Tag Archives: strawberries

Three Cheers for Friday!!

Posted on April 23, 2010 | 4 comments

Happy Friday! Thank goodness it’s finally here. I am very ready for the weekend! What are your weekend plans?

For me it’s squeezing in my 5-mile run tonight that I missed on Wednesday, pasta dinner with my cousin-in-law tomorrow night and the More Magazine Half Marathon and 20+ run on Sunday morning. And then my taper will begin!

As for yesterday, my day started out with a boring breakfast of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal.

My lunch was not too exciting either and the photos are absolutely mind-numbing, so I’m not posting them. I had a PB&J sandwich on wheat bread, a Chobani yogurt and an apple. See boring.

Weather.com toyed with me throughout the day – saying a thunderstorm was coming at varying times. Finally around 3:00 p.m. I said “screw it”, closed the website and told myself if I got rained on it wouldn’t be the end of the world. I wasn’t missing another run.

I flew home after work, as usual, and got ready in record time. I headed out to clear skies. Here are my stats from my run:

Mile 1 – 8:35
Mile 2 – 7:51
Mile 3 – 8:22
Mile 4 – 8:09
Mile 5 – 8:23
.14 – 1:15

Total mileage – 5.14 in 42:38. Average pace – 8:17 minute miles

The sky was definitely starting to get dark as I neared home, but I was doing a little ha-ha happy dance in my mind because I beat the rain and broke free from weather.com’s curse. Being a weatherman is such a cush gig.

After my run I cleaned a huge pile of dirty dishes and then made myself a quick dinner.

Soup with a side of carrots and grape tomatoes with dill hummus. This hummus was amazing and I will definitely be buying it again.

A little before 7:30 Hubby began readying a spot in front of the t.v. and preparing for some grand event. The NFL Draft of course. I forgot what a big deal it is for people every year. Did you watch the draft?

While Hubby hunkered down for some NFL excitement, I got pretty excited about this dessert…

Ohhh yum! I am making this again tonight. I have been snacking on some chocolate chips here and there when I need something sweet, but this was a grand decision. I just melted a handful of chocolate chips in the microwave for about a minute, mixed up the chocolate and drizzled it over top the strawberries. AMAZING!! I am actually craving this right now.

As of right now, weather.com says RAIN still for Sunday. It’s the only day on the forecast that has not changed in the slightest. Fantastic. I’m just going to keep my fingers crossed that, like usual, the weathermen have no clue.

I think today I may also start seriously planning/looking into our trip to Ireland. Anyone have suggestions?!

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Breaking in My New Sneaks

Posted on April 1, 2010 | 13 comments

Good morning all – happy Thursday! This week is almost over – hurray. My week is flying by – how about yours?

Wednesday morning’s breakfast was a big bowl of Kashi Heart to Heart cereal with almond milk and a side of cranberry juice.

On Wednesday morning I decided to move my medium 8-mile run up from Thursday night to Wednesday night, so I planned my lunch accordingly – a.k.a. – no salad (after last week’s miserable run).

So lunch yesterday was some leftover pasta with meat sauce. I needed some carbs to fuel my after-work run.

Then my afternoon snacks included a Chobani yogurt with Kashi Go Lean cereal and an apple pie Larabar.

After work I headed home to change for my run. When I trained for my marathon in October 2009, I went through two pairs of sneakers. About halfway through my training I switched to a new pair, but by the time I actually ran the marathon, I felt like they were pretty worn out.

So for this marathon I bought two pairs again (I wear Asics Gel Cumulus 11 – which is an older model and I’m not sure they are making it anymore – sadness) and decided to wait a little bit longer into my training to switch to the new pair. I started wearing them for the first time on Monday.

For all you marathoners out there – do you “run through” your sneakers quickly? I know it might be all in my head that I need to switch, but for some reason it makes me feel like it helps. Like there’s more spring in my step.

I donned my new sneaks and headed out to Central Park. Here are my stats from the run:

Mile 1 – 8:51
Mile 2 – 8:05
Mile 3 – 7:58
mile 4 – 8:18
Mile 5 – 7:58
mile 6 – 8:08
Mile 7 – 8:12
Mile 8 – 8:47

Total mileage – 8.02 miles in 1:06:30. Average pace – 8:17 minute mile

Not too bad, but I definitely felt a little heavy. Part of me wanted to blame it on my new heavy sneaks that haven’t been worn away at all yet, but more likely it’s probably just me. 🙂

After my run I made Hubby and I some BBQ chicken with a side salad for dinner.

And then for dessert I finished off the strawberries. I’m always so afraid that some fruits will go bad before I have a chance to eat them. And I love strawberries so much that I was not about to let that happen.

They look pretty fabulous right? 🙂 I have to be honest and tell you that I’m totally a “berry girl.” The berries are my favorite fruits – blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries. Seriously – I doubt there is a berry out there that I wouldn’t love.

And then there’s the Hubby that is totally anti-berry! How funny right? What about you – are you a berry lover? I might have a slight obsession.

Tonight will be a 6-mile run and then tomorrow is a rest day because I’m running another race this weekend – The Scotland Run 10k on Saturday in Central Park. The good thing  is that I’ve never run a 10k before, so no matter what I’m going to get a PR! I’m trying to decide how fast I want to run this. I have to run a total of 13 miles on Saturday, which means another 7 miles after finishing the race. I may just go all out! I think I’ll decide the day of, based on how I’m feeling. Anyone else in the city running this race?

Alright all – have a great Thursday – tomorrow’s Friday!!

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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.

12 Comments

Posted in Books, Reviews, Running, Uncategorized

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