This Little Light of Mine

Posted on June 30, 2011 by Run DMT

When I learned this week’s Crazy Days of Summer theme was “light”, I knew exactly what photo to capture since Liam is obsessed with the red light that hangs over our kitchen table. He’ll point his little index finger at the light, stretch out his chubby cherub arm and squeal until you hold him close enough to touch the glowing lamp. With his index finger and high-pitched squeals, it’s as though E.T. and R2-D2 had a love child.

In the midst of this enlightening theme, we took a mini family vacation to Sanibel and I hoped to snap some great sunset photos for this week’s challenge.

I don’t know which glowed brighter: the sky or my girls’ beautiful faces.

More snapshots from Sanibel coming soon!

Sound of Sunshine

Posted on June 27, 2011 by Run DMT

My family and I are soaking up the sun on the beautiful beaches of Sanibel, Florida. I haven’t gone for a run, but I will. I’ve too busy enjoying the sound of sunshine.

With my guitar on the beach there with all my friends
The suns so hot and the waves in motion
And everything smells like sun tan lotion
The ocean, and the girls so sweet
So kick off your shoes and relax your feet
They say that miracles are never seizing
And every single soul needs a little releasing
The stereo bumpin’ till the sun goes down
And I only wanna hear that sound

That’s the sound of sunshine coming down
That’s the sound of sunshine coming down

I said you’re the one I wanna be with
When the sun goes down
I said you’re the one I wanna be with
When the sun goes down
Singin’ you’re the one i wanna be with
When the sun goes down

That’s the sound of sunshine coming down
That’s the sound of sunshine coming down

Visit Amanda, Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.

Another Simple Pasta Sauce

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Run DMT

Photobucket Honestly, I didn’t know what to share for this week’s Friday Food Fight not because I didn’t eat anything interesting. No, I ate way too well this week.

There were so many foodie photos to fling, because this week was a tasty buffet of bad-for-me foods. It was cholesterol overkill with a big breakfast for Father’s Day, $5 burgers and fries at Prime Bar and Applegate hot dogs another night. Did I mention that I have my cholesterol testing this morning and I completely forget? Great. So, I spent the latter half of the week trying to cleanse my cholesterol levels with lots of oats, almonds and other heart-friendly foods.

In a last ditch attempt to cleanse my system, I decided to whip up a simple pasta sauce last night for dinner. This sauce is so simple and delicious. You’ll impress your family for sure. I know I wowed Kirsten and her hubby, Erich, with my mad culinary skills when they sampled this sauce.

Of course, I washed down my penne and sauce with a huge glass of red wine. Now hopefully my heart will thank me with low LDL numbers to at the doctor’s office today.

Pasta Sauce

Ingredients

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 yellow onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Pomi chopped tomatoes (26 oz)

¼ tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

¼ fresh basil chopped

Directions

On a low heat, slowly sauté onions in olive oil until soft and translucent. Add garlic and cook for a couple minutes, but avoid burning garlic. Stir in chopped tomatoes. Then, add red pepper, salt and pepper. Add basil and warm through sauce. Remove from heat and serve immediately over your favorite pasta.

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.

*Also submitted at*

Yellow-Bellied Beauties

Posted on June 24, 2011 by Run DMT

Kristi of Live and Love…Out Loud and Alicia of Project Alicia are hosting Crazy Days of Summer Photo Challenge. This week’s theme is “yellow” which immediately reminded me of a photo I took on Easter of my sister, Simone and Allana because both beauties chose to wear yellow on that lovely spring day. The color really suits them and I love their sunshine smiley faces in this photo.

Whenever Allana wears something yellow, she always says, “I love to wear yellow because it looks so good on me. It’s my color.” Yep, no self-esteem issues with my little fashionista.

An Idea That Stuck

Posted on June 22, 2011 by Run DMT

When Allana found an old frame in our messy garage, she had a clever idea for a Father’s Day gift for Dad. She pulled all the dried up glue sticks from our craft box and asked me to help her hot glue them to the frame for her.

Then, she wrote on the back and asked us all to sign it.

Daddy loved his gift, but I loved Allana’s creativity and thoughtfulness.

Random Thoughts about Running, Bikinis and Boobs

Posted on June 21, 2011 by Run DMT

My SIL, Kirsten, has been trying to shed some weight, which she cleverly nicknamed Operation Shed a Small Child. The other day, we were discussing our weight loss progress and how certain foods cause us retain water which makes the numbers on the scale fluctuate. I mentioned how I only weigh myself once a week, if I remember to weigh myself at all. I prefer to use my clothes as the tool to measure my success.

However, for the past month, my weight is holding strong at 135, which is still about 10 pounds heavier than I was before my last pregnancy. The last 10 pounds have been a struggle for me. But like I said before, I try not to pay attention to the numbers on the scale. Obviously, I’m losing inches and slimming down because I am fitting into all my old clothes. Sure, some things are still a bit tight, but I’m getting there.

Oddly, I’m not losing weight it my chest. I’m not complaining, mind you, but I figured with all the running, exercising and weight loss, I would lose my boobs, but these bad boys are still holding strong. Could that be why my weight is not dropping on the scale? They’re not that big, but my boobs have been the topic of conversation more than once with my girlfriends frequently commenting and complimenting me on my recent…eh hem…developments.

So, I’ve lost a few more inches and things seem to be firming and sizing up a bit around here, which means I keep braving my bikini in more public places, like the beach and the YMCA. I was feeling so confident about my somewhat 6-pack abs that I bought myself a new bikini with a leftover gift card from Christmas.

My first public appearance in my new suit was at my friend, Chrissy’s pool. My girlfriends wanted me to model my new swimsuit for them. So I slipped into the suit but somehow it didn’t fit like it did in the store. The top seemed baggy and I was disappointed although my girlfriends liked it. Then, Chrissy realized the top was on upside down. Yeah, it fit much better right side up and my girlfriends liked that look even better.

I joined the Striders last Tuesday for some intervals. At 5:30 a.m., it was ridiculously hot and humid. It felt like I was running in a sauna. I couldn’t even get a good pace going to get the strength to do any intervals. I could barely keep up with the pack. I attempted 4 miles with short sprints to catch up with crowd.

4 miles

Time 42:37

Ave Pace 10:39

Max Pace 7:18

On Wednesday morning, I joined Tracey at Suncoast Running for 6 miles. It was another hot and humid morning, but at least there was a breeze for some relief. I guess the short sprints paid off because my time was two minutes faster this week.

6.2 miles

Time 1:09

Ave Pace 11:08

Max Pace 8:36

I wanted to join the Striders on Thursday morning but my legs were too tired. I couldn’t move. So I rested on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday, I had all intentions to join the Striders again at Starkey Trail, but I flaked and overslept. My body must have thanked me for all the rest, because I ran a hard 7 miles. It was a good run!

7 miles

Time 1:16:13

Ave Pace 10:54

Max Pace 8:37

I rested on Sunday and on Monday, I schlepped around Busch Gardens with the kids instead of running. This morning, I tried my damndest to get out of bed to join the Striders for intervals again, but after a long day at Busch Gardens, I just couldn’t do it and sadly, I flaked again. However, I did run 4 miles an hour later in my neighborhood and my time was nearly two minutes faster than last Tuesday!

4 miles

Time 40:46

Ave Pace 10:12

Max Pace 7:49

I really like this two minute faster trend. Now if only my weight would show the some progress.

*Proudly submitted to Stacy Uncorked, because when I blog about my training, it’s usually pretty random.*

Airplanes

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Run DMT

Emmalynn began taking ballet last fall, but we took a break during the holidays. Once we recovered from the holidays, we resumed classes at a new studio, but missed registration for the recital. Even though she wouldn’t perform in the recital, she still learned the steps for her class’s number.

One evening, Emmalynn asked me, “Mommy, do you know the Airplane song that goes I could use a wish right now. Wish right now. Wish right now?” Then, she began spinning and flying around the room demonstrating what she claimed to be her recital routine. Her interpretative dance included several spins, a landing and chopping some vegetables for a soup she prepared in her home. I thought this seemed like a very bizarre ballet performance, but so be it.

Later, I learned that her class was not dancing to Airplanes, but rather Fly Me to the Moon. That’s my Emma, my free spirit. She dances to the beat of a different drum.

“If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away.”- Henry David Thoreau

And speaking of airplanes, Little Lion Man loves to feed himself. Typically he’s double-fisted with a spoon in each hand, but he’ll drop those boring ol’ baby spoons for his big boy airplane spoon. Vroom!

Visit Amanda, Xmas Dolly and Hairbows & Guitar Picks for more Music Monday fun.

Sorry, Ice Cream. I’m Dreaming of a Different Dessert

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Run DMT

Photobucket I stumbled upon some tickets for a prescreening of Judy Moody and the NOT Bummer Summer, but the girls and I arrived late to the AMC Theater at Westshore Plaza (which seems to be the story of my life these days) and no more seats were available. For Allana and Emmalynn, it was becoming the NOT, NOT bummer summer.

Of course, my girls were heartbroken, but like any good parent slacker mom, I bribed my children with ice cream to help heal their pain. However, it’s been a while since we’ve eaten ice cream at Westshore Plaza because the Tanya and Matt’s Ice Creamiest stand that once stood in the food court is now a cell phone kiosk. Fantastic.

Feeling like I had failed my children twice in one evening, I had to devise another plan to redeem myself. As we exited the mall, Allana spotted a sort of ice cream looking shop. This frozen yogurt Evos looking, trendy wannabe TCBY would do the trick.

The bright and fresh appearance of Pinkberry was mirrored by the assortment of fresh fruit toppings.

Although, there were only a few flavors of frozen yogurts to choose from, each flavor was more flavorful than the one before it. Allana loved the mango frozen yogurt and topped hers with Fruity Pebbles, which was like a small serving of an oxymoron.

Emmalynn ordered organic gummi bears with her mango yogurt. I chose the salted caramel with chocolate chips, which made my treat taste like a chocolate covered pretzel.

As far as portion sizes, Pinkberry offered a mini size (3 oz serving) which I was tickled pink over it because it’s the perfect and appropriate serving size. Many frozen treat shops offer this portion as a kid’s size, which is only available to children 12 and under. Therefore, I truly appreciated the opportunity to select the smallest size and I also appreciated the caloric content listed on the menu, which reminded me not to overindulge. But even if I did, this low calorie real non-fat, hormone-free milk made with live and active cultures yogurt would help make me feel less guilty about it.

With a quick pop into Pinkberry, I had redeemed myself in my girls’ eyes. For me, this healthy recovery was a sweet deal. Unfortunately, ever since our visit, the girls and I’ve been dreaming of a different dessert. Sorry, ice cream. W’re on our way to P-I-N-K-B-E-R-R-Y.

And thanks to the Pinkberry website, I have this song stuck in my head too. But that’s all right. It’s almost as sweet as the frozen yogurt.

Now link up and see what If I Could Escape and Gone Bananas are serving for this week’s Friday Food Fight.

*Also submitted at*

Rap River Run Recap

Posted on June 16, 2011 by Run DMT

I had heard horror stories about how hot the Rap River Run could be. And even though, I drank a lot of beer the night before, I still tried to keep hydrated with some good old fashioned H2O before the race and I hoped I wouldn’t sweat out Sierra Nevada during the race.

When I returned home from the Oldsmar Tap House, my girls were still awake at 10:00, but thankfully followed directions by wearing their running clothes to bed instead of pajamas. They would get sweaty anyway and we didn’t have time in the morning to play around.

After staying up so late, I didn’t expect them to jump out of bed at 6:30 like they did that morning. I honestly thought they would choose to sleep in and skip the race. Although they jumped out of bed, somehow they weren’t as quick with brushing their teeth and hair and it took another 20 minutes to get out of the house. There was no way around it. We were going to be late to the race.

Plus, we still need to register for the race. For whatever reason, I kept forgetting to register for this race. Perhaps subconsciously I was worried about my performance after running the Oldsmar Tap House 5K the night before and the reason registering for it kept slipping my mind. Arriving at the event with only minutes to spare, I wished I had preregistered.

Once registered, I dumped our things off at the Suncoast Running tent and dashed off to the start line. But we couldn’t find it and the race had already started.

The girls and I jumped into the course and started running in the same direction as everyone else. I had no idea how far into the race we were, but we just kept running. Once around the lake, we found the 1 mile start line. Now we could officially start the race.

We ran the course twice. Allana had a nice easy pace going. Emmalynn needed a little more coaxing and to hold my hand as she ran. By the second time around the lake, we really needed to pick up the pace because the 5K race was only minutes away from starting.

I hollered to my girls, “C’mon! Let’s go! The next race is about to start!”

I must have sounded like a lunatic, because a heavy set elderly woman who speed walking along side of us thought I was hollering at her. In a nasty tone, she hollered back, “I’m doing the best I can. I don’t care about the next race!”

In apologetic tone I replied, “I wasn’t talking to you. I was talking to my girls. They need to hurry because I need to get to the next race. But you’re doing great! Keep it up, mama!”

Once we crossed the finish line, medals were draped around the girls’ necks which they wore their medals proudly as they headed back to Suncoast Running and I dashed off to the 5K start line with only seconds to spare. I didn’t even get a chance to rehydrate and hoped I wouldn’t overheat.

Much like the Crazy Sombrero, I believe the 1 mile easy warm-up run really helped my performance. The first mile is always the toughest for me, but once the juices start flowing and my muscles warm up, I feel like I can go miles without stopping.

Large old oak trees shaded the flat road course through downtown New Port Richey as a light breeze from the Cotee River cooled us. So far, thankfully the horror stories of heat seemed to be more of a legend than any reality.

About half way into the race, a water station emerged. I greedily dumped two cups on me and then drank another two. After a small loop in the course and close to two miles, I found my way back to the water station again and I gulped down two more cups.

Soon after, I spotted the start line in the distance and another 0.25 mile loop around the lake remained until the finish line. I pushed my tired legs even harder and sprinted to the finish line. I was rewarded with an Ice Pop and a medal for my efforts. The Ice Pop was a nice touch.

3.19 Miles

Garmin Time 29:42

Chip Time 30:03

Ave Pace 9:37

Max Pace 7:11

Much like the decent race weather, the post-race party was an unexpected but pleasant surprise. The girls were excited to be part of a real race that including a timing chip and a kid-friendly post-race party. A smorgasbord of tasty treats were provided by Smoothie King, Carrabba’s, Sweet Tomatoes, Beef O’Brady’s and Sonny’s. It was a great event and we will definitely be back next year.

Among the thousands of participants, I saw many familiar faces, including those of the Suncoast Striders. There were also the unfamiliar faces of foster children throughout the event, which quietly reminded us why we were here other than our love for running.

To learn more about the RAP House and the other wonderful program provided by Youth and Family Alternatives, visit www.rapriverrun.com.

Random Thoughts About Being Back in a Flash

Posted on June 14, 2011 by Run DMT

I’m slowly but surely returning to the world of group running because I have really missed running with a group, especially the Suncoast Striders. I’ve missed the laughs, the camaraderie, the support and the accountability. I need a crowd to pace me and push me along.

For the past couple of weeks, I’ve become a regular at the Suncoast Running Wednesday morning group run as well. Last week, I was feeling a bit under the weather and my 6 mile run wasn’t the greatest but at least I got out there and did it.

6.2 miles

Time 1:11:04

Ave Pace 11:28

Max Pace 8:40

The Striders didn’t meet on Saturday due to the Rap River Run. Instead they met for a make-up run on Sunday and Coach Jackie demanded my presence at that event. Even though I was tired from two races, I showed up to the park for an easy 3 mile run just to please Coach Jackie.

3.25 miles

Time 34:37

Ave Pace10:40

Max Pace 9:03

Most everyone was shocked and surprised to see me and it felt good to be in the company of some fabulously fast athletes. Plus I had forgotten how much fun the post-run social hour was! Great company and yummy treats to replenish all the calories everyone worked so hard to burn off moments ago.

Strider Barbara served slices of Karen’s cinnamon cake. As a precaution, I asked if there were nuts in the cake and was told it was nut free. As I began to eat the cake, Melanie alerted me that she tasted pecans in her slice. Good God! I spat my piece out immediately and washed my mouth out. Since I had forgotten my EpiPen, I began to panic. Another Strider offered me prescription strength Allegra, just in case. Although I seemed to dodge anaphylactic shock for the time being, I was worried about my drive home.

Moments later, I felt a bit wheezy but thankfully all seemed calm on the allergy front. I continued to chat with my fellow Striders as David, our fearless leader, snapped photos of my miraculous return to the group and Jackie admired my blue Fila sports top.

“Is there a built-in bra in that top? Jackie asked me.

“Yes, there is”, I replied and I pulled down my top just enough for my nipple to pop out. Although my girlfriends and I are known to let it all hang out, I had forgotten I was in the company with men. Whoops. Looks like I’m back in a flash with the Striders.

I don’t know if David caught my peek-a-boob moment wardrobe malfunction on film or not. I just hope that photo doesn’t make it into the Striders scrapbook. But like fellow Strider Alex said, it’s not a big deal. No really. It isn’t.

That’s what he said.