One Week Away

I’m going to be in Fort Collins, CO by this time next week!  And at that time I would be only about 12 hrs from running!!!  Um, have I mentioned how excited scared I am?  Yeah…but it’s going to be AWESOME!!!  I mean, look at tall the awesome bloggers/friends, also known as the DANGEROUS DOZEN, I’m running with:

• Amanda from Run to the Finish
• Bobbi from N Her Shoes
• Kristen from ChasRunner
• Shannon from Shannon's Scene: Take Two
• Alesha (Bobbi’s good friend)
• Cynthia from Amber (Shannon's cousin)
• Julie
• Jennifer (not sure if she has a blog !)
• Jeri from JerBer Shares
• Moore (Alesha's friend)
• Dionne (Moore's friend and lives in CO)
• ...and me!

I was designated as runner #1, so I’m starting the race!  Yipes!  But check out the details of my legs:

This is the one that I’m most scared about…no altitude trailing and very little hill running beforehand!

 

And last but not least:

 

Then I wait and cheer and WE’RE DONE!  I’m super excited to finally get to see all the great ladies and gents taking part in this race…and I’m going to be spending lots of time w/ Bobbi since we’re driving out there and back together!

Anyhow, onto food!  Today was a lazy day…I woke up totally not feeling a run…I wanted to go back to sleep, but when that light hits my eye when I open them, there is no going back to sleepy land.  So I got up…and moped around.  But I tried something new for breakfast!  I picked up this soy yogurt the other day because it was on sale and I hadn’t tried one in years (since the last time I tried, it was HORRIBLE) and wanted to try it again. 

The ingredients aren’t too bad, but I wasn’t too thrilled about the 19 grams of SUGAR.  Um, that’s a little much.

I mixed up 1/2 the container w/ lots of kashi go lean crunch and some super sweet strawberries.

I went out and ran errands w/ Mom and to get some groceries and meds, then came back ready for lunch.  I started off w/ a fruit salad including raspberries, blueberries and a white peach.

And had a Mr. Praegers burger on an Arnold’s Thin w/ spring salad and tomato…that burger was spicey!  I don’t know what kind it was as it was purchased a while back, but it sure did have power too it (either that, or my tongue is week sauce, which I don’t doubt).

And then I had this, times three. :)

I spent a lot of the afternoon scrapbooking as I want to finish up most of the pictures I got printed before I leave next week.  Then I walked to Meghann, then Brad for a bit and went for a short yet speedy run!  I set off w/ a little bit of a job and then set off to run a two mile square block as fast as I could.  Ok, not as fast as I could, but faster than normal.  I finished that suck’a in 15.35!  I haven’t done speed work in a LONG TIME so I was quite surprised at this!  Makes me wonder what I could run a mile in (like the awesome mile that Meghann and Kelly ran today in 6.39!

Then I set out for din din!  Mom and Dad were eat’n veggie burgers but since I had one for lunch I wanted a little something different.  So I sautéed some black beans w/ lots of spices, bell pepper, onion and mushrooms and a side of 1/2 a pita (the other 1/2 was eaten w/ pb last night) and sided it with some honeydew.  Perfect dinner.

And even though I had a few sweet early, I was craving chocolate, so I gave into it and had a tiny tiny glass of cookies and cream fro yo from the freezer…just enough to hit the spot, and small enough that I ate it so fast I didn’t get a picture! :)

Now I’m off to get more scrapbooking done and plan my LAST WEEKEND AT HOME.  And I think I’m heading down to San Diego.  How ironic.

Je suis fatigue…

So this is going to be one short and simple post.  But remember to submit your recipes or post back about my giveaway!!  It ends tomorrow at 11.59pm (PST)!  And the winner will be announced the next night!

Anyhow, I started the morning off great w/ a nice hilly run at Ralph B. Clark Regional Park.  I needed to get in some hill running before WWR in just over ONE WEEK!  I ran 4.5 miles in 40 minutes…not as great/fast as my time yesterday…but it’s been a while since I’ve run hills.  But it was a great workout!  On the way there I ate about a 1/4 of an apple and had a bite of my mom’s mojo bar.

We got home and I ate a quick lunch because I was famished…the park is about a 20 minute drive away…and I’m always hungry after runs!  I made sure to incorporate lots of yumminess so I made an egg and one white topped w/ salsa, eaten with an Arnold’s Thin and the rest of my apple…sorry, the apple is ugly.

And then I iced and headed out to Newport Beach to meet up with one of my old college roommates for lunch.  We went to a little French Bakery called Champage, which is well known for it’s mini desserts (but we refrained, and saved room for other dessert…you shall see).  I ended up getting the veggie and artichoke crepes with a side salad and some water.  The crepes were ok, but nothing too phenomenal.

And even though I was participating in Bobbi’s Challenge of no sweets this week, I had to indulge today…this was me and the roomies most favorite past time.  We ate so much fro-you in college it’s ridiculous.  I’m surprised I’m not fro-yo by now. Hah!  We went to a self serve yogurt place called America’s Cup where I got pb, chocolate and vanilla fro-yo with carob chips.  Great dessert!

I got home and was a bit hungry so I had a white peach and some ritz crackers.  Just enough to hold me over for my huggggge salad!  I mixed up some chickpeas w/ rice and mushrooms in a variety of spices, on top a bed of spring salad w/ cucumber and tomato.  Very good and flavorful dinner!

And I had more Pinkness going on…I ate the strawberries and raspberries and dad made the rest…

And I might have eaten two four of my vegan chocolate chip pb oatmeal cookies…vegan with a vengeance rocks!

I walked the dogs w/ mom and came back hungry so I had 1/2 a pita w/ naturally more pb…great way to end the night.  good night everyone!

I think I might have been flying…

and it was my legs doing all the work.  I woke up totally refreshed this morning (ok, lie, because I actually was still tired but needed to get up and pee, so I couldn’t go back to sleep) after getting a solid 7.5 hrs of sleep!  Finally!  Lets hope that trend continues into tonight!  Fingers crossed!

But before I get one with my day, remember how I talked about my little protein experiment last night?  Well, it totally worked.  I’ve always thought I’d gotten enough protein in my diet but I guess I haven’t been lately, which is why I’m always hungry.  But man, it must have done the body good cause I went to bed content and not overly full and woke up able to run w/o any snack before…and that is very rare for me.  So, moral of the story, MORE PROTEIN FOR ME!!!

Anyhow, woke up and went for a run w/ my new shoes again (which btw, are AWESOME!) and pounded out a good 5.5 mile square in, what?  Wait, did I read that right?  46 MINUTES!?!?!  That’s about an average of 8.30 +/- a mile!  I have no run that fast since my 10k in Dana Point at the Turkey Trot!  At first I thought I might have stopped my watch at some point (lots of lights in my city…but I run through the majority of them) but I remember starting and looking at the time each time I started again.  Never thought I had it in me…guess I should start believe’n eh?  :D

I came back and cleaned up and was FAMISHED at that point, so made the quickest breakfast on record, which was consumed in the quickest time on record: kashi go lean crunch, naturally more pb, 1/2 a banana, lots of raspberries, unsweetened almond breeze.  Delicious.

I spent the morning watching Law and Order…yes, I’m addicted.  I watch reruns of reruns.  I’m stupid like that.  And then I napped.  For an hour.  I guess I was still tired.

Lunch!  Had leftover sweet sweet cantaloupe and a white peach

And a black bean burger w/ hummus, tomato and lettuce on a whole wheat pita.  I seriously need to find new lunch ideas.  I’m bored and tired of sandwiches.

I did some cleaning up around the house and talked to Brad for a while before heading out to dinner to meet up with two of my high school teachers that I still keep in contact with.  Do any of you keep in contact with any teachers from high school??

We met up at a place called Z Tejas Southwestern Grill at the South Coast Plaza (a very high end mall…I never really go there) and ordered the Mushroom Enchiladas covered in a mole sauce served w/ handmade guac, green chile rice and black beans.  It was quite delicious.  I liked the different variety of mushrooms.  I ate one of the enchiladas, all the rice and beans and guac and a piece of mouthwatering cornbread that I forgot to take a picture of.

We also ordered dessert which was a Chocolate Fudge Pie with walnuts and pecans, but the most interesting part was that it also had ancho chile in it.  I couldn’t taste it, but the pie was still great!  I only had a bite because I was so full, but it was enough sweetness to satisfy the palate.

Then I wandered around the mall and tried on very very expensive dresses.  Like, cocktail dresses for $300. It was nice just to try them…and dream.  Haha.

Got a hill run planned out for tomorrow, so we’ll see how that goes!  Bedtime!

And…

Again, I didn’t sleep well last night. Up again at around 3.30am and not able to fall back asleep…this is becoming no fun, and a total pain in the arse head, because I’ve had a migraine ALL DAY LONG.

So I got out of bed, and exercised. Nothing better than to beat the crap out of yourself to make yourself tired and go to sleep right? 4.5 miles later with the all weather track, a balmy 85 degrees F and my new shoes…and I wasn’t tired, I was just starving. Ack. But I made the most awesome breakfast: Arnold’s Thins French Toast!

The french toast is made w/ two arnold’s thins dipped in an egg white, cinnamon and a dash of vanilla unsweetened almond breeze. Then I mashed up a 1/2 a banana and some naturally more pb and presto!

With a side of watermelon.

Breakfast was eaten pretty late but I was still hungry about 2.5 hrs later, so I had lunch, which was pretty light. I finished off the vegetable bread and had it w/ a laughing cow cheese wedge, hummus, lettuce, tomato and red bell pepper. So pretty and JUICY! I was a mess afterwards…quite the sight.

I went and ran errands and came back to a very pink snack, don’t you think? And I hate the color pink. I like my blue and red, ok? Anyhow, pluot, watermelon, some white nectarine in there, and RASPBERRIES! The cartons were only $.99 at Ralphs…total steal if you ask me!

Then my exhaustion finally caught up on me…and I feel asleep for 10 minutes on the couch. Yeah, a real doozer. Meh.

I was a bit disoriented afterwards so deciding on dinner was a bit of a challenge. First thing: Fruit. Best thing about summer, all the great produce! Watermelon and cantaloupe!

Main Course: Chik’n patty on an Arnold’s Thin w/ lettuce, tomato, mustard and onion with a veggie salad topped with chickpeas.

I normally don’t add anything but veggies to my salads but I’ve noticed that most days after I’m done with dinner I’m usually hungry w/in about two hours. So I know I’m lacking something, whether it be fat or protein, so I vouched for a protein experiment today. We’ll see how it works!

Off to scrapbook…I’ll have to show you my workstation mess of the living room which looks like a bomb hit it. It’s awesome. :)

Don't forget about the Giveaway! Only a few more days!!!

I know you didn’t forget about my GIVEAWAY!

You’ve only got a few more days!  So submit your recipes and link back to get more entries and win some raw cacao nibs and/or coffee!  Believe me, this stuff is GOOD!

I sure did go MIA yesterday didn’t I?  Not too much to report, other than I could not sleep for the life of me the past few nights.  When the air is too still, and even though I have a fan blowing on me, there is no sleepy time for Melissa.  Boohiss.

As far as me not posting though, it’s because I’ve been preoccupied with this new toy:

Yep, I got a new phone.  My contract wasn’t up but for where I’m moving for my next job in Texas, I will have no access to the internet.  HOW WOULD I BLOG?!?!!?!  So I did this for all of you, spending lots of my life savings so I could keep up with the blog (and my social life. Whatever that is…) via tethering to my laptop and using the phone for the internet.  Yeah, your little chicky here worked the system and is gonna make it happen.  Beat that being out in the middle of no where living in a 40 ft. travel trailer  with a stranger for 3 months and working for the environment for very little money but absolutely loving it. :)  Damnnnnn straight.

Anyhow, food!  As for the rest of Saturday after the race I went out and met up with a friend and had an awesome lunch at The Veggie Grill…unfortunately I forgot my camera so I have no picture.  But this place has the most awesome sweet potato fries, and the only place where I can actually eat them plain without utter disgust (yes yes yes…sorry everyone, but I hate sweet potatoes).  The rest of the night was just snacking…nothing too exciting.

But all of yesterday’s choices were delicious!   I was starving by the time I got out of bed (after waking up at 3.30am and trying to unsuccessfully fall back asleep) and needed to eat quick as I was off TO GET NEW RUNNING SHOES…so I had a banana w/ naturally more pb on an arnold’s thin…and can I tell you how excited I was to find these in the stores here on the west coast?  Before I moved out to FL in January I had never had one and they weren’t sold out here…so you can imagine my excitement and surprise when I got home from FL and saw them here.  Yay!

  

Check out the new footwear:

$$$$$$ later…but will be totally worth it (finger’s crossed).

Famished when I got home: leftover portabello mushroom in whole wheat pita w/ mustard, onion, spinach, and tomato with a side of grapes…

And the rest of my strawberries.

And I had to have something sweeter cold…cause it’s hot there.

 

I don’t remember what I did the rest of the afternoon…that’s how exciting it was.  But dinner was FABULOUS.  I had an Amy’s Non-dairy burrito topped w/ salsa and a side veggie and spinach salad.

And the juiciest watermelon ever.

And then I had ice cream, AGAIN.  My Bestie and I finally got in touch with each other and went out to talk, and of course get some grub.  We ended up at Cold Stone and I got the Sinless Ice Cream w/ mini chocolate chips, and ate about 3/4…Although I must admit, I wasn’t feeling too great about eating ice cream for the SECOND TIME that day…but I’ll just remember to lay off today. :)

Off to hit the track and try out my new shoes!  Finger’s crossed! 

And today is full of funness!

My Leg Didn’t Fall Off…

well, as of yet that is.  Because…the run was going so well until mile 4, when the lump in my leg started to hurt…then by mile 5 it went away and went numb, so I finished!  Yay!!!! 

I knew I had the injury so I took the race at a leisurely pace, an average of 9 minute miles, which was exactly what I wanted to run it at.  Yay!  so I came in at 56.15!!!

Check me out in all my glory pre race:

Somehow I was able to get to this, 6.2 miles later:

And was so fast even the camera couldn’t catch me:

Alas…

And then I was officially STARVING.  I had a 1/2 a banana w/ some naturally more pb before I left and had the other half plain after the race.  But we walked around the community festival for a bit afterwards and I was starting to get hangry…and my leg needed some ice.  Ergo, home we went for this:

 

And lots of ice.  Lots and Lots of ice.  I think I need an ice path.  PAINFUL.

Oh yeah, and I had these. :D

Off to buy new $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ phone (my credit card is screaming at me…and threatening to run away I’ve been using him so much)

Don’t forget about my GIVEAWAY!!!

Ready, Set, Go!

Reminder: Giveaway Giveaway Giveaway!!!

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That’s going to be me at 7.30am tomorrow morning!!!

I spontaneously decided to sign up for this race oh, yesterday?  But I’m not going to be running this race for time or speed, I’m going to be running it for distance.  I decided why not run it, I get a sweet shirt out of my $35 registration fee.  Hahahaha…and I’ve been running this race since I was a sophomore in high school…so it’s almost tradition.

And, omg, freak’n Wild West Relay is two weeks from today.  OMG OMG OMG.  Melissa is freaking out just a bit…because her training has been horrible.  Oops.  I BLAME MY STUPID STUPID QUAD THAT REFUSES TO HEAL!!!  But I have all confidence I’ll be fine.  At least I hope.  Yes, hope…

I’m rambling.  Food!

I ended up going to the The Proposal with my mom yesterday…HILARIOUS.  My mom and I were crying we were laughing so hard.  Let’s put it this way, 15 minutes into the movie she says, “We’re buying this movie when it comes out.”  Hahahaha…It was an 11.45 showing and I didn’t have time to pack a proper lunch so I grabbed a kashi bar to keep me satisfied:

We went to Sam’s Club afterwards to pick up a few things and I was starving, so I snagged an apple straight out of the bag:  So Happy!

 

I got home and my tummy was still growling so I made a quick snack of squaw bread w/ hummus and tomato with a plum on the side:

And had a few of my banana oat cookies/balls…very dry. Eh.  Probably better as granola or something! Hehe!

 

I ran around the rest of the afternoon and then made a pretty awesome dinner w/ my mom: grilled portabello mushrooms w/ grilled onions, hummus, sushi rice and some fruit salad (cantaloupe, white nectarine, white peach and pluot)

Last night sleep was extremely difficult…I tossed and turned for hours after waking up at 2am and tried everything to fall asleep…which didn’t occur till around 5am.  And I still woke up at 7am.  Whaaaaa?  So I figured, why not go for my run, eh?

I went and jogged an easy 3.5 miles around the neighborhood and then went on a 3 mile walk with my mom so she could get in her exercise.  How great of a daughter am I?  Hehehe…

I iced the leg and then ate a nice mix of kashi cereals w/ some strawberries and 1/2 a white peach and unsweetened almond breeze.

I went and visited some friends at my old work place (Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory) and came back to make the quickest lunch I could because I was starving: one egg, two whites in a whole wheat pita w/ hummus and grapes.

And then my late night lack of sleep caught up with me.  Nap time…best nap ever!

Of course I was hungry when I woke up so I had a HUGE fuji apple with some naturally more pb…tasted awesome.  Yum.

And then I talked to Brad…I really miss him.

But since I’m running a race tomorrow, time to carb load! Actually, I’ve heard contradicting studies about how you should actually start carb loading TWO DAYS BEFOREHAND and not just have a pasta dinner the night before.  What do you like to have the night before a race?

Oh yeah, and it’s tradition in our family to always have blueberry muffins w/ our spaghetti…Seriously, I love it.  Don’t hate, we’re unique. :D

Ok, off to walk the puppies and get some rest before my race tomorrow!  Don’t forget to submit your recipes for my Cacao and Coffee Giveaway!!!