I love my little town.

I said to my husband this morning, "It's days like yesterday that I really love where we live."  He agreed.

Yesterday was the 15th annual Greening Up the Mountains festival.  From downtownsylva.org: "This annual spring festival, named for the way the “spring green” creeps up the mountainsides, began as a celebration of Earth Day and has now evolved into a celebration of our local economy, sustainability, and traditional heritage crafts."

Sadly, in my 6 years here, this was my first year partaking in the celebration.   We started with the Greening Up the Mountains 5k where we got these awesome shirts:

We then headed over to the festival where we entered a raffle to win a 55 gallon rain barrel...and WON!  I'm so excited.  The trash can rain barrel we made just didn't hack it.  In fact, last weekend it busted up the side so we were in dire need of a new one.  I'll post pictures later when we have it set up.  In the meantime, here are some other pictures from the GUtM festival:

I wasn't quite sure what to think of this rack(?).  And they had several.  I giggled a little bit.

 Lunch was YUMMY!  Indian fry bread topped with lots of yummy stuff.

Doing my part to save the planet.  Are you doing yours?

We couldn't leave without getting some kettle corn.  :)

This used to be the county courthouse until a new building was built several years ago.  They recently did a major renovation and now it's the public library.  It's amazing in there.  Especially compared to where the library used to be housed.

I had to get a picture of this beast.  His name is Jake.  His brother Elwood was at home.  He's the biggest pitbull I've ever seen.  

That night we went out to Soul Infusion aka "The Tea House", hung out with friends, ate good food, listened to some jam bands, and sampled some great brews out of Tuckaseegee Brewing Co-op's kayakerator.



Here's to good times and great friends.

Live Clean, Live Well

Today was our Earth & Wellness Day.  I don't know precisely why we combined Wellness in with Earth, but it certainly makes sense.

I got to hang out at our table playing cornhole & ladder golf and also got to visit the different tables to be schooled on either 'earth' or 'wellness' and converse with lots of interesting people.

I was most impressed with the guy who turns beer bottles into glasses.  So cool.  I also started to entertain the idea of being a staff leader for the Service Learning trips that are taken by students in the fall and spring--essentially they're alternative fall/spring breaks.  I'm definitely at a point in my life where I feel I need to take more trips, do new things, and be more adventurous.  Hence the running endeavor.  There was one CSA there and I'm trying to get C excited about it.  I understand his concern.  It's $250 to receive a box of veggies every two weeks during the summer.  It sounds steep, but in my opinion, well worth it--local, organic food while supporting local farmers.  I promised him I'd try to find something cheaper, but if not, I'm sorry, but I'm going for it.       

What else?  We went for a two mile run today.  I didn't run the whole time but I definitely felt stronger than I've felt in a while.  The race is on Saturday.  EEK!  I'm excited though.  So once we get through that and get through the end of the year party for all our staff on Sunday, we're home free and I can enjoy some time off to relax.  Until May 10th when we start our 10k training.  Oh yeah...you heard me. 

O'dark Thirty

C and I were up before the crack of dawn to help out with the Valley of the Lilies Half Marathon today.  For all you trivia junkies out there, "Cullowhee", the town where our beautiful WCU campus is located, means "Valley of the Lilies".

I recorded the placing of the male finishers and C recorded everyone's times with the fancy timer do-hicky as they ran across the finish line.  We had tons of fun and I hope I get to do it all again next year.

First overall homeboy was bookin' it!  Check out a blurb here.

C is convinced we're going to do the Asheville half in September.  Mainly because it's on his birthday.  If I can let my ankle heal & fit a 10K in before training would begin for a half, then I'm all for it.  Here's to new hobbies!

Visit my Pages!

Don't forget to check out my other Pages I post to: 

• All Things Food where I blog about recipes I make whether or not I ultimately like them
• Books, Books, & More Books where my "expert" opinion on books I read are jotted down
• Crafty Things where my current & finished projects are outlined
• Playing in the Soil will be seasonal due to my lack of fall/winter gardening skills
• Run Like Hell where I am documenting my progress in my hobby: running

Portion Control

I work at a gym and one of the things you may be shocked to learn about us is that when it comes to nutrition, we're not the premier authority on the subject.

When people sign up for personal training, a lot of times part of their issue stems from poor knowledge of nutrition, and unfortunately, we are only really equipped to handle the physical part.

That being said, we've finally been able to hire Nutrition and Dietetics student interns and it has helped our facility tremendously.

Today at our staff meeting, our current intern presented a topic to us:  Portion Control...Never Diet Again!

Such a novel idea.  I'll be honest, at the beginning I thought to myself, "Yeah, yeah, what is she going to say that I don't already know."  But by a couple of slides in, I changed my tune.

She had some really good attention grabbers:  70% of all American women are either overweight or obese, Queen size beds are actually bigger now than in the 60s(?), clothes sizes are bigger now (I may wear a size 12 now but back in the day it would've been a 14 or 16), bagels nowadays are 3" bigger in size than what they used to be, etc.

I know what I'm supposed to eat or at least I thought I did.  She had some really good correctly portioned fake food as visual aids.  Really.  My salad should be that size?!  I should only have 5-6 oz of meat and that's what 3 oz looks like??

It was pretty amazing.  She also had dinnerware that was correctly portioned.  Holy moly...that's an 8 oz. cup of milk...and how big are the Taco Bell drinks that aren't even "supersized"??

I admit I was intrigued, so I went to the interwebs searching for "portion plates".  I found this one that I was about to buy on the spot:

Then my husband says, "Check out that typo."  Of course he did.  I wouldn't expect anything less.  And then I find these that would definitely do the trick:

I just would really like to consume the nutrients I should be consuming while limiting those I shouldn't.  I hate that I hardly eat any fruits or vegetables.  Cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, some cheesy pasta concoction for dinner.  I'd like to be a well-rounded nutritionista (not in the literal sense).

BUT THEN *angels sing and the heavens part* I found this:

 How cool is that?!  Portion control plates that aren't intuitively portion control.  Plus they're porcelain, plus they're dishwasher & microwave safe.  Haha!  I just think it's the best idea ever and I'm sorry I didn't come up with it.  It's called LIFE-style Portion Control Dinnerware System by Precise Portions.  Too bad it's $120 for a set of 4.  Perhaps I will be sticking to a cartoony melamine plate.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share that with you all (y'all for you southerners).

In other news: today marks day 2 of 1.5 miles.  I'm starting to feel stronger, but my time is still a lot longer than I'd like it to be.  I have 1 mile to do on Friday, so I'm hoping to get my husband to run with me to keep my pace up.  I hate to put him through that torture though.  Was that in his vows?  I think it was.

P.S. The other thing I'm going to do is switch from soymilk to almond milk.  She was raving about almond milk and I'm getting pretty sick of soymilk.  Yay for almonds!

Another addition: Check out this video on the plates...it's pretty cheesy, but oh well. They also have a website: www.preciseportions.com

Why Precise Portions? from Rob Collins on Vimeo.

1.5 miles done

Today was my first day of 1.5 miles.  I'm finding it hard to be positive right now.  Like my coworker said, "It's the journey, not the destination."  Yeah, but! 

It's hard not to get discouraged when your knees are aching from a measly 1.5 miles.  It's hard not to get discouraged when everyone else around you is running 2+ miles like it's a stroll in the park.  It's hard not to get discouraged when the only people you pass on the track are walkers.  It's hard not to feel discouraged when your husband calculates your estimated mile time and it's around 14 minutes.  Whaaaa?!

I feel like I could go faster, but I'm afraid of burning out and not being able to complete the length I'm supposed to do.  What's more important, running the entire thing at a pace I can handle?  Or doing a walk/run at a good clip?  No se.

I'm hoping my 1.5 miles on Wednesday will be much easier like my second 1 mile run.  I'm also hoping my 1 mile on Friday will seem like cake so I can work on building up my speed.

On a side note:  my homemade smoothies always make me feel like I'm eating well.  Juice, greek yogurt, & frozen fruit.  Yum!

Path to 5k

Got through another mile yesterday.  Met up with my coworker at the gym and she did two while I did one.  I can't wait til I'm there with her.  The plan for the next two weeks is to get up to 1.5 miles.  I don't see that as all that daunting, so that's cool.  I really hope I'll be able to boost my speed some too.

The mile I ran yesterday was a little harder than Friday's mile.  I got a stitch in my side which sucked.  Anyone know how to prevent or work through that?

My thoughts on why it felt harder:

1. I ate at 11:30 and I started jogging around 2:15.  Is that enough time to digest?
2. There weren't as many people at the gym to keep my mind occupied.
3. The air at one side of the track was much warmer than the other.

I need a super awesome playlist too.  Anyone have any suggestions?

I downloaded the active.com iPhone app and went through and 'favorited' a bunch of races.  I hope C will be down for some...I know I won't do it unless he goes with me.  Or maybe my coworker would go with me.  At any rate, I'm excited about it.  I think this could be a really fun (and healthy) new hobby.  It would be neat to work my way up to 10ks and half marathons.  We shall see.

Run #2 Not So Complete

So I promised my coworker & friend (she's super cool, so I'll consider her a friend) a while ago that I would go to Zumba with her today.  I didn't think about this until this morning when it dawned on me that today is supposed to be a mile run.  Had I prepared accordingly I could've run this morning.  This evening is out of the question since I'm working on my thesis.  Let's just let that set in...working on my thesis.

Back to my story.  I go in to work this morning and I tell her sorry, gotta bail on you today.  And she says oh no no, I'm not letting you off the hook that easily.  So she tells me, do Zumba today, run tomorrow, walk Friday, and then run Saturday.  The original plan was to run today, rest Thursday, run Friday, then walk Saturday.  She was pretty convincing, so I did Zumba today.

And the reason for this post.  It is so much fun.  I know you probably hear that over and over, but really, it is.  Although, I could see it not being very much fun if you don't have a good group that likes to be silly.  And I'm not so sure it would be as much fun doing it in your living room either.

Moral of the story:  try Zumba at your local wellness facility.

Day 1 Complete

I am going to run a 5k.  Always wanted to, never have.  My wonderful brother created a training plan for me.  I started this plan today.  Run 1 mile. 

I am not a runner.  I have not run since...since...more than a year ago. 

I "ran" a mile today.  I don't know what my pace was, but I did it.  I almost passed out after I finished my final lap, but I did it.

I am proud.

I shall run 1 mile again on Wednesday.

Path to 5k

I'm pretty proud of myself for doing this, hence the post.

I got up this morning (a Saturday no less!) and jogged a mile. Not at the gym; not on a treadmill; on the road. Which is kind of scary considering there's no shoulder. I'm proud that I jogged a mile on a Saturday.

My husband came with me (I don't think I would have done it without him) so I'm very thankful for that, but the mile certainly wasn't as much work for him as it was for me.

The other thing is that I looked into getting the Nike+ running thing (it's something you hook to your shoe & it 'talks' to your ipod to track your run) but all the ones I saw aren't compatible with the ipod & iphone I have. SO instead of spending lots o' moolah on getting a new ipod, I decided to try out an app (Runkeeper) on my iphone that's supposed to do the same thing. It tracks by GPS (or manually, but that's no fun) but it doesn't do a lick of good if I can't get GPS signal on my phone. That's a bummer. I'm going to try MapMyRun & see if it'll work for me. And if not, then I'll see if I can't convince someone to get me the Nike+ for my birthday or something. :o)

After we got home I made breakfast burritos (so easy & so yummy) and a smoothie made from apple juice, banana, blueberries, & raspberries.

Needless to say, I'm feeling very good today. Hope your day results in the same.

Fun at the CRC

My job position has been posted. Which means I need to reapply for my job & cross my fingers that I get it. :oP Chances are good, but one never knows. I just want benefits so I can finally go to the doctor!!

I did a cycle class today during lunch that KICKED MY BUTT. The regular instructor was out for some reason so the Associate Director of our department subbed--and she's super intense. I really did have a great workout...minus the almost passing out & throwing up part. I shall be sore tomorrow.

P.S. My stomach is so much better. Changing my diet is the best thing I've ever done. Never thought I'd get to the point where I would need to!