Last Weeks Eats (2/16 - 2/22)

Well I didn't lie... I knew this would be hard for me to keep up with, but here's the eats... almost a week late. I'm going to not let the perfect be the enemy of the good and post this anyway.

yummy healthy wrap inspired by Falon's fb page

Healthy snacking at school

gorgeous homemade pizza

Dessert made with pureed frozen bananas.  I was skeptical, but frozen banana are awesome! This actually tasted like a dessert.

Quinoa, Red Peppers, Kidney Beans and Feta simmered in a broth.   The broth is key.

Above mixture with Spring Mix Greens and Black Olives on top.

Results of baking endeavors with friends.  The only thing I was actually responsible for here was the dicing the maraschino cherries and unwrapping the chocolate kisses. A small but noble role :).

Overall, a good week!  

Last Weeks Eats (2/9/13 - 2/15/13)

It's true, for a blog with food in the name there hasn't been a lot of food on here lately.  The truth is recipe posts are some of my most time consuming to write and often generate the least feedback (even if they get a lot of traffic) However, I do miss the food element on here and thought I would try to bring it back a little with "last weeks eats".  I will try to summarize my food ventures in pictures and words on a weekly basis.  In this way, I can share recipes and food ideas along the way.   I make no promises on my commitments here, but the idea is obviously to post weekly, but I avoided naming the series after a specific day so I can post them a little more ad-hoc... but hoping for the weekend after.  Again, no promises.

In other news... my regular food consumption could be best described as all over the map... and that will likely be reflected in the pictures.   

So on that note... we had Chinese Buffet Gourmet on Saturday and it was delicious.  Neither Tony or I are big fans of the fortune cookies, but we do like to read the fortunes (who doesn't?).  Look what Tony's was:

Three times a week, treat yourself to dessert

hmm...and with that I treated myself to fro-yo... Nothing wrong with co-opting fortunes.

 We then went to costco (with Tony's mom) and bought a TON of food.  Which gave us everything and more that we needed to make breakfast burritos.  We make them a little different each time, but they are basically a staple around here. We make enough for leftovers for the rest of the week. 



However I did have this for breakfast one morning too.  It was small but satisfying. 

Bread w/butter, fruit, coffee

I used to make Chicken and Rice frequently, but then I forgot about if for a while.  It's so easy and delicious.  This will totally be re-introduced into rotation. 

Chicken and Rice

Nothing like good ol' hamburger helper.  I used to think this is prime time eating in college, but I believe that's a little lost on me now.  The truth remains that it's easy to make, and food snobs aside - totally edible.  I threw in a side salad to make it balanced and there you go.     

Well, wasn't that exciting!  Obviously I didn't take pictures of everything that passed my lips.  I try to keep this remotely interesting.  Tony took me to Fogo De Chao on V-day (which was 2/9 for us), and yes I did make my weekly trek to Taco Bell.  They have these new things called something grillers...which lived up to their $1.29 price tag :)!      

Honestly, I'm not thrilled with this week health wise, though it could always be worse.  Perhaps related, I have class two nights a week from 6pm to 9:20pm.  Between that and homework, it's been hard to find ample time around meals to cook.  We've been doing a lot of quick fix foods, leftovers and admit-ably fast food.  The first time I went to college I ate like crap all the time, so I'm trying to avoid that, but also allowing myself to be human.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I hope this 2.14 finds you well, no matter your relationship status.  I had a good but busy day, and was in class until 9:20pm tonight.  I like everything I get to do, but I think it might be a little too much some times.  I guess there are worse things.

I have to say I was all settled in for just appreciating  a day that celebrates love and not needing any sort of 'materialistic adornments".... and while I really believe in that; I was overwhelmed by the generosity of many.  My parents sent me a card with a subway gift card earlier this week.  My friend C sent me two cards, one was under the guise of being sent from the cats (which was corny, but cute and creative too).  And to top it off Tony got me these:

  
  We celebrated early, due to time constraints on the 'official day'... but he still thought a little sentiment was in order... :).

Anyway, I read this earlier on a blog I like and thought it summed things up well.

"You don't need a partner, a child or a best friend to have a Valentines Day. You need an open heart and a willingness to receive good thoughts from any which direction."  J-Stephens-Couture 

Also, here's my cats with some virtual snuggles to send your way.  (from when they were babies)

Source: Uploaded by user via Erin on Pinterest

 Aren't they just love?

#runchat Recap

Has anyone here tried to participate in a twitter chat and failed?

I have, I always get super lost with what is going and can barely participate in the conversation.  However, I did some looking and found www.tweetchat.com which really helped me stay on track with the convo.  Obviously, I couldn't read everything, but it was a little easier to see what was happening.  I'd love more hints on how to have success with twitter.  

Anyway, I finally participate in #runchat, and it was pretty awesome.  Basically @iRunnerBlog and @RunningBecause throw out 5 questions and the #runchat community answers those questions.  

Here are the questions and my answers .. as well as other thoughts.  

Q1:  from by @OneFootThere: If you could pick a company to sponsor you, which one and why?

A1 Saucony, so I never have to buy shoes again... and I've loved my first two pairs

Basically, the idea of sponsorship for a slowish 'nobody' like me is pretty far-fetched.  However, having some free shoes would be pretty awesome, in retrospect though I would rather have my race-fees covered as those are the most expensive.  

Q2: is from @Shawnegreer: What is your most difficult distance to get a personal best time and why?

A2:   I PRed a few distances lasty year including 5K, but I still think it's my nemesis, more misses than hits

Ya'll know I want me a sub 30 5K... which has proved to be quite difficult.  Though, I did still PR one of my 5Ks last year.  As a side note, I really haven't done enough of any of the other distances to establish a lot of patterns.  

Q3: from our great friend @BartYasso: What is your favorite marathon or half marathon? Why?

A3:  I've only done TC marathon, my favorite half is WomensROCK - too much fun! 

TC marathon is my only marathon... but as biased as my opinion may be - it was totally awesome!  I've only done two halves as well, but again WomensROCK was awesome!  LOL - aren't you glad you come here for my well-thought out opinions.  

Q4: from @TimLaBrecque: Do you find it harder to run with or without music? Why?

A4:  I mostly run without, but it's partially because I'm to lazy to track down my ipod

Part of the problem is I have one of those big ipods and it's too awkward to carry while I run.  I don't mind running outside without a soundtrack, because I enjoy the scenery, but on the treadmill, I'm in need of some tunes.  Luckily, my mom gave me her ipod shuffle that she wasn't using, but now I need to create a appropriate running playlist.  I got these suggestions from  @RFKGuide2Runnin which looks like a good start.  However, what are your suggestions?  Even though my normal music likes are more mellow, I enjoy music that has a pretty good base beat when I run.  

Q5: from @26point2miles: What was your very first race? Have you done it since? What made it special?

A5:  first race was heartbeat 5000 5K, it was great and I have and would do it again

Some of the runchat-ers ran their first races in grade school... nothing like that fact to make you feel a little behind.  Well, all that matters is that you start.

Not sure if tweet chatting is totally my thing yet, but this #runchat sure is fun.  Join me (and a bunch of others) at 8pm Eastern on the second and fourth Sunday of every month

Surviving the Winter Running Scene

Normally, I consider myself a pretty tough cookie when it comes to the cold weather; I was born and raised in Minnesota after all, but these sub zero temps have not been my friend.  I've done just about everything to avoid them: basement treadmill, guesting at my mom's gym, my work's wellness center and running at the metrodome.  However, I did sign up for a 5K, and I decided I better suck it up and get my money's worth.  I've done one other winter 5K, and to be honest, I didn't love it.  So I braced myself for this one.  However, I was pleasantly surprised by a few nice factors.  Securian, the company sponsor for the race, did a really nice job of running the show.  Packet Pick-up was easy, free parking with skyway access to the start (so I didn't have to walk outside), and the swag was pretty good too.  Best of all, they had plenty of space inside for people to stay warm up until moments before the race began and get back inside moments afterward.

This race had a half marathon and 10K option as well, but I went with the 5K for a couple reasons.  1) It's freakin' cold here, so the 5K is the safe bet.  2) I want to do as many 5Ks as possible this year to increase my chances of a sub 30.  I realized a flaw in my last years plan was only signing up for only one 'serious' 5K.  Technically, I did 5 all together, but 2 were completely social, 1 was spontaneous, and 1 was more of a work function.  That last one was also at 4pm less than a week after my first half too, so not great timing.  Anyway, this year, lots of 5Ks and some other stuff too.

at the start 

The course runs through the downtown Saint Paul.  I've done a number of downtown Minneapolis runs, but none yet in Saint Paul.  The TC marathon ends at the capital which is just shy of downtown.  I felt like we were weaving and winding all over, but after looking at the actual course map, that might of been partially in my head.  What I will say affirmatively is that there were a lot of hills, both up and down.  I guess I didn't love that... reminded me that I could try re-visiting that whole idea about hill training.

After the marathon last fall, I took a pretty easy approach to fall/winter running.  While I enjoyed the time off, I'm naturally not quite in peak condition yet.  So for this race I just wanted to be under 35 mins.  My garmin was all sorts of wonky due to the temperature I assume, so I'm glad this race was chip timed.  As I approached the finish the most prominent clock said 43:XX ... which seemed fishy... it took me until after I finished and looked around a bit to realize it was the clock for the halfers and the 5K clock was in a different place.  However, I was able to check my time at a computer station immediately after the race (Did I mention this race was well run?) and found out I got 33:53.  It's not a PR, but still pretty good for me.  Even better, I was 23 out of 55 for my age/gender division (F20-29), which means I'm in the front half, so that's nice too.

This was great race to start 2013 with, I will be bookmarking this one for future years.

about to finish!

13 things I don't need to change in 2013

So this was in part inspired by this awesome post on Falon's great blog.  Credit where credit is due.

Anyway, everyone's enjoying writing there new year's resolutions and while I'm still working on my goals from 28 for 28, I've been thinking about how sometimes this blog is a reflection on the best parts of my life and not so much the mildly bad to middling parts.  Naturally, it's more fun to talk about the aforementioned fun parts, but suffice it to say I'm not perfect, and I'll probably stay that way. 

So, without further ado: 

1.  I have neither an organized nor well decorated home.   

2.  I procrastinate everything.  

3.  I have a mild case of (yes, clinical) ADD and am constantly forgetting my keys, my hat, my gloves, to wear a seat belt (getting better here) and losing things.  Some of those things have been quite expensive.

4.   I'm addicted to coffee 

5.  I love like wine. 

6.  I don't drive a fancy car.  

7.  I'm a cat lady.  Because cats are awesome! 

Eating string, like all the cool cats do (Spice)

Sugar

Kenya 

8.  I'm not a huge fan of the Princess Bride (It was okay, but I think I was too old when I watched it for the first time)

9.  If it weren't for endurance sports... I'd basically never exercise.  I really don't like the gym.  

10.  Perhaps related to 5 and 9, I do not have a toned stomach.

11.  Pizza, Quesadillas and Burgers are among my favorite foods.   

12.  I'm very much an omnivore.  

13. My blog isn't incredibly popular or even close.  

Me just being me

So, when I was piecing this together ... I totally wanted to add the "not so hot" tri photo to epitomize my humanness   ... but you know - I actually don't look half bad.  I don't think I'll being going for the hairless latex look, or that my stark white tummy is my best feature... but hey if this is the worst of it - I should be effin' proud.  

So there's a few things on this list that maybe I could/ should change... and maybe that will happen one day when it's supposed to.  There's also a handful that I'm secretly proud of.  But mostly, I'm content with things how they are.  

This blog is mostly for me, but there's a very important underlying message that 'everyone' can benefit from.  

It's okay to be okay. 

Go with that.

UPDATE: Tony thinks I should give Princess Bride another chance.  

2012 in review

2012 was a good year for me.  I have a thing for Olympic years.  I was born in one (1984), the first year to have the Women's Marathon.  Can you believe it took that long for society to welcome women to running?  Anyway, I'm off topic here.

Here's the summary:

Professional

I decided to stick with my career in education, despite my unique background.  I love teaching, and my resume now has more in education than engineering anyway, plus it affords me the quality of life I want.  This means going back to school is strongly recommended and I finally got that ball rolling on that with a strong semester (a B and an A-), despite feeling very daunted by my classes this fall.  There's a long road ahead of me here, but finishing this first semester well was the validation I needed to know I'm doing the right thing.  My actual job has been expanding as well, and I'm getting the opportunity next semester to teach a couple new courses.       

Personal

I went to a great mini-conference at the beginning of 2012 and I feel it was great way to set things in motion.  This year I've felt more content, at peace and assured of myself.  In high-school I was a very insecure person with very few friends, and as I look back over the last 10 years I realize that I've grown up a lot and made friends along the way.  Also, despite my independent nature, my relationship with Tony has grown too, and while relationships inherently have challenges - I'm very content right now with who Tony and I are together.  

Physical
Ok, so let me just say - I had such a fun year!  I've been blessed to have no major injuries (only minor pain issues) and the time to pursue new challenges! So, without further ado...
I completed my first triathlon and loved it! 

I ran my second marathon 40+ minutes faster than the first.
I now have actual calf muscles instead of jiggly globs, which is pretty cool too.
Also, I completed 1089 miles total, it breaks out this way:

Obviously, I needed the biking (454.4 mi) to make the 1000 mile goal, but I'm glad to see that the running (610.5 mi) still accounted for the most miles.  Swimming doesn't sound real good in terms of miles, but I'll let you know it takes a long time to complete 7.1 miles swimming.

2012 was good to me; I'm curious to see what 2013 will bring.