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?

The Long Post: Eats and Running

Yum, yum, yum. Valentine's Day is tomorrow and I have a sweet-filled post planned (actually, mostly chocolate). I can't wait!


Lately I've been eating a lot of hummus and carrots; who knew what a delicious combination that is! My eats have been a little random, but have been including:


Sweet potatoes


Kale and hummus


Chocolate ;-)


Raw trail mix


Bananas and carob (this is seriously one of my favorite things to eat...I just slice up a banana and dip it in some carob powder; soooo delicious!)


However, when the dining hall had some dried cranberries, I snagged a few for a kale salad. I attempted to recreate a salad they have at Whole Foods, which I ate liberally during break. It's super simple, comprised of kale, olive oil, lemon juice, dried cranberries, chopped tomatoes, and pine nuts. I had to forgo the pine nuts and tomatoes (I just wasn't feeling sunflower seeds in place of the pine nuts), but I came up with this:

I was pretty pleased with the taste, though the pine nuts would have made it even more delicious!


I also bought myself a German Chocolate Cake jocolat Larabar. The ingredients: dates, pecans, almonds, unsweetened chocolate, unsweetened coconut, extra virgin coconut oil, cocoa powder. Sounds delicious, right?


The verdict: not that great. I was expecting something with a bit more pizazz, and this just tasted like the chocolate coconut version they have. I think I'll stick with my Lemon Larabar flavor.


On the exercise side of things, I made a resolution this year to get back into running. I ran cross country freshman year of high school, and then things got hectic, so I only ran sporadic 5ks. Once I got to college, I occasionally ran, but towards the end of last year, I did something to my knee and couldn't run on it. All last semester I basically did the elliptical (which is excellent if you want to study and work out at the same time...call me a nerd, I know!). But after reading so many blogs where running seems to be a mainstay, I vowed to get back into it. I started out running 20 minutes, and now depending on how I feel, I can go up to 45. The distance I cover at the speed I'm going at is nowhere near how fast I used to be in high school (which is a real bummer), but I'm going to try to get it there. Seven minute miles, here I come! I'll be working abroad in Lake Como, Italy this summer, so I figured I'd run before work in the morning, which I am very excited to do. So far I haven't had too many "bad days," which really keeps me motivated.


I also don't run with an ipod. I have one, but I prefer to use it on flights or whatnot. When I run outside I just like listening to what's going on around me, and when I'm inside, I just concentrate on the thoughts inside my head. Running is kind of therapeutic, so I don't want to tune out my thoughts with music.


I'm not really a fan of my current running shoes, though. They look awesome: black with pink swooshes, but I really, really like my old cross country shoes. I still have them (I know, I know...time to throw them out), but they're so comfortable! Unfortunately, they've been discontinued, so I'm still on a quest to find better shoes.


There are tons of giveaways to enter...these are two non-food related ones:


1. This is my favorite...make someone's day with a random act of kindness!


2. What are your simple pleasures?


Have a wonderful day and stay tuned for some delicious Valentine's Day love!