eat liv(e) run

okay, putting that parentheses after the liv every time is going to get old. but i was trying to be creative. as you may have noticed over the years, my blog has sort of changed directions drastically. i used to sit in my little cubicle at my old job looking up photos before things like pinterest and tumblr existed. i think i did this for approximately..well, i really shouldn't say that on here. any way, as i've started running and becoming more focused on healthy eating, cooking, and of course, the blog world, this little place has evolved. so ladies and gents, i present to you..the new..the improved...

eat-liv-run.com

i am still working on a lot of things like..um..how to get my domain to only be mine (vs. being run by blogger) and thinking about perhaps hiring someone to actual design a blog for me. so..if you're reading this and have any suggestions and want to help a girl out, holllllaa. k thx!

in other news, i downloaded diptic today and it is rocking my world. since i'm a wannabe blogger, i present to you my OOTD. in diptic form. 

i am also currently in the middle of a blue print cleanse. in retrospect, probably not the best idea after running the half on sunday, but i'm feeling pretty good. i will do a full review when i'm finished (last day is tomorrow). i also bought tangerine jeans. and i do not have a full length mirror, so i had to climb on a bench to take a picture. 

two things about this photo. first of all, kate middleton would not have to climb on a bench to take a picture of herself, because people are taking pictures of her constantly. second, i do not look like kate middleton in tangerine jeans. not even close. dammit. 

maybe after the juice cleanse? :)  also, who the FU** wears jeans to play field hockey? 

ps--look at creepy jack in the background of that pic. 

i'm sorry

guys--it's been way too long. i know, i know, i always say that. and to be honest--i'm not sure if anyone will read this blog anymore, or ever actually did. however, i spend about 70% of my day reading other people's running blogs, so i figured i might as well write about my own misadventures in running. maybe someone will find it interesting? if not, it'll still float in cyberspace until the end of time, and when i've forgotten about my first time running a marathon (oh wait i didn't post about that), or anything else in my 20 something life in NYC, i can just find this little gem and reflect. OK. enough. i'm back. 


NYC HALF, March 18, 2012. 

so let's back up to pre-race week. i was on vacation, and headed up to western mass for a few days of R&R. i slept 10 hours a night, did some great shakeout runs around town, and generally had a blast. i made sure to consume numerous important pre-race hot chocolates. with extra marshmallows. 

i also really enjoyed being out of the city, and getting to see the lovely purple mountains i used to take for granted. i also found my first race bib, from a fun run in williamstown in 1993. so glad my mom saved it! 

i headed back to NYC on thursday, ready to head to the expo and pick up my bib.  the expo was not crowded and there were a good amount of booths to weave in and out of. i picked up a 26. 2 magnet for my fridge (since i don't have a car). i felt secretly cool buying a 26. 2 sticker. not gonna lie. 

it was a good expo and i got the usual bib, t-shirt and a few freebies. i am a big fan of the shirts (not really the color or the design, but the actual fit and fabric of the shirt that new york road runners uses is awesome!)

the rest of the weekend was pretty low-key.  saturday night was a feast of thai food, black broad noodles are the best carbs right? after dinner, i set out my stuff for race day. i decided to go with the same outfit that i ran the philadelphia marathon in. the neon arm warmers did not fail me, and they make it easier for friends/family to spot me!

i got up early and had my usually cinnamon raisin bagel with peanut butter and jam. if it ain't broke, then don't fix it, right? it was perfect as usual. i headed from the financial district to the upper west side. it was lovely hopping on the subway at 6:00 am and seeing runners everywhere.  the 2 was running local, and at first i was kind of pissed (i HATE being late), but in retrospect it was probably better that way because it was pretty chilly at the start and i would not have wanted to stand outside any longer than i did. i walked east on 72nd and found my spot in my corral in 5 minutes flat. then, it was time to wait. a guy from book of mormon sang the national anthem which was pretty legit.  the gun went off at 7:30 or so and i passed the start line at 7:47. it was GO time. immediately, i felt like everyone around me was going pretty fast. in most races i've run, it's been too crowded to run any faster than a 10:00 minute mile at first, but this race didn't feel crowded at all,  despite there being 15,000 runners! i took off and felt great throughout the park. the hills were fine and it felt mostly downhill. my splits in the park were: 

MIle 1: 9:25

MIle 2: 8:56

Mile 3: 8:30

Mile 4: 8:46

MIle 5: 8:53

Mile 6: 8:33

finally, it was time to get out of the park. i was kind of excited to run through times square, and i knew the course by heart once we hit 42nd street. my garmin was wonking out due to the buildings, so who knows what my actual splits were for these few miles. honestly though, i felt like i was flying and all i could think was wow, this is the coolest thing ever.  

Mile 7: 9:05

Mile 8: 7:21

my usual running path is up and down the west side highway, so once we got there, i felt good. i kept thinking to myself, i feel good, this is weird, don't bonk. but then, the miles kept ticking by and i still felt great. i think the only part of the course i disliked was going through the tunnel. it was a good half mile underground, in a tunnel, and the air circulation was not great. i wasn't that into it. but after that, we quickly were approaching the finish line and there were so many people there to spectate. it felt really cool. probably even cooler than finishing the marathon for some reason. there's nothing like running new york.  my last splits were: 

Mile 9: 8:25

MIle 10: 8:23

Mile 11: 8:24

Mile 12: 8:02

Mile 13: 9:11

last point one :) 5:51

i finished in 1:53:44!! a full 5 minutes and 3 seconds faster than my old PR (1:58:48). i was shooting for 1:55 but i honestly didn't think i could do it. however, i did. i'm really proud! after weaving and desperately trying to find t and my mom, i did!

not exactly flattering photos, and perhaps i will post more once i have the race photos..the rest of the day entailed brunching at sarabeth's 

and buying myself my favorite orange tulips. i'll pretend they weren't 10.99. 

all in all, it was a great race, a great weekend and i'm happy. can't ask for more than that, right?

xx

ps, if you read this, let me know! :) 

grete's great gallop re-cap

okay, so this is more like two weekends in review. let's start with last weekend (october 1 & 2). i ran my second half marathon! yay! the night before was dreary and rainy and my toe (previously broken last year) was really sore. i was feeling iffy about the race, and wasn't sure i even felt like doing it. i went to bed with the thought, hmm, if it rains, i'm not going. however, i woke up and it was beautiful. my toe felt okay and i WANTED to race. i feel like in a way that's maybe why it was so enjoyable. i put no pressure on myself at all. just get out there and see whatcha got. i fueled up with my fav pre-long run bfast. cinnamon raisin bagel and a banana. never fails. i will not shy away from this combo.

 

i headed up to the park with t, and he walked me to my corral. i felt bad asking him to stay and wait for me the whole time, so when the gun went off, he ran home and i got trucking.  the race was "grete's great gallop" in honor of the late grete waitz. it was two loops of central park. i was nervous that the hills would be killer, but it was clockwise (instead of the usual counter clockwise) and so the harlem hills and cat hill were mostly down. WAHOO!  i started the race thinking i would just do it as a training run, but i felt really good the whole time. i even ran mile 11 in 8:21. WHAT? like, i don't do that. 

 

i dont think i was running at 8:21 in that picture though. i also tried out my new kicks. please note the obnoxiously orange shoelaces. yeah, i like orange. but you knew that already. 

 

i kind of love this picture. any way, i ended up PRing this race. i really think it was because i just said "it is what it is" and ran how i wanted to. it was overall an amazing run. besides for when i threw up in my mouth a little at the end. :) 

all and all, it was a great race. however, the next few days were pretty awful, and actually took my training a little bit off schedule. i was SO sore (mostly my IT band), i could barely run for a few days after. i did soul cycle on sunday and it loosened up my muscles a little but monday and tuesday were rough. needless to say, i did not meet my mileage goals this week. whatever, i feel better now. SEE YA.

BAHAHAHAH

story of my life

acceptable jelly beans and sneakers!

i just dropped some bones on these

 and 24 packets of these!!!

oops

life update

guys, it's been a long time. well besides my pumpkin oatmeal post, i know i've been missing for so long. life has been absolutely insane. i had a long run on the schedule yesterday, and so obviously, i had a lot of time to think. and even in just the last week, i thought about this. i've worked 6 days, went to a michigan tailgate, been to 4 different airports, ran 27 miles and am also under an insane amount of emotional stress. i'm surprised i haven't collapsed yet. i'm actually doing okay. but regardless, i have a lot on my plate right now, hence the lack in blogging. 

 TRAINING: 

Philly training has been going super well. KNOCK ON WOOD. i'm now about 6 weeks away (November 20) AH!! i've pretty much stuck to my plan to the tee, which i'm shocked at given how much i've been out of town etc. last weekend i was in boston unexpectedly so couldn't do a full 13, but i managed a tough trail run with t and his sister-in-law. it was a blast! hard, but a lot of fun as i've never really run trails before. this weekend, i did a 13 miler since i missed it last week. i got to wear my brand new I HEART SWEAT shirt (thanks to ali) and felt super cool. people definitely kept staring at my chest though and that was kind of weird.

 

i was in need of a new route, so i ran from battery park up to the park and then did two lower loops of the park. i really enjoyed running somewhere different! the only problem was race for the cure was going on and i believe i started running down the finisher's shoot at one point but thankfully jumped out before i embarrassed myself.  i did 13 miles in 2:02, average pace of about 9:23. my 11th mile was 8:53! what! i was feeling really good, i think the cooler weather is really helping. after the run, i downed chocolate milk, gatorade and watermelon simultaneously.

 i am running a half marathon in the park on october 1 and i really want to run it in under 2 hours. i am hoping this is possible, seeing as my only other half marathon was run in horrible humidity and i suffered from serious heat exhaustion. i think it will be better! yay!

 

in other news, i tried marylou's in boston last weekend, and it has changed my life for the better. now, if i only lived there. thanks tina!

 

i also finished the book "the long run" my matt long. this guy was a firefighter in nyc and was hit by a bus in 2005 and was almost killed. he had a 5% chance of living. he has always been an endurance athlete and his athletic dedication got him back on his feet and he's since completed an ironman and the nyc marathon. talk about motivation.

also, my cat is mildly handicapped. that is all. HAPPY MONDAY!

pumpkin oatmeal

so, sometimes i like to pretend i'm this really important health/fit/lifestyle blogger and have lots of followers and companies send me stuff so i can review it on my super successful blog. and in this pretend fantastical world in my head, some of my "readers/twitters/followers" (aka natalie and christine) were wondering about my pumpkin oatmeal recipe that i tweeted about yesterday. so of course, since i had SO many readers just dying to know how i made it, i decided i'd post a little recipe/how to in pictures. 

first, a little confession. so you know how everyone is obsessed with pumpkin spice lattes? well, i am too. well, i'm obsessed with the idea of them/the season/the excitement etc. however, i don't actually really like the taste of them that much (shh, don't tell). so, feeling left out of all of the pumpkin hooplah, i decided to try to create my own concotion. i was inspired by PB Fingers and Carrots n' Cake for their pumpkin smoothies/other things. i had been drinking a lot of smoothies in the morning, so i wanted to have something different for breakfast. 

INGREDIENTS:

 i love mccann's oatmeal. no sugar, inexpensive and it it cooks super quickly in the microwave!

 i love almond milk. in cereal, in coffee, on it's own. seriously. try it. i've only been drinking it for a few months, but i prefer it 100% to milk. and apparently, it has more calcium.

i got this pumpkin at whole foods. i probably wouldn't have bought organic, but it was all they have. i don't really feel like it's necessary to buy organic canned foods. do you? i don't really know, but it's more expensive.

 cinnamon and splenda. so a lot of people are anti splenda and fake sweeteners. but guess what? i'm not. but you could obviously use real sugar or stevia or whatevs. 

DIRECTIONS (ready carefully it is REALLY complicated):

-Put oatmeal in bowl. Put as much as you want. i am a beast, so i put a lot. 

 

-Fill bowl with almond milk so it covers all of the oatmeal. if you like your oatmeal less wet, use less almond milk. 

-Then, put a big scoop of pumpkin into the bowl and mix all three ingredients. You can put as much or as little pumpkin as you'd like. I think the best way to measure is when you mix it, make sure all of the oatmeal is a light orange color. 

-Put in microwave and nuke it for 1:30 secs. Feels like eternity, i know. 

-Toss in cinnamon and splenda and stir well.

ENJOY!!!! it will keep you full for hours, and especially on a morning like this, it's a great comforting way to start the day. i'm a tool. 

HAPPY FRIDAY!

happiness is a full fridge

 

this is what my fridge looks like right now. i am beyond excited about this. baby bel, eggs, hummus, almond milk, peanut butter, apples, cukes, bananas, cheese, BEER, oh my. not to mention that T stocked the whole thing while i was at work. happiness is a full fridge?

bathroom humor

so, i realize all .2 of you who still read this blog are probably bored of seeing pictures of me in my sweaty running clothes or the boring stuff i ate. so i'll provide you some images of something decidedly more interesting...my bathroom. as you know, i moved about a month ago. t and i finally picked up hooks for our towels, which were the finishing touch to my neon green/gray striped themed bathroom. now, keep in mind that my instagram tricks make everything look cooler.

you tube videos can actually be good workouts

after a great spin this morning, but then a large amount of chocolate and frozen yogurt to follow, i was looking for a quick fun video to do in my apartment. i had see the toneitup girls on cupcake dynamite a few days before, and i really enjoyed the arm toning video. i decided to go back for another and found the sandcastle workout. it is kind of random in that i wasn't looking to do abs or arms or anything in particular. this video was great though because it targeted a lot of areas and mainly i could just feel my core working pretty hard. 

and now my attempt:  

overall, i thought it was a great little tonin' vid. i will definitely do it again soon. as for a life update, this week was RATHER random. we had a boatcruise for work.which was..an absolutely blast. the views of the city were unbelievable!

 and my ENTIRE team wore stripes. people after my own heart.

 speaking of stripes..i ordered this uber cheap dress from target..pretty cute huh?

 

okay so maybe the stripes envelop my waist a bit and i lose all sense of definition. but you know what. it's striped. so it's fine. and it was 18 dollars. as for the rest of the weekend, we cheered on t's sis in law at the NYC tri..she is a rockstar

i want to do a triathlon so bad. too bad i am afraid of going more than 2.2 mph on my bike, and the only swimming i can do is the breast stroke. after watching the tri, we headed to soul cycle, where i can pretend i am awesome at riding my bike, without ever falling off and or crashing into a tree. (yes that happened once. albeit, i was on a fourwheeler, but still. and i backed into a tree once in my car. oy) after spin, since we were on the UWS, i begged t if we could had 16 handles for breakfast. he obliged but made me get ninnymuggins toppings. BS.

if i had it my way, the ratio would be 65% yogurt covered pretzels, 25% cookie dough bits, 25% reese bites and 40% red velvet fro-yo. oh wait, that does not equal 100. whatevs. i was never good at math any way. (has anyone seen friends with benefits? actually a really funny movie..) after fro-yo, we decided we needed more food. we headed to our favorite new restaurant near the new aparmtnet. cowgirl seahorse. i highly recommend it. the food is banging and the decor is even better. and for those of you that know me well, you realize i LOVE seahorses. and did you know, they often die of exhaustion from swimming counter current? such sad fates they have. 

i forgot to take a picture of these inside because i was too busy demolishing this: 

 

and of course, the epic after shot. i was hungry.

when a runner goes on vacation...

 

guy, it's out of control. started packing for my maine trip. i leave wednesday. this is just my running stuff. and i'm really trying to be conservative here. i will have access to a washer and dryer. in my defense, i have a 9 and 10 mile run slotted during vacay, so the water belt/chomps HAD to come with. oh man oh man i can't wait to run somewhere OTHER than the westside highway. 

this is getting to be a weekend only thing. not cool.

i suppose that i have only been posting about my weekends because well, it's the only time i do anything remotely cool. and even so, i'm not sure if it would qualify as cool in many people's books. but to me, it was a great week! saturday morning started out bright and early. i think i was up and at 'em by 6:45. it was going to be very hot so wanted to get a run in before things really heated up. i fueled with my new fav combo of greek yog, pb, raspberries and a little spranklin' of kashi. it did the trick. 

i know, i know, it's all hipsterized. sorry. i love instagram, but not usually for the blog. saturday's run was a 7 miler, longer than i'd run super recently, and given the heat i was a bit nervous. i wore my super nifty water belt and also took some gu chomps (which i'd never tried before). they were actually pretty good and got me through the run. i finished the run in about 63 minutes, so 9 minute mile pace. my garmin crapped out and actually went BACK in time the last . 1 mile and that reallly annoyed me. 

after my run, t took me to bed stuy. no that wasn't a typo. he wanted to buy an underwater camera for his tri training and had found one on craigs list. so we took the j train out farther than i have ever been in brooklyn. let me tell you. we stood out like sore thumbs and was actually a slightly frightening experience. i don't think we'll be back any time soon. but, they did have a pretty subway sign. 

again with the damn instagram. sorry. after bed stuy, we headed to williamsburg for lunch. probably the most hipster place IN brooklyn to be exact. we went to ella cafe for lunch and were pretty pleased. i got a cobb salad. it was pretty good, but the enormous chunks of bacon kind of freaked me out. and i normally love bacon.

the rest of saturday was pretty low key. we explored some cool shops in the burg and then headed home. we did actually! go for a beer on saturday night. i was craving my fav, brooklyn summer ale, and tim was kind enough to induldge me in that. we went to ulysses, which is a very cool pub on stone street. i've never been to stone street and it was as cool as everyone says it is. lots of outdoor seating, cobblestone streets and TONS of bars and restaurants. can't wait to go back. please note, this is my "stock photo" of brooklyn summer ale. yes i have a stock photo. i like it that much. 

sunday was pretty glorious! i decided to nix my 3 mile run (part of the marathon training plan) because my achilles was pretty sore and i figured missing 3 miles wasn't going to hurt anyone. i went to soul cycle and did a 1 hour soul survivor class, which was awesome, as usual. after that, tim and i went on an awesome excursion to governor's island. we packed up our picnic and bikes/bike gear and walked down to the free ferry. we hopped right on and were at the island in 10 minutes. SO EASY. 

we had a picnic of chicken salad, beets, broccoli and hummus, baby bell and watermelon. it was quite delicious and so nice to sit outside and eat. governor's island really feels so far away from the city and was a nice getaway. 

our bikes came with us to the picnic as well. after lunch we hopped on and began to explore the island. it was a good opportunity for me to get a bit more comfortable on my bike, because road biking is actually hard and i suck at it. we rode around the island a few times, and said hello to lady liberty. 

tim looks WAY cooler than me, by the way. seriously i look like a weirdo. here's another example. 

                                       do you like my ugly sunglasses and crooked smile?

after our trip, we headed back to the apartment to relax. however, i was ancy per usual and headed out on my own to "window shop" at lulu lemon. let's be honest, we all know how that turns out. i also went to whole foods and pick up stuff for dinner. i came home with three big oops. 

honestly these shorts are SOOO comfortable and i can't wait to run in them, even if my bank account is looking a bit pathetic right about now. and really, yogurt covered raisins are my favorite thing and i really cannot resist them. so i balanced it out with a women's health magazine??? any way...i ended the day with reading a bit more of a fantastic book. it's called maine by j. courtney sullivan, and you should read it immediately. i honestly bought it because of the title, but it's so great and i really can't put it down. if i tell you what it's about, it will sound boring, so i'm not going to. just go out and get it! or borrow mine when i'm done. 

boo. it's monday. now i have to go to work. t-minus 9 days until vacation in..guess where...MAINE!!!!