Jar Oats and 8 year old marathoners?

Count down is on..... 5 days till NYC!!!!

Um... yep, I'm a tad nervous. You just never know what the day will bring. I just hope to enjoy the run though. I don't think I'm in PR-setting shape unfortunately..... I just hope to keep it under 3:40.

I have been enjoying sleeping in till 6:30 lately...... and well, I did it again. I really have no desire to run in the pitch dark this close to the marathon. Tripping would not be pretty.

Instead I headed to work a bit early and had a fabulous wonderful treat........

JAR OATS!!!!

Who knew I could ever be so happy about an almost empty jar of almond butter?

BREAKFAST
-oats made with milk
-1T pumpkin butter, ground flax & walnuts
-almond butter jar remnants

At lunch time today I went to a information session put on by our local rotary. A friend of ours invited me to go, so I went. I do a lot of volunteer work in the community so it seems like a bit of a no brainer for me to join. I just LOVED hearing about how supportive the group is and how ACTIVE they are in the community. Our local Rotary has done some amazing projects and has some fabulous on going programs that do so much for those less fortunate.

Plus they get stuff DONE!
(that is huge, ideas are great but action and follow through is where it is at)

So hopefully soon I'll be a Rotarian. :-)

As for the lunch portion. I didn't do photos.... felt kinda rude snapping a picture with folks talking.

Nothing fancy... they provided lunch.
Turkey on a bulkie w/ lettuce & tomato. I skipped the chips and had a cookie. :-)

Later back at work I needed a snack. I had a post work run planned and needed a little something more to keep me going.

Pita Chips.


After work I headed home and got ready for an easy 3 mile run.
I was good and iced my plantar fascia before heading out. I really do think that helps.

I had to wear my florescent long sleeved Boston Marathon shirt, the sun was starting to set and darkness was creeping in. Amazing how quickly that daylight fades away once fall sets in. Pretty soon I'll be wearing my headlamp!

My run was suppose to be an easy one...... but I felt good and was tempted to pick the pace up a bit. I did for a little bit. Just to feel a little speed. It wasn't a sprint, just a little comfortable speed.

I re-used some leftovers.

DINNER
-field greens w/ tomatoes, gorganzola, leftover salmon and some TJ's balsamic vinaigrette

I'm chilling once again with Reggie. The hubby has night two of the same work function as last night.

I was talking with a colleague earlier today about NYC.
He mentioned this article that was in the NY Times today. I found it interesting.
Back in the late 70's kids, 8 and 9 year olds, ran the NYC marathon!
And with incredible times I might add.

Of course kids that young are no longer allowed to run the marathon. Although it does mention kids as young as 12 running other marathons. Obviously there is some debate of what long term affects this would have on the child's long term health. I have friends with kids that run, however they are 8 and 9 year olds running 5K's.... not a marathon. I know one mother waited until her daughter was 9 before she could run a 5 mile race, until that age she only would let her run up to a 5K.

What do you think about kids under 10 running races? What do you think is an appropriate distance for a child that is 8 or 9 years old?

I definitely think 8 or 9 years shouldn't be running marathons.... I know how taxed my body feels after that distance, I cannot imagine what it does to such a young body. But then again, I'm not an expert. I would love for the kids I have some day to run. If they liked it and wanted to race, I would definitely consult with their doctor on what distance might be appropriate.

Hope you have a great night!

Britt

Not the suggested pre-race kinda night.....

Ahhh...... Friday!

I love the weekend, although it is sad to sometimes wish the week away. BUT I'm going to try and be more positive about things. I started reading The Secret.... we will see how well positive thinking works for me. ;-)

Any how... I slept in the morning. I figured I would take the day off from kettlebell, a little less cross training and weights as I get closer to NYC. I think I might just go once next week.

I had a tasty treat to look forward to this morning.... an almost empty jar of honey peanut butter. Mmmm......

BREAKFAST

-1/2c oats with almond milk & water, left over PB

-ground flax & Kashi Vanilla Island for toppings

Lunch time came around and I went for a run. I had to sign something at the hubby's office, so I ran there. I love when I can actually RUN an errand. So round trip it was about 5 miles. Also one of my good friends work's at his office so I got to gab with her for a bit.

Then it was back to work, to shower up and have lunch.

LUNCH

-spinach wrap w/ chicken salad and loaded with veggies

-side of carrot sticks, brussel sprouts and broccoli

After work I picked up my dad to take him out for a drink. The hubby joined us as well. We met up with some random friends that just happened to stop by.

Also on the way home I picked up some ingredients for dinner.

DINNER

- maple glazed salmon

- risotto al autumno (I'll post the recipe tomorrow)

-roasted eggplant & brussel sprouts

I do risotto the old fashioned way.... ie. lots of stirring.

But its made less tedious when you have a glass of wine in hand.

Dinner is served.....

With wine of course. :-)

While dining we had my dad's photos from his trip to northern Canada on his computer. He went on a paddling trip in the northwest territories.

Now we are just chilling and relaxing. I have a 5K tomorrow morning. Normally I wouldn't be doing one right before a marathon, but its part of a series I'm doing. I have to do one more race and this just happens to be the LAST one. So gotta do it.

I think I might actually be in the top 5 for women. Woo hoo! Kinda sad too though, as one of the races I did with a bad hangover.... yes sometimes I am NOT the picture of health. Never said I was perfect.

Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

Any races this weekend? Or trying anything new for activities?

Have a great night!

Britt

Intersection sprints......

That was my workout tonight.

But first my day in food.  :-)

BREAKFAST

jar oats!!

-oats, 3/4 c water, 1/4 c milk

-mix-ins: walnuts, dried cranberries, ground flax and of course ALMOND BUTTER!

I meant to do my run this morning, but I hit that evil snooze button.  I really should remove that from my alarm.......

So it was off to work. 

Before lunch I had a slice of ww bread w/ PB.  (it didn't like the camera)

Lunch time I had to hit the Home Depot. 

My list of needed items included....

-huge bag of potting soil 

(that was fun to try and get in my work clothes, luckily some dude helped me)

-Osmocote (aka plant food)

-Soil Moist (magic water absorbing stuff that keeps the soil moist)

-new shower curtain

LUNCH

Had to find something in the cafe at work since I did my Home Depot trip and ran out of time to pack a lunch this morning. 

(also I cheated, forgot to take a picture.... this is a re-use of an old picture)

-ww wrap w/ chicken salad and loaded with veggies, side of carrots

-few unpictured sweet potato chips

After work I went to revisit these beauties form a couple weeks ago at the greenhouse. 

It took 2 trips but we used about 2/3's of these plants tonight. 

I had a crew of about 7 volunteers help me plant 17 of the 21 barrels downtown. 
I was running around like a crazy woman and didn't snap any pictures.... but they look kinda like THIS.......
I still have 4 more barrels to plant plus a fountain that we now use as a planter.  I think I should be able to get it all finished tomorrow after work. 

So this is where my intersection sprints came in.  The barrels are on traffic islands in the center of downtown.  We did this all basically during rush hour.  But that is the only time I have to get it done..... so rush hour it is. 

We made good use of the cross walk button. 

I tried to see how many times I could sprint back and forth with plants before the light turned green again.  So they were slightly weighted sprints.

Needless to say after doing all that I was a bit exhausted and hungry..... so no run tonight.  But I did get some sprints in.... right?

Once home I showered my dirty wet stinky self. 

And while my gourmet dinner was cooking snacked on some of this.....

One gourmet dinner coming up!

DINNER

Yep, frozen pizza. 

The dinner of health gurus everywhere.  ;-)
I need to get to the store tomorrow.  I got loads of veggies but need some something to add them to.........  well at least for the hubby to eat it. 

Hope you had a great day!

Last night I was in TOTAL freak out mode about the 5K I'm directing.  

I think it was abou midnight when I bolted out of bed and started jotting things down. 

There are just so many details to straighten out.....   

how many volunteers  I need, where they all need to be, how best to instruct them all, what items I need to purchase, getting all the donated items there.... food, prizes, etc., making sure my race vendors will have everything they need to make it a succesful event...... and so on. 

You get the picture. 

People have been hugely supportive though, so I am very thankful for that!

Have you ever organized a large event?  How did you keep yourself focused and not get overwhelmed by all the details? 

 I guess in some ways its almost like a wedding.... except I get to do it again and learn from this year!

Have a great night!

Britt

Jar O' Oats....

Ahh.... finally a good night's sleep!

I actually managed to go to bed before 11pm last night... actually I think it was closer to 10pm!

I woke up just before my alarm went off at 5:25 this morning. Just enough time for me to get dressed, fix myself up a bit, walk the dog and then fly out the door to Kettlebell.

This morning's kettlebell session was hot & sticky, the owner forgot to turn the a/c on last night. We were all dripping in no time, ick. It was a great work out though, even the "warm up" was a bit of a challenge!

Warm Up
Run 400m
5 air squats
8 pushups
10 situps
10 spiderman stretches each side
all done 4 times

Workout- How many rounds you could do in 20 minutes
Turkish Get Ups- 2x's per side
Lunges- 4x's per leg
American Swings x 12
Thrusters 8x's per side

6am is way to early for me to be keeping track of my rounds... so I just kept going and didn't count. :)

After some stretching I headed home, showered up and got ready for work. I decided to finally try a jar-o-oats. I had the perfect almost empty jar of almond butter.

• 1/2 cup oatmeal
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup milk
• whatever almond butter was in there, 2 tablespoons?
• couple handfuls of blueberries
• (ack! forgot my ground flax)
  

So YUMMY!
This is what I have planned for my mid-morning snack. My first PURE bar ever!
I'll report back.


Hope you have a great Monday!!

Britt