Coach Jen B

I won! I won! I won!  Did you catch that?   I entered Jen's contest for a $35 gift certificate to ToughChik and I won!  Now, what to buy?  I've got some shopping to do...

I have officially completed 3 half marathons!  Woo hoo!  I remember training for the first half, I thought 7 miles was a long distance.  My have things changed in less than a year. Kennebec River Rail Trail I was super excited about yesterday's half because it was on "home turf".  But this time we started in Augusta, ran through Hallowell, Farmingdale, turned around in Gardiner then went back to Augusta.   I made some changes to my racing plan in the morning.  I decided to not bring my Camelback.  Well, Ward suggested that I not bring it and I agreed.  But not bringing it did pose a problem.  Storage for my snacks.  I had planned on bringing Sharkies and Sportbeans.  I didn't want to pin both to my shorts because the bags can be quite cumbersome.  At the last moment, I decided to pin the Sportbeans to the inside of my shorts and put a blueberry (w/ caffeine) Gu in the little interior pocket of my shorts.  I’m thinki...

Friday is my regularly scheduled CSA pickup day.  We’ve had a few pickups already, but yesterday was the start of regular weekly pickups.  My CSA had an incredible season last year (for instance – we had 4 weeks of “take as much as you need to feed your family”) and I’m hoping for another great year!  We’ve been getting mostly greens, but CSA greens always taste better.  Yesterday I walked away with 3 lbs of goodies plus a quart of strawberries.  kohlrabi, oregano, lettuce, spinach I am sad to report that most of the strawberries never made it home.  I admit, I did eat a few, but a certain little blonde hair-blue eyed girl in the backseat LOVED them.  I kept hearing “more please” and “done” as she handed me the green tops.  The big day is tomorrow – The Kennebec River Rail Trail ½ Marathon.  Race time is 7:30 am; which makes for an early morning.  That also means I need to get my gear ready tonight.  Here’s the checklist...

Thinking back to this past week of the Clean Food Challenge, as I drink my coffee with sugar (in the raw) and creamer, I realize it was the perfect time for a detox.   I found myself so caught up in the challenge and what I was going to eat, while pumping my body full of good-for-you foods, I almost forgot about the half marathon on Sunday.   The last two times I’ve tapered prior to a half, I drove myself crazy and my family crazy.   All I wanted to do was run.   This week, I didn’t really care to run. I only logged 6.5 miles this week.   Really?   I did bike one day and I’ve done my yoga sequences. Was it the CFC? Or was my body really ready to rest – I mean, we’ve been training for one big race or another since December.   My calves have been achy this week as well.   I am sure they are telling me two things – get new shoes and rest.   Rest – check.   I did order new shoes, they came, didn’t feel right, so I returned them yesterda...

I did it!  I bet you are all shocked that I had the will power to complete the challenge.  There were some days that I wanted to cave, but continued to hold strong.  What did I learn from the challenge?  I read labels much closer and clean eating can be expensive.  There are not many coupons floating around out there for fruits and veggies.  Will I change my diet forever?  Sorry, but the answer is no.  I love Starbucks and chips.   Will I do another challenge like this?  More than likely.  I’m thinking if Emilie does another challenge this fall, I may be up for it by then.  And of course, since the challenge is over, I just stumbled across this blog .  Super cool.  I wish I found it a week ago!  J   Breakfast: oatmeal (cold) with almond milk and blue berries coffee Snack: green Smoothie cukes Lunch: mixed greens (from Stacy’s garden) w/ tomatoes, avocado, red/yellow/orange peppers w/ balsalmic vineg...

Okay, I have one more day.   I can definitely do this and complete the challenge.   The hardest part for me is to not taste what I’m cooking for the family, not lick my fingers after handing over a glazed donut to one of the kids or just plain ol’ giving in to temptations.   I noticed today that I feel more energized.   I also noticed that my sweat isn’t so stinky after a run.   Workout today – I got in a quick 3.5 mile run at 6 am this morning.   I had a beach day planned with Stacy and had my 1 st yoga class tonight so I had to do it first thing this morning before Ward had to leave for work.   It was a good run, but my calves are feeling it.   I’m officially done running until the Sunday half marathon.   My legs need rest.   Prerun: Banana Breakfast: 2 eggs Green Smoothie Coffee Lunch: Quinoa w/ roasted veggies (leftovers & super easy to take to beach) Cukes Cantaloupe & Watermelon Snack: Carrotts Dinner: Brown ri...

Okay, I think I have more energy.  I don’t feel so tired anymore.  I can take that as a plus! Breakfast: Oatmeal (cold) with Almond Milk, Chia Seeds, Raw Almonds, Dried Cranberries Coffee Snack: Banana TJ Roasted Seaweed Lunch: Salad with shrimp, cukes, lettuce and tomatoes & vinegar/lemon juice Snack: Dates Strawberries Melon Salad Dinner: Pineland Farms (grass fed) burger (no bun) - totally lean as well - I hope this counts! Grilled Sweet Potato Grilled Asparagus Snack Banana Water Consumption: 124 oz  - close enough! Today’s workout Today was a Miss Karen day for Izzy, so that meant it was a Tucker and Mommy day.  We went for a walk on the rail trail today.  Tucker said he wanted to “walk far” today “like a mile”.  He then went on to say that we needed to walk up the trail a half a mile and turn around and walk another half.  (way to go with the fractions, buddy!)  He’s so cute.  Anyway, as we started out on the walk, he su...

My run this morning sucked.   My legs just didn’t want to move.   What’s going on with me? There were 2 parts of the run that didn’t suck – the weather, and having Izzy and Tucker with me – Izzy in the jogger and Tucker on his bike behind me.    We did get in 3 miles, which was nice.   My goal for the week is low mileage and a lot of resting.   I think I’m heading that way for sure.     Breakfast: Oatmeal (cold) with Almond Milk, Chia Seeds, Raw Almonds, Dried Cranberries Coffee Run: 2 pieces of gum (again) Snack: Plum Strawberries Lunch: Quinoa (w/ garbanzo beans & tuna) Snack: Dates Strawberries Dinner: Quinoa (combination of Saturday’s – grilled concoction and today’s lunch) Fruit Salad Grilled Zucchini  Cukes Snack: Grilled Mango Water Consumption: 128 oz   (2 days in a row!!!)

Okay, this Clean Food Challenge is getting harder.   I am hoping I start to gain energy because all I feel is a total drain of energy.   I must have totally been fueled on processed foods and cheese before because my run yesterday was painfully and slow and today’s run was pretty tough too.   I won’t be running too much this week since it’s taper week for the half on Sunday.   I really hope the claim of more energy comes soon!     Plus, Jill brought this over for dessert last night (for the rest of the family who is not participating in the CLC) and left it here.  It's been torturing me all day.  I finally had to push it to the back of the refrigerator!  Snack (pre-run): Banana Coffee Run: Cheated – 2 pieces of gum (I HAVE to have my gum! Not an option.) Breakfast: Eggs with spinach Snack: Blueberries 3 Strawberries (from the Boudreau Berry Garden) Lunch: Spring Rolls (w/ cukes, avocado, carrots, and peanut butter) Snack: R...

Okay, I have to admit, today was a little rough.  I think of myself as a pretty healthy eater.  But I also feel that because I run so much, I can eat whatever I want.  Which means I never turn down cheesecake or burgers because I know I'm going to burn off those calories anyway!  It was hard to not lick the knife as I cut through the cheesecake tonight for dessert.  At least my dessert substitute was delish!  (Thank you, Jill, for brining it over!) Today's menu: Breakfast: Banana Eggs w/ tomato Coffee Snack: Banana Lunch: Spring Rolls w/ peanut butter, cukes, carrotts, sugar snap peas Green Smoothie the inside of my spring roll my spring roll wrapped up - I need to practice! yum! Snack: Watermelon, Honey Dew, Cantaloupe Sugar Snap Peas Dinner: Quinoa with grilled eggplant, red/yellow/orange peppers, summer squash, spinach, and onion (sauted) Salad with red wine vinegar Melon Dessert: Pureed banana, date, raspberry - frozen decaf coffe...

Okay folks, it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be.  I think the hardest part was having to drive past Starbucks this morning on my way to school (last day!).   Oh and when I went to Reny's and the cashier gave me 2 free chocolate bars - one of which was a dark chocolate bar.  Tempting, very tempting. Anyway, Jill and I started off with a teacher breakfast.  It looked fabulous.  Great french toast casseroles, sausage and egg casseroles, quiches, and TONS of fruit salads.  We both had ourself a plate full of fruit salad and Mary brought us some jasmine tea.  (I forgot to mention, Mary is joining us too in this challenge! Yay, Mary!)  The delicious food was proceeded by many goodbyes to staff members who are leaving for a variety of reasons.  I was one of those staff members - as I'll be going to HBS this fall.  That part of the breakfast was a bit emotional, but at least I didn't have a meltdown.  (I waited until I got back to m...

Many big things going on – school is almost over, KRRT ½ Marathon next Sunday, 16 weeks until I run a FULL marathon, AND I’m going to join in on a Clean Food Challenge.   My lovely sister-in-law brought it up yesterday morning after reading Emilie’s blog .   Eating “clean” (i.e. non-processed foods) is supposed to give you more energy – with all this training going on in my life right now and a summer full of fun ahead of us, I need more energy, so why not.   When do I start?   I’m thinking either Friday or Saturday.   With this being the last week of school, there is a department lunch on Thursday to say good bye to some of the Special Education Staff who will not be working at BJHS next year (myself included) and there will be a End-of-Year Staff Breakfast on Friday.     The plan is to be done with the clean food challenge by next Saturday so I can “carb up” for the KRRT 1/2.   Keeping that in mind, I should definitely start the c...

It's official - we are 16 weeks from the Maine Marathon and I'm OFFICIALLY in training mode.  Technically, I'm half-way there already as I'm just shy of 2 weeks from the KRRT 1/2 Marathon.  Here's a picture of me at the Maine (1/2) Marathon...I'll cross that finish line again!  Only time as a 1st time Marathoner! Maine 1/2 Marathon - October 2010 The Yoga To Run plan for this week is: Monday: 3 miles Tuesday: Cross Train/Yoga Wednesday: 4 miles Thursday: 3 miles Friday: Cross Train/Yoga Saturday: 5 miles Sunday: Yoga Totals: 15 miles w/ 3 yoga days, 2 cross train days Unfortunately, I've already altered the plan.  Ward had soccer at 6 tonight, which meant he had to leave by 5, so that meant no run for me tonight and to do the Tuesday plan on Monday night.  No biggie. My mileage is also going to be a bit off as well, as I've been averaging somewhere in the 28-31 miles/week range.  There is always room for flexibility in every plan.  Rig...

ygp2BC4 , a photo by mainerunningphotos on Flickr. Last night Ward and I were sorting through the totes in the attic because we're going to have a yard sale next weekend.  We came across a box of photos and near the top was a newspaper clipping with this picture on it. I couldn't remember which year we did the Unity 5k, but after a little researching on Maine Running Photos - found our names and my 1st (I think) time ever - 31:09.  I've come a long way, haven't I?   It's downright scary looking at this photo of me.  This is my inspiration to NEVER stop running EVER. And what's worse?  Ward looks exactly the same.  Well, maybe he has more hair.   Oh & Jill totally smoked me in this race!

Ward says I need to venture out and add another color to my garden.  What do you think?

I got the call first thing this morning that my new girls were delivered to the feed store.  What I really wanted to do was skip the whole work thing and go home and get them set up.  But, I waited it out and had Ward get the new girls on his way home. Aren't they cute?  Too bad they aren't really pets, they are our meat birds.   As an attempt to feed my family food that isn't pumped with growth hormones and raised in horrible conditions, I opted to raise our own chickens.    I have high hopes here! Raising chicks is super easy. Supplies: - waterer - feed dish - chick mash (feed) - brooder/box/fish tank/storage tote - some type of enclosure to keep them safe - cover (to keep out predators) - light bulb (preferably a 250 watt bulb but at 125 watt bulb should be good for June chicks) - thermometer* - flooring (not pine shavings in the beginning - they can eat it and it will kill them, I know from previous experience) - you can use newspaper, ...

The weather this week has been incredible.  I love hot, sunny weather.  I really do.  The hotter the better.  I hate snow and ice, so I do not complain about the beautiful weather when we (finally) get it.  What's torturous about this weather is that while it's gorgeous outside, I'm stuck inside.  Thankfully, I only have 5 1/2 more days with students.  I think I can. I think I can.  Anywho, I was looking through some pictures I downloaded from my camera and I founds these awesome pictures of the boys - Tucker and Jackson and some of Izzy from Memorial Day.   The boys absolutely love the sprinkler.   Izzy wasn't very impressed with it.    But, she's still cutie.  Maybe sometime this summer she'll come around.  

Today I had the opportunity to go on a field trip with my advisee group to House Island.  Today was the absolute best day ever to take a boat to an island, with a fabulous group of kids and adults.  The temperatures were in the high 70's, the sun was shining and there was hardly a breeze.  Perfect summer Maine weather.  In my opinion anyway! The team took two busses to Portland this morning and we boarded the Chippewa. My group sat on top of the boat.  As soon as we left the dock, we saw a seal.  My absolute favorite animal of all times. On the way out to the island, we saw three lighthouses. Portland Breakwater Light Spring Point Ledge Lighthouse Portland Head Light My mom would have loved this trip.  Visiting lighthouses was one of her most favorite past times. House Island has a great history .  The website doesn't include all of it.  Our tour guide - aka "The Captain" added so much more to the details. Fort Scammel a...