Easter Dinner

Our Easter dinner deserves its own post. It was that good.

Garlic soup, swiss chard and herb tart, stuffing (because I always want an excuse to eat it) and peach pie.

Sautéed chard and onions. Pretty, right?

Peaches

Garlic soup, in progress. Yes, there's bread in it. Best idea ever.

The disaster area AKA the kitchen. He's so messy.

So good!

We were stuffed so we went for a walk.

I offered to take a dog, I swear. I ended up with old man Brown when he got slow on the way home.

We played in the back yard. Lore chatted with the neighbor boys. She says they're her friends. I doubt they'd say the same but they humor her.

Then dessert! Peach pie with frozen yogurt in top.

The pie was my only contribution to the dinner. Paul made everything else. I was an excellent taste tester though.

Hope you had something yummy today too!

Happy Easter!

I'm not sure this egg dye will ever come off my fingers!
I have mixed feelings about the whole Easter bunny thing because that's not why we celebrate Easter in our family. I don't mind the Santa at Christmas thing, but Easter is too big of a deal to cheapen with silly things like that. Somehow, Lorelei already knows about the Easter bunny so we just went along with it, I don't want to ruin a three year olds fun. Actually, getting a basket full of candy and hunting for eggs is still fun, even if you don't think a silly bunny brought them. Shouldn't parents get some credit for the awesome stuff our kids get on holidays? Anyway, if you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter to you!

Down to running business. I'm having a hard time even remembering my runs from this week.
Tuesday: 6 easy
Wednesday: 5.3 Tempo
Thursday: 7.3 easy
Saturday: 13.1
Total: 31.7 miles for the week

I had some good runs...I was happy to see some in the 8s again.
Wednesday's run was at an 8:35 pace
Thursday's run was at an 8:58 pace, not bad for an easy run
Saturday's run took just over 2 hours, giving me hope that I can break 2 hours in the 1/2 in two weeks. I was suffering for the last 1.5 miles though. And my foot was really sore by the end.
My legs were dead tired on Friday so I had to cut my scheduled run out.
Some running related pics...

There was some good food...
Paul's Birthday cake, designed by Lorelei

Kale chips that were gone in a matter of minutes, there were also some roasted sweet potatoes and white bean burgers.

Leftover white bean burger with spinach and honey mustard on top for Easter breakfast? Yep. I loved it.

Post long run pizza and this...so good.

And some random pics from the week.

I'm obviously doing something wrong because I've never found riding a bike to be all that fun...

Anyone have any good runs this week?
Any really bad ones?

I don't know what to think anymore.

Well, it's been a pretty busy couple of days around here. I had lots of laundry and unpacking and house cleaning to do.

Let's get down to the important stuff, running and eating.
Yesterday I did manage to drag myself to the gym and run 6 miles. I'm starting to sound like a whiny baby because I'm complaining about 40 feeling too cold. Hello, I ran outside all winter, 40 is not cold! It was a nice easy run. I definitely earned my shower though, I was super sweaty.

I'm really happy to be home just so I can eat whatever I want to and I don't have to go anywhere to get it. Things like this...

Spinach, strawberry, mozz, cucumber, fresh basil, and balsamic vinegar.

And this...

I didn't really have a recipe for this. I kept seeing chicken enchilada bake recipes on Pinterest and decided to try it out without chicken until I realized that that's all they put in it besides cheese. America, you need to eat more veggies! I decided on black beans, corn, and sautéed peppers and onion in mine. I just layered corn tortillas, green enchilada sauce, the beans, corn, and peppers and some cheese. Oh, and fresh cilantro. It was good. That salsa verde was really good too, had some kick to it.

Tonight when Paul got home from work we went for a run. The entire time we were running I just kept thinking about how badly training for this half marathon has gone and how unprepared I am for it. I mean, I'm not worried about the distance, I'm just feeling like I won't be able to do it in a time that makes me happy. The run I was in the process of doing wasn't helping matters any. It was supposed to be an easy 5 miles but it wasn't feeling all that easy. It was also really windy. I just felt out of shape and disappointed in myself. When we got home and I logged my run I saw that my pace was 8:35, which is pretty dang good for me at this point in my training. I haven't seen those numbers since December I think. So maybe I don't suck as much as I thought. Or it was just luck. Time will tell.

I also did a quick ab workout and then some post run yoga. I figured I should probably do some good stretching since I was feeling a bit tight from my run. Fingers crossed I'm not sore tomorrow.

I had a cute little yoga buddy. She's the best.

Dinner was black bean taquitos. Black beans are the best!

I also made breakfast. Blueberry oatmeal muffins.

Here

is the recipe. It was really easy and they are good. I especially like them with some almond butter on top.

Since we're talking food, I keep hearing about people that are trying to use running to lose weight. While this can work, it's not a good idea to try to run lots of miles and seriously restrict your calories. If you're going to run long, please make sure you are fueling your body properly otherwise you're just asking for trouble. If you're just running for fitness a few miles a day is fine along with a diet, but if you run much more you need to be careful. I'm sick of hearing about all these stupid starvation diets. It's a slippery slope. Take care of yourselves!

DC-final day

Yesterday was our last day in DC.

It was Paul's last day of conference so we had to be home Monday.

Started the day with a run with Carrie. It was great weather for a run. The company was good too. I'm so glad Doug and Carrie could come for the weekend.

We walked around afterward and got coffee. Lunch was one of my favorite meals of the trip.

Those pizzas were amazing. I wish we'd found this place earlier in the trip. I would have eaten there a lot. There was also a yummy mixed green salad that I inhaled. Running on an empty stomach does that to you.

We had a great time in DC. I really like that city. I was sad to leave but I really missed Lorelei. And the dogs. We should have had them shipped down there.

There are a few good things about being home. I won't have to pay $4 for coffee every morning. I won't have so much fun everyday that my running suffers because my legs and feet are so tired I can hardly stand. And the kid and dogs. But that's really it.

Back to real life. Boo!

DC day 4

Hello!

Yesterday I got to hang out with Doug and Carrie all day!

We had crepes for breakfast. I got the honey, banana and almond powder crepe again. It was just so good.

Then we went and froze in line for about 45 minutes to get tickets to the Holocaust Memorial Museum for later that day. It was Paul's must do activity while in DC. You have to get there at 10 when it opens and wait in a very long line to get tickets to come back later. Tickets are free, but it's just very busy during this time of year. It's nuts. We'd already tried to go once before but after waiting in line for 45 min found out we couldn't go in. The lady told us it would take about 2 hours to go through and they close at 5:30, our tickets were for 3:30 so we figured it wouldn't be a problem.

Then we took the metro to the zoo.

The Panda totally made my day. Cutest bear I've ever seen.

And went back to the holocaust museum. No photos allowed there, which seems appropriate. The lady that told us it would take 2 hours was totally wrong and they kicked us out before we got through it all. BIG bummer.

That did leave time to go back to the American History museum and pick up where I left off earlier in the week. And mess around on the mall.

DC day 3

Hello! I tried to upload this yesterday but the Internet connection in the hotel is terrible. Just pretend like I got it up in time.

I slept in this morning and then went for a run. We ran around the mall again because we only had a little time until Paul had to be back.

We went to the Vietnam Memorial.

And then revisited the other fun things around the mall.

It was beautiful here today! I went to the American History Museum this afternoon. I didn't get through much of it because I only had a few hours but what I enjoyed the exhibits I saw.

Lunch was from the hotel deli. I didn't feel like going out to get anything else. Portobello mushroom panini for the win.

Afternoon wanderings.

Doug and Carrie came from PA for the weekend! We walked around and decided on Indian food for dinner. It was amazing.