Final Louisiana Marathon Thoughts
January 18, 2013 by · 7 Comments
Well folks its time!! Louisiana Marathon time!! As you might have seen yesterday we are super excited to go, I mean heck, we have 26.2 reasons. Do you need more proof?? Yea we didn’t think so.
This time around will be a little different. We are not running this entire thing together, Beth will carry on for the full and Teal will run the half. A super tough decision but ultimately the right one! Now this is not totally what we had planned on so we are doing this one a little different. We decided that we will each make race signs for each other and keep them super secret until the day of! It’s actually kind of funny because both of us had this idea individually and then it just came out so we decided to make it a surprise! Fun, right?? So guess they will also be surprise for YOU! Stay tuned…
![IMG_9253[1]](http://lifeisarun.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_92531.jpg)
We will set out eeeearly Saturday morning and make our trek to Baton Rouge via a road trip with our husbands. Whoa that is weird to say…we both have them now! We will make the stop at the expo, of course, and then head to dinner and bed! Duh, really what else is there to do the night before a race? If you know something better we are totally up for suggestions!
As far as goals go, we, as usual want to run smart before anything else. Smart and safe! We don’t think this will turn out anything like the White Rock Marathon but if Mother Nature just so happens to be a biotch Sunday, we know what to do. We are excited about this course because there is actually A LOT of it together. PLUS, for the second 13.1 we will easily be able to find Beth multiple times in that the race loops back around at some pretty hard miles. 15 and 16 turn into 21 and 22. Good job there race director, we like the way you think about the spectators too! The half marathon doesn’t split away from the full until about 10.5 meaning we can run with each other for that long. Our plan, well as of now is to stay together for that part and Teal will stay with Beth and almost pace her a little slower then she might just go normally (not slower per se but just at a steady pace that’s not like “oh here I’m just gonna run my normal half pace”) hope that makes sense. This will hopefully help maintain energy throughout the race and avoid the ever scary problem of going out too fast due to adrenaline. We think this will be helpful but who the heck knows?? I think we both have mentioned to each other throughout this that the Marathon is a CRAZY BEAST. So even the best laid plans fail sometimes but we have super high hopes that this will be great!
Hopefully the fact that our signs are a secret will keep our minds busy and watching for what is to come and the time and miles will pass by super fast! This could totally work right?? RIGHT!!
26.2 Reasons We Are Excited to Race the Louisiana Marathon
January 17, 2013 by · 9 Comments
1. It will be our first time to run in Louisiana not just race but actually do even a run in this state!
2. ROAD TRIP!!
3. Look at this pretty bling we get to add to our collection:
4. This will be the 1st time either one of us has been to Baton Rouge! Unless there was sometime when we were little kids and do not remember………..
5. We will have two of the most handsome dudes out there cheering us on!
the two in the front, we don’t know the guy in the white shirt! 🙂
6. We can’t wait for the race swag! Whoever does the design work for their logos ROCKS!
7. We heard the Race Director has a brother-in-law who lives in Texas – who doesn’t love a good Texas connection?!
8. This is the Louisiana Marathon’s 2nd year and they have runners (as of 1/15/13) from 47 states and 12 countries participating.
9. There are designated Cheer Zones on the course that are actually stocked with snacks, refreshments AND cheering supplies! Talk about a great race for runners and spectators!
10. We get to run with each other until this mile, ok, really it is like until 10.5.
11. We hear it’s a fast course which who doesn’t like a fast course?!
12. The weather for race day is looking awwwwwesome! *knock on wood*
13. The course is suppose to be beautiful!
13.1. Teal will finish her 16th half marathon!!
14. People have constantly asked us WHY we are running THIS race, well, we think this best explains it: THE WHY
15. This race starts and finishes right by the State’s Capitol.
16. To steal the words from Brian, we are excited to “carbeaux leauxd” for this race! 🙂 In fact let us point out one more time if you aren’t following Brian on twitter then you’re doing twitter wrong! Might we also point out, if you are in the market for a running coach you should get in touch with Brian! OK, enough about Brian….
17. Po’ boys!
18. ALL of the snacks we have planned for the car ride! 🙂
19. Not only are there cheer zones set up on this course, but a lot of great opportunities to see runners multiple times without having to cover a lot of ground!
20. We will actually run on the campus of LSU!
21. Race weekends in which Monday is a holiday are awwwesome! Though please note Teal was the only one who didn’t have to request this day off from work. Ha.
22. Our pre-race dinner at Mike Anderson’s…unless something happens between now and Saturday night to change that!
23. The two of us and our husbands all sharing one hotel room the night before the race!
24. Craft beer at the Finish Festival.
25. Gumbo, Jambalaya, Crawfish Etouffee and more food selections at the Finish Festival.
26. We will end our trip to Louisiana with a celebration in New Orleans! 🙂
from Beth & Brent’s trip to NOLA in 2009
26.2. Beth will finish marathon no. 2!
Tasty Tuesday: Seafood Gumbo
January 15, 2013 by · 2 Comments
Hello, January! And the need to get off some of those holiday pounds! In an effort to do so the other night for dinner I turned to one of my handy dandy Tosca Reno Clean Eating cookbooks to find something I could make for dinner. Tosca’s gumbo completely jumped out at me especially since it’s been cold. It sounded hearty and just what we needed.
First off you’ll need the following ingredients:
3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 large green bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 large cloves garlic, chopped
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
4 cups low sodium chicken broth
12 oz cut frozen or fresh okra (about 3 cups)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
1 lb 51-60 count shrimp, peeled and deveined
12 oz low fat all natural fully cooked andouille sausage
Steamed long grain brown rice, for serving
Hot sauce, to garnish
This recipe can be made using either a Dutch oven or a large heavy-bottomed pot. I do not own a Dutch oven so large heavy-bottomed pot it was for me!
To start add olive oil and flour in the pot, and cook, stirring occasionally. Cook until the mixture is brown and toasty, so roughly 8 minutes. Add onion, celery, pepper, garlic, salt, pepper, Old Bay seasoning and cayenne. Cook the vegetables until they are tender, roughly 10 minutes.
Add tomato paste, broth, okra, thyme and bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, stir to combine ingredients and then reduce heat to simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes.
Increase heat to high. Add shrimp and sausage and gently stir to submerge them into the hot liquid. Cook for 3 -4 minutes until the shrimp are cooked through and the sausage is heated through.
Taste and add any additional seasoning if needed. Remove the bay leaves and throw them away. Serve over brown rice.
For a printable version of the recipe please go HERE.
If you are in Texas today and enjoyed some of the snow maybe this is juust the recipe you need for tonight’s dinner! It provides lots of good flavors and just as tasty as leftovers!
December Goal Recap
January 11, 2013 by · 4 Comments
Don’t worry we didn’t forget about our goals during our hiatus in the month of December. Yah, yah, it’s the 11th and we are just now posting them…oops? Story of our lives?! Here’s how we did during the crazy month that always is December:
Teal-
1. Complete all marathon training runs.
Um, I really don’t know how to give myself a grade for this since I am not actually doing the marathon now. But at the same time I really haven’t altogether been running consistently either. There are many reasons why this has happened, all I am sure you really do not want to hear about. The holiday season is just crazy anyways and if I was still running the marathon it would have taken a lot of discipline to not partake in holiday festivities at the extent that is SUPER fun!
2. Go to the Ross Perot Museum. This place looks awesome and just opened on December 1st!
F-: I blame my mother for this because she told me that she was going to go with my cousins and so I waited to go with them and then they never went so yea.. I’ll try it in January.
3. Not last minute Christmas shop although I may already be setting myself up for failure.
B-: I finished 2 days early! Haha! This is actually not bad and I had to do no wrapping of the presents the day of which hasn’t happened in a while!
4. Don’t be a scrooge and actually put up the Christmas tree this year
A-: I have to thank my husband for this! We actually put up decorations and a tree. It was only 3 feet tall but it was up! Anyone have one of those tall skinny ones they want me to have? That is what I decided I would do next year because part of my problem is my house doesn’t have a good “Christmas tree” spot. Anyone else have this problem? It drives me nuts! So a tall skinny tree is my answer for next year!
Beth-
1. Complete all marathon training runs.
C+: I haven’t completed them and some of that is due to a weird pain in my lower leg, so ummm yah…..we’ll see how this all works out for me in a little over a week at the Louisiana Marathon.
2. Get another room in my house organized this month!
A-: Last month I got our office darn near close to organized and our guest room darn near close to organized. They both look SOOOOOOO much better! There’s still some work to be done, but I am proud of what I accomplished so far! I even spent part of an afternoon organizing our pantry because it was driving me crazy!
Isn’t it purdy?!
3. In addition to organizing there are a couple of crafty projects I want to do around our house, so I’m going to commit to complete one of them this month!
F: The closest I came to accomplishing this was printing out something I needed in order to do said craft project. No craft project was accomplished……
4. Run a smart race at Dallas Marathon (only the half though).
A+: I’d say getting a shiny new PR at Dallas Marathon (half) accomplishes this goal!
5. Actually make use of my handy dandy Kitchenaid stand mixer and make Christmas cookies!
A+: I made two batches of Grandmom Lynch’s ginger snaps. They are deeeeeelicious!
![IMG_8936[1]](http://lifeisarun.files.wordpress.com/2013/01/img_89361.jpg)
There you have it! We are kind of toying with revamping the way we do our goals, so you aren’t going to find any January goals in this post. We’ll let you know what we decided to do! 🙂
Until our next post – have a fun and safe weekend! Good luck to all of our friends who are racing this weekend! May the speed be with you. 🙂
Hello? Are you there?
January 7, 2013 by · 8 Comments
Hi, there! Do you remember us?! We kind of went a little MIA for the holidays, well, as far as blogging goes. Ok, we were also kind of MIA on our twitter account too. Oopsies?
Sometimes you just need a break to recharge though right?!
Pretty much since our last couple of blog posts we have done A LOT of things. We kicked off the holidays that next week with a frunners party at the Luebs!
It’s a joke…just know we are fun people! Promise!
Heidi, the Hostess with the Mostest!
Ninja hijacked the LiAR instagram
Then we were able to celebrate this cutie patooties 1st Birthday at her Grandparent’s house. We take any and every opportunity we can to see her mom & dad….and, obviously, Miss Eliza as well. Isn’t she just SO cute?
We of course celebrated Christmas with our families, and we each have little kids in our family so there are never dull moments!
Beth & her nephew Christmas Eve
And you thought Teal was tall? Check out how much taller her bros are than her!
For those of you reading this blog that are NOT from Dallas and/or did not spend your Christmas in Dallas – we got SNOW! ON Christmas Day! It was pretty!
The day after Christmas Teal and her family participated in the 4th Annual Wynnwood Haven Memorial Walk. Forty-five people came out despite the 20 degree temperature to participate in the walk that honors her Grandpa. How cool is that?
Wilson is ready to walk!
On the 30th we got in our last run of 2012 together at White Rock Lake. And thankfully Teal & White Rock are starting to be friends again! What are we talking about? Read this.
The two of us volunteered at New Years Double on day 1 of the race. We put on as many layers as possible and hung out in the cold & rain. We actually ran this race last year (check that out here & here), and let us just tell you right now this race does NOT disappoint when it comes to bling! You should definitely add it to your list of races if you are in DFW or if you are looking to race in the DFW area!
That’s one impressive race medal!
You do have to run the race on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day to get each of those medals that fits into the challenge plate! Such an awesome way to end your year and start a new year!
Our only picture together includes the awesome DK! Who PR’d her 5K!!
And then of course we did partake in the whole celebrating New Year’s Eve thing. Thanks to Bitner & Chaz for having us all over to your house! It was a night of good friends, good food and some good ol’ card games.
Bitner, Su & Teal
Our dudes 🙂
So there you have it the end of our 2012. We have kept the fun alive so far in 2013 the proof is in this last Saturday’s activities which pretty much include day drinking and bowling.
The start of our 2013, and just where we’ve been since before Christmas. We hope that you all had a great holiday season with your family and that your new year has started off great! And with this we are back to our regularly scheduled selves once again! See you again soon. 🙂