Friday, August 29, 2014

Friday Fav's

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle
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Hand's up...who's stoked about a looooong weekend?!? Just getting ready to head to work, and then I'm all packed and ready to head to the cottage...long weekend here I come!

Well friends - it's Friday...so we all know what that means, it's time for

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So let's get started shall we Open-mouthed smile

1. Although we haven't spoke to K all week (since she's at camp), I'm so happy for these experiences she is getting to have and grow this summer. The camp takes photo's and post's then online...and here's one from this week

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2. Tried a new-to-me salad at Wendy's this week...and it earns Thumbs upThumbs up...it was very delish...BBQ Chicken Salad

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3. Fav workout of the week happened this morning...I got by butt out of bed and headed to a 6am spin class...as I told Mike when I got home "my eyelashes were even sweating"...lol

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4. I've been working hard this week at getting my eats back under control, and I have been really enjoying all this fresh fruit of the season

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5. And my most fav thing of the week...last night Mike and I found out that our offer was accepted, and we are officially

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BEYOND excited to now own a piece of sand at the #happiestplaceonearth!!!!!!!

What are some of your fav's this week?

Any long weekend plans?

Thursday, August 28, 2014

Wingin' It

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

Hey all, happy Thursday.  It has been an odd week here as we wrap up the last week of summer holidays before the kids head back to school.  My running had been great the last few weeks but I'm stuck on a zero so far this week…I'll be getting out at lunch to change that though.  I've been battling a summer cold and haven't felt much like getting out, especially since we've had some really humid weather making breathing even more difficult.  Cooler temperatures today though so I'll give it a shot.

I got out golfing the other day for my work tournament and it was quite fun…I was able to spend the day with some good friends, enjoy the outdoors and have a nice meal afterwards…all in all a great day!  Two of the guys in our foursome even won new TV's as door prizes…what are the odds of that??

Yesterday we got out for a family dinner with Michelle's mom and her sister's family…my brother had actually taken Jackson out to Build-a-Bear, but he was able to get dropped off just in time to get his wings.  Yup, he's my Wing Man

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After dinner we went and placed our lobster order for Lobsterfest this weekend, and then I took off to take part in a fantasy football draft.  I barely watch football anymore and can't really field a good fantasy team as it is, but this is a College fantasy football league…which I know absolutely nothing about.  I only do it to see some old friends and make sure they have a full league…I had a good time hanging out with the boys though, so it was worthwhile.  And I got to have a Guinness which is always a good thing Smile  My team really sucks though.

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Anyone else play fantasy football?

Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Accountability

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle

Kim wrote a post the other day, and I can definitely relate. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes in life this year, and I knew it was time for a change in my life. Structure in my life definitely helps, and as we are prepping for the school year to start here next week, it is always a time I look forward to, as it makes scheduling life a little easier (yes a lot busier…but structured, and not just fly by the seat of your pants).

That being said, I know that I am the type of person that needs to have accountability in my health/fitness area of my life. I feel like in so many other ways in my life, I am the “boss”, and the one to always be telling others what to do, and in this area, I don’t want to have to think, I want to be the one that is just told what to do (I am quite good at following instructions!). I like to put my head down and just not think and plough through it. I think this is a BIG reason that I like group classes at the gym…they tell what to do, when to do it, when to add weights, go faster, squat lower, etc. And also why – if I was just to “go” to the gym – I would be lost, and not have a clue what to do.

…so…this past week, I reached out to someone, asking if they would be willing to help me out, and more then anything keep me accountable…and I am happy to report, that they agreed!

We met for a walk early on Monday morning, and came up with a loose plan for the week.

First thing…I am to write down everything that I am eating. I am doing this 2 ways

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I am recording it my life planner, so that I can not only track the food I am eating, but so that they can also see what times I am eating etc. As an additional request, they asked me to record how I was “feeling” throughout the day….one step at a time here…I’ll start with the food tracking.

And I am also recording it an app called “Fat Secret

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…I haven’t had a chance to really use the app to it’s fullest potential, but I am learning, and just getting used to/in the habit of recording my food, exercise and weight. I am looking forward to next week, going through, and trying some of the recipes! On the app, it has the ability that I can choose a date range (ie. A week at a time), and export it to a PDF file, so that I can send it off to my accountability partner.

I was also asked to make appointments for my workouts, and set goals for the week…I know I can’t go out guns blazing, and go from little to no workouts lately to saying that I am going to do it 6 days a week. So I scheduled what I know I can do to start, and that I will be able to stick to! No point in disappointing myself right out of the gate.

At the end of our walk, they said someone that really struck me, and that quite honestly, I needed to hear

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…yes I already knew this – but sometimes you just need to be reminded. It was a good wake-up call for me, and I know I need this…and I am doing it for me! And I know having this accountability in my life is what I need right now, and I am determined to stick with it, and I am looking forward to them helping me tweak where I need it, and offering their guidance and advise.

Are you the type of person that needs to be told what to do?

Anyone else have an accountability partner?

Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Teeing Off

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

Hey all, just writing up my post as I sit and drink my coffee before heading out to play in a work golf tournament.  I used to golf quite a bit, but this will by my first time out this year.  I can't really say that I miss playing golf, as I have other sporting activities that more than fill that void, but it is fun to get out for a round with some of my buddies and just get to hang out together.  It's also nice that I don't have to go in to the office!

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I used to say years ago that I would take up golf once I wasn't able to play "real" sports anymore.  Then when Michelle was pregnant with Jackson, I got a golf membership.  I also happened to be over 200lbs at that point…I guess that was when I could no longer play "real" sports.  Thankfully I was able to get my diet back on track and add exercise to my life and make the lifestyle changes I needed to in order to be a healthy husband and father.  Nowadays I would much rather spend a couple hours out running or hanging out with my family than 4 or 5 hours on the golf course, and my golf game shows it (I suck).  My golf game is a worthy sacrifice…it was never that good anyways Winking smile

We had a nice weekend up at the cottage and I was able to get in 10 mile runs on both Saturday and Sunday…it wasn't too hot, but both days the humidity was well over 90%.  Not the best running conditions!  I love running at the beach though and it was great to get a couple of longer runs in on consecutive days…I'm feeling a lot better about my endurance than I was a few weeks ago.

I also got one other run in as Jackson challenged me to a race at the beach on Saturday…we ended up running almost 2K and he did manage to beat me.

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It will be a bit of a busy week here as we prepare for our annual Lobsterfest this weekend…every Labour Day we have a bunch of people come up to the cottage for an end-of-summer feast featuring my favourite bottom-dwellers as the main course.

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Well, time to load my clubs in the truck and hit the links!  Have a great day folks…

Any golfers out there?

What's your favourite seafood?

Monday, August 25, 2014

MIMM

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle
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Thanks Katie for the link-up! Here are a few marvelous things that have happened in my life over the past week

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Date night with my favourite person ever (aka. my hubby). As Mike told you last week, it was out of town, so we really had a nice time of un-interrupted time together. It gave us a chance to really just connect and share with each other. So it was a lovely drive, dinner, after dinner walk and drive home! (I even splurged and bought him SB for the car ride home...lol)

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K had a friend up to the cottage this weekend. She's super creative, and came up with this idea for the two of them to do together...I think they turned out great!!!

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Getting to relax on the beach with a book in hand, and just chillax

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This little guy just makes me laugh all.the.time...so happy to have him as part of our life

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We dropped K off for another week of sleepover camp. She said such a great time when she went a few weeks ago, and it was such a great week of growth for her - I am just so excited for her, and so proud of the young lady she is.

Thanks Katie for hosting today.

So tell me something you did this weekend

What was something marvelous for you this week?

Friday, August 22, 2014

Friday Fav's

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

I'm going to take a page out of Michelle's playbook today and do a Friday Favourites post…I don't think you ever see these from a guy's perspective so it might be fun for a change.  Safe to say that there won't be any nail polish or facial cleansers in here!

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1) These things usually start out with a food/drink pic, so here you go…

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Drinks with Michelle last night, with a Bellini for her and a plain ol' beer for me…always nice to just get out for a bit and chill

2) Meeting goals!

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I hit 1 Million (gotta say that like Dr Evil) Nike Fuel…whatever that means.  I hit this after my run on Wednesday and I guess it's some kind of accomplishment.  I think Nike Fuel is just the Nike world's measurement of activity, like FitBit and the such…all mine is purely running.

3) They're making it tough for me these days, but these guys will always make my favourites list…

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I've been a Tigers fan for a long time, through some really lean years up to the current teams with lots of expectations…This is a good team that has a real shot at winning a World Series title if they can just get their act together over the last few weeks of the season and make it into the playoffs.

4) Anyone else watching AGT this year?  Michelle and I started watching a few years ago when Howard Stern joined the show (I'm a big Howard fan) and this has been a really fun season…

This guys is great and one of my favourites on the show…there is so much amazing talent this season, it's going to be hard to choose a winner.

5) My last fav for the week is

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Less than 70 days until we are back at the Happiest Place on Earth!  I used to fight the Mouse, but over the last couple years I've just decided to embrace my inner Disney-Nerd…let me tell you, I'm much happier admitting it!

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Have a great weekend folks!

Thursday, August 21, 2014

A little Voodoo

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle

So last night while laying in bed, I was reading a magazine, and came across this interesting little tidbit

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I know myself, I have on occasion experienced being “Hangry”…so I though it would be a neat topic to delve into a bit today.

Did you realize that word has actually made it into the “Urban Dictionary”?!?

…and here are their listed definitions:

Hangry

  1. When you are so hungry that your lack of food causes you to become angry, frustrated or both.
  2. A state of anger and irritability resulting from being hungry.
  3. To become so hungry that you are also angry.
  4. The state of being so hungry that it has become infuriating. A hybrid of hungry and angry.
  5. When someone becomes irritated, angry, or cranky when they haven't eaten and are hungry
  6. When your anger is fueled by hunger. It intensifies the anger into wrath.
  7. You're so hungry, you're angry

Sensing a theme here…lol

….and there is actually science behind all this too:

“Hangry, the marriage of hungry and angry, is not only a trendy word, it’s science, according to a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. “Self-control of aggressive impulses requires energy,” says the paper’s thesis, “and much of this energy is provided by glucose derived from the food we eat.” (Translation: If you’re super-furious and looking for a plate to hurl at the wall, consider whether maybe you just need some nachos.)

Apparently—we can’t make this stuff up—scientists gave spouses the opportunity to blast their partners with loud, irritating noises, or to stick voodoo dolls representing said spouse full of pins.

Researchers found that “as expected, the lower the level of glucose in the blood, the greater number of pins participants stuck into the voodoo doll, and the higher intensity and longer duration of noise participants set for their spouse.” As NPR reports, “people with the lowest blood sugar levels stuck more than twice as many pins in the voodoo dolls, compared to people with the highest levels.”

"Twice as many pins" = you’re probably twice as likely to rage when you’re ravenous. So the next time you’re about to say something you might regret, go grab a hunk of cheese or some salted peanuts or something. Eating: Now good for your relationships, too!” (Source: Yahoo!).

And if you want to read/see some pretty #truestory scenarios…and get a good laugh…check this out: 10 Things Hangry People Do

Cheers Friends Open-mouthed smile

Do you ever experience this problem?

Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Date Night With Federico Fellini

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

Halfway through the week and life is getting back to normal with both kids around again.  Kennedy had a great time at camp but it is nice having her back home…next week is another story though as she enjoyed herself so much that we've signed her up again!  She'll be back at camp next week to enjoy her final week of summer holidays before school starts back up.  We got a great deal too as a returning camper, with 60% off!  She's an awesome kid and she deserves to have fun and just be a kid…Michelle and I give her a lot of responsibilities and she always lives up to them, so it's nice to be able to reward her sometimes as well.

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While things are "back to normal", Michelle and I had a nice treat ourselves last night as well.  Michelle's sister offered to take the kids over night so that the cousins could all have a sleepover and play all day before meeting up at grandma's for dinner on Wednesday.  So that meant a night out!  We decided to put the top down on the Jeep and drive nearly an hour out of town to visit one of our favourite little restaurants in Stratford.

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This is actually the place that I took Michelle the night I proposed to her, 15 years ago this month.  We had a nice dinner, getting to enjoy some nice adult conversation without nosey kids around, and then went for a walk along the river.  Michelle went for the Lobster Linguine Arribiata while I tried the Linguini Quinoa.  We both really enjoyed our meals and will both likely enjoy them again today for lunch Winking smile

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During our walk I snapped this pic from one of the storefronts…Kennedy loves wearing her nerd glasses so I knew she had to see this.  Not quite Kermit, but she'll love it nonetheless.

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After our walk we popped into Starbucks to grab drinks for the drive home and off we went.  We were barely out of town when we noticed the lightening off in the sky ahead of us…I decided to pull over and get the Jeep all zipped up before we got soaked, and wouldn't you know it the skies opened as soon as I started putting the windows back in…I got a little wet but all was good (meaning Michelle stayed dry!).  It was a cool ride home watching the lightening illuminate the night sky…very pretty.

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More good runs again this week…Monday saw an 8+ mile runch while I was able to get out yesterday and get in 6.5 miles on a new route, which turned out to be a lot hillier than I had expected!  The humidity has really been building here this week and yesterday was super muggy…it actually rained during my run but you would never know it.  The roads and sidewalks were bone dry 10 minutes later.  Not the most fun conditions to run in, but at least it "feels" like summer.

What's your favourite little restaurant?

Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Ten things Tuesday

Posted by CheapRunnerMichelle

1. Exercise has been difficult to fit into my life this last little while, so I am really looking forward to a "scheduled" life again in a few weeks, once the kids go back to school (and let me be honest that with everything else going on in life, I haven't really been motivated either)

2. K took me out for dinner last night - it was just the two of us girls, and we had a wonderful time just hanging out together...we don't get much time with just the two of us, so it's definitely always special when we do

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3. I'm not quite sure where Mother Nature is getting her memo's from...but it's still summer...why are we having fall-like weather already?!?

4. A new accessory at the cottage

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5. We attended a visitation at the funeral home on Sunday night, and it was a reminder to me yet again that we all have our time, and that we never know when that's going to be, so we need to make sure that we live with no regrets and live each day to it's fullest

6. I think us (especially girl's) need to remind ourselves often about this

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7. I am already counting down the days until our next family vaycay to Disney...I cannot wait!!!

8. This is what Mike bought me for my bday...and I cannot wait for it to arrive

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9. This is my first week of working a full 5 days...in weeks, how am I ever going to handle it...lol

10.

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#truestory

Your turn to share something today...

Monday, August 18, 2014

Getting My Mileage Back

Posted by CheapRunnerMike

It was another nice weekend at the CheapRunner cottage despite Saturday's rainy weather.  The temperatures were a little bit on the cool side, but we made the most of it.

Jackson and I started our weekend off by heading up to Camp to pick up Kennedy…he sure was happy to see his big sister again!

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It was very much a family-oriented weekend as Michelle's sister and her family as well as Michelle's mom came up to stay over on Friday night and my Aunt and her granddaughter.  We had some great meals and enjoyed hanging out around the campfire and taking shelter on the porch when the rain came (cards anyone?).

The Friday night campfire was a lot of fun as one of my buddies at the cottage stopped by with his harmonicas and I got my guitar out to play a few old tunes…always fun jammin'.  My brother-in-law plays guitar as well, so Michelle grabbed my other guitar and we had a real jam session going.  We were rockin' by the fire until the wee hours and had a great time.

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The weather was much nicer on Sunday…still on the cool side but nice and sunny!  The kids went down to the beach and even got in the water for a bit, but it was pretty windy down at the shore.  After a little while they decided to go play up in the dunes where they were sheltered from the wind…it was much warmer up there!  Kennedy showed her cousin the climbing tree and they both made like little monkeys while Jackson ran up and down the dunes.

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I only had one running goal for the weekend and that was to go out and get a long run in.  I haven't been doing anything "long" in a while, so that meant 10 miles would work for my long run.  I went out after breakfast on Sunday morning and enjoyed a beautiful run…cool and sunny, just perfect running conditions.  What better way to enjoy 10 miles than byu running them along the shore down at the beach??

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I ended up logging nearly 70km (40+ miles) this past week, and it was actually my highest mileage week this year, just a little more than when I ran the Goofy Challenge in January!  The legs are feeling good and the speed is still there, now I just need to be careful and make sure not to add too much distance too soon and risk hurting myself…feels good getting some good miles in though!  Almost makes me want to start some marathon training again (almost --- I think Michelle would kill me if I dropped that on her right now Smile)

Anyone get to thye beach this weekend?

What do you consider your long run to be these days?