Mid-morning I got a random craving for hard boiled eggs. So I cooked up a bunch and made egg salad for lunch. (Ha, that kinda rhymes.)

I left my sandwich open face so I would have room for chips. The Better Chip peeps sent me a variety of flavors. I had the Sweet Onion and Ben tried the Fresh Corn – both get a thumbs up!

They’re only sold in stores in 13 states right now, so I asked to do a giveaway in case you wanted to try them too

Win It Wednesday!

Want to win a variety pack of The Better Chips?

Leave a comment on this post.

Open to residents of the US. Ends 5/24/12 at 12p PST.

In other news…

Vegas either loves or hates my running shoes…

And Sarah Fit made a video from the Relay. I am watching it on repeat trying to relive that amazing experience.

Running and Eating in the News:

 John Hopkins study finds that the risk of dying while running a marathon is low, but it’s higher for men. Finally having a vagina has a perk.

Runner’s World is challenging you to a running streak! The Challenge: Run at least 1 mile everyday from Memorial Day 5/28 to the Fourth of July (that’s 38 days of running).

Leave a comment for the giveaway!

Related posts:

1. Clean Snack To Go Giveaway
2. The BEST Bar–Vega Bar Giveaway
3. Naturebox Giveaway and New Game

My quads are still unbelievably tight! What gives?!

I had a longer-ish run scheduled for today, but I feel like my quads are a super tight rubber band about to SNAP so I did 4.5 miles to shake it out and stretched when I got back.

I think it might be time to put my Garmin to sleep During the relay one of the buttons collapsed in and I’ve been changing the screen by using the end of my shoe lace and sticking it in the hole.

So this morning I busted out my MotoActiv to use. I’m still learning it so we’ll see…

I had one lonely pita leftover from pita pizzas past so I used that for breakfast.

I slathered a layer of whipped cream cheese and topped it with 2 eggs and cheese.

Wait! Plus ketchup…

This was delicious, but I’m in a weird breakfast funk where I don’t know what I want, and no matter what I eat I feel unsatisfied. When I have something savory, I’ll crave something sweet after and vice versa – every morning. I think it’s more a psychological thing than physical since I hit all the nutrient bases. So I’ve got to fix my brain. Or my tongue.

Yesterday I got a letter in the mail from the Cinco de Mayo Half Marathon peeps. I somehow managed to win 3rd place in my age group and got a gift card to Dave & Busters and $1.00 off Cold Stone Creamery. I really need more than one dollar off ice cream the way I eat it though…

Sometimes I kick off my shoes without untying the laces, but I feel super guilty about it because my 7th grade teacher said that was bad. She said it stretches out the shoe! I never forgot that and try to get myself to untie them because of that lesson. Isn’t that a random thing to remember?

Question: Is there any random life lesson a teacher told you that you still remember??

Do you untie your shoes before taking them off?

Related posts:

1. New Shirt New Shoes New Service
2. Today I love … comfy shoes
3. Recycle Your Running Shoes

Last night I jokingly mentioned to Ben that Ashley said he should buy me fro-yo and a massage after that killer relay.

Well, he agreed and immediately went out and brought me back Yogurtland!!!God Bless that man. 

He brought me back a crazy good cup of fro-yo too! I don’t make my cup this decadent and it was a big treat. It felt kinda weird eating frozen yogurt on a Monday night though, is that weird?

I took an extra rest day yesterday and tried to run again today. Well, my quads are still super sore! I didn’t really stretch after my legs of the race and I ran faster than my chubby little legs are used to, so it’s probably that.

Anyways, I ran 5 miles today and they were PAINFULLY SORE. Super super tight. (Yes, that’s a complete sentence by the magic of blogging English.) I foam rolled when I got back. Go me.

I had overnight oats for breakfast and my egg requirement for the day needed to be met! So, I had them for lunch…

I recycled last night’s Yogurtland cup for my smoothie this afternoon. I swear my smoothies taste like dessert.

After a long day of work I headed to the gym to train 3 clients. Between work, training and traveling I’m completely exhausted. I’m probably going to transition to independent training pretty soon so I can have a more flexible schedule. We’ll see…

I’m tired. See you later.

Related posts:

1. Second Visit
2. Engagement Story
3. Taking sides

This is my last Reach the Beach post and I’m sad.

First, I want to give a huge Thank You to New Balance and the Reach the Beach organization. They really hooked us up all the way and made the experience so much more awesome. Thank you!

And I also have to give a shout out to Jack our camera guy and and his crew. I’m sure it wasn’t easy living in a van with 12 loud, smelly girls (or 1 REALLY LOUD SMELLY girl from California and her friends).

Jack had an interesting vision for our pre-race group shot and I was vocal about pushing back on this idea. But, this is how it came out…(source: pixelwiremedia.com / rtbrelay.com)

When we last spoke I had just survived my 2am 8 miler in the pitch black and the rest of my van completed their runs.

From there we headed to the next transition area to try and get some sleep.

By this time the sun was out and it was hard to fall asleep, but we were all dragging. Some of us fell asleep.

Some of us had a giggle party on the roof of the van.

We ended up each staying in the seats we started in from the start of the race. Anne and I were in the back and cuddled.

I did fall asleep for a little bit here and then it was time to get up, get ready and fuel up! We headed to a local Dunkin Donuts for iced coffee. I ended up getting some donut holes for the van to share.

I was having major stomach issues though and realized donuts might not be a good idea. I went back and bought an egg sandwich. I also threw away the coffee because my stomach was a mess. Luckily, I packed Immodium and that helped a lot.

Before my last leg I figured I should eat something so I grabbed a banana. I was really afraid that I was going to have stomach problems on my run and there are NO BATHROOMS on the course and going out in a field or something is automatic disqualification.

We all seriously discussed what we would do if someone sht their pants. It was for real.

We waited for van 1’s last runner to bring it in at the transition area.

There she is!

Tina grabbed the snap bracelet and raced off super fast!

I was after her and basically just waited in the porta potty until it was my turn.

My last leg was 6.77 miles through a rural neighborhood. My legs were completely Dead from my “speed work” in the middle of the night. My quads felt super tight and I had gotten a BIG blister under my big toe on my first leg of the race (I was so scared during the night leg I forgot it hurt!).

My goal for the last leg was to 1.) Not poop my pants 2.) Run the whole thing

I told my team I ran my heart out the night before and wouldn’t be speedy for this last leg. I just enjoyed the scenery to distract myself from my screaming quads. Lucky for me houses on the east coast look different from California so I distracted myself by checking them out.

6.77 miles – Average pace 8:59

• Mile 1: 8:55
• Mile 2: 8:33
• Mile 3: 8:46
• Mile 4: 8:57
• Mile 5: 9:31
• Mile 6: 9:16
• .77: 8:58

I graded myself a “B” for this leg – any guess why?!

Scroll down to see the disgusting reason…

Handoff to Theodora!

Nothing particularly special about my last leg. I felt my blister get worse and worse until I just kind of embraced the pain as a distraction from my screaming quads. Then, I felt it POP! around mile 4. Yes, I felt it ooze and everything. It was disgusting.

When I was done I reluctantly took off my sock to reveal the damage.

So, my last leg gets a “B” for Blister.

After that I changed and breathed a big sigh of relief that my part was done and I could just enjoy the rest of the day!

We cheered on the rest of our team and got a third wind of energy!

I really loved being able to drive around Massachusetts too! I saw so many new places on this journey.(source: pixelwiremedia.com / rtbrelay.com)

During Anne’s leg…(source: pixelwiremedia.com / rtbrelay.com)

Apparently I ate this at some point too…

At a transition area waiting for Elizabeth…

Here we are waiting on the side of the road for our last runner Ashley to come by. There were so many gorgeous areas we ran through!

Finally we saw Ashley before her last push and headed to the beach to meet her there. It was amazing to finally REACH THE BEACH!

We all ran through the finish line together!

Team Off Balance!

What was super amazing about this team is that I didn’t know everyone before this race. It’s not like we’re all co-workers or old college roomies – half of these girls I had never met before. But, everyone really did work as a team. We became life long friends in 48 hours.

Right after our group shot van #2 headed straight to the food and beer tents. We were hungry and hadn’t had a real meal all day!

Running is such an individual sport, doing something like a relay completely changes the dynamic. I had the best time of my life!

Even though I almost had a panic attack on my night run, I would do this again in a second. I had so so so much fun.

Now I’m looking into other relays because I don’t want this fun running high feeling to end!

I loved being able to spend so much time with friends I don’t get to see that often.

I loved making new friends.

I loved running my heart out.

I loved seeing new parts of the United States I’ve never visited before – AND being able to run through them!

Every second I felt like I was on an ADVENTURE and I had a blast. I miss my friends – when is the next one girls?!

Related posts:

1. Reach the Beach Leg #2
2. Reach the Beach MA Leg 1
3. Long Beach Marathon Recap

How was your day?!

I’m finishing up my last relay post and wanted to check in with a food post. Remember when I said I was going to do a full day of eats in one post more often? Remember how I didn’t really do that because I’m not a special snowflake, I’m just a… flake?

Well, here it is.

I knew I had a lot of work to catch up since I had missed Thursday and Friday for the relay race so I skipped the gym and took a quick morning walk as exercise.

A quick breakfast was in order too – cereal…

eggs and lots o’ iced coffee.

Mid-morning I snacked on The Simply Bar. The company sent me a variety pack to try while I was gone. I love the nutrition stats on these – it’s hard to find 16g of protein for 160 calories.

I had to hit the store during lunch because we were out of fruit and veggies. I didn’t want to shop hungry so I grabbed a handful of nuts (TWSS!).

When I got back I threw together a quick salad and polished off the Manager’s Special watermelon find.

Midafternoon I was dragging and had another iced coffee with my PB&J.

I had one client at the gym tonight and snacked on some Pirate’s Booty and a few chips while making dinner.

I made Asian Slaw Salads with chicken. The big package of Slaw Mix with dressing, crunchies and almonds was on sale at the store. I mixed that up and topped it with chicken. Dineer is done.

I bought these Godiva pearls from the airport yesterday and they’re delicious. Super rich dark chocolate in a little ball – they’re like chocolate chips but more decadent.

I was hoping Ben would be down for some fro-yo but I think the chocolate will have to suffice as dessert tonight.

I’m finishing up my RTB post so you can all find out if I freaked out again on my last leg and peed myself. You’re welcome.

Related posts:

1. Monday’s Munchies
2. Fresh Ice Cream and Munchies
3. Margarita Mondays

Alternate title: Monica completely freaks out while running and embarrasses herself in front of her team and the camera guy.

Let me start from the beginning…

Since New Balance was sponsoring us and Reach the Beach works with them closely we had a camera guy with us all weekend. We did pre-interviews and pictures and he was filming the entire race. So he caught all the hand-offs, fun, excitement and of course the drama.

When we last spoke I had just run a super fast (for me) 7.5 miles,

and handed off the baton to Theodora

I was super pumped and crossed my first leg off the list. I decided to use a grading system for myself and each leg got a letter based on my performance. Leg #1 got a B+ because it I rocked it, but might not have run a smart race since I killed my quads.

After my leg I focused on cheering on the rest of the team.

I busted out the banana suit and we bumped “Call Me Maybe” to cheer on Anne.

It was SO MUCH FUN!

After our crappy dinner and sad attempt to sleep we were back in action. By this time it was around 2am and my turn to run next. I had 8 miles to run in the middle of the night. I was scared going into the night run, but planned to try and run as close as possible to the other runners. I had already told myself I would either speed up or slow down to stay with someone.

I was uneasy, but after watching Gretchen and Tina run their night legs I felt a little better since I saw people around them.

Finally it was my turn and Tina handed me the baton snap bracelet and I was off!

But, as soon as I turned the corner away from the transition area I turned onto a very dark street and didn’t see any other runners. I saw the Reach the Beach signs, but no fellow red blinking lights in the distance.

It was VERY DARK. This stretch of the race had no street lights because it was a forest-y area. I started to get scared and wasn’t sure what to do. I ran faster hoping I would catch a glimpse of another red light around the bend.

Nope. Nothing.

I felt like I was covered in a pitch black blanket and the only thing I could see was two feet of pavement in front of my feet courtesy of my hat lamp.

I was terrified of what was in all the darkness to my left and my right, but couldn’t look that way to check it out because I had to keep my eyes on the ground so I wouldn’t trip. Every time I heard a little noise I would whip my head toward it for a second only to be reminded my feet where running blind.

My van pulled up on the side of me less than a mile in and Monica asked, “How are you?”

I was freaking the fck out, but decided to keep the profanities to myself. I said, “It is pitch black, I can’t see any other runners! I’m scared!”

Apparently, one of the rules is you can’t drive alongside your runner so she couldn’t just flank me. She said she would drive up a little bit and check on me again.

As soon as the van pulled away I basically ran as fast as I could to it. They offered me another headlamp, but what I really needed was to not be alone in the dark by myself. I turned down the lamp and said, “I just want to see another runner!”

I should mention that I was on the passenger side of the van and the camera guy was taping all of this right at my eye level the entire time. I was talking past him to Monica, but I was basically losing my sht right into the camera. I didn’t care, I was convinced I was going to die out there.

The van drove up a ways and I sprinted to it again. At this point I had really gotten into my own head and kept hearing things in the bushes. I made up this story that someone had been waiting there to attack a solo runner all day. I overwhelmed myself with bad thoughts and couldn’t get into a positive place.

I ran to the van again and they had pulled over. Then, a banana hopped out and handed me water.

Monica had put on the banana suit!!! She could tell I was freaking out, but I had to keep going. She found a way to bring some humor to the situation and help me smile.

The van and the banana saved my life. They continued to stay close as I ran through the pitch black towards the van. The naner would hand me water and then drive off to the next stop. I was running WAY TOO FAST and I knew it, but I was so scared I couldn’t slow down. My heart was pounding out of my chest (both from running and being scared) and I knew I couldn’t maintain my pace, but I needed to get to the van!

Finally we came to an area with a cute downtown and streetlights. Thank God.

I felt a lot better and the van stayed with me until the last mile. They told me there was another runner a little bit behind me so I wasn’t alone and they had to get Theodora ready for her leg.

I didn’t see one single runner until after mile 7 when some guy sped past me. I’ve never been so happy to get road killed. Finally I turned the corner and saw the transition area. I made it! I didn’t die or cry or call Ben to come pick me up.

I ended up running super fast too! Fear makes you fast.

8 miles – 8:12 pace

• Mile 1: 8:26
• Mile 2: 7:30
• Mile 3: 7:32
• Mile 4: 8:34
• Mile 5: 8:11
• Mile 6: 8:35
• Mile 7: 8:28
• Mile 8: 8:16

I’m DONE! I was so happy to be done with that run, but I do feel stronger for going through that experience.

Once it was done I immediately felt kinda embarrassed about being so vocal about being scared. I’m usually pretty rough around the edges, but I did not try to down play or hide the fact that I was so scared.

I also felt like I was a hardship for the van and wanted to apologize to my team if I made this leg difficult, but they wouldn’t have it. They were beyond supportive and positive.

I got into the van after I was done, chugged water and said a little prayer.

Big big thank you to Monica for being the best banana ever.

After that the remaining 4 runners for this leg did great and it all went off without a hitch.

I gave myself a “D” for this leg. “D” for Dark that is – I’m super proud of how I ran and that I didn’t die.

On second thought, maybe that should be a “D” for Dramatic…

Question: What are you scared of?

Related posts:

1. Reach the Beach MA Leg 1
2. Long Beach Marathon Recap
3. Leaving Long Beach

Hello from the sky! I’m blogging on my way back to California. I’m still working on my 2nd Reach the Beach leg story, but wanted to check in for the day

After we reached the beach yesterday we headed back to the New Balance site where we first met up. It was very sad to say good bye to everyone.

Tina and I reluctantly gathered our stuff and went home for the night. (She was nice enough to let me crash at her place since I promised not to pee the bed this time.)

When we got there we were stinky, exhausted and hungry. After a shower and egg sandwich (courtesy of the lovely Mal) I hit the pillow harder than ever in my life. Sleeping is so good.

This morning I woke up on a mission.

That mission was to get Marylou’s iced coffee.

Since my legs are super tight from the whole “run, eat, sit in a van for hours, repeat” thing – I suggested we walked to the closest Marylou’s to shakeout our legs. It was only about 1.5 miles away, but I would have walked 26 miles to get to it.

I ordered the last one without sugar or cream, but it was still suspiciously sweet (and delicious) so this time I investigated further.

Yes, many of the iced coffees do have sugar already in them. They are made with Swiss Miss hot cocoa mix that has sugar (in the form of HFCS). I don’t think it’s a lot, so it’s not the end of the world.

Luckily, I am willing to be world’s most embarrassing dining patron because I was able to find out that the Mudslide does not have the Swiss Miss mix. The girl at the counter wouldn’t give me the secret recipe though, so I am considering moving to MA just to get a job at Marylou’s and find out all the secrets. Hopefully Mal and Tina won’t mind a long term roomie?!

It was amazing and I drank it in peace.

After our walk-a-do we went back to Tina’s for breakfast. She offered to make Oh My God Pancakes! (Which have an alarming name when you’re not ready for what you host is offering.)

Yes, please!

I topped my ‘cakes with Justin’s Honey Almond Butter and Jam.

Then, it was time to blog and play catch up. Apparently living out of a van for 30 hours really makes the emails pile up!

We worked away until lunch time when I may or may not have begged for Whole Foods salad bar. After eating nothing but bagels, pita chips and PB pretzels for 30 hours during the relay I wanted some greens.

The weather is absolute perfection so we ate outside.

After lunch Murphy offered to take me on a walking tour of his neighborhood. Being a polite guest, I kindly accepted.

It was great to walk and see all his favorite pee spots.

After about 286 stops he showed me how nice it is to lay your belly on the shady parts of the street. I tried it too, but Tina refused to take a picture of me.

Sadly, it was soon time for me to leave and head to the airport.

Since I am constantly thinking about food I had the foresight to buy a turkey sandwich and blueberries from Whole Foods. This will be dinner since I’m on a 5.5 hour flight!

The rest of my snacks are a NRG bar and my famous Kashi trail mix if I need it.

Updated to add: That sandwich was AMAZING. There were pecans and pieces of cranberry in the bread. Delicious.

The flight attendant just came around with snacks and I’m enjoying some chocolate chip cookies for dessert.

I’m fading fast, but will try to put together the rest of my Reach the Beach posts on this flight if I don’t fall asleep.

Sunday Set Up:

Exercise:

• Monday: Strength, Abs
• Tuesday: Speed (if my toe feels better)
• Wednesday: Mid-length
• Thursday: Yoga
• Friday: 4 miles and abs
• Saturday: LR

Dinners:

• Monday: Veggie burgers or frozen meal (I have no idea if there is food at home)
• Tuesday: Grilled chicken and sweet potato
• Wednesday: Chicken salads
• Thursday: Egg salad sandwiches
• Friday: Homemade pizza

Question: What was the highlight of your weekend?

My entire weekend was one big yellow highlighter

Related posts:

1. Flights and flights
2. Sunday Set Up
3. Cereal Sunday or Serial Sunday…

Team Off Balance made it to the beach!

Hello everyone! I survived my first relay race, but barely. It was the most epic adventure I’ve ever been on and I loved it!

Each leg of the race was very different so I’m going to post each one individually. (I posted about my first leg in my previous post, but it was from the van and I want to remember all of it here.)

After we left the start van 2 relaxed and waited for our turn.

We piled into our decorated van and just laid low for a while.

Then, we headed to the first transition early to cheer on the other runners and wait for our first runner to go.

New Balance even had someone drive the van for us. Monica turned out to be our driver/coach/life saver. Seriously. She completely made the weekend for us. She took care of all the worry and directed us to the where, when, why, how of everything. She was the 7th member of our team and AMAZING.

We started our first leg at 4pm. Tina went first and I was after her. After she was off and running we met her half way for water and support and then headed to my hand off area.

My first leg was 7.58 miles. It had a lot of downhill, but one super huge hill that killed my quads. I flew down the first hill and did 7:09 my first mile of my first leg!

Yeah, that’s not smart. I had 21 miles to go for the weekend and that’s faster than I’ve run in my life.

(source: Ashley)

Related posts:

1. What a Beach
2. 11 Mile Run in Long Beach
3. Laguna Beach Wine Tasting

This ish is bananas.

This morning we fueled up for our epic 200 mile relay race.

We stayed at the Wachusett Inn. Tina, Theodora , Anne and I had this little cottage to ourselves.

Team Off Balance!

Reach the Beach runs a tight ship. We had 4 steps to complete before we could get to the Starting Line.

After hitting all the bases we took one last group picture before splitting up in our 2 vans.

Each van has 6 runners for 12 team members that run 3 legs each. The legs are all different. Our team captain (Tina) threw me under the bus and gave me 7.53 miles, 8 something miles and 7 something miles.

I’m in van #2 with

Tina from Carrots n Cake

Me from my mom’s belly

Theodora from Losing Weight in the City

Elizabeth from On Tap For Today

Anne from Fannetastic Food

Ashley from Healthy Happier Bear

Van #1:

Sarah Dussault ‏ @DietSarah

Bridget M ‏ @YogurtBerries

Run Foodie Run ‏ @run_foodie_run

Melissa ‏ @fitnessnycblog

Gretchen ‏ @shrinkinggretch

FitChickinTheCity ‏ @FitChickNYC

Since we had to wait until runner #7’s turn we had until 4:30pm to wait around. We decided to wait in a beautiful park.

On our drive to the transition area we stumbled upon a Dunkin Donuts!

Forced awkward team pose that has turned into an inside joke.

Even though I wanted to nap I had to have one because it keeps you running.

No cup holders no problem.

We ate lunch at Panera around 1pm.

After waiting and sunning (I hid in the van thankyouverymuch) it was finally time for Tina to go!

Sarah rocked it and handed off to Tina!

I was right after her and super nervous because it was building up all day!

I was very nervous that I was going to get lost. The direction signs look like this. They are posted fairly often, but it’s not at all the same as running the usual road race where you are surrounded my people and the roads are closed.

My first leg wasn’t until 5pm so I tried to do the same things I did for the Las Vegas race which included a salty soft pretzel. Today it was half a salt bagel instead.

And half a blueberry one because Ashley brought them from New York and I had to.

Finally it was my turn to run! The first 4 miles were down hill except one RIDICULOUS HILL. It killed my quads and I was spend for the rest of the run.  I ended up putting the team ahead 5 minutes from our estimated time though! I rocked it.

But, I left A LOT out there and now I’m worried I didn’t leave enough in the tank for the next 2 legs!

7.53 miles 8:20 pace

This ish is bananas.

Related posts:

1. Run 12/9/2008
2. Go Bananas!!!
3. Apple Bananas

Hello from Boston! This CA girl feels like she’s jet-lagged and on the other side of the world. But, I am running off adrenaline and have a ton to share about today!

New Balance was very generous and is sponsoring our Reach the Beach team. Hence our name – Off Balance!

Our company contact organized a day of pre-race fun so we met in Boston for lunch and van decorating.

There were a bunch of different lunch bags and we chose based on names. I picked the Farmer’s Market with Turkey.

It was a wrap filled with turkey, cheese and a bunch of veggies – including edamame!

We’re not done with the van decorating just yet. More to come

Then we piled into the van and headed to the New Balance factory.

There is a camera crew following us around all weekend, so that’s kinda fancy huh?!

I grew up in a family where I was taught the importance of buying American. So, I really love that New Balance is the only athletic shoe manufactured in the US. 25% of their shoes are made in the US. That accounts for over 2000 jobs!

We got a tour of the manufacturing floor.

We saw how the shoes are made from cutting the leather uppers…

and getting the layers added

To getting sewn into shape

Then we headed to talk to their Biomechanics experts

The group split up into 3 and we got a ton of great information on how they study biomechanics and shoes. (It’s Sarah Fit!)

The Smash Lab tests things like how much cushion a certain foam has…

and how quickly a shoe wears.

They lab had competitor shoes to test too. I think Theodora wishes this was a banana.

We all got the chance to run on a treadmill and watch our gait.

Mid-day snacks. That green cookie is pistachio…

Jenny Simpson!

Shoes shoes shoes shoes shoes

After the tour we headed to Watchusett (where the race begins). It was a drive that required snacks. Good and bad.

We just got back from a team dinner and photo shoot!

I’m dying of tired-ness (yes, that’s a word). Good night!

Related posts:

1. It’s All About Balance
2. Los Olivos Wine Tour
3. My Holiday Balance