90% - Cap City Recap

Hello, hello!

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend. Mine was super busy... full of race expos, quarter marathon walking, half marathon spectating, celebrations with friends and my Godchild's 1st Communion on Sunday.

I recently saw a quote on some social media outlet that read 

"Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it." 

I would absolutely love to take the time and reflect on the different sorts of things this quote can be applied to in everyone's life, but I figured I could waste your time more effectively by sharing my own life event and how I reacted and responded to the situation. (and besides, I've always wanted to do a race recap blog post)

So long story severely shortened, I've had an ankle issue for quite some time now and was unable to run the half marathon this past Saturday. Instead of being a total brat and wallowing in self pity, I decided to make the best of it and walk the quarter marathon alongside my also ailing sidekick:

The above picture was taken at the point when the quarter marathoners veered off the half marathon course. I'd be lying if I said we weren't disappointed, but after boosting each other's morale, we were somewhat happy with the fact that we were at least out doing something and not sitting back at the apartment watching wedding reality TV shows. 

Along our 6.55 journey, we snapped some photos of our favorite city:

Cheered along the half marathoners:

Took some time to document our optimism:

And overreacted to a black cat crossing our paths:

We decided before starting the race that we wanted to run the last half mile. At about mile 6, we picked up our walk to a decent jog and eventually ended up sprinting to the finish line.

We crossed the finish line at 1:34 and averaged a 14:24 pace. We were pleased. Walking is tough. In addition to the multiple blisters I formed, both me and my roommate woke up Sunday morning stiff and sore. 

From what I've heard it was a tough race. It sounds like the humidity was a HUGE factor for lots of people. Hopefully everyone who is reading this, and who ran the race, took my hydration advice and rocked out the race.

Congratulations to everyone who had a successful race!

So whether you're recovering from an injury, trying to lose weight, or just trying to adapt to a healthy lifestyle, remember it's what YOU make of it and how YOU react. 

Stay Healthy and Happy,

The Easter Weekend

Hi Guys!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Easter Sunday filled with lots of family and lots of friends - I sure did... and lots of food! Probably too much food now that I think about it, but that's what holiday weekends are for, right? Well, sort of ... but we'll get to that soon.

I spent my Easter weekend back home with my parents in Cincinnati, along with my brother and sister. Growing up it didn't seem like a crowded house, but tack on 10 years to everyone's age, plus a larger dog, and things seemed a bit more tight. Nevertheless, it was a great weekend filled with laughter and jokes, but never without the typical Gilliam kid scuffles over who was going to unload the dishwasher or who got to bring back with them the last box of Girl Scout cookies.

Lately, it's been rare to have all of us home at once, so when we all are home, it always seems like a special occasion, which is why I wasn't the least bit surprised when I woke up Saturday morning to the smell of my mom's crowd-favorite cinnamon coffee cake baking in the oven:

This coffee cake only comes out on special occasions, which is a good thing. I'm sure if my siblings and I grew up eating this everyday we'd be more concerned with looming diabetes as opposed to worrying (and complaining) about nagging allergies.

Over the course of the weekend, I was caught several different times with my camera, sneaking shots of the different food and activities we all my mom, sister and I participated in. While my mom was all worried about me smack talking all of the "holiday food" in the blog, my sister was more concerned with getting face time on the blog...so for kicks and giggles, here she is coloring eggs:

and here are my beautiful masterpieces:

Oh, and here she is with a scowl on her face after I yelled at her for throwing away the most nutritious part of the egg:
Remember what it is?

If you forgot, you can refresh your memory by reading  this post, or take a look at the picture below. My mom got her 5 seconds of fame by showing off a nice sized bite out of that most nutritious part: (hint, it's the yellow part that is hopefully always found in the center of the egg)

To finish up the holiday weekend, my mom prepared a delicious Easter linner (lunch/dinner) that included all of our holiday favorites:

Honey Baked Ham:

Edamame salad:

and of course Cheesy Potatoes and Pretzel Salad:

Definitely not the most healthiest meal, but then again it's nothing to feel guilty about when you only eat meals like this over the holidays.

And just to ease my mom's worry over me not "slamming" her food choices, there was plenty of very healthy options throughout the weekend, like this pretty bowl of fruit:

And also lots of exercise in the form of  walks and some tennis playing. 

So the moral(s) of the story?

• It is A-OK to put healthy choices temporarily aside when choosing what to eat for your holiday dinner. This doesn't mean that you should eat an entire 13X9 pan of cheesy potatoes, or eat 3 chocolate Easter bunnies in one sitting - it means to have a serving of cheesy potatoes and enjoy it. 
• Compliment your holiday meal with lots of fruit, vegetables, and physical activity. 
• Eat your yolk!
• Oh, and watch out for my sister's sudden change of mood.... eeek! (ha ha kiddingggg)

Stay Healthy,

Did any of you guys indulge over the weekend? 

What are you guys doing, if anything, this week to get back on track after the holiday weekend?

Walking... Better Than You Think

Morning!

I think in a past life I was a short story writer, because I always find myself knee deep in a totally unnecessary intro story about a 2- maaaybe 3 minute occurrence that happened to spark an idea for a blogpost. So before I get too deep into this introduction.... I'm going to stop myself and (try to) get to the point....

So Saturday morning I had planned to attend an 8am spinning class at my local gym. I had all intentions of getting there early to start a new weight program my friend at work designed in order to prevent any summer wedding arm flabbiness... everything was going great... woke up early on my own, had some coffee, caught up on what I missed overnight on twitter and pulled into the parking lot with just the right amount of time to throw some weights around before class... only I pulled into the parking lot and noticed a large group of people milling around outside of the gym doors... after noticing some disgruntled faces, and further hearing bits and pieces of members' conversations... my worst fear of the morning was true - the gym was closed.

Something about a fire alarm and the fire department not being able to turn it off and because of this no one could go inside which met no spinning class for me.

No spinning class. No gym. No running.
With all my usual exercise outlets out of the picture I wasn't sure what to do. Initially, I was going to call the day a wash... but what kind of healthy blogger would I be if I did that! So instead of sulking around for the rest of the day, I dug deep and pulled out my inner Cathy Gilliam (that's my mom) and went out for a walk. I did 3 miles at a decent speed. Not only did I feel awesome about getting outside and getting my blood flowing, but surprisingly, I woke up the following morning... sore!

As a die-hard runner, opting to walk over run always seems like a failure... but is it?

The answer is no.
You can reap just as many benefits from *walking as you can from running.

Referring to calories burned... a person walking 5 mph and a person running 5 mph will burn the same amount of calories (given they weigh the same)  Check out this chart:

The thing to remember when exercising is that you will burn more calories at a higher intensity and you will burn more calories during a longer workout. A 45 minute casual walk will not burn as many calories as an intense 45 minute track workout, just as a ten minute walk won't burn as many calories as a 2 hour run. 

8 Benefits of Walking from Rodale.com

• deflects diabetes
• increased sex drive
• saves on gym costs
• decreased use of medication
• can help fade fibromyalgia
• can help beat breast cancer
• reduces your risk of stroke
• better mental health

So, the moral of my long-winded story?

• Walking can be just as effective as running
• Walking is 200 times better than sitting on the couch
• Walking is a great form of exercise

So next time when you are kicked out of the gym, or your spinning class is filled up or you simply hate running... go for a walk.... you're doing more good for your body than you really think. 

Have a great Tuesday guys!

Stay Healthy,

*walking - this is not referring to a brisk pace... not a casual stroll in the park.