Tag Archives: Pumpkin

6-miler and surprise beauty in fall

(I forgot to hit ‘publish’ last night 😳  )

Today was a run day.  Too cold to go in the upper 20s when I first got up, so I had breakfast first 🙂

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I worked for a while until the temp hit 39 degrees and headed out.  Pre run fuel:

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The addiction is still alive and well 😳

It was sunny and beautiful (if cold!)  I did a 3.2 mile loop, came back to the house and drank from my water bottle (and shed my gloves), then did another 3.2 mile loop.  2nd loop was the hill run.  If I had though about it, I would have done the hill loop first…..

Here is my GoWear fit today:

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Can you guess where the run is in the graph??

Had the most wonderful lunch today.  John cooked up some pie pumpkins yesterday, so we have fresh pumpkin!  I mixed some with greek yogurt, pumpkin pie spice, cranberry sauce and some Hemp Plus granola.

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Tasty!

When I was outside today, I saw one of my roses actually had a bloom on it!

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Even with the frost and everything lately, and the beauty bloomed!  Very fragrant and I was so happy to see this.  I don’t know if the other 2 buds there will open or not, but it’s possible!

Decided on a burger for dinner.  I don’t bother with the lean ground beef anymore because it’s just too dry.  I don’t eat ground beef very often, so I like to get the good stuff.  The trade off is the tiny burger:

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Where’s the beef???  Good, though.

Last stop on tonight’s agenda was Starbucks!  We went with my mom.  I would have loved a gingerbread latte, but decided on a decaf skim latte.  I actually got almost 8 hours of sleep last night!  I hope to repeat that tonight.

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This last pic was taken with my mom’s Easy Share by Kodak.  She is actually trusting me with her new digital camera until mine comes back!  😀

Have a super night!

NROLW and falafel

It’s my weekend!  I think I am resigned to just wake up early no matter what.  About 6:45 and I got up to hit the gym.

  • Barbell dead lifts:  2 x sets of 8 at 75 pounds
  • Static lunge with rear foot elevated:  4 sets of 15 with 25 pound plate
  • Push ups:  4 sets of 15
  • Romanian deadlifts:  4 sets of 15 at 65 pounds
  • Bent over barbell row:  4 sets of 15 with 20 pound weights

This is exhausting, I have to say, with the circuit.  This last stage is definitely the hardest!  I then walked on the treadmill and did 5 minutes of jogging to see if it would bother my back.  It didn’t, so I think I am okay on that front!  I haven’t been running since Sunday.

Came home and had a relaxed and lazy breakfast chatting with John:

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Pumpkin Cream of Wheat with pecans and cranberry sauce.  Warm and filling.  I used to eat Cream of Wheat a lot when I was little, it’s nice to discover it again!

Do you ever have those days where they go by so fast and you didn’t even do anything?  That was today for me.  I did spend some time making a list of priorities and projects I want to accomplish and got a head start on one of the biggest ones, which is refinancing my rental property.  I really hope it works out.  Sometimes lists help, sometimes they freak me out!

Lunch break was protein powered yogurt!

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Kind of like breakfast, I had pumpkin in the yogurt with some vanilla protein powder.  Topped with a packet of animal crackers leftover from Halloween.

Took a few more things to the consignment shop.  I think some of my things sold, or at least I hope so because I didn’t see them.  They are only inventoried up through the middle of October, so anything sold after that isn’t on file yet.  Bummer because I was kind of wanting to shop some 😀

Something different for dinner!

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This is a mix you just add water to and cook.  Deep fried would be best, I’m sure, but we pan fried them.  I also shredded and sauteed some brussel sprouts and made a bed for the falafel patties and topped with dried cranberries.

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I realize looking at these pictures that I had cranberries with each meal except my afternoon snack (not pictured).

John asked if I wanted to go Christmas shopping tomorrow!  I love my hubby :mrgreen:  It will have to be after a longer run tomorrow.  Going to do at least 5 miles, I think.

I’m going to sign off and get working on those ornaments so I can get something done by Christmas LOL.  This isn’t a very exciting post, sorry about that.  I sure know how to live it up 😳   Have a great night!

Question:  Do you make lists?

Sore and protein power!

I took a Tylenol PM last night both for the back and the pain at the Broncos loss last night. 😡   I slept really well for almost 8 hours (go me!!).  Opened my eyes and took inventory:

Sore legs? check

Sore butt?  check

Sore arms, sides and chest?  Check, check, and check.

My back injury actually felt pretty much gone, just a tiny twinge.  I was slow getting out of bed and John commented on how weird it was to see me moving so slow.   I guess it does happen on occasion LOL!

Only went for a walk today as I decided to let my body rest up since I have NROLW on Wednesday to do.  I also decided to stock up on protein for repair.

Protein pancakes for breakfast!

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Along with cafe au lait (I use 1 cup of milk to make 2 drinks for breakfast).

Without a workout, I got right down to typing and worked steadily.  Sometimes I can get distracted by things, and I had some trouble focusing today watching my squirrel buddy right outside my window.

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Pixie was really enamored of him, too!  She chatters, which is so funny!

I made a fabulous protein packed superfood  lunch!

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  • 1 container of french vanilla Oikos
  • 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder
  • 1/2 cup pumpkin
  • cinnamon
  • cranberry sauce
  • 1 packet of teddy grahams (into the pool!)

It was so delicious.

John made lattes and brought me a little treat with it.

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Candy corn kisses!  These actually remind me more of a canned frosting than candy corn, but I love the look of them.  Another thing hidden up high.  I should take a picture of what is hidden away from me – it is quite a lot of stuff LOL.

Took a walk before dinner.  It feels so funny just to walk.  I hardly ever do that anymore since I normally run or bike.  I kept catching myself wanting to start jogging.  Come on Lori – gotta relax!!

Dinner was more protein in the form of chicken.  I brushed some mustard on the chicken breast and coated it with almond meal and sauteed in a pan.

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Super tasty, although the coating fell off.  Yummy.  And roasted brussel sprouts for a change.

Done with work, so that means the evening is free for something, although not sure what yet 😀

Tomorrow we are going to attempt a morning ride to bagels.  Upper 30s, so at least it will be above freezing!

Question:  What is your favorite way to get protein?

4-miler and food in bowls

I konked out early last night and didn’t see the end of the game, but I really needed sleep.  I actually got about 7.5 hours and that makes me super happy! :mrgreen:   Today was a run day outdoors, so I ate breakfast first while I waited for the day to warm up some.  I cooked up some banana oats with PB and blueberry jam!  Yum!

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I got some McCann’s quick cooking oats and those nutritional are the same as rolled oats.  Not sure why that is, but they cook quicker.  I love McCann’s, too – must be the Irish girl in me 😀

After working for a while and seeing the temp creep into the 40s, it was time to go out for a jog.  I don’t like waiting so long to shower, but I don’t want to do it twice in a day.

Distance:  4.22 miles

Time:  42:57

Pace:  10:11 per mile.

Felt pretty good and I was sweating profusely.  I can’t believe how much I sweat even in the 40s!  I just had a technical shirt and jacket on.  I’m a salty sweater, too.  (Sorry)

I had a fun lunch today.  We have packs of animal crackers and Teddy Grahams from Halloween, so I added some to my lunch – Everybody into the pool!

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  • 1/3 cup pumpkin
  • 1 container of Chobani vanilla yogurt
  • Craisins
  • Teddy Grahams

Steady working today and was able to finish early!  Yay, love those days.  My afternoon snack was a latte and one of those granola bars.  While I was making my latte, someone stole my seat….

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Dinner was a mix of pan sauteed broccoli, chicken, and a laughing cow cheese wedge.  Looks like butter, doesn’t it? 😯

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I realized that all my meals were in a bowl today!

When I was cooking dinner, I grabbed the strawberries and found this:

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Now you all know *I* wouldn’t put back 1 strawberry.  Good thing we had another pound in there 😀

Had a pretty good eating day today.  I did have some cashews and FSTG chips while cooking dinner.  The run made me extra hungry today.

Off to the airport tonight.  John’s mom is coming in for a very brief visit for the next couple of days.   Her flight gets in at 10 p.m.!

Question:  Are you a profuse sweater when you exercise?

NROLW and soap!

Hello again!  Did you guys make a plan yet?  I woke up before the sun today, which meant 5:30!  Too early.  The time change is messing with me 😕  I laid in bed for awhile before getting up.  Got dressed and stood outside for several minutes deciding whether to bike or drive to the gym.  It was 28 degrees, and I kept trying to talk myself into it, but wimped out and drove.

Last day of NROLW stage 6

  • Reverse lunge single dumbbell:  4 sets of 4 at 25 pounds
  • 2-point dumbbell row:  3 sets of 4 at 30 pounds, 1 set at 35 pounds
  • Dumbbell push press:  4 sets of 4 with 20 pound DBs
  • Back extension (machine):  4 sets of 4 at 100 pounds
  • Incline revers crunch:  4 sets of 4

Then I walked on the treadmill for 40 minutes.  Simple workout today.  I am going to dink around on the weights for Wed and Friday before starting the final stage of NROLW next week!

Came home feeling the pumpkin today!

Cream of Wheat with pumpkin, brown sugar, craisins, cinnamon, and toasted almonds.  Really good!

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So, all that soap that I made last week was ready to ship out.  Here are the blocks ready to wrap:

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Each of those blocks weighs 2.5 pounds.  So you are looking at 60 pounds of soap right there.  Each block yields 10 bars of soap (240 bars). It’s a little dull on the color palate, just due to what this customer ordered.  This customer cuts the blocks into bars.

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Back when I had my shop, I would do this much or more every day!  It’s hard to do when you work another full time job LOL!  Too bad luxury soap doesn’t sell as well in tough economic times, or I might start doing it again on a regular basis.  Makes the house smell wonderful, I have to say – at least until it shipped out this afternoon!

Yesterday was shopping day, so waffles are back in the house and I got to have a waffle sammie for lunch!

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Plus a kiwi and strawberries.  I’ve gotten on a bit of a kiwi kick lately.

I also had a coupon for more of these:

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😀

Had to flex some work time to get that order packed and out, so I’ll be working late tonight.  Took a break for dinner.  Clam strips!  Another oldie, but goodie.

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All settled in now with my 10 kernels of candy corn (can you believe how long this bag has lasted??) and a cup of Constant Comment.  Hoping the Saints win tonight!

NROLW, omelets, and pumpkins, oh my!

Packed a lot into today!  I tried to sleep in a little later and managed to sleep until about 7, which was good.  I needed to wait until it was light enough outside to bike to the gym.  Temps were upper 40s this morning, so definitely doable.

NROLW Stage 6 A:  last workout!

  • Negative chinups:  3 sets of 1
  • Wide grip lat pulldown with slow release:  1o sets of 2 at 70 pounds
  • Barbell split squats:  3 sets of 6 at 70 pounds
  • Pushups:  3 sets of 6 with feet elevated.

I was encouraged on the chinups today.  The first one I hopped up to the bar and held myself up for quite a while, much longer than when I first started.  The other 2 were the usual length.   I think given a few months, I could progress to actual chinups.

John met me at the gym and we biked 5 miles to Maude’s Kitchen for my football meal!

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This place is cute as a button inside!  It’s like from the 50s:

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The breakfast menu is made up of dishes that Maude’s children loved.  I think she had something like 9 kids.  I got the biggest kick out of this one:

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I had an omelet with home fries, and John had oatmeal with a side of ham and toast.  Switcheroo for us!

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A most excellent breakfast and I could watch them cook it at the griddle, so it was all fresh!  This spread for the 2 of us was $13.  Can’t beat that!  I was so hungry after the workout and bike ride and ate all but about 1/2 the potatoes.

Pink item of the day at our table:

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Pumpkin shopping time at the garden center after I got home (and showered 😀  )

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They also had Christmas lawn stuff out for sale.  Looks like the reindeer got into Santa’s eggnog again:

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I spent about 5 minutes giggling over this outside. 😀

Lunch was pretty delayed and just a Zone bar because of the big breakfast.  I so have Maude’s on my list to revisit.  I spent a good deal of time picking out my pumpkin pattern and contemplating a new career in dentistry 😉

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I used a pattern for a scary clown:

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John did a free form, sort of alien thing:

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Dinner was almost pizza, but then we decided we could cook up shrimp and grits really quickly and it was delicious!

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We just sauteed a bit of lean bacon with some chopped onion, sprinkled flour over it and some vegetable broth, then added the shrimp.  Served over grits. Yum!

We are running a 5K tomorrow on Halloween!  Provided it isn’t pouring rain, but weather looks okay for now.  I am going to try to dress as a bee using yellow duct tape over a black outfit.  I have the antennae made with a headband (which Pixie found to be quite fascinating). It should be interesting at any rate.

Question:  Do you have your pumpkins carved before Halloween?

NROLW and busy, busy!

I thought long and hard about biking to the gym today, but my limit is below 40 degrees and it was at the freezing mark when I got up!! Brrrr…..  I had to scrape the car off, too.   The gym was nice and quiet this morning, guess other people thought it was too cold to even go out!

NROLW (New Rules of Lifting For Women) Stage 6 A

  • Negative chin ups:  3 sets of 1
  • Wide grip lat pulldown with slow release:  10 sets of 2 at 70 pounds
  • Barbell split squat:  3 sets of 6 at 65 pounds
  • Push ups:  3 sets of 6 (real style)

I am not getting any better at the chin ups.  I am very strong, but I am just too heavy to have that much upper body strength (that’s not me knocking myself, just being realistic about my upper body strength). Then I walked on the treadmill for 25 minutes.  This man got on to the treadmill next to me and he had the worst breath!  I swear he ate an onion quiche with a garlic chaser.  I almost got off because I couldn’t stand it, but I didn’t want to be rude and move to another treadmill.  That’s why it was 25 minutes for me until I couldn’t take it anymore 😛

Returned home to make some Cream of Wheat with pumpkin, cranberry sauce and a tablespoon of dulce de leche that John made yesterday  :0

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Very good, but dangerous.  I could eat that stuff straight off a spoon.  It was Alton Brown’s recipe, although he used 1% milk instead of whole to lighten it up a bit.

Remember the little  kitten that I rescued last month?  He got a new home!  He was nursed back to health and is happy in his new place.  That makes me feel great!  This was a picture during his foster care – he is so durn cute!

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Lunch today was more homemade goodness.  John also made some clam chowder this weekend.  It’s only 150 calories a cup and so creamy and good.  I think the recipe was modeled on Dave Lieberman, but I am not completely sure.  I’ll have to ask J and get a link for you.  So good.  I don’t think I ever want canned soup again.

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Winding down on the pink pictures for the month of October!

Here is today’s pink item:

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This is another one of our soap colorants.  This is sparkle pink mica.  It’s actually the same stuff that is used in making cosmetics like eye shadow and blush, but just the pure colorant without any binders.  It’s one of my favorite colors of mica (although gold or copper are even prettier!).  I was contacted by an old soap customer and am working on a large order for her – so it is keeping me hopping on top of working full time.   That means those Christmas ornaments are put on hold.  Remember how I said it was a good thing I started them early??  Hahaha!!  Maybe in a couple weeks I can get back to them.

Doing this soap almost makes me want to start doing that again.  I kind of miss it a little bit now that it has been a while.  Does that ever happen to you?  Where you can’t stand doing something you used to love so you stop, then get the hankering for it again?  We’ll see how long that lasts.  I’ll take some pics when I get most of the order done.

Dinner was my standard trifecta:

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This was the best shot I took.  The old camera doesn’t quite know what to do when the food is steamy.  My replacement camera shipped today!  It’s crossing the country, so I probably won’t get it until the weekend.

So, feeling a little swamped and overwhelmed – but I’m keeping it together.  I did snack on some cashews today – more than I should have, but part of that was the nibbles I get due to lack of sleep.  I am going to bed early tonight, since John is out playing poker.  He had better win, since he has to take me to dinner this week 😀

5-miler and more crepes!

Gorgeous fall day today.  I wanted to do a run outside and it was in the mid 40s.  Perfect for running.  I wanted to do 5 miles, so I set out for that and fueled up with some POM nectarine that the Pom Wonderful people sent me.  This is really good!  I am not a big juice drinker, even though I really like juice.  As I have said before, I don’t like to drink my calories.  This was for prerun fuel and is tasty.  Much sweeter than regular POM juice – it almost tastes peachy!

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I was going on the 2nd loop of running and almost thought about doing 6 miles instead of  5, but my thighs were complaining a little.  It really can take a while to fully recover from big events, I guess.

Had a fabulous bowl of cream of wheat this morning after I got back inside:

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With pumpkin butter, cranberry sauce, cinnamon and white chocolate chips!

Busy with work again.  They weren’t kidding when they told us October is a busy month.  It’s nice to have work.  It was a little sad today, though.  One file was a very long one where the doctors were having discussions with the parents about removing life support on their 11 year old son, and they did not want to do it.  Sometimes the job is tough at times.

I am in waffle sandwich mode again.  This time it was chicken with cheddar cheese, apples and cranberry sauce.

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Warm and toasty!  I am liking the waffles for bread.

John made some scrumptious bars yesterday from Megan’s Munchies:

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Only he used white chocolate chips instead of regular (hence why they made their presence in my breakfast!)  This made a good snack with my afternoon latte.

So, now I am done with the duathlon, and the season of outdoor fitness events is winding down.  It sort of leaves me at loose ends, as I do like to have some sort of goal in mind.  I do have NROLW to finish by the end of the year and then it will have to be more indoor gym stuff.  I do run outside in winter when the sidewalks are clear of snow, but I do have limits 😀

I’m thinking I might try to be serious about knocking off at least 5 more pounds (10 would be super).  I am just not really sure if I want to do the work it will take to do that.  Know what I mean?  I have become pretty complacent here, and with my activity goals I have been pursuing since March – weight loss has not been a primary focus (and was not as feasible with hard training, even though that seems like it would help).  We have just booked a cruise for the beginning of February, and maybe that would be a good goal.

Pink item of the day!

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(This is soap colorant, btw).

I won the football picks last weekend (Yeah!!) – so it was my choice for dinner.  A new crepe place opened up in Glens Falls just last week, so I wanted to go there.  It’s a very tiny place, and tucked out of the way.  Everything is made from scratch.

I chose a fall-inspired crepe:

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Pork tenderloin with mashed sweet potatoes and a blackberry sauce.  It was a little on the sweet side, but quite good.

John had the mexican crepe with black beans, cheese, and chicken.

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We split a dessert crepe, since the meals were light.  This had whipped cream, praline nuts and cranberry sauce:

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Thumbs up for this place, and quite affordable.  Okay, I have had cranberries at 3 meals today :O   Somebody smack me LOL!

We are totally inspired to try to make crepes at home.  Maybe this weekend!

Jeez – this post was all over the place, sorry about that!  I swear my mind feels like this right now.  I really have to focus!

Thank you and duathlon hangover

Thank you to everyone from the bottom of my heart for your comments on my duathlon recap from yesterday!  I am thrilled that it inspires anyone to go out and do something more.  Proof positive that anyone is capable of so much more than one might think.  You just need to get out of the comfort zone and do.

I really am beat today.  My legs are fairly sore and I definitely feel like I really pushed it yesterday.  Certainly did not feel like this after my triathlon.  Isn’t that funny? I am also an eating machine today!  It’s hard not to overeat, but my tummy is just growling all day.  Only a walk outside today and that was it.  Still not sure if I am going to the gym tomorrow or not.  I am also really tired, the kind of tired where I can’t keep my eyes open.  I had taken some Tylenol PM last night and got almost 8 hours (super rare for me), and not sure if I need more or what.  I have to stay awake for the Broncos game tonight, though!  :O

Started off the day with some waffles and pumpkin butter plus craisins.

waf1019This was tasty, but only lasted me about an hour before my tummy was growling, so I had a zone bar.

Then the computer problems started.  My laptop power cord has been acting funny and the computer blinks out.  The battery is so old that it won’t stay charged, so I have to use the power cord adapter.  The adapter itself started beeping (who knew it could do that??) – so now I cannot use that computer.  And it is set up for all of my work stuff.  I am able to hijack John’s computer to do some work, but I am having to do it bare bones without all my medical software on it (so productivity suffers).  Ugh!  New cord is on its way at some point.  Did I not say last week that I have some kind of electromagnetic issue?  (I am writing this post from John’s computer as well)

Needless to say that has made me a bit grumpy today and then more snacking on chocolate chips and peanuts.  I think it is also a little bit of the letdown after yesterday.

I forgot to mention yesterday that even when you do careful planning for race day, things can still go wrong.  We had driven a good chunk of the way and I realized that I forgot my water bottle!  It was full and sitting on the counter waiting to go with.  I was a little upset because I knew I couldn’t go the whole race without hydrating.  I had a carton of coconut water, but that was only 12 ounces.  We hit a McDonalds and bought a bottle of water (yay plastics…), but when I put it in the bottle cage on my bike, it was too small and was flopping around.  One bump and that would have been out of there.  So, I tucked it into my front bag.  Do not ever try to ride and unscrew a bottle at the same time.  I thought I was going to wipe out!  Not sure why it didn’t occur to me to just stop LOL.  But, at least I had some water.  I also learned that cold Balance bars are like rocks.  Halfway through the ride, I grabbed the unwrapped bar out of my bag and bit into it and it hurt my jaw to chew!  Normally they are soft and go down easy, but the weather was so cold that the bar was really firm.  Plus I was trying to chew while out of breath.   Lessons learned for the next time 🙂  Weather can change everything about race day.

Pink picture of the day!

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Limiting the pictures today because of using John’s computer.

Fingers crossed for the Broncos!

Question:  Are you dependent on a computer?

Gearing up for the duathlon!

Don’t you love those days where you actually can sleep in, but can’t actually do it?  I was up before 7 am this morning.  Still dark out and I was all snuggly in the flannel sheets.  So, I just lounged a bit and woke John up to talk to him.  Poor guy.  Normally I pop out of bed and hit the gym while he sleeps in every day.

Nice weather here today, I really wish it would be this way tomorrow, but the forecast is looking dimmer and dimmer.  I won’t cancel the race unless it is snowing, and that’s just for safety of biking on snowy roads.  I might whine a lot, though!

I took a little more time for breakfast primping after being inspired by Susan doing that yesterday.  Plus the banana was a larger one, so I saved some to put on top.

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We went to a museum today to view a Degas exhibit.

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I really wish I could have taken pictures in there.  The great thing is that it did not focus on the ballerina pictures that he is most famous for, but all the music background shots.  Pretty neat!

I also  tried my hand at making pumpkin butter from Danica’s site, and substituted honey for the agave.  Simple and delicious.

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Spread some warm on a gingersnap (these are now hidden up high, thank you).

Pink item for the day spotted at Lowe’s!

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Then we stopped for coffee where I did a little carb loading  😉  (right??)

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Apple cinnamon scone.

So, check list for Sunday’s transition bag:

  • coconut water
  • balance bar
  • water bottle
  • bike gloves and stretch gloves
  • running hat
  • cell phone
  • tissues (runny nose from cold, I’m sure)
  • spare bike tire tube and CO2 filler and wrenches (hope I don’t need!)

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This is all going into my front bike bag (except I will be wearing the gloves.)

Planned outfit will be compression shorts and my long workout pants, technical turtleneck, workout jacket and fleece jacket.  I probably won’t wear the fleece for the run, but will need it for the bike.  I will be totally mismatched, but hopefully warm.  Colors include black, light blue, bright red, pink, and dark blue-grey.

Bike tires are all filled up and checked, and chain lubed up.

Here is a link to the race course

I am pretty excited, although starting to get panicky about the weather.  It’s going to be a smaller field.  About 80 preregistered.  Not sure how many will show up tomorrow and register with crappy and cold weather forecasted.  I am okay with coming in near the bottom.  I think the field will be more hardcore than the triathlon was.

Okay everyone!  I will post an update after the duathlon tomorrow when I get thawed out and back home after we go out for something warm and yummy when I am finished!

See you on the flip side…..