It's May 1st (err... 5th) - Do You Know Where Your Goals Are?

This is the fourth post in a series of eleven -- we'll be checking in on 2013 goals on the 1st of each month - just look for the "do you know where you goals are" tag!

Today is May 1st (5th).  The first third of the year is over.  Are you where you expected to be by now?  How do you know?

Kristen and I each have three running goals for 2013:

1. States: Run a 5k in each of the 50 states
2. Miles: Run 1000 miles
3. Time: Run a 5k in 17:00 (Barry) or 20:00 (Kristen)

Priorities

There is a popular aphorism among business/personal development/20-something blogs: "There is no such thing as a lack of time, only a lack of priorities."

Obviously, we haven't prioritized this blog over the last month.  I've prioritized an intense period at work, while Kristen has been working on preparing for her NASM certification exam.

With respect to our overarching goal of running a race each state, I've come to realize that we can't right now prioritize the necessary travel financially or from a schedule perspective.  As such, we've decided to make some adjustments.

Means and Ends

Time to provide an aphorism of my own: "Goals are not a location on a map, they are a heading on a compass."

Goals are a great tool to drive us towards what we want, but we can never be sure that they'll lead us to what we desire.  Blindly pursuing a goal can mean you travel off course for a long time.  It's critical to not only keep tabs on your progress against goals, but evaluate whether they're bringing you the desired success/results/feelings.

In our case, the whole point of the "running the nation" goal was to get us to run more and travel more.  I think it was pretty effective to this point, but we did run into some issues.

Though the ambition of the 50 states in a year goal was motivating, it forced us to focus on travel in the literal sense rather than "Travel".  While it is fun to figure out the puzzle of getting to each state, and fun to find races in two states two hours apart, we felt that we weren't really getting to experience the different states.  What did we really see in Connecticut except I-95 and 3.1 miles of road obscured by sweaty eyes and knee pain?

Additionally, the pressure of finding money or sponsorships, and racing back to avoid taking days of work ended up being a bit demotivating.  Once we fell off the wagon for a few weeks, it was hard to own up to and blog.  Even our personal running fell off a bit, and that's no good.

The Pivot

In response, just like a good startup, we're making a pivot.  We still want to run the nation and travel to each state.  We still want running to be a central part of that travel.  We still want to push ourselves and our bodies.  We want to travel with depth and experience each state, and that requires making this a longer term goal.  At the same time, we don't want to let our foot off the gas with respect to running.  We're going to figure out the best way to keep our running goal intense and ensure that we can keep travel and running priorities in our life.

Of course, this is all for ourselves, so we can do whatever the hell we want!

Tasty Tuesday #1 (Spicy Pasta Salad with Morningstar Chik'n)

As you may have gleaned from previous posts, Barry and I love to eat. I used to have an attitude about cooking. I didn't want to do it. It didn't interest me and seemed totally boring. But then, a year ago when we moved to Baltimore, I suddenly caught the cooking bug. This has been in no small part, in effort to help save money and eat healthfully. And I've so far mastered some really good ones (if I may say so myself). So, every week I would like to share some of our favorites that we eat regularly and that are great when working out a lot. I'm going to start off with my personal favorite: Spicy Pasta Salad with Morningstar Chik'n. It's a modification of a recipe I found in Real Simple magazine a while back and it never fails to be a hit.

You will need:

• Dry Pasta : 1-1 1/2 servings per person (We love farfalle or penne rigate the best, but whatever you like or have on hand will work just fine.
  
• Fresh Tomatoes: 1 per person
• Garlic: 3-5 Cloves (Or more depending on how garlicky you like things... it's hard to do too much and garlic is super good for you!!)
• Cayenne Pepper: 1-2 teaspoons (again this is to taste, some people like things spicier than others)
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil: 3-4 tablespoons
• Salt: 1 teaspoon
• Pepper: 1 teaspoon
• Basil: 2 teaspoonfuls (dry or fresh; I use dry as it's easier to keep on hand for me.)
• Morningstar Farms Chik' n Strips: 1 package

How to Do It:

Prepare the Tomatoes

Tomatoes and Herbs

1. Remove the membranes and "goop" out of the center of the tomatoes.
2. Chop the flesh into chunks, about 1/2 inch on a side.
3. Put the tomato chunks into a bowl.
4. Add the salt, pepper, and basil
5. Refrigerate (you can do this in advance).

These tomatoes are pretty clean, and provide a nice cooling element to the spices we're going to add.  They should end up looking something like this:

Start the Pasta

1. Set some water in a pot to boil.
2. SALT THAT WATER!
3. Wait for the water to begin boiling (then add the pasta) - meanwhile...

Construct the "Sauce"

INFUSION

1. Chop the garlic as finely as possible.
2. Put 2-3 tablespoons of olive oil in a small saucepan, and heat on low-medium.
3. Add the garlic and cayenne to the olive oil.
4. Cook until fragrant (but watch out - you don't want the garlic to smoke/burn).

This is really just some spices in oil, but it sounds great to call it a sauce.  The hardest work in whole dish is just chopping the garlic.

Heat the Chik'n

1. Put a tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan on medium heat.
2. Add the Morningstar Chik'n
3. Stir/Flip as needed

Finish

1. Pull the pasta off (and drain) once al dente!
2. Pull the chik'n off when browned!
3. Pull the sauce off when fragrant!
4. Combine in a large bowl.
5. If desired, grate some parmesan cheese on top, then serve!

Enjoy!

It's April 1st - Do You Know Where Your Goals Are?

This is the third post in a series of eleven -- we'll be checking in on 2013 goals on the 1st of each month - just look for the "do you know where you goals are" tag!

Today is April 1st.  The first quarter of the year is over.  Are you where you expected to be by now?  How do you know?

Kristen and I each have three running goals for 2013:

1. States: Run a 5k in each of the 50 states
2. Miles: Run 1000 miles
3. Time: Run a 5k in 17:00 (Barry) or 20:00 (Kristen)

The Hard Look and the Next Step

Let's take a quick look at the progress Kristen and I made on our goals in the past 31 days.  It's humbling (for us).

1. States: Three states completed (Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Ohio) - not bad progress, but behind pace, putting us about 3.5 races behind pace for the year.
   
2. Miles: 42.1 miles run (Barry), 49.3 miles run (Kristen) - nothing to sneeze at, but only slightly above half the miles we're supposed to run per month to hit 1000 (84.9 miles per month).
3. Time: No improvement to personal best times.  Not terribly surprising, given that we didn't attempt a PR in any of the three races.

In each case, we fell short of our goals.  This, in a vacuum, is not a big deal.  The most successful people fail to hit their goals more often than you might think.  What makes these people successful is not a simple as "how they react to failure" - though attitude is important.  Successful people have a consistent framework to catch failure early and ensure that they take a useful next step.

Feeling Failure vs. Recognizing Failure

Often, we can feel our own failure in the back of our mind before we consciously note it to ourselves.  Particularly when falling behind on a goal, the mind will rest on the goal for a moment, only to flit away quickly to avoid the guilt and difficulty associated with thinking about it.  Do any of the following pangs of guilt sound familiar?

• You feel guilt just as you begin to chew a cookie - but you've started already, and might as well finish the cookie.
• You see the gym shorts on your bedroom floor and hastily put them in your drawer without really letting yourself feel bad about not running the past two days.
• You see an email in your inbox you were supposed to respond to two days ago, so you flag it and put it in a folder out of sight.

The brain is very good at two competing things; modeling a huge amount of information to keep track of progress/status, and preventing bad feelings.  Because of this, we often know we're letting off long before we actually admit we've slipped.

This makes it absolutely critical to schedule time to soberly assess your own progress.  How often depends on the timescale of the goal - for a yearlong goal like ours, monthly is great.  For a work project due in a week, daily might be more appropriate.   This post is a great example - I hadn't posted to the blog in about two weeks because I was aware that I hadn't been running much, or working on the blog, or seeking out sponsorship opportunities.  It can be difficult to return to a goal you've falling behind on, particularly if that goal is public or semi-public.  It will take a long time (sometimes forever) to happen organically.  You have to plan the cold water.

Making the Perpendicular Move

The instinct when receiving the hard news that you're not succeeding is to "double your efforts".  It didn't work for the Imperials, and it won't work for you.  Particularly with marathon goals (speaking metaphorically), when you're not hitting your numbers, throwing more effort at the problem usually only works for a short while (possibly as short as a few days).  You may be energized, but quickly fall back into the stupor of "feeling failure."  More likely, there is some systemic reason for your lack of progress, and this reason can often seem unrelated to the goal itself.  Identifying this change, perpendicular to your actual goal (in that it doesn't directly affect your "numbers" for that goal), may allow you to behave the way you hoped you would.  Let's consider a hypothetical example:

• You're trying to run 4 days a week, but have only been making it out the door once a week.   You've picked Monday through Thursday to run, and after a long day at work, you rarely feel like running after work.  By the end of the week you feel guilty enough to run, but it's not enjoyable and you don't seem to be getting much more conditioned.
  
  Trying harder to get out the door might actually make this worse!  Each day you don't run will increase your guilt, forcing your head into just "feeling failure" and the habit could break down entirely.
  
  Instead - a successful person identifies that their easiest work days are Tuesday and Wednesday.   They pack a bag to change clothes at work so they can run right when they get home.  Buoyed by this success, they run on Saturday as well! Up to 3 days a week!

Can you take a hard look at where you stand right now?  Can you take 15 minutes to really take inventory, and think about what the right next step is?  I think you can.

Going Home Again (And Other Cliches) (Ohio - 9 of 50)

My parents and I left Kingston, OH nearly eighteen years ago the day after I turned eleven. Since I hadn't been back in all these years, Barry and I decided to do a race there so I could visit my childhood home and be super nostalgic and stuff. I lived in this town (that is so small it's actually called a village) from about age three until eleven. Small, everyone knows each other, leave your doors unlocked, send your kids to the neighbor to borrow a cup of sugar, etc. You get it. We lived in a little yellow house right on main street. Kingston at the time had one street light, one gas station, a school, a library and a cafe; plunked down in the middle of nowhere in rural southern Ohio countryside. Not the type of area I'd choose to live at this point but I can certainly appreciate the appeal because in a lot of ways this little town is very idyllic. Having had so many memories of this place and being so young when we left, plus having not been back... I have to say I was a little emotional to go. This little town has been so built up in my mind. I haven't really missed it but I have a lot of really great memories.  I remember first days of school, and white Christmases and riding bikes in the summertime to the park. Did I mention idyllic? Anyway, part of the reason I've taken so long to write this post was because of the emotion that was attached to this trip for me. Plus, we got a new kitten!!! Her name is Icarus and is six months old. But more on her in the next post.

So we left for our seven hour trip slightly behind schedule (nothing new) and got to experience a beautiful drive through mountainous western Maryland and West VIrginia. Very beautiful and a little scary. I'd love to go back to see the autumn flora sometime. As soon as crossed the state line into Ohio we stopped for gas. And I immediately bought two bags of Conn's Potato Chips. If you are fortunate enough to live in Ohio or West Virginia you have year long eternal access to the Cadillac of potato chips that is Conn's. And if you do I am jealous and I request you mail me some immediately. Message me and I will give you my address. Seriously. These chips are so perfectly made; not greasy yet just the right amount of salt and fat and they still retain a nice crisp potato flavor that is, I guarantee you, unparalleled. I'm not kidding. Get some now. And mail me some. There are currently two 1 lb. bags I bought to take to my mom and dad next month taunting me in the kitchen. It takes so much will power to not rip them open, pour them in the bathtub, and bathe in the delectable perfection that is Conn's.

After driving on a series of sketchy back roads into Chillicothe (where we were staying and where the actual race was) we checked into the illustrious Chillicothe Inn. It was a nice hotel. We were greeted by a strange old man who kept a suspicious eye on our bags (he must have known we had Conn's in there). He asked us what the cost of the room was when we booked it. I feel like we could have told him anything because he wrote it on a black card and had Barry sign underneath. We told him the truth, but I'm just sayin'. We briefly disappeared into a back room to retrieve the remote control for the room TV. We were informed in no uncertain terms that smoking in the room would be verboten and we were reminded of this several times by signs placed along the thirty feet walk to our room.

We of course were starving, so we dropped our bags and headed out to find some food. We wanted to go to a mexican place but we arrived too late so we grabbed some IHOP. Did you know they have these new breakfast sandwich grillers? Delicious. Especially when ravenous and exhausted.

I would elaborate more on our stay, which includes an adventurous episode with a faulty shower drain but I would like to refrain from being disparaging as I cannot spare the karma this week.

The next day, we arose bright and early and headed out to Hopewell Mound National Park for the Muddy Leprechaun 4 mile run/walk. The park was so beautiful again, surrounded by countryside. This was by far the best organized race so far. We did two laps starting on a flat plain for about the first mile and wove through a very muddy wooded area. It was slippery but pretty funny to see people (myself and Barry included) slipping and sliding all over the place. We got pretty muddy but had a great time. We have got to run outside more. It was so nice to relax and really enjoy the fun and picturesque atmosphere. You really lose that being on a treadmill every day. I really love running and I definitely experience the "runner's high" but I think when the weather warms up more we definitely need to get outside more. I loved the different terrains and the smell of the country air. Really great. We got some great swag at this race too: t-shirt, a Chill Run club drinking glass, a water bottle and a flashing reflector. By far the best.

We went from the race straight to Kingston and found a little cafe called Jojo's. We had delicious fish sandwiches and onion rings and mac and cheese. We talked a little bit to the waitress who I think is probably the owner and she told us that Kingston was growing. Honestly, the only growth I saw was the addition of a second stop light. Other than that the town was exactly as I remembered it. And I mean exactly. Down to the colors of the houses, the park equipment... just, everything. It was a little bizarre. And you know how people say that when you're a kid everything looks way bigger than it actually is? Totally true. I remembered the park as huge, my old backyard seemed like acres and the drive from Kingston to another nearby town Circleville (where both my parents worked) seemed like a million miles. In reality, the town is a little dinky. So I think I'm going to try not to retain too much of what we saw. I want to remember it with the foggy certainty that has left me with warm happy feelings. Next to Charleston, Kingston is where I've lived the longest. I want to remember playing with my kitchen set in the yard next to the honeysuckle. Playing soccer in the park on chilly Saturday mornings. And walking what seemed like ages to the corner store for an orange push pop in the summer. It sounds ridiculous and overblown but I swear that's how it was. After we moved the next ten or so years of my life were slightly chaotic; we moved around a lot and I (like everyone else) had a rough adolescence. So I'm going to keep Kingston in my head the way it was and the way I want it to be. Because, just like the last line in my favorite movie says, I want there to be "no place like home". 

Race Information:

Muddy Leprechaun 4 Mile Run/Walk -- Chillicothe, Ohio

3/16/2013, 9:30 AM, Completed

Race Distance - 4 miles, Travel Distance - 414 miles 

Dirt/grass, 45 degrees, sunny

Benefiting:

Hope Clinic of Ross County

Results:

Barry - 44:22 (11:06/mile), 133 of 235, 18 of 22 (males 20-29)

Kristen - 44:22 (11:06/mile), 132 of 235, 14 of 32 (females 20-29)

Results Link

Reversal: A Lesson in Portion Control

Ok, so... this is super gross. Sometimes when my cat eats too much too quickly, he upchucks. It's super gross and I'm always like, "What the hell?!? Eat SLOWER!!!!". But you know, he's a cat so he just stares at me like I'm dumb. Anyway, this kinda happened to me last night. On the one hand, I am thrilled to take on any cat like qualities I can but on the other hand.... just, no. It was awful. 

I ran about four miles last night and I guess I didn't eat enough beforehand because I was ravenous afterward. So I immediately ate a hardboiled egg when I got up to the apartment. Showered quickly, and then started making some pasta and some spicy marinara sauce. This is a common meal for Barry and I; we love pasta and really anything Italian. Plus, Barry bought five jars of sauce yesterday because they were buy 2 get 3 FREE at Harris Teeter. WHAAAAAT??? Ridic. Anyways, I, accidentally, made way too much pasta but we said, whatever and wolfed it all down. It was like endless pasta bowl at our house last night. We inhaled our first bowls and there was enough left to split a little bit more and it was around this time I started to feel a little sick. So, naturally, I took a few big swigs of wine, (a lovely Malbec if you're interested). This did not help. OK, maybe I just ate too fast. Should I stop eating? Naaaaah. I'll just slow it down a bit. A few more bites and I was suddenly nauseated beyond belief. I can handle headaches, stomach pain and muscle pain with a strong chin. I'm a woman, and as such I've grown accustomed to the monthly aches and pains and the pains that come with being an athlete. But nausea? NOPE. I can't do it. I lied down in the bedroom and Barry made me some ginger tea. Achilles stayed with me like the sweet little nurse he is. I lied in the bed for about twenty minutes praying to throw up. I guess I could have gagged myself or something but that just seems weird and unhealthy. Once, my friend Jesse tried to coach me through throwing up after a night of a little too much to drink. We were on a curb and then a cop stopped to see what the hell was going on. What lovely memories. I couldn't do it then either. So, I had to let my body sort it out on it's own. It was just one of those times when I knew it was the only thing that would work. And finally, it did. It AAAALLLLLLLLLL came up. I know, it's gross.

But there is a lesson in this. At least for me. The thing is, I love food. And it's been hard for me to come to grips with eating better and smaller portions when training. I need to learn to slow down and listen to my body. I will sit down and eat and eat and suddenly, FULL and MISERABLE. I don't do this every day but often enough. I've always tried to run and stay active to facilitate my love of food and particularly, bad food. Not that pasta is bad. But, two enormous bowls of pasta is. I think this is a problem a lot of people struggle with. How to eat enough and of the right things to be both healthy and satisfied? I don't think there's a formula that works for everyone. I think it's something you have to figure out for yourself. I've tried going carb free and it's just not for me. I like bread and pasta and I like to feel satisfied at the end of a meal and lack of carbs just does not do it for me. I just have to learn to slow down and really appreciate the delicious food I get to eat. Fortunately, what happened last night is not common AT ALL. I think the last time I threw up from overeating I was about eight years old and I had eaten two foot long hot dogs. I blame my parents for that one though. They could have said no.