Category Archives: Recipes

2012 Spring Marathon Training Week Two

Posted on February 4, 2012 | 3 Comments

So, the second week of spring marathon training is OVER! I just finished my long run for the week and it felt great. But before we get to that, I left off in the middle of my kind of tough week.

The rest of the week was pretty busy, but I managed to get my runs in. It’s fun to have Hubby running throughout the week too. And he does most of his runs after work at night, so I’ve started giving that a try here and there as well. On Wednesday night I ran 4 miles along the East River, and then on Thursday I ran 3 miles in the same area.

Wednesday night’s dinner was some leftover veggies mixed with rice and grilled chicken.

Dessert was some fruit…

Thursday night after my run I finished up the veggie lasagna leftover from earlier in the week. I love leftovers, it makes dinner so easy. I do know people who get freaked out by leftover or “used food.” How do you feel about them? And what’s your favorite leftover recipe?

Friday FINALLY arrived and it was a jam-packed day. I was thrilled to get home to relax a bit. We ordered pizza, and I may or may not have snacked on a cadbury egg and some sweettart hearts. :-/

So you can imagine that my gluttony on Friday night did not make for a great feeling start to Saturday. I was feeling a little bloated with carb overload and sugar. But I knew that I had a long run on the schedule and that I would probably feel a little better after it. So I dragged myself out of bed, ate my oatmeal and had some water and coffee, and then geared up for my long run.

I had 11 miles on my plan for the day, so I headed to Central Park to join all the other runners. It was pretty nice out – around 45 degrees – and I was pretty comfortable. Surprisingly, I didn’t feel as sluggish and heavy as I thought I would. I didn’t check my Garmin at all during the run, I just ran whatever felt right.

A few miles into the run, I decided to shoot for 12 miles today. I also decided to run two smaller loops in the park – cutting off Harlem Hill – giving myself a little break.

Other than my nose running non-stop the whole time, I felt really great and strong. I ended up running 12.5 miles and here are my splits:

Not too bad! And as expected, I feel SO much better now. It was like I got rid of all the excess sugar and carb calories and cleansed my system. But lesson learned for the next long run to not overdo it with bad food the night before.

What is your go-to pre-long-run food?

I’m usually pretty good about keep my long run dinner pretty clean – either having pasta or a rice dish. I don’t think pizza is the right fuel for me. Of course, the candy didn’t help either.

Total mileage for the week: 28.15 miles

With my long run done, the rest of the day will be fun. We are meeting up with my sister-in-law and her husband, and our niece and her husband to gallivant around NYC a bit and get some dinner. Should be fun!!

Lastly, I will leave you a lovely Mr. Murphy photo. He hasn’t been on the blog in a while. Here he is having a relaxing night at home…

Hope you have a great Saturday!

 

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Mid-Week: The Good, The Bad, The Sweets

Posted on February 1, 2012 | 1 Comment

Hello Wednesday. I wish you were Friday. So far, this week has been one of those really never-ending weeks. I’m actually glad I’m back in training mode because it’s keeping me sane.

The Bad
Besides having some residual head cold symptoms lingering, it just seems like every day there is another new issue to contend with or another frustration. My motto this week has kind of been two steps forward and eight steps back. And for a control freak like me, that is tough to handle.

The Good: Training on Track
But, I’m trying to focus on the positives. One being that I ran on Monday and Tuesday. Monday I logged 3.5 miles at the gym and Tuesday, I got my butt out of bed in the morning for a brisk 5-mile run. So far, I am on track for my mileage this week.

The Good: Delicious Dinner
Also on Monday, I made a delicious dinner after my run. I baked some tilapia, topped it with butter and lemon, and then sprinkled with dill, cilantro and garlic powder.

Our side dish was a vegetable medley. My colleague brought in some fresh kale from his garden, so that’s what inspired the dish. Along with kale, I added zucchini, potatoes, mushrooms, asparagus, and a few grape tomatoes. It was very filling and delicious. 

The Good: Balade
Ok – so another positive was getting together with a friend last night for dinner and finding a new hidden gem. My friend Katie and I love exploring new ethnic, eclectic cuisines. We used to have a monthly date where we would try new and different restaurants. I think we kind of forgot about that tradition when we joined our book club.

But last night took us back to exploration. We ended up around Union Square and then walked a little south and east. We would up at: Balade - a Lebanese pitza and grill.

The waiter was super nice and helped us with our pronunciation and meal selection. We chose to share a bunch of small plates and it was the perfect amount of food.  We started with some hummus that had a light touch of lemon and was really good.

Then we had the Sambousik: “decadent pastry pockets filled with seasoned ground beef and toasted pine nuts.”  Along with the Grilled Halloumi Cheese: “grilled, sizzling hot cypriot cheese slices served with tomatoes and cucumber.” 

And last we had the Fatayir with Spinach and Feta (my favorite): “mini-pies stuffed with chopped spinach and feta cheese.”  

Unfortunately, I completely forgot to take photos. It’s taking a little time to get back into the swing of things, but I’m working on it.

I guess, upon reflection, although my week has been kind of tough, it’s also had some high points. It’s all about balancing the good with the bad. I’m hoping that my little head cold will work its way out of my system today when I sweat it out at the gym and then eat a healthy dinner.

The Sweets: Sugar, Sugar
I guess I might as well also admit another bad point of my week have been my intense sugar cravings. I don’t know why they are so out of control, but with Valentine’s day candy and cadbury eggs showing up, I’ve found myself veering off my course and making unplanned stops at CVS and 7-Eleven to stock-up on totally unnecessary and unhealthy sweets. It’s my weak spot and I’m totally failing.

My new plan is to allow myself just a hint of the sugar I am craving tonight. I bought those ever-so-delicious-and-addicting sweettart hearts, and I am only allowing myself to eat five mini hearts tonight after a healthy dinner. I will give moderation a shot, and if that fails, I might have to just throw them out.

What about you (if anyone is reading) – how do you squelch temptations? Can you have them in the house or do you have to get rid of them? Can you practice moderation?

 

 

 

 

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Oh What a Productive Sunday

Posted on January 29, 2012 | Leave a comment

Happy Sunday all! I wish the weekend wasn’t over already. It really flew by. Hubby and I both got our long runs in yesterday, I got a hair cut, and then we went to dinner and a movie.

We tried out a new place about a block away from our house called Felice 83. It’s a new wine bar located in a very tiny space. I felt kind of cramped right away when we sat down. I hate feeling like I can’t really have a conversation with my husband when we’re at a restaurant because the people next to us are basically eating with us.

I got over the tight quarters and checked out the menu. There were some pretty interesting selections on the menu, and I finally settled on the quinoa dish. Hubby and I started off by sharing a salad (overpriced at $15), and we each had a glass of Cabernet. The negative was that, for a wine bar, our glasses of wine were very small. And at $8 and $15 a glass, we were expecting a decent-sized goblet. Not so.

The salad was very good, and my quinoa was delicious. I tried some of Hubby’s dish and it was good too. Overall, I’ll say the place is decent. It offers organic and local selections, so I guess I can see why the prices may be a bit more. However, I think we will be trying some other local places before we go back to this one again.

After dinner, we went to see Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close.

(Source)

I was a little hesitant about this movie because I knew it would be tough subject. But it wasn’t focused solely on 9/11 – it was really more of a close look at a family who lost a father/husband in one of the buildings. The boy in the movie was so good. He was pretty amazing. It was a very emotional and heart-wrenching movie, and I probably cried for most of it. But I certainly wasn’t the only one – I heard people all around me sniffling too. It was a good movie, but you have to be prepared for it, and in the right frame of mind to watch it.

Sunday
So after our busy Saturday, one might think Sunday would be a relaxed day. Not so. Before I got down to business, I fueled up with a delicious french toast breakfast.

With both of us in training now, we have more stinking (literally) laundry than ever before. It was overflowing and I knew it was going to be a big project. Four loads of laundry (up and down five flights of stairs about 20 times), and it was all finally gone.  So now we can start our second week of training off with clean clothes and an empty laundry basket.

The rest of my Sunday was filled with cleaning, running errands, and then making a delicious veggie lasagna.

Here is the recipe:

Vegetable Lasagna (6 servings)

  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 3/4 cup sliced mushrooms
  • 3/4 cup chopped zucchini
  • 1/2 cup sliced carrots
  • 1/2 chopped red bell pepper
  • 1/2 cup chopped red onion
  • 3/4 of a bottle of tomato basil pasta sauce
  • 1 (15 oz.) carton of part-skim ricotta cheese
  • 6 hot cooked lasagna noodles (halved)
  • 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese (I used skim)

Pre-heat the over to 374 degrees. Cook the noodles and then saute the mushrooms through the red onion for 5 minutes. Then add the sauce and simmer for another 10 minutes.

Then spray an 8-inch square baking dish with non-stick cooking spray. Line the bottom with 1/2 cup of the tomato mixture, then lay 4 noodles on top. On top of the noodles place 1/2 of the ricotta cheese and then 1 cup of the tomato mixture on top of it. Repeat the layers and end with noodles. Then put the last remaining tomato mixture in a thin layer over the noodles and sprinkle it with mozzarella cheese.

Then bake it covered for 30 minutes, then uncover and bake it for another 20 minutes. Then take it out and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

This is the second time I made this lasagna and it has come out really well both time. And I now have lunch for about four days this week. I love leftovers!

Okay – time to watch the rest of the SAG Awards and head to bed. Week two of training starts tomorrow!

How was your weekend? Anyone training for a spring marathon too?! What races?

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A Weekend of Fun…And Not a Photo to Show

Posted on August 9, 2011 | 1 Comment

Happy Tuesday – hope you all had a nice weekend. I had a fabulous time seeing some great college friends, but not a second of it was caught on camera. We either didn’t have a camera or didn’t think to snap a shot. So now I will artfully describe for you what my weekend entailed and hopefully my wordy description will cut it.

Saturday morning I woke up a little late and was only able to squeeze in a 5-mile run before I had to head out. I had hoped for more, but took what I could get done.

On Saturday afternoon, I headed to Connecticut to my friend’s father’s house for a delightful little BBQ. At said BBQ, we had: chicken, burgers, veggies, burger, corn on the cob, and fruit salad. If that doesn’t scream good-0ld fashioned BBQ, I don’t know what does. It was perfection.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out and catching up, watching an adorable baby gurgle and laugh - you know, all the important stuff.

Alas, the day ended and it was time to think about dinner. Anyone who knows me well knows that this is pretty much how my day is split up: When is the next meal, where will it be, what will I eat and so on. Food rules my life. We headed to my other friend Kim’s house to pick her and determine where to go for dinner.

We hit up Butterfield 8 (yes, there is one in NYC) for a casual dinner  and spent the rest of the evening chatting and catching up.

Sunday I headed home and did laundry, cleaned, etc. for the rest of the day. I finished the evening by baking some delicious Banana Bread. I only remembered to take a “before” photo though.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 c. whole wheat flour
  • 1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
  • 2 eggs (beaten)
  • 1 c. mashed ripe bananas (3 medium or 2 large)
  • 1/2 c. agave nectar
  • 1/4 c. canola oil
  • A pinch of sea salt (1/16 tsp.)

Directions:

  1. Coat an 8x4x2-inch loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside. Mash bananas and set aside. In a medium bowl combine whole wheat pastry flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and sea salt. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl combine egg whites, banana, agave nectar, and oil. Once mixed well, add flour mixture all at one time to banana mixture. Stir until moistened. The batter should be lumpy. Spoon mixture into pan.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 45 to 50 minutes. Test doneness by inserting a wooden toothpick near the center of the bread. The toothpick should come out clean.
  4. Cool in pan on a wire rack for approximately 10 minutes. Remove bread from pan and cool completely on the wire rack.

My weekend ended with Trueblood of course! I thought this week’s episode was REALLY good. And now all of  a sudden its Tuesday evening already!

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Sunday Football and Food

Posted on January 26, 2011 | 1 Comment

So this post is a little bit late, but here it is anyway. Sunday was an uber productive day for me. After the race on Saturday, I pretty much just vegged. So Sunday was go time.

I started the day with a nice breakfast….

Then I cleaned the apartment from top to bottom while jamming out to the music channel (Party station). I finished cleaning in decent time, so then I thought I’d try bringing our laundry to the laundry mat. Usually Hubby brings the giant bag over because there’s so much laundry between the two of us, I can barely carry it. But I only packed the essential stuff to wash and waddled myself over there with our giant bag.

I was feeling pretty darn proud of myself as I loaded the clothes into the washers. However, the feeling quickly turned to utter embarrassment when I realized the machine to refill the wash card only accepted cash and I only had my credit card. I stood for a moment contemplating my options and then reluctantly took all our clothes out of the washers, repacked the bag and trudged back home. At first I was just embarrassed and then it quickly turned to annoyance and then anger at myself and the laundry mat. I huffed and puffed around the apartment and cursed our broken dryer in the basement. Then I cursed the guy who was supposed to get it fixed. And finally I decided I needed to go for a run.

I threw on some warm running clothes and headed out in the 20-degree weather. And you know what, within the first half mile I felt better. I was releasing my tension and anger and working through the issue as I ran. I ran a short three miles along the East River and headed home. And when I entered our apartment, it was like I was a new person.

Do you ever use running as a source of therapy or stress relief?

So instead of pouting, I ran out to the store to get a few things I needed to make dinner. Hubby was away for the weekend and requested “something snacky” for dinner. We had planned to watch the Steelers vs. Jets game at night because Hubby is a HUGE Steelers fan.

So I made a veggie platter to snack on, along with some tostitoes and salsa.

And then I made a Broccoli and Cheese Soup adapted from this Cooking Light recipe.

Broccoli and Cheese Soup

Total: 33 minutes
Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 1 1/3 cups)

Ingredients
1  cup  chopped onion
2  garlic cloves, minced
3  cups  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1  (16-ounce) package broccoli florets
2 1/2  cups  2% reduced-fat  skim milk
1/3  cup  all-purpose flour  wheat flour
1/4  teaspoon  black pepper
8  ounces  light processed cheese, cubed

Preparation
Heat a large nonstick saucepan coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic; saute 3 minutes or until tender. Add broth and broccoli. Bring broccoli mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium; cook 10 minutes.

Combine milk and flour, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Add milk mixture to broccoli mixture. Cook 5 minutes or until slightly thick, stirring constantly. Stir in pepper. Remove from heat; add cheese, stirring until cheese melts.

It’s not the lightest soup ever, but it was delicious! I won’t make that everyday, but on a cold winter night, it was just perfect.

And while eating dinner, we watched the Steelers kick butt and secure their spot in the Superbowl!

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Running, Racing and Baking!

Posted on January 9, 2011 | 6 Comments

Hello all. It’s been a few days since I last checked in. So here’s a brief recap of my week:

Things started off reasonably calm on Monday at work and then proceeded to progress to crazy and hectic by Friday. I had dinner with some girl friends on Wednesday night at Galway Hooker. I thought the space was really warm and friendly, unfortunately the waitress not so much. She was kind of cold and seemed like she really didn’t care about whether we were happy or not, and didn’t really want to be there. The food was also just meh – nothing to write home about. I turned a salad into a wrap and it was just okay. They were also changing all the beers out, so my craving for a Blue Moon went unmet. I had wine instead.

On Thursday night, I headed to O’Hara’s for a goodbye happy hour for my supervisor. Her last day is next week, hence some of the recent hectic days and higher levels of stress. This bar did have Blue Moon available, so I fulfilled my craving a day late. However, after having three Blue Moons without any dinner, it was definitely time for this lightweight to head home. Thankfully Hubby met me out and drove my tipsy butt home.

Finally, on Friday Hubby and I headed to Wicker Park, a local bar in our neighborhood for a 1-hour free happy hour. My friend who lives upstate had won the happy hour a few weeks ago when he was in town and wasn’t going to be around to take advantage of it, so he passed it on to me (thanks Neil!). So we met up with a few friends for some free drinks and made it back home around midnight.

On Saturday, I picked up my race packet, cleaned the apartment, watched the news about Tuscon, made dinner and made cookies (more on those below).

Running Week in Review
I’ve also been pretty successful with running this week, despite all the craziness. On Monday and Tuesday,  I hit the gym for a quick 4 mile run each day on the treadmill. On Wednesday morning I ran another 4 miles along the city streets (which stunk, literally, because of all the huge piles of garbage), on then on Thursday morning I ran 6 miles pre-dawn with Kelly and Megan. I was supposed to run my long run on Saturday, but because of the snow forecasted, NYRR changed the race from Saturday to Sunday.

Race Recap: Fred Lebow Class – 5 Miler
On Sunday morning I woke up around 6 a.m. and began my prep process. While the race was going to be 5 miles, I wanted to run a total of 11 miles for the day, to stick with my training plan. So I headed out around 7:15 to get a few miles in beforehand as a warm up. I got in about 3.5 miles, met up with Kelly, and we headed into our corral. It was COLD. Once we stopped running, all my warm-up quickly slipped away. We jumped around to try to stay warm and then finally we started.

Kelly and I managed to stay near each other for a few minutes, but then the crowds engulfed us and we were split up. My legs felt a bit heavy throughout the race, but especially between mile 2-3. It seemed to take forever. At one point, I also could not manage to get away from a man who was grunting and snorting like an angry dog. It was sort of distracting.

I don’t really have my splits because I left my Garmin running during my warm up miles and the race, so things were a little off. Mile 3 felt slower than normal and mile 4 was rough. However, then all of sudden we were almost done! So  I tried to kick it in harder and power through the finish. According to NYRR’s results page, I ran it in 38:49, which is a 7:45 minute mile average pace. I just can’t seem to get below a 7:41 average pace!

How have you increased your speed? Or what do you tell yourself during a run to make yourself push harder?

After the finish, I caught up with Kelly again and we ran a few additional miles. My total mileage for the day was 11.16 miles. Total weekly mileage was: 29.29 miles. Hit my target again!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Rewind just a bit…on Saturday night, while Hubby watched the Jets, I decided to make some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I used this recipe, but  substituted white flour for wheat flour.

They were very chewy and yummy. I actually almost ate one as pre-race fuel, but waited until after the race. :-)

How was your weekend?! Do you run outside during the winter or do you stick to the treadmill?

Hope you had a great one!!

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I’ve Got Gas…In a Good Way!

Posted on January 3, 2011 | 7 Comments

Any of you that have read my blog even sporadically over the past few months, a) thank you – I probably would have stopped altogether in December when I was such a lousy poster; and b) you obviously know how excited I am to have our gas back!! I must have mentioned my frustration with our lack of gas…oh just about every other post for 6 months.

I thought it only appropriate to welcome our oven/stove back into the family in a manner which adequately expressed how much I missed it… by baking muffins!

I used this recipe and made Banana Nut Muffins after being inspired by Ashley’s muffins. I used Truvia instead of white sugar and they tasted great. I only made about 6 muffins, but I must say that it was a brilliant start.

No longer will said oven/stove gather dust in the kitchen corner. No longer will I fake my way through dinner on a hot pot. No longer will the microwave play a significant role in my daily life. I vow to bake casseroles, muffins, bread, chicken and dessert like there is no tomorrow.

Anyone got some good recipes to send my way for an amazing reunion with our oven? It’s almost like a long-lost friend has finally come home.

Oh and btw – I know it sounds absurd that we did not have gas in our apartment from umm July 2010 – January 3, 2011, but we live in a co-op. Do you know what co-op really means…Do It Yourself. Oh yes. There is no management company to blame or landlord I can shake my fist at. Our apartment is self-managed. Meaning that the  14 other apartments and hubby and I are responsible for initiating repairs to the building. I haven’t been too involved in the whole gas issue, our co-op board and hubby have been handling it, but from what I hear it’s pretty tough to find good contractors in the city and we had some extensive work that needed to be done. At this point, I’m just happy it’s back at all!!

Eleven is my lucky number and I’m thinking that surely this is just the start of good things to come in 2011!

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Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes – Yes please!

Posted on November 19, 2010 | 8 Comments

Good afternoon blog world! Happy Friday! I am super excited for the weekend, but it’s going to be a busy one.  What are my plans? Glad you asked!

Tonight will be low-key and I am enjoying that idea. Saturday I plan to run the Central Park loop in the a.m. and then meet up with some long-lost friends for dinner later. But it will be an early night since I have a race on Sunday morning. I’m running the Race to Deliver – 4 miler. Then I’ll be heading to a fun blogger brunch in the early afternoon! Somewhere in there I also need to clean the apartment. Less than fun.

What are your plans for the weekend?!

I had a few notable eats from yesterday that I thought I’d share. I haven’t been posting most of my meals lately. But here’s a few. Yesterday I had blueberry oatmeal. I simply cooked in some frozen blueberries and it was delicious!

 

Last night’s dinner was an easy one. We STILL do not have gas in our apartment building, but I hear whisperings of progress. I maintain my less than optimistic stance. So I made myself a fried egg sammy on the hot plate with a side of strawberries.

Then for dessert I finished up the last pumpkin cupcake that my mother forced on us when we were upstate last weekend. Cream cheese frosting – how divine!!

Here is my momma’s delicious recipe for the cupcakes and frosting.

Pumpkin Ginger Cupcakes
 
 2 cups flour                                                                
1 cup butter softened
1  (3.4 oz) pckg. instant butterscotch pudding mix         
1 cup white sugar
2 tsps. baking soda                                                     
1 cup brown sugar
1 Tbls.  cinnamon                                                        
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. ground ginger                                                   
1  tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. allspice                                                           
1  (15 oz) can pumpkin puree
1/4 tsp. ground cloves                                                   
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven  (ohh to have an oven!) 350    Grease or line 24 muffin cups.
 
Cream butter, white and brown sugar with mixer til light and fluffy.  Add eggs one at a time.  Add vanilla and pumpkin puree.  Mix all dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture.  Add walnuts.  Bake 350 about 20 minutes.   
 
Cream Cheese Frosting
 
1  8 oz. cream cheese- softened
2 tbls. butter – softened
1  lb. box confectioners sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
 
Mix til thoroughly combined and creamy.

Have a great weekend all!

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Treadmill Avoidance

Posted on October 28, 2010 | 12 Comments

Yowza – it’s Thursday already? Seriously, where is the time going? And next week it will be November. That is just crazy.

I started yesterday off with a yummy and filling breakfast of oatmeal with banana and topped with brown sugar.

Lunch was pretty boring – just leftovers of my shell-less taco from the night before.

I Can’t Let Go…
It was such a dreary day yesterday, that I had planned on heading to the gym after work to run a few miles on the treadmill, but part of me just wasn’t ready to take that step indoors yet. So I’m going to try to run outside tonight instead. I want to take advantage of every last second of outdoor running before darkness, cold and snow force me inside more often. I honestly can’t quite understand how I trained for a May marathon from Jan-March of last year in the cold and snow. I guess I must have just sucked it up and bundled up or made nice with the treadmill.

How are you coping with the shorter days and the loss of daylight for outdoor running?

As you can tell, I am not welcoming it with open arms.

When I got home after work, I set to making us some dinner. We had some mushrooms in the fridge that were begging to be used. So I came up with this creation…

Sautéed mushrooms, carrots and broccoli with chicken in a butter, white wine, garlic and lemon sauce and sprinkled with Parmesan cheese. This was pretty yummy and I made enough to have some leftovers for today.

On an unbelieveable side note: I was attacked by a mosquito again last night. I woke up this morning with 5 bites on my left arm. I guess I should be relieved they aren’t on my face. I know it’s happening because our screens in our windows are soo bad and there are gaps that allow mosquitos to squeeze through. It’s sad to say this, but I am actually really excited for it to get cold so we can close the window. Why is the mosquito army attacking me?!! I found the culprit on the wall this morning after I showered and made Hubby kill it. But I am seriously contemplating buying Skin So Soft and using it as a moisturizer at night. :-(   And I’m praying for a more restful night tonight.

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Running Sans iPod and Boston Registrant

Posted on October 27, 2010 | 11 Comments

Good morning all – Happy Hump Day! What a dreary day out in NYC. Blah. I planned to head to the gym this morning and run, but that definitely did not happen, so the gym it is tonight after work.

Good news of the day: Guess what email I received yesterday?!! My official registration for the Boston Marathon!! They confirmed my qualifying time and then I checked myself out on their Registrant Page.

Sorry – I blocked out my last name, in case there are any crazy stalkers out there.

After receiving my Boston confirmation, yesterday turned into a pretty busy day, as it seems all days are now. But I managed to get out of work at 5 p.m. and get home early enough to go for a quick run outside before the rain started and it got too dark. I ran with my worn out and broken Garmy (his replacement band should be coming soon). Here are my stats:

Mile 1 – 8:17
Mile 2 – 8:25
Mile 3 – 8:38
Mile 4 – 8:35
.29 – 2:47

Total mileage – 4.29 in 36:44. Average page – 8:33 minute miles.

I felt pretty good on this run, like I was working hard, but not exhausted.

Sounds of Silence
I have a strange confession. I haven’t run with my iPod since before the Pocono Marathon in May. It started out that I just forgot it once or twice and then suddenly, I was just never bringing it. And to be quite honest – I don’t really miss it. I know – it’s totally weird. But when I start getting back into longer weekend runs, I will probably grab it again. For these short 3 – 6 miles runs over the past few months, I haven’t felt the need. I feel like without it, I’m more in tune to what’s happening around me. More aware of the people and the scenery.

Do you ever ditch you iPod once in a while when you run?

I think it’s a great thing to try every now and then. I also feel like I’m more aware of my breathing and exertion in general. It just seems to make for a more cognizant run overall. But – that is just my opinion. I know lots of people who would never dream of running sans iPod.

After my run, I stretched a bit and then headed inside to make some dinner. I wanted to use up a can of beans that had been lingering in the cupboard, and with us still being ovenless, the choices were limited. Hence, I had what appears to be a taco, without the taco shell.

Brown rice with beans and corn, topped with lettuce and salsa. My shell-less taco was pretty decent, albeit probably a bit strange to most people.  

I then managed to watch a bit of Glee and The Biggest Loser before passing out quite early. That’s my MO as of late. I think the change of the season is draining me, along with the weird weather. It’s super warm here right now and I switch between sweating and feeling chilly. It’s pretty frustrating.

Have a great day all!

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