philadelphia half marathon: rothman 8K + expo (sat)

I left Boston on the Amtrak at 9:30pm on Friday and arrived in Philadelphia on Saturday morning at 4:30am. I met up with my friend, Rha, at the train station and we cabbed it to my sister's apartment. I was rushing to finish my Corporations take home final (please don't ask why I was STILL working on it on Saturday morning) so that I could go watch the Rothman Institute's 8K!

This was Rha's first race! How exciting! She did an awesome job. Hopefully we can trick her into running more races in the future.

Afterwards we hit up the expo and got lots of free stuff (obviously). I love free water bottles, chapstick, and Geico gecko masks. What I don't love (but still take anyway because I have a free stuff problem) are 5 hour energy bottles, grocery bags, and bandaids.

I tried to find a long sleeve t shirt to wear during the race, but no such luck. I couldn't find any that I liked (this turned out not to be a problem because apparently I get hot when it's 45 degrees out and like to run almost naked).

not free stuff :-(

After the expo, I took a nap while Ashley and Rha went on a hunt for Philly cheesesteaks. My friend Irene met us later on, where we carbo-loaded at Panini Trattoria in Old City. There was free sangria! but there may have also been a food poisoning incident, so if you go there, maybe you should order something that does not involve salmon. Aside from the poisoned salmon (which I fortunately did not try), I thought the pasta was quite delicious.

Next up: race morning!

spoiler: philadelphia half marathon

Yes I know it has been awhile since I last posted, but guess what. Last Sunday I ran the Philadelphia Half Marathon!! This has been a goal one year in the making and I finished in 2:27:54! and I didn't die (although at one point I thought my legs were going to fall off).

I'll post a full recap soon. I'm on vacation in California so I have plenty of free time. In other news, I'm running a turkey trot tomorrow for Thanksgiving!

ghetto guacamole

I love avocados. And I love guacamole. Who doesn't?

However, I hate chopping vegetables...especially onions and tomatoes. I don't think I am doing it right because sometimes when I try to chop an onion, it gets really awkward. One of these days I might accidentally chop off a finger (which has actually almost happened...but with an avocado. I shanked myself and had to go to the ER for 10 hours. I still blame this entire situation on the fact that I tried to go vegetarian 3 days a week)

Anyways, so now I make this ghetto guacamole. All you have to do is mash an avocado with 2 scoops of salsa, a squeeze of lemon juice, and some adobo seasoning. Easy, done, no chopping required.

half marathon training: week 9

I missed my long run this week. I blame an extremely unproductive day in the library. Which means I need to make it up on Tuesday morning. Not fun.

Here's a photo I took from my unproductive desk during my unproductive day in the library. It is possible that my unproductiveness stemmed from staring out the window all day.

I did get a chance to go the John Adams Courthouse this past week to listen to oral arguments. The John Adams Courthouse houses the Massachusetts Appeals Court, as well as the Supreme Judicial Court. And it is super pretty.

In other news, I'm going to Ithaca next weekend to visit my friend Ranwei and do some fall activities!  I plan to do some leaf peeping, farm animal petting, and pumpkin picking. I'll have to sneak a long run in while I am there. i'm going to force her to come with me (she doesn't know yet).

Half Marathon Training Plan: Week 9 (Oct 15-21)
Monday: rest day!
Tuesday: 10.5-11 mile run (long run)
Wednesday: 25 min run or cross train
Thursday: 60 min run
Friday: 45 min easy run
Saturday or Sunday: 11-12 mile run (long run)

Do I have time to go on all these runs? I am not sure.

10 miles + half marathon training: week 8

I ran my very first double digit training run today! 10 miles! Well, I wouldn't exactly call it a run. By the end, it was more like a crawl. Towards the end of my run, I had a 13+ minute split (you can see all my splits under the half marathon training plan tab). What I did was...I ran the Tufts 10K for Women and then ran the 3.8 miles home. I would not recommend running a race, taking a 1 hour break, and then running some more. During my run home, my legs got really sore...really fast (hence the crawl).

Long sleeve tech tees! My favorite. This was a great race. First of all, it's FLAT. Second, it goes through Boston and along Memorial Drive in Cambridge. I love Boston races and I love racing on my normal running routes. One gripe: While waiting at the start, every 10 seconds the announcer would yell out "AM I GOING TO SEE YOU AT THE FINISH." Yes lady, if all goes as planned, you will be seeing me at the finish. That's the goal here.

This past weekend, I also made some pumpkins muffins!

I am trying to use up the things in my pantry so I made these with Trader Joes Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix.

But I have a GREAT pumpkin muffin recipe that can be found here. It's better than the Trader Joes mix and takes about the same amount of time to prepare. Also, please note at how much better my photos are looking! I got the iPhone 5 and the camera is amazing! So much better than the one on my iPhone 3.

Let's see if I'll stick to this week's training plan. I didn't do such a great job last week...

Half Marathon Training Plan: Week 8 (Oct 8-15)
Monday: 10 mile run (Tufts 10K for Women + 3.8 mile run)
Tuesday: rest day!
Wednesday: 20 min cross train or easy run
Thursday: 60 min run
Friday: rest day!
Saturday: 25 min run or cross train
Sunday: 2 hour easy run (I'm going 10.5-11 miles!)

half marathon training recap by the numbers + week 7

1/2 of 1/2 Marathon training is over. Here's a recap by the numbers:

Total miles run: 79.22
Longest run: 8.7
Shortest run: 1.75
Slowest average pace: 13:20
Fastest average pace: 9:37
Workouts skipped: 6 (ugh)

I've been skipping a lot of workouts lately or punking out during them. Last week I was supposed to do a 4 mile track workout. I ran .75 miles then sat down on a bench. I eventually got up and managed to eek out 2.25 miles with a lot of walking in between. #workoutfail.

For the next 6 weeks of training, I'm going to focus on running more...running more times a week and hitting all my workouts on the day they are scheduled. For Week 7, I have 4 runs and 2 gym classes scheduled...and I am determined to do all of them! Even if life tries to get in the way.

Also, no long run this week because it's a long weekend and I am running the Tufts 10K for Women on Columbus Day! It's a 10K, but I plan on running the race and then running home along the Charles for a total of 10 miles.

Half Marathon Training Plan: Week 7 (Oct 1 - 7)
Monday: 60 min run
Tuesday: 25 min easy run or cross train (I want to go to Total Body Sculpt at the gym)
Wednesday: 50 min run - 3 min hard, 3 min easy. Repeat 4x.
Thursday: rest day!
Friday: Yoga + 45 min easy run
Saturday: 55 min hilly run - 15 min easy, 20 min tempo, 15 min easy
Sunday: rest day!

nutella swirled peanut butter banana muffins

My sister and her friend Dora recently made these. They asked if I would post this on my blog. Quotes from them include "delicious" and "it smelled so good while baking." I happen to be obsessed with bananas and peanut butter these days, so maybe I will make some muffins this weekend!

Nutella Swirled Peanut Butter Banana Muffins
Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas, mashed
1/2 cup of creamy peanut butter (may I suggest some Justin's Nut Butter...the Honey Peanut Butter flavor)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/5 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup Reese's mini cups or 3/4 cup chopped regular sized Reese's
1/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 heaping tablespoons Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Put muffin cups into the muffin tins.

Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, whisk together bananas, peanut butter, oil, egg, and sugars.

Pour dry ingredients into wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Batter will be very thick. Do not over mix. Fold in Reese's and chocolate chips. Pour batter into muffin tin.

Drop a small scoop of Nutella (or Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter...yes I am obsessed with Justin's) on top of each muffin. Swirl with a knife.

Bake for about 15-18 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes clean.