the march foodie penpals.

back in february sometime i was catching up on stephanies blog over at run for funs latest adventure when her post about a foodie penpals caught my eye. i hadnt had a penpal since elementary and the foodie part totally sparked my interest. turns out there is a whole movement darn near that is participating in this nationwide program sponsored by lindsay at the lean green bean! as soon as i read the guidelines i totally wanted in. i mean seriously, when was the last time you had one?!

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*each month you are paired up with a new blogger or reader in a different part of the country.

*on the 5th of each month you will receive your penpal and have 48 hours to contact them.

*now who you send to will be sending to someone else, so it is almost a pay it forward thing!

*there is a $15 limit on the package you send and it is filled with all your favorite things. local favorites, healthy or splurge snacks. emails are exchanged to find out about dietary restrictions (diabetic, gluten-free, vegetarian, etc) and if there is anything you just plain dont like. it may be 1 large item or a few small items, up to the sender. and away you go!

*you must also include something written like a note or card or recipe, its up to you.

*by the 15th of the month you must drop it in the mail and at the end of the month everyone posts on the same day!

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now i have to say it was a little harder in the beginning to find something to send. my person actually gave me really great notes and direction to head in. plus i was able to check out her blog and get some extra hints. (i realized i wasnt quite that helpful with my penpal, now i know for next month!) i am not the healthiest person ever, i have a wicked sweet tooth if you couldnt tell, and wasnt sure if my person would like her package. so i tried to have a nice balance! i got to send it off to jacqueline at not born to run:)

but this isnt about me, its about the amazing box i received from dana! she paid great attention and made a fantastic box:) it got here fairly quickly, except my apartment complex was holding it hostage for a few days until one of us could get there during the day. ps they are only open 930a-530p anymore, lame. i was so excited to tear into it i almost forgot to take a picture!

i love it!!

gummy bears that didnt even make it through dinner before i dove into them, red licorice-yum, black bean organic soup, pirates booty white cheddar, cliff bar granola crips-which are my new favorite by the way, and cinnamon almonds-yum! seriously, its like she knew me:) 

plus there was a super sweet note about not bowing down to my haters and showing them how strong i can be. seriously i was so moved by someone i have never even met:) it very much showed me the power of social media and how you can get to know someone just by reading their blog and seeing what they post on twitter. i cant thank her enough, i love it!

*you can simply sign up by visiting lindsay and filling out the form!

the small town of york.

ever the planner and tour guide, nate had lots of things planned for us throughout the week. now in the beginning it sounded like a great idea to see all these places, i just didn't realize how much we were cramming into 1 week lol. but if youre going to be in england, you must make the most of it!

world traverlers!

when i studied aboard in 2005 we spent most of our time in london which is where we lived anyway. so with the offer of new cities i was super excited to do some exploring and see what the rest of england looked like! york was our next stop and sooo much different than the big city we had been in. lots of little streets and sweet shops for us to see and check out!

we met alyse, her husband brad, her mom, and sister megan there, they had flown in after us so we could meet them there. now our group had grown to 13! we were quite the traveling pack haha. we made a spot in the middle of town though to meet a couple times throughout the day as we knew could never stay together. this made it soooo much easier to see anything we wanted on our own. the big group (and growing) was starting to get to me a little, i wont lie, so to be able to do what i wanted for the day was great. andrea, nick, and i gladly split off on our own.

my gingerbread chick!
i told you they were crazy about easter hehe :)

we started at the absolutely beautiful church in the center of town. after gathering a map from the tourist center we set off to do some exploring. the town was packed with people everywhere even on a fairly overcast and chilly day. we walked around enjoying the shops and the sights. it was nice to be in a smaller group and taking our time as we wanted.

the beautiful church in the middle of town.

shambles road.
all the buildings hang over the street!

for lunch we decided to show nick the difference in american food in the uk so we ate at pizza hut. i am telling you people it tastes sooo much better there! its thinner in a good way and the taste is more even, i know that sounds weird haha. afterwards the two of them decided to head to a coffee shop and do some reading so i went on a shopping mission. we hadnt really had time to do real shopping since we got there and i was excited to explore some fashion i could actually afford. (i mean as much as i love harrods, i couldnt afford an inch of something in that place haha!)

one of the store windows,
chick-fil-a anyone??

the group met back up at 3p to have a snack at bettys tea room and it was delicious! i was all set to have some ice cream, weird i know, till she wheeled over the dessert cart and i saw the chocolate cake. it was all over. and nates dad actually had some tea he didnt drink so we shared. i swear they just make it different over there. it is all soooo good!

lemongrass ginger, yum!

we disspersed again for a little while longer and i was definitely wearin. with my run that morning and day 3 of touristy things i was tired. amanda and i browsed some more shops and returned to the next meeting spot about a half hour early to score some free wifi. its a hot commodity haha! once everyone returned we attempted to find somewhere to eat. now for a group with 13 people that is quite a feat in england. they dont have huge restaurants like we do in the states. and everything closes very early. by the time we remet at 6p all the shops were closed and many of the restaurants were already serving a smaller menu, it was very weird to the americans haha!

dinnertime!

we settled on a pub that turned out to have delicious hamburgers and a hilarious waiter. he dealt with all our questions and changes so well. finally it was time to head back to the train and return to durham. we were all very ready to get back to st johns and rest for the evening. we had an early rise the next day for edinburgh!!

the running tour

so one of the first things i did monday morning was go on a running tour around london! you meet up with a guide on a variety of tours, depending on what your looking for and your run as a group around the city while they share history and trivia. i heard about while exploring jamies blog that she did it in october and i knew had to fit it in. since i arrived sunday and the rest of my friends wouldnt be coming down until monday afternoon i knew it was perfect. i met lloyd outside the tower hill tube station and we set off on our 7k riverside tour from there!

the tower hill tube station

turns out i was the only signed up so we could go at any pace. lloyd was quite a bit faster than me so he kept having to slow down haha. he offered up all kinds of trivia as we wound around the tower of london and across the tower bridge. weaving our away next to the thames and next to the globe theater i learned that the original has burned down and the one standing today is an exact replica! and that the thames is actually the cleanest river in europe! the reason it looks so gross is the stuff on the bottom being sifted around because of the strong current. and you can actually swim in it just outside the city!

running along the thames.

the tower bridge

we passed st. pauls cathedral that has been rebuilt 5 times and over the millennium bridge, which was originally named the wobbly bridge. we headed toward the eye and houses of parliament and i learned that the party in power now is mostly liberal conservatives which sounded totally off the wall to an american!

st. pauls cathedral!

big ben and the houses of parliament!

the london eye.
the largest grossing tourist
attraction in the city!

we ended there and lloyd took me to the nearest tube station and we rode home a little bit together. he actually works in a bookstore and does the tour thing whenever they call. we even got to talking do much we missed out stop and had to double back! it was so cool to see the city through running and meet someone with such a passion for it. he was the nicest guy and i would soooo recommend it to anyone that hops the pond!

my tour guide lloyd!

the london accent

many of you have heard me talking about going to england for months. one of my best friends was getting married and the moment after he called to tell me he said start looking up tickets, you need to be here, of course i was in! i have been counting down the weeks and months and finally on the 17th it was time to leave. it was a bittersweet day as i was so excited, it was also richards 30th birthday. unfortunately to make all the travel work i needed to leave that day:( he was so sweet about it and didn't leave my side all day until he had to take me to the airport. one of the hardest goodbyes ive ever had!

the plan was spend 2 days in london, york on wednesday, edinburgh on thursday, durham friday, wedding saturday, and home sunday. omg that is a lot in 1 week! so i left on the 17th and arrived on the morning of the 18th with flight duration and time change. after waiting for an hour in the passport line (ugh) i made my way to the train to head to london. i was staying with one of katies good friends, amy, until they came down the next afternoon. since it was mothers day in the uk however, amy couldn't meet me until 3p and my flight landed at 1045a. so i found a pub near to hang out in till she was ready.

i made it!

good plan till i got there and it was closed and had to walk down all kinds of weird streets that had signs stating "beware, thieves operate here." with my 2 suitcases in search of the barbican where she lives. amy had told me if i needed there was lots of seating and cafes there, turns out i did. by that time it was almost 1p and i was starving. luckily there was a very nice mom that watched my suitcases for me so i could grab some food. as it was nearing 3p i hadnt heard from amy, so i tried katie instead. she reached out to amy and neither one of had heard anything. at almost 4p i received a text from her that she was home and would meet me where i was! thank goodness, turned out i had sent my message earlier to the wrong number and my phone literally only had 5% battery left.

her apartment was sooo cute had a great view of the inside gardens. after chatting for awhile i took a much needed shower (once i had run all the not water out because i thought it needed time to warm up like my shower at home) and a short nap. i was feeling good, not too jet lagged because i had scored my own row on my flight over so i could actually sleep. we waited for her boyfriend will to return and we to a pub nearby for dinner. except their kitchen was closed, it was 8p by the way, so we went to another one that just opened. there were only about 2 things on the menu i even knew what they were. so i stayed safe with chicken and a caesar salad, which was really good!

seriously how cute is that kitchen??

the next morning i woke up around 8a for my running tour, more on that tomorrow! after getting off the tube to return to amys i popped over for a coffee and a breakfast goodie at pret and thought, i could get used to this city thing. once i had showered and was eating breakfast i got adventurous and thought i had enough time before nate and katie arrived to see where the olympics are being held this summer. it took too long to figure out and i should have just gone somewhere closer, but i made it out to standstend to find a rather rough area to be honest and not enough time. so i walked around a little bit, then had to head back, at least i tried lol.

finished with my adventure i headed to kings cross to met nate, his mom, brother nick, and katie. i made a much needed harry potter detour before meeting them and wasnt the only one, there were lots of people my age doing the same thing! the rest of the day was like a whirlwind. we toured around the city, saw fun museums i could have spent all day in alone, and drooled over beautiful things at harrods, all while becoming masters of the tube. i really did start to remember how much fun it was to ride and so super easy.

off to hogwarts i go!!

this was the actual thing that took
out the trapped chilean miners in 2010!

my staircase in the natural history museum...

love, love.

around 7p we headed st pancreas to meet nates twin sisters coming in from munich. we gathered them and meet amy and will for dinner at pizza express, which would literally be in every city we went to for the whole trip! it was fun to have a big group together for dinner:) we hobbled our way back to the tube afterwards and went back to amy and wills to stay the night and all fell asleep pretty early for day 2!

nate and his brother nick were going to spend the majority of that day in a theme park outside the city, so the girls could hang out and do girly things. we shopped and went to piccadilly circus, m&m world uk, waved to the queen (the flag was flying so we knew she was there!), and sat in kings cross waiting for nate and katie to return with nates suit for the wedding we found earlier in the day. we had a late train that took us to durham that evening where we were staying and the wedding would be as well.

andrea, katie, nates mom, and i

they have m&m world uk!

i love these guys!!

piccadilly circus!

the queen is home!

hello!

london:)

we arrived well after midnight and had a very cold walk to st. johns college, where the lovebirds met and we would be staying :) i was really excited to see where their love had grown and where nate had been these last few years.

the rage week 7 recap.

this week was amazing and one I had been looking forward to for a very long time. however, it didnt exactly fit in with my training well. I had pre-planned things and knew how I would work around it anyway, ever the planner. but trust me, there was noo shortage of exercise this trip! we pretty much walked and toured different cities for 5 straight days! don't worry, all those posts are coming this week :)

sunday~rest.
rest

well it wasnt my ideal way to rest, but plane flights, international travel, and wayyy new timezones is something you can't pass up when one of your best friends gets married :)

monday~7k
4.3 miles =43:30 minutes/10:00 min/mile

i woke up so ready for my running tour! i was to meet lloyd outside the tower hill tube station and he was right on time. it was just the 2 of us and i learned all kinds of cool facts about london while running! seriously, other cities need to come up with something this cool. plus i got my 4-5 miles in I needed and didn't have to figure out where to go. full recap coming later this week :)

tuesday~rest.
rest

i warned you this week was funky as far as training! this was our 2nd day in london and after the running in the morning and all the walking around the city we did throughout the day i was glad i didn't run that morning.

 

wednesday~4-5 miles.

5.5 miles = 52:50 minutes/9:36 min/mile

we arrived in durham late tuesday night but that didn't stop me from gettin up early wednesday to run before we jetted off to york. we had a later train so i was able to explore the city on my feet. my legs felt good, really good and excited to run. now nate had talked to me for years about how hilly durham is, but I had noooo idea how hilly! it was beautiful and i even got to end my run at the durham castle. i felt so accomplished that morning. then i got to talk to my love after a quick shower for the 1st time in 3 days:)

thursday~rest.
rest

there was no way i was getting up to run! haha. we had an 830a train to edinburgh and the travel was definitely catching up with me. i gladly took the extra few minutes to sleep :)

friday~4-5 miles.

6.75 miles = 1:03:40 minutes/9:26 min/mile

once we had been durham a little bit more i thought i could try a new route. i for sure did not think that one through! i started out well, but think i took a wrong turn and couldn't find my way back. my legs didnt feel as good as wednesday and they really didn't like the extra hills, but we powered through. getting lost did give me some extra miles that i wasn't planning on, but gladly took.

saturday~rest.
rest

the wedding day!!

total for the week = 0m swam+0mi biked+16.6mi run

i remembered this week how much i love to run. and doing it sometimes without anything to train for is really ok. after this triathlon i really may take some racing time off, "may" :)

26 days to the rage triathlon!!!

the rage week 6 recap.

omg i made it half way!! this week was hard, i wont lie. i upped my training a little since i post this to you in england and will not be doing a full intense training week this week! plus i wanted to see where i really was being half way.

sunday~rest.
rest

richard went to the nascar race for most of the day so i got spread across the bed and sleep as long as i wanted. he and my dad had a great time and i was productive at home with my homework. good day.

2 of my favorite boys:)

monday~600m am swim. 4-5 miles pm run.
600m swim = 80:28 pace
4.72 miles = 44:45 minutes/9:28 min/mile

my morning swim was pretty much a disaster. i think swallowed about half the pool and if not it went up my nose. i just couldnt find the groove till about the last 200 meters but they werent even great enough for me to think it salvaged it.
i think this might have been 1 of a very nights i didnt want to go to my runner group. i was having a girly day and just wanted to go home and crawl underneath my blankets. i even thought if i get there and no one is there i will just go home, yeah right. when there were a few newer faces at the store i knew that i had to go and i was determined to make the run better. derrick and i took it a little slower than normal, but was exactly what i needed. it was a little confidence booster and the weather was beautiful.

tuesday~1500 meter swim.
1500 meters = 66:30 pace

now this was a gooood swim! i was exhausted after going the full distance of the race, but it was worth it. derrick gave me this new training tool that helps with hip rotation and i realized how much that really makes a different. its a belt that sits on your waist with a tube on the back, inside the tube is a ball that hits the side when you rotate your hips enough to make it hit the wall. now its a little loud and im not sure the swimmers next to me love it so much, but what a difference!

wednesday~spin.
6am spin class

this week was less sweat, more work! our instructor switched it up which really helped and i started really thinking about the value of spin in my training. i think it may be time for me to switch it up.

thursday~body pump.
rest

i woke up to get ready for my 6am class (no swim today, check out tomorrows) and had a really bad stomachache. i decided that body pump was not a good idea so i headed back to bed for some extra sleep. and you know what, i didnt even feel bad ;)

friday~1000m swim. 20mi bike. 4ish mi run.
1000m swim = 64:22 pace
20.73 mile bike = 1:40:14 minutes/12.4 mph
4.2 mile run = 38:11 minutes/9:05 min/mile

so the reason i didnt have swim lined up thursday was because i had friday off so i decided to do a test run. wow. this stuff is no joke. i started out in the pool with the 1st 200m a little wobbly then i evened out pretty well to finish strong.
next was the bike with my longest ride ever. in this one i missed a turn, had 2 very close calls with cars, swallowed a bug, had my legs twitching so bad i had to get off the bike and felt like i was going to lose my breakfast big time. but i talked myself through it, didnt give up, got back on the bike, and finished strong. i was on a big athlete high after that one!
i can say enough how glad i am that the run is last. and i felt major in this training session. i have never trained this long in 1 day and wow did it kick my butt. plus by the time i got to run it was a little warm and the sun was out in full force. but i felt good, really good. i was super happy with that time!

plus i had to make room for all the yummy food
we had for richards birthday dinner!

saturday~4-6 mile run.
5.2 miles = 50:50 minutes/9:46 min/mile

this run was all about logging the miles and having some sort of training in before sitting on a plane for 8 hours tonight. my body was feeling pretty heavy from yesterday, not bad, just like i had worked it hard. the wind was out but not as bad as predicted. i just wanted to finish in under 10 minute miles and am very happy with my time.

total for the week=3,100m swam+38.73mi biked+14.12 mi ran

wow. just wow. i cant believe i finished this week! i knew it was heavy training and i could do it, still a lot to look back on. i feel so accomplished this week and am definitely having the i can do this feeling. i also realized its going to probably take about 4 hours for me to complete the whole race. that was a little eye opening since i have never raced that long and didnt really comprehend that it would be that long. but i feel good about going from one sport to the other, and learned i need to start out with a little more food on race morning to feel charged up enough!

33 days to the rage triathlon!!!

the learning curve.

wednesday this week marked a big day for me. i am officially half way through my triathlon training!!! now i realize this is mostly a big deal for me, but i thought i would share some of the things i have learned along the way...

*training for 3 sports is hard

holy crap. i knew this would be no cake walk, but wow. and not just the physical aspect but the time and energy as well.

source

*people look at you different when
you tell them your training for a tri

im used to goofy looks about the things i sign up for. the eye-rolling, the wow your crazy sighs as i talk about my training plan for this race. but these looks are different, these are impressed.

*swim caps do not keep your hair dry

not really sure why i thought they would, but definitely not.

*you will be come a master
at time-management

trying to fit in 3 sports into 1 persons schedule means lots of plans.

*40* riding is wayyyy different
than 40* running

im like a popsicle every friday when i come home.

*i have never been so hungry
in my whole life

this hunger is totally different compared to 1/2 marathon hunger, especially after a 2-a-day.

*swimming is hard

now i realize this is nothing new for some. and i by no means thought it would be easy, but dang its like really hard.

*people will give you advice no
matter if you ask for it or not

now sometimes this can be helpful, but when its the same thing over and over, not so much

*no amount of spin will ever
prepare you for a real bike.

enough said!

*running will always be my true love

if this training teaches me nothing else, it will restore any doubts i had about running, ever

*swimming might be the best
ab workout i have ever had

there are muscles in there i have never worked out!

*people will be mean

they will tell you it cant be that hard. or i always thought i would do that one day (as they sit on the couch and havent worked out in years). or tell you your crazy for this. 

*support from your family and friends
might be the only thing that keeps you going

a strong team around you is soooo important. there will be days you come home and so exhausted and had the worst training session ever. there encouragement might be the reminder you need to get out the door the next day.

 *this may be the hardest thing
i have done in my whole life

enough said.