Another Week

In the past 7 days I’ve gone to 11 yoga classes. I’m addicted to yoga. All week I managed to make it to the early morning 6am Hot Yoga class. My ten day trial expired yesterday so when I go this afternoon I’m going to sign up for the three month membership. Last night I went over to Qi Yoga for the Yoga for Detox class. It was a great class! We did several poses I’ve never seen before, like “bird of paradise.” It was really cool to mix new poses into a familiar flow. I’ve already signed up to go again next Friday!

Today I ran the Christmas Carol 10K in 1:04:11. It was pretty chilly this morning, but a great day for a race. I definitely enjoyed the day!

I’ve been busy getting ready to fly home in January. I’m mostly packed, and presents are wrapped. I’m sad I’ll be missing Christmas with my family again, but I can’t wait to go home for a week!

Hot Yoga

This week I started practicing hot yoga. It is amazing! The poses are less strenuous than the vinyasa I’ve been doing, but with the room heated to 105 degrees it’s pretty intense. Within 10 minutes I’ve got beads of sweat forming on my skin, and by the end my clothes are soaked through! I’m still in the ten day trial period, but if I can motivate myself to get to the 6am classes next week, I’m going to invest in a membership. The room is like a sauna. It is so hot I cannot help but be fully present and in the moment. The heat and the detailed instructions make me 100% focused on what my body is doing, and every thought I had before the class started disappears. Today I went to my 4^th class, and those 90 minutes flew by. Attending these classes is also making me more mindful about drinking water to stay hydrated.

Today is day 25 of my run streak! I’ve run over 24 miles last week. If I can make it to New Years, maybe this will be the start of a great Resolution? Yesterday I volunteered at the Santa Stampede and next weekend I’m going to run the Christmas Carol Classic 10k. And in just a few weeks I’ll be home!

Status Quo

Life has been spectacular. I’ve managed to keep up the Holiday Run Streak running at least 1 mile everyday (some days that is the only thing that motivates me to get to the gym!) Today is day 18 of the streak! Yesterday was the Ugly Sweater Run in City Park to benefit Toys for Tots. That was the most chaotic run I’ve ever been to. There were 7,000 runners! Everyone looked absolutely ridiculous/amazing in their ugly sweaters, Santa hats, stick on mustaches and assorted other holiday garb. Once I got there, and picked up my Santa hat and a delicious Angry Orchard Cider I started the run. This event wasn’t times, so I set my stop watch, and took it easy to enjoy the day. It was a great place to people watch! Everyone looked awesome and the atmosphere was festive and fun!

Last weekend was the first 5K of the Run Denver series. I ran the Rudolph Ramble in 27:46 which is faster than I’ve been running since this summer. I’m planning of running the entire series as hard as I can, and hopefully will be able to improve my record time! This week I also went to check out Qi Fitness studios because I have a groupon for 10 fitness classes. So I stopped in and dropped in on a “Kardio Kinesis” class. It was more of a workout than I expected- the class was a circuit of body weight exercises that made me sweat! In the next few weeks I hope to check out their yoga classes.

With the year winding down I’ve been trying to think about the upcoming year and what I hope my life to look like. I have started applying for Outward Bound internships for the summer, and I finished updating my Americorps application so I can begin applying for Americorps Habitat for Humanity positions soon. This week I submitted my finals for my Nonprofit Management classes, all I have left to do is finish my online profile and submit it and I’ll have my certification!

Yesterday Lori had an Empower Women in Africa sewing event in Boulder, and Sam (also from Bike and Build) offered to drive me! It was a great event- a lot of people learning about the organization were really excited about the work we were doing. The woman who runs the little sewing shop taught me how to use a sewing machine! It was great catching up with Sam and Lori, and I’m glad the next event is going to be in Denver.

Molly, Yoga, and Holiday Run Streak!

This week Little Molly came to visit. The perfect excuse to take some time off of work and eat at all my favorite restaurants. Monday we spent the whole day walking around Denver and hanging out. We hit up Snooze for breakfast that morning, and the menu had changed and we didn’t even order the pancakes! The new menu had a French toast we had to try: “Ichabod Crane's French Toast  Pumpkin and mascarpone stuffed brioche griddled and topped with roasted chile maple syrup, candied pumpkin seeds, crushed ginger snaps and lemony whipped cream.” Then we walked over to Symmetry Massage and Spa for massages. I thought our massage therapists did a great job! And, they had heated beds! As soon as I got into it, I was like: “Oooh, is this bed heated?!” On our way there we passed a cute little tea shop, so after the massages we stopped in for a pot of oolong tea. It turns out that tea shop is also a green auto repair shop! It was super cool and the tea was delicious. Then we walked to the 16^th Street mall and did a little bit of shopping, then headed toward the Nature and Science museum. (We got halfway there and gave up, so we stopped for espressos instead). Then we went to the gym for powersculpt and yoga! Tuesday we were so sore from all that walking followed by a workout! After yoga we went to DBAR for some garlic Parmesan fries and a cake and shake. Liz convinced us we should also get some crème brulee. It was all amazing! They were probably the best fries I’ve ever eaten, and I cant wait to go back for more delicious desserts! Tuesday we went to Watercourse for dinner and has Buffalo Seitan Wings, then we cooked Thanksgiving dinner for Wednesday. Wednesday was the Thanksgiving potluck at work, I brought cream puffs that Molly whipped up, and everyone loved it! Then Wednesday night Liz and Lupita came over for dinner and we had some transitional Thanksgiving goodness!

Thanksgiving day started the Runner’s World Holiday Run Streak! I’m going to run at least one mile, every day from Thanksgiving to New Years! Thanksgiving I had a good 5 miles run in Wash Park, then today I managed 2.6

When Molly was here we got to talking a lot about yoga. I brought her to the class at my gym which is a vinyasa flow class. I’m ready to start branching out and trying new yogas though, so this week I bought a groupon deal for a yoga studio downtown. I’m also going to go to the classes at my gym more too, to continue strengthening my practice. I’ve been going there for about a year now, and I never thought I would enjoy yoga so much!

Walking- Hobbit Style

My bike was stolen yesterday. The lock was cut while I was in the gym. So until I can find something to get around on I'll be walking everywhere. Like a hobbit. It was very sad to walk out of the gym to see a broken lock and my helmet where my bicycle should be. I am glad that they left my helmet. I would hate to have to buy a new bike, a new lock and a new helmet. Helmets are pretty darn pricey! I also had some tools in the saddle bag on the bike too, mostly tire levers and a multi-tool I think. Today I stayed late at the gym to catch an extra yoga class. The Tuesday night teacher focuses a lot on breathing and "letting go of things that don't serve you." I'm trying to focus on not feeling sorry for myself, and not being upset over the loss of a material possession.

Its just a "thing." As much as I might have liked that bike, I don't NEED it. I can get around just fine on my own two feet. The walk to work only takes about 25 minutes. I can probably make it there faster with a dedicated power walk.

I guess I'm sad because that bike has seen me through some tough times. When I was in Arkansas, and lonely and needed to be able to get away from my project/team/housing I bought that bike. It was a rainy couple months so I wasn't able to ride it very much, but just knowing that I could was comforting. Then in Joplin after a 12 hour work day I was able to ride back to the school we were living in, giving me the opportunity to get a little bit of exercise and a precious few moments of alone time. I've been a bike commuter in Denver for 15 months- all weather. Last winter was cold, snowy, but that bike shuttled me from two jobs, home and the gym. I was always on time, and in such good shape! And that bike saw me through the Rattlesnake Triathlon this summer, and got me everywhere I needed to go.

I like to think that I'm not materialistic. I'm not emotionally attached to my possessions. Being a cyclist is not the end-all-be-all of my identity.

Motivate!

Winter is coming. I can feel my motivation to workout slipping away. I haven't been running regularly since the Rock and Roll Marathon. I've had a few fun jogs in the park, and a couple quick 5Ks, but I haven't been hitting the treadmill or making time everyday for a burst of cardio. Mondays are always a good gym day though! Powersculpt followed by yoga is a good start to my week. Powersculpt is an hour long weight lifting class that also incorporates cardio and abs. Which is about the only thing I do that actually feels like "working out." Tonight's yoga class was so great. I feel completely stretched out and rejuvenated. I'm ready to tackle the rest of the week!

I signed up for the Run Denver Race series to keep me motivated to run this winter. Its four 5Ks, and a half marathon. One 5K in December, one in January, and two in February, then the Half at the beginning of March. I'm also contemplating the idea of running an ultra marathon in the beginning of May. I wonder if I could convince my cousin Ron that a 50K is a good idea?

I've also signed up to volunteer at a couple races. This weekend I'm going to volunteer at the Run for Fetal Hope, and in December I'm volunteering at the Santa Stampede.

Things you find in the kitchen surprise!

It's time for another recipe! Brought to you by...the miscellaneous foods that have been accumulating in my kitchen! I think this one turned out excellent- and now I have lunch to bring to work for the next five days.

Take 1 cup Quinoa and boil it in water unless it is soft, and all the seeds pop open. I mixed the last of the red quinoa that's been in my cabinet with some white quinoa.

Then take all the vegetables that have been hanging out in your fridge starting to whither as you try to figure out what to do with them. Saute them! I sauteed the 2 carrots, one zucchini, and half a turnip in olive oil, then sauteed the onion, and seven scallion stalks, and red pepper in vegetable spray.

Then I threw in the can of kidney beans I've had sitting around since the last time I made chili.

Then after everything was cooked to perfection I mixed it in a big bowl with the nearly full can of tahini, a splash of lemon juice, and a few shakes of cumin and paprika. Heavy on the cumin.

Its delicious- looks like mush though.

Then I divided it into five containers and threw it in the fridge. This might even be good to eat cold.

According to Myfitnesspal each serving has about 534 Calories (23 grams of fat), and 17 grams of protein! It's also loaded with iron, 78% DV of vitamin A, and 46% DV vitamin C.

Just keep running, just keep running...

This past weekend I did the Run the Rocks 5K up at Red Rocks Amphitheater. Before it started my foot hurt so bad I wasn't sure I'd be able to do it. But once the race got started I found my stride, and my foot felt great! The first two miles were amazing: downhill and flat, with the Rocky Mountain foothills providing such beautiful scenery it made me remember how lucky I am to live in Colorado! Mile 2-3 was all uphill, and with the added altitude (6,400 feet above sea level) I enjoyed a steady walking pace while enjoying the day. At the third mile marker uphill turned into stairs. After climbing the stairs the race ended at the top of the amphitheater with a cool expo featuring evol burritos, skinny girl smoothies, and ice cream!  I wore my new five fingers for the first time too, and after those three miles they are broken in quite nicely.

Last weekend Adam and I did the Zombie Dash. That was a scavenger hunt that led us to several downtown bars where we had to perform challenges like moving a stack of can using a piece of spaghetti in our mouths, zombie movie trivia, and getting ping pong balls into cup in a "Z" formation
(which we dominated). As we ran from bar to bar we had to figure out the clues telling us where to go and we got to be dressed as zombies!

Aches and Pains and gulp! A Diet!

My body feels like its falling apart! I think I may have fractured a bone in my foot during the Rock and Roll Marathon (just a hairline fracture, most days it feels okay). Since the race I've cut back my exercise drastically. Every time I run my foot starts to hurt, and swells up. I'm trying to not run as much, but its hard to quit! When my foot swells up it doesn't fit into my vibram five fingers, so yesterday I wore my sneakers for a walk-workout on the treadmill. The heels of my shoes are so beat up that a mere hour of walking caused a giant blister on my already injured foot.

After the post marathon workout slow down I started to gain weight. My intake of calories hadn't dropped as fast as my exercise did, and I found the scale telling me I was back up toward 139 lbs. I haven't weighed that much since I started marathon training a year ago, and since I can't run like a maniac for a while I've decided to go on a... diet!

I've been trying to work more low-impact exercise into my day- taking the stairs instead of the elevator, doing weight lifting classes at the gym instead of running, and trying to do more yoga. It's not the same! The spike in adrenaline, the dripping sweat, the extended caloric burn- they're just gone! So I'm trying the ichoice diet (groupon'ed it!) which includes a daily multivitamin, a carb blocking powder you add to water, and a high fiber/protein meal replacement shake.

So I've been eating a lot healthier than I usually do. My normal day's meal usually looks like a fruit smoothie for breakfast. All last week I added kale from the CSA to the smoothies. I'm finally out of kale! With breakfast I take the multivitamins, and an iron supplement. Then at work I have some kind of fruit for a snack, usually an apple, or a banana. Then about half an hour before lunch I'll drink the carb-blocker powder. Lunch is usually a salad- filled with carrots, celery, dark leafy greens, spicy pumpkin seeds, tomatoes, and Ken's light sesame-Asian dressing. If I'm feeling like I'm not getting enough protein I'll throw a pouch of tuna in there as well. When I get home from work I'll have a small snack, maybe carrots with nutella and peanut butter, or a half-cup of veggie chili. Maybe a cup of tea with honey. Then later in the night I'll drink the meal replacement shake. I usually either blend a banana into it, or make a side of roasted veggies with sea salt to bulk up the meal, and finish it off with a calcium/vitamin D supplement. Using the myfitnesspal app I was able to track my iron and calcium intake, and without the supplements I wasn't getting enough. While trying this diet I've stopped taking my normal multivitamin- extra vitamins just get peed out anyways.

I think I'm already seeing results (its been less than two weeks) but that all might be psychosomatic.

A Week full of Awesome

Last weekend was the Rock and Roll Marathon. A great race to end the summer running season. Though I solemnly swear to train harder next time I sign up for a full marathon. Although I finished this race in 4:52:04 I walked a lot. I ended up finishing the last half o the race with a serial marathon runner who was using this run as a long slow training run for his next marathon. He was walking 1 minute then running 1 minute and I joined him for miles 13-26.

Then Sunday Adam and I volunteered at October Fest selling beer at the Rocky Mountain Feline Rescue booth, to raise money for the shelter. Beer for Cats! Little did I know that would be a great start to an epic week of volunteering.

Tuesday after work I got a message from my friend Alisha because they didn't have enough volunteers setting up for the Project Homeless Connect event at the Convention Center, so I went over there to set up chairs and tables for the event the next day. The Project Homeless Connect is an event held to help the homeless of the city get connected with different services available. At the event people are given medical exams, referrals for shelters, food banks, clothing, etc as well as help finding different services. It seems like a really great event; directly serving the homeless population.

Yesterday Liz, Lupita and I went to the CH2M Fall River Sweep volunteer event to clean up the South Platte River Trail. We ended up working with the new batch of Americorps NCCC Team Leaders, cleaning and painting the green railings around the trail. It was a great event with tons of people and a great picnic lunch after!

And finally a big shout out to my sis: Little Molly for running her first 5k yesterday!!

Adam at the RMFR Octoberfest booth!

Rock and Roll Denver!

This Saturday is the Rock and Roll Denver Marathon! Am I ready? Nope!

I haven't been working out as much since the Rattlesnake Triathlon. So I'm just going to wing this race...How hard can it be?

Two weeks ago I ran the Denver Half Marathon. That was a pretty epic day for me. The race was in Aurora, at Cherry Creek State Park. It was a trail race, scenic, beautiful...14 miles away from my apartment. So I had to leave the house before the sun came up to bike there on time (about 14 miles). I biked probably about 30 minutes before the sun touched my skin. I was freezing! My the time I got there my toes were numb. I arrived mere minutes before the race started (approximately with enough time to spare to eat half a banana). While running from the parking lot to the starting line I managed to work the kinks out of my muscles and warm my fingers and toes. The race was amazing- beautiful, good weather, about halfway through I took my sweatshirt off and tied it around my waist. It was in the same racing series as the Louisville Half, but the trail was better marked (I didn't get lost at all!) Finished in about 2:18 and then had a leisurely bike ride home. The ride home seemed much shorter, and I'm pretty sure was downhill the whole way.

I've started taking classes- I'm currently enrolled in Seminar in Not-For-Profit Organizations, and Practicum in Nonprofit Organizations. I've read a couple interesting Case Studies so far, and have really been learning a lot.
 
Sunday Adam and I are going to volunteer at Oktoberfest- working at a beer booth to raise money for the Rocky Mountain Feline Rescue. Sounds like a super fun event, and something cool to do together!

Last weekend Liz and I went rock climbing at Garden of the Gods. It was so much fun! I would love to learn how to set up the ropes, and rock climb all the time! We had a blast, then hung out in Colorado Springs for a bit (lunch and visiting my favorite used book store).
Below are some rock climbing pictures.

A Day in the Life

A Day in the Life of Bike and Build- Joplin Build Week.
6:50 Wake up call. Mike pokes his head in the girls room and tells us "breakfast!"
Then we have a few minutes to scramble around and get ready. The Abundant Life Church right outside of Joplin has been hosting us all week, and its a great place. They host volunteer groups all the time, and have made us feel so welcome! They have a room full of toiletries for those items that are forgotten (sunscreen, soap, etc). Outdoor shower facilities (really cool- basically a row of spouts separated by tarps) and they feed us every meal!
7:00 Breakfast. Sid is the breakfast chef at Abundant Life, and he goes out of his way everyday to make breakfast a special masterpiece. Today he did custome omelettes, yesterday chocolate chip pancakes with icecream, and before that crepes. We eat more for breakfast than I nor ally eat all day!
Then we finish getting ready, and a little before 8:00 get in the cars and head out to a work site.
At the work sites we do a variety of tasks (quantifiables to come in a later post) including drywalling, flooring, painting etc. The past two days we've been working with Rebuild Joplin's new crew of Americorps site supervisors, who are still doing their training and learning how to lead groups of volunteers.
Around 12:00 we break for lunch, which we packed at the church. They put out a great spread of sandwhich stuff and snacks for us to pack. I've been eating some great PB&J sandwhiches all week in true Bike and Build style! We break for lunch for about how long it takes to eat, rehydrate and take a minute off our feet. Everyone is so committed to the work we are doing here that we dont take long breaks. After eatin we jump right back into our work!
A little bit before 5 we start cleaning up our worksite and finishing as much as we can before we head back to the Abundant Life church.
5:30 is dinner. Its always delicious and we're always ravenous.
Then we hop in the showers. After we're clean we do different thing in the evenings. Monday we played jenga and banagrams, Tuesday we stayed at BJ and Grumpy's house to work late, Wednesday and Thursday we went out with Rebuild Joplin's Anericorps members for some after hours socializing, and tonight we're going to a drive in movie! Eventually we fall in our beds (completely exhausted) and fall right asleep.

Yesterday we did a little sightseeing. We drove by the Extreme Home Makeover houses, and Cunningham Park where the memorial is. The following pictures are from the memorial. Visiting the park was a super emotional moment for me.

Back in JOMO

This week has been amazing so far! Right off the bat I felt like I belonged, and felt at home. I've spent the past few days in Joplin, MO with a group of Bike and Build alumns rebuilding houses that were damaged or destroyed in the tornado last year. We started volunteering right away. Most pf us arrived Saturday, and Sunday we started working with the Americorps St. louis Emergency Response Team who coordinated the original disaster response, and has committed to the long term recovery efforts. They sent us to Wanda's house where we spent the day building a deck and a grape trellis. Then Monday and Tuesday they sent us to work at BJ ad "Grumpy's" house where we planted trees and humg drywall. Intent on finishing the work we had started, we stayed past 8:30 on Tuesday to finish as much ad we possibly could. The go-getter, not-leaving-until-we-finish attitude is something I truly love and sorely miss. It just brings back my love for the enthusiasm of bike an builders, and a little bit of frustration at my Americorps team. BJ and grumpy even fed us dinner because we missed the dinner the church provided.

Today we started working with Rebuild Joplin (Lynea, my former corps member is working for them now) and they sent us to work at Tiffany's house with the task of sanding the drywall in the bathroom, and installing laminate flooring. After we finished those tasks we made our way over to a nearby house where Rebuild Joplin was training a new batch of the Armericorps site supervisors. That house was in the process of being drywalled, so we used the skills we've cultivated over the past couple days to catch them up.

This whole week has felt more like real life to me, than my actual life does. I love hanging out with these people who were strangers 5 days ago, but now are friends; ad having and instant connection. Not only have they all done Bike and Build, but half of them are NCCC alumns as well!

Catherine installing drywall!