I'm a little bit late to the party....

....seeing as it's kind of winter instead of fall right now.  It's pretty much winter, guys.  But even though it's no longer the correct season I'm still gonna do this quiz I found on Cutting Out Carbs.  Because I like quizzes!  And I like autumn.  So here we go:

Apple picking or pumpkin picking?

I haven't done either in a while but I think I'm gonna have to go with apple picking.  I just think you get more out of the experience.  I mean, how many pumpkins are you really going to get, right?  Probably just one.  And they pretty much all look the same.  But when you go apple picking there are usually a couple of different types to choose from, and you can get a BILLION and it's totally fine, AND there's usually cider and doughnuts!  It's hard to beat.

Favorite apple recipe?

I love to put chopped apples into my oatmeal, along with cinnamon and ginger.  There's also a brie and apple crepe at the Paris Creperie in Brookline, MA that is delicious.

Favorite pumpkin recipe?

Source

There is a restaurant in Cambridge, MA called Helmand that serves a dish called kaddo.  It's sweetened baked pumpkin served with a garlic yogurt sauce and a tomato meat sauce, and it is the best thing on the planet.  It's the only dish I've ever ordered from that restaurant, and I crave it constantly.

Favorite soup recipe:

Every year for Christmas breakfast and dinner, my mother makes homemade tomato soup.  I have no idea what recipe she uses (she might have made it up, actually) but it's amazing.  I think she puts goat milk in it, which sounds weird but I promise it's really good.  A lot of people think it's really strange that we have soup for breakfast, but that's our tradition and we love it.  I remember one year my mom only made enough soup for breakfast because for some weird, misguided reason she thought people wouldn't want to have it again for dinner.  There for serious was almost a riot.  

Football: on TV or at the stadium?

So, I don't care about football.  Neither my undergraduate (George Washington University) or graduate (Boston University) schools had football teams so I have no obligatory school spirit connections.  I don't understand the rules, and I find the game incredibly boring.  For the sake of providing an answer to this question I'll say on TV, just because at home there are more options for entertaining myself while a game is on, like reading a book.  Or leaving the room.

Favorite football team to cheer for?

"Cheer" is a strong word.  Let's say it's the team with the colors I like the best.  Moving on...

Daylight savings time: love it or hate it?

We actually don't do daylight savings time out here in Hawaii, but I generally do enjoy having that extra hour of sleep on the first day.

How do your workouts change in the fall?

If I've been running I usually stop when it gets cold out.  Of course, that's not an issue out here but I'm kind of over running at the moment so I've stopped anyway.  Other than that, most of my workouts take place indoors so the changing seasons ain't no thang.

Any fashion essentials for fall weather?

I wish I had all of these.  Source.

Oh my goodness, I love sweaters and leather boots in such a way.  I was so sad that I couldn't bring any of my fall stuff to Hawaii with me.  As you can imagine, my family on the east coast thinks I'm crazy ("This is what you're complaining about?  You're sad that you live in Hawaii because you couldn't bring any of your sweaters?  Your life is SO hard, tell me more about the terrible weather in Hawaii...."  I know, okay?  I know).  But really, I will be very excited when I get to live somewhere with seasons again.  And it doesn't help that the stores out here still sell sweaters and boots and scarves, so there's all this stuff for me to gaze at longingly but not buy.

Do your meals change as the weather changes?

You know, I was going to say yes, but then I realized that regardless of the high temperatures out here I have oatmeal and hot coffee for breakfast every day anyway, and I've been making chili like it's my job (I've been using this recipe, which is the bomb).  Similarly,  when I lived on the east coast I would eat ice cream and watermelon through the winter.  So, I guess the real answer is no they don't.  However, even though the weather didn't change, when October rolled around it was time for me to start eating all the pumpkin-flavored things.  So that's something, I guess.

Favorite fall dessert?

Trader Joe's gingerbread cake with whipped cream on top.  When I lived in DC I would have that for my birthday.  I really wanted some this year but there's no TJ's out here!

Best thing about fall?

Halloween!  It's my favorite holiday.  I love dressing up, and as far as I can remember I've never been the same thing twice (possibly when I was younger, but not in recent memory, at least).  Halloween is also a great time to get skeleton-themed items, which as an anthropologist I can totally display all year long :-).

Worst thing about fall?

The way all the bugs say, "Oh, it's cold!  Better move into the house with you..."  Not a fan.

Best thing that will happen in Fall 2012?

Well, since fall is pretty much over I think I can say that in my opinion the best thing to happen was the outcome of the elections in November.  In the days leading up to the big day I was seriously scared that Mittens would take it, and I was so relieved when Obama finally pulled ahead.  

Okay, so that's it!  Now you know all about what I think of autumn things and other vital information.  Good times.  

It Wasn't ALL Bad!

My birthday loot!  We're using the poinsettia since we don't have a tree.  The gift that's still wrapped is what my parents sent Kevin for Christmas.  I don't know what it is!

The other thing I did on Sunday was turn 25!  Quarter of a century!  I’m almost like a grown up now, isn’t that weird?  It’s crazy times.

My family had mailed me a box filled with goodies and some Christmas decorations a couple of days earlier, but it came with strict instructions that the wrapped packages inside weren’t to be opened until the 9^th (or the 25th  in Kevin's case).  I got home from the marathon at about 3 in the afternoon, and pretty much the first thing I did was call my parents and unwrap my presents.  Here’s what I got:

My mom gave me these super-cute earrings she had found at a craft fair over the summer.

The first pair is little monkey faces, and the second one is bees.  I love them!

My dad got me this awesome t-shirt.  I had actually seen this shirt on a different website but hadn’t mentioned to anyone that I wanted it, so it’s totally cool that my dad knew to get it for me! 

Get it?!  I love bone jokes in such a way :p.

Finally, my brother got me a DVD of Friends with Benefits.  I saw this in theaters when it came out and LOVED it.  I’m always impressed with JT’s acting skills.

Even after my less-than-stellar marathon performance I still got to have my birthday dinner of choice, AKA the Mexican Pizza from Taco Bell.  I probably should have taken a picture, but I just shoved it in my face instead.  And before anyone says anything, I know that this food item is neither Mexican nor pizza.  No one goes to Taco Bell because they want some Mexican food; we go because we want some delicious.  My birthday Taco Bell trip is also pretty much the one time that I’ll break my no-soda rule (I feel like I haven’t mentioned this before, so I’ll do it now: I don’t drink soda.) so that I can have their Baja Blast Mountain Dew, which is the best.  I also got the caramel apple empanada, which is so incredibly delicious and I wish I could eat one every day.

The one small snag came at the “birthday cake” portion of the evening.  Since I was so sore I could barely move I asked Kevin to go out and get our Taco Bell, and on his way home I asked him to stop at Whole Foods and get me a birthday dessert from their bakery section.  He called me from the store to let me know what my options were, and I decided on the chocolate mousse tart.  This would have been lovely and perfect, except that Kevin didn’t realize until he got home that the tart was vegan and made out of tofu.

While I have certainly heard many wonderful things about the benefits of eating a vegan diet, I have to say I have zero interest in it.  I have even less of an interest in eating so-called “junk food” made out of tofu and non-dairy cream cheese on my birthday.  I had a small bite, and honestly it tasted fine, but I had pretty much decided that I wasn’t going to like it before we even opened the package.  Kevin ended up eating it, which was fine because I had my empanada and a pint of Hagen Daaz strawberry ice cream in the freezer.   

On Wednesday, my pal Nikki from work brought me in a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting.   Normally we could stop right there and it would be all good in the hood, but this particular cake was kicked up a notch by the fact that it was shaped like a skull:

And also because of Nikki's artistic knife placement.  Pretty awesome, right?!

So, all in all, my marathon-induced weep fest aside, it was a pretty good birthday :).

I Did It! Sort of.

The shell necklace is actually what we were given as our Finisher's Medal, which was pretty cool.  As you'll probably gather when you keep reading, this picture was actually taken a couple of days after the marathon.  There weren't a whole lot of smiley faces happening on Race Day.

So, last Sunday was the 2012 Honolulu Marathon.  I’m just going to start out by saying it didn’t go at all the way I had wanted it to and I’m glad that it’s over.  20 out of 26.2 miles came with a lot of tears and anger and depression, and even though I did finish, I’m still not quite proud of myself.

I’m a terrible blogger and didn’t post about it, but in November I sprained the Medial Collateral Ligament on my left knee.  While my doctor told me that I could probably still run the marathon, what this meant was I pretty much missed my last month of training to give myself time to heal.  During my earlier training I had gotten up to 16 miles, and I thought that this combined with race-day adrenaline would carry me through.  However, looking back I don’t think I was really prepared.

Everything started out pretty much okay.  I was definitely going slower than I normally would have, but I was trying to be conscious of my knees.  Things went pretty smoothly this way right up until mile 6, when I got an inexplicable pain in my right hip.  This got steadily worse until I could only run for about 30 seconds at a time before the pain was too much and I had to stop and walk.

There isn’t really a word for how disappointed I felt when I realized that the rest of the marathon wasn’t going to go the way I had hoped.  Even though I had told pretty much anyone who would listen that I knew I was going to be slower this time around, and that I was going to take it easy, and walk instead of run if my knees started hurting, I didn’t actually believe that I would really have to do these things.  It was a huge letdown when I finally had to force myself to accept that I was going to walk the majority of the race.  From mile 6 to mile 16 I did still try to run, mostly by telling myself that the pain didn’t matter and that I could make it.  Eventually, however, the pain was too much and I walked the last 10 miles.

I had approached Marathon Day with the mindset that as long as my knees were better I would be okay to run.  On Sunday morning my knees WERE better, but I still ended up not being able to run the course, and I just felt like this was incredibly unfair.  The hip pain was completely new; I had never had any problems with that joint during my training, so I couldn’t understand why it was happening.  I felt like I was weak, and that my body had betrayed me.

At this point my hip hurt while I was walking as well, and muscle soreness had started to set into my legs.  Every step was a struggle, but there was nothing I could do except keep going.  Even then, I didn’t feel like I had a right to my soreness, because I was just walking.  There were so many times that I wanted to give up, and I was so angry with myself for not being able to complete the race the way that I had wanted to.  I didn’t feel like I deserved my Finisher’s medal, or the Taco Bell I had planned to eat that evening.  I’m the kind of person who doesn’t really like to do things that they can’t do well, and I felt like I had failed.  I told myself multiple times that deciding to do this marathon was a TERRIBLE idea and that I was NEVER going to do it again!

Almost everyone I’ve spoken to since has told me that finishing at all is a big accomplishment and something I should be proud of.  During the race, I overheard another racer say, “There are only three things to keep in mind: 1) Finish. 2) Don’t get hurt. 3) Don’t be last.  If you do those three things, you’ve won.”  This makes sense and I guess it’s true, but it’s definitely taken me a couple of days to come around to it.  I feel like I put in a lot of work to make sure I’d be ready for race day, and I didn’t really get anything back.  I got the pain but none of the glory.  Even though I finished, the way I see it I didn’t have much of a choice.  My car was parked at the finish line, and if I wanted to go home (and I SO wanted to just go home) I had to get there.

I am working on changing my mindset, though.  I think that someday I will be able to look at this experience and see something good in it – probably something real cheesy about pushing forward when all you want to do is collapse, or how you can get through anything if you just take it one step at a time, or something like that.  In hindsight, I probably could very well have gone up to one of the first aid tents, told the medical services people that my leg hurt too much to go on, and had them drive me to the finish line.  In all honesty, I did think about doing this once or twice.  But I didn’t do it, and I suppose that says something, right?

At the Marathon Expo the day before the race, I got this necklace:

The pendant is made by a company called I Declare! in case anyone is interested.

I had bought it to kind of be a symbol of strength to help me get through the marathon.  When I got home on Sunday afternoon, I took it off immediately and put it away.  On Monday morning, though, I put it back on and I’ve continued to wear it so far.  Even though Race Day didn’t turn out the way I had wanted, I’m trying not to be so hard on myself about it.  I guess the charm can still symbolize strength, just a different kind than I had originally meant.

Things To Do With Mushy Bananas, and a Training Update

Source

I bought some of these little apple bananas to have something different to put in my oatmeal in the morning.  I tried to get a bunch that was still a little green to give me time to get through them all.  But, by the end of the week I had only eaten 2 and the rest were past their prime.  Usually brown bananas mean banana bread, or cake, or muffins, but given my kitchen situation (kitch sitch?) these are not an option for me.  Luckily for everyone, however, I had 2 brilliant ideas.


1. Fake Ice Cream

I found this recipe for making ice cream without a machine on kevinandamanda.com.  Basically you take some sweetened condensed milk, add your flavoring agent, and then fold in some whipped cream and freeze.  I guess if you wanted to be technical I think it's more of a semifreddo than an ice cream, but you know.  Whatever.

I added 4 of the smaller bananas to the sweetened condensed milk to get the amount of banana flavor I wanted, and threw in some vanilla and cinnamon as well.

I also added some chopped pecans.  I didn't measure but I think it was about half a cup.  This seemed fine when I was mixing everything but actually turned out to be kind of a lot in the finished product, I thought.  If I make this again I'd probably decrease it to about 1/4 a cup.

After folding in the whipped cream the mixture was a little denser than I remembered it being the other times I've made this recipe.  Adding 4 bananas where in previous versions I've only added in things like vanilla or cinnamon meant there was a lower ratio of whipped cream to everything else, so I was a little worried about the final texture.

But, after freezing for about 8 hours, the texture was perfect.  It was smooth and creamy, and pretty scoopable.  I think adding the bananas actually helped; the texture was a little denser but this meant that it didn't melt back into whipped cream texture while we were eating.  I remembered later that frozen banana's are often used to make fake ice cream, and I think I might continue to use bananas in the recipe in the future. Since this I used 4 bananas to make the flavor the strength that I wanted, I imagine that I could use just one or two to improve the texture without overwhelming the flavor I'm going for.

2. Banana jam

I don't remember where I got the idea to make banana jam, but I'm seriously happy that I did.  I didn't really have a particular recipe in mind, so I just Googled until I found this one.  I mashed my last 3 bananas (hooray!) in a saucepan with some butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and a little lemon juice.  

After the sugar dissolves let the mixture cook a few minutes more to give everything time to caramelize a little more and to let the flavors develop.  I don't know exactly how long I cooked it for, I pretty much let it go until I got bored of stirring.  I feel like it doesn't really matter as long as you don't let it burn.  It will thicken a little as it cooks, and the final texture will be a little like apple butter, except more gooey, if that makes sense.  The picture from the original recipe shows that their jam is a lot smoother, but I actually like the banana chunks in mine.

I let the jam cool down a little and then put it into this jar in the refrigerator.  It should be okay refrigerated for about a week or so.

As I write this, I am enjoying some of my delicious banana jam on some toast with coffee (pumpkin spice with half and half).  I'm really happy with how it turned out, with good banana flavor that's kind of mellowed by the brown sugar and cinnamon.  I anticipate putting it into my peanut butter sandwiches and stirring some into my oatmeal as well.  Putting some on top of my banana ice cream might be a little much, but I bet it would be fantastic on top of vanilla or caramel ice cream.  

Okay, now it's time for a marathon training update:

The Honolulu marathon is less than a month away!  I'm excited, but also a little worried.  I've been having a lot of trouble with my knees and calves recently.  It's hard to know what to do, because I don't want to undertrain and not be prepared on race day, but at the same time I don't want to overtrain and risk a major injury.  I've been taking days off here and there (in addition to the rest days that are built into my training program, I mean), which has worked as a short-term fix but doesn't help much for the long term.  For example, I skipped last weekend's long run, which got me through Monday and Wednesday's runs, but not Thursday's.  Thursday actually was the first time I've ever had to stop in the middle of a run because of an injury, and this was very concerning to me.  So, I've decided to take a full week off of training.  I'm hoping that giving myself this larger block of time to rest will allow my body to completely heal so that I can continue without any more issues.  I kind of feel bad about missing so many runs, but I'm also worried that if I keep pushing myself I'll end up with a more serious injury.  To make up for missing this week, I'll take one of my taper weeks and turn it into a long-run week.  I remember doing this the last time I trained and I don't think it was a problem.  I do worry a little about people thinking that I'm a slacker or that I'm not serious about my training, but I know that this is silly and that making sure I don't injure myself is more important than what people think.  I'm also going to skip my TRX class next week which will be sad, but I figure if I'm too injured to run I can't justify going to TRX.  Beyond skipping my training runs I do feel bad about not working out for an entire week, so I'll see if I can find something low impact to do.  Pushups?  I don't know, I'll think on it.  Maybe I'll do one of those videos for old people where the whole workout is done while sitting in a chair...

  

WIAW: Halloweenie Edition

I finally did it! Hooray! I tried to be super diligent with my picture taking today, and I think I did pretty well. I don't know that these Halloween treats can really be labelled as "healthy," but here's what I ate today:


 Breakfast: Oatmeal and coffee.  I eat this pretty much every day.

Today my oatmeal had chopped apples, cinnamon, ginger, and brown sugar.  The coffee was pumpkin spice with half and half.

Snack:  Halloween treats found in the kitchen!

I also had a delicious lemon square and cream-filled mini cupcake at the JPAC Commander's retirement ceremony, but I shoved them in my face before I remembered to photograph them.

Lunch: Slow cooker pork with rice and veggies.

This is the same recipe that I mentioned in a previous post.  This time I added some extra frozen veggies and some brown rice when I packed it for lunch.

Snack: Popcorn and more Halloween treats!

The popcorn was salt and pepper flavor, and it was great.  It was one of those mini bags, so it was a good amount.

Post-run snack: Chocolate milk.

Chocolate milk apparently is one of the best post-workout drinks due to its optimal carb to protein ratio.  This is good for me because I loooove chocolate milk.  I find that the individual boxes make it easier for me to take them to work with me.

Dinner:

You know....     Happy Halloween!

Me and the boyf were a Devil in a Blue Dress and a Devil in Disguise, respectively.

  

5 Things Friday

Well, I just looked at the calendar and determined that it's been over 3 weeks since I last posted anything here.  This is terrible, and I'm sorry.  I had so many intentions but none were ever fulfilled.  Mostly because I can never seem to remember to take pictures of my meals before I eat them.  But, to help myself get back into the swing of things, here are 5 things I should have blogged about but didn't:



1) Salted Caramel Chocolate Pretzel Squares

I made these to take into work for my pal Alexandra's birthday last Wednesday.  I saw the recipe on Bakers Royale, and it jumped out at me in part because it includes salted caramel sauce, and partially because it is a no-bake recipe and I don't have an oven.  I made the salted caramel sauce a day early and then assembled everything else the night before Alex's birthday.  I meant to do a how-to post with step-by-step instructions, but I forgot to take pictures...surprise, surprise.  Even so, I was so happy with the way they came out.  They were delicious, easy to make, and everyone seemed to enjoy them.  The salted caramel sauce in particular was fantastic, and I am only slightly ashamed to say that I ate all the leftover sauce with a spoon while my boyfriend looked on in fascinated horror.



2) Slow Cooker Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin

In general I tend to do most of the cooking around the house, mostly because I have more experience with it.  However, I would like to have him do more of the cooking, and I figured slow cooker meals would be a good place to start.  They don't take much: throw a bunch of stuff in the pot, hit the switch, come back in a couple of hours and you're good to go.  I knew I wanted to do something with the pork tenderloin we had in the freezer, so I Googled "slow cooker pork tenderloin" and found this recipe on Paula Deen's website.  Kevin got it started while I was at work, and I came home to a delicious-smelling house.  This meal was so, so good.  The pork was very tender and flavorful, as were the onions and carrots.  I was happy to find that I couldn't really taste the mustard; it just cut the sweetness of the apricot jam enough so it wasn't overpowering.  I made some brown rice to go along with the pork and veggies, and we ate it happily for the next couple of days.  We finished the last of it last night, and this afternoon I picked up ingredients to make another batch.  I seriously can't wait until we have it again!  I know it doesn't look like much in the above picture, but I'm sure part of that is due to the fact that I forgot to pull out my camera until after I was more than halfway finished eating it.



3) What I Ate

Every Monday morning, I think that I will be participating in that weeks What I ate Wednesday.  By Wednesday evening, however, it is usually obvious that it's not going to happen.  I always try to photograph my Mondays, so that if I forget I still have Tuesday and Wednesday to fall back on.  But then I forget on Tuesday, and I forget on Wednesday.  And then I say, maybe this week I'll do What I Ate Thursday or Friday instead!  And then I forget to photograph on Thursday and Friday.  It's pretty terrible.  I will seriously endeavor to get this done for next week, but until then here are this week's highlights:

     Best Breakfast: Quinoa with milk, cinnamon, dried cranberries, and a spoonful of leftover caramel sauce. Now that I have the proper strainer to rinse it with, I am really enjoying quinoa for breakfast.  The only downside is I don't think it keeps me full as long as oatmeal does.

     Best Lunch: Slow Cooker Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin.  We've already talked about this.  It was truly excellent, though.

     Best Snack: Kind brand Dark Chocolate, Nut, and Sea Salt bar.  Exactly as delicious as it sounds.

     Best Dinner: Slow Cooker Apricot Glazed Pork Tenderloin.  I had it twice in one day and I didn't mind at all.  However, my Yogurt Mama fro yo on Monday was a very close second.

     Best Sweet Thing: Salted caramel chocolate pretzel squares.  These were the definition of the bomb diggity (yes I'm from the 90s).  However, the salted caramel sauce was a very close second...or maybe it was a tie.



4) The way I totally crushed my 4-miler yesterday

I am not a fast runner by any stretch of the imagination, and by the end of my 4-miler yesterday I felt like I was going even slower than normal.  Watching a lady pushing a stroller blow by my didn't help.  I told myself that it was okay to go slower and to just focus on finishing, but at the same time gave myself a mini lecture about proper nutrition (i.e. 2 slices of no-bake cheesecake is not the thing to eat right before you run).  Given this, you can probably see how I was extra pleased with myself when I came in at 41 minutes and 30 seconds -- about 2.5 minutes faster than I did this same run on Monday.  This is the closest I've been to a 10 -minute mile in years!  I've been training for about 2 months now, and it's really rewarding to see how my pace has improved from when I started.



5) My terrible, terrible 12-miler

But, of course, not every run can be awesome.  My 12-miler 2 weeks ago was seriously no bueno.  It took me about 3 hours to finish, mainly because I had to stop and walk so often.  I started running about 2 hours later than normal for my long runs (8am instead of 6), and by the time I was halfway through it was sooo hot out.  Also, my friend who usually runs with me didn't come that day, which made the run seem even longer.  Overall, it was pretty disappointing.  I just need to remind myself that everyone has bad runs every now and then, and that I shouldn't let it bother me too much.  It does make me a little nervous about my 16-miler tomorrow, though, especially since I skipped my 14-miler last week so I could take the GREs.  Speaking of which...


BONUS!


6) GRE day

Last Saturday I re-took the GREs so that I would have new scores to send off to the PhD programs I'm applying to.  After the exam was over and I got my math and verbal scores back, I had mixed feelings.  I was kind of disappointed because I had gotten a better math score on the practice test I had taken the night before.  But, my overall goal in re-taking the GREs was to improve my math score from the first time I took it, and I did accomplish this.  I figure my score is what is is now, and it's probably better to focus on the second point rather than the first.  At least it's over now and I can read and watch TV and eat my lunch or dinner without feeling guilty because I'm not studying.  After the test I met up with Alexandra in Honolulu to see the movie Pitch Perfect.  I expected that it would be fine (rather than great) but it was actually really, really good.  It was super funny, and very well-done.  I really enjoyed it and I would definitely see it again.


In other news, now that the GREs are over it's time to start focusing on my PhD applications, specifically the personal statements.  Writing those is always the hardest part of any application for me.    The earliest due date is December 1, but I'm hoping to have all of my applications in by that point.  This means I've got about a month and a half to get everything together, which is kind of nervewracking.  Deep breaths...oy.

Gear!

Hooray!  I got paid yesterday, and it feels excellent.  I paid my parents back some of the money I owe them, sent a significant amount to Sallie Mae for my student loans, and put some into my savings account.  I registered both Kevin and myself for a Halloween-themed 5K coming up in a couple of weeks, and then I went out and grabbed myself some running goodies from Runners Hi in Aiea.

Top priority was a new pair of shoes.  The ones I've been using so far are about 3 years old, and even though I haven't really been keeping track of the miles on them I feel like they're probably at least approaching 500.  So I got some new ones!  These are Brooks Adrenaline, which apparently are the most popular shoe Runners Hi sells.  They're comfy and fit well, and I can't wait to start training in them on Monday.  I also picked up a set of bungee thingos that are supposed to replace my laces and make my shoes into slip-ons.  I'm still thinking about whether or not I'll use them, but it might be nice to not have to worry about my laces coming untied.

I also grabbed a couple of energy gels.  Now that I'm starting to get into higher mileage on my long runs, whatever I eat for breakfast beforehand (usually a Kashi waffle with peanut butter and banana, btw) doesn't always carry me all the way through.  I've never had either of these brands before, but I was interested in the Ignite ones because they're all-natural and made of easily-identifyable ingredients, such as fig paste and juice concentrate.  I got them in wildberry, blackberry blueberry, and raspberry pomegranate flavors.  I got the Honey Stinger ones completely because they're pink lemonade flavor.

Body Glide!  A runner's best friend.  I still have a scar from a chafe welt I got during my first marathon.  Hopefully we can avoid those this time around.

I'm so excited for this one!  It's a Nathan brand hydration backpack.  I'm starting to get to the point where I need to drink during my runs.  Today I was able to stop at a 7-11 and grab a Powerade, but I know that won't always be possible.  This thing will hold 2L of water, plus it has pockets where I can stick some energy gels and my ID and housekeys and whatnot.  The design of the water container is such that it opens completely at the bottom, making it easy to fill and clean.  It was expensive, about $85, so I had to think about it before I bought it but I'm glad I did.

In other news, I just finished week 5 of marathon training.  Today's run was 11 miles, which for me was noticeably harder than last week's 10-miler.  This might be related to the fact that I only got about 5.5 hours of sleep last night, though.  It's also seeming like the longer runs, the ones that are 10 miles or more, take a lot more out of me than expected.  I almost always sleep for a couple of hours afterwards, which eats up most of my Saturday.  I'm going to have to start planning for this and making room in my schedule for nap time :).

Chocolate Blender Pudding and An Update

So, I know that I said before that I didn't like pudding.  After today, however, I'm thinking what I probably meant was that I don't like Jello pudding or whatever.  Even with my usual pudding ambivalence, when I saw this recipe for Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Blender Pudding on Always Order Dessert, I had to try it right away.  It just sounded so great!  And, as it turns out, it is pretty great.

I did change a few thing from the original recipe.  The biggest change was leaving out the peanut butter, since Kevin doesn't like it and I wanted to share.  I also used semisweet chips instead of bittersweet since that's what they had in the store, and a combination of half and half and 1% milk instead of whole milk since that's what I had in my house.  I also halved the recipe since I only needed to feed pudding to the boy and myself.

You start out by combining the chocolate chips, vanilla, and egg in your blender.

My blender is by no means awesome, it's one of those little personal sized one, but it handled the chocolate chips well enough.  Blend until the chocolate is chopped up into tiny pieces.

It will look like sludge, but it will smell like delicious.  While you're blending away, you can also start heating up your milk in a saucepan.

Give it a stir every now and then to keep a skin from forming on top and to keep the bottom from scorching. Once it starts bubbling slightly, pour it into your blender on top of your chocolate mixture.

Blend until the heat of the milk melts the chocolate.  The original recipe says to go for about 3 minutes, so that's what I did.  Also apparently the heat of the milk will also cook the egg, so that's good to know.  At the end of my 3 minutes, this is what I had:

It was kind of the consistency of thick hot chocolate, but nowhere near as thick as Alejandra's pictures on Always Order Dessert indicated.  I'm thinking this may have been because I omitted the peanut butter.  But, Alejandra said that the pudding would thicken upon cooling, so I divided the mixture into 2 cups, covered them with foil, and stuck them in the refrigerator.

The original recipe says to let the pudding chill for 30 minutes in the fridge.  However, I found that I needed to let mine chill for WAAAAAY longer.  I pretty much had to let it sit overnight before it reached anything like pudding consistency.  Again, I'm assuming this was a function of the lack of peanut butter.

Finally it was eating time!  The one thing I noticed right away was that, although it had thickened considerably in the refrigerator, it still wasn't really pudding texture.  It was very light and airy, almost like a chocolate mousse.  Again I'm blaming this on the absent peanut butter - not that I'm complaining.  Chocolate mousse is the bomb and I was more than happy to eat it.

The other thing I'll say is that while it was delicious, it was very rich and eating my entire portion gave me a little bit of a stomach ache.  The original recipe says it serves 4-6; I would probably say that aiming for 6 would result in more manageable portion sizes.

Also!  A little while ago I made a promise to myself and the universe that I would lose 4 lbs by September 23rd.  I am happy to report that not only did I surpass that number, I almost doubled it!  My next goal is to lose another 10 lbs by Halloween (to accomplish this I will probably have to not eat so much pudding...).  I'll be back with another update when the time comes :).

Five Things "Friday"

Happy weekend!  Clearly I was supposed to to do this post yesterday, but I got way too distracted (by #5 on my list) and before I knew it I was half asleep.  Sorry!  You can have it now, though.  In no particular order, here's what I'm excited about this week:

1) My new FitBit

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 I first heard about this product on Sensual Appeal, and then it was recommended in Chalene Johnson's book, Push.  Chalene also recommends the Body Bugg, but after looking at a few online comparisons of the two products I decided the FitBit would work better for me.  I was really impressed with how fast the FitBit came once I placed my order on the website.  I ordered it on Sunday evening, and it was in my mailbox by the time I came home from work on Thursday.  I started using it yesterday, and so far I really like it.  I chose to hook it on the front of my bra, and that placement seems to really work for me.  I couldn't feel it or see it from the outside at all, and I actually would forget it was there unless I happened to look down my own shirt and catch a glimpse of it.  Once I got home, all the data it had collected over the day was wirelessly transmitted to the dock plugged into my computer, and then I could log into my online account and see my stats for the day.  Because my job is pretty sedentary I only got in about a third of the recommended 10,000 steps per day; also, yesterday was a rest day so I didn't go running.  Many of the reviews I read said that wearing the FitBit inspired the writers to be more active in their days to try to reach the goal number of steps, and I feel like it may start have this effect on me as well.  

2) Unexpectedly awesome runs

Thursdays can sometimes be tough, just because I have both TRX and a marathon training run to do.  Normally I prefer to run before work (if I can; it's not always possible, especially for the longer runs), but this time I had plans to meet up with a friend at about 6pm to do the 3-miler together.  So, what this meant was that I was going to be in TRX from 3:30-4:30, shower and go back to work for like 10 minutes, go home, get back into workout clothes, and immediately go out for the run.  The only deviation from this plan was when, shortly after arriving home, I got a text from my friend saying she had gotten stuck at work and couldn't make the run.

So, I went out by myself.  Almost immediately the muscles in my legs started complaining, and I could feel that my pace wasn't as quick as I had hoped it would be.  Every uphill stretch felt extremely difficult.  I also knew that without the motivation of my friend running with me I wouldn't go as fast as if she had been there.  At first I was a little disappointed, but then I had a conversation with myself.  I reminded myself that during this training process there were going to be off-days and times when I wouldn't do my absolute best, but I shouldn't let these days bother me.  I decided that yes, my pace for this run was going to be slower but that was okay, and I wasn't going to stress about it.  Instead of increasing my pace, the goal of the run just because finishing it without stopping.

Given this pep-talk, you can imagine my surprise when, after getting back home and stretching, I finally looked at the stopwatch on my heart rate monitor and discovered that I had actually completed the run a minute faster than I had when I did the same run three days earlier.  It had taken me about 35 minutes (which I realize in the grand scheme of things isn't that fast, but it's pretty fast for me).  Not only is this a minute faster than Monday, but it's about 5 minutes faster than last week's 3-miler.  After preparing myself and coming to terms with a slower time, seeing a faster one was really exciting and motivating for me :).


3) Our first anniversary!

Kevin and me at the High Line Park in New York City last April.

Tomorrow marks a whole year of dating my wonderful guy :).  I almost can't believe it, it's gone by so fast!  The plan so far is we're going to go to the zoo, because that's where we were on date #5 when he asked me to be his girlfriend, and then we'll go to dinner somewhere fancy :).

4)  My new slow-cooker

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My kitchen woes are a post for another day; for now let's just say that I'm finding my lack of oven difficult.  When we first moved here I really thought not having one would be fine, but I find myself increasingly more sad about it.  I finally bought a slow cooker and cookbook at Target and I'm really excited to start using it, especially when I remembered that apparently you can bake things in one!  I might also start giving Kevin some more dinner-making responsibility, which will be nice :).

5) Once Upon A Time

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I am so beyond obsessed with this TV show.  I want to watch it all the time, and when I'm not watching it I'm thinking about watching it.  In fact, I probably would have gotten this post up last night if I hadn't been too busy watching 4 episodes of Once Upon A Time in a row on Netflix.  I love fairy tales, and I especially love re-tellings of fairy tales, so this show is perfect for me.  For anyone who doesn't know, the premise of the show is that all of the famous story book characters are put under a curse that separates all of them from the things they love.  They are trapped in time, unable to remember who they were, until a hero comes to save them - the catch here is that the hero isn't sure she believes in fairy tales.  It's got mystery and romance and murder and intrigue and awesome costumes and all that good stuff.  I also think that the way they approach each story is really interesting and clever.  The first 22 episodes are up on Nexflix (I think I'm on like #18 or something, I don't know what I'm going to do when I run out!).  Watch it!  It's so good!

WIAW #2!

So, I missed the last two What I Ate Wednesday sessions.  Both times I had the same lame excuse: I forgot to take pictures of most (if not all) of my food for the day.  But!  This time a miracle happened and I managed to plan ahead.  I took pictures of my meals yesterday, so today although I yet again failed to take even one picture, I can still jump in on this WIAW thing.  I know, I amaze even myself sometimes.  I guess we can make this somewhat relevant by saying I'm falling into the good habit of getting my act together.  Or something.

But anyhow, here's what I ate on Tuesday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal

My one confession is that I did forget to take a picture of my breakfast, so this is actually an older picture.  But, you know, it's oatmeal; how different could it actually look?  Yesterday's blend had protein powder, PB2, a chopped banana, a little maple syrup, and cinnamon.


Sort of snack: Good Earth Sweet & Spicy Blend tea

I wasn't hungry, but it was SUPER cold in the office so I did the tea thing.

Lunch:  Warm tomato, basil, and mozzarella sandwich

At home, I took a sandwich thin and drizzled a teaspoon of olive oil on each half, then sprinkled them with salt, pepper, and onion powder and stuck two basil leaves inside.  I packed the mozzarella cheese and tomato slices separately.  At work I melted the cheese onto the bread in the microwave then added the tomatoes.  It was one of the more lovely sandwiches I've had in recent memory, and it will definitely be happening again sometime soon.  I also had some grapes, although I forgot to photograph them...I guess that's confession number 2?

 After-lunch snack:  White Rabbit candy

I remember getting these from the Chinese food restaurant in the town where I grew up.  I loved them, but I hadn't seen them again until I found them in the local convenience store out here.  I was so excited to buy them!  Kevin isn't a huge fan, but I've been enjoying a few with my lunch for the last couple of days (Confession #3:  I totally just took this picture in my kitchen 5 minutes ago).

Pre/Post workout snack:  PureFit bar

I ate half of it before I went to TRX and the other half after.  This flavor is Granola Crunch.  I thought it tasted a fair amount like peanut butter, so I was kind of surprised not to see any peanut butter or peanuts in the ingredients list.


Dinner:  Huevos rancheros

This is like my favorite dinner ever.  I first saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen last winter, and since then I've made them so often that I've completely memorized the recipe (not that it's a particularly complicated recipe, but, you know.  Gotta enjoy the small things.).  Whenever I don't know what I want for dinner, huevos rancheros is usually the answer.  This time I topped them with chopped turkey bacon (so it was kind of like breakfast for dinner, which I also love), black beans, salsa, avocado, and ranch dressing.  It was so, so delicious, and I wish I had more right now.

Dessert:  Strawberry Yasso Greek yogurt bar

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Confession #4:  I totally forgot to take a picture of this too, and I'm too lazy to go take one now, so I grabbed this off the interwebs.  But hooray for more fro yo!  These bars also come in blueberry and raspberry flavors, but I think strawberry is the best.



Well...obviously I wasn't the best at remembering to take pictures this week.  But, I was certainly better than last week, so...improvement!  Onwards and upwards!