kale salad, chicken salad, and chopped salad

Let's jump past the hurdle of where I have been and just get into it, shall we? I won't waste your time with all of my boring runs and meals, I will just hit the highlights.

I have been doing really well with my weekday runs. The cooler weather has helped my motivation and gotten both Mike and I out for evening runs and out of bed for morning ones. My long runs are where I have suffered. Since I ran those 7 miles a few weeks ago, I haven't done another long one. I have been out of town or had people in town, so I just haven't had any interest in getting them done. I am getting back into it this weekend though, no excuses.

My half marathon training has me doing 3 miles on Tuesdays and Thursdays and 5 miles on Wednesdays. I usually play with my days a little bit and this week, I ran 3 miles on Wednesday and 5 miles this morning with the plan to run 3 miles tomorrow morning. But that will depend on which day this weekend that I plan on running 9 miles, because I definitely want a rest day before that. Either way, I am feeling pretty good about my runs and hoping that I can get back on track with the longer ones.

In some other fun running news, I have gotten a new pair of shoes! I loooved my Nike Relentless shoes and was really sad that it was time to let them go, but they were really worn out and actually started to give me major blisters from the worn material. I actually think that the blisters were the cause of my knee injury that I had talked about. I am pretty sure they made me shift my stride a bit, which misaligned my legs, so it was definitely time for a new pair of sneaks.

I took them out on a little mud trail for their last hoorah. :)

Mike and I decided to take advantage of a going out of business sale at one of the local running stores. They had running shoes for 50% off their original price, so we each got a pair for the price of one. I also scored a pair of thick running leggings for under $20, which will be perfect for winter running.

TWINSIES! :)

I am still getting used to my shoes since they are waaay more cushioned than my Nike's were. They are breaking in nicely, but I have noticed that the thick running socks that I needed to wear before, are almost too much for these shoes. Which is good since I have a ton of thin running socks that I couldn't wear before if I didn't want to get blisters.

Let's move on to the good stuff.... FOOD! Last weekend we spent our time with my favorite family, my sister and her hubby and kids. We had a great weekend just hanging out and playing with the kiddos and were sad to leave on Sunday. Before we left, my sister talked about prepping all of her lunches and dinners for the week to make life a little easier. When I got home, I decided to do the same by prepping a kale salad and some chicken salad for quick and easy lunches. I am so happy that I did!

Here are the recipes along with an extra recipe that I made a few weeks ago.


First up...  

 
Massaged Kale Salad! Seriously, I love kale. And I am not just saying that because it is really, really good for you, I loooove this stuff. The flavor is unlike any other lettuce and it is sooo filling!

Clean the kale using a salad spinner or paper towels
Cut off any bulky stems
Massage for a few minutes with just a little bit of olive oil. Start off with just a tablespoon and then add more as needed. You want the leaves to soften up, but not become soggy (which is what happened to mine).
Add a little bit of lime or orange juice to give it a citrus-y taste
Add in a handful of dried cranberries and shaved carrots
Top it off with just a sprinkle of sea salt and you are ready to go!

Health(ier) Chicken Salad

Buy a rotisserie chicken (like I did) or cook 2 large chicken breasts until fully cooked
Chop the chicken and add to a large bowl, then add:
1/3 cup plain greek yogurt
1/3 cup mayonnaise made with olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 apple, cleaned and chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste

Mix together and enjoy! We have been using whole wheat pitas and it has been fantastic!

Chopped Salad 

Mike wanted a chopped salad recently, so instead of buying all the ingredients separately, I just went to Harris Teeter and grabbed a few things from their salad bar. It made this meal super easy to make and saved me a lot of money by only getting what I needed for a few salads.

1 head of romaine lettuce, cleaned and chopped


1 tomato, chopped
2 tablespoons blue cheese crumbles
2 tablespoons real bacon crumbles
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 tablespoons honey dijon mustard dressing
2 thinly sliced steaks (1 extra for the pups)
Sea Salt and Pepper

Season your steaks with a little sea salt and pepper. Grill in a pan until desired temperature (I tried to do medium rare, but it was pretty difficult with these thin steaks). I added my romaine to a bowl and tossed with the dressing before adding the rest of the ingredients. Then just pile everything on top of your lettuce, leaving the steaks for last.

Since the steak was cheap and they boys were good, I made them their own steak to share. It is amazing how they just seemed to know that I had made them one.

Well, I hope this was a nice long post to catch you up on things. I hope to be able to post again tomorrow! Have a great end of your week!

fascinating

I had to do some more bland rice and chicken cooking again this week, which can only mean one thing...

Somebody is sick. But this time it wasn't Franklin, it was our rock-gut pup, Deluca.

I feel like I am dealing with children, and I realize that kids get sick 25,643 more times than dogs, but I am over it. Mike said to me at 4 am when we were taking care of sick Deluca, "Do you know what our friends are doing right now? Not this." He is so right. But, we love them, and they are our 'kids,' so I guess we have to take the bad with the good. Deluca is already feeling better and pretty pissed that we have been skimping on the food portions.

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So, now that I have decided on which half marathon to do, I have created a fun calendar to keep me on track. I am not really a fan of doing some things electronically, so I used some good old paper, pens, and markers to create an exciting calendar. I love my iPhone and I love all that it does do for me, but there are a few things that I would just rather have on paper... to do lists, shopping lists, etc... just not the same when you can't cross them off with a pen.

The awesome news is that my sister AND my mom have decided they are running with me! When I texted my mom to see if she was around that weekend and that I might come stay and run in the half, she responded; "will try to get ready to do it with you!" Rock on mom, rock on. I called my sister out on the blog the other day about running with me and she commented; "challenge accepted." I think it is going to be so much easier to train, knowing I will be running with them. And how awesome will it be to finish a half marathon with 2 of the most incredible women in my life? My family really is the best.

Now we just have to get ready!

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I am a bridesmaid in a good friend's wedding in 2 weeks and she is having a bridal luncheon the day before the wedding. In a way to have all the bridesmaids stand out from the rest of the ladies, they have asked us all to wear fascinators. Think Kate Middleton...

Source

How fun is this?? I spent days (seriously) searching for the perfect fascinator and finally ordered one. I chose a total rando color, and I hope that whatever dress I decide to wear will look OK with the one I ordered.

I can not wait to see all the ladies in their fancy head wear. What a fun way to make a wedding event more festive? The pictures are going to be epic and I can only imagine what some of the other gals will show up with. I just spent an amazing weekend with those ladies in Vegas and they are all so much fun! It is going to be hysterical. I think I might have to suggest this idea when it comes time for another of my best friend's weddings... cough.lindsay.cough. :)

Have a great weekend!

easy guacamole

We are still sort of recovering from a relaxing weekend at the lake. A friend invited us to his family's house at Lake Gaston, so we headed there as soon as we got off last Friday night. Though it was super relaxing and tons of fun, we didn't get nearly enough sleep and probably drank a little too much, leaving us feeling pretty groggy to start the week.

We had a blast boating, swimming, eating lake food (lasagna), and just enjoying some friends. We have all decided we plan to make this a monthly trip... we will see how that goes.

 
The pups are also recovering from a weekend at the lake. Deluca would not stay out of the water. I have never seen him so happy and puppy like before! He was dancing around all weekend, getting into mischief and getting yelled at way more than he ever has. I don't know what happened, he seemed to have switched places with Franklin for a weekend.

Let's see, he barked his head off, refused to stay out of the water, even when we needed him to dry off, swam his little tail off, and had one episode of jumping out of the boat to chase after a cat. All the while, my perfect angel, Franklin, was off the leash, prancing around and listening to every word we said. What??!!!

Needless to say, the two of them crashed on the way home.

It was a good weekend for the whole family. :)

When we got home from the lake, we came home to a produce box full of awesome veggies. This was, by far, one of the best boxes we have gotten.

Local blueberries, local white eggplant, local kale, local sweet potatoes, grapefruits, lemons, cilantro, tomatoes, green pepper and ripe avocado. Since I wasn't in the mood to cook a big meal, I immediately whipped up some easy guacamole and toasted a whole wheat tortilla to use for dipping. Since I knew that wouldn't fill me up, I also fried 2 eggs.

Anytime I make homemade guacamole, I get some kind of comment about how difficult it must be. It is soooo the opposite! It tastes 10 times better than store bought, and is so easy! Let me share the quick  and easy recipe with you.

Easy Guacamole
2 ripe avocado
1 large fresh tomato or 2 roma tomatoes, chopped, liquid drained
1/8-1/4 cup red or white onion, chopped
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
juice of 1 lime
pinch sea salt
pinch black pepper
pinch garlic powder

Using a fork, mash your avocado. Add in the chopped tomato and onion, a few good squeezes of your lime, and your spices to taste. Voila... guacamole.

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I am finally feeling rested enough to start getting back to my running this week. I have a BIG birthday weekend coming up, so I want to try to get at least 3 runs in before Saturday.

Have a great Tuesday!

ummmm...... hi?

awkward pause.... 

Remember me?

I know it has been a while, but I am hoping things are starting to get back to normal for me. It has been pretty crazy, but I really think this blog helps to keep me on track, so I don't want to give it up just yet.

Wanna know what I have been up to besides working my butt off? Allow me to share...

Along with putting in some serious extra hours at work, I am pretty happy to report that my eating and running have remained the same as usual. I have been getting at least 4 runs in per week, trying to keep up with my push ups and sit ups (not doing so good with that), eating relatively healthy, and spending lots of quality time at home with Mike and the pups.

 

You will understand the massive amount of drinking after reading below...



Wanna know what these guys have been up to lately?

Let's begin with Franklin...

 

That damned dog.

And Deluca? Well, he has just been sweet as pie. :)

Always allowing Franklin to lay, jump, hump, kick, or cover him in mud.

Does anyone remember why we got a 2nd dog? I sure don't.

Aaaannnnndddddd..... I'm BACK!!