I'm Going to Squash You!

Who loves spaghetti??? I made the best meatballs the other day. They were made with home grown basil, too! They were so easy and quick to make. Those things are great when I have a 7 month old baby wanting to "run" around the house. 

On top of the noodles and meatballs, I used Dave's gourmet pasta sauce. You may not believe me, but I've never had butternut squash before (in any form). I tried the butternut squash sauce. It was so good and sweet! Lars even tried some, and he said "mmmmmmmm". His exact words (even though he says that to most things). 

This meal lasted us 3 days! Another plus! Jason loves spaghetti, so he doesn't mind when it lasts a while or I make it often.

How often do you have spaghetti? What's your favorite meal to make?

Sweet & Spicy

Last night's dinner was so good. You may be thinking "why did she take a picture of ordinary spaghetti?" Well, it isn't ordinary. I made the sauce all by myself, and it tastes great! It has home grown tomatoes, fresh rosemary and oregano, million other spices, little sugar, salt and pepper. The sauce is sweet & spicy.

I'm coming into my last weeks of the end of my race season. The October half will be my last of the season. I've loved every minute of it and can't wait for next year. Don't worry, I'll keep running and posting about it. This is something I can't give up. I just won't be so strict with myself if I miss a day or I'd rather sleep in instead up getting up at 3 am to hit the roads.

This morning, I did get up at 6:30 (semi sleeping in). I hit the roads for an easy 2 1/2 miles. My start always starts with a slight hill. When I reached the top of the hill, I saw this amazing sun rise. It was beautiful! The sky was this fuchsia pink with hills in front of it. So glad I was up for that!

This route is my original route that I started on and couldn't finish without walking, when I first moved to this neighborhood five years ago. It's very easy and only has 1 hill. I can now run the entire 2 1/2 miles in a breeze without trouble. I love seeing my progress. I can now even run without headphones. I went completely unplugged this morning. I was great! I love starting my mornings like this!

How did you start your morning?

Spaghetti

Last night's dinner was so good. A classic. Jason made spaghetti while I was in the shower. Whole wheat noodles. Pasta sauce. Ground turkey sausage. What a great mixture! There's no way someone could go wrong with this.

There hasn't been any running in today's schedule. This morning I went to my SIL's graduation. We came home for a little bit (right now) and I started to prep some stuff for my special dinner for tomorrow (which I'll tell you more in a later post), but it didn't turn out.

I have to get ready to head back to celebrate with the SIL. I hope everyone is having a great Saturday!! The sky is full of sun here and about 70. It's a great weekend!

Traditions

Today, I ran 4 miles on the tm (gotta keep my pace) and then did leg weights. I have absolutely no knee pain (or any others). I'm so happy with how I feel. I am such an impatient person though, I wish the race was tomorrow. I HATE WAITING for something so exciting!

Thank you guys for your advice on "tapering" for my race. I'm thinking that I will take wed, thur and fri off (next week) and run and do weights. This way, I will have, fresh and happy legs and will be able to do great.

We are having spaghetti for dinner tonight, as well as last night. Yummy! Hubs loves it when I make this, it's his favorite. I think he could eat all day every day. I made the spaghetti with ground turkey sausage. I guess I'm so lazy, that I don't even want to season my meat. It was so good with this and made it faster (I know, it only takes seconds to do the seasoning part, but what can I say). I'm eating this with one of my favorite drinks, V8 Splash. So good! You should try it if you haven't.

Just an update: My blisters are 100% healed and feeling great! As I sit here writing this post, and I don't have any knee pain. My body is feeling great (no other pains anywhere) and I am ready for this race. Only 10 days!!!!

Do you have any pre-race traditions? I have to wear a certain old race shirt to bed the night before.

How Far?

I had 10 miles on the schedule tonight, which got cut short. I was feeling a little knee pain and didn't want it to get worse. So, I chose the smart route. I ended up running 7 1/2 miles. Not too shabby! I'm icing my leg while I cook dinner...spaghetti. This is my hubs favorite.

I have a question for you guys. Since I've never raced this far (1/2 marathon), how do I taper? Here's what I was planning:

20th: 5k (fast) run / spin
21st: 6 mile run
22nd: rest
23: run to gym / weights/ run home (round trip run 5.15 miles)
24th: rest
25th: 5k fast run / spin
26th: not sure, usually a long run day
27th: 5k fast run / spin or rest day
28th: rest
29th: rest
30th: race day!!!

So, how far should I run on the 26th? Should I take the 27th as a rest day or do my normal workout? Thanks for every one's advice during this training cycle. I'm stronger than I ever though I was and am ready for this race. I just wish I could speed up time. I hate the waiting game.

A Great Night!

Today, at work, I had a very nice client that brought in some chocolate covered strawberries as a Thank You for my job, It was so sweet. Of course, I shared with my co-workers (everyone was involved in the order). They were so good. This was my favorite (dark chocolate with chocolate chips)! Yummy!!


Tonight was an early x-mas with my father-in-law (he's from Idaho in town). I got off of work early so I could get my front door fixed (yay)! Since I left early, I was able to get a head start on baking for this weekend. The first thing I baked were cookies (my PB/chocolate chip/oatmeal). My favorites! Everyone loved them. I will post the rest probably tomorrow or Sunday.

I made spaghetti for dinner. Here is the ground beef. Usually I use ground turkey, but this was cheaper (I trying to stay on a budget this month).

Here's the sauce. It had basil and a bunch of other yummy spices!

All plated...

My hubby likes to cut up his spaghetti...

It looks like his father is where he gets it from.

We had a great night, now it's time to enjoy the great company and relax. I can't wait for the morning. It will tell all, if I can start running again. Wish my luck. I don't really care about the time, just as long as I cross the finish uninjured.

Long Runs & Good Food

Same ol, same ol breakfast, an apple for my noon time snack, 1/2 whole wheat sandwich for lunch and a kiwi on my way out to the gym.

On my way to the gym, I really didn't want to go. I almost turned right (to go home), instead of turning left (to go to the gym). I was strong and stuck to my game plan, I made a left hand turn. After changing, I was thinking how I didn't want to run, at all. I talked myself into running at least 1 mile. After 1 mile, I went 2, then 3.1, then 3.5, and why not the full 4 miles (44:38). My legs were still sore from yesterdays 4 miler. Once I finished, I felt so good. Then, it was time for my spin class (55 minutes).

We had a sub for our instructor. I don't really like not having our usual instructor. Other people don''t do exactly how the normal instructors do. Oh well, it was still a decent workout.

Here I am on my way home from the gym. Don't I look tired? I am, I'm exhausted.


I was starving once I got home, so I started preparing dinner. I was making my own version of my husbands favorite meal: spaghetti. I wanted to get as many veggies as I could, and have it still taste good.

I cut up some zucchini, yellow cucumber, onion, garlic, rosemary, oregano, and parsley. I browned everything on the stove top.

I then added 1 pound of ground chicken, and the herbs.

The, I added some pre-made spaghetti sauce and the rest of my colby jack cheese. I needed to finish up some stuff that was in my fridge and was about to go bad.

I added the cooked spaghetti to everything and mixed well. I let it cool a little before I served. So yummy! I'm glad it turned out. I was afraid these flavors weren't going to mesh well.

Tonight's dessert, I could eat everyday day for every meal. I had strawberry flavor Greek yogurt (1/2) and freshly picked blackberries. I mixed them well and inhaled instantly. It was so filling and about 100 calories.

On another note, I weighted myself for the first time in one month. I was scared to weight myself because I thought I had been eating too many calories. Little did I know, I know what I'm doing. I am now BELOW my goal weight (only by .6 pounds). I weighted myself about 1/2 an hour after I ate, so I was extremely full, so I may weight less than the scale actually showed. I like seeing my weight after I eat. I'm always eating, so it's nice to see what my "real" weight is.

Tomorrow is grocery shopping day. I'm going to see how much stuff I can get for as cheap as possible. I love Winco! It helps keep my budget in check.

I am still smelly (I haven't had time to take a shower). I desperately need to hop in the shower and wash off this stink.

I wish everyone good luck that is running in the SF marathon this weekend!

What had been your favorite race you've done to date?

Two for Tuesdays

Same ol boring morning. Hit snooze a million times...check, cereal...check, rush out the door to work...check. I brought my apple for my afternoon snack and had good intentions to eat it. Then, my boss comes in and announces he made black berry cobbler for everyone. (I work in a very small office, and there are only 4 of us.) He picked the blackberries that morning and everything. It's not like I could ever turn down home made cobbler. It was great

He made it by boiling the berries with sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon. While that was on the stove, he made dumplings out of Bisquick. He put the berries in a pan and added the dumplings right on top and baked for about 1/2 hour. Yummy-ness all over my tummy!

I ate my same ol sandwich and took a nap on my lunch. It's always nice to take a cat nap. I don't really like taking long naps and doing stuff the rest of the day. I feel groggy all day if I do that. A little 20 minute nap never hurt anyone (unless you're driving or something...lol).

After work, I jetted over to the gym (only a 10 minute drive). Today was all cardio day. I was suppose to do at least 1 1/2 hours of cardio, but my head was killing me. I am one of those people that don't like to take medication, not for a good reason, I'm just stubborn. So, I dealt with my cracking head while I did only 20 minutes on the elliptical, 20minutes on my abs (I usually do 3 sets, but today I only did 2 sets), 10 minutes rowing and about 10 minutes on that machine I never found out the name. I was pretty sweaty. I was trying to work even harder than normal, because I wasn't going to be at the gym as long as I normally am. It's nice to sweat. I feel accomplished when I do.

When I got home, the first thing I did was make dinner, I was starving. While I was prepping dinner, I snacked on some V8 juice. I know it may sound gross, but it is so good. I provides your daily veggies (in case you don't have time to do so, or you don't like them). If you haven't tried it yet, go out and buy some!

My dinner tonight was a version of spaghetti. I chopped a squash, and 4 cloves of garlic (I love garlic).

I boiled spaghetti noddles according to the package.

I browned 1 pound of ground beef. Usually I try to get some ground chicken, but I'm on a tight budget this week, and this was cheaper. In the meat, I added the squash and garlic, along with some parsley, thyme, oregano, and a small pinch of chili pepper. I mixed this all together and then drained.

Here is my master piece. More yummy's!

As I am typing I am enjoying my first ever Greek yogurt. I was not wanting to try this, but everyone I speak to is always talking about how great it tastes. What do you know, they were right! I had a 1/2 of the strawberry yogurt and I love it! I am off of the regular yogurt for good. It has a nice flavor and 12g g of protein, 19g of carbs and 18g of sugars. I know that's a lot of sugar, but I only had half. Not too bad. My next flavor is vanilla honey...can't wait to try that one.

I was reading the comments from yesterday about everyone's favorite dessert. It looks like everyone loves ice cream. I'm not saying I don't love it myself, but I do like carrots (not even as much). I kind of OD on them a few years back. I was going through a large bag of baby carrots once a week. If you dip them into cream cheese, they're even better (that's not what I did last night). My favorite ice cream is anything chocolate. I love chocolate brownie with chocolate chips and maybe a waffle cone in there. So good. I think I need to buy some soon. I know if I buy ice cream, it will not last long. I was thinking about something today. Isn't it messed up that they out the gym in the same parking lot as an ice cream place, Taco Bell and Burger King?

What did you have for dinner?

What do you do for cross training?