Local Grub

Sometimes you just need to get out of the house, right?

Tonight was a perfect example of a night like that for me.   We all know I’ve been living the bachelorette life for the past few weeks.   Not that I’m complaining, I have tried to embraced the lifestyle.   I have an apartment that is always clean, quiet, and I can watch bad TV.

But one can only handle that for so long.  And tonight, I had my AMAZING neighbors, and GREAT friends, invite me and Gusman over for dinner so that I got out of the house for a little while.

Not only did they invite me over, they cooked me a healthy dinner, fresh with locally sourced chicken and sides, without me having to even lift a finger.  Amazing.  And tasty.

I don’t even know what the star of this show was.  The Brussels were amazing with the butcher bacon.  The quinoa was nutty and PERFECTLY cooked.  And then of course the chicken, I mean come on, look at it. Yum

I definitely went back for seconds of both the sprouts and the quinoa.  Couldn’t get enough.

There is something about eating locally and fresh that makes me appreciate what I’m eating that much more.  Coming from Colorado, where we have a dry climate, a lot of our produce is outsourced, but we have amazing options right from our own region, and tonight’s meal was a perfect example of that.  Heart, stomach, and soul warming food directly from the source.  Makes me miss the farmer’s market already ;).

We washed the good stuff down with a bottle of blended red that I picked up this afternoon

I’d never had it before, but I am totally a “judge a book by it’s cover” sucker when it comes to wine, and I thought the label was pretty.  Thankfully, the blend was very enjoyable and perfect with or without food.

We ate and drank watching the Card’s game….but unfortunately that wasn’t so much fun for us St Louis fans.  Whomp whomp.

I guess it’s time to eat my sorrows away with left over cookies from work yesterday.  It’s a tough life 😉

Thank you Thank you THANK YOU Bob and Britt for taking such great care of me while the boy’s away!

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WIAW <—- Race Week Edition

Happy Wednesday, and more specifically, Happy What I Ate Wednesday 🙂

As always, this huge, AWESOME link up is hosted by the wonderful Jenn at peas and crayons.

For this week, I am using the theme What I Ate:  Race Week.  While my stomach is a bunch of nerves the week before a race, I also try and eat VERY simply and balanced.  No soda or alcohol, sess processed foods, more easy to digest, tummy friendly, healthy carb filled delicious grub.

Let’s check out how successful I was this week 🙂

Breakfasts

My breakfasts during the week were a lot of fresh fruit, granola and unprocessed (aka expensive but totally worth it) yogurts.  This meal is my normal go to jump start to a healthy day, and it worked well for me race week.  I did up my granola intake, but justified it with the carbo loading.

for my weekend breakfasts, I went for my favorite carb heavy meals.  Cinnamon crunch bagels, apple crunch pastries, the good stuff :). All in the name of racing, of course.

Lunches/Snacks

I don’t eat many “real” lunches through the work day, and tend to snack my way through.  The week before the race, it was a lot of NUUN, trail mix, granola, and high in carbohydrate, simple snacks.  My favorite was probably that edemame hummus up there.  Delish!

Dinners

I ate more sandwiches than I care to admit the week before the race. Normally with a side of very simple greens and chex mix.  Hey, it worked for me.  I did also manage to squeeze in some other, more “real” meals, including sushi, cobb salad and pasta. Yum

Treats

I made an apple pie while Zach was traveling, and ate that UP during the week leading up to the race. Lots of healthy carbs in that one, right?  😉

And that, my friends, is what I ate for the Race week.

Thank you again, to Jenn, for hosting!!

Question of the afternoon:  Share your favorite eat of the past week.

Probably that darn apple pie.  YUM.

 

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First Post Race Run: Success!

This morning I tackled something I’ve been a little anxious about since well before Sunday.

My first run post-race. Wooo hooo.

Yes — it was a simple and easy 5k on the treadmill, but that’s not what I’m focusing on right now.  Between spraining my ankle, coming down with the bird flu (whatever it was) 2 weeks pre race, and minor tweaks here and there I had convinced myself that it would be awhile before I laced up again post race.

Yup, definitely negative thinking on my part, but if you’ll remember I was struggling for a little bit keeping my head in a good space about running.  Not ONLY did I run this morning, I ran WITHOUT  my brace (first time post injury), and ran a progression series for the bulk of the run.

This has left me with a huge smile on my face, and ready to face what I know will be a cray-cray day here at the office.   Thank you, runners high, for never failing me.  Even after a simple 3.1 miles.

<—–Happy girl.

Workout of the Morning:  Treadmill 5k + 3.1 minute plank

This morning’s run has me convinced that if I listened to “My Song Knows” by Fall Out Boy on repeat through out my half, that I would have been in contention to win that baby.   I had my St Louis play list on shuffle for my run this morning, and may or may NOT have played that song on repeat after it came on to start mile 2.

That’s right.  I listened to the song 3.5 times on my run, and even did a plank for the duration of the song when I finished.  Let me tell you, it’s easier to fist pump when you’re running than planking.  I should know.

So, my advice to anyone racing in the near future. Turn OFF your radios (because the song is on BLAST on the radio around here), download the song, and then make it your ENTIRE playlist.  Thank me when you PR.

And that is my advice for the day.  You’re welcome :).

Question of the Morning:  Can you play a song on repeat during work outs?  And if so, what song?

I’m not even embarrassed.  Fall Out Boy (Sorry Zach, be glad you’re not home).

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