1. I decided to go back to school to pursue my Type 75 Certification.  It is a two year program and once I receive my masters, I can continue to be a classroom teacher or be an administrator.  I knew from the beginning of this new career that I was not going to be a teacher for a long time.  I don’t see myself being 50 years old and still being a teacher.

2. I signed up for the Race Around the World Duathlon on June 24.  I will be missing out on the Chicago Women’s Half Marathon.  I guess it is OK.  I can still (hopefully) do one offered by the Divas Half Marathon Series or the Lady Speed Stick Women’s Half Marathon.

3.  I am toying with the idea of running a half marathon in each state.  Originally, I had thought of doing a marathon in each state but quickly changed it to a half marathon.  I’ve been following Kim’s blog at (Just) Trying is for Little Girls and told myself that I could do this too.

4.  During my race on Saturday I developed a pain in my left foot.  My first thought were the orthotics.  I’ve ran in them before but only on a treadmill.  Saturday was the first time I ran outside.  Once I got home I took them off and replaced them with the original insoles.  I wore my gym shoes to work today and my foot feels much better.  I am afraid to run in my orthotics this weekend.  Maybe the 5K on Saturday will be OK but definitely NOT the 10 Miler on Saturday.

5.  I know eventually I will need surgery on my right foot.  I have a bunion that is growing and is giving me trouble.  Usually the pain goes away for a few months with a visit to the podiatrist.  She injects this liquid in my foot and that helps with the pain.  However, I went last month and my foot still hurts.  It could be that the bunion is just getting worse or the podiatrist inserted the liquid in a different part of the foot (she did tell me that she was going to do that).  I am hoping it is the latter because I went all crazy and registered for almost every race I could find in the Chicago area.  My plan is to run until November of this year then take a few months off for the surgery and recovery.

I finally hit the 1,000 miles thanks to dailymile.  However, I’ve been keeping track of the miles I’ve ran (in an excel spreadsheet) since 2007 and it’s been more than 1,000.  My goal was to run 1,000 miles in 2011.  However, due to excuses and more excuses, I only banked 736.54 miles last year.   I set the same goal again but to run them before my birthday this year.  I am happy to report that as of today I’ve ran 392.33 miles.  Will I accomplish this goal?  Absolutely!  Now more than ever I am determined to achieve it!!

Thank goodness I was off from work yesterday.  I am feeling much better today.  I don’t know if it is the Aleve I’ve been taking or the walking I did after the race and yesterday when I got home.

My running outfit.  Very colorful!  I love my purple compression socks from Running Skirts.  No pain in my calves.

I missed the beer stop here.  At this point all I needed was water.

These looked so cute!  Very tempting to take one just for the heck of it.

One of my favorite medals.  Love it!

Run Happy!

The time is here.  Taper time!  This week’s mileage is below.  Pretty neat huh?
Tuesday-4
Wednesday-6
Thursday4
Saturday-8

The 4 miles today felt easy.  I am looking forward to the runs prior to the marathon.

A few weeks ago I purchased two skirts from Zappos.  Previously I read reviews posted by (Just) Trying is for Little Girls.  I own a few Champion skirts but don’t like them too much because the inner shorts tend to ride up.  I tried on the Brooks PR Mesh Skort II but I have big inner thighs and did not find the inner shorts to be comfortable.  There is an elastic at the bottom of the shorts but still that did not prevent them from riding up.

Today I wore the Skirt Sports Gym Ultra for my 4 mile run.  I normally wear medium shorts but had purchased a large because I read that those skirts tend to run small.  As soon as I put it on I knew I was not going to like it.  As I mentioned earlier I have big inner thighs so it was kind of difficult to get it on much less to fit properly.  I finished changing and started running on the treadmill.  The darn thing was slowly coming down.  I was frustrated and changed into my regular running shorts (luckily I had an extra pair in my bag).  Sigh. 

I am not happy.  I was really hoping that I would like/love one of the skirts.  I will be at the New Orleans Marathon expo next weekend and am hoping that Skirt Sports has a booth there for me to try on their skirts.  I like running skirts.  They look cute!

Do you run in shorts, running skirts, or both?  Run Happy!

I don’t eat vegetables.  What great way for me to have some greens than in a Green Monster Smoothie?  I made my first one today.  I had all of the ingredients at home with the exception of spinach so yesterday I went to the store to buy it.

There are several recipes online but the one I sort of followed is from Oh She Glows.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond milk, or milk of choice
• 1 ripe banana, preferably peeled + frozen
• 2 handfuls organic spinach
• 1 tbsp chia seeds OR 1 tbsp ground flax
• 1 tbsp nut butter, optional
• 1-3 ice cubes
• protein powder of choice, optional

Directions: Starting with the liquid, add in 1 cup of milk of your choice. Now add in the chia or flax and nut butter. Next, add in the spinach followed by the banana on top. Blend until smooth. Add in your ice cubes and blend some more.  

Serves 1– about 2 cups

The results?  Yummy!  I can’t wait to have another one tomorrow!!  Yes, that is how good it is.  You cannot taste the spinach at all.  I will admit that it does look gross but it is just simply delicious.

Another recipe I found is at Live Half Full and she got it from Iowa Girl Eats.  I did not use Greek yogurt for my smoothie so I guess it is an optional ingredient.  Also, the banana I used was not frozen.  I don’t know if it makes a difference.  Perhaps tomorrow I will use a frozen banana.

Go ahead a make a Green Monster Smoothie.  You won’t regret it.