Fastest 2 years of my life!

How has it been 2 years since this little boy came into my life?

He's one of the best things that has ever happen to me and is a great running partner! Today, we are celebrating with birthday waffles, going out for a milkshake & one of his favorite dinners (BBQ chicken). 

How old are your kids? If you don't have any, who do you run with? 

It's my Birthday & I'll Train if I Want to

I don't know if I mentioned it, but my birthday was a few weeks ago (8/24). Jason knew the way to my heart, my all time favorite beer. If you like hoppy beer, you must try this!!! I cracked this open the night before.

The day of, my little family and I walked to our local park to play a little. It's about a mile away, so we got a lot of fresh air. I think Lars had fun too!

Jason made all my meals for me. While he was making me an awesome dinner, I sat back and relaxed (Lars was napping) with a popsicle and hung out with the kitty. 

It was an all around good birthday!!

I've been training for one of the best races I have scheduled. I'm looking forward to the Spartan race at the end of October!! Did you know that you can use the code SPARTANBLOGGER to receive 10% off any race!! How awesome is that!!! I have an awesome giveaway coming up. I'm getting everything together for it, so keep checking in this week and next for a trip of a life time!

Who would be up for an awesome Spartan giveaway?

Curling & Birthday Party

So, to give you a brief  description of what's been going on and why I've been so busy:

Jason turned 40 a couple of weeks ago and we've been celebrating!!

I took him to a curling class and we were taught some things:

He has great form

I was lucky if I could make it anywhere close to the mark.

The following weekend I through him a party. There was a lot of ladder ball played.

It was a Starwars themed party (he's a big kid).

I even made some yoda soda to go with the theme.

There were "lots of drinks drank" as Jason kept saying through out the night.

Lots of food was shared.

Again, keeping with them them, I made starwars sugar cookies,

and light sabers.

Like Jason kept saying "lots of drinks were drank"

And, more drinks were drank (I'm in the center in the blue tank top).

And, maybe some more drinks were drank.

I also made some chocolate cupcakes with starwars characters on them.

Have you even tried curling? What's your favorite sport (besides running, biking or swimming)? What was your favorite themed party you went to (or have you thrown one)?

Time to Celebrate!

Yesterday was Jason's birthday. His real celebration is this weekend, but I wanted to make him a special dinner. As an appetizer, I had freshly baked bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

One of his favorite drinks is a black and tan (I hate dark beers, so I just drank the Bass by itself).

The main course was Shepherd's Pie. It was sooooo good! It had so much flavor and it was pretty easy to make, too. I love casseroles. Everything is in one dish. Easy clean is great for me!

There was so much food, we have left overs for days!I can't wait for them tonight!

What is your favorite casserole (I need ideas)?

Last One...

This morning was my last workout before the big day. Sunday is the race and I'm ready! All my training has been done and all my long run have been ran. I feel prepared. Since this is my third half, I now know what to expect, when to eat, when to drink and how to mentally prepare myself. I will be posting about my goals, nutrition, and music later on in the week.

Last night's dinner was pretty good, especially for just throwing it together in 5 minutes. I fixed brown rice, green beans (my favorite) and bbq (sauce) chicken with a huge side of water.

Today is Jason's birthday and I'm going to fix him breakfast. So, I better go, and try not to make too much noise before he wakes up. I'll post about his birthDAY tomorrow (we're really celebrating this weekend).

When is your birthday? How many rest days do you take before a full or half marathon?

One of Those Runs

Ever have one of those runs? What I mean by "one of those runs" is a perfect run. The air has a chill to it with a slight breeze, other runners are out saying hi to each other with a huge smile, your muscles feel great, your fully carbed up , you have a ton of energy and you feel great the entire time? One of those runs...

I was so happy when I got home, I still can't stop smiling. Don't get me wrong, I use every ounce of energy I had and I'm drenched in sweat and I finished in a great time (for me). So, this is a start to the perfect day. I had 11 miles on the schedule, but I took a wrong turn and ended with 11.39 miles. Oh well, it was still great!

Jason should be getting up soon and then we're off for part one of a 2 part weekend (I get 2 more parts next weekend, too). I have no idea what we're doing and he has the entire weekend completely planned.

Whatever he had planned today, he changed it to tomorrow, because I need all my energy for this. I can't wait to see what we're doing!! Happy early birthday to me (it's on Wednesday).

What was your perfect run like?

It's Friday!!

When I got home from work last night, I wasn't in the mood for dinner, just yet. So, I had a yummy snack. I ate some Herr's whole grain honey wheat pretzels. They are thick and have some much flavor. They are lightly salted (especially compared to some no name brands). Five of these babies have about 100 calories. Believe me, that's enough for my snack. A glass of water (because they're pretzels) and I'm set.

A few hours later, I was ready to eat my dinner. I made a delicious salad. It had yummy greens, black beans, hard boiled egg, home grown regular tomato and baby tomatoes and cucumbers and some croutons. Perfect, cool, filling dinner after a hard, hot day at work.

I just noticed, my shirt matches my Paradice pack. I have 11 miles scheduled for the roads tomorrow. My heel is feeling better (as I expected), so I'm good to go! When I run on the roads (vs. the trails), I feel like I'm running my entire city (it's not even close). It makes me feel like I've run so much further.

Do you live in a town that is so small, you can run it in a long run (or short)? What are your plans this weekend?Jason is surprising me with an early b-day celebration. I have no idea what he has planned. In case you're wondering, my birthday is Wednesday, so feel free to email me and I'll let you know where to send your presents.

Happy Birthday Hubby & Another Giveaway

Today was an ordinary day at work, I ate the same things. I left work early (as planned) to spend some extra time with the hubs since it was his birthday and he had the day (actually night) off. We just sat around and talked, and he opened some birthday presents (which he still has one more to open).

He got to choose if he wanted me to make a special dinner or if we went out. Since we never go out, he decided that we would. He got to choose where we went. He chose our favorite hamburger place, the Habit. We had our usual, hamburger and fries. I must have been hungry, because I am never able to finish the entire thing, and I did. I feel like a pig, but it was so good!!


On Sunday, I made the hubs an ice cream cake. I usually buy it, but decided to make it myself. I made 2 chocolate cakes with his favorite cream (baskin robins PB & chocolate) with home made PB frosting. Can you tell what his favorite combination is?

Here it is with one cake and the ice cream. I left the ice cream out too long and it was too runny. I will learn for next year!

Finished product straight from the freezer. Yes, it turned out pretty tasty (that's why it's half way gone). Yummy, yummy!

We're too full from the burgers, so I don't think we're going to have any dessert tonight. We're going to watch a movie (Hot Tub Time Machine), something he's been wanting to watch and I've been trying to put off.

Please keep answering my poll question. Love all the responses. Thanks so much for the advice on the shoes. Very appreciated. If anyone else has more advice, feel free to leave comments.

As promised...the reason why you're reading my blog...the giveaway. ROAD ID (if you couldn't get that from my poll).

Mandatory (leave a comment for each):

-Become a follower

-Become a fan on Facebook

-Visit Road ID's website and tell me which color you would choose

-Tell me the "saying" you would engrave

You have until October 8th to reply to this post (only) and one winner will be chosen to win the code for a free Road ID. Good luck everyone!!

My Birthday Gift to You...My First Giveaway!

This morning was normal, until I got to work. When I got to work, I thought everyone forgot about my birthday, but they surprised me with one of my favorites....Blackberry/blueberry cobbler. So yummy! I snacked on that today. For lunch I had my usual, just inside one of Stacey's whole wheat tortillas. I ran out of bread.

It was such a crazy day at work. I couldn't think straight. I needed to pause time and keep working. I can't believe how busy it was. I loved it (in a way)! Today flew by. I ended up taking a 20 minute lunch about 4pm. Crazy busy today. It's only going to get worse as the week progresses. This did not put me in the greatest mood. We were all cranky.

My hubby had jury duty today, so he didn't have to work tonight. That meant, no workout for me. I love spending as much time with him as possible. When I got home, he knew I wasn't in a good mood. He knows to leave me alone to cool off. Such a sweet guy! He came up to me with a couple of gifts. He gave me some Skinny Cow ice cream, some Ezekiel bread and then a little gift box full of a bunch of goodies: snickers bar, 3 musketeer bar, gum, perfume, Serj Tankain CD (which I'm listening to right now) and some of his poems, and a pair of capris. I love hims so much. He knows just what I want!

It was my choice of places to eat. I wanted to eat at this place that just opened down the street: The Squeeze Inn. Their burgers a pretty big! This is what Jason had for dinner. This is his burger (with a ton of cheese):


Inside his burger:

We shared a side of fries.

My burger (no cheese).

We had a beer when we got home (after we digested the huge meal we had). At the restaurant, Jason gave me one more present. He bought me some pants and a new jacket. I'm set for running in the winter time! Here's my modeling debut:

My new pants (ignore the blood drive shirt).

Here's what everyone is waiting for...the GIVEAWAY!! Three lucky winners will win one towel (each) of their choice from Inperspire towels. Read my review to refresh your memory. These towels are great. Here are the rules (leave a comment for each that you do):

-Become a follower (or tell that you are...mandatory)

-Follow me on fan on facebook

-Follow Inperspire on facebook

-Go to their website and let me know which towel you like best

-Post this review on your blog

-Add me to your blog roll