Pleasantly Surprised

Ah, I got back home yesterday and today is my first full day home. I woke up bright and early this morning and drove to the gym. I had been talking to my friend who mentioned that she ran 10.5 miles yesterday, and that got me all excited to run today. I haven't really run since after the beginning of April because running on the treadmill just wasn't fun anymore and the weather where I go to school is generally crappy all the time.

I wasn't expecting much when I decided after a 20 minute elliptical warm up to do a little running on the track. I decided to push myself for the first mile and see where it would go, since lately my shins have been hurting. I ended up making just over a 8:30 mile, while breathing heavily, haha. I walked a lap and decided to take the next mile easy. When I looked at the clock after running the second mile, I was astonished. Another 8:30 mile, but it felt so easy! I walked another lap, then ran at the same easy pace because I was a bit skeptical, thinking I lost count of the laps or something. Nope, this one was right on par. I was pleasantly surprised. I just assumed I'd run slower if I weren't on a treadmill, but I actually prefer being able to change my pace whenever I want to.

I think I tend to focus more on how fast I'm running as opposed to how far I run. Having once been able to run a 7:00 minute mile, it's kind of discouraging to not be able to do that anymore, but I guess it's better for me to run 6 or 7 miles at a 10:00 minute mile pace rather than 3 at a 7:00 minute mile pace.

My weekend eats:

Congratulations to my sister on graduating! Do you think we look like twins? We used to get that comment all the time, but we hadn't for a while until today, when a woman asked us if we were twins. Perhaps we look like sisters, but definitely not twins...

After the graduation we went to eat at Cool River. One thing I love about eating vegetarian and sometimes vegan is the mix and match style of eating. I love to order a bunch of little dishes, like the side dishes or appetizers, which give me a little taste of everything. We shared the fire-roasted artichoke for an appetizer.

Very messy to eat...the heart is clearly the best part... ;-)

For my entree, I ordered the broccoli and the sweet potato hash.

The meal...I didn't take an individual shot of the broccoli because I thought it would be rather boring, haha.

My mom also ordered the hash, but hers wasn't nearly as crispy and caramelized as mine was...the hash was on the sweeter side and had a hint of warm spices in it.

The chef came out during our meal, since the restaurant was pretty much empty. He asked if we were celebrating anything, and when he found out it was my sister's graduation, he had this sent out to the table:

The slice was ginormous! My sister cut it up and doled it out to the family.

We were so surprised! They even wrote congratulations and her name around the edge of the plate in chocolate. The cake was decorated with a strawberry cut like a rose and grape "flowers." The cake was a little dry. I was more interested in scraping off the chocolate writing and eating that instead of the cake, haha. The service was really excellent and very thoughtful, and it was a great way to celebrate.

Dinner was a pretty uneventful stop at Sweet Tomatoes.

I'm hoping on making a few things during the week I'm a home, so hopefully I'm able to and can share them here with you. I'd like to make dinner a couple of times, so I'm putting together some menus in my head.

Questions: Have you ever been told you and your sibling(s) looked like twins?


Runners, have you done a half marathon? If so, what motivated you?


Treadmill or outdoor running?

My Dallas Trip, Part One

I was anticipating this trip for a loooooooooong time, and I'm so happy I was able to go. I was visiting my sister in Dallas as she finishes up her last semester of undergrad. I left on Wednesday afternoon, which coincidentally happened to be Ash Wednesday (a day of fasting and abstinence for Catholics, where one regular sized meatless meal and two snacks are "allowed" ). That was good for me, since I wouldn't have to be around food and thinking about being hungry, haha. I brought an orange with me, snacked on the nuts from the plane, and then my sister so graciously cooked this up for me:

It was very simple food, but very thoughtful of her, as broccoli and sweet potatoes are two of my favorite foods. The amount of broccoli in the bowl didn't look like much, but as I was nearing the bottom, I commented on this and found out that it was an entire bag of frozen broccoli she had cooked. Whoops. I thought I was supposed to be fasting. I spice up the flavor, I through on some onion powder first and then some curry powder. I think I just should have stuck with some simple lemon, though. The sweet potato was beyond delicious, and I ate it plain, just the way I like it.

The next day my sister had work, so I got the car to myself and went to explore the area around her work. For breakfast I had an unpictured banana and a green drink. I met her for lunch at a cute little chain restaurant called La Madeleine...I had eaten there once before and loved the ambience. I was a-hankering for some spinach, so I decided to get the spinach salad, minus the bacon and with dressing on the side. However, I didn't realize that a "regular" size would be so small. I guess I'm used to eating ginormous amounts of salad.

It was so lovingly thrown together, not. We shared the fruit salad on the side. The person getting the food first gave me a fruit cup the size of a tennis ball, and since we were sharing, I asked for more. He put the contents of the cup in the bigger bowl and then added a few pieces of honeydew and cantaloupe. It would have been nice if he had been a tad more generous. But the meal was good. I hardly ever eat cheese, but my sister loves it and gave it up for Lent. A copious amount came on her salad, but she ate it anyway!

After my smallish lunch, I got hungry, and the nearest food place was Walmart, so I ventured in and looked for something remotely healthy. I found this:

The cashews were delicious! The little hint of spiciness from the chili married perfectly with the sweetness of the pineapple. Most of the ingredients were organic, which I liked. However, I would have preferred there not to be peanuts or cane sugar. A closer look:

There also was a juice bar right nearby, but I didn't find out about that till after I bought the cashews. I figured we could always come back later if we wanted some dessert.

For dinner we went to a great restaurant that we also have back home, called Sweet Tomatoes. When you walk in, there's a huge salad bar, cafeteria style, that you can load up on. In addition, they have pizza, muffins, an icecream machine, dessert, soups galore, steamed veggies, pasta, baked potatoes, and in certain locations, my beloved sweet potato.  I didn't take any pictures, but I had a large salad with spinach, sunflower seeds, beets, carrots, jicama, pickles, onions, and this side salad of green beans, asparagus, and roasted potatoes. To supplement that (as if it needed supplementing), I had a sweet potato and some steamed veggies (mostly broccoli, yum!).

More to come about day 2...

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