Redemption
How to redeem yourself from a run failure: Up your mileage and dominate it! Such is what I decided to do today. My training called for another week exactly like the last two: 2 3-mile runs, 1 2-mile, and 1 4-mile. So boring, so I decided to do 2 3.5-milers, 1 2-miler and a 5-miler. Take that, mental aversion to running!!
- Mile 1 – 9:20 Note: I may or may not have pretended it was the half marathon and high-fived a few tall weeds as I ran past…
- Mile 2 – 9:04
- Mile 3 – 8:57
- Mile 3-3.5 – 4:37 (9:15 pace)
- Total = 31:59 boo-ya!
Yesterday’s eats and massage must have paid off!
I sipped on a BRIGHT GREEN smoothie on my way to get a massage from my mom — free massages feel so much better 🙂 And my calves were much less sore afterwards, thank goodness.
Massage was followed by a big plate of green, with some yellow bell pepper, carrot, hummus and pretzels
Mid-afternoon, Joey and I shared a Chocolate Chip Brownie Larabar and it was just heavenly. Healthy never tasted so good.
Dinner:
Curried Shrimp and Rice (adapted from here):
- 1 sweet potato
- 1 lb. shrimp
- 1 cup brown rice
- 2.5 cups chicken broth
- 2 carrots, sliced
- 1 onion, diced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 3t curry powder
- 2T olive oil
- 1/4t pepper
- 2t dried basil
- Poke sweet potato several times with a fork, place on a cookie sheet and bake for 40 minutes on 350
- Cut potato into 1″ cubes, removing the skin
- Heat oil in a pan, add onion, garlic, carrots, potato, cook 8 minutes, stirring occasionally
- Add curry, rice, broth and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce to low, cover and simmer 15 minutes
- Add shrimp, cover and cook 7 more minutes until shrimp look opaque
- Sprinkle with basil, dig in!
The recipe called for russet potatoes and white rice but I thought sweet potatoes and brown rice would be better. Yum yum, I LOVE curry!
I also love evening walks in the summer, which is what followed dinner 🙂 It’s nice to get up and move around after eating a big o’ bowl of curry.
Now on to this morning’s breakfast — is this post all over the place or what today?
A glorious run deserves a glorious post-run breakfast, hence the return of the oatmeal pancake (Kath’s recipe)
I topped this bad boy with banana slices (I probably used 1/2 a banana in all — some mashed into the batter, the rest on the top), PB sauce (1T PB + 1T almond milk, microwave 30 seconds, stir, pour), mixed berry compote and peach jam. I ended up swirling all the toppings together and it was so magical, sighhh
I crossed off ALL the things on my to-do list today and am in a blissful mood 😀
And with that I’m off, see you all tomorrow!
Off to a Rocky Start
My Sunday run was less than great. Although I love Joey and enjoy running with him I KNOW he’s capable or running faster and farther than me — in fact his run totaled to 11 miles, he just ran the first 4 with me — so sometimes I feel a little inadequate in his presence. Such is how I felt when I needed a break after 2 miles. I then proceeded to have a mental breakdown that went something like this:
“I’m never gonna be able to run 13 miles”
“I’m done, I’m never running again”
Sit on path and cry… yes, this actually happened. I don’t know what came over me, I just totally lost my confidence and was so disappointed in myself later because I know I can run at least 6.2 miles and I shouldn’t be embarrassed to take however many breaks as I need, even in the presence of a marathon runner (or trainer at least).
The Good News:
After regaining control over my emotions I was able to bust out a perfect negative split
- Mile 1 – 9:38
- Mile 2 – 9:09
- Mile 3 – 9:00
- Mile 4 – 8:54
- Total Time – 36:41
I wasn’t going to admit my bad run, but I figured if I can’t be honest here, where can I? We all have a bad run sometimes. It’s just best to confront it and get over it. There’s always a new chance to redeem myself 🙂
Dinner the night before was super simple. Brown rice, chickpeas, sweet & sour, salsa, mix and dig in!
Upon first taste, this wasn’t my favorite dish, but it ended up growing on me and by the end Joey and I decided we both really liked it and thought it would be a great post-long run/race meal
“The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Run” was followed by a cupcake photo shoot 
Joey’s mom, Lori, makes me cupcakes every year for my birthday 🙂 She’s too sweet. Joey took it upon himself to eat the first one — what happened to the Birthday Girl eats first rule?
Let me tell you about my current obsession with steel cut oats. Better yet, let me show you…
That’s yesterday and today’s breakfast, repspectively. Both steel-cut, both mixed with peach jam and blueberries and topped with Just Bunches. Today’s oats were plated and additionally topped with PB and cocoa nibs. I have been looking all over for Scottish oats because I hear they are even creeeamier than steel-cut, but no such luck yet 😦 Oh well, s-c have sooo been hitting the spot lately and keeping me full for hours!
Dinner last night wasn’t eaten till ~8:30 — I swear it just keeps getting later and later!
Goat Cheese on sale for $2.50 = corn & goat cheese quesadillas!
+ black beans on the side
Corn & Goat Cheese Quesadillas:
- Cook 1 large ear of corn and cut off kernels
- Cook kernels in a skillet over med. heat until they start to brown
- Remove kernels and mix with 4 oz. goat cheese
- Divide evenly among 3 or 4 tortillas and spread
- Add ~1.5T salsa
- Top with remaining 3 or 4 tortillas and cook in a pan until just browned
- Flip and brown on the other side
- Top with ~1T of salsa and serve with beans
We only had enough tortillas to make 3 so I had one and Joey attempted to have 2, but only made it through 1 1/2. Yes, they were really filling!
We finished out our Sunday by watching Food, Inc. It was really shocking and disturbing to see how the food industry works in America. It will definitely open your eyes and encourage you to think about where you buy your food from and what kinds of products to buy, i.e. organic, GMO-free, in season. If you haven’t already I urge you to check this movie out!
And now I must leave you to retrieve my new license at the DMV, groan. Do you hate going to the DMV as much as I do?
P.S. Look what I found — new Larabar flavors!!
Happy Monday!
Post Birthday Post
If your 21st birthday isn’t an excuse to be a lazy blogger I don’t know what is.
WARNING: The following food pictures are inadequate representations of the deliciousess that was consumed this weekend. Some meals are altogether missing, BUT sometimes you need to get caught up in family/friends/fun and forget about your blogging duties for a minute.
Thursday’s pre-going out dinner was simple and eaten at 9:30, hence the semi-blurry indoor bad lighting pictures.
His and hers pans — mine = diced tomatoes, olives, spinach, red bell pepper, eggplant. Joey’s = italian sausage, rbp, diced tomatoes, eggplant, olives
We got this idea from Caitlin but I wasn’t overly impressed 😦
Then it was off to The Hill for some midnight birthday action!
Very cool, I know. Don’t worry I shared that pitcher 🙂
Birthday breakfast was enjoyed at Udi’s. I’d never been there for breakfast and was surprised how normal sized the sandwiches were compared to lunch! Remember this lunch samich? My Southwest Breakfast Sandwich came with eggs, aioli, and avocado on Jalapeno Cheddar (I nixed the bacon) and the taste was spot on but I kept saying I thought I could eat a second one!
My parents were too kind and gave me this awesome pair of sunglasses, which I’ll try my very hardest to not leave on any rides while we’re in Disneyland!!
After some nap action (I was not going to make it without one!) it was time to suit up for more eating. If you haven’t been to The Med in Boulder I HIGHLY suggest you run, not walk, there right now! It’s notoriously busy during happy hour and rightly so! They have great deals on tapas, which are just appetizer sized dishes and there’s tons to choose from. We shared 8 between the 6 of us but I think I only tried 5.
Peel & Eat Shrimp — both sauces were pretty spicy but they tasted great! I realized I’m a horrible shrimp peeler. My New Orleans relatives would be so embarrassed.
Bruschetta
Trucha de Antonio aka smoked ruby red trout and red pepper & harissa hummus. The hummus was probably my favorite! Jenn, Joey and I couldn’t get enough.
Fried polenta & rosemary honey and fried mozzarella
I was already pretty full from the tapas so I thought I’d keep dinner light and order a salad. I went with the Nicoise which comes with grilled salmon on top of arugula with veggies and a balsamic dressing and goat cheese, of course. Veggies included:
- roasted peppers
- olives
- onions
- cucumbers
- potatoes
Dessert was complimentary so even though I was stuffed silly I made room for a couple bites of cheesecake.
It came with a guava sauce that everyone LOVED
The night ended with Boulder bar hopping and a buffalo kiss
It’s tradition to go to The Pub on your birthday and kiss the stuffed buffalo head on the wall. Dirty and disgusting? Yes, but still worth it 😛
Twas a wonderful birthday, thanks to all who made it so great 😀
P.S. Per Angela’s advice I did two things on my Thursday run
- I just made up my mind that I was going to make my last mile my fastest
- Forced myself to start out slower so I could work my way up to a faster pace
RESULT:
- Mile 1 – 9:27
- Mile 2 – 9:38
- Mile 3 – 9:15
- Mile 4 – 8:45 — ran in the pouring rain!!
SUCCESS! Thanks for the advice, Angela 🙂
Enjoy your Saturday night, friends!
Lauren Loves Good Food 