Tuesday, December 1, 2009

vacation mode

Hello!!  I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend.  I can’t wait to get all caught up on all your blogs and festivities.  I just wanted to post a little recap of our trip . . . and maybe another pistachio recipe soon.  Are you getting tired of all these pistachios yet?  Well, I still have about 3 bags in the freezer and 2 in the fridge :)

IMG00017-20091126-0808Because we didn’t leave for our Thanksgiving celebration until Friday morning, Chris and I decided to participate in our first 5k Turkey Trot to help balance all the good eating soon to come.  If you haven’t been following too closely, I decided to start this thing called running about a couple weeks ago.  Even though I didn’t finish the Couch to 5k training program before then, I still figured I would take it easy and just have some fun.

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At the start of the race, I felt really fast and fresh, but as it went on I slowed down and settled into a comfortable, yet challenging pace for me and my lungs.  Chris, who used to run cross country in HS, comfortably left me in the dust, even though he hasn’t done any running since then either!  I didn’t mind.  I wanted to challenge myself, but not kill myself.  The views were pretty spectacular too!

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The only thing was after the race, my chest got really tight and I started sneezing like crazy!  We were running on packed dirt and it was kind of dusty, but I’ve never had problems with allergies before.  I do have a hard time with the cold air too, but it was really weird.  So for the next couple days I was all sneezy and watery eyed :(  Anyone heard of this happening?

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000_0036I ended up finishing better than I had hoped for!  I had an average 9:12 min/mile and finished in 28:34, 6th out of the 15 in my age class.  Not too shabby?  I look forward to increasing my mileage in the future and making this Turkey Trot a yearly tradition :)

My favorite part of any race . . .

I munched on about 3 watermelon wedges, 1 orange quarter and a fig newton, along with a water bottle.  There were a ton of other things there, but I didn’t burn all that much to go all out :)

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We left early Friday morning for Colorado and had a great Thanksgiving celebration with Chris’ family.  His dad and step mom recently retired and built a beautiful cabin.  I would love to have a cabin!!  Although shoveling snow and freezing winds aren’t my idea of retirement, they sure seemed happy and it was really beautiful up there.

This was the view from the back! 

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There was of course lots of munchin’ goin’ on . . .

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Here was my Thanksgiving plate.  Since we arrived late, we had leftovers, but it was still delicious.  I also had a glass of Ritual Pinot Noir that we brought in our suitcase.  I managed to only have one serving!   

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But really I was saving for dessert of course, my favorite part :)  I usually like to get a little taste of each, which included pumpkin, apple and pecan.

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Some cute salt and pepper shakers and of course we had to have a fire.  Boy it was warm!  Can you see the hidden picture in the fire?

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mmm . . . these homemade cinnamon rolls were awesome!  I haven’t had those in a long time.

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Getting back home from a Saturday outing we had a bit of a problem, oops!  But don’t worry we made it out!!  Oh the joys snow

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The views were just spectacular everywhere!  We even saw a guy ice fishing. 

I can’t wait to come back in the summer time, which is a short 3 months probably, but I bet it is even more gorgeous.

Man, I just can’t wait to retire to be honest!

After tromping around in the wilderness on Saturday, we decided to ride into Fort Collins to walk around town and have dinner, but I’ll save those pictures for the next post!

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday!  I’m sure trying to keep myself from slipping into vacation mode this time of year.  It seems once Thanksgiving hits and I get a little taste of relaxation it’s so hard to get back into gear for the last home stretch.  I had my first presentation for sports nutrition yesterday and have one more to go this week before finals next week, and then I’ll be done!  (for this semester at least)  Oh and I can hardly wait for my week long winter break when I get to visit my mom.  I’m really looking forward to it and it’s keeping me going during crunch time.

What keeps you looking up in stressful times? 

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----> Real Time Update ----> Speaking of stressful, my computer has been acting up lately again for the third time, so I’ve been using Chris’ older laptop.  A few days ago I noticed a slight clicking noise, and come to find out Chris says this is my hard drive about to take a dump, so we’ve been frantically saving files tonight!  Thank goodness all that I needed was recovered and I’m working from a different hard drive now until I can get the box to send my computer in.  So sorry for the lack of posting!  I’ve had the darndest time reinstalling everything and trying to remember passwords.  Darn computers!  Hate them, but can’t live without them. . .

   

 

11 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Glad to see you posting again!

Hang in there with everything - I say positive by just remembering that I WILL make it until tomorrow :)

MelissaNibbles said...

Great job in your race! Your Thanksgiving eats look fabulous.

In stressful times, I just remind myself that everything is temporary. Good luck with the technology issues :)

Naomi(Onefitfoodie) said...

amazing job on the race!! great time and love that shot of you eating the watermelon :)

your thanksgiving looks delicious as well, those homemade cinnamon roll gahhhh soo good!!

Gina; The Candid RD said...

OH MY GOOOOODNESS. Yes, back up those files FAST! That's how my computer sounded, the click click click, then I turned it off and it was gone, everything :( Good thinking on your part!

Glad you enjoyed the Turkey Trot. That's a tradition I have given up since I always go out the night before, but I should start again.

Your food all looks delicious, and I'm jealous of the snow!

Good luck on your last presentation. I'm working at the Division 1 facility today, and for the next few weeks, giving talks about nutrition and wellness! It's so fun. What are your thoughts on supplements and protein for athletes??

Thinspired said...

Awww, I LOVE the last picture of you two :) That is adorable.

Congrats on your awesome race time! That is definitely something to be proud of! I can't believe you are new to running--it seems to come so easily to you!

Nicole, RD said...

Beautiful race pictures!

I need plenty of rest, even during stressful times. I think that keeps me going.

You and your stud are a beautiful couple!

Anonymous said...

Look at you in the 9 minute miler group! I honestly haven't went out running since we went. I need to keep up with it!
Keep it up and then we can celebrate after finals!

Corinne @ Green Grapes Blog said...

Yay! The race pictures! Congrats! Not getting sick of the pistachios! LOVE it!
And, hope you work out the computer stuff! Glad you have stuff backed up!

In stressful times, I hit the gym longer and really just buckle down and plow through work ... once I start I'm A-okay, but the thing is ...I just gotta start! Also--I'm a big "to-do" list gal:)

xxCorinne

Gina; The Candid RD said...

Kristen,

That's exactly what I wanted to hear! I have been talking about whey protein, and that's it. Sometimes just a multi is also recommended for BAD diets, and of course more information on how to make their diet BETTER.

Thanks!

Kelly said...

Your pictures are so gorgeous, looks like a great race.

Thank goodness you got the warning about the hard drive, save save!

Astra Libris said...

Ohhhh, such a gorgeous vacation! I'm so happy for you! Congratulations on the turkey trot, too - YOU ROCK!! :-)