An Early Christmas

I cooked another whole chicken in the crock pot yesterday. Here are the spices I used...



It had a unique smell. Tastes good.

For the early x-mas with my parents, I made some mini coffee cake muffins,

some mini banana crunch muffins,

and we played a game we bought for my dad (rumikub).

Overall, it was a pretty good day. We had my parents over for an early x-mas (since my mom is leaving for a few weeks). We had them over for brunch. I also made my famous quiche and cinnamon bread. We exchanged some presents (I got some awesome reflective running gear and the hubs got some pretty cool books). Afterwards, we played the game for a few hours.

Now, I'm cleaning up and getting ready to relax and watch some shows. Overall, I had an awesome weekend. I can't wait until my next one! Anything exciting happen for you this weekend?

Getting Better & Giveaway WINNER!!

I got up this morning and ran some errands. When I got home, I made some coffee and had some whole wheat toast topped with PB and sliced bananas. So yummy. This was the first time I ever had this. I've heard of a lot of people having this all the time. So, I took their advice and tried it. Love it!!


I caught up on some shows, then headed out to get my hair done. I haven't had it cut or anything since February. Which is way too long. I love the color and how she styles it! I'm too lazy, so this is the only time it ever gets styled.

For dinner, I made braised chicken thighs with button mushrooms. The dinner took a while to make (as expected), but totally worth it! The chicken was nice a juicy and full of flavor. This recipe is being added to my favorites stack.

My knee is so much better. The pain I've have in the past has lasted about 2 days. That is how long this lasted. I took today off of working out (I was going to run), and I just RICE my knee. I think it worked. I'm going to go for a run in the morning and will let you know tomorrow.

And now, on to the reason why you guys are reading this post...in WINNER of the Pro Emu muscle and Joint cream jar is: Teamarcia. Please email me (runnersfuel(at)hotmail(dot)com with your mailing address and I will have a jar sent directly to you. Congrats and thank you everyone for following and reading through over 100 posts!! I wouldn't continue this without you!!

People Come & People Go

This afternoon was pretty good at work. All the weirdos are starting to come in. I'm use to it. It happens every once in awhile. The funny thing is that they come in at once. We're starting to run out of food at home (I'm too lazy to go to the store, I'll go Saturday). For my snacks today,
I had a handful of grapes and an Attune chocolate bar. It was so good. It wasn't thinking much of it, but it was actually very good. Afterwards, I was extremely full. I don't know if it was the bar, or I was going to be full anyways. I loved that the bar only had 80 calories and I got my chocolate fix! I found it at my local Safeway in the yogurt section.


Today was a running only day at the gym. It was a long run day. I had 6 1/2 miles on my schedule. I got on the treadmill (too hot outside, it was 92 outside), and I wasn't really into it. I decided I was going to space out and listen to Judge Judy. Next thing I know, I've run 5 1/2 miles. So many people came and went. The treadmills were completely filled when I got on and about 30 minutes into the run, they were almost empty. I needed up running 6 1/2 miles in 70:26. I rock! If I'm able to keep my pace during my 1/2 marathon, I will be able to finish under 2 1/2 hours! So far, I've ran 1/4 of a marathon. Does that count for anything??

When I got home, I was starving. I knew my dinner was going to take about 1 hour to bake. I was making Baked Parmesan Chicken Legs, mashed potatoes and green beans (can you tell I love green beans, I eat them all the time).

Here's the chicken all ready in the oven and starting to bake. Only 55 minutes until I can inhale them.

Fresh out of the oven...

Mashed potatoes...yummy (my favorite).

Everything all plated. Such a good dinner!!

I have my compression socks on and now it's time to relax and try to catch up on the dvr. Tomorrow, is going to be a short day at work. I have a dentist appointment that is going to take 4 hours. Hopefully it only takes 4 hours. I hate the dentist! My hubby is so sweet, he's going to take me to work, pick me up and wait for me at the dentist, take me home and take care of me the rest of the day. I don't think I'll be in too much pain. Saturday, I have an Oktoberfest 5K in Davis. So, I hope I'll be able to compete, and not just run (runners know the difference).

Wish me luck tomorrow!!

Unexpected 6 Miles & a New PR

Everything went well today, as usual. Before I left work to go to the gym, I was actually able to eat a full bar. It was Clif Bar Kidz (blueberry flavor). When I opened the package, the smell of blueberries snuck up my nose. It was so good and I would buy so many more of these.


I was planning of running my usual 5 1/2 miles today, but my legs were feeling so good, I ran a total of 6 miles. I finished the 6 miles in 1:04. If you remember from Sunday, I ran my 5 1/2 miles in 1:02. What a great job I did. I wasn't even trying too hard. My goal was to push myself, but I didn't realize how hard I was pushing. I feel great (as I'm still wearing my compression socks).

Here I am on my way home enjoying the cool breeze on my sweating, disgusting, red face.


When I got home, I immediately hopped in the shower. I needed to get the salt off as soon as possible, it was staring to clump. When I got out, I started dinner. Tonight, I made Chicken Milanese with Fennel Sauce (I left out the tomatoes). The only difference was that I added some little fennel greens on top of the finished product. I paired it with brown rice.

Here's the chicken being cooked after it was pounded and battered.

Fennel, garlic and seasonings being cooked.

Final product. It was so good. I loved the smell of the fennel and garlic being cooked together. I was amazing. This went really well with the brown rice. I can't wait for left overs tomorrow.

My stomach has been hurting all night (even before I ate dinner). I don't know what's wrong, so I need to get some rest. Off to watch tv on the couch with my kittens (such cuddle bugs).

How long have you been running? What made you want to start?

I've been running for a total of about 7 years. I had put on some weight and wanted to take it off. I couldn't afford a gym or any workout things, so I just started to run. I didn't cost anything, and I could do it anywhere. I started racing, to make it more fun (I love a competition). I wanted to keep beating my last time and haven't stopped yet. With how much I've been eating, I don't think I ever could stop running. I'm an empty pit right now and I love being able to eat whatever I want (in moderation).

Yummy Chicken!

The finished meal all prepared with wine and ready to be eaten. This was a great meal. Recipe at the bottom.

I love my rice cooker. It's one of the best presents my brother bought me. To the left, the veggies are ready to bake in the oven for about 15 minutes.

The chicken baked in the oven for 40 minutes with a little extra sauce. To the left, the veggies are washed and ready to be sliced.

We are on a tight budget right now and needed something fairly inexpensive, but tasty. I chose the Kraft honey roasted garlic BBQ sauce. I was surprised of how good this tasted. It wasn't over powered by the garlic taste, it was very suttle. I will definitely purchase this next time I BBQ. I marinated the chicken in the zip lock bag for a couple of hours in the BBQ sauce. It really had time to soak in.

This morning I got up bright and early for my 9am spin class. The class was full of excitement and a lot of energy. I can't believe how quickly the 50 minutes fly by! When I returned home, I refueled with some coffee and a splash of non-fat vanilla coffee creamer. I also had a small piece of some apple cake that I made the night before. My husband, Jason, and I went to Whole Foods to taste test their "Foods of Fourth of July". Too bad it wasn't going on. I think I must have messed up the time or something.

For lunch, we had left over pizza from the little neighborhood pizzeria near by, Riverside Pizza. It was pretty good pizza, and the customer service was very good. I never felt rushed when trying to decide what we wanted. It felt like we were the only ones there. Jason ordered a combination pizza and I ordered the standard pepperoni pizza. They were both really tasty. The combination pizza used fresh ingredients, and the pepperoni tasted very fresh. I'm glad we live so close to this pizza place. Yummy pizza!

As dinner time rolled around (8pm for us), we started to get hungry. I made barbecue chicken with steamed brown rice and fresh veggies. The veggies I chose were a green and red pepper with three squash. We washed everything down with a glass of Chateau St. Michelle white wine. This is one of my favorite wines.

I topped the night off with a banana while we watched the movie Whip It from Netflix. Very cute movie!

Recipe:

5 chicken breast (boneless/skinless)

1 1/2 cups your favorite BBQ sauce

1 cup brown rice

3 squash

1 red pepper

1 green pepper

olive oil, salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

Place chicken in zip lock bag with BBQ sauce for about 2 hours. Afterwards, preheat oven to 350. Place chicken in 9X13 pan with tin foil on bottom with cooking spray (makes for easy clean up). If desire, spread a little BBQ on top of chicken, for extra taste. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Meanwhile, place 1 cup brown rice with water in rice cooker. Cook until rice is softened, about 25 minutes. Chop veggies into bite size pieces. Please on large cookie sheet and mix well with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss with hands. Place in oven with chicken 15 minutes before chicken is complete. Once plated, you can add a little BBQ sauce for dipping the chicken, if you desire. Very easy meal to prepare. Hope you enjoy! I hope everyone has a great Fourth of July!