Category Archives: 5 miles

Being thankful week.

Thank you for all of your input on canning/storing pumpkin!  I can’t believe that some of you have lots of pumpkin in your stores!  I think part of it is how much pumpkin gets sent to small towns in upstate NY versus other parts of the country.  My sister is on the lookout in Saratoga tonight, hope she finds some.  I appreciate the offer that some of you made for yours LOL!  Makes me sound like an addict or something. 😳

No lifting this week since I finished NROLW on Friday.  Decided on a run, but I wanted to get it done with this morning and below freezing was just too much for me, so I popped on down to the gym to dreadmill it.  I knocked out 5 miles and it felt great!  I think I am going to incorporate speedwork this winter.

Came home to a hot and warm bowl of pumpkin cream of wheat (this is our home cooked pumpkin):

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Topped with apple butter and toasted almonds.  Yum!

It seems as work will be busy for most of the week after all.  That’s a good thing, as when it is slow, I don’t get paid! That means that I likely will have enough work on Thanksgiving itself, too.  I will have to take the laptop to my sister’s to work while there.  At least I get paid extra 🙂

I have decided that over the next few days I am going to list some of the things I am thankful for this year, as it is the season!  I am thankful for:

  • My health
  • John
  • My family
  • My job, and the fact that I can work at home.
  • Where I live.

Stay tuned for more tomorrow!

Lunch was using up some fridge stuff.  I did an open face tuna sandwich on a waffle.

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That is chocolate PB2 on the side there for that apple.

In one of my quests for being organized and productive, I have an epic fail at my desk.  Normally I don’t work at my desk (ironic, I know), but I had to plug directly into the internet instead of working wireless because my port is being funny.  Here is a picture of my desk (with latte and granola bar).

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Kind of embarrassing!  😳 And that is just one side LOL

Wrap for dinner.  It was too full and I couldn’t even wrap it fully!  Stuffed with broccoli, chicken and laughing cow cheese.  So good.

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I even color coordinate dessert!  This piece of Bliss matches my shirt!

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I just got an email from Olympus tonight and my camera is on its way back to me!  Yay!  I should have it by Thanksgiving and then I can get back to those in-your-face macro shots 😆

Question:  Do you have much time off this week?

Will be productive for soup!

You know how yesterday I was saying how I didn’t get anything done? Today was a whole nuther ballgame!  I was raining when I got up (Hello Ida remnants), so I had to wait a bit until my gym opened up at 8am.  I had a Zone bar for a preworkout snackie.  Then off to the gym and hit the treadmill for 5 miles.  It felt good to really break a sweat.  You know you are on the treadmill a long time when you see people come in, watch them work out and then they leave, all while you are doing the same thing 😛

I arrived home ready to devour my arm and commenced to cooking some Banana, cashew butter, and apple butter oats.

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These were fantastic!  John was laughing at me because I kept saying “yum” while I was eating them.  Extra hunger = extra good taste.

Off to shop, passed by Great Escape on our way.

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Hit the outlet malls – serious sales going on today.

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And found a coffee mug that’s just right for me!

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We were hungry at this point and headed to Samantha’s where one of the soups of the day was Squash and apple bisque!  I just had to have a bowl with some fresh made wheat bread.

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Soooooo good.  It was a soupy kind of day.  Then it was off to the mall for more shopping.  We actually got a nice start on the Christmas stuff that we are buying.  We will make other things for people as well.

Took a break for this!

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I had a skim latte. John got an eggnog latte.   I am trying to wait until Thanksgiving before I have one, but I had a couple sips of his.  Eggnog is like crack to me.  I could bathe in its creamy goodness 😯

More productivity with grocery shopping and then a stop at the smokehouse to stock up on meat.  We got chicken breast, ground beef, turkey breast, boneless pork chops, and bacon. There are some great benefits to shopping locally if you can.  Boneless chicken breasts at $2.09 per pound!  I love that we can support local farmers and the local processor all in one fell swoop.

All of this happened by 4 pm!  We were on a roll.

Obviously had some fresh meat for dinner – chicken with a slice of bacon and laughing cow!  Yum!!!  It’s amazing how just 1 slice of bacon can add so much flavor.

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And a mondo amount of broccoli!

I am going to relax tonight with the hubby and watch movies.  One of those rainy nights just perfect for that!

Have a great night!

5-miler and more crepes!

Gorgeous fall day today.  I wanted to do a run outside and it was in the mid 40s.  Perfect for running.  I wanted to do 5 miles, so I set out for that and fueled up with some POM nectarine that the Pom Wonderful people sent me.  This is really good!  I am not a big juice drinker, even though I really like juice.  As I have said before, I don’t like to drink my calories.  This was for prerun fuel and is tasty.  Much sweeter than regular POM juice – it almost tastes peachy!

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I was going on the 2nd loop of running and almost thought about doing 6 miles instead of  5, but my thighs were complaining a little.  It really can take a while to fully recover from big events, I guess.

Had a fabulous bowl of cream of wheat this morning after I got back inside:

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With pumpkin butter, cranberry sauce, cinnamon and white chocolate chips!

Busy with work again.  They weren’t kidding when they told us October is a busy month.  It’s nice to have work.  It was a little sad today, though.  One file was a very long one where the doctors were having discussions with the parents about removing life support on their 11 year old son, and they did not want to do it.  Sometimes the job is tough at times.

I am in waffle sandwich mode again.  This time it was chicken with cheddar cheese, apples and cranberry sauce.

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Warm and toasty!  I am liking the waffles for bread.

John made some scrumptious bars yesterday from Megan’s Munchies:

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Only he used white chocolate chips instead of regular (hence why they made their presence in my breakfast!)  This made a good snack with my afternoon latte.

So, now I am done with the duathlon, and the season of outdoor fitness events is winding down.  It sort of leaves me at loose ends, as I do like to have some sort of goal in mind.  I do have NROLW to finish by the end of the year and then it will have to be more indoor gym stuff.  I do run outside in winter when the sidewalks are clear of snow, but I do have limits 😀

I’m thinking I might try to be serious about knocking off at least 5 more pounds (10 would be super).  I am just not really sure if I want to do the work it will take to do that.  Know what I mean?  I have become pretty complacent here, and with my activity goals I have been pursuing since March – weight loss has not been a primary focus (and was not as feasible with hard training, even though that seems like it would help).  We have just booked a cruise for the beginning of February, and maybe that would be a good goal.

Pink item of the day!

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(This is soap colorant, btw).

I won the football picks last weekend (Yeah!!) – so it was my choice for dinner.  A new crepe place opened up in Glens Falls just last week, so I wanted to go there.  It’s a very tiny place, and tucked out of the way.  Everything is made from scratch.

I chose a fall-inspired crepe:

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Pork tenderloin with mashed sweet potatoes and a blackberry sauce.  It was a little on the sweet side, but quite good.

John had the mexican crepe with black beans, cheese, and chicken.

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We split a dessert crepe, since the meals were light.  This had whipped cream, praline nuts and cranberry sauce:

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Thumbs up for this place, and quite affordable.  Okay, I have had cranberries at 3 meals today :O   Somebody smack me LOL!

We are totally inspired to try to make crepes at home.  Maybe this weekend!

Jeez – this post was all over the place, sorry about that!  I swear my mind feels like this right now.  I really have to focus!

5 miler and football!

I am surprised at how many of you actually eat (and like) brussel sprouts!  Yay!  Makes me wish I had bought more.

Run day today and since school has started, I don’t run on the track in the mornings.  I don’t think they would appreciate a sweaty woman skulking around the school yard.  I thought about waiting until evening, but then I remember tonight is opening night for FOOTBALL!!!!  Yes!!!

Anyway…..  preworkout munch:

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Pumpkin bread.  Delicious.

I decided to do a hill route, as I have not done that in months.  Whew!  2 miles of flat, then a 5K hill run.  There are a couple levels of hills, one tiny one to get started, then down a big hill, which is really hard on the legs to not go bum over teakettle.  Then back up a hill, smooth for a tiny bit, then a long gradual hill.  My legs were a little rubbery by the time I finished the 3rd one.  Finished in 57:00, which is slower than I would have liked – but I ran up all the hills, so that was good!  Listened to the entire soundtrack to Planet of the Apes (Elfman).  Fun to run to.

Came back and bumbled around the kitchen making breakfast.  Do you have those days?  It seemed to take me forever, but part of that was J and I both making breakfast at the same time.

In celebration of kickoff tonight, we had cafe au lait in these cups!

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Plus protein pancakes.

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My precious blueberry stash is getting lower.  Just a couple pounds left.  Did I seriously think these would last into the winter? Duh….

Had a craving for something salty for lunch – think it was the run and sweating, so I made another flatout pizza.

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I’ll be working late tonight.  With the holiday week, it’s slow so files haven’t come in until later.

So, it was time for a snack!

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And some freeze dried apples.  Crunchy yum!

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It’s feeling like fall out!  More truffula trees.  This clematis just won’t quit  – it has overgrown onto the porch.  I’ll have to take a picture of that.

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Grilled up a bunch of chicken for easy  meal prep.  I made another stirfry, but this time with carrots and broccoli to bulk up the meal.  That’s 3 veggies on the day (cucumbers at lunch)!

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Now it’s fasting time as I have blood work to do tomorrow.  Doesn’t that make me want to eat LOL!  I decided to make a morning of it – early for blood work, then John is meeting me for breakfast, then library and a little consignment shopping, then the mammo (the draw and the mammo are both at the same place).  Probably I will sprint to the nearest coffee shop for a caffeine hit once that’s over, too!

Have a great night!

Question:  Football?? Which team?

5 miles and Day 2 of challenge

I ran 5 miles today!!! I have never run that far before. The most I have ever done is 4 miles. The Y was closed today for Memorial Day, so I just went outside to run. It was a glorious morning. I had a small preworkout snack of a date with peanut butter (yum)

Note my new headphones which go over the ear. These are the best invention ever for working out and surprising comfortable!

Anyway, I was just going to do 3 miles, and then thought I would just go until my tunes ended or I felt like stopping. Then 4 miles hit and I was totally in a groove. I wasn’t going so fast that I was out of breath, and I had hit a good stride (probably somewhere around 5 mph) so I thought I would keep going. It was so nice out this morning on the track and no one was out. No traffic because of the holiday, so it was a peaceful time. I knew I was going to make 5 miles with no problem, but I should have had a bigger preworkout snack as all I could think of for the last 3 laps was waffles! I would have had a bigger snack if I had known I would go extra miles. So, I came back home all proud of myself! I’m thinking maybe a 1/2 marathon really is not out of the picture this fall!

Day 2 of my 12 day challenge went really well. I stayed within calories and no nibbling!