Another Day & Winners

Today was pretty uneventful. Normal food all the way around.

I went to the gym and had another great workout. I love it when I'm not looking forward to a workout, I force myself to go anyways, and end up loving it. I had 25 minutes on the elliptical, 30 minute abs, 10 minutes rowing, and 10 minutes on that other machine. Then, I was off to the grocery store.

I buy more of my stuff at Winco (it's just so dang cheap), and I buy special foods at Whole Foods. Whenever I walk into Winco, I start to feel a headache coming on and try to rush as fast as I can to hurry up and get out of there. I was still irritated by the time I got to Whole Foods, but I became relaxed so fast. People were nicer and it's a much better environment. I wish I could afford to buy everything there.

After I got home and unloaded everything, I started dinner. I wasn't that hungry, so I just had mashed potatoes and green beans (my favorite). If I could, I would eat this everyday (and I would be 100 pounds heavier).

I used Earth Balance for the butter in the potatoes. My first reaction was that it was so crumbly. It didn't scoop out like I'm use to with other brands. I'm very happy to report, it tasted just like the other stuff. It didn't taste "too healthy" (if you know what that means). It's some pretty good stuff! I can't wait to use it for my baking feast Friday!



My dessert was Seeds of Change chocolate with whole oats inside. It tasted just like some chocolate from when I was a kid. It brought back so many memories.

Look at all those oats. Such GREAT chocolate (and I've been to Belgium and had their chocolate)!!

Ok, enough torture, on to the winners. The 3 lucky winners of the Inperspire towels are:

Kovas Palubinskas

Andrew Opala

Marlene

You have 48 hours to email me (runnersfuel[at]hotmail[dot]com) your address and which towel you would like (if you do not claim your prize, I will go back to randow.org and see the other winner(s) are). Congrats to you guys and thank you everyone for entering. I have another giveaway up my sleeve and will be out there soon! Keep reading...

Another Uncomfortable & Unhappy Monday Sans Yoga

This morning was the same routine as always: get up, eat, go to work, have snacks and eat lunch. Then, on my way to the gym. I did have something interesting for one of my snacks. I had a Sharkies twist chew. It was pretty good. Lots of flavor and I love these chews. They are so good. They remind me of when I was a kid. I use to eat other brands all the time.


I had one of the best runs (on the treadmill)! I hauled booty for my 4.25 miles in 44:35 minutes. That's a new PR for me!! I love setting new PR's. My influence was that I was "running" (lol) late for my spin class, so I had to hurry. I was drenched with sweat, then ran over to the spin room.

Spin was another great class. I'm so excited, we get this instructor on Wednesday, too!! For some reason, I think she works us harder than any other instructor I've taken. I've even taken x-bike (indoor mountain biking). Sweat drips on the floor...cool!!

I wasn't really feeling yoga today. My legs were crying for my compression socks. I went home and slapped those babies right on. I wore those for about an hour while I ate dinner. Tonight was just cereal. I tried this new cereal from Nature's Path. I wasn't really looking forward to it, but it did look interesting. When I opened the box, all I could smell was cinnamon. I'm not sure why. I couldn't taste any. It was a pretty good cereal. It had a little bit of everything in there. I went back for a second bowel (only 1/2 a bowel). I'm am still pretty stuffed. I don't think I will be eating anything else tonight.

While I ate my dinner, I watched some season finales. I can't believe the fall season is starting next week. Crazy how fast time flies by!

I love how I feel after such a great workout. After I've had a filling dinner, a nice warm shower and had a chance to relax a little. I just feel so comfy and so relaxed. I love these days. I don't feel relaxed often (actually rarely). I could melt into the couch right now.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway. I will be announcing the 3 lucky winners tomorrow night (from random.org). Good luck!!

Is it hard for anyone else to fully relax?

Weekend Off

I set me alarm to get up early and go for a short run this morning. I hit snooze a couple of times, then decided that I didn't want to go for a run. That's why I have a longer training schedule than most people. I don't want to force myself to do something I don't want to do. It's ok to take a day (or 2) off. It doesn't hurt me. I just don't want running to feel like a chore. I hate chores.

When I finally got up (at 10am), I had a piece of toast with Krema's PB. So good! It hit the spot with the Jim's organic coffee. Perfect match, along with sleeping in.

A few hours later, I had some Sharkies. They are a gummy shark. They are full of flavor and have the great gummy texture! The only thing, is that I wish there were more in a pack.


All the facts...

Look how cute they are...

This afternoon, we had a Rising Moon Organics pizza. It was tomatoes, basil and mozzarella. very good and it tasted so fresh. It was like someone picked the basil from their garden. It didn't taste like all the other frozen pizzas. Very tasty.

More facts...

The directions were kind of odd. It says to pre heat the oven to 390 (not 375 or 400). I found it funny that it warned you that the toppings will be hot once it comes out of the oven.

Final product...

Today was a pretty relaxing day of lazing around and watching movies. I'm about to go back to it. I just had left over dinner (the chili). It was mighty tasty, too. I don't think I'll have dessert tonight, too full!

Just a reminder, tomorrow is the last day to enter my giveaway!! Enter before you forget. Everyone needs a cool workout towel.

Another Birthday!!

This morning, I got up early (not as early as I usually do on Saturdays) and went shopping. Now this wasn't a normal shopping day. We went shopping for something special. We have new additions to our household. Because we weren't able to bring them home, I don't have any good pictures. We adopted 2 black kittens. They had to stay at the shelter to get spayed. They are 2 black (non-related) 3 month old kittens. One is very love able and the other is very playful. I can't bring them home until next weekend. I can't wait an entire week! But, I have to.

Afterwards, we went straight to a birthday party for one of our friends' kids. He turned 5 today. Again, I need to remember to take pictures of things I eat outside of the house. I even had my camera. I guess I was too hungry to take a picture. The food was gone in a second. I had a burrito and some veggies with a little bit of dip. It was all very good.

When we got home, I got ready for my parents to come over and celebrate my dad's birthday (which is actually tomorrow). I fixed him dinner and dessert. Dinner was one of my all time favorites...chunky chili. It is such an easy dish to make. It was a little chilly outside too, so even better.

Dessert was apple crisp. It was also easy to make. I made this last night (because of our busy day today). It was pretty good. It went well with the french vanilla ice cream and whipped cream (which I didn't have any whipped cream).

Apple Crisp:

3 cups apples, chopped

2 T lemon juice

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup quick cooking oats

1/3 cup butter

3/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t salt

Spread apples on bottom of 8x8 (non greased) pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Mix remaining ingredients with fork until crumbly. Sprinkle over apples. Bake 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown. Serve warm with whipped cream (and ice cream). (Serves 6.)

Don't forget about my giveaway. Monday is the last day to enter.

Fantastic Friday!!

I was pretty good today. I had my normal breakfast, snacks and lunch today!! Yay for me. Work went by like a breeze. It was kind of scary, because I was expecting something really bad to happen right before I left. I'm so happy it didn't. Everything went as planned, which is pretty strange for being a Friday. Fridays are our busiest day of the week. I'm glad it went smoothly.

Because of this, when I got home, I was in a GREAT mood!! I was jumping around, singing and acting all crazy (my normal self). Jason was hungry, so I made dinner. I made ravioli with cooked chicken and pasta sauce. For the ravioli, I used Rising Moons Organics spinach Florentine. The pasta sauce was Dave's Gourmet Red Heirloom.

The ravioli was pretty slippery. I always have something under my plate when I eat dinner (on the couch), and one ravioli slipped off my plate and landed on the ground leaving a trail of sauce everywhere. It's ok, I'm use to being messy! The sauce was a little watery, but the taste was great. It had a little kick to it. I don't like ultra spicy foods, but this was really good. The pasta, sauce and chicken made a really good combination.

The pasta...



the sauce...

the final product...

Jason and I had some errands to make this evening. Afterwards, I was in the mood for ice cream. I happened to have coupon for a free scoop. So, I enjoyed 2 scoops of ice cream (in a sundae) and Jason enjoyed his pint (not the whole thing) of peanut butter, chocolate ice cream. It is really good ice cream. I think mine was better, though. The scoops I got were: snickers and fudge brownie. What a treat. I still did pretty good today.

Tomorrow is my dad's birthday (it's actually Sunday, but we're celebrating tomorrow). I'm making him dinner and dessert. I can't wait for him to try it! I'll post tomorrow what I'm making him. I may have a surprise tomorrow to post about?? Can anyone guess what it is?

Just Another Thursday

I woke up and ate my standard breakfast this morning. I went to work and started my crazy 8 hours. Another busy day. I love how busy it's been. I like not staring at the clock as the time slowing clicks by with each second. Today, it felt like an hour went by, and actually 6 went by. How awesome is that!

This morning I brought one of my Javaccino coffees to work. I knew it was going to be a crazy day and I was going to need some caffeine. Jason at Javaccino was so kind to send these to me. When he found out one of the bottles broke in shipping, he quickly offered to send some more. How sweet are they at Javaccino?

The coffee was nice and clean tasting (if that's possible) I loved the flavor (mocha, my favorite) and the best thing, no gritty after taste. I just kept it in the fridge until I was ready to open it! I can't wait to have another soon!


I think my work is really trying to make me fat. I love all the treats they're bringing in, and I can't turn anything down. I keep weighting myself to make sure nothing bad is happening. The scale seems to be my friend, right now. I think it's all the running that I've been doing. I never want to stop running, I'll be use to eating anything, Ill gain so much weight.

This morning, my boss brought in bagels from one of their favorite places. I had the cranberry walnut with fluffy plain cream cheese. That was the best bagel I've ever tasted. Too bad the shop is about 1 hour away. I guess it's actually a good thing, I won't be buying them.

My lunch was the rest of my lunch from yesterday. I was extremely full, I didn't even have a bar (or 1/2) before my workout.

When I left work, I drove as fast as I could to get to the gym. For some reason, I was so excited to go run 4 1/2 miles. I don't know why. I didn't have any extra energy or anything. Very strange. Sometimes I get excited about the smallest things. So, I did end up running 4 1/2 miles (with a quick bathroom break about 2 1/2 miles into it). It was a good run! I'm so happy I went!

When I got home, I was pretty hungry. I fixed myself another monstrous salad. I put the same stuff inside, except I added some cooked chicken. This time, I cooked the chicken in Homemade Dressings Napa seasoning. It was soooo good! It added so much flavor to the salad.

I'm still pretty full, so IF I get hungry, I'll just have a banana. They're at the prefect ripeness Right now. They just turned away from green.

I was so tired last night, I crashed so hard, I didn't even heard my hubby come home. I'm feeling pretty lazy right now, so I better go make my lunch for tomorrow. Don't forget my giveaway. Monday is the last day to enter.

Do you like bananas? If so, what ripeness do you prefer to eat them?

Hills, hills, hills and a big salad

Today was a much better day! It started out the same as any other morning. I had my normal breakfast and headed off to work. Work, again was a mad house (but much calmer than yesterday).

I tried my new bread (that Jason bought me) for my lunch. I can't believe how filling it was. I could only eat 2 1/2 bites. I was stuffed! This is all I ate for my lunch. It was so good, though.

A few hours later, I had my pre-workout snack. I had 1/2 bar of Think Thin. It was pretty good, but not what I was thinking. It was covered in chocolate and PB inside. It was good, but not what I was expecting with a name like "Think Thin".

I think the bar messed with my tummy. I'm not sure, but I'm guessing that's what was causing all my gassy-ness. I felt bad for the people on the treadmills next to me. I don't think they noticed. I only ran 3 miles nice and easy, then 1/2 straight up (9.5 incline). My legs were killing me. Then, off the my spin class I went. It was a nice class. More hills and lots of them. It felt like then entire class was one big, huge hill. It was great!

When I got home, I was pretty hungry. I was craving a huge salad. I out a tomato, cherry tomatoes, a hard boiled egg, part of a cucumber, walnuts and this new feta salad dressing.

The Seeds of Change salad dressing was fantastic! The smell was out of this world. The flavor was even better. All this mixed together made for the best salad. Here is all the good info on the salad dressing.

Look at this beauty! Tomorrow, I'll be adding chicken.

Dessert was much needed. I made a banana split without the ice cream (I substituted Greek yogurt). I mixed together 1 sliced banana, 1 tablespoon PB, 1 tablespoon Fat Toad Farm carmel, mini chocolate chips and a cherry on top. I mixed everything together.

The Nature's Path granola was sooo good. I love the flavor and all the bites of pieces of goodness. Of course, it has a lot of calories, but it was worth it. I just need to eat it in moderation. I just have to remember that.

Here's everything all mixed together. Best dessert (at home) in a while.

Don't forget about my giveaway. The last day to enter is Monday. I will announce the winners (3) on Tuesday. Hope everyone has a good Thursday!!

Do you have a favorite season? Why?

My Birthday Gift to You...My First Giveaway!

This morning was normal, until I got to work. When I got to work, I thought everyone forgot about my birthday, but they surprised me with one of my favorites....Blackberry/blueberry cobbler. So yummy! I snacked on that today. For lunch I had my usual, just inside one of Stacey's whole wheat tortillas. I ran out of bread.

It was such a crazy day at work. I couldn't think straight. I needed to pause time and keep working. I can't believe how busy it was. I loved it (in a way)! Today flew by. I ended up taking a 20 minute lunch about 4pm. Crazy busy today. It's only going to get worse as the week progresses. This did not put me in the greatest mood. We were all cranky.

My hubby had jury duty today, so he didn't have to work tonight. That meant, no workout for me. I love spending as much time with him as possible. When I got home, he knew I wasn't in a good mood. He knows to leave me alone to cool off. Such a sweet guy! He came up to me with a couple of gifts. He gave me some Skinny Cow ice cream, some Ezekiel bread and then a little gift box full of a bunch of goodies: snickers bar, 3 musketeer bar, gum, perfume, Serj Tankain CD (which I'm listening to right now) and some of his poems, and a pair of capris. I love hims so much. He knows just what I want!

It was my choice of places to eat. I wanted to eat at this place that just opened down the street: The Squeeze Inn. Their burgers a pretty big! This is what Jason had for dinner. This is his burger (with a ton of cheese):


Inside his burger:

We shared a side of fries.

My burger (no cheese).

We had a beer when we got home (after we digested the huge meal we had). At the restaurant, Jason gave me one more present. He bought me some pants and a new jacket. I'm set for running in the winter time! Here's my modeling debut:

My new pants (ignore the blood drive shirt).

Here's what everyone is waiting for...the GIVEAWAY!! Three lucky winners will win one towel (each) of their choice from Inperspire towels. Read my review to refresh your memory. These towels are great. Here are the rules (leave a comment for each that you do):

-Become a follower (or tell that you are...mandatory)

-Follow me on fan on facebook

-Follow Inperspire on facebook

-Go to their website and let me know which towel you like best

-Post this review on your blog

-Add me to your blog roll

Challenged and Happy!!

Same thing this morning. I woke up and ate my usual cereal. I went to work and had a crazy day! I still managed to get in all my little snacks in.

My first afternoon snack was a few chopped up strawberries. I almost forgot to take a picture before I downed all of them.

A few hours later, I had my chopped up apple.

Before I left work to go to the gym, I had the last half of my bar from yesterday.

Today's workout was a killer. I hauled ass running my 4 1/4 miles. It was a pretty good run. I ran this in 43:22. This is pretty good. I wasn't looking for a special run or anything today, just to really stretch my legs before me spin class. After leaving the treadmill a sweaty mess (don't worry, I cleaned up), I used the restroom and went into my 50 minute spin class. Today's class seemed especially difficult today. Usually, we get a little break between sections. Today, no go. There was not a single break. It was defiantly the killer part of my workout. So many sprints, intervals, and too many hills. My thighs are still tingling. I can feel every muscle in my body. Every movement I make, I feel it take a lot longer. I love how I feel!

Yoga was the next class. This was a full hour of pure stretching. It helps so much after all the torture I put my body through on Mondays. My favorite part of my Mondays!

When I got home, I was starving. I quickly fixed up one of my whole wheat tortilla, hummus and chicken wrap. So yummy! I love this wrap: very quick to make, and very cool.

I couldn't get full. I think I used so many calories, at the gym. I was starving today. I ate some of Late July's mini cookies. They taste so good. I love the milk chocolate inside the whole wheat crackers. I want to buy some more...NOW!!

Just want to give you guys a heads up. You may want to read my blog tomorrow. There may a little something special for my readers. My birthday present to you guys!

Bacon Sunday

I woke up about 10 minutes before my alarm went off this morning. I hate it when that happens. I was wide awake. I'm not sure why, I got slept about 6 hours. Usually I need about 10-12 to be my happy, normal self. Oh well. I got up and started grinding whole coffee beans, so I didn't have to when I got back from my run.

Jim's Organic Coffee sent me whole beans to try out. I love the smell of freshly ground coffee beans in the morning. That will definitely wake a person right up.



I love the art on the bag. The coffee was so good, too. It had a great taste, and no bitter after taste.

After grinding the beans, I snacked on Fruition bar, cherry flavor. I really liked the flavor. It had such a great taste. I only ate 1/2 the bar, because of the calories.

This morning, I ran 2.21 miles and worked up a nice sweat. I didn't let the bar relax in my stomach for long enough. I kept on getting horrible stomach cramps. I really have to learn how long to wait after eating, until I run. I always learn things the hard way.

Here I am with all my gear and covered in sweat. It was such a nice morning for an early morning run. There were so many people out. I hardly ever run into anyone. This morning there were about 12 people that I saw. It made it a little nicer to run. So many friendly old people. I don't think I saw anyone under the age of 70 out. My Bondi Band really kept all my hairs out of my face. I usually have trouble with all my baby hairs either getting stuck to my forehead or my lips (since I always wear chapstick). It was nice not having to remove any hair!

When I got home, I was pretty hungry. I did some little things around the house. Then, I gave pancakes my last time. I usually can not make pancakes, so they're not gooey on the inside. I used Great River Milling's wheat pancake mix. I followed the directions to the T.

And, what do you see...pancakes!! I did it! They weren't burnt, and they weren't gooey inside. They were perfect. The flavor was nice. I love the taste of whole wheat. It just tastes healthy.

Along with the coffee and pancakes, I also made Coleman Meat's bacon. I love the thick bacon. It's so much better when there are not any antibiotics used in the process. The best flavored bacon ever!! Of course, I baked the bacon. Here is our breakfast in whole.

I love up close and personal pictures. I topped my pancakes with light butter, my home made blackberry jam (from a few weeks ago) and light syrup. Not a very healthy breakfast, but it sure tasted good!

Lunch was one of my favorite lunches of all time. I fixed BLT's. I toasted whole wheat bread, added light mayo and topped it with baked bacon, home grown tomatoes and lettuce. I like these sandwiches cut in half. I had a side of tortilla chips. Everything was nice and crispy.

When it came to dinner, I wasn't in the mood to cook, or to really put anything together, so I had a TV dinner. I had picked up some of Amy's bowls. Tonight, I had the country cheddar. It had peppers, potatoes, chicken, broccoli, pasta and of course Cheddar cheese.

When I first opened the package, everything looked a lot smaller than I thought. After I heated everything, and poured it into an everyday bowl, I found it to be bigger than I originally thought. I guess my eyes were bigger than my stomach.

Here are the details...

This doesn't look like your average TV dinner. It didn't taste like your average TV dinner. If someone put this into a bowl and said they made it, I wouldn't doubt them. It was pretty good! It actually tasted like real cheese!

I've been in a funk this weekend. I can't wait to be out of it and move on. I bought some strawberries and chopped them up. I'm going to be getting back to a better diet. I think that should do the trick.

I better get things ready for tomorrow. Monday's are always my long days. I have 8 hours of work (9 if you count lunch), then 3 hours at the gym. I love it though and wouldn't change a thing. It will go by so fast, as usual.

Anything exciting happen this weekend?