3 things thursday

Posted on March 29, 2012 by HHRunner

1. this is making me ridiculously happy right now:

sean and I are HUGE Anchorman fans and I can’t wait for a second round of Ron Burgandy.

2. I’m so tired of everything forcing me to switch over to new “looks”. gmail, please stop trying to get me to switch over to the new gmail… I gave it a try and purposely swtiched back to the old one because I like it better. facebook, I don’t want a timeline, I want a social media page. there are parts of my college career better left in the past where it isn’t easily scrollable to get to. also, please stop allowing people to “check me in” places. I like to at least pretend I have some sort of internet privacy.

3. while trying to do a search in Google today for work I was bombarded with this:

I’m at a loss. who searches that?!

Also: to whoever searched “do runners ride motorcycles” the answer to that question is YES. at least, at one point in my life I ran, and I still love to hop on the back of sean’s motorcycle.

What ridiculous things has Google suggested for you lately?

things making me laugh today

Posted on March 28, 2012 by HHRunner

it just started raining and I managed to go from extremely productive to extremely tired in about 0.00005 seconds. funny how that happens, right? I thought about blogging about physical therapy but honestly there isn’t that much to say considering I’ve only been to the evaluation and one session. I can say that as hard as it is to force myself not to work out, I do think that my body and my mind have needed this break. it’s done wonders for getting my eating back on track, so hopefully I can keep that momentum going through the weekend! til I think of something worthwhile to blog about, here are things making me laugh:

word up.

courtesy of my coworker

courtesy of iwastesomuchtime.com

What’s making you laugh?

ignorance at its finest

Posted on March 27, 2012 by HHRunner

like most of the world I went to see the Hunger Games movie this weekend. actually, let me back up, i started listening to the book on my iPod several months ago while I was running, but after getting injured I put it down (put my iPod down?) and just recently downloaded it to my nook to read. I didn’t want to go see the movie until I had finished reading the book, but by a twist of fate I misread movie times (we were going to see 21 Jump Street) and we got to the theater 30 minutes late, leaving Hunger Games as our only option. so we went!

via

My thoughts? I LOVED it. I thought their casting was on point with the entire character list, and I thought that it was fairly on track with what I’d read so far in the book. I thought the depiction of Effie Trinket and all of the other folks living at the Capital was genius and I am in love with Katniss, Peeta, Gale, Cinna and Rue.

via

my one complaint? the jerkiness of the camera during a lot of the scenes. I like watching fight scenes in their full glory and the way it jumped around a whole lot during these scenes made them a *little* difficult to watch. but that was my only complaint.

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what I did not once think was “I can’t believe Rue and Cinna were black”. it appears, however, that quite a few people did, according to this article from Jezebel. A big thanks to Ashley for providing it for my reading pleasure, I thank you for linking to it.

via

all I have to say is are you kidding me?! that whole article breaks my heart. I realize that everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but I don’t see how you could watch that movie and not think that the Amandla Stenberg who played Rue delivered a heart-breakingly wonderful performance, or that Lenny Kravitz didn’t make a fantastic Cinna. I’m floored by the level of ignorance and rudeness depicted in all of the tweets Jezebel linked to, and honestly a little in shock. but despite the fact that I could go on for days about this, I think the article pretty much sums it all up.

so tell me, if you saw Hunger Games this weekend, what’d ya think? and the article?

taking a break & recognizing burnout

Posted on March 26, 2012 by HHRunner

for weeks now I’ve been focusing on getting out as many workouts as I can while being sidelined from running and I think it’s safe to say it’s finally taken its toll. I have zero motivation to work out and I’ve been sabotaging my diet by binge eating on crappy foods. I couldn’t figure out why I couldn’t stop myself from polishing off pints of ice cream and bottles of wine until it dawned on me that maybe I was a little burned out. I also realized that the last time I took a true break from working out (other than a few days here or there) was when I went on my honeymoon… almost two years ago.

pretty sure the only working out I did here was lifting a margarita or a corona up and down. and it was delightful.

I can always tell I’m getting burned out when these things start happening:

1. I’m tired all the time and I can’t seem to catch my body up on rest no matter what I do. this is usually because I’ve been running myself ragged and my body is literally yelling at me to take a break. whether or not I’m smart enough to listen to it is debatable, but this time I am all ears.

2. I start living on junk food. this is what initially tipped me off this time. at first I thought it was stress but I’m past that point now so I’m chalking it up to being burned out on working out. for whatever reason whenever I start getting burned out my diet is the first thing to go. despite still getting in workouts I’ve been steadily gaining weight for the past few weeks and that is a direct result of my less than awesome diet.

I somehow don’t think this qualifies as “healthy”, no matter how many fruits and veggies may be attached.

3. I get irritable all the time. I’ve been a real pleasure to be around, I’m sure. instead of being the generally happy person that I am I’ve been exceedingly cynical. sarcasm is a normal part of my life; being a huge damper on life is not normal for me.

4. I can’t find any motivation. I’ve been literally forcing myself to hit the gym every day. there have been a few days here and there that I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself at the gym, but for the most part I have been pushing myself out the door each day or delaying going until after work. normally I bounce out of bed ready to go. not so much right now.

here I am happy to be hiking! YAY EXERCISE!

5. my workouts start slacking. I have managed to take hour long workouts and stretch them into an hour and a half or longer simply because I am slacking while I’m at the gym. in turn this puts me in an even worse mood because I’m at the gym so long. it’s a really horrible circle.

so I’m taking a break from working out. I’m taking this entire week off and focusing on cleaning up my diet and getting enough rest. I’m going to get my house back in order and get my mind back to where it needs to be. with this looming injury I think that taking a week off will ultimately be a good decision also. the plan is to hit up yoga at my studio three times next week and maybe throw in a light at-home yoga workout as well, and then the third week ease back into weights and such. hopefully I’ll be feeling better physically at that point and will be able to add in some cardio and *fingers crossed* some running.

that’s the plan, at least. Smile

how can you tell when you’re burned out?

fun things for FRIDAY!

Posted on March 23, 2012 by HHRunner

since yesterday was more of a “let me tell you what’s going on with my overly dramatic running life” then a typical 3 things thursday (read: there wasn’t 3 things, just me rambling incessantly), I’m going to bullet-point this post. and let’s face it, it’s a small miracle I’ve posted as much as I have in the past week.

1. I have THE BEST BLOG FRIENDS EVER. seriously. you guys are awesome. all of the super supportive tweets, emails, and text messages have been amazing. that being said, Kami and I have a long-standing relationship with encouraging each other through injury and that beautiful mama (with the CUTEST kids, gahhh I die every time I see them) sent me this:

I may or may not have ripped into the robin eggs as soon as the package came.

she is amazing, seriously, and it couldn’t have come at a better time. THANK YOU FRIEND.

2. physical therapy was… interesting. I didn’t really know what to expect going into it, but I’m hopeful that it will actually end up helping me. I’m tired of being dramatic about not being able to run, it really wears on me. I’m sure everyone else is tired of me being dramatic too. can’t promise you’ve seen the last of it, but here’s hoping… Smile

3. need some cat cuteness in your life today? let’s be honest, who doesn’t? I know this cat mama would agree Smile

leo is photo-shy. poor thing. he was looking straight at the camera right up until I went to take the picture.

louie, on the other hand is a photo wh*re and will pose dramatically at any given moment. life is so rough for those two.

Happy Friday!

the knee saga continues

Posted on March 22, 2012 by HHRunner

I know, y’all are probably SO EXCITED to hear more about my knee, right?!? Lucky you then because I come armed with a story today!

as I’m sure you remember, my knee has been acting quite strange since after the marathon. as in, I can’t run farther than a mile without incurring pain.

my initial thought was “this is just from all of the stress of running 26.2 miles”. when it didn’t go away I went and saw my sports chiropractor. his diagnosis? shoe inserts because my whole body is off due to arches, etc. so I get fitted for and buy the inserts and then float around waiting for the day I can run again.

that day never came.

I go visit one of the trainers at Rice. his diagnosis pretty much mimics the one my sports doc already gave me.

we go through many steps to try to strengthen my knee. no dice.

so I go visit the orthopedic surgeon. he takes x-rays and says everything looks fine on the x-rays, but that I need to get an MRI taken and that he thinks it’s a stress fracture.

as soon as he says stress fracture I think “well that would make sense!”

I go into my MRI hopeful that there actually is a stress fracture so that I can start taking steps toward healing that baby up and move on with my running life.

side note: MRI’s are very strange things. also, that was a LOT of linking to posts relating to being injured up there.

yesterday I went in for my MRI results fully ready to hear that I had a stress fracture.

except….

there is no stress fracture.

in fact, other than some swelling, it came back fine.

WTF? are you kidding me? it clearly is not fine. his ultimate diagnosis? my knee muscle (?) is deconditioned and needs to be strengthened back up.

the same thing everyone else has already said. at least it’s all been consistent, right? I can tell you with certainty that I own one very expensive right knee.

so where do we go from here?

to physical therapy. starting today.

what should I expect from physical therapy? meep. HELP!

Running Dresses

Posted on March 20, 2012 by HHRunner

Sometimes at work when I need to take a writing break (writing all day is exhausting, by the way, and contributes largely to my lack of blogging. also, a lack of inspiration contributes to that, but that’s neither here nor there…)

Anyway, today during a much-needed brain break (it’s like a smoke break! just without the smoking, terrible smell, and toxic consequences!) I was perusing the FitSugar website for interesting articles that could distract me for a few minutes. Once I finished glancing over all the homepage articles I scrolled to the bottom of the site where they list their favorite sites and I found this article on running dresses that was hanging out on the Self website.

I kind of had to pause when I read the title because my initial thought was, “running dresses? really?” I’m just not sure I’m on board with this:

via

I think the problem is that it reminds me of a tennis outfit. Fun fact: I tried to play tennis in 5th grade. That lasted all of one season. I was not good. Then again, I am not good at anything requiring any additional objects or coordination.

Of course, the article says, “Kathrine Switzer, the first woman to officially run the Boston Marathon and author of Marathon Woman, finished the 1973 race wearing a red tunic dress which she has called one of her best running outfits.”

She’s probably way more of a running expert than me so what do I know?

The ironic thing is I am completely on board with running skirts. I think they are cute and fun and feminine and they do not remind me of tennis.

What do you think: running dresses win or fail?

Happy early St. Patrick’s Day!

Posted on March 16, 2012 by HHRunner

I can’t imagine why.

3 Things Thursday

Posted on March 15, 2012 by HHRunner

Let’s call it things I’m going to rant about Thursday. I am just a teensy bit stressed right now and since it’s been demanded that I blog more I’m going to blog about the things that are stressing me out as of right now.

1. SOMEONE may have gone on a teeny tiny shopping spree over the past two weeks and may have purchased herself this watch because she was feeling sorry for herself and her lack of running… along with two dresses, a pair (or two) of shoes, two pairs of jeans, some jewelry, and a couple new shirts (ok, three or four… or five), new makeup, and some lady things… but the main point is this baby:

Gah. Be still my Michael Kors loving soul. It is perfection.

Anyway, I JUST paid off my credit card and Kohls card and am gearing up to pay off my Macy’s card, where said watch was purchased, next week. It all sounds dandy right? Read on.

2. I have to get an MRI tomorrow for my stupid jerk knee. They think it’s a stress fracture. Which, in all honesty, makes perfect sense to me since it isn’t getting better. This MRI is going to cost me a fortune because my insurance doesn’t kick in for stuff like that until I reach my deductible. A FORTUNE. Good thing I have all these fancy new clothes and accessories to make me feel better. The timing on this is impeccable.

The weird thing is before I went and saw the orthopedic surgeon on Tuesday where he sort of diagnosed my issue as a stress fracture my knee felt mostly normal during everyday life, only hurting if I attempted to run on it. Now it hurts all the time. It’s just rude.

3. Because I am banned from everything fun in life and have been cardio banished to the underworld that is the elliptical and to the weight room where I am sculpting a massive upper body and abs (underneath the layer of skin that hides them) I have to go to the gym to get my fitness on (don’t worry about how long that sentence was, it’s fine). I go in the mornings because it is much less crowded. This means that every morning at 4:45 my alarm goes off and I curse life for 10 minutes before I drag myself out of bed, into gym clothes, and over to the gym. This morning was no different, except that I was at the rodeo last night so I was extra tired.

At 5:10 I rolled up to the gym only to see all the lights off inside and several cars in the parking lot. I waited until 5:30, chatting with one of the other early morning regulars. By 5:30 no one had showed up to open the gym so I turned around and went home because I have better things to do then waste my entire morning before work waiting for someone to allow me to work out. W.T.F.!!! I am paying so that I can work out at some ungodly hour, you need to get there and do your job! This has thrown off my entire day because now I have to go brave the afternoon crowd and they terrify me. There’s so many of them!

4. Because of all this unnecessary added stress in my life (and I realize my problems completely outweigh everything that everyone else is going through in the world right now) I have been stress eating all day. I can’t even make it stop. Oh and I had the worst lunch ever. Does that ever happen to you? Do you ever make a lunch at night that sounds so good and then regret it when it comes time to eat it the next day? That doesn’t happen to me too often, but it was definitely the case today. Just thinking about it makes me sick to my stomach. I am still bitter about it.

/end rant.

What’s making you rant right now?

Oatmeal Smoothies

Posted on March 14, 2012 by HHRunner

After getting harassed on Twitter yesterday by these lovely ladies I figured I had to post something otherwise they might start a riot. Of course, if it means they’d come banging down my door I’m not sure that’d necessarily be a bad thing because at least then we could all hang out, but that’s beside the point…

Anyway, Melissa told me to post a recipe and while I am not the most creative cook out there (I like to take a recipe that’s already in place and then tweak it to my needs, not create from scratch), I have been enjoying the most wonderful smoothie the last few days.

Of course, that means I should probably preface this with something regarding my relationship with smoothies, right? Isn’t that what bloggers do? Sit down, this is a good one.

I’ve been drinking smoothies for a long time. In fact, I’ve been drinking them ever since I started working out and I found out that my mom drank them. If smoothies are good enough for her, well then they’re good enough for me too!

You are welcome for the Paint picture, by the way. I am much too busy to be bothered with something professional looking like Picnik.

However I took a short break from them when I stopped lifting weights. You see where this is going, right? With my return to weight-lifting came the return of the smoothie. After starting Live Fit I got really good at making a smoothie as soon as I walked through the door from the gym every morning. Now I can’t imagine not having one in the mornings.

But until recently I haven’t necessarily been very adventurous when it comes to smoothie-making. Can you even be adventurous in smoothie-making? I’m not sure. But regardless, my typical smoothies consist of some form of milk, a banana, protein powder, and frozen fruit. If I want to add some nutritional punch to it then I’ll throw in some spinach. This is a good story so far, isn’t it?

However this week I had to save my frozen fruit for homemade sangria. It’s all about priorities, right? A banana, protein powder, and milk just wasn’t going to cut it, but I wasn’t ready to cut out my daily smoothie so I had to improvise. And thus the oatmeal smoothie was born.

Oatmeal Smoothie

Makes enough for one smoothie

Ingredients:

- 1 banana
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- cinnamon to taste
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
- ice as needed
- 2 tablespoons quick-cooking oats
- 1/2 c milk

Directions:

Blend.

Drink.

Enjoy.

Nothing ground-breaking going on over here. In fact, you’ve probably already heard of or made oatmeal smoothies. But I hadn’t. And that is how I made a post out of nothing.

What’s been up?

Also, send me your favorite smoothie recipes.