Russian Dinner

After I got ready yesterday, Jason and I headed out. After we dropped off his truck for an oil change, we went straight for some bagels. We do this every once in a while. We bring our own coffee (because I don't like theirs) and grab some bagels and sit outside and people watch. It was a fun morning.

Of course, I was starving all day. A few hours later, I had to have lunch. I made a new recipe for a wrap. The spread was avocado and chick peas blended together and lettuce with a vinaigrette dressing. It may sound gross, but all the flavors really went well together. On the side, I had some Tias (kettle brand) chips. The wonderful people at Kettle brand sent me some chips. This flavor was sweet baja bbq. As it says, it is sweet baja bbq. Just the right amount of sweetness. I loved it! They have so many flavors and they are all so good!

Last night was International Dinner night. This month was Russian food. I made the dessert early, so it could cool. I made Apple Charlotte Sharlotka. It was basically an apple cake. It looked so good and smelled even better, but the taste wasn't really there.

Dinner was pelmenti (kind of like a stuffed pasta), and a veggie salad (more like a macaroni salad). Once again, everything looked and smelled great, but it was so bland. On the side, we each had a mojito.

Today, Jason is having some friends over, so I'm catching up on bad horror movies and I'm suppose to swim some laps. Right now, I don't feel like it, but once they get here, that may all change.

Have you ever had Russian Food? If so, what did you like?

Book Sale & Unexpected Miles

Since Borders Book Store is going out of business, we decided top take advantage last night. Here are the books I was looking at. Can you guess which ones I ended up getting (I bought 3)?

We continued our date night with dinner. We saw a new(ish) place that was open and looked good called Smash Burger. It's similar to the Habit that we always go to. I got a standard burger on whole wheat.

But, I think Jason's looks so much better. I don't know which one her got.

When we got home, we finished season 2 of Dexter and went to bed. It was way past my bed time (11). I got up before the sun, once again and had a quick snack (toast with some butter), got read and headed out for some miles on the streets. I had 9 1/2 miles planned. When I was mapping out my run, I couldn't get the Google pedometer thing working correctly, so I had to guess how many miles were at the end. After running it, it ended up being 10.3 miles. Not too bad.

My legs were so happy. This was the first run over 6 miles since the bad race. I felt great the entire time! I'm home now, and I just finished my chocolate milk and now I have to get ready. We have some boring errands to run today (groceries, oil change and bagels). I'm excited about the bagels, though.

Which books do you think I ended up buying (choose 3)?

The Socks that Make the Difference

Dinner was pretty good last night (aka: not healthy at all). I had bean and cheese quesadillas. Refried beans and shredded cheddar cheese in the middle with avocado, sour cream, and salsa on top. Very yummy and pretty!

Whenever I run, my feet would get really torn up. I will save you from any pictures of my feet, but chunks of skin wold be missing. Ever since the great people at Drymax Socks sent me some socks to try out, my feet are looking a little more human. I've been wearing them all week and I have fallen in love!

They allow my feet to breath and not get so sweaty and they are so soft, I've been wearing all day (I change between workouts and work).

They also have this cushy on the back at the heel that helps me with sliding and rubbing raw from my shoes.

Most of my running shoes slide down (in my work shoes) and I have to keep pulling them up. Not these socks. They stay put and never move.

When it starts to get cooler (since I always wear socks when I'm cold) these will be my comfy socks (as well as my workout socks, work socks and home socks). I do have different socks for all the listed above, I know, I'm odd.

I got to sleep in today and I'm so happy. I was starting to fall asleep at 8 last night. Jason was making fun of me and calling me an old lady. Today is a rest day, so no working out. I'll live through you guys when I read your blogs.

What are your "go to" socks?

Wednesday

I know it's Thursday, but I wanted to show you guys how my Wednesday go (every, single week). I love being busy and I definitely am.

4:00: alarm goes off, hit snooze
4:09: alarm goes off and I sleep walk to get dressed and drink a pre-made (home made) smoothie
4:30: at the gym and spend 6 miles on this baby

5:30: head over the my new BFF and spend 30 minutes with him and talk to some guy trying to get his 9 year old grandson into running and asking my advice (flattering and the distraction I needed).

~6:00: head home

6:10: arrive home, blog, get ready for work, eat breakfast and have slight conversation with Jason

7:45: head to work.

9:00: take supplements (my stash for the week)

10:00-4:00: eat snacks & lunch (this stash should last me the week) and work

5:00: leave work to go back to the gym

5:15: arrive at the gym and get changed into workout clothes

5:17: (yes, I'm a very fast dresser), run 4 miles
6:00: head over to the spin room for a 1 hour torture session (and loving every minute)

7:00: arrive home and shower. Find out that Jason has ordered a pizza

8:00: starving and pizza arrives (we don't order the pizza every week)

8:00-10:00: enjoy dinner and watching Dexter with Jason until I pass out (not from the beer, from my long day)

10:00: head to bed and sleep until 4 am to go back to the gym

We don't eat pizza every week, just some sort of dinner and usually watch a movie or something while we eat. It's a very busy day (my Monday's are very similar), but I love every minute of it!

This morning, I headed back to the gym to do 4 mile sprints, weights (legs and arms) and a 20 minute core workout.

What was your day like?

3 Runs in 24 Hours

After work yesterday, I hit the gym. This was my 2nd time in one day. I am now doing twoadays on Mondays & Wednesdays. It helps make my legs fatigued for running the next morning (and in the long run, makes me a stronger runner). I had some time to kill before my ripped class was going to start. The only thing I could think to do is run (of course). I was able to put in 3 1/2 miles on the tm before class.

We had a sub for the ripped class (disappointing). But, man, did he kick me ass. There was this one (tiny) section where he had us do wood chopper as fast as we could for about 30 seconds, 3 push ups (I don't do the "girly" ones), right plank, 3 push ups, left plank, 3 push ups, stretch back in childs pose for a few seconds, then repeat (4 times). I am still sore from that!

But, I got up this morning and headed back. I had a tempo 5k (29:41) on the schedule. To go with that, I was back at the weights this morning. I lifted with legs and arms (once again) and had a nice core workout.

So, in total, I've ran 12.6 miles in 24 hours. Pretty good for me! My legs are looking forward to relaxing tonight! I wore a new shirt to the gym this morning. It was so comfy. The great people at My Race Ragz sent it to me. I was able to choose which design I wanted. The shirt had a girl fit to it (for woman, they also have men shirts) and fit in just the right places. The material is very light weight, soft and wicking. I almost want to sleep in it! I had my own photo shoot this morning (after the gym, so don't mind the tired look on my face).

It really does hug in the waist area.


From the side (and my really long arm).


Don't you just love the design. It's so cute!

As you can tell, I need a lot of rest tonight. I did fall asleep at 10 last night (usually enough sleep for me). I am going to do everything I need to do before I leave for work, so I can fully relax when I get home tonight.


What is the most workouts you've done in a 24 hour period?

7 Links

I was nominated by Aron to do the 7 links post that is going around blogland right now. It's so much fun to participate in these types of things. Here we go…

My Most Beautiful Post

I'm not sure if this would qualify for "most beautiful", but I was so happy when my brace came off and I could run without pain. Notice Something Missing is a huge post for my progress.



My Most Popular Post

Smoothies & Shots is my most popular post. I'm glad it is, because it shows a really good product!

My Most Controversial Post

Switching Things Up was an every day kind of post (still not considering it controversial). I had a few comments about drinking the soda. In case you don't read this post, I didn't drink the soda, we got it for free when we picked up the pizza. My husband drinks the occasional soda and he ended up having it over a few months.

My Most Helpful Post

The Best Appointment Yet! post was about my recovery on getting my knee better and not having to wear the brace while running and feeling no pain. I think it was the most helpful post. It shows workouts one can do to improve the quad strength, which really helped me.

A Post Whose Success Surprised Me

The My Strange Addiction post extremely surprised my by how many viewers it caught. I love tv, so this was just a show that I occasionally watch.

A Post I Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved

I always have big thoughts for the things that I do. I was thinking that a ton of people would automatically come look at my blog (even my first post). Yummy Chicken was my very first post and not even one comment. I understand now why, but back then I didn't.

The Post That I Am Most Proud Of

The Parkway Half Marathon recap was a post about my very first half marathon, the reason why I started this blog. I am very proud of myself and always will be!

I nominate:

Jess @ Blonde Ponytail

Molly @ I'm a Sleeper Baker

Janea @ Hungry Runner Girl

Pool Time!!

When I got up at 6 yesterday morning, I was starving. I fixed myself breakfast of champions: scrambled eggs, toast and coffee. I love this combination!

It fueled me properly to spend some time outside with this bad boy.

I've been wanting to start really swimming. I have a sprint tri in my head for sometime. I'm not sure how soon or how far away it may be. But, I want to make sure it could be a possibility by starting to do laps. As soon as it warmed up, I got my suit on. It's very difficult, since I live in an apartment, to try to do laps when little kids are doing cannonballs on your head. So I headed out at 10, before anyone else was there.

I ended up swimming a total of 500 meters. I took my time and started out with 6 laps, got out and laid out, got back in for 8 laps, then 10 laps, 8, 6, 6, 4 ,2. My arms are tired and I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but it's what I want to do.

After I showered, I relaxed and lazed around the house until Jason's dad came over for dinner. I made chicken parm (baked) and garlic bread and a salad. It was a pretty healthy meal and very yummy!

This morning, I got myself out of bed at 4 and got ready and headed to the gym. I guess, I technically started my new workout schedule yesterday, with the swim. But, I started back at the gym today. I ran 6 miles on the mill. I needed to take a bathroom break at 3 miles and got back on and finished. I eagerly headed over the stairs. My long awaited friend treated my well this morning. Lots of sweat poured off my body and I walked out of the gym with a huge smile on my face. Now, it's time to get cleaned up and get ready for work. I will head back to the gym tonight for one of my favorite classes, Ripped!! I can't wait!



What's your favorite class at the gym!

Baking & Plays

After the run yesterday, I had so much energy to get things done around the house. Most of it was to bake and get things ready for this coming week. I made M&M cookies.


Home made jelly (raspberry with a hint of home grown blackberries)

And, granola bars, already cooled and just needs to be cut up. I also hard boiled some eggs for a snack through the week.

We had a mini date night last night. I had free tickets to go see a play downtown. It took a lot less time to get there, so we grabbed our tickets, then headed across the street for a snack. We immediately ordered some beers.

The pub was so cute. Here are the taps. They had more beer on tap, this is just a small selection. I had the IPA.

We also had a small snack (we shared). We ordered the cajun chicken strips that we dipped in ranch. They were pretty good. Just the right amount of spice.

Fox & The Goose was the name of this pub. It was great being literally right across the street from the theater.

The theater was extremely small and could probably only hold about 50 people. Here's the set.

This was my first time to a play (non-school). It was enjoyable, just a little slow for me. It was kinda cool to see them change the set in front of us. We did get front row seats. Only 8 of us were at this play.

Afterwards, we were snacky and didn't really want to go home. So, we drove down the street, to the Tower Cafe, and had dessert. Since going to Europe (for my first time) a few years ago, I love sitting outside at night while drinking a cappuccino. So, that's exactly what we did (while we ate the best tasting piece of apple pie).

It was a little chilly outside, but worth it! I love being outside as much as possible. Maybe coming in every few days to shower. This was my first time to the Tower Cafe. Next door is the Tower Theater. They play a lot of indie, artsy movies. I found a few that I want to go see.

It was so beautiful here. There is so much greenery and lights and a fountain.

We had a blast last night. We stayed out waaay past my bedtime (we got home at 11:45). I know, we're a crazy couple!

In case you're getting bored with my non-active daily life, the sweating begins tomorrow at 4am prompt. I'm not looking forward to getting up that early, but I got up at 6 this morning, so I should be pretty tired to go to bed early this evening.


Do you prefer movies or plays? Do you have any small theaters near you?

5K with Friends

This morning, I met up with a friend to run our own 5k (just the 2 of us). We started before it got too hot (at 8) and made our miles. The trail was nice and quiet, not too many people were out in the beginning.


We went out 3.1 miles and finished with smiles on our faces (and she doesn't hate me for pushing her). I let her set the pace and walk when she needed. She wants to start running and build up her endurance. We're going to make this a monthly thing and see how she improves.


We walked the other 5k back in. The sites were very pretty. I love running next to water.

Nice and quiet, but people were starting to make their appearance.

When we completed a total of 6.2 miles, we made it back to the car. Since it was starting to get warmer, Jamba Juice was on our mind. A nice, cool, fruit drink was a nice finish to our run.

I was nice and warm in the some sun and she was cooling off in the some shade. Can't wait to see her progress next month! Great job this morning!!


Do you prefer to run with friends or solo?