071. An Excess of Lazy

I've been having far, far too many lazy days recently. Last night I laid on the couch watching TV almost the entire day. While this is certainly okay every now and then, I was in seriously slacker mode last weekend as well. This is not okay.

Since I slacked off so much yesterday, I've got a ton of stuff to get done today.

So far I made it out for a 3.3 mile run, made and eaten breakfast, and taken Chris to work.

Before my run I ate a clementine to fuel myself up.

(See the painted nails, that was the one thing I managed to accomplish yesterday)

My run was miserable. I seriously need to get back into a routine with my running. I had to take several walking breaks in addition to the stop at my parent's house for a potty break. I clocked in at 47 minutes included my warm-up walk, cool-down walk, and my potty break. The run itself probably took 30 - 35 minutes.

After I got home I made egg scrambles and red potatoes for Chris and I.

My scramble included chopped red onion, spinach leaves, chopped broccoli, and some shredded Mexican blend cheese.

Here's what still needs to get done today.

• Shower
• Laundry
• Cleaning my house
• Blogs, blogs, blogs!
• Meal planning (I finished while writing this blog.)
• Grocery Shopping
• Go to PetCo for some stuff for Hermione
• Go to Kohl's (I have a 30% off coupon, and I pretty much always need new clothes.)
• Pick Chris up from work at 5.

There will be plenty of posts to come later including my dinner plans for my 7 Day Vegetarian Challenge which starts today!

064. A Change of Pace

This morning I decided to change things up a bit and add almond butter to my usual oat.

You can totally see the difference can't you?

Okay, so honestly, I just ran out of peanut butter, but even still, changing things up every now and then is good.

We all need to evaluate ourselves, our plans, our routines, on occasion and change the things that aren't working for us. Recently for me, the area of my life most in need of a change is my fitness. I've mentioned in a few time in the past couple weeks, but I've been seriously slacking on my workouts since the cold weather and total lack of day light has set it. I love to run outside. Truly, it’s what makes me happiest. Unfortunately, we’ve been averaging single digit temps (or single digits after the wind chill). Assuming I embrace the frigid temps (which I have considered), the sun rises about 7:15 (about the time I’m getting on the train to work) and sets around 4:45 (about the time I’m getting on the train home). This pretty much leaves me the weekends. You all know how I feel about the dreadmill. Despite finding some pretty great treadmill work outs thanks to Tina, I still can’t handle being on the treadmill more than once or twice a week. I don’t mind running on the indoor track. Unfortunately, now that it’s resolution season, the indoor track has been incredibly packed during the evening hours.

Cleary, this isn’t working for me. So what’s my solution?

Triathlon training!

One of the items on my 10 in 2010 is to complete a sprint (or possibly olympic) distance triathlon. What better time to start training than the dead of winter when running isn’t working out so well.

I have two goals to get me started

#1 Find (and register for) a triathlon. I found a Sprint distance triathlon near me that is in a pool, but it’s not until August 8th. There’s two problems with that 1) I don’t think I’m going to need 8 months to train and 2) I’m planning to do the Chicago Half Marathon in September which will require me to be training from June (or so) on. There are several other triathlons in the area earlier in the year, but I’m really nervous about doing the swimming in a lake. Should I just bite the bullet and go for it?

#2 Find a training plan. Since it is the dead of winter here in Chicago, I’m pretty limited in terms of what I can do outside. I’m thinking I’m going to do a bit of “pre-training” until it warms up and thaws a bit outside. Here’s my preliminary game plan for the next few weeks:

Monday: Treadmill workout (short distance run, intervals/ speed work)
Tuesday: Rest
Wednesday: Swim (drill work)
Thursday: Rest
Friday: Swim (endurance)
Saturday: Long Run (indoor track or outdoors weather permitting)
Sunday: Spin class (I’m thinking this is my best bet for winter bike training)

Have you ever participated in a triathlon? What distance? How long did you train? Did you use a particular training plan/ is there a training plan you would recommend for a first timer? Any advice for a novice?

051. Errand Girl

Tonight I ran a bunch of errands. I had three missions tonight.

1. Buy some YakTrax so I can try and start getting some outdoor runs in again.
2. Check out books on container gardening from the library
3. Get a cute black crop sweater/ shrug to wear over my dress on Saturday.

I was successful in 2 out of the 3.

Mission One: Buy YakTrax Verdict: Mission Failed

My friend Courtney has mentioned getting a pair Yaktrax on a couple occasions. I finally got curious and Googled them. For those of you unfamiliar Yaktrax is a traction device for running (or walking) on snow and ice. The snow and ice has really put a damper on my running recently. I loathe the dreadmill, and while I do have access (free!) to a nice indoor track, I really prefer running outdoors. I'm sure this is true for most runners.

I've read a couple reviews of Yaktrax and the majority of reviews on Amazon are positive, and I really want to give them a try. I decided to hit Sport's Authority as it fit neatly in the path of the rest of my errands. Unfortunately, they only had 4 pairs of the Taktrax walkers left - no Yaktrax Pro. The sales girl said their truck comes on Tuesday so to try back then. I'll probably call first.

Mission Two: Get books on container gardening from the library Verdict: Mission Accomplished

One of the things I want to do in the coming year, and I forgot to consider in my 10 in 2010, is to grow some of my own produce. Since I don't have a yard, I'm limited to container gardening. Unfortunately I know next to nothing about gardening and even less about container gardening. I'm not much of a green thumb either. I'm the girl who has killed three basil plants in two years. I really want to have my own garden though. It's cost effective, healthy, and green. What more can a girl ask for.

Since it's the dead of winter here in Chicago (hence the need for the YakTrax and probably also the reason I didn't think to include "start a container garden" in my 10 in 2010), I'm going to spend some time doing my homework and researching container gardening. Hopefully this will up my chances of successfully growing some edible fruits and veggies (and herbs). Tonight I picked Container Gardening for Dummies and Reader's Digest Crops in Pots. I'll be sure to post reviews as I get through them. I'll probably also do a post (or series or posts) on container gardening as I learn more about it.

If anyone has any additional suggestions on books about container gardening, or gardening in general, I should read, please share!

Mission Three: Get cute crop sweater Verdict: Mission Accomplished.

Initially my plan was to go to Kohl's, but I decided I might have been luck at one of the "trendy" stores. They just opened a Forever 21 in the mall near my house so I decided to check it out. I ended up finding a black 3/4 sleeve sweater similar to this one. (I could go take a picture of the actual sweater, but I'm feeling lazy. Maybe tomorrow)

I must voice a couple complaints though. What is up with the sizing?! First of all in all the sweater browsing I did, I don't think I saw a single item bigger than a size medium. What, is it store policy to not carry anything larger than a medium? Second of all, who the hell do they size this stuff for, children? The sweater I ended up buying is a medium, but it only kind of fits. I'm not even close to being able to button it. I can't even get it to close over my boobs. It serves the purpose I need it to serve - covering my shoulders at a January 2nd wedding in cold, snowy Chicago, but seriously, what the hell people?! I've never understood why stores size their clothes for infants.

I did accept an extra mission of buying a pair of shoes for the wedding as well. I was wandering the shoes section at Kohl's and came across these. They are totally not my style, but I was instantly attracted to them. I carried them around the store with me for at least 15 minutes debating, and I sent a photo text to my best friend for her opinion. Ultimately I ended up buying them (they were $30) with the thought that if they don't look good with the dress I can always return them.

Anyway, it's already 10:30, and I still need to take a quick shower so it's time to call it a night.

049. Running Log

Tuesday 12/29

3 mile, indoor track, 30 minutes, 10 min/ mile average pace.

Wednesday 1/6

35 minute "The Countdown" interval workout on the treadmill.

048. A Family Adventure to the Gym

Tonight became an impromptu, family trip to the Oak Lawn Pavilion. My plan for the evening was to come home, make dinner, and head over for a run. I've been seriously neglecting my running lately, and I need to get back on track - especially since a half marathon and a sprint distance triathlon are part of my 10 in 2010.

When I got home from work, Chris told me his mom wanted us to come over for dinner. I knew if I went over there first and came back in to change after, I would not make it back out to go running so I threw on my running clothes and packed my bag so I could drop him off after his mom's and go right to the track - no excuses.

Chris' mom has a membership to the Pavilion, and his brother Tim got a membership for Christmas. Tim was planning to go over there tonight as was their mom. Of course, because no one wants to leave the house when it's below freezing outside, their mom had decided she wasn't going to go. Tim and I not only convinced her to come, but we got Chris to come with as well! All four of us headed over to the Pavilion for a little indoor track action! I ran three miles and the three of them walked about 2.

My run started out a little rough. I did the first mile at a pace of just under 11:00. I usually run just under 10:00. Needless to say, I was not a happy camper. I ended up picking it up and finished averaging a 10:00 pace, but I was hurting.

I so prefer the indoor track to the dreadmill. If I could never set foot on a treadmill for the rest of my life I would die a happy woman. Running outside is always my favorite, but it's cold, snowy and icy out. I'm a mega-klutz so I'm waiting for the snow and ice to melt before I hit the road again. The indoor track is a great alternative. I can zone out and run my circles, but still feel like I'm going somewhere.

Now I'm home, I'm going to shower, clean up my kitchen - it's a total disaster zone - and then get to bed. My plan is to get up at 5:45 again tomorrow to Whittle My Middle before work.

025. Santa Shuffle 5K Weekend and Race Recap

So this weekend I met up with some friends from Sparkpeople to run a 5K. Courtney, Sarah, Tara, and I all ran in the Santa Shuffle in beautiful Lincoln Park. Sarah's fiance Jon also ran with us.

Friday after work, we all met up at Sarah's place to head to Universal Sole and pick up our race packets. We snapped a few photos and browsed the merch. Some of us needed some more cold running gear.

Courtney and Sarah hanging out on the other side of the running shoe display. Pretty perfect if you ask me!

We headed back to Sarah's place where she modeled the sweet Santa hat, bead, and jacket t-shirt we got in our race packets.

The we hit Old Town Pub for dinner. I had the Hawaiian Ham Panini with tater tots which was pretty much amazing. Ham, Swiss cheese, pineapple, and onions. The chipotle mayo on the side was a little too spicy for my liking.

Saturday morning I got up bright and early (which was really only 7am). I made myself a tasty bowl of apple cinnamon breakfast quinoa, but I didn't get a photo because my camera was also packed up in my bag and I didn't want to forget to bring it!

I met Sarah, Jon, and Courtney on the walk to the race course. We met up with Tara and her husband along the way.

A sea of Santas at the starting line.

The course map. We got to run around the Lincoln Park Zoo.

The upside to cold weather running is I can carry my camera in my pocket so I was able to get some action shots during the race.

Courtney managed to look this adorable in pretty much every picture I took!

Hydration station - very important! This race actually had water at miles 2 and 3!

This was Tara's first race and Sarah, Courtney, and I were all on board to support her. We finished in just under 45 minutes shattering Tara's goal of running it in under 50 minutes!

After the race we went back to Sarah and Jon's place to warm up and change into some clothes that weren't drenched in sweat before we headed out to brunch at Adobo Grill.

We got pretty much the yummiest mimosa I have ever had. It was your usual champagne and orange juice, but it also had a splash of passion fruit juice which gave it a nice kick.
To eat I got blue corn plantain pancakes with eggs and chorizo. It was delish!
For the few remaining pics from the race check out my Picasa album.

018. Happy Thanksgiving

This year I went with Chris to Thanksgiving with his dad's side of the family. It's always interesting to experience the holiday traditions of other families, and sometimes it's a little frustrating too! My family is small, and Chris' family is, well, not small. I think it takes a lot more work to orchestrate a meal with that many people.

My camera battery was dead and then I forgot to take it with me so I didn't get any pictures from turkey day, but c'est la vie.

Chris and I started Thursday morning with omelets and hash browns. I made hash browns from sliced baby red potatoes with onions and chopped garlic, and we at them with our Canadian bacon, onion and cheese (and broccoli for me!) omelets. We ate breakfast around 10:30 or 11:00 am (we slept in and it was glorious!) and dinner was planned for 6:30. Since breakfast was incredibly filling, I had a snack of an apple and almond butter around 4:00. I figured I would be fine, and I would have been...except dinner didn't hit the table until almost 8pm! I snacked on some cheese when we got to Chris' cousin Annie's house. I had maybe an ounce or two, but I was totally famished by the time we actually sat down to eat! We had the usual Thanksgiving fare - turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, stuffing, cranberries - as well as some traditional Korean dishes since Annie's fiance is Korean and his family came to dinner as well. Overall it was pretty phenomenal.

I've had some really good runs lately. Thanksgiving morning I went out and ran just shy of 4 miles around the neighborhood. Yesterday and today I knocked out about 3 miles each running through the St. Xavier University campus. For having lived so close my entire life, yesterday was actually the first time I'd set foot on the University campus. It really is a gorgeous campus. There's a small lake, Lake Marion, on campus with a trail around it. It really is gorgeous.

Yesterday I ran all over campus and down around the Br. Rice and Mother McAuley high school campuses which share the same area with the University. Today I stuck to running the trail around Lake Marion. I also integrated some strength training intervals on one of the benches along the lake.

It's about 1/3 of a mile around the lake, and it's about 2/3 of a mile from my house to the lake path. I ran there, did 5 laps, and ran home for an even 3 miles.

First lap around I did some incline push-ups. Second lap I did calf raises. Third lap was seated knee lifts, and the fourth lap was tricep dips (which are incredibly hard!)

I'm going to take tomorrow off I think, but my next run, I'm going to do a strength interval at each of the 6 benches around the lake.

I think I've finally figured out the key to getting myself to do strength training. It needs to be in short intervals. I hate the idea of going to the gym and moving from machine to machine. I also don't like the concept of having a 30 minute strength work-out. If I can do strength exercises here and there - like the 30 Day Shred video a couple days a week, 5 - 10 minutes of ab work in the evening, strength intervals in my runs - I do them. If I set out to "do strength training" I totally blow it off.

Today I'm heading to my parent's house to put Christmas lights up on their roof. My dad and Nick (the older of my two brothers) are afraid of heights so they won't get up there. Alex will go up there, but he won't go alone. I've also got to go steal some Christmas decorations for my place. It's Nick's (22nd) birthday, and as his gift, I'm his designated driver for the evening. My camera battery is in the charger so there will be plenty of pics tomorrow!

I should make myself some lunch and get on with my day.

014. Girls on the Run 5K

I know I've been super lame about posting recently. I've started about 4 blogs that haven't finished. I've had a lot rolling around in my head lately. Add to that the fact that I've been super busy at work (which, let's be honest, is where I type up a lot of my blogs!) There will be a major coming soon. I promise.

In the mean time, I ran the Girls of the Run 5K this morning. It was seriously an amazing event! It was so awesome to see all these girls out there running with their parents and coaches and friends. It makes me want to get involved with the program even more! The race took place at Toyota Park which is home to the Chicago Fire and the Chicago Red Stars. I'm not a soccer fan at all (in fact it's quite possibly my LEAST favorite sport ever), but it was really cool to get to finish inside the stadium. I could only imagine how totally awesome it would be if I were 10 years old!

And now what you all really want...photos!!!

Walking up from my car. I got there about 45 minutes before start time and there were a TON of people there already!

Toyota Park main entrance.

The pink signs where the meeting places for the various program groups. There were over 50 schools represented. It was massive and totally awesome!

They had face-painting and tiara decorating. No, I didn't do either. I figured I'd save that for the girls.

We all know how important it is to warm up before a race. The three photos above are some girls getting their stretch on, the group leading the warm-up (two girls from Bally's Total Fitness, The Chicago Fire mascot Sparky, the Chicago Wolves mascot Skates, some superhero type guy, the Fox weather-woman Amy Freeze (Yes, that's actually her last name), and Ella Masar from the Chicago Red Stars.

The starting line. I made sure I was toward the front because I hate feeling like I'm going to step on someone!The sea of people behind me at the starting line. It was amazing how many people were there. You can't even see all the shorty kiddos that were there!

Here's the finish line inside the stadium. I was a little disappointed we didn't get to finish on the field, but the Fire does have a game tonight so we wouldn't wanna mess up the grass.Some of the runners coming around the final bend to the finish line.

They were broadcasting the finishes on the jumbo-tron which was pretty cool. Sadly my mom didn't come with me so there was no one there to take a picture of me finishing. It's cool though.

Here's my Operation Beautiful-ized race number. It says "You are STRONG! You are POWERFUL! You are BEAUTIFUL!" You are strong and you are powerful are both GOTR mantras.

Seriously, coolest.goodie-bag.ever! Awesome long sleeve t-shirt, some yummy mini-luna bars, ponytail holders, a GOTR/ New Balance water bottle (which is awesome since I can't find my water bottle!), and an issue of American Girl Magazine. I used to love AG Magazine. I subscribed to it forever!

Those are about half my pictures from the event. It was so awesome, and I will definitely be looking for a way to be more involved next year!

Oh, and as for how I did. I finished in 30:10 which is 40 seconds slower than my first 5K. I'm happy with it though. I was running alone, and my pacing was definitely a little off. I thought we were a lot closer to the finish than we actually were so I picked up the pace a little too early. Either way 30:10 is still a really great time so I'm happy about it. Besides, I knew it would be hard to be my first 5K time anyway!

012. It's all about Pizza and Fro-Yo

I don't know what it is, but I've been on a huge pizza and fro-yo kick recently. Seriously. I could probably eat it 3 times a day! At least I'm making it work for me though.

Well start off with the rest of yesterday's eats. Lunch was the left over BBQ chicken pizza from Uno's.
After I ate lunch, I went with some co-worker's who were grabbing lunch, and I got some Freshii fro-yo with shredded coconut and organic granola. Once again, the staff could not grasp my trying to order half the usual serving. Once again, I threw half of it in the garbage.

My afternoon snack today was a 1/4c. of Trader Joe's ABC Trek Mix. I love it because it's a mix of almonds (my most favorite nut ever!) and dried blueberries and cranberries and some golden raisins for good measure. Yummy yummy! I actually wrote a blog via email about this, but it never posted. I'm going to have to work on that because what's the point of having a super sweet iPhone if you can't even blog from it right?

Dinner was a "burrito bowl" with brown rice, black beans, corn, ground Boca "meat" and some sharp cheddar. Sadly, I didn't have any avocado in the house. :( I took a picture but this meal is seriously lacking in the visual appeal department. Actually, it looks kind of gross. It was yummy though (and at least I have cute plates!)

The base was a mix of minute brown rice, organic black beans, organic frozen corn, and about a quarter cup V-8 because I didn't have any tomato sauce. then I added 1/2c. Boca crumbles and 1/4c. reduced fat.sharp cheddar.

After dinner I had some of the Trader Joe's fro-yo. I said I was on a kick didn't I?

• 1/2 c. TJ's non-fat Plain Frozen Yogurt
• 1/4 c. pomegranate arils
• 2 T. shredded coconut
• 1/4c. oats.
  

Unfortunately yesterday took a turn for the worst. They were predicting gorgeous weather today so I decided to blow off my 6 mile run at the indoor track in favor of heading out this morning for 6 miles outside. Chris and I ended up laying on the couch watching Season 1 of How I Met Your Mother on DVD and noshing on the Halloween candy his mom sent home with us. Too much eating definitely occurred.

However, as promised, I got up at 7:45 and went for my 6 mile run. I really wish I'd had my camera, or at least my phone with me, because it was absolutely gorgeous, but since I run with as little stuff on me as possible, I didn't. Maybe tomorrow I'll ride my bike on the route I rant today and take some pics.

The run itself was really well. Previously the furthest I've run outside was 4.75 miles, but I figured 6 wouldn't be a problem since I had run 7 on the indoor track without much problem. I've always struggled more outside than anywhere else. I started off pretty slow, but I finished the whole run (including a short warm-up and cool-down) in 65 minutes so I managed to maintain about a 10:30 minute/ mile pace. I'll totally take that. I also wasn't hurting too much. I was definitely feeling it in that last mile, but it was a good push.

After my run, I toasted a homemade toaster waffle and topped it with the pumpkin filling Caitlin used in her Sweet Breakfast Burritos. I was too lazy to make pancakes and too hungry to take pictures, but it was delicious. After breakfast I did some serious shopping. I ended up getting 3 pairs of dress pants (size 10!), 3 camis (M!), a cardigan sweater, and a pair of jeans (size 8!) from Penny's and 5 Old Nave Fleece scarves (Hey it was $1 scarf day, and my BFF works at Old Navy!) Check it out!
Post shopping lunch was mini BBQ Chicken pizzas! Seriously, I think I've developed an addiction or something! I'm going to need pizza rehab soon.

• Arnold Sandwich thin
• 2 T. Culinary Circle, Sweet Applewood BBQ sauce
  
• 1.5 oz grilled chicken breast (It was left over in my fridge)
• red onion
• 1/4 c. reduced fat sharp cheddar
• 1/4c. part-skim mozzarella

Put it all together and popped it in the toaster oven for about 7 minutes at 425.

I've got a birthday party for a friend tonight in Indiana. I'll try to take some picture for you all to enjoy. Right now I need to pull together some dinner and get myself ready.

011. A Whole Mess of Random

(Warning: this blog ended up pretty lengthy and random. Sorry in advance, it’s kind of scattered. Also, photos will be added once I get home from work. - Sorry I'm late with the pictures!!)

Breakfast this morning was not a success. The upside is even though I only ate half of it I made still made it to 10am before I needed my morning snack. I’m going to have to work on perfecting this breakfast as it clearly keeps me pretty full. So what was my breakfast flop? Pumpkin-Pie Yogurt
1 container Trader Joe’s Organic Non-Fat Greek Style Yogurt – vanilla
½ c. canned pumpkin
1 t. pumpkin pie spice
1 T. rolled oats
2 T. shredded coconut (which was added a few bits in)

I think I may have gotten a bit over-zealous with the pumpkin pie spice. It wasn’t bad – it was good enough for me to eat half of it, but it definitely wasn’t great. Live and learn right?

I’ll try it again adding the various ingredients slowly until I get a good flavor combo. I might also try plain yogurt instead of vanilla. I’m still getting used to combining flavors and finding things that work well together. Truly, this was my first attempt at putting something together on my own so I’m proud that it was at least edible. I can cook, but I’ve always been a follow the recipe kind of gal. I’ve also spent most of my life being INCREDIBLY picky when it comes to food. This has resulted in a pretty redundant meal repertoire. I’ve been so inspired by recently by the food blogs I’ve been reading (Healthy Tipping Point, Carrots n Cake, Oh She Glows), and other resources out there. I’ve got such a strong desire to expand my horizons when it comes to cooking and eating now. Maybe I jumped in head first a little too soon. Oh well, like most things, this is guaranteed to be a learning experience.

My morning snack today was my old standby Kashi Trail Mix Chewy Bar. I do love me some Kashi products.

Lunch today is leftovers from last night’s dinner out – which I need to discuss, right now. Last night the BF and I did dinner and a movie. We went to dinner at Uno’s Chicago Grill, and it ended up being a perfect dinner out. We struck fantastic compromises and split everything. The food was delicious, and it didn’t destroy my calorie count for the day too badly. We started with a mozzarella sticks appetizer (his choice), but they were the best mozzarella sticks. They were really crispy, but they weren’t super greasy. I enjoy mozzarella sticks, but I don’t like when they come swimming in a pool of oil so I generally don’t bother with them. I didn’t get a picture because I keep forgetting. (One day I’ll get used to this!)

We split the BBQ Chicken Flatbread Pizza (my choice, but I compromised on the regular crust instead of the 5 grain, whole wheat they offer) which was also phenomenal. Again, I didn’t get a picture before we dug in, but here’s what it looked like re-heated on my plate for lunch today. I’m sure you can imagine how amazing it must have looked fresh on the table.

Dessert was the highlight of the night though. Generally I avoid restaurant desserts since they’re usually caloric nightmares and aren’t anything I couldn’t throw together at home. (Plus, I’m usually plenty full when dessert time arrives anyway.) However, when I saw this on the menu, I knew I would be angry with myself if I didn’t order it so I made sure to save room. For dessert we had pumpkin tiramisu. This was hands-down the most amazing restaurant dessert I’ve ever had. Seriously, I didn’t want it to ever end. I don’t think I’ve even eaten something so slowly in my life. I almost didn’t get a picture of it because I was so enamored with it, but Chris actually reminded me. So here it is in its half eaten glory…

When I got home, I looked up the calories online to assess just how much damage I had done, and I was pleasantly surprised. The dessert was two servings and each serving clocked in at 390 calories. Yes, this is more than I usually eat at breakfast, but if you consider the fact that some restaurant desserts have an entire day’s worth of calories in them, 390 isn’t so bad. It was totally worth every single calorie.

I’ve failed at blogging my food recently so here are some eats from the last couple days.

This morning’s Kashi Trail Mix bar.


Wednesday’s breakfast – homemade toaster waffle with ¾ c. frozen mixed berries, 1T. light syrup and 1t. flaxseeds.


Wednesday’s dinner and Thursday’s lunch – Sausage and Apples on Whole Wheat Rotelle pasta. This is something my college roommate Emily and I created (mostly Emily) when we had an excess of apples and a tube of breakfast sausage in our apartment.

Tube Reduced-Fat pork sausage
½ an onion, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 T. of light maple syrup
2 T. water
3 T. white wine
2 medium apples, chopped
½ c. reduced fat shredded sharp cheddar
½ c. rotelle pasta
The recipe is linked above.


Thursday’s breakfast was inspired by Carrots n Cake – ½ c. oatmeal, ½ of a leftover baked apples and acorn squash.



I have a 6 mile run on the indoor track planned for tonight. I’m hoping it goes well. I’ve had pretty solid runs so far this week, but I haven’t been able to break 4 miles since I ran 7 a couple weeks ago. I’m hoping since my running funk seems to have lifted tonight’s run will be awesome.

I’m going shopping this weekend. I’ve been holding out on buying dress pants, but Wednesday a co-worker said to me “I hate to break it to ya girl, but you really need to buy some new pants.” That’s the downside of living a healthy lifestyle and loosing weight. Your clothes get too big and you have to buy new ones. Okay, I suppose that’s really only a downside if, like me, you don’t have a lot of extra money to be spending on new cloths because you recently acquired yourself a mortgage. Anyway, back to the point, I plan on leaving a whole mess of Operation Beautiful notes on fitting room mirrors since I’m sure I’ll be trying on many things.

That's enough for now.

009. Girls on the Run

I just recently heard about the Girls on the Run organization (I saw an ad on a CTA bus actually.), and I am totally in love with it. I really want to volunteer as a coach, but right now it's not an option due to scheduling (and also winter in Chicago).

Girls on the Run is an afterschool program for girls ages 8 to 12 that combines 5K training with lessons in self-esteem and self-acceptance. As a feminist and someone constantly striving to live a healthy lifestyle, I think this is . Monday night I signed up to run the Girls on the Run 5K. Today Fit Bottomed Girls featured an article about the organization and an interview with the founder Molly Barker.

If you haven't already, you need to go to the site, read the article, and comment on it. For each comment left, FGB will donate $1 to GOTR up to $500. In addition, New Balance, who is a major sponsor of the GOTR 5K (and running shoe maker of my choice), will match the FBG donation and donate an additional $1 up to $500 for each comment.

So start your day by making a difference. Go comment!

008. Just a quicky

I went for a quick run today. I had no energy (and there for no desire to run) because I didn't sleep very well last night, but I'm really trying to stick to the training schedule I developed. I did the 2 miles in 18:41 which is a 9:20 min/ mile pace. I did do my run outside. I'm definitely going to make sure I'm doing at least one run a week outside as it gets colder; otherwise I'm going to have a really hard time breathing during the Santa Shuffle 5K on December 5th. The cold air really stings my lungs.

I was really in the mood for pizza tonight. I think it was Caitlin's Vegetarian BBQ Pizza post that got it in my head. I made a Hawaiian pizza tonight for the BF and I. It clocked in at about 185 calories per slice which isn't too bad. Plus, I have leftover to eat for lunch tomorrow!

Not the most appetizing picture - I forgot to take one before I cut it up - but it was really yummy. I used a pre-made crust like Pillsbury's only I bought the generic brand (which actually had fewer calories and less fat.). The crust was a total nightmare. I tried rolling it out myself because I like a really thin crust. That ended up being my worst idea of the night and nearly resulted in my rolling pin getting tossed across the room! Anyway, I topped the pizza with

• 55 g red onion
• 1/4 c. reduced-fat sharp cheddar cheese
  
• 1/2 c. part-skim mozzarella cheese
• 8 oz of pineapple chunks
• 6 slices of Rose Canadian Bacon
• 1/2 c. Culinary Circle Sweet Applewood BBQ Sauce

For dessert I had 1/2c. of Trader Joe's Non-Fat Plain Frozen Yogurt with 2T. sweetened shredded coconut, 5g of goji berries and 1T of rolled oats. It was really yummy!

Well, I don't have much else to say today. I also want to get to bed a little early tonight since I didn't sleep so well last night. I promise a more exciting post tomorrow!

007. Girl Can Run...again!

I haven't talked much about my running in this blog yet, and that's primary because I was in some sort of running funk recently. Last Monday I had the run from hell, Wednesday I did okay with the interval training, but I didn't feel good about it, and Friday when I tried to run I had absolutely nothing in me. I wanted to do a quick two miles, but I ended up just walking the last 1/2 mile home. I literally had nothing in me to finish - physically or mentally. My legs were like lead weights and neither my heart nor my head were in it. It seems (hopefully) the funk has been lifted as off today.

Today as I was writing up my October recap/ November goals blog, I decided I need a more structure running plan. It's getting cold here and race season is basically over so I'm not training for anything in particular, but I felt like the only way for me to keep making progress is to pretend like I'm training for something. I decided to Google 15K training plans since my goal for November is to run 9 miles by the end of the month and log at least 50 miles run. I ended up kind of creating my own training plan based on the Novice and Intermediate plans on Hal Higdon's website. This is my training plan for now. I'm sure it'll vary a little from week to week depending on my schedule.

So, per the plan, I ran 4 miles tonight at the indoor track. It started out a little rough, but toward the end I was feeling good. I did figure out part of my problem is I'm starting off too hard and not pacing myself properly. I ran my first mile in about 9:15 which is really great, but that's not a pace I can maintain for 4 miles (not yet anyway) once I realized this I forced myself to slow down some. That was when I started hitting my stride. I finished the whole run in about 40 minutes. I was okay maintaining the 10 minute mile pace, but I'm definitely going to need to slow down to start increasing my distance.

I also realized I need to stop going to the Pavilion during "peak hours" because I am seeing way too many people I never wanted to see again! Tonight there were three guys I went to junior high with in the weight room (which has windows to the track.) Let me just say I now understand how goldfish feel. I could feel them looking at my every time I ran past. It made me feel really awkward for about the first 2 miles until I was finally able to just ignore their presence. I felt like I was being judged, but I wasn't going to leave and let them ruin my run. I'm too old for that crap.

And finally, last but not least, my food for the day. I didn't get photos of breakfast and lunch because a) I forgot and b) they were lame anyway. Breakfast was a bowl of Kashi GoLean Honey Almond Flax and lunch was left over mac n cheese from yesterday. Dinner however, was a pretty tastey Crustless Broccoli, Bacon, and Cheese Quiche with a honeycrisp apple.

In the pan....to on the plate...