4 mile turkey trot, shopping, sunglasses

I've been a huge slacker while running over the holidays. I've been home since sunday and ran monday, wednesday, and today. Something about running in subdivisions is so mind - numbingly (yes I just made that up) boring. Each day I've had to be super creative with adding in extra loops here and there to make up for mileage.

 Ashley is hosting a 4 mile turkey trot to be completed by tomorrow HERE for a chance to win fun prizes and of course remind us not to be lazy while on vacation :)  Both my parents were running errands, so mirror pic will have to do for my race bib- should have written in backwards :)

I decided I would go longer than 4, but man do you  know how much thought goes into how to get in 6 miles without having to double back over the same roads?!?! Quite a lot.
4 mile time was 31:37, 6 mile total time was 47:11. Lately I've been getting more and more tired during my runs, so I'm HOPING that once I get back to Tennessee and have better scenery, the tiredness won't set in as quick.

Afterward I went shopping with my mom for a few hours around our outdoor mall. Every year I've gotten a pic in front of the giant Christmas tree. This year, the exciting part was that Ohio is having fluke warm weather- yay for no jacket!

Yesterday was my first black friday shopping experience. No I wasn't one of the crazies going out super early for anything in particular, we managed to get to the mall around 7:30 am and the crowds were doable. Although I didn't get anyone crossed off my list, my mom got me the Magic Bullet and a George Foreman Grill- 2 tools I've been wanting to help make it even easier to prepare healthy meals for one :)  (now just have to wait 1 month to unwrap, 'be surprised', and able to test out.

Did anyone score any great black friday deals?!?!

I'm hoping to get some people crossed off on cyber monday!

Since I really didn't ask for too much for Christmas, I've been brain storming on gifts and I realized that its time to test out some sun glasses I can wear while running. I have no preference other than I want them to stay put, light weight, and not be too large (i overheat when run so normal glasses cause my eyes to sweat.... no joke). So I thought I would put the question out there to all you:

Any recommendations or stay away froms when searching for running sun glasses?!?!?

I feel like this MAY be something I need to try on first, but any input will at least point me in the right direction. 

I hope everyone is enjoying whats left of the holiday! 

Chicago RnR Pre-Race and Expo

B and I decided to play it smart as far as timing our drive so we wouldn't  have to do the 8.5 hour trip all in one chunk.
I have family in Indianapolis (4.5-5 hour drive from Nashville), so we decided to leave work early on Friday and stay with my aunt & uncle so we could arrive in Chicago on Saturday with room to spare before the expo closes at 5.
Friday night I decided to meet up with an old friend / co-worker / roommate, Heather, who I haven't seen in 3 years. I LOVE how traveling for runs has allowed me to reconnect with people from my past, who otherwise, I would have never had the opportunity to see / talk to.

B and I met Heather and her hubby up at an Irish pub for drinks, light dinner, and a LOT of catching up on the past few years.

Me, Heather, her husband Matt. 

After a few hours we parted ways and headed to the fam's house for some quality shut eye.

Showered, breakfast ate, packed and on the road by 8:30am CST to make the rest of the 3 hour trip to Chicago!


Pros and Cons of the Expo:

We'll start with Cons so we can end on a positive note:

Cons:

• the website didn't give detailed instructions on where to park, so we circled the building, McCormick place, about 3 times before we settled on an overpriced $19 parking garage. For those who may be doing this race, or another Chicago one in the future, park on the street and walk- no one should ever have to pay that much for 1 hour parking! 
• McCormick place was HUGE, so it was quite a bit of walking before getting to the expo itself, but we finally did see the signs.

Theme of the race. 

• Only one 'non slip' head band company- normally there are 2 or 3 to give you options. I was looking forward to buying a few, but alas, they were overpriced and decided to just forgo this round. 
• Pretty standard same companies that are there, nothing too exciting- guess thats a sign you've been to a lot of expos. 

PROS

• Quick packet pick up immediately upon entering the expo. I guess they could tell it wasn't my first rodeo because my guy didn't go through all the shoe tag info and emergency contact bib like normal (yay)
• Once you got your race shirt, they allowed you to go to another table to exchange it if it was the wrong size... I forgot it was unisex, so mine was way too big and I was able to swap out!
• not that many strollers! I normally stress out with large crowds little fun fact about me: my biggest pet peeve is slow walkers, however this expo it was well managed. 
• I didn't let my spending go crazy-  I bought one bottle cap  running magnet, $3.50, from Lift your sole because I adore them and they are handy at work. I really need to learn how to make these so I can go crazy and decorate my whole desk area with them!
• They had something new that I haven't seen at other RnR expos- the ability to take your photo with props and a green screen. Once they take the photo, you enter in your email address and they are supposed to email it to you. Although I got the email, it was just a link to their facebook page, and unfortunately B and I's combo pic isn't up yet.... instead you get a pic of 2 random girls with similar poses that B and I did - just visualize different faces...

• Lastly, the amount of free swag was RIDICULOUSLY awesome: you can click on photo for larger view. 

Overall the expo was okay. Its rare I see something new, which isn't the expos fault. B and I had no agenda so we just browsed and stopped by every booth. Afterward we took the scenic route down Michigan Ave to our hotel- an extremely old Red Roof Inn. 

At check in the lady at the front desk asked if we had a preference on being on a lower level or higher level floor ****note for future- always saw LOWER and NOT near an elevator***** We were on the 15th floor and had to use the stairs up the 15 flights after our half mary when the elevators weren't working. As an added bonus our door was right next to the elevators and we could hear people all night long- yaaaaaaay. 

Our first night in Chicago we had our pre race dinner at an Irish Pub, Timothy O'Tooles- forgot how big Chicago portions were and over ordered- thus resulting in not being able to finish my food.

decided to share 'irish nachos' aka fries, melted cheese, bacon, scallions. We didn't realize how huge it was and barely put a dent in it. 

Grilled bbq chicken wrap w/ steamed broccoli- it was delicious 

Walked off my fullness by doing some shopping! Checked out Nike Town

It was absolutely HUGE inside- 3 stories

However it was ridiculously overpriced, so it was more browsing than anything. Afterward we went to TJ Maxx Home Goods and Marshalls- got a nifty glass turquoise lantern @ Marshalls on clearance for $3. NO IDEA what I'm going to do with it, but it was cute and cheap so it was a must. 

Afterward we decided to call it a night and were in bed by 7:30- it just so happened that Life as we Know it came on, and I watched the whole thing. Attempted to sleep by 10 but due to being next to elevator there was so much racket in the hall. I finally turned on our air conditioner, and although I was freezing, it buffered hall noise and I was able to get some shut eye around midnight or so!

Eating Cheap (er)

So last week I had a post[HERE] about what food I bought while starting my cleanse. Randomly enough, no one commented directly on my blog, but I did get a surprising amount of responses via email and facebook, so I figured I would answer a lot of the similar questions I received. 


How much did I spend?

• Everything cost about a little over $60, however I want to preface this. I had a gift card I received from work to Whole Foods, so that is where I shopped. Everything in there is organic and was local, thus a higher price. After the gift card I only spent $37, so it was a good deal. You don't need to buy all organic, just certain items.

What items would you recommend buying organic?

• This isn't something that I made up- but its called the "Dirty Dozen" because they have the highest pesticide loads. What this means is that if you are wanting to be healthy but can only afford to buy limited things organic- these are what you need to purchase (hence why I put in red to make you STOP before purchasing- cheesy I know) Something to look out for as well, is it JUST organic, or was in grown in a greenhouse- greenhouse = less chance of pesticides were if its just organic you can still have the chance of some getting carried in the rain.* and mom if you're reading this, my bell peppers are green house* In no certain order:
• peaches
• apples
• bell peppers
• celery
• nectarines
• strawberries
• cherries
• kale
• lettuce
• imported grapes
• carrots
• pears. 
• On the opposite side of the spectrum there are foods that are deemed the Clean 15 because these are the 15 least contaminated foods- perfect when you can't afford to buy organic- Here's the 'green light' 
• Onions
• sweet corn
• asparagus
• sweet peas
• cabbage
• egglplant
• broccoli
• tomatoes
• sweet potatoes
• avocadoes
• pineapples
• mangoes
• kiwi
• papayas
• watermelon
• grapefruit

How long does the food last?

• Depends on the food-  Here's what I bought again- highlight in pinkish means I won't do again
• 3 red bell peppers (finished the first 2, onto the 3rd- if you don't eat them that often, I recommend getting a plastic pepper saver, thats what i do and it preserves the freshness and makes them last longer once you've cut them open.
• onions- long shelf live, i do put them in a container once their cut open to preserve
• rosemary- typically only lasts one week for me and then it dries out and loses its potency (for me)
• broccoli- surprisingly it hasn't gone bad- i only use the heads, so I'm almost out. If you just like the floret part, I recommend saving money and buying the 'crown' as they are cheaper than having the whole stalk. 
• black berries- out of all the berries these will last the longest- i finished up the last batch today and there was only 2 bad ones
• raspberries- honestly... i wouldn't waste your money on these. everytime I buy them it lasts about 1 day before it gets mushy and starts getting moldy. Very disappointed. 
• black berries- lasted a few days- a handful started to turn white, but unlike the raspberries, I was able to finish the container
• peaches- still going strong as long as they don't bruise
• pickling cucumbers- AWFUL. I don't know what is different from a regular vs 'pickling'- i just bought them bc they were smaller. After 2 days they got real soft and toooo watery. I will not buy again and stick to regular cucumbers. 
• garlic, black garlic, hummus, and dressing all keep until you are done (or if you wait a really long time, then yes they will go bad)
• cage free eggs- almost done with them, good till expiration date
• Spinach / spring mix- I normally buy just plain spinach and decided to mix it up. I find that spring mix gets mushy sooner than spinach, so I will just buy all spinach next time bc it lasts longer. 

Now as far as where to go- you have to hunt down the deals. If anyone reading this has an Aldi near them- I highly recommend them for the non organic items- especially cheap cucumbers , broccoli, onions, and asparagus. If you don't then just compare prices. The best thing I can suggest is memorize the Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 list.

If ya'll have any other questions, please feel free to ask. Happy shopping and eating!