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Morning! So sorry about disappearing last night… I was so exhausted that I was in bed, asleep at 9:30! I don’t know when the last time I woke up naturally at 7:30 feeling well-rested and ready for the day, but it was great :-)
Yesterday I had a long run scheduled, so I fueled up with a slice of Ezekiel Cinnamon Raisin toast spread with almond butter, 1/4 banana and a drizzle of honey.
While I drank a mug of coffee and digested a little, I opened my prize from a contest I won over at my friend Meghan’s blog, Lila Puppy. (You may recall that my mom and I went to Utah back in August to attend Meghan’s beautiful wedding.)
The prize? Hand-knit beer cozies and a wrist cuff!
As much as I wanted to drink beer at 10 AM, I didn’t think I was quite hardcore enough to chug before a run. I cozied my water instead.
My 15K race is two weeks from yesterday, so it’s really important that I log my miles. I set out with a good playlist, ready to run. (Yes, I’ve had the song “Whole Wide World” in my head for the last month! And I am in desperate need of new music.)
I took a roundabout route through Riverside Park (up, down, and back up again) to make sure that I got my 7 miles in. I ran at a slow and steady pace; when going on a long run, it’s more important to go the distance than hit a specific time. My energy started lagging and I got a little lightheaded around mile 6, so I stopped and sucked down half of a banana-flavored Hammer gel. The flavor was pretty good and tasted like real bananas, but I think in the future I’d prefer something more natural (and cheaper), so it looks like I’ll be making Angela’s 50 Cent All Natural Homemade Energy Gel soon!
When I got home I felt completely drained and exhausted, but I did it!!! I used MapMyRun to calculate the approximate distance, and it turns out I ran closer to 7.5 miles!!!
Total distance: 7.5 miles
Total time: 1:15:41
Average pace: 10:05 minutes/mile <— not bad for a long run!
I was very pleased with my stats. While my mom made lunch, I somehow kept myself awake long enough to do an 8-minute abs practice. Then I charged into the dining room to wolf down this salad (spinach, apples, cauliflower, walnuts, hard-boiled egg & leftover Brussels sprouts).
We were going to a Sunday matinee, so there wasn’t too much time to dilly-dally with my shower and dressing. I really could have just put my head down on the table and gone to sleep, so we stopped on the way to the theater to pick up some coffee. (Sorry about the blur; this was taken on a moving subway car.)
Good thing I was caffeinated, because we were sitting right in the front row of “The Story of a Childhood”, the first installment of Horton Foote’s The Orphans’ Home Cycle.
The play was really good. I’d seen the last installment of the Cycle about 10 years ago, and it was was interesting to see it a little out of order.
My energy started to lag again, but we came prepared with clementines, dark chocolate, and slices of Criterion apples…
… and I did not fall asleep. My dad has a theory about escaping jet lag that involves taking 1/3 of a tablet of Melatonin- what I take when I need a little extra help falling asleep- at 5 PM the day before a flight, and I’m sure that didn’t help my fatigue one bit!
By the time the play was over I was starving again (I guess a 7.5 mile run will do that to you!) so I dug around in my purse and came up with a Chocolate Heart Thrive Cake.
We stopped to run some last-minute errands for the trip on the way home, and as soon as I walked in our front door I made a bee-line for my bed, where I stayed until dinner was ready. My dad made a fabulous dinner: Cajun-spiced grilled salmon with a cucumber accompaniment, kale sautéd with shallots…
… and a sweet potato with brown sugar.
We had Deep Chocolate and Black Mission Fig goat’s milk ice cream for dessert…
… which of course was incomplete without a little hot fudge.
The dessert was like a lullaby, and I went right to sleep after dinner.
Well, we’re leaving for Moscow in just a few hours! I’m not quite sure what the internet situation will be like over there, but I know that posting will NOT be regular. I will have e-mail, though, so if you send me your Russian questions I’ll do my very best to answer them!
Have a fabulous week :-)
