Get Fit Monday - Castlewood Cup edition

This Monday, instead of telling you about everything I did last week I'm going to focus on one thing, the Castlewood Cup.

The Castlewood Cup is a 15k (9.3 miles) trail run held at a local state park, Castlewood.  I live right by the park and tend to run there on the weekends, so I knew just how tough it was going to be.  There are a some wicked hills.  Lucky me, the 3 worst hills were all included in this course.

I had signed up for this one last year knowing that it would be tough, take a lot of training, and would be just what I need to force me to go outside in the cold weather and run.

Unfortunately, I had several set backs that kept me from training like I wanted to.  I did a 10 mile race the end of November and my heel (I have a heel fracture that still gives me trouble) hurt for over a week after that.  Then I had a cold that lasted about 2 weeks in December.   Then the end of January I had an op surgery that kept me from doing anything for a week, and then once I did start to run again I had to take it easy and could only handle low mileage.   So coming up to the race..the weekend before I ran 7.1 miles on the course, but before that the most mileage I had done was almost 5 miles.  Nowhere close to the 9.3 needed.

So I was very nervous about race day and my goal was to complete the race without walking and not to be last.   One of my friends was running it with me and I knew that if I was able to stay with him for most of the race, I wouldn't be tempted to walk.

So how did I do?  I'm happy to announce that I didn't walk!  Nor did I come in last!  In fact, I was 192 out of 322 people, and I was the 45th female to finish.  Woohoo!  I completed the 15k trail run in 1 hr and 36 minutes.  This gives me an average pace of 10:32/min mile.  That's a somewhat slow mile for me, but considering the hills and the length of the course and my problems training, I'm ok with it.  I'm happy with how I did.  In fact, my last mile was mostly flat and it was 9:06/min.  I still can't believe I was going that fast, I thought I was dragging.     The race was very hard and had it been much longer I'm not sure how long I would have lasted.  It truly was a challenge for me and I feel incredibly happy with myself for doing it.  Oh..did I mention that we had a lot of rain last week and the trail was very muddy.

My husband went along and snapped some pictures.  I thought I would share, even though they aren't the most flattering pictures of me.  You've been warned.

This is roughly 2 miles into the race, I'm in black with the blue shirt.  And my friend is behind me in white.  and yes..we were talking. lol 

Towards the end of the course there was a creek crossing, which was somewhat high due to the recent rains we had.  Husband got a picture of me before I got in the creek.  There was a photographer taking pictures of everyone crossing the creek though, so I hope to get one of me in the creek soon.

This is me almost at the finish line!  I'm incredibly tired and as you can see I'm barely picking my feet up.

This is my friend and I after the race..once we had gotten something to eat and drink.  It was sooo cold..we were standing by the heat lamps and shaking. I was holding the cup with both hands because my hands were shaking uncontrollable. 

Practically Green

I saw a blog post at Sprout's Green Family regarding a website called Practically Green and knew I had to try it out.  The goal of practically green is to help you become more green.  When you sign up you are asked to complete a survey that can be a bit lengthy but stick to it.  You will then be rated on how green you are.   Then you can play around on the site, with the different areas, and view ways to be more green.  You can update your green status by marking different things that you already do, add some to your list of things you plan to do, and mark others as not applying to you.  This can increase your green status.

I started out being Fairly Green.  Which actually made me a tad upset because I feel I do a pretty good job of being green. I know I'm a lot more green than most people I know.

The different areas you are graded on are broken out like so:
Water
Energy
Health
Stuff

Water is by far my worst area.  My points are only 30.  Energy is my best at 790, Health comes in at 430, and Stuff is 460.

You can also earn badges based on the things you do.  I've earned the bronze badge in energy and stuff right away.

I decided to see how  high I could increase my score by going over the different things recommended and marking all the ones that I have already completed or already do as Done.   I found several things that just aren't applicable to me or aren't going to happen for awhile.  One example is to buy or build a LEED house or apartment.  Since we don't plan to move until we are old and gray, I marked this one as "not applicable".  Another example is the option to install a dual flush toilet.  We recently replaced two toilets with low-flow toilets but not dual flush, I'm marking that one as not applicable as well since we aren't going to replace them again.  However I did get points for having a high-efficiency toilet installed. Another example is to replace our water heater with a tankless one.  We don't plan to buy a new water heater for another year or two so I marked this one as "add to my plan" and we'll research options when the time comes.

Don't get me wrong though.  There's a ton of stuff suggested that I think is somewhat easier and cheaper.  Example, one suggestion is to turn the water off when you brush your teeth.  Done!   One of the things I believe will be pretty in-expensive is to install low-flow valves on all faucets.  I did a brief search and it looks like it would cost $6 or less to do this for each faucet.  Even better, the website Practically Green links you to a video so you can see just how easy it is to do this.  I added this one to my plan. In fact, this was something new the website taught me. I knew you could buy low-flow faucets but I never thought about seeing if I could convert my current ones to be so.  Since we have replaced all faucets (except 1) in our house, fixing the faucet is the way we will go.   Another simple and easy action is to switch to a reusable water bottle. Done!

As you can see, the steps you can take to be even more green range from being major (replace your water heater) to simple (use a reusable bottle).

I'm off to play on the website and see how high I can get my numbers and what I can add to my "plan" so I have a list of things to work on changing.  I'll be sure to do another post and let you know how I did.

CSN Giveaway - winner!

Thanks to everyone who entered into the giveaway.

Congrats to Liz!  You have won the $30 gift code for CSN stores.  Have fun shopping!

I'll email the code to you, but if you don't receive it please contact me

Change the World Wednesday - commute

This week, if you drive, reduce your speed. Reducing your driving speed reduces the amount of fuel you burn ... and that is very Eco-friendly. So ... this week ... slow down!

Or ...

If you don't use a car for transportation, please share your alternate choice and give us practical ideas for making it work. For example, if you ride a bike or walk, please share how you manage inclement weather, shopping and getting to the other side of the city/state. Tell us about the ways in which you stay safe while riding a bike in heavy traffic or walking when there isn't a sidewalk. We'd like to know exactly how you make an Eco-friendly form of transportation work in today's world.

This weeks challenge is something that I've thought a lot about. Because I don't have much of a choice on how I get to work, I have to drive.  I can't carpool either. This bother's me though and I constantly think about it.

Unfortunately, I also speed.  Hey..when you drive mostly highway and you drive roughly 23 miles a day, the last think you want to do is mosey on home...I just want to be home..I'm ready to relax.  However I'm going to make the effort to slow down on the highway and go 60-65.

Sure..there is some public transportation in our city, but it pretty much sucks.  We do have a metrolink, but I would have to drive half-way to work before I could get to the closest station.  Then we factor in that I don't work in the safest of areas and the station I would have to get off at is under a highway and not safe at all. Then I would have to walk about a mile to work.  No thanks (not to the walking..to the lack of safety).

We do have buses that come into the area where I live, but it would take me twice as long for my commute.  When I already spend roughly 80 min a day getting to/from work, doubling that just doesn't appeal to me.

I've thought about biking to work...if I ever bought a bike.  However, my commute is roughly 23 miles, and that's highway. I'm not sure how long it would take on a bike going secondary roads. Not to mention the safety of it in the dark. It's something I've thought of though. I'm hoping to get a bike later this summer (husband has agreed to it..if I can swim 53 laps in our pool at the same time).  I think it would be nice to bike to/from work once a week.

However....I can tell you some ways I do limit car use.

Whenever one of our cars needs an oil change or work done, I will normally drop the car off and then run home (most places are within 3-4 miles of our house).  When the car is ready to be picked up, a lot of times I will run to get it.  This saves us from using another car to make 2 trips to the place.

I also carpool a lot when doing non-work activities. I live by both my sisters, my Mom, and the in-laws. If we are doing anything with any of those relatives, we carpool.   I also go out with one of my friends at least once a month and I have him pick me up, because if he's coming from his apartment, then getting to the movies or dinner would normally have him pass my subdivision..if he doesn't head right to a highway.

I also tend to do as many errands together as I can and I'll do them in a loop so I'm not backtracking and wasting gas.   I'll stop at the grocery store, library, etc on my way home from work in the evenings because I pass them.  When we go out on the weekends we try to do all the errands together to minimize gar usage.

While I can't get away from relying on my car, I do try to find ways to limit it's use.  For me, the challenge is going to be slowing my speed.   Oh..and we bought a hybrid this past November.  I'm planning to do a post about that one..so won't say much...but at least it's something with this one. Just wanted to mention it so you can see that we do at least think about our driving and gas mileage. haha!

***** Sticky Post - this will remain at the top until the giveaway is over, please look below for more recent posts*****

As promised, I am hosting a giveaway for a $30 gift code for CSN stores.

Here are the rules:
Anybody is eligible to enter, you can only enter once though (giveaway is showing up on both blogs but please note there is only one giveaway)

You will be responsible for any charges over $30 (including shipping if applicable).

The giveaway runs 2/11/10-2/23/10 (midnight, central time)
I will use random.org to pick a winner on the 24th.

A couple things to know:
This code can be used to cover domestic shipping costs within the US, however please note that this code cannot cover international shipping taxes for Canadian addresses.


(The below info will also be emailed to the winner but I wanted you to know it up front as well)

1. Expires March 31, 2011.

2. Code expires after first use.

3. Entire promotional amount must be used on first purchase.

4. If the total cost of the basket exceeds the amount of money from the promotional code, you are responsible for the difference.

5. Promotional code will be applied to all items in your basket.

6. This promotional code cannot be used to purchase gift certificates on our sites.

7. This promotional code cannot be combined with any other promotional code or CSN Rewards Dollars

Get Fit Mondays - workout week of Feb. 14th - 20th

Hosted by Journey to Green

Last week was wonderful..we had such nice weather!  I went from running in my coldgear to running in capri tights and short sleeve shirts and even shorts!  

So let's see how I did this week.  

On the 14th I did an Insanity workout when I got home from work. Husband didn't think I could do the whole thing and wanted me to try it...I took that dare and completed the workout much to his surprise. Lol!   I had been worried too since I did two runs that weekend and was worried my legs would be fatigued.

I came down with a cold on Tuesday, which totally threw me into stress mode regarding the race.  Luckily the symptoms haven't been too bad and I continued to workout.

I ran on the 16th, Wednesday.  I ran after work and did 5.32 miles in 48:03.  I averaged a 9:02 min\mile.  Slower than normal..but I had a cold.  The first 3 miles were under a 9 min mile but the last two I was feeling it and they were slower.

I ran on the 19th. I actually ran 7.1 miles in 1hour 19 min. I averaged 11:11 min\mile.  I ran at Castlewood and did all the hills that will be part of the upcoming race.  The only parts I didn't do were part of the flat part.  Fingers crossed I won't have a problem doing the full 15k on race day.  This is the most miles I've done since, well, November I think. So I'm rather happy with this workout.

I ran on the 20th.  I ran at Castlewood again but didn't do any of the course for the race.  Husband wanted to see if he could run 1 mile so he went with me.  We ran the first mile together, at his pace, and then I continued and he went back to the car.  I only ran 3 miles in 30:44.  I averaged a 10:14 min/pace.  I really felt fatigued. I think I should have taken the day off after the long run yesterday.

My big race is on the 26th, fingers crossed I won't have any issues.   After the run on Saturday I'm pretty confident I can do it. I just hope this cold goes away. 

Indoor clothes line

In January when I did a Change the World Wednesday post regarding laundry practices I mentioned clothes lines.   Due to my allergies I'm unable to dry clothes outside.  However, it struck me that I could hang a clothes line inside.  It took me awhile, but I finally did it!  I felt I would share how it works.

I'm lucky enough to have a laundry room on the main floor of the house (we have a ranch).  Even luckier is that there is a lot of storage in there.  On one side are open shelves and the previous owner attached gizmo's to it that allow me to hang up hangers.  They fold up so they are out of the way, and I only have them down when in use.  I use this every week when I do laundry.  It's an easy way to hang up pants and shirts that come out of the drier still a bit wet or that don't go in the dryer at all (mostly my running clothes).

However, I still wanted to hang up a clothes line so I could hang up socks, towels, etc that were still wet when coming out of the dryer.  The dryer is old, left by the previous owners, and while it does a good job it often times doesn't dry all the clothes when only one run.  I found myself running a lot of loads through twice.

I hung up two different clothes lines.  one is under the open shelving.  I liked this because it would be out of the way.  I hung up another one in front of the cabinets that hang over the washer and dryer.  I originally liked this idea but wasn't going to put it here because then it would be in the way when I tried to open a cabinet door.  However, I soon realized that I could hang the clothes line in such a way that they wouldn't always have to be hung.  This way I could have a clothes line in front of the cabinet doors, but it wouldn't always have to be there so it wouldn't cause problems.

The only thing I bought for this laundry room addition was the clothes line, it cost less than $3.  I looked in our supply of nails, etc and found some hooks.  Luckily there were 4 matching sized ones.  I then got to work. Installing both these lines took me less than 30 min.  I used a drill to drill the holes in the wall. I roughly measured but mostly just eye-balled it. It's not something that anybody is going to be paying attention to.  I then used, well, I don't remember what they are called.  They are the plastic pieces you hammer into drywall so you can then put screws in them.  So I hammered those in place.  The four hooks I had then screwed into each one of those.  I then tied the clothes line onto each hook.  That's it!  Now, I did go back and tie a washer onto one end of each of the clothes line.  This allows me to easily hook/unhook each clothes line without having to loosen the knot.

Here's a picture of the laundry room with the clothes lines and the extra gizmo's to hang up clothes.  (Just ignore the mess. lol! It's a laundry room afterall...the door is always closed)

Here's the same photo but with everything circled so you can see it better.

I've been using these clothes lines for several weeks now and I'm very happy with them.  Husband is a bit worried that I'll cause mold to grow on the wall since I'm hanging wet items next to the wall (in regards to the clothes line that's under the open shelves).  So I try to just hang stuff there that doesn't really touch the wall or that's not very wet.  I've used the one above the washer and dryer to hang up all sorts of things ranging from light socks to heavy towels.

So far I haven't used the clothes lines to hang stuff up instead of putting them in the dryer and I'm not sure I will.  However, I have not put anything through the dryer twice since installing these. I usually do roughly 4-5 loads of laundry a week and I was having to put at least 3 loads through the dryer twice.  Now I don't have to and it makes me feel better knowing I'm not wasting resources.

You might wonder why we have 4-6 loads of laundry for only two people. It seems crazy to me. I usually have roughly 2 loads of darks in the winter..thanks to jeans and sweaters and 1 load of medium colors.  That's 3 right there.  I then have a load of towels, bed sheets, and rags.  Then I have a load of running clothes, due to needing special detergent I do all the running stuff by themselves. It's a small load but I wait until I've used all the available running clothes for the weather we are having.  I then do a load of socks/undershirts roughly ever 2-3 weeks.  Sometimes I'll add this to the towel load but if I forget then I end up having to do it by itself since it gets so full.