She lives!

I know, it’s been about a month since my last confession post. I’ve been busy and don’t have a good blackberry app to update with.

Anyone know of one?

Anyways.

In the past month, I’ve eaten some good food —

And some unhealthy food —

(that’s chocolate bacon and it was DAMN good.)

In fact, during one weekend I went to a Giants Game AND the California State Fair:

Beer and fried foods were had. And enjoyed.

I have also:

Gotten my hair chemically straightened —

Started coaching a half marathon group from the bike–

Annnnnd…..

drumrolll please….

started running again!!

Now, don’t get TOO excited. I have done the following runs since I last posted —

July 29 – 1.5 miles on the track to try to flare up my injury for the doctor’s appointment
Aug 5 – 2 miles, with a 20 minute break in between the miles while the group did speedwork
Aug 12 – 1.5 miles on track
Aug 15 – 3.1 miles (above map)
Aug 18 – 2 miles
Aug 19 – 1.25 miles on track, .75 miles walking on track

The doctor said my arches are collapsing. This may have been happening slowly over the last 2 years of me running. He told me to wear my running shoes with super feet in them at work. I laughed. And compromised with:

I’m wearing those super feet inserts in my work shoes and taking my runs easy and slow. And so far, no pain! ::knocks on wood::

I’m not training for anything really specific right now. (On my radar: Tri Girl Tri on Oct 9th, but I can do that run with no training.) I’m not going to boost my mileage over 3 miles for a while. Just gonna let my legs get used to it again.

My next big thing: Texas. White Rock Half Marathon. Dec 5th. Training starts in October. Bring it.

Poor neglected blog!

Why haven’t I been posting?

1. Still not running.

2. Too lazy to blog.

3. Missed some workouts because I got a straightening treatment on my hair (that did not work) and then I got a tummy bug.

What have I been doing?

1. Riding in fast cars and not doing awesome at avoiding motion sickness:

2. Finalizing my divorce:

3. Visiting friends and eating delicious food:

(That’s polenta with spinach, eggplant, tomatoes and pesto from Rick & Ann’s in Berkeley)

4. Getting a new ear piercing:

Tim, my piercer at Zebra in Berkeley

(The one on the right is new, the other one I’ve had for over 10 years)

5. Visiting the family:

Me, Niko (dog), Joe, Mom, Bella (dog), Chad, Bear (dog)

What’s next?

Life is good. Fun. Awesome.

I’m still doing hot yoga 1-2 times a week, and will be back at the gym in the morning. The xrays of my ankle and tibia came back negative and I now have a referral to an orthopedic doctor. My leg feels 90% better, I’m just afraid to re-injure it. But I am itching to get out running with my girls again.

And when I do, you’ll be the first to know.

Dinner with my kitty

I had a delicious dinner tonight. It’s a chicken tenderloin served over broccoli and cauliflower, topped with mango chutney. I LOVE chutney.

Jasmine enjoyed her dinner with me:

Yes, she eats with her paws. It’s adorable. 🙂

Let’s talk about running. Cuz I am running! Just not very fast. 😦

I want to get faster. This means I need to do a few things:

1. Run more times per week

2. Run faster during the week

3. Eat healthier/lose weight

So, the plan is this:

Mondays – recovery run 3ish miles, not so fast
Tuesdays – faster run from Fleet Feet, 4-5 miles
Wednesdays – crosstraining
Thursdays – speed work, on track
Friday – rest day
Saturday – long runs, with SacFit. This Saturday we’re doing 6 miles, run/walk.
Sundays – rest from running, possibly cross train

And well, Weight Watchers. Actually tracking. Getting a handle on my eating. Which hasn’t been going so well, honestly. But I am not giving up.

I want to be updating this blog more, and eating better foods to show off. My goal right now is 3 posts per week. Here goes nothing.

I cooked!

I made Brooke and I taco salads for dinner! Ground turkey and black beans in taco seasoning, served on a bed of lettuce with cheese, olives, and salsa on top. There may have been some unpictured tortilla chips as well. NOM.

A new running buddy

So this is supposed to be a blog about running and eating healthy. Hmm. There has been some eating going on… not all of it healthy… And running? Well, it’s been happening, on the weekends at least, but it hasn’t been something I’ve been that proud of, let’s say. Hence why you guys have probably started wondering if I’m even still DOING the marathon on Dec 6th. Well yes, I am still running, and I am still doing the marathon. Just in case you were worried.

The Thursday before last, I went to a speedwork session with the crazy fast Solano Stampeders for the second time. And someone MY speed showed up too! Her name was Jaqueline, and she had never been to the track for speedwork. We ran together and told our life stories and enjoyed running together. She went faster than she thought possible! So awesome.

We exchanged numbers, and this last week we ran together THREE times. Now, what is so remarkable about this is not that I have made a new friend (but I’m pretty damn excited about that too), but the fact that my new friend got me running THREE TIMES in ONE WEEK. Hahaha. Because, as mentioned above, the weekend runs were happening, and maybe one in between if I was lucky. =/

On Tuesday we did 3.1 miles around her neighborhood. I was trying my best not to be a whiny pain in the ass to run with, but I was dragging. She’d been worried about me going too fast, and I swear she was pulling me down the street. I’d had a rough day and pretty much eating a whole pizza and box of doughnuts. Only a slight exaggeration. So she drug me along, and then didn’t believe me when we averaged 10:21/mile. Not bad, not bad! But I did not enjoy burping donuts the whole time.

Then Thursday we both managed to get off work before the sun went down, and we met at a park called Lagoon Valley and ran around the lagoon twice, for a total of 3.75 miles. I felt MUCH better on this run, and again we averaged 10:20/mile. But I didn’t want to die the whole way, because I’d had a less stressful day and some healthy eats. So that was an improvement.

And then today, we did our long runs together! She’s doing a marathon about a month and a half after I am, so our runs aren’t totally in sync. She had 18 miles to do, and I was tapering with a measly 12. 😉 She mapped out a path for us, did 6 miles first, and met me for the final 12. She followed my 9/1 pattern and we just kept chugging along. Average 12:30/mile for the whole thing, including walk breaks. I am so totally ok with that. If that’s my marathon pace, so be it!

So there you have it. I’ve been running again! We’ll do Tuesday night together again, then Thursday I’ll be running the Run to Feed the Hungry 5k with my friend Jenn in Sacramento. Saturday I’ve got my last taper run of about 8 miles. AND THEN A MARATHON IT’S IN TWO WEEKS OMG.

I’ve also decided to just show you some of the eats I am enjoying, not necessarily photographing every morsel I eat. But this will actually inspire me to make creative meals that I will be proud to post on the blog! Cuz I do need to cook more often.

Tonight I made Zesty’s Figged and Maple Brussel Sprouts. Brooke doesn’t like brussels sprouts, so it was my challenge to prepare them in such a way that she’d eat them.

Here they are cleaned, cut, and tossed in olive oil:

While they roasted, I cooked the fig and maple sauce:

And tossed them together:

Voila! I served them with chicken breasts in a brandy cream sauce and cous cous.

Verdict? I thought they were delicious! Robert (Brooke’s husband) really liked them too. Brooke said they were edible, and she actually ate more than one. Hahahaha. But no rave reviews from the brussels sprouts hater.

Next I’ve got to try a recipe for brussels sprouts that involves vinegar in some way. She promises to try them with vinegar and thinks that’s her best shot of liking them.

Other good eats…

My morning bowl of Greek yogurt, granola bar, blueberries, and pomegranate kept me going during my run:

And Brooke made pumpkin scones last week that were to DIE for. They were sooooo soft and chewy and delicious. I topped mine with Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter and I thought I’d died and gone to pumpkin heaven:

Back to the grind tomorrow morning! It’s the last day of Girls on the Run. They had their 5k this weekend, and all my girls did great. I’m looking forward to their end of the season party tomorrow.

Hasta!

Drive by

Super quick one – gotta leave for work!

Such was the case yesterday morning as well, trying to soak up as much sleep as possible, I rushed out the door with this granola bar in my purse (and makeup not on yet!):

I had the rest of my sandwich as a mid-morning snack:

Lunch was chicken rosemary soup from Safeway, with diet pepsi (camera phone):

Look what I found at Safeway!! My favorite brand!! I bought one plain nonfat and it was my afternoon snack:

I had a clif bar before my run, and my new buddy and I did 3.75 miles just as the sun was setting. It was great!

Dinner was an asian baked chicken breast, corn on the cob, and asparagus:

And dessert was a homemade pumpkin scone that Brooke made. MMmmmmmm. But you’ll have to wait for a picture of that till tomorrow cuz it’s still on my camera. Ha.

Hasta! Long day of work and then tomorrow is my Girls on the Run team’s 5k! Wish them luck!

No end in sight

The crazy times just don’t seem to be letting up. I worked another over 8 hour day with about 45 minute commute each way. Even though I was packed for Crossfit, I missed the last class. Again.

I cannot seem to find a balance. I keep getting not enough sleep, missing exercise opportunities, operating on a very high stress level, and eating crap. This is a downward spiral that I desperately want to get off. So I get up in the morning, pack for working out, have the best of intentions and…. work gets in the way.

People keep trying to give the advice that I need to take a day off or stop working so hard or something. But I simply can’t. This isn’t a made up excuse. I am a brand new RD, in charge of five of my own facilities. I don’t really know what I’m doing half the time, but I am responsible for all of it regardless. Not to mention I don’t get paid time off. If I’m really sick for more than a day, someone will cover some of the most urgent work for me, but I won’t get paid. And there will be a larger than normal workload waiting when I get back. Basically, there is a certain amount of work to be done, and *I* must do it.

Not to mention, some facilities are under inspection. Some I’ve screwed up at. Some are overly demanding and expect more work to be hone in less hours than is possible. I will probably get reprimanded for working over 8 hours today, but I only saw the patients I HAD to see. I did not even glance at the kitchen, they could have been serving dog food for all I know. On dirty plates. I have never observed the dining room. I have to petition for more hours, but this corporation threw a HUGE fit with my company the last time anyone tried. So I have to keep a detailed list of what I’ve done, how much work is NOT getting done, etc. I will need this entire month’s worth of data to support my case.

So, you see, right now work HAS to be my #1 priority. In order for me to move forward in my new life, get a place to move out to, I need to have a solid, stable career. Gotta pay the rent somehow! So right now, I am establishing that career. Paying my dues. All of that.

My plan:

1. Sleep is my #1. 7-8 hours of sleep per night is a priority. My alarm is set for 6 am, and it’s currently 10:15. I will be going to bed immediately after posting.

2. Until the marathon, the only exercise that is a priority is 2 midweek runs and one weekend long run. Other exercise is nice if it happens, but not to be stressed over.

3. Try to eat nutritious foods when possible. But, give myself some room here. Accept that I cannot control the situation I am in and just try to do my best.

Number 3 is the hardest for me. I can feel that I’ve gained some weight and I am NOT happy about it. But any master plan I try to devise is immediately thwarted by work. So I am just going to try to add nutrition.

Here are some ways I did that today:

Glo bar while I worked

Brought a turkey sandwich for lunch (only ate half, the other half is for tomorrow!)

Apple

Added spinach to the pasta with turkey meat sauce that Brooke made

I did have non-nutritious things today as well. But these were good steps and I’m choosing to focus on those.

And now, to bed before 10:30. Goodnight.

Regular programming on hold

Ok, so on top of all the other work stress, one of my buildings is now under state survey. I have to change my schedule to go there tomorrow instead of Friday, shifting around my whole week. I worked until 7:45 pm tonight to get one facility caught up before I go MIA. It’s pretty much chaos. Oh, and exercise? Meh. I do have a running date with a new friend tomorrow night though, so hopefully I will be able to keep that!

So here’s some food from Sunday, and I may be in and out the next couple days. Bear with me!

I had some unphotographed coffee and creamer when I woke up.

Then a really late breakfast of an egg burrito and banana:

Snack and a massage:

Whole Foods dinner (only ate a few bites of the salad, so I had that for lunch today instead)

Ok, time for a ridiculously early bedtime! Night!

Gotta love Mom’s cooking

Friday I started off with a nice little treat:

You may have noticed I haven’t been going to Starbucks as much, so this was a treat! It’s an apple bran muffin and a nonfat white peppermint mocha.

Lunch was cooked by the mother of the administrator of my Friday nursing home. It’s a Filipino dish called “Adobo.” It’s pork meat, a hard boiled egg, and white rice. I didn’t pick out any potatoes, but those were in the Adobo as well.

I than had too many chocolate covered cookies in the afternoon. Stress eating at its worst. 😦

At my mom’s house, she made a lovely dinner. It’s a dish called Brandied Chicken, which does involve heavy cream and a lot of butter. Served with rice pilaf and broccoli.

It was delicious, but the fat-heavy meal was not the best choice for my pre-run meal. My digestive system was not too happy with me.

Saturday I had a Clif bar before my run:

During the run, there was one pack of clif shots, one Gu packet, and a few handfuls of jelly bellies at some of the aid stations. Afterwards, there was the bowl of chili you saw.

Then I did my typical gathering thing where I get so excited to hang out with all my friends and don’t photograph things! We had chips/salsa, bread with cheese fondue, lettuce wraps with mushroom/water chestnut filling and turkey meat filling, smoked sausage, brie cheese, dippers and chocolate fondue, and mini ice cream sandwiches with Nilla wafers. Indulgent night! I’ll pretend the 22 miler evened it out, though it totally didn’t.

Any tips on how to remember to bust my camera out at gatherings and photograph the food?

Dealing with stress

I am really struggling with stress this week. Yes, there’s the divorce and the money stuff and the not living on place stuff, that’s ever present. But the one thing that was stable was my new job. And that has been hell this week. I work for 5 different nursing homes, and 2 of them put undue pressure on me this week, and then yesterday I made a big mistake at a third (on my first day working there, no less). I feel like a huge strew up, and I’m just constantly at stress level high. I hope things relax soon. Because right now, the job is the one thing going for me, and I can’t afford for it to either be this stressful, or to not have it at all.

My eats were pretty good though. I made oatmeal mixed with Nutella:

I was trying to give myself a little Christmas spirit with the mug. I used to love Christmas, but my ex ruined it for me and I want my joy back.

I purchased a salad at Safeway for lunch:

It was good! I used the method of dipping my fork in the dressing so I didn’t even use half of it.

I had this odd candy for a snack, they had them at the nursing home:

I liked it! Makes me want to have more dried fruits in chocolate.

I came home really stressed but determined to go run in an hour. So I ate a Run Glo Bar:

The run was really good. A new girl showed up that had never ran with them before, and she was close to my pace. We did two sets of 3 x 800, and she went a lot faster than she thought! She thought she couldn’t go under 11:00 miles, but our pace on all of them was around 9:30. She was VERY excited about it (as she should be!) We talked a lot while running and I’ve definitely made a new friend! She asked for my number and we’re going to meet up to run next week! Eee!

I came home to a nice dinner that Brooke made – roasted potatoes and a meatloaf made from ground turkey. I added the salad:

She also made some sugar cookies that I had with some decaf coffee while we were watching Grey’s Anatomy and Private Practice. They were yum. And that was it!

Off to work and then my mom’s house for the weekend. See you on Sunday with my eats, and the report of my 22 mile run tomorrow. Last big long one before the marathon!