Its the mooost wonderful day.. of the weeek (sing it!)

Posted on November 15th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

ITS SUNDAYYY MY LOVES!!

Happiest time of the year

(Grrr.. haven’t figured out how to embed video with new self hosted. Help?) Just change the words up a lil bit and you’re good to go. Hah – I think I’ve probably blogged about 5 different times about how much I love Sundays. Not going to lie though… I am getting excited for christmas songs to start playing on the radio.. christmas lights going up.. the HOLLIDAZZLE!! Can’t wait! Haha no one shoot me for saying that. I was going through photos on my phone… I took this the DAY after Halloween:

Yikes! I was just checking to see if there were any cute halloweeny coffee mugs on sale, and then tripped over a reindeer and faceplanted into a pile of gingerbread christmas cookies. (Kidding! Although that wouldn’t be such a bad thing to faceplant into….) Let’s get through Thanksgiving first, but then please believe, I will be going alllll out.

p.s. (and then I promise, I’m moving on) did you know Thanksgiving is my FAVORITE 2nd FAVORITE holiday? (Favorite has always gone to Easter, and that’s not changing any time soon!) I loveeee Thanksgiving because

1. it’s smack dab between my mom’s birthday and mine
2. at least in our family, it is such a WARM get together. all of us gathered at one house (we’re hosting this year.. I don’t know the official count but I know it’s over 20!) , no stress of presents, just family, food, and loove <3
3. it’s in FALL! Although being that I live in MN, there have been many a snowy thanksgiving day
4. puuumpkin
5. the family walk. which happens at just about every holiday we celebrate as a family that involves a rather large meal (thanksgiving.. christmas.. easter.. birthdays.. reunions.. haha basically every get together involves a large meal)

Good things. Moving on!

GIVEAWAY

So glad to see the entries coming in on my POPCHIPS GIVEAWAY! You still have until Wednesday night, so fret not my friends, but I would say go do it NOW because we all know how it goes when you say “Oh, I’ll come back and do it later” and then you check my blog on Thursday saying “wasn’t there something SWEET going on at Dr.TriRunner last week?” and then comes the compulsory smack to the forehead when you see that YOU were not the winner because indeed YOU didn’t enter! Let’s avoid that, shall we? GO ENTER NOW!

RUNNING NEWS:

And that would FINALLY include some real running.. not just on the dang xRunner and all this RSC business. As of Monday, I have had THREE successful lovely half hour runs, as prescribed. I will fess up (since there were no Friday Confessionals this week.. my bad) that I ran outside one of the days instead of on the treadmill (shhhhh) BUT I ran on the grass/dirt on the side of the path. I always run on that anyways! Here is my train of thought – tell me if this makes sense:

So I understand that the treadmill is a softer surface to run on then cement or pavement. Obvio. But softer than grass or dirt? Maybe once Minnesota hits our frozen tundra/arctic phase come December or January, but we’re not there yet. The grass is pretty darn forgiving, and in fact, according to the RunnersWorld staff over in good ol’ BritLand (that one’s for YOU my love!), it’s “better”. There are some cons associated with running on grass (instability), but I would consider myself a “seasoned grass-runner” being that for at least 70% of my runs I hop down on the dirt trail. Plus… do I need to even mention the entertainment factor? Look at the Runnin’ It page, and see reasons Why I Run. Even back in 2008 (haha how’s that for a throw back post? That egg plant parm looks good!!) I was b!tchin about the treadmill. Nooo thanks.

Anyways, long story short – I ran outside on Friday. And it was WONDERFUL.

I have properly inserted my temporary orthotics. Thank you Dr. Scholls.

One in each

I did get an actual scrip for real orthotics, but I need to see first if my insurance will cover it. In the mean time, I have had good success with using a heal lift in my left shoe, so that’s what you see here.

CHECKIN OUT

Time for me to get a move on. I apologize for the lack of blogging this week, but I have been entirely robbed of any social life by this:

Wasn’t I just blogging about my last anatomy exam? Oh wait. Yes.. Yes I was. Test on Monday tomorrow!! Eeep!

And last item before I leave – I have to toot my own horn here for a sec. I’ve gotten to be quite the fried rice connoisseur:

All ready for some sriracha lovin. And yes, I am using a plastic bin full of sweatshirts as a table. Look at that goodness:

Crappy lighting. Not at all crappy food! I go on little kicks with foods, as many of us do, and fried rice (or just asian in general) has definitely been the theme of the week.

Questions for you!

1. What’s your current food craze?
2. What’s your favorite holiday? Do you go all out? What are your traditions?
3. Are you a treadmill runner? I know my girl F.I.T.C. is a champ at knocking out the 6, 7, 10 milers on the dreaddy no problem. I don’t know how she does it?
4. Have you entered my giveaway yet? Hahah.. no? GO DO IT!

Happy Sunday!

-E

p.s. I’m not the only one havin’ a giveaway!

Tags: college, family, food, friday confessionals, giveaway, health, injury, run

Get it poppin!

Posted on November 11th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

After all the teasing and dangling it in front of your face, it’s here as promised – the

POPCHIPS GIVEAWAY!!

click for photo credit!

My chica-in-action Corrine over at popchips knows how much of a fanatic I am, and asked me if I’d be interested in hosting a giveaway on my blog. Um… YES!?! Haha, can I enter it?!

You are competing (because this is a competition my friends.. don’t take this lightly) for a 24-mixed-case of 8 oz. bags! TWENTY FOUR!!!

Here’s how to enter:

Mozy your way on over to Popchip’s website and tell me what flavor you’re most excited to try. MY favorite is definitely the multigrain golden cheddar, as I mentioned on my popchips review. What gets you poppin’?

For additional entries, you can:

1. Post a link to this giveaway on your blog, and leave a comment telling me you did so!
2. Follow me on twitter (just click on the “Recently Tweeted” link to the right, and then click FOLLOW!) and tweet about the giveaway! Make sure you mention @SperlyTriRunner and include a link to http://drtrirunner.com Lemme’ know with a comment!
3. As you know, I can never leave a good thing alone. I Loooove my popchips plain, but many times I end up making this big towering mess of popliciousness (popnachos, poppizzabake, you get the picture). What is your favorite way to doctor up these bad boys, or if you have never tried them, what crazy concoction are you dreaming about right now? Yeah, wipe that drool off your face!

There you have it my friends – four easy peasy ways to win yourself a box full of love! The giveaway will end on Wednesday, November 18th at midnight (CENTRAL time, cause that’s the way I roll!), but I recommend you waste no time and go enter in every way possible. Now!

Ready… set… GO!!!

-E

Tags: food, giveaway

CLEARED!!

Posted on November 10th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

Wow – yesterday morning I did not think that the title of this post would be anything ending with an exclamation. I probably slept all of four hours Sunday night. All of Monday until 3:00 was sad faced, super unoptimistic, mind going 20 miles a minute. Why, you ask? Why the stress? Why the turmoil? And why until 3:00?

The doctor’s appointment of doooom.

At least that’s what I was making it out to be! I was SO thankful to have my mom accompanying me for this visit. In my opinion, it’s ALWAYS helpful to have an extra set of ears at a doctor’s appointment. How many times have you left the doctor’s office and thought “oh crap – I forgot to ask about _____!” Or “Damn.. I wish I would have thought to ask about ______.” I’m sure you’ve been there. My madre came prepared with a list of her own questions, but she was great in letting me be the one in charge. As many of you know, I’ve been pretty much in charge of my own injuries/treatment plan since I was like 16. Of course when it came to surgery, that was a joint decision made by the whole team – my doctors, surgeons, myself, and my family. The doctor reiterated though how important it is to be in control of your own health, and more importantly,  to be educated about it.

BACK ON TRACK – I had for sure thought that I wasn’t going to be cleared to run, because there had been no x-rays scheduled.. no MRIs, no bone scans, no CT scans.. none of the tests I had to go through six weeks ago to prove I even had the fracture in the first place. Without doing the tests again, there’d be no way to know if the fracture healed. When I saw the doctor yesterday (and I should add this is a NEW DOCTOR to my treatment team: a guy who specializes in solely femoral neck fractures) he said no tests! No more xrays, no more injections, no more radiation for my poor little ovaries! If any of you have been reading long enough to remember.. I was definitely worried about this before, since having kids is something I definitely want (or at least to have the option to do so) in the future! Think of the mini-speedy-Sperlies running around Awwww

(E y la madre, after regions sophomore year) (p.s. be prepared for plenty of throwback photos!)

Ahem.. returning to the appointment, once again. Sorry. So, no more tests. He pulled and bended me and asked me about my “pain”.. which if I haven’t mentioned it before (or you don’t remember) there really isn’t any. That’s not a good indicator of anything though, as there wasn’t any pain when my femoral neck was fractured two thirds of the way through either. But there is a noticeable change in the “sensations” I have in that left groin area now compared to six weeks ago: I’m not limping. I don’t feel like the muscle is trying to resist forward movement. I can stand and balance on my left leg. I can single leg squat on my left leg equally as well as I can on my right. I can run down stairs, I can run up stairs, it feels basically equal to my right hip. All good things!! Based on my symptoms (or lack there of), my new-favorite-femoral-neck-fanatic gave me the GO AHEAD to resume running!!

And as of yesterday night, I am 3 miles closer to having my life back. Aaaaamen.

In terms of a plan on how to return, as in how much, how often, how fast, how hard (TWSS. Jeeez…), he was more lenient than I expected for sure. And maybe “lenient” isn’t the right word – it’s not like I had to beg him to let me do X amount. But he was real with me and his allotments for my mileage were very much to my liking. I’m trying to avoid specific numbers here because I don’t need anyone trying to copy a recovery/rehab plan that isn’t made for them. Even given what he’s “allowing” me to do, I cut that down. My physical therapist thinks this is a good idea. If any of you want to know more about the rehab or specifics, just message me and we can talk.

(throw back to high school XC days – I was so carefree then!)

I’m sure that many of you who have come back from a rather lengthy/serous injury before know this feeling: as happy as you are to be able to run again, and as great as it feels, it doesn’t stop you from being paranoid with every step you take. Am I right? I just feel like I am so thankful to have this back in my life, but at the same time its something so precious and delicate. If you needed to get your one year old downstairs to your hubby, you wouldn’t just throw your her over the stair railing to get her there faster. That’s how I feel about my running. (Haha.. they didn’t call me “Extreme Erika” for nothing!) Take it slow, be conscious, be careful. All good. It is my every intention to still race, but for now, I need to put that aside and just focus on being strong and healthy!

(regions – sophomore year? can you find me?! )

Once again, I feel like I need to thank all of you SO much! Your support, advice, your own stories, and your inspiration have been so helpful in keeping me positive throughout this whole ordeal – this time around, the first time around, and always! And also to those of you who comment on facebook every time that status changes.. to know that other people are rooting for you and keeping you in your prayers doe so much in staying positive. THANK YOU!

OK – so where the jell is this giveaway she keeps talking about, right? Set your timers my friends: tomorrow we’re gonna get it poppin‘. And I’m not just talkin a bag or two – the chips are stacked high here! Puns fully intended.. get pumped popped!

I will of course continue to update on the situation with running, as well as the biking, swimming, XT, and PT, because none of those are stopping now that I can run again. As a matter of fact, I need to get changed right now to bike to physical therapy! Hope you all have a lovvely day!

-E

p.s. How many times can I say it.. I LOVE writing/working while I’m on the bus! Definitely couldn’t be blogging while driving. p.p.s. look what’s coming to Minneapolis: I. Want. To. Go.

Tags: doctors, giveaway, health, injury, recovery, run

Welcome!

Posted on November 8th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

And WE’RE OFF! It’s obviously not 100% up and running, as you’ll find several of the “pages” are still under construction, but I couldn’t wait one more day! Please update your blogrolls, your google readers, your feeds, your bookmarks, tell your mom, tell your sister, RunRoamRecycle has moved, and Dr. TriRunner is a go!

www.drtrirunner.com

Glad you made it here!

And make sure you stay tuned, because for the grand opening of this training camp/sports med clinic/good food cafe, we’re throwing a popilicious giveaway, starting at snack-o-clock. You don’t want to miss it!!

Switching to self hosting was a move I’ve wanted to make for a long time, and I’m so glad its finally here! Know that things will be changing left and right, being edited, updated, deleted, oh-crap-control-Z’ed, and moved around. If there is anything you would really like to see here on Dr.TriRunner – a page, a link list, resources, workouts, recipes, you name it – make sure to let me know!!

Come back soon to hang out with me, explore the new page, and to get popped!
-E

Tags: giveaway, new beginning

YOUR fall favorites… & stimulatin' like a BOSS

Posted on October 30th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

Hello hello again from the bus! Haha I like this blogging-whilst-commuting thing. Makes the trip go so much faster! Sorry though – this post probably wont be posted until I get home tonight!

Well, a winner has been chosen, and tomorrow a box full of goodies will be embarking on its journey to Pennsylvania! Hope you enjoy it Susan!!

If I had been picking winners based on how good their photos looked… man that would have been hard! I didn’t get as many entries as I had hoped – only 8 people submitted photos, but a lot of you hopped on the multiple entry thing and many of you did all four options to enter! I really appreciate it guys!! It’s not like I get sent stuff from companies to give away, so I can’t promise that I will do many of these, but my first giveaway was definitely fun!

Here are some of the good lookin yummies you lovely ladies sent me (wait.. I didn’t have any male entrants did I? I don’t think so…)

Looks like yall are lovin the fall flavors as much as I am!

CHANGING SUBJECTS…

As I mentioned yesterday – the bone growth stimulator was delivered! Apparently they’re a lot more commonly used than I thought! I asked the rep who brought it out to my house and set me up how many of these she did a month – she said she does at least one every day! Based on the reactions I’ve gotten when I told people I was using a bone growth stimulator… I would think that they’re like a rarity. Apparently not! Here is my gift from the orthopedic Santa:

And here is my trying to demonstrate how the BGS will work from a very awkward angle:

Hahah fail! My roomie offered to take a photo of me and my new BFF later in the evening. Clearly the novelty hadn’t worn off yet:

Excuse the hot mess of hair.. I just got home from spin.. put on the PJs.. and hunkered down with Grey’s! (Close to definition of a perfect night.) I am supposed to use the stim for 30 minutes one time every day. And no trying to cheat or extra stimulate them bones either – it will ONLY work once a day. Clever thinking Mr. Manufacturer! I am excited that this finally came through, and although its pretty much a crap-shoot (that is the phrase.. right?) if it’ll actually WORK or not, I’m game to try.

Haha I just realized almost no one will be making this whole BOSS connection. Toooo much to explain for now. Sorry!

[Location change! Now home with my stim chillin on the hip and a bag of popcorn]

WELL I think I can wrap this post here. It went from a 57° partly sunny morning to a coldddd 36° rainy night. Unfortunately, I dressed for school during that 58° temp, so when I finished practice in the pool and went to catch the bus with wet hair, a long sleeve shirt, and a light running jacket, I turned into this:

Only I can guarantee you this little toots had on way more layers than I did, and I didn’t look nearly as cute with my “cold face” on. Anyways, sob story over – I’m warm now. Enough complaining!

Man I hope this bone growth stimulator is working. When I sit for half an hour at any other time, it seems like no biggie. But when I’m doing it off my own schedule, it feels like a chore! Hhaha more complaining. I think I should go now.

-E

p.s. you guys should help me come up with a nickname for this bad boy. Bone Growth Stimulator is a mouthful! And “the Stim” just sounds dirty… help!

Tags: giveaway, health, injury, recovery

Giveaway Winner!!

Posted on October 29th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

NO I didn’t forget… but any and all hopes of posting this week have been thrown out the window for the sake of my education. Tests, midterms, papers, the whole shebang. Hey, at least it’s a good excuse, right?!

Without further ado… the winner of Sperly’s First Giveaway selected by Random.org is…..

Susan from SusanRuns!!! I know this Pennsylvania lady will enjoy it, and hopefully if her small-town town outside of Philly doesn’t have stores that carry the coupon items, she’ll get a chance to load up next time she’s in Philly! Susan – please email me your address and I’ll get that off to you ASAP!

Today is a rainy drizzly day here in the Mini-Apple. Definitely not my cup o’ tea, but luckily I have a killer spin class at 6:00 and Grey’s at 8:00 to cure me of my rainy-day blues.

ANNNNND… regarding the bone growth stimulator, I got approved! Approved by my insurance AND approved for financial assistance due to my basically-no-income student status. I guess being broke is OK in some respects! The lady from the medical device company is coming to my house TODAY to get me all set up. Actually, she’ll be there in about an hour, and that would mean I should be there in an hour too! Bus comes in 15 minutes, so with that, I will say adios mis amigos! I will try n get back in here tonight with the rest of the crazy-good looking fall foodie photos that were submitted!

Until we meet again my friends!

-Erika

Tags: giveaway, health, injury, random, recovery

Final days of the giveaway. Gym'n it. Boss..?

Posted on October 24th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

This is just gonna be a quickie (TWSS) but I needed to stop in and say

LAST DAY TO ENTER MY GIVEAWAY

so if you haven’t yet done it, step ya game up and send me a photo already! Yes folks, it is really that easy.

I also needed to say that I just bought 48 bags of popcorn for $1.89 because I love Costco and I also happen to love coupons and I’m a boss (warning – mucho profanity ahead with that one). Really though… I am.

(excuse the blurries.. la madre doesn’t have practice taking photos on a cell phone)

Whhoooo does that? I felt like I was holding a child. A child stuffed with three types of meat, cheddar, swiss, and tomato slices. Beast. Or I guess I should say “Big. Overloaded. Sub. Sandwich.”

So basically, you really should go enter the giveaway. And then my friends, life will be complete.

Innn other news – so I told you about the bone growth stimulator. Well, turns out with insurance and the whole the 80/20 deal, my “20%” is $700. Somehow I don’t think that fits in my college budget. BUT!!! Silver lining here.. maybe. Hopefully! As an independent and a student, I qualify for financial assistance. So if everything works out (go find some wood – knock on it!!) then I wouldn’t have to pay anything out of pocket. I’m prayin!!

I may not be eating any BOSS sammies, but I definitely am still getting good solid training in, and the appetite is high, in true Sperly fashion. My mom and I made our mother-daughter-tradition venture over to Costco today to get some goodies. As mentioned above, BOSS Orville Redenbacher popcorn – my favorite!! – had a coupon in the biweekly Costco Coupon book. $4 off an already low price of $5.97, making my 48 bags of salty goodness only $1.97. Also included in the purchases were many a produce: broccoli slaw, tomatoes, asparagus, mushroooms, and sugar snap peas, as well as my staple of all staples: egggg beaters a la Kirkland. I really do love Costco.

Wait wasn’t I talking about training? Right. So Tuesday/Thursday/Saturday is SPIN on my schedule, and this morning SPIN I did. It is not running, but at least it makes me sweat and I feel like I’m working. NTM, my Thursday/Saturday instructor is also a BOSS (how convenient) and he makes it that much more appealing to go to class. He had a sub today (as in substitute teacher, not SUB sandwich. I’ve moved on), and she is ALSO really great. My list of I-Like-You-Spin-Instructors is short and selective, but these two are both on the top. If you’re ever venturing into the world of Lifetime Spinning.. lemme know and I’ll hook you up.

I took this photo a long time ago, and have been meaning to post it, because really, I do love my gym. BOSS? Hahha yeah I think so. This is over the railing, going down into the world of cardio/weights. I especially love my gym when I’m injured, as in now. They have so many options, and so many classes! In place of our run workouts on my practice schedule, I have “RSC” – otherwise known as Running Simulating Cardio. My favorite machine isn’t included in that picture, and it’s definitely NOT running (I don’t count it as “x miles” or any of that b.s. business…) but it is good. Good indeed.

Alright kids, that’s about as much random goodness I have time for today. If I didn’t mention it before, I got a research position at school through my kinesiology department and am a co-investigator on an awesome study we are about to start! I have to finish my IRB training, which if you’ve had to do it before, is loooooong, tedious, and did I say long?  I think I need to go pop some popcorn…

Love,
-E

Tags: adventure, college, food, giveaway, mom, random, snack, u of mn

magnificent Monday and POPCHIPS perspectives…

Posted on October 19th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

Not too late to enter Sperly’sFirstGiveaway!!

Go. Do. It. Now!

Helllooo blog buddies. Apparently I’m all about alliteration today… so sorry if it gets overkill! It’s only noon, so it may be a little too early to determine this Monday as “magnificent”.. but so far it’s off to a muy bueno beginning. Here has been my day thus far:

• 7:20 – wake up call
• 8:10 – leave hose to catch bus to school
• 9:00 – practice: 4,000 meter swim
• 11:15 – ROCK my anatomy exam!!!!!

Clearly this last one is makin my day. The occipital protuberance.. serous fluid.. and synovial joints aint got nothin on me baby!! The test was on 11 chapters (half of our book!) so it was a lot of material. We were aloud to make a “cheat sheet” – 8×11, front and back, whatever you can fit on it.. mine sheet took me about five hours to make! I think I only used it for like three or four questions though.. it feels so good to go into a test actually excited about it because you’re PREPARED and your brain is so effing saturated that you know everything you can possibly know!

Well now that I got that out…! Just a heads up, this is a pretty NRR (non-running-related) post… so if you’re waiting for that one about injury prevention – this isn’t it! (Still  coming though.. promise! Going to the Underwater Treadmill dealio soon!)

Time to move on to other important matters:

Snack like no one’s watching!

If you’ve been reading my blog for a while.. you know that I luuurve my popchips. Love as in I could buy a bag at 2:00, and it might very well be gone by 10:00. I’ve made all sorts of crazy creations with my pleasurable little poppers… nachos, chili dippers, taco salads, you name it. They’re also the perfect snack to bring when you’re going to a potluck.. a MOVIE.. a team dinner

[This is supposed to be a photo of the awesome package.. but apparently it's still on my camera at home!! I'll upload when I get there!]

Not too long ago, Shana, part of my snackfamily over at popchips was awesome enough to send me a sample pack! What I really had wanted to get was a racing jersey to sport the popchips logo.. but they don’t have those. Yet. I got an awesome t-shirt to sport in the mean time!! I just feel like Popchips is such a fun, upbeat company, but they also work so well with my athletic lifestyle! They’re “love, without the handles” and they’re a healthy (delicious) snack I can plain take on-the-go, eat em’ at home, or make them into a more elaborate meal. Here’s my official rundown on the flavors that were included in the box, in order of my favorite to least favorite. And by “least favorite”, I mean that in a liked it a lot, but SOMEONE had to come last! kind of way! Here we go:

1. Cheddar Potato – I. Love. Cheddar. Pretty much cheddar anything. Don’t even get me started on cheezy popcorn because I’ll never get to the end of this post! I feel like the cheddar popchips have juuust the right amount of cheezygoodness to satisfy that craving, but it’s not overkill. Actually, my VERY FAVORITE POPCHIPS EVER are the Golden Cheddar MULTIGRAIN flavor. There is absolutely nothing they could do to make those better in my opinion. Pure goodness on a plate napkin? straight out of the bag? You know how I do

2. Salt & Pepper Potato – These are soooo good! Aside from the little kick you get from the pepper, I think these are also one of my favorites for their versatility! I mentioned popchip nachos.. and these are BOMB just for that reason. These make fantastic soup dippers/cruncher topping. My favorite is with thick creamy tomato basil bisque (a la French Meadow if possible!!). Heaaaven!

3. Sour Cream & Onion Potato – Alright. Who doesn’t like sour cream & onion chips? Haha for some reason I feel like that is such a guilty flavor! Maybe because I’m remembering regular Ruffles potato chips with the sour cream & onion DIP.. the dip being the guilty factor! Honestly guys, if you like sour cream & onion, these are for you!

4. Barbeque Potato – favorite #4. These have a reallly strong barbeque flavor, so if you want mild, then pick a different flavor. But I definitely don’t want mild, so I think these are great! The only reason these aren’t higher up on my list is because the only way I have figured out how to eat them thus far is just plain. Nothing wrong with that, but sometimes I like to get creative! What are other ways you do up your BBQ chips? I’m open for suggestions!

5. Original Potato – Really, these last three were all so hard to rank. They’re ALLLL good! The original flavor is great because you can dip it, top it, crunch it, and really get crafty here. These were my very favorite for making nachos until I found the Salt & Pepper flavor. Salty crunchy good!

6. Sea Salt & Vinegar Potato – Alright.. here’s my explanation. I have some weird thing with acidity. Or maybe it’s like a brine flavor that I can’t do? I don’t know.. but it prohibits me from eating olives, ketchup, really anything with that briney flavor. Sea Salt & Vinegar chips have always fallen under that same taste-category for me. I don’t know how to explain it.. it hurts my tongue? The problem is though, I still LOVE these chips!! Hahah so I eat them anyways.. and then my tongue is like swollen! It’s not a popchip problem – I promise you that. It happened when I bought a bag of Sea Salt & Vinegar soy crisps too… bummer! These are my mom’s favorite flavor though!

So those were the 6 that were in the box. How awesome is Shana! Like I said though.. they now make MULTIGRAIN flavors, and the Golden Harvest Cheddar is by farrrr my very favorite. I have also tried the Multigrain Sea Salt, and those are great too! There is a Parmesan Garlic Potato flavor which I have yet to find at any of my local grocery stores… but I am dying to try it! I said I love cheese. Parmesan = cheese. Something tells me those chips are golden.

If you can find popchips near you, I think they definitely outshine any of the other chips out there on the market. And if I need to include a disclaimer.. (yeah.. enough with you new blogging protocol rules…) I can tell you that obviously popchips sent these to me, but in no way was it dependent on a review by me, much less a positive one. Trust me.. if there’s something I don’t like, I’ll be the first to let you know!

Well how’s THAT for a good start to the week! The rest of my day is pretty scheduled, just the way I like it, and it looks a little somethin’ like this:

• 3:30 – practice/PT exercies
• 5:30 – WORK! Just a couple hours tonight. I’m liking makin $$
• 8:00 – hopefully earlier? Hit the grocery store on my way home. My fridge looks naked.
• 11:00 – again, hopefully earlier! SLEEEEEP

I’m trying to implement a new 11:00 rule – must be IN BED by 11:00. I have been trying to work on getting more sleep for howww long? I set the alarm on my phone to go off at 10:30, so it’s my little reminder that if I’m not already getting ready for bed, I need to start makin’ my way to it. Yesterday I FAILED and wasn’t in bed until 12:15.. which for me, is pretty ridiculous for a Sunday night! I had just spend the last like 6 hours at the coffee shop though making that study guide, so when I got home at 8:45 I felt like I had barely been home all day. Because I hadn’t! Anyways.. I’m going to try and work really hard on this new 11:00 thing, because SLEEP* is an important component of recovery! Not to mention.. I’m a bltch when I don’t get my 8 hours of Zzzs. (* OMG. For this reason alone I am so happy I decided to keep blogging. That post was from my freshman year in college when I used to nap every day in Coffman. And that hummus!!! I haven’t had that in SOOO long but will definitely be picking some up at the store tonight!)

Well, I’m off to catch the bus! I’m uh.. not attending my math class today. My 2nd class of the day was canceled, and I have math last, so I’d just be hangin around all day. Plus I talked to the professor and the material we’re covering today is stuff I’m solid on. No biggie! Plus, that lets me get practice done early, which lets me get to work tonight, which makes me a Money Maker. Yessir!

Seeee ya.
-E

p.s. meals & moves is 6 months old and is hosting a giveaway! check out cookware.comfor your favorite brands like cuisineart, emile henry, rachael ray cookware and more! giveaway ends 10/23!

Tags: college, food, giveaway, random, snack

First snowfall, sweet dreams, and giveaways galore!

Posted on October 12th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

Well helllloo bloggies (and non-bloggies sister mom dad roomie that I know are reading). On this MONDAY night I hope you all had a wonderful (or at least a step above terrible) start to your week!

Mondays and I have a love/hate relationship goin’ on. Love em’ because I have one of my favorite classes (Human Anatomy for Kinesiology majors), we get 4,000 yards done in the pool first thing in the morning, and there is $1 coffee at Caribou (which I actually no longer partake in now that I don’t drive to school.. but it definitely always made my day!), and Somer is the spin instructor on Monday nights she pretty much kick SASS. Hate em’ because it means there are still 4 days left of the work/school week, I have my least favorite (though easiest) class, I am reminded that I think I’m allergic to chlorine, and the fact that Monday’s come after Sunday – a day of which could not possibly be any better. (haha oh wow – how’s that for a throwback post?

This Monday is lookin’ pretty darn  good to me. I just got home from the gym where I got to sweat it out on the xrunner with my favorite gym buddy, got in a solid 10 min. core sesh, AND got through all my PT exercises for my glute muscles. And now, I write to you from the oversized-heaven-on-a-box-spring.

Please note all the necessary accessories in the photo:

1. multiple sources of hydration (Sleepytime tea in huge green mug, earth friendly metal water bottle #1, not so earth friendly but free water bottle #2)
2. the McMac. I can’t imagine ever going back to a PC now… ( <3 iCal!! )
3. the pain stick, also referred to as the roller of doom. Important enough that it warrants itself a spot in bed.
4. new cell phone!!
5. and the made-for-blogging-in-bed backrest pillow god I got from my godfather. Thank youuuu!

Nothing could make this look more appealing to me. Unless dinner were on a little TV tray next to me, but it’s cookin’ in the oven so that will have to wait. Oh… well maybe looking at it from this point of view…:

Grey’s. My dear Grey’s. (Please excuse the calfs that look exactly like drumsticks which is exactly why I am a vegetarian…) This dang TV that is in such a convenient location doesn’t even work!! Haha it plugs in.. but no TV. I got one of the federal coupons for getting a digital converter box, but I have no idea what I’m looking for at the store so I have been putting off going to get one. Not like I couldn’t just ask “Hi, my name is [blank]” at Target Boutique and be pointed in the right direction. Grey’s Anatomy is the ONE show that I’m dedicated to and still enjoy watching (except the news.. what a granny!) and I’m finally all caught up with this new season after being gone the last FOUR Thursday nights in a row. Honestly.. who plans team meetings on Thursday nights at 8:00? Don’t they know I have something important to do?! Hence #5 reason to dislike Mondays – THREE DAYS until Grey’s!

Anyways, I promise, there was a point to this post. Having to refer back to my title tells me I’ve gotten a little off track. Lo siento!

That would be the across-the-street view from my bus stop this morning. I think God knocked over his sugar bowl when he was making his cup o’ coffee this morning. I have no other way to describe 2.4″ on OCTOBER 12th. Jeeeez. We set a new record for snowfall today in the good ol’ MiniApple. Woooo. ?!

Sweet dreams? I had a dream the other night that I won a crazy blog giveaway. And I’m pretty sure this blog giveaway doesn’t even exist.. because at the end of the dream I ended up in the Natatorium with my tri team handing out muffins. Mmm yep. But there was a ton of sweet stuff in that dream that I WISH I was winning! If anyone wants to jot down what I dreamt I won, and then make a Sperly-just-for-you-Greatest-Giveaway-EVER.. let me know. Haha and I promise that wasn’t just a fakey-flakey way to segue into THIS, but now that I’m talking about giveaways…

Holy smokes! So many going on. First of all… I would really appreciate it if you all would enter MY FIRST GIVEAWAY! As of right now, I wouldn’t exactly call the competition for winning “steep.” And come onnnn kids.. I know who is reading my blog. I can see incoming links. The majority of you are either food bloggers who happen to run, or run bloggers who happen to very much enjoy food. Chances are you already have a photo posted of one of your favorite fall flavas, and you know the recipe off the top of your head. We don’t need to be talking Gourmet Magazine or anything here. And I may add that a certain variety of bars that a certain variety of [ALL OF] you happen to enjoy very much so was on sale this weekend at my lovely local grocery store. And that certain variety of goodness may have happened to make its way into my package of goodies. Still plenty of time left to enter my giveaway, but it would reassure me on my first one if you did it sooner rather than later!

Hah.. now that I’m done begging… here are some other sweet thangs that are givin away sweet thangs:

OneFrugalFoodie and her DairyFree basket of deliciousness…

RunToTheFinish and the sickest (in a very good way) arm sleeves…

Miss Missy who’s Maintain’ away and her Silk goodness…

SeeJessRun and her eco cool bag…

The Experimentarian’s apple goodies galore…

RunToTheFinish goes gluten free with Gilbert’s…

Oh my lord I know there are how many more..? Looking at my history I can’t even keep track of where I’ve been.

The timer just went off on my delicious dinner bubbling away in the oven, so it is of utmost importance that I get to that, but I just wanted to touch base real quick on the injury front. I have been a VERY good girl with this no running business. Maybe a bitchy very good girl at times, but I have followed my orders. To turn the frown upside down here, there are several POSITIVE posts that I feel should be made regarding my injury, running injuries in general, and whathave you. Given that I have gone through this twice, as well as two other stress fractures in each fibula, I know some things about XT. I have also had a great medical team and coaches behind me all the way, insuring that I don’t eff up my injury even worse. If anyone is interested, I want to do a post about cross training for runners > injury prevention > core strength for runners > swim workouts > bike workouts > the whole deal. Would that be helpful to anyone or would I just be writing to myself here? Let me know what you are interested in learning about!

Let me know…

Enter my giveaway…

Have a lovely evening!

Yours truly,
-E

Tags: college, giveaway, injury, random, run

Sperly's first GIVEAWAY..!!

Posted on October 10th, 2009 by Dr. TriRunner

Aright kiddos.. here we go!

This is my first ever giveaway.. and while it might seem like everybody and their mom is having a giveaway right now, one more definitely can’t hurt! I intended to do a giveaway on my 100th post (mmm yeah, that says something about my posting frequency) but that day came and went, and here I am, a giveaway virgin. I am really excited though – I constantly see incoming links to my blog that I don’t know, and it makes me really happy to think I’m getting new readers! I hope this opens up my blog to a larger community, as well as showing ME some sweet blogs that I have yet to discover!!

So what are we playin’ for?

Healthy Cooking mag – it’s not just for the Britains
Organic food coupons and raisins not bitten
Agave Nectar – like liquid gold with wings
These are a few of my favorite things…

(OK tell me you guys are picking up on this song and I don’t just sound like an idiot…)

Advice from the Mayo on choosing your noodles,
Plus “Disease Fighting Foods” – the whole kit n caboodle
Goodies from Quaker – a key chain on a ring
Plus a pen and you have some of my favorite things…!

WOW….

that was a stretch. Please excuse the lameness.

Contents of the giveaway:

• The last issue of Healthy Cooking magazine – I browsed through it – lots of fall pumpkin infused goodies!
• 4 $1.00 off coupons for any Cascadian Farm product. I recommend either cereal or frozen b.nut squash!
• 4 booklets of coupons for lots of good organic goodies… yogurt, cereal, soup, natural cleaning products, etc.
• Mentos!! Haha I love em. They’re not breath mints.. they’re movie candy. Clearly.
• To-go packets of organic agave nectar. Seeing as how this is apparently a popular thing among bloggers…
• Two booklets from the Mayo Clinic on healthy eating out, and some super disease fighting foods
• Some little goodies I got from Quaker for all you oatmeal fanatics – a pen and a key chain
• A bigazz bag of dark chocolate Raisinettes!! Soooo good.

Alright, so the majority of these are not necessarily “favorite things,” (except the Raisinettes and Mentos) but they are definitely all good stuff. And the COUPONS! Alright let me tell you a story my friends. I ventured to the land of the Food Hole (otherwise known as Whole Paycheck) with several coupons. Rare is the occasion that you will find me there, unless I am accompanied by a generous credit card other than my own. Come to think of it, I think about 90% of the times I have been in that store have been just for lunch off of the salad bar, not actual grocery shopping of my own. That place is such a trap – the had SO MANY good things! Brands and producs that I had never even seen or heard of before! You will be seeing something related in a future post. ANYWAYS, the point of this story – with my coupons in hand and a wee bit of restraint, I got to the checkout counter and saved $15. That’s nothing compared to what I’ve done at Target before ($41!!), but that was $15 off of a $35 total!! That’s a 42% savings!! You too can save %42 my friends. All you have to do issss….

Rules to enter:

Each one of these steps counts as a separate entry – upping your chances of winning!

1. Submit a photo of your favorite food/snack/drink/meal/whathaveyou that makes you think FALL!!! You have to SEND the photo to me ( RunDogMpls at gmail dot com ) and before I (randomly) select the winner, I’ll have a photo post of all of your favorite fantastic fall favorites!! (How’s that for alliteration?) Since the winner is picked based off of the number of your comment, leave a comment saying what it was you sent a picture of. This is NOT OPTIONAL.. to enter the giveaway you need to send a picture!
2. Follow me on Twitter, and post a comment saying you did so. My Twitter screen name is SperlyTriRunner.
3. Leave a comment with a recipe for your favorite fall [blank] that you sent me a photo for. If you have a blog and you’ve already posted about it.. you can just leave a comment with the link to your post.
4. Post about my giveaway on YOUR blog including a link to this page, and then leave a comment with the link to your post!

Alright so #1 is mandatory – everyone get that? If I draw your number and you haven’t sent in a photo, I gotta pick someone else. Capiche?

So you have FOUR chances to enter. I don’t like even numbers.. but I can’t think of one more thing that would be a good entry. Just a side note – there are a couple things being added into the loot bag, but I already took the picture, so those are just gonna increase the suspense! I know already that there is a larger item that has been added in to the winnings, and also a little item that I threw in this morning. If I get stuff between now and when I pick the winner there might be more! And so when I pick the winner – you have between right now and Saturday October 24th at midnight to make your submissions. I will draw on Sunday, and then that week I will be posting all of your lovely photos! If you sent link to the recipe for the photo that you submitted (hahah that worried the cat that killed the rat that ate the malt that lay in the house that Jack built) and you don’t mind me SHARING that recipe, I’ll also include the link for that!

I’m playing by the rules here (but no, I won’t be sending off this package to myself). Here is my submission for a favorite snack that instantly says leaves are a changin’, pumpkin pie is in the oven.. it’s falllll baby!

Ingredients:
- One serving of Caramel corn
- Those burntdelicous tasting caramel coated peanuts (think Cracker Jacks) that come with the caramel corn
- A crappy paper prize A big ol handful of candy corn.

Yummmm!

OK.. I think this post has taken me close to an hour to write. Hence why I don’t post so often. What do you all do to make it easier? Wait.. don’t answer that.. at least not on this post. That doesn’t count as an entry to the giveaway! Listo muchachos? Ready… set… GO!

E Sperly – signin off from the coffee shop. Byeeee

Tags: coffee, giveaway, random