Snapshots: Easter Weekend

We had quite the eventful Easter weekend! …Even though I thought it was going to be a low key one.

Saturday morning I was up bright and early to meet Lindsay for our half marathon training run.  We originally had a 10k on our calendars, however, we decided to just maintain our endurance level and shoot for another 8 mile run.  I met Lindsay at her place and decided to DIVVY my way up there.  If you are not from Chicago, DIVVY is our bike share program throughout the city.  It is super convenient and easy to use.  There is a DIVVY station about a block away from my apartment and one right in front of Lindsay’s doorstep.

It was a beautiful, beautiful day, so we decided to stick to the Lakeshore path to take in all of the amazing views.

We passed the Lincoln Park Zoo where we were tempted to join in the free Easter egg hunt and play with the monkeys and zebras.

Before we knew it we were up back towards Wrigley which lead our run to conveniently end right by an Einstein Bagels – win!

Lately, my post run cravings have included bagels and lemonade.  When I went to go get my lemonade at Einsteins, the Lemonade dispenser must of been running on it’s last leg because I got a really nasty, watery tasting lemonade.

This is my unhappy lemonade face.

The rest of Saturday was spent cleaning and prepping for our Easter celebration.

My parents got down into the city super early on Sunday to save some seats at the Easter mass we went to.  I had no problem heading over to the church early in part because it was GORGEOUS outside, but also I wanted to watch the little kids do their post mass Easter egg hunt.  So cute.

After mass, we headed back to my apartment to finish the prep of dinner.  My parents were in charge of the appetizer and brought over this amazing goat cheese and roasted pepper dish as well as some cute Easter treats.  Shout out to my cousins in Ohio for sending us an awesome Edible Arrangement!  Once Brian’s family arrived it was time to pop the champagne, open a few bottles of wine and get to dining!

Can we talk about how awesome these cream puffs/swans were that Brian’s cousin Diane brought?  Almost too pretty to eat… almost 😉

I am so so so so full and happy that we were able to celebrate with friends and family this weekend.  Brian and I had an amazing time hosting Easter dinner and can’t wait to dig into all of the leftovers!

Hope you all had a nice weekend!

How To Make My Favorite Baked Salmon

Since Brian and I went to the Cubs game after work on Tuesday, I didn’t have time to fit in my 4 mile run that was scheduled on my Half Marathon Training Plan.  It ended up being for the best because yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day to run outside.  It was the first time I have run outside in only a T-shirt and shorts since October!  I completed a really simple down and back along the lakeshore path… 2 miles south and 2 miles back north and it went by super quick because there were SO many people out on the path – Brian thinks it’s annoying, but I think it’s awesome.

When I got home I stretched for a little while then got right to dinner.

Enter my favorite easy Salmon recipe:

Lemon Garlic Salmon

Ingredients:

• 1 lb salmon filet
• 1 tsp. garlic lemon pepper
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 lemon – half sliced
• Tbs. butter – sliced
• Tbs. minced garlic
• Olive Oil Spray

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees
2. Lightly spray a baking dish with olive oil and place filet skin side down in dish
3. Sprinkle garlic lemon pepper, salt and minced garlic on top of filet
4. Top with butter slices, juice from half the lemon and the lemon slices
5. Once your oven is preheated, bake the salmon for 12 minutes until flaky with a fork
6. Enjoy!

We served this salmon with some asparagus and a side of tri-colored quinoa.

YUMM!

After all the clean up was done I had to go get ready for my soccer game that was at 9:30 p.m.  Sigh.  Maybe I’m just turning into an old geezer but there 9:30 p.m. games are really killing my sleep schedule.

What’s your favorite way to cook salmon?

Blogging and Da Bulls

I realize while writing this blog post that I smell and should probably not be sitting on this nice new couch I bought for myself.  Now that it’s fall, it is so cold when I get out of the shower that I try and delay it as much as possible after a nice workout – gross? Probably.

Annnyyways.

I headed to the gym after work yesterday and was not really in the mood to do so.  I had friends left and right going to bars to watch the bulls game, that I had to shut down my inner FOMO (fear of missing out) in order to walk through the gym door.

Due to the Halloweenie season, my candy intake has raised quite a bit so the gym was a must – no excuses.  P.s. those Skittles/Nerds/Laffy Taffy/Sweet Tart combo bags really get me.  I can pass up a Reese’s or Twix Bar any day, but that sour/sweet combo is too hard to resist sometimes.  Gah.

I ran a brisk three miles on the treadmill followed by an intense thigh-focused workout:

Wowza – that was a good one and required lots and lots of stretching before I left.

On my way to the bus, I stopped by Treasure Island to pick up some of my favorite Larabar flavors.  FYI – of all the grocery stores in Chicago, they always have the best selection.  Pretty much every single flavor, except they have been out of the seasonal flavors – Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle.  Bummer.

I loaded up on Key Lime Pie, Lemon Bar and the best ever – Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte.

Yum.  These bars are great for breakfast or even dessert!  Most of the bars are made with 5 ingredients or less.  For instance, the Key Lime Pie bars contain dates, cashews, almonds, unsweetened coconut and lime juice.  Their Banana Bread bar only contains dates, almonds and bananas – great ingredients and an even better taste.

When I got home from the gym, Brian already had dinner waiting for me!  Twas an excellent surprise!

Chicken Asada with quinoa, sliced avocado and fresh squeezed lemon juice.  I was STARVING and inhaled this in less than five minutes.

This brings us to my present time right now.  Blogging, belly full and watching the Bulls game.

With this little stinker.

I’m reading my usual evening blogs and stumbled across Monica’s blog which is featuring an awesome fall challenge – “Pile on the Miles.’  Her annual event challenges her readers to walk or run more during the month of November.  The goal?  To pile on miles instead of piling on pounds before the holiday season begins.  I am all for challenges and for extra motivation to get me to the gym, so I decided to sign up with a goal of 100 miles throughout the month of November.  Can I dominate this challenge?  Sure I can!

The question is, will you?

Soccer for the Win

Good Morning!  Good Morning!

Things have been busy busy busy in my corner.  It’s Open Enrollment season, which means us HR folks have a lot to work on.  We also hosted our first of two flu shot clinics yesterday from 8 am – 11 am and you bet I got my shot!  There is not benefit to not getting a shot silly, plus I feel like commuting on the CTA everyday is a good enough reason to get one!  All those people coughing around me… nasty!

To relieve some of this pent up work stress, I played soccer not one – but two days in a row!  Remember my Love Affair with Soccer post?  Yup, it still lives strong.

After work yesterday, I had all kinds of plans to go to the gym and then pick up groceries at Trader Joe’s on my way home.  While I was sitting on the CTA I realized I just really was not feelin’ a treadmill workout and switched games mentally.  That is when I got a text from a good friend asking if I would sub in their Tuesday night soccer league.  That was EXACTLY what I was in the mood for.  I had just enough time to stop by Trader Joe’s and pick up some essentials.

I am leaving for Buffalo, New York tomorrow afternoon to spend time with my FarMor (Swedish for Grandmother), so I needed to make sure Brian was left with some goodies while I was gone.  The man HATES grocery shopping and I LOVE it, so it all works out!  Plus, I get to pick up new tasty items such as…

Pita Crisps with Cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds.  Oh my oh my these things are so addictive.  I just want to slather them all with delicious creamy brie and pop them in my mouth one after another… yum.

Once I was done shopping, I quickly headed home to change from this:

To This:

A quick dinner break was included some where in there which consisted of a quick and simple dish – jalapeno chicken sausage, quinoa and avocado.

It was actually a beautiful night to play soccer.  Mid 60’s with a slight breeze.

The game was a lot of fun and we ended up WINNING, which was a great end to my evening.

Until tomorrow, friends!

Beatrix & Your Weekend Challenge

TGIF!!!!!

Oh Friday, how I love thee!

Yesterday evening was actually the perfect kick-off to the weekend.  My mother was downtown trying to score some ‘Book of Morman’ tickets and asked if I wanted to grab dinner/drinks with her after I got of work.  I met her near the theatre and we walked across the river to the new ‘Lettuce Entertain You’ restaurant – Beatrix.  I had heard one of my coworkers talk about the new restaurant and read a bunch of reviews and felt like it was worth the try!  The concept was kind of neat, their motto is “Taste over Trend’, meaning that most of their dishes are healthy sustainable options… but to be honest that is pretty trendy right now 🙂

Since we went rather early in the evening, we had no issues getting seated.  The decor of the restaurant was warm and welcoming and we were able to snag seats right on their indoor/outdoor patio.

My mother and I both ordered a glass of white wine to sip while we pondered the various menu items.  There were so many delicious choices to choose from, but a few dishes stood out:

The Emerald City Salad

This refreshing and textured salad included baby kale, romaine, celery, seeds, pineapple and a mint vinaigrette.  We split this as an appetizer and devoured the delicious salad.  The pineapple worked so well with all the different textured leaves – it was wonderful!  Plus, it came with a shot of their fresh pressed cucumber apple juice!

Chili and Chocolate Glazed Salmon

This was the dish I ordered as my main meal.  It was absolutely wonderful and came with little mini tortillas, a vinaigrette based slaw and fresh tomatillo salsa so I could make little tacos out of it.  Honestly, the salmon was so good as is, I barely touched the tortillas.

Cheers to a MUST-TRY dish!

Koren BBQ Chicken with a Quinoa Salad

My mother selected this beauty and boy did it taste as good as it looked.  For $16 (which is a VERY reasonable River North price) the portion was huge!  She was able to take half of it home!

Although the food was plenty, we really did not leave feeling overly stuffed.  Everything was so fresh, healthy and delicious I felt great about all the decisions we made.  Even the “banana” dessert we split with maple syrup and fresh rosemary – killer combo!

We both decided that we need to get dinner together more often, especially because in just two short years my parents will be moving out to Asheville, North Carolina to “retire” – but not really 😉

There are so many things I am looking forward to this weekend… I am try a new class at my yoga studio tomorrow morning that I think will be both challenging and rejuvenating after a week of sickness, I am attending a good friends housewarming BBQ in the suburbs and of course… DA BEARSSSSSSS GAME!  Brian and I will most likely be drinking heavily on Sunday for the game and hopefully not eating too poorly, but to counter some of those activities I have a great workout challenge for the weekend scheduled:

This will be a great combo of cardio and strength to get me pumped up for the game and hopefully keep me in a healthy mindset 😉

Have a FABULOUS weekend everyone…. GO BEARS!

Running on a Cold

And just like that – it’s Wednesday!

I hope you all had a fabulous time celebrating Labor Day.  Brian and I woke up Monday morning a little errrr hungover…  but ready to party.  We had mimosas chilling in the fridge so we took our time to lounge/sleep in and then headed over to a friends BBQ around 2:00 p.m.

As you can see… my chip to vegetable ratio at the party was pretty even 😉

Chips and salsa are my weakness.

For whatever reason… okay, the reason being that I partied a little too hard after being sick… my cold came back.  This time, however, no itchy throat – just lots and lots of congestion.  The good news is that even though I am the most annoying person to sit by on the CTA (tissues galore), I feel great!  My appetite is not suppressed whatsoever, in fact I am craving good health food to help kick this out of my system.  I’ve mentioned before in this blog that my company gets fresh fruit delivered to the office twice a week which is an awesome perk.

Along with the normal selection of apples, oranges, peaches and plums, we always receive so type of “new” fruit.  Yesterday we got these babies:

What are they?  Apparently they are ‘ground cherries’.  Once you pull back the scary paper-like skin, the fruit resembles a tiny cherry tomato.  These little nuggets taste very sweet, it was a total mystery when I bit into them!

After work, I headed straight home and sat on the couch for a bit.  I could tell that Bailey was a little antsy and so was I despite the constant sneezing, so I decided to take her out for a jog.

I feel like there is this preconceived notion that you should not run or workout when you are ‘sick’, but I do not feel that a cold is really that bad.  Yes, I can’t really breathe through my nose – but I am very capable of breathing through my mouth.  After I workout on a cold, I don’t feel any more tired than I would if I was 100% healthy.  I truly believe it is all in people’s heads that they cannot go for a run with a cold.  The laziness in people takes hold of them and they are chained to that couch!

I wouldn’t feel the same way if I had a fever with body aches and the chills – that is a different story.  But the whole notion brings up an interesting topic… is there any scientific proof that says ones body will be effected if they run on a cold?  Does it make you feel better or worse?  Food for thought.

Anyways, the weather outside was gorgeous – low 70’s, bright and sunny.

We did a slow and steady 3 mile jog around the North Pond area and I felt fine!  Bailey was so excited to be out with me – she makes the craziest faces when she sees birds and squirrels I wish I could capture them on camera.

Brian met us at the end of our run so that we could head over to Trader Joe’s to stock up on groceries for the week.  I finished shopping in a record 8 minutes (love my lists), but it literally… no exaggeration… took 20 minutes or more to checkout.  People – you need to help bag your groceries!  It takes up half the amount of time and the cashiers really appreciate it!  Especially when the store is chaotic.  Common sense… idk.

Once we got back home, we immediately cooked dinner which consisted of my Lemon Chicken and Broccoli recipe with a side of quinoa and sliced tomatoes.

Yum.

Bon Appetit, my friends!

Green Smoothie Fix

Hello, Hello!

You know what I am really loving lately?  Green Smoothies.  I’ve had one to kick start my day everyday this week and they are keeping me full and satisfied!

My go-to recipe as of lately, and this is a rough estimate, is:

1 banana

1 cup fresh spinach

1 scoop vanilla protein powder (I’ve been rockin’ the Sun Warrior brand)

1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk

1/2 cup frozen pineapple

1 tsp. cinnamon

A pinch of frozen blueberries (not too many or your smoothie will turn brown!)

It is so good and so easy to whip up right before I rush out the door for work.  I do get a couple of stares on the CTA from people who are all, “what in the world is she drinking”.  Little do they know, it is absolutely fantastic.  Suckaas!

After a long work day, I headed over to the gym to work on my fitness.  3 miles was slotted on the training plan, but once that was over I was not ready to sit on my mat and stretch.  Instead, I decided to hop on the stationary bike for 20 minutes to give my muscles a different kind of a push.

The bike was a lot of fun, not only because it worked different muscle areas in my legs, but because it is a great place to people watch!

When I got home, I had a special package waiting for me…

My first Stitch Fix box!

Haven’t heard of Stitch Fix?  Basically, it’s a clothing styling service that delivers to you.  You schedule your “fix” whenever you want to and pay $20 up front.  Then you take a styling survey so that the stylist can figure our what you like/dislike… they even show you different outfit pictures that you can ‘love’ or ‘hate’ so they get a better understanding of your style.  Once your fix is scheduled, they send you 5 items for you to try on!  You keep what you love and send back what you hate – they give you a prepaid USPS bag to send the clothes back in.  Plus, your $20 initial payment goes towards a credit to any of the items you decide to keep.

Here was my first fix:

Daniel Rainn Lindsay Silk Sleeveless Blouse

Sanctuary Black Ponte Pants $88

Three Piece Fan Necklace $28

The outfit all together looked really nice, however, I was not about to drop $88 on a pair of skinny black jeggings when I already have a pair and since summer is winding down I don’t think I would wear the sleeveless top as much.

Under Skies Geena Tab-Sleeve Belted Tunic $48

The tunic was adorable and I loved the color, but it was WAY too big on me.  😦  If it had the right fit, I would have definitely kept it.

The last item in my box was a Faux Leather Black Ponte Dress $98

I was not really felling the dress.  The fit was not quite right and it extended all the way down to my knees which I was not a fan of.  Plus, at $98 I better love it if I want to keep it!

Overall, I ended up keeping the necklace because I did not want to lose my $20 credit.  I wear a lot of gold so I’m sure I will get a lot of use out of it!  Will I schedule another fix again?  I’m not sure.  It was super convenient to get clothes shipped to me, but overall I was a little disappointed that half of the clothes didn’t really fit the way I wanted the to.  Plus, I love shopping in stores.  The feeling I got when I received my first stitch fix box did not live up to the feeling I get when I walk into Nordstroms 😉  Maybe when it is freezing out and I don’t want to leave my apartment I will give the fix another try.   That’s the beauty of the service – you can do it whenever you want!

After my fashion show ended, I whipped up a quick spicy chicken and quinoa stirfry…

And devoured it.

Happy Hump Day, Friends!

Oblique Static Holds

Good Morning!

Today is pancake breakfast day at my company!  The administration team gets here really early and flips pancakes, puts out fresh fruit, delicious chicken sausage and salty strips of bacon if you’re into that kind of stuff 😉  Can you think of a better way to start your Wednesday in the office?

You may also notice a WILD WEDNESDAY change!  That’s right, Bites & Balance got a slight face lift last night and I think it is quite the refreshing change if I do say so myself.  Really, I just got rid of the polka dots because those little suckers were messing with my eyes and updated some of the font and layout coloring.  What do you think?

Yesterday was a quick day.  It was one of those work days where I looked down at my watch and suddenly it was 3:00 p.m. and I still had 1029409 things on my mind.  For lunch, I brought leftover chicken sausage and roasted butternut squash from dinner the night before as well as a small side salad.

This filled me up just about until I looked at my watch and then I decided to toast a whole wheat English muffin to tie me over before dinner.

When I got home, I was in the mood for a fun at-home workout that wouldn’t take more than 30 minutes.  I came up with this bad boy:

I must say that I am really into the Oblique static holds lately, because they seem to be extremely effective.  The focus of static holds is to build tension in the muscle against resistance, but without any movement.  I really like these types of exercises because I tend to have lower back pains from sitting in a desk all day and these can take the focus away from that area.

I also just like all oblique exercises in general, they are my favorite 🙂

By the way, when Brian and I do these exercises at home, Bailey goes absolutely nuts.  I think she thinks we are in distress or something, because she gets all stressed out and starts pacing back and fourth and barking at us.  She’s a little weirdo.

After our workouts, I whipped up dinner.  Last nights meal consisted of shrimp and guacamole quinoa salad.  I sauteed the shrimp in a little butter and white wine and finished them off with a squeeze of fresh lemon.  They were delicious!

Also, I went ahead and tried Tina from Carrots N’ Cake skinny pina colada and it was a hit!  It tastes exactly like a pina colada except not as sugary sweet.  It was so refreshing to drink with all of the fresh food we were eating.  I also had a lot of fun using the cocktail shaker 🙂

After dinner I thought a lot about the upcoming trips  I have planned and the ones I still need to plan.  It seems like all of my family wants me to come visit which is great, but they all live in different states – $$$$$$$.  For now, I am really looking forward to our little road trip to Minneapolis next month for the Healthy Living Summit.  I’ve already done a bunch of research on cool restaurants/coffee shops to visit and what fun activities we can do after the conference has ended.

What fun trips do you have planned?

My First 13.1

Good Morning!

I am so excited to share that I survived my first half-marathon!

I’ll back up a bit to Saturday afternoon.

The majority of the weekend was spent relaxing on the couch and focusing on my eating so that I would not have any GI issues the day of the race.  The only major activity was the Rock N’ Roll Fitness Expo that my running buddy, Lindsay, and I attended Saturday afternoon.  The expo was at McCormick and although the venue was huge, I didn’t really feel like there were too many vendors present. Nevertheless, we had a blast sampling all of the protein/energy products that were there, taking silly pictures and trying on some of their gear.

After the expo, I went home and relaxed with Brian and Bailey on our back porch.  My Pre-race dinner consisted of shrimp and quinoa – high protein – low impact on my stomach.  This meal has worked well in past racing experience, but it really all depends on the person.

I headed to bed around 9:30 p.m. And set my alarm for 4:00 a.m.  As you can imagine, I didn’t really sleep too well as I was extremely anxious about the race!  When it was finally time to get up, I didn’t feel sluggish or tired from my lack of sleep, but rather very very excited!  I had set out all of my gear the night before so all I needed to do was eat my pre-race breakfast (peanut butter toast and bananas) and get ready.

I was out the door by 5:00 a.m. and there were a few other marathoners out with me, but the majority of people that were walking by we’re just getting home from a long night out 🙂  It was rather amusing to watch them all stumble down the street.

Lindsay and I got down to Grant park with about 45 minutes to spare which gave us plenty of time to use the port-o-johns (twice) and get in a little stretching.  By this time, I was nervous and really anxious to get in our corrals.

The race started at exactly 6:30 a.m. And we crossed the start line about 20 minutes after.  The first half of the race was awesome.  We weaved in and out of the river north/loop/west loop area.  We spotted Brian and my parents a couple times which really helped us keep up our motivation!

One of my favorite part of running this race were seeing all of the great signs people had.  My favorites:

“In a galaxy far far away… You are at the finish line”

“Run faster, my arms are hurting”

“Run for the minions!”

We also ran into a couple that both had “Go Lindsay!” Shirts on.  We loved this, for obvious reasons.

After mile 8, things started to get a little more intense.  The sun was a lot hotter and there was very little shade.  Also, my quads were starting to tighten up.  We saw a lot of people stop and start walking at this point, which made our run more of a mental game to just keep going.

Xsport did an awesome job of providing enough water/Gatorade stations along the course.  They even had a one that gave out GU gels.

Once we hit mile 10, it was HOT and I was feeling the effects on my body, but I knew we didn’t have too much further to go.

Lindsay was as happy and chipper as ever, so her enthusiasm really helped me overcome some of my mental roadblocks I was having.  Around mile 11, there was a water/Gatorade station that also had sponges soaked in ice cold water that gave me my second wind.  I drenched myself and pushed on through.

The last mile was surreal – there was a hill – grr – and then you could immediately see the finish line.  We picked up our pace a little bit and pushed on through the finish!  13.1 miles was completed!

We saw our friends and family as we were crossing the finish which was amazing and got me a little emotional.

Our final time:

A little slower than we had anticipated, but the race felt good and I am so happy to have completed my first of many more half-marathons to come!

After we received our medals, Lindsay and I grabbed some post-race goodies and then B-lined to the beer tent to meet up with everyone.

Pure happiness!

I was so glad Brian, my family and friends were there with me to help celebrate – it was a perfect race ending!

After we hung out at the beer tent, Brian and I made our way back home to do some relaxing and recovering.  First stop on the recovery train POTBELLYS.  I was seriously craving a big turkey sandwich and lots of salty chips, so I ordered a Turkey on wheat with EXTRA mustard, hot peppers, lettuce, tomato and pickles.  We grabbed a giant bag of cap cod potato chips at Walgreens, because they are the best, and also two bags of ice.

The ice aided in the second stage of recovery: ICE BATH.

So painful, but so necessary.  The white wine helped a little bit 😉

After about 10 ish minutes in the tub, I came out and inhaled my sandwich.  At that moment, it was the best tasting thing in the universe!

After lunch and a much needed shower, I took a two hour nap and woke up extremely stiff and sore.  I did some stretching on the floor, but the damage was pretty much done and I knew that the next couple days would be a little rough 🙂

My soreness did not, however, stop me from celebrating!  Brian and I met my friend Lauren out for dinner at Wilde Restaurant and Bar just down the street from us.  I ordered the Grilled Salmon Sandwich with a side salad and inhaled all of it.

After dinner, we bar hopped over to DryHop Brewery where we enjoyed a couple glasses of their delicious beers.  It was the perfect ending to an absolutely perfect race.

Time to figure out what my next half-marathon will be!

I’m Only Half Crazy!

Good Morning!

These past two days have flown by… Which I hate because it means summer is passing by way too quickly.

Sunday was one of the most relaxing days I’ve had all summer.  Brian and I were able to sleep in after our night out and enjoy some breakfast before heading out the door to pick up my mother at the airport.  Since we were already on our way out to the burbs, we decided to make a day of it and relax by the pool.

By the time we got to my parents, we were STARVING so we headed over to the grocery store to pick up some lunch fixings.  Brian spotted pretzel rolls as soon as we entered the deli and decided that we were having sandwiches!

On my sandwich went some turkey breast, tomatoes, lettuce, spicy brown mustard and some avocado.

Delish.  My sister (who turns 21 on Thursday) asked us to pick up some angry orchard cider, so I went ahead and had one with lunch.  I don’t really care for then too much… I’d much rather sip on a lemonade or sangria if I want something sweet.

The entire day was spent outside by the pool…

And for Bailey it was spent in the shade…

Having a pool is one thing I miss most about living with my parents.  I remember having soccer and tennis camp early in the morning during the summer and I would literally come home and jump straight in to the pool with my clothes on and all.  I feel like when I was growing up summer was much much hotter than it is now… But maybe I was just more of a wuss 😉

Yesterday was a tough day in part because I had so much to catch up on with work and also because it extremley humid.  I feel bad leaving Bailey at home because our vintage apartment doesn’t have central air… But we leave tons of fans on and water bowls so she is just peachy.

After work I had to run a few errands all over the neighborhood, which meant I ended up walking close to 6 miles!  I always forget how good of a workout just walking can be, especially when it’s hot out.  My final stop was a Trader Joe’s to pick up the stock for the week and create this lovely dinner:

Spicy Lime Shrimp with a Quinoa Salad.  I marinated the shrimp in a little lime juice, olive oil, smoked paprika, cumin and garlic for about 45 minutes before cooking them up.  In the quinoa salad went some chickpeas, tomatoes, avocado, leftover lime juice and feta cheese.

After we ate I did a bunch of research online about rituals people do the week leading up to a big race.  It’s amazing to see how many different routines there are, especially with what people eat/drink:

Peanut Butter Toast and Bananas

Nuun

Ego Waffles

Iced Coffee

Peanut Butter and Jelly

Oatmeal

Eggs

Eggs and Jelly on Toast (say whhaaatttt)

Reading all the running blogs/articles got me really amped up for my morning run.

4 miles was on the training plan and that’s the highest I will go before the race on Sunday! I seriously can’t believe the race is this weekend… I am nervous and so excited at the same time which gave me a lot to work out on my morning run.

My days always start out great with gorgeous views like this…

Catcha later!