Running Inspiration

Pizza time!!

Lunch was a conglomeration of leftovers. The last two slices of pizza, some lima beans, and the very few remaining veggies from my tropical rice dish.

Work is an insane madhouse today!! I keep looking longingly at the sunshine through the window…..

How’s this for inspiration?

No matter how much you love running (or other workout), we all have our days when we don’t want to do it, or think we can’t. Thinking I can’t gets in my way more than I’d like to admit.

I know there are a TON of inspirational running stories out there, but this one hit home more so than usual, because this guy was running in the same race I was….and he went twice as far. With a brain tumor.

Not even brain cancer could stop this marathoner

I’ll leave you with 3 of my favorite running quotes:

“Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it’s all about.”   -PattiSue Plumer, U.S. Olympian

“If you want to become the best runner you can be, start now. Don’t spend the rest of your life wondering if you can do it.”     -Priscilla Welch

“Run if you can, walk if you have to, crawl if you must, just never give up.”  – Dean Karnazes

What inspires you to run?

Playing Catch Up

Just relaxing and recuperating here! I feel pretty good except for going down stairs. If only I could remember that before I went up them….

For lunch I decided to “fix” up last night’s pizza by adding some goat cheese, basil, and rosemary. It didn’t make it absolutely fantastic, but since we already know goat cheese can make dirt taste good, it was a definite improvement!

(Not loving the restaurant pizza is making me pretty proud of my own homemade versions :))

With some lovely green lima beans on the side. I was never in the “I hate lima beans” club. But what’s to be expected, I love Brussels spouts too. 🙂

I totally went back for more limas too.

 

 

I’m off to go catch up on all the work I missed last week due to travelling and the conference. I had to put it all on different lists because having it all face me at once was way too daunting! I’d love to go to Pilates tonight, but don’t know if that counts as not resting? I think it’d be fine, right?! It’s relaxing 🙂

Now I need to come up with a new training plan for the half next month…I’m definitely taking it easy this week to make sure I’m fully recovered, but then I only have 3 weekends worth of long runs to fit in. Any suggestions on what distances I should go for?!

Victory Dinner

I was absolutely starving by early evening, so I figured it was a good time to enjoy some oversized restaurant portions. I’ve had my eye on the Pear-Gorgonzola pizza at Brixx, but knew the husband would never split it with me. I was completely prepared to have a pizza to myself, so tonight was a good night to go. 🙂

 

The perfect solution for an indecisive person: the beer sampler.

I tried the Sweet Water 420, Bells Two-Hearted Ale, Loose Cannon, and Star Hill Northern Lights IPA. I liked the Loose Cannon the best. (And not just because I’m partial to Baltimore where it’s brewed.)

They look gigantic but they’re really only 2 oz pours.

We started off with the Spinach Artichoke Dip, which was out of this world good.

Then I ordered the Pear Gorgonzola Pizza I had been so excited about. I got it with whole wheat crust and vegan cheese, just because it was an option. It also has walnuts and red onions.

Notice anything missing? When you order vegan cheese they don’t give you gorgonzola. Duh. I didn’t think that one through. It was interesting trying to explain to the waitress that I still wanted it.

It didn’t end up mattering though. This honestly was the grossest pizza I’ve ever eaten. I like walnuts, but on pizza? No thanks. The whole thing was completely bland and tasted like nothing. I managed to eat two slices before I couldn’t do it anymore. I wrapped the rest of it up to bring home and try to jazz up for leftovers.

 

Oh well, at least the spinach artichoke dip was good 🙂

“Make Your Own” Night

One dinner I’ve found that is SO easy to tailor to individual tastes is pizzas. That’s exactly what was on the menu tonight!

I chopped up a bunch of veggies- mushrooms, red peppers, red onions, eggplant, and asparagus.

Then sauteed them with some garlic, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. When the veggies were done I scooted them to one side and cooked up some chopped meatballs for the husband.

Then we each got to make our own pizza! I used whole wheat flatbreads from the bakery instead of making pizza dough tonight. They were tasty, and made things super easy.

My pizza had the whole veggie mix, plus sundried tomatoes on a layer of Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese & Bertolli marinara (since it was already open!), then topped with goat cheese & basil.

I’m convinced you could put goat cheese on anything and it would taste magnificent.

I toasted the flatbreads in the oven as it preheated, then threw the pizzas in a 425 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes. So good and crispy, but not too crunchy.

Dessert

For dessert I decided to experiment with making rice pudding. I’m not sure why, I don’t even know that I can definitively say I’ve even had rice pudding before.

Coconut Rice Pudding

1/2 c short grain brown rice

2 c water

1 1/2 c milk

1/2 c coconut milk

1/8 c egg substitute

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 T unsweetened coconut flakes

orange zest (optional)

1 t vanilla

1/8 t salt

squirt agave nectar

Soak rice in water ~1 hr. Bring water to boil, then cook over medium heat 10-15 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook over medium low, about 20 minutes, or until most liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat with some liquid remaining, as it will thicken upon standing.

This was really good! It wasn’t sweet at all, so if you’re looking for a more traditional “dessert” I’d stir in some extra sweetener at the end.

I served mine with extra cinnamon and coconut. Then went back for seconds thirds.

What’s your favorite dessert? Mine’s a toss up between tiramisu and key lime pie 🙂

“Make Your Own” Night

One dinner I’ve found that is SO easy to tailor to individual tastes is pizzas. That’s exactly what was on the menu tonight!

I chopped up a bunch of veggies- mushrooms, red peppers, red onions, eggplant, and asparagus.

Then sauteed them with some garlic, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. When the veggies were done I scooted them to one side and cooked up some chopped meatballs for the husband.

Then we each got to make our own pizza! I used whole wheat flatbreads from the bakery instead of making pizza dough tonight. They were tasty, and made things super easy.

My pizza had the whole veggie mix, plus sundried tomatoes on a layer of Laughing Cow Swiss Cheese & Bertolli marinara (since it was already open!), then topped with goat cheese & basil.

I’m convinced you could put goat cheese on anything and it would taste magnificent.

I toasted the flatbreads in the oven as it preheated, then threw the pizzas in a 425 degree oven for about 5-10 minutes. So good and crispy, but not too crunchy.

Dessert

For dessert I decided to experiment with making rice pudding. I’m not sure why, I don’t even know that I can definitively say I’ve even had rice pudding before.

Coconut Rice Pudding

1/2 c short grain brown rice

2 c water

1 1/2 c milk

1/2 c coconut milk

1/8 c egg substitute

1/2 T cinnamon

1/2 t nutmeg

1 T unsweetened coconut flakes

orange zest (optional)

1 t vanilla

1/8 t salt

squirt agave nectar

Soak rice in water ~1 hr. Bring water to boil, then cook over medium heat 10-15 minutes. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook over medium low, about 20 minutes, or until most liquid has absorbed. Remove from heat with some liquid remaining, as it will thicken upon standing.

This was really good! It wasn’t sweet at all, so if you’re looking for a more traditional “dessert” I’d stir in some extra sweetener at the end.

I served mine with extra cinnamon and coconut. Then went back for seconds thirds.

What’s your favorite dessert? Mine’s a toss up between tiramisu and key lime pie 🙂

Lemonade Stands

Nothing says summertime like lemonade. Oh, it’s not summer yet? Shhhhh don’t tell me that.

The sunshine was making me really want some lemonade, so I stopped by Chick-fil-a and grabbed a diet lemonade on my way home from work. Yowza that stuff will hit you in the back of the throat—so tart!!

The amount of leftovers in my fridge is really going on borderline embarassing. I think they’re magically replicating in the middle of the night- I have no idea where they’re coming from. I can’t remember the last time I cooked….

My lunch of leftovers started with some delicious leftover buffalo pizza. Last night this was the spiciest pizza I’d ever eaten- a night in the fridge cooled it down enough so it was just perfect today!

There wasn’t much pizza left, so I also threw together the two salads left in the fridge: some tropical wheat berry salad and some of the salad leftover from our his & hers dinner the other night.

I guess that means this salad had romaine lettuce, celery, granny smith apples, red pepper, wheat berries, coconut, and dressing. Interesting.

Did you ever have a lemonade stand as I kid? I did once…we never figured out that no traffic was ever going to go by our long hidden driveway hahaa.

Kids in the Kitchen

There’s no such thing as “too early” to learn about nutritious eating. I’m not talking calories and fat, I’m talking healthy choices.

Tonight at the women’s ACC tournament I had the opportunity to pass out brochures encouraging kids to stop by certain stations to learn about healthy habits. Some of those stations included exciting exercise, portion distortion, and rethink your drink.

Before I headed to the tournament I grabbed a few snacks. I can’t talk about food all night and be hungry!

I had a quick tasting plate of Granny Smith apples, sharp cheddar cheese, and Wheat Thins Multigrain crackers.

Not such a great picture, but yay for the ACC tournament!

I was pretty disappointed I didn’t get to work with kids at the different stations, but at least I was able to help a little by passing out booklets.

On the way home I stopped at Spring Garden Pizza (the same place Kelly and I went for pizza & beer after our marathon relay) and picked up some pizza. The husband and I split a half carnivore/ half buffalo pizza. We had to talk them into making it half and half…geez! (Wanna guess whose side was whose?!)

Now off for some sleep and work in the am! And hopefully finally catching up on some homework! Gee what an exciting Saturday. I hope yours is looking better than mine!! 🙂

Tropical Wheat Berry Salad

This morning I was in a mad dash to pack lunch and I was absolutely convinced I had Craisins in the pantry. I didn’t see them where I usually keep them, so I immediately proceeded to rip through everything on all the shelves, searching frantically. Don’t asked me why I was so obsessed with finding dried cranberries.

I made a pitiful attempt at putting things back, then gave up. Looks like somebody’s organizing the pantry tonight. (I’m sure the husband thoroughly appreciated all the ruckus so early in the morning. Actually, I’m even more certain he slept through it like a rock.)

Don’t worry, I found the Craisins:

Exactly where I first looked. I blame the pre-oats morning stupor.

 

When I was making my oatmeal, I realized I might have gone a little overboard in my wheat berry making escapade. I have SO many wheat berries pre-cooked in the fridge that I’ll never get through them by oats alone.

I decide to make a wheat berry salad. As I threw things in to the wheat berries, it quickly took on a tropical theme: Granny Smith apples, dried cranberries, lime juice, unsweetened coconut, walnuts, and celery. (Celery? You know, that famous tropical celery?)

Next time I’d ditch the celery. That was just strange.

 

You can’t live on salad alone, so I also had barbeque pizza.

Told you I’d turn into pizza. Just wait. I’m ok with it.

 

 

So on the radio on the way to work this morning they changed the snow prediction to little accumulation and mostly overnight tonight. Umm I just looked out the window…the cars in the parking lot are already covered! Geez. Bring on the 60 degrees.

Feed Me Nowww!

How ironic that I wrote about mid-run fueling in my last post and then I was starving during my 4.5 mile run this afternoon. Not just ‘I need a nibble hungry’, like’ when is dinner feed me now hungry’! It was all I could do to chug a glass a juice as soon as I was done, and then cram some food in my face.

The last cranberry citrus English muffin with almond butter, some apple slices, and cinnamon.

I’m off to a meeting tonight that’ll have snacks and drinks, but I needed a little something more substantial first. Since I had little time to spare, I just heated up some white spinach pizza from the Fresh Market. It was actually really good!

I’m gonna turn into a slice of pizza one of these days. 🙂

Plus a recovered cupcake mishap.

Some mistakes are good ones 🙂

365 Days Together

One year ago this weekend one of my best friends married the man of her dreams, and tonight we’re celebrating all over again!

They’re having an anniversary party to celebrate their first year together with friends & family at a club downtown. So that’s what I’ll be doing tonight!

 

But first, dinner. No wait. First a snack: English muffin with almond butter & honey, and a tall skinny cinnamon dolce latte.

  

 

Ok, now dinner.

Barbeque pizza!

 

Plus another slice. This was SO good, I wish I could give you a piece. 😉

And a Rising Moon. Because Friday + Pizza = Beer (What, you didn’t learn that in math class? You must’ve skipped that day ;))

 

Off to the party! Have a fun Friday night!