27.

On top of all the excitement that happened this weekend…I also turned 27! The planning was perfect on Dan’s part because I thought all the commotion was for my birthday and was totally surprised by the ring.

On Saturday night, my mom made a fantastic birthday dinner.

  

She really went all out.

 

  

They got me a GPS! I seriously needed one…I always get lost and then call my dad to get on the computer and navigate for me.

My sister and her boyfriend also got me a beautiful baby blue northface rain jacket. I love it.

After dinner, we went out for a few drinks with friends, but it was a very low-key night. I can only handle going out for one night of the weekend these days, but this weekend I was out 3 nights in a row! I am super tired today but it was completely worth it.

Last night, we went to my friend’s place for super bowl. She is a fantastic cook and we had a blast. She also got cupcakes to celebrate my birthday- red velvet, do you see a trend here? And the entire party sang…so embarrassing, since half the people there I didn’t know, but it was really sweet. THEN, she pulls out a bottle of champagne for an engagement toast.

She told a story about one of her favorite memories with me. 11 years ago we had a double sweet 16 (her birthday is next week) We picked up a huge bouquet of balloons and were walking out of the store, when she accidentally let go of them.

She said, “I should have known Keri was going to be a track star because she took off sprinting after those balloons, leaped off a snow bank and caught them.”

Such a great friend. I was in tears. Again. So much crying for such a happy weekend. She is already planning the trip to Vegas.

Well, I guess it is back to the real world for today. Wish me luck!

*How was your weekend?
*Did you attend any superbowl festivities?
*Any races?
I am anxious to get out there and start racing again. Go check out Page’s race recap of her fantastic PR half marathon!

Mom’s Birthday Carrot Cake

Or how I went from this:
 

to this:

 

There is something about winter that makes me want to cook and bake. In the summer I only want to eat cereal and sandwiches but in the winter I just want to make things.

Mom’s Birthday Carrot Cake
4 eggs
1 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
4 cups grated carrots
2/3 cups chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour two 9 inch round pans. In a large mixing bowl, beat eggs; add oil in a thin stream and beat well. Mix flour, sugar, cinnamon and baking soda together; add egg and mix well. Fold in carrots and nuts. Pour into pans and back for 35 minutes. Set to cool.

Cream Cheese Icing
3 (8oz.) packages slightly softened cream cheese
3 cups confectioners’ sugar

Beat cream cheese until smooth. Add confectioners’ sugar and beat at high speed until smooth.



I am so proud of how this cake came out!

 

I decided to get fancy and add the remainder of the nuts on the side.



I had a blast decorating.

 

And everyone loved it.



By the way my booty is super sore from yesterday’s Pilates class. Anyone who says Pilates is not a difficult workout is lying.

My school is on a delayed opening today because of an ice storm in New Jersey so I am taking my time to get ready and out the door. Not a bad way to ease into the week. Unfortunately, that means treadmill running later.

*What is your favorite dessert?

Boston Training and the BIG 5-0

Happy 50th Birthday to the most incredible mom in the entire world!

And the best looking.

I have some fun tricks up my sleeve for her today but I cant’ let the cat out of the bag quite yet. Fortunately we all have off for Martin Luther King Jr. Day so I have some time to prepare.

Thanks for all your comments on yesterday’s long run. That run was hard, but today I feel great, not sore at all. I could run again today, but I’ll probably stick to Pilates.

Boston Training

Week 1: 36 miles
Week 2: 28 miles

Week 3:
Monday: REST
Tuesday: 4 miles easy + Reformer Pilates
Wednesday: 7 miles tempo
Thursday: Pushups
Friday: 5 miles easy
Saturday: 3 miles easy + pushups
Sunday: 17 miles long

Total Miles: 36 miles

On the agenda for week #4- the first 20 miler. The first 20 miler always intimidates me. I usually do 4- 20 milers in a training season so I’ve got to start early.

Week 4: January 17-23

Monday: Mat Pilates
Tuesday: Easy run + Reformer Pilates
Wednesday: Speed
Thursday: Easy
Friday: Tempo
Saturday: Easy
Sunday: 20 Miles Long

This morning I met my Mom for mat Pilates. I was surprised my legs actually were able to hang in there. We focused a lot on the glutes. It was a great class. Now I am off to get ready for the rest of the birthday festivities.
Hope everyone is having a great Monday!

*If you haven’t already done it, don’t forget to enter my yoga pack giveaway!

Question and Answer and a Special Birthday

Good Morning!

Okay answers to some questions:

Page asked:


The wedding was on a small island off of Cancun, called Isla Mujeres. The resort was called Privilege Aluxes and it was all inclusive. It was beautiful! The island was so small it was only a few miles around and we basically had the whole place to ourselves. If anyone wants more details let me know. You can read the Mexico Recap here.

Amanda asked:


I LOVE sushi, but I really like the taste of the fish in my sushi. I will eat anything with tuna, salmon and avocado. The names of the rolls are usually different depending on where you go, but one of my favorites is The Philadelphia Roll, which has salmon and cream cheese. Dan hates it so we don’t get it often. When we go for sushi, we usually start with miso soup, edamame, and then share 4-5 rolls. Our favorite place offers half price on certain rolls Monday-Wednesday and we usually leave with a $20 bill. Can’t beat that!

thefitacademic said... I want to work on my SPEED! Do you have any great tips for speedwork that really works? 

 

Check out this post on getting faster.

And most important of all, a very Happy Birthday to Blue-Eyed Dad!

Another year, another marathon. I love you :)

My dad has had a tough week so feel free to leave him some birthday wishes :)

*Also, I have updated my tabs to include my planned races for 2011 so check it out.

Have a great day!
Question: What are your tips for getting speedier?

Speed Workout and 26!

Hello all...Happy Friday! Sorry I didn't post yesterday, after promising a FIT post, but it was a pretty crazy day. Unfortunately the post isn't done yet, but hopefully I will get it up by this afternoon...hmmm FIT Friday? I like it.

Anyway, yesterday was a fun, but busy day. My coworkers threw me a surprise bday breakfast (the surprise being that my birthday wasn't until today) and I was completely surprise. Fortunately i wore an a nice outfit to school. One of my assistants even brought/prepared me a whole wheat everything bagel with cream cheese and lox. It was the fanciest classroom birthday breakfast I have ever been too :) The school day was nuts because I got a new student, and that always makes for a crazy day. After work, my Dad and I headed straight for the track to get in some speed work. We warmed up, did 4- 400s with a 400 meter rest interval. Then did 4- 100s with a 100 meter rest interval then cooled down. My 400 splits looked like this:

1:25
1:27
1:26
1:29

Then my 100s were as follows: 16 (seconds), :16, :16, :17.

I won't post the rest splits but they were all around 2:30. Overall, I ran:

3.37 miles
28:46
8:31 average pace
4:33 best pace (those 100s)

After the sprints, I headed to FIT class with my mom (post later, I promise!) Then I rushed out of class to meet my friend Cathy for a drink/dinner and no, I did not take a shower, please do not judge! :) We had a blast, but I was ready to get home after a long day.

This morning I woke up early to shower :) since I obviously didn't the night before. When I got out of the shower I saw this:




I guess a long time ago I mentioned that sunflowers were my fav and he remembered! Also, Dan and has mom have this cute tradition where they each get one funny card, and one sappy card for each other on birthdays so that is what Dan did for me. The other night when I received my Garmin, he gave me the funny card, and this morning with the flowers, he gave me the cutesy card (and made me cry). I loved it.

Okay, I must run because I am going to be late for work! Have a fabulous Friday and a great weekend!

Early Present!

Hello!
Me again. I know, 2 posts in one day...unlike me. But its this could not wait until tomorrow :) Dan gave me my birthday present early! I know, I know, my birthday isn't until Friday but we have become accustomed to exchanging early, in private and then celebrating the actual day with friends and family. Being that we both are working on Friday, he was going to give it to me tomorrow night but I will be out for drinks with this girl:



Cathy and I have birthdays less than a week apart so we usually try to celebrate together. We even had a double sweet 16 (ahem, about 10 years ago...so crazy) we even joked about one day having a double wedding. While that probably won't be happening, :) we still like to do things together. And yes, we were voted "attached at the hip" in our high school senior yearbook.

Anwayyy, Dan obviously had to give me his gift tonight, and I graciously accepted. And I am so glad I did because I received this beauty:




A GARMIN405!!! So EXCITED!!



I LOVE it! I actually said, "YES! Now I am like a REAL runner!" Dan, of course, responded with, "um, I'm pretty sure you were a REAL runner before..." Whatever. I'm extra excited because my Dad and I have a pretty intense speed workout at the track (full report tomorrow). I also have a a post prepared about my fav class at the gym, FIT. So, see you tomorrow, I'm off to play with my new toy :)

3 Day Weekend

Yay for Martin Luther King Day! Gotta love 3-day weekends :) Yesterday we celebrated my Mom's Birthday and had a great time! Dan and I went to my parents' house and then out to dinner with my parents, my sister (Christine), and her boyfriend. We went to a local restaurant called Martini's, a staple for birthday dinners or celebratory occasions in my family. After dinner we went back to my parents' house for dessert (carrot cake and coffee - yum!) Over dessert, we played a game (with the Jets game on in the background of course. We are all Giants fans, but since they clearly disappointed this season, we are throwing our support to the Jets!) Dan got my mom this game that we always play with his family, called Left, Right, Center. Its a great game, mainly because there is gambling involved! (JK but seriously it is more fun that way...) We each threw in 3 dollars and the winner takes the pot. Since there were 6 of us, the pot was $18 and my sister won, which was funny because she definitely needed the money the most! All in all it was a refreshingly fun night.
Here are some pics:



Mom and Daughters



Sisters and Boyfriends



Family <3 For my day off today, I spent it my favorite way...running and taking exercise classes at the gym! (Dan thinks I am thoroughly crazy for spending my day off this way but to each his own, right?) Since I have caught yet ANOTHER cold (more on this in a different post) and I am feeling under the weather, I decided to take it easy today, but I was NOT going to let it ruin my big day off plans! I decided to skip out on the 9 o'clock class at the gym to take my time waking up, clearing my stuffy head and eating a good breakfast. After breakfast I met my Mom at the gym for Fitness Pilates with Valerie. After Pilates I went for a short run with my Dad. He's sick with a cold too so we cut it short and hit up Starbucks :) Then I made a quick stop at Sports Authority. I have been thinking about purchasing a bathing suit to swim laps in at the gym. I'm thinking that if I had an appropriate suit I might actually give swimming a decent shot. Right now I have a ridiculous amount of string bikinis, but no actual athletic suit so I thought I would check it out. I found some cute ones but I'm not sure if I NEED to spend $50 on a bathing suit that I might not even use right now so I didn't get it, but maybe I will go back. I did, however, purchase an adorable gym bag! I have been needing one as this is what I have been using:

And while this bag works just fine, I wanted something cuter. So I bought this:



I absolutely love it! I'm about to go test it out...back to the gym for Athletic Yoga and Kickboxing!
Xoxo

Happy Birthday Mom!

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Mom!

Tomorrow is my beautiful Mother's birthday. She's is not only the world's greatest mom, but also my gym partner, shopping partner, role model and friend. She is the reason I am who I am today and I am so grateful and lucky to have her.





Isn't she the cutest??












Doesn't she look great for 49? Seriously, she's 49!












Don't I look like a giant compared to my Mom? I'm actually not...I'm only 5'2"

So Happy Birthday Mom, I love you.

Happy Birthday Dad!

Today is my Dad's 51st birthday. My Dad and is my running partner. He motivates me and inspires me to run and be a better runner and person. He got me started running and now I cannot imagine my life without it. I look forward to our runs not only as a form of exercise but as time to bond and catch up with my Dad. I look forward to our weekend races together and long runs and he actually made training for the marathon very enjoyable! I am so lucky that I got to run my first marathon with my Dad and hope to run many more together. Dad I hope you had a wonderful birthday, I love you.