Double Digits

Last week I ended up missing a run. For whatever reason I couldn't make myself get out of bed & then the next morning it rained. It was a book end run week. 6 mi. Monday & 6 mi. Friday. Better than nothing for sure. 

My plan was to do my long run on Sunday. When I started I hadn't decided if I would go 9 or 10 miles. I went back to the lakes again. Even though it's hotter than hell it seems easier at the lakes because there's a ton of shade. You'll never hear me complain about clouds or shade on a summer run. 

I guess fall will be here soon because it's staying dark longer than normal. 

When I got there it was after 6:00 & it was still pretty dark. I don't run by myself in the dark at the lakes. I wait until it lightens up some or I start when a group goes so that I'm close to other people. There's a ton of people out there so it's not a big deal. 

There is always pretty scenery at the lakes. 

I swear these birds aren't scared of anyone. I went right up close to it & it just sat there. 

Even though the heat was horrendous I was feeling pretty good so I pushed it to 10 mi. We really need a break from the humidity Those 10 mi. were REALLY sweaty miles. It was gross. Sweat dripping from my visor & not a dry thread on me. I drank a lot of water during the run. I'm not sure if I was slower or if it I stopped longer for water. I haven't been bringing a water bottle with me, I just stop at all the water fountains along the way. 

I do love seeing that I burned almost 1000 calories but I'm trying hard not to replace every calorie I burn! I'm trying to really eat well during this training cycle. Aside from trying to lower my cholesterol I feel better when I eat better. Normally, before a long run I eat a couple of pieces of whole wheat toast with almond butter, honey, chia seeds & blueberries. 

Lately, when I get home I eat blueberry or strawberry protein pancakes. 

I love to add plain Greek yogurt too but I didn't have any. Lately after all runs I drink a glass of chocolate milk. I don't know the scientific facts behind it but it's recommended to drink after running & I do love chocolate milk. 

I'm sure you've noticed that I tend to eat the same things over & over & over. It does get old but I do rotate my snacks. I like almonds & pistachios. I LOVE trail mix but I don't generally buy it because it's one of those things that I can eat a lot of & then I'm not sure exactly how healthy it is. Nuts.com has so many healthy snack ideas on their site. Everyone in the blog world has gone over the moon with overnight oats. I haven't tried them but there's a recipe on their website. 

Looks good right? I need things that I don't have to make in the morning. I have ZERO extra time especially on run mornings. Check out Nuts.com for ideas.

Toodles!

Where Did The Weekend Go?

After work Friday I did some shopping. I was looking for a dress to wear to a wine dinner we're going to. After trying on no less than 10 dresses at the mall I left. Once again the dresses I was drawn to were ridiculously expensive. Story of my life with EVERYTHING! I found one I loved on the hanger but it was $325. Really?? It's not like I was looking for a formal dress. Well, it stayed on the hanger. I didn't even try it on because that would've been the dress that fit perfectly & looked good & then I would've been aggravated. I went to one of our outdoor planned communities or whatever they call them & found one at a store called The Impeccable Pig. What a weird name for a ladies clothing store. 

I went to Caliente with Suzy & her daughter & daughter's friend. Dean was at Fenway watching the Red Sox play. 

Saturday morning our Disney crew hit the lakes for a run. I planned on 9 miles. 

This isn't a good picture but all of those white specks in the trees are birds. I wasn't sure how I felt about it. I don't like birds but these are those big white ones that look more like ducks than birds. I just thought it was kind of weird. 

We parked in a different parking lot so I started my run in a different spot than normal. I like switching it up.  

9 miles done. Now I can go eat!

Me, my mom, my friend Allison & her mom were going to have tea. There's a cute little place in Covington which is a little over an hour away from us called The English Tea Room. It was such a cute place. It was an old house & everything was very British.

Scones with clotted cream, lemon curd & imported preserves. It was delicious! That lemon curd stuff was to die for! 

The mom's had iced tea & Allison & I each had a pot of hot tea. They were all good. The one I chose would be great on a cold day in the winter. 

Cucumber, cheese, chicken salad, egg salad & turkey finger sandwiches. No crust of course. I don't know what it is about a finger sandwich but I love them. The cheese was my favorite followed closely by the cucumber. The middle tray was full of little spinach & artichoke & bacon & cheese hors d'oeuvres & the top was petit fours, chocolate covered strawberries & little truffles & chocolate treats. Everything was so good! 

The tea cups were so pretty! I'd definitely like to go back in the winter. Everything was so nice but we probably should've planned a little better than to drink hot tea at noon in August! The place had A/C but it was still warm. When we left we had to make a stop at Sonic Happy Hour for cool drinks!!

Dean was supposed to be home somewhere around 5:30. Well, you know where this is going. Flight delayed due to some sort of problem at the FAA tower in D.C. Needless to say he was going to be late. I didn't want to sit home by myself so I went with Scott, Lydia & Logan to a race. 

Logan was running the 1 mi. fun run. His race was on top of the levee downtown.

Every single race he runs he runs around before hand. We try to tell him to rest & save his energy but he's not having it. 

Most of the races blow an air horn to start the race. Logan doesn't like it at all.

He's the kid with his hands over his ears. 

Here he comes. He was running so hard! He came in 2nd place overall. He ran the 1 mile in 8:23. The kid that came in 1st was 9. We were super proud of him & he was excited.

He informed us after the race that he was beating the other kid until the got to the cone & turned around to come back. 

Lydia & Scott ran the 5K. 

When Logan saw his mama he ran in with her. 

Scott came in 2nd in his age group.

It was a fun night. Dean finally made it home at 10:00. 

Sunday we got up & went to Mass early & did our grocery shopping. That was the only thing I did all day. I ended up taking (2) 2+ hour naps. I went to sleep later than normal last week & I guess it finally caught up with me. 

Monday morning I was back at it with my workouts. 

6 mi. run & after work was legs.

This morning was arm day.

I'm doing better getting the calorie burn up on these workouts. 

Toodles!

Not much has been happening over here. Dean left for his business trip Tuesday & I've just been going to work, working out & going to sleep. That's what it feels like anyway. 

I think my friend Cindy thinks I don't eat when Dean's not home. She's called me all week asking if I need anything since my "Chef" isn't home. Last night she was at Burgersmith so I took her up on her offer & had supper delivered.

You know it's going to be good when there's grease spots on the bag! I tried a turkey burger for the first time ever & it was so good! It came with grilled onions, swiss cheese, lettuce & a little honey mustard on a whole wheat bun. I loved it! I got cajun fries with it. I couldn't resist & they were delicious too.

I'm not sure how much work is getting done on Dean's business trip. He claims the meetings are brutal but then he sends me these pictures. 

He assures me this was a real dog that moved. Every time I look at it I laugh. There were at the Mets game in New York. 

They ate pizza in Time Square. Today they'll be in Boston & at Fenway tonight. Yes, I'm jealous!!

Sunday after I watered my plants I was going to get in the pool when I almost stepped on a snake. Seriously, scared me half to death. It was about 3 ft. long. You'd think I'd be used to this by now. It's a pretty normal occurrence. I'm not. 

Yesterday, my mom & I were talking about a friend on FB had a snake in her pool & I was saying that I"m surprised that we haven't found one in ours. This morning I got a text from my neighbor. 

There was a snake in her pool. You can bet I'll be walking around doing a snake check before getting in the pool from now on. 

Toodles!

A Weekend of Logan!

Friday morning I did a 6 mi. run. It was hot but my time was a little better than it has been.

Friday's we close at 2:00 so I went & picked up Logan to spend the night. We went to Happy Hour at Sonic and then stopped to see if Mike the Tiger was roaming around. 

You can barely see Mike in this picture. He's under that arch napping. Logan was ready to swim when we got home.

So swim we did. Finally, I convinced him that we need to eat. I was starving. He wanted pizza so Dean & I brought him to eat pizza. Then it was home to watch Tom & Jerry & eat popcorn. He looks skinny but that kid can put away the food. 

Saturday morning he had to watch cartoons & drink some chocolate milk before we went to eat beignets. 

Coffee Call is our local beignet place. I love those things so much & so does Logan! The coffee of the week was vanilla hazelnut & it was some of the best coffee I've ever had. Even those it was 150 degrees we ate outside. There were fans & it wasn't bad at all. 

We went back to LSU to see if we could catch Mike awake.  

No luck. He'd changed spots but was still napping. Logan kept hollering at him to "wake up big fella". Off we went back to our house to get in the pool. We spent pretty much the entire day there. Scott & Lydia joined us for awhile too.

Sunday morning I had a 10 mi. run scheduled. I was by myself again but I'm used to it so it really doesn't bother me. The LSU lakes have become my favorite place lately. It's so pretty & peaceful. Especially at 6:00 am. It's very cool to run while watching the sunrise.  

I never get tired of this view. There are no filters on any of these pictures. 

Finished up 10 miles & went home to eat. 

I've been making protein pancakes with Flapjacked mix, topped with plain Greek yogurt, blueberries & sugar free syrup. Sometimes I use honey instead of syrup. It really hit the spot!

I spent some time in the pool cooling off & ran some errands. It's just amazing how fast the weekend goes by. 

Toodles!

Monday Sucked!

Sorry but it did. My plan was to get up Monday & get my arm workout done. We had a busy weekend & I was tired. I woke up at 12:30 Monday morning & decided sleep would be more important & I turned off the alarm. No biggie, I'd just have to work out when I got home from work. 

Everything was just fine until the drive home. I was at a red light waiting to make a right turn & bam, someone ran into the back of me. I wasn't hurt but I was mad. It was raining a little too. I got out to check out the damage & the little punk that hit me said we needed to move out of the road. This was while I was getting wet & he was sitting in his car.  While I was moving to the parking lot I was on the phone with the police. When I hung up the phone punk boy was standing outside my door. I rolled the window down. Now it's raining harder & I'm getting wetter which is not making me any happier or less annoyed. Punk boy proceeds to tell me that I can't call the cops because "I've been drinking". Um what? It's 5:30 on a Monday. He proceeds to tell me all about how he was drinking & he's on probation for a DUI that ends tomorrow (today) & that if he gets caught he goes to jail for 5 years. Seriously. I can't make this stuff up. 

The first thing that come to mind is this little shit is trying to make me feel guilty. Then he starts calling me ma'am. I realize I'm no spring chicken but he had to be late 20's or early 30's & it was really annoying me. He told me he'd pay me cash tomorrow to fix the damage. Yeh ok. Clearly you're trustworthy & do the right thing. I told him the police were on their way & rolled up my window. I was tired of getting wet. Silly me thought he was going back to his car to wait for the police. After all, he did follow me to the parking lot.  Well, that's not what happened. He got in his car & sped off. Luckily, I was thinking a little bit & managed to get his license plate number. 

An hour passed & the cops still weren't there. By this time the rain had stopped & the sun was shining. I called back. I told them about the guy leaving. They upgraded me to a hit & run. 20 minutes later the cop arrived.  According to his computer the guy that hit me was driving a car that was registered to someone else & supposedly, the car has insurance. Someone mentioned that if the kid was on probation for a DUI, he probably was driving with a suspended license. I see this becoming a huge nightmare for us. 

So now we wait. 5-7 days for a police report & go from there. I know I'm lucky, I know it could've been worse, blah blah blah. None of that makes it any less annoying.  

Damage could've been much worse but it still has to be fixed which is sure to be a hassle. 

Needless to say I didn't get my workout done when I got home. This morning was a run day. Cindy ran part of it with me. When I got up at 4:30 the heat index was 95 degrees. I'm not kidding. That's just crazy. 

We got it done though! 

Here's to today being a better day!

Toodles!

It's Already Friday!

This week went by really fast for me! 

So, the other day my friend posted a picture on Instagram. She was in Dallas at The American Girl store with her 6 year old niece. They were eating lunch there. She took a picture of the person sitting by them. 

I just don't even know what to say. I think when the girls use the infamous phrase "I can't even!" this is what they mean. First off it's a man. Dressed like his doll. As my friend Andrea would say - marinate on that. A MAN that has a doll. He's also dressed like his doll. Notice the pony holder on his wrist. Just like the teenagers. Well, except for the fact that he has no hair for a ponytail. I'm a little confused by that. I mean if you're a man dressing like you're doll wouldn't you shave the beard & grow out your hair? When I showed Dean the picture he wanted to know why he wasn't arrested or asked to leave. I guess technically he wasn't doing anything wrong. Except you know being extremely creepy. That looks like a purse next to him. Or maybe it's a diaper bag for his doll. I would say it's a murse but I don't think anything zebra print can qualify as man anything. I can't stop saying it. HE HAS A DOLL. When I first saw the picture I was speechless. Do I laugh? Am I appalled? I don't even know! On one hand he could be a super creepy child molester that uses his doll to entice little girls to get into his plain white child getter van (yes I stereotype, sue me) or maybe he's just a little (or a lot) mentally off & needs help & we should all feel sorry for him. I mean surely you have to be more than just a little off to go out in public like this where you know everyone is looking at you.. 

Then I started thinking about my friends niece. What must she have thought? I can only imagine if Logan saw something like this. His head is already on a swivel so he doesn't miss anything. I know that kid & there would be lots of staring & questions. Oh, the questions. Why is that man dressed like a girl? Why does that man have a doll? All said very loudly because Logan doesn't know what it means to be discreet. Again - I can't even.

Monday when I got home from work I did a leg workout. I didn't really want to but I did it. 

I'm not as worried about the calorie burn since I ran that morning. I'm more interested in strengthening my legs.

Tuesday morning I did arms & put a meal together in the crock pot. It's called Crock Pot Salsa Chicken. I got the recipe from Peanut Butter Runner's blog. 

Crockpot Salsa Chicken

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 teaspoon cumin

Salt and pepper

1 jar of salsa (any brand/style you prefer, at least 12 ounces or more)

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 can corn, drained and rinsed

1 can chopped green chiles

Place chicken breasts in the bottom of a crockpot. Sprinkle with cumin, salt and pepper. Pour jar of salsa over chicken and add in black beans, corn and chiles. Cook on low for about 6 hours or until chicken easily falls apart. Shred by using two forks to pull chicken apart and mix everything together.

I used 3 chicken breasts & a can of Rotel instead of green chiles. This is my kind of recipe. Not a ton of ingredients & super easy. I can open cans & pour stuff in a crock pot like nobody's business. Peanut Butter Runner ate hers over rice. The first night I had it like soup. 

In the winter I plan to add chicken broth to make it more soupy. I ate it one day on top of a baked sweet potato. That was delicious too. Last night I just ate it plain. 

Wednesday morning I ran.

 

Those good low humidity days are gone. I've decided that I definitely prefer a dry heat. There really is a difference. 

Thursday was arm day. 

I was shaking by the time I was done. It's about time to get some heavier weights. I've been online a lot trying to figure out what to get. There's so much out there it's really confusing. 

YAY, today is Friday!!! Logan is spending the night with us tonight so I won't do my long run until Sunday. I started to make today a rest day. It's nice to have 2 days off before my long run but I know there will be some not great eating since Logan will be with us so I just got up & ran. I may even get to have a Friday night mango margarita!

I was a little faster today. That's always a good sign. I want to consistently be below an 11:00 min./mi. average.

What are y'alls plans for the weekend?

Toodles! 

An Active Weekend!

I think this is the first time in a long time I can say I probably exercised more than I ate! Friday night we had dinner with some of the group at Caliente. I've been sticking with water the night before my long run. It's so hot I have to make sure I'm hydrated but I'm missing that weekly mango margarita!

I was up at 5:00 Saturday morning to give myself time to get dressed & eat something before my run. I went back to the LSU lakes. I was by myself this week but it's kinda like you're not by yourself  because so many people are there.  

I was very excited Friday night when I saw the news because they were forecasting a dew point in the 60's. I wasn't completely convinced it would happen because after all the weather people were the ones saying it & it's not like they're totally dependable. I was not disappointed. It was like God turned on the A/C!

This was the view while I was waiting for my Garmin to find a satellite. I can't imagine how pretty it would be if I had my good camera!

I generally don't stop once I start running but when I saw the sunrise I had to get a picture. 

There are always lots of egrets & ducks. 

The "big lake" as everyone calls it is a 4 mile loop. Last week I ran it twice but I wanted to change it up this week. There are some very pretty old neighborhoods surrounding the lake so there are plenty of ways to veer off the main course which is what I did. I've mentioned before that my sense of direction is not the greatest. Welllll, I'm running along & I decide it's time to head back to the main route. Of course the way I think I'm supposed to go is NOT the way I'm supposed to go. I get so easily distracted by pretty houses & for sale signs that I guess I don't realize the turns I'm making & the next thing I know I can see a sign for a grocery store that is totally NOT on my route. Lovely. I know where I'm at, I just have to figure out which turns to make to get back to my route. I started seeing familiar things again & the next thing I know I was back where I needed to be. 

All around the lake are some really gorgeous homes. Like multi million dollar homes. Homes we'll only live in if we win a big lottery. This one isn't my style but it's so different that I like it.

I have no idea which is the front of the house. There are patios everywhere to take full advantage of the view.

This is the view.

This is one of my favorite homes. 

I love everything about it. On the left is a sun room & on the right is an outdoor kitchen/den area & this is the view from their sun room & outdoor kitchen area.

9 mi. in an hour & 36 minutes. It's amazing how the weather changes things. My average time per mile was 23 seconds faster than Wednesday 6 mi. run. 

When I got home it was time for breakfast.

Protein pancakes with sugar free syrup, plain greek yogurt & peaches. Along with a glass of chocolate milk & a cup of coffee. 

I took advantage of the cooler day & pulled weeds while Dean cut grass. 

I kept my heart rate monitor on because I wanted to see how many calories I'd burn. After lunch Amelia-Ann & I went & had froyo. It was so good! I could eat that stuff all day long. After that I managed to get in a glorious 2 hour nap. 

Sunday I had a Birthday Cake Mochasippi from CC's. 

It was good but I was expecting so much more. I absolutely LOVED the birthday cake frap that Starbuck's had awhile back. This was not as good. It just tasted like regular coffee. Next time I'll just get the turtle flavor.

My friend Steph & I went for a walk. The dew point & humidity was still lower & I thought it would be good for my legs after my long run.

We didn't go fast but we still managed over 5 miles. I needed to do an arm workout so I knocked that out while watching stuff on the DVR after I ate lunch. 

Not a huge calorie burn but I was ok with that since I walked. I love those weightlifting gloves. They really work! After all that I spent a few hours floating in the pool & it was fabulous! 

The next thing I knew it was 4:30 this morning & my alarm was going off. I don't know how that happens.

6 slow miles. It wasn't as cool as it's been but it wasn't as hot either. Just glad I was able to get it done. 

Toodles!