Hood to Coast movie

My weekend started off right: with a fantastic swim and a long soak in the hot tub.

I lost myself in my swim Friday night. This is often the case, as I swim out the stress and frustrations of the week. But this time the time just flew by and before I even realized it I had done 40 minutes. I checked my calories and swam for about 15 minutes longer and then enjoyed the steam room. I noticed that my heart was racing in the steam room. I looked down at my heart rate monitor and it was racing. For the 2 minutes or so I sat in there I burned another 30 calories on top of the 406. I found that interesting…did I really burn 15 calories a minute just SITTING? Compared to the 9 calories per minute of swimming? That can’t be!

When I got home from the pool Michael had turkey burgers going on the skillet. That has been a new Friday night favorite. Not only is it super easy because Michael already made the patties and froze them, it’s the perfect post-swim meal for me: protein and lots of carbs. Yum!

He made some sweet potato fries too. I enjoyed a diet Pepsi with Sailor Jerry’s Spiced Rum and we settled in to catch up on Parenthood, The Middle and Modern Family (oh my god–Gloria and that Karaoke machine….yikes).

I slept the greatest sleep I’ve had in awhile on Friday night. Perhaps the combination of swimming, alcohol and carbs are the cure for insomnia? 😉

Saturday

I woke up Saturday morning and leisurely laid in bed. I thought about going hiking but the weather was 30 degrees? With wind? Hmm I’ll pass. Gym it is! But first, a pre-gym breakfast:

Kashi Puffs are 70 calories per serving. One serving = 1 cup! That’s an awesome number in my book. I had 1/2 a serving of cereal (35 calories) + non fat milk (60 calories or so) + 1 small banana (90 calories). It hit the spot and I was out the door in under 200 calories.

First up: the run. After seeing the Hood to Coast movie the desire to run outside and escape the treadmill has increased 1000%! If only my body and the weather would cooperate. I’m itching to run the track next to our house again. I haven’t done it since September. The gym was packed. I’m not sure if the January Joiners have found renewed enthusiasm for getting fit, or if the 28 degree temperatures drove people inside, but it was like fighting snarling lions to get a treadmill.

Next up: weight lifting. After about 5 days of no weight lifting I wasn’t sure how my body would do but it turned out alright. I spent a good amount of time on the Pec-Fly machine (my favorite) until my upper body was shaking, then I made my rounds on the other machines. This time I tried the Gravitron too.

The Gravitron is a cool machine that I normally don’t use. I don’t know why I skip it. Robyn and I did it last week when we worked out and I noticed that my heart rate monitor spiked super high when I did the chin ups and triceps dip on it. Which was strange to me because I didn’t feel like I was working all that hard–and my heart rate wasn’t racing. I wonder if my heart rate increases because I’m using my whole body? Anyone know the answer?

After doing weights I made my way to the mats to focus on my core then I ended with some hip strengthening exercises and stretches. It was a good day at the gym.

Stats:

Time: 1:45 (20 of that was stretching)

Calories Burned: 836

As my post-workout snack I had a Chobani Greek Yogurt (Pomegranate flavor). Of the new flavors I LOVE the pineapple and the pomegranate. Black cherry was okay but a little too sweet for me.

Michael and I went out to lunch at Taco del Mar. I devoured my chicken and black bean burrito. It was okay–not as good as Laughing Planet though.

The rest of the day was Meal Planning, grocery shopping and visiting his Mom. Now it’s Saturday night and I’m getting ready to eat homemade pizza and BEER. 🙂

QUESTION: What are your favorite gym machines?

Finally…a review!

I was a bit bummed in January when I missed the premiere of the Hood to Coast movie. I dragged my feet about whether or not to spend the $50 to see a movie and then by the time I decided to do it, they were sold out. I was disappointed but I also had mixed feelings about seeing the movie too.

Michael and I made a date night out of it. We went to Jake’s for Happy Hour. We split the spinach artichoke dip and each had a drink.

Sorry about the weird lighting. After Happy Hour we walked over to the Living Room Theatres for dinner and the movie.

I’ve never been to the Living Room theatre before. The restaurant/bar was a classy fun place and after we ordered dinner and drinks we went to the theatre and got settled in. They brought the food to us which was nice.

The seats were really nice. They were comfortable and built like couches that encourage romantic snuggling during a movie.

I ordered the Caprese Panini and it was BRILLIANT. It’s not often that a sandwich blows my mind but this one did. A panini with mozzarella, roasted roma tomatoes and basil pesto. It was delicious and I was sad when the food was gone.

Another rum and diet for me.

Now on to the movie. The movie started and within 10 minutes of the beginning I was crying a bit. And I didn’t stop until the movie was over. It was a gut-wrencher.

The documentary focused on four separate teams: The Dead Jocks in a Box (middle aged guys who have been running their whole life and now in their 60’s they’re bummed that their 6 minute miles are now 7 minute miles); Team R Bowe (a team of family and friends memorializing a loved one that died right before he was supposed to run); and the group of your typical Portland slackers–none of which are actually runners and they provided the comic relief. Heart and Sole is a team of older ladies, the main focus being Kathy Ryan–a 66 year old runner.

Kathy’s story is amazing. She will inspire you in ways you may not expect. In her late 60’s and she’s run more marathons than a lot of people half her age. She’s done Hood to Coast 17 times. In 2007 after her third leg she collapsed in Mist, Oregon from a heart attack. She lived and she’s back to running. Funny thing: I’ve been seeing Kathy jogging over the Hawthorne Bridge almost every day for years–long before I knew who she was. I’d see her every day when I walk the bridge to work!

Team R Bowe will make you sob. Seriously. The captain is the widow. She was 9 months pregnant when her 30 year old husband died of a heart attack. He was a runner his whole life and actually ran Hood to Coast when he was 12 years old–and rocked it. It was an amazing, and sad, story.

The Dead Jocks were goofy. Team Slacker (can’t remember the team name) was hilarious–I think they started training for the race 5 days before?

It was a good movie but hard to watch sometimes. I have happy memories of HTC and some not so happy memories. It was hard not to feel jealous of all these runners that can seem to punish their bodies with race after race and never get injured…It was hard not to feel sad that I can’t run anymore and that I probably won’t be doing races again.

I thought the movie was well made and it was over in a flash. You get sucked into the drama and trust me–the BORING potential for a movie about running was there but there was not a moment that I was bored. And Michael? The non-runner? He loved it too. He was inspired and loved the stories even though he has no desire to ever do it.

The movie also explained the history of Hood to Coast–including old footage from the 80’s which was awesome to see. It also did a great job explaining how HTC works.