A newborn runner and her dates

How does one celebrate the conclusion of a dull week of studying?

By buying a new pair of running shoes!

I <3 my new Nike?s

And I guess the shoes (and the title) are big hint as to the announcement I?m about to make?

I?m going to be a runner!

I never actually thought of myself as a runner, but lately I?ve been so full of energy that I really wanted to take up some kind of sport and I thought this would be perfect: you don?t need an instructor, you don?t need equipment and I can bring my shoes with me everywhere when I travel so I can always run!

If the people in my school (ESPECIALLY my Phys. Ed. teacher?s) knew, they?d roll over from laughter. Tina and sport? No, not really. But I?ve been experiencing a rush of energy lately and I need a new outlet. Who knows, I may be quite decent at it, with a little practice

So, this morning was my first run EVER! And I made this training schedule online, so it devised some kind of plan for me. It?s really handy, cause I had no idea whatsoever how to start? But the gist of it is: I have to train 3 times a week and by march next year I?ll be able to run 5 kilometres (about 3.1miles).

Thing is, this morning?s run went uhm, differently than expected?

The plan was to do intervals; 6 x 30 seconds running with 2 minutes of walking in between. And I kind of did that, though it was more like 6 x 30 seconds sprinting with 30 to 60 seconds walking and before I got to the actual (self)designated ?interval location? I jogged there and I jogged on the way back. I worked it out and came up with these results:

This morning I did 6km in total in  40 minutes (this is including intervals and max 3 minutes walking). I don?t know if it was okay with the plan to jog, but I felt like it and I didn?t get tired, so I?m just going to see how things roll?

But blogging runners, be forewarned, I will be spamming you (and your blog) with many questions. Why? Because I?m a noob and I?m inquisitive

The rest of the day brought along some pleasant surprises? such as this megascore!

I get a sugar rush from just looking at this?

Do you know how many dates are in that box?

5 GLORIOUS KILOGRAMS!!!

Do you know for how much I bought that?

5 EUROS AND FRIGGIN? 50 CENTS!!!

That means 5kg (=10lbs) for 5.50 euros (= 8 dollars)

SCORE!!!!

I buy Medjool dates for about 1 euro per 100kg? so basically I got 50 euros worth of dates for ONE TENTH OF THE PRICE!!!

I was practically jumping up in down in the store.

JOY!!!

With this many dates, I was bound to (ab)use them?

So I started experimenting with them, in pursuit of the perfect larabar-clone (Jee, that one larabar got me hooked!)

And basically this is more or less what happened?

Bananas and dates in the food processor

A funny looking mess in the oven?

Yeah, as you can imagine, things didn?t quite work out. The consistency was all wrong. So I added some leftover almond pulp and processed it again and now I made tiny little bars that are sleeping in the freezer. Tomorrow they shall face the wrath of my bar-obsessed taste buds!

On the plus side:

The contents of the food processor were yummy?

Can?t go wrong with a banana/date-blend, right?

And my excess of dates also lead to one or two of these babies?

Some very big bugs on a log

Remember ants on a log?

Meet HUGEASS MUTANT BUGS ON A LOG!

Basically ?Ants on a log²?

I?ve been a bad blogger lately ? sticking to Google Reader *shame* and minimal commenting but study comes first? so I had to do it. Forgive me?

But to make up for it I can tell you that the (near) future will bring you:

A preview of what?s coming up?

View Full Album

And now for a few questions (this is probably going to be a standard thing from now on.. you are all just so wise, I?d love to hear your thoughts! )

I?ve been having issues with wordpress lately: Does anyone else have trouble with HTML-widgets in their textbox?

I?ve been trying to add a widget but it keeps deleting the last part (</script>) every time I save

Someone else asked this a while ago on their blog and now I?ve been wondering too: Do you get e-mails when I reply to your comments?

To the runners in bloggyworld:

What are your tips for people starting to run?

Is jogging the same as running?

Do I have to run to my max capability (sprinting)?

What kind of earphones do you have? Because my goddamn earphones kept falling out of my ears? which is annoying!

And to leave you with a cliff-hanger?

I will be making a big announcement on my next post?

Sending all of you love from the Low Lands?

Tina