Drinks that make me go mmm!

Posted on May 23, 2014 by amy

Now that the weather is getting really warm and nice, I’ve gone back to some of my favorite drinks. I didn’t really stop drinking them all together during the winter months, but they are just more refreshing in Spring and Summer and I’ve been drinking them more often now.

I’ve previously talked about the things I eat and drink or my “nutrition”. I try to eat as healthy as I can. Yes, I don’t do it 100% of the time, but as much as possible. I drink beer and champagne and a mixed drink occasionally. I eat chips and salsa (duh!) and a little ice cream (courtesy of my boyfriend’s sweet tooth) or root beer floats here and there. I don’t deprive myself of things I like. I just eat or drink it in moderation and try to balance it all.

I discovered kombucha a couple years ago and love it. This beverage is high in antioxidants and probiotics and I could drink it all day long. When I find it on sale, I’ll stock up. GT’s or Clearly Kombucha, a brand I just discovered, have a lot of great flavors to choose from and taste great! I discovered Clearly Kombucha because it was BOGO at Safeway and caught my eye. What a great deal! They are cute 12oz bottles that come in Black Currant, Tangerine, Chai Cola, Asian Pear, Grape, Strawberry Hibiscus, and Raspberry Ginger and Raspberry Lemonade (I haven’t tried these last two yet as they were sold out when I went shopping the last two times). Some of GT’s Kombucha products also have chia seeds in them and I love these as well. Bonus!

Speaking of chia, I love chia seeds! I like to add them to kombucha (if it doesn’t have it already in it) or in coconut water. And they are so good for you! I recently got an energy gel from a local bike shop. It’s made by Vitalyte, called Chia Surge, and comes in pineapple-orange and raspberry. I had never seen a sport energy gel with chia seeds so I was excited to try it. I decided to try the pineapple-orange and took it with me on my 15 mile run this past Monday. I’m not a “gu” or “gel” kinda gal but I liked the idea of it having chia seeds. I normally eat Shot Bloks every 4 miles on long runs, so this was going to be an interesting test as the package says it was one serving and to take it every 1.5 hours “for maximum benefit”. I wasn’t sure if I should just down the thing since I had never had it before on a run, so I just took little bits of it every so often. I really liked the flavor and consistency and was surprised at how well the seeds went down. I was afraid I would have a mouth full of them and would have to chew them up. It seemed to digest pretty well also. Looking back on it now, I probably should have taken the whole thing at once and maybe brought a second one with me because I didn’t feel a great amount of energy boosts from the small amount I was consuming each time. But I would definitely try it again.

Here is an article about the benefits of chia seeds and 10 reasons why you should add them to your diet:

http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2013/06/03/chia-seed-benefits-_n_3379831.html

I also drink coconut water as often as I can. It’s so delicious and refreshing and a great way to hydrate! It also has a lot of potassium, so if you don’t eat a lot of bananas, like me, this is a great way to get some of this much needed mineral into your system. Runners need potassium! I drink the brand Zico a lot (it comes in regular, chocolate, pineapple and tropical fruit), but there are so many other brands of cocount water on the shelves at your local grocery store and most taste pretty good. Try it!

On occasion, I will also drink aloe vera water (juice). We drank a lot of this on our trip to Costa Rica and Trinidad & Tobago. It’s really refreshing and also has a lot of health benefits. It has a lot of vitamins and minerals, hydrates and helps with digestion among many other benefits (see the link below). There are also chunks of the aloe vera plant in the water that I find quite delicious.

http://skinnywithfiber.org/14-really-important-health-benefits-of-aloe-vera-juice/

I am not sponsored by any of the brands I wrote about above (although, that’d be cool!). I just like those particular products and brands. There are lots of other brands to choose from, so do a little taste-testing and hopefully you may find some of these drinks and products as tasty as I do.

If you have any other healthy drink suggestions, send them my way!

Oh life…

Posted on May 15, 2014 by amy

I’m lame. I haven’t written a blog post in a while. I have let life get in the way. Oh, that thing called LIFE. Well, there were some tough things going on so I guess had no motivation to post anything interesting about my running.

I officially started my training plan for Eugene about 8 weeks ago. So, I have been running just fine getting short and long runs in. I also decided to become a member of the Sacramento Running Association (SRA) and started a free 8-week training last week. I figured it couldn’t hurt to get some extra training and an extra push for my next marathon. I feel really good about it!

Last Wednesday I did a double workout. I had missed my workout on Tuesday, so I didn’t think too much about doing this. I got in a cardio/weights/lunge workout in the morning, then met with the SRA training group for a speed workout in the evening. Everything felt great. Then I did a run Thursday morning and the side of my knee felt a little sore after, leading me to think maybe my knee popped out again. I had done some intense cycle and lunge work and then a hard speed workout back-to-back on Wednesday, so I thought maybe just my inner quads were sore. But after a couple days, I knew it wasn’t just sore muscles. I haven’t had any problems with this since January or maybe even December. It’s been quite a while. But I just knew something was off.

I iced and continued to pay close attention to the sore area. It wasn’t as bad as it had been in the past (last November), but I knew I should get in to see my PT. In the meantime, I got a long run in on this Monday and it was fine. My knee never hurts when I run or walk or anything, just after the run is when it’s a little tender. I met with SRA last night for a Fartlek workout and everything went great! I felt good and after the run, my knee didn’t feel sore. Of course! The day before I am supposed to see my PT, now my knee doesn’t hurt. But I was still going to see him anyway.

So, I saw my PT this morning. Right after I laid down on the table, my PT saw that the back of my leg had fluid on it and was swollen. I didn’t even notice this morning! But I know for sure it wasn’t like this yesterday. He checked different spots on the knee to see where it hurt and then tried to pop it back in. He realized he wanted to do some muscle massage and stimulation to the hamstring and calf first before popping it in. I hate the stimulation machine thing he uses. It’s a tingly sensation that feels so weird. The massage mostly feels good until he gets to the super tender spots in the muscles that you didn’t even realize were tender. Ahh!

After all that, he was able to pop in the knee and everything was fine. It actually didn’t hurt as bad as it had in the past, which is also good. He also said my quads and calves are looking rounder and beefier, which is great. I have been working on my inner quads a lot the last 6-7 months to make sure this knee-popping thing doesn’t keep happening. I need those inner quad muscles to be stronger.

He wrapped my leg up with Rock Tape and now I’m all good to go! I’m going to take it easy today and tomorrow with some cycling and strength training and continue with icing. I have a 15 mile long run planned for Monday and he said I should be fine to run that.

I asked him what could have caused the knee to pop out again. He said it could have been anything. He said maybe I stepped wrong. I explained that I thought maybe my shoes might have contributed to it also. I had recently (about mid-March) gone back to my old shoes that still had some mileage on them but were coming up on 300 miles. I finally looked at the bottoms of the shoes a couple days ago and noticed the wear on the tread on the heels. Yup, these are dunzo! And I had put 298.5 miles on them as of Monday. Lol! He said maybe I should only put 250 miles on my shoes instead from now on.

One thing I have learned over time with all this constant running is to listen to your body. As soon as I feel something different or have a feeling something is out of whack, I get it fixed as quickly as I can so that I can recover faster. I’m not stressed about this. It just goes with the territory.

Oh life…as a runner.

I hope you all are running injury free and having a great Spring!

Oh Boston

Posted on April 22, 2014 by amy

Today is the 2014 Boston Marathon! It’s also been just over a year since the Boston Marathon bombings. While we don’t want to think about what happened last year, it’s inevitable. We will always think about the tragedy. But, as I sit here typing, I am overwhelmed by all the joy, love and support that is out there across the world for such a great city, this race, and for the running community. This awful tragedy has brought everyone closer.

I so wish I could be back in Boston today, cheering on runners and having so much fun! There’s a lot of excitement surrounding this event, especially this year! 36,000 runners and about 5,000 of those who didn’t get to cross the finish line last year are back to get it done!

I had originally said I committed to running 26.2 miles today, on Marathon Monday in support of the Boston Marathon, but I ended up deciding not to and opted to watch the live feed instead. I really didn’t want to miss it. I don’t need to be a superstar or anything. There are lots of other superstars out there running the race today! I just want to support and watch what’s going on back on the East Coast.

The Boston Marathon is such a high energy, magical experience. Seeing Shalane run such a strong and great race and then to see Meb get FIRST in the men’s race was just spectacular! His emotion made me tear up…just so excited for him! This is the first time an American man has won the Boston Marathon since 1983! Just amazing! His whole heart was in this race!

I am so happy for ALL the runners who were able to participate this year. For some, crossing that finish line will help them have a little bit of closure. But for everyone, this is a dream come true and a day they won’t forget.

#bostonstrong

http://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2014/04/23/from-baa-thank-you-boston/59zUnlFxb4BhnnLXADiLoN/story.html

Balls and beers

Posted on April 18, 2014 by amy

I usually write about my running life, but there are always things that get in the way…some more important than others. On Saturday April 5th, Clint and I put on a beer fest event called the First Annual – Sacramento Ball Sack & Beer Fest. It was an event we created after going through Clint’s testicular cancer journey and realized there was nothing local that brought awareness to testicular cancer, hence the “ball sack” part of the name. We wanted to have fun with an important topic, but also educate people about what testicular cancer is.

After just a few months of planning, the event was here! We were a little nervous because our presales were low and it rained on Friday (we weren’t expecting this). We really hoped that the rain would not continue into Saturday and there would be a lot of “day of” sales. After setting up Friday all day and Saturday morning, the sun was shining and people started arriving EARLY! We were pretty happy, even though we still had a lot of work to do during the event.

The live music we brought on sounded great, people were happy, the vendors were happy, the breweries were happy and it really could not have gone any better. Yes, there were a few hiccups, but nothing too bad or unmanageable.

Overall, we were pretty pleased with the attendance and were also surprised to find out that some people even drove two hours or more to come to our event!

One of the best parts about planning this event, is talking to people who are really concerned about testicular cancer. It may have affected them personally or they are just scared to get it. It is pretty rare, but we want men to recognize the signs or the things they can do to check themselves on a monthly bases.

We were able to raise and donate $3,220 to the Testicular Cancer Awareness Foundation and plan to have this event next year and hopefully the following years after. While wrapping up this event and sending out thank yous, I realized how special this was for me (and Clint). We didn’t just put on a beer fest for the heck of it or so we could drink craft brews with our friends. There was real meaning behind this event. And while our friends and all the people that attended had a ton of fun, we are grateful that we can help a great organization and continue with spreading the word about this cancer.

*Note: This blog was started on April 8th originally.*

My next 18 weeks of training

Posted on April 1, 2014 by amy

Technically, last week was my first week of training for my next marathon, the Eugene Marathon! I have been casually running for several weeks now but not digging in or doing a lot of speed training yet. Just maintenance and keeping up with some miles. Nothing major. I have been also working a lot on my strength/cross training and doing a lot of inner quad, quad, and core workouts. I guess you could say it’s a little prep work.

The Eugene Marathon is Sunday July 27th and I’m looking forward to some nice weather. I am just hoping since they moved this race from April to July, the temperature doesn’t change too much. I hear the course is flat, and nice and scenic, so it would be a great race to run fast. I’m excited to run my next marathon where legends have run and finish the race on the historic Hayward Field. I mean, this is “Track Town USA”! How could this not be an amazing race and experience!?!

On Monday April 21st, I will be running 26.2 miles. I committed to run this mileage in honor and support of the Boston Marathon. The BAA put together a Boston Marathon World Run for people who wanted to virtually support this year’s Boston Marathon. After last year’s bombing, many people from all over the world wanted to participate in the 2014 Boston Marathon, but the course can only handle so many. This way, runners have an opportunity to be involved. You could pledge to raise money or commit to run any amount of mileage you want. You get a bib to wear, if you choose, and get a digital medal when you finish. So, I have tried to run some longer runs to gear up for this. I won’t be running this at race pace, but my goal is to just finish for Boston.

If you are interested in learning more: http://www.bostonmarathonworldrun.org/

After this 26.2 miles, I will recover and then start working on my training for Eugene. I am aiming for a 3:35-3:38 finish time. I’d like to beat my last CIM time if I can. So, I will just do my best with my speed training, hill training and strength training. I will also be running the Bay To Breakers in San Francisco in May, so this will be a good race to work on my speed.

I will keep you posted on my training, nutrition and anything else that comes up between now and July.

Any exciting races you have coming up that you’re looking forward to??

Happy 1 Year Blog Anniversary!

Posted on March 29, 2014 by amy

Today’s the one year anniversary of my blog! I actually can’t believe how fast this last year has flown.

There will be a lot more to come in this second year. I’m looking forward to other running adventures all over the world! Thanks for reading my blog and hanging out with me along the way! Without you all, I wouldn’t have a reason to do any of this or to be inspired daily.

Golden Gate 1/2 Marathon Trail Run: Part Deux

Posted on March 7, 2014 by amy

You didn’t think there’d be a sequel, did you? Haha! Neither did I.

I ran this race (in early February) on a whim to keep my friend, Stephanie, company. Another friend of ours couldn’t do the run, so she pulled out. I said I would take the bib last minute and we transferred the registration to my name. But this process literally happened the day before the race.

The morning of the race, we picked up our bibs and I noticed it still had our friend’s name and information on it. So I let the staff know about the registration transfer and they just crossed off the old name and put mine next to it. Ok, cool.

After I finished the half marathon, I heard they were announcing some awards. I walked over to see what my time was and where I placed. I noticed my time was under our friend’s name and it showed I had placed 7th in the 25-29 age group. One of the event organizer’s came over and asked me to write all my information down for him and he would make sure to change it in their official results. Turned out they got all my information the day before but it was after they printed all the official paperwork out. No worries!

Well, I finally got around to checking the official results online last weekend and noticed that I placed 3rd in my age group (I’m a little older, in the 35-39 age group)! I was kind of stoked! I realized that I should have gotten one of the awards they were passing out. So, I contacted the event organizers and they sent me this lovely medal!

And that’s Part Deux!

I have placed second in my age group in two other races before but failed to get my awards because I didn’t know until after I left the race. I never thought to contact them after to get it. No big deal though.

I was just appreciative that they sent the medal, since this was my first TRAIL half marathon. [insert happy face emoticon!]

This little lull

Posted on March 2, 2014 by amy

I’m purposely taking a little break. This break is from ~~end of January~~ February 9th til the end of March/early April. By break, I mean, less running, but still maintaining. Strength training, but no serious training. No set schedule. Just chillin’ and running when I want to. It’s kind of nice. Although, I have to admit I do have days where I feel like I HAVE to get a run in.

So this little lull, well, it’s interesting. I have thought about races that I’d like to run, races I am going to register for, races that kind of fell in my lap (thanks Brian for the Bay to Breakers bib!), and a race that I am waiting to hear the outcome of the lottery. It’s hard to plan the rest of the year when I am waiting on the lottery results of the NY Marathon. But other than that, I am not sure what my 2014 plans are. I always think of traveling, just not sure where to next (I need some money too!).

So, while I am in this lull, I still maintain my normal eating, other than carbing up for long training runs or races or when going to weddings (oh gosh, too much alcohol!). As far as nutrition (for those who asked for me to include more of this), I have a high metabolism so I can eat a lot during the day. I tend to eat smaller meals and spread my food intake throughout the day, rather than just three meals a day.

Breakfast usually consists of eggs with avocado and fruit, sometimes a breakfast burrito with eggs, cheese, avocado, or I may have yogurt with a KIND bar (or Odwalla bar) or yogurt with granola. I do have a chai tea latte frequently, but I make it at home using the Tazo concentrate and almond milk. And I may have a snack later in the morning because I get hungry like 1-2 hours later.

Lunch is usually a turkey, cheese, and lettuce sandwich with fruits and veggies on the side. I eat (low sodium) soup pretty regularly, especially during the cooler months. I will have chips and salsa with it sometimes. Sorry guys, chips and salsa are a staple in my house. And I may make a small salad.

There’s usually a snack in between lunch and dinner. Could be pretzels, plantain chips, (unfortunately) chips and salsa, fruits, or veggies and dip. Hummus is a great dip with veggies or pita chips. I also eat almonds because they fill me up.

Dinner is something that we try to make at home as often as we can. We try to eat lean meats so we eat a lot of fish and chicken. We also make large salads with beets, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, carrots, green pepper, artichoke hearts, avocado or whatever veggies we have at the moment. We are salad lovers so I almost always have a salad with my dinner. And we will have a veggie with our protein as well. This could be steamed broccoli, yellow squash, asparagus, green beans, etc. And because I need more calories than my boyfriend, I will include maybe some steamed red potatoes or we will eat this delicious organic brown rice we found at Costco. I really like black beans, so I may have some with chicken or turkey tacos.

I’m not going to lie, there are times we are busy and don’t have time to make dinner or don’t want to, but we still try to stick to healthy foods. If we go out for dinner, I still look for chicken or fish or a salad to keep things fairly healthy or things like grilled fish tacos or Pita Pit. And we love sushi, so that’s not too bad. If we end up at one of our favorite restaurants, Tres Hermanas, I now get a ceviche tostada instead of the dos enchiladas platter, which I used to get. Not only am I saving money, but ceviche is way better for me.

So, back to that lull…I will probably meet up with the gals I do speed training with here and there and I will probably see my PT to get some maintenance as well. But I’m not putting too much pressure on myself right now. Taking a break is a good thing. I don’t really want to stress about too many things right now, especially with our next event coming in April, so not having a training plan is okay with me!

P.S. The event I am referring to is our testicular cancer awareness event – Sacramento Ball Sack & Beer Fest. It’s coming April 5th!

Are you taking a mini-break? Do you like it? How do you feel?

What do you think?

Posted on February 17, 2014 by amy

So I’ve been writing this blog for almost a year now. I write my blog posts with excitement and from the heart. I don’t write them expecting comments or to inspire people. I don’t write them to brag or boast. They are more explanational (is this a word?) than anything. And I have found them to be a great journal of my adventures. But somehow they do inspire. And they do motivate people. And people enjoy them, I think.

But after all this time, I wonder if I should be doing something different. I notice other “running blogs” talk about what their daily routines are or what their daily exercises are or what apparel or shoes they buy or wear. I just blog about my races or what is on my mind in between, but I try to stay true to what my blog is – running to see the world.

So, I ask you, my readers, what do you like about my posts? What don’t you like? What can I improve? What do you want to read more about? Any suggestions?

That’s my post for today!

Golden Gate 1/2 Marathon Trail Run

Posted on February 8, 2014 by amy

This is what I have to say -

Rain, mist, fog, wind (“blow me over” wind!), mud, puddles, wooden stairs, rocky stairs, bridges, hills, lots more hills, inclines (lots!), narrow paths, cliffs, horses, eucalyptus, banana slugs, goldfish crackers, coke (let’s clarify: coca cola), more mud, and the beautiful ocean!

Super fun and I’d do it again!

Me and Stephanie at the Finish

where two passions meet

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