Golden Trip

What’s up my dear readers?

Today I sent off my Florida State dietetic internship application.  One thing I can check off my list!

1. Complete and send off Florida State application.

2. Complete and send off my other 9 applications.

Yes, 9.  I realized that is beyond excessive and I should really really narrow it down.  But I’m having a hard time doing so.  Oy!

Last week might have been stressful and difficult, but Saturday afternoon I hit the road home!  My sister and brother were still home from school this weekend, and my family had plans to go to the Walt Disney museum in San Francisco.  While it wasn’t a huge deal to drive 3 1/2 hours for, I want to cherish all the family time I can get

The museum was interesting, but my family of course loved the Disneyland portion best.  We’re a huge Disneyland family.  The vacations are such a special memory.

From 2005

to 2008

to my first trip with friends only in 2009:

I love Disneyland!!!

Anyways, afterwards we drove a mile or so closer to the water and froze to death admired the view. 

Grant – don’t throw her in!!

 

 

 

Sure, my sister (who lives in Washington) and brother (who lives in Pennsylvania) gave me crap when I complained how cold it was.  But I was in a tank and hoodie – so used to 60/70 degree weather!!

We then went to pizza, and came home for cookies and pumpkin pie.  Please tell me why being at home seems to give me the excuse to eat everything in sight?  Because I’m not sure why.

This morning I had an orthotics appointment (praying this alteration will fix the problem and help my pain!), hit up the mall for returns, Target for necessities, and Panera for some caffeine and lunch.

I guess saying “To-Go” means “don’t cream cheese my bagel and let me do it myself.”  Disappointment.  I love bagels from bagel shops just because I love when they cream cheese it for you.  I swear it tastes different.

This happened.  But when I ran out of cream cheese, I didn’t finish the bagel.  It’s just not as good as pre-cream cheesed in the paper wrapping.  You know?

I also tried this bar on the drive up and thought I’d quickly tell you guys I liked it:

I’m not a big fan of cherry flavored things.  Okay that’s a lie – I love cherry candy and cherry sodas.  But cherry desserts/chocolates?  No thanks.  But this just tasted like a sweeter protein bar.  So good in my book.

Cookies & Cream is still my favorite.  And I don’t remember if I liked the Peanut Butter because I scarfed it down after my half-marathon.  But they are all tasty, and one of my favorite “protein bars” out there.

 

Sooooooo who’s watching the Bachelor this season? 

I’ve started to, but not sure if I’m super into it this year.  Especially because the past seasons I’d watch with my roommates and gossip/laugh about it.  Now I’m by myself…and it’s not as fun to make fun of it all alone. Hmmm.

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2 hour intervals

If I thought I was hungry the day of my half, I was possibly even more hungry the day after!  I literally ate every 2 hours, if not more. 

9:45 (luckily my job let me sleep in!) – whole wheat waffles topped with syrup & pumpkin cream cheese.

Mmmm cream cheese.  Who says it’s just for bagels?

With a small bit of Voskos Greek yogurt with pumpkin butter swirled in.

11:30 rolled around, and my appetite was high!  I had a small bit of a pesto turkey sandwich at work.  About half of a half…so pretty much a 1/4.

And then made my real lunch at 12:30 – Trader Joe’s black bean and corn enchiladas. 

There was no sour cream in the house, so instead I sprinkled it with feta cheese.  Which was a brilliant idea.

See the Diet Coke there in the background? 

Okay – let’s just pretend you didn’t.

Oh heyyyy.  Whats up.

My, what attractive bling you’re sporting.

I actually wasn’t super hungry come 2:30, but I needed a snack pre-work.

Bagel thin with strawberry jam

and pumpkin cream cheese.

But of course I was starving at work about 4:30.  I snagged some trail mix and chowed it down fast.

At 6:30, we breaked for dinner.  Nothing too appetizing on the hot foods bar, I stuck with a salad.  As my co-workers said “the mother of all salads.”.  Hey – I like ‘em big. (mixed greens, blue cheese, kidney beans, beets, pickles, sunflower seeds, raspberry dressing).

And a ton of rice.  I said I wanted a lot.  And they listened.  (Full size plate, btw)

8:30 rolled around, and 2 hours post-dinner I was hungry…right on schedule!

Apple (2x what’s shown – I already ate a few slices!) with laughing cow cheese, and peanut flour dip.

And around 11:30 I got out of bed after trying to fall asleep on an empty tummy.  It wasn’t working.

Cereal to the rescue!!

 

And then I was out like a light.  I assume we’re talking a burnt out light here.

 

Official race photos are in!  If I had known the color theme of the race was going to be hot pink, I’m not quite sure I would’ve worn it.  I definitely blend in!  not too many great pics – I’m rather small in a lot of them.

Front and center:

Raise the roof!

Right in the middle:

Almost done!  Holding onto my Ghiradelli chocolate as well.  That’s what’s important.

Right under the clock…clapping? haha

So hardcore…she told me to pose this way…not quite sure why.

More natural.  If you call standing stiffly with a fake smile natural.

 

I’m going to be honest here – as I was looking at these today, I wasn’t all too happy.  I said to myself that they weren’t “very flattering” and I found myself getting down on how I looked in these pictures.  (I’ve mentioned how I’ve recently had a good amount of weight gain, and how I’m dealing with that).  I was kind of put off by these.  I knew it wasn’t good of me to think these thoughts, but I couldn’t help it.

Later I realized how incredibly awful I was for critiquing myself the way I did.  These pictures demonstrate me running 13 miles for crying out loud.  And here I was critiquing my body.  These pictures prove the strength and stamina that my body has to offer.  How dare I think poorly of it? 

Just a little something I realized this afternoon…

Tell me one (or more!) thing your proud of your body recently accomplishing

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Happy Hour

Breakfast this morning was something I’ve had on my mind for a while.

Breakfast sandwich!

I microwaved 3 egg whites and layered it on a sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel which I spread pesto hummus & whipped chive cream cheese onto. Oh, and can’t forget the ketchup. This side looks pretty.

I had issues cutting it again.

The sweet and savory combo worked quite well and this was delicious. As was the addition of the pesto hummus & chive cream cheese. Happy belly.

I then headed to work where I made tons of money spent my paycheck on clothes. Ha. Whoops. In my defense it was all clearance items, and a few things I’ve been eyeing for a while. It was a bit depressing though when all my normal sizes didn’t fit at all. It’s one thing for my size to be tight, but quite another to have to go up 1 or 2 sizes. Seriously need to get my butt in gear here!

Lunchie chowed down during my 15 minute break:

• Chobani yogurt
• Kashi Go Lean cereal
• Strawberries (added post picture)
• Spoonful of PB

It’s hard to figure out an eating schedule with work. Sometimes I’m not hungry before work or during my break, but I know it’ll be a couple hours before I can eat again. So I know I need to eat something! Frustrating to make myself eat when I’m not hungry though!

Then it was time for happy hour!

Source – google images.

Starbucks frappucinos are all half off from 3-5 pm until May 17th! I know they are chemical laden and just plain not good for you. But who can deny themselves a frappie once and a while? 😉

Caramel light frappucino with non-fat milk. Perfect pre-run snack with a jolt.

My run was short but sweet.

3 miles in 28 minutes. I only did about 4-5 minutes of walk breaks throughout.

I’ve been building up the distance of my weekly “long run,” but keeping my other runs at 2.5-3.5 miles each. I really can’t wait until I can start adding miles to these runs too and head out for a 5-6 miler without a second thought. All in good time 🙂

Dinner was unpictured. I’m not joking when I say I was so starving, I started to eat it right off the pan, and then continued eating while talking to my roommates. And before I knew it, all my delicious parsnip fries were gone. But yup – parsnip fries!! Coated with nut butter. You betcha I’ll be making those again 😉

I also had the same salad I’ve been enjoying recently, which looked like this:

Finished off the texas caviar mix. You were quite tasty, but I probably wouldn’t buy again.

Oh can’t forget my little handful of granola in between my run and dinner 😉

Coconut Pomegranate Granola

• 3 cups oats
• 1/4 cup raisins or other dried fruit
• 1/2 cup nuts (I used almonds)
• 8 oz pomegranate juice
• 2 TB coconut oil
• 1/4 cup ground flax meal
• 1/4 cup Agave syrup

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine above ingredients and toss to coat
3. Spread on baking sheet and bake 25-30 minutes, tossing every 10 minutes or so.

So honestly, I had high hopes for this granola. But it never crisped up in the oven! Maybe it was because I used a container of multigrain oats. But it was still tasty 🙂

Are you a frappucino fan? Favorite flavor?

Caramel light frappie obsessed over here! Lovvvvve that caramel drizzle.

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One Tough Run

This was supposed to go up last night!

Cookies for breakfast? I won’t lie when I say I’ve been eating out of this bag of cookies everytime I’m in the kitchen. Inluding first thing in the morning. When they’re broken up crumbs, they don’t count as actual full cookies right? Even when you eat 5 small chunks that equal multiple cookies? 😉

Some better pre-run cookie fuel!

Breakfast cookie inspired:

• 1/3 cup oats
• Scoop soy protein powder
• 1 TB cocoa powder
• Handful of raisins
• Soymilk
• TB peanut butter

This morning I topped it with some honey almond cream cheese.

Messy plate. But yummy food 🙂

This morning’s run was one of my hardest runs ever. Sure, I might be saying that becaue I’m biased since I haven’t seriously ran in a year. But honestly – it was hard. After 2.5 miles, I felt like it had been forever. My hips were tight or sore or just plain angry – I could feel them yelling at me with each step. And the whole second half of my run, I was getting those cold chills. The ones I’m pretty sure you get when you’re low on electrolytes and fluids. It really was a huge mental game since I constantly wanted to stop – and often times did. But then I said “No Taylor, just go. This is when it counts the most.”

And of course, I didn’t push past my knee’s limit. I just tried to push past my mental limit.

Run stats:

Distance: 5.5 miles
Time: 55:10

I started out running 6-7 minutes; walking 2. Then towards the end it became run 2-3 minutes; walking 1-2.

I came home and the last thing I wanted to do was foam roll. All I wanted to do was collapse.

But I knew it was an important thing to do!

Don’t mind my awkward sweat mark.

I then stretched out my limber muscles. I discovered this awesome stretch the other day. Normally I don’t feel the stetch in other quad stretches. But I can really feel this one, especially along the outside of my quad.

Sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel with sundried tomato hummus and honey almond cream cheese. Not together, obvs.

I swear I didn’t eat any before this picture. I had some issues with the toaster.

• Foam rolling – 40 minutes
• Stretching – 10 minutes
• Icing – 20 minutes
• Food – priceless

Once I showered and got ready for work, I still felt hungry. Mangos are definitely one of the hardest fruits to cut and eat. But so good!

I snacked a lot at work.

Plus 2350853 million unpictured snacks.

Dinner was something I’ve been wanting to try forever. Parsnip fries!

Make that parsnip cheese fries. Tossed in olive oil, seasoning salt, and topped with cheese! Times this amount by…oh 5 😉

And a wrap grilled on the foreman (sorry – I was hungry 😉 )

Filled with hummus, BBQ sauce, and Pita Pals texas caviar mix.

Although I couldn’t taste the hummus at all with all the other flavors. Next time I’ll leave it out, or dip the wrap in it.

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Busy Busy Bee

Hello folks! I’ve been a tad busy over here the past couple days. I drove back to “school” (I still call it ‘school’ even though I technically don’t go to school anymore. It’s ‘home’ to me, but I feel almost like a traitor calling this my home, when I still call where my parents live ‘home.’ Know what I mean?).

So I drove back to school home this place where I live. Snack on the way?

Pomegranate tart topped with fruit & Cap’n Crunch? Yes please.

Tuesday’s nanny job was 11-6:00. But before that I obviously had to have breakfast.

Mmmm I love melon bowls. With yogurt, fruit & cereal. Oh and nut butter duhhh.

I had stomach issues all day, and wasn’t very hungry for lunch.

I swear it was tastier than that looks. Dark chocolate dreams PB, blueberry jam, and smushed ‘naner in a Flatout Wrap.

Tried to capture the inner goodies.

Once off at 6:00, I worked again from 7-11 (I used to get icees at 7-11 every Sunday after church. It was our “reward” for being good. I miss those icees) at Old Navy.

Quick dinner – southwestern soup and cheesy quesadilla. Which I dumped in the soup. Great idea.  Enough sour cream there? 😉

So what if I was in such a hurry I tore my quesadilla into strips rather than cut it? Tasted the same.

I then rocked out at Old Navy for the night while American Idol, Glee and The Hills are played without me.  😦 Thank goodness for TV online.

Now you know I love my melon bowls, but I’ve never done anything besides yogurt + cereal + fruit combos in them.

That is definitely not yogurt. Or fruit. Maybe a little cereal.

Overnight oats! Which I dumped into my second half of honeydew in the morning.

• 1/3 cup oats + 1/4 cup wheat bran + 2/3 cup almond milk
• Scoop of protein powder
• Cinnamon & maple syrup
• Raisins
• Couple spoonfuls of yogurt
• Nature’s Path pumpkin granola

Okay okay so I lied. There is yogurt in there. And cereal (oats & granola). And I guess the honeydew counts as fruit. But still…it’s different! And delicious.

Can’t wait to try hot oats next time!

Lunchage was frozen (obviously not eaten frozen) butternut squash lasagna.

And afternoon munchies of frozen green peas + a kiwi.

And iced coffee in my new cup.

I don’t know if anyone remembers, but I was stoked when I found the insulated Starbucks cups in a store. But I dropped it and was devastated 😦 My roommate got me a new one for my birthday! It’s not Starbucks (it’s Jamba Juice), but it does the job 😀

And dinner was eaten in 2 parts.

Soup at around 6:00 when feeding the kids.

And “pancakes” around 8:30 when I got home.

Using this recipe.

Today I finally have a bit of down time, and am excited for a run! Unfortunately I left my knee brace at home (the parents home, not school home.  Oh wait, deja vu here), so I’m testing out the waters and see how it goes without it. The physical therapists have all said that the knee brace does nothing to help my condition, I’ve just used it anyways 😉 So we’ll see! I’m attempting 4-4.5 miles. An increase of .5-1 mile from last week! Eee I’m excited 🙂

Pre-run fuel of 1/2 hemp bagel spread with DCD PB and banana slices. I ate the rest of the banana with PB on the side.

All right here I gooooooo!!!

PS: Can I just say that foam rolling is ridiculously painful after taking 3-4 days off? Last night I could just feel the knots in my IT band, and I had to get down and foam roll them out while watching Law & Order SVU. I had to bite onto my sweatshirt while doing it – ouchie!! But so worth it 🙂

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Foam Party and Giveaway Winner!

No not this type of foam party.

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More like this type of party:

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Looks happenin’.

But seriously, I can’t even begin to tell you how excited and happy I am. As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been starting to incorporate running back into my routine starting about 4 weeks ago. I started with 2 minutes run/2 minutes walk, then gradually increased to 5 run/2 walk (all of this on the treadmill). Unfortunately, my knee still hurt. Although not incredibly bad, I couldn’t deny the pain was there.

Around this time I also started foam rolling after every run, and on most of my days off. Let me tell you, it hurt. Especially my IT band and parts of my quads. I could feel those tight knots hanging out in my muscles!

I also went and got refitted for shoes as part of my birthday present (thanks Nana!), and got a completely new style of shoes. The days after my first run in these, my knee was throbbing. But eventually it died down. And I’ve gone on 3 runs since then, and here’s the exciting part – my knee is almost pain free!! Okay, it’s not 100% pain free (it hasn’t been 100% at all in the past year), but it’s almost as pain free as it was when I was taking 2 months off. I’d say it’s at a 2 or 3 on a scale of 10. And that’s incredible considering I’ve been running – outside.

This is amazing amazing to me. I know it’s not just the new shoe style. But I believe it’s the combination of foam rolling and the shoes. While still painful at some points, foam rolling has gotten so much easier and I can tell I’m massaging out those tight muscles. All I can say is, if you’re having some sort of knee pain – try foam rolling!! I spent the past year going to multiple doctors, x-rays, MRIs, and physical therapists, and I can’t believe it’s foam rolling that’s finally making a difference! I only wish I knew to do this all throughout my long distance running to help prevent injury.

I usually spend 15-25 minutes (depending on how tight my muscles are, and how much time I have) foam rolling focusing on my IT band

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Hamstring

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Quads

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Adductor (this might look wrong, but my inner leg muscles are super tight)

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And even sometimes my hip.

After foam rolling, I also stretch for 5-8 minutes, and ice my knees for a good 20 minutes.

Moving on from my foam roller infomercial…

Yesterday before my run, I chowed down on a sprouted cinnamon raisin bagel with whipped cream cheese and Crofter’s jam.

Yum – these bagels tasted just like a bigger Ezekiel english muffin.

I then went on a 3 mile run (5 min run, 2 min walk intervals). My other two runs this week were .5 mile more than the week before (making them 3.5 miles each), so I knew I needed to keep this one closer to 3. Bringing this week’s total to: 10 miles. Crazy how my weekly total is the same distance as how much one run used to be on anyday of the week. I need to carefully follow the 10% rule or increase my mileage based on how I feel.

I’ve been craving a nice fresh salad lately too.

• Sauteed Costco chicken patty (thew away the container – can’t remember the flavor) and onions
• Craisins
• Kooloos
• Balsamic dressing

I then ran out the door to use my free Coldstones birthday coupon that was going to expire! Cakebatter + Twix

However, due to my “no sweets for the day” challenge, I didn’t eat any, just brought it home to refreeze for later 😉

I did, however, pick up a Mango Mantra flavored Jamba Juice right next door.

And then quickly hurried to work, where I helped myself to more salad.

I think this was from Costco. It was okay – but I think it needed more flavor, and I didn’t like the texture of the lentils. Or maybe it was the split peas. It was also quite calorie dense due to lots of oil. I’d love to recreate something like this on my own!

And a staple of mine:

Dinner was unpictured, but it was another pita pizza and salad.

And now, the winner of the Green Giant/My Blog Spark pack is #1, Cara who said We are eco-friendly by only having 1 car between the two of us, and using reusable bags while shopping!”

Congrats Cara!! Email me your address at TaydorTott@gmail.com and I’ll have your package sent out to you asap 🙂

Have any of you tried foam rolling and had success with it?

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On the run and a Green Giveaway

Today’s eats have been eaten on the run.

Quick breakfast eaten right before my run – 1/2 hemp bagel with almond butter and crofter’s jam.

I then ran 3.5 miles in 34 minutes. Plus 7 minutes warmup and about 5 minute cooldown. Foam rolling, stretching, and icing.

I’m trying to concentrate on taking shorter strides during my runs, and incorporating walking breaks every 5-8 minutes. Today’s run was an increase of 1/2 a mile.

Lunch was then quickly devoured as I was running to job#1 (nannying).

Roasted cauliflower (seasoned with olive oil, garlic salt, paprika & curry) with ketchup.

And in between showering, blow-drying, and straightening the hair, I managed to whip together a quick pizza and stick it in the oven.

Pasta sauce, Italian blend cheese, and garlic powder on a WW pita.

Please excuze my rugged nails.

Dinner was then consumed on the run drive to job#2 (Old Navy).

Leftover butternut squash lasagna (I froze some last week). But since I was driving, this is an old picture 😉

I got home from my Old Navy shift exhausted and hungry. I finally got to collapse and eat rather than eat on the run 😉 Enter unpictured protein powder PB mixture (similar to Holly’s no bake cookies) that I wolfed down.

Oh and some of my new purchases (on “introductory price clearance” at Vons):

Helloooooooo caramel

And

ummmmmmmmmmm pretty sure one of my new favorite flavors ever. Tastes like cookies n’ cream but with cookie dough instead of oreo chunks. Um yum.

I had about a serving total amongst both of them.

In more green news, I recently received a “Seeds of Change” package from Green Giant/My Blog Spark!

Included was:

• A reusable tote bag (love bringing these to the grocery store!)
• A mini-herb garden
• An eco-friendly bamboo spoon set
• And a coupon for a free package of Green Giant frozen vegetables!

  

I used my Green Giant coupon on a basil flavored vegetable package which I am excited to try out!

I’ve always wanted to grow my own herbs and vegetables! So much cheaper and earth friendly 🙂

In the spirit of the 40th anniversary of Earth Day (this coming Thursday, April 22nd!), Green Giant and My Blog Spark have offered to give away a “Seeds of Change” prize pack to one of you!

If you’re interested in winning your own package:

1. Leave a comment below stating one way you make an effort to be eco-friendly!

2. Tweet about this giveaway and leave a separate comment when you do so.

You have until Thursday, April 22nd at midnight and I’ll announce a winner on Friday!

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Help me choose!

Hello my lovelies! I was super excited to get going this morning because I had something special to use – new running shoes!!

My grandma bought me new shoes for my birthday, so I went and got re-fitted yesterday. First, they filmed me running on the treadmill (which I’ve never had done before), and then analyzed my gait.

She then filmed me again running in their normal running shoes with my orthotics in.

Now I’ve been running in Saucony Stabils, with absolute maximum support and motion control, for the past 3-4 years. The girl who was helping me was quite surprised I was running in such supportive shoes, especially with my orthotics. She said I really only needed mild to moderate support shoes along with my orthotics to fix my pronation.

I then tried on a ton of shoes. I also have a very narrow heel, so many shoes (especially Nikes) slip! The pair I really wanted also didn’t come in a big enough size (I’m size 11-11.5! Bigfoot over here). I ended up with my some new Brooks!

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I’ve never ran in Brooks shoes before, so we’ll see how this goes!

This morning I had 1/2 a hemp bagel spread with almond butter and Crofter’s jam shortly before heading out.

I tried out some soynut butter which I was sent to review on my bagel first.

But I just couldn’t get into it. I’ve been trying it on multiple occasions in all different ways. It tastes exactly like soynuts – which I do like! But I’m just not a huge fan of the nut butter version. Even though it does have excellent stats! Check out the fiber and protein!

I’d still recommend trying it out if you like soynuts! Tastes just like it.

Post 3 mile run, 25 minute foam roll & stretching came lunch.

Leftover pineapple, black beans and chicken.

With rice.

Yummy yummy in my tummy!

But still very hungry hungry an hour later.

A serving of yogurt and Kashi blueberry flakes cereal.

Forgot I had this sample from forever ago!

Followed by an apple of sorts.

Other afternoon snacks at work consisted of –

Iced SF hazelnut coffee with half & half

Cranberry heart thrive

And a banana to tide me over until dinner.

And oh what a yummy dinner it was!

Buttnernut squash lasagna (I’ll post the recipe soon)

Deeeeeeeeeelicious 😀

The rest of the night was full of my future boyfriend Idol,

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Strawberries

And GLEE!!!

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Now I need your help!!

Now it’s vote time! I’ve been shopping for a birthday dress for this Friday’s celebrations 😉 But I can never make decisions – it’s hard! So I’m asking you all to give me your opinions. Please ignore my dirty, hat hair! And my awkward looks since I didn’t know what face to make.

Option A: (closed eyes!) Yes, it has a zipper down the front – odd but I like it! And the whole body portion is kind of scrunchy. With a frilly bottom.

Option B: Looks short on the right side, but I think it was bunched up a bit. Also I was obviously caught in the middle of awkward laughing. Ummm…I obviously don’t channel Miss Kailey well.

And here I slouch…

All right peeps, opinions opinions! And if you feel the need, you can give me your reasonings 😉 I am quite indecisive, haha.

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Hypocrite Runner

As much as I say “rest rest rest!” if you’re in pain, I’ve started to get back into running. It’s now been a year since I started to experience knee pain and stopped my marathon training. I then went through periods of cross-training, then absolute rest, then more cross-training, then easy treadmill running, track running, and finally a period of 2 1/2 months of absolute rest again. Even after 2 months of complete rest, my knee would still hurt as soon as I did anything activity related (even easy cross-training!). I’ve seriously gotten to the point where I just don’t care, and just want to run even if I have some pain.

Yes, hypocrite runner over here 😦

Today I completed my 4th run in the past couple weeks – outside!! I’ve kept my runs short (about 3 miles of run/walk intervals) with lots of cooldown, stretching, foam-rolling and icing. I’m not going to say I’m pain free. Not at all. But the truth is, I’d rather run with pain than not run at all. **Slap hand**

I guess we’ll see how it goes…

In foodie news, I’ve been starving the past few days! Nonstop hungry (I think I know what part of the month it is, eh?).

Breakfast this morning was slightly small, but chowed down ASAP.

Peach Chobani with sliced bananas, cereal (added after picture), and almond butter.

Then went on my run

• Warm-up/stretches at home. Then .25 mile walk
• 3 miles run 5 minutes, walk 2 minutes (completed in 30 minutes so faster than 10 min/mile pace. I think I should slow it down for the time being to save my knee)
• ~0.7 mile cooldown walk
• 15 minutes foam rolling, stretching, then ICE!!!

Post run lunch:

French Meadow hemp bagel – 1/2 with chive cream cheese. 1/2 with almond butter & Crofter’s jam

And a Funfetti mix cookie my sister mailed me.

My dearest sister mailed me an early birthday package yesterday which included these cookies, 6 cards (she thought it’d be more fun that way), and a painting she painted!

My favorite trees ever – Cherry Trees!!!

My sister is wonderful – I love her soooo much!!

Only 3 hours after lunch, I was starving again. Enter pumpkin smoothie.

And literally a whole pint of strawberries (drizzled with about 2 servings of almond butter post-picture).

Dinner was quick and frozen but delicious. Healthy Choice pumpkin squash ravioli.

Ooooooooooooo M. G. One of the best frozen meals ever. The ravioli filling was sweet – tasted like candy! For the occasional frozen meal, this was a good choice 🙂

Plus multiple handfuls of chips.

And literally 1 1/2 hours post dinner, I was ready to raid the fridge again. My roommate was also making brownies for her friend and the lingering smell didn’t help 😉

Um, hello roommates?? Frozen yogurt time?! Bali’s (our local self-serve froyo place), it has been too long.

That would be cake batter (yes – best flavor!) loaded with oreo pieces, a mini Reese’s, a bit of cookie dough & chocolate fudge.

I could’ve gotten tart +fruit combo, but sometimes you just need to go all out 😉

In other (not so pleasant) news, I got pretty sick last night 😦 Not sure if it was something I ate (um frozen yogurt maybe?). I still feel a bit off, but actually was a bit hungry this AM and managed some toast (unpictured…sorry). I originally planned to swim today, but I don’t see that happening. Hopefully I feel better by tonight to make it to my school’s baseball game against UC Santa Barbara!

Question: What is your favorite spring tree/flower?? I love love love cherry trees. And they only bloom here in California around President’s Day (in February) for a few weeks! So short lived 😦

Also…

Any fun weekend plans?!

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April Beginnings

Happy first day of April!!

I know it’s April Fool’s Day, but I always like to think of the first day of April as something more – it’s definitely one of my favorite months of the year. Things I’m looking forward to this month:

1. Easter – one of my favorite holidays. A rich family member always throws a giant party in their beautiful yard. This year, they’re not having it, but I still love Easter. And still hunt for eggs! 😉

2. Brooks & Dunn and Jason Aldean concert at the end of the month!

3. Finally starting to feel like spring. Beautiful weather. Yes, there’s stll rain, but there’s also the occasional warmth for shorts!

4. Birthday month!! On April 15th at approximately 10:59 pm a little youngin’ who now goes by the name of Taylor was born. Thank goodness. What would the world be without her?! 😉

My stomach has still been off from Vegas (drinking and all that food obviously doesn’t agree with me. haha). And my appetite was finally back today.

Started the morning off with a bit of freshly cut pineapple.

And a little bit later, made a yogurt mess with this new yogut I picked up to try!

It was good! Not quite as creamy as Chobani. But still delicious. It has a higher calorie content than other Greek yogurt brands, but I’m impressed it has more calcium!

• Nature’s path Strawberry Optimum cereal
• TJs almond butter with flaxseed
• Blueberry jam

My mess also contained a bit of this delicious find I picked up on sale at Target. I’ve been snacking on this stuff nonstop in the past week. It’s madly delicious and addicting!

It’s really pretty much just super sweet granola with a few random cereal flakes 😉

I then bandaged up my blisters, squeezed my feet into my shoes, and tested out my feet at the gym.

3.3 miles total (including warm-up & warm-down) of running/walking intervals.

Good news?

Blisters or knee didn’t hurt too badly on the treadmill at all!

Bad news?

Afterwards, my pinky toe hurt like hell and it was starting to bleed. Um whoops.

Post-gym, I was hungry!! Welcome back appetite!

1/2 of a French Meadow Bakery hemp bagel spread with some cream cheese and Crofter’s jam.

A big thank you to French Meadow Bakery! I’ve been dying to try these bagels for while and they didn’t disappoint. With 13 grams of fiber and 19 grams of protein, these bagels pack a big punch!

Looks at the seedy goodness.

Chewy and nutty tasting 🙂

I also had the rest of my Brown Cow Greek yogurt (~ 1/2 cups worth) mixed with pineapple and a scoop of almond butter.

Not gonna lie when I say I’ve eaten almost the entire pineapple today. And will probably finish it off after dinner 😉

And starving only 2 hours later, had some carrots and dip (as always, unpicture 😉 ).

And dinner was giant stir fry of mixed veggies and chicken. With a bit of chow mein noodles on the side 😉

What are you looking forward to in April?

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