Weddings, Road Trips and The Sickness

Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Renée

Are you surprised yet that I haven’t blogged again for a little while? No?

So the latest and greatest:

My brother-in-law got married last Friday to his longterm girlfriend. Yay for weddings! The hubs and kids and I had the day off to go to Hubs’ home town for the event. It was a lovely, small ceremony and as if some miracle from the universe it was sunny and mild rather than the rain and blah we’d been having. Like a little wedding gift to them! We had the ceremony, drinks and eats, photos, and later dinner. It was an all day event. Very happy for the Newlyweds!

I’d been preparing my outfit for sometime and have to say I’m super-proud of not only how cute I am (I can say that, it’s my blog and damn it we should all say that about ourselves occasionally!) but just how inexpensive I was able to arrange everything.

Glamour Girl

-dress C&A €20
-cardigan H&M €10
-shoes from some local shoe store €60
-flower clip for my hair €1.50
-hair straightened €27 (yeah I really can’t do it myself)
-panyyhose €18 (because I bought two pairs in case I ripped one which of course I did)
-cute birdie retro purse €10
-nail polish €2.50

Seriously this is the cheapest I’ve done for any wedding but strangely the cutest and most confident I’ve felt. Mind you the last wedding I was at was my own and we know what I looked like then as well… or do we?

March 6, 2009

well it’s not always about the looks, of course, but I don’t see any reason why a girl can’t feel good about her looks from time to time!! Sure most the time I ask myself, “do I feel good? healthy? fit? strong?” These are good daily questions. I’m going to admit though, I like to feel like I look good too.

Anyway, M, if you are reading, thank you so much for all your help pulling this look together for me! My super-supportive, super-cool friend M is always there when I need a ~~shopping~~ helping hand.

Onto the Trip:

When The BIL and SIL planned their wedding they of course did not ask us if the date was OK (it’s their day after all) and somehow it didn’t register that we were actually supposed to be going to Munich the same day for our weekend away/ first DM concert of the Tour! Original plan was to fly out Friday and and fly home Sunday, but, we needed to make an change to that plan! After discussing with M (who was gracing us with her hilarity and charm) we made the decision to drive there instead. DRIVE.

That’s 730 Kilometers people. 450 miles on the road. In Germany mostly. On the Autobahn (Insert Kraftwerk music here).

Arnhem to Munich the visual

It’s ok to drive, I just prefer flying where possible but we didn’t have any time for that anymore, no, we needed to leave Saturday morning and arrive at a decent hour Saturday afternoon (goal was 3 and we made it at 3!) because the Depeche Mode show was at the Olympic Stadium at 8pm. The ride was fun, funny, we had to stop every hour to pee (well I did), we found a chocolate factory at a rest stop of all places and it rained pretty much the entire time we were on the road. After arriving and a rest, we met up with a friend who actually comes from the Netherlands, lived in Munich for a while and now lives somewhere else in Germany with her very nice boyfriend, we went to dinner and the we drove to the stadium… NO PARKING! ACK! Tried several options, ended up parking 2KM away and taking the metro and missing the opening act and the first two songs. Worst part was that I clearly bought the wrong tickets and we were in the standing section pretty much for all the misfits who were too cheap to buy a regular ticket and our section was completely filled. After a tiny outburst (I did cry) a kind, large German man allowed us to go up against the fence so we could see the screens at least (by large I mean he was tall; we could see nothing but his back otherwise).

It was a fine show, after I got over the €70 ticket price, the shitty standing situation and the fact that we drove 730 KM’s for that whole thing. Miraculously we found our friends almost immediately after the show, M got herself a tee shirt and we started walking back to the car (there we a gazillion people at the U-Bahn station). I should note at this point it started raining again… all day it had been raining, stopped for the gig (thank you again Universe) and started when it was over.

And the rain never stopped.

Since we decided to drive, we also decided to stay until Monday. No one wanted to immediately get up the next day and drive back so we thought, hey, why not see some of Munich while we are there! Great idea right? Well. It was misery guts out there. We also didn’t realise that shops weren’t open so there were no shops to go to. We struggled just to find a place to sell us an umbrella!

High points however were:
- eating all of the things at an Irish pub (and super friendly there, my God what amazing service!)
- drinking pretty amazing coffee at CoffeeFellows (yes I know, a competitor, it’s fine)
- laughing a lot with Hubs and M
- the bus tour we finally succumbed to due to the rain

The low points were:
-my favourite shoes in the entire world pretty much crapping out on me
-finding out my ex Father in law died (this puts the shoes and the rain in perspective)

I have zero photos of Munich or I would share them with you. Oh, well that’s a lie, here’s my concert outfit (that no one saw due to the rain); my Dutch girlfriend told us to wear all black in case we’d go to their favourite goth club after the show (no comments about how ungoth I look, thankyouverymuch) – we didn’t go, we were too cold and too wet by then:

yes I was a teenager in the 80′s how could you tell?

Monday we had a good breakfast and made out way out of town. It rained a bit on the way back but slowly got better. We went and bought chocolate from the factory. The ride was again a good ride (I was accused of being a speed demon and having a lead foot but you know… when in Rome and all that!). We dropped off M, arrived at our house, did some shopping, had a little dinner and then…

The Sickness:
about half hour after I ate I started feeling a bit odd, so I told hubs I was going to lay down early. I would just get up earlier to prep my food and my stuff for the next day at work. About an hour later it hit. I must have been praying to the porcelain god at least 10 times over half of those times there wasn’t anything even left anymore. It was awful. I don’t get sick so this hit me out of nowhere. Anyway I’ll spare you the details because we all know what usually follows the throwing up right? Yeah, well that happened too. I was an absolute wreck Tuesday and Wednesday, but am feeling about 90% today. Still some pins and needles in my belly, but ok. How lucky though that the sickness hit me AFTER I got home, right???

You can imagine in all of that I haven’t run or gone to the gym. It will happen. Sometimes you just need to get better first. I haven’t been super well in a long time. My friends remind me to be careful, I’ve been to a malaria country recently. It’s ok to just rest now.

When was the last time you went on a road trip? Did anything crazy happen?

How do you move your behind?

Posted on 29 May, 2013 by Renée

I was thinking about this today on my walk around the block at the station. You see, (almost) every work day I arrive at my station in Amsterdam and I walk a kilometer around the block(s) because I have time to kill. I do this regardless of weather or what I’m carrying with me . I look at it in general as an opportunity to move my arse. As I was walking I started thinking about all the other ways we could move our arses just a bit more.

every day I have this backpack with me. in it all food and drink, books, iPad, laptop (sometimes), etc.

1) you know how “they” say to park further away at the parking lot instead of close to the door of the shop or building you need to be at? Well how about this instead? Park a block away or at the other end of the strip mall. Think you can’t because of various reasons? Think again. Even if you will have a ton of bags or will have to wheel your shopping cart back, even better! Your just adding steps to your daily total.

2) seriously, take the stairs. If you don’t need the lift, don’t take it. If you work on the 42nd floor of a building in NYC then ok, but actually why not use part of the stairwell at least to your advantage? Same for escalators. How hard is it for us to just walk up the stairs? At least WALK the escalator if you have to take it.

3) if you commute by public transport, get off the bus a stop or two early, or on the way home.

4) join in the mall walkers if the weather is crap. Think they are lame? Wrong! They are moving their arses!

5) live in a bike friendly city? NYC has just introduced Citibikes. What a great way to get to where you need to go and get in some activity . Here in the Netherlands a yearly subscription costs next to nothing and bikes can be rented for as little as €3,50 a day. If you can’t get rental/commuter bikes, why not consider biking to work anyway. Or even just to the supermarket. Or the post office. There is no need to get in your car for every single place you need to go. Try it. Honestly you might like it.

Source: google.nl via Heinz on Pinterest

6) Don’t have time? Think about this – how much TV do you watch a week? You have time. You could at least do planks or situps during commercials. I am actually amazed at how much television people watch and then claim they don’t have enough time for a walk around the block or to go to the gym. Priorities! Sure you like your favorite show but if it would give you more opportunities to move your butt, then you can probably live without it.

7) take a break at work and do wall pushups in the bathroom. Really. I had a friend who used to do this all the time. So you are away 10 minutes? Who isn’t occasionally?

Source: womenshealthmag.com via Kayla on Pinterest

8) Get a jump rope and go out at lunch and jump for 10 minutes. I have a rope that displays even how many jumps and calories I burned. It’s really cool. That reminds me to put it in my gym bag to take with me to the office.

Source: Uploaded by user via Linda on Pinterest

9) Utilise your lunch break for something besides jumping in your car and going to get something to eat. How about bringing your lunch from home, and using the time to move? I remember a long time ago I worked at a distribution center and I used to bring my rollerblades with me. I’d have a quick sandwich and then go skate outside for a half an hour. Great fun, nice break and good to release stress!

Source: Uploaded by user via Corbe on Pinterest

If you worry about getting sweaty or stinky then all you have to do is put a few things in your bag – some fresh wipes and some deodorant. Some of us are lucky enough to have showers at work and some not, but unless you are running 10K at lunch I honestly don’t think you will have a huge issue.

Do you have some sneaky ways to get movement in? How do you make it work for you to take care of yourself every day?

Ten Reasons I will Never do the Color Run Again

Posted on 26 May, 2013 by Renée

No really, it was fun, but it’s not for me.

I think the color run is a great idea to get people doing something together, for fun, for your health and fitness, maybe even for a first race. My stepdaughter has been running for a few months now and we thought it would be a great idea to do this together, along with my running buddy Patricia.

I was very excited for my stepdaughter, for sure. Yesterday we finally bought her running shoes so she doesn’t have to wear my old shoes anymore. In fact, she shouldn’t be running on my old shoes because I have the pronation correction and she doesn’t need that. Which means, she gets to wear the cooler shoes (if you need correction, the shoes just aren’t as cool, let’s face it). Not to totally deviate from the subject but I got a new pair as well. I’m that person now. The one with more than one pair of shoes for training and races. Ahem.

It wasn’t too early that we had to head out to Amsterdam, so around noonish we were on the way. Nothing too exciting about a(nother) trip to the West.

We arrived at Patricia’s to park the car, collected her, arranged our bibs, did the necessary runs to the toilet and we were on our way. Luckily P lives only about a 10 minute walk to the park where the run was being held.

The thing with the Color Run is, the festival area is off limits to anyone not participating. So if you go with someone who is just supporting you, they can’t hang out with you on the event grounds. My husband and stepson were just out of luck.

At the risk of sounding incredibly uptight, I present to you my list:

10 Reasons I won’t do the Color Run again

1) I’m *that* runner. Meaning, yes, I like to run, I like to run for fun, but seriously no one was there to be serious at all. People were drinking beer and smoking. Sorry, but no. I enjoy a beer AFTER running. Not several before. I saw people helping their friends staying upright at 3KM. Not cool.

2) The start was at 3pm and we had to go in “waves”. Every 5 minutes they let a group of runners go and in between it was like a drunken trance party. We were fairly close to the front, yet we didn’t even start until almost 3:40.

3) I couldn’t run. There were just too many people randomly walking, jumping, screaming, going on each others backs, etc.

4) It’s not timed. Now I know why.

5) I expected big color bomb explosions. It was more like people with bottles of colored powder smashing this stuff in our faces. (ok maybe not mine because when I saw what happened to Patricia I covered my face pretty well). It was too random. People were just stopping and letting the color people put the powder on them.

6) Did I mention the random walking, running, yelling? Oh. Well I’m trying to fill up 10 reasons.

7) At the finish that was it. Nothing, no explosions. We didn’t walk all the way to the festival grounds though, maybe something happened there.

8) Frankly I’m just tired of going to Amsterdam now. (that’s not the color run’s fault)

9) it’s 5K. I don’t want to run 5K’s. There is nothing, ABSOLUTELY nothing wrong with a 5K! I encourage everyone to do it! But it’s not my distance. I want to do 10K or more.

10) For me it wasn’t the Happiest 5K on the Planet or whatever they call it. I was happy to be with my stepdaugher and friend, but I can do that without all the ridiculousness.

Honestly I can see why some people love it. But I love running. I love the freedom of going my pace, through a track, listening to some good tunes and being around others who know and understand why I appreciate that THAT’S what makes me happy. I assure you I’m far from uptight and I love to have fun and have a good laugh, but the Color Run just isn’t my cup of tea.

Anyway, the obligatory Before, During and After shots

Clean

nearing the finish

Patricia got the most color bombed

Next Runs:
Westervoort Midsommerrun 10K – 23 June
Arnhem Bridge to Bridge 10 EM 8 September

If I can, I’m going to also go to London for the London Pride 10K in August and run with a team of Dashing Divas! I just have to hear back from the Organisation on how I can register from out of the country.

Have you done the Color Run? Did you like it/ hate it / not bothered? Do you want to do a Color Run?

Another Week Down

Posted on 20 May, 2013 by Renée

What a week!
What a weekend!

Where do I even start? Everything about my life seems like such a blur at times. I know. It’s getting boring. I’m saying the same things over and over.

So I’m still off and feeling a bit discombobulated. I’m not eating well (still) but I’m not eating completely off the rails either.

What I wanted to do was start over again, fresh. Be more aware of my diet and do my best to stay within those so-called calorie guidelines. I made a HUGE effort. For three days. Three. Well, it seemed huge at the time.

So last year I was fighting my way to get under 80KG and I did it, I lost a couple of kilos and thought “never again” – but I’ve said those words before (when I lost 30 KG a long time ago and gained it all back anyway) and here I am, weighing in again at 81.6KG (Tuesday’s weight).

I want to say something right here, right now though… the number on the scale is such a tiny factor in my life now. I’m happy about that. Yes I would like to lose weight but it’s just not as important as everything else.

Anyway.

So Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were in line with calorie goals and I even went to the gym twice. I logged everything. But yeah, I wouldn’t be honest with you if I were to not tell you that I’m simply bored with all of that calorie counting stuff. I’m not saying one shouldn’t count calories. I’m not saying that one shouldn’t use a program like Weight Watchers to help them along. What I am saying, for ME, MY opinion, MY life, I’m just bored, bored, bored. Paleo. Not Paleo. Carbs. No Carbs. How many calories? How many did I burn? How many steps did I take? Oh bloody hell enough already. This is what people ~~who don’t worry about their weight~~ ~~, who don’t care~~ who aren’t obsessed about their weight think when they hear all of us unfortunates rambling on and on about weight loss, calories in and out, etc. Enough already.

Don’t get me wrong. What I’m just trying to say is, there must be some point where we just stop this madness, right? Where it’s just natural? Where we just grab a bowl of yoghurt and cereal and it’s not 7x the normal portion for both, that it’s just “right”? That stopping when full is just what you do? I am at that point. I want to just “be”, naturally.

And maybe I’m just supposed to be somewhere hovering around 80KG and who gives a flying backend of a rat if the charts tell me I’m overweight?

The fact is, I’m a very healthy and fit Forty-four year old. I’m probably fitter than I was when I was Thirty-four. Or maybe not. But it doesn’t matter. I’m ok. I’m good even.

All right. Let me show you something. This means more to me than the scale number:

my “painting” jeans

About 6 years ago we painted our apartment for the last time, that is until last week when we redid the hallways. I went to put on my painting clothes but there was no way I was going to paint in these pants! In fact, they didn’t even stay up longer than about 5 minutes. I had to wear an older pair of sweat pants instead.

And these jeans were also already smaller than my biggest jeans ever (a size up – these are 18W’s for reference). Clearly I was still in an ok place as far as my weight goes.

Unfortunately I have to remain cognizant of my choices and remember that eating crunchy veggies and fruit is always going to be a better choice than crisps or sticking my head in the candy jar at work, but isn’t that logical anyway?

Moving on

This weekend was fabulous. Saturday I was in Rotterdam for a surprise birthday party for my friend Tammy which in and of itself was amazing. On top of that I also got to see friends I haven’t seen in person for so long and it was just truly wonderful to be surrounded by that friendship. She’s been going through a really rough time with infertility so I hope that we lifted her spirits enough to keep her going for a little while longer while she and her husband continue treatments.

Yesterday I was in Amsterdam for the Nike Ladies We Own the Night 10K, originally planned with my friend Patricia, who is my running partner these days (next weekend as well on the Colour Run)

and ended up that my friend Lisa was also running and her very first 10K!! She’s been working very hard at weight loss and recently picked up running so this was an amazing experience for her! Joanna was also there and as usual we only managed to meet up somewhere around 3K on the course! For once we also caught each other afterwards as well!

I liked the course a lot but I have three complaints to the organisation:

1) No real food and drink available for the supporters – hubs and P’s boyfriend basically had no dinner because there was nothing available once we got started. even the bar shut down at 9pm.
2) The catwalk into the Westergasfabriek was a great idea but not executed well. As many of us came speeding around the corner to the finish we had to stop abruptly once entering the building. This isn’t a good way to run. There was a total bottle neck and took an additional 10-15 minutes to get down to the stage to receive our “bling”
3) speaking of “bling” – really Nike? A string? a string bracelet in the packet and then another at the end? Surely you could do better than that (seriously, folks, not even worth photographing)

I did the race for fun, and my Garmin told me it was 9.83KM and not 10KM but here’s the official results:

Afterwards it took forever but we finally had the beloved beer and fries afterwards and made it home around 2am. Yawn. Thank dog we didn’t work today!

We also went to visit friends today – he is also a runner and was originally supposed to run with Hubs today (apparently he messed up his back and Hubs is in pain still from his accidental Half Marathon last week… brought to him by a terrible sense of direction) and she is a fellow expat whom I met through Tammy. It was night to just hang out and chat and drink coffee.

Reality is upon me. It’s 9pm and there are dishes to be done and laundry to be put away. As per usual I’m putting off the inevitable by writing a blog post instead. I still have no plan for next week. No food ideas (fresh out). Well, guess it’s another 5am start then to whip up some healthy meals for tomorrow at least!

Are you burnt on on calorie counting? fresh out of food ideas? struggling for a real training plan? Please tell me I’m not alone!!

In a Nutshell

Posted on 13 May, 2013 by Renée

So after Berlin I had a few days of “normal life” then I was off to Rwanda.

What an amazing experience that was. I started writing about it and then I realised that:
1) I was really hard to put into words
2) The post was getting longer and longer and I wasn’t even finished with Day 1 yet.
3) Maybe you guys weren’t 100% interested in a giant recap of my trip

(sorry that I was making that decision for you, by the way)

So in a Nutshell – I went for work, but it was more like a reward for hard work, dedication and enthusiasm, especially since I don’t work in one of our stores, nor do I have anything to do with the actual product. I love the company I work for and I have a lot of passion for the coffee AND the brand. I feel honored to have had this opportunity.

To say that the experience changed my life would be an understatement. I got to see first hand exactly what farmers go through not only to grow the coffee but all the steps it takes to actually make it so those beans can eventually become your morning cup of joe. If you ever thought that prices are too high for “just a cup of coffee” think again – the blood, sweat and tears that goes into getting that coffee to you deserves a bit more than what they are actually getting. Companies like mine actually invest a lot of the money made back into these communities so the farmer benefits in the end (and of course the company as well, as it is a business). I’ve now also seen this with my own eyes.

The coffee part was awesome. The human part? Indescribable. I fell in love with the people. The country. The children. Oh my God, the children!! The first thing most people think of when they think of Rwanda is the Genocide 19 years ago. Neighbours killing one another. Now? They work side by side, together in their communities to build the country up again. The President talks about forgiveness. The only way they can truly move on is to forgive. And they’ve done it. What a turnaround. Can you imagine? We hold grudges or stay angry or decide we want nothing to do with family members over petty bullshit. These people have forgiven the neighbour that killed their children. They have forgiven the rapist who gave them HIV. We could learn a lot from them.

Highlights:
Meeting AMAZING colleagues. I will never ever forget these new friends.

My team prior to getting down and dirty to help build the Health Clinic.

African Rain. HOLY COW you’ve never been rained on until you go to Africa!!

picking coffee cherries in the downpour

Ladies of the village singing to welcome us. Amazing and emotional.

The ladies of Musasa

Picking coffee cherries with the utmost care for the farmer, Suzanne (in the pouring rain)

I know it’s not much, but I wanted to be sure I got the good ones.

This will seem odd but – the Genocide Memorial. Heartwrenching. Soul-crushing. The desire to have this never happen again even more prevalent.

Going to the Farmer Support Center in Kigali. Again, amazing colleagues here.

Community Project – helping to build a health care facility that will serve over 7,500 people and provide 24/7 care (old facility 2K people and not 24/7)

no common language but a common goal. we made it together!

Seeing my Aunt again after 15 years – yes, ladies and gents, my Auntie lives in Rwanda! Of all places I could go in Africa, I went to the one place where I have a family member!

my Auntie Clodagh aka Sister Margaret Mary. She’s lived in Rwanda for a long time. Before the Genocide and again after (since 2008)

Oh and look at these adorable kids!

the children were captivated by us. Everywhere we went they waved and smiled and looked in awe. Some even ran after the van we were in!

I can’t believe I was only there for less than a week. I can’t believe I’ve already been home for a couple of weeks!!!

After I got back, literally, the day after, I ran the Spieren voor Speiren 10K in Hilversum. I did this last year as well and even PR’d at the time.

I was not looking forward to running. I was tired. Exhausted even. I have been coughing since March and the last few days of the trip were kind of hard on my lungs, probably something to do with the altitude there. I decided I was going to do it anyway. I made the commitment. If there is one thing running has taught me, or at least reinforced, it’s to keep commitments. So off I went, to meet up with Patricia and Samantha. I knew I wasn’t going for any world records, and in fact, I wasn’t even concerned with time, etc., I just wanted to finish. I ran it last year at 1:04:22 and that was when I was feeling fit and ready! So this year I was just going to run, not pressure myself and enjoy the beauty of the day.

Samantha ran last year as well, but it was Patricia’s first time. Sam was more than ready to achieve a sub 1 hour 10K. Patricia? I was almost afraid she wouldn’t make it on time as she still hadn’t arrived when Sam and I were heading towards the start. With a stroke of luck, we walked too far and had to come back around to the gate and there was Patricia running towards me! We were complete!

It was a good day for running. And as much as I was tired and having trouble breathing, it was a very fine run. In the end Samantha killed it at 58:25. I came in at 1:02:29. Poor Patricia, who was completely overheated, came in at 1:06:14. In fact, I was waiting for her to come in and when she did I thought the poor thing was going to pass out. Thankfully, she was ok after a bit and we were able to go and have a couple of beers at the pub. Stephane and his wife were there as well – they are the parents of Lotte, the little girl I started my fundraising page for, for the National Epilepsy funds.

We did it!!

Interesting – last year I was sort of in the back third of the pack. This year, just a couple of minutes faster, I’m almost in the middle:

2012 results

2013 results

Since then I’ve been a bit of a wreck. I have no schedule. No real heavy plans. Work’s been super busy. I’m still tired and not feeling 100%. I have become lax at my diet and exercise plan. Not that I’ve gone and thrown all hard work in the toilet, no, just *not* feeling it. I have gone to the gym a few times and run a few times, mostly on auto pilot. Figure it’s better than nothing at all.

I have a 10K next Sunday and a 5K the Sunday after that. I also want to get my training plan in order again. I did sign up for the Rock ‘n Roll Half Marathon in Lisbon in October, but I’m not going to wait until August to start!

Last but not least, I *am* going to Fitbloggin! I wasn’t going to go, cancelled my live-blogger application, my roommates, everything… but I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I started looking at flights again. Hubs said “just do it”. My friend Jill-ann swooped in a bought me a round trip ticket to San Francisco with her air miles so all I had to do was arrange SFO – PDX! Unbelievable. The universe works in mysterious ways.

I think I’m caught up now. Back to regular life and regular blogging again, I promise!

I needed a break

Posted on 12 May, 2013 by Renée

Source: atfirstblush.onsugar.com via Rachel on Pinterest

After Berlin, then Rwanda, my head was full.

I needed a break. From everything.

I’ve been on auto-pilot the last several weeks.

I’ll be up and running (literally) again soon. Thanks for sticking with me.

Run, Laugh, Eat… Curry?

Posted on 14 April, 2013 by Renée

I mentioned previously that my husband and my stepdaughter have a (renewed, in Hubs’ case) interest in running. While Hubs and I rarely run “together” – his pace is much faster than mine – I love going out for a run with him and can’t wait to go for our after work runs in Sonsbeek Park again soon.

That my stepdaughter is showing interest is really special to me. She’s been running for about 5 weeks now and even arranged a few necessary clothing items so that she had more sporty gear to run in. A few weeks ago she was looking for a pair of running pants and had some trouble finding what she really wanted so eventually I had a look on Wiggle to see if there were any decent sale items and found her a pair of Nike Running pants for €35 (to help her be responsible for her new hobby, she will give me €15). She also has a Couch to 5K program on her phone and just recently expressed interest in doing the Color Run 5K in Amsterdam at the end of May. We’ve talked a bit in the past about not being “good enough” in gym and I explained to her that everyone has their own strengths and weaknesses and she shouldn’t feel bad if she does the very best that she can at that moment. I can imagine that she has thoughts in her head now about her body image – she is 15 after all and she has two examples of women in her life who have struggled with their weight. I just want her to feel good about herself and if running gives her that, then I’m really happy.

Hubs has been really doing a lot to not only improve his running technique but has also been setting a lot of great goals and results for himself. I’m so proud of him for going to the gym regularly and that the running is going so well. He’s had some issues with his joints and hips but with the Chi Running techniques and proper warm-up and cool-down things are going really well now. He’s like my coach and supporter all in one :) We are even (all three of us) signed up to do a Chi Running workshop on the 9th of June. This is getting serious.

I should explain the title a bit. Hubs has been to India a few times and each time brought back a passion for cooking Indian food. We love good, spicy, tasty food and there is no shortage of it in this house. What’s cool is that you can make it into a healthy meal (just by reducing the amount of oil in a dish for example you can slash calories and fat) and you can also replace rice with cauliflower, which we do often now. Curry dishes are a regular thing for us, in fact I eat leftovers for breakfast sometimes! He’s the Curry Master and I of course the obedient servant. (and who’s going to argue with an amazing dinner made with love and spices, every night?)

Heading out

she’s wearing my old shoes until she graduates from C25K, then her reward is a proper pair!

Today the three of us went out to the park for a little warm up exercise together, then The Girl did her thing and Hubs and I headed out to Westervoort. I’ve been under the weather and wasn’t really sure what my capabilities were today but Hubs wanted to do 10K so I said “OK”.

doing our warm up stretches and exercises

About 4KM in, I decided to walk just a bit, my breathing was a bit off and I didn’t want to push it too much. It was also a little warm, though luckily I wasn’t overdressed.

I knew Hubs would be taking the long loop and since I was so far behind I decided to cut through and then head towards where he was so we could meet up (and then I would turn around and follow him).

coming around the bend

Because of the weather, there were tons of people out, mostly on bicycles, but quite a few cars too. It’s kind of tricky on these country roads if there are cars coming from both sides, but you just have to be careful.

There he is!

Once again he was ahead of me within minutes, but I honestly wasn’t running very fast at all. I just kept going, back up and over the bridge and then home. All in all, 11 kilometers.

Not bad for a first run after the Half! I’m off to Rwanda tomorrow until Saturday and on Sunday I am signed up for the Spieren voor Spieren (“muscles for muscles”) City Run in Hilversum (like I did last year) – I have my running stuff with me so hopefully I’ll at least have a chance to run in the hotel gym (but really How Amazing Would It Be to Run in Africa???) but I heard from a colleague too that running in Kigali is totally safe during sunlight hours and that if I have the chance I should just go for it.

Berlin Half Marathon – CHECK!

Posted on 13 April, 2013 by Renée

What a whirlwind!

Life was busy before and leading up to the Half and didn’t stop. With a few days break I’ll soon be off again, this time traveling to Rwanda with my company!

But the HALF in Berlin! What a day! Let me tell you what happened leading up to the day…

Normally I wouldn’t drink or eat out a few days before but a friend of ours turned 50 on the Thursday and asked us to come out at least for a glass of champagne straight after work. Of course, we obliged. Hubs and I went and had pizza (my eating/ food habits are out of whack at the moment anyway) afterwards so that we could get home early-ish and get packed up.

Saturday morning up not too painfully early, got ready and headed out at 8:30 to pick up M. She doesn’t live far from us and is actually on the way to Düsseldorf, where we happened to be flying out of to get to Berlin. The weather wasn’t so great in the Netherlands or in Germany; I’d been checking for days and it was snow, snow, snow, but funnily enough on the forecast showed a giant sun with a few clouds hanging around and warmer temps. We were keeping our fingers crossed that it wasn’t too good to be true.

Things went pretty smooth – picked up M, were early enough at the airport, got ourselves some yummy coffees and a bit of food and eventually headed to our plane. We were off! The flight’s pretty short so it was uneventful and we arrived in Berlin with our bags being almost the first off the flight. We then figured a taxi split would be easiest – Berlin airport (Tegel) is right in the middle of the city so it’s not expensive really to get where you need to be. Found our hotel, checked in and then all decided a nap was in order!

My friend Alex. who used to be my colleague in Amsterdam, is from Berlin and moved back about a year and a half ago with her boyfriend. She happened to be volunteering at the Half and was kind enough to pick up my race packet! This took some stress off – otherwise I’d have had to immediately go to the Expo after checking into the hotel and we didn’t have a lot of time before the Expo was closed. Alex and I arranged that she would drop by the hotel and at least we could have a chat and a coffee and I’d have my race materials as a bonus. Alex was right on time and as lovely as usual to see and it was great getting a bit caught up! A while later she had to go and we all needed food as well and besides we had a big day ahead Sunday so we didn’t want to be too late!

We headed off towards the Alexanderplatz and about midway turned down a street that looked as if there were a few restaurants and we were right! We settled on Italian (I didn’t think Mexican or Korean would be a good idea…) and instead of pasta carb-loading I had risotto and a salad. Oh and a beer :) Seemed like a good idea anyway.

Back at the hotel I had a bath and got my stuff all ready for the next morning. I actually slept pretty well (the hotel bed was huge with fluffy pillows and blankets) and was up Sunday morning around 6:30 to get ready in a non-stressed way. We had decided the evening before to meet for breakfast at 7:30. There were a LOT of runners at the hotel (we were only 3KM from the Alexanderplatz, which was near the start/finish) and I didn’t want to be fighting for a table at breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised to see a HUGE breakfast room with an amazing array of different types of foods. No worries at all to get a table. I was feeling a bit nervous but made sure to eat properly (and vowed to eat all the things the next day as I didn’t have to run a race) and once we finished we went up to the room to finalize my bag and my stuff. Right before we went downstairs I just panicked and had a little cry to my husband – what if I was going to fail? I felt so nervous but I knew I did everything I could to prepare (did I?) and there was no reason to worry (was there?).

We decided that walking the 3KM to the start was the best idea. I wouldn’t take that long, right? Wrong. It actually took longer that I imagined, but we were still on time in the end. I thought walking would make my legs super “warm” so I wouldn’t have to panic about not having enough time or space to do some warming up exercises (thank dog we did this and it was so incredibly busy – there was no WAY to anything once we were at the starting corrals). It was amazingly sunny and blue skies – a bit cold but perfect weather for running!

Eventually I said goodbye to Hubs and M as it was impossible to get into the corral. Hubs really wanted to see the elite runners and I just needed to somehow get into place. Start time was 10:05 and I of course was in the last corral. We were like sardines, all packed in, waiting to go. Around 10:20 we started moving slowly up to the front. At 10:30 we were off!

I had decided a few days before that I didn’t want to continually look at my watch or my heart rate. I just wanted to run and enjoy. I wanted to RUN the whole way. I knew if I thought about people who inspire me, people I love, and Lotte, the little girl with Epilepsy who inspired me to run for charity, I would make it through. I wore my “Because I Can” bracelet to think of Janet and my “Go the Distance” bracelet to think of Robby. I had a strange calm the moment we started like I really could do this!

There were no KM markers until 4 kilometers. I was actually happy with this because it felt like less than that! The route was fabulous, passing by so many historic buildings and monuments. I chose Berlin because I love it so much from an aesthetic point of view and it did not disappoint on Sunday! I eventually looked at my watch at 5K, 9K and 20K. I wanted to know where I was and if I was just intuitively on track. It was going well. At 5 I was around 31 minutes. At 9 I was at 58 minutes. Somewhere around 13 or 14 I was really starting to get tired. My brain wanted me to stop. I again thought about the ones who would get me to the next KM marker. Tammy. Robby. Janet. Lotte. Repeat. At 17 I was so happy because I thought at 18.5 I would be at Checkpoint Charlie. That would mean I was, for all intents and purposes pretty much at the home stretch. I ran through Checkpoint Charlie with a HUGE smile on my face.

I checked at 20 because I wanted to know, again, if I was on track. I gave myself the time goal of 2 hours and 30 minutes. At 20 I was at 2:15. Again, smiling down the road, I thought “Girl if you can’t make another 1.1K in 15 minutes you may need another hobby!” I laughed to myself :) Of course I was going to make it.

I crossed the line and stopped my garmin at 2:23:24. My official time of the race was exactly the same. I DID IT!!!!!! Not only that, but I crushed my time from my first Half which was 2:41:49. Ladies and Gents that’s almost 19 minutes better than the first time!!!

Once I finally found my posse we headed to Alexanderplatz for sausages and beers (as you do when you are in Germany) and later walked back to the hotel (making it more than 6KM just in walking around + 21K for the race), I took a nice hot bath, had a nap and we later went out to Mexican to celebrate.

It was a great weekend, a great race and I am super grateful to everyone who supported me, especially my husband and M – it wouldn’t have been the same without them!

Since I’ve been home I’ve been under the weather and very busy at work. I haven’t done anything running or gym related. Monday I’m off to Rwanda. When I return I have a 10K in Hilversum. AFTER all of that I think my life may finally get back to normal again. Then again, I’m not sure what “normal” is…

Friend Makin’ Mon…er Tuesday

Posted on 26 March, 2013 by Renée

As you know Every Monday My Girl Kenlie posts a FMM – this is meant to interact with other bloggers, link up and get to know each other a bit better.

If you’ve previously taken part you know the rules. If you don’t know how it works, please take a moment to answer this week’s question on your own blog and then add your link the comments section here or at Kenlie’s Blog so we can all see your FMM questions and answers. Please invite your blog readers to add their links as well so everyone has the opportunity to be seen. The idea is to connect with other awesome bloggers so take a moment to post your own FMM blog post and comment on a couple of other posts. Now it’s time for this week’s topic!

~~Yesterday’s~~ Ten Questions:

1. Describe the kind of home you would live in if money were no object. Honestly I have no idea what kind of home it would be. I know what it would have in it, as in rooms,etc. A luxurious bathroom complete with relaxing tub, jets and a sauna. A huge kitchen with an island in the middle for cooking, gathering, eating. A room for all things music and computers (space for violin, keyboard, amps, theremin, etc), a relaxing movie/TV room, a bedroom for me and hubs, one each for the kids and two spare rooms for guests.

2. Are you more conservative in your actions or more rebellious? I am somewhere in between. I like order over chaos but I also don’t like much to be told what to do or that I “can’t” do something.

3. Would you go to Mars even if it meant you could never return to Earth? No interest in going to Mars, the moon or anywhere in space, thanks!

4. Name one song that makes you want to dance every time you hear it. Oh gosh. So many! The Only Girl in the World by Rihanna is one of those at the moment.

5. Share one thing that you wish you could go back and do differently in your life. I wish I would have liked myself a little bit more when I was younger and not made such detrimental choices for my mental and physical health (vague, I know).

6. Share at least one accomplishment that people wouldn’t expect you to be proud of. I have no idea! I think I’m proud of things that people would expect me to be proud of! How about I’m pretty proud of the fact that despite how tired I am, I can still get up at 5am, get ready for work, get out the door and get to the train station on time, every work day, for a 2+ hour commute each way for the last 6 years. Proud? Or NUTS? You decide!

7. Describe one delicious thing that you’ve eaten lately. I made a pumpkin lentil soup (breaking my no-bean rule) that I happened to see someone make on television. I had almost all the ingredients in house, including the pumpkin and thought, why not? It was delicious!

8. If you had a theme song that would play every time you entered a room, which song would you choose? Pink’s “Raise Your Glass”

9. Had technology enhanced your life, or has it over complicated your life? Enhanced, BUT I have to say that sometimes I long for the days when we didn’t have so many distractions. Every time I’m walking through the train station or busstop I see many people just standing all together, looking at their phones. It’s like the Zombie Revolution.

10. If you could get paid to do any job, which job would you choose? I would own and run the best coffee place in town. Or I’d be an awesome fitness instructor. Or I’d be a Band Photographer.

I love Numbers – (week) 9, 12(K), 14 (days to Berlin)

Posted on 24 March, 2013 by Renée

As you know I started Week 9 with an 18.5KM run. 18.5 people. That’s 2.6 KM from the total Half Marathon.

It could have been better. It was fine. 2:11, right? That’s ok.

But I learned a few things:
1) Don’t drink 3 cups of coffee before running this distance. Even if you have gone to the loo 12 times before you go out on your run, you are still going to have challenges.

2) Tie your shoes properly. I think because my shoes are new, I haven’t found that perfect tie yet. If you are a runner, you know what I mean.

3) No, you don’t have to stop. Not for any reason. Well ok, if you are going to vomit or soil yourself perhaps. But you don’t need a little break.

Source: getnourished.blogspot.com via Hailey on Pinterest

4) you are stronger than you think. stop letting your mind take over the task. You CAN, you CAN, you CAN.

Source: waterwatereverywhere.net via Nikki on Pinterest

There was one other lesson and it may sound conflicting… – give yourself a break. if your body really needs rest then LISTEN.

The rest of Week 9 did not go according to plan. Oh I had my rest day. I did my cross-training on Tuesday. Wednesday was my next scheduled run, and I was working from home so that I could get it done during the day rather than go to the gym. The last two Wednesday morning runs weren’t that great so I thought I would be clever, I would wait until lunchtime.

Well, wouldn’t you know it, it started snowing at 12! Normally it wouldn’t bother me but I’ve had this nagging cough for (now, more than) 2 weeks and I honestly didn’t want to make it worse. So, the Hubs was already planning on going to the gym after work, I phoned him up and asked him to come get me first.

I managed 7KM on the treadmill. Training plan was 10. I.just.couldn’t.go.on. (more body than brain this time)

Thursday was running at work day. Didn’t happen. Decided that morning that my legs were just too wrecked and I didn’t want to risk it. I wanted to do my intervals on Friday.

Friday was probably the worst day. I actually started feeling ill before lunch. You know, that tickly throat, heavy feeling in your eyes and nose kind of ill? I had my stuff ready to go to the gym, in the car (hubs was heading to the gym as well, so I didn’t have to schlep it to Amsterdam), but there was absolutely NO WAY it was happening. I went home, drank cough syrup and Hot coldrex and passed out under blankets on the couch.

So. All in all. TWO runs. One at 18.5KM, one at 7. And a cross-training session. Stellar.

At least I can say I already felt MUCH better on Saturday, still took it easy; in fact went and got my hair did and although the price isn’t pleasant, the after affects are good.

Today starts Week 10

On the training schedule was 11.5KM – 70 min in D1 and 10 in D2. Hubs and I were discussing the right HR zones, etc., so I decided to keep an eye on my heartrate for the majority of the run (D1). I checked Garmin for my fast 10K race to see what my HR was. In general it was around 155-158. I ran all the way and felt pretty good so I decided to try for just a little bit lower HR. What I ended up doing in 70min D1 and 10min D2 was 12 Kilometers, so a half more than what my schedule calculated out for me. This is only good news my friends! It means I’m getting faster and more efficient! It was even very cold and extremely windy out and I still did a half kilometer more in the same time!

With one of the lessons above (and after discussing with T on Facetime yesterday – yay facetime!! – and with Hubs this morning) I decided there would be no stopping. No “little break”. Time to keep an eye on the prize. I’m not against walking during a run and I don’t judge anyone that does it, but last week honestly it was more painful to restart and complete the 18.5 than I think it would have been if I would have just kept going. So, today, was full on, 1 hour and 20 minutes of running. May not be a big deal to others but for me this is really overcoming my brain trying to get the best of me.

Next run in Wednesday – same distance but with 20 min in D2. Let’s see how it all pans out.

Did you know it’s only 14 days to Berlin????

I got my confirmation!!!!!!! *twirls*

I feel a bit like Perez Hilton with this screen shot…

Have you got any good races coming up?

{run} {laugh} {eat pie}

amazing what changes when you start to run