Category Archives: Books

Stuff Those Peppers!

Posted on June 4, 2010 | 3 comments

Good morning all – happy Friday!! I totally overslept today and was running around like a mad woman. Typically Murphy wakes me up every morning around 5:00 a.m. – 6:00 a.m., so oversleeping is usually pretty tough to do. Today for some reason, the little bugger decided to leave me alone and let me sleep in peace. And I certainly did – 45 minutes past my normal waking time. Yikes!!

First – a quick recap of yesterday’s eats, which includes a fun new recipe I tried!

For breakfast I reverted back to the hot stuff – oatmeal with banana, a splash of almond milk and brown sugar sprinkled on top.

For lunch I grabbed a quick salad with romaine lettuce, cheddar cheese, carrots, walnuts, dried cranberries and chick peas. But I forgot to document it. Afternoon snacks were Chobani yogurt and then this…

I know – so bad. I bought these for the Yankee game we went to earlier this week and then never ate them. I was having a sugar craving and was a little bit stressed at work, so this was definitely some stress eating. Boo!

But then my dinner completely brought my spirits back up!

Mmm I made stuffed peppers for the first time! I wanted to use red peppers, but the selection available at my nearest grocer was appalling and I didn’t feel like traipsing all around. Green peppers worked just as well.

Here is the recipe, adapted from CookingLight.com’s recipe search.

Stuffed Peppers

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 medium bell peppers (recipe called for four, but I made three and adjusted the ingredient amounts to fit), tops removed and reserved, and seeds removed
  • 1  tablespoon  olive oil
  • 1  yellow onion, diced
  • 1  large carrot, peeled and diced
  • 2  cloves garlic, minced
  • 8  ounces  lean (90 percent) ground beef
  • 1  teaspoon  salt
  • 1  teaspoon  pepper
  • 1  (14.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
  • 3/4 cup  cooked brown rice
  • 3/4  cup  grated Monterey Jack

Preparation
Preheat oven to 375°F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add peppers and pepper tops and cook until tender, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove peppers from water and invert to drain fully.

Make filling: Warm olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add carrot and garlic and continue cooking until vegetables are just softened, 4 minutes longer. Add beef, salt and pepper and cook, breaking up large chunks, until meat is no longer pink, about 7 minutes. Add tomatoes and rice and cook 5 minutes longer. Stir in 1/2 cup cheese.

Fill peppers with meat mixture, dividing evenly. Sprinkle mixture with remaining cheese and top with pepper lid. Bake until cheese is melted and peppers are heated through, about 5 minutes. Serve hot.
 
I made two stuffed peppers for hubby and one for myself. Hubby gave them his seal of approval, but also said it was way too much food for him.

Awesome dinner! The rest of my night was cleaning up my dinner mess, vacuuming, watching a little bit of So You Think You Can Dance and then reading more of Cutting for Stone. It’s a really good book so far – I’m about 300 pages into it and I’m engrossed. I still have about another 200 pages to go, so I probably won’t have a review up this weekend, but hopefully by next weekend. Then it will be time for me to choose my next book and I’m torn between 1) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, or 2) Olive Kitteridge.

Anyone recommend one over the other or read either of these?

I might have to read Olive first because it’s my mom’s book and she needs to pass it along.

What’s on your summer “to read” list? Any great suggestions?!

Ok – well I hope everyone has a great weekend. We are visiting friends who had a baby about two months ago and we haven’t had a chance to meet him yet. I’m also hoping to maybe get in a short and easy run at some point. My darn toe is still hurting, but I just can’t sit around anymore!!

Have a great weekend!! 🙂

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Posted in Books, Recipes, Uncategorized

An Accident Prone Weekend

Posted on June 1, 2010 | 10 comments

Good morning all! Long time no chat. I was soo busy all last week and then we were away this weekend, so my blogging has been very bad. I hope all is well with everyone! I desperately need to catch up on some blogs.

Hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend. Hubby and I headed upstate for the weekend. We arrived Friday night and then I went camping on Saturday on Schroon River. It was a blast!

We had a giant fire…

And enjoyed time spent with good friends

I avoided this guy as best I could…

I love dogs, but this big fella (named Clifford, but we called hims Jaws), was big, stinky, a heavy breather, a drooler and just kind of gross. I felt bad for him because the other dogs were getting so much more attention. But I got over that as soon as he pooped in the middle of the campsite area – YUCK!

After a day of camping, I headed back to civilization and went to see Sex and the City 2 with two friends.

My Verdict: I didn’t like it nearly as much as the first movie. I also thought there were some really cheesy/corny parts of this movie that were soo not SATC style. I actually wanted to laugh at a few parts they were so out of sync with what I would expect. I didn’t think it was as emotional as the first one and I didn’t like that there was so little of NYC in it. I know – that was a lot of negativity, but I didn’t hate it. It was entertaining and I love these women so much that I’ll watch just about anything they are in. But I think it could have been done better and the producers aren’t giving the viewers as much credit as they should. Yes, I’ll watch anything with these women in it, but it doesn’t mean I’ll LOVE just anything. Although – don’t take my word. The two friends I went with liked it better than the first one, so I could be totally off. See it for yourself and decide and let me know what you think!

How was your Memorial Day Weekend? What were the highlights?

Not the highlight of my weekend – me becoming completely accident prone. I was planning on running for the first time post-marathon this weekend, but that did not happen for two reasons:

1) I stubbed my toe jumping off a boat on Sunday and it’s badly bruised/sprained. I am limping everywhere.

Please ignore my ugly feet and terrible pedicure. Can you see my giant purple toe? God I hate feet so much.

2) Next up, as I Hubby and I unloaded the car yesterday when we got back to the city I totally wiped out and fell down the stairs landing on my back and arms. I am so sore and battered. Here’s one of my poor arms.

I was considering running a race in the city this weekend, but I guess that is not happening now. While I am totally bummed that I have to take even more time off from running, I am completely RELIEVED that these things did not happen BEFORE the marathon!! Can you imagine? All I keep thinking is that all my spills and falls must have been saved up and postponed until after the marathon and I can’t be anything but thankful for that. Still – I hate being injured!! And having a bum toe in NYC isn’t so easy peesy.

How do you cope with the frustration of injuries?

I’m hoping I’ll need only a week of recovery – mainly for my toe – before I can start running again. My next definite race is The Boilermaker , a 15k in Utica, N.Y. on July 11th and I’m hoping for a PR.

So it looks like for this week, I’ll be focusing on eating and reading and will be leaving out the running. I’m currently reading this book:

And so far it’s pretty good. I hope to have a review coming soon. I also hope the rain holds out tonight because Hubby and I are supposed to be going to the Yankee game!!

Have a great Tuesday all!

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Posted in Books, Holidays, Travel, Uncategorized

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The World According to Irving

Posted on May 5, 2010 | 6 comments

Good morning all. How are you? I’ve been a frazzled mess recently. It primarily has to do with stuff going on at work. I may have been in the office yesterday at 7:45 a.m. It was hectic to say the least.

Anyway – I’ll do a quick recap of the past two days. Breakfast on Monday was oatmeal with mixed frozen fruit.

Lunch was salad – unpictured and then I didn’t really snack in the afternoon because that’s when things go C-RAZY. I probably would have work to all hours of the night, if it hadn’t been one of my best friend’s birthday on Monday! I met up with Katie after work for a quick dinner. We were going to try Blossom Bistro on the UES, but we simply didn’t have enough time, so we hit up Ariba Ariba! instead. And I had a much-needed margarita, along with this a yummy and HUGE chicken burrito.

It was very filling. After our quick dinner, Katie and I headed to the 92 Street Y to see John Irving speak. Mr. Irving is one of our favorite authors. We saw him speak back in October and simply could NOT pass up the opportunity to see him again. He is so amazing and so charismatic. Hey there John!

Mr. Irving spoke from 8:00 – 9:30 and even shared some draft material from a potential future book, as well as some interesting and entertaining stories. He is soo great! They were pretty explicit about no photos or video, so I put my camera away for the night.

Are you an Irving fan? What books of his have you read? What is your favorite?

I haven’t read them all, but I’ve read: A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Cider House Rules, The Water Method Man, The World According to Garp and A Widow for One Year. I have his newest book (an autographed copy!), so that is on my list of books to read. I’m pretty sure Cider House is my favorite. 🙂

After the reading, I called it a night so that I could get up super early on Tuesday. My breakfast was a bowl of Puffins with Almond Milk.

This was my first time trying Puffins and I really liked them. So much so, that they might have been my dinner last night as well. Hehehe.

No other food photos from yesterday. I was busy, busy all day. I had a Peanut Butter and Jelly (Apricot – yum!) sandwich for lunch and my usual snacks.

After work I FORCED myself to run at the gym. There were big rain clouds threatening, so I played it safe and ran 5 miles at the gym in 41:25. I can not believe that my marathon is NEXT WEEKEND!! Holy cow.

I am trying to get myself in a good frame of mine – build my confidence and visualize myself running my marathon strong and in the time I want. I need to figure out my race-day outfit and all that as well. I’m getting so excited and nervous!! And of course, I am praying for perfect weather!

Have a great Hump Day all! Hubby comes home from being out of town – so I’m super excited about that! YAY!

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A Room-Clearing Cough

Posted on April 28, 2010 | 6 comments

Good morning all. I’m going to make this a quick post and I have no photos from yesterday to share. There wasn’t anything really outstanding to document. Yesterday I was soo pumped about Ireland, but my excitement slowly started to fade as I realized I wasn’t feeling too great. I think I probably should have just rested on Monday night, rather than running that three mile recovery run.

I was supposed to run 6 miles last night, according to my training plan, but as I headed home after work on the subway I had a major coughing attack. I had pretty much been coughing consistently all day. It was like a tickle in my throat that I could not get rid of. But then on the subway this tickle decided to attack me and I was coughing incessantly. And I was coughing so hard that tears started streaming down my face. Yeah – it was not pretty. I considered getting off the subway at 59th street, just so I could cough without shame. The man next to me first turned away and then actually got up from his seat and stood by the door. How embarrassing! I felt like a leper.

I made it to 86th street with more than a few glares and looks of reproach from other passengers and then continued to cough all the way home. It was awful. So I decided to curl up on the couch, drink tea, and take a cough suppressant instead of running. I also took a puff of my inhaler and that really seemed to help. So now I’m not sure if it’s my allergies,  a cold or my asthma acting up.

Running with Asthma

Yup – I have an inhaler because I have allergy induced asthma…and I’m a runner. Kind of seems like a paradox right? I only recently developed asthma. When we got Murphy (our cat) back in 2006, I quickly realized I was allergic to him, but he’d already become part of our family and I wasn’t about to give him up.

I mean look at him! How could I ever give him up?

So instead, I visited an allergist (who was awesome btw) and now take a daily allergy pill, use Nasonex and have a rescue inhaler. I actually started getting allergy shots last year, but stopped that process only a few months later.

 The ironic part is that marathon training, both this year and last, has actually helped with my asthma. I’ve had to use my inhaler less and less. I think my long runs actually trained my body to breathe in a different way and made my lung capacity stronger.

Have any other runners with asthma or other breathing problems experienced a similar or different reaction? Advice?

Anyway – that’s my random tangent of the day. The cough is much better now, but still lingering a bit. I’m still not entirely sure of the cause yet. I may try to run 4-5 miles tonight on the treadmill, since weather.com indicates that the wind is supposed to be ferocious and I don’t feel like fighting that.

Hope you all have a good Hump Day! And remember, next time you see someone having a coughing fit on mass transit, don’t glare at them and make them feel uncomfortable because you can be sure they already feel like an outcast.

P.S. – The new book I’m reading is: Cutting for Stone

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Posted in Books, Uncategorized

Book Review: The Year of Living Biblically

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 11 comments

I just finished this book on Sunday. Here is my review, it’s also posted under my Book Review page. You should definitely check this one out!

By: A.J. Jacobs

I first saw this book sitting at my friend’s apartment. She hadn’t read it yet, but it came to her highly recommended. I was interested. My interest grew when I went to Borders and couldn’t find the book in the normal literature section I frequent. I had to seek out some help. I hesitantly said the name of the book to one of the Borders employees and the guy immediately said “Ahh yes, Jacobs. He’s in the Humor section.”

I visited the new section the employee led me to and selected a book from the ones on the display table. Already this book seemed a little different.

And the differences didn’t stop there. This book was laugh-out-loud-funny from start to finish! I’m not sure what exactly I was expecting when I picked it up, but it turned out to be a fun and unique journey told by a self-depreciating and amusing narrator.

A.J. Jacob’s first book “The Know-It-All” was the memoir of his journey of reading the Encyclopedia from A to Z. Likewise, “The Year of Living Biblically” is his journey of reading and trying to live by all the rules outlined in the Bible. Sure, it’s a strange sort of journey and one that doesn’t sound particularly fun or exciting, but Jacobs’ narration makes it enthralling.

In short, this guy is hysterical! I want him to be my friend or family member because, surely, everyone in his life is immensely entertained by him day-in and day-out. His outlook and approach to life is totally refreshing and unique. And his candid self evaluations are priceless. Not mention that I actually learned quite a few things about the Bible.

But don’t get me wrong, you don’t want to read this book for any kind of biblically explanation or earnest insight. If you’re looking for that, you might be a little put-off or offended by some of Jacobs’ commentary. I for one was not, but just a word of warning.

I do recommend this book to anyone looking for a break from the routine novel norm, seeking amusement and character, and who isn’t afraid to laugh out loud on public transit. Or have bystanders constantly glancing quizzically at your book cover – yeah I got that a lot. It’s funny, it’s perceptive, it’s distinctive and certainly unforgettable. So I say – give it a shot!

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The Furminator and Zombies…Sounds Scary

Posted on April 15, 2010 | 12 comments

Yay it’s Thursday! This week is almost over. I was supposed to get up and run this morning before work, since we have a happy hour planned for after work, but it just did not happen. Maybe I need to take a rest day.

My hump day yesterday was busy, but good. Breakfast started out with a bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with skim milk and strawberries, and a side of light cranberry juice.

My mid-morning snack was four clementines. They did not keep me satisfied for long. For lunch I had some burrito bowl leftovers – so good.

My afternoon snacks included another non-Chobani yogurt, but one which was much more satisfying and truly “all natural.”

I give Brown Cow a very good rating. It was tasty, but maybe not as thick and creamy as Chobani. But still a winner in my book and way better than Yoplait. Ingredients in this yogurt: Cultured Pasteurized Nonfat Milk. Contains Five Live Active Cultures: S.Thermophilus, L.Bulgaricus, L.Acidophilus, Bifidus And L.Casei.

Much better. I wish I’d bought more of this brand and less of Yoplait.

My late afternoon snack was a peanut butter and jelly Larabar – fuel for some running.

After work I headed home and reluctantly put on my running gear. I was still feeling a little nervous after my IT band pain on Tuesday. Would a 5-mile run help or hurt?

I headed to the East River promenade and did a somewhat easy run.

Mile 1 – 8:34
Mile 2 – 8:29
Mile 3 – 8:37
Mile 4 – 8:38
Mile 5 – 8:32
.28 – 2:21

Total mileage – 5.28 miles in 45:13. Average pace – 8:34 minute miles.

I actually wish I had slowed it down even more – maybe to 9:00 minute miles. It’s just so hard for me when I’m running around other people. I don’t like to follow too close behind another runner, or have another runner on my heels, so I tend to speed up rather than slow down.

I felt a few twinges in my hip area here and there while running, but didn’t feel too bad after my run. I stretched again, but not nearly as much as I did on Tuesday night and I think that was a problem. I did wake up with a very dull and minor pain in my hip/leg. I need to stretch like crazy from now on. Like I said, today is going to be a full rest day for me and then we’ll see if I work in a run tomorrow or just hold off till my 12 miler on Saturday.   

After my run, I made a very quick and easy dinner – a fried egg with cheese on an Arnold Thin Sandwich with carrots and hummus. BTW – Hubby says that I am obsessed with fried eggs now that I know how to make them…and I kind of am. 🙂

Loving that dill-flavored hummus too.

Then I made a small dessert:

I actually couldn’t eat all of the peanut butter and chocolate chips for some reason – maybe too full or I just wasn’t in the mood for it.

Hubby and I also watched “Zombieland” last night. I think we both approached the movie with less than high expectations and me with some trepidation. But despite a lot of blood and guts in the beginning, it really wasn’t half bad. It was very funny in some parts and I loved all of the actors in it. It was short and over before I knew it. I would definitely say to give this movie a chance, it’s unexpected entertainment.

More unexpected entertainment is the book I’m reading: The Year of Living Biblically. I think people see me reading this on the subway and think I’m a big Jesus worshipper or a little bit crazy (the cover is kind of crazy looking), but I promise you, this book is not trying to convert anyone or anything like that. It is truly hysterical. I’m moving through it pretty quickly, so hopefully I’ll have a full review soon.  

And since my parents pointed out that their grandkitty Mr. Murphy hasn’t been featured on my blog lately, this little shot is for them:

He was just chillin – hanging out with his Daddy and obviously having a good time. Doesn’t his fur look particularly shiny and clean? Why, you ask? Cuz we’ve been furminating him all the time. That’ right, we bought a product called “The Furminator” and it’s pretty good. It’s supposedly removes hair from your pet’s undercoat as well as top coat. When I use this thing on him giant globs of hair come off. And he’s gotten better about tolerating it. We bought one for my parents to use on their cats and the one cat absolutely LOVES it. If you have pets (cats or dogs) that shed, you should check this thing out. The demos on the website are pretty incredible. Do you brush your pets? Do they like it? Like I said, Murphy usually tolerates it for a while, but I think he’s kind of getting used to the Furminator.

That’s all for now folks – hope you have a good Thursday.

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20 Miles and a Busy Weekend

Posted on April 12, 2010 | 14 comments

Good morning all! Hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine went by so fast I can hardly recall all we did…but it was a lot. We were all over the place and I barely even saw my Hubby!

Friday night we headed upstate around 7 p.m. and got to my parent’s house by about 10 p.m. We ate some grub (and I may have snacked on some cake) and then I headed to bed since I had my first 20 mile run planned for bright and early Saturday morning. I was pumped because I would have two friends with me for the first 5 miles or so.  Initially, I was supposed to have three friends with me, but one texted on Friday to cancel because she has the flu. So I headed to bed and slept TERRIBLY – nerves I think.

20 Miles!

I was up around 6:45 and began my pre-run ritual. Around 7:00 I received a text from one friend telling me she was too tired and was going to have to skip our run. And then there were two. I finished getting ready and tried texting my last remaining running friend to confirm if she was still game. I texted and called to no avail.

So I began mapping out some potential runs to do on my own just as my last friend showed up at my house. She was supposed to be picking me and driving us to a nearby park to meet our other friend. Turns out she just got back from a trip, didn’t feel well and had lost her phone, so she didn’t get any of my messages. She drove over to tell me that she wouldn’t be able to run.

Sadness!! It finally dawned on me that I would indeed be running my full 20 miles all alone. A little tremor of fear ran through me, but I decided there was no turning back. I gathered my gear, strapped my water belt to my waist and headed out alone. (My mom was too cute – I think she was a little nervous about me going it alone and she told me that she wished she was a runner so she could run part of it with me.)

So for this 20 mile run I had a few things working against me: it was crazy windy and colder than I expected, I was all alone for the whole thing, I didn’t have my ipod, and I mapped a pretty intense route.

I was more than a little nervous starting out. But then I reminded myself that for this long run I wasn’t running part of it as a race, so I could set whatever speed I wanted, and I had just done 18 miles, so really it shouldn’t be too much harder. Right…18 to 20 is easy – haha!

Miraculously, the entire run went pretty smoothly. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop and for exhaustion to kick in, but I stayed strong. And let me tell you, there were some pretty insane hills in this run. Here are my stats from the whole thing:

Mile 1 – 8:53
Mile 2 – 8:31
Mile 3 – 8:09
Mile 4 – 10:01 (biggest, steepest, scariest hill of my life)
Mile 5 – 9:08
Mile 6 – 9:00
Mile 7 – 8:43
Mile 8 – 8:49
Mile 9 – 9:09
Mile 10 – 9:10
Mile 11 – 9:02
Mile 12 – 9:08
Mile 13 – 8:52
Mile 14 – 8:40
Mile 15 – 8:54
Mile 16 – 8:33
Mile 17 – 9:37 (hills, hills and more hills)
Mile 18 – 9:48 (and more hills)
Mile 19 – 8:57
Mile 20 – 8:36
.36 – 3:07

Total mileage – 20.36 in 3:02:58. Average page – 8:59 minute miles

And my 20 miler was done! It wasn’t my fastest long run, but I think given the difficulty of this course, I did okay. I made it particularly tough and hill-ridden because I know the Poconos Run for Red Marathon has a bunch of hills, so I need my body to be prepared. Plus, my last long run 21-22 miles next weekend (April 25) will be done primarily in Central Park, which has some hills, but not too many. So yes, in short I tortured myself during this long run in order to be extra ready for my marathon.

All that being said, I was surprised at how decent I felt throughout this run. My waterbelt water supply was more than adequate (I think because it was a lot cooler, so the heat wasn’t taking its toll) and I took one Gu packet between miles 14-15 and it did its job.

Have you ever been pleasantly surprised by a long run? Maybe you expected it to be tough or you felt lackluster when you began, but great by the finish?

I finished up my run back at my parent’s house and tried to stretch as much as possible. I didn’t have my marathon stick with me, so I was a little sad about that. Oh and I forgot to mention that around mile 5-6 of my run a small skunk ran right across my path. It was a scary moment because I know that healthy skunks typically don’t come out during the day. So I thought this skunk was sick and was probably looking for someone to spray. I stopped dead in my tracks and waited for him to cross the road and then fly by him as fast as possible. Skunk spraying averted!

The rest of my Saturday was crazy busy – no napping after this long run. I ran errands with my mom, then headed to my friend’s house for dinner and finally got back home and to bed around 11 p.m.

Sunday was another busy one. We got up early and headed to Utica for the baptism of Hubby’s best friend’s adorable little daughter. Hubby is actually the Godfather of little Audrey. She was very good throughout the whole baptism – and she’s absolutely gorgeous!

Side note – sorry about the pic-less post, I’ve barely had time to breathe, let alone upload pics.

After the baptism we went to the after-party for a bit and grabbed some food. We got on the road to head back to NYC around 6:30 p.m. – much later than I would have liked. 😦 That meant we got home late, I went to bed late and I’m super exhausted today. Blah!

A very good, but busy weekend. I know that my posts have been very running-centric lately. A few books have made it in here and there, but food has definitely taken a back-seat to running-oriented topics. I think that once I start to taper I might be able to focus more on food, or even just be less running-crazed in my posts. I’m not sure if this happens to other people when they train, but running seems to take over my time, body and my brain. Has this happened to you?

I do want to mention the new book I’m reading though because it has made me laugh out loud MANY times already and I’m only on page 75: The Year of Living Biblically. Hysterical!

Anyway – enough rambling for today. Have a good Monday all!

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April Heat and Stress

Posted on April 8, 2010 | 11 comments

Good morning. Happy Thursday – I can not wait until the weekend! This has been a week of stress and heat, and it has not been fun.

I’m not going to recap what I’ve eaten over the past two days, mostly because I was too frazzled to photograph much of anything.

On Tuesday night I did manage to work in an 8-mile run before the heat hit us. Thank goodness.  Here are my stats from that run:

Mile 1 – 10:01 (I hit every light on the way to the park)
Mile 2 – 8:06
Mile 3 – 8:17
Mile 4 – 8:17
Mile 5 – 8:10
Mile 6 – 8:02
Mile 7 – 8:20
Mile 8 – 9:22

Total mileage – 8.05 in 1:05:04. Average page 8:34 minute miles

Happily, I only had one 8 mile run again this week, so I was glad to have that out of the way. Why? Because then Wednesday began and it was the day from hell.

First, I woke up late because I completely forgot to set my alarm. Thankfully, Murphy frequently pesters me to get up in the morning and for once I was happy he did. He nudged me to get up, I looked at the clock and flew out of bed and rushed to work.

I’ve been a little stressed lately at work and I won’t get into it, except to say that throughout most of the day yesterday I was a stressed out freak. Thankfully, after a 3:00 meeting, I was more at ease. But for the majority of the day I was a nervous wreck and even started breaking out because of it.

Then I left work and was hit in the face with 89 degree weather. I had a 5 mile run on the training schedule, so there was no backing out of it. Let me tell you – it was a doozy. I decided right from the start to take it slow. I managed well until the last mile, which was all uphill. Here are my stats:

Mile 1 –  8:25
Mile 2 – 8:19
Mile 3 – 8:26
Mile 4 – 8:18
Mile 5 – 8:50

Total mileage – 5.09 miles in 43:05. Average pace – 8:27 minute miles.

Holy hotness! Not only that, but when did it become okay for people to smoke pot out in the open on the East River Promenade? It’s starting to get out of control over there. Usually when I head south toward 63rd street I prep myself for it because there are typically 1-2 groups of teenagers out there smoking, but I hadn’t encountered it heading North yet. Well, last night I did. It is the most unpleasant thing in the world to run by the people smoking cigarettes and cigars, but a plume of pot smoke is the worst! I’m sort of tempted to put in a call to our local precinct and ask them to patrol or something. I’m really tired of having to hold my breath when I’m running.

Well, I was certainly dripping after that one. That is one of the things I was really liking about training for a marathon in the Spring – not having to deal with the summer heat. I think the crazy heat is supposed to dissipate a bit for a while after today though. And I’m pretty sure in NYC we hit a new record high for this time of year.

After my run I showered and then listened to Hubby explain the latest co-op drama going on. He’s the co-op president, so people always seem to run to him when they have a problem. Fun times – fabulous day.

I made us a quick, easy dinner of grilled chicken with broccoli and then as I started cleaning up I noticed that one of my pickle jars must have cracked in the fridge because there was pickle juice EVERYWHERE! It was totally disgusting. I spent a long time cleaning up that mess, while attempting to clean up the dinner mess as well. Good lord, I just needed the day to end!

With the day from hell coming to a close, I decided to turn in early and move on to the next day. Do you think I was able to fall asleep? Nope – layed in bed wide awake for at least an hour and half. Great.

But today is a new day and hopefully a better one. To be safe, I’ve decided to run my 5-mile run on the treadmill at the gym tonight. It’s only going to be around 80 degrees, but I could use an easy, cool run. I’ve got my first 20-miler coming up this Saturday, so I won’t beat myself up over choosing the treadmill for once.

Did you brave the heat yesterday for a run? How do you cope when you have a day from hell?

Looking back, I probably should have enjoyed a big glass of wine before bed, that might have made sleeping a little easier. 😉

Hope you all have a wonderful Thursday…and that I do too!

P.S. Forgot to mention that I finally have some new book reviews up:

Angela’s Ashes
The Help

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Another Book Bites the Dust

Posted on April 6, 2010 | 8 comments

Good morning. I am feeling very sluggish today. It could partially be because our office a gazillion degrees right now. It’s really gross and it makes me sleepy.

Yesterday was hot as well, but felt a bit more tolerable. And with the forecast predicting almost 85 degrees tomorrow, I’m sure we’ll be roasting in the office.

Breakfast yesterday was simple and maybe a little boring. Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk and a side of light cranberry juice.

Lunch came pretty quickly – I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on an Arnold Sandwich Thin.

Then my afternoon snack were Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean and an unpictured apple.

When I left work it was positively gorgeous outside! I was excited for my after-work run. I came home, changed and headed out for a 5 mile run.

Despite the beautiful weather, my legs felt terribly heavy through the entire run. The promenade was windy, which didn’t help, but I just felt like I was moving really slow. Here are my stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 8:30
Mile 2 – 8:13
Mile 3 – 8:21
Mile 4 – 8:13
Mile 5 – 8:23

Total mileage – 5.03 in 41:54. Averaged 8:20 minute miles.

It wasn’t my slowest run lately, but it just felt really difficult. Have you ever had a run like that – where there’s nothing really wrong, you just can’t seem to move any faster?

After my run I came home and threw together a quick quinoa dinner – quinoa with carrots, garbanzo beans (chickpeas), peas, and corn with some light italian dressing drizzled over top.

It was actually really filling and I only ate about half of it. The rest will be lunch for today.

After dinner I watched a little bit of Dancing with the Stars before Hubby came back from the gym and insisted we turn it on basketball. I’m sorry – I just don’t get into this March madness stuff. Instead, I ended up finishing my current book: Sarah’s Key.

I know – flying through these books. I currently have nothing to read! But my mom has promised me the book Cutting for Stone when I’m up there this weekend, so that’s next on the list. I promise book reviews asap!

Hope your week is going well. Do you have any other good book recommendations to share?

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The Sun is Trying to Come Out!

Posted on March 31, 2010 | 12 comments

Finally there is a break in the rain! Thank goodness because things were starting to look pretty bleak. And because I’ve been running outside for a few weeks, I don’t like being forced back to the treadmill.

Monday and Tuesday were very busy days for me and my photo documentation was lacking. I managed to get my Tuesday morning breakfast because it was delicious – just the right thing to start your day with on a rainy day. Banana oatmeal with a big glob of peanut butter. Yum!

I don’t have any daytime food photos, but I was quite the snacker yesterday. Mid morning snack was an apple, lunch was a chicken sandwich on an Arnold’s thin with a side of carrots. Then in the afternoon I had a small bag of raisins and walnuts and a peanut butter Larabar. Yes, apparently I was very hungry.

After work I had a brief moment when I debated just going home and resting – for some reason the dreary weather always deters my drive to workout. But I powered through and made it to the gym for a quick 5 miles in 42:42. On Monday night I was also a gym rat and ran 4 miles on the dreadmill. Tonight I’m praying for clear skies and an outdoor run.

After the gym, I braved the blustery rain and made it home. And what I found when I reached the top of the stairs in our hallway was a puddle of water. The roof was leaking right in front of our front door. Lovely. Yet another reason why I hate the rain.

Hubby came home shortly after me. He had just finished a really big review/exam-type thing for work. It sounds like he did great. But he was also exhausted as well. He was being evaluated pretty much from 7:15 a.m. until 3 p.m.! Yikes.

For dinner I was craving veggies. I made a quick stop at the store after the gym and picked up two bags of lettuce for $4. That was a steal in my book. So I made a giant salad for dinner with some leftover pasta, walnuts, raisins and cheddar cheese. I sprinkled some Newman’s Low-fat Sesame Ginger dressing over top. P.S. – that is my all-time favorite Newman’s dressing. Have you ever tried it? Amazing!

And for dessert I had a nice bowl of delicious organic strawberries that were also on sale. So juicy!

After dinner Hubby and I watched The Biggest Loser and then I was in bed and asleep by 10:30 p.m. So tired. I don’t think I moved an inch all night.

Coming Soon (I promise): Angela’s Ashes review, The Help review, and my Galaxy Granola review.

And I started a new book on Monday – Sarah’s Key. Anyone heard of it or read it? It’s another one of my mom’s recommendations. So far so good – only about 25 pages in.

Lastly – I need some advice. When you are working cooperatively on a project and you end up putting in more work/effort than the other person, how do you deal? Do you mention the unbalanced workload? Let it go and just focus on your tasks? And what if the other individual is getting the same, or more credit than you for a project which you’ve been devoting a ton of time to? Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Have a happy hump day all! I think some fine weather is in our future.

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