Runners Knee??

When I woke up this morning, my knee was already hurting me. I put on my knee brace, first thing. All day, at work, I had my knee up. I have been and will continue icing it and elevating it. I am determined to have this healed by Sunday. I have had this pain before and it went away pretty quick. I am going to take tomorrow off from any working out.

My plan tomorrow is to go grocery shopping (and have the hubby help me bring the groceries up the stairs), and get my hair done. I can't wait (for the hair, not the groceries)!

So obviously, I took the day off from working out (as I do every Friday). We watched some shows on the dvr and relaxed. Hubby brought home a pizza after he got off of work. I ordered it, but had him pick it up. I've been craving pizza for months now, and have finally met my craving. I'm good now for quite a few months.

Pizza, beer and my hubby...what a great Friday night!

(pepperoni, ground hamburger and black olives)

Fabulous Friday!

Fridays are very happy days for me. I love Fridays. They are usually very busy at work and time flies by. Before I know it, it's 5pm and time to head home. Fridays are rest days for me. I grocery shop and have dinner with my husband.



Here is the biscotti that I've been eating from my work. They are called La Dolce Vita Biscotti. They are so tasty. They only have 12 g of sugars and 130 calories per 2 pieces. No so bad if you compare it to some other items (maybe like my other favorite, the Snickers bar).







Here's my usual lunch: 1 piece wheat bread with 3 pieces of deli chicken lunch meat, mustard and salad mixed greens. So yummy!

By the time I get home from the work and the store, I am starving. I usually try to schedule my left overs so I have them when I get home. Well, I didn't plan very well this week (it has been a crappy week). While I was at the store, I kept smelling the pizza place that is located inside the store. It's called Lenardi's Pizza Co. I wasn't expecting very much since it was located inside the store. They had a deal going for a large speciality pizza for $10. I chose a combination pizza and it was ready when I was done shopping. I placed the pizza in the passenger seat next to me. It was calling my name the entire way home. The smell was mouth watering.

As soon as as we unloaded the groceries, the food was on our plates. I was surprised of how great it tasted. I;m not one for pizza crusts, but this one was so good, I could have ate all crusts. I will definitely be going back to great these great deals.

I am going on week 6 of 1/2 marathon training. I feel really good about how this is going. I'm up to 11.50 miles a week. I know that isn't much, but it is a lot to me. This is the most I have ever ran. Every month, I will raise my mileage by .6 miles. I will do great in the race. I have about 10 months until the big day. They haven't posted the official race date, but this year it was May 1.

Do you have a training program you go by?

How far do you run in 1 week?

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!