Why I Dont Like the Gym

The gym (aka the YMCA), use to be my best friend.

I loved going to run on the 'mill, take a 7 mile bike ride on the stationary bike and head over for some free weights and abs. I did this same routine for about 2 years.

Well like I said yesterday, I have become obsessed with my Garmin. It has made me become a new athlete, I feel almost like a better athlete. Running outside and biking outside as been so much better for my body, mind and soul.

So this morning when I went to the gym I had the mindset of how I use to do my regular routine. But as I was running ont the 'mill I realized that I wanted to be outside. I was jealous of the people that I saw running outside I wanted to be them!

Another reason I was not too keen on the gym this morning is because of the people. Normally I am fine with people, I am a people person! Really I am! But this morning I knew that guy that was working and he wanted to talk forever, and then he started to talk to me when I was running! Who does that?! So I had to stop at 2.5 miles and it was such a great run too! So I did the free weights and some abs and decided to go back and finish the 1 mile I had left, well their were no 'mills left because of some women's group, I wanted 5 minutes and gave up.

This is why I wont be going back for a while!

So why did I run on the 'mill this morning? I asked myself the same question. I guess I did because I wanted to do some free weights and I can only do these when I go to the gym. May I should just invest in some weights and always do my workouts at home now?

When I first began to workout I need the motivation of the gym, but now that I can not think of myself with not working out, running, or biking everyday I guess I dont "need" that motivation??

I will figure it out either way!

I would now like to take the time to inform you about a slight problem in which I have encountered. My camera broke. It is tragic.

Yesterday Bruce and I went to this water park, Zoombezi Bay, and I was so excited to take pictures of us bathing and relaxing in the sun, but when I went to turn on the camera it did nothing but blink on and off. So I am going to check it out again today. Ugg.

Well I am off to cut the grass and look up my grades from the past quarter! So far I have an 2 A's but I feel the Microbio I will be getting a B:(

Question!! Do you like the Gym?? How do you feel when you go the gym? Do you like the outside better??? 

I'm Back!!

Wow!! It has been way to long since my last post! I have really missed writing and talking about my every day life, but that is exactly what made me get into mess of not writing.. LIFE!

I am a college student, and I have wacky hours this quarter and when I was not in school I was studying, and when I was not studying I was applying to internships (more on that in a sec!), and when I was not doing that I was RUNNING!

So a lot has happen in the last month or so, and every time something would happen I would just say to myself.. "gotta write this on the blog" (then epic fail, I never wrote). But I am done with the excuses, and I am going to write as much as I can!

So lets play so catch up shall we...

1) I bought the Garmin Foreunner 305. Enough said. It is amazing! Some how it makes me want to run even more, I am such a visual person and to see the pace, miles, time all in one watch it is amazing and I am so glad I bought it.

Source

*This brings me to my first astrick, if you are thinking about buying a running watch of any sort, check out ebay. I know sometimes they can be iffy, but really if you find one that you like shoot the person an  email and maybe ask for some more pictures, or a better description of the watch. I did this and I was so happy because what the buyer showed me was exactly what I received!

2) I have not been able to take any pictures with my new best friend yet, but I am in a race this weekend so hopefully you will be able to see him in action! This brings me to my next topic. Races. I am obsessed I know I have talked in another post about  races but I do have issues. If I am not looking for races then I am just looking at races, and I look at peoples race times ect... Its bad, that is all I am going to say.

However, I can cross off one race this weekend. The Paddy's Pig 10k, I am really looking forward to this race because my boyfriend, Bruce, is also running it! He is more of a sports guy, like playing the sport for exercise. So running is always used, but he dose not just enjoy running with out doing something else. I am super proud of him for signing up, it will be a great time!

I have also signed up for my first ever.... HALF MARATHON! I am more excited for this then any race, I keep picturing myself running across that finish line and I just smile every time. I am more of a sprinter when it comes to running (hence I love 5k's and 10k's), so this is going to be a challenge for me, but I am really looking forward to it. It is not until October so I have some time to prepare, by the way its the Columbus Marathon and Half Marathon.

3) Next on the list is internship! I applied to Nestles internship program, and I have one! I am super pumped. This is not for my RD, but it still looks really good on my resume! I will be conducting a research project as well as testing out new technologies. I am super pumped!

4) I am now a senior in college. Wow.

5) I will be a 5th year senior. Ugg.

6) I will be going to Florida with some of my old roommates this summer around 4th of July and I am super excited!

Well this just about sums up everything that has happened these last couple of weeks, I will be more on top of things (taking pictures, writing), now that I am a free women from school!

** Check out my reading page.. I just read a new book!

Boring Life

I have such a boring life I have decided. I read all of these other blogs and they are always doing something! I feel all I do is go to school, eat, workout, eat, sleep, run, work, eat, run,  work, eat, work.

So this leads me to trying to think of new blog posts and ways in which I can write about topics and less on thinking about how boring my life can be!

Question: What are some good blogging ideas?

However, in the last couple of days I have signed up for a few races (2 that is it). But I have a few more on the calendar that I have not signed up for but waiting to see if my credit card allows me!

So here is the low down...

1. Paddy's Pig 10k/5k (June 11)-- I am totally pumped for this one because Bruce is running with me! We have ran 3 races together and its so nice because its like my own little push each step of the way. Bruce is normally super nice and runs at my pace, but this year I have really stepped up my game and Bruce has, well... to put it nicely slowed down... so I have a plan to beat him! High hopes for me I know I have some odds against me (I am a girl for one and two he is an athlete so even if he does not run for years he would still beat me!) Anyways I am running the 10k and he is just running the 5k but either way I am pumped!

** I then have a break**

2. Oktoberfest Meiler Vier-Vier Meiler (September 20)-- This sounds really fun! It is a 4 miler in the heart of German Village and after the race you get free beer! Free sausage (yuck for me, yum for Bruce) Free cream puff! And once again Bruce and I are running in this together so I am very excited for the people, location, and after party!

So I am excited I always look forward to races, especially the T-shirts!

So today was a pretty successful day.. after class I decided to clean out the closet and bring out the summer clothes! In Ohio weather is really predictable (not), so I was kinda of nervous to switch over but I made it happen.

I had a weak moment however and I feel this is a good time to talk about it.

When I was switching over I started to see some of the clothes from when I was really skinny and sick. This made me want this body again. I fell into the trap and got really wrapped up in my looks and I was really vulnerable for a few minutes.

I then realized this "when I was skinny, I never saw myself as skinny, I still saw myself as fat", but those size 0 shorts are really tiny and the extra small shirt was tiny too. I then started to get mad at myself for never realizing this when I was this skinny.

Then I got upset when I realized that I was upset for never realizing this. I know confusing! So anyways in the end I decided to write a post to get all of my emotions out. This helped but I keep replaying when I held up those shorts and realized I was not that skinny anymore, I was mad at myself. I know this is the eating disorder speaking but I just want the eating disorder back at that point.

Okay so now that I went on that sad note.. lets turn it over to a happier one!

I have had a really good running week! I ran about 25 miles and tomorrow I have a long run in the morning. I also get to work at Bruce's mom's bakery tomorrow! They are getting slammed with graduation so they asked if I would come in and help!

Have a great evening!

Stress-less

So currently my life is being a little crazy.. for a few reasons..

1. I am trying to decided if I should change my major from RD to just Nutrition in Community with a minor in exercise science. I know this sounds like a big change but its really not that much of a change, most of the classes transfer.

I am thinking about doing this because I have been unhappy with all of the "What if's?" in my future job as an RD. What if I don't get an internship? What if I don't pass my RD exam? Its just a lot to handle, and I feel I would be happier with doing something with food and exercise and not just food

Any suggestions?

2. I hated how this post is all about negativity, I have been really trying to change that in my life, I am normally a very postivie person, but all the stress is making me negative, so I am sorry in advance.

Running
So after the two weekends of races I have become even more addicted to running! I have been entering races like crazy! I am even on the fence about the Columbus Half Marathon in October! I would love to run this, but I know how bad my knee problem can get. Decisions, decisions!

Yesterday I decided to do a tempo run at the pace in which I would like to have my min/miles down to, so I ran at a 7:50 m/m for 2 miles and then dropped it to about 8:30 for the last 1.5 miles. I was pleased with myself (I feel really accomplished when I am sweaty!)

I also rode my bike to the gym yesterday, save on gas, what can a girl do when the gas is 4.15!!! I literally spend all of my work money on food and gas. :(


Food
So I have been kind of boring as of late when it comes to this, BUT have no fear my last two meals have been creative! Dinner last night was tuna, greens, pineapple, tomatoes (it was so good I didn't take a picture!)

Lunch today was yummy too! It was a veggie wrap (lettuce, tomato, carrots, balsamic salad spray on a whole wheat wrap!)  (again too good to take a picture)

So life is pretty cool sometimes and sometimes it can just be way too stressful! I hope everyone has a stress-less day!

Question: What are some ways in which you stress-less??

Beer Club!

Well what a weekend! It was a great weekend for many, many reasons.

Friday

Bruce and I went to Whole Foods for dinner! This is my all time favorite place to eat! I love that you are able to walk around with alcohol, eat and just have fun! This is just how Bruce and I enjoy to spend our Fridays, eating and relaxing and just catching up on the week. ( We are not normally able to see each other a lot during the week, so it was so nice to catch up!)

After Whole Foods we shopped around at the shops up in Sawmill. I had a $50 gift card to Dicks, so I was really excited to spend it.

But.. I found nothing. Boo:(

We called it an early night because Saturday I had a race and Bruce had early morning tennis. But spending that time with him was so great:)

Saturday

Well my day started at 6:15 and started with me ripping my room apart because I could not find my running watch for the race! I normally get everything ready the day before but I really was not that serious about this race so I figured I would be fine.

So basically I ran with out a watch but obviously it didn't affect my run!! I PR'd!!!!!!

It was a beautiful course on St. Mary's lake, the sun coming up, the trees, the sun, the lake, the trees! I could not get enough of it at all! So I really was not paying that much attention, and then I realized that I was actually in 3rd place for the women!

This made me start busting ass! I did not want to come in 4th, 5th, nothing but 3rd! The girls in 1st and 2nd were way to far considering I was just leisure running.

So as I was coming down the home stretch I saw the time and I was shocked! 24:16!! That is a 7:50 min mile!! What the heck! When did I start becoming a runner??? I was soooo happy with myself, with my legs, with everything!

So after that run, I stayed around with the people I came with and I was forced to go up and get my picture taken and my name announced. I was so embarrassed!

Saturday Night

My friends and I went out for Dakota's 21st birthday!! We went to this place called Mellow Mushroom. YUMMY!! Its basically pizza and salads and beer! But it was all really fresh and cool, so this is like my new favorite place.

And they have a beer club! I read this on Carrot N' Cake once, but I never knew we had one in Ohio! So I will join when I go back with Bruce.


I had two beers,  A Michelob Ultra and a Raspberry (something) Dog. They were both really good! The Dog one I will for sure try again!















After dinner we went and saw Something Borrowed, it was really cute, and a good way to spend $5:) And we cut Dakota's birthday cake in the car. Candles lit.. in the car.. did not have a knife so just used the backside of a fork:)

Sunday
Mother's day.. and I was sick.. so I did not go to Kentucky with the family so we celebrated on Monday! So my mom got an extra long Mother's Day, which I think she enjoyed. I also ran outside but only 4.5 miles it was really hot and my stomach was not in the best of shape but after all the cake and beer I had to run! And looked what happend...

Gross I know.. runner toes.. super sexy

 

Monday
This post is getting long so we celebrated Mother's Day in Ohio and I ran 4 miles and had a yummy dinner of black beans and whole grain rice!

Fresh, Frozen, Jelly

So I have not written in a few days for a few reasons but mostly because I have been so busy with school and work that I have not been able to think about anything other than these two things:(

So I will not allow this post to deal anything with those two evil words!

However, I will discuss something that happened to me at school.

I was sitting outside of class on Tuesday and this girl was talking (super loud, so of course I had to eves dropJ) she was talking about how annoying her roommate was, typical right! Well she made the comment that her roommate has an eating disorder and the girl she was talking to responded, “too much food or too little?”

This really took me back and made me realize that eating disorders are not just for girls/boys who don’t eat, but also for those who eat too much. Sometimes I feel that people who eat so much just don’t have self-control, but I realized they might also have a problem, just like I had. Instead of finding comfort in not eating, they find comfort in eating.

In all of my nutrition classes we learn about obesity and being overweight but I never really thought about these people having an issue.

But it makes sense, right?

I just thought this was something to talk about and to discuss a little further, because it is not really talked about… at all.

Question: Have you ever thought about this before? Do you know anyone that has an issue like this?  

Breakfast this morning was the usual… oatmeal, cinnamon and blueberries. I have been experimenting however with fresh, frozen, and jelly.

Jelly: I had blueberry jelly 3 days ago, it was good in the oatmeal but it made it kind of chucky and it never really melted. It was also “processed tasting.” Am I becoming food snob?! It’s just that my body really likes natural and I think it can tell the difference between natural and unnatural. I swear I am not a food snob!

Frozen: I love these the most!! They melt into the oatmeal because I do not defreeze them, but I do have to heat up the oatmeal more because the berries are so much colder and make the oatmeal colder that much faster. The berries really do melt in the oatmeal! They even turn the oatmeal purple! Nice color change from brown in the morning!

PS-- I have no fun pictures, tomorrow I will though!! 

Fresh: I know I just went on the “food snob” rampage but the fresh in the oatmeal was just not the same, I don’t know why but the berries just didn’t act the same way in the oatmeal as the frozen berries did. Any ideas why? They never really melted, and they were just there, and I really had to think about each bit and tell myself this bite has a blueberry. Is that werid??

So this was a fun experiment to run, next week I think I am going to try toast and different toppings with my toast; I am starting to get burnt out on OATMEAL!

Have a great and healthy day!

Flying Pig= Runner's High!!

Hello!!

Yesterday was the Flying Pig 10K in Cincinnati! Let me tell you the race was so great! The people in Cincy really know how to organize a race really well! So here is a quick recap of the events!

1) I won 50 dollars for Dicks Sporting goods at the P&G Health Expo by spinning a wheel!

2) I almost knocked over of the Cincy's beloved "flying pigs"

The pig has running shoes on!!

3) Bruce and I walked along the river after in expo for what felt like miles to meet my dad at his office. I was more tired after this than running the race!

I did not run across this.. but I love this bridge!

What a cutie!

4) Saturday morning I was not nervous at all, seeing all the runners almost made me cry! Seeing so many other people trying to be healthy and live a good strong life made me really emotional! It was so great to be running with some elite runners and to experience this feeling in such a great city. At one point during the race I paused my music and just listened to everyone running next me, the sound of the gym shoes against the pavement is my new favorite sound! This part made me kinda of get teary eyed as well, why am I become so emotional????

5) After the race I had no idea what my time was so I tweeted @FlyingPigMarathon and they tweeted me back the website and where I could find my time and place. The reason I did not know my time was because my running watch did not start when I hit start, so I was like 5 minutes off:(.

6) I ROCKED the course! First off my dad told me "oh this course is pretty flat". The course was anything but flat! It was so hilly, people were stopping left and right all the time because of all the hills.. but i never stopped once!! I was really proud of this as well! I kept telling myself their is always a down side to every hill, and I really think this got me through all of them!

7) In the end... I finished in 53:00 min (8:33 min miles!) Soo excited.. In my division (18- 24) I placed 17th out of 169 women.. and out of the women running I placed 80th out of 1428 and out of all the runners I placed 277 out of 2425 people (top 10%!!!). I am on a runners high right now let me tell you!

 

6) Saturday was such a great day and I am really proud of myself, I have this runners high right now so I am off to run with Bruce and after running its studying my little heart out for a HUGE midterm on Tuesday! Have a great healthy happy day!!

Question: What is something that you have done (running or not), that has made you so proud of yourself??

Run.. Joey.. Run!

Hi! So this week has been a great week! I have been preparing for my race on Saturday by light work outs and one long run. Today was a great day because I actually ran 5.5 miles in....... 8 m/m pace!! I was so excited I almost started crying on the track. Over the past few years, I have shaved a lot of time off of my miles, but today was just one of those good leg days, and I just glided through like nobody's business! After the run I worked on my abs, I normally do this after a longer run because I feel after moving that much the muscles would love to be pulled and stretched! Ahh.. it felt so good:)
Last night for dinner it was kinda of a quick throw together, actually it was so quick I forgot to take a picture! I had 6 egg whites, (tomatoes with the eggs), whole wheat toast, grapes and oranges! I love fruit so much, I actually had a craving for fruit the other day, I guess that I good, because I have decided (well about a month ago), I decided to give up sweets. Let me tell you...I feel so much better, my running has really improved and I feel better inside. Now do not get me wrong I love sweets so much, and I will probably go back to them once summer hits BUT.. I just found out that I am lactose intolerance :(

.. no more ice cream, Greek yogurt.. cottage cheese.. I am so sad right now typing this I can not think of any other things that I can not eat. It stinks! I had been noticing that I was having some type of an intolerance to something and I could not figure it out, and then I cut out the dairy and my health concerns were solved. I hate it.. but I do feel a lot better! So for right now.. NO SWEETS!
In other news.. I am getting really antcy about graduating! I am  a junior this year, but just 3 more quarters until the real world, and I can not wait at all! I am even trying to graduate sooner by taking summer classes this year, I think I can give up one summer! Ahh! Anyways I have a bunch of HN 310 homework calling my name! Have a happy, healthy day!

Question: Do you have any intolerance? How do you deal with it?

Date night!

So last night was mine and Bruce's date night. I few weeks ago it was my birthday and for my birthday day Bruce got me tickets to see Mary Poppins!! I love musicals, and this was an off Broadway production, so I was really excited! Let me tell you.. it did not disappoint at all! The sets were amazing the voices were amazing the dancing was amazing.. it was just one amazing show!! Before we went to the show however we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse, one of Bruce's and mines favorite place to go to! our server was not the best in the world and Bruce said his food was not the best, so he basically ate the 2.5 loaves of bread and butter and I had the spaghetti and grilled veggies, mine was pretty good, not the best food from there though.

After dinner we had some time to kill and Bruce wanted to walk around the State House, which is right across the street from the Ohio Theater, so we walked around their and looked at the statues and the beautiful flowers! The Ohio Theater is also one of our favorite places to go see a show because the inside is so amazing, I can not even describe to you the beautiful ceiling, I was not able to take pictures of the place, but if you are ever in Columbus I would totally recommended going to see a show, just so you are able to see the Theater, it is literally breathtaking!

During intermission at the show I got some roasted almonds.. they were really good! I had never had any before I think it might be my new go to snack! Overall last night was so much fun, and I really enjoy date night and spending time with Bruce!

Since this weekend is Easter my family has the tradition of dying eggs! It was a lot of fun! Everyone this year helped dye them.. even my Grandpa! I did an Ohio State egg, and my Grandpa (who bleeds Kentucky blue), did and UK egg. Its a little fun rival that we have within our family, so it was fun to see him dye a blue egg! My sister Meredith really is the art person in the family in the family so she really went to town and did some AMAZING egg dying! All in all yesterday was a great day! And now I am just waiting patiently on my moms wonderful green beans for Easter dinner! Have a great Easter!

 HAPPY EASTER!!

Break.. FAST!

So this mornings breakfast was not one of the best breakfast, an apple with plain Greek yogurt and a cup of green tea, I usually make a much better breakfast! So I decided to write about one of my favorite times of the day! This post is all about being easy and fast in the morning to get you out of the door!

Most mornings I am up by 7 am (sometimes 6), and I am normally super hungry, these recipes really hit the spot!

Oatmeal______,______,______

Oatmeal is my favorite food for many reasons, one of them being it really does fill me up and allows me to stay full until lunch time. The reason I put three blanks is because I normally like to put 3 healthy things in the mix!...

• Sugar Free Jam
• Cinnamon
• Skim Milk
• Frozen Berries
• Fresh Berries
• Natural Crunchy Peanut Butter (this really makes me full!)
• Crasins
• Banana
• Plain Greek Yogurt

I just use quick oat, and put them in the microwave for 2.5 minutes and let them get all fluffy then add the ingredients... ta-da! So yummy and nutritious!

Egg White Scramble

My second all time favorite meal, I normally eat this meal if I want to get some good protein in and when I do not need to out the door for class.

I first take either 4-6 egg whites (depending on the morning). I always use fresh eggs, the egg whites in the container I have found to be kinda fake tasting. I heat these up in a skillet with a little Pam Cooking Spray. Once the egg begins to coagulate (fancy word I know I just learned it though in my Human Nutrition 314 class hehe), I add in turkey, salsa, peppers, onions, and a splash of skim milk to make them creamy! I am not a big cheese fan but I sure that would taste good too! (just make sure to use low fat cheese!). I let this all merry together for about 3 more minutes and pop them on to a plate with an whole white English muffin a some type of fruit! Quick, easy, Delicious breakfast!

Greek Cereal
A few months ago I decided to try Greek Yogurt.. let me tell you.. best switch of my eating career! It was so thick and creamy, its almost dare I say.. better than ice cream!! So of course with this new obsession I need to put it in everything. The first stop was breakfast, I really enjoyed it in my   Oatmeal, _____,_____,_____. But I also wanted to try it in some cold cereal like Kashi Strawberry Fields, yummy:) This was a brilliant idea if I do say so myself! Eating cold cereal this way actually held me over until lunch,  unlike cereal and milk. So all I do is take a Dannon Greek Yogurt Plain and add about 1 cup of whole grain cereal, mix and devour!

This is just a few of the Recipes that I have come up with, and I will be sharing more in the future!

Vera Bradley Weekend = Success!

So as you all know this weekend was Vera Bradley weekend! Before the weekend started I ran 4 miles on the track at the RPAC. The RPAC is the workout facility at OSU. It is an amazing gym to workout in and I love every single floor in the place!

So on friday evening my friend Betsy and I drove from Ohio to Fort Wayne, Indiana. On the way we stopped at Subway, I got just the veggie sub with no cheese, it was not the best sub I have had from there, so I decided to eat my grapes that I packed. And I ate those in no time! I LOVE GRAPES!! We arrived at Betsy's friends Jill's, Sister house, Julie at about 9 ish. That was a mouth full!

Julie's house was really cute and it was the perfect size. Julie's husband Scott is a pro body builder so that was kinda cool:). We basically chilled for a little bit and then watched Jill do Zumba. Zumba is not my thing, but I can understand why a lot of people would like Zumba because it feels like your just dancing, not working out, but you are working out by dancing haha. I though we would go to bed early because we were waking up at 5 AM, but we all got into bed around midnight, not what I am use to at all, but it was still fun!

So we got all ready to leave at 5 and showed up at Vera around 6:30 ish. This was a perfect time, the doors did not open until 8 but we were able to talk and learn a little about each other. Then the doors opened and we rushed in!!!

I bought and got a lot of really great deals. I would have to say the best deals were a bag for 30 when it was really 79, and a bag for 10 when it was really 48! I also got a cover for my laptop, it is soo pretty! After the madness of the sale we went out to lunch to just Bob Evans. I had not been their in a long time so it was kinda nice that they had some healthy options on the menu. I got the small whole grain pancakes, with egg lites, and fresh fruit. Very yummy!

This women was juggling Vera Bradley bags!

The long long line to get in!

This is an eye glass case!

Great headband for running!

A lunch box, for all of those healthy lunches!

This was 79 and I got it for 30!

This was 48 and I got it for 10

Once done with lunch we sorted through all of our Vera findings and just relaxed at Julia's house. Betsy and I left around 6 and when I got home went straight to bed! I though this afternoon I would run because yesterday was my day off but the sale was anything but a day off! I walked all day and was so tired today! So I am just working on homework this afternoon and celebrating my dad's birthday! Have a happy healthy Sunday!