Weekly Wrap...May 14: How do the steps work?

The middle of May already and I can honestly say I have only done one run. My last run was May 1st during the tornado warning. Which I don't understand because the weather is gorgeous now and you would think I would be out enjoying it, but I just wasn't.

For some reason I've been more tired when I come home from work lately and going for a run seems like too much of a hassle.  I've even been behind on blogging because my eyes have just been too tired in the evenings too.

I have been walking though here and there in an effort to get my 10,000 steps in and to tell you the truth, I've been failing miserably on that one.  The only day I got my 10,000 steps in was last Tuesday because we did a Wellness Walk at work (We have a really great track that I should take advantage of using more often). We were required to do at least 4 laps. Most people did their required 4 laps and then left. I was determined to get my 10,000 steps in so I did 12 laps! We got a raffle ticket for every 4 laps we did so I got three tickets but I didn't end up winning anything. But hey, I got my steps in and that's all I really wanted out of it.

Because I am having such a hard time getting these 10,000 steps in, I even adjusted my goal and decided I would be happy if I did a 5K each day. I'm not sure how many steps that would be but I know I would only have to log 3.1 miles but half the time I couldn't even do that!

This got me thinking...Even if I did only do 3.1 miles a day instead of 10,000 steps, what is that doing for me? Is it making me any fitter? Slimmer? I'm I going to fit in my pants better? Probably not. There is a reason that we strive for 10,000 steps daily. I am assuming when you've reached the 10,000 steps you are burning the allotted amount of calories for weight loss?

This also got me thinking...Who picked the magical number of "10,000 Steps"?   And how can that work for everybody?   Someone who is 100 pounds won't be burning the same number of calories as someone who is 200 pounds and someone who is 200 pounds won't burn as many calories as someone who is 300 pounds, etc. etc.   So maybe for my weight, my magic number is NOT 10,000 steps. Perhaps I can get away with doing less and still make a difference? I don't know.



For those of you who are step counters can you weigh in on these thoughts?  -M

We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for their Weekly Wrap!

5 Mother-Daughter Get-Aways

It's always hard to come up with a perfect gift for mom (or anyone for that matter).  Since most people already have the things they need, I've often found it better to focus on an experience other than an item.

I've taken quite a few trips with my mom, some of them were quick trips and some were longer vacations.  I could go on and on with all the things that we do but I thought maybe these trips would appeal to those looking for some girls only trips. Although it may be too late to plan something like this for mother's day this year, you could keep it for an idea for next year or for when you want a trip with mom, a sister or a girl friend any other time.

                                       Here are 5 great Mother-Daughter Getaways.

1.  This is probably a no -brainer but how about a weekend at a Spa?  As you know, we went to the Hershey spa last month and it was a great mother - daughter experience.  Do you have a great spa near you?

2. Is your mom a history buff? If so,  she may enjoy touring the Newport Mansions. These Mansions sit along the coastline of Rhode Island and they are chalk full of history from the days of the Kennedys, Rockafellers, and Carnegies.  The Mansions are fully furnished as they were in years pasts and hold lots of interesting stories from  that time period. Today many of them are used for weddings and other high profile events. Some have been the backdrop for some famous movies.  We did this trip as a double mother daughter trip as we went with our mom and our nana.

3. My mom and I like to do cruises with just the two of us.  This is a great option for us as it does not require a lot of planning and because we are with in driving distance to many ports (advantage of living on the East Coast), we can cut out flying (which you know I hate to do). This allows us to keep expenses down and we can pack as much as we want!

4. Make a weekend out of a Dinner Theater or a Murder Mystery Weekend.  I use to go to a Murder Mystery weekend every year that was an all inclusive resort. The room, the meals, the entertainment, activities, and snacks, for the entire weekend were included. These can be so much fun!

5. You didn't think I'd leave Disney off this list did you? Whether your mom is a runner or not, The Princess Half marathon weekend is the perfect girls only get away.  If Disney is not your thing, perhaps participating in another girl themed race like the Diva Run!

An InLinkz Link-up

I've earned it but now it annoys me.

The very first race medal I ever received was from the Royal Family 5K at Disney World. I guess back then it was actually called a “Medallion” because it wasn’t made of metal. It was plastic  but it was colorful and it was cute so I didn’t mind.

Even though I was so excited to have done my very first 5K, I didn’t really display my medal/ medallion. I think I hung it in my closet.  In my mind, I wasn’t going to display it until I had a collection. And to me, a collection meant having three.  

I don’t think I ever did end up making my display of my three Disney Medallions because I ended up graduating from only running 5Ks before I had earned all three.

With that being said, when I ran Mickey’s Holiday 5K this past November, I was presented with a HUGE metal Medal! This was the first run Disney race at WDW that gave the new and improved medals for the 5k instead of the plastic ones.  I knew ahead of time that they would not be plastic and I was super excited.

Weekly Wrap May 7th

Welcome to the Weekly Wrap!

This past weekend was the first weekend of the start of the tourist season at the restaurant which means crazy long hours while the bands play every weekend.

Both Saturday and Sunday I worked 10 plus hours on my feet, having no break and no time to eat. Needless to say I was exhausted. That night I caught up on my sleep after a long weekend and slept for 11 hours.

The following day I had already committed to go to Adventure Park. It was fun doing the zip lines and obstacle courses. There were plenty of different courses to choose from beginner all the way to advanced levels. It is a good thing I am physically fit because some of the obstacles were very challenging and involved great upper body strength.

After another busy day, again there was no run! I could not tell you the last time I went three days without running nor working out (well technically I guess you could say the Adventure Park was working out, but I mean in a gym setting).

I was planning on getting up early the next day to take a class at the gym before having to attend a mandatory meeting but when I woke up it was stormy and raining out. No way was I going to the gym. Sleep sounded much more appealing. After my meeting I did not have any other commitments so I decided to go for a run. I wasn’t sure how far I was going to go but I knew I had some catching up to do since I took three days off (not sure why I think that since I am not training for anything). Anyway, I put my backpack on and put a bag of sour patch kids and pretzels together and I was out the door.

The run was very uneventful. Besides dodging some puddles in the park from the rain earlier that morning not too much happened. I was just trotting along listening to my new podcasts and every couple miles ate some of my sour patch kids. I guess it is a good thing that runs can be uneventful. I’d rather have an uneventful run than a run that was awful and I was struggling the whole time.

After running in the muddy park the first half of my run, I decided to take it out on the road to backtrack home. Even though that way was a bit longer, it makes for different scenery which I think passes the time some.

When I arrived home I ended my run at 15 miles. I’d like to think I made up for those miles I missed this past weekend. I took a hot Jacuzzi bath and had a salad for dinner. I know so boring, right? I could have definitely splurged after that long run, but then I would have felt like I was sabotaging my run if I did that. I did have a glass of wine that evening though because it’s all about balance, right?

How long have you ever gone without running/working out? Did you lose your motivation?
Do you splurge or try to eat healthy after a long run?  -L

We are linking up with Holly and Tricia for the Weekly Wrap!

What makes a good Themed Race?

In every race there is a start line and a finish line. The same thing happens at every race (you start, you finish) regardless of what the race is called so why are we so drawn to races that have fancy names or themes?  There’s the Color run, the Pirate run, the Leprechaun run, the Super Hero run, etc. You get the idea. 

So many races claim to be a “theme” but what does that really mean anyway? What justifies a “theme” race?

To me, I think it’s the whole race ambiance that contributes to a good themed race, including but not limited to these 5 things…

1 1. Themed photo ops-  If it’s a super hero run, there better be an opportunity to get your photo with a super hero or at least a colorful backdrop that says as much. For a Leprechaun run or any other Holiday themed race, I would expect some sort of seasonal background. In my experience only larger races have had photo ops, but it wouldn’t be all that hard for all races to do even if we had to use our own cameras (which let’s face it, most of us take our own pics anyway). 

2 2.  Costumed Runners- I love a race where runner’s are encouraged to dress up. I may not always participate but seeing runners in their best Santa garb, Halloween outfit or just Rockin it out at a Rock n Roll series race is always fun!

3 3. Themed Swag – I love when the medals correspond with the theme of the event and are not just a generic race medal. Most races are pretty good about this one. Same with the race shirts.

4 4. On Course Entertainment-  Whether it’s Characters on course, bands, cheerleaders, or just inspirational signs along the course, I think this contributes to the overall ambiance and theme of the race.

5  5. What else is there to do?- I think this is a huge factor when theming a race. Is there a post race bash afterwards? Is the race associated with a festival or a parade? Is there access to a theme park, a concert, or a chocolate factory perhaps?

Here are my thoughts on a few “theme” races I’ve done in the past.

Of course Disney hands down has the theme race covered with ALL 5 of these points!

I did a 4^th of July race last year and if HEAT was the theme, they had that covered. Other than that, runner’s wearing red, white, and blue, and some watermelon at the end was the extent of the theme there.

When I did the movie madness race, some runners dressed in costume and the AG awards were replicas of Emmy Awards.

When I ran Wicked (Halloween theme race) almost everyone dressed in costume,  the medals were spooky Halloween looking medals, and the hot soup in a bread bowl hit the spot on a cool fall day.

When I ran Running of the Elves many runner’s where in Christmas attire, the race director was dressed up, there were Christmas gifts along the course to pick up, and the AG awards were very cute Christmas ornaments.

Hershey- I guess the theme here is obviously chocolate.  The medal and shirt reflected that, there were chocolate candy characters on the course, you got chocolate treats at the end, and of course there is Chocolate World (and the Park and the Chocolate Spa both at an additional price) to visit after the race. Overall I think it was themed nicely.

An InLinkz Link-up

It happened on a Race Weekend

This story is unrelated to running BUT like the title suggests, it DID happen on a race weekend, so it is now relevant to the blog!

I was reminded of this incident the other day when I was clearing pictures of my phone. Here’s the story…

The weekend of the Hershey 10K race, we visited the Hershey Gardens and Butterfly house. The Hershey Gardens are on beautifully landscaped grounds and there is a body of water located there which is surrounded by a brick wall and a gate.

As we were exiting, I noticed  a small child playing /climbing on one of the pillars in front of the water. I noticed his mother was not even paying attention to him. She was on her phone.  This kind of stuff just irritates me so I had to snap a photo. I then noticed the mom wanted the child up on the pillar to pose for a picture (when the water was clearly right behind him with no barrier)!

This was not a very old child. What if he would have fallen or got hurt? Would the mother than hold Hershey responsible?  It would have clearly been her neglect but we all know how some people get sue happy when something happens that they don’t take responsibility for themselves.

I will admit that I did not see a sign posted that stated “No Climbing on the Wall” but then again, Hershey probably didn’t think they had to. Some people amaze me!

What acts of stupidity have you seem lately?

A Perfect Cheat!

This weekend our neighbors had some visitors and one of them was driving this little car that was a mint color. I said that it reminded me of Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream and ever since then I've been craving Mint Chocolate Chip ice cream.

I was going to go out for a cone for the past few evenings but I've been trying so hard to get my 10,000 steps in and figured having an ice cream cone would be counter productive.

When I came home from my run yesterday I noticed I still had two bananas on the counter. I figured I could make my own healthier version of ice cream with that.  Thanks to Pinterest, I've used the frozen banana method of making ice cream before. I figured this time I would just flavor it to reflect Mint Chocolate Chip.  Here's what I did...

Slice up a banana and freeze it for at least an hour.

Once frozen, throw banana slices and flavoring into food processor.

This is what I threw into the food processor with my banana slices.
-sweet leaf mint flavoring
-green food coloring
-chocolate pieces ( I discovered I only had white chocolate chips, so I used a piece of a chocolate candy bar that I had left over from my trip to Hershey)

Do not blend too long because you do not want it to be mushy.

I could have used a little more chocolate and if I had chocolate sauce on hand I would have put some of that in too ( I know, that would have been counter productive as well).  Good thing I didn't have any chocolate sauce.  I only ate a small dish but it definitely curbed my craving for mint chocolate chip ice cream and I didn't feel guilty about eating it since I made the "cheaters version".

What "cheater's version" of your favorite foods do you make? -M

We are linking up with the gals from TOTR where the topic is "Cheating".