Life of Tri: 2010

Thursday, October 21, 2010

Why I Love Where I Live

There are runners out every single day. I see them driving my kids to preschool/daycare. I see them around my work, looking out from my desk, out on the trails etc. Rain or shine, I am never alone out there. I've learned to ease slowly out of driveways because a runner might be coming by. I see people running with dogs, other people, huge groups or jog strollers. I love the running community here. In fact the reason why we bought our house was we drove by at night to check out the neighborhood after dark and I saw someone running while it was pitch black out. I *knew* this was the place for me.

In fact, not too far from my house is this trail, I heart this trail. It has beautiful views, water stops and goes on for miles.

Plus, living in the bay area...there is the bonus of races all year long, different lengths, practically weekly. Being so close to all of this has been heavenly. I'm really lucky to have these amenities.

Books Read 2010

29. They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth

30. Animal Farm by George Orwell

31. This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde

32. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
33. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
34. Maid to Match by Deanne Gist
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney
36. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer
37. UnCharted TerriTori by Tori Spelling
38. Honolulu by Alan Brennert

39. Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot

40. The Year of the Fog by Michelle Richmond

41. I Did (But I Wouldn't Again) by Cara Lockwood

42. Run Like a Mother: How to Get Moving and Not Lose Your Job, Family or Sanity by Dimity McDowell and Sarah Bowen Shea I loved this book. I actually asked for it for Mother's Day but my wonderful hubby forgot to buy it. He added it to his Amazon cart but never actually ordered it. I finally bought it for myself and thoroughly enjoyed it. Some highlights of the book...comments throughout the chapters from different mothers, hearing stories of the authors runs and races, and most all the inspiration that was laid out throughout the book. I loved hearing other mothers fitting time in their busy lives to run. Another take home message for me, the Hills chapter. I don't know what it was about that chapter but it has inspired me to do hill work. So for the past two weeks I've gone out and put in a day of hill work. (In fact I did a hill run at lunch today.)

This past weekend I was luck to meet the authors of this book at the See Jane Run Store in San Francisco. It was a lovely night of wine, chocolate and reading. I was excited to meet Dimity and Sarah and I loved how comfortable I felt chatting with them. I'm looking forward to hanging out with them again the next time their in my area.

43. Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella. This is the 6th book in the series. I've read them all and each are a light read and somewhat entertaining. There are times where you want to smack Becky (main character) across the head, but overall a fun read.

Currently Reading: Got You Back by Jane Fallon

I decided not to listen to Cold Mountain on cd. I started it and just couldn't get into the narrators voice. So I've skipped that one and am listening to "The Other Queen" by Philippa Gregory

Next Up: Mini-Shopoholic by Sophie Kinsella

Monday, October 18, 2010

My List of Baby Must-Haves

Just wanted to note that this is mine and hubby's list of must-haves. I've since modified it with baby #2, but this is the list I've forwarded to several friends for registry ideas. Note, baby to baby preferences are not always the same. So this is just my experience.

1. Swing

2. Bouncy Chair

3. Crib

4. Crib mobile

5. Crib music soother

6. 2-3 crib sheets, 2 mattress waterproof pads

7. Sleep positioner

8. Humidifier

9. Nose aspirator (washable!!)

10. 2-3 towels

11. 4-5 washclothes

12. infant bath tub

13. non-slip mat or sticky pads for bathtub

14. bath toy holder, faucet cover

15. plastic spoons and forks (use a plastic toothbrush holder for travel)

16. high chair or booster seat with at least 2 trays (3 preferable)

17. plastic bowls

18. plastic bibs (at least 3)

19. changing pad

20. 2-3 changing pad covers

21. lap pads (4-5)

22. cloth diapers/receiving blankets (7-8) we used them only as spit clothes

23. fold up bottle drying rack

24. snack cups

25. bottle brush

26. sleep sacks

27. Exersaucer

28. Activity Gym

29. Umbrella stroller

30. Jogging stroller (if that’s what you’re into)

31. Pack n play (simple unless you’re going to have it out in your house. If you use it all the time, then splurge for the vibration/music. If you just use it for travel, don’t need all the bells and whistles.)

32. Floppy seat cover for grocery cart/restaurant high chair

33. Ergo carrier (much better than the Bjorn)

34. Stroller travel system. If you have two cars and will both be using strollers, get a snap n go for the 2^nd car. I’d buy the snap n go used, cuz you don’t use it for that long. (Revision after 2^nd child, if you need a stroller in two cars, I’d do BOB revolution w/infant seat attachment in one car, snap n go in the other. Later on, Snap n go can be replaced with umbrella stroller.)

35. Go go kids carseat roller (for plane travel)

36. Kiddopotamus Tiny Diner placemat. If you go out to eat often. (We love this!!)

37. Kiddopotamus plastic bib (good for travel as well)

38. Something to swaddle. I’ve tried all the swaddle stuff, the kiddopotamus and ultimate swaddler but I found that regular blankets worked best.

39. Gripe water

40. Baby monitor. If you have a big house, and the baby’s room is far away then splurge on this one. Our house is small, we hardly used it. I just leave our doors open and can here her. I mostly use my baby monitor when we travel to friends/family houses when we’ll be far from her room.

41. Glider (not essential, used in the early years but hardly used now)

42. My breast friend. I like it better than the boppy for positioning for feeding. But the boppy can be used to position the baby in on the couch, tummy time etc.

44. Breast pads

45. At least 3 nursing bras.

46. Nightgowns (for mama) with snaps or button closures for night time feedings.

47. Car mirror

48. Digital thermometer

49. Pacifier (depends on your parenting thoughts)

50. Lovey (depends on your parenting thoughts)

Revised with 2^nd Child:

51. Aden + Anais blankets for swaddling.

52. For cloth diapers if you’re going that route, try the Jillian Drawer’s Diaper trial. We went with Bum Genius 3.0 diapers.

53. Bum Genius Diaper sprayer

54. Robeez shoes (helps keep socks on)

55. Medela Free-style pump

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Books Read 2010

29. They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth

30. Animal Farm by George Orwell

31. This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde

39. Size 12 is Not Fat by Meg Cabot (Was soo disappointed in this book. I really loved Cabot's Queen of Babble series, but this start of Heather Well's series was horrible. I really wanted to stop reading but I felt I should try it out because it was a fast read. I will not be reading any more of this series.)

40. The Year of the Fog by Michelle Richmond (This book was recommended to me by a friend who said if I like Jodi Picoult I would like this author. Wow, this book was intense. It made me think what if my child went missing. I'm now doing "Stranger Danger" talks with my daughter because of this book. I admit, I had to skip to the end to see what happens but all in all it was a great book. I really liked that they talked about a place I've been down to the bridge I've taken a picture with. I don't want to give too much away but it was really great to feel a connection landmark/wise with the book.)

41. I Did (But I Wouldn't Again) by Cara Lockwood (I read her book I Do (But I Don't) a long time ago and that book was about the sister. Anyways, back to I Did. It's a funny chick-lit novel. I enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters. A light read that was enjoyed.

Next Up: Mini-Shopoholic by Sophie Kinsella

Currently listening on CD: Bee Season by Myla Goldberg. Almost finished with that book, will be listening to Cold Mountain next. I saw the movie a long time ago but haven't read the book.

Sunday, October 3, 2010

The infamous sub-2 half marathon

It's no secret that that is my goal. Finishing in under 2 hours. I've been close...2:06, but I can't seem to get there. For today's half marathon I trained with a fast runner. I trained hard and I tried to do the best I could. But alas...I didn't even PR. :( I can blame it on a number of reasons but it really comes down to I just didn't have it in me. I wish I could have met up with my new running partner at the start, but I didn't find her. Not that running with her would have guaranteed a PR. She finished in 1:59, amazing! I'm so proud of her, and a tiny bit jealous. :)

But the main thing I need to understand is that not every race will be a PR for me. Since I started running...and I mean really running races, my situation has been a little different. I started running half marathons in 2005. I ran my first half then got pregnant with my first child. After her birth I ran 3 more half's. Each half got faster and faster. PR'd on my last race before I got pregnant with child number 2. Ran 6 halfs since he was born, and same thing...each run got faster and faster (should clarify that faster and faster means I did get slower than my pre-second child but got faster each race thereafter)...except for these last two. But two weeks ago it was just a "training" half so I didn't push myself the whole time. So my PR is still before second child, but I get sooo close. I'm not giving up, it may not be this year but I heard that runners peak in their mid-30's, so I have a handful of years to work on it.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

New Songs

I have two new songs I JUST had to have so I downloaded them from Itunes tonight.

Club Can't Handle Me by Flo Rida
Just the Way You Are by Bruno Mars

I am also digging:
Dynamite by Taio Cruz
and
DJ Got Us Fallin In Love by Usher
(Those are my next to download.)

I realized I haven't posted some of my new songs on my running playlist.
California Gurls-Katie Perry
Paper Planes-MIA
Cooler Than Me-Mike Posner
Bulletproof-La Roux
I Like It-Enrique Iglesias
Breakeven-The Script
Sweet Disposition-The Temper Trap
Imma Be-Black Eyed Peas
Your Love is My Drug-Ke$ha
Baby-Justin Bieber

Monday, September 27, 2010

Palo Alto Moonlight 10k

Last Friday I ran the Palo Alto Moonlight 10k with a coworker. It started at 8:15pm so it was definitely dark. The weather was awesome, kinda on the warm side. 70 degrees at 8pm. The run was a loop around the bay trail. Only 2 miles were on city streets so 4 miles were pitch black except for the full moon, glow sticks, flashlights and head lamps. It was beautiful seeing the east bay lights and the moon on the water, the smell of the bay was disgusting though. It was a fun race and fast crowd.

My only issues were, parking was annoying. There were signs pointing in two directions to park and the one I took was full. When I had to make 3 U-turns to get back they were removing that arrow. Thanks for the late notice.

There was no bag check (official) and they handed us our t-shirts when we got our bibs so we didn't have time to go back to the car to put them away. We put them in a reusable grocery bag and set them on a bench (the 'bag check' area).

Porta potty lines were LONG! That's why we didn't have enough time to get back to the car, we waited 10-15 min in line.

Water was a joke. At the end of the race they handed you the itty-bitty dixie cup for water. It was a shot of water, are you kidding me? Then they said keep your cup so you can reuse it. They had arrowhead jugs for people to fill up their dixie shot cup, so annoying. I had my two shots of water and then headed to my car for my bottle of water. You'd think they'd be able to hand everyone a bottle of water.

Other than that it was a good race, longer than the stated 6.2 miles. My Garmin and my coworkers Polar foot pod both registered the race as 6.35 miles. When that distance I was averaging 8:56 pace.

Sunday, September 19, 2010

Ice Bath

I had never truely taken an ice bath (full on ice in the tub and everything) until today. Oh it was glorious!! I have been missing out. Today I ran a "practice" half but it was still a race. I finished in 2:09:43, could have PR'd but knew I didn't want to push myself too much. I wanted to heal my legs more quickly because I have a 10k on Friday and my "actual" half in 2 weeks. So I tried it out tonight. Maybe it's the quiet 10 min I get to read while my legs go numb, maybe it's the appeal of a bath that my kids won't want to jump into.

Books Read 2010

29. They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth

30. Animal Farm by George Orwell

31. This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde

32. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner
33. Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffeneger
34. Maid to Match by Deanne Gist
35. Diary of a Wimpy Kid by Jeff Kinney (Hilarious book, great conversation topic in the break room. Many parents had read this book.)
36. The Story of a Marriage by Andrew Sean Greer (Really loved his book Max Tivoli but this was disappointing.)
37. UnCharted TerriTori by Tori Spelling
38. Honolulu by Alan Brennert I liked this book, but it was a little long winded.

Listened on CD:
The Shack by William Young (Interesting theory about Jesus, but the coolest thing was the little MP3 player the book was on that I borrowed from the library.)
Wives Behaving Badly by Elizabeth Buchan Allright, I was hoping for a funny book but ended up with a slightly depressing book.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Crohn's Disease

What is Crohn's disease?
Crohn’s disease is an ongoing disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, also referred to as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract.
Crohn’s disease can affect any area of the GI tract, from the mouth to the anus, but it most commonly affects the lower part of the small intestine, called the ileum. The swelling extends deep into the lining of the affected organ. The swelling can cause pain and can make the intestines empty frequently, resulting in diarrhea. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory bowel disease, the general name for diseases that cause swelling in the intestines. (Taken from NDDIC website.)
Symptoms:
The most common symptoms of Crohn’s disease are abdominal pain, often in the lower right area, and diarrhea. Rectal bleeding, weight loss, arthritis, skin problems, and fever may also occur. Bleeding may be serious and persistent, leading to anemia. (Taken from NDDIC website.)

Little known fact about me. I have Crohn's disease. I was diagnosed when I was 14 years old, freshman in high school. What a horrible time to be diagnosed with something (though when is it ever a good time?). Entering high school is bad enough, but then to start feeling very ill?!

My symptoms were very minor but that meant it was hard to diagnose. I was very thin, just under 100lbs, and being 5' 4'' did not look good. I was exhausted all of the time. I would go to school, get home fall asleep, wake up to eat dinner then go back to bed. Eating hurt. Every time I ate about 10-15 min later I was doubled on the floor in pain. So I started to not eat as much. I lost 5-8lbs, bringing my weight to the low 90's. I also ran a low temp every day. My parents began taking me to the doctor but no one could figure out what was wrong with me. I didn't have the classic diarrhea symptom of Crohn's. Some doctor said he thought I was just anorexic. As if?! It hurt to eat. I was poked and prodded, I had to visit a gynecologist (talk about embarrassing!), got an ultra sound as well as various other tests because one thought was that I was having my periods internally since I hadn't started menstruating yet (probably because I had no body fat). I was referred to a gastroenterologist who took one look at me, saw some subtle symptoms that other doctor's didn't see like the bruises on my shins and decided to do a colonoscopy. Lo and behold, I was diagnosed with Crohn's. I was put on steroid treatment and sulfa drugs. I hated the steroids. My face ballooned up, noticebly. I remember a guy in my Spanish class commenting how my face was so big. (Moon face, one of the many side effects of prednisone.) 7 month's later I was slowly tapered off the steroids but kept on the sulfa drugs, but by end of high school I wasn't even taking those anymore. (And that same guy in class commented how my face got skinny again. Thank god it went back down!)

I had one relapse in 2002, had another colonoscopy, tried some med's but they didn't work out for me. I stopped taking them and went into remission again. Thankfully I've been feeling good, I want to attribute it to my working out. Starting 2002 I began truely competing in triathlons and running. Perhaps that's what's keeping me well.

So what prodded me to post my story? A few weeks ago I was going through some old boxes from my parents house. I found a bunch of "Get Well" cards from when I was first diagnosed. It brought back my memories of that time and felt I should share.

New Music

I just downloaded some more music for my spin classes. I thought I'd share my new fav's that will definitely be on my playlist this week:

Bullet Proof by La Roux
I Like It by Enrique Iglesias feat Pitbull
OMG by Usher Feat will.i.am
Sweet Disposition by The Temper Trap
Halfway Gone by Lifehouse
All The Right Moves by One Republic
Solo by Iyaz
Your Love is My Drug by Ke$ha
Nothin On You by B.o.B Feat Bruno Mars
Baby by Justin Bieber Feat Ludacris (OMG, my first Justin Bieber song. I never even knew what song(s) he did until I found this. And BTW, this is the only one I know so far.)
California Gurls by Katy Perry
Paper Planes by M.I.A
A couple of cooldown songs:
Breakeven by The Script
Fix You by Coldplay

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Book Read 2010

29. They Did it With Love by Kate Morgenroth

30. Animal Farm by George Orwell

31. This Little Mommy Stayed Home by Samantha Wilde

32. Fly Away Home by Jennifer Weiner

Funny, I've read a couple of classics lately. I liked Animal Farm. I had never read it in high school and decided to pick it up recently.

Fly Away Home was really good. I liked the story and the way Jennifer wrote each character.

I listened to two books on CD, one was The Other Queen by Philippa Gregory, LOVED listening to that one on cd. I actually want to pick up her next book on CD. I also listened to "There's a Slight Chance I might be Going to Hell" by Laurie Notaro. Funny book, glad I listened to it rather than read it.

Current book: "Her Fearful Symmetry" by Audrey Niffenegger

Current book on cd: "The Shack" by William Young

Saturday, July 24, 2010

Books Read 2010

2010 Books:

1. The End (Series of Unfortunate Events #13) by Lemony Snicket
2. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
3. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
4. Toddlers Gone Wild! Rants from a Mommy Brain by Rebecca Eckler
5. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
8. Switchcraft by Mary Castillo
9. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman
10. Girl with The Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larsson
11. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern
12. Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde
13. The Importance of Being Married by Gemma Townley
14. My Life in France by Julia Child
15. A Reliable Wife by Robert Goolrick
16. Made in the USA by Billie Letts
17. A Wild Affair by Gemma Townley
18. House Rules by Jodi Picoult
19. My Horizontal Live: A Collection of One Night Stands by Chelsea Handler
20. Through The Heart by Kate Morgenroth
21. As Nature Made Him: The boy who was raised as a girl by John Colapinto
(Insane story, true story! A little bit more technical than I liked, but I'm glad I read it.)
22. What Was She Thinking? Notes on a Scandel by Zoe Heller
Bit of a lackluster ending.
23. What The Dead Know by Laura Lippman
24. Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin
25. Naptime is the New Happy Hour: And other ways toddlers turn your life upside down by Stephanie Wilder-Taylor
26. Promises to Keep by Jane Green
27. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
28. The Wednesday Sisters by Meg Waite Clayton

Currently listening to: The White Queen by Philippa Gregory and enjoying it.
Finished listening to: Are You There Vodka it's Me Chelsea by Chelsea Handler. Hilarious to listen to! Highly entertaining.

My review of The Wednesday Sisters:
The more I read this book the more I fell in love with it. The funny thing is the book references "The Great Gatsby" a handful of times and how ironic that that's the book I read right before I read this book. (Not that you need to read The GG before you read this.)

This was a heartwarming story, I loved the women's friendships. I loved that it mentioned important historical news happening during that time. I loved that it took place in the Bay area, that the author is from Palo Alto. I also love that the park mentioned in the book is the park I drive by weekly when I go to spin class. It's nice to hear descriptions of this area back in the day.

Overall, I think it was a great book. I'm envious of how close of friends the women are in the book, they were very fortunate to meet and get so close to each other as well as see each other on a weekly basis.

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

I miss my Garmin

It for sure is dead. I tried resetting it according to Garmin's website recommendation. I couldn't even get it to turn on on the charger. So I placed an order for another one. I decided to go for the Forerunner 305. I had the 205, but for $11 more I get a heart rate monitor option.
I considered the 310xt version which is supposed to be for triathletes, but I don't like the high cost as well as the fact that it doesn't really track mileage well in water. I figured I'd wait till a better version comes out. I was also bummed that the smaller watches like the 405 didn't have the mulit-sport option.
The funny thing is that I have a run tomorrow, Friday and this weekend. I am hoping my Garmin comes soon because I love tracking my mileage, seeing my pace etc. For my two short runs I'll run a known mileage on a familiar path. I just hope that I get it before this weekend for my 7 mile run.

Sunday, July 18, 2010

Metro Triathlon San Jose

First off, my time. 3:02:50.7. A PR for me by a little over 10 minutes!!
Swim time: 32:54.6
Swim transition: 4:57.9 (Could have improved this, but was talking to hubby and the kids)
Bike time: 1:23:43.6 (17.8 MPH)
Bike transition: 2:42 (including a bathroom stop)
Run time: 58:32.6 (9:26 min/mile)
Came in 5th out of 13 in my age group. :)

Race Summary:
Overall, a great course! I would totally do this race again.
Transition area is not assigned, first come first serve, but plenty of bike racks for everyone.
Small race size, 247 people.
Swim is in a reservoir, kinda murky but the water was warm. It was 2 loops so you do have to exit the water and re-enter.
Bike course is relatively flat and fast. One small hill at mile 6ish and a bigger steeper hill at mile 14-15 with rolling hills the rest of the course back.
Run course is a little rolling but not too bad, somewhat shaded but it's still hot down in San Jose in July.
There were great volunteers along the course. Police manned stoplights so bikers could zoom through intersections.

Positive:
One woman caught up to me on the bike and said "It was sure hard to catch you on that hill, blue." I was wearing a blue tri outfit. We kept up with each other the rest of the ride and I beat her in the run. But in her defense she was 10 years older than me.

I was able to kick butt even though I had only ONE bike ride outdoors for training (25 mile bike ride 2 weeks ago). Other than that it was just my weekly hour long spin class that I teach that helped my biking.

I also only swam once a week for about 9 weeks.

Negative:
My Garmin 205 died this morning before my race. Wouldn't hold a charge. :( Guess I'll be ordering a new one!

I really thought I could beat the 3 hour timepoint, but for the first 4 miles of the run I had stomach cramps. I think I didn't time my sports beans well on my bike and they were bothering me. That with the heat made me not able to run 3 minutes faster. Gives me a new goal though.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Books 2010

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Healthy, Kid Friendly, Budget Friendly Recipes

A few people have been looking for healthy, kid friendly (aka family friendly) and budget friendly recipes.
Here are a few of my favorites. Hopefully they fall into at least one or more of those categories.

Pasta Cheese and Trees
Ingredients:
1 lb penne, corkscrew pasta or medium shells
1 lb broccoli tops
2 Tbs. butter cut up
1 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil EVOO
3 cloves garlic
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/2 cup parmesan or romano cheese
salt, pepper, oregano to taste
(I like to add frozen peas too.)
Optional, can add cooked chicken too.

Cook pasta to al dente according to package. Pull apart broccoli to "trees" put in a pot with ejough water to just cover the tops. Bring water to a boil and add 4 pinches of salt. (I add the frozen peas now too.) Cook for 5 minutes once the water is boiling. Drain.
Pour EVOO and butter into a deep frying pan and heat over low heat. When the butter melts add garlic and cook 5 minutes (I add precooked chicken and seasonings at this step). Stir in broccoli and cooked pasta. Add ricotta and parmesan and stir to combine.

Turkey Veggie Meatloaf
Ingredients:
2 lbs ground turkey breast
1 cup grated onion
3/4 cup dried Italian-style bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/3 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1/3 cup grated peeled carrots
1 large whole egg, beaten
1 large egg white
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 cup ketchup
Nonstick cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Combine the first 11 ingredients in a large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup of the ketchup. Coat a 9x5 inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Place meatloaf mixture in pan and bake for 45 minutes. Remove pan from oven and spread remaining 1/3 cup ketchup over the meatloaf. Continue baking until a meat thermometer inserted into the middle is 165 F or about 15 more miutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. Serve with mashed potatoes.

Mac and Cheese Soup
Ingredients:
1 pkg (32oz) reduced sodium chicken broth
6 oz small past ashells
1 bag (16 oz) frozen broccoli, cauliflower and carrot blend.
1 1/2 cups low-fat milk
2tbs. all pourpose flour
1 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

In a large saucepan, bring broth to a boil over high heat. Add pasta. Return to a boil. Reduce heat and let simmer, uncovered for 5 minutes. Add vegetables. Cook until pasta and veggies are tender.
Combine milk and flour in a resealable container; shake well to combine. Stir in pasta mixture. Cook and stir until thickened and bubbly. Gradually add the cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Ricotta and Vegetables
Ingredients:
8 oz dried whole wheat or whole grain penne pasta
2 1/2 cups broccoli florets
1 1/2 cups asparagus or green beans cut into 1 inch pieces
1 cup light ricotta cheese
1/4 snipped fresh basil or 1 tbsp dried basil, crushed
4 tsp snipped fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme, crushed
4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and chopped
2 tbsp grated parmesan or romano cheese

Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting any oil or salt.
Add broccoli florets and asparagus or green beand during the last 3 minutes of cooking; drain.
In a large serving bowl, combine ricotta cheese, basil, thyme, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, salt and freshly ground pepper.
Add cooked pasta and veggies to ricotta micture. Add chopped tomatoes. Toss to combine. Sprinkle each serving with grated cheese.

Taco Soup
Ingredients:
1 lb lean ground beef
1 pkg (32ox) reduced sodium beef broth
I've substituted beef for turkey and beef broth for chicken broth.
1 can 15 to 16 oz black beans, rinsed and drained.
1 can 14.5 oz diced tomatoes
1pkg 1.25 oz reduced sodium taco seasoning
1 can 11oz whole kernal corn with sweet peppers.
Tortilla chips, optional

In a large saucepan, cook beef until browned. Drain off fat. Stirl in broth, beans, tomatoes, and taco seasoning. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat and let simmer uncoverd for 15 minutes stirring occasionally.
Stir in corn. Serve with tortilla chips if desired.

Chicken and Noodle Casserole
Ingredients:
6 oz egg noodles, cooked
1 onion chopped
1 tbsp. oil
1 lb diced cooked chicken (3 cups)
1 can chicken, celery or mushroom condensed soup
1/2 can milk or chicken broth
2 tbsp Italian bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350F. Saute onion in nonstick skillet. Combine all ingredients except crumbs. Pour into casserole coated with cooking spray. Top with crumbs. Bake for 25-30 minutes till hot and bubbly.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

1 year ago today

My baby was born a year ago today. I can't believe my youngest is a year old already?!

Toddler Tricks

A couple of toddler tricks we've incorporated.

A case of the "I want that": You've probably experienced it while shopping with your toddler. They see something they want and go into all out temper tantrum mode trying to get you to buy it for them. My cousin had a recommendation for us that she used with her kids. Tell them to put it on their Xmas and/or birthday list. We've implemented that and it's been working so far for us. It's not like that I've made an actual list, except of items that are truely something I think would be a great gift. One day when we spent a good deal of time at Target I took pictures of the items which helped with her I wants.

Flash cards: We've reintroduced them. My daughter knows her alphabet so it's not like she needs them anymore. We actually took them out for baby #2 but my daughter and husband came up with a new use for them. We play guessing games with them. A person chooses a card and then they either give hints or the guessers ask questions to figure out what the picture is of. My daughter has asked some really great questions as well as came up with really great descriptions. It's been really fun playing this new game with her. Just wanted to say not to throw out those flashcards so soon.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

Boot Camp Workout #2

After 4 weeks of doing workout #1 we've decided to change it up. Same routine each exercise 30 sec, 10 sec rest in-between. 1 minute break between rounds.

Round 1:
Squat Kickout

Arm Raises

Single Leg Raise Crunch

X's

Leglifts

Round 2:

Knee kick pull down

kickouts

plank

jumprope

step ups

Puerto Vallarta Review

*Photos taken from Villa Premiere Website*

My hubby and I traveled to Puerto Vallarta in June for our 5 year wedding anniversary. We stayed at Villa Premiere Hotel and Spa in PV. It was glorious!
It's about a $20 cab ride from the airport. The hotel is located north of the main drag, south of the airport. It's about 1 mile from downtown.

When we showed up we were handed champagne as we checked in. We were asked what pillow we would like. There were 6-7 options ranging from type of material, down, cotton. Firmness etc. Then we were to choose our scent of the room a selection of our seven exquisite essences, Basil, Cinnamon, Java Citronella, Eucalyptus. A scent they would spray in there daily. After our check in, while they set up our room with scent and special pillows, we were given a 5-minute neck/back rub. Awesome!!

Our room was gorgeous. Every room in the hotel has an ocean view. We got the premiere room which included a jacuzzi tub in the room and a king bed. Robes and slippers were also in the room. Though the slippers were super tiny on us. We also had a fridge stocked with sodas, water and beer. (We did the all-inclusive package.)

The room was very clean and roomy. I loved it. We were on the 7th floor (top floor) and we had beautiful views. The only funny thing about the room was the jacuzzi tub looks into the room, it has shutters to close it off from the room/bathroom. But the shutters aren't fully sealed so when people are doing their business in the bathroom, people in the bedroom could hear everything.

The two pools were nice. Everyday new towels were set out, each lounge chair was covered with new towels. The towel cart had books/magazines and sunblock. There was shade if you wanted it, swim up bar, beds in shade or on the beach or held up by rope like a swing. So many options to layout/relax. I loved how we were located a decent ways away from downtown that the beach was empty, it was nice to be alone in paradise. The bonus is that if you stay at Villa Premiere, you can go to the sister hotel next door and use their pools/restaurants there. Next door is the family hotel while Villa Premiere is the adult only hotel. 16 years old and up. We only tried one pool next door but perhaps if we stayed longer we'd have checked out that hotel a little more. Part of the reason we didn't hang out much next door was because we were doing this trip without our kids and seeing kids for me reminded me of what I missed.

Spa at the hotel. There was a spa on the 2nd floor of the hotel. I was expecting great prices. I was hoping for Thailand massage prices but got prices higher than massage prices here at home. Just an ie. 50 minute massage was $118. At home at my favorite spa/bath house Watercourse Way a 60 minute massage + 60 minutes in the hot tub/steam room/sauna of my choice is $120. 2 hours for same price. Totally not worth it to us.

Gym: I used the gym 2 times at the hotel. Well air conditioned. Views were beautiful. Very clean. They had cool bottles of water. Clean towels on all of the machines. Cool damp wash clothes in the fridge. So great! I used the treadmill both days. And only a little bit of weights on one day. I'm gonna say it's the best hotel gym I've ever used.

Restaurants: Because we were all-inclusive we ate all but one night at our hotel. The food was good. Of course we were limited to only one menu because we were at a down time. I would have liked other options not that there weren't enough choices for me to have a different meal each night, but funny enough the one night we go out was the night they opened the other restaurant. I wouldn't have changed my all-inclusive though. I loved being able to order drinks all day at the pool. I loved ordering snacks by the pool or in the middle of the night from the 24-hour room service menu.
The one restaurant we tried out was Cafe de Olla. It was recommended by a friend. One thing to note about the restaurant is that it's cash only. We ended up only ordering 2 margaritas and shared a meal of fajitas. I could tell the margaritas didn't have much alcohol at all. The fajitas were good, nothing to brag about but good.

Vallarta Adventures:
Not having kids on our trip we decided to live it up a bit. We booked a trip with Vallarta Adventures, we did the Outdoor Adventure package which meant speed boating, ziplining, rapelling and mule riding. SO MUCH FUN!! I totally recommend it. It's a 6 hour trip and I enjoyed every minute of it. FYI for the photos they take of you during the adventure, for one photo it's $15. For all photos of you it's $29, but if you're in a couple for all pics of both of you turns out to be $29 each: $58. We bought our pictures because there were a lot of good ones. The photographer did a great job.

Sans Music

Early May I started running with a couple of my coworkers. I didn't listen to music during my runs with them because I was encouraging them, giving motivation, etc. I then made it a habit to not bring my ipod with me. So going on 2 months of no music during my lunchtime runs. It's been liberating, my pace has been the same, if not faster. I usually don't run races with my ipod. In fact my first race I ran with music was this last April during the Artichoke half, but that was weird circumstances and I NEEDED the music to even be out there running. Most of my races I have someone running with me so it's conversation getting me going. But now that I've been doing 3-4 mile runs w/o music, who knows, maybe my long runs will be in quiet.

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Bike Speaker/Jog Stroller Speaker

During my training for my bike century ride, I wished several times on those long 5-8 hour rides that I had some music. I biked with friends so it wasn't so bad, we'd chat etc, but occasionally we'd lose each other due to hills or speed. Those were the times that I wanted music. My century ride was in 2008.
Fast forward to last summer, I had two kids and a jog stroller. Sometimes I'd use my iPod, but other times my daughter wanted to listen to music so last year I asked for this for my birthday.

It's awesome, it's the iHome Bike to Beach Speaker
It even comes with a remote! I'd put the speaker in my cupholder on the BOB jogger and hand my daughter the remote. She'd be content flipping through songs during my run. :) This last weekend I busted it out again during my jog stroller run, fortunately my 11 month old didn't have a choice of music and I was able to listen to my running playlist while he was content with his Cheerios.
I haven't had the opportunity to use it on my road bike yet, but I'm eagerly awaiting the day I get to use it.

Book List 2010

More songs on my playlist

I haven't made a new spin playlist in a month, but I have updated my running playlist.
Here are some songs I've recently added to my ipod.

Knock You Down-Keri Hilson
1901-Phoenix
Liztomania-Phoenix
In My Head-Jason Derulo
Replay-Iyaz
Do You Remember-Jay Sean
Bedrock-Young Money
Hotel Room Service-Pitbull
Good Girls Go Bad-Cobra Starship
OMG-Usher
All the Right Moves-One Republic
Solo-Iyaz
Rude Boy-Rihanna
Nothin' on you (B.o.B. feat. Bruno Mars)

Sunday, June 13, 2010

I've created a monster

Well, not a monster but a following.

A coworker of mine said her doc recommended more workouts. So in order to fit in a workout/work and school we decided to do lunchtime workouts. I had already been running 1-2x a week so she joined me on those runs, slowly working up her mileage. Well another coworker said she'd join us but walk instead. So now it's been an encouraging thing, we all try to go Tues and Thurs at lunch, if one of us can't make it we make sure the others go. And our group has increased in size, it now can range from 3-6 people going.

And then I found a bootcamp workout in Women's Health Magazine, you can see the details here.
We run 0.35 miles to a local park near our work, then do the workout and run 0.35 miles back. 3 of us do the workout, now grown to 4 (parttime).
The workout: Do each move in Round 1 30 sec each. Rest 10 sec between each. 1 min rest between Round 1 and 2 or 2 and 1. Do twice.

Round 1:
Squats
Pushups
Bicycle Cruches
Jumping Jacks
Regular crunches

Round 2:
Walking Lunges
Squat Jumps
Tricep dips
Standing High Knees
Mountain Climbers

We do this workout once a week and boy does it kick my butt. The first time I did it my chest hurt from pushups. Last week it was my quads. We figure we'll do this one for a month and then change it up for next month. Switch out some exercised to change things up a little.

Blog Haitus

I've been on a non-self imposed blog haitus. Work cut out my access to blogger so I cannot add little tidbits throughout my work day. And I've been super busy after work every day getting ready for my trip. (I'm currently in Puerto Vallarta!) This was the first trip in years that DH and I took just the two of us. Two years ago we spent our anniversary in Vegas, this being our 5 year anniversary and our kids being a decent age to leave with the grandparents we decided to head on a 4 night/5 day trip. I'm having the time of my life! I'm so relaxed, I've been skyping the kids every night, it's been so wonderful. I totally recommend parents to take some trips alone.
The couple of weeks prior to the trip was chaos, I had to get the house prepped for the grandparents to stay. I had to prepare a ton of baby frozen food and type up instructions for the kids schedule. Anyways, I'm hoping this is the end of my blog haitus for a while. My goal is to keep updating weekly.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Books Read 2010

Sunday, May 16, 2010

Triathlon Training

I'm switching gears...July 18th I have an Olympic Distance Triathlon. Which means my weekends have been filled with swimming and running. I need to incorporate more cycling, but because of my busy weekends it hasn't happened. After these next two weekends of weddings I will probably be able to do some.
I've missed swimming. It's so relaxing to me. I love the way I feel in the water.
I've attempted biking these past couple of weekends, but my kiddos haven't seemed to last long in the Burley trailer. Maybe I'll have to use the portable DVD player LOL.

The PR that wasn't

Work has blocked blogger from me which means I haven't been able to post about what happened.
After the Mermaid Half Marathon, I looked up my race time from the San Jose 1/2 Marathon, my previous PR and saw that the chip time was faster than what I had written in my race log. So my Mermaid Half PR was not a PR. I ran it in 2:06:24. A mere 41 seconds faster than Mermaid Half. Doh! I totally could of picked up my pace for that. :( Guess I gotta keep racing.

Books 2010

Monday, April 19, 2010

Mermaid 1/2 Marathon Post-Race Summary

I PR'd!!!! That's the most important thing about the race. ;) Final time: 2:07:05. Garmin mileage 13.19 miles.

Ok, race review. As you may have read from the previous post, I signed up for this race 4 days prior on Tuesday. It was still open and I had found a discount coupon for $11 off. So in total I paid ~$50 to run the race. The family and I headed down to Sports Basement Friday before the race to pick up my bib and spend $$. Sports Basement offered 20% off all purchases when shopping that night if in race.

The swag was awesome!

Check it out! We got a cool shopping bag that is heavy duty. Could be used as a purse or regular bag. 3 colors to chose from, daughter picked blue for me. We got a necklace and a ladies fitted shirt. So cute!!

The race was pretty well run, it started at Shoreline park in Mountain View. Plenty of parking, porta potties and very clearly indicated start/finish line. The event was chip timed. Start was supposed to be at 8am, but didn't actually start until 8:18am. This was nice because hubby was taking daughter to dance class in the am and was able to make it to see me end.

I met up with a friend to run the race. Me feeling pretty good took off at 1/2 mile in and just cruised. I did wear an ipod since I was alone and like having music in the background. I was doing pretty good and turned around at the halfway point just over an hour in. Then I started to loose steam. I was thirsty and getting tired. I did push myself even though at 11 miles I was pretty tired. I kept looking at my watch and saw that I was on track for a PR so I kept pushing.

When I rounded the corner to the end, I gave it my all and finished. I had to sit down afterwards and drink water and recoup for a min or so, I was beat. I needed food and water. My friend finished shortly after I did and we headed to the food. It was a good spread. Pretzels, bananas, chocolate, grapes and pancakes. Yum! Very well set up.

All in all, I would totally do this race again. I had a lot of factors that could have prevented me from PRing. 1) Baby boy was teething the night before and was up screaming several times. (I was up with him at midnight and 3am. 2) Daughter slept in bed with me waking me up at 6am complaining about snails in the bed. 3) Dog woke me up at 5:30 am wanting out. 4) I started my period the night before and was having cramping. 5) I had just run a half marathon the weekend before.

BUT despite all that...I finished and I did better than I've done before. :) It was a good day.

And to finish my day...I went to a photography class I had signed up for a while back and planted a garden. So it's to be expected that I'm this sore today right?!

Friday, April 16, 2010

Artichoke 1/3 Marathon Post-race summary

I didn't get to it, but here is my Artichoke 1/2 Marathon summary.
The day of the race was predicted to be rainy and have high wind advisories. As we were driving to the race it was super windy!
We got to the race and talk about disorganized. We parked at the post office, I watched where people were heading and followed them to a town hall of sorts. In there I got my race number, artichoke and t-shirt. But as I was waiting for my t-shirt I realized I was in the bathroom line rather than t-shirt line. And it was a pretty long line for the one stall bathroom. I decided to walk to the corner gas station and use that bathroom instead.

I should have seen it as a sign when as I was shivering, waiting in the gusty wind for the bathroom that nobody in that line had ever done this race.

The starting line was no where to be seen, a lot of us were just huddling behind buildings or in cars waiting to see what was going to happen. The race was scheduled to start at 9am. At 9:02, still nothing was happening. Finally there was a man starting to herd people to an area in front of the town hall. But it was just the 10kers and half marathon walkers. So he verbally yelled out directions and sent them on their way clocking their time with a stop watch. He said half marathon runners will start in 10 min. At that time it had begun to rain.

9:15am we lined up in front of the town hall, we were yelled directions and sent on our way. The race wasn't marked for cars so we had to run on the side of the road. The weather was a lot worst than expected. The winds were so strong it slowed my pace down to 13-14 min/mile during big gusts. The rain was pouring and I was thoroughly soaked by 3 miles. And I mean all the way down to my shoes being squishy. I was miserable. I had trained soooo hard for this race, hoping to PR. I ran 12 miles in 1:58 the weekend before so I was on track for making it a great run. I know weather couldn't be accounted for, but it was really depressing. Each mile I kept thinking of how my husband and two children were in the car waiting for me. At the 10k turn around I stopped for a couple of minutes and stared at the sign. I almost turned around right then but decided to go for a couple of more miles and turn around later.

At 4.75 miles out there was a turn around. I thought yippee they cut the course short due to weather. At that turn around they handed out bottles of water. What was I going to do with a whole bottle of water?! I was able to hand it to some spectator walking near the turn so I didn't have to carry it. (FYI there was one water stop before this at the 10k turnaround.)

Then as I was running back, I saw someone pointed to turn right on another road. Aha, this is where the extra miles come in. I went for it and like the race director said, ran until I reached a gate and turned around. At least this road was in a canyon and was protected from the wind. It wasn't however sheltered from the rain.

As I was running back to the main road, there was the last water stop, a piece of plywood on the ground with some cups of water on it. I grabbed a sip and then headed home. The wind being behind me should have been a good thing, but nope. It was at an angle so I had to be careful since it was so strong and would push me into the street into oncoming traffic. I had read that the course was marked long (well at the gate there wasn't even anyone there indicating where to turn around) so at 13.1 I lapped my watch. 2:23 it said. Which was right on with my slowest half. I ran by the car and husband and daughter were watching me, cheering. I grabbed my daughter's hand and ran to the "finish". And I say "finish" because it was just 3 cones on the ground in front of the town hall. The guy with the stopwatch was in the building out of the rain/wind. So I had to walk over to the doorway, and he read my time 2:24 on his watch and marked my bib. My garmin quoted the course to be 13.35 miles.

We didn't stick long after the race, I grabbed a candy bag and was given a generic race medal. It is a pic of 3 guys running across a finish line. No engraving...nothing. I guess that's what you get for paying only $25 to do a half marathon.

I changed out of my sopping wet clothes and headed home. I couldn't help but be disappointed that all of my hard work went for nothing. BUT, a friend let me know that there was another half marathon in our area on the following Saturday. And as luck would have it, it was still had open spots AND I found a discount coupon for it. It was fate. I signed up on Tuesday to run the Mermaid 1/2 Marathon in Mountain View.

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Books Read 2010

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Blogging Challenge #10

Did you build forts as a child?

I was very fortunate as a child in that I lived on 5 acres, we had woods and a pond, a barn, a pool etc. I also had several boy cousins and tomboy girl cousins, perhaps what you get when you live in the country. So needless to say we did a ton of building. Whether it was a raft in the pond or a fort in the woods. We were outside daily, rain or shine, warm or cold. I remember one fort we built, more like a teepee and I believe it may still be up today.

Another impressive structure was built at my grandmother's house (she lived on a farm which is still in our family today), we were giving free reign of the land and we built a 3 story tree-house (well, not full tree house) but we did have an elevator which was basically 2 paint buckets a rope and pulley. The farm had a junk yard where old tractor and car parts, wood, etc was thrown and we'd scavenge that for goods for our fort. It was glorious. I am so thankful that my grandmother allowed us kids to bring all that stuff into her front yard. Yes, the fort was in her front yard, lol. And she even allowed it to be up for a few years till we were over it before asking us to take it down.

I can't wait till my kids are in true fort building age, it was so much fun to do.

Friday, April 9, 2010

Books 2010

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Race in 3 days!

My race is in 3 days. I feel pretty prepared for it. I ran a 12 miler last weekend in under 2 hours. I'm hoping I PR this race, ideally I come in under 2 hours for a half marathon, but we'll see. My biggest worry is that because this is a small race they won't time it like they do in the bigger races. That means my PR (if I do) will not be recorded. I guess I'll have my Garmin GPS watch as proof, I'll take a picture if that's the case. Fingers crossed that they have some accurate timing system, and fingers crossed that it won't rain this Sunday as it is forcasted.

Tuesday, April 6, 2010

Blogging Challenge #9

What's an Easter memory from your childhood? How is/will be your child's Easter celebration different or the same?

My Easter's were celebrated with my grandma and family. I really miss how she would dye easter eggs with each of the grandchildren's names on them and hide them around her house. As each family showed up, us kids would look for our egg. The last families to show up would have all of us watching the kids hunting giving them hints as to where the egg was or wasn't. This year when we dyed eggs, I wrote both kiddos name on an egg each for them.

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Blog Writing Challenge #8

What's a movie you can't not watch if you come across it on TV?
Hmm, this is a difficult one to answer nowadays. Being that my tv watching is either a) to catch up on tv shows on my DVR or b) to watch a Netflix movie that has been sitting on our entertainment center for several days, possibly weeks, I don't get much re-watching done. But that said if I did run across a romantic comedy I would have to watch a snipet of it. Some of my fav's are the romantic comedies with Julia Roberts (ie: Runaway Bride, Notting Hill), I really love Love Actually, Princess Bride, 13 Going on 30, etc. Now I want to go to my DVD's and dig some out and have a girly movie fest. I can't wait till my daughter gets to an age where we can have girly movie days. :)

Advertising

I was at the gym running at lunch today and noticed that in the first 15 minutes of my run the tv had shown 3 ads all for chocolate. First ad was for Dove Silky Smooth Chocolate, second ad was for York Peppermint Patties and final ad was for Hershey's Bliss Chocolate. What was funny was on the other tv next to it there was an ad that they want to reduce the amount of sugary beverages at school by putting in low cal options instead. Funny what commercials are playing on tv during the noontime hour.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Body Glide

You know where you didn't apply body glide as soon as you hop into a shower after a long run. Ouch!
This weekend I went out for a solo 11 mile run and I impressed myself, it took me two days to get the motivation to run. I skipped Saturday and went for Sunday. And the best part, for the first 6.65 miles I averaged 10 min miles, at 6.65 I saw my average go to 10:01. So sad, but impressive how far I've come. At this rate I'm up for a 2:14 half marathon. Next week I have a 12 mile run and then the race the weekend after. I'm trying for a PR (under 2:08), hopefully a sub-2 hour, and my idea is to build up the mileage so that come race day I'll be prepared for the endurance of it. I'm also hoping adrenaline will help me on race day get a little more speed. I have been doing one sorta speed workout a week. I've taken it easy because I don't want to hurt my knee like last time. So instead, each week on the treadmill I raise my speed up 0.1 MPH. I'm up to 6.6 miles per hour.

Book #11 and 12

11. The Gift by Cecelia Ahern-What an awesome book, I flew through this one. I loved the story.

Currently reading #12:
Restoring Grace by Katie Fforde

Thursday, March 4, 2010

9 books so far this year

I guess I should keep track of my 50 books I want to read this year. I do use Goodreads to keep track and review books.

2010 Books:
1. The End (Series of Unfortunate Events #13) by Lemony Snicket
2. I Am The Messenger by Markus Zusak
3. Comfort Me with Apples by Ruth Reichl
4. Toddlers Gone Wild! Rants from a Mommy Brain by Rebecca Eckler
5. Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
6. Sarah's Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
7. The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein
8. Switchcraft by Mary Castillo
9. Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

The two books in bold are my favorites this year. I highly recommend checking those out.

Currently reading #10: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo by: Stieg Larsson

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Snowboarding

Snowboarding is one of my favorite winter sports. I've traveled to several resorts and have now became picky with what I like about resorts. Thankfully my hubby has the same likes and dislikes I have so we're on the same level when choosing our favorite resort. That said, our fave so far is Kirkwood, we've been there for years and enjoy it so much.

We tried out Heavenly a week ago and wasn't impressed. I'm not sure if it was because there wasn't much snow coverage. Weird especially since we're in an el nino year. Or if it's because there were so many beginners, runs weren't that long etc. The views were beautiful though.

Here is a list of ski resorts I've either skiied or snowboarded at.
Sierra Summit
Badger Pass
Steamboat Springs
Sierra at Tahoe
Mt. Rose
Squaw Valley
Northstar
Homewood
Sugarbowl
Kirkwood

New Playlist Additions

-TikTok by Ke$ha
-Sexy Chick by David Guetta
-Everything I can't Have by Robin Thicke
-Say Hey (I love you) by Michael Franti & Spearhead
-I Gotta Feeling by Black Eyed Peas
-Boom Boom Pow by Black Eyed Peas
-Fire Burning by Sean Kingston
-Soul Sister by Train
-Down by Jay Sean
-Watcha Say by Jason DeRulo
-Single Ladies (Put A Ring on It) by Beyonce
-Closer by Ne-Yo

New Years Resolutions

Follow-up to 2009 resolutions.
I reached my goals, well most of them
Goal: Run 300 miles. Actual: 328.33 miles
Goal: Read 50 books. Actual: 50 books
Goal: Run under 2 hour 1/2 marathon Actual: Ran only 2:23:36

2010 Resolutions:
Goal: Run 500 miles
Goal: Read 50 books
Goal: Run under 2 hour 1/2 marathon

Another 1/2 Marathon under my belt

In the time that I haven't been blogging I've added another 1/2 marathon to my list. I ran the Kaiser 1/2 marathon. I was on schedule for a fast race but 4 weeks before the race I hurt my knee on a 9.5 mile run. The weird thing was that my knee didn't hurt until the day after the run. So I took 3 weeks off, ran a 7 mile run the week before the race and did it. I did shave off 2.5 min from my SJ 1/2 in October but it's not near my under 2 hour goal. I'm signed up for another 1/2 in April and I'm slowly ramping up my speed again.
The cool thing about the race, other than knowing several people running it. I ran into a neighbor who I didn't realize was a runner. She's a mom of two similar in age to my kids and we exchanged phone numbers to perhaps run together sometime.

My New Favorite Thing

I found this great website to track your workouts. Running especially but cross training as well.
www.dailymile.com

Long Hiatus

I've been busy, plain and simple. My maternity leave ended January 3rd, back to work Jan 4th. It's been a hard transistion because getting two kids out the door in the morning is a big difference than just one. Plus I have to drop them off at two different daycares so out my door to my work door takes me 1 hour. By the time I get home it's rush rush rush, dinner, baths, bed and then starting the day all over again. Hopefully I can get into my blogging routine again soon.