A Successful Run....A Not So Successful Green Smoothie

Finally!  After countless crap runs, I finally got a good one in.  My schedule called for a tempo run today of 6 miles at 7.4 (8:06 pace).  I have to admit, I was expecting to get maybe 5 in at that pace since I've had zero luck finishing a run these days.  But holy hot freaking dog, I finally felt good.  I ran a half mile warm up then 6 at 7.4 and at each mile, ran at 7.6 (7:54) for one minute.  I actually had no problems with this run at all and have to say, I really needed that to happen.  I've been feeling like I'm back - although back from what, I still have no idea - but I shall try not to get to puffed up since I have a 16 - 17 miler coming up on Sunday and according to the weather man, it's going to be hot and humid...again.

I was no so lucky in the green smoothie department.  In my effort to expand on my greens, I pulled out the Vitamix cookbook and decided to give the "Sweet Lettuce Smoothie" a try.  Here is the recipe:
1 cup green grapes
1 cup romaine lettuce, chopped
1/2 medium apple
1 cup ice

Verdict:  Um.....yuck.  I really, really, really wanted to like this.  And I tried, I did.  I kept sipping on it for a good 15 minutes but I just didn't dig it.  And if possible, it got worse the more I sipped.  It almost had a bitter taste to it, if that makes sense.  And it wasn't sweet at all.  I may try it again though but use 1/2 cup of romaine and the whole apple.  Maybe.  It's pretty though!

After that debacle, I ran up to the grocery store to pick up beer for tonigh'ts free concert in my neighborhood (Gonzo's Nose, an 80s band - yay!).  There is a Starbucks in there so I decided to give the new (actually, I have no idea if it's new at all, but it's new to me) Vivanno a try.  Have you heard of these?  It's an alternative to the Frappuccino which are oh so good but oh so bad for you.  I have Drink This, Not That and was intrigued by the idea.  The quote from the book is, "The Vivannos trump any other frozen drinks on Starbucks' menu. Each one is sweetened with one full banana and fortified with  protein and fiber. That makes it a legitimate snack, not just a high-energy treat. And with an espresso shot, you get your breakfast and your morning buzz in a single vessel."  Added espresso?  Ok!  Is it clean?  I seriously doubt it but I had to give it a try.  Yum!  It was really good!  Not sweet at all which tells me the sweetness comes from the banana.  They only come in a grande size which will set you back 270 calories.  I like the idea of the banana and the scoop of whey protein, especially after my run.

Last night for dinner, I finally gave Quiona a try.  I feel like every time I turn around, I'm reading about this super food.  Sometimes it's referred to as "the mother grain", other times it's all about how it is a complete protein - meaning it stands alone - no need to make sure you have a grain with it as with beans.  It is super high in protein and is a good source of iron and potassium.  It's also high in B vitamins!  I bought Trader Joe's brand and searched for recipes online.  I finally decided to give this Quiona Tabbouleh from All Recipes.  I saw that some reviewers had suggested the addition of feta and I took their advice.

2 cups of water
1 cup of Quinoa
pinch of salt
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
3 tomatoes, diced
1 cucumber, diced
3 bunches green onions, diced
2 carrots, grated
1 cup parsley, chopped

Cook Quinoa per package directions.  Let come to room temp.
Combine olive oil, lemon juice, salt, tomatoes, cucumbers, green onions, carrots and parsley.  Stir in cooled Quinoa.

Modifications: I used cherry tomatoes that I halved simply because that's what I had on hand.  Also, I added some chopped kalamata olives, a bit of feta and of course some crushed red pepper!
This was excellent!  The Quinoa really doesn't have much of a flavor on it's own, I'm assuming that it takes on whatever you mix with it which makes for a versatile grain!  Prepping the Quinoa is a bit of a pain though, you have to rinse it really well and being that it's super tiny, that is an interesting job.  I put a coffee filter in a small colander and that seemed to work ok.  This recipe made a ton of food.  I had a side dish worth and a big 'ol sweet potato.  Yum. 

I got a tad more adventurous with today's green smoothie.  Well, that is if you consider cucumber and celery adventurous! This one has unsweetened almond milk (about 2/3 cup), 2 full cups of baby spinach, 1/2 cucumber, 1 stalk of celery, a big handful of baby carrots and 1 banana.  Oh, and a tablespoon of  chia seeds!  Verdict: no difference in my normal smoothie.  Again, the banana masks the flavor of everything else in there.  Although I will say that the more veggies I put in, the less I can taste the banana.  It's now a background flavor to....well, nothing.  Hard to explain but it doesn't have a ton of flavor.  I think next time I might had a small drop of honey to sweeten it up a bit.  I really want to get to the point where these smoothies are mostly veggies/greens and not a lot of fruit at all hence today's version.  I keep reading about people putting kale in addition to the spinach in their green smoothies and I think that may be what I try next.

As for the chia seeds, I think they may be the solution to my consistency problem that I was having with the ground flax.  This site has some interesting information about chia seeds and after reading it I'm starting to think I can omit flax all together because the chia is better.  Since they don't need to be ground like the flax, they don't change the smoothie texture.  I think I mentioned before but if you are just starting out with green smoothies, I would recommend starting with a yogurt base rather then almond milk.  The yogurt adds a nice sweetness and a much creamier smoothie.  I stopped using the yogurt because I'm trying to avoid as much processed sugars as possible.  I guess I could also go to greek yogurt, but I'm getting used to the almond milk.


On Tuesday, I set out to run the 10 miles on my schedule and had yet another crapy result.  When I was about 6 miles in, I started feeling really weak, kind of shaky and all around shitty.  I had to stop at 9 which just burns me up.  One more freaking mile and I had to stop?!  Seriously.  This has got to be nutritional.  I'm making so many big changes so quickly that perhaps my body is just not handling it well.  I feel great in every other way though and don't have problems with other workouts I do like Body Pump at the gym.  Then yesterday, I got most of my speedwork in.  Again, had a massive failure and had to stop before I finished the entire thing.

Here is what I did:
Warm up of 1 mile at 6.5 (9:13)
1 mile at 7.1 (8:27)
2 4-minute reps at 7.6 (7:53) with a 2 minute jog at 6.5 in between reps.
1 mile at 7.1 (8:27)
2 4-minute reps at 7.6 (7:53) with a 2 minute jog at 6.5 in between reps.
2 minutes at 6.5
.5 mile at 7.1 (8:27)
That's where I stopped.  That last .5 was supposed to be a full mile then I was supposed to do 4 x 1:30 at 7.9 with a 1:30 rest in between each rep followed by yet another mile at 7.1.  So.  Didn't quite make it.  This run ended up only being 5.5 miles.  I'm starting to get kind of pissed off.  I never had to stop in the middle of a speed session before when I was training for Delaware so something is definitely off.

Today is an off day from running, although I am going to do body pump, so I'm just trying to regroup and figure out what the hell is wrong.  Tomorrow I have only a 6 miler which better go off without a problem because this Sunday is a 16-miler out in the heat and I really don't want to go into it feeling down because of a crappy training week.  So! I'm a little ball of sunshine today, eh?

To end on a better note, head over to Fitbottomed Girls and read their interview with the incredible Tosca Reno.  Love her (although I'm still not giving up my wine)!  And love Fitbottomed Girls!

Relaxed After a Day of Rest

When I was training for the Delaware Marathon, Monday's were always an off day for me because we did our long run on Sunday.  I'm sticking with that plan and had a very relaxing day of rest yesterday.  Today I'm back at it though.  Body Pump at 4:30 - my kids will be at a basketball camp until 5:30 so it works out perfectly....not sure how the rest of the summer is going to go though - and I'll get a run in before.  I really need to get outside and run but by the time I drop the boys off at camp (1:30) it will be way too hot so back on the treadmill I'll go.  Today's run calls for 10 'easy' which will be brutal on the treadmill.  Hopefully I'll find something good on t.v.  Tomorrow is a speed workout hence the 'easy' for today.

So I wanted to post a few foodie items from yesterday.  I had a massive green smoothie for snack yesterday.

As you can see from the 'before' shot, I filled the Vitamix up! This one has almond milk, baby spinach, a banana, an apple, a big handful of baby carrots, chia seeds and some ground flax.  This was probably not the best smoothie to show you first since the color is totally unappealing but try not to let that distract you (and please excuse the bottle of wine in the background....that was for my evening snack).  The verdict?  It would have been great had it not been for the ground flax.  This is probably the fourth smoothie I've made with the flax and it completely changes the consistency of the smoothie.  It makes it really thick and not in a good way.  I actually poured this one back in the Vitamix, added more ice and blended it again.  That helped but I still think I'm ditching the idea of putting ground flax in my smoothies.  Anyone have this issue and if so, have a solution for me?  I've been kicking around the idea of putting protein powder in my smoothies but I'm worried it will have the same effect as the flax.

That sucker filled me up though.  I had it around 3:00 and was good to go until 6:00 when I had a craving for something crunchy so I had a Doctor Kracker smeared with some of this stuff:

Guacamole Hummus!  Weird, huh?  I spotted it at Trader Joe's yesterday and had to try it, I figured I couldn't go wrong with two of my favorite things in one dip!  The ingredients were pretty straight forward: Hass avocado, chickpeas, garlic, lime juice, onion powder, serrano pepper, salt, cilantro essential oil.  Two tbsp delivers 50 calories which isn't bad.  It was....interesting.  Not bad but not 'holy crap I have to have this every day' either.

You are probably wondering why I'm snacking at 6:00 instead of having dinner.  My husband is on a trip and usually when he is gone, I feed the kids then I eat way later after they are in bed.  I'll probably get bashed for this but I love the me time of having dinner alone in front of the tv.

When dinner time finally rolled around, I decided to try a recipe from The Flexitarian Diet book - Bay Avocado Sandwich - only I switched it up a bit. 

Here is the original recipe:

1 tsp Old Bay seasoning
1 lime, juiced
1 tsp olive oil
1/4 avocado, diced
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans
1/4 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 green onion, chopped
1 small whole-grain roll
Wisk Old Bay with lime juice and oil.  Toss together with remaining ingredients and spoon into roll.

I made a few tweeks to this.  I didn't have onion so I omitted it and I used black beans instead of garbanzo beans.  I also added crushed red pepper flakes because I'm obsessed with them and put them on everything I make.  Then instead of putting it on a roll, I made some brown rice and spooned it on top of that.  First off, this made a ton, I know it doesn't sound like much but it really was a lot and with the brown rice,  it made quite a nice dinner (I only ate half of what the recipe made).  I loved, loved, LOVED this!  It was so fantastic!  On the side, I had some leftover bread salad from Father's Day (another awesome recipe that I got from Wegmans and will happily post if anyone is interested).  I was a happy camper!

Working My Way Back....

So the big move to Wordpress obviously didn't work.  I've been on Blogger for so long (between this blog and a personal blog) that I just couldn't learn all their new tricks!  Anyhoo....I'm coming back "home".

So much has happened since I last blogged, it's hard to know where to begin!  The major event was that I finally achieved my ultimate running goal: I ran the Delaware Marathon in May and qualified for Boston!  I know!!  It involved a ton of hard work, a very consistent training schedule and the power of positive thinking, all of which I'll get into in more detail later, but it was worth every bit of body pounding effort.

Next up, the San Francisco Marathon in July and Marine Corps Marathon in October.  I'm going to San Francisco with my running partner and we are doing it mostly for fun and to say we ran a destination marathon.  Neither one of us are ready to take the distance seriously - she is coming off Boston and I off Delaware - our mileage isn't up high enough but the idea was never to do it for a time goal, it was to bring our cameras along and see the sites stopping to take photos along the way.  I'm really excited as I've never been to San Francisco before and I think it will a blast to take this trip with Amy.  It's like our big reward for all the crazy hard training we did over the winter.

Marine Corps is simply because I deferred last year so it's paid for so I really should do it and everyone whose ever run it says it's a 'must do', blah, blah.  I need to get to training for it soon though.  It takes me a crazy long time to get used to running in the heat so I know I'll need to build my mileage up slowly.  Speaking of, I met Amy and some others for a 13 mile run on Sunday and it didn't go so well.  I've been escaping the heat by running inside for a few weeks now (top mileage of 13 miles) so the heat and humidity hit me like a brick this weekend.  It wasn't pretty.  I was dehydrated for sure by the end (didn't bring enough water) and had to walk several times.  Lesson learned: stop hiding from the heat during the week because you will only be screwed on your long run on the weekend.  Next Sunday we are meeting a bit earlier (7 instead of 8) and running 16.  Oy.

So besides the running, I've switched gyms (hello Body Pump! I think I've bashed it in the past but I'm not a convert and love it!!)  and made some pretty big changes in the food department.  This blog may shift in focus a bit...it will still be about running and training but I'm in the process of totally changing the way I eat and will probably blog about it quite a bit as I fumble my way through.

A bit of background first: I've considered myself a pretty healthy eater for a long time now but I also have a crazy hard core addiction to all things cracker-like, salty and processed.  I've noticed that no matter how much I run or workout, I always have a bit of the blahs and more than a bit of the bloats.  Also, I would never have more then a day go by without experiencing some sort of stomach pain.  Some days would be worse then others, but it was always there.  I knew I needed to stop with the bad habits I had like, oh, I don't know, taking the entire box of Wheat Thins to the couch with me when I get the 3:00 hunger pangs, and while that sandwich I was eating was healthy, the bag of salty chips next to it was not, but I never had that major kick in the butt to get me to change.  The fact that stomach pain on a daily basis (and sometimes being 100% laid up on the couch after a run because it was so bad) apparently wasn't enough.

Then one day, my husband and I were on a routine trip to Costco and everything changed.  We could hear one of the many demonstrators that are there from time to time and didn't think much of it until getting up close and seeing that she was making smoothies in some major blending machine.  Honestly, I was hungry and just wanted that smoothie sample so I pushed my way up, grabbed a little cup and drank the yuminess that I assumed was maybe one piece of fruit laced with a ton of sugary juices.  Oh how wrong I was!  She told me there was spinach in it.  Um, what the wha??  So she made another one for me to see.  In that one, I can't remember the exact mixture, but I know there was baby spinach, a full orange, a banana and then for the liquid, she used Welchs 100% White Grape Juice (something I chose not to use because I don't think it's a "clean food").  We stood there for a good hour eating soups and tons of different veggie smoothies and I was sold.  We brought our Vitamix home that day and I haven't looked back since.

The first couple of weeks I had the Vitamix, I used it almost on a daily basis mostly making smoothies but I did make a couple of soups and salsa too.  I didn't cut out all the other crap I was eating though, I was more familiarizing myself with the mixer.  This was 2 weeks before the Delaware Marathon and I got a bit freaked out because all that fruit/veggie/fiber (!) was having a, um, interesting effect on my digestive system and no way did I want to be caught on YouTube having one of those marathon trots moments so I put the machine away and kept doing what I had been doing in the eating department.  I'm crazy superstitious when it comes to running and routine and I wasn't about to change a single thing that close to marathon day.  You should have seen my shoes, they practically had holes in the bottom but there was no getting new shoes before the big day!

A couple of weeks after Delaware, I pulled it back out and started blending.  This time, I decided to make a major effort to cut out processed foods.  Also, at that same time, my husband had several back to back business trips so dinner changed too - no more fatty meats, it was all fish or all veggies for dinner.  Now I'm not trying to sound like an infomercial here, but I swear, after only 2 weeks (today starts week 3) of having a 'green' smoothie a day in addition to cutting out the processed foods and very little to no meat, I'm feeling 100% different...better.  The stomach pain is gone (again, no lie!) and my skin has cleared up (a major thing for me).  Also, while I knew I was having bloating issues, I had no idea just how much until I made this change.  I dropped 2lbs (not a goal of mine, this is NOT a diet for me, it's a lifestyle change for health) of pure bloated nastiness.  I should also note here that around this same time, I also saw the movie Food, Inc. which if you haven't seen, you absolutely must.  It will blow your mind and change the way you shop for meat.

Also, my energy level is so much better in the afternoon - gone are the grab something salty/crunchy at 3:00, now I have a smoothie.  The smoothie carries me to dinner.  In the past, I'd have the processed snack at 3:00 then by 4:30 I was crabby and hungry again so I'd grab something else.  An endless cycle.  The smoothies have really helped and I have to say, I don't even crave the old stuff anymore.  Occasionally I do want something crunchy so I'm in the process of trying to find better options for when that happens.  For example, I find that I like, not love, Doctor Kracker Flatbread.  It's a crunchy option just to take that edge of a craving off but honestly, I don't eat them much at all.  I have had the same box (contains 8 crackers) for 2 weeks.

So basically, my routine has drastically changed and the results have been incredible.  Because I noticed such a huge change so quickly, I became borderline obsessed with researching all things healthy, veggie based.  This is not to say I'm becoming a vegetarian, with two kids and a meat loving husband (who recently said, "All your veggie containers are taking up the entire fridge!"), I'm not ready to make that big of a leap, but I will say that I eat 99% plant based foods.  And there have been several meals where my husband and boys are eating chicken and I bake a piece of fish for me.  I've found many helpful blogs on the subject along with some great books.  One I like is "The Flexitarian Diet: The Mostly Vegetarian Way to Lose Weight, Be Healthier, Prevent Disease, and Add Years to Your Life" I found this to be a good introduction to going more plant based.  But so far, my favorite cookbook is by Tosca Reno, Eat Clean Cookbook.  There are so many fantastic recipes in there....many do have meat for the meat lover who wants to eat 'clean'.  There is also a magazine of the same title, Eat Clean, that I enjoy.

 Have I given up my wine?  Hells no.  Is wine considered 'clean'?  Nope.  But seriously, a girl can only make so many changes!  I have 2 elementary age boys, I simply cannot give up my wine.

Right now, I'm on the hunt for a source that will help me eat this way but still have enough energy/calories/endurance to keep up with my training.  I have noticed that once I get to about mile 5 on my runs, I start to fade in the energy department.  I think I may not be getting enough carbs which as runners know, is so important.  But what carbs to choose?  There is probably a good protein powder I should be adding to my smoothies too but I don't know if this is totally necessary.  So you can see, I still feel a bit lost and this is all still very new.

Now that I've written the longest post to date and probably lost a few readers, I close it out simply by saying, this is quite the journey and if anyone out there is on a similar one and has any advice, please please please leave a comment because I'll take all the help I can get!

193 Miles Over Two Days

Yup. I'm in. I can't believe I forgot to post about this but I'm going to be doing the Ragnar Relay in September! I know!! I was asked by a couple of friends to join their team and to be honest, had never heard of the Ragnar series. They had to fill me in that it is a 11-person relay race that starts in Cumberland, Maryland and ends down in D.C.....193 miles people!

Each participant runs 3 legs ranging from 4 to 8 miles each. It's supposed to be a ton of fun so I'm really looking forward to it. Here is a little blip about it from Ragnar's site:

This 193 mile adventure-fest will push you and 11 pals through the stunning scenery of the Potomac River Valley. Starting in the Appalachian town of Cumberland, MD, your team will head east along the C & O Canal as it snakes along the Potomac, around night fall you'll get off the trail and run through the quiet streets of many charming historic Civil War-Era towns, ultimately passing within the shadows of the Washington Monument and the Lincoln Memorial. The race (and your stamina) wraps in the heart of the nation's capitol.

Also, Active has a good article on the Utah race here. I'm all jazzed about it, I think it will be a really good time and certainly an experience I wont soon forget! Anyone ever done one of these before?

In training news, I had to miss track last night because my husband had a business dinner to attend so I did a 6.8 mile tempo run after my strength training class instead. It was a really great run that I finished in 54 minutes so I was happy with that. The fact that the weather here in DC has been damn near perfect lately certainly helped. I can't imagine any other July when I would have been able to go out for a run of almost 7 miles at 1:00 in the afternoon and be comfortable during it!
I'm either going to do an easy 3-miles today or just a dvd of some kind because tomorrows long run calls for 10-12. I will get up and run with the group at 6:30am! I will!!!

I leave you with my little man in all his glory hitting the sprinkler fully clothed last night. He just couldn't resist and was so stinkin' happy that I couldn't say no!

Week One of Marathon Training in the Books!

My first 'official' week of marathon training is in the books. Well, it was actually in the books after my long run last Saturday but I'm just now getting around to recording it. It was a pretty good week. Speed training at the track didn't happen because the coaches were out of town for the holiday but I did get 3 quality runs in, 3 days of strength training and then my long run on Saturday (which by the way, I kind of slacked on as far as meeting my running group...my alarm went off at 5:45, I laughed, turned it off and went back to sleep. I have to get up this Sat though; the miles will be so much easier running with happy people). Hopefully, tomorrow night at the track will go a lot smoother than the first night since I've picked up my training a few notches since then. Anyway, total miles for last week was 25 - 6, 6, 3 then 10. This week, I've done a tempo run of 5 miles, and a great hill workout for 5.5 miles plus 2 strength training days. Tomorrow is another strength day followed by track then I'll put in 3 on Friday. The schedule calls for 10-12 this weekend, I'm hoping for 12.

As far as strength training goes, I've been able to attend the Tuesday/Thursday class at the rec center with the help of a babysitter (I wish I made that much money when I was a babysitter!) and a helpful mother-in-law. For the 3rd day, I've been doing a Jari Love dvd. Have you seen this chick? Holy crap balls. She is seriously kicking my ass. Yes, it's a dvd workout but yes, I swear, it is so tough but in a really good way.

I got her 'Get Ripped' dvd from Netflix to try it out and really loved it. It's non-stop weights with bursts of cardio mixed in. My heart rate was way up and I had to quit 40 minutes in (of a 60 minute workout!) the first time I did it. I went on Amazon to buy it but saw 'Get Extremely Ripped' and thought, "well shit, if I'm getting ripped, I outta just get extremely ripped" right? So I bought that one instead. I tried it out on Monday for the first time. I made it through 45 minutes of the 60 minute tape before I had to quit. I could have made it all the way through but I had a 5-mile run scheduled for that evening and she was trying to kill me with the squats and lunges so I figured I'd better call it a day. In that 45ish minutes, I burned (according to my Polar HR monitor) 358 calories which isn't too shabby. Also, my legs were feeling quite the burn the next day thanks to that and a run. Having said that, I think I preferred the plain 'ol 'Get Ripped' version more. It's actually harder in my opinion because of the cardio bursts. She does a lot of pylo moves which we as runners know are fantastic for building up leg strength. It's crazy hard and you are cussing and dripping with sweat while you are doing it, but it seriously kicks ass.

Ok. So that's about it on the marathon training front. I've been keeping busy taking my kids to and from swim lessons and now this week, golf camp. Summer is flying by. Today, I actually said yes to woopie cushions from 5 Below. Some things never get old. I was laughing like a 9-year-old boy in the store. What was I thinking?

Marathon Training Officially Begins July 6th!

I'm trying to slowly get back to running 3 days a week at least plus starting that long run on the weekend thing. I ran 6 on Monday, 3 yesterday, and plan on running 4 this evening. According to the handy Runners World schedule, I should be jumping into official marathon training next week for the Marine Corps Marathon. Yup. And so it begins. I'm trying to get my girl-positive hat on but honestly, getting back into already seems mighty soon. I was just getting used to being 'run whenever the hell I feel like it' girl.

Tomorrow evening will be week two at the track and I have my fingers crossed that I wont have that overwhelming feeling that I want to barf like I did last week. Then on Saturday, our group long run calls for 6-8. I do like that we are starting off with such low mileage, that's for sure. In addition, I'm trying to keep up with my twice weekly strength training class because I really enjoy it which is most important but secondly, I really feel like the weight training helped with my running when I was training for Shamrock.

Speaking of running and strength training and being as big a bad-ass as you can be, have you ever heard of Tracy Anderson? She is Madonna and Gwyneth Paltrow's trainer. And apparently, she wants us all to have the body of a 12-year old, pre-pubescent girl. She just launched a new gym in New York where the membership will only run you $900 a month. But for that small fee, you too can have a 'teeny-tiny body', a 'Victoria's Secret butt' and 'absolutely not have cellulite!'. She is big on using either no weights or very low (2lb) hand weights and doing a bajillion reps - 60 - 100 - of your standard exercises such as bicep curls, squats, etc. Oh, and you have to dance a lot too. Ok, fine. To each her own. If you are into that, more power to you. I'm an advocate of people moving, period. Do whatever feels good to you but just do something. Having said that, I hate that she constantly tells us to go for that 'teeny-tiny body' and that bulk (um, you mean muscle?!) is ugly. And that she bashes certain forms of exercise that work for a lot of people, i.e: yoga and Pilates and running. Yup. Running too. She says plain and simple regarding yoga and Pilates that 'they don't work' and that she has 'banned' Madonna and Paltrow from practicing yoga. And if you don't move for at least 30 minutes a day, 6 days a week, it isn't going to be effective. Period. Really? Is that really the message you want to give people? I'll stop now. I could go on and on about this for way longer than necessary. I'll just leave you with this quote from a recent interview with the Telegraph UK. "...running gives you an ugly butt – 'because, as with every other type of exercise, using the same muscles again and again will build too much muscle in certain places and bulk you up, and a bulked-up bottom is not a pretty one’." She can kiss my bulked up ass. Oh, and then give each of my bulked up biceps a peck too.