Monthly Archives: September 2013

New Running Shoes

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, , ,

You know what company is just freaking amazing? Zappos. I ordered my new Brooks running shoes yesterday morning, selected the free (no rush) shipping, and my shiny new shoes already arrived today!

IMG_1964Now how is that for some crazy awesome customer service?! I mainly ordered from them because they offer free shipping both ways just in case the shoes didn’t fit correctly when they arrived. But now that I know they ship out of Kentucky, making their standard shipping to MO extra quick, I will be using them more often!

I also had some other packages arrive today which I wasn’t expecting, so I felt like I hit the jackpot when I came home tonight! First, I got a knock off of PB2 (powered peanut butter) and some creamy almond butter from my go-to vitamin store, Vitacost.

IMG_1969Both products have been tested and approved! Yum! Next, I received some boots from Hautelook that I ordered on a whim because they were super cheap!

IMG_1970They look greenish, but they are gray with a zip closure (which I love!) and a small hidden wedge.  I can’t wait for cooler temps to wear these babies!

And lastly, my beautiful new Brooks running shoes!

IMG_1966 IMG_1968I was so excited to open this package! I didn’t know what to expect, but the colors were so pretty and bright – instant love!

IMG_1972 I had to try on the boots first though. They go great with my running clothes, right? Maybe not, but the boots fit great and have lots of room in the calf to fit a pair of skinnies this winter!

IMG_1973There we go… The tennies fit great too! And there is nothing more motivating to me than a new pair of shoes. So I slipped these babies on right away and took Mac out for a quick 1.25 mile run to test them out.

IMG_1974They felt extra cushiony in the heel and really support the balls of my feet too without feeling too thick. It’s always a little weird to get used to new shoes, but I dropped Mac at the house and then went on to finish 4 miles.

They weren’t the easiest 4 miles, but I made it and my feet felt great! I’m excited to break these babies in even more so they’ll be in perfect shape for the 10K.

Lunch

Backing up to lunch, I had another veggie-filled salad with Catalina dressing!

IMG_1960I’m loving the fresh broccoli and cauliflower in my fridge right now.

For the rest of my meal, I whipped 2 eggs with a splash of soy milk, salt and pepper, and the leftover broccoli slaw from last night for a little veggie scramble.

IMG_1961I microwaved this mixture for 2 minutes, and voila! It was hot, yummy, and extra filling.

IMG_1962I also sprinkled a little parmesan on top for extra flavor. It gave it a nice kick.

Dinner

Dinner began with some yogurt for quick protein after my run.

IMG_1977I added in some of the Vitacost PBSlim and a teaspoon of cocoa to make this Greek yogurt extra yummy!

IMG_1978Healthy dessert idea? I think yes. It was amazing for my sweet tooth. Next I steamed up a veggie mix of broccoli, carrots, edamame, and celery.

IMG_1979Lots of color!

IMG_1980It was pretty filling, so I just snacked around the kitchen a bit more to finish off the evening meal. Have you noticed my meals rarely have any form or structure? I guess that’s a perk of not having kids. Plus, Nick tends to fend for himself in the kitchen, making it easy on me to slack off on the whole cooking thing. 🙂

I hope you all have had a great Wednesday! I can’t believe how quickly this week has flown by. Now I’m off to pick out my rehearsal dinner outfit for Katie’s wedding this weekend! The rehearsal and dinner are Friday night right after work, and then the wedding is Saturday at 5. It’s going to be a fun filled time!

Get some rest, and I’ll see you tomorrow!

Dark Workouts

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, ,

Sadly, we are at the time of year where the sun doesn’t come up very early and it fades away earlier and earlier each night. What does this make for? Dark workouts. That’s what.

My morning runs/trips to the gym have been dark for a while, but now it’s also dark during my evening Jazzercise classes. Sad day!! Oh well, it’s bound to happen every year, it’s just a little sad after we’ve had such nice, long, sunny days all summer.

But with that being said, I hope everyone keeps up their exercise routines regardless of the sun’s hours! This is also a time of year when people slack off on their workouts because of the seasons changing. Stick with it! One of my favorite quotes relates to this directly: “Summer bodies are made during the Winter time. If you wait for perfect conditions to workout, you’ll never achieve your goals.”

Lunch

Lunch today was supa fast and supa fresh thanks to some prep work last night. I put together an veggielicious salad last night that included spinach, mushrooms, carrots, snap peas, broccoli, and cauliflower.

photo(95)Look how pretty it turned out! I love fresh veggies, so I was eager to get home for lunch today. Plus, I love putting my salads together in tupperware bowls so I can easily add the dressing, recover, and then shake it up to evenly coat the whole salad.  I added a little Catalina dressing and shook this sucker up before I dug in.

photo(96)This salad was pretty hefty, so I wasn’t searching for too much more food by the time it was gone. I finished off my lunch with some cottage cheese and a fresh peach.

photo(97)I love the combo of cottage cheese and sweet fruit. The combo never gets old to me. And what if you’re fresh out of fresh fruit? Just stir in some jelly or preserves with your cottage cheese. It’s amazing, quick, and cheap!

Dinner

Dinner was, well, pitiful tonight. I was beyond exhausted after teaching class until 8 pm, so I just had what was quick and easy.

IMG_6095Yogurt! I know you’re shocked. But I paused to snap a pic before inhaling it. Be proud of me.

IMG_3569I then quickly showered before making a skillet of sauteed broccoli slaw.

IMG_0989It was hot and yummy which is all I really cared about tonight. Other than this, I snuck a few bites of some turkey from fridge. And that was the extent of my dinner. Pitiful? Maybe. But it could be worse. 🙂

Do you know what tomorrow is?? HUMP DAY! Get some rest and I’ll see you then!

So You’re Going to Purchase Some Running Shoes

Daily Life!, Food for Thought, Workouts, , ,

Happy Tuesday to ya! It’s been a beautiful day so far here in  417-land. (Springfield’s area code for those not from the Ozarks!) I’ve been busily working all morning and thoroughly enjoying seeing the awesome 70-degree weather out my window. Plus, being busy makes the time past faster. Woohoo it’s already lunch time! But let’s back up to last night.

Dinner

My dinner last night was not for the weak of stomach. I crave the weirdest things after working out. And yesterday at 8 PM when I got home from my 3rd Jazzercise class of the day, I was ready for some randomness for dinner…

I quickly ate some yogurt before hopping in the shower. I had some vanilla Greek yogurt, and obviously inhaled it too fast to even snap a photo…oops. Post shower, I reheated some corn/pepper mix from Sunday night’s dinner to get some veggies in my belly.

photo(92)This corn was a Green Giant Steamer mix, and OMG it is amazing. I never splurge on the steamer bags of veggies, but I had a coupon to use over the weekend. I will definitely be purchasing again! It had a light sauce on it that was a little sweet and spicy.

Once I downed the veggies, it was onto some more substantial protein. Here’s where the weirdness happened.

photo(94)For this gross appetizing mix, I added 1/2 cup low fat cottage cheese, 1 single serve packet of tuna, and some sweet & spicy mustard. It was amazing basically to my grumbly tummy. I ate half of it in a low-carb tortilla, and the other half I just ate straight out the bowl. Nick said it looked sick; I think it was awesome. But hey, I’m easy to please after 3 hours of cardio!

Morning Run

After dinner, I basically fell asleep by around 9:30 because my body was so exhausted. But I slept hard and woke up bright and early and ready to run! The weather was cool and it had just stopped raining as I headed out the door. I started off pretty slow but I felt amazing, like I could run for hours and hours. By the time I hit mile 2, I was not feeling so hot. The last 3 miles were a struggle. I guess some runs will just be easier than others! I made it to 5.4 miles in around 48 minutes before I headed home to shower and get ready for my day. Not my best time, but it’s better than no run at all.

My 10K countdown is at 18 days, so even these not-so-thrilling runs are at least keeping me on track to do well on race day. I’m already getting excited to see how well I can do the morning of the Sunshine Run!

Breakfast

Breakfast was quickly thrown into my purse like every other morning as I rushed out the door for work.

photo(93)Lotsa coffee, oats, and protein. YUM. And don’t forget all my vitamins in the tiny orange Tupperware container in the background. I always choke those down after my food has been inhaled. I also had a banana mid-morning to stave off some lingering hunger pains. I swear I eat more now after I’ve started running regularly than ever before! I can only imagine the meals that marathon runners eat. 🙂

New Running Shoes

And speaking of hardcore runners, I have officially declared myself a ‘real’ runner since I’ve been training for my 10K. And real runners need real running shoes. I’m currently running in some older Rykas that I bought for Jazzercise but decided I didn’t like to teach in them very much. Probably because they are actually made for running and not aerobic exercise.

This morning after my run, I noticed my feet were extra tired and my toenails were getting sore. TMI, maybe, but it really made me realize that I needed to invest in some good shoes. I immediately started researching and ordered these babies this morning…

photo(4)They are the Brooks Ravenna 4. I’ve never even heard of Brooks before but they had great reviews! I ordered through Zappos so I can return for free if I don’t like them. I can’t wait to try them out asap! Any Brooks fans out there?? This is all new to me, so the learning process regarding running has definitely begun. I’ll keep you updated when the arrive! I hope I love them so I can have them nice and broken in for the 10. Fingers crossed!

Have a great Tuesday, everyone. I’ll catch ya this evening!