Monday, November 30, 2009

Thanksgiving Weekend!

We have SO MUCH to be thankful for! Good family, good friends, good food, good health, and good runs. Most of all, we are so thankful for one another and the GREAT runs we have everytime we hit the road together!

We had a BUSY Thanksgiving weekend, starting with a Turkey Trot on Thursday in Seekonk, MA. Miss Bethany ran the 5k (19:48, 4th female overall, 3rd in 20-29 age group), while Ryan ran the 10k (47:25). PRs for both of us!!!!


 Since Miss Bethany did the 5k, she was able to snap some pictures of Ryan finishing the 10k. Here's Ryan chugging down the home stretch! Big PR!


The two of us after the race!


Miss Bethany collecting yet ANOTHER piece of hardware!

 
Oops, can you tell what this is? (Left a half-eaten Honey Stinger on the windshield.)


Preparation for BLACK FRIDAY! We got up at 4am, braved the crowds, and went shopping! Crazy people out that day!


Miss Bethany's barefoot 0.5 mi run before our trail run with the KRDP on Saturday. Too cold to run barefoot in the winter. Will try again in the spring!


After 17.5 mi on the trails with the KRDP, and a nice fall into a mud puddle at mile 17. Yum!
 

The closeup.


Again after the trails. (BTW, Miss Bethany does have more than one shirt. Just with the laundry rotation, the blue shirt somehow always ends up on top.)

Miss Bethany ran again on Sunday, in preparation for Goofy's Challenge. Then we also did some major Christmas decorating in the apartment on Sunday night!

And just to clear things up, we did get a ride back to Boston last week after our run to Lexington :-).

So that was OUR Thanksgiving, now how was YOUR Thanksgiving weekend? Hope you all had a great weekend, and are now getting ready for the BEST holiday of all: CHRISTMAS!!!!

Happy feet, all!

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Boston to Lexington

On Saturday we ran out to beautiful Lexington, MA to watch our friend at his soccer. Since neither of us have a car in Boston, what better way to get out there than to run! It was 13 miles from our apt to the soccer field but once we got there we added 2 more miles to top it off at 15. For you blogger people not from MA think back to middle school history class and you will know where Lexington MA is (hint: our run was a semi re-creation of Paul Revere's  midnight ride except we didn't go at midnight and we didn't get captured by the British army.)
Anyway, the weather was perfect and we both had a great run with non-stop chatter the whole way!

 Gotta bring the camera with us on our runs now that we are bloggers!

 
 Our friend, also named Ryan, in the blue shirt.

 
Miss Bethany cleaning blood off her ankle after stupidly getting tangled in a pricker branch that was sitting in the middle of the path.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL!!!!! Tomorrow we are running a Turkey Trot, Friday we are getting up EARLY for Black Friday shopping and Saturday we are running 18 miles on the trails with KRDP, and in our spare time we are helping Bethany's sister move into her new house! Wew its gonna be another busy weekend! Enjoy the long weekend everyone!!

Saturday, November 21, 2009

This is How We Eat....CLEAN!!!

Many people have been asking me about Clean-Eating lately, specifically what foods/recipes I eat, so here is a post for you all.  If you are unfamiliar with Clean-Eating, its basically eating foods the way nature intended; free of chemicals, artificial colors, artificial flavors, preservatives and additives of any kind. Aside from eating foods that are natural and unprocessed, it also means eating more nutrient dense food. When foods are prepackaged, they lose valuable nutrients in the process. Below is a picture of our food for 1 whole week. I spent $45 at Trader Joe's about $35 at Shaws. In the picture below are; eggs, almonds, chopped walnuts, milk, Greek yogurt, chicken, fish, whole wheat pizza dough, whole wheat tortillas, a loaf of bread, peanut butter, pizza sauce, cranberries, blackberries, raspberries, 100% cranberry juice not from concentrate, a pineapple, apples, pears, bananas, garlic, red onion, white onion, green onion, garlic, cilantro, red, orange and yellow peppers, cucumbers, and oranges, lemons, limes, broccoli, fresh mozzarella cheese and protein bars by Clif. As you can see, that's a lot of healthy food and $90 for 2 people isn't that bad. in the extra money that you spend with Clean-Eating you save by not going out to eat as much.

Thumbs up for Eating clean!
Stuffed Peppers with Quinoa (keen-wah), lentils, veggies and spices. I hate following recipes, I make up my own. easy and surprisingly fast!


Stuffed peppers with broccoli and sweet potatoes with cinnamon. Quinoa is an ancient grain that is complete and packed with protein and fiber.


This is what Bethany typically takes to work. Protein shake with milk, peanut butter, a banana and unflavored 100% whey protein powder, a pear, Greek yogurt(has a ton of protein), hard boiled eggs (I don't eat the yellow part), a string cheese, almonds, broccoli, organic apple sauce (dessert), cut up veggies with hummus (read the label, you gotta find the hummus WITHOUT preservatives, a sandwich-tofu mixed with veggies and brown rice.


I whipped up fish quesadillas in about 10 minutes. Above is all the veggies I added, again, made up my own recipe. ingredients-tortilla, spinach, cucumbers, peppers, onions, cilantro, corn salsa, lime, mozzarella cheese (not shredded, the kind you buy in a ball) and of course, fish.


Gotta love the George Foreman Grill.
This pizza is SO easy to make and it only takes about 15 min from the time you open the fridge to the time you eat. I made the pizza on whole wheat bread called Naan, it's Middle Eastern. Then I put on sauce, veggies and fresh cut mozzarella cheese.


This is a cranberry chicken recipe I created. I wasn't sure how it would taste but it was delicious and made the apt smell like fall! ingredients are chicken, cinnamon, cranberries, nutmeg, cranberry juice, oranges (and peels) and walnuts.

I started Clean-Eating at the end of June. Since then I have lost about 6 pounds, noticed a lot more muscle definition, been feeling more rested from less sleep, more energy (no afternoon crash), I feel stronger, I recover faster and all around I just feel so much better! And I felt pretty great before! Also, since eating clean I have been running SO much faster! Not just by a few seconds, I'm talking big PR's all around. Ryan started eating clean back in September and he has lost about 8 pounds and he has been running faster and stronger too!

Clean-Eating has been really fun too! I love going food shopping each week! It's definitely a lifestyle and not some fad diet that you do for a month then quit. We are definitely going to eat-clean forever!!!!  WAHOO! :-)

Monday, November 16, 2009

Walpole 5K, Trails w/ KRDP, and a Wedding

We had quite the busy weekend! We started off our weekend with a 5k in Walpole, which Ryan wanted to do because it had a Clydesdale division (for the bigger gentlemen). We both ended up with hardware! Miss Bethany placed 3rd female overall, 2nd in age group 20-29 in a time of 21:36, and got a nice trophy (see below). Ryan finished as the 2nd out of 12 Clydesdales overall, and 2nd in age group 20-29 in a time of 22:47, and got a nice trophy (also, see below).

 
 Trying to stay dry in the car. Our routine pre-race smooch.

 
 Ryan, ecstatic after dropping the hammer on the last mile, to overtake the poor soul who would eventually become the 3rd place Clydesdale. Ryan felt real good after this one, ran a solid race, and felt like he was truly 'racing' for once.

 
 Back home with our hardware.


Fingertouch, the secret baby handshake.

 
Sunday morning trail run with KRDP. Nice 12 miles with Kenny and the gang, in the rain. 

 
 At the wedding of Katie (fellow GNBTC track club member) and Chris, on Sunday night. Great to see our running friends all looking good, busting some moves on the dance floor! Congrats to Katie and Chris!


Miss Bethany stuffing her face with unclean cake. The End. . . . Stay tuned! Clean Eating Menu and recipes coming later this week!

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Clean Eating Party and Team In Training

 As some of you may know, Miss Bethany recently joined the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society's Team in Training for the 2010 Boston Marathon. Although she is a qualified runner (3:29:13 BayState wowie!), she joined anyway, to raise money and to honor her friend Lindsey and in memory of Ryan's grandmother. The complete story is on her TNT website:
 
 Clean Eating Party! Today, Bethany hosted a very nice (and tasty and informative) gathering for her fellow Northeastern U aerobics instructors. She prepared a number of delicious clean dishes, such as clean wheat veggies pizzas, clean banana sandwiches, green smoothie protein shakes, fruits, veggies, and homemade clean applesauce. Of course, as a true Team MGD 64 ambassador, Ryan provided delicious MGD 64 to wash it all down :-). If you have any questions on clean eating, as always, feel free to let us know!

 

Everyone enjoyed the clean food and the refreshing MGD64! Thanks to everyone who came!

We have a busy upcoming week, with a 5K on Saturday, long run on Sunday, and a wedding Sunday evening! We'll be sure to report back next week, and maybe a short post at some point during the week! We hope you all have a great week, and thanks again for following us!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

GNBTC Spooky Run 10k

On Halloween we ran the GNBTC's Spooky Run 10k dressed up as pirates. The weather was beautiful and pretty warm. As you can see from the below picture, Miss Bethany became a streaking pirate and carried the rest of her costume to the finish. Ryan wasn't so lucky with his costume as it was long sleeve and pants and non-breathable material.


Bethany running to the finish in 44:13, 7:08 pace. 4th female overall.



Bethany with her nephew, Robby. He was so cute clapping for all the runners. I was so glad he came to watch, even if he did break my pirate sword. :-) 

 
Ryan rounding the corner to the finish line with Miss Bethany cheering him on.

Ryan finished in 52:06, not bad for an overdressed pirate!! (wicked funny, the costume doesn't fit him around his calves because they are too big so both his feet fell asleep and were hurting him the whole way. okay, so I guess it's really not funny :-P) 



 Chatting with Robby after the race.

We had a great time at the race! We walked away with lots of booty too! Bethany won 2nd place in her division, we both won a raffle prize AND we won best group costume! It was our first time running in costumes and we definitely hope to do it again some day! Hope you all had a happy Halloween! Also, check out our AWESOME pumpkins below:


This is what you get when you search for pumpkins at 4:30pm on Halloween day: an ugly pimply gourd and a white snow pumpkin.


Yum! Note the stem on the top AND the bottom of this mutant pumpkin.


Ryan's freehanding on the brutal snow pumpkin that was like hard as a rock and 5 inches thick. (Gotta represent the Team MGD 64!)

Hope you all had a Happy Halloween! (Onto CHRISTMAS season, Ryan's favorite!!)