My Walking Maps

My Walking Maps is a really cool website in which you can track your walking/running routes around town! Check it out, it's super exciting! I mapped the 10K from this past weekend. Google sometimes messes up on this computer, so hopefully you can see the path clearly...

Race Day: Texas Round-Up

I participated in the Texas Round-Up 10K yesterday morning, and I definitely have a few thoughts...

1. The course was more difficult and challenging than the Capitol 10K.
2. The Capitol 10K had more "cheer" support along the way.
3. The Capitol 10K had more music along the course; although the Texas Round-Up did have more music at the end of the course (I believe).
4. We got to see and hear the governor at the Texas Round-Up. I loved hearing how passionate he is about fitness and health.

I'm not going to lie, I found this 10K extremely challenging for a couple of reasons. First, I lacked a good night's rest the night before, I won't dive into details, but I had a blast Friday night! Secondly, it was humid. Thirdly, the course was tougher!

My accomplishments:
1. My first mile was faster than the 5K (but this first mile was slightly downhill compared to the other one). At the 5K, I did it in 14:15, this time, 13:20.
2. My overall two mile was faster than the 5K. At the 5K, I did it in 30:30, this time, 30 minutes even (maybe a bit quicker than that). Now I do have to say, the second mile was really slow for me, but it was continuously uphill, so the fact that I was till ahead of pace was great!
3. I hit the 5K marker at about the same time as the last race.
4. I finished the race in 1:40:00, pretty much on the nose. Much slower than the first 10K when I was chasing Matt (he timed us at 82ish minutes, I timed us at 93ish minutes), but there are several reasons why. The course was much more hilly, and I have not been training for hills as big as these. In addition, due to the hills, my heart rate got into a range in which I was not comfortable with, so I had to slow down a few times. On the hills, if I was jogging, it was in the 85-90% of my maximum heart rate, which is never the case when I'm at the gym.

I'm not sure when my next race will be, it may be the Lone Star 5000 mid-May...we'll see!

Busy weekend...

I had a really busy weekend, but had so much fun!!!

I had a potluck dinner with a few good friends on Friday night. My friends just built their house, so they have a number of projects they are still working on. I asked them if they need any help, or would like any, and they accepted. They mentioned that they may let me work with the jackhammer. Super exciting if I can! I like big machines!










On Saturday night, I went with my two Michigan buds to my first Round Rock Express game. The Round Rock Express is the Triple A club for the Houston Astros. Even though the Express lost, it was a great game and a lot of fun. Our section actually won a prize! We're going to plan another outing on a Friday night and take over a whole section. Oh yeah, for those who don't follow sports, this is baseball! :) Yee-haw!

The Oasis is known for its sunsets; and yes, the picture to the right is just one view of Lake Travis from the Oasis. This restaurant and bar is a must-see (in the top 10) if you ever come to Austin. I've always wanted to take a salsa dance lesson, but have never had a partner to go with, and Juston didn't know about this sweet spot, so we decided to go to the Oasis for Sunday evening. I can't wait to go salsa dancing again!

I did learn one big thing from this weekend; I'm a pretty good leader, not a great follower (especially in dancing). Sometimes, just sometimes, I should be a better follower than leader. Hmmmmm...

Challenges...

I tend to meet challenges from friends head on, as if I have to prove to them I can do it. I'm not sure why I always felt like I needed to prove myself, but I have.

My trainer, has on occasion, "challenged" me to a few different things. About a month ago, I won $5 for completing my last set of jumps, and last week...well, I won a sort of different challenge.

Matt has this habit of making me do something so much, I end up hating it. Something I hated one month can be easily replaced with something else. For the longest time, I hated shoulder presses because he made me do them ALL the time. I would groan and moan every time he made me do them. Well, a few months ago, this was replaced with girl pushups, we started out small, three sets of 10, then three sets of 12, three sets of 15, and then last week three sets of 16. I was PMSing pretty bad last Wednesday and put up a stink about doing them, so he made me a challenge: If I could do one real pushup, I wouldn't have to do three sets of 16 girl pushups. I quickly made the deal. I got down on the ground and did a single pushup. He said a deal was a deal, and we walked the track and did my second favorite thing in the world (sarcasm): shoulder presses. We got back to the mat, and Matt says, "A deal is a deal, you won't be doing three sets of 16 of girl pushups, I want three sets of 10 of the real thing." My mouth dropped, and I slipped under my breath, "Jerk!" He kept his end of the deal, now I had to keep mine. I didn't get three sets of 10 of real pushups in (muscles fatigued), but it was a start. Next time I won't open my big mouth, OR...only accept a challenge after I really think about the aftermath. :)

Recipe of the Week: 4/14/08

Cooking Light - March 2008 Issue

Mango and Black Bean Salad (6 servings)

Ingredients:
1.5 cups chopped peeled ripe mango
1.0 cups thinly sliced green onions
0.5 cups cooked wild or brown rice (If you are short for time, a great substitute is whole grain couscous.)
3.0 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro
2.0 tablespoons roasted tomatillo or fresh salsa
2.0 tablespoons fresh lime juice (I'm not a fan of lime, so I cut this in half.)
2.0 tablespoons extravirgin olive oil (I usually exclude this.)
0.75 teaspoon salt
0.25 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1.0 (15-ounce) can organic no-salt added black beans, rinsed and drained (I don't do organic or no-salt, most of the sodium is removed when you rinse.)

Directions
1. Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Toss gently to mix.

*Bonus idea (from the kitchen of Michelle): add cooked chicken to make a full meal!*

Nutrition (1 serving - 0.67 cup)
Calories: 167 (48.6 calories from fat)
Total Fat: 5.4g
Saturated Fat: 0.7g
Cholesterol: 0mg
Sodium: 226mg
Total Carbohydrate: 25.5g
Dietary Fiber: 5.5g
Protein: 5.2g