Category Archives: art

Some Food For Thought…But Mostly Humor

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So toady I thought I’d throw up a few graphic designs I made as marketing suggestions for a local grocery store. They are only in the Northwest, US so chances are you don’t have one close to you. New Seasons is an awesome place, you can get sucked in for hours if you are a foodie, and they make it a point to support local farmers and businesses. They also have lots of organics and are green minded. This isn’t a sales pitch at all, I have no paid deal with the store, I’m only giving you some background so that you ‘get’ some of the jokes. They’re like a Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods.

Who said healthy isn’t sexy? 🙂

This one wasn’t for New Seasons…but who can get enough shrimp and poop jokes? jk.


Okay, you may or may not find Pop-Tarts there. I know they aren’t organic or local, but in posting up food things I couldn’t resist showering the toaster tarts with love! 🙂

At any rate, yay for funny foods! Hope you enjoyed and because I don’t have my name on each and every one of them, yes, they are mine and if you swipe my original work I will hunt you down and pummel you. 😉

Don’t sweat, there may be a little lacking of running related material today BUT being as every other post is dripping sweaty with such things I implore you to get your endorphin fix there for today. However, yes running is the best and we should all be getting our sweat on. 🙂

1) Favorite fruit or veggie?

Wow, I love I think them all. But especially apples, kiwis, broccoli, and carrots.

2) Favorite protein?

SHRIMP!!!

3) Do you agree that food is costing WAY too much these days?

Yes, it’s scary. I have thought about opening up a shrimp farm in my bathtub.

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Littlest Bro Not So Little and Garmin Fever

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Today’s going to be a wild mix-up match-up of things so here we go. First off gotta give a HUGE shout-out to my littlest bro as it’s his birthday. Isn’t he so freaking cute? 🙂



WARNING: This little bit may be a bit TMI so feel free to just skip down to the next paragraph if you’re squeamish. I was 11 when this little dude was born and I actually got to see him being born. Crazy, huh, and you may think it’s gross. But my family is really open about all this stuff and probably gross is a term that could be applied often. (cut to scene around dinner table when we have a fart-off) I learned about the birds and the bees, all that jazz, really young and my parents were really open and frank about things. So when my youngest sibling was about to pop, I was a freak and actually wanted to be there in the delivery room. Don’t worry the TMI won’t be so far as me giving a play-by-play, but I will say it was pretty surreal to see this little guy being born. That said, even though he’s one cute mo-fo now, babies right off the bat are usually pretty gross, slimy, and awkward looking. I adore Tina Fey and I think her whole little alien campaign is right on the dot, if you’re hot I think you grow into that.

So little Wes is the baby of the family and true to form he gets that special treatment from the folks. That kid could probably get away with murder but I’m guilty of letting him slide on things myself so those who live in glass houses shouldn’t be chucking boulders. Anyways, I also made him a little piece of art and I’ll share. If you like football feel free to print it out and hang it on your fridge. Jk. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WESLEY!!!



Next topic. Running today, I don’t want to use this space to overly vent and be a downer so I’m just going to be quick and short. Workout was not fun, not good, slower than I wanted and my legs feel like lead. The heat also left me feeling sort of sick, it’s just stuffy in that gym and I know I shouldn’t complain because I know for a FACT there are people busting their butts in way hotter and humid conditions, so if I have an issue I just need to grab a tissue. Anyways, total for the day came in a little over 11 miles, upper body weights and done. Let’s end it on a positive, Cait: there are people right now bumming with an injury and maybe can’t be running right now. Even a bad, junky, crummy-pants run is better than none at all in my book so I’m thankful I was able to put in the miles. 🙂 Ya, that sounds corny but it’s true, so I need to stuff my sorries in a sack.

Also running related I’ve got some big news! I won my very first blog contest…woot woot!! I keep seeing people scoring some awesome swag and I’ve always been notoriously unlucky with winning anything so I was really surprised when I got to Emma’s awesome blog and found out that little ol’ me had won a contest! Okay, it’s a randomly selected thing, but I still like to think I’m special…lol. So what did I win? Well, I won a year’s supply of running shoes and Pop-Tarts! Jk, but no, but I DID get a Bondi Band which is a cool sweat band to tame my crazy@$$ hair. Which, if you recall I was complaining about not too long ago, so I thought the timing was a funny coincidence!

Next thing is a question for you guys. I’m anal about things, surprise huh, but I mean in terms wanting to know exactly how long my runs are. I’m just overly curious I guess. 😛 So, since I want to do more running outside and bust off the treadmill (which I like because I know exactly the miles/pace) I was thinking I’d hop on the Garmin train. I’m poor, I’m stingy with money, so for me even THINKING about buying something over $20 is a a big deal. But I don’t splurge on many things and darn it, I want one. So, suggestions, feedback, or anyone who has found a good price I’d love to hear from you! A quick Google has led me to Amazon where I found the Garmin Forerunner 205 GPS Receiver and Sports Watch for $117.13. What say you? Oh, and I don’t really care about all the fancy ‘extra’s,’ so long as I know the total miles of my run and the pace would be cool too.

1) Best birthday gift you ever got?

Hmmm, one that really sticks out in my mind was when I was 8 and I got an aquarium that was The Little Mermaid themed and had little Ariel and Sebastian in there and eight fish. My parents had yet to get me any kind of pet so fish were a big deal…lol.

2) Best prize you’ve ever won?

3) Any Garmin input would be awesome! Do you have one, do you like yours, now you can’t run with out it? hehe.

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Powdered Donuts, Pre Meet And Our Third Super Hero Runner

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Couple things to cover for today. First on the list is a question I have for anyone who is actually reading this: when you run in hot conditions do you get lots of that satly white stuff all over you afterwards? I get it, and I know it’s just the dried up salt from my sweat (and I’m convinced I’ve got overactive sweat glands…I’m a drippy mess) but I seem to be the only person I know besides my mom who comes out looking like a pretzel after running when it’s hot.

No, it’s not suddenly 90 degrees here in Portland (though it is warming up and looks like it’ll be spiking in a few days) but the gym in my apartment complex was disgustingly hot today. Their measly single fan does NOT get the job done come summertime, so my tready run left me a powdered donut. Did another 3 miles warm-up, 5 miles hard, and a cool-down followed by some arm weights. The first 2-3 miles of the harder part felt pretty good, but not gonna lie that last mile I was certainly counting down the minutes left. 😉

Second on the agenda….big weekend on tap for track and field: The Prefontaine Classic! Can I get a whoot-whoot? Okay, it’s established I’m a dork so I don’t feel bad writing that. Also not gonna lie, I’m really mostly following the distance events that are going on Friday night, namely the women’s 5k and the men’s 10k. Both fields are stacked and there should be some fast times. For the women I’m a little partial and will be rooting for Kara and Eloise…so if you’re reading this you should be too! 🙂

So in honor of the upcoming races (and there will obviously be PLENTY of action on Saturday) I’d like to unveil our third member of the Supa’ Runnas; joining The Kankled Avenger and The Cranky Hamstring we have…wait for it, wait for it: PreMONTaine. See what we did there?

The scoop on the second person brave enough to throw themselves into the rigorous application process is this: By day this standout photographer (really, do check out Derek’s site) is using his keen eye to scope out the perfect shot, be it at a sporting event or catching the lovey-dovey moments shared between man and wife as they say their ‘I Do’s’. Don’t let my sarcasm fool you, those special days should be cherished and remembered forever, that raw emotion expressed from candids are always my favorite.

Though, there is much more to the man behind the lens. He’s obviously a runner but doing so in sub-zero weather during a Duluth (Gooooodmorning Duluth! had to add that, sorry) winter takes some…well, balls. Trails are his game but all that running sure makes a fella hungry, thus enter his love affair with hot dogs, steaks (he ate his way through the Prime Quarter 48 oz’er and sides challenge in Madison, WI), and enough skittles that should send him into a diabetic coma. Sadly, he is wrong in his stance on Qdoba being better than Chipotle, but The Kankled Avenger was willing to look past that.

What our mighty runner CANNOT stand for is this: those cantankerous gym teachers that don’t understand that as members of the cross-country or track teams, when hard intervals are planned for that afternoon’s workout it’s not smart to force these runners into doing laps during PE. Now, PE is insanely important in forcing the growing number of slothy youth masses who don’t move on a regular basis, but my stance is that cross and track runners HARDLY fall into this category. (along with lots of other rigorous sport’s team members) So, sorry Mrs. Nelson, you’re wrong on tooting that whistle and you just cheesed off the wronger harrier. Using his wits and of course trusty camera, PreMONTaine is out to fight for all us runners who regulatory bust our own butts hard enough and don’t need to run extra laps in PE. Check out his pilot episode at the bottom folks!

Lastly, I really hope I’m not the only powdered donut looking runner out there and remember to root for my girls! 🙂

1) Have you turned into a salty pretzel after runs in hot weather?

2) What’s your stance on PE for kids who are already participate in highly active sports?

I think that if you’re already doing sports and getting plenty of activity, it should be optional. Shocking coming from me, but my reasoning is this: I LOVE being active and trying new things but I’ve also gotten injured doing stupid things in PE. Not only that but I was also tripped by some doof guy who didn’t want a girl to beat him in the little mile and a half run, I fell pretty hard and got banged up…not fun.


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Happy National Running Day!!

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This one goes out to all my fellow runner fiends! (PS-that’s not a typo but friends would work too…hehe) So it’s National Running Day, (I wonder who actually comes up with these dates, is there some kind of voting thing, just curious how they go about picking these days…anyhoo) and what better way to celebrate than lacing ’em up? Me, I just put in my usual 8 easy, I was tired after yesterday and my stupid adductor (which has been bugging me for ages) is always extra tight the day after I try and go faster than my easy pace. I’ve got some exercises and stretches that I do but it’s still a pain in my butt. 😉

Enough complaining though on oh such a day! I thought it fitting to state a few reasons why I love being a runner or what running means to me:

I like that when I hop on a treadmill I can go faster than the dude sweatin it out next to me.

Runners can laugh at the ‘portion size’ listed on a nutritional labels. Three servings my @$$!

Upon meeting a stranger, the second I find out they’re a runner there’s that shared nod of the head, someone else who ‘gets it.’ Nice to meet a fellow member of the club.

Runners are generally nice folk, road races usually start at the butt-crack of dawn and people are always milling out. I’ve left my car unlocked, my racing shoes out, sweats, etc. in a little pile and gone for my warm-up. And I’m not afraid that they won’t be there when I get back. Same thing goes for track meets, people’s spikes are sacred ground, we respect it.

It could be argued that I’m addicted to running or exercising, to that I say, “Could be, but better this than crack.” True, I’ve got one of those addictive/obsessive types of personalities so I think this is one of the more benign addictions.

Feeling that jiggly leg feeling after a really good workout or race. (ummm, ya, so this may have been a while in my case…lol…but I can still remember them…hehe) You can already feel that soreness coming on during the cool-down, and you know it’s not going to be pretty later. But you were ‘on’ and that rush of endorphins numbs out any pain.

The closeness that can come between training partners/groups. Lots of it can go unsaid, for instance during hard workouts, more bonding can be done by sharing excruciating pain than lots of other things. Also more things can be shared during a long run than few other things.

I’m grateful for every step. Running maintains some semblance of my sanity.

It just makes me feel right. I can’t explain it, but if I don’t run I feel off.

Things I’m not so hip on:

I can’t get over the fact that I still hear people shout ‘Run, Forest, Run.’ Honestly, wasn’t that movie from the 90’s? Get a new line.

Back to the adductor. It seems each runner has that one ‘thing’ that’s always bugging them. Tendinitis here, weak muscle there…I sometimes joke I’ll be a cripple by the time I’m 40, but at least I’ll be happy until then.

There are highs but also plenty of lows. Running is insanely mental and it can screw with you like few other sports. Expect the bad days and then really appreciate the good ones. Still applies when you’re not racing, we all just have days that we feel crummy or like we don’t want to run. But I always feel better after I force myself to start going.

I haven’t ever run a marathon, but the first thing people ask when they find out I run is if I have. When I say ‘no’ they get that look of disappointment and then sympathy like, ‘oh, how sad, she thinks she’s a runner, poor girl.’

Getting hit by cars…’nuff said.

So I hope you all are having a great holiday, ya I’m gonna call it that! Even if you didn’t necessarily run today, because there are also times when you need to have days where you rest!

1) What do you love about running or being a fitness fanatic?

2) What are some not so fun parts?


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Mondays are for Birthdays and Running Workouts…the Perfect Combo, Right?!

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So what have I learned on this fine Monday so far? 1) All that excitement about seeing a peek of sunshine on Saturday apparently scared it back into hiding. 2) Doing a hard workout on the treadmill is made all the more excruciating when done to the annoying clucking of Kathie Lee Gifford. Thankfully there was a brief appearance by Jimmy Fallon that offset her a bit. (PS-I wasn’t the one holding the remote, sadly, that was the lady on the elliptical next to me.)

3) BUT the biggest thing is…MY LITTLE SIS TURNED 16!!! Wow, I can’t believe it, I was nine when she was born and I used to take her around to all of my school events and then meets so much that she became sort of the little mascot for a few years. I just hope that she’s far better on the road than me, (let’s all send her a collective good luck on her driver’s test today…I failed my first one, btw, which shouldn’t have been too much of a surprise.) my very first time behind the wheel with my dad I popped the tire.

Back on track here, my baby sis! Well, this is just yet another time when I REALLY hate the fact that I live up in OR and them down in CA. 🙁 Not able to make it down for her three day fest-a-palooza, what with the fam bam on Saturday, friend party on Sunday, and the actual bday today. But I’d like to think I’m there in spirit…plus, I’m sure at this point she wouldn’t want me crashing in on the friend thing. So she’s saved the embarrassment. Anyways, I made her a little piece of art that she may or may not feel like actually hanging up somewhere (don’t worry it came with a cash-stuffed card too!) and I’ll share it with you. The little pup in the pic is hers and she’s quite obsessed with her…made the pup its own Facebook page and all. 🙂



Backtracking a bit to the Jimmy Fallon thing, he was on talking about his new ‘Thank You’ type book. I usually don’t watch his show (for shame, I know, but I caught him on his good old SNL days) but he does some segments that send random thank you’s to people. One was the thank you to families that hold hands in a long chain, walk at a turtle speed, and are completely oblivious to the fact that they are blocking your entire path in the parking lot or on the road. You then are forced to move your car up inch by excruciatingly slow inch behind them until you get to a parking spot.

In honor of his little book I’d like to send a few thank you’s out myself, if they aren’t already in there. Thank you to the people who play every game and take EVERY quiz out there on Facebook in rapid-fire sessions so that they clog up the entire feed reporting their results.

Thank you to the parents who have never heard of the word discipline. I’ll also send a shout out in thanks to the fact that their kids must be brimming with self-esteem.

Thank you to the geriatric actors who play in the Life Alert commercials. This one is actually genuine because an old person laying face down on the ground crying, ‘I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!’ never fails to make me laugh. Is that really mean of me?

At any rate, one last thing that crossed my mind on the good old treaddy today. Has anyone had those cross country races where it gets to the point where it’s hurting and you start to question whether hurling yourself into a big prickly bush would be less painful that motoring on to the finish? Of course you don’t actually DO it but the funny mental pictures often helped distract me from the burning in my legs for a time and lighten the mood I guess. Anyways, had a similar thought today about just letting the treadmill belt shooting me off the back end and crashing into the bike behind me. The looks I would then get would have been priceless. I guess it may be a little disturbing sharing this and wondering what that says about my psyche…that this little mental image made me crack a smile and got me through to the end. Without becoming bike food either. But, like I’ve said, I like to make fun of myself and I do laugh at old people, so there ya go.

Lastly, since I kind of feel weird just sharing random babblings from my head and not sharing something of some kind of worth, I feel I should try to give out any advice I may have. I’ll toss out a workout that I really like doing and may work for you. I do get questions from people who are just starting to run, maybe have run for awhile but want some ideas, so I’ll post one. (Also, if anyone has any questions or want to suggest a topic for me, let me know and leave a comment!)

A break-down run. This goes by tons of different names, after a warm-up (aim for at least 10 minutes) you’ll basically be doing a tempo run but you’ll start out ‘slower’ and gradually pick up the pace until you’re going much faster by the end. Think of negative splits, which is also the smart way to go about any kind of workout/race because physiologically your body will burn fuel much more efficiently and you’ll feel MUCH better than if you were to run in an opposite manner and go out way too fast. I’m sure many of you can attest to that. So pick a distance or time for your tempo run, we’ll make the example here 20 minutes. You want to start out at a pretty decent effort, not loafing but controlled, and then pick up the pace every three minutes or so. (or 1/2 mile if you’re going for miles) Then really push those last few minutes, and they should feel like you’re going faster than 5k race pace, not all out but getting there because you’ll be fatigued by this point. If it helps, picture yourself being hurled off the back of the treadmill or flung into a pile of spiky bushes if that takes your mind off things and helps you push to the end. 🙂 What also helps me is I don’t think of the whole thing, but take it in the three minute chunks one at a time. Focus on just getting through this three minutes, anyone can do anything for three minutes right?

Anyways, be sure to finish with an easy cool-down, don’t let that lactic acid just sit and pool in your muscles! Work it out, baby! Alright, rounding out this epic post I’d like to again send a shout out to the best sis in the world…(sorry folks I may be a bit partial here!) HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!! 🙂



1) What thank you would you like to send out?

2) Ever been thrown off the back end of a treadmill?

Once when I was about 7, my dad was working at a fitness equipment store and I wanted to see how fast it could go. Carpet burn.

3) Got any questions for me? 🙂


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