Sprints Are Great, I Swear!

June 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (7 Comments)

I try to be a model parent.

I eat my vegetables.  I brush my teeth.  I make a genuine effort to not swear in front of my children – or so I liked to believe.

As it turns out, Maxine and I had a very revealing conversation at bedtime the other night while discussing homonyms.

(You know… their/there/they’re, two/to/too, you/ewe, know/no)

Maxine (contributing to our list of examples): Like, sit and sit!

Me: Sit?

Maxine:  Sit like when you “sit down”, and sit like you say when you’re frustrated.

Oh, sit.  Read more...

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Don’t Dread the Tread

February 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (12 Comments)

If wearing your Vibrams on the treadmill at the gym doesn’t get you any looks, taking a picture of yourself wearing your Vibrams on the treadmill at gym should totally take care of that.

Star Trac

I actually don’t know if anyone gave me the stink eye on this particular day while donning my favorite pink toe shoes.  I do know that I was fully prepared to say “but look at how stinkin’ cute they are!!” if someone called me a freak or a did that thing where you hold your pointer finger near your temple and swirl it around a bit.  Read more...

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Salad For Breakfast

February 5th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (17 Comments)

I think it was mid-December when I started looking for an alternative to my typical oatmeal/grain-based breakfast.  Not because I stopped digging oats mind you, but because somewhere toward the end of last year I came to understand that sugar is just no good and I wanted to start eating less of it.

Now before you get annoyed with me and that blasphemous statement, I’m not saying that I’ve stopped eating sugar or bread completely or don’t enjoy sweets.  I’m just not eating sugar (or as the case may be, foods that your body eventually converts to sugar – i.e., grains like rice, pasta, bread) on a daily basis like I have for oh, I don’t know – 31 years?  Read more...

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Where Oh Where Has My Little Blog Gone?

February 3rd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Life - (14 Comments)

So I dropped off the face of the blogosphere for a month and a half or something.  Oh yes, I’m still here – new camera collecting dust while I’ve been off having fun with much of the following:

1.  The Primal Blueprint Meets The 4-Hour Body.

I devoted a bunch of posts in December to the wonders of The Primal Blueprint and how much I was digging it, right?  Well, The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferris deserves the same accolades.  Quite informative and entertaining in many respects.  Funny, inspiring and errr, intriguing?  (Be sure to check out the chapter on the 15 minute female orgasm, for the illustrations if nothing else.)  Read more...

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Three Things About Three Things

December 16th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Late Night Craziness - (9 Comments)

Lately I’ve been keeping an eye out for grain free, sugar free breakfast ideas.  Thanks to The Primal Blueprint, I’ve been feeling this urge to put a little space between me and my typical breakfast of champi-oats.

Ask and apparently you shall receive!  Didn’t a recipe for a bitter chocolate pumpkin cake land in my virtual lap?  I saw it here first at Heather Eats Almond Butter and then clicky clicked my way over to a Spoonful of Sugar Free for the original recipe for this wonder of sugarless, no grain, breakfast wonders.  Read more...

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You Ran Right Into the Sign

November 23rd, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (3 Comments)

You know that saying;

What we see depends mainly on what we look for.

Sometimes the answers that we seek are right in front of our very eyes, it’s just a matter of opening them and taking a look.

slow sign

A couple weeks before all this finger felon business went down I’d read an article on Mark’s Daily Apple called The Case Against Cardio.  (If you already love exercise and have no problem making time for a regular run or workout, that article is worth a read.)  It got me thinking that regular, lower intensity work outs can be A-OK.  Maybe even better than ok – maybe slowing down is actually a really good thing.  Read more...

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How To Lose Weight and Keep It Off For Good

November 20th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Weight Loss - (16 Comments)

Once upon a time I was that girl who tried and tried to lose weight and never saw any real, lasting results. While I never had a huge amount of weight to lose, I did know I wanted to be slimmer than I was for what felt like the majority of my life.

The post-pregnancy weight was always a little scary but eventually came off after each pregnancy with the addition of some moderate exercise. Then in early 2008 when I found myself back at my post-pregnancy weight and I hadn’t just had a baby – I knew it was time to get serious.  Read more...

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A Jog Down Memory Lane

October 30th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Breakfast - (7 Comments)

On my run this morning I realized it was a year ago today that I embarked on my maiden voyage with my neighborhood running group. Although I guess a year ago today was Halloween, and Halloween is of course tomorrow. So I suppose I really should have written a year ago tomorrow, but the group runs on Saturdays, so it feels like a year ago today. And “a year ago today” feels a more nostalgic than “a year ago tomorrow” – so I’m leaving it.  Read more...

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Scary, Scary, Quite Contrary

August 22nd, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Motivation - (9 Comments)

Item #177 on my list of Things That Make My Heart Leap Into My Throat:

Mile Marker 24

That would be the 24th mile marker of the Rochester Marathon that is now three weeks away.  THREE! WEEKS! Seeing that freshly spray painted “24” on the marathon course during a bike ride today made me gasp and cover my mouth with my hand whilst laying my other arm across my forehead before pretending to faint.

Holy.  Crap.  They have marked the miles for the race.  We are that close.  Read more...

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Home Field Advantage

July 25th, 2010 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (7 Comments)

For those of you following along, I read Born to Run a few weeks ago.  This book was awesome and continues to have a strong influence on my running life as of late.  Much of the book is about these ultra-marathoners who run this insane, 100 mile race through the Rocky Mountains in Leadville, Colorado.  One of the runners featured in this story had the bright idea to do his training for the race on the actual course itself.  And what do you know – he ended up setting a new course record that year.

Do you know what I think of that?  Read more...

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