A Week From Today…

I WILL BE A MARATHONER!!! AAAHHH!

I can’t believe it is finally here! We leave in 4 days for Disney, and I feel so unprepared/excited/anxious/nervous all at once! To top off my nerves, I just found out the Saints playoff game is Saturday night, the night before the race. Yup! Not only did I freak out and hurry and change my 5:30 dining reservations so I won’t miss the name, but now I know I won’t get much sleep the night before the race!

A few housekeeping items today. If you would like to follow my progress during the race, you can opt to get FREE texts or emails by going HERE. It’s easy to sign up! enter in my full name, HEATHER MONTGOMERY and you can follow me!

You can also follow me on twitter or join either of my facebook fan pages on my RIGHT toolbar. I will be tweeting and posting pictures on FB and twitter during the trip, after the race, before the race, etc. So that is a good way to keep up with me over the course of my trip!

Also, don’t forget, I am a travel agent! I booked mainly Disney and Universal, but I do other things and cruises, too so just ask! My services are free to you! Contact me at heather@travelwiththemagic.com for a free no obligation quote.

and now, for a couple of flashback pictures from last year’s race!

QOTD: Do you have any race goals for the year? Run a 5k? Get a new PR?

 

If the Shoe Fits

 

If the shoe fits…stay with that kind and don’t ever switch to anything else! I am talking about running shoes of course! I used to run in Nike Vomeros, but I pronate and they didn’t really help, and they made my hip hurt.

Then I moved on to Asics GT’s, and they didn’t make my hip hurt BUT I think I ordered too small of a size because they made the toes on my right foot bleed, and the toes on my left foot go numb.

(See HERE and the end of HERE for bloody shoe and toe pictures.)

I got these shoes in August and felt bad buying another pair months ago when this started happening (I know, I’m cheap with things like that.) But, now, with the marathon a month away, toe issues still there, and having “gotten more use” out of the shoes, I decided to buy a new pair.

I went to www.runningwarehouse.com and found my old shoes. Of course, they didn’t have pink, and the other colors didn’t have the new bigger size I need. Of course. Then I saw they have just come out with the NEW model, and with the good prices on the website, I was able to get them for $75.00 plus free shipping! They only had one color sadly, so I will be sporting blue running shoes this time around. I love that they have free shipping and free returns in case they STILL cause problems or don’t fit right!

Crossing my fingers (and bloody toes) that these work for me! I realize I should have bought new shoes as soon as their was a problem. But I did the bad thing and just kept hoping it would go away, or I would say things like “maybe I need to just tape them” or “maybe when it cools off it will get better because my foot won’t swell.” etc. etc.

Moral of the story, make sure you are wearing the proper shoes AND size for your foot! As runners our feet just happen to be very very important to us I will be sure not to make this same mistake again, and if these don’t fit, I will be sending them back! If you have never gone to a running store and had a proper fitting, go, find one, now! Don’t just guess or wear a shoe because it’s popular or someone else has it, or told you they like it. It may not be right for YOUR foot!

Have a nice day everyone, I am off to run a ton of errands and then I have some work to do.

QOTD: What shoes do you wear? Have you ever had a problem with a running shoe?

 

Melt in Your Mouth Chicken

 

Baby it’s cold outside! For this southern girl, it’s WAY too cold! in the mid thirties when I woke up. I waited until the “hottest part of the day” to run, and it was a whopping 44 degrees, that’s like a blizzard for south Louisiana!

Wait…did I just say I went for a run? Why yes, yes I did! a five mile run mind you, with no knee pain! woo hoo! in the last half mile I had the TINIEST bit of tightness, so I stopped and stretched and it went away. I was so happy! I even felt really good, too! I know missing 6 weeks of training will hurt my time, but I just want to finish! Aiming for one more good run this week (don’t want to push it) and then a long run this weekend, and hopefully that will get me back on track.

So, on to the recipe. This recipe holds a special place in my heart. When Bobby and I had been dating for a month or so, I decided to cook him dinner. He told me to choose my meal wisely because it would make or break the rest of my life (haha.) Anyway, I chose a new recipe I had never made before: Melt in your mouth chicken. I paired it with potato soup but that will be for another day.  

Ok, here it is, still one of my (and Bobby’s) favorites.

-3-4 boneless skinless chicken breasts

– 1/2 cup white cooking wine

-butter (optional)

-pepper jack cheese

-1 can low sodium cream of chicken soup

– 1-2 cups herb stuffing mix (I use Pepperidge Farm)

-salt and pepper to taste

 

Instructions:

1.)Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2.) spray the bottom of a baking dish (I use a 9” I think)

3.) put chicken in baking dish with a little butter on each piece

4.) slice some pepper jack cheese (per your liking) and put on top of each piece

5.)add salt and pepper to taste

6.)mix soup and white wine together in a bowl, pour on top of chicken

7.)pour stuffing mix on top of everything

8.)bake at 350 for one hour

Enjoy!!!

 

Bella says “grandpa, why must you torture me? You know I already hate wearing sweaters?!”

QOTD: What is the weather like right now where you live?

 

 

What’s Your Excuse?

 

     Ok. I get it. Everyone loves having an excuse. My alarm didn’t go off. My dog got out. I am tired. I am busy. My in-laws are coming over. My house caught on fire. (Ok, so maybe the last one is a good excuse!)

We all do it. What exactly am I referring to? Exercise. Movement. Doing something with your body. We make excuses all the time for why we CAN’T go for a run, head to the gym, meet our neighbor for a walk. Sometimes I have to step back and see if my excuses are legitimate of not. I think we are SO good at making ourselves BELIEVE we have a good excuse, that we just sit there and convince ourselves we are doing the right thing.

Does life sometimes just get in the way and you don’t have time or energy to exercise, of course. But, if that is happening every day, or even most days, in my opinion there is a problem!

When I think back over the past week, month, etc. and count the times I didn’t work out, or I cut a workout short, nine times out of ten it was uncalled for. Laziness is my problem sometimes, and I think it can plague us all at one point or another.

Why am I rambling on about this? Well, because the holidays are hurling towards us faster than you may realize. Halloween has come and gone, and Thanksgiving is on it’s way. I don’t know about you, but for me this is the month I start to get crazy busy and things like workouts fall to the wayside.

Granted, I am battling an injury, so I may not be running as much as usual, I still want to keep my strength and fitness up and NOT make excuses for myself over the next two months.

My Junior year of high school my basketball team adopted the motto of “no excuses.” I have decided to use that as my mantra until my full marathon (except for the REAL excuses like injury, sickness, etc.)

What about you? Do you ever just not feel like going to the gym, but instead of just admitting that to yourself you say something like I have to make finger foods for the office Christmas party tomorrow.

Take a look….both of these men could easily have some very good excuses for not running….(this is an old picture.)

What is your excuse again?

QOTD: What is your most commonly used excuse when it comes to running/working out?

 

A Look Back in Time

 

      Ok, so I finally got around to doing it. Be prepared to laugh! I found a couple pictures from my high school track days… Bwahaha! Hilarious! I can’t wait to hear what you all have to say. First things first, a little background. I played 3 sports in High School, volleyball in the fall, which overlapped with Basketball in the winter, and track in the spring. Track was my least favorite (funny huh?) and, I was a SPRINTER. I ran the 100 and 200 meter dash, the 100 was my favorite. I also participated in the 4×100 meter relay which I anchored and the 4 x 200 meter relay.  I loved the adrenaline rush of the fast paced over with so quickly races. I gave it all I had and in less than 13 seconds, it was over.

    Back then, I thought a 400 was long distance. Not even joking. Generally I got to just run sprints and work on my speed, but sometimes I was forced to run *gasp* a mile or more at practice. This really makes me chuckle now as I prepare for my first full marathon and my fourth half marathon!

    I started running track in high school, and apparently I was a natural sprinter (I always knew I was fast but not by racing standards.) I got to run in high school varsity meets in 7th grade. I felt super cool running with 18 year olds and I was 12! I actually had a great 7th grade year and made it to state where I got to run at LSU in the 100 meter dash. It was so scary, but so awesome at the same time. I came in 6th, I was so excited to get to contribute some points to our girls team who went on to win state that year. (Yes I have a huge state championship ring!)

 

   Ok fast forward to 10th grade. Regionals. Must get 1st or 2nd to go to state. This first picture is from the 100 m dash. I honestly can’t remember if I made it to state in this event that year! (I ran fast and I ran hard if you can’t tell by my facial expression hehe)

I know, funny stuff right? Pick yourself up off the floor and stop laughing so you can look at the next one. I love this next picture. This was the 4 x 100 meter relay that I anchored. I LOVED this event, and I loved anchoring. I remember waiting on my mark watching my teammates go around the track (my heart rate is elevating just thinking about this by the way.) We had to be in 1st or 2nd, and we were currently in 4th. Dang it. Going to have to make up some time. My exchange partner and I practiced all the time and we had a very smooth exchange. We moved into 3rd during the exchange and I had to catch a very well known very fast girl. I gave it everything I had and passed her right before the finish line. Seriously ranks in like my top 20 favorite moments in life. If you look in the background, you can see all my friends and teammates and the parents cheering for me…and then you see a lady in LIME GREEN with a video camera. yes, that would be my mother. Hehe. We ended up going on to state and getting 3rd and got to stand on the podium. We also set a new school record and I set a personal new split record at a time of 12.37 seconds. Love it.

Ok ok stop laughing now. Seriously. I will have to find out podium picture when I unpack after we move. It’s great.

Also, just to show you I did NOT walk around all of 10th grade making that face, here is a normal one. Me, 10th grade Homecoming dance, I was on homecoming court this year. Interesting I think. Who is digging my mermaid gown?

Ah, to be 15 again….

 

Ok, so, why did I post these pictures you ask? Not just because they are funny, but because of the irony of the situation. Here I am, eating, sleeping, breathing marathon training (I am sitting here icing my IT band as I type) and this is the girl who dreaded running 400 meters. Who am I? Well, I will tell you. I am the girl who wants to live up to her potential. I am the girl who loves a good challenge and is competitive to the core. I am the girl who wants to feel alive, have no regrets, and live life to the fullest. Sprinter no more….marathoner…..on my way!

QOTD: Would high school you ever think you would be where you are today?

 

Listen up, Race Directors

 

   Good afternoon! I hope everyone is having a fabulous day. We are dealing with some not so fun family issues, but other than that it’s been an ok day. I went for my first post-race run this morning by myself. I just did 3 miles, and my calves were SO TIGHT until almost the end of the run. But, all things considered, I had a good run and pushed hard. (More on that tomorrow hopefully!) In case you missed my race recap, you can check it out HERE.

   Anyway, I have a qualm. With races. Specifically with race shirts. WHY do most races NOT have gender specific shirts? I am not a tiny person, but I am not a big person. I wear a size small t-shirt. But, in these race tech shirts, a universal small is BIG and NOT very fun to run in. Case in point, here is my ace shirt from this past weekend. I ran in it this morning, and it just so happened to match my headband and running skirt, score! But…it’s huge! (I am holding it out for the purposes of this picture, I am not filling up all that space with my body!) it took me a couple tries. The first one you couldn’t really see well, (me and the self timer don’t get along)

ok here we go, this one is better.

It is so baggy, it’s frustrating and felt heavy and awkward to run in it. Oh well!

I do have good news though, my GU came in the mail! GU was having a special I posted about on my facebook fan page (you can join on the right sidebar) where if you bought any GU product, you got a 6 pack of the new, limited edition flavor, island nectar. I can’t wait to try it out!

I ordered the vanilla gingerbread with mine, yum! Look at the cute little package!

On the moving front, we cleaned up and boxed up the entire guest bedroom yesterday and put it in the garage, except for furniture. Look what I found! Bwahaha!

IT’S HUGE! It’s actually bigger than this, you can see the left panel isn’t out all the way…it wouldn’t fit on the floor of the office! Ok, story behind the Notebook poster…Back in college I was the cool 19 year old who had her own apartment Bobby and I had a friend who worked at blockbuster. They were taking this huge poster down from the window display and said I could have it SCORE! I promptly hung it up in my bedroom over my bed. Seriously? I really did that? Hilarious! It was definitely time to throw it away!

I have more pictures to post but will save them for another post. I have to go! Have a great afternoon!

 

QOTD: What is something funny you did in college you look back on now and laugh about?

 

Easy Chili

 

Good afternoon! I hope everyone is having a great hump day! I have been pretty productive today. Bobby and I got up and ran 4 miles, our last run before the half. We were scheduled to do 5, and I even had my alarm set…but..you can’t hear your alarm if your phone is on silent now can you? We were running late so we just did 4 miles then went to the chiropractor, cleaned out more stuff at Bobby’s dad’s ate lunch, and now we are waiting for the AT&T guy to come because our internet is acting up. Don’t you love how they give you those windows of time…”Someone will be there between 1-5.” Not cool! We have to go BACK to the chiropractor later and then dinner with friends.

 

Ok, here is the easy chili recipe I promised. I kind of made it up, so you can change things to your liking. I think it came out good! This amount was enough for 4 large bowls.

 

-1 .5 pounds meat (we used ground sirloin)

-1 can Busch’s beans in chili sauce

-3 tsp of chili powder

-1/4 of an onion chopped up (I am not a huge onion fan)

-1 small can of tomato sauce (like the little mini cans)

-water (I used two cans worth of the beans can)

 

directions:

-chop up onion

-brown meat, then add onion

-drain excess fat

-put into a pot with rest of ingredients, simmer for 45 minutes (the longer the better)

 

We served ours with crushed multigrain tortilla chips and cheese on top. and served with bread. It was great for the cold weather we had for a couple of days!

 

Have a great afternoon everyone! The next two weeks are really busy for us, so hang on for the ride!!!

 

QOTD: What is your favorite cold weather food?

 

aannnd a Disney picture thrown in for fun!

 

 

Light the Fire

 

Good Morning! It’s another beautiful sunny COLD day here! The high is in the mid 70’s and the low tonight is 39! wow! To think 2 weeks ago it was 95 degrees and I was in a swimsuit. I finally got yesterday’s pictures uploaded so sharing time!

Bobby came home from the gym at nine and brought me a Smoothie King smoothie. How sweet! We went for a quick 3 mile run, and I wore a long sleeved shirt! After that we decided to do some cleaning and reorganizing. See, since we decided to move, we have started packing up boxes of things we don’t need right now and putting them in the garage. Well, we didn’t plan properly and it was all very disorganized and random.

    We had inherited a broken golf cart almost 2 years ago and never had it fixed, and we kind of boxed it in with our packing. Bobby decided to get it fixed so we had to move all the boxes to get it out, so we just decided to repack everything correctly once we got it out.

This is what we started with.  yikes.

The puppies wanted to hang out outside with us.

We finally got the golf cart out of the garage!

Told ya I wore long sleeves!

My girls don’t get along too well, so the fact that they were laying this close to each other make me so happy!

It took awhile, but here is the finished product!

After we got all cleaned up we ran a couple errands including grocery shopping and came home where I made a new chili recipe! (I will post it at some point with a picture.)

After we ate, we decided to do some burning. In our packing and cleaning out we had a ton of old papers with personal info on them we didn’t want to throw away, so we decided it would be a good night to burn them in the fire pit.

I enjoyed it. it was nice because it wasn’t TOO cold outside, but the fire was nice and cozy! We stayed out for about an hour or so until all the paper had burned and it was dark and getting much colder!

Then, this morning, Bobby made us waffles!

They were quite delicious. I added a little pumpkin spice to mine. Yumm-o!

Today we were supposed to go to the gym and do more cleaning at Bobby’s dad’s, but he isn’t feeling well so we are going to stay here, wait for the golf cart people to come pick up the golf cart, and then we have a chiropractor appointment this evening to get together a “game plan”.” I am excited about this because I so want my running to improve!!!

Tomorrow will be 5 miles. Normally it’s a tempo run or speedwork, but since we have the half marathon Saturday it will just be 5 easy miles.

Have a good day all!

QOTD: What is your favorite breakfast food?