ShannonAlbert.com - June 2009

Friday evening Payton and I drove to OKC just in time to go to dinner with Kami and Reaghan. We ate at PF Chang's which was yummy as usual. Kam and I were good and ordered a healthy-ish dish and split it. Then we ate some of Payton's and Reaghan's and then these delicious shooter desserts somehow arrived. So much for being good.



We headed to the mall where the other girls decided on another pedicure and I headed out to buy a gift card for Payton's friend and get some books for our upcoming trip.





That night, Kam and I stayed up chatting while the girls played. Saturday morning we got up to run and after cleaning up, we headed to Reaghan's ice skating lesson.



Left for a yummy lunch and then Payton and I headed home. Made it in 2 hours 15 minutes....a new record! :)

I love being so close to Kam - we've seen each other 3 times w/in the last month! I think the next trip will be Kam coming to Wichita so Reaghan can see that Blake is still alive (she hasn't seen him since our WDW trip in October I don't think).

Kam and I ran the first annual Stepping Out to Cure Sclerdoderma 5K in OKC this morning. It was a small event but very humbling seeing all of the "in memory of" shirts (including one large group of family members of someone who just passed about two weeks ago) and people with oxygen tanks.

They announced that runners would go first and there were only maybe 8-10 of us I'm guessing. They told us to go and we were off running. I was the last of the running group but some did stop running mid-way and didn't finish. I lost sight of Kam pretty quickly. The running path was two laps around a 1.5 mile course and I passed walkers on my second lap who were still on their first lap. It felt good to pass somebody even if they were walking. :)

My goal was 34 minutes and I finished in 32:27 despite the really high humidity that had me covered in sweat. First place was a high school girl who runs mid-distances for her school, then Kam, then the high school girl's mom.

Glad to have completed the first 5k and won't be doing my long run tomorrow since I ran today. Kam wants me to run a sanctioned race that's more official and includes timing chips. Considering the Midnight Streak in late July.

This was the bag used for Andy's Father's Day gift. He loved it. The card the kids gave him was also Superman-related and allowed the kids to record a message followed by the Superman theme. We've had to hide the card from Blake because his desire to keep recording new messages is just too strong.

Payton: We hate each other, remember?
Blake: No, I love you and you hate me. It's true!

Blake: Mom, do we have Vonage or the phone company?
Me: The phone company.
Blake: Vonage wants to change the way you do things. The phone company doesn't allow you to dial long distance. Go to startvonage.com.

Made chocolate chip pancakes (used this recipe but used whole wheat flour in place of white flour), turkey bacon, scrambled omelet (using Egg Beaters) and fruit. Everybody had seconds. Was very yummy!

Payton's been keeping a blog for awhile but I'm not sure I've ever mentioned it. Go to http://thecoolangel.blogspot.com/ and check it out!

I get all of my healthy recipes where any normal person does - from the MySpace account of my favorite TV actress. These brownies are so good and she says they are 88 calories.

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
Butter-flavored cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8x8 inch non-stick cake pan with spray.

In a medium mixing bowl, using a sturdy whisk or spatula, mix the applesauce, vanilla, egg whites and sugar until they are well combined.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir the mixture until it is just combined and no lumps remain. Pour it into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chips evenly over the top. Bake the brownies for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay).

Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to cool 5 minutes. Cut into 12 equal brownies. Makes 12 (1 brownie) servings.

Each brownie has: 88 calories, 2 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, less than 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 133 mg sodium

You can now get to this blog by typing shannonalbert.com in the address bar. The old address will still work but will redirect automatically to the new address.

To Andy..


And my dad..

Completed week 2 of half-marathon training. I did skip the two cross-training days because I was just very tired and needed the time off. I did lift weights and do all of my runs including today's 4 mile run which shaved almost 3 minutes off the last 4 mile run. Andy ran it the whole time with me this time and we about died in the heat and wind.

Weight loss...

Who would have thought that working out 6 days a week including running several miles would not equal weight loss? That's what I've been dealing with for the past month or so but became a little obsessed about it this week. After many conversations with people and reading a lot, it would appear that the running distance doesn't make you lose weight but varying the intensity does. I also think that my meals should be more protein/carb balanced. Varying intensities and balancing carbs/proteins are the tenets of the Body for Life program which we've had a lot of success with. The scale has now been put away, I'm not going to obsess over the points and just try to be sensible. I dug out a pair of "skinny jeans" that will be my new goal rather than a number.

Next week of half-marathon training increases the distance so this time next week, I should be writing "I just ran 5 miles!" Wish us luck!

Update: Body for Life website says not to combine BFL concepts while training for long distance running because the caloric needs while running are so much higher and the intense weights that are in the BFL program aren't appropriate for runners. The site says to do training and BFL separately so I guess that's what I will do!