Coach Jen B

and hello to 1300 miles!   I did it.  In the pouring/freezing rain.  But I did it!!!   photo courtesy of Tucker I did wait a little while to go out for my run because this is how the guys looked after their 14 miler this morning. What looks like just a wet jacket, is really ice! What are your goals for the 2012?    I have a few in mind for myself.  - remain active, healthy and injury free - challenge myself  - train for/complete a tri - curb the swearing - Izzy is a little parrot  A few ways to keep myself motivated to stay active -  Resolution Run  New Year's Day 5K January Thaw   in Belgrade, Maine (if you're in the area) Freeze Your Thorns Off Janathon Winter 100 Challenge   By riding my new (to me) bike -  Like it?  Izzy surely does.  I just bought it via craigslist yesterday!   Try to ignore the mess in the picture.   Now we just need a place...

I had the incredible opportunity to review Zipfizz.  This stuff is absolutely amazing.  I actually think it is magical.  What exactly is Zipfizz? Zipfizz is an all-natural powder that transforms water into an energizing performance drink.  Each serving gives you a powerful charge of 25 nutrients comprised of vitamins, minerals, key amino acids, electrolytes and antioxidants to fuel your body. How do you use it?  This is the easy part.  Zipfizz comes in these small little bottles that you pop the lid and pour into your water.  You can either add it to water in a glass and stir or pour into a water bottle and shake.  You choose.  The directions say add it to 16 to 20 ounces of water, but if you like a super strong taste, go ahead and add it to less water.  There is some fizz associated with it, so be careful with any small explosions that may happen if you choose to shake it in a water bottle.  The provided water bottle t...

You may or may not remember from the beginning of December that I had a friendly little household challenge regarding who could get to 1200 miles 1st between Ward and myself.  I won, obviously. The prize?  Bragging rights.  He so kindly reminded me that he did BQ and should count for more.  Umm....no.   Anyway, I was checking out my yearly mileage again last week and noticed that I was darn near close to 1300 miles.  1200 was cool, but add on another 100 miles in less than a month and that's awesome!  (for me anyway)   So, after this mornings run, I logged in my mileage at logyourrun (which is back, thank goodness!) and saw that ....... I only have 13.5 more miles to run in 3 days.  I have this one.  Yes I do.  I'm not very good at logging in my cross training time in but you better believe I am good at logging in the running!   I can't believe it's Wednesday already.  Why does vacation week have to fly by so fast...

I can't believe we're into week #6 already of the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge.  I've been keeping track of my points on the sidebar, but here's the detailed scoop: Week #5: 12/17 -  3 1/2 mile run + 7 servings of fruit & veggies + 40 minutes of Jillian Michaels = 8.5 points 12/18 -  10 mile run + 7 servings of fruit & veggies + 60 minutes of Jillian Michaels  = 17 points (huge point day!!!)  12/19 -   60 minutes yoga + 7 servings of fruit & veggies + 40 minutes of Jillian = 8 points  12/20 -   4 mile run + 7 servings of fruit & veggies + 40 minutes of Jillian = 9 points 12/21 -  7 servings of fruit & veggies + 60 minutes of Jillian = 7 points 12/22 -  5 1/2 mile run + 7 servings of fruit & veggies = 6.5 points  12/23 -  5 mile run + 20 minutes of Jillian + 7 servings of fruit & veggies = 8 points My weekly total = 64 points.  My highest point earnings to...

First and foremost, I hope you all have had a great Christmas.  I have to say, our Christmas was exactly what we needed: tons of family time, great food, and of course, presents!   Izzy's Chickband - now she matches mommy Our Christmas routine goes like this:  Christmas Eve is at Ward's parent's house and his family.  Christmas morning is just for us at our house with the kids.  Then around noon, we head to my dad's house.   After a morning of gifts and an excellent dinner at my dad and Barb's house, we went over to Ward's parent's house again.  The original plan was for Ward and I to go for a run and Kathy and Bou would watch the kids.   However, he's been sick for the last 3 days and is still not up for running, so the plan changed to just me going for a run.  We could have just gone home because we didn't need Kathy and Bou to watch the kids anymore BUT I really wanted to soak in the hot tub after the run.  Makes sense, ...

I participated in Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls' Christmas Card exchange this year.   I had a fabulous time getting cards in the mail from these wonderful blogging ladies!  And I've found a few new blogs to follow.  Double bonus! sweet sticker!!! A special thank you to Darlene at My First 5K , Melissa at Double Jogger Diaries , Heather at 365awesomedays , Kim at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls , and Jolene at Journey of a Canuck Mom on the Run .   Right now I'm waiting for Tucker to fall asleep so I can sneak upstairs and haul out the gifts.  I am one tired momma right now.  Come on, kiddo!  Fall asleep.   Tomorrow I've got to get my run on - for Stephanie's Home For the Holidays Virtual 10k and Daily Vitamin F's Virtual 5K.   Merry Christmas to all of you out there and to your families!  

If I wanted to get my run in today, it meant I had to do it before Ward went to work.  No biggie.   I enjoy running in the morning.   But this one was different than many of my recent morning runs. Maine finally got some snow this morning.  We only got a few inches and it was that awesome, wet & sticky snow.  You know that stuff.  Well, maybe you do.  Sorry, southerners!  Excellent snowball snow. Anyway, the timing of my run was when the snow was still falling and the plow hadn't been down my road yet.  This made for the perfect combination to break out the Yak Trax.  My thought is that if I was running on my road, I'd need to jump off to the side when I saw a car coming and these babies would help out a lot.  And help they did.  Boy was it slick! love love love my Mizuno Wave Rider 15s & my yak trax I went out for 5 miles.  It was a recovery run as last night I did a 5.5 mile fartlek run. ...

A few years ago, Jill and I took an adult education class at our local high school to learn how to make all-natural products.  Some of the great things we learned how to make were bath fizzies, lotions, and body scrubs.  These things are surprisingly simple and very inexpensive to make.  Plus, they make incredible gifts.  Jill and I decided that this year we would get together and make lotions for our running girls and our teacher friends.  Three hours of lotion making = lots of fun with Jill and 47 jelly jars filled with yummy lotion.    There are online universities that offer entrepreneurship programs  if you're interested in business ventures like this.    Directions:   Straight from my class notes.  I'm a nerd like that and kept all of my notes in a cute little notebook.   You can use just about any type of solid/liquid oil combinations here.   We chose to use 3 oz of coconut oil with 6 oz of canol...

11 degrees is what I saw on the thermometer just before heading out the door for our 10 miler this morning.  As I was getting my clothes ready last night, I paused for a moment to remember what I would need for a cold run.  It's been a fairly mild December up to this point and I've been a bit spoiled.  Winter running tights - check Winter weight running shirt - check Beanie - check Gloves - hmm...medium weight Under Armor or heavy duty LL Bean Thinsulate mittens - mittens it is Next up, 2nd shirt or running jacket?  My thought was this: We're running by the river and who knows what the wind will be like there....jacket.  Definitely jacket.   I may or may not have said this aloud.  I do talk to myself quite a bit.  I'm crazy like that.  I looked around for my neck gaitor, but couldn't find it. I'm pretty sure a certain 8 year old boy has stashed it somewhere.  No worries, after today's run, I ran to Reny's and got myse...