Running Reckless

Let the Training Begin

runningreckless — Mon, 28 Jun 2010 11:00:27 +0000

It’s official, we are running the Philadelphia Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon in September. Not only are we running but we have grown big enough that we are an official team…yay, go Running Reckless! The big race is 12 weeks from yesterday…and so the training begins.

This week we have two 3-mile runs, a 2-mile run and a 4-mile run. So it’s time to lace up the shoes and hit the road because we have a lot of running to do over the next 12 weeks…207 miles to be exact.

Summer Running

runningreckless — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 11:00:47 +0000

Summer is here!!! As a teacher those are three of my favorite words. Beginning in about March the countdown to summer begins and when the big day arrives in June teachers everywhere celebrate their ten-or-so weeks of freedom. Summer should mean the chance to sleep in…and yet the first day of summer found me rolling out of bed and lacing up my running shoes by 7am. I would rather sleep in during the summer, BUT I have chosen to live somewhere this is hot AND humid for much of the summer and so that is not an option. If we want to continue training, which we have to do for our upcoming races, we train early or we don’t.

And this week has been so hot that even though we go running at 7am we are still dripping with sweat by the end because of the weather. I can handle heat, but humidity is a whole different beast…and not one that is kind to runners. But our race dates grow closer and so we press on…and we hydrate.

Wanted: Running Costume

runningreckless — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 11:00:44 +0000

Next month we will be participating in the Philadephia Down & Dirty Run. I am confident that we will be able to do the running part of the race…the obstacles I’m a little less sure about…Slick Mountain anyone?!? And so we will spend the next month training to prepare ourselves for mud, hurdles and whatever else they will throw our way.

But, we have reached an obstacle in our training…the costume. We recently discovered that we can wear costumes to this run and being the creative group that we are, how can we pass up the chance to dress up?!? Now the question is what do we wear? Our costumes need to still allow us to complete the run and obstacles (including the mud pit at the end), and yet be award-winning costumes. The search is on to find the perfect costume, or set of costumes since there are several of us, and all ideas are welcome!

Thanks for your help in brainstorming and pictures will be sure to follow after the race!

Summertime Giveaways!

runningreckless — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 14:50:15 +0000

I love free stuff! Have I said that before?!? I probably have, but I say it again because I mean it…I love free stuff! And so I share with you some more giveaways that I have found and entered…

We Are THAT Family is giving away luxury items from Goat Milk Stuff…I will be ordering the Cucumber Melon soap very soon!

Family Fresh Cooking is giving away a copy of Eat Clean Diet for Families and Kids…all you need to do is become a Facebook fan and leave a comment…and I highly recommend becoming a fan because the recipes on FFC are delicious!

Healthy Snack Lesson

runningreckless — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:41:09 +0000

If you followed the blog during the month of May you had the opportunity to step into a public school lunchroom on a daily basis and see exactly what our students are eating. Your responses confirmed what I had been thinking for a while…what we are serving our kids is not okay. I am still not 100% sure what the next steps are, but I do know that I would like to take my passions for healthy living and share those with my students. And if other teachers do the same thing, we can actually make a difference.

So today I would like to share a fun and healthy lesson you can do with students in the classroom…or at home with your kids…or just on your own (because this is a yummy snack!) We were fortunate enough to have someone from Eat. Right. Now, under the umbrella of the Food Trust, come out and do the lesson with my students.

My students had a great time and one of my favorite comments was when one of them yelled out “Yo…this is like health and math!” Exactly! Because while I think that educating students about nutrition and health is very imporant, the reality is that there are time constraints so combining health with another subject helps fit everything into the school day.

The lesson was on healthy snacks and we encouraged the students to choose snacks that are easy to make, have the different food groups represented and are delicious…and these quesadillas definitely fit the requirements!

Supplies Needed:

Whole Wheat Tortillas (grains group)
Black Beans (meat/protein group)
Red Pepper (vegetable group)
Salsa (fruit group…a bit of a stretch, but it works!)
Block of cheddar cheese (dairy group)
Cheese grater
Knife
Cutting Board
Fork
Paper Plates
Griddle
Gloves
Hand Sanitizer

Steps for making the quesadillas…

1. Smash the black beans into a paste with the fork and spread out across one of the tortillas.

2. Grate the cheese and sprinkle half of the grated cheese on top of the black bean paste.

3. Chop up the red pepper and add them on top of the cheese.

4. Spread out the salsa and then sprinkle with remaining cheese.

5. Place the second quesadilla on top and move to the griddle, flipping once the first side is browned.

6. The quesadilla is ready once both sides have browned and the cheese is melted.

Before serving the quesadillas a quick math lesson on fractions can be inserted by discussing how to cut up the quesadilla into enough pieces for everyone in the group…and then enjoy!

Click to view slideshow.

Giveaways…more of the free stuff!

runningreckless — Tue, 15 Jun 2010 13:33:06 +0000

Here a couple more giveaways I wanted to pass along…

The first is on a site I recently discovered…We Are That Family…and the giveaway is for a $25 gift certificate to Wild Olive…check out their tees…I can’t wait to order mine! Go to the giveaway page for details on how to enter the giveaway.

The other giveaway comes from Dashing Dish…there are so many great products in the prize pack that I can’t even list them all, but there are workout dvds, seasonings, snacks and so much more! Head over to the giveaway page to enter for this great prize.

Good luck!

Ocean City Police Chase 5K

runningreckless — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 11:00:55 +0000

Our group is growing and we are racing again. It has been over a month since the last race, even though it seems like a lot longer, but we are back! We participated in the Ocean City 5K Police Chase and what a beautiful view as we ran…and no I am not talking about the police, I am talking about the Atlantic Ocean

Biggest disappoint of the race…we thought we were going to actually be chasing cops…no such luck! There was one cop at the front of the race. And he was on a motorcyle. How is that even a fair competition?!? He had motorized power. We had just our two legs. Not fair at all and needless to say, he won.

Epic fail of the race…we ended up starting at the front of the crowd. Let me see if I can properly describe what happened when the starting gun went off…we were bum rushed by a crowd of people. Yup, that pretty much describes it. Crowds of people literally began in a sprint and we were in their way. We all managed to stay on our feet but that was a scary start and needless to say, we will not be in the front of our next race!

Great moments of the race…we all finished the race, some of the girls set personal bests in a 5K, we got to race along the Atlantic Ocean, the weather was beautiful, we learned more about Students Run Philly Style, and our goody bags included some yummy Jersey shore caramel corn!

Click to view slideshow.

Training Update

runningreckless — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 17:27:00 +0000

The last week or so I’ve been suffering from a serious case of writers block. I’m not sure if it is the hot temperatures, the fact that summer is imminent, or the fact that I am trying to find direction with the blog. I’ve still been running but I’ve been struggling to find the inspiration to write about the running.

But I digress, here is an update on our training…

Our next race is Saturday, June 12th and fortunately this race is a 5K so training wise I feel ready. We ran six miles this weekend so we should be able to manage 3 miles for the race.

The real training is for the Philadelphia Down & Dirty race coming in July. The race is a 10K so as long as we continue to run the 6 miles we’ll be ready for the distance…the twist is all the obstacles included in the race! I don’t know what all will be included but I know there are five-foot hurdles, something called “slick mountain” and a mud pit. We were told that we should be strength training to prepare so now several days a week Jillian Michael’s kicks my butt with her 30 Day Shred.

And so we press forward and continue training…and hopefully I’ll break out of this writer’s block soon!

p.s. More is coming as a follow-up to the school lunch series

A Month of School Lunches

runningreckless — Thu, 27 May 2010 13:53:54 +0000

As the month of May wraps up I wanted to share with you an overview of the many school lunches my students ate this past month. I can’t say that any of them were appealing and I’m most certain they can not be considered healthy. Intentionally looking at what is being served to my students was eye opening and gave me ideas for how we can potentially see a change. I am excited to work on these ideas, share them with other teachers and hopefully see our next generation become a generation of healthy people.

Click to view slideshow.

Giveaways…Great Goodies!

runningreckless — Tue, 25 May 2010 11:00:02 +0000

Here are a couple of great giveaways this week…

Love Veggies and Yoga is giving away Naturally Nutty Nut Butter…check out the blog to see all the ways you can enter the giveaway…I know that I would love to win a jar of the Naturally Nutty Nut Butter in Organic Vanilla Peanut Butter.

VisitPhilly.com is giving away an amazing Phlash Prize Pack…If you’ve ever been to Philadelphia in the summer you’ll know how convenient the Phlash bus is in helping tourists see all the most popular destinations in the city. And the prize pack is full of great tickets to popular Philadelphia destinations. I know “I’ll be using the #Phlash this summer to visit the Phanatic statues http://www.visitphilly.com/phlash-tweetaway”

Julie’s 31 Gifts is giving away a free Thirty-One Zipper Pouch. Check out the facebook page for more details on this giveaway!