Long Run and Oscar the Grouch

Woo Hoo!  Today Oscar the Grouch stars on Google.

I've surfed looking for more Google headers and learned they are called doodles and Google has a site with all the logo's.  There are many doodles for other countries that are really cool and you can check them out here http://www.google.com/logos/

Today is John's birthday and he specifically asked for "Better than Sex" cake.  In order for the cake to cool, I made it before my long run.  This is the best cake and I'll try and refrain from eating too many pieces.  We need to find someone to help eat it with us. Here are the ingredients...cake, sweetened condensed milk, caramel and hot fudge poured over the cake, covered with cool whip (I used lite!!) and topped with crushed Heath Cliff bars.  There are 1000 calories just looking at it.  For his birthday I bought him a water pump for backpacking (which we get to try out next week in the canyon) and books.  The books are homer gifts.  3 of the 4 books are running books and I'll probably read them before he does. Speaking of gifts, for Christmas with his family we are doing a gift exchange and names were drawn.  I need to provide a list of stuff I'd like.  Exactly zero items are on my list so far.  I don't need anything and don't know what to put down.


What should I put on the list?  If you had to make a list, what would be on it?

After taking the cake out the oven I headed out for my 12 mile run.  I had 14 on the schedule but changed it to 12 since I have a double header race tomorrow and my mileage for the week will already be up there.  The double header is a 5K and a 10K and I have no idea what pace to go for.  I thought about it a lot on my long run but didn't come to any conclusions because basically I don't feel I'm in shape to be racing. The whole run today I felt like I was bypassing my current cardio abilities and physical abilities.  I keep telling myself this is how I improve and it will eventually get easier.  I really feel like each increase in miles is the first time I'm running that distance. Here are my splits:
8:45 (gp)
8:46 (gp)
9:03 (I think this is where there was construction)
8:50
8:55 (yeah, getting slower)
9:04(and slower.  there is a water stop in here but I stopped my watch)
8:51
8:56
8:53
8:39(below gp after 10-15 minute talk break)
8:40(below gp)
8:33 (below gp)

Although I struggled through the pace and miles, my pacing really was pretty good.  I'm sure on one of my runs it will "click" and I'll gain my confidence, endurance and speed back.  Next weekend I'm in the Grand Canyon so I will have a recovery week and no long run (but I will be hiking between 8-16 miles a day)

Solstice Goji Bar Review

Before launching into my Solstice Goji Bar review I have to show you today's Google Image.  I'm loving the Sesame Street Theme.

I won a giveaway on Amanda’s site at Run To the Finish for Solstice Goji Bars.  I received 2 flavors of each bar (Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter, Dark Chocolate Cherry and Almond, and Mochadia Bar) and a bag of “Fountain of Youth 8 Way Antioxidant Blend.  The box came a couple weeks ago on a Friday, since I had just returned from lunch and wasn’t really hungry but still wanted to try something, I tore into the bag of “Fountain of Youth”.  This is trail mix deluxe.  It says “Wildly Delicious” on the package and it is!  It has goji berries, pecans, walnuts, dried tart cherries (these are my favorite), dried blue berries, dried apples, coconut and dried cranberries.  And if that wasn’t already a great combination there are little pieces of cocoa nibs….chocolate!  It has a great flavor and the only drawback is the pieces are so small that I ending up wearing some of it and if I were trying to hike and eat it at the same time I would probably lose a lot more.  Besides that, the taste is great and I couldn’t stop eating it until the 2oz bag was empty.

On Monday morning I was hungry and snatched the Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter bar.   These are all natural bars, don’t appear to have preservatives and have an expiration date that isn’t 5 years out. For healthy food it is really good.  The chocolate layer in the bar hit the spot and I didn’t feel guilty about having a dessert. 

On Wednesday when I was eyeballing the Halloween candy, I remembered I had another flavor to try and snagged a dark chocolate cherry and almond.  Technically I probably shouldn’t be eating these since they have chocolate and John would consider eating any type of chocolate as breaking the dessert rules but I get to refine the rules with the justification these are healthy.  The flavor was good and it did hit the spot as far as feeling like I was eating chocolate but the Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter bar is my favorite.

The last flavor Mochadamia, since it is coffee flavor and I despise coffee, I gave to a co-worker on the condition he give me a review.

"Yes, I enjoyed the bars.  The bar was flavorful, there was just a hint of the mocha flavor; and I personally would have preferred a little more of the mocha flavor.  The texture was very good, slightly crunchy, but not so much that it made a lot of noise when you ate it.  I did like that the bar held together good and didn’t fall apart into a bunch of pieces.  The package held two bars and you needed to eat both of them, share one of them with someone else, or package the remaining bar back up, and hope it stayed fresh.   I would consider buying it on occasion. "

If you order directly from the site you get a box of 50 (you can freeze them) and with the shipping the cost is $2.25 per package (there are 2 servings per package).  I searched on the web for the bars and other sites were much more expensive (they had to put their markup on it I guess).

Overall these were really good and I only have half a bar left, which will probably be gone by the end of today.  Wander over to the goji bar website at http://solsticebars.com/ and check it out.

Google Images

One thing that always makes me smile are the various images that are part of the Google header.  Yesterday's was especially cute with big bird's legs as the LL's.

Imagine my delight when I discovered Cookie Monster this morning.  How can you not be happy and smile when you see these?

Do you enjoy the various Google Images that surprise you when you use the search engine?

What makes you smile?  

I ran a partial tempo run today.  I went out for 4 miles and since running 7:40's isn't yet in my conditioning, I wanted to start with something I could succeed at...8's.  Running the 8's was still tough but I managed much better despite the side stitch that had me counting my left steps.

8:21 (warmup)

7:46

7:58

8:12

Ok, so the pacing was all over the place but the average was 8:04 and I managed to sprint the last 100meters in.

Getting Through the Comfort Zone

After making excuses last night and not going for a run, I knew I had to run this morning.  I ran the Jackaranda 6.75 mile loop.  I had a goal to run 2 middle miles at a 10k pace, around 7:40's.  My speed and endurance isn't back yet but I tried just the same.  I also tried to keep up the pace so I could continue to work on getting back into running shape.  It wasn't easy and many times I wanted to slow down.  At one point I had dropped down below marathon goal pace but I understand this is all part of getting back in shape.  Keep running, keep running through the comfort zones.

At the beginning of my run, when I felt great and zippy, I was thinking of my Double Header race this upcoming weekend.  It is a 5K followed by a 10K. I was thinking maybe I could go for a PR in the 5K but as my run continued and I couldn't maintain a 7:40 pace, I realized my cotton candy dreams needed to be toned down.  The great thing about the race is it counts as speed work, is fun and there is free food (although you have to snag it after the 5K and stash it for after the 10K.)

Monthly Wrap-Up

I'm happy to be wrapping up the month of October.  Three weeks off from an ankle sprain was not easy.  But I'm running again and went for a 10 miler yesterday that I was only 2 seconds off goal pace. I do have the challenges of my ankle still aching but more than that I'm struggling with getting back to good nutrition.  The candy that is around the office and the candy that was 75% off at the store this morning and is now in my car is very tempting and I'm giving in.

I need to change the Tucson marathon to the half marathon and I think once I actually make the switch I'll be able to get back into my training and eating better. I know I need to switch my entry and sign up for PF Changs but there is something preventing me.  The cost of $115 for PF is one reason and the number of people in PF is another.  I think another reason is my lack of confidence and fear of getting injured again.  I really wish I had a crystal ball.

To wrap up October I ran 50 miles, which is higher than I thought it would be.  It just goes to show you how doing something a little bit at a time adds up.  In addition to the running I did 61 miles on the bike.

Here's to finishing up October and looking forward to a strong November

Freezing Bike Ride

The guilt of not running or biking yesterday morning along with the fact I ate anything I could find with sugar in it, I decided to go for a run last night and not take the day off after all.    I ran 4 miles with the middle  two at close to 10k pace and felt really good.  This morning I went for a bike ride and FROZE by butt off.  I wore a long sleeve shirt and my shorts but was so dang cold it wasn't enjoyable.  I need to discover where I stashed my gloves and start wearing them along with pants.  I feel bad even saying its cold because there are people running in the snow and layered up with clothes and here I am being wimpy.

RAK #6 and #7

When I went scrapbooking last weekend, I got a number of things for Halloween.  Not being a big Halloween person nor wanting to store them,  I decided I would give them away as RAK's.  I arrived at the office at 7:30am and was able to slip RAK #6, a small Halloween tin with mints, onto the recipients desk with no other employees around to see what I was up to.  RAK #7 recipient was already at his desk and with all the people that work around his area I knew it would be hard to sneak around until after hours.  At 5:30pm, I put the orange Halloween votive candle holder on his desk with a note made from Halloween paper.

You are Received a RAK

Have a Great Day

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