Good morning – Happy Hump Day already! I really do love short weeks. Except sometimes you have to pack a lot of work into those four days. Anyway – still nice.
I’m pretty tired today because I spent another late night with my book, The Historian. I’m only about 15o pages in (600+) pages, but it’s one of those books that I think about when I’m doing other activities and look forward to picking it up again. And then when I do, it feels like an old friend. I’m such a nerd, I know.
Anyhow, my day went by very quickly yesterday. Breakfast was oatmeal with apples, cinnamon and a bit of agave with a side of light cranberry juice mixed with orange juice.
The day was busy and before I knew it, it was time for lunch. I hadn’t packed anything and was craving veggies, so I grabbed a salad with romaine lettuce, raisins, dried cranberries, cheddar cheese, carrots and chickpeas.
Afternoon snacks were a clementine (two shown, but I only ate one) and Chobani yogurt with granola.
I literally flew to the gym after work because my marathon training plan called for a 5-mile run and I wanted to get there before it got packed. I tried to run as fast as possible because I really hate being one of those people that ties up a machine, but I ended up running 5 miles in 42 minutes. Not awful, but there definitely was one guy waiting for a treadmill for about 3 minutes when I was on and the guilt was building.
Do you adhere to the 30-minute rule at your gym (if you have one)? Will you break it if no one is waiting?
If no one is waiting, I feel slightly better about bending the rule a bit. Anyway, I jumped off and did some quick ab work and got the heck out of there. I’m not sure if I was thinking maybe the guy would tell on me and then the gym managers would come yell at me or what, but I wanted to leave fast.
I came home and was ravenous after banging out a quick five miles, so I set to work on making dinner. Hubby had purchased more chicken, so I decided to give in and use some of it. I looked at the label and was rather confused:
Where was my confusion you ask? Well, what are all the asterisks about? And when you have an asterisk, aren’t you supposed to look for the footnote? There were no footnotes here, but there sure were asterisks all over the place. *No artificial ingredients, minimally processed; No Hormones Added** (that one got a double)!
I took the label out and checked the back, but found nothing. And I went on the store’s website today, but couldn’t find any info about their “All Natural* fresh young chicken.” I’m going to keep looking. That label really angers me.
Anyway, I moved on despite the ambiguous label and made a stir-fry dinner with brown rice, All Natural* chicken (ha), carrots, onion, green pepper, broccoli and a little corn. I topped it with organic soy sauce.
After dinner, Hubby and I watched The Biggest Loser. It’s sad to say, but I didn’t once flip over to American Idol. Spoiler Alert: So, what do you think – was the Red Team Wife throwing the weigh in? I can’t decide, but I’m kind of leaning toward maybe.
After BL and before I read my book into all hours of the night, we had a little Murphy photo shoot. Here are some of Murph’s best shots:
Apparently, Murphy does not like feet. Doesn’t he look huge in the last shot – he looks so long!
I hope you have great* (asterisk with no footnote, so you’ll have to just guess what I mean) Wednesday everyone!
Eat, Read, Run 
We have that 30 minute rule at our gym and I always feel guilty too! If it’s a “shorter” run, I don’t worry about it but if it’s a longer one, I try to just wait later in the day to go. I hate to be a treadmill hog. LOL.
I think she was throwing it. She has made it clear before that she doesn’t mind playing the game and with the previews for next week it seems like a possibility.
Does your gym always have the 30 min rule? Ours does if people are waiting but otherwise there is no limit. That would drive me crazy to always have to limit my cardio.
Some of our gym treadmills have a note about a 30-minute rule when people are waiting and others have a note about a 30 minute rule during “peak hours.” As long as no one’s waiting I don’t really worry about it. It stresses me out!
We have the 30 minute rule at the gym but I’ve NEVER seen it that packed. It probably helps that I’m usually there at 2pm so I miss both the lunch and post-work rush. I’ve gotten the hairy eyeball from people who were waiting though and I usually hop off the machine is there’s a line. I know it would drive me nuts if everyone was going over the limit and making me late to start a workout.
Hm, asterisks are never a good sign. I usually opt for organic free-range when I’m buying chicken. The whole “minimally processed” part kind of freaks me out. I’m sure it’s better than conventional chicken though!
Oh, and Murphy is so handome!! Such beautiful coloring.
Aww thank you – I also think our Mr. Murph is a handsome devil – hence I can’t stop taking pics of him. I’ve really been trying to push Bill to buy organic free-range, but he hasn’t made the switch. I think if he saw Food, Inc. he might be more interested. Mmm – how can I get him to watch it….?
Just stumbled upon your site–I love it. I too am an avid reader and runner so you are hitting upon my two passions! Keep up the good work!
Thanks for stopping by and for the encouragement!
The * and ** is pretty funny since I encounter it all of the time when looking for paraben free or natural/organic beauty products, lotions and shampoos/conditioners. I am finding that most truly aren’t natural or organic. For instance, a shampoo claiming to have grape seed extract and other natural ingredients had the infamous asterisk. When I read the fine print, there was no grape seed extract and very few natural ingredients. The FDA is pretty lax with all of this natural and organic stuff. Sorry, I will get off of my soap box……have a great day! When are you guys heading north again?
I agree – the FDA standards are pretty pathetic.
I think we were talking about heading up to the ‘Boro in February. Nothing set yet. I’m sure your darling brother will call and harrass you as soon as we start making plans though.
We only had a thirty minute rule in college because there were only four treadmills. Ridiculous, I know. I have not considered a thirty minute rule at my gym now but that’s prob because my fat *** (ha! asterisk) can’t spend more than thirty minutes on a treadmill anyway. Ha! Let me know what you find out about that chicken…we eat it all the time. I’m a bit concerned.
I’ll let you know if I find out anything about the chicken. I was all excited thinking that maybe Bill bought “organic” chicken – WRONG.
All the gyms I’ve ever belonged to had a 30 min. rule. That’s why I prefer to run outside! I was also that person who stood there really annoyed when people wouldn’t get off in 30 minutes 🙂
Oh how I dream of running outside soon!! The weekends are just not enough. And yes, when the roles are reversed, I totally stand there tapping my toe and checking my watch waiting for people to get off!
Wow that food label is so frustrating and annoying. I have major issues with the food industry in our country- the labels are so misleading. Ugh.
If there is no one waiting, I definitely go over the thirty minute rule. Why not right? 🙂
I think the thing with the label is that chickens are never given antibiotics…that is mainly a beef thing. So when they put that on the label it makes it seem like it is special, when really, it’s just like every other regular chicken out there. They can call it all natural, because a chicken is natural…just like high fructose corn syrup is “natural” because it’s from corn…but that is a whole ‘nother post!! I’m sure it wasn’t bad for you, and I find it so expensive to buy organic meat, so I usually just buy the Wegmans regular kind!!
Hey there!
I know — I hate it when they make claims like that, then they feel they have to add an asterisk because that means that they can basically say “free range” and then have an asterisk that says something like “the free range these chickens enjoyed was within their 1 square foot cage”.
Anyhow, I’m pretty sure that the asterisk thingy on the chicken there goes kind of like this — the “all natural” has an asterisk, and then underneath, it has the one asterisk footnote that says “no artificial ingredients, minimally processed” — sort of like that is the “definition” of all natural.
What do you think, maybe??
Anyhow, I visit your blog all the time — it rocks!