Day 38: Take me to Vegas!

I started my morning out with a nice 4.4 mile run. It was pretty chilly out, but I felt really good. The first mile I was kind of like, eh, I ran so far yesterday, do I really want to do this? But since I was feeling so good, it wasn't hard to convince myself to just do it. I mean, I was only going to run half of what I ran yesterday!

So I kept going, and I ran harder so I'd be done faster, and ended up with my quickest pace yet for this course!

When I got home, I was torn on what to do for breakfast. It was around 9am. I knew I wouldn't eat lunch until maybe 1:30 or 2pm, so I had to decide did I want to eat a bigger, brunch like meal, or regular breakfast and lunch. I decided to go for breakfast and lunch. So I had the usual yogurt, raspberry this morning, with a side of raspberries. It was delicious, as always.

Then JJ left for work, and I left for church. I hate when he has to work on Sundays because we miss out on our usual Starbucks/church/farmer's market routine. Instead of my usual iced coffee, I went for a Soy Misto (half coffee, half steamed milk). It was delicious, nice and foamy and warm. However, I had a lot less coffee/caffeine than usual, and ended up with an awful headache at church. I think it was partially from all of the running plus lack of caffeine and just being so busy in general.

After church I went to Sams Club. I would rather get produce at the farmer's market, but I had a few other things to buy and they're on opposite ends of town, so I got my peppers, tomatoes and cucumbers at Sam's Club. I also got a fountain drink, a giant Coke Zero. I don't drink soda often, so it was a treat for me. The caffeine definitely helped, and I started to feel much better.

I was STARVING when I got home at 2:30, so I fixed this giant salad. I always forget that cottage cheese is an awesome protein option for salads. I get tired of tofu and beans sometimes, so cottage cheese was a great protein/salad dressing option. I made a sort of chopped Greek salad (lettuce, cucumber, bell pepper, olives, tomatoes, cauliflower, feta and cottage cheese). It was so good, just what I needed!

Since JJ had to work so late tonight, we ended up having a low-key Superbowl. I decided to make some healthy appetizer type dishes. I made summer rolls, toasted ravioli, baked corn-dog bites and buffalo chicken meatballs. Leah and Jay came over, and Leah made a tray of Rice-Krispies Treats, which are one of my absolute favorites. I ate way more than I should have... so I'm glad I've been eating so well and exercising lately! I'll have the recipes up for those on the food blog soon!

So right before the game started, JJ decided to place a few bets with me.

First, he said one of the Vegas bets is will the National Anthem be over or under 100 seconds. I said just over. It was 106 seconds (according to JJ's watch), so I won.

Then he said will the coin be heads or tails, I said heads. It was.

Then he said who will score first, I said Colts. They did.

Finally, what color will the gatorade be that they pour on the winning coach. I said orange. It was.

I'm on FIRE! Take me to LAS VEGAS!!!

I just had JJ put the stim on my back, it's so tight and my muscles need a bit of work. It feels so good... but the muscles start to twitch and I look like I'm going crazy.

This week looks like it's going to be really nice. I don't have much planned, and JJ will be around much more this week than normal. Lou and I are planning to run Tuesday and Thursday. I'm tentatively planning to run 9 miles Saturday. It just seems like SO MUCH! We'll see...

Now a few questions and random things...

1. The bird was a Blue Herron (JJ told me, then a few reader's commented as well)

2. I have been drinking soda water and juice for years. I do a ratio of about 1 oz. juice to 12 oz. soda, so it's just a tiny bit of flavor. Since I have a diet that is extremely low in added sugar, having just a bit of fruit juice seems sweet to me. However, if you're trying to break the Coke habit, you might want to try 3 oz. juice to 9 oz. soda water to ease yourself in. Often times I don't even add juice, just drink the soda water. I love the bubbles, and think it tastes like water... but some people think it's salty. As long as you're not adding too much juice (and make sure it's 100% fruit juice, not juice 'cocktail' with added sugars!), it's a great substitute for soda.

3. Strength Training! I do not lift, I do not belong to a gym.... which is a whole other blog post/topic I could go on about. I liked having a gym membership as a back-up for when the weather kept me inside, but right now that's not an option (for budget reasons). Instead, I do strength training DVDs, which I find to be great workouts. I'm not building big muscles, but I contine to be more and more toned as I lose weight. My favorite is Jillian Michael's No More Trouble Zones. I had been doing this DVD 3x per week when I wasn't running as much, but now I do it maybe 1-2x per week (or I just do circuits 1-4 or 1-5). I was doing it with 8lb. weights, but I'm back to 5's since I don't do it as much. Maybe one day I'll do more strength training, but for now I'm happy with running goals and strength training to tone. 

Hope you all have a great week! See ya tomorrow :)