Lunch Time Fun

I normally use every single minute of my lunch hour to run or workout. Sometimes I will clean to make some extra money, or clean my own house but those days are rare. I have been hit with a cold this week and it is wearing me down so I have not been running at all. Today I was going to go and start a cleaning job but it was too nice outside. After a long, cold winter, and a long cold spring I am ready for summer. I went to a local park, laid down in the grass and read my book in the warm sunshine. It was sooo nice I really did not want to come back to work.

Beginner Wednesday - Week 3

Since no one has left a comment regarding by Beginner Wednesday's I can only assume no one is reading this and no one is taking this challenge on. But I am still hoping that soon someone will come across this and take action, so I am going to keep blogging and hoping I am helping to change someone's live.

How did last week go? Were you able to increase your time comfortably? Did it hurt, was it hard or was it easy? If last week was easy push yourself harder this week. If it was too hard last week, back off a little bit this week. This is your run, this is your training plan so modify it to fit you, but don't make it too easy.

For your workouts this week I want you to do the same 3 - 20 minute workouts but choose to do one of the two workouts below. Warm-up and cool down are both the same. 5 minutes at the beginning at 5 minutes at the end.

For those who want to make this week a little bit harder I want you to do the following:

1 - Run for 60 seconds, walk for 30 seconds. Repeat this for a total of 10 minutes

For those who want to make this week a little bit easier I want you to do the following:

2 - Run for 45 seconds and walk for 30 seconds. Repeat this for a total of 10 minutes.

Let me know how you are doing. Next week we are going to add in some strenght training.

175 Miles in 7 Weeks - Week 3

This is week 3 of the challenge. I am not getting in 25 miles per week but I am getting in more than I was before I started this challenge.

Here are my totals so far:

Week 1 - 26.2 miles
Week 2 - 19.75 miles
Week 3 - 22.10 Miles

Total Miles = 68.05 miles and I am short by 6.95 miles.

Total Miles Left In Challenge - 106.95

I was able to take a 2 hour lunch on Friday and I did a 10 mile trail run. I did something to me knee and it really started hurting the last 1.5 miles of the run on Friday. On Saturday I got up and my knee seemed ok. I was volunteering with the Girls on the Run and I decided to run to the start of the race, about 2.6 miles. I felt my knee about a mile into the run but it wasn't too bad so I kept going. I helped get everyone registered for the run and then realized that I could run it too, so I did. Not a good idea. I finished and I ran the whole thing with a great pace but afterwords I was hurting. So instead of getting out on Sunday for the last 3 miles to hit 25 I took it easy and I am not running today either. I am going to run tomorrow and see how my knee holds out.

Take a minute to check in on Kristen's progress.

10 Mile Trail Run

Today I took my 2 hour lunch instead of on Wednesday. It was perfect! I cannot tell you just how wonderful it was. The weather was perfect, sunny, not too hot, the trail was great. I cannot image a better way to spend two hours.

I did 10 miles in 1 hour and 57 minutes with a pace of 11:42. The first 5 miles were mostly uphill which really slowed me down but I was able to cruise and have a blast on the downhill.

10 Miles turned into 3

I have a little bit of comp time at work set aside so I asked to take a 2 hour lunch today. My plan was to run 10 miles in that 2 hours - maybe a little bit more it I was really on my game. Will shortly after I started my run it started raining, then sleeting, then hailing or little tiny snowballs as I call them. I stopped and waited a little bit in a covered area and then decided to try it again. I finally gave up and turned around to head back. Since I turned around I was running right into it and I could not even see. My face and contacts were covered in water. Then it stopped raining so I tried again. I eventually gave up because I was going to be gone for 2 hours, the coat I brought was not a rain coat was soaked so I dropped it on the trail and I was heading for a ridgeline. I could see myself in another hour stuck in another rain storm, no coat and on a ridgeline. I am did 3 miles and headed back to work. I will try to get the 10 miles in another time.

Beginner Runner Wednesday

Now that you have completed your first week of running we need to bump it up a little bit. Yes, each week will get a little bit harder but soon you will say, remember when I could only run 30 seconds at a time?

Like I said last week, I believe just about everyone can run. My sister (sorry Sara) is not use to working out. She has always been one of those skinny girls that does not need to work out to be skinny and she can eat a bag a chips. Yes it was hard growing up in the same house as her! Well I challenged her to run a 5K recently. This is the same girl who I don't think she had ever ran a mile in her life. She did a couch to 5K program starting in January and finished her first 5K in mid-April. She did great and is ready to sign up for another one.

Now, onto your workout for this week. This week I want you to do the same 3 - 20 minute workouts but choose to do one of the two workouts below.

Warm-up and cool down are both the same. 5 minutes at the beginning at 5 minutes at the end.

1 - Run for 45 seconds, walk for 1 minute. Repeat this for a total of 10 minutes

2 - Run for 30 seconds and walk for 45 seconds. Repeat this for a total of 10 minutes.

So as you can see you can either run longer or run shorter but walk less. The choice is up to you. Let me know how you do!

Don't Forget - Learn How to Cook Real Food

Don't forget to sign up for classes on how to cook real food. Click HERE to sign up for the e-cooking course or

Click HERE to read more about it.

175 Miles in 7 Weeks - Week 2

This week I did not get as many miles in as last week. I did 19.75. Here are my totals so far:

Week 1 - 26.2 miles
Week 2 - 19.75 miles

Total Miles Left In Challenge - 129.05

Total Miles = 45.95 miles and I am short by 4.05 miles but I will make that up. I am trying to take a long lunch one day this week and get in a 10 mile run which will help a lot but we will see!

Take a minute to check in on Kristen's progress.

This should make you feel better about yourself....

Kathie Lee and Hoda showed up on the Today Show with no make up. You can watch the segment here. I have to admit that seeing them with no make up made me feel better. Sorry Kathie Lee and Hoda! Lately, I have been noticing the signs of aging all over my face - and I am only 31! You see all of these people on TV, many who are older than me who look GREAT. I know they have make up on and can afford all of skin treatments they want but to see what they really look like was a boost. Now if I could just first find time to put make up, figure out how to do it and then be able to afford all they put on I would look just as good as they do!

Nourished Kitchen

I have a great opportunity to bring everyone. My friend Jen is the author of the Nourished Kitchen website Take a minute to check out her website. Jen's website is about getting back to the basics of food, no preservatives, no junk, no fillers, just real natural food. She is an amazing cook. I have enjoyed every single meal she has ever cooked for me (except for the liver but come on it was liver!)

Jen has received quite a bit of press regarding her website as well. Check out her list here. She was even featured in the Washington Post.

Jen and her husband Kevin are also responsible creating the Crested Butte Farmer's Market. They have seen it grown each year. I know because I don't get to see her as much during the summer because the Farmer's Market keeps them super busy.

Nourished Kitchen features great information, recipes, how-to's and so much more. Jen also has recipe cards you can subscribe to. The recipe cards are very nice, sturdy and with the pictures of food on them pieces of art. I would highly recommend these cards.

Jen has now added another feature to her website, an online cooking class. She is offering 12 cooking classes for $120.00. Here is a list of what she will cover:

Lesson #1: What is Real Food & Where to Find It
Lesson #2: Eat Whole Grain
Lesson #3: Homemade Sourdough Bread
Lesson #4: Homemade Salad Dressings
Lesson #5: Prepare Seasonal Vegetables
Lesson #6: Make Real Pickles
Lesson #7: Roasted & Slow-cooked Meats
Lesson #8: Stocks, Broths & Soups
Lesson #9: Easy Homemade Yogurt & Cheese
Lesson #10: Soda & Soft Drink Alternatives
Lesson #11: Naturally Sweet Desserts
Lesson #12: Menus & Meal Planning

To find out more information about her cooking classes please follow this link.

Jen has taught me a lot about cooking and there is so much more she can teach you.

Spring in Colorado

Warm, sunny, shorts, windy

Cold, cloudy, pants, hat, gloves, windy

Warm, cold, sunny, cloudy, windy

Rain, snow, sun, windy

(Yes it is snowing right now in Gunnison and yesterday I was running in shorts and a tank top at lunch.)

Beginner Runner Wednesday

I love running. I really do. It is my escape, my way to connect with myself, me time, and it burns a lot of calories quickly. Because of my love for running I want to turn everyone I meet into a runner, especially if you say you cannot run because I will quickly tell you that almost everyone can run.

I was not always a runner. My mom says as a kid I was the couch potato with my head in a book eating a bag of chips. No wonder I was a chubby kid!! I started running when I went to college. The gym was 100 yards from my dorm room and I had an enclosed walkway so no excuses. I started running slowly on the treadmill and eventually I was able to run one mile without stopping. So if I can do it you can to!

For all of you non-runners that are thinking about starting here are a couple of benefits of running:

1 - Walking or running you burn about 100 calories per mile. Now do you want to get that mile done in 20 minutes or 10 minutes?
2 - Cardio. Walking is good for you, but if you want to get a good heart pumping working out you need to bump that walk into a run. They have proven that for good heart health you need 30 minutes of heart pumping cardio 5 times a week.
3 - Lose some weight. With all this running you are bound to lose weight.
4 - ME TIME! Many moms and dads have trouble finding time for themselves. Set aside 20 minutes, 3 times a week for you and only you. Or you and your best friend - no kids.

Now if I have convinced you to start running you are now thinking how. We will start nice and slow.

Your goal for the next week is to run/walk three times for a total of 20 minutes. Start by walking for 5 minutes to warm up. No slow pokes, get those legs moving. At 5 minutes I want you to run slowly - no sprinting just get use to running - for 30 seconds and then walk for 1 minute and repeat. Do this for 10 minutes. Then walk the last 5 for your cool down and you are done. Now was that so hard.

Check back next Wednesday for your next running workout.

175 Mile Challenge - Week 1

This was the first week of the 175 Miles in 7 week challenge. I did great. I did 26.2 miles - my 17 mile mother's day run really helped me out a lot but I also planned for that long run this week as I did not run as many miles during the week so I could save some energey for the 17 mile run. I am still tired today from it but it was worth it.

I am not exactly sure how I am going to get all of the miles in this week but I will. Kristen, did 28 miles! Go Kristen!

Tigerlily is in the process of moving across the country. She is leaving today so I will check in with her next week to see how she is doing.

Happy Mother's Day and 17 Mile Run

I told Joe that the only thing I wanted for Mother's Day was to go for a super long run. So around 8:30 in the morning I headed out for 17 miles. It was great and the weather was perfect. I headed for the hill behind Western (as I call it since it does not have a name) to try out a new trail I found the other day. Behind Western State College is a peak called Signal Peak. It is about 14ish miles round trip from my house. Well, this new trail took me towards Signal Peak and I knew that mileage wise I could do it and still be at or under 17 miles. The closer I got to the peak I saw how the trail got to Signal Peak. Instead of the nice mellow up I was doing it turned into a straight up! I saw that and said, nope I can find another way to get the miles in. It was a super steep hill and I still had over 8 miles left to run. So I headed back down and around and eventually home. The last two miles were hard and I struggled to get them done but I did it. 17 miles in 3 hours and 23 minutes, pace 11:59.


The rest of my Mother's Day was great. I came home from my run to a quiet, clean and happy house. We went out to lunch and then took Mikayla climbing at the rec center. She has to be 5 to rock climb at the rec center, and she just turned 5 on Friday. My baby is now 5 - how on earth did that happen! After rock climbing and playing at the park we headed home where I was able to take a short nap and spend the rest of the day relaxing with my family. It was a perfect Mother's Day. The only other Mother's Day that I have had so far that beat this one was the one 5 years ago when I brought Mikayla home from the hospital.

April Miles

Since Tall Mom started her 1000 mile challenge I have been trying and failing to get in the 83.5 miles of running each month. This month I did it!! 85.58 miles!!! I really did not want to run on Friday because it was cold and windy oustide but I only had to do a mile or so to hit 83.5. My year todate total is 273.02 and I am short by 60.13 miles.

I am hosting a challenge that starts Monday morning that challenges you to run 175 miles in 7 weeks or 25 miles per week. Hopefully this challenge will help get my weekly miles and also acculmate some so I can reach the goal of 1000 miles for 2010. I need to get as many miles in this summer and early fall so when it gets super cold outside I can sit back and relax some.

Click here to check out the challenge and sign up!

I was not ready for this, this morning

Today is May 2nd and this is what I woke up to this morning.

I know that this can happen in the springtime in the Rocky Mountains but I still don't like it!

It is still snowing but it is warm outside so hopefully I will be able to post another picture this afternoon with all of the snow gone. It is still snowing but it is warm outside so hopefully I will be able to post another picture this afternoon with all of the snow gone.