Missed workout, finding a 5K and gardening

I meant to workout this morning. I truly did. However, I am apparently I am not very good setting my alarm in the dark. Last night while fumbling with the clock, I set the alarm for 5:20 p.m. I realized this when I woke up this morning and peeked at the clock and it was 6 a.m. It was too late to get a workout in but I can't say I didn't like the extra sleep. I have been so tired lately. I have been trying to go to bed earlier but I'm not very good at it.

But my husband and I did take the dogs for a walk tonight before dinner!

In running news, my brother wants to come visit and run a 5K race with me. Well, run the same 5k as me anyway. He probably won't run with me as he is a much better runner than I and would hope to finish the first mile in under 6 min.! There's no way I could do that but it would be nice to run a race together even if he is going to smoke me! At least I know I could totally triple jump father than him. Anyway, it is looking like the optimal time to do this would be sometime in July. Now I just have to go about locating a 5K.

Also, I discovered that there is going to be a 5K held at Pennsic (an SCA event) this year to raise money for the Aethelmarc Waterbearers Guild. Here are the details -

Announcing the 1st Annual Aquarithon - a challenging 5K race at Pennsic!!
Benefits the Aethelmarc Waterbearers Guild. "We water everyone!"

• Starting at Troll, 7pm, on Middle Sunday (Aug 2nd).
• $10 donation - t-shirt guaranteed if you register, extras available on race day till I run out. Register by emailing me at oushi@hotmail.com subject: Aquarithon. Include name, gender, camp, and t-shirt size.
• The prizes: To be determined, but we'll have them for fastest male, fastest female, and fastest under 16. There's also a prize for most creative garb-like runners cover-up, and most determined runner.
• The rules: Stay on the course. Respect the cars, pedestrians, children, merchants, etc. No booze or drugs on the course *please*. NO RAIN DATE. If it rains, we still run!! 100% of proceeds go to the waterbearing fund.

The most difficult aspects of this would be the heat and garb-like running clothes cover-up. I don't deal with overheating well. It makes me physically ill. Now, I would think they would have water stations set up but I would need to worry about getting well-hydrated before the race and staying well-hydrated at Pennsic is fairly difficult already due to the heat. As to the garb, I don't know what I would do as a cover-up as I don't generally run in shorts because my thighs rub together and that's uncomfortable. And I really don't want to add more layers in that heat.

I am seriously considering the Pennsic 5K. Unfortunately, I don't think there is anyone in my household who would run it with me.

In gardening news, my little bell pepper is getting bigger and bigger and I can see where 9 little cucumbers are starting! And my new squash and zucchini plants and looking pretty perky.

Food Log
Breakfast
2 pumpkin-carrot muffins

Snack
1 nectarine
light vanilla yogurt with blackberries, blueberries and organic granola

Lunch
1/2 cheeseburger from Applebee's
broccoli and sugar snap peas

Snack
Twix (I gave in to the chocolate craving.)

Dinner
Homemade Amish noodles with sauteed veggies (broccoli, asparagas, brussel sprouts, green pepper, zucchini, carrot) with a little margarine and shredded sharp cheese

Dessert
malt balls
Italian ice

The garden

My garden has grown so much in the past two weeks! Look at how much the plants have grown since I last posted photos of them! (The photos that I posted in my blog on 6/11 were taken on 6/7, 2 weeks ago exactly. )

My garden! Oh, how it has grown!

Main garden area, rearranged - cabbage (back left), brussel sprouts (back), strawberries (front left), peppers (middle right), new squash and zucchini (center and front right)

The garden overflow area, the cucumber with the rest of the squash and zucchini

Cucumber blossom

Cabbage

Strawberry

Brussel sprout

The multi-colored pepper.

One of the newest additions - a yellow squash!


My first little baby pepper. Look at how much he has grown! The time goes so fast when they are tiny. ::tear::

Food Log
Breakfast
2 eggs and 1 egg white fried
cheese
2 slices wheat toast with butter
4 slices cinnapie from Papa John's

Snack
a handful of animal crackers

Dinner (Friendly's)
1/2 grilled chicken wrap
loaded waffle fries
happy ending sundae

Snack
dark chocolate covered raisins

Running, walking and my poor garden

This morning's exercise was a run on the treadmill - check out my dailymile widget! It actually felt pretty darn good. I didn't feel too fatigued through the workout but my heart was really pumping heard at the end and I did have to push myself. Also, I was soaked in sweat. I burned 350 calories.

I'm a little sad - one of my strawberry plants had a slime mold! It's because we've had so much rain here lately. The only real solution is sunshine and no rain. But of course, we're supposed to get more rain Friday and Saturday. Thankfully a slime mold shouldn't kill the plant. It's just... unsightly and could smother the plant if we don't get it under control.

Thankfully the rest of the garden is looking great.

Tonight my husband and I went to a local street festival. It was huge! And we ate a ton of fair food, which was awesome. We also did a whole lot of walking. We didn't buy anything but I did get a flyer advertising the local roller derby team. Now there would be a great, active hobby! I think I am going to look into it further but I don't know that I have the time to dedicate to it or whether I have the ability. It sounds like fun though.

Lately our dogs have been really restless. I am sure that are getting bored as we haven't been taking them on any walks lately. That needs to change. I am going to start trying to convince my husband to go for walks with me and the dogs a few days a week at least. It would be good for us all! Wish me luck!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 whole wheat strawberry muffins

Snack
2 slices wheat toast with peanut butter

Lunch
I veggie burger with a slice of cheese
sugar snap peas
light vanilla yogurt with strawberries, raspberries and blackberries

Snack
dark chocolate covered raisins

Dinner
1/2 spiedie hoagie
1/2 an order of french fries w/ ketchup
1 deep fried Oreo
1/2 pumpkin funnel cake

Post script to my goals post // the garden // food log

I didn't mention any of this in my goals post but... it all probably should have been included. Whoops!

1. If you look to the right of my blog, under my About Me and under my Blog Archive, you'll find my dailymile exercise widget, which will be updated with my latest workout. For example, if you glanced at it today, you'd see that I ran 2.7 miles this morning on the treadmill. It also show the length of my workout and other details. Pretty neat, right? So you'll not only be able to read my food log for the day but if you glance at my widget, you'll also be able to see my workout for the day.

2. I plan to take my measurements once a week on Fridays. I think I am also going to weigh myself on Fridays but I don't plan on posting my weight.

3. As part of my plan, I am trying to drink at least 64 oz. of water daily.

In other news, my garden is really taking off! My cucumber plant and cabbage plant are huge!

Look! My cucumber has flowers!

I simply cannot wait to eat vegetables from my own garden! So excited! Right now my husband and I buy all our vegetables from the local farmer's market -- which I think is awesome, don't get my wrong, I LOVE the farmer's market -- but it will be great to decrease the amount we spend on groceries because we're able to supplement with produce from our own garden. Because we eat a lot of veggies! We tend to eat frozen or fresh vegetables, I've cut out canned vegetables due to the amount of sodium and preservatives in the last few years. Same for fruit, excepting applesauce. And I am actually really happy to report that for the last few weeks ALL of the produce we've eaten has been fresh. Yum!

Soon those little buds will be peppers!

Like this little guy! My first pepper!

Food Log
Breakfast
2 slices wheat toast w/ peanut butter
1 small banana

Snack
low-fat string cheese

Lunch
Veggie burger
Leftover sauted brussel sprouts, zucchini, green pepper and broccoli from Saturday's dinner
stir-fried cabbage with a dab of margerine

Snack
low-fat string cheese
tootsie-pop

Dinner
slow cooked pork loin
steamed artichoke stuffed with garlic w/ butter and parmesan cheese on the side for dipping
whole wheat couscous made with fat-free chicken stock and herbs

Dessert
mini strawberry cobbler (made in a small ramekin)

The cobbler was really easy to make. Sliced strawberries tossed with a little bit of sugar and corn starch, bake until berries start to soften and then toss the topping on (flour, brown sugar, oats, mix in butter/margarine until crumbly) and bake until the topping is done and crisps up a little. To make it a little bit healther I used half whole wheat flour. Okay, so it may have been more of a crisp than a cobbler because I used oats but either way - delicious!

Berries all ready to go in the oven.

Bon appetit!

Gardening

Because I love fruits and veggies so very much (and because I spend so much of our grocery bill on them), I decided to try my hand at gardening. My garden is a container garden, rather than a traditional garden. I tried to grow a container garden last year but was pretty successful. I'm not sure where I went wrong but I am sure that a big move right when the plants were fairly young and then not knowing anyone in our new neighborhood to ask to water our plants while we were away didn't help. Last year I attempting to start from seed, however this year we went out and bought little plants and I repotted them. I am hoping to be successful with the container gardening this year!

Our little garden area is in the corner of our yard. You can just barely see the little green wire fence that goes around the garden to keep the dogs out and I also placed bricks around the perimeter. Back along the fence and in the middle on the left are brussel sprouts, in the middle on the right, grouped together, are three strawberry plants. In the front on the right is a cucumber, in the middle is cabbage, next to the cabbage is green pepper and on the left is multi-colored pepper.

And my husband brought me home 4 yellow squash and 4 zucchini plants! I don't have pictures of them yet. And the plants pictured have gotten even bigger since I snapped the photo. I even have an itty bitty green pepper now!