I can't keep a secret

Excuse the absence, it's been so hectic for me teaching undergrads and working on a master's lit degree at the same time. I feel like I've been doing nothing but that since August (which is mostly true). But now that only 17 days stand between me and the end of my first year, I'm hardcore putting off writing my final French papers (three to be exact). I'll spare you the gory details about the comparisons I'm researching between French Symbolist poets and their American avant-garde counterparts. 

So in the meantime, I have to let you in on a little secret. I want to move... back to Europe. So I'm looking at applications for the 2013-14 academic year. Number one on my list is currently teaching at a university in Bruxelles (où on parle français, parmi d'autres langues), and then next I guess would be teaching English in France, again. Whether or not I get in, and if so, whether or not I accept, it doesn't hurt to dream. I've never been to the Kingdom of Belgium before, and I'd like to visit, soon!

...P.S. this is in no way an April Fool's joke. Nor are these:

I'm getting very anxious awaiting the arrival of my birthday present, pink Vibrams!! Running is sort of back in my life again, I'd like for us to be friends once more :)

AND WE'RE BACK!!!

It's been a long frickin' road, but my running has been struggling the past few months. I'm not gonna lie, since I don't have padded bike shorts and since my knee's been bothering me, I've really only worked out once or twice a month since living here in Arizona. I tried Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred for a few days when I knew I couldn't run and it was too hot to bike, but I didn't have the heart. I'm a runner and if I couldn't run, then what did I have left?

My eating habits went down the drain too. I've been eating junk and drinking a lot. Since I don't have a job, it's easier to get hungry during the day and grab a snack from the pantry. Bad snacks :) But this isn't aimed at being a downer post. This is a new day. The weather is cool and conducive to running so I figured it'd be nice to try the Couch 2 5K program. I downloaded the app and off I went (paced by a British woman's voice telling me when to run and when to walk).

I'm going to admit, I do feel pretty silly doing this program because I was averaging about seven miles per run this spring. And I set a PR at a 5K race in June as well. It was very frustrating for me to start on Week 1 Day 1, because it's basically alternating between jogging and walking every 90 seconds, plus a five-minute warm-up and cool-down for a total of 30 minutes. My frustrations were after building up a good jogging pace, I'd have to stop and walk immediately. But, seeing as how I pushed myself because I felt good earlier and wound up with a knee injury, it's going to be smart to ease into this. I did feel strong and my knee didn't bother me much. I just feel out of shape I guess :) my lungs need to get back in the groove of running too.

I did also have another reason for exercising again (other than feeling utter lazy): my TMJ has been soooooo painful I can't even get out of bed some days. TMJ is intense pain in the jaw joint that leads to crazy gnarly knots in my neck and face and head. I've been given PT exercises for when I'm home, but I've also been advised to exercise. So this was also a desperation attempt to keep the pain at bay. And you know what? I think it really helped!

In about 30 minutes, I walked and jogged just over two miles. Funny because on the first day I'm basically 2/3 of the way to a 5K ha. Maybe I'm jogging too fast? Either way, in summary, C25K = smart for me right now. Maybe this'll give me the kick in the pants I've been needing all summer :) I hope I can stick with it and my knee cooperates.

It's his world, I'm just living in it...

It's no secret who runs my life:

Yes, this 10-pound brat wiener dog, as evidence by my lack of willingness to even kick him out of my own bed! Judge all you want, but if he looked at you with the eyes he gives me, you'd do the same thing... (sucker, I know).

He even rules the roost when sleeping... J.D. and I affectionately refer to this as "my Woody scarf" for obvious reasons.

(OH MY GOD, this reminds me of the SNL Taxmasters commercial spoof from the Jane Lynch episode... so creepy and so hysterical all at the same time. Please watch it and try not to cringe!)

Today, Woodstock and I shared a nice fall day outdoors. Honestly, it was over 105° all summer and I never once took out my bathing suit. Now that the weather is in the 70s and 80s I can finally lay outside and catch some rays! I went inside to look for my current read (Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald) and was pretty bummed to see what happened to my once perfectly-laid-out towel.

"So SORRY to interrupt...."

He also has been dictating our walks lately. Last week I wanted to take Woodstock for at least a mile or two walk. When I walk him on his harness, he basically drags me. He's small, but he's a strong little guy and he likes to walk very, very briskly. So I figured, what the heck, why not try to run him? And we literally ran for half a mile together. I went gingerly because I wasn't sure how far to push him, but we eventually ran/jogged over 3.5 miles! And on his first run, he was faster than I was ready to run (thanks to the bum knee) and barely had to rest after. Look out, Wiener Nationals! Really though, my goal is to enter him in that. It's not even funny how serious I am.

The stats:

Not bad for my first "run" in over a month. I also noticed that before I hit the second mile, my knee was not in pain at all! However, after the 5K distance it did start to bother me significantly. Nothing a little ice couldn't fix. And it didn't hurt as much as it usually does the few days after the run. So this leads me to believe that I am ready to get back into running. Not the eight miles I was averaging when I injured myself, obviously. But baby steps. I'm going to try to ease into it with the Couch to 5K program. From there, I can gauge where my knee's at and see if I need to continue my running hiatus, or if I'm ready to get back into my distance running. I really hope I'm ready for the latter...

I'm going to throw you a curveball to finish this post. I think I've sort of adopted a cat. This cat, to be more specific.

I don't know anything about the cat, so please don't ask. I don't know what gender it is, who he/she belongs to, what it's name is... nothing.

But he's a very friendly cat (yeah, I just decided without any veterinary training that it's a boy). So friendly that he's followed me into my house several times. And he's also found his way into my garage where he's been accidentally locked up, oops, sorry cat :-\ Seriously though, he comes and nudges the columns by our front door every night, I can hear him meowing at the door -- Woodstock hates this btw, every time I say let's go see if the kitty is here, he scrambles to the front door, barks his little heart out and paws at the door. He also likes to sleep in the giant flower bush in front of my house. And he brings me presents. Last week it was a lizard wrapped in entrails, the week before a dead bird. How sweet. This morning he even sat in the driveway while J.D. and I both washed our cars. It's bizarre, but I think we "have" a cat now.

Anyways, that's it for me. I'm off to find something for my little life ruler to do because he's eaten through all of his allegedly "durable" toys in minutes. Does anyone know of any good toys a 10-pound dog can't chew through?! He's chomped through a Kong to put it into perspective...

100 Never Looked So Good

While I've struggled a lot this year, I guess I can finally say I made it to 100 miles since I picked up running again back in April. However, my struggles still continued into 100 miles. I really haven't ran more than three or four times since I injured my knee at the end of June. The last few attempts have been feeble at best. I like to call it more of an interval walk-jog effort. And it's going to stay that way until I find a job and can afford physical therapy to properly rehab my knee back to jogging comfortably.

Lucky for me, my most recent "run" that put me over the 100-mark was pretty leisurely. Last Sunday (10-10-10), a couple of my friends from Arizona State talked me into participating in the Tour de Fat's 'Stache Dash. I was feeling up for some costume action, free food, the alleged two bottles of free beer at the end to all who participate and of course, the donation to fund cancer research.

J.D. and I jog-walked the entire 3.1 mile course around Tempe Town "Lake" -- read here to get more information on why I've quoted that. The rest of our group sported a soundtrack of 70s and 80s rock hits that blared out loud along the entire course. It was glorious. The only thing about the day that really sucked (besides my old lady knee) was the lack of beer at the finish line. Apparently the website said nothing about Tempe's inability to secure a permit for alcohol on the race day. Too bad... A vanilla milkshake at lunch lifted my spirits pretty high in the absence of beer.

I think we finished around the 38-minute mark. Keep in mind the last time I entered a 5K race, I set a PR of just over 22 minutes. Quite the difference haha. The race was ugly, and I'm not talking about our time!! There were mullets, mustache ride signs, jean shorts (jorts) on men, nasty stains in inappropriate places and skin tight Reno 911 cop costumes. My eyes are still burning.

My outfit was pretty tame. Originally I was going to do the 'stache on the finger trick, but I was promised a fake 'stache when I arrived. However, it was a 2 p.m. run in nearly 100 degree heat -- a terrible idea if I you ask me! My faux facial hair didn't last very long. It got too sweaty and itchy and I'm pretty sure I inhaled some polyester fibers along the way.

Before

After, not a good look for me.

Ready at the starting line to get our 'stache dash on.

The race was actually the second time J.D. and I had explored Tempe Beach Park . The week prior, we made an appearance at Tempe Oktoberfest! It was kind of cheezy, but fun and we had some interesting food. And tasted some amazing beer, as would be expected.

Again we didn't stay too long due to the raging heat, but we were still able to enjoy the day's festivities. There was a cover band, midway with rides and games, German passport booth for the kiddies, large beer steins to be purchased and food and drinks galore.

A Belgian wheat, brat with sauerkraut and a really authentic.... ballpark pretzel.

J.D. enjoying his dog sans kraut. He also purchased a Sam Adam's Oktoberfest beer which we've been intent on finding in the grocery store to stock the fridge this month!

Eventually we couldn't take the heat, despite a cold beverage each. So we joined J.D.'s parents inside the air conditioned bar across the street, watched a little football and split a real authentic Bavarian seasonal beer for the low price of $2. If you ever find this at BevMo, purchase IMMEDIATELY:

We'd like to keep the German/beer theme going this month. Apparently in Glendale there is a restaurant very much like the Hofbräuhaus in Munich and Vegas -- both of which I have been to! It was featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and is having a seasonal festival this weekend and next weekend as well. I HAVE to check this place out!

Prost!!

leisurely

Running Frustrations and Panko "Fried Chicken"

Let me preface this post by saying I'm not a Southern girl, but I do like me some fried chicken! However, I'm not really a big fan of actually frying things. Lately I've been doing a great job of keeping my cholesterol in check and I'd like to continue to do so :) So get ready for my take on "fried chicken," which is a misnomer since there's nothing fried about this chicken at all.

...After hearing about my recent return to running. As you see on the sidebar to the right, before yesterday morning, I hadn't ran in nearly 2.5 months. And I died a little bit inside not to doing so. Several weeks ago, I severely injured my knee. I'd seen two sports therapists, have been using Rock tape and have several stretches I do every few days for my knee and ankle and all the muscles in between. After going that long without running, I started to lose it.

How am I supposed to workout without running if I can't afford a gym membership (without a job), don't have access to a free pool and my knee hurt after even limited motion cardio activities?? I basically was restricted to OnDemand yoga and stretching, but nothing gave me that same feeling as when I ran. I think this triggered a minor bout of depression for me. Well, maybe that or being rejected by SEVEN companies I've interviewed with now.

Either way, I felt the need to test the water yesterday. My knee wasn't crackling as much and at 10 a.m. the weather in Phoenix had cooled down to 81°!!! It seems as if all signs were point to run.

Except, my knee is not yet ready for it. I could only manage 1.49 miles before it started to bother me. Post-run I underwent some major icing, stretching and then a warm bath.

I'm still extremely overwhelmed. Am I going to be able to run again?? How long is it going to take to get back into it?? How come there are people who run multiple marathons a year, and when I started conservatively training for a half marathon, I could only make it to 8 miles before blowing out my knee?? And am I going to get a job SOON before being rejected by yet another company so I can afford to go to a physical therapist again?

So many unanswered questions. I'm feeling miserable about this entire situation, so I guess I'll stick to my OnDemand workouts until I can ease back into running at the right time...

Let's move in a happier direction, shall we??? How about that recipe I promised you before my running rant.

Panko "Fried Chicken"

• 6-10 chicken breast tenders
• 1 1/2 c Panko breadcrumbs
• 2 t Italian seasoning
• 2 t garlic powder
• 1 t cumin
• 1/2 c flour
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/2 t pepper
• 2 eggs
• oil spray

Cooking directions: Preheat oven to 350°, while it's heating, coat a cookie sheet with oil spray (I used extra virgin olive oil). The prepare three shallow bowls for the chicken. In one, combine flour, salt and pepper. Crack two eggs in a second bowl. In a third final bowl, mix Panko, cumin, Italian seasoning and garlic salt.

Note: I only used six chicken tenders and found this was more mixtures than I needed. It could easily be cut in half, or use double the chicken.

Coat a chicken tender into flour, dip into egg mixture and then give them a final dunk in the bread crumbs. Repeat for all the chicken tenders then place them on the cookie sheet.

The chicken tenders should bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown.

We had ours alongside sweet potato fries, dipping sauces of ketchup and apricot BBQ sauce and a big bowl of salad. Oh yeah, plus a chilled glass of white wine, which kept me amused during my wait for the tenders to cook!

Enjoy! They're a little different than your usual fried chicken, but still juicy and tender inside with a proper crisp on the outside! Dipping them in BBQ sauce was also fabulous :)

Then I'm from Venus??

Ok, I've been putting it off forever. But guess what kids.... I RAN LAST NIGHT!!! It wasn't that spectacular because my lungs still burned for a little while afterwards. I know, baby steps, I'm trying. I also had to wait until after sunset to run since it hit 102º yesterday, yikes!

Good news about waiting so late to run, however, is that I got to see this (well, not literally, but same thing just on a different skyline):

(Source)

Since the sun sets well past 9:00 p.m. here in California, I get to see Venus setting on the horizon! Venus is distinguishable from all the stars in the sky in that it's not a giant ball of gas, therefore, doesn't flicker in the sky! It's a piercing white light that sets in the horizon shortly after the sun, but on rare occasions it can follow the moon as seen in the photo above. Not too far behind it is Mars, a beaming red point that sets in the horizon. Booyah, freshman year Astronomy!

I don't really know why that pumped me up, but it did! And even though I've steered clear of running for several days now, I got back into it real quick. I just wanted to start light and ease back slowly so I only completed a 2.13 mile loop. But get this, my first mile was at a 7:22 pace!!! Insane, right?!? Eventually I finished the entire thing at an 8:04 minute/mile so do the math and figure out what my second mile's pace was -- I'm not mathematically inclined, so unless my iPhone tells me, I have no clue what my pace is, ha.

On my way back from the run, I stopped to see if I could spot Venus again. Indeed it sat lower on the horizon, but still slightly visible! I was also sort of bummed because the first constellation I ALWAYS can spot no matter where I am, is Orion's Belt. Not this time however. Instead, I located both Dippers and also Scorpio meaning that Orion probably wasn't too far away. It had to have been super clear last night. Pretty cool, huh?

So let's rewind then and go back through my moderately fun-filled day.

It started off with my "stolen muffins" from the Sunday brunch. They were so delicious, I had to snag two! It was some sort of zucchini-carrot hybrid with raisins and cranberries inside and coconut sprinkled on top. It was the inspiration behind my morning oatmeal -- I notice a lot of you guys put muffin crumbles in oatmeal so I wanted to play too!

Inside my BetterOats Raw Chai Spiced oatmeal went blueberries, half a banana, a drizzle of almond butter and of course the glorious muffin!

These, by the way, are AMAZING!!! It's part of the new school of oatmeals which are trying to cut down on packaging usage by making smaller containers. I'm not sure how much we're actually saving here, since the package only includes five oatmeal packets instead of the usual 12ish most boxes offer.

Either way, I love chai spice. I love it so much I eat it in my oatmeal now :) Inside of my travel series London coffee mug, I did not have chai. Sorry to disappoint! Instead, it was Republic of Tea pineapple guava white tea. So tropical and awesome.

For lunch I came home to feed the baby and also myself. I was in a rush to get back to my office so I had a PB&J sandwich on whole wheat bread, pita chips, edamame and carrots all to be dipped in my new olive hummus. The hummus didn't live up to my high expectations, but it was tasty. I polished the meal off with a white nectarine, which was much to my dismay, not yet ripe.

I felt like a little girl with this lunch!

Work was a frenzy of activity and before I knew it, it was already 4:00. So I went home and played with my dog. J.D. wasn't in the mood for dinner when he arrived -- apparently lunch made him sick -- and I still felt congested from my yucky sore throat, so cold cereal sounded good. I'm hoping this weird craving for non-substantial foods ends with my cold ASAP.

I didn't have much time to eat anyways, so the cereal fit the bill. As did the first College World Series game. It felt super weird watching it on TV!!!

Smart Start with craisins and a baseball game!

After my "dinner" we rushed out the door to take Woodstock to his puppy training class. Can't believe he only has three more before graduating!! We both feel super bad at what's going on today so we decided to overload him with all the activities he'll miss in the next week due to his recovery. After puppy class we let him play at the dog park until the sun set and then J.D. even let him sleep on the couch while he watched TV and I ran ;)

Post run, you're pretty much caught up now! I went to work here and then called it a night.

Bet you'll never guess what kind of tea I had while catching up on blogs. That's right, chai spiced tea. I should see a group for this or something.... But how cute is the tea bag platter?!?! My mom bought it for me in France a few years back ♥

Question: What motivates/inspires you to run? Maybe unrelated, but do you like to star-gaze??

Sunday Brunch Run

I don't think I've admitted this yet here, but I plan on training for a half marathon at the end of the summer. I haven't yet committed to a race but I think I'll plan to do so closer to July, maybe for a race in August/September. But I HAVE decided on my training program. Starting next week I hope to start the Runner's World Ultimate Half Marathon Training Plan. Realistically, I probably won't start it for another week after since we're flying to Omaha, Neb., at the butt-crack of dawn on Tuesday.

Since reading most of your blogs and listening to marathon podcasts, I know adequate rest is part of the training plan. As are looong Sunday runs. That in mind, I set myself a goal of running between 6-7 miles this morning.

Before heading out, I grabbed a mini Clif oatmeal raisin bar. It was tasty, but in the end I think I needed more than that to hold me over for 70 minutes of running.

What's that in the back?? My hint at what I wanted for breakfast this morning :) During these 5+ mile runs, I am starting to play around with different types of fuels. Last time I almost threw up when I tried the Power Bar tangerine energy gel, so when I went to Fleet Feet last week to pick up my running packet for the Hook-Ladder race, I asked the employees to give me some ideas at other types of energy supplements. Eventually I left with about three different types. So this morning, I put one into practice for another trial run.

The hand-held water bottle I took along can be seen in the background!

Verdict: I LOVE the pomegranate passion Honey Stinger chews!! I have to hide them or else I'd be eating them as a candy haha. But, it's reserved only for my long runs. I ate about three (packet contains 10) 4.5 miles into my race. They really did help give me an extra boost to keep going. I should have walked a little bit longer immediately after consuming though, because I literally could feel them jiggling around in my stomach the first two minutes back into my run.

Either way, much more of a success than the Power Bar gel, bleh. My run ended up being a 7.56 mile journey -- second longest run of my life by 0.03 miles, haha -- that I completed in 1:13:54. Really, not too bad considering I averaged under a 10-minute/mile pace. Like I said before, I could have kept going, but since my longest ever run has only been 7.59 miles, I didn't want to hurt myself. Everything I've read says to only increase running distance by 10% each week. So maybe in two weeks I'll get to eight miles :)

When I came back, the house smelled like BREAKFAST!! J.D. was such a sweetie and had the AC blasting and he already mixed me up a liter glass of flavored electrolyte water. While I stretched my legs and sipped from my beer stein, he started plating our breakfast!!!

The Hofbräuhaus beer stein went nicely with the Germany/Australia World Cup match we watched, don't you think?

Sunday's early afternoon brunch consisted of blueberry multigrain and flax seed pancakes! I spruced mine up with a spoonful of nonfat plain Greek yogurt, a white peach and Rainier cherries, yummmmmy. Then pure maple syrup was drizzled over EVERYTHING.

The perfect breakfast after a 7.5 mile run!

For the rest of the afternoon we need to start packing for our trip to the Midwest. We leave for Omaha on Tuesday then hop in a rental car and immediately start driving to Kansas City, Mo., for a couple of days. After that, we're on the road again for Des Moines, Iowa, for two more days and then the College World Series begins next Saturday in Omaha!!! Soooo excited for this trip.

So we'll pack today, maybe take Woodstock to the dog park and then who knows what else Sunday has in store for us! Enjoy the final day of your weekends!!

How do you usually spend your Sundays?? And runners, I have a question for you: what training programs do you usually use?? I'm open to suggestions!

Sometimes it just takes a restless dog

I'm happy to report that I actually RAN this morning. But it wasn't a one-person effort.

Not only did J.D. remind me that I had to get up and run, but Woodstock wouldn't sleep all night. He woke up around 5:30 this morning and kept waking me up periodically until 6:45 a.m. At that point, I'd had enough and decided just to go out and run already!

So thank you, Woodstock. This is only like my third morning run in the last two years. Impressive, right?

After the run, I poured myself a filled-to-the-brim glass of water, pounded it down, and then refilled it again. It went with my bowl of Blueberry Smart Start that I jazzed up with one of my favorite things of all time: white peaches and craisins.

Yeah, I stole that Oakland A's glass from a bar. I have a matching set. It's a bad habit. I'm not trying to quit.

Also if you're wondering about my co-dependence for crêpes and why I didn't have one for breakfast this morning, you've brought up a sore subject and maybe I'm shedding a few tears again. So thank you. No, but seriously, I'm an idiot and was soooo excited to eat my crêpe last night that I forgot to both clean up but also cover the leftovers and put them in the fridge. Bye bye, tower of 12 extra crêpes.

It's probably for the best anyways, since I probably would have found a way to eat them all before 4 p.m. today. Then I would have felt sick and disgusting before my party tonight. Good call, forgetful past Monique.

And now, I'm going to demolish the leftover Indian food at my desk.

Do you usually workout in the morning or evenings? And do you bring leftovers to work/class, or do you prefer to go out for meals?

Enjoy your afternoons, everyone! xx ♥

Thanks for stopping by!

Hey guys and welcome to my new blog!

I've heard a lot of great things about Wordpress and figured I'd try to make the switch on over here. This blog will focus mostly on health and fitness as I strive to train for my first-ever half marathon.

Wish me luck :)