Friday Five

Good morning it is FRIDAY!!!!!!!

We are headed to Columbus for the weekend to spend with our good friend Lori! We miss here and want to hang out with her , oh and she is wanting to cook for us Easter dinner! Well of course we said yes!

It seems like forever since I have posted some good posts. I will get back into the swing of things, I promise...pinky swear!
In the meantime enjoy my Friday Five~

1. I am on rest week this week due to some right knee/leg irritation. I am not sure what caused it. Last weekend on Saturday  I did 2 miles speed work in 18 minutes (fast for me) then met Carri for 3 miles of some trail running. On Sunday Michael and I ran almost 9 miles at a good pace of 10:30ish. I felt good afterwards but not sure what I did. It is feeling better and hoping to run this weekend while at Lori's. I saw this on my speed work run Sat.

2. Saturday night we celebrated Terri's birthday with her daughter and family. It was a good time of steak chili and cards! Damn that Shanghai....you get me every time.

3. I know everyone has their views and opinions but I stand for equality. Everyone deserves the same rights.

4.I still have to post about my 15K Shamrock races from St. Patrick's Day. Here is a cute to get you through till that post. Yep that is me peaking out of the crowd to wave to Terri!

5. My nephew Nick is in Fort Benning GA in Army basic training . He is due to graduate May 2. Mys sister and I are road tripping to GA for a week. Sister time!! I am excited. Now we will have Noah who is 17 with us but he will just have to endure us sisters!
This picture has nothing to do with my nephews but just a candid pic of Puma being cute.

Have a great weekend and Happy Easter to all!!

Before and After

What a difference about 70lbs can make. I feel much healthier and stronger. I still sometimes see the before picture of me in the mirror but I know in time that will change.
One step at a time.

Stride box Review

I signed up for my first subscription box. I was very excited and intrigued to try one out. When I saw they came out with Stridebox I knew I found the one I wanted to try. A box made just for runners ! I chose the $15/month subscription. They also offer gift boxes and one time purchases.

I can tell you I was like a kid a Christmas waiting for my first Stridebox to arrive!
It came , it came!!

Here is the March StrideBox

Here is a nice breakdown of what is in the box:

Given Brand Wrist Wallet -$10.95
PowerICE- $8.99/6 ice bars
PickyBars- $22.99/10 bars
Click Espresso Protein Drink- $2.95/packet
Kind Bar- $1.99/bar
GU Energy Gel- $11.60/8 gels
Run Guard-$3.95/travel size
Win Sport Detergent- $1.00 trial size

Wow, quite a deal for $15

My thoughts:
I was and still am excited to try some new products. Several items I have seen or heard about and never had a chance to try- Click, Win Sport detergent and the Peanut Butter GU. Items that are interesting is the PoweICE-will be good come summer time for refreshing replenish! The big item in the box would probably be the Given Wrist Wallet- seems like a cool idea but already tried on the wallet and it is big on my wrist. I have small girlie wrists. I will still give it a trial run!
Overall I am very happy with my first StrideBox and look forward to more to come. What a neat idea to try products to see if you like them before buying them in larger quantity. I am one happy runner with StrideBox!

Disclaimer- The links to the different product websites were done by me. I received no compensation for this  review. The views and thoughts are my own.

Picky bars

A While ago I won a giveaway hosted by Callie at thewannabeathlete. Thanks Callie for the giveaway and the chance for me to try these bars.

In the mail I received 4 bars ...for me!!!

I was excited to read that these bars are made by athletes who know what we want and like in nutrition.
You can find more about them on their website Picky Bars.

So far I have tried the All in Almond and Need for Seed
Here is some information from their site:
Picky bars will

• Be what we consider "ideal size:" 200 calories or less.  Great size for <30min post-workout recovery, one hour before exercise (or cut in half for 20-30 min before), or the perfect snack size between meals.)
• Have a 4:1 carbohydrate/protein ratio that is ideal for recovery and maximizes absorption of nutrients.
• Be gluten and dairy free (for the sake of those with intolerances, or for people who just want variety in their diet)
• Have balanced macro-nutrients (25% fat, 60% carbohydrate, 15% protein) for hunger control and happy digestion.
• Select carbohydrate sources that promote level blood sugar, sustained energy, and nutrient absorption.
• Use whole foods that are geographically nearby whenever we can.
• Minimize soy content (less than 1%) since most people get too much of it daily without realizing it.
• Provide a mixture of nuts and seeds for nutrient diversity (e.g. cashews are good for vitamin K while almonds are high in vitamin E).

Here is what I think:

-I love the lower calories.

-I love that there is no fake tastes after you eat the bar.

-I love that I can see actual food in my bar-like chocolate chips!

-I love the gluten free

-I love that it just plain old taste good!

I really have no cons or dislikes to the bars.

I think I may have just found my new post run bars for nutrition and fuel!

Wednesday Wrap ups

I feel like I have not blogged for quite awhile. It seems like the past week or so have been so busy with lots of little things .
Maybe I should have called this post brain dump because that is what it feels like I am doing. Many things swirling around in this head that need put down. Not that any of it is bad or weighing me down, just things going on and events that happened and thoughts/ponders. Oh and add some pictures in for good measure too.

Last week I decided to treat myself to a Shamrock shake at McD for lunch on Thursday. Now this is something so totally not me. I hardly ever buy lunch out at work. I always pack my lunch. I decided to splurge a little more and got a Happy Meal. I can tell you that I did not eat the meal. I had a few bites here and there and the milkshake was so not what I was expecting. It tasted very blah and not appetizing. I think with eating healthier,  fast food is just not cutting it. It was a reminder to me to continue to eat healthier and I will feel more satisfied.

Terri and I are doing work around the house with the potential of putting the house up for sale. We have things that need done regardless. We started working on the doorways and doors to upstairs rooms. They need painted. We were hoping this weekend to knock out this project but some speed bumps have stopped us. We had hired someone awhile ago to do some house repairs. He caulked the doorways to prep painting but instead of using spackling he used tub caulking. Duh.....now we need to scrap and sand the doorways prior to painting...this is hard work. We were able to complete some other small things in the house. After the painting we will attempt to lay quarter round in the dining room. Look out world we will be using the saw!!

I have a race coming up and it will be a new distance for me in a race. Running the Shamrock 15k on March 17th. I am looking forward to it but also nervous because it does have a lot of hills down into the Valley and back out. This race will be about completing the race and not a PR. Also putting together an outfit to wear!!
My running buddy Micheal and I are both running it and went out for training run Sunday we ran 9 miles in the snow. It was beautiful with the large fluffy flakes and the quietness. I am still amazed at how calm and peaceful it is to just hear nature and the crunch of snow under my feet.

This was our trail that I feel we had to ourselves. It is part of the towpath down in Cuyahoga Valley National Park area.

Trying to catch snowflakes...Didn't work so well.


So there are several races coming up and I am having trouble deciding which ones to do. I can't do them all, as you all know it gets costly. So I need to sit down and figure out which ones draw me and are affordable. It is not like I go out to win races but for me it is motivation to keep pushing myself, farther than I think I can.
I know I want to do the Erie PA Half Marathon in July but there are others that interest me. Warrior Dash again? New one called Hero Race? I tend to gravitate more to smaller races than larger ones. I know there is the Akron Marathon and the Cleveland Marathon near me but the crowds have me shying away from these larger races.

We usually camp on Memorial Day weekend . It is like tradition. The campgrounds we usually go to and reserve certain sites are all booked up...bummer. We actually need a new tent this year. The older one-the princess cabin one went into the trash after to collapsed from several storms. Now we will be on tent buying mode. Guess we will do something new this year instead of camping. Time for new traditions!

How do you all decide which races to run? Do you feel it is an expensive sport?

I got a few new things in the mail this past week and will have blogs/post coming up on them with reviews and my thoughts! Stay tuned.