Where's the Beach?

TDay Recap Thanksgiving day started off by prepping food: caramelizing onions, chopping up bell peppers and onions, blanching green beans, and roasting butternut squash. After doing all of that, Jason and I set out for a run. The plan was 6-7 miles. Jason dropped off at 6 and I finished up another mile for 7. Then we had to quickly get cleaned up and on the road. At least our families all are all in the same city - an hour away. It definitely makes it convenient but also hectic sometimes. My mom's husband had to work so rather than her be alone, my sister, mom and I had a light lunch at my sister's house. I found a recipe on Pinterest that I thought would be great - Penne with Butternut Squash and Kale . Mom brought the kale from her garden, my sister provided the GF pasta, and I made the butternut squash and caramelized onions. I tried to stick to the recipe but made a few changes like adding in chickpeas for protein and basil. I also sprinkled in some locally made goats ...

Happy Running Today Jason and I set out for another 3.5 mile run at lunch. The sun was out and so was the wind. Thankfully it helped keep it cooler, but it made running one particular direction a pain in the butt (literally for me LOL). Luckily, the traffic gods were on our side today, so not a lot of stopping and waiting around. This meant we were able to keep a much steadier pace. The first mile we clocked at 8:48 and then steadily increased for negative splits of 8:34 and 8:17. I forgot to lap the last half mile though, but the total average pace was 8:33. Not too shabby. In fact, I'm really proud of that. And you know what, it wasn't that painful. I mean, it wasn't easy breezy; I wasn't chit chatting that's for sure. I definitely worked for the speed and had to really concentrate on not giving in. But it felt much better, much more my natural pace again. So that made me one happy runner girl today. Of course, I could attempt the same thing Saturday and be ...

Early Morning Cooking & Workout Switch Up This morning I ended up waking up around 7:15. I had hoped to sleep in a little bit, but I was wide awake. I had plenty to get done, so it worked out nicely I suppose. By 11 am I had made 2 pizza doughs, marinara sauce, and prepped all veggies for tonight (which I'll get to in a minute). It was really cold and windy, but sunny at least. Supposed to be in the mid-50's. I was trying to get myself psyched up for our long run. My half marathon training plan had me at 12 miles, but with my recent food pain, Jason and I decided it'd be best to start at 10 and do 11 tops depending on how I was feeling. I kept watching the weather, refreshing to check the temps and the wind. Forecast included up to 18 mph winds. Ugh. Not fun to deal with for 10 miles. Not even fun for 3 miles really. After lots of debating both in my head and out loud, Jason and I settled on gym today and run tomorrow. I don't know why this stressed me out, b...

Saturday Recap Not only did I have an absolutely perfect Saturday, I did myself a huge favor and pretty much logged off the computer the entire weekend. It was quite liberating actually. Saturday, my sis made it to my house around 9:30 and we got ourselves ready for a run. Unfortunately, the sun decided to stay hidden (though it was supposed to have been sunny all day). Sarah is more of a run/walker, and so is a friend of ours. Sarah and I started at the Big Dam Bridge and headed towards the newer bridge (Two Rivers) where our friend C was going to meet up with her so they could explore the new trails. Sarah has gone down to the river trails with me before, but this was before the new bridge to the other trail system. I got in a solid 8 miles. I had the strange sense of guilt (irrational of course) for not getting double-digit miles done. Thankfully, I listened to my rational side and made my loop back sooner than later. The last mile was quite painful, so I really am glad I did...