Thanksgiving at Kiawah

The past six months have been CRAZY!  A new job and a new home have taken all of my time and energy.  After a fabulous week off, I was inspired to get back to blogging.

For the past 20+ years,  my siblings and I have made an effort to spend Thanksgiving together.  There are 5 of us and 13 nieces and nephews.  We don't all make it every year, but our track record is solid.

This year we met on Kiawah Island, South Carolina.  We rented a house large enough for all of us to share. Sharing a house is the way to go because all of unplanned moments make the best memories. Our holiday included...

BAKING

My sister is the best event organizer!  This year she planned a cookie bar baking contest.  Each team of two finds and executes a recipe of their choice in hopes of winning the title of the best.  This year's winner was a Rocky Road brownie.  The girls used their brains and their cooking skills to win.  (They knew one of the judges loved rocky road). The other entries included: Monster Cookie Bar, Raspberry Oatmeal Bar, Fluffernutter Bar, Peppermint Brownie and a Strawberry Cheesecake Bar.

RUNNING

Each year we also run in the local Turkey Day Run on Thanksgiving morning.  We have done this race for the past three years and it is a family favorite. It was a chilly day with wind and temp in the 30s.

This must also be a favorite of the band KISS
because I saw them last year too!  They complete the race in full stage attire and aren't shy about posing for photos.

The race runs through historic downtown Charleston and is a scenic course.

St. Michael's Church

The Battery

King Street

Start and Finish line at Marion Square

The long sleeved race t is a good one.

EATING

Our trip to Charleston always includes another much loved  spot - Cupcake! on King Street

BEACH

There was a sandcastle contest on the beach at Kiawah and here are some of the creations.

The dragon in the top left was the winner and the castle from Tangled in the top right also placed.

DISC GOLF

BIKING

Caravan of eight

I just love spending time with my family and am already looking forward to next year.

Hope you had a relaxing holiday with some good food.

Goofy Challenge Race Recap

The weekend I had been thinking worrying and training about for months finally arrived and it was all worth it!

Half Marathon
Although the Disney World Marathon weekend is scheduled for the coldest weekend in January (historically) this year was an exception. Not what I wanted for running long distances, but it could have been worse.  Morning temps were in the upper 50s and warmed up to mid 70s.   Because we start so damn early, we run a good portion of the race in the dark which helps on warm days like this.

I don't know if it's the starting time, 5:30am, the number of runners 24,000 for the half and more for the marathon, or the distance you have to walk to the starting line, 20 min walk, but you have to get up so early for these races!  We had a 2:30am wake up time with the goal of leaving the house by 3:05am in an effort to get to the parks by 3:30am and beat the traffic.  The pre-race traffic jam stresses me out and I would rather have a calmer start to the day so it's worth it to get up 30 minutes earlier.

There are many opportunities to run half marathons and marathons, but only one place where you can stop along the way and get photos with all the characters you grew up with. Our goal for this race was to take it easy and take lots of pictures and that's just what we did.

The Mary Poppins pic is my favorite! 

We finished the race in 2:23:46 with one-third of the challenge completed. Then we headed back home to refuel, relax and get ready for tomorrow's race.

Marathon

Waking up at 2:30am for the second night in a row wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but it did make me think of the movie Groundhog Day.  Using the same routine, we got to Epcot without too much trouble, but the crowd arrived earlier today.  The big change we made was to head out to the starting line as soon as they opened the chutes.  It was so much better than the giant crowd were  wedged into the day before during the walk out.

Our plan today was to run-walk in 4:1 intervals, take more photos and enjoy the race. The first walk break always feels awkward, because you don't need it then and everyone is hustling past you. We pretty much stuck to that schedule except for photo and bathroom breaks until later in the race when we walked more than ran. 

We didn't want to kill ourselves to finish with a great time.  It was a relief to not worry about the time, something I am not used to, but very freeing. Unlike yesterday, I brought some extra food with me to eat later on in the race. Consuming only Powerade and water for that many miles is not enough for me and I am not a GU person.  I packed Honey Stingers, a Cliff Crunch and some pretzels. 

  

                                                             

The villains photo is my favorite from this day! Gaston cracked me up.

Belle looks sweet, but I think she woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning, because she was a little abrupt.  Not very Belle like.

   

Because this was the 20th anniversary of the marathon there were some special happenings at mile 20. My photos don't do it justice.  It was refreshing to have a little excitement at the point in the race you really wish you were closer to the finish line than you are.  

I was very hot and tired by the time we crossed the finish line in 5:31:29.  

We met our goal and completed the Goofy Challenge!  I can't believe I ran 39.3 miles in two days. It was not easy and it took many hours of training, but I'm glad I did it and I'm glad its over. It is definitely a crazy thing to do, but it is such a big deal during this weekend that you feel like a celebrity when people see your Goofy bib and share words of encouragement.

It was an experience I will never forget!

Gearing Up for Goofy

Only 8 days until the Goofy Challenge begins!  I am both nervous and excited.

This will be my second time running a marathon, but that does not make me feel any more prepared because the first one was exhausting and I didn't run a half marathon the day before.  In fact, I remember saying to myself that day that I couldn't imagine running those distances in back to back days.  Yet, here I am about to do that exact thing. Why did I think this was a good idea?  I wanted to challenge myself to see if I could.

 Next Saturday I will run the half marathon and on Sunday I will run the marathon at Disney World. Although this will be my longest distance race, my training plan is not more demanding than my marathon training 2 years ago.  The biggest difference has been the addition of two long runs on back to back days.  Other than that, I have only been running two days a week for 30-45 minutes.  It doesn't seem like enough, but I am trusting the plan. After all it is from Jeff Galloway who knows a thing or two about running.  My goal is not to PR both races but to finish them in an upright position.

I plan to take it easy on the half and enjoy the run and then run a 3:1 run/walk ratio for the full. I just want to finish!

My husband (dessert man) and I will be running this race together.  It will be nice to share the experience and encourage each other along when the going gets tough.  

Right now, the weather forecast is not ideal, but that can change.

I will run 7 miles tomorrow and then a couple 30 min runs next week and that is it!

Other than that, I need to decide what to wear and what to eat on those days and prepare ahead of time anything I can.  I don't think we're going to feel like doing a lot of cooking that weekend.  

We have been planning this race since April and I don't wan't anything to get in our way of finishing it when we are this close.

Turkey Day Run with the Family

For the second year is a row my family spent Thanksgiving in the Charleston, SC area which included running the Thanksgiving Day 5K again as well!  We loved the race last year and this one was just as fun.

My brother and his family, my sister, my children and me

Held in downtown, historic Charleston, this race has a scenic course and a great after party at Marion Square which includes fresh Krispy Kreme doughnuts, a beer garden, live music, Mr. Pig from Piggly Wiggly and  Mr. Turkey.  We enjoyed all of these amenities!

 Mr. Turkey

Every year the race gets larger - 6,000 runners for this one.  Even though it is a run for everyone, they do have timing chips and prizes for the fastest.  The majority of the field is casual runners with dogs and strollers - very family oriented.

The results are posted right away and they give you cool information like this:

We had walkers, some, more serious runners and a few run/walkers in our group.  It is so much fun, that no one wanted to miss it even if running isn't their thing. My daughter Cate even ran a PR!  I ran/walked this one with my other two children.

Me and my children 

The race starts and ends at Marion Square and takes you down to The Battery (waterfront).  It was a cold sunny morning, but we warmed up once we got moving.

The Battery

We saw these two in full costume including platform boots- Who knew they were runners? 

The only time the race felt crowded, was at the after party, but people didn't stay long (I guess they had food to cook or something).  They served my favorite beer (or the athletic beer as my sister says) Michelob Ultra.  Most of us gobbled up a doughnut either before or after the race except for my sister-in-law who didn't get one because the person in line in front of her got the LAST one.  I guess that has to happen to someone, but what a bummer!

My sister and brother and me

I am voting that we return to Charleston next year too and make this run a regular event!

Loving my Body Media

About two months ago I shared my yearning for the Body Media.  As far as I was concerned it was the answer to my fitness and nutrition needs - period!

My sister bought one soon afterwards and fueled my fire by taunting me with texts of calories burning updates and excitement for her new gadget.  I think my husband got tired of hearing me talk about it non stop so he gave me one for Father's Day.  A little unusual, but very much appreciated.  Don't worry, he got something wonderful for Father's Day too.

This device is fabulous!! It keeps track of almost everything from calories burned, steps taken, minutes of activity and even sleep efficiency. After setting up my target numbers for each area, the only thing I have to enter on a regular basis is what I eat.

Each area tracked can be looked at in detail. For Calories Burned you can see how many you burn during a workout and also see what the afterburn for that exercise is too.  The tall blue lines on the left represent my morning run. 

Every day I need to enter what I am eating so I can track the calories I am consuming and also see how nutritional my food intake is or isn't. I wish I could just take a photo of my food and it would calculate it for me.  This is the part I like least.

By looking at the whole day I can see when I move the most.  I am basically a slug at work, chained to my desk, but move more when not working.  (Is that a good enough reason to stop working?)

I used to use a pedometer before I got the Body Media and this next screen keeps tracks of how many steps I take and when I take them

My target number for sleep is 8 hours.  I've found that I usually sleep about 7 hours a night, but my sleep efficiency is about 85%.  It shows me when I am really sleeping or when I am just lying there.  I have no memory of some of these light gray bands in the middle of night that show I was not sleeping. I thought I was sleeping.

In this example I slept for 9 hours and 12 minutes but my sleep efficiency was only 77%.  This part is particularly interesting because I've never had this information about myself before.

When first using the Body Media I just collected information on my usual exercise and eating habits before trying to lose weight.  I wanted to see where I needed to improve.  I found that I am not very consistent.  I like to eat a variety of foods including sweets and have days where I eat more than others. Over a period of a week I ended up being even in my calories in and calories out, but that doesn't lead to weight loss.  

I set my goal to burn 500 more calories than I ate each day so I could lose 1 pound a week.  I have not been perfect, but have lost 4.8 pounds. Unfortunately, just wearing the device does not lead to weight loss, you have to work at it.  (which I don't feel like doing right now) But if you are dedicated to losing, it sure gives you all the information you need to make it happen.

I wear my arm band everyday and I don't even notice it.  I take it off when I swim or shower, but other than that, its pretty much on.  I  just got an extra band, because it does get stinky and sweaty, so now I have one for exercise and one for other times.

I bought mine on Amazon and I also got the display too.  The display gives you real time updates on calories and steps, but connecting the device to my computer once a day has been enough for me.You really don't need to spend the extra money.  I plan on selling my display. 

If having all this information about yourself sounds exciting, this might be the gear you need.

I am so glad I got one!

Cool Finds

Here are some of the latest things I've been playing with...







1. I found this site where you can spell any word using photos of letters. The possibilities are endless. Try it, its fun!


2. I added a new song to my running playlist, Wild Ones by Flo Rida . I usually listen to books or podcasts, but I like to change it up with music to keep me motivated. I first heard this song on a wild animal segment on the Today show and it stuck in my head.

3.  Cate @ Good For You Blog introduced me to the Fooducate Blog. I use the app, but didn't know there was a blog        too.  The posts are short, but give great info about making healthy choices in the grocery store and it is all designed to help us eat a bit better. The app can be found here and its FREE! You scan an item you want to buy and it tell's you     how good for you it is and suggests similar products that may be better for you.





4.  Pick Your Plum - Every weekday at 9am Eastern time this site has a deal of the day.  They offer a limited quantity at a great price until they sell out.  I have my phone set to remind me to check it.  Many of the items are craft or baking      related but they have quite a variety.  I have bought, push up pops, craft twine, cupcake wrappers, washi tape, etc...


5. For any of you that used to use the site Picknik to edit your photos, I have found an even better one and its all free.  PicMonkey is so easy to use and you can add text, clip art, make collages and more. 




Thanks for stopping by,