Life Happened

So, I’ve been gone for awhile. a LONG while. It’s been an interesting summer to say the least and I’m not even really sure where I left off. In May, I ran the Fargo Marathon and it was pretty much miserable. I finished, but not without wanting to throw up, take my shoes and socks off, quit, cry, etc. I made the mistake of wearing the wool socks I wore all winter during my long runs and it decided to be 65* and MUGGY. So I ended up with blisters upon blisters, two toenails that fell off, a strain in my IT band, and later I found out, a stress fracture in my foot.

See, I haven’t really been running all summer. I decided to take some time off after Fargo to let my IT band rest. I continued to do other forms of activity, but my right foot just never felt…well, right. Fiiinally, after numerous failed attempts at running this summer, I made an appointment to see a podiatrist. It took about a month to get in, but the appointment went exactly as I expected. The nurse came in and asked some questions, took me in for an Xray, doctor came in 10 minutes later, did a few tests on my foot, and told me I had a stress fracture. DUH. I knew it, I just didn’t want to admit it, okay? He put me in a boot on October 13 and said I’d be in it for 4-6 weeks. So here I am today.

The only form of cardio I was able to do all summer is on the spin bike and only going moderately. For someone as active as I am, it was, in the least bit, depressing. I’m not myself when I can’t run, jump, do the elliptical, aerobics, etc. I really miss sweating! Now, that I am in the boot, I’m not able to do hardly anything. The doc told me I can still do upper body workouts (I ripped apart my arms tonight after work!!), but it’s hard to go so hard where I actually break a good sweat.

So, that was kind of my summer. I also left my job and started a new one. Both jobs, I am required to stand all day long (obviously not anymore), but that didn’t help with my foot all day. I feel so stupid that I didn’t just get my foot taken care of earlier this summer! I hate that I’m so stubborn. I missed running all summer! I’ve gained weight (not too much), I feel more sluggish, and I’m just not as happy as I was when I was running. It’s my high, after all! Anyway, I’d love to get back to my blog, but the “running” part of runningforsweets, didn’t really make sense to me anymore and I didn’t feel like talking about nothing, so I stopped. I am determined to get back regularly. I may wait until later when I am back to “normal”, or I may keep writing. We’ll see if I have anything to say.

In the mean time, here are some pics from life while I was away:

Me, Nate, and my cousin Kristen at a Twins game. It was SO hot!

We bought a pickup! 2011 Ford F-150. And traded in my Fusion. 😦 But I upgraded to some heated leather in the Acura! 🙂

Went to Nelson’s Market every Sunday for our weekly produce. I miss this SO much!

Saw some amazing sunsets.

Roadtripped to Omaha to see my family. Love you sis!

Met a new member of the family: Jack Richard Lakers 😉

Carved a pumpkin!

 

And about a million other things to keep me busy these last few months. This post has gotten long. I promise I won’t take another hiatus like that again. Hope to be back again soon.

Maren

 

 

Happy 4th!

And I’m off! Headed to the lake for the week where the sun is always shining and the drinks are always flowing

I’ll hopefully be back a couple of times during the week, but I’ll be sure to take lots of pictures and recap everything!

Hope everyone has a fun and SAFE 4th of July!

xoxo, Maren

 

FAIL.

Hey ya’ll!! How was your day? It’s been super hot today! This morning I decided to sleep in instead of going to the gym…Yes, Abby, you are right. It would be a whole heck of a lot easier if I would have been meeting you at the Y this morning!!

After work I went to get my hair done, but I’m not sure if I like it yet. She just put a few highlights in it, but it’s not as many as I would have liked. Oh well, I’m going to wait until next week to see if I like it any better. If not, she said she’d put some more in it for me. She didn’t style it so whenever I do my hair and look half-way decent, I’ll take a picture.

After I got home from the salon, I decided to make mama pea’s peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough balls. I’ve made these numerous times and they always come out perfectly. Well today, they were a flop!!

See how flat they are?! I have no idea what went wrong this time! Maybe it’s because it’s so ridiculously warm in our house and they just didn’t want to hold. I even put them in the fridge for awhile (probably not long enough)!!

Oh well, they still taste like a bite of heaven 🙂

Well, it’s about my bedtime.

1. have you  made mama pea’s cookie dough balls before? Did yours look like hers?

2. Anything fail today for you?

haha Hope you have a great night!!

Mar

Let’s try this again.

Hey! So I can’t believe I deleted my novel post. Still a little bitter. Sounds like I’m not the only one who’s done that, so it makes me feel a little better! So my other post was kind of explaining my absence as of late and what I’ve been up to since I’ve been missing!

I haven’t really been feeling like myself since I’m not running…and I started this blog to talk about my training plans/running experiences! But instead, I’ll just talk about what I have been up to lately.

The Y:

source.

I’ve been doing lots of things to stay active since I can’t run. I’ve been taking body pump, cardio, and pilates classes at the Y. Body pump is at 6 and 8:30 am on M-W-F and I usually hit up one or the other.  It’s such a great workout! On Tuesdays, I’m meeting up with three ladies and doing an insanity video…which is definitely insane!! And Thursdays, we usually meet and do some type of other workout. I’ve also been trying to fit in some cycling and pilates on my own. I’m definitely keeping busy with workouts during the week, but I really miss running! On the weekends, I’ve been trying to stay active outdoors! And that opens me up to the next thing I’ve been up to

The Lake!

It’s so awesome that Nate and I live SO close to my grandma’s cabin! One of the many positives of moving back to Minnesota! We’ve been spending every weekend here! I’ve been working Saturday mornings, but the bank is halfway between the lake and home, so it’s not too bad!

We’ve been working on some projects while at the lake, too, like the rock wall!

Here’s a picture of it halfway done:

And DONE!

Nate decided he wanted a project for when we’re at the lake, so he decided to re-do the rocks. In the first picture, he had done that in one morning all by himself! See, my dad and uncle built the brick retaining wall a few summers ago (as you see in the second picture) after taking all those rocks off the hill. They put all the rocks along the shore, but didn’t put any tarp down, so weeds kind of took over. Anyway, Nate wanted to put tarp down and re-do them, so in two weekends, that’s what we did! I helped with the 2nd half of the wall, but he really deserves all the credit (aka – he lifted all the heavy rocks).It looks so amazing!

Wedding time!

Doesn't he clean up well?!

Me, John (bro) and Megan (sis)

It was so nice seeing my fam and our friends at the wedding! We had an absolute BLAST! Here’s a picture definitely towards the end of the night haha

Hope my friends forgive me for posting this 🙂

Bonfires:

and plenty of sweets:

See! So I’ve been a busy girl! It’s been a super fun summer and I am super excited to see what comes the rest of the summer!!

I promise not to neglect my blog anymore and will be a little more consistent when it comes to posting! I love this blog and I’m pretty disappointed in myself for going so long without posting! Well, I better get going. Time to watch True Grit with the man!

xoxo, Maren

p.s. Thanks Abby and Sandra for the tips about healthy dips!

Do you have any recipes for healthy, low-cal veggie dips that the whole family will love?

Please share!! 🙂

annoyed.

So I wrote up a huge long post about everything I’ve been doing and it didn’t save!! grrrr. I’m super annoyed. I just came back to it to add something quick and it was gone! oh boy am I angry! Oh well, I’ll re-write it tomorrow.

In the mean-time, I’m looking for a veggie dip that is healthy, low-cal (I can eat as much as I want) and doesn’t have any sort of mayo or fake mayo in it at all. If you’ve got something, please link up!!!

Maren

Frozen grapes are the bomb.

Hey!

So, it’s currently 57 degrees out. What the CRAP?! Last night, Nate and I were so flippin hot we couldn’t even sleep! We ate some leftovers and I could barely eat them, so I ate a huge helping of frozen grapes. I’ve heard from lots of people that frozen grapes are delish, so I threw a bunch in the freezer about a week ago and decided last night would be a perfect night to try them! And holy crap…they are bomb.com!

And now I’m freezin my butt off. Crazy weather. Welcome to the North.

I’ve been getting home from work at like 6:30 and Nate is so starving by that time that we just have been throwing dinners together. He had a frozen pizza and I had a frozen Kashi dinner. The Mayan Harvest Bake. Had it? It used to be my go-to meal after my long runs! It isn’t too high in sodium, but replenished what I lost during the run, and it’s soooo amazing! I had one in the freezer, so I thought that would be easy. I was still hungry, so I treated myself to some peanut butter carob chip toast

 

Now that the 30 day challenge is like a 60 day challenge… I better get a move on!

Day 11 – Put your iPod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up. I’m going to do it on my iTunes because my iPod is in my car and I’m too lazy to go out and get it.

1. california girls – katie perry feat. snoop dogg

2. everytime – britney spears (Nate has an obsession)

3. lead me – sanctus real

4. lolli lolli – three 6 mafia (I’m so embarrassed! this is Nate and my account and it was his before we started dating)

5. the cowboy in me – tim mcgraw

6. little lion man – mumford & sons

7. kiss with a fist – florence + the machines (love this song!!)

8. miss me – drake & lil wayne

9. rogues – incubus

10. smile lines – incubus

So there you have it. Pretty random if you ask me! I’m not too picky when it comes to music. I download mostly music that pumps me up when I’m working out though!

Have a good night 🙂 Hopefully I’ll be back tomorrow with a recipe…no guarantees though!

Maren

 

it’s hot.

I’m burned. We have no AC. and I’m eating frozen grapes for dinner.

SUMMER. IS. HERE. 😀

 

So I’ve been completely MIA but I’m trying to figure out this whole blogging thing. It’s like, I want to do it, but I haven’t really felt like I’ve been acting like myself. I just talk about what I eat and don’t throw any personality into it at all. So, from now on, I am vowing to be REAL.

So, I guess it’s not all glitter and rainbows??? Damn. I thought training for Fargo was going to be so easy since I had already trained and ran Rock the Parkway and I’d just have to keep good mileage for the next 7 weeks. People do it all the time. Well, I feel like two weeks before Fargo, I hit a wall and running just wasn’t even fun anymore. I was struggling with all of my runs and then it was icing on the cake when I sucked it up at Fargo.

Ever since then, my left knee has been killing me. It’s been over two weeks and I’ve only gone for TWO runs. Both times afterwards, I literally couldn’t walk. I don’t have a diagnoses yet, but am hoping to find out a little more when my sister looks at it this weekend. It’s so depressing not being able to run. I don’t feel like myself. I don’t even feel like I get a solid workout in unless I go for a run! I’ve always considered myself a runner and it’s killing me not being able to just go outside and be free.

I’m doing other things that aren’t bugging my knee as much, like yoga, pilates, body pump, etc., but even those things tend to bug it sometimes, so I’m just all-around bummed out. It looks like the summer will not be spent out on the road. The two races I wanted to do are probably out of the picture, but I’m just trying to be realistic. I can’t avoid the injury any longer. I’ve got to be proactive about it and get myself better.

Sorry for the venting! Let me show you a few pictures from the weekend (that make me happy) instead:

The gorgeous sunset…that we see almost every night at the lake

 

My super cute Grandma wearing Lindsay’s belt 🙂

Nate, me and Lindsay (my cousin)

The awesome bonfire we got to enjoy on Saturday night!

Sometimes it’s so easy to forget about all the things I’m so grateful for! I should feel blessed that I have my health (for the most part), and family, and food on the table at night…when I feel like cooking 🙂

So, from now on, I’m going to be myself on this blog and really talk about how I’m feeling…not just what I’m doing all day!

Peace for now friends.

Maren

A few things…

Hi everyone! Hope all is well on your side. First things first.

1. A HUGE happy birthday to my great blogger friend Janetha! She is such an inspiration to me!! Hope you have had an amazing day today girl! Stop on over there and give the girl some birthday love!

2. If you haven’t read about Caitlin’s neighbor yet, please read and donate, if possible. What a wonderful community the blog world is. Her site has already raised over $11,000 in just 30 hours! Incredible.

Today has been a great day! It’s was sunny and gorgeous and Nate and I took a long walk along the river. They have built a beautiful trail and we hadn’t seen any of it yet, so it was pretty neat!

Lunch was summer-inspired

These smoothies are stupid good. I’m so glad I got a blender finally. And for only $10! Yea buddy. I’m an amazing bargain shopper…not to toot my own horn or anything 😉

Smoothie ingredients:

– 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

– 1 scoop vanilla whey protein powder

– 1 cup mixed frozen berries

– 5 ice cubes

– HUGE handful of spinach

– handful of Barbara’s cinnamon puffins cereal

I’ve been eating this for meals a lot lately. I’m so glad the weather is getting nicer!! I LOVE smoothies! They are such an easy way to get fruits and veggies in and it tastes like a treat!

~~~~~~

Day 10 – Discuss your first love and your first kiss

My first love was in high school. Ended in misery and I learned A LOT from it.

My first kiss was in 6th grade and the story is so funny. All of our friends were outside my house and the boy and me sat on my couch for what seemed like 30 minutes before he finally reached in, kissed me, and then jumped up, fist-pumped, and ran out the front door. I literally can still picture it and it cracks me up!!! We never kissed again after that and he later wrote me a break-up note with the same loving words as Alfalfa’s letter to Darla in The Little Rascals!! hahaha ohhh to be young again 🙂

Can’t wait for this weekend..ughhh is it Friday yet? It’s supposed to be nice and I plan on spending my time out on the lake!

A Memorial Day in pictures.

Hi all! It’s been a long weekend and I’m totally pooped. I ran 4 miles yesterday for the first time since the Fargo half and it hurt. BAD. My left knee is really bugging me and I’m 99.9% sure it’s my IT Band. So, I’m resting and icing and being lazy.

Nate and I spent the weekend at the lake and I have a few pictures to share.

 

 

 

 

And that’s that. Happy Memorial Day all. Thank you to all of those who have served in the military to protect our country.

See you soon. xoxo Maren

Tired.

Hey peeps. I’ve been gone all week for work and don’t feel like doing much. I need to get this 30 day challenge 100 day challenge finished. I’m so lazy.

Day 9 – How you hope your future will be like.

Um, good? Happy? This is a weird-ace question if you ask me. I hope that my life is filled with love and faith and happiness. And maybe a couple kiddos….someday. I already have to take care of two kids..Nate and Lilly are enough work for me right now 😉 I hope that I have a career that I love and that I’m close to my family!

Super boring post, eh? How about a picture of my lunch since I managed to play sneaky blogger. We went to this neat place called “Spicy Pie” in downtown Fargo. It’s a pizza place. It was just okay, but the atmosphere was super cool. If I wasn’t with a bunch of colleagues I didn’t really know, I would have taken more pictures, but here’s my food

On the left, bread nuggets. Not sure what they’re really called, but they had way too much garlic…and that’s hard for me!! I LOVE me some garlic. I got green peppers and mushrooms on my pizza. And the slices were huge!! I only ate the one and took the other one with me for Nate to eat later. The nice thing was, the slices are only $2 and $.30 for each topping. Not bad!!

Alright, I’m out. love ya’ll.