Happy Father’s Day to the best Dad in the whole world! It is actually because of my Dad that I got into running and racing. It is because of him that I enjoy running and eating healthy!

As you might have noticed I haven’t been around all that much, I blame school (which will be done very soon). Until school is over I will be posting when I can, I never realized that trying to cram four months of school into two months is rather intense and stressful.

I deal with this stress by running daily and walking a lot, I also have been doing a lot of core and weight workouts while watching Say Yes To The Dress while PB works in the hospital for his nursing clinical, hahaha! (What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him).

Until next time!

Happy Running!

That is correct Nike running sign…I will be back later this week(end) to get a few things off my chest that have been bothering me lately (mainly school things, and a few changes I have made).

Until then I will be out running to decompress from the day! Music from Glee will put me in an amazing mood and will make me smile!

Happy Running!

After every run I would come home and make myself some tea (after have a Green Monster and a shower) and read blogs and news before having to get ready for school.

As of late I have cut out artificial sweeteners, sadly I always knew that it wasn’t the best idea to use them but I kept putting those facts out of my mind. Then came the day that I decided to listen to Skinny Bitch, they have a whole chapter on sugar and in there they talk about artificial sweeteners. After listening to it and reading through the chapter once to get the information solidified in my brain I finally decided that it was time to give up the artificial sweeteners for good!

At first the Awake tea was a little to strong and bitter to have without being artificially sweetened (I know I could just use sugar, but I am also trying to use that a little less too) so I decided to go to another tea that I would have sometimes but have always loved. Tazo Zen tea, here is how it is described on their website, “Zen’s distinct green tea flavour accented with lemon and mint is impossible to express in words. Best simply to experience its sweet  lingering aftertaste.”

When I drink this tea I don’t fee l like it needs any extra sweetener because it is already that way, just like how the website describes it. Now my morning routine is still the same I just grab a cup of this instead of the Awake tea, which I actually started to drink again because I am getting used to the taste without a sweetener (interesting what can change in the course of three weeks).

Question: Do you have a favourite tea? I love the two teas mentioned above, and I also love Tazo Calm and Refresh teas. They are so yummy!

Now I am off to read some of American Wife! I have read some great reviews of this book, go check out Jenna’s reviews here and here. Also see what Iowa Girl Eats has to say here and here.

Happy Running!

Will you be running today?

I got up at 5:30 this morning to go for a run before my last test in this set of classes. It was a nice 11C when I left and only made it up to 15C by the time I got home. I went running by the water so there was a great breeze and I was grooving to the music.

I got in an amazing 5 miles in before I had to get ready for my last test and prepare to get the test I wrote yesterday back.

All in all yesterday’s test wasn’t all that bad in the end, I’m very pleased with my final mark. Of course now I am doubting the test I wrote today, it is a never ending cycle (of course until I start with new classes next week and don’t have to write a test for a little while, ha!)

For now I will focus on the positive!

Happy Running!

]]> http://happyrunningthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/06/02/run-run-run/feed/ 2 happyrunningthoughts National Running Day http://happyrunningthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/sweat-once-a-day/ http://happyrunningthoughts.wordpress.com/2010/06/01/sweat-once-a-day/#comments Tue, 01 Jun 2010 23:08:33 +0000 Kate B. http://happyrunningthoughts.wordpress.com/?p=610 Continue reading →]]> For the month of May I did my best to sweat once a day for at least 30 minutes because my local Lululemon store challenged the community to do so. If you want to see the album they put together for participants to track the minutes they sweat go here.

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So how did I do? Here is the beginning of the month. I like tracking the days I worked out with stars, it makes me smile!

And here is the rest of the month.

The bottom corner was crowded.

Here were my thoughts on the last day of the challenge. “It has been a fabulous month! I learned that I can push my limits (in a good way) and not injure myself. I ran over 100 miles this month, and did a lot more core strengthening exercises than in previous months! I also learned that getting up at 5:30am five days a week to workout is always worth it!”

So what am I taking away from this? I am going to incorporate a lot more core, arms and leg strengthening exercises into my running routine. This past month I did a lot more core and yoga than I had been doing in the previous months.

Has a local Lululemon or gym ever had a cool challenge like this? What was it?

Happy Running!

It’s job announcement time!

At the end of April, during final exams, I had a job interview with a branch of the government. It was completely on a whim because my Mum heard about it at work and e-mailed me to tell me about it, so I applied. I have been looking for a job for the summer for a very long time (I would prefer longer, but school is a full time job on its own, literally). Of course I really wanted a job with the government and I really wanted this job. Every summer they hire summer students and I figured that with the courses I was taking, even though I wasn’t finished the program, I could still look pretty appealing.

I sent in my resume and cover letter and waited to be contacted. I knew that it wouldn’t be until the Monday morning and that I would probably be going in for the interview that afternoon. Of course I spent Sunday night freaking out about what to wear, I actually felt like I had no clothes. You know that feeling?!

Monday morning rolls around and I have everything ready to go just incase. I get up early so I can go for a run so I would be home and showered before 9am when the person who could possibly call me would be in her office. I get a call around 10am asking if I could come in for 1pm, I was so excited that I didn’t just get shoved aside because I didn’t apply sooner.

I get all dressed up, I put on some nice dress pants and a fashionable sweater with a cute necklace and my favourite black heals. I head downtown an arrive a good half hour early (I have this fear that I’ll be late for things so I always end up getting places about 15-30 minutes early).

I walk around for a bit, but after a little while I decide to go to the building. I take a seat in the waiting area when who shows up but my Mum. Until this point I had been able to contain my nerves. The minute my Mum starts talking to me I can feel my nerves building and I was about to cry. I think I was just so overwhelmed with school and this amazing job opportunity coming up at the last minute.

During the interview I felt so confident, something just came over me. I put all the fears I was feeling behind me and stepped up to the challenge. That is until they mentioned that the job was from May-August, that is when my mind went “well crap, you can’t get this at all,” I explained that I was in school until July 9 (which I did mention in my cover letter) and they made a note of that and then we actually continued to talk. We talked about how a full government job interview would unfold and different style of interviews. I was curious and the man interviewing me seemed interested in telling me!

By the end of the week I got a call from the government telling me what I assumed, I didn’t get the job due to my availability….BUT they were actually looking into creating a job for me for July-August. SAY WHAT? Of course she mentioned that it might be a little while until they got back to me because they had to go through a few managers to get a summer position made for me.

Guess what?! I got a call today letting me know that everything had come through and that I got the job, the one that they made for me. How cool is that? It makes me so happy that they wanted me that much to make up a job for me! WOW!

Needless to say I have been doing a happy dance all day! Quietly while I was at school because some of those girls are competitive, and then out loud when I got home!

So that is the new and exciting thing that has come along! Of course I need to finish up the last 6 weeks of semester two and then I will be able to do this new and exciting thing!

Question: How do you over come the nerves before something like a job interview or a race?

I’ve found what works for me is giving myself a pep talk, there is a lot of positive talk and a lot of deep breaths.

Happy Running!

I was introduced to these protein pancakes by Susan over at The Great Balancing Act . She has also recently come up with a Dairy-Free(ish) Protein Pancake recipe. Which I will be making soon for sure!

I have loved these from the moment I tried them! Sadly I haven’t been able to have them in a little while so I decided to have some for dinner! Sometimes I just want breakfast for dinner!

You can never go wrong when there are oats involved! That automatically wins me over!

1/2 cup Rolled Oats

1/2 cup Cottage Cheese

1/2 cup Egg Whites (or 4 Egg Whites)

1 Tbsp Ground Flax

1/4 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Cinnamon (I put in tons!)

I put all of the ingredients into my Magic Bullet and blend until smooth (you can use a food processor too)! And then continue like you would with any other pancake, pour batter onto heated frying pan and flip when there are bubbles.

*Note: Sadly I used to be really bad at making pancakes, I know crazy eh?, and PB’s trick to making them with ease is when the edges get all shiny then they are most likely ready to be flipped. Since I was given that tip I haven’t had any problems and make yummy pancakes every time!

Of course no pancake eating experience is whole without some Pure Canadian Maple Syrup!

I used to use the sugar-free kind, which I must say I did love, but about two weeks ago I decided that I wanted to stop eating any and all artificial sweeteners. Surprisingly it has been going really well!

News on job front to come in the morning *Edited to add* The job news will be coming in the afternoon because I wrote a huge post tonight and it is gone, and I kind of want to unplug for the night*!

I Hope You Enjoy These and Happy Running!

(People kept saying, “Kate, I think it’s soil”, my response, “Of course it is, but when you are spreading it for someone else, it’s dirt”) Here’s the pile I’ve been chipping away at, it was huge, and now it is a little less so.

Here we are before leaving the cottage on Sunday night. We even went swimming! You would think that with the weather we have been having that it would have been warm and wonderful in the lake. Wrong! It was ever so cold. I stood on the ladder long enough for my legs to get numb and then I took the plunge.

On Monday I went for a 10 mile long run in the heat. I did go out during a hot time of day on purpose, sadly, I just wanted to take some time to sleep and read in the morning and hang out with PB and when he had to go and do some nursing school things I decided to go out.

I put my headphones in and chugged along until I reached a well known 5 mile marker where I then turned around and made my way home. I actually listened to Skinny Bitch for the first half and then switched to music on the way back. This was my second time listening to the book and I will report back on what I think later. (*Note: The first time I listened to it/read it I didn’t like it at all, but something has changed since then and I no longer dislike it.)

When I got home I took off my shoes and walked around on the grass and took pictures of the pretty flowers!

My feet were so happy to walk around on the cool grass and be free!

More flowers!

Now I am off to make some dinner and get everything packed for Placement Friday tomorrow. Everything has been going really well there, I have done all the tasks that they originally planned for me (it took 3 Fridays) so now they have me doing really cool things!

Happy Running!

So what do I mean by early? With classes starting at 8:30am I get up at 5:30am.

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When I was working retail I figured out that I could get up 3 hours before I had to be at work and I would have more than enough time for an awesome run, a shower, food, and a little down time before I have to head out the door and walk to my destination.

So when I first started getting up at 5:30am consistently (during first semester I was getting up between 5:30-8am depending on what time class started) I was ok with it. I have always loved getting up early, but the first week of second semester was hard. I had 10 weeks of school and placement ahead of me and for some reason I didn’t want to be in school. During that first week I made a comment on a workout in Daily Mile that went as follows:

“Had no problems getting up this morning! Going to bed at 10pm seems to be working for getting up early. Awesome run! Listened to some music but switched to Run Vegan Run for some company.”

I had a response that made me giggle: “Well done! Lets see how you feel in 2 weeks of these early starts.”

I read that and laughed because it is true, especially for me, you know you feel great when you start getting up early and then down the road you start getting tired and grumble at the need you feel to get up so early, but you won’t stop because you know it’s good for you to do so. You know how good it makes you feel. (Of course there are always exceptions and sometimes taking a day to sleep in makes a world of difference)

So how do I feel in the middle of week 3? AMAZING!!

So how do I do it and keep on smiling? Here is what works for me:

I bought one of those Apps from the iTunes store that has music start playing quietly before you have the alarm set to go off. The quite music aids in waking me up slowly and letting me know that it will soon be time to get up.

When my main alarm goes off (that’s right I use 2 alarms) I have to accept that upon waking up I am going to feel a little sleepy, but that does not mean that I necessarily slept poorly or went to bed late.

I turn on my bed side table light as soon as my alarm goes off, I get out of bed and stretch to get things moving. I grab my water bottle from my bedside table and start hydrating.

Then I make my way to the kitchen to get some food in me before I head out the door. I normally have a bit of a Cliff or Luna bar while I sit on the couch and read some news and drink more water.

I always make sure my running clothes are waiting for me and my shoes are at the front door. I always charge my iPod shuffle the night before (if needed) and load up new songs if I find any.

Then I’m off and running!

Stopping to smell the flowers, and take pictures of them, along the way!

When I get home I make myself a big Green Monster, I have changed the recipe lately so I’ll fill you in on that: 3/4c chocolate or plain soy milk, 2c spinach, banana, Vega Performance Protein vanilla flavour. This is the best way for me to refuel before doing any core work or yoga and before I shower and get ready for the rest of my day!

That’s how I do it, some days are harder than others. This morning my eyes popped open at 5:15am ready for the day and excited to get out and run. Some days I’m dead asleep until 5:30am and groan a little when my alarm goes off. Every day is different and that is just the way life is.

Now I am off to read an relax before bed. One thing I forgot to mention is that I get into bed around 9pm and my light is normally off by 9:30pm and am asleep shortly after that.

Question: What works best for you when you need to get up early?

Happy Running!

*Wake Up and Say Goodbye is the name of one my favourite albums by David Usher

During this condensed two month second semester for school we are at the school 3 of the 4 days for lunch and I pack my lunch everyday, no ifs ands or buts. I always pack the same things, in rotation of course so I don’t get bored: cottage cheese or yogurt and fruit, almonds, apples, pears, oranges, carrots and cucumbers to dip in hummus, pita and light Laughing Cow Cheese, salad with chickpeas, edamame…I could go on forever, the list is rather long. To save you from a post that is solely a list of food I will stop there.

So what happened today when I pulled out my lunch of cottage cheese, strawberries and blue berries with some almonds? A girl in my program looks at what I am eating and says…

“You know that fruit is basically all sugar, right?!”

This is the same girl who once asked me why I was always eating when she saw me; my answer, because we normally see each other at lunch and the time I have an afternoon snack (I didn’t actually answer her because the question was so stupid).

So how did I react today?

Sadly not with the answer I wanted to, which would have been, “Anything I am eating is better than the Brisk Iced Tea and chips you are eating, or the nothing you normally eat and sit there and tell me how hungry you are and how you want to lose weight by taking diet pills.”

What I actually told her was how healthy fruits and nuts are and that I like cottage cheese. I, again, did not feel the need to justify anything to her, what’s the point?

This happens to me a lot, it happened at my full time retail management job too, people see that I bring a healthy lunch or dinner on a daily basis and start questioning my food choices and ask me if I count my calories or if I am trying to lose weight. It’s like these people think that the only reason someone would pack a healthy meal is if they are trying to lose weight.

That is not the case, I like food that fuels my body, food that gives me energy and makes my tummy happy.

Question: Does this ever happen to you? Do people ever question your healthy choices?

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In other news everything at school is going well and I feel much better than I did last week. Last week I was feeling a little overwhelmed with the volume of school and placement, but I think I have the hang of it and I know that the, now, 8.5 weeks will fly by (but I’m not counting, ha!).I am really happy that this session is happening during the spring because that means the sun is up just after I am and it is so easy to wake up, especially when I go to bed between 9-10pm.

I love running early in the morning!

Question: When do you like to workout? Do you do it before school/work or after? What works best for you? I prefer morning workouts, but sometimes I know that it just is not possible to workout in the morning so I am able to cut out time in the afternoon to do so. I always book my workouts in my iCal the week before so they are scheduled in there and that time is for me.

Since this post is severely lacking in photos….

You get to see a picture that we took at the Dollar Store before seeing Iron Man 2 (great movie!)

Happy Running!