Exciting News!

Half marathon #2 here I come!

 

I’ve been thinking about this race a lot. There were some personal reasons why I wasn’t sure if I wanted to sign up, but the runner inside would not be ignored!

 

I am in good shape for training since I started a long run schedule last week when I was strong for over 6. I also am not going to put too much pressure on myself to break my PR, I just want to do the best I can.

 

Another cool thing is that the race is just a few weeks before my 30th bday. What a great way to celebrate!

My friend Katie who ran the Philly half with me is running the Suntrust full marathon. It’s her first marathon! I’m excited to be running with her on that day!

Hope you guys are excited as I am for another half marathon training journey!

 

In other news, I’m off for Day #2 of student teaching.  I’ve got my buffalo tofu salad wrap, a berry yogurt, carrot sticks, string cheese and clementines.

I loooove my built lunch bag!

See ya after school!

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Day 1

Woohoo! I survived my first day on the "job"!

 

Despite an early morning water main break at the school, a substitute who didn’t really know what to do with me, and a classroom that barely reached 50 degrees, it was all good!

Seriously, it was!

 

I’m so tired now though- I really forgot what it feels like to be on the go from around 5am until 7:30 when my class ended.  Back in my corporate days this was my normal schedule.

 

Guess I better toughen up!

 

Dinner tonight came together late, but it hit the spot.

 

A simple bulgur bowl with the grain on the bottom, roasted broccoli and cauliflower and baked buffalo tofu on top.

I probably could have eaten the whole block of tofu, but I decided to use the rest to make buffalo tofu salad for lunch tomorrow.

Trying to plan ahead!

 

Do you make your lunch the night before?

Tofu eaters, how much of the block do you usually eat in one serving?

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First Day of School!

It’s here! Finally!

 

My first day of student teaching is finally here. I’m nervous and excited all at the same time. Unfortunately my cooperating teacher is out sick today so I’ll be spending the first day with a sub, but oh well, this might actually help me get even more comfortable in my surroundings.

 

This morning I woke up at 5:15 and hit the gym for a quick treadmill speed workout. I felt kind of crazy doing it, but it really helped me to shake off some of the nerves.

 

Now I need to go and finish getting ready. My lunch is all packed and my outfit is all picked out.

Breakfast isn’t made yet, but coffee certainly is.

Tonight I have class as well so I will report back later on how it went.

 

Oh and incase you didn’t hear….my team is going to the superbowl!!

GO STEELERS!!

 

See you tonight!!

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A lot

A lot…. of driving

 

A lot….of memories shared

 

A lot….more tears then I expected

 

A lot….of FOOD

 

A lot….of overdoing it

 

A lot….of trying not to care

 

A lot….of happiness to be home

 

A lot….more blogging to come this week!!

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I’m here

Hey guys, just stopping in to say a quick hello. Today we’ve just been helping out Joe’s family and getting things ready for tomorrow’s viewing.

 

People have been stopping by left and right so it’s been busy, but nice too.

 

Joe and his brother spent a lot of time last night looking through pictures to make a collage to bring to the funeral home.

 

It always amazes me how even during these sad times so many laughs, good stories and fun memories are shared.

 

I took some time out this afternoon for a nice, slow, long run. I finished 6.3 miles in about an hour. It was snowing but the cold air felt good and I just zoned out.

 

These kinds of runs can be so soothing, so cathartic. Reminds me why I love running so much.

 

Just a heads up that I don’t expect to be blogging much over the next few days.

 

But thank you so much for reading, and for all of your support, thoughts and prayers.

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Making Time Work for You

I think the key to good time management is finding windows of time you might otherwise ignore and then making them work for you.

Today when I was in the car for 5 hours on my way to Pittsburgh, I decided to seize the opportunity to do some planning and scheduling.

First, I decided to re-arrange my workout schedule. My original 15 mile race plan was okay, but I based it too much on someone else’s schedule and not enough on my own.

Training plans are great, but I think they only work if you customize them for you and you also remain flexible.

I brought with me in the car my planner, my gym’s schedules, and a notebook.

After looking at everything, I came up with this new plan. Basically I’ll be running 3x a week, 1 speed workout and 1 long run.

Monday- Morning workout/3-4 mile speed run on treadmill or home workout

Tuesday- Evening class @ gym (a few good ones in this time slot)

Wednesday- 5 mile run (preferably outside)

Thursday- Evening Spin

Friday- Morning workout, cross train and weights

Saturday- Long Run or yoga class

Sunday- Long run (if not done Sat) or REST

Again this is just a shell and some ideas for me to use as a guide. I’m not going to consider any day a failure if I don’t stick to this. I just like having a framework because it helps me stay focused.

I also did some more list-making in the car:

• Recipes to make (I also brought some magazines to check out some recipe ideas)

• Grocery List

• Songs to download (need suggestions!)
• Things to do
• Things I want to buy (wish-list)

I felt better just writing all of the stuff out.

I know my schedule is about to change starting next week, but I feel great knowing that I have a plan!

During the ride I also munched on some Multigrain Cheerios, an apple, and some string cheese. Great car snacks!

Going to hit the sack soon, it’s been a long day!

What are your tips for time management?

What songs should I download?

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Long Lived Louise

Some sad news came to us today. Joe’s grandmother passed away. I’ve known his Grandma (Louise) for almost 10 years, and I don’t know if I ever saw her not smiling!

 

I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that I was usually with her wonderful grandson, but it was still always nice to be around someone who was so happy hearted.

 

At her 90th birthday party, Grandma sat at the head of the table still rocking out as the life of the party. People told stories about how much fun she was, how she knew EVERYONE, and pretty much invited the whole world to Joe’s parents wedding.  I’m talking the mailman, garbage man, whoever! There were apparently over 400 guests!

 

Louise lived a long and full life. She was 96. She will continue to live on in our hearts.

We’ll miss you Grandma.

 

Joe and I are leaving this afternoon for Pittsburgh to be with his family.

 

Of course I’m sad to miss my first few days of student teaching, but family always comes first.

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Multigrain Cheerios Giveaway Winner!

 

Congrats Christina!

 

 

Please email your full name and mailing address to me at FoodIRL@gmail.com and I’ll get it shipped out to you!

Have a great night everyone

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Rush

This afternoon was crazy. The time just kept slipping through my fingers. 

I blame the weather for taking me so long to get everywhere. I’m such a slow driver when there is precipitation on the road.

 

After a few errands I flew in the door, and then back out the door to the gym.

 

I started with speed intervals on the treadmill. I would run 0.25 miles at 6.0 (10 /mi)and then 0.25 at 7.0 (8:35 /mi). I continued this for 3 miles with a short walking break for about 2 minutes.

 

It wasn’t really that fun.

After that I did some ellipticalling while reading magazines and watching TV for about 15 minutes. Now that was fun.

 

I came home and realized I had about 40 minutes or less to shower, eat, and get out the door for student teaching orientation.

 

Food was prepared on the fly and scarfed in a hurry.

I nuked a tortilla with apple and cheddar and on the side had a pomegranate chobani.

The wrap was okay, but the yogurt stole the show. This is my fav flavor.

It’s official.

 

Student teaching orientation was okay, I got to meet my supervisor and it was nice to mingle with other people who are just as nervous as I am!

 

What’s your favorite yogurt flavor?

Don’t forget to enter my Multigrain Cheerios giveaway! I’ll be picking a winner later tonight.

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All I want is pancakes

 

and perhaps another day to sleep in…

 

This is it folks! My last morning as a full time student blogger. After tomorrow I’ll be student teaching, waking up early, and working all day!

 

I’m excited for the change but it also might mean some changes on the blog.

 

Here are two I’m sure of:

• I’m not sure exactly what my blogging schedule will look like
• Food will be more of the "packable" variety

 

Anyhow, let’s focus on the present.

This morning, like many mornings lately, I was craving pancakes. I swear this was the best batch of Peanut Flour Pancakes I’ve made in a long time.

 

(Yes this plate is one serving of this recipe and yes this serving is still only 300 calories or so)

Have you made these yet?

I kept it simple with just some syrup.

Now I’m just sipping on some coffee and watching the quiet, cold, snowy outdoors.

Today’s agenda includes:

-A workout at the gym

-A few errands

-Orientation for student teaching

-Grocery Shopping

 

I need to start brainstorming some easy grab and go meals and snacks for school.  What kind of lunches and snacks do you bring to work/school?

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