Keep your face always toward the sunshine and shadows will fall behind you. – Walt Whitman
Sunshine! How I have missed it! This week brought warm temperatures and cloudless skies to Vermont (okay and rain, but happily it only seemed to rain at night). I got out for some lovely runs by the lake and on the cross-country ski trails nearby. I’m sure even with sunscreen my sports bra tan line is already well on its way for the coming summer, ha!
Since I’m loving this warmer weather and the prospect of summer in the near future, I figured I’d share the positive vibes with a High Five Friday, linking up with Angela.
FIVE FROM INSTAGRAM
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Look at how happy I am to be running by the water in the sun! Getting outdoors and having a beautiful view makes any run better, no matter how tough it is physically. This run felt great – I’m trying to build my weekly mileage up because I just recently remembered I’m signed up for the Covered Bridges Half Marathon at the beginning of June! (Incidentally, that race was the first half marathon I ever ran.)
I took my time stretching out after a run a couple of days later, because I was just so grateful to be outside and warm and comfortable in a tank and shorts! While I enjoy running in the winter, it takes at least half a mile for me to get accustomed to the cold (not to mention takes about 10 minutes longer to get ready thanks to all the layers). Warm weather running is just so much simpler.
Part (yes, only part!) of my Spandits collection. I tried to reorganize my workout gear now the weather is warmer and it hadn’t realized just how many pairs of Spandits I have! 🙂 Right now they’re running a promotion where you get $10 off when you spend $50 or more (until April 30th).
6 miles down by the lake at a good long run pace for me. I’ve just started a training plan I wrote for myself – I’m not sure how religiously I will be able to follow it, but having a plan is totally necessary for me.
Can you believe my sweet little baby Tanner is about to turn 2 years old on Sunday? He’s such a happy little laid back baby. I mean, I guess I should be saying toddler or boy by now, but he’ll always be my little baby! (sniff, sniff)
FIVE FUN THINGS
For a while Tanner was going through a banana phase where it was his favorite food on earth so I was stocked appropriately. Then of course, he suddenly switched to not wanting to have anything to do with bananas and I had a ton of them going bad. So Roman and I made banana bread together and it was SO yummy. I used this recipe, doubled the quantities and made two loaves.
What’s fun about the age Roman is now is that I can start introducing him to favorite movies from my childhood and I get to see him experience them for the first time. This week we watched Labyrinth and this went down:
He keeps me on my toes, the little monkey!
The trails around here are not very technical, so they’ve been great for someone like me who’s definitely a road runner interested in trail running. But this week I had a little taste of trail running for real, when I set out on a run and found the path I was following had been overrun by the Winooski River (we’ve had a lot of rain recently). Rather than turn back and head back to road running, I decided to make my way over to where I knew another trail met the path I was on…only to find myself well and truly surrounded by water. A bit of log balancing ensued, until I realized I’d have to suck it up and did about half a mile of running through the water. But guess what? It was so much fun.
If you’re Australian, or have ever visited Australia, or been friends with an Aussie, you might know the significance of Tim Tams. They are like the Oreo’s of my country – totally a national institution and so ridiculously delicious. But they’re not available here in the US…or they weren’t! Until I came across this awesome sight in my local grocery store. I think they’re yummiest kept in the fridge and there’s also an Aussie custom of biting off each end, then dunking it in your tea or coffee and essentially using the Tim Tam as a straw. Yes, that’s gross. Yet delicious.
Side note: I’m proud to say I bought a package of these on Monday and we still have some left, despite both my boys being just as much a chocolate monster as their mama! 😉
And speaking of coffee…it’s never too late to go after your dreams!
FIVE GREAT READS
Okay I’m amending this to five great reads and videos this week! Mainly because this video of the last finisher at the Rotterdam Marathon made me all weepy with how much running seems to bring out the best in people. This woman was treated like the rock star she is for finishing a freaking marathon!
What I can’t work out is why the last finisher ran such a fast time. I know the NYC Marathon has a time limit of 6:30, but I also know there are tons of people who refuse to be swept and end up finishing way past that cut-off time. This just seems fast for the very-back-of-the packer.
I thought this article about weight set point from Elle Penner, the RD for My Fitness Pal, was fascinating. Weight loss is so often seen as such a black and white, scientific pursuit. Calories in, calories used, weight loss/gain/maintenance. But of course the human body isn’t quite that simple.
You may have heard of black bean brownies – using black beans as a way of increasing the fiber of brownies without sacrificing chocolatey taste. But this was a new concept for me – check out this recipe for butter bean blondies from Snacking in Sneakers. I will totally try this, I love blondies and I’m always curious to see if the healthy recipes can pass for the real deal.
I loved the article Jess from Race Pace Jess wrote for Shape Magazine, on the importance of mental training for runners. This is one of the most crucial parts of training for a successful race outcome and it’s so often overlooked by runners.
And I can’t let today’s High Five Friday go by without mentioning what a huge running day Monday is…Boston Marathon, baby! Here are some of the great Boston posts I’ve been reading lately (and yes, that means I’m cheating on the whole “5” theme, but I think you’ll forgive me!):
The Importance of Running a BQ – SuzLyfe
Why The Boston Marathon is Special to Me – Marcia’s Healthy Slice
Thoughts on The Boston Marathon – Happy Fit Mama
Getting Real. PTSD and the Boston Marathon. It never goes away – Organic Runner Mom
This one is not an article, but this company’s jewelry popped up on Facebook as an ad for me (damn those algorithms are good, aren’t they?) and I thought these marathon necklaces from RunInk would be beautiful mementos for Boston finishers.
What do you do with your old bananas? (Confession: I usually toss them)
Is qualifying for or running Boston something you want to do?
What’s one of your favorite movies from childhood?
I freeze my old bananas–that is actually the only way that I really like them, other than to make them into bread! It is like a little sweet treat–just a bite when I need a boost or something sweet.
Thank you so much for including my post on running a BQ. Whether we are “fast” or not, we are all awesome runners!
My “baby” is 11 now and I still think of her as my baby. That’s how it goes. My old bananas get frozen and made into banana bread or thrown in a smoothie. Thanks so much for giving my Boston Marathon post a shout out! xo