My 3.1 mile treadmill run on Friday wasn’t too bad, but my legs still felt pretty heavy from my long run on Wednesday night.
Tuna and I cooked a supposedly plain but surprisingly yummy dinner by adding a shit ton of Old Bay to all items on the plate (minus the spinach.)
It was pretty darn good!
Potatoes are probably my favorite food of all! These are way better for you than french fries, but still give you that potato fix, and are super easy to make.
CNG’s Quartered Red Potatoes:
Ingredients:
Small red potatoes
Salt
Pepper
Garlic or Garlic Powder
Cilantro
Old Bay
Cooking Spray
Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Cut in the potatoes into quartered pieces.
Put the potatoes on the baking sheet and sprinkle (or heavily shake, bahaha) all of the spices onto the potatoes.
Cook for approx 35 minutes in the oven – this time depends on how hot your oven gets! You may want to double check them around 25 minutes, just in case.
You will know when the potatoes are done when they start browning on the tops and are more squishy than they are hard (I’m convinced my best asset is my cooking terminology.)
Add some ketchup and enjoy!
*****
On another note, I’m still a hot sweaty mess. I had another episode of night sweats last night, which was even worse than the first one. I woke up at 2:30am, and couldn’t fall back asleep for awhile, so I changed and read some Hungry Runner Girl.
My washing machine is really getting some action lately.
I made the mistake of Web MD-ing night sweats and it gave me these options:
– Mononucleosis
– Tuberculosis
Seriously? Seriously.
I had mono in college (didn’t we all) so it obviously must be tuberculosis. Maybe I can make my tuberculosis death lovely and romantic like Nicole Kidman in Moulin Rouge.
*****
Numerous running revelations occurred this morning.
I found some great articles with beginner race tips when browsing Runner’s World online.
Mistake: Too much food
RW columnist Jeff Galloway says many first-timers eat too much before a race, particularly the night before. Carmichael agrees. “You don’t need to carbo-load for a 5-K,” he says. Most people have enough stored energy in their bodies to run a 5-K without taking in any additional calories (http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-238-520–11941-0,00.html).
Mannnn, carbo loading is superfluous? There goes my excuse to have an entire pizza pie on Friday night. Sadface.
Revelations also came via g-chat (of course) from my marathon running, Tough Mudder finishing pal Vicki.
Victoria: i did most of my tough mudder training last year without music, because i didn’t have an ipod
Sheeeeeet. I forgot that I won’t be able to use my iPod for the flippin’ race I’m training for.
Victoria: oh btw, my trainer said if you run on a treadmill you should always have at least 1% incline apparently it better simulates a flat road, otherwise it’s more like you’re running on a very slight downhill
Crrraaaaap. So I have been training solely downhill. From now on, I promise to always run at 1% incline. P.S. Thank you for the legitimate personal trainer insight fo free. We must continue this arrangement. 🙂
Say no more. I shall obey and run outside on Wednesday.
Therefore, my Runner’s World/Insightful Friend via her Personal Trainer race week plan will be:
Saturday: My First Race: DC Purple Stride 5K
Wish me luck!
Was your first race experience awkward or amazing?
What do you do for race weeks? If you do a race with short mileage, do you taper?
Overdose
Since my hip felt better after a late night yoga sesh on Tuesday night, I worked all day Wednesday on mentally preparing myself for my longest ever long run.
I fueled with some healthy eats for lunch that were surprisingly filling.
And had a late afternoon snack full of caffeine and fiber that I later regretted. I’m thinking I should lay off the fiber before long runs in the future. ‘Nough said.
Afternoon snack.
My goal for the night was a 7 miler – which was unknown territory. Unknown territory is usually rather nerve racking.
Wish me luck, I may never return.
My thoughts on any and every run always proceed in the following fashion:
0.00 – 1.00 Miles: “Ok, I’m kind of tired. I would rather be on the couch.”
1.00 – 3.00 Miles: “This is awesome! Amazing! I love running! I am so fit.”
3.00 – 4.00 Miles: “Is it time to stop yet? Maybe I should shorten my mileage.”
4:00 – 5.00 Miles: “I hate my life. No, I can do this. Ahhh! Pain!!! No, you can do this.”
5:00+ Miles: “Dying. I am officially dying. I hope I don’t puke or faint.”
Guess when my headphones stopped working? Uh huh, that’s right, mile 4.35. FML.
Seriously, running gods? Are you trying to jinx me? And on National Running Day, too.
Well they didn’t actually stop working, the volume just cut down really low and I couldn’t turn it back up. BTDubs, my biggest pet peeve is music playing juuuust low enough that I can kind of hear it but can’t hear it. I think my headphones secretly knew that. What an ornery old b*tch. (Umm, the headphones, not me. Duh.)
Luckily, I brought my iPhone to the treadmill with me, so I yanked my sweaty headphones out of my iPod shuffle and shoved ’em into my iPhone. No luck. Bruno Mars was still very softly crooning in my ear rather than shouting and me through dank beats to keep on going.
That was confirmation that the headphones were the malfunctioning piece of equipment. I think I sweated them out. Like, sweated so much on them (most likely build up from the past 5 sweaty months) that they broke.
I had no other choice but to rip them out of my ears and practice my mad pouting skills.
Recap: I was forced to do my longest run ever while running without headphones for the first time.
Before running today I couldn’t fathom those cray cray girls that don’t need any kind of musical aid to finish a run.
After running today, I can’t imagine ever running without musical aid again.
Running without music was so weird. I can see how people could do it with the adrenaline of a race, or maybe if you’re so in shape that you don’t need the motivation of sound to keep you going. Or maybe it’s just the musician in me that makes music a current necessity for me. Maybe I’ll experiment with running without music in the future, but for now, I need my iPod. Kthanks.
Moral of the rant: I completed my 7 miles, even with a big (for me) handicap thrown my way at the hardest part of the run.
I’m patting myself on the back right now, if you can’t tell.
After stretching for a nice 15 minutes, I headed next door to Rodman’s to grab a $0.99 piece of heaven.
Refuel success.
I continued my dramatic smart recovery with some frozen H20 love.
Better safe than sorry.
I went to bed freezing even though I was snuggled in my over-sized wool sweater.
But I keep waking up, all night long, tossing and turning in my sweat soaked sheets. (TMI?)
Huh? I felt like I had a fever or something! I woke up feeling so sticky and hot.
I hoped I didn’t push myself to hard. Am I dying? Am I not ready for longer mileage (for me!!!) like I thought I was? Maybe I’m not built to be a distance runner if my body is rebelling like this.
http://www.livestrong.com/article/397180-night-sweats-after-exercising/
Oh. It’s normal.
I know this girl says all sweat is good sweat, but I already completed my daily sweat! Sweat overdose. I guess I got a BOGO?
I hope I don’t have to wash my sheets and duvet after every long run. Hopefully my body will adjust.
*****
However, I did enjoy the fact that when I weighed myself this morning, I met my 20 lb weight loss mark after clean eating and running for the past 5 months!
Maybe that extra sweat wasn’t so bad after all.
I took a rest day today, complete with a glass of Shiraz and some dark chocolate.
Next up: 3.1 mile run tomorrow.
8 days until my first race!!!!!
Do you ever run without music? Teach me your ways.
Do you ever get night sweats after long runs?
My First WIAW
I’m super excited to be a part of What I Ate Wednesday, created by this lovely lady!
This is going to be a very egg filled What I Ate Wednesday….you’ll have to excuse my boring-ness. Get ready for a picture show.
This is actually what I ate on Tuesday.
My weekday mornings ALWAYS start out with overnight oats in a jar and a cup of hazelnut coffee. When I first started clean eating, I took a smoothie every morning with me to work. Don’t get me wrong, I love smoothies – but I was usually hungry again two hours later.
Then I started seeing this thing that all the cool bloggers were obsessed with: overnight oats. My mom actually used to make these a few summers ago when I was living at home, and I thought she was cray.
Turns out both my mom and the cool bloggers were the ones who were right and I’m the cray one.
Overnight oats are not only delicious – they are like…super healthy. And they keep you perfectly full allllll morning, so you’re not being a bitch starving by the time lunch rolls around.
Some people hate overnight oats, some people grow to like them. I instantly loved overnights oat. Convert, right here.
I got my overnight oats recipe from Kath and Julie.
If I don’t have the ingredients to make my perfect overnight oats concoction I freak out. Truth.
You don’t have to make them in a jar. I just like to because then I can take breakfast to go (i.e. every morning, when I oversleep.)
I slice the banana, add 1/3 cup rolled oats, 1/3 cup skim milk, and 1/3 cup low fat vanilla yogurt. Sometimes I do equal parts 1/2 cup of each when I’m feeling generous.
Last week I accidentally bought plain yogurt instead of vanilla yogurt and I did not enjoy my oats as much! I didn’t want to waste it, so I tried putting vanilla extract in the plain yogurt. The experiment failed. Thank gaaaawd I bought the right kind of yogurt this week.
I then add in about 2 teaspoons of chia seeds. Chia seeds are expensive (I think they’re like $13.99 at Whole Foods or something like that) but once you buy a pack they last forever.
The chia seeds really help the oats soak up the dairy. Actually, I don’t know exactly what they do, but you need ’em in overnight oats.
Pre-mixed.
- Post-mixed
Once you have all of your ingredients in the jar, mix ’em up real nice. I add a berry or two on top for good measure. Seal the top, stick it in the fridge, and you’re good to go.
I add “peak protein” Bear Naked granola to the jar in the morning. If we want to talk about healthy living problems, my granola addiction would be the first on the list. I go through two or three of these bags a week. That’s $15- $20 bucks a week. On granola. Oy.
Looks gross, taste so good.
Let’s move on to lunch.
Eggs are so easy to throw on salad for protein, so I take hard boiled eggs to have at lunch every day.
Spinach salad with egg whites and an Italian dressing with an olive oil base.
I refuse to give up my diet coke. It’s like my crack. I used to have two a day, but I try to only have one a day – at lunch.
Obvi the best part of lunch: guac from Whole Foods and wheat pita chips.
And the best afternoon snack ever. It’s almost gone! (Yes, I did successfully eat an entire tub of Whole Foods guac in less than 24 hours. Not ashamed.)
*****
Dinner was another current fav – a breakfast burrito.
2 eggs, 2 egg whites.
Scrambled.
Added some shredded cheese….
And the rest of the guac…..
Some microwaved corn….
And the finished product!
So. good. May have to have this for dinner tomorrow, which would make it the third day in a row.
*****
Finally, my evening snack:
This stuff is all the rage right now, man.
Can’t wait to hear what all of you ate!
What is your favorite summer snack at the moment?
Sweating Cab Sav
Good Morning!
I slept in nice and late. Glorious.
Last night’s dinner was a clean one:
Whole wheat pasta with shrimp, spinach, onions, tomatoes, and tomato sauce. Since I didn’t have my spinach for lunch, I had to get my greens for the day in somewhere.
Table for two!
The wine was not clean. But it was good!
I actually was a little too supportive of the wine last night. I think I’m going to be sweating cab sav on my run. Don’t look at me.
*****
Breakfast this morning at noon was a classic.
Vans whole grain waffles with chocolate peanut butter, banana cookies, and strawberries slices.
When I was little, my mom used to call sliced bananas banana cookies so I would actually eat them.
I still call them banana cookies so I will actually eat them.
And a whole bunch of black coffee in my fav over sized thrift store mug.
My wine headache feels better already!
Now I’m off to cut up my big ass BFF watermelon for my aunt’s birthday pool party this afternoon.
After I let my tum rest from breakfast, I’m gonna get my gym on. Just a baby workout today!
The First Step
I’m so excited because…….
I just signed up for my very first race!!!!
Damn, I must be getting serious about this running thing.
I signed up for the Purple Stride D.C. 5K! Now I really gotta get running. I have no idea what to expect, but now I’ll actually be able to do a race recap. Ha.
The race is on June 16th, and I just found out I have to move six giant filing cabinets (and all of the files) at work the day before the race. Do you think that will eff with my muscles too much? I hope not.
I am super pumped to get to pick out a race outfit, and PR…..since I have yet to even establish a R. Sweet!
I’m not worried about the length of the race, since I know I can run 3.1 miles no problem – but I’m worried about my time! Since I’m a new runner (that’s my excuse, OK?) I’m slow as shit. I run like 10 or 11 minute miles. Everyone talks about race adrenaline though, so I’m going to try try try to make it in 30 minutes or less on race day.
*****
I started the day off with my typical overnight oats in a jar and a cup of Hazelnut coffee. I seriously look forward to both of them every morning.
I have the same overnight oat mixture every morning. (Hey, I’m still Chicken Nugget Girl, alright?)
I’ll fill you in on my exact overnight oats recipe next week on What I Ate Wednesday. The suspense is killing you, I know.
For lunch, I felt pretty blah. I could not bring myself to eat my usual spinach salad for lunch. I just was not feeling it. I ate my afternoon snack for lunch instead! So rebellious.
chocolate covered cherries > spinach
It was the first time trying this flavor, and it was delish. It actually tasted like chocolate covered cherries. Mmmmm.
I also had a lovely ripe Georgia peach from Whole foods.
Speaking of Whole Foods, I have a confession to make.
I have a problem.
I have a Whole Foods addiction.
When I started eating clean, I started shopping at Whole Foods more often. Yes, it’s expensive, but the produce is so much better and there are so many more healthy options to choose from. I would go once a week and load up on all of my healthy goodies for the week.
Lately, I’ve been going two or three times a week – buying a few things here and there, probably equaling the amount of groceries that I would get when I used to go once a week. Maybe a few more items, meaning a bit more $$$.
Guess how many times I’ve been to Whole Foods this week? Guess.
Four.
Four times. And it’s only Friday. That means I went to Whole Foods every day this week except Memorial Day.
I am currently scared to look at my bank account. Don’t make me do it.
Next week, I am only allowing myself to go ONCE. Yikes.
But oh well, this afternoon’s Whole Foods trip brought someone special into my life. I met a new BFF who even rode home with me.
Huh? A passenger?
Until I eat him.
I really need to take a chill pill on the whole Whole Foods thing. But at least the first step is admitting I have a problem, right?
*****
As soon as I got home I started munching on my new favorite snack. Pretzels and chocolate peanut butter. Yes, you heard me. CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER. It has just the right amount of sugar and protein. Lolz.
Heaven.
God’s gift to the world.
Today is a rest day – which I’m surprisingly glad for. I did my Sarah Ivanhoe yoga DVD last night along with an On Demand five-minute ab blast, and my abs are actually kind of sore today. After five minutes. Sad.
But I’m going to be healthy-ish this weekend (as I always say on Friday afternoon….). I’m going to try to get a short workout in tomorrow and my long run (7 miles, eeeeeek!) on Sunday.
Happy Friday!
Dr. Scholl’s, Pita, and Peeta
I didn’t end up making it to Extreme Ride tonight because I had to stop at CVS on the way and buy these:
My left foot is starting to give me a little bit of trouble. Keep in mind that I am known to be a slight hypochondriac slash drama queen though, so don’t take my complaining too seriously.
I broke my left foot in October 2009 and again in April 2010. The first breakage was at work (my job for some extra cash in college was lifeguarding part-time). We were moving a bunch of equipment at the end of a shift and a huge piece of equipment fell and crushed my foot. Long story short, it took a loooong time for my foot to recover from that one.
As soon as it did heal, I took a bad drunken tumble and re-broke the same foot in the same place. I must have had some baaaad karma goin’ on or something.
Since then, I haven’t had too many issues with my foot, except that I have a much harder time doing yoga balancing poses on my left leg.
I heart my yoga mat.
But as I’ve started running longer distances and running more often than usual, the inner edge of my arch is struggling. I bought new running shoes about eight months ago-ish, and can’t really afford a new pair for a few more months (I already have been doing some Summer shopping. Whoooopsie.) Plus, I don’t even know if I have the wrong shoes for my feet, or if my foot is the problem. I figured I would try a cheap solution for kicks.
Once I put them in my sneakers they felt kind of funny at first – but as soon as I took a running stride on the treadmill, I knew I was in love. They felt awesome – it seemed as if I was bouncing along in moon boots. Remember those? From Nickelodeon?
Anyway, they turned out to be a great buy. Running felt great, and my arch was only a tiny bit sore after running. It’s a good quick fix for sure, but I will have to eventually figure out a better long term solution, since ideally, I don’t want my arch to ever be sore. Could be my shoes, could be my stride.
I ran my 5 miles, just like I promised! It was a treadmill run – the miles were a bit rough, but hey, I got them done. Another thing I need to improve on is my breathing technique. Maybe I concentrate too much on my breathing, and that’s why it feels weird, but man, was I suckin’ in air. I was definitely gasping for breath, which is probably not the best way to breathe.
At least I wasn’t making little grunting noises every ten seconds like the Mets fan running next to me. If I can hear you over my cranked up music, you’re too loud. Rude.
I ended the evening with a lovely turkey pita at Tuna’s. He even put mine together for me!
Not the prettiest picture in the world, but it sure tasted good.
CNG’s Turkey Pita
Ingredients:
Whole wheat pita
Turkey slices
Spinach
Tomato
Onion
Shredded Cheese
Garlic Hummus
Caesar Lite Dressing
And in honor of my pita, I will leave you with Peeta.
Oh heyyyyyy, Peeta. (source)
Spinning = Winning
Last night I went to my second ever spin class.
I rushed out of work at 5:30pm so that I would be able to run home, quickly change, and speed through the traffic to get to Crunch by the 6:30pm Extreme Ride start time.
I really wanted to make it to this particular class, because the instructor is supposed to be one of the best. The first spin class I took, a few weeks ago, was only OK. I couldn’t really hear the instructor over the music and I didn’t know if anything I was doing was right. It was still fun, but the whole time I was kind of like:
I’m trying to take advantage of all of the different classes offered at Crunch and take them all once, just so that I know what I like best. Two weeks ago I took Zumba, which wasn’t as fun as the Zumba class I used to take at UVA. The whole time I felt kind of like:
Mr. Rogers. I felt self-conscious and wasn’t a huge fan. Plus, I didn’t feel like it was THAT great of a workout. Not to knock Zumba, but I think for now I’ll keep experimenting with other classes.
Anyway, even the first mundane spin class I took was more fun than the Zumba class, so I wanted to try it again.
Even though I got there right on time, I was worried that there wouldn’t be enough bikes available as I ran up to the spin room. Luckily, the rainy weather seemed to deter people, and the class was super empty! After the warm-up, I had already developed a girl-crush on the instructor. She was super peppy and informative – teaching us about “push point, race pace,” etc. I was definitely dripping sweat within the first fifteen minutes of class. My favorite part was our third to last song was Call Me Maybe (currently obsessed, along with the rest of the world) and we did saddle, hover, stand, hover, saddle over and over again to the beat of the song. I think my gf the instructor could tell I was loving it, because she flashed me a head nod and a thumbs up as she walked around shouting the commands.
I think I am now a spinning convert.
*****
The best part of the whole night was coming home to Tuna’s apartment and having a healthy home-cooked dinner all ready for me! It was so nice coming home and not having to make dinner after a workout, which is usually torture because I am always starving.
He made an eat-clean meal for us – marinated chicken breast, broccoli, and brown rice. We even had healthy oatmeal raisin cookies for dessert!
Liar
Ok, so I lied. Well – I didn’t know I was going to lie. My intent to have a healthy weekend was strong, but my follow through was pretty darn weak.
As of Friday afternoon I was doing well….I ran outside for 4 mi after work. Workout, check. I made the yummy shrimp paella dish. Clean eating, check. And then I had some popcorn…..so, not too bad.
Saturday evening I had an a cappella gig singing at a graduation party. I had potato salad. A lot of potato salad. I then went to hang with a group of friends and ended up drinking many a’ brewski and ordering Dominos. Fail. Sunday snowballed into not even really caring what I ate. I had a delectable brunch, complete with french toast and white sangria…for a snack later I shoveled some hot cheetos into my mouth, (FAV) only to save the best for last – ordering Pad Thai takeout. It was glorious, though the aftermath was not. Oh yeah, and I put off my long run Sunday until Monday in lieu of watching Imortals on Netflix with Tuna.
Epic. Fail.
At this point, should I even be writing a “healthy living” blog at all? Embarr.
So I fell off the wagon an little bit. What can you do? It’s life. And I mean, I had a good weekend. At least I had the dedication to get back on the wagon on Monday morning, right? My whole eating clean thing isn’t ruined or spoiled. It’s just a little hiccup – especially since I want to maintain clean eating inevitably.
It’s all good though. I redeemed myself quickly though, being extra healthy to counteract my bad clean eating karma from the weekend.
For breakfast, I had some overnight oats in a mason jar, left over from the communal sized overnight oats dish I took to brunch on Sunday.
Yes, I only have one pretty serving dish.
For lunch I had a healthy spinach salad, topped with egg whites. I wanted to get some good fuel food in me because I wanted to be in tippy top shape for my long run last night.
Egg whites are surprisingly filling. It’s a great way to get cheap protein. My favorite part of the salad was getting to the brown rice at the bottom!
******
I was actually nervous to attempt my long run last night (yeah, the one I put off on Sunday.) The longest I had ever run before was 5 miles, and that was with a one-lap walk break. I was terrified, actually.
But guess what….I DID IT! That’s right, I ran 6 miles. I ran on the treadmill at Crunch – it took me 1 hour and 7 minutes, averaging 11 minute miles. And you know what, I think I could have gone faster! I was petrified the whole time that I wouldn’t have even steam to make it to the end, so I ran pretty slowly. I started out with 12 minute miles and worked my way down to 11, 10, and 9 minutes. I ended with a 9 minute mile!
My cool down was cut short because the guy next to me let lose a really bad fart. Like one of those healthy runner GI tract farts. It was a bad one.
After stretching for a bit (especially my hips!) I went on home and refueled with some chocolate milk.
Hmm. Maybe it is OK to eat a bit of junk and skip my run on the weekend (even if I lie to myself about how I’m not going to do it) as long as I go back to being the healthy living poser person on Monday. I think I’m alright with that. For now.
Clean Cheating
Yaaay, it’s Friday!
But you know what the weekend includes….pizza parties, barbecues, mimosa brunches. More wine (alright, a lot more) and less water. So, when is it OK to have a little junk food here and there?
Don’t mind if I do.
For me, it’s on the weekends. Some weekends I indulge more than others. It depends what event is going on and what kind of food we’re eating, and of course, what mood I’m in. Last weekend I threw clean- eating out the window on Friday night. I had a hard week and was craving Ledo Pizza cheese fries like cray cray.
I’m a firm believer of the occasional cheating if you’re eating clean. If I ALWAYS deprive myself of some of my favorite foods, I won’t continue to eat clean on a regular basis. I don’t think it’s a huge deal to eat a few junk food items occasionally. I’ve heard of a lot of people doing the 80% and 20% regimen, or eating clean 80% of the time and eating whatever they want (to an extent) 20% of the time. I’d say I’m a teensy bit more hardcore than that. I try to eat clean 90% of the time, and then allow myself to “cheat” 10% of the time.
I’ve been at a bit of a weight plateau lately, which frustrates me. I’m thinking part of it could be attributed to stuffing my face with junk food on the weekend, and gaining back the pound or two that I lost during the week. It’s a vicious cycle, man.
So this weekend, I’ll definitely have a treat or two for sure. I’m going to a barbecue tomorrow afternoon and a brunch on Sunday. I might have a hot dog at the barbeque and maybe some potato fritters at brunch, but I think that’s alright. This weekend I’m just not going to straight up plan to eat fast food for meals. If I don’t gain a pound or two on the weekend that I have to lose again during the week, I should be that much closer to my goal weight, right?
Tonight I’m making the best dish ever, i.e. shrimp paella.
I think paella is a technically a Spanish dish. So I don’t even really know what paella officially is, but it sounds better than “a bunch of shit thrown into a pot.” Tuna and I were looking through recipes on clean eating blogs last weekend, and found this one and this one.
Since I had some of the ingredients but not others (annnnd the wrong cookware for this one), I altered the recipe a bit.
CNG’s Shrimp Paella
Ingredients:
1 cup brown rice
1 cup water
spinach
1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
1/4 large onion, chopped
olive oil
salt
pepper
cilantro
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 bag of frozen, pre-cooked, pre-peeled (YES!) shrimp
Directions:
Chop up the pepper and onion.
Put the cut up pepper, onion, and spinach in a big ‘ol skillet with a dash of olive oil.
Stir veggies until spinach is dark and shriveled (like my expert cooking vocab?) and onions are clear.
Throw cooked veggies into a big ‘ol pot (my skillet doesn’t have a big enough lid to put on it to look the rice, so I had to transfer to the pot w/ lid.)
Add 1 cup brown rice, 1 cup brown water to the pot w/ veggies. Add all of the spices & garlic listed above.
Turn up the heat on the stove burner to high, heat uncovered until boiling.
Turn down the heat to simmer, cover for about 45 minutes.
Stir the pot (ha…don’t I always) & put the lid back on for about 15 more minutes.
Pour out shrimp into a strainer, thaw for 6 min under cold water.
Chop off the shrimp tails.
Throw the shrimp into the pot
Stir once (Total paella cooking time = approx. 55-60 minutes
YUM. I’ll have some wine with that, please.
Salsa and Being a “Real” Runner
Awk. First posts are so awkward – I don’t even really know how to get started! I’m thinking maybe if I just pretend it’s completely normal to blog away my normal day that it will be easier. Yesterday I made the best discovery – apparently a secret combination of ingredients I had never tried before. Eggs….and….SALSA.
I had just gone on my first run of the week and I was starving when I got home. I was too hungry to cook up a legit meal so I went to the comfort staple of Breakfast for Dinner (capitalized because it’s actually a THING, you know?) I took 2 eggs and 1 egg white, scrambled it up with a little pepper, and put hot salsa on the side. Delish. (I also had my granola mixture with the eggs. I cannot eat only three eggs for dinner. Sorry.) Guess what I’m having for dinner tonight? That’s right, eggs & salsa. I think I’m going to put it in a whole-wheat wrap with some shredded cheese. Don’t mind if I do.
I have been trying to do clean eating as much as I can. Though I reward myself a little bit here and there with normal junk food or “unclean” (ha) stuff, because otherwise – we all know I’d just end up at McDonald’s at 11:30pm on a Sunday, eating a large # 10 at a booth next to a homeless man.
Before my amazing discovery occurred, I went on a 4.24 mi (not obsessed with mapmyrun.com) on my usual Rock Creek route. I drive about 7 min to the edge of Rock Creek and park my car at a Park. Hee hee. Get it? Anyway, there is always a t-ball game going on, which I like because it makes it feel like Spring and reminds me of childhood since I played t-ball/baseball/softball growing up. I thought I was SO cool with my two braids.
I start running past the Meadows Something Something Summer Camp with stables and horsies and everything. I do down and back runs at the moment, since I am not running smart enough to map out real loops yet. I LOVE running past the stables when I’m starting my run and I smile and stare longingly at the riders galloping swiftly on their horsies. I always forget that when I run past them in my last .25 mi on my route back, I’m downwind. On my way back, I always seem to unintentionally glare at the stables while breathing in through my mouth and trying to hold in my dry heave. What, gagging while running isn’t sexy? The trail continues through the woods (I’ve seen deer three times!) and up around the Mormon temple, under the Beltway, and up Beach Drive.
In high school I was a sprinter and a pole vaulter – I loathed running distances and would actually cry if I had to run a 4 x 400 relay. 100m for me, please! I just started distance (distance for me) running around the end of February/beginning of March 2012. Running is not easy for me like it seems to be for some other people. Every stride is one that I have to fight for! As I’ve started running, eating better, and becoming more in shape, the miles get easier. Currently, my longest run has been a 5 miler – though I’m shooting to do 6 next week! Luckily, I had a finite goal to complete the Tough Mudder in September, which is a 12 mi long course. Supposedly I should be running 5+ mi several times a week by the time the event rolls around. Because I’m not a natural distance runner, I still run pretty slowly (10-11 min miles). For now, I’m OK with that. I know I’m trying my best and not everyone can immediately start running sub 7 min miles, especially if you’re running more than 1 of them! I’m hoping that speed will just naturally come with distance and repetition. I’m also trying to do shorter, speedier miles once a week or once every two weeks.
Yesterday I ran my 4.24 mi in 47:04 , at an 11:06 min pace. I have terrible hayfever/pollen allergies in the Spring, but since it has been raining this week, the pollen count has died down a little bit. I finally felt like I could BREATHE on my run yesterday! It was glorious. Another breakthrough I had yesterday included NOT STOPPING on my run. I’ve been running outside for about a month, and I secretly loved the little stops throughout the route. A stoplight? Woohoo! Tie one shoe tighter here, now gotta stop and stretch that hammie. I’m tired of stopping! Once I stop I feel defeated, like I’m not a “real” runner. What’s the point of even finishing strong? Yesterday I was determined only to take 2 little 30 second stops on my 47 min run – at the water fountain near the playground. It’s at about the 5 min marker and the 42 min marker on my down and back. Perf! (I don’t mind not running LONG distances yet, because I know I am going to have to carry some kind of spiffy water holder/belt and I hate carrying anything on a run. Wah.) And you know what? I DID IT. I was tired of stopping, so I didn’t stop. It was that easy. Knowing I wasn’t going to stop was almost easier mentally because I didn’t have to start running again. And I didn’t have to beat myself down about stopping, either. After my run yesterday I’m finally starting to feel like a “real” runner. Though I know, I’m still a beginner – don’t worry.
Do you ever stop on runs? If you do stop, do you feel guilty?
Chicken Nugget Girl 