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BITTS 5k, gross food & Coupon deals

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Saturday I ran the first BITTS 5k.

B.I.T.T.S. is a local boot camp. I don’t know what it stands for, but my friend Sandy does their bootcamp a few days a week, and has Brian as her running coach the other days. Since the BITTS lady knows Sandy runs, she asked her to help organize the 5k. There wasn’t much to organize their first time around. It was just at a local park with chalk arrows on the ground showing our course.
The race benefited Operation Attack on Poverty. If you brought food or clothing donations it was free.

Sandy & me before the 5k, 6:55am

The sights were boring at first – mobile homes and parking lots – but ended with a lake, bridge and trees.

They had smoothie coupons, water bottles and pens in little drawstring backpacks as goodie bags. Then a Kodak rep came with BPA-free reusable, collapsible water pouches on carabiners. Those were cool! I got some more from her to use for Digital Running goodie bags.

There were prizes for the first 4 finishing males and females, and a few random prize drawings. They picked “16th female” out of the basket, and I won an oil change. That’s probably my first race prize! They also had a prize for the first finishing stroller-pusher. She got a Kodak all-in-one photo printer-scanner-fax machine! (But she handed the stroller off to her husband and mile 2 so some say she cheated, but she was the only one with a stroller so she won by default).

I ran in my Tees by Tina tank top, spinning shorts from Bodyrock, Brooks shoes – don’t remember the socks. I had a Bondi Band that I actually wore on my wrist to wipe away sweat.

Me, post-5k

I also made a new playlist, and some of the songs were from online suggestions of songs I never even heard before. I checked to make sure they had the right tempo, and then chose 14 random songs to keep my feet moving and surprise my brain that morning. (14, in case I fast-forwarded through some).

The funniest part of the race (for me) was running towards the 2-mile marker, which was the BITTS lady’s dad in a lawn chair pointing which way to go. Right at that moment Axl Rose was singing “Where do we go now?” from Sweet Child o’ Mine (they weren’t ALL new songs, but it was an online suggestion) and the lyrics just went perfectly with the seated dad pointing me around to the right.

I went in the race knowing I avg a 12-min-mile and came away with a 36+ min 5k, so I was right where I expected. But my friend Janet said the course was long.

What they need next year: Music & someone stretching people out at the finish. Or if they want to attract a larger crowd – a chip-timing system. But since all I was expecting was a little neighborhood 5k, it was just fine.

Songs I ran to: Warmed up to Coming Home – Diddy Dirty Money
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree – got me started off right
Moves Like Jagger – by now my heart figured out that I was running and this makes me smile
Stronger – Kanye version (since OJ had Isotoners…)
Boys & Girls – by Pixie Lott (hadn’t listened to her in many months)
Waka Waka – we used to dance to this in Zumba class so it gets me moving!
Keep Your Head – the Ting Tings (new to me)
Tightrope – Janelle Monae (new to me, I skipped the last 2 mins)
Gone Daddy Gone – Gnarls Barkely (recommended online) kept me from taking a walk break
Run Run Away – Slade (the old 80s song, ended up skipping it)
Sweet Child o Mine – GnR version
In My Head – Jason Derulo (one of those songs I am embarrassed to admit I dance my butt off to in the car.)

lunch of champions

I had a volunteer meeting for a fundraiser that afternoon where we were treated to a diner lunch and gelato – the snacks of 5k running champs I’m sure! I got 2 eggs over hard, has browns and plain whole wheat toast (which was under $4!) I was surprised that the diner was decked out with Marilyn Monroe art and memorabilia. Choosing a gelato flavor was much more difficult. I ended up with half extra-dark chocolate and half turtle cheesecake. YUM!

While we were talking on the sidewalk eating gelato we met up with a guy who started a 501c3 that sets up booths around town where people can paint wooden swings, and they hang the swings around the city. (Does that make him the lead Swinger?) I’m not really sure how they raise money or what for (I’ll read about it eventually), but I suggested he do pink swings for Oct. Breast Cancer Awareness month and help support My Hope Chest, and he really liked that idea. If any of you bloggers want to write a PINK POST for Oct. Breast Cancer Awareness month, I am friends with the Founder of My Hope Chest and can provide answers to interview questions, artwork, data, etc.

That night we had a couple fun things going on. Some of our friends are in a Rotary group. Their Rotary is raising money to create a Flugutag to race for the Tampa Bay Red Bull Flugtag. (Seriously, click that Flugtag link. Even the first 10 seconds are worth the giggle.) They had a movie night in someone’s backyard. They were projecting Anchorman on a big sheet and set up chairs and had food & beverages for sale. The great news is that the hosts live a few blocks from us and want to start hosting movie night every Fri. Basically they’ll just project a movie and let friends know which one it is, and if it’s something you like you can stop on by. Brian and I got cozy in the hammock – but we missed the end of the movie because I got a text…

**WARNING – GROSS FOOD AHEAD** Our friends wanted to take a little adventure to find Munchies 420 Cafe – a hole-in-the-wall in Sarasota that manages to put everything and anything on a sandwich. Take for example the FAT SANDY which is a footlong hoagie with 2 cheeseburgers, chicken strips, onion rings, crinkle cut fries and mozzerella sticks – and to hold it all together it is topped with Mac&Cheese! Although I am always up for an adventure in the middle of a Sat night, I am not always into foods that will cause tummy problems, heartburn and 3 weeks of running off extra calories. Thus I went along, but did not order junk food for myself. I did try their still-warm homemade potato chips and they were delicious. The verdict in the Fat Sandy? The burgers were over cooked and pulled off, one chicken tender was over fried, but the rest blended together in a hard-to-eat, wonderous munchie fantasy. The onion rings were the best part. Or so I was told. By the time we drove back across the bridge from Sarasota I was wiped out and fell asleep before I could count backwards from 99.

– To quickly backtrack to what I missed blogging about earlier last week, Fri I didn’t workout since I knew I was going the 5k on Sat. The Cross Country team came in first place for Varsity Girls. Alice ran despite her tendonitis and took a few mins off last week but is not quite back to below 23 mins yet. Their new shirts say “May the Course be with you” :) Thurs I did a 3.4 mile run to prep. Not what I would suggest if you are RACING a 5k, but fine for just getting out there and running a 5k.

Deals I took advantage of at Publix this week:

V8 Fusion (instead of the apple juice the kids drink) – Buy one at $3.99, get one free. And I had a $1 off coupon off each, so I got 2 for $1.99 – that makes them $1/ea. We don’t buy the Light because it has sucralose. (Don’t eat foods that rhyme with gross!)

Hunts tomato sauce BOGO – this is the larger can than I usually buy, but I can use half at a time and keep the other half in a jar in the fridge. So for us it’s 4 meals worth of tomato sauce for $2.

Publix frozen organic margherita pizza on sale $3.99

Polaner all fruit spread – this is part of Brian’s PBJ lunch staple – on sale 2 for $5. Coupons on their web site.

Herbal Essences (the usual deal) 2/$5 and $1 off coupon. I wish I had 2 coupons… My kids use a lot of shampoo!

“Buy theirs, get ours free” deal. I bought 2 bags of Nestle chocolate chips with a Save $1/2 coupon and got 2 bags of Publix chocolate chips free. 2 bags are going in the freezer for Thanksgiving when we bake whatever suits our fancy. One is getting hidden in the pantry for me to munch on after dinner at night the next few weeks (shh), and one is going in banana bread that I am baking later today.

And I had a “spend $50 get $10 gift card” coupon, so I’ll save $10 next week. My receipt showed a savings of $35.94.

Then we got free tampons at Target. On sale for $6.99 & I had a $2 off coupon = $5. Their special was buy a box, get a Target $5 gift card = like getting it free! I try to buy my bananas at Target too – they are always cheapest there. $.24/banana. Everyone else sells them buy the pound, but I have done the math and for us it’s cheaper, plus we eat about 12 bananas a week at our house.

Target has Kashi TLC bars Buy 5 get the 6th box free. I put that with 3 coupons – 2 said Save $1.50/2 boxes and one said Save $1.50/any box. So I save $4.50 plus got the free box and we’ll have TLC bars the next few weeks for lunchboxes and the occasional breakfast-on-the-go.

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Fit2Run and Fudgey Cake

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Thurs night I tried something new. We had been doing the occasional Thurs night run around the baseball stadium (endearingly known as “The Trop“), but it was time for a change of scenery. At last Saturday’s Tampa blogger meetup, I received a flyer about the Fit2Run Runner’s party. You probably don’t have a Fit2Run near you, which is just too bad! It is a running store with a very large shoe selection, running gear, a smoothie bar, clothes, and treadmills with video cameras hooked up to them so you can have a gait analysis. They usually have a large presence at Disney runs in Orlando, so you can look for them there.

Anyway, one of the Managers is runner and coach Gary Robinson, and he put together a team of women training for the Women’s Half in St Pete. (Which will be about 3 miles from my house, so let me know if you come to town for it.) I think they meet 3x/wk and they pay him something or other. But you can join in on Thurs night leaving from the Fit2Run store in the nicest mall in Tampa for free. And once a month or so the Thurs night run becomes a running party – he gives a little talk afterwards and there is free food and some adult drinks. There are supposed to be shoe vendors there letting you try their shoes (like, actually run in them for the night) and free sock giveaways.

On the way to the mall it was pouring rain, and we had to cross the bridge from St Pete, which was bumper to bumper in 6pm + thunderstorm traffic. We were 5 minutes late, but the rain was down to a drizzle, and they were just thinking about actually attempting the run.

I had S with me. She usually runs with Brian & Alice because her pace is about 2 min faster than mine, but she had already done her 6 miles that morning and kind of came just to see what it was about, so she agreed to drop down to my slow pace and stick it out with me. We did about 3.8, and the first 3 miles disappeared because S talked through them the whole way. It was delightful! I told her when I am sick, or in pain, or getting blood drawn – doing something where I want me mind off it – I try to get Brian to talk to me but he can’t just babble, especially when asked. I love being distracted when I’m doing something I don’t enjoy. Oh, like during childbirth! But S on the other hand was able to chit chat with me for 3 miles about running clothes matching other running gear, and where to order them online, and whether she should blog about running fashion, and the wedding she’s going to be in soon, and and and… it was great! When we got home I said to Alice, “I love running with her because the time flies by as she talks!” And Alice agreed completely.

At the end of the run I tried their TROPICAL BLEND smoothie made from fresh Pineapple, fresh mango, fresh papaya and OJ; as well as a piece of their hummus sandwich. They also had turkey sandwiches, beer, wine, and “pink squirrel” smoothies. The shoe vendors cancelled because of the rain, though.

I came home and had a green Flatout with some melted provolone, baby spinach and spicy mustard. I think it was after 9pm, though.

Fri morning I woke up for Core Yoga. The teacher sounds cutesy and immature with her word choice and inflection, but the class she puts together is great. I wish she could see a video of herself and tailor her verbiage better. She says “go ahead” a lot, such as, “Now we’re going to go ahead and tuck our toes, and go ahead and lift your hips…” Hopefully she’ll improve with time.

I had a decent day at work. I was putting together a website for a yoga instructor, ironically. And a logo for a new product coming on the market that I am not allowed to discuss :) We also enjoyed some online buzz after we ran our interview with Meghann Anderson of the Healthy Living Summit.

Fri night we rented Limitless.(Not a spoiler) Bradley Cooper (who I enjoyed in Alias) is a writer who lives in New York City. He is failing to meet the deadline to turn in his new book. One day, Eddie comes across the brother of his ex-wife, and he offers Eddie a sample of a new drug, claiming it has the ability to help you access 100% of the brain’s power, as opposed to the normal 20%. Eddie accepts, and chaos ensues. De Niro is in it too. Some fast-paced action but not the whole way through, not too gory, not too sexy. I give it an A- and we were all able to enjoy it as a family. (Remember my girls are teenagers.)

I also promised Brian fudgey cake this weekend. I baked 2 9″ rounds and expected to frost them into one cake, but Wendy did not like the frosting, so I over-frosted one and left the other plain. I used this recipe for the cake, which then left me with not enough cocoa for the Nestle frosting. But I had Baker’s squares, so I made their frosting. The cake is delicious but stuck to the pans a lot even though I sprayed and floured. So if you make this, spray and flour a LOT. I used whole wheat flour and slightly less sugar, and you can’t tell at all!

Saturday we woke up at 5:15 to meet people at 6am to run. Brian and S did 10 miles with one of our other regulars. S brought me an awesome present, a new OM Bondi Band! So now I have one with an OM for yoga and one that says RUN for running! (I’m sure I’ll get a photo eventually…) COUPON: Use code FIVE at checkout on BondiBand.com to get 5 Bondi Bands for $25. S would encourage this so you have one to match each running shirt! I did 3 miles, and for the first time in a long time I had to do it alone. I ran along the waterfront and there was actually a cool breeze I had not felt in probably 4-5 months! I’ve now showered, made a list of stuff to get done for the weekend, and I hope to have some swimming pool and BBQ time before Labor Day is done! Enjoy your long weekend!

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School has begun!

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My life and schedule have taken their bi-annual shift… the school year has begun! I have one daughter in 8th grade and one in 9th grade. My high schooler is now very fashion focused, but luckily still grades focused.

Wed. we had parent/student Freshman orientation, so I did not work out in the AM but I went to BodyFlow at night with a friend. Thurs morning I went to 75 mins of power yoga with B.

Friday I did my first gym workout for a long time. I took almost 6 wks to focus on yoga, and now I have 2 months left of this gym membership before I switch gyms, so I am going to make some use of it. I did 20 mins on the Stairmaster, 2 sets of flyes and presses lying on a bench with 12 lb weights, as well as bicep and forearm curls, tricep extensions – oh, woops, I just realized I forgot to work my lats. Oh well… Then I stretched and did planks, side planks and marching planks. And managed to sneak in 3 conversations since I had not been to the gym in so long and saw all my “gym friends”.

That night was a BBQ at school and a hot, sweaty football scrimmage. I hate sitting in the heat and getting sweat marks on my shirt, I find that so embarrassing. It’s my fault for not wearing the right top, I guess. They had portabello mushrooms as a meat-free option!

Saturday I woke up at 5:15 for the 6am run. We had 4 people do 5k and at least 4 do 10 miles. I did the 5k and then stretched a bit.One of the women ran along side me and we talked the whole time. She liked that even though my pace was slower than what she usually does I was very consistent. Since I don’t often run with a Garmin on, and she was – and checked it often, that was good to know. She was excited to hear about the Ragnar Relays we’re doing over the next few months and wants to join up. She was afraid we might not want a beginner on the team, but I assured her we were running for the fun and adventure, and not for the win!

I went home and rinsed off and helped Wendy get pretty for Temple. Her close friend we’ll call George was having his bar mitzvah. Usually I’ll stay for the temple service, just to show my support and friendship, but I don’t really know George’s family, and I had a lot of work blogging to do, so I dropped the girls off and went to the library for the 3.5 hrs I had to kill. I have not hung out in a library for a long time, and this was the main branch so it was large and had lots of expansive seating areas. I was able to find some fun books, hook up my laptop, finish some writing, and then go back to temple. When Wendy came out to the car, she had George with her. Apparently he wanted to go swimming with Wendy and their friend Victoria and his parents were OK with him leaving his own luncheon to save the 25 min drive to our side of town. I swung by George’s house so he could grab swim trunks, and we hung out in his kitchen while he changed out of his suit. George is not in the best of shape, and after spending 5 mins in his kitchen I saw tons of snacks and treats everywhere. Goldfish, Milanos, Cracker Jack, rolls, peanut butter (not the natural kind)… all over the place. When he was ready to go he offered everyone a snack for the road. I asked if he had a nectarine. He not only did not know what a nectarine was, but even after I explained it was like a peach without the fuzz he thought it was a type of fruit juice. Oy Vey! This kid needs to learn about real food! But he’s fun, and cute, and watching him with my daughter is quite hysterical. They sing and goof around a lot!

That night Brian and I were invited to a Dirty 30th birthday party. My friend knows I don’t usually drink when we go out, so she asked if I would be the DD of a van of friends as we went to naughty places throughout the evening. I drove the rented 12-passenger van and was happy to save those calories. I would have loved some chocolate though! Around 3:30am someone made a Taco Bell run, and I did manage to down a bag of cinnamon twists – I felt 16 again for a moment. And the funny part was one of the friends who had never met me thought I was the DD because I was not old enough to drink! What a nice, kind, lovely guy!! I’ve heard that I look 27, but certainly not 20!!

After going to bed at 6am, I slept thought BodyPump until 11:45am on Sunday. We got a ton of errands and laundry done. I had every intention of making felafel for dinner, but the recipe called for letting the ingredients sit for 2 hours in the fridge, which I did not read in advance, and we’ll have to make that a different night because it was almost 8pm and we were all tired and hungry. Woops. Lack of sleep made mommy screw up dinner. I apologized, Brian made cod, and all was right with the world once again. Plus, all the ingredients are mashed and ready for felafel a different night.

I was reading Parade from the Sunday paper before typing this. I learned that Sarah Jessica Parker is 10 years older than me! And I saw there is a Dannon Oikos Greek yogurt FREE coupon in the back cover. I’m supposed to make lentils for lunch tomorrow, and my friend is coming and bringing rice. Some plain Greek yogurt might be yummy with that!

Here’s a fun book I got from the library yesterday. I also got another Christopher Moore book, and 2 yoga books. I got Wendy a book that shows the same comic strip drawn/retold 99 different ways. She usually groans about books I bring her from the library, but she is enjoying flipping through this one and learning about some different art styles.

I’ll start the day/week off right tomorrow with a core yoga class! This week brings a lot of client meetings, High School curriculum night, a pub crawl I am volunteering at for My Hope Chest, and a 5k we’re volunteering at with Alice’s cross country team on Sat.

I already told you about one secret coupon – here’s another… Publix has a $2 off General Mills cereal coupon in their in-store flyer. Winn Dixie has Oat Cluster Cheerios Crunch marked down to $2.25. Since Winn Dixie will take a Publix coupon, that means $.25 Cheerios!! I think I’ll get 3 over the course of the week. Cereal seems to be our not-so-bad munchie food of choice. Maybe because I don’t buy cookie, crackers or chips! What do you like to grab quickly (besides fruit)?

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30 for 30 Run

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My post-run view of the sunrise over Coffee Pot Bayou

Brian has a group from Meetup.com that runs on Sat AM. When it is this hot, they meet at 6am. I’m usually tucked in bed until 8:30am on Saturday and go to 9:30 yoga class. But last night we finished watching a movie (The Great Race, an oldie we had never seen and came recommended, but I slept through at least 30 mins. Partially because I was tired, and partially because it started very slowly) and after the movie Brian checked his email. He found that someone signed up for the run at 11:30pm and mentioned it was her first time running. Brian was planning on doing 8 miles as part of Sandy’s training for the Wine and Dine Half in Oct., so I said I would be a trooper and get up with his 5am alarm to lead a slower pack. I figured a 3 mile walk-run maybe 4 mins/90 seconds would be a good start. I’d remind her to hold in her core and relax her shoulders. I could use the stopwatch app on my phone. I was almost jazzed about it. I figured it would help me make up for the karma of my yucky run the day before.

So 5am came around, I slept until about 5:08, and then Brian checked his email and said, “That new lady isn’t coming. She backed out at 4:30am. Either her early alarm seemed like too much of a b*t(h or she stayed up all night.”

But there I was in my Lucy running shorts and Tees by Tina tank that doesn’t show sweat, and I wasn’t about to back out. Plus runtothefinish.com was having a 30th birthday virtual race – so I figured 30+ mins for her 30th bday was cool. So I did some back and shoulder warm ups on the rug, and at 5:45 we left the house with Alice.

When we arrived at our usual meeting spot, people kept coming. A couple that just moved from England, a woman training for NYC Marathon who was fighting back after a kidney stone bout, a woman who hadn’t run in a while but wanted to tail Brian, Sandy and Alice on their 8-miler, a guy who quickly said he was the oldest one there and had 14 miles to do but was happy to do the first 8 with company – and me, Brian, Alice and Sandy. (Meredith, you should have been there!)

I did about 3 miles and some yoga and checked my FB and still had time to get water and crochet a bit on a park bench while the 8 mile people finished. I had 2 women with me the first half of the way, and the NYC marathoner and the British couple much of the way back. I’m glad I got up and did it – and there were all these people out running alone that I wanted to stop and tell about our Meetup group so they would have friends, motivation, or just be safer running in the dark of early morning. But I didn’t bug any total strangers today.

We came home, showered, had scrambled eggs and a bit of bagel, and went back to bed until about 11am. That was half the fun!

I came home and prepped for my grocery shopping / couponing adventure. Publix was my friend today, as they let you combine store coupons with manufacturer coupons, had a lot of BOGOs and I had a “spend $50 take $5 off” as well as “Spend $50, get a $10 gift card for next time”. Our almost $80 became about $53, and I was able to stock up on pasta and shampoo. Then I hit Winn Dixie for the remaining items – yogurt, beer, fish and cookies for Alice to take to the party she is going to tonight. I also got some breakfast snacks that I am putting away as my Ragnar Relay treat. They had organic milk that was near expiring down to $.99 – $1.99, but we had a lot of milk at home already.

Which of course brings me to coupon finding tips! Today is BOGO day, 2 tips in one post! :)

4. Daily Deal Services: By now, nearly everyone has heard about daily deal services, the largest of which are Groupon and Living Social. Here’s how it works: You register with the site and receive daily emails and/or texts detailing major savings for various services and merchants. If you’re interested, just click on the deal, pay and download the attached coupon. Some give additional savings for signing up a friend, and some rely on a minimum number of purchases before you’ll be guaranteed a deal. Before going on vacation, you can edit your preferences on the site to sign up for deals in the cities you’ll be traveling in – and hopefully discover some fun restaurants at inexpensive prices!

5. Direct Mail Packets: Direct mail packets are envelopes stuffed with paper coupons delivered to your home. The most popular and steadily growing version comes from Valpak, delivered in light-blue envelopes roughly once per month. People call me at work about advertising in these sometimes. Like people are sitting at home thinking how badly their company needs to redo their website… usually not.

Grating taters

Tonight Alice is going to a back-to-school 9th grade swim party and Wendy is out babysitting, so Brian and I are making a yummy dinner for two: Sweet potato latkes (recipe from Eat Live Run). I’ve decided that grating potatoes should be considered an upper body workout. My biceps are happy I did not live 150 years ago!

Here is what I did not make for dinner but would love on the side: asparagus sautéed in truffle oil and wrapped in procuito. Instead I ate a nectarine. I just “grew into” those.

There is no BodyPump tomorrow because the trainers have training at the gym. I’ll probably do some yoga. Maybe I’ll do my nails!

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