idlehide.

Weekend Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 06 May 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Saturday night plans involved a fun evening with some of my favorite runner friends. Courteney, Heather and myself are getting pretty good at having weekend hangouts. Sometimes it's a Starbucks visit or we take turns visiting at each other's houses.

Courteney brought over her new 1.5 pound hula hoop to show us. That thing is way cooler than any hoola hoop I've ever owned!

P.S. This may be slightly off topic, but see that ~~beautiful~~ horrendous light fixture in the background? Well, I ordered a new light on Saturday to replace it. It's a vintage-industrial style pendant. I'll post a photo when it's here and up! I'm super excited for it:)

P.P.S See that jar beside Courteney? Well, that's my beloved sunflower seed butter that the girls tried. I don't know that they're 110% sold on it, but I'll slowly convert them over;)

See how we all have the same shirts? Courteney came bearing gifts and matching t-shirts was part of the gift. Cute, eh? They say run, sleep, breath, and eat. It's a long shirt- do you have any idea of how much I love long shirts?!

Think Happy and Be Happy. Good words to live by!

A new magazine with gummy bears and nail polish. Don't you worry- I lectured them on their dental health with the gummy bears. Also, don't worry...I'll be eating the gummies:)

Our food for the night included kale chips, meat/cheese, delicious mango salsa, lots of veggies, strawberries and coffee.

Sunday after Church some friends went out for a picnic in a park nearby. Unpictured are Stef and Chrissy.

What'd you do this weekend?

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 03 May 2013 10:21:00 +0000

Bing. 5:15 am on my day off and I'm up. Maggie gets the blame, but secretly I am happy I have the whole day ahead of me. My Fridays usually fill up pretty quickly with my to-do list, isn't there something so rewarding with crossing items off your list?

1. My list today includes: run, 8-minute abs, finish painting the front step, groceries, Costco, and clean the house. 8-minute abs, you ask? I am loving this super-duper 80's ab video...

2. Bob-cut. I got one! It was a huge step for me, I always opt for my safe-zone length. My only request was to leave enough for a pony-tail for work and running.

3. Runner's Talk. Heather, Courteney and myself have a date tomorrow night:)

4. I was running in a park downtown yesterday before my haircut and I saw our city's fastest runner. I thought it was funny because in races he is always at the very start and is out of sight right away. It wasn't too long before he was speeding uphills ahead of me lol! I noticed he runs with perfect form! My posture was great for the rest of my run;)

5. It's May, which means Spring, which means more of this is on the way:

What do you have planned for the weekend?

Early Morning Workouts

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 01 May 2013 08:30:00 +0000

I always have early mornings. I especially love it when I am already showered, get up, make coffee, and relax before heading to work. I'd say 90% of the time I have my lunch made the night before, it just makes everything that much easier.

I really love it when my workouts are done for the day at 7am. With this, I don't get to relax quite as much and enjoy a coffee before work, but I'm as happy as a lark because my workout is done! I can just go home and relax for the evening, or party, whichever one is on the agenda ;)

Getting up at 5:15 and heading to the gym requires some prep work (at least for me!) This involves a few minutes the night before to get my stuff ready. Perhaps it's my type-A personality that makes me want to have everything organized the night before? I'm not afraid to admit that I'm pretty OCD lol!

Here's what I have done the night before so it's all ready before the sun rises the next morning;)

Scrubs for work with socks and undies
workout clothes
a workout planned (either via pinterest or a made up combination)
towel
cosmetic bag (mascara, moisturizer, brush, etc.)
deodorant
my lunch! (duh, the most important part)
a packed breakfast (something quick from home)
coffee money ;)

Lately my favorite breakfast has been the pancakes I had a picture of yesterday. Easiest things to make ever! I make them the night before and take them to work and eat them there.

a repeat photo from yesterday ;)

I don't do early morning gym trips every single morning, because sometimes it's a rest day and sometimes it's nice to go home and have an evening jog!

What do you do to make your mornings a little more productive?

Back Into A Routine

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Now that it's been a little over a month since my first marathon, I've been getting back into my fitness routine of the gym and running. Yesterday I ran 10km in beautiful weather on the trail by our house. It was gorgeous out and felt amazing to be running outside in the warmth again!

It's been a bit of a slow road because I wanted to make sure I gave my body enough time to heal. It was good enough to me all winter and stayed injury-free for me (whoop, whoop!) so I wanted to let it rest up and heal. 42km is sort of a lot to ask of your body, right?

Mmmm, low carb-ish pancakes. Easy-peasy! mash 1/2 banana, 2 egg whites, 1/4 cup oats
Mix together and pan fry like regular pancakes.

I may or may not have texted Rachel on the weekend with a bit of a disgruntled test... something along the lines of "I feel like I'm back at square one with running. I only did 6km today!" Sometimes I think it's just the fact you're not training for anything, and just running?

I am planning on running the 10km at the Bluenose Marathon next month. About that- I should register before the 30th so I don't have to pay the full cost. It's the Bluenose's 10th birthday this year! I was toying with the idea of doing the half marathon, but it is a hilly race and I am thinking more and more of doing the Johnny Miles half marathon in June instead. It's a flat course and is a loop course. I've been thinking of doing it for a few years now and have heard lots of good things about it!

Here are a couple of the professional photos taken from the Oakland Marathon:

Looking back to my marathon and the few hours after it, I remember as clear as day thinking "I will never, ever do this again. Never" ...annndddd by the next day or so I was thinking of my next one and how I will beat my time and it will be a flat course, etc. Needless to say, I ~~kind of~~ want to run another one. or two. or three.

I came up with a running bucketlist, check it out:

1. New York City Marathon. If you know me even a little bit, you probably know that this is most definitely way up there on my bucket list. period.

2. Disney Half Marathon. My sister, Ashley, and I talked about it a few years ago and I've wanted to stick with the idea ever since. When I have a kid (she already has one now) and our kids are older, do this half marathon together and let our kiddos enjoy Disney World! I'm in...

3. San Francisco Nike Womens Marathon. Yes, I know it's hilly, but it's not as bad as Oakland so I can handle 'er. Know what makes this race so great? a) Tiffany's necklace for finishing b) being handed your Tiffany's necklace by a firefighter. 'Nuff said.

4. Cabot Trail Relay Race. My cousin Rachel has kind of put this bug in my ear. I've heard lots about this race, but really only looked into it this year. Some of the legs are definitely not calling my name, but there are some decent ones. This race would be special because I'm from Cape Breton and the scenery would be to die for.

source

5. Boston Marathon. While my friend Heather was training for her first Boston marathon, I really started to think of how much fun it would be to run it. Not only fun, but it's such a prestigious race. Now it has a whole new meaning. If I ever am able to qualify, that would be amazing!

Through My iPhone Eyes

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 26 Apr 2013 18:21:00 +0000

Happy Friday! I definitely don't expect any awards for being the most consistent blogger in history or anything... lately I seem to go through spurts and just blog as I feel like it. Hope you're ok with that:)

Today felt like a good day to post some pictures that are on my iphone, it's my main sidekick so it sees most of my life. I have to admit, most of the pictures on my phone are screen shots of my nephew Breton and exercises for the gym! I love it when I finish with a patient and see a new photo of Breton waiting for me:)

My parents were home a couple of weeks ago and came to visit us for a couple of days.
Here we are out for some dessert!

a very old picture of Maggie using a pillow as a pillow...

Out for supper before a hockey game. This is the same place where we had Kenny's 30th last year!

At the hockey game. *I don't have a goatee, it's a shadow of something*

Bella, Julie's dog. We went for a long walk last Friday with her, she's so cute.
(This lake is close to our house)

A coffeehouse for Church to raise money for Haiti. The grand total was over $1000!

:) My oldest nephew and my youngest!

A sidenote: I like these lines from OneRepublic's new song I lived. "I hope you spend your days, but they all add up..." and "when that sun goes down, I hope you raise your cup..."

My weekend is off to a good start- a dental cleaning, a massage and we almost have our taxes done! Do you like our procrastination skills with our taxes? ;) What are you up to this weekend?

Solvang + Santa Barbara + LA

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 11:39:00 +0000

After the Coastal Highway we made our way to LA for a few days. We stopped into Solvang, a cute little Danish town. If we could sum it up for you, it would be a "if you like sweets, you will like this town". There are little bakeries on every corner. It was a cute town, but once we walked around we decided to head down to Santa Barbara because we felt we would be a little more entertained there with the waterfront and all.

these are all over Solvang

about as serious as he could get

I had to get a sweet- picked a mini carrot cake

Cute little town, right? Next was Santa Barbara:

Santa Barbara Pier with a vw van;)

Then onto LA:

Can you see the Hollywood Sign?

Beverly Hills!

one of the best coffees I've ever had: at Short Cake in the Farmers Market

Kenny does love donuts. I gotta admit- Bob's donuts were delicious

The Grove- which is right beside the Farmer's Market

LA Farmers Market; a pretty neat spot!

I loved this sign, I thought Katie would too:)

Rodeo Drive:) I missed the iconic black retro sign a few blocks back

$1.8million dollar special edition car- Just google "sports car on Rodeo Drive" to get more info (seriously)

Santa Monica Pier...there were a few people there...

Santa Monica Beach

I have a handful of other pictures that are on Kenny's phone. I'll add those as soon as I get them on my computer! Hope you're enjoying our California recaps!

Happy Friday!

Multitude Monday 01/04/13

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 12:15:00 +0000

Happy Easter! Most of my weekend consisted of sleeping because the time change (4 hours) really affected us after a 12-hour commute.

I keep thinking of our trip to California and the awesome time we had - we both really, really enjoyed our trip. We were saying last night that it seemed to go by really slowly (in a good way!) I think it helped that we really just went with the flow and didn't have a very strict agenda while we were away.

Moving on...Here's my list of multitudes for this week:)

51. A safe, relaxing and ridiculously fun trip to California! More updates to come;)

52. A whole week with Kenny, hopefully he says the same thing about me lol!

53. Seeing Maggie again;) Go ahead and make fun, we missed her. Thanks to Courteney for taking care of her:)

;)

54. Running my first full marathon!! (crossed off my bucket list)

55. Going to Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market. I think I should open a TJs in our city...

56. A little gift to myself from Anthropologie

57. Jay Leno!! We saw Kim Kardashian and Imagine Dragons! This just confirmed that I must see them in concert someday. Kenny high-fived Jay, but I was a little slow getting up there and missed it. Let's blame the marathon on this slow moving, still? Ok!

58. April! Winter in definitely behind us and the running trails are snow/ice free...

59. Turkey dinner at my in-laws

60. ...and last, but not least: The most important one: He is Risen!

source

17 Mile Drive + Big Sur

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 08:00:00 +0000

On Monday we continued down the Coast. We did the 17-mile drive (tourist trap, but we wanted to) and saw Pebble Beach Golf Course. My conclusion from this drive is that if "__ 17 Mile Drive" is your civic address, then it is a very prestigious thing. Beautiful, beautiful homes line the coast and are located in between golf courses.

an example of a house off of 17 Mile Drive

The Cypress Tree in the background is property of Pebble Beach Golf Course- it's their logo design and you aren't allowed to take professional photos of it without their permission

Big Sur:

I loved this beach

We thought this was the Bixby Bridge at first, but it turns out it was a little further ahead

Umm, Yep. This is true.

Bixby Bridge in Big Sur

a different view of the Bixby- beautiful, isn't it?

our cool little rental car;)

Julia Pfiffer Falls/Hike (walk)

The history behind this walk or "hike" was really neat. This walk was named after a farmers wife. A wealthy woman and Julia became very close and when the wealthy lady was dying she donated her property to the State of California, but demanded that it be named after her friend, Julia.

this was the view from their bedroom!

and the view off their terrace

part of their rock wall; the foundation is just up by the palm trees

hanging out on the terrace

one more picture. I just was in awe of this coastline!

The Coastal Highway & Monterey

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 14:25:00 +0000

On Sunday after the marathon we drove down Highway 1 to Monterey and spent the night there. We were only on the highway for a little over an hour and it made me so excited to know we'd be on it for hours the next day. It's a gorgeous coast and actually reminds me a lot of the coast where I grew up- Cape Breton. California's coast may be a bit more rugged and steep, but there were definitely times where we said "this looks just like Cape Breton". Check out the photos from a few days ago...

Beginning of Highway 1:

relaxing on the rocks. Yes, those are the clothes from the marathon- that's what happens when you're already booked out of your hotel. A shower in Monterey never felt so good!

Mark- Kenny wants to know what is going on with this rock?

oh yeah... 26.2.

we took a lot of pans this trip:)

a sea of surfers

Monterey:

fish tacos! My choice for post-marathon meal.

chowder in a bread bowl

Monterey was one of my favorite little towns so far, it had so much character and charm to it. It also had a Trader Joes;) I have some strong wifi right now so I'll try to get another post done. Did you read my marathon recap?

Oakland Full Marathon Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Tue, 26 Mar 2013 08:00:00 +0000

After training for the past few months in below freezing temps and wind chills, running in Oakland with some palm trees in sight was a beautiful thing. The morning was pretty chilly, but as soon as I got running it was a perfect temperature.

everything set out the night before.

Check out my little supporter. Seriously, how cute is he?! This picture ran through my mind a few times around mile 20, that's for sure!

The start/finish

Kenny found some Raiders Cheerleaders while I was running the full. He looks pretty happy...

Geico gekko. I meant to get my picture with him, but I didn't see him after

We're starting!!

This was my first full marathon and I found it to be very challenging. Basically, in a nut shell, this race is hilly for the first 11 miles and then flattens out until the end. I thought I was prepared with training on hills because our subdivision is quite hilly and every run I do incorporates them into it. I would do hill repeats on a steep hill a few streets over, and that particular hill would be closer to what Oakland hills were like. I kept bugging Pavement Runner with questions about the hills and the course because he has done this race a few times, or maybe all 4 years!

I started off this race with a goal. Rule #1- don't set a goal for your first time, just run it. I think with running 5 half marathons, I just kind of went ahead and set a goal time for myself. 4 hours isn't too much to ask is it? If I can run my half marathons between 1:43 and 1:53, I can surely run both halves of the full in 2 hours, right? I started off strong with the 4:00 pacer and kept with them until the "rolling hills" of Oakland. I slowly started to see the little 4:00 sign getting further and further away from me. This made my heart sink a little bit, but I figured maybe I could catch him on the hill down from the Mormon Temple- he said he was going to go at snail speed down there.

The Mormon Temple was a beautiful sight- this marked the end of the hills, followed by an 11% downhill grade. I went pretty slow down this hill because I knew I still had over half to go so my quads had to last me. The view from the top of that hill was amazing- you could see The Bay Bridge, Oakland and I'm pretty sure parts of San Fran.

The supporters in this race were incredible. Locals were handing out water bottles, some had little cups of gummy bears. The official race volunteers had gels, oranges, bananas and plenty of water and gatorade for you. At mile 20 there was an arch of fire that you ran through. It was pretty neat! There were also some metal horses with fire coming out of them.

I did something I always said I could never do and that was to stop and walk in the race. I felt like I had to just stop and give my legs a rest for a minute, then I would start up again. You'd be surprised at the amount of people who do take walking breaks! Once I knew my goal time was out the window and I basically just wanted to finish, I stopped and walked for a minute - I did this maybe 4 times. :(

When I saw the 4:15 pacer pass me, my heart dropped again because I thought I could finish within that time and then towards the end of the race, the 4:30 passed me and I was ok with that. I knew I could finish and that was all that mattered to me at that time. This was my first full and it was a very challenging course so hold out- I will eventually get a 4:00 or 3:59! My final time was 4:35. Kenny met me at the finish line and made me feel like a million dollars even though I was 35 minutes over my time. Thanks, Babe!

Elevation of Oakland Marathon
source

crossing the finish line!

it's soo close...

Haha, now the real, right after pictures...

I felt it was necessary to hold onto this fence to catch my breath

this picture kind of sums up how I felt...

...and after a few minutes once I got some food into me. Isn't that medal a beauty?

...and now I can say I am offically a marathoner!

If you ran a full, how did you feel after? Were you happy with your time, or just happy to finish?

Day 2: Sausilito, Golden Gate and Lombard Street

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 13:03:00 +0000

Can I just say that I want to live in Sausilito? It's gorgeous and located right across the Bay by the Golden Gate Bridge. It has very steep hills and gorgeous homes overlooking the Bay. I already picked my new house out.

just one of my new neighbors' houses and the view!

I said I would take this one!

KennyO

Pre-marathon lunch

a little path downtown from where we parked

The view from the waterfront

A Weim!! Isnt she pretty?

Downtown Sausilito

Golden Gate Bridge!

A selfie by the GGB

Mark- this is for you. We thought you would find this rock interesting...

Driving over the Bridge back to San Fran

The GPS' interpretation of Lombard Street "The crooked Street"

Pretty neat street!

From Lombard Street back towards our hotel, we went up the steepest streets I have ever been on. It was unbelievable! The guy in front of us had a standard and did really well. Another shout out to Mark- be very happy you didn't teach me how to drive a standard in San Francisco!

some stairs so you don't tumble down!

That was Day 2. We also went over to Oakland to pick up our race packs, but I'll put that in my marathon post. So now that I have my house picked out in Sausalito, you'll come and visit?

Day 1 of California Trip

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sat, 23 Mar 2013 00:47:00 +0000

We made it! My plane landed an hour early last night and K's plane was an hour and a half late. After trekking over to his terminal I sat around for a few hours until he got in. At 1:30am, the US Airways terminal is pretty empty. We took a taxi to our hotel and going to sleep was glorious after 12 hours of travel and a 4-hour time difference.

So, day one. We walked from our hotel to Fisherman's Wharf and relaxed downtown. I gotta say, I loved laying on the grass and being able to look over the Bay and see the Golden Gate Bridge. Definitely one of my dreams come true- being able to see California.

Here's what we did so far!

The planner of the trip. He has all of our hotel papers and car rental papers organized with him and knows which bus routes to take. Thankfully he's like this because I would take a little while to find my way around. This is the Bart system and I was amazed at just how clean they keep everything. It is night and day from the NYC subway system.

The Stockton Tunnel. I saw a rather massive hill and told Kenny there was no way I could go up that hill 2 days before the marathon. Turns out there is a tunnel under the hill, so cool!

The Stockton Tunnel. Cool, right? From further down the street, it was hard to see the tunnel and just looked like a big hill...just to clarify;)

I was wearing new flats and started to get blisters. This called for a pair of new flip flops. I'd rather run 42 km sans blisters. Kenny said it was a very unwise thing for me to wear new shoes 2 days before a marathon. Pfff...men. Well, maybe he was right.

sea lions having fun and relaxing in the sun. This is the view from where we ate lunch.

My cute date and the most delicious salmon burger ever.

The line up for the trolleys was very, very long so we settled for a photo op on an empty one. We are rebels, I know.

The Golden Gate!

That's day one. I'm really loving California so far. Maybe I will leave my heart in San Francisco? Tomorrow we get our rental car, go to the marathon expo in Oakland and go across the Golden Gate Bridge for some good views. No walking tomorrow -just driving! :)

En Route.

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 21 Mar 2013 18:43:00 +0000

Today's the day. California, here we come. I was a little on the disorganized side and decided to wait until last night to do all of my packing, laundry, etc. That's ok though because we're at the airport now and I'm pretty sure everything essential is packed.

A few of the essentials were:

1. my faithful blue sneakers
2. my tried and true running clothes (I like to call them my running uniforms)
3. runner lubricant. for chafing.
4. garmin!! and the charger.
5. gels.
6. extra hair elastics.
7. chocolate covered and yogurt covered pretzels for the plane.

Our flights are delayed, but we should still make our connecting flights. Tonight we'll be in San Francisco! Fish tacos here I come.

we like bright shoes.

I'm going to try to update almost everyday. P.S follow me on Bloglovin! You can do it by clicking on the "+" icon on the right hand side bar------>

Multitude Monday 3/18

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 18 Mar 2013 08:00:00 +0000

Everyone survive St. Patrick's Day? Green was everywhere I looked- from people dressed in green wigs a few doors down to the lady in the grocery store with only green food in her cart. We even had a touch of it at our house. We had a giant green tie on our door, but it either a. blew away or b. someone really wanted it.

...and the multitudes of Monday continue...

41. A 3-day work week this week.

42. Reconnecting (via fb) with an "old" friend from my Long Island days

43. A shopping spree! It was beyond needed - a wardrobe of scrubs and gym clothes isn't always that appealing.

44. Tabata workouts - quick and dirty.

45. Custom Pace Bands

46. The forecast for the marathon:

47. awww.

48. Lunch with Kenny's fam yesterday P.S I seriously love fish cakes with the green chow.

49. Running in the park downtown- a change in scenery is nice every so often.

50. our trip this week!!!

How was your weekend??

Week before the Marathon

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 15 Mar 2013 12:36:00 +0000

Wow, down to the single digits until my first marathon! That is pretty freaking scary and exciting. Oakland Marathon Facebook page posts daily updates with advice from a medical center on how to prepare for the days prior to the race. It helps me out, as a newbie, because I really have no idea what to expect.

Ok, the third one. What the? A ring of fire? Derp.

This morning I did my last tempo workout. It was the first time I did an interval workout off the treadmill. I felt like using my Garmin was so much more accurate. I kind of have a beef with treadmills lately because my slow 5k's outside are much faster than very fast 5k's on the treadmill (i.e speeds like 7.5-9.0) Does that ever happen to you?

I love this!

I was researching this morning on what to do the week prior to a marathon and came across this website with some good pointers.

1. Dial down the mileage. I have most definitely done this. I want my legs to be very rested for the big day so my last "long" run is tomorrow - a 10k

2. Practice, Practice, Practice. I have been practicing with gels, something that has previously made me a little nauseous. I have been practicing with powerade too so my body is a little familiar with that.

3. Know your nutrition plan. I know what I am eating for breakfast the morning of; my staple of toast with peanut butter and banana slices. The day before for lunch will be a carb lunch and a lighter supper. Not many veggies and nothing new or unfamiliar. Fish tacos in San Fran will have to be my post-marathon lunch!

4. Speedwork and Tempos. I didn't plan on doing another tempo before the race, but maybe a very short one.

5. What or where are you eating the night before? Like #3, something familiar to me. Likely a combination of carbs and protein.

6. Race Day Simulation. I have been using things I plan on using for my marathon- shirts, socks. Not my running shorts because it's winter here, but I've worn them for other races so I'm not scared of chafing or anything. Knock on wood;)

7. Choose your race day gear. Done. The shirt I have sometimes chafes my arms, but I have body glide lube that is used for stopping chafing so I'm going to put that on before. I can't run with sleeves!

8. Select your shoes. I did decide on not wearing my new shoes. I wore them for my 16k last week and they blistered me bad. I'm using my faithful blue ones.

9. Catch your Zzzzz's. Haha, my friend Meredith and I were laughing at this last night. Basically we say I am an old lady because I have a 9:30-10:00 bedtime due to my 5:15 wake up. We decided I will likely be rested up. 27 going on 73.

10. Pick your playlist. Or not? I'm one of those strange ones that runs with nothin'. I'm sure I'll be wishing for Andrew W.K's She is Beautiful tune during the Oakland hills, but I rarely run with music.

Any advice for a marathon newbie like me? What is your nutrition like the week before?

Running Thoughts

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 09:29:00 +0000

I've been enjoying Heather's running thoughts that she posts. I find them really entertaining and I thought I would do one up on here. When you're running by yourself for a few hours, you're bound to think a little and have some random thoughts!

Sunday was my last longish run (10 miles/16km) and it was beautiful outside. +6 and sunny with blue skies. It was quite a change from what I've been used to for the past three months. Don't get me wrong, it was an overly welcome change!

I love this picture, check out her blog for some more awesome drawings!
source

Some of my random thoughts from Sunday:

1. Hmmm, when will I ever learn to hydrate the day before?!

2. Shut up, collie dog. You're going to hurt your neck on that chain if you keep maxing it out every time you see me and dash towards me.

3. I wonder if he wants to come to my house and wash our cars too. C'mon, it's a nice day for it...

4. That WestJet plane is really low. Speaking of which, I didn't know we lived on a flight path.

5. Mmmm, that vanilla bean GU gel tastes like icing.

6. A marathon isn't really that far, is it? Yes, yes it is. Keep thinking that though...

7. Darn it, these puddles are going to stain my new sneakers. Well, I don't want them to look brand spanking new, do I?

8. I wonder if my butt looks really big? #bornwithabooty.

9. That psyllium fiber is very effective. Kenny was right.

10. Surely the Oakland Marathon hills are just like the ones in this subdivision? I don't know, they looked big when I google mapped them...

So there are some of the random thoughts that go through my head while I'm running.

Speaking of random, someone tell Kenny I want these underwear:

how cute are they? and how funny is the word fartlek?

What goes through your head while you're exercising/running? Feel free to put them in the comment box below :)

Multitude Monday 03.11.13

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 11 Mar 2013 08:30:00 +0000

Happy Monday, hopefully you had a good weekend. Mine was pretty relaxing, but I also got a lot done. Nice Spring-ish weather is always a plus, right? :)

My new blog design!! Do you love it?! My friend Katie over at Polka Dot Soup designed my blog as an assignment for school. I jumped at the opportunity when she mentioned it to me. I knew she would do something amazing...and she did! Thank you, thank you, thank you, Katie!

Girls night with Beth and Chloe. It consisted of some wine, low carb goodies and some good chats. Can you spot tiny little Emmy? (a little white kitten)

Food Prep. It just makes my week so much easier. I will have to share my chicken meatball recipe later this week.

On Thursday night our Church had a worship night at the office. It was awesome, 2 hours of worship music by the band. Then some cheap appetizers afterwards ;)

On Saturday, Kenny had the morning off before his night shift so we went downtown and ended up eating brunch at a little cafe and then went for some frozen yogurt. He picked the most delicious combination that I am going to get next time- mango frozen yogurt with kiwi slices. SO good.

My favorite topping are the little white soft things. I have no idea what they're called...

Anything exciting happen over the weekend?
What is your favourite froyo topping?

Multitude Monday 3/13

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 04 Mar 2013 09:30:00 +0000

Happy Monday!

I am feeling more cheerful now that March has arrived because we're on the home stretch to Spring. I know we could easily get another snowstorm because it is Eastern Canada, but you know it's not going to stick around for a few more months. The birds are chirping away and the temps are slowly hovering around +1 and above. Ok, so I'm looking forward to Spring;)

Here's my Multitude Monday list for this week.

20km seemed easy yesterday compared to last weeks' 32km. It's not easy, but you know what I mean. Wait until you see what I wore. This is what happens when you don't do laundry and your long pants are at the bottom of the laundry basket. I think I resembled an Avatar...

Rachel and I ordered sprigs and split the shipping costs. It's a little wrist wallet that held my GU gel today during my run.

Beth, Chloe and I saw Safe Haven on Saturday night. I read the book over Christmas and was excited to see the movie. I'm always up for a chick flick so it was right up my ally.

Visit with Courteney and Heather. Runners talk for a few hours was fun, and some snuggles with Courteneys dog, Indy :)

How was your weekend?

Have you seen Safe Haven?

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 01 Mar 2013 11:59:00 +0000

Time for my Friday Dance. Actually, that happens on Thursday afternoon around 5:30 ish.

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1. My new runners. We had our eyes peeled for a sale and we found a buy one get one free. I went with my go-to Nike Free 3's and picked these. A few days before that I bought these pink blister-free socks and they match to a tee. Geeky or cute? You tell me.

2. This face. Seriously, he melts my heart and I love when I see "Ashley sent you an image" on my home screen. It means some baby B. time

3. On Sunday we went out for lunch to a new gourmet burger spot by Church. We weren't 100% happy with the food, but it was good to try it out. The best part was the FROYO afterwards;)

Kenny had a burger with chipotle ketchup and bacon. I got the down under burger which had beets, carmelized onion, a fried egg with a ground turkey pattie.

P.S We have really good photography skills and specialize is chopping heads off.

4. Kenny and I ran together on Sunday! I was so excited. It was nice to run with someone even if he had his earplugs in. haha. I think I was annoying him earlier...oops.

Hey those are my blue mitts.

5. Charity Miles. Yesterday I donated 10.4 pieces of lumber to the Habitat for Humanity with 4 miles. Check out my tab at the top of my blog to see the other donations. It's so easy guys! Next time you're going for a walk, a bike or a run just press start on the free app and you're donating, just like that!

What's going on today?

Ever try a gourmet burger?

Do you use Charity Miles/heard of it?

The Mental Part of The Long Run

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 09:00:00 +0000

Something marathon training has helped me with this winter is the mental part of running. I knew when I started training that it would include some below freezing temperatures and some undesirable windchills. It's Canada and it's winter, but even in perfect temperatures a long run can be a little intimidating, right?

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I wanted to share a few things that help me with the long runs of marathon training.

1. Prep-talking a couple of days before your long run. I just start thinking about it and mentally preparing myself for the run, telling myself I can do it and how it's important to log those miles.

2. Having everything ready the night before. This makes it so much easier for you to get up and go. I have my clothes, hat, mitts, powerade/water bottles ready and the Garmin charging.

3. Making sure you have your usual pre-run fuel on hand. If I don't have my toast with peanut butter/nut butter and banana, then my whole run is thrown off. That's just how it is, I eat two pieces of toast with pb/banana slices. It could be that this is what is familiar to me, but it also keeps me fueled for 3 hours!

4. Planning out a route ahead of time. Since I've been running through the subdivisions around here lately to get my mileage it's pretty easy to make up a route. Sometimes I get bored with the streets and change it up a bit by including a new-to-me side street.

5. Breaking up your run. I make 10K loops around the subdivision. I come back to our door step and grab some water/powerade and head out for the next 10K. This really helps me out rather than running 15+km in one direction and turning around. I know the Oakland marathon is not a loop, but an official race is always more interesting than the secondary road by us ;)

6. Post-run. If I start to get tired (or sometimes bored) I think to after my run. I think of looking at the final distance on my watch and seeing a new distance record for myself. You're so close, so why give up? I also think of how great it will feel to be done the weekly long run and I always have a yummy meal after I get back. A treat is always a nice incentive too ;)

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I think one of the benefits of the long run is the mental part of it all. It's a way that I've never really pushed myself before. Breaking the run up into sections (in your head) is one of the best ways that has helped me. It's like hitting little milestones and this gives you the confidence to keep going and hit the next one, and before you know it, your run is done.

What are some ways you work through long runs?

How do you fuel for them?

Multitude Monday 2/13

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Mon, 25 Feb 2013 10:00:00 +0000

Happy Monday!

Here's my Multitude Monday post for the week, as per usual, it's a collection of a few things I've enjoyed or am thankful for this week.

Our friend Courteney invited us out to the Oval, which is a skating rink downtown. Not going to lie, I'm not a very good skater. After a couple of laps it sort of came back to me, but Kenny can take most of the credit for towing me around;) We really enjoyed ourselves, it was a perfect skating temperature. Courteney and I admitted to wishing we brought our Garmin to see how far we went. #runners.

Seeing Dan and Katie was a highlight of my weekend. It was a last minute visit and I'm so happy we saw them. Everytime we see them Kenny hears "I really wish Dan and Katie would move back, I really miss them". We watched Katie's little brother play a high school basketball game (my old high school -how wierd is that?!)

A blog re-face. Yup, finally. Sometimes I feel this blog looks pretty primitive, but have no fear, Polkadotsoup is taking care of that for me.

32km. You've probably seen it on my twitter and instagram already, but I'm very proud of this distance. It's the farthest I've ever run and it marks the peak of my training. It's all tapering from here on out and I find this very exciting;) This winter has been very, very challenging for training and I feel like I didn't let the weather win over my training. The last 4km were very hard mentally and this kind of scares me because I will need to run a extra 10km than 32, but adrenaline and fresh, rested legs will be on my side.

...a little someecard for your Monday...

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Just a shout out to my runner friends and neighbors. They started blogs a little while ago so check 'em out!

Heather and Courteney

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What are your multitudes for today?

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 13:45:00 +0000

Ahhh, it's Friday.

This week actually flew by, but I'm still very happy the work week is over;) I've been battling something all week. Not quite sure what it is, but definitely not feeling 100%. I tried to cancel my patients yesterday, but long story short I was there until 5:30, a whole half hour earlier than scheduled. Oh well, the silver lining would be that I got paid:)

Here's some Friday Five's for you, just some randomness to keep it light.

1. My long run (32-33km) was scheduled for today, but with my stomach being the way it is I decided to take it easy today, stretch, foam roll, hydrate and rest for tomorrow. Turns out tomorrow is going to be sunny! A bit more chilly, but sunny.

2. Kenny's last weekend off for a long time is this weekend. We're heading to a maple sugar farm about an hour north of here. The tours are free and they have a log cabin restaurant which has one of the best pancakes in Canada! Pretty cool, right?

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3. One month from today we will be on our vacation in California! Oh, and 2 days later will be my marathon! Eeeeks.

4. I feel like someone is looking over my shoulder as I type up this post...

5. On Monday morning, Kenny set his alarm for 5:30 am (on a day off) to shovel me out and clean off the car. Yeah, I'm pretty lucky.

What are some randoms from your week?

First Multitude of '13

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Thu, 21 Feb 2013 10:28:00 +0000

Well, this post was maybe supposed to be posted on Monday, but we'll pretend I call Multitude Monday "Thankful Thursday" It's my first one of 2013 and I really hope to post more than I have been of late. It just seems that between work, training and day-to-day life, blogging has taken the back burner. Thank you for sticking with me and checking back to see my posts!

Because it's a new year and all, I want to start at #1 again:)

1. Special visitors from PEI this weekend! I love having the little blond boys and their awesome parents here.

Kenny playing with Jonah and Quinn

2. Conquering "James" hill repeats. It's a street around here and doing hill repeats on him can be a bit challenging. I'd like to thank James for prepping me for the nice rolling hills of Oakland ;)
I typically don't listen to music while I run, but hills call for some beats...

3. Going to a girls night on Friday with some girls from Church. It's always nice to sit around and chat. Oh, and eat. duh! Have you ever tried beet hummus? It's so good!!

4. Getting stuff done on our house this weekend! We finished the spare bedroom, cleaned the boxes and junk out of the second spare bedroom, set up the beds, got some furniture and put a picture up on the wall. It seriously felt so good to see our house coming together.

We also got an antique kitchen table to go with our industrial chairs and we got a new coffee table!

5. Group-messaging my sisters. It feels like we're not that far away from each other when we can just imessage all day.

6. The fact that we somehow managed to avoid a snowstorm this weekend. Hallelujah! I think Mother Nature knows I just can't handle anymore snow. My quick run in the rain Sunday morning was nice and refreshing.

7. My slow cooker. Sometimes I just realize how much I love it because it does all the work for me. I just want one that has a self clean and then I'll be really happy!

8. Massage and Chiro coverage. That is all.

9. Instagram. I am finding so many places I have never heard of around San Fransisco area that are so neat! So many places I want to go now, like this place:

Broadway Tunnel

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10. Fellow bloggers who encourage me daily to get off my butt and exercise.

Anything you're loving this week?

What songs do you run to?

Friday Five

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 16:44:00 +0000

Want to know what makes me happy? Sunny skies and a balmy temperature of +3 (36F) It is such a nice change from -20 days with the wind chill for the past month or so. I almost packed my things and moved to Southern California last week, but I stayed.

Here's some 5 random thoughts for the day:)

1. There are 36 days until The Oakland Marathon. I can't believe how quickly it is approaching. Crazy and kinda scary. I have been working hard at training for it, so I know I can do it, but it's my first full and the unknown is what kind of scares me a bit.

This is my shorter-long run weekend, which is a nice little break. Next weekend is my longest run at 32km and then it's taper time. Bring it on, Oakland. Hills and all.

2. Today is our Valentines Day. We exchanged little gifts yesterday morning because Kenny worked last night. We typically don't do anything big for V-Day and tend to go out for dinner or lunch a few days after/before. Everything is so crowded on the 14th! Kenny got me a really pretty orchid plant. Please remind me to water it, thanks!

Kenny got a bunch of candy from me and some timbits with a cheesy note that said:

Donut you know I love you a hole lot?

I pretended to be clever, but really I saw it somewhere and just stole it;)

3. Thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, Molly, I am getting my first pair of PRO compression socks at an awesome price! I chose baby blue. It was a tough decision between those and the hot pink ones, but I decided on the baby blues because I will most likely buy a new blue-ish pair of sneakers. FYI-Marathon training requires new sneakers. Head on over to Molly's blog for the promo code that gets you free shipping and 40% off.

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4. Our cat is strange and loves to lick plastic. I ordered chairs from Restoration Hardware and they came covered in bubble wrap. Maggie spend quite a bit of time over by the chairs just licking the plastic. We looked into it a while ago because her obsession with plastic puzzled us. It turns out cats who are weaned early (which Maggie was, we got her at 6 weeks and she was tinnnny) experience pico sometimes. Pico is something that some pregnant women get as well, basically you munch or chew on non-nutrious things. Maggie's thing is plastic. Wierd, eh?

5. I get to spend my weekend with my brother, his wife and their 3 blonde cuties. I've been excited for this weekend for a few weeks now.

What are you looking forward to this weekend?

Does your pet do anything strange like this?

Remember Me?

noreply@blogger.com (Heidi) — Sun, 10 Feb 2013 13:25:00 +0000

Hello there. It's me again!

We're having a second cozy day in today due to being storm-stayed. It's snowing steady and whirling around outside (for over 24 hours!) I'm cozied up with a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and surfing around the net. Thankfully Kenny is off today and we can spend the day together rather than him being out on the roads. Plus, a storm day by yourself can be a little boring, right?

Here's a little update:

1. Marathon training is going well. On Friday morning I pumped out 30km/18miles during the calm before the storm. It was a chilly, chilly long run. This is the farthest I've ever run and it was pretty awesome to see 30.02km on my Garmin. I can do this! One more long run and then it's taper time. Yeah, taper time already! Can you believe my marathon is in 44 days?!

2. I caught up with friends on Friday! Sometimes you don't realize how much you miss someone until you're reunited with them. Oddly enough, both dates were Hygiene friends. One friend from work/ school a few years ago and then my group of girls from school last year. We (almost) all live in the same city, but we never see each other.

I got the brunt of the bad lighting in this photo. Geeze.

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3. Our media room is almost complete downstairs. Our t.v and surround sound is all hooked up and mounted. Kenny has the room painted, it just needs some new trim and some black accessories. I gotta admit, the red room looks pretty good!

4. We are half way through painting our spare bedroom. Church is cancelled today so we're storm stayed for another day (I kinda like being cozy inside all day) which means we can put the second coat on the walls. This also means that Mark and Leah will have their own bedroom this weekend and not just some sleeping bags/mattress on the floor;)

(I'll post some after photos of the rooms downstairs once they're all finished up)

5. I found my Christmas chocolate stash. I hid some of the chocolate so I wouldn't eat it all at once and yesterday I found a bag of dark chocolate m&m's. Nice timing!

...and while it continues to snow outside, I like to picture this:

hiking @ Cape Split

Have a wonderful Sunday.

What's new with you??