Mouth Breathing

Afternoon, all! I've been a tardy blogger lately! When I left work yesterday, I had to get gas before picking up the Pre-K enrollment paper work. I was seriously low. Shhhhh . . . don't tell The Lover.

By the time I got to the gas station, it said 4 miles to E. Scary. I have been super spoiled. The Lover used to fill up both of our cars but it's been so insane lately that I've had to do it myself. I got out and realized the tank was on the opposite side of the car. Wowza.

Pre-K enrollment night started at 500 PM. Each elementary school in the district gives out 40 packets. First come, first serve. I got to the school at 503 PM and was #37. Barely made it, but made it I did!

For dinner, I was craving breakfast so I made "binner."

Eggs, mushrooms, spinach and leftover potatoes (x 2.5 it was fantastic). And garlic toast on the side. Like my new plate? I hit up Target and majorly scored with their post-Easter sale! I <3 sales - especially if it's 50% (or more) off!

We had some storms going on last night and it helped me sleep so well. I love falling asleep to the sound of rain against the windows. It also made it very difficult to wake up this morning. I kept hitting snooze until 600 AM. I finally dragged my ass out of my bed and stumbled to the coffee pot. I love the person who invented the self-timer on the coffee pot! There is nothing like waking up to a hot pot of coffee.

Breakfast was divine! Pumpkin Overnight Oats -

• 1/2 cup dry oatmeal
• 1/4 cup non-fat plain yogurt
• 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1/4 cup rice milk
• cinnamon

Mix ingredients and store in fridge overnight. I topped my oats with a diced apple and 1/4 cup of Kashi Sunshine cereal. Later, I snacked on some yogurt and strawberries.

On the agenda was at least a 4 miler (5 - 6 if I could squeeze it in) but after 2, I called it quits. Sometimes, I'm just not there. Yesterday, I had a great run and felt like I could have kept going. Today, I just couldn't hack it. It has a lot to do with being on a treadmill for the 3rd day in a row. I prefer to run outside but when I'm congested and struggling with breathing, I keep it indoors. I keep telling Donna that I'm a mouth breather today haha.

Lunch was excellent!

I had a Boca burger on a sammie thin. I smeared the thin with a wedge of Laughing Cow and topped it off with some spinach. On the side, 3 HOOGE carrots and hummus for dipping. So. Full.

The Oklahoma Blood Institute keeps calling and asking for blood donations. When I donate blood, I'm tired and blah for a week or more. We have a blood drive at work coming up in May. Is it selfish for me to put it off until then so it won't affect my training and upcoming race? Normally, I would be all about donating.

Anyhoo, the race is in 17 days! GULP. If you haven't read about the OKC Memorial Marathon, check it out! It's the 10th anniversary of the marathon but 15 years since the bombing. We have people as far as Canada and New York participate because of what happened. I cannot describe the camaradarie and the emotion in the air during this event. It's just awesome!

Negative Peeps

Afternoon! Wow. This day is almost over. It's been balls to the wall, folks! Feels like I just got here. I'm going to rewind a bit . . .

For dinner, I was a tad stumped on what to make so I asked Big Boy what he wanted. He is very picky and basically loves pizza. So I decided we should do a "Make Your Own Pizza" night. There was sauce, cheese, red circles (aka, pepperoni), mushrooms, spinach and tofu to choose from. The base of the pizza was leftover naan that I had gotten from the Asian grocery store. They were in the freezer and didn't take long to thaw. (Yes, my counters are old school lol)

Big Boy in action . . . He loved it!

He made both The Lover's and his own. The Lover's has mushrooms on it.

I made mine with very little sauce, mushrooms, spinach, cheese and leftover BBQ tofu.

Dessert was Easter candy, of course! I also had some chocolate covered pretzels.

This morning started off great. Both boys were in great moods and although it was a hurried morning, it was smooth sailing. I had a Chocolate Cherry Bomb for brekkie.

• 2 cups fresh spinach
• 15 frozen sweet dark cherries
• 1T chocolate syrup
• 1 banana
• 1 cup rice milk
• ice, ice, ice!

My new favorite! I snacked on an apple and Easter egg before heading out for a 3 mile run. I basically kept it indoors today. The wind was ridiculous and my allergies were out of whack. I woke up with some nice and sexy crusty eyes.

We also had our relay marathon meeting. We have 3 teams this year! So pumped. What, what! Though I had that awful nightmare, I'm more excited than anything. Lunch was quick and easy. I was starving and took a bite before taking a pic. Oops!

Mmmmm . . . black bean and sweet potato burgers can never be wrong. For dessert, I had chocolate Oikos with strawberries. So sinful - in a good way!

I also had some pineapple that went down the hatch - no pic sorry!

So do you know anyone that is so freaking negative? I have a few in my life and it is so frustrating. I feel like they totally bring me down. Now, I'm not Ms. Happy Rainbows 24/7 (because that would be so annoying) but I am a generally happy person. I have bad days like everyone else but oh my goodness! The constant negativity just chaps my ass. (sorry for the super country saying) And it's not just negativity towards themselves but about EVERYTHING. Is there a point when all that negativity just ends up being self-fulfilling prophecy? Honestly, I could pick up my computer and throw it against the wall. It is THAT annoying to me. I tend to want to "pump" that person up but when do you say ENOUGH IS ENOUGH? When you feel that it's dragging you down as well?

Do you have Negative Peeps in your life? How do you deal? OK I must run! The Lover and I are off to get Big Boy enrolled in Pre-K. Sniff, sniff. They grow up so darn fast. It feels like I just gave birth to him and now he's 4!

Nightmares

Why hello there! Hopefully your Monday has been a fast one! Mine has been great. Before Miss D and I headed out for a run, I snacked on a slice o' bread and some pineapples.

The weather was perfect for a run. Warm, slightly breezy and cloudy. My training plan called for an easy 2 miler. We definitely took it SUPER easy. Donna had injured her leg and had to rest all last week. I wanted her to ease into running so she wouldn't injure it even worse. We were able to chat and catch each other up on our Easter weekend.

My lunch was a plethora of leftovers from Easter dinner.

Buttery bread, roasted squash and zucchini, strawberry salad and BBQ tofu. My sister-in-law, Brandy, makes this AH-MAY-ZING salad that she knows I go ga-ga for. It's basically a spinach salad with sliced strawberries, sugary walnuts and sprinkles of parmesan. Oh my Heaven, it's good! I get all the yummy leftovers. To make the tofu, I pressed firm tofu for about 45 minutes, cut them into cubes, marinated them in some BBQ sauce and baked them for about 25 minutes at 400 degrees. So very good!

I had to leave work early to take Baby Boy to the ear, nose and throat doctor to get his tubes checked. Looking good! After the appointment, I snacked on some malted Robin Eggs. Those things are addicting! I also had two flour tortillas. Hey, I was in a munchie mood!

On to my nightmare. Last Wednesday night, I had this terrible dream. It has stuck with me and I keep thinking about it. It's really freaking me out. Basically, I missed the day to pick up my race packet. So the morning of the race, my relay team was waiting for me while I ran to get it. I discovered I had also neglected to pack my Camelbak! While I was doing that, the team left without me, even though I was the first leg of the relay race. When I realized they had left, I also realized every single person had gone as well. So in my head, I'm thinking, "OK if I can just get at least one person behind me, that would be cool." So I'm just running with everything I have and end up burning out way early! I keep looking around and I just see hoards of people in front of me and I'm all by my lonesome. So, I'm still determined to finished the half-marathon. As I'm running, I realize that everyone had finished and downtown (where the finish line is) was clear of everyone but volunteers. The race organizers had kept all the volunteers until everyone had finished and they were extremely pissed that they were waiting for little ol' me. Then I jerked awake!!

WHAT THE HELL. I'm spazzing about this freaking dream. Obviously, I have some serious race anxiety. Our relay teams are racing for fun, not time. I'm running the first leg of the relay so I can continue on and do the half-marathon for my own goal achievement. I don't really have a set time goal in mind. I want to be able to say that I have ran a halfie and never in my wildest dreams did I ever consider myself a runner until a little over a 1.5 years ago. So it's also for personal satisfcation, you know? I. AM. FREAKING. 

Sorry for the serious ramble! Have you had some pre-event jitters? How do you handle it? I'd love some pointers!

Bomb Diggity!

Another "Ask Me" answer at the end of this post.

Mornin'! Hope you had a faboosh Easter weekend and ready for a new week! I am a little sleep deprived myself but nothing a little (or a lot) of coffee won't take care of. I can't believe the weekend is over already!

We had a wonderful family get together yesterday. Lots of good eats and egg hunting fun.

And of course, can't forget the Lamb Cake! (before)

After. I got a tad carried away with the powdered sugar. Oops.

I could have done a better job at taking photos! Big Boy was such a pro at hunting Easter eggs. He did not mess around at all. The Lover helped Baby Boy but out of the four grandkids, Big Boy meant some serious business. I'll have to watch him like a hawk around all that candy. Ok, ok. More like I have to keep myself from sneaking Big Boy's candy!

The kiddos were a tad hungover this morning. Neither of them wanted to wake up. Poor guys. I slept in a bit as well. Mondays are so tough but my breakfast smoothie made it all better. I've seen this floating around the blog world for awhile and recently decided to give it a whirl.

Chocolate Cherry Bomb! It looks like sludge but 'tis delish!

My CCB contained:

• 2 cups spinach
• 15 frozen sweet dark cherries
• 1T chocolate syrup
• 1 banana
• 1 cup rice milk
• 3 handfuls of ice

Sooooo good! It's a nice change from the Green Monster. Onto my "Ask Me" question.

What is the one thing you can't run without?

This is a toughie! I feel like I carry so many things with me when I go for runs. When I leave the house (or office), I carry my MP3 player, cell, key and water. I can certainly do without the player but my absolute "must have" would be my cell phone. You never know when you'll need it! There have been a couple times I've been out by myself and got a creepy vibe from someone. I totally hate when I leave without the cell.

How about you? When you head out for your bike/run/swim, what do you always have with you? Sorry this is so short but it's time to get biz-ay. Also, stay tuned . . . Blogger is making me very unhappy so I'll be switching to Wordpress soon!

2 Legit 2 Quit

Hey, heyyyyyyyyy! Who remembers that song by MC Hammer? I am doing the Hammer dance as I type this. All I am missing are my Hammer pants. Yep, I totally had the Hammer pants! I heard "2 Legit" on the radio this morning and I was jamming. (Another "Ask Me" answer at the bottom of post!)

OK total tangent lol. Anyhoo, yesterday recap first. I got a wonderful 4 miler in and I'm not sure if it was because I was wearing my running skirt but I was really in the groove. I had fewer allergy-induced coughing breaks. It was a "dreadmill" run. Still windy in OK-Sizzle.

Lunch was a simple cuke and Laughing Cow Swiss sammich with grapes on the side.

 

I also snacked on some Oikos Honey yogurt.

I don't know what I'm doing wrong but I think my eats need some tweaking. I was ravenous yesterday! I just couldn't seem to get satisfied. So when that crazy ass hunger hit, I ended up going loco on my dinner.

Seriously, I had 3 servings and ended up getting beyond full. I was SO hungry. My quick stir fry contained:

• baby corn
• water chestnuts
• noodles
• green onions 
• fried tofu
• soy sauce

This morning, I woke up not feeling super hungry but I still prepared a filling brekkie to take to work. I'm going to experiment and see if I need more protein or what the dealio is.

I promise it's not just a big bowl of apples :0). My refreshing and cool breakfast contains:

• 1/2 cup plain non-fat yogurt
• 1 diced apple
• 1/2 cup Kashi Sunshine cereal
• 1T coconut (of course!)
• 4 chopped almonds

Let's see if this holds me over well! OK on to the "Ask Me" question:

"How do you work out during the day without getting sweaty and disgusting?"

I DO get sweaty and disgusting! Since I work out/run on my lunch break, I usually just wear my hair in a pony and call it good. My secret weapon: Baby Wipes. Yep, it's a shower in a bag (basically). I also pack my deo and body spray. After a run, I'll wipe off all my make up except my eyes. If I have a meeting afterward, I'll touch up with some power but if not, I usually just go face-commando. Or should I say "skin commando?" As soon as I get home and get the boys settled, I take a shower and get so fresh and so clean-clean. Yes, it is kinda yucky that I don't get a complete shower after my run but eh. I do what I have to lol!

For you peeps that work out during the work (or school) day, what do you do? Or are you lucky and have showers at work? JEALOUS!!

Dilemmas

Whew! It's pretty warm in the OK-Sizzle today! Currently 72 degrees (LOVE IT) but the wind is blowing at 25 mph. Killer.

So this morning both boys were in great moods. It makes for a wonderful day, I'm tellin' ya. The only glitch  was when Baby Boy planted his foot in his toxic diaper. Big Boy had a big laugh over that. It was pretty funny but gross.

Can you guess what I had for breakfast? Yep, a GM fixed the usual way. I know it's boring but it is really satisfying and holds me over for hours! Not only that but it takes almost no time to make and travels well. I do the the occasional green speck in my teeth but that's why I keep a toothbrush at work. Haha.

My run was a little earlier than usual today. I kept it indoors since the wind was a bit crazy and I wanted to last longer than a 1/4 mile before hacking. I did super well until the 2 mile mark. I thought I would be fancy and throw some speedwork in there and that was my downfall. I kept up the speedwork with a few breaks to cough catch my breath.  I got 4 miles in today and it was a nice and sweaty sesh!

Lunch is super simple and satisfying.

• apple & Swiss sammich
• cukes & tomato salad on the side

There is an oily shine to my bread because I nuked the cheese for a tad too long. Oops! I brought some grapes for dessert but they may have to be for a snack later.

Onto my dilemma: For you Blogger users, do you have issues with your pictures uploading correctly? Yesterday, I had so many issues! Not only that but on a daily basis, Blogger turns my pics sideways even when it was uploaded from my camera correctly.

I've also noticed that when I comment on Wordpress users' blogs, no issue. I've been told that when people try to comment on mine, they are prompted to sign up for a Google account. Annoying!

Anyhoo, what do you think? Blogger or Wordpress? I am tempted to switch! OK off to fix my hot mess of a face and hair before my meeting. Have a faboosh day!

A For Effort & An "Ask Me" Answer

It is an absolutely gorgeous day today. I was so pumped to lace up my shoes and hit the road for a 4 miler. However, not even 1/4 mile later, I'm huffing and puffing. W.T.H. I'm sure I looked awesome bent over and hacking in front of the office lol. I pounded out 2 miles - with a few lung rattling coughing breaks thrown in there - and headed back. Hopefully the doctor will call me back soon. Benadryl, you are not cutting it for me! It still felt great getting out and getting my run on though!

Pre-run snack were grapes and come chocolate mint tea.

For lunchie, I'm having leftovers. But VERY delish leftovers.

• tomato & lentil cous cous
• steamed broccoli
• chickpeas

Throw them together in a bowl. Easy, peasy. For dessert, I'm having Oikos Chocolate flavored yogurt. Jealous? LOL.

My first question (I broke it down into 3 parts): "i want to know your AHA moment!" 

I addressed my "aha" moment a bit in this post. I always knew what I should or shouldn't be doing to lose weight/get healthy. But I never truly felt ready to tackle my unhealthy habits until after I had Baby Boy in 2008. It's actually a little funny because most people assumed my new love of running was because I was a few months shy of turning 30. Like, maybe it was a mini mid-life crisis? But no matter who tells you that you need to get your act together or how much you tell yourself, you have to be completely READY to tackle those bad habits and form good ones. I realized after years of struggling with weight and poor body image that you CANNOT overhaul everything in one day. Past Retta had to learn in baby steps to tackle one thing at a time.

I started slowly by keeping a food journal. I was breastfeeding Baby Boy so I didn't want to do anything crazy and drastic by slashing calories. I kept it around 2000 for the day. I'll be honest. When I started the journal, I didn't care about the quality of food as long as I stayed at our around 2000 calories for the day. When I look back on it now, I realize how crazy I was. Not for keeping the journal - because it worked for me - but becasue of the mentality I had about food. I was ingesting crap but felt ok about it because of calorie count. (I'm totally rolling my eyes at Past Retta right now). I could definitely tell my crap intake was affecting my workouts so I slowly started phasing Crap out and bringing more unprocessed, whole foods in. I noticed how much better I felt physically and my endurance got better as well.

Another big lesson I had to learn was to FORGIVE myself. Instead of totally beating myself up because I had Swiss Rolls (by the way, Past Retta was obsessed with those!) for dinner, I had to tell myself, "You'll do better with the next meal. It's ok and let's move on." You certainly wouldn't tell your best friend, "Wow, you are a fat pig!" so why the hell would you tell yourself that? Once I moved past that, I started working on the "well, I just messed this meal up, might as well mess up the rest of the day and start tomorrow." Why wait for tomorrow? Start NOW. :0) If I keep putting it off, I won't do it.

Overall, it's a slow and steady process with a few hiccups along the road. I still "mess up" but Past Retta no longer drags me down. Present Retta is at a healthy and happy place and still continues to learn. Now, when I look in the mirror and feel negativity about something - say, my stretch marks - I tell Present Retta, "You carried two babies in your body. They are healthy, smart and the loves of our lives." Or if I'm feeling a little down about my pace time, I have to remind myself that just a little over a year ago, I couldn't even run for 30 seconds!

What plans you have after the marathon?

To be announced at a later date! But I may have something interesting teehee.

"When we're getting a tattoo. :)"


Baby Sis, you make me laugh. Let's plan on when the breastfeeding days are over for both Big Sis and me. And after your wedding.
 
Seriously, I could not have gotten this far without the support of my family and friends. That includes my work family as well! Big smooches to all!!
 
Did you have an "AHA!" moment? What or who inspired/inspires you?