Well hello there!

So it’s been over a month since I posted last.  I have no idea of where the time has gone!  It always seems that this time of year speeds up.  The summer starts to wrap up and then boom it’s fall-ish temps and then it’s snowing.  Kidding about that last part, but time really is flying.

Grab a drink and put your feet up because this will be a long one…

Half Marathon Training

Still going.  It’s less than 3 weeks out! Last I wrote I had just completed my long run (7 miles) with the group.

Labor Day weekend I went out on my own for what I was calling a 7-9 miler and did all 9.  My average pace was also a bit stronger than in the past, so I considered it a win.  I didn’t look at my pace at all during the run.  It was an out and back and I calculated it to be about 7.5 figuring I’d do loops at the end if I wanted to get my mileage up.  I got back to the starting point around 8 (I think) and told myself I’d go for 8.5.  When I got to 8.5 I told myself to suck it up and do another half mile.

The weekend after I planned to do 9 or 10 on Saturday.  Then I woke up on Saturday and just was not feeling it.  At all!

What’s challenging for me is that I teach spin on Sunday mornings, so if I don’t get a long run in on Saturday, it’s gets tricky.  I could do it super early or after class.  I leave for class at 7:40a, so that would mean starting a long run at 5a or so.  I suppose it could be done, but i’m not sure it’s something I really want to do.

So that Sunday we figured we’d run some and then I’d teach and then try to get more miles it.  We ended up doing 4 slow miles before, then I taught, and then I hit a park with a 1/2 mile path after class for another 3 miles.  7 total plus a spin class.  Not perfect, but not horrible either.

I’m losing a weekend somewhere, but nevermind.

Last weekend was 10 on the schedule.  My other half went out around 7:15 and I went with the group at 8a.  It’s interesting how the group runs vary because this time I wasn’t last.  There were actually quite a few people behind me.   He ended up crossing paths with us and we ran together for a few miles before he split off.

It was a hard run because it got HOT.  I think it was around 82 when I finished and since it’s been such a cool late summer, it threw me off.  I had to take some walking breaks starting around mile 7.  Then just after 8 I ran by a friend I hadn’t seen in years, so I had to stop and talk to him.  Obviously it just kept getting hotter, so I ran when I could and walked when I felt that I should.  A training run was not worth getting light headed for. 🙂

10 or 11 for tomorrow!  I’ve been feeling off all week, so I’m hoping that tomorrow is better.

Last Minute Travel

I’m headed to Chicago next week to spectate the Chicago Marathon!  My sister is running and while I had always planned to go, I waited to book my flights and saw the prices go sky high.  So when I found something slightly more tolerable yesterday, I jumped on it and booked.

I also signed up for the Chicago International 5K on Saturday.  Should be a fun trip!  Anyone else planning on being there?  Running or spectating?

Wedding

This ish is getting real!  I’ve started having dreams about the wedding which one or many things go wrong.  My first dream had me in a dress that had the right top, but the bottom half was a pair of jeans.  My second dream had the invitations with different start times on them, one of which was 9a, so people were showing up before I was dressed.

I had both my hair and makeup trials last week and amazingly they both went well!  I was a little nervous about the hair, but ended up very pleased.

My second dress fitting is next week.

Now it’s all the smaller details that will likely make me completely insane over the next two months.  Wish me luck!

Other Stuff

Still kind of doing the vegan thing.  I did have a little turkey and chicken last week.  I’ve also had some cheese.  I’m eating eggs when I want to.  No doubt though, it’s much less dariy than before.  Surprisingly, my other half is doing better than me.  He was the crazy meat eater and as far as I know he has truly eaten no meat since July.

I was going to post these next few pictures to tell you that my life hasn’t been only work and wedding stuff, but then I realized that these were all taken at work events (two for my full time job and one for One Bro).  I think I need to work on some balance.  But since they’re freaking awesome photos, I’ll share anyway.

Can you tell I love a good sunset?

I’ve also spent a lot of time thinking about the Caribbean post-hurricane(s).  The Caribbean is my happy place, most specifically St. Thomas, and they got hit quite hard.  We were actually supposed to do the first leg of our honeymoon there, and now it’s a bit of a question mark.  We’re doing all we can to help from afar and will see what we do about our travel plans.

So with that, I’m off.  Probably won’t be back until either after Chicago or after the half.  I will do my hardest to take photos and not just bore you with a ton of words. 🙂

Thing is, I love to write and I love to take pictures, I just don’t easily combine the two.

Happy running, happy friday, happy everything!!

A little heavy on the food

Hello!  It’s been a bit, but that’s OK.  I’ve been busy, so it happens.

I hope you’re having a good week so far!  Personally, I’m spending too much time thinking about how badly I want to take some time off.  All things in good time.

So where to start?

Running

I did another group run for the Sono Half this past Saturday.  My other half was going to do it with me, but he had other stuff to get done and the 8a start time was too late for him.  It was a 7 miler.

It wasn’t great (and neither is that photo), but I did it!  There was more walking than I’d like to admit, but at least I kept going.  I was last in the group, which I’m totally OK with.  I was lucky that the two people ahead of me were very nice and stopped to wait for me twice.  They are both training for the Chicago Marathon so the 7 miler was just a part of their total mileage.

It got me thinking about running at the back of the pack.  As I said, I don’t care if I’m the slowest or the fastest (hahaha!), but I think that a lot of people do care.  I had this whole thought in my head that the race organizers should try harder to get the slower people to the group runs.  In my mind, these are the people that won’t show up.  Thoughts?

Food (I’ll break this up into vegan and non)

Vegan

This was a well intended meal, although only half of it came out as desired.  My plan was to do a mushroom soup and then something similar to a BLT but with tempeh or fake bacon.

I had tempeh at home, so I went that route.  I browned it a bit in some olive oil and then seasoned it with the Trader Joe’s Everything mix.  Good in theory, but all the seasoning fell off so it tasted pretty bad.  Oh well!

The mushroom soup was a success.  And again, another Vegangela recipe.  When you have luck with a site, why deviate?  Here’s the link.  I made a few minimal modifications, but nothing worth noting.  It was good!  The other half even liked it!

I also made vegan oatmeal raisin cookies (link here).  Her recipe is for chocolate walnut cookies, but I swapped out the chocolate and nuts for raisins.  I also added a bit of cinnamon.

While they tasted amazing, they looked pretty lousy.

They are made with coconut oil, which is liquid at high temperatures.  They became incredibly flat and pretty much all joined together on the baking sheet.  So I ultimately said screw this, and just threw them in a container where they morphed into a sort of crumble.  Not a photogenic crumble, but a very delicious one.  These were gone in a couple of days.

I’ll play around with them to see if I can get them to look like cookies, but even if I can’t, they still taste good enough to stick with.

I feel like we’ve been trying every vegan product we can find.  Sunday we tried this.

The verdict?  Not a fan.  It was odd.  I read the back of the package that it’s some sort of cheese substitute mixed with a fermented soy.  Just odd.  Not disgusting, just not great.

And last on the vegan front, I found the following two snacks that are both quite good (and unique).

Both good and all too easy to snack on.  Maybe i’m better off not having snacks handy. 🙂

Non-vegan

I’m trying, but sometimes it just doesn’t work.

After my run on Saturday I wanted nothing more than an egg Mcmuffin, so I had one and enjoyed every second!  So worth it! (still vegetarian, just not even close to vegan)

Last week I had dinner with some girlfriends and had a delicious jalapeno almond pesto pasta dish (probably had some dairy).  It was so good I told my other half I wanted him to recreate it.  So he went for it.  It wasn’t a match, but it was still SO good!

That was on a fish day (we’re still eating seafood).  Too bad dinner  was served at 9:30p on a Sunday.  I’m old…and tired.

Lastly, some pizza eye candy.  Yum!

Neither of us ate this, but we heard it was amazing.
Fresh figs, speck, asiago and gorgonzola cheeses.

Drool away!

Life/wedding/other stuff

• I’ve mentioned it on here in passing, but I’ve been really tired.  Like really.  I wake up tired and am still having a hard time motivating to do anything.
• I have a physical scheduled for next Monday and am planning a full blood workup, including B12, which I just read about.
• I don’t want anything to be wrong, but I’d like a reason so I can fix it. 🙂
• This Sunday I’m having an invitation stuffing party at my house…with my parents.  It’s gonna be a rager!  😉
• Dress is in my possession, first fitting is 9/5, so soon.
• I need a day off.  See, I came full circle.

Hope you’re having a great week!  Feel free to comment about anything mentioned above, I love comments!

An update in bullets

• Hi! Good morning!  How are you?  All’s good here.
• Running – last Saturday I made the decision to do the 6 mile group run.  it was definitely the right decision and it reminded me that I do enjoy a group run.  I will admit I might not have been ready for 6 miles, but I did it.  Mile 5 was tough and I took a quick walking break, but that’s OK.  I also really lucked out with the weather as it was 68 degrees at the end of July.  Amen!  🙂
  • The runs are every two weekends so as long as I’m free, I plan to do the next one on the 12th (7 miles).
• Veganism – I made vegan mac and cheese
  • I used this recipe, which she claims is the best (Vegangela to the rescue again)
  • Let’s just say that I think I love the original (and cheese!) a bit too much to come around to the vegan version.
  • That said, my other half had just had vegan m&c at a vegan restaurant in San Antonio and he said this version was definitely better
  • We went a little heavier on the truffle oil and played around a bit with spices.  he also added some veggie chorizo which maybe helped
• T Swift is finally on Spotify!
  • Not much explanation needed.
  • I sent a text to my sister saying that as a result of this big news, my runs will most definitely improve drastically (I kid)
  • I also got to grace my spin class with a T Swift song for the first time since I switched to Spotify years ago.  They laughed at my excitement.
• Wedding
  • Invitations ordered
  • Dress is in and I will go see it/try it on on Saturday
  • Sh*t is moving along!  CRAZY!!
• Peace out!  Have a great Wednesday!!!

Friday Loves

Hi there!  Happy Friday!

It’s been a loooong week (at least it felt long) and I’m glad it’s finally Friday.  That said, I feel like I look forward to the weekend all week which makes it feel that much shorter and leaves me feeling that much sadder on Monday.

Last night I got pissed off by an email that a coworker wrote.  Rest assured I called him out on it, but it left a bad taste with me.  I also caught the news before bed and the Syria stuff messed with me a little.  My irritable/frustrated feelings clearly carried over to this morning where I was a bit ornery at Orangtheory.  Typically a workout makes everything better but for some reason that didn’t happen this morning.

I came home (still irritable), fed Minnie, and then took her out for a walk.  During our walk I became somewhat normal again.  It was about 6:45a and the sun was just coming up through the trees.  I love nature and love the beauty in nature so at that point I told myself to just let everything go and have a good day.  Stay positive and be happy.

So here I am.  Keeping with the positive spins, here are a few things that have made me happy over the past week.

Today’s Walk

This is the photo that reminded me to stop and let everything go.  It’s just not worth it.  Beauty is all around us and once you stop and let yourself look, you’ll see it.

Sweet Treats

Hey there!  🙂  Last Sunday I had a family event to go to.  I wanted to bring something but wasn’t sure what.  Normally I’d bake, but I didn’t have time.

A new donut place opened in the next town over Donut Crazy.  I’d been following them on instagram so I knew how amazing their donuts looked.  So Sunday morning my sister and I headed over and grabbed half a dozen to take with us.

I’m not sure I’ve ever brought a dessert that got people this excited.

Flavors above are crumb cake, french toast, cookie monster, strawberry glazed, maple bacon, and cannoli.  YUM!!!

I’m not a huge donut person but they are definitely tasty.  I think the joy in this one was more in everyone else’s reaction than mine.

Flowers

Maybe it’s almost not winter.  Maybe.

This is our first “spring” in the house and so I was very happy to see daffodils growing in the back yard.  And while I don’t have any photos of them, I do have a photo of the hyacinth that my sister brought me last week.  It’s doing a great job of making the house smell like spring.

On a related topic, I snapped this photo the other day while I was getting my hair colored.  I LOVED these plant holders (is that what they’re called).

I loved them even more when I learned that they are tomato cages flipped upside down, legs cut off, and then spray painted.  So cool!

Hats

While I will forever be loyal to my Bondi Bands for workouts and spin, I’ve started wearing hats for my own workouts.  I think that it’s less harsh on my fragile hairline (although that could be in my head).  But now I want all the fun hats and it just seems like active hats are not fun.  If you have any hat suggestions for someone with a big head, let me know 🙂

Sleep (sort-of)

So i’m thankful for sleep, although my sleep isn’t the greatest.  I used to be an amazing sleeper and somewhere within the last 4-5 years that went out the window.  I still sleep OK but I wake up a bunch.  The flip side is that since i’m not sleeping as soundly, it’s much easier to get up at 5am.

In an attempt to boost my sleep I grabbed some melatonin from Whole Foods.  I grabbed the 3mg.  I would only take it a couple of nights a week, but I felt like I was sleeping better.

Wednesday morning on my way to work (I had gone to OTF early) I was literally struggling to keep my eyes open.  It was bad.  I turned up the music, started singing and did all I could to stay fully awake.  I even considered pulling into a rest stop for a nap.

Thursday morning the same thing happened.  Hmmm.  Why???  Well, I realized that both nights before I had taken melatonin.

So I hopped online last night to see what the recommended dosage of melatonin was.  While the information varies, I ended up clicking on a link to Dr. Oz (not my favorite, but somewhat reputable) and he clearly stated to take 1mg.  So I was taking 3 times what he’d recommend.  Perhaps that was why I was struggling so much.

So last night I took no melatonin and also had coffee before work (I usually have it at work).  I’m happy to report that my eyes remained open for my entire drive.  It could be a coincidence but I think I’m on to something!  🙂

So there are my thoughts in a nutshell.

Tell me…

Do you take melatonin or anything to help with sleep?  What?  How much?

Any hat recommendations?

Is it spring yet?

Have a most wonderful Friday!!

 

All about the mysterious Fit Talker (ha!)

Because I am all about procrastination today I figured I’d spend some time sharing some random information about myself.

Info-

Name: Jessica
Age: 37 but in my head I think I stopped at 30
Gender: Female

 

Favorites:

Food: Sushi, a good chocolate cake, good pizza (there is way too much crappy pizza out there), mac and cheese

Drink: Water – so boring!

Book: The Nightingale

Song: I don’t really have a favorite song because my mind changes too frequently for anything to remain a favorite (or it gets way too played out).  I guess if I had to choose something, it would be Numb by Usher.

Movie: I’m not a huge movie person and haven’t seen anything good recently.  Let’s say the Wizard of Oz or Clueless.  Such an intellectual!

Band: No clue although I will always have a spot in my heart for my 90s rock bands (soundgarden, pearl jam) and i was a big grateful dead fan (bet you didn’t see that coming)

Solo Artist: Wow, so many music questions.  No clue.

Place: A beach with beautiful blue water.  I’m not specific.

Subject: Food.  I really do like to talk about food…and travel.

Sport: Football

Actor: It’s been a long time since I thought about this…I like John Goodman (random, right?)

Actress: no clue

Life:

Schooling: BA in Communications, MBA in Management and Marketing – I love to learn!

Political ideology: No comment.  I have my opionions but typically don’t share.  I don’t like to argue.

Religion: Jewish

Tattoos: Nope.  I’ve thought about it for ages but couldn’t come up with anything that I’d want on me permanently.

Piercings: Ears.  At one point I also had my belly button, nose, and tongue.  College was a fun time 🙂  (my parents weren’t fans of that phase)

Languages: English (obviously) and I’d like to work more on my spanish.  I can get by if needed.

Reason behind your blog name: The focus of the blog to start was just fitness and I thought it was funny that it was a play on words of sh*t talker.

Now wasn’t that the most fun 2 minutes you’ve spent today?

Completely unrelated, but I need to work on being more FUN.  I was looking back at some photos and what was most apparent to both me and the sig other is that I used to have so much fun.  Of course I was younger and more carefree, but I shouldn’t have to sacrifice fun.

I’m going to make that an unofficial goal for 2017 and since it’s here in writing, it’s real.

Happy Wednesday!!!

Brain dump – still no photos

Not that anything I’m going to mention is photo worthy, but I will work on that.

I need to clean my house, my office, and my head.  So here’s a start…

Beets!

On Sunday afternoon I roasted three beets to use throughout the week (lunch, dinner, whatever) and have been eating them since.  They are so easy to make and so delicious hot or cold.

The only downside of eating a lot of beets is that my pee is now anywhere from a pale pink to a full on red.  Even though the reason, it’s still alarming to see.  And sorry if that’s TMI.  Actually the first time this happened to me years ago, I did freak out.  So if this happens to you.  Don’t.  A similar thing happened when I was on a huge kiwi kick, but that was a more neon yellow tint. Good times!

No sugar update

I’ve greatly reduced my sugar intake but am still not 100%.  For example, last night I did indulge in some frozen yogurt.  That said, I woke up with my stomach hurting, so I blame the froyo.

My biggest accomplishment is that I’ve been drinking my coffee without sweetener.  I knew it was possible, but I’m pleased with myself to be doing it (and not hating it).  I will quickly admit that my coffee doesn’t taste nearly as good, but it is what it is.

On that topic, has anyone tried putting butter or coconut oil in their coffee?  Feedback please.

Wicked!!

In a relatively spur of the moment decision, last night we bought tickets to see Wicked in a couple of weeks.

My sister and I saw it when it first opened with the original cast and LOVED it.  I’ve wanted to see it again and this time we are going with my parents who have never seen it.  Fun family night!!

I think i’m finally ready to run!

Lots of exclamation marks today.  But this is a big one.  I think i’m finally starting to get excited to start running again!  And speaking of which, I plan to register again for the Fairfield Half in June.  While my time in that race last year was bad, it was a great race for me in every other way.

Wedding venue stuff

I have learned that people in this area plan their weddings WAY in advance.  I guess I always knew that, so I was reminded.  This was also a subtle reminder that I’m not in my late 20s as most brides seem to be.

We don’t want (or need) a long engagement so we’re trying to move things along.  This weekend we’re looking at some venues and my real hope is that by sunday evening we’ll have a venue and a date.

Fingers crossed!  Send those good venue vibes my way.

So that’s what’s on my mind right now.  More to come after the weekend and I will try to take some photos going forward.

Have a great weekend!!!!!