knew it too!

The gate attendant came up and gave Kara a free baseball :)

Kirsten was really excited, cheering and clapping whenever anyone hit the ball. But don't let the mascots come near her, they are evil!

singing the national athem

love my little family!

Kara eating up the attention! She is not a shy girl!

My love... married 7 years next month, crazy!




KISSES!
 



 


We made it until the 7th inning stretch before Kara started to meltdown, by then it was 9pm and well past bedtime. So we said goodnight to baseball and headed home.


We had such a fun night together! I can't wait to do it again sometime soon.



5/9/12

having fun outside!

We've been having some lovely weather here lately! Warm, sunny, and perfect! So lots of outdoor play has been happening. We have a tiny little swingset in our backyard that we bought for the girls. It's nice to have something right here so they can go out and play for a couple minutes here and there throughout the day. Kara is constantly walking to our backdoor, begging to go out and play. If I step out for just a sec to take out the trash or something she is right behind me trying to sneak out.
We got the plastic pool out a couple times this past week, Kara still hates it though. Which is weird to me because she really isn't timid about anything else, and loves splashing in water. So she just played to the side while Kirsten splashed around. I want to set up our big pool, but since we're renting this year we probably can't. It kills a big circle of grass and would take up a huge portion of our backyard : ( We might have to make some trips to the public pools this year. I'm going swimming suit shopping tomorrow...ugghh! Pray for me! haha!


blowing on her pretend food...it's hot!

sharing some with sissy

my gorgeous girl :)

finished swimming, now time for an icecream cone!

ignore the mess, my living room is tiny and a constant clutter of toys!


chocolate face!

love her! Such a goofy girl! 

 I'm doing it! So far this week I've done a good job getting myself out of bed early and getting a run in before the girls get up. It feels so good to have my workout done and out of the way by 7am.

sorry for the blurry pic. I was trying out the self timer option on my camera, I guess I need a prop of some sort for it to focus on first :(


5/3/12

a little bit of running talk

I usually run as soon as Jack gets home from work. I get dinner prepped, or in the oven depending on what we are having and then take off. He eats and feeds the girls while I run, so that when I get back he can get to the gym before it closes. It makes the evenings very hectic and rushed! So next week I am determined to start making myself get up before the girls and get my run out of the way first thing in the morning. Getting up an hour earlier will take some getting used to, but I really hate not having the time to eat dinner as a family every night. So I need to make myself do it!
I signed up to run a 5k race on May 19th so I've been working on increasing my speed during my runs some this week. I'm running the race just for fun, and am definitely not the speediest runner, but would love it if I'm able to shave a little bit of time off from my last 5k. Right now my pace is right around a 9 minute mile, I'd love to get that down to 8:30 by race day, so we'll see.
I'm also working on running longer distances. I started running for exercise in high school and it's always just been something I do to stay in shape. I've pretty much always run 3-4 miles every time and that's it. But I want to see if I can go further, So I'm making Saturdays my long run day. Last week I ran 5.4 miles (my longest run ever so far) and it felt really good. I honestly felt like I could have kept on going. This Saturday I'll shoot for 6 miles, and keep increasing by 1/2 a mile or so each week.
I'm going to run in the Bluegrass 10k on July 4th, and if it goes well, I may sign up to run a 1/2 marathon in October!... Maybe, we'll see :)

I found this shirt in the bottom of one of our drawers tonight. It's an old track shirt of Jack's from when he was 9 or 10 years old. Ha ha! Cute...right!