100 Days...

Until my MARATHON! EEK! While doing some hills yesterday morning, I got a glimpse of a beautiful site as I rounded the bend:

Hellsgate Bridge, Astoria Park

Then in the afternoon I went to FREE yoga at Bryant Park in Manhattan! So fun! (I took it easy because I had done yoga the day before, and my knee was not appreciating the extra work!)

Thoughts 100 days out:

• Will I finish under 5 hours?!
• Will I have to walk a lot?!
• What will the weather be like in UNPREDICTABLE November?!
• Will I have a black toe nail?!

Alrighty, enough of that wallowing.

I'm running a marathon!!!

Weighed in this morning and to my pleasant surprise, another loss!

Weigh in: Down 2.5lbs this week.

3 week total: down 6.5lbs!

Now I know it's because I'm eating very "earthy" (Anything that comes from the earth), but I've also been MEASURING things, and keeping a food diary. My new bff is MyFitnessPal. It's an app/website that has a food diary to log, but also looks up foods and gives you calorie counts. It also has lists brands for calorie counts, such as my Trader Joe's Orange Mandarin Chicken, or Starbucks black tea lemonade. So, here's a day in the life of a calorie counter:

Breakfast: 1 1/2 cups of steel cut oats, 1 cup of blueberries: 309 calories

Lunch: 4 ounces of lunch meat chicken breast, one slice of provolone cheese, 1/4 cup diced red pepper, lettuce, salad dressing: 281 calories

Dinner: 3/4 cup of rice, balsamic chicken with spinach and white beans: 4o0 calories

Snacks: Plum: 40 calories

Sesame Melba Toast: 30 calories

Apple butter: 30 calories

Mini ice cream sandwich: 110 calories

Total calories: 1200

Now, that's a lot of food. 1200 calories doesn't seem like a lot, but it is. I can go up to 1400, especially on days that I'm working out a lot, but my long run is only up to 6 miles (But jumps to 8 TOMORROW!). As I train, my calories are going to go up; however, I needed to do a cleansing. I feel 100% great; lighter, clothes aren't as tight, and healthier in general. I was eating like I was burning tons of calories a day, when at this point I'm really only burning 300 calories or so. You need to cut out 500 calories a day (3,500 a week) to lose one pound, and it's a lot of work. I'm really excited to see this change and look forward to continuing a healthy lifestyle on my to the....

ING NYC MARATHON...in 100 DAYS!!!

Weekend update with Mrs. Miller

This post will be written in the form of Seth Myer's weekend update on SNL.

This weekend the Millers visited CT. There are rumors of healthy dinners, a 6 mile trail run and blueberry picking, but conveniently the iPhone was "left in the car".

In other news, Rhode Island is apparently the place to be according to New England beach goers. When asked why Connecticut people don't go to Connecticut beaches, the response went, "Because Misquamicut is a wicked awesome beach."

New studies show that cell phone owners age 60 and over are starting to venture into owning an iPhone. Sadly, this picture of Mr. & Mrs. Miller took six tries because of the 60 year old handling the iPhone.

(The 60 year old iPhone picture taker)

And now, to tell us about the best place to get a Lobster Roll in Mystic, CT: Stefan. "The hottest spot for hot lobster rolls is Abbott's. Abbotts has everything you need: picnic tables turned upside down, lobster wrestling in jello, BYOB, jumping killer catfish, and children dressed up as a lobster trap." Thank you Stefan.
And last but not least, New England has voted: Harry's Place is the best food stand around. Burgers, hot dogs, fries, onion rings, and blueberry cheesecake frozen yogurt.

For weekend update, I'm Mrs. Miller; Good running and happy Monday.

103 DAYS UNTIL THE ING NYC MARATHON!

*Check out this headband giveaway! I want the giraffe one :-D

All the better / faster / stronger

My week has been filled with this:And this:
This week I got sick of the extra 5lbs that have crept up since the winter, and that I never seemed to get rid of. Of course I tried, but something always got in the way: special dinners, birthdays, end of the year celebrations at school, 4th of July (Yummy...); it all boil down to lack of self control and loving food! Usually I'm pretty good at maintenance with running, and I do generally lead a healthier lifestyle than most Americans for sure; however, I'm cursed with some pretty poor genes. All the ladies in my family are very health conscious and work extra hard to be fit. So, this week, I downloaded myfitnesspal and did work yo, did work.

My caloric goal to lose 2lbs a week is between 1200-1400 depending on exercise. Now don't go thinking I'm starving myself, I eat a LOT of food throughout the day. Next Friday I'll post about a day in the life of calorie counting. Of course when I do my long run on Saturday my intake will be much higher. I'm feeling out what my body needs and working with it. I drank TONS of water. When I got sick of that, iced green tea or black tea (fresh brewed and UNSWEETENED), or Pellegrino with lemon or lime. If I had a craving for sweets, I took a Luna s'mores bar and cut it into 1/4's so I had a mini cookie type dessert if I needed it for 45 calories.

Weigh in: Down 3lbs this week, down 1lb last week. Two week total: down 4lbs!

My goal was down 5lbs, so I'm 1lb away from my maintenance goal. My dream goal is down 5lbs more, but that will be less of an ambition and more of an "if it happens it happens." I've come to realize I'm very muscular, and I must have big bones, because being 5'2" and weighing what I do is bordering on overweight. Confusing but true. I just want to be a little lighter on my feet as I train for the marathon. Fueling with HEALTHY foods.

Steel cut oats and blueberries are my FAV! O.M.G. they rock my world. Here's a recipe to keep you until next Friday:

Steel Cut Oats (1/4 cup dry = 1 cup cooked. I eat 1 1/2 cups) 220 calories

1 cup of blueberries 84 calories

1 teaspoon of honey or brown sugar: 15 calories

Calories for breakfast: 315 calories.

Keeps me full for at least four hours!!!

Shout out to my daddy-o, he has lost 23lbs in the last few months! SO proud of him!

What have you done today, to make you feel proud?

106 days until the ING NYC MARATHON!!!

Clear eyes, full hearts, can't lose

I saw this while sitting at a traffic light (Which happens a lot while driving in NYC), and I thought, "I like this." But since there's no like button in real life, I decided to add it to a blog!

This past week I had a wicked stomach bug and did zero running. Zilch. Nada. Nothing. I almost went into a runner's depression. However, I saw the face of my sponsored child, prayed a lot, and just like that: Monday morning I hit the ground running, literally. It's like a switch turned on and my stomach bug disappeared! Thank God. I was ready to go to the doctor and get a dreaded antibiotic. I think I did ok coming off of no cardio for a week:

Monday: 3 mile run

Tuesday: 4 mile run

Wednesday: AM strength/weights for 25 minutes and 20 minute swim, PM yoga

Don't you love sports movies? I heart them a million times over. Remember the Titans is my favorite. Just like the picture, random lines from good sports movies often come to me while running or when I'm down. Here are a few of my favorites, but I'm considering the above picture as one of my marathon mantras (OBVIOUSLY the Friday Night Lights quote in the title is already in!)

• Remember the Titans- "What are you? " / "Mobile, agile, hostile!" ... "Will you ever quit?" / "We want some mo', we want some mo'!"
• Miracle: "You're missing some of the best players." / "I'm not looking for the best players, Craig. I'm looking for the right ones."
• Miracle: "This is your time. Now go out there and take it!"

I could write down a MILLION quotes from the show Friday Night Lights. So sad to see it go.

Stay positive, put your best foot forward, and trod on faithfully during these hot humid runs!!!

TRUE HUSTLE / REAL HEART

108 DAYS UNTIL THE ING NYC MARATHON!!!

Trying new things

It has begun...marathon training that is!!! It's easy at the start, enthusiasm spilling over into joyous short runs. But then I look down the training schedule and, whoops, August is going to be hot run haven....September?! Jeez. At least my birthday in October isn't hampered too badly...oh but wait, 18 and 20 miles in October. Here goes nothing!!!

I did my first swim this morning, it was glorious! Did a quick 30 minute weights/core/strength session at the gym and headed over to the pool. It is SO beautiful, crisp and clean in the morning!!!

So I tried yoga today!!! It's a big cross training day for me ;-) It was cool. This is the yoga room, very simple and elegant. This used to be a restaurant, Brian and I ate a bad tasting pizza here and never went back...thus it inevitably became something else. It went really well, I was surprised. Chicrunner got me thinking of trying it, but I was nervous since my flexibility is really the worst it's ever been. Even though it was warm (About 86 degrees) it was good, I didn't push so hard that I would be in a lot of pain, only a little. I definitely got a workout from it and feel sore. I am going to try to go one to two times a week this summer; it's in the middle of the day and a donation class, so why not!

How is your summer training going? (I ask these questions and people rarely answer, but hey, it's worth a try!!!)

Speaking of tri's, congrats to my BIL and sister for completely a sprint try last week! They are a really athletic couple and push me to be less lazy :-D Interested in tri's? Check out Heather's blog. She's living it up outdoorsy style in Colorado, and completed her first Ironman Triathlon last year!!! Miss you H. Keep up the good work!

122 Days until the ING NYC Marathon!!!