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Friday, November 11, 2011

Fitness Friday

I have been looking forward to this post all week! The second-ever Fitness Friday is under way. I'm going to start with food and save the best for last (I know, food is awesome but the exercise part is much better this week!)

Food:
For at least the past two weeks I have cut out Diet Coke from my routine. Not on purpose at first but because I was sticking to my strict allowance and I wanted to save my money for better things. I used to take $1 nearly every afternoon, go to the vending machine and buy a Diet Coke. It was a nice little afternoon pick-me-up. I love me some Diet Coke. And not for the Diet part, I genuinely think it tastes better than regular Coke. Either way, that adds up to $10 per paycheck. That adds up to nearly $260/year!

I started filling up my water bottle in the afternoons with water to go with my lunch and then I would just sip all afternoon. Piece of cake. If I needed a little caffeine boost to get me through the afternoon, especially on the nights I went straight to babysitting, I would just pour myself an extra cup of free coffee and it was all the same to me.

Not only is this a much healthier option but each one of those dollars adds up to a pretty big number that I am in no way comfortable spending each year on pop (yes, I'm from Minnesota, I call it pop and regardless of living in NYC and SC, I will never switch to "soda" on a regular basis).

I will still get the occasional pop when I'm out to dinner or lunch but when I'm in a money crunch, I always resort to water. It's kind of interesting to see what other money-sucking habits I have. The first step is awareness, right?

Exercise:
The ING New York City marathon was on Sunday! Oh my goodness was it cool to watch! I live on 90th & 1st and the route goes straight up 1st Ave so I had a prime viewing location. Around 10:30 I grabbed a mug of coffee (Yes, I made it. I did not stop at the Starbucks on the corner. Little victories!) and bee-bopped down to the corner to get my viewing on.
 I was a little early. Who knew most people don't run 18 miles (I was 6 blocks from the 18-mile mark) that quickly. Plus I forgot to factor in different waves and their start times. Either way, there were a lot of people ready to cheer all 45,000 runners on! The guy in the picture above was one of the MANY pedestrians trying to cross the street DURING the race. Once it got more crowded with runners it became a nightmare. Is that common for races?!
The first few runners I saw! I didn't know this but they also had a wheelchair division, a handcycle division and many runners with prosthetic legs. I definitely got a bit emotional seeing the determination and dedication these athletes have.
I can't believe I got a picture of this. It's blurry (because my camera phone sucks they're running so fast) but those are the first men running. One of them in the green, Geoffrey Mutai, ended up winning the race and shattering the record with a staggering 2:05:06 time! I was about to head back to our apartment to wait until more runners were around and then I saw a motorcade that rides in front of the runners so they can film the race. I had a little bit of time to get my camera ready before the men passed me. What fortunate timing!
M joined me a bit later when the big crowds of runners started. There were So.Many.Runners! I tracked my favorite running bloggers SkinnyRunner & HungryRunnerGirl so I could make sure I looked for them at the right time. Despite SR running a different marathon THE DAY BEFORE this race, and despite HRG having just recently recovered from 2 fractured femurs, they were both too speedy and I must have just missed them! They ran it in an impressive 3:36! I so wish I could have met up with them afterward at CRUMBS but I had to be responsible and babysit. Fingers crossed I'll meet them another day!

That night M decided she wants to run this marathon next year. M literally does circles around me when I try to run so her goal is actually realistic. I did a little bit of clicking around and entered her into a drawing to get a guaranteed entrance into next year's race! Our fingers are crossed for her!!

My personal goal is to run the NYC marathon by the time I'm 30. Since it's a drawing, I will have to give myself a few years of luck to make sure I can run it, even if I have the training down. Imagine how many people would run this race if it wasn't limited to a drawing? 

With all the running inspiration I got on Sunday, I knew I had to run this week. I FINALLY dragged my butt to they gym and started over at Day 1 of the Couch to 5K program. It's interval training to build up endurance. Day 1 (run 1 min, walk 1.5 min for 25 min) was not too difficult so I'm excited to go back tonight for Day 2. Thanks to Cely I have this song to pump me up!

Happy Friday, Happy Vetrans Day, Happy Birthday to one of my most loyal readers Laura, and Happy 11/11/11 :) I'm getting ready to make my wish in 3 minutes!

1 comment:

  1. I love that he's working out in this song! Thanks for sharing, I love it.

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