Lunch today centered around leftovers.
I reheated a big bowl of crock pot curried lentils and topped them with a bit of fresh cilantro. The lentils actually tasted even better today! I suppose sitting in the refrigerator for two days allowed the flavors to develop even more.
On the side I had a sliced Harry & David pear.
When it comes to pears, Harry & David can’t be beat!
Questions of the Month: January
In 2013 I’m hoping to actually stick to the “Questions of the Month” series that I started last year and did exactly three times. Whoops.
Every month I hope to feature a small handful of your questions, focusing on questions that I received more than a couple of times from many of you.
- I love the wrist wallet that you wore to store your fuel during your half marathon! Where did you get it?
The wrist wallet was actually a Christmas present from my mom and she bought it at TJMaxx. It’s made by Sprigs and they can also be purchased online.
I’ve also seen a few wrist wallets for sale at Target and Given makes multi-colored wrist wallets especially for runners that hold fuel, keys, an ID, etc. (I love the pink and aqua colors!)
- I’ve been reading blogs for over a year now and really want to start one of my own but I feel so overwhelmed and don’t know where to begin. Do you have any tips or advice for a new blogger?
Yes! A while ago I started a series on the blog called Blog Talk Tuesdays where I addressed common blogging-related questions from readers, including how to start a blog and what blogging platforms I recommend.
- How to Start a Blog, Blog Focus, Self Hosting and More
- Blogger Safety
- Company Outreach
- Connecting with Other Bloggers
- Rising Above Negativity
- Balancing Blogging and Real Life
- How to Increase Blog Readership
- Freelance Writing 101
- Blog Pictures, Organization and Photo Editing
- Everyday Blogging Tools
You can always locate the links to these posts and other blogging-related posts on my Blogging page, located underneath the Favs tab at the top of the blog.
- I really want to get into running but I cannot run more than five minutes without feeling breathless. I feel like running a 5K would be a great goal for me and was wondering if you have any training plans for beginners that you would recommend. Thanks!
I am a huge fan of Hal Higdon’s plans. He has awesome plans for all different race distances, but his Novice 5K plan is a great one for beginners. And he has a 5K walking training plan! I’ve also heard people absolutely rave about the Couch-to-5K plan. Another quality training plan is Jeff Galloway’s 5K training plan.
Question of the Afternoon
- If you have completed a race before, did you follow a training plan? Did you like it? Please share any favorites!
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Hope that cute Sadie is doing OK!!
Hey Julie! This is a bit off topic, but how do you make sure you get enough calories in the day? I recently changed to a completely clean eating healthy lifestyle, and I’m finding that these foods are lower in calories, and therefore causing me to loose weight :/
How do you balance it out to maintain your weight?
healthy fats like avocado and nut butter are healthy but higher in calories and they taste delicious! i love incorporating them into my diet nearly every day – especially nuts and nut butter.
I might just have to have me a few daily pb fingers (: haha
Thank you for the advice!!
I want to run a half, and need to follow a plan to do so. But I secretly hate training plans, and as soon as I tell myself I need to follow one I want to rebel against it. Haha
I love training plans and almost always follow one. I don’t know if it makes me “better” or not, I just like not having to think about what I’m doing that day. If I wait to decide on the spur of the moment, I’m more likely to take the easy way out. With a schedule, if it says 10 miles, then 10 miles it is.
My New Years Resolution 2 years ago was to complete a 5k race. I followed the couch to 5k program. I loved that the program broke it down into realistic phases. There is an awesome iphone app that I used. You can listen to your favorite tunes, and the “coach” pipes in at the right times to tell you when to run and when to walk.
Keep up the awesome blog!
Thank you for the blogger tips! I just started mine and every reader/sub/like I get brightens my day a little more 🙂
Julie – thanks for your wonderful blog! I check your posts when I need a workout inspiration or a Sadie picture to laugh at.
Thanks so much for the information about the wrist wallet. I want to buy one for myself and for my dad!
I did a 10k, and I followed a training plan that I found on Marathon Rookie. I wanted the experience of training for a race! I also did a ton of cross training, because I was also working on fitness for a sport, so many times I was tired before I began my run. This probably wasn’t great for my body, but when race day came, I felt super fresh and ready to go!
Hey Julie, I’ve been reading your blog for a while now but this is my first comment! You’ve inspired me to run in my first 10 K race, and I’m thinking of start my own healthy living blog as well. I’ve been reading through your entire “How to Blog” series to get acquainted with blogging in general. I am a complete newbie to blogging but I’ve found your tips and advice really helpful. Just a question for you- you said that you wished you had switched to your own domain and self hosting sooner than you did. Would you recommend starting off self hosting for someone who is a brand new blogger? Or do you think I should try out the free version first to get acquianted with it and then switch over after a few months? Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
I’ve done races of varying lengths and trained for none of them. I love races and hate running, go figure 😉
When I trained for my half, I created a training plan but followed it pretty loosely! I did all of my prescribed long runs, but I ended up dropping one of the shorter runs and at the end I was battling an injury so I only ran twice a week. Gotta listen to your body, it worked out for me 🙂
Have you tried Frog Hollow pears? They are so amazing it’s hard to go back to any other pear! Though H & D are fantastic, too (when they’re U.S. grown, in my opinion)
The Couch to 5k plan REALLY helped me! I went from not being able to run a block to finishing a 5k. When I started running longer distances I was referred to Hal Higdon’s training plan. I am still very much a new runner so I followed the novice 10 miler and finished!!
Hi Julie!
Thanks for all the blogging info. I am very new to the blogging community and reading your posts and hearing your advice has been SO helpful. Seriously, it’s amazing. Thanks again!!
Gracie
This piece of writing will help the internet visitors for setting up new blog or even a weblog from start to end.