TGIF

I seriously never thought Friday was going to make it, and I am SO happy that it has. I am excited to actually have a full 2 day weekend, my first in 2 whole months- craziness! It would be nice if I had a little more time to myself this weekend, but I am certainly not in a position to be picky.

Last night after I left you, and work, John and I were both craving dessert so we headed up to the store and I picked up one of these...

We picked up some cake sliced from Publix, and I must say that the Rasberry Decadence Cake hit the spot!

Today I woke up and hit the gym for yesterday's missed workout. I did 3 miles of speedwork on the TM and it went pretty flawlessly. I did a 1 mile warm up at my standard 9:30pace, then for the last 2 miles it was 1 minute sprinting at a 7:30 pace and 1 mile at a normal 9:30pace. I was really pleased to get in about 3.25 miles, and then I got home and remembered that it was supposed to be 4 miles speedwork...oops! I misread my schedule, but 3 was about all I had tome for, and it is certainly better than nothing.

Work happened today and then I was off to pick up my things for my race this Sunday, I got in and out pretty quickly and managed to walk out of 1st Place Sports without any unnecssary purchases, this is a major accomplishment for me! I will however probably be making a very large amazon order in the next few days- with exclusively running items :)


I had planned to have pizza for dinner tomorrow night since it is my favorite pre-race meal. John however is planning on starting a new food/fitness regimin tomorrow and was not interested in pizza for tomorrow, so I decided to order it for tonight, and then I would have some more for just me tomorrow night.

We ordered 2 pizzas, the large for us to share tonight, and the small for me tomorrow.

I couldn't resist stealing the teeniest piece from the small veggie pizza I ordered, and it was delicious!!!

I am saving the rest for tomorrow, there will certainly be enough!


For tonight's dinner, John and I shared a large sausage and pineapple on thin crust, this is our go-to favorite!

I had 2 small pieces from this pizza and called it quits with the dinner.

I did also have a glass of Riesling with seltzer to make a "white wine spritzer" or I as prefer to call it, a reduced calorie adult beverage.

Just as we had all witnessed last week, Peachie also wanted her shot at the adult beverage being poured...

She is very much a fan of her booze, crazy dog! At least she didn't get herself drunk like last week, I only gave her a couple of licks this evening.

I also managed to finish off the last piece of cake from our Publix adventure last night.

Tomorrow, is a busy day. It starts with an easy AM workout, headed to G'ville, visiting with my Grandmother, taking the GRE, coming home, and getting ready for Sunday's race!

Hope everyone has a great weekend planned, stay tuned for a pre-race post tomorrow, should be a good one!

Munchie Thursday

It's almost Friday, and for once I will actually have a full 2 day weekend! I am actually quite depressed that only 2 days gets me so excited, but it's so much better than the 1 1/2 I have been stuck with for quite some time. I know you all felt really special with 2 posts yesterday, today, however was not nearly as adventurous.

I slept through BOTH alarms this morning, I think after an exhuasting work week, several good workouts, and 2 hard workouts yesterday, my body was telling me it needed some sleep!

I Love this little guy and am serious contemplating buying one. This alarm clock has wheels and when it goes off, you have about 15 seconds to turn it off before it rolls itself off your nightstand and around the room so you have to get your butt out of bed and turn it off. I LOVE the idea, but I think our doggie might too, and that is probably a good way to witness a dead alarm clock.

 I slept for a good 9 hours last night and still feel pretty tired, I am thinking today's workout will be taking place tomorrow, as my body still feels like it wants to rest, I will probably give in to it and go home to get in bed early.

With no cool workouts to speak of, it makes this post pretty lame. I was however in a very wierd eating mood today. My late day schedule usually doesn't have an impact on my eating, but today I found I needed a snack/small meal every 2 hours on the dot. Breakfast was the usualy yogurt +pear, blueberries and granola. I didn't get my 10am snack until about 11am, so I blame that for the issues. I ate a small snack of crackers and hummus at 11am, soup at 12:30p, salad and an orange at 2pm, cheese stick and green pepper slices at 4pm, my enchillada I brought from home at about 5:45, and finally my apple at about 6:45. Thats a lot of eating! In all reality, quantity wise its the same as I normally would eat, just all really spread out, wierd!


Tomorrow after work I have to pick up my stuff for the race on Sunday, and then begins my crazy whirlwind weekend, if only I got a chance to enjoy my 2 full days off! See you on Friday!

3 Mile PR

So work killed me again, and my mental exhaustion+ long way from my house = me being lame and missing the St. Patty's day gathering to celebrate my friend Katie's recent engagement :( Hopefully she can forgive me and I can catch her on Sunday.

Once home I took advantage


My previous 3 mile PRwas 26:56

I shattered that PR today by a little over 45 seconds.

3 Miles- 26:10, Avg pace- 8:44, Avg HR- 174

Mile 1- 9:02
Mile 2- 8:44
Mile 3- 8:25

Love me some negative splits!

As I mentioned in today's earlier post, I actually set out to just do 3 easy miles. Well mile 1 felt really easy to me, and my HR was only 159.  I kept what felt like a comfortable pace and looked down as Garmie beeped at mile 2 to see I was under a 9 minute pace. I am amazed at how easy a quick pace is to me now, and I am really excited to see my race pace this weekend.

John made enchilladas for dinner, I have never actually made them before so it was nice to watch someone else. I had 1 tiny one with a side of mushrooms. It was tasty.

I also had 2 of these for dessert

Off to bed, another Long Thursday tomorrow!

St. Pattys Day

I hope everyone is enjoying their Green Holiday! I have managed to keep myself occupied pretty much since I woke up this morning.


I headed to spin class this morning as intended, and it went well. Not nearly as vicious as it was on Sunday but it was still tough. The instructor who taught today was new to me, I had never taken a class with him before and he was good, lots of energy especially considering the early hour, but today's workout was very long hard progressions, not bad just different. Normally there are a lot of intervals in a spin class so it was different, but I am sure I will still feel it tomorrow.


I came home on a tight schedule to make it to work today, but managed to shower and put myself together, put away the dishes in the dishwasher, and clean out the ones left in the drying rack. Peachie got a longer than usual walk, and breakfast and lunch was packed. Will all the craziness going on in the kitchen I didn't have time to sit down and eat breakfast at home like usual, so I packed it up and brought it to work.


In honor of St. Patrick's Day, it was a Jeans day at work today. They do something every month for our students (typically around a holiday or something festive) and it is typically declared a Jeans day for everyone. So this morning I got myself all decked out in my Green Outfit

And took the opportunity to wear my new jeans that I bought this weekend!!! They fit amazing and I am SO happy with them! Sorry for the yucky pic, I have been slacking on bringing my real camera with me every day.


Today at work has been slow so I took the opportunity to get out and get some GRE studying in, and went to lunch at Sweet Tomatoes. This is probably one of my favorite places because it has a HUGE salad bar! I am a sucker for a good salad bar, and I love that they also have a hot bar with a huge selection of soups, baked potatoes and breads. I built myself a HUGE spinach salad with all the toppings, and had a small bowl of chili with a single slice of cheesy bread- yum!


Tonight I have a 3 mile easy run on the schedule to add to my 45 minutes of spinning from this morning, I am very much working to make sure I am getting an hour of cardio in 5 days a week rather than just the standard 30 minutes I was getting before. I have been struggling more with losing these last few pounds than I did with the rest, and I know it is because I have been eating more the last few weeks and I just need to get back to less mindless snacking. This effort started today, I have kept my snacking under control, but I am sure that my big lunch also played a part!


Hope everyone enjoys the rest of St. Patrick's Day! See you all tomorrow!

10 Things Tuesday

Today is Tuesday y'all, and you know what that means...Edition 2 of 10 Things Tuesday!
I have no pics to post so this makes for something fun!!!


1. Spaghetti Squash is by far my new favorite vegetable
2. When baking cookies, I don't let them cook at the way so they are nice and mushy inside. Yes cookies were made tonight!
3. I am in deep conflict over what to wear for my St. Patty's Day 10k on Sunday. I have 2 choices...
  4. Option 1 is green shorts with the white shirt
  5. Option 2 is my black skirt with green and black top, decisions decisions.
6. Nike Tempo shorts are my all time favorite! I have like 10 pairs, and I am SO happy it is warm enough to be wearing them again.
7. Studying for the GRE the last week or so has helped me realize that I have the vocabulary of a 5 year old.
8. I started to think about our summer vacations today, and its looking like we will be spending July 4th (and my 24th birthday) in OBA at our new beach house!!!
9. I have wanting chocolate A Lot recently. I don't even really like chocolate, but mini kit kats have been screaming my name like I have never seen. I am hoping this screaming spree has ended.
10. I am taking Vacation location recommendations. John and I are in desperate need of a real vacation, just the 2 of us. If you are reading this leave a suggestion in the comments. I plan everything, but I can't seem to pick a location to start planning. PLEASE HELP!!!

I am off to watch the rest of the biggest loser and get ready for a crazy St. Patrick's Day tomorrow!

Biggest Day of the Year

Today is the day that has been circled on my calendar since last fall, not for any amazing reason, but because it was to be our craziest, busiest, work day (and week) of the year. Yeah it has pretty much been that, and my eating has been WAAAY off since I got to work before the sun came up, and hit up some Easter Chocolate that made its way in, so I am feeling a bit off today, and even a tad guilty. There was no need to go to town on all the candy, and I am disappointed I didn't use better self control, but such is life I guess.

I did manage to have one awesome food success today- New Hummus!

Spicy Three Pepper Hummus was a new item I spotted at the grocery store yesterday. It is really not spicy like the label claims, but after many many bites you start to notice a subtle heat about it. It is very good! So far I have never met an Athenos brand of hummus I didn't like.

I got out work later and more beat-up than anticipated. I knew I needed to get in some quality exercise to work out all of my negative energy and be a nicer person at home. I did not have the energy or motivation to pace myself on a tempo run, so I went to my old trusty friend TM. I had an awesome run tonight, ranging my speed between 6.3 and 6.7 consistently and a few laps at 7.0 for good measure. I finished my 3 mile tempo in 27 minutes and felt great afterwards. 9:30 seems to be my comfortable go to pace, and its nice to be able to see the progression to get there. Pushing during my longer runs, make it so easy to maintain a quicker pace on shorter runs without much difficulty, and I am super excited now for my race this weekend!

After my run I came home to help John unclog the garbage disposal, and by help I mean hold the flashlight and make gagging noises. I was starving by then and couldn't think of what I wanted for dinner, and suddenly it came to me...Breakfast!!!

I made a humongous omelet with mushrooms, ham, spinach, onion and topped with some goat cheese. I also had 1 slice of toast with some apple butter. Delicious!!!

Tomorrow is another very early day to work, and I plan to hit the gym before work too, so I am going to watch a little more tv and then its time for bed!

Skinny Jeans and Squash Repeat

Hope everyone had an amazing weekend! After yesterday's extreme success, I knew I wanted to make today worthwile and productive.

I started of the morning, sleeping in by normal standards, and made it to the gym a little later than usual. My knee was a bit sore and tender after my run yesterday, so I decided not to push it as I have a strong week planned AND a race on Sunday!

I started off with my leg weights as per the schedule, but did not get to do squats. I also took advantage of being an hour late for the gym and made it to the 9am spin class. Normally I am long gone by the time this class rolls around, so I was excited to make it today.

The 45 minute spin class was without a doubt the toughest one I have ever taken! I have taken many spin classes over the years, and several at this specific gym, but this instructor really worked my butt! She teaches Sunday mornings, and MW at 6:30, I will definitely be taking her class again. She had us doing several intervals of 'hops' or up for 3 seconds and down for 3 seconds- killer, especially after all the weights I had already done. I left there drenched in sweat and came home.

Up next came the usual grocery store trips, organizing the kitchen, and lunch. I studied for about 2 hours for the GRE and did a little schoolwork while the laundry was running. After that I saw the beautiful weather and was itching to head out for a run, the knee was not feeling it so I leashed up Peachie for a walk.

Obviously this was a very slow walk as my partner has to stop and sniff EVERYTHING, but it was a nice day and it was nice to just get out. I was a little bummed I didn't take advantage of the wonderful day to get in a nice outdoor run, but what can you do.


Now the big news: I headed home to put away laundry and get ready for the week, and while putting yesterdays new purchases away I pulled out a pair of jeans that I had been keeping around for a rainy day. I know most women have the sacred pair of "skinny jeans" that they have from their college days or skinner times that they keep around hoping they will one day get back into- well today I put on those skinny jeans and I was ecstatic!!!

The only reason I even own jeans this small is because I got a horrible flu my freshman year of college and lost 15lbs in the 3 weeks I was sick. I had to go get a pair of jeans that fit as all mine were too large at that time for about 3 months until I gained most of the weight back.

This was the night those jeans made their first appearance in February 2005. We were at Universal Studios for their Mardi Gras Festival. This was about 3 days post illness and right after I had gone back to my natural dark hair. We both look so young in this picture, even though you can't see the jeans, I had to put it up, brings back so many memories!

Tonight I got baking again, and I knew I wanted to have easy options for lunch this week, enter the beast...

I bought a big spaghetti squash at Publix today and knew I woulg get several lunches out of it this week. Considering how big it was, it was almost impossible to cut in half, my halves were very uneven

I lightly PAMed a cookie sheet, put squashy face down and baked on 375 for an hour. So simple.

Once finished it is SO easy to finish up, flip it over, grab a fork, and get started

Fork out all the yummy goodness! This really tastes great with marinera and cheese, and it gave me 3 lunches at 1 1/2 cups of squash each.

I have a big week coming up- busy at work, good training week, the GRE and my first 10k, I need to get excited, not there yet.