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Fitness

Craft Beer Fest Races at Stowe Recap

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

So we are going to interrupt today’s typically scheduled recipe
post for a race/brewfest recap. It works since my stove crapped out last week and
we didn’t get the new one until Monday, therefore I have no pretty recipe to share
with you.

So about the Craft Beer Races at Stowe, I was stoked about
this one because beer. Registration
went pretty seamlessly, and the race went off within 5 minute so the scheduled
time, along with the announcement that the course was “a little” longer than a
5k (lies). I made the dumb attempt to keep up with my friend who had never run
a 5k before and thought she would start off slow. Her idea of slow and mine are
totally different. I should probably
preface this by telling you all that I am a slow runner. Regardless of the
distance (10 or 5k, since I haven’t run much else) I still average around a 10
minute mile. I liken running to meditation, so I’m not very competitive, and
thus the slow times.

Source

Anyway as I approached the first mile marker and it said
8:17 I nearly fell on my face. That’s unheard of for me, and kind of scared me,
because I knew I would be hurting soon. Luckily there was a beer stop just
before it so I figured Long Trail was in order. I passed the clock at 8:44, and
shortly thereafter started cramping. It was one of those deathly cramps that
runs from your ribs to your hip flexor and makes you want to cry. I pushed
(slowly) through it though and after it finally subsided the burping started (I
know girls shouldn’t do it, but beer +running=it can’t be helped).

I was so excited to hit mile 2 and have another beer, but there
wasn’t even a marker, let alone a clock or beer. I meet a sweet little dog just
before mile 3 and stopped to give him a pet, since he seemed to lose his owner
for a minute. After passing mile 3 I started to pick up speed thinking that “a
little” meant .1 miles, when in fact it meant .5 miles. I gave up and jogged
nice and slow probably the last .25 miles.

I never turned on my phone app because I figured the chip in
my race bib would do it for me. Little did I know they would report my results
as if I had run 3.1 miles not 3.64. I finished at 37:48 so @ 3.64 miles I had a
pace of roughly 10:23 and would have finished an actual 5k at about 31:09, or
less since my last few meters were probably my slowest. I think this is my best
time since graduating college, though I’ve never really kept track, so who
knows? Seeing as I have another race in less than 3 weeks I’m keeping track
this time.

Overall the race was good, the fest after was obviously the
best part. It was the first one in Stowe so maybe next year they will have some
more markers, and a more accurate course. As for the beer, well beer fests are
always awesome, especially when they are outside, with dogs allowed, and a
musician who happens to play an awesome mix of country, classic and alternative
rock. . There were only 2 food vendors so that was kind of lame, we waited in
line for probably 45 minutes. Don’t worry we took turns running for more beer.

Would I do this race again? ABSOLUTLY!

Would I travel around New England to do it? If I had friends
and a DD, ABSOLUTELY!

So basically if you like beer and running or just beer you
should probably try it.

June 18, 2014 February 12, 2018 Filed Under: Fitness

10 Reasons Why You Should Get Outside this Summer

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I am a firm believer in the healing powers of the outdoors. Even if you are just taking a couple steps out of your back door here are 10 reasons why you should get yourself outside every single day this summer.

 

  1. Vitamin D. You get it from the sun. Nuff said.
  2. Blooming flowers, unless you have allergies, in that case, refer to the one above again.
  3. Fresh air. The air in your home is the same stuff you have been breathing in all winter long. I’m sure that it can’t be good for you. I mean all those cold germs, and musty, moldy nonsense just think about it. Plus there is some kind of science that says being outside increases the oxygen in your blood or something.
  4. Getting outside is a good excuse to burn a few extra calories and talk a walk, or play some sports. I mean there is way more room for activities out there than inside.
  5. Beaches and lakes are warm. At least up here in the great northeast it’s not very long that you can actually jump into the water with out a fear of loosing your toes. Take advantage of that.

 

6. Frozen cocktails are better outside. That’s just science.

7. Computers and TV take a toll on your eyes. Why not sit outside soak up some vitamin D, have that cocktail as discussed in no. 6 and let those puppies relax a little? Fresh air and warm sun reduce stress. I mean this is kind of like an obvious one. Being inside is like being boxed in, free yourself!

9. Better sleep. All that sun and activity will help you fall right to sleep.

    10. Boosting your immune system. I mean aside from better sleep, vitamin D, and the germs you are killing with all that alcohol, there is also
something to be said about all the studies that say getting out of the city and into nature boosts your immunity.

 

June 6, 2014 December 5, 2017 Filed Under: Fitness Tagged With: Lists, Summer

Fitness Update & 2 Week Clean Eating Meal Plan

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

I know, I know I skipped the last Bi-weekly fitness update. I
won’t whine about my hectic life to you anymore so we are just moving
forward from this point on.

The last few months have been going good. I am getting in
the gym and lifting like a champ. Except for an awkward incident where I
totally left the gym without finishing my cool down because of running into my
ex. I have seen him there several times now and it appears we both are
terrified of each other so I think we will continue to pretend we don’t see the
other for a while, it’s cool. I personally think we are very mature (when are
they going to start using sarcasm font?).

I am still following a similar routine to this one I
posted way back when. However I think I’m going to need to add a few runs in
there since I seem to keep being recruited to run races with friends. Who am I to
say no? Race events with friends are always fun, so long as you don’t get overly
competitive about them. I also have one crazy friend who wants me to do a triathlon
with her in the fall, so I will probably have to throw a few bike trips and
some swimming in there too. In case you aren’t aware I really hate biking, so I
don’t have the slightest clue how she talked me into this.

The last few weeks have been good. I am getting stronger, but I haven’t been visibly seeing the results that I had started seeing at the beginning of this whole thing. I think the culprit may be my diet. Birthdays and holidays abound this time of year for my family so there have been a few more indulgent meals than should be, and with the hectic schedule a few too many quick and carb loaded meals.  

Source

The above being so very true, I think it’s time to revisit
my diet and bring it back to being a priority. Swim suit season is coming,
despite Mother Nature’s fickle ways it is finally starting to get
warmer in these parts, and I want the results of my hard work to actually show
up, I mean that’s kind of the point right?

This is my rough plan for the next 2 weeks (starting
yesterday). It’s totally clean except for the one meal a week we have with my
parents, and a training class I have at night where sandwiches are provided. The
focus of this diet is proper workout fuel, and high protein throughout the day. I may alter things based on my own cravings and what not, but this gives you a general idea. My workout days are typically Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday, after work with a
random weekend day for a long run, hike or bike. Because I knew I had a training class coming on Tuesday I put in an extra day this weekend. So I won’t miss a workout.

Korean Beef, Sausage, Tomato & Spinach Stew, Roast Chicken, Greek Salad w/ chickpeas & feta, Shrimp Fried Rice, Orange Salmon, Chicken Parmesan Meatballs Recipes for Orange Chipotle Chicken Stir Fry, Greek Tilapia, Loaded Greek Salad are coming.
EDIT: Orange Chipotle Stir Fry, Greek Chicken & TIlapia 

April 28, 2014 March 29, 2018 Filed Under: Fitness

Today I Ran.

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

 
I have not run in roughly six months.
I have a hell of a cold, the kind that has kept me in bed, and coughing up a
lung.
It was rainy, and windy, and gross.
But today I ran.
I ran for our country.
For the vigilant heroes that are always ready when we need them.
For everyone in Boston.
 
Today I ran 2.62 miles, in honor of the yesterdays tragic event.
 
 
I have had much better runs, its true, but I want to share this with you all to show my support for our country.

April 17, 2013 December 1, 2017 Filed Under: Fitness

The Warrior Wait

By Jessica

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.


 This past weekend, one of my college roommates and I participated in the warrior dash, not that we did a whole lot of dashing. When we got there the place was a zoo, pretty much as expected, but what I didn’t expect was the lack of organization. Everything was kind of willy-nilly. There were no instructions for anything, and when you asked the volunteers, you know the people with the bright red “warrior dash” shirts on, where anything was you never got an answer, because they had no clue.

Any who we made it to our race heat and prepared to run walk  hike up the side of Windham Mountain. In all honesty I probably could have pushed myself to run, but the idea of trying to run up the mountain with the mass of slow moving people in front of me was so unbelievably exhausting that I too just hiked it, nice and steady.

The first half of the course sincerely lacked any kind of obstacle besides hiking. The first few obstacles, aside from the mud pits, were pretty lame to be honest. Crawling under some fake barbed wire that’s 3 feet off the ground wasn’t even a challenge, I limbo-ed it. I liked the mud pits the best, mostly because it gave Carrie and I the chance to pelt each other with mud. It was pretty obvious that unless you tried you could very easily not get muddy at all until the last 3 obstacles.

Finally after what seemed like forever we got to a point where we could actually run, only to be met with… a line? Every single obstacle had a line, some of them included nearly a 10 minute wait! The best obstacles were jammed into the last 200 or so yards of the course, of course where the crowd stands to watch the participants finish. I will admit some of the obstacles were difficult for some people, not everyone has been hiking, rock climbing, and the like so watching some of the others I can understand that they can’t make the obstacles too difficult.

At the end, we got our free beer, and signed up for a free day lift pass, which was pretty cool, and then kind of stood around, while we finished our beer. In order to get food you had to buy tickets, and then trade those tickets for food. It looked expensive and I just wasn’t in the mood to deal with multiple lines. Other than that there really wasn’t much going on. So we left.

All in all I am sure the course was fun for many, and a challenge for some however I think that if you have any kind of athletic background it’s probably just a waste of time and money.

Am I glad I did it? Of course! If I didn’t do it I would know how it really is, I would always wonder. I can now say I finished it, without difficulty.

August 13, 2012 December 1, 2017 Filed Under: Fitness

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Hi, I'm Jessica. I'm an herbalist living in the great northeast with my husband Chuck, our two little boys, our dog Brody and a flock of chickens. I'm all about real, good food and good times with awesome people. I spend a lot of time outside, in my garden, and concocting potions and helping people feel their best. I also like tea, reading, and about a million other hobbies. I'm so happy your here on this adventure with me.

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