Chicago Marathon Val

So for the last 2 weeks, I’ve been starting my mornings with some quickie yoga.  When I searched for “morning yoga” on YouTube, lo and behind, I found a video from Maggie of Say Yes to Salad!  So when I have 5 minutes in the mornings before work, I try to squeeze this in and I really do think that it helps me stay calm before the start of a (sometimes hectic) work day.  Thanks to Maggie, who also shares my birthday (tomorrow!) with me!

My morning juice on the yoga mat…

Lunch was some leftover lentil salad with this recipe.  So delicious, but not exactly picturesque, so I’ll spare you the photo

After work I had a pre-run snack of… what else?  Banana soft serve!  This one was made from frozen bananas and blueberries.  Sooooo good…there’s truly nothing better than eating what tastes like ice cream, but is really about the healthiest pre-run snack out there, that’s loaded with potassium to boot!

Today was 5 miles, and I ran partway to say hi to Mike at his office, stopped for a bit there, and then ran home.  That’s one run down for the week, 2 more to go – a 10 miler and then the big, monstrosity that is the 20 MILER on Sunday!!

When Mike and I got home, he made himself a mint chocolate chip milkshake which looked kinda good, so I threw together some hot chocolate for myself.  I am out of cocoa powder, so I used almond milk, carob powder, vanilla Stevia, cinnamon, and a square of 100% dark baking chocolate.  It was VERY rich, and I know I’ll be doing this again the next time I need a chocolate fix!Oddly enough I didn’ t have a huge appetite after this, but I had some beets that I wanted to use up so those got cooked up for dinner.

While I consider myself a pretty good cook, I’m embarrassed to say that….

I don’t think I’ve ever made beets before!!!!!! I was nervous, but they turned out excellent!!

This recipe is so simple I almost hate to post the recipe, but sometimes simple is best!

- Roast 6 beets with the stems cut off for about 1 1/2 hours, until tender but still a bit firm

- Using a paring knife to peel off the skin once the beets are cooled

- While the beets are cooling, toasted 1/2 c. walnuts

- Julienne or chop beets, and toss with walnuts and 2 T. EVOO, 2 T. lemon juice, and salt to taste!

I’m so accustomed to throwing in multiple ingredients to fancify things, but really this is better left as it is!  I thought that it would be lacking without the typical chevre, but honestly Mike and I loved it!

***
Gratitude Journal:

1) Today was a productive day at work, yet also flew by which is always nice

2) 5 miler under my belt

3) I’m about to go shower and then have a movie night with Mike…. yes, tis the benefit of it being my birthday week! I think a chick flick is in order

This entry was posted on Monday, September 14th, 2009 at 9:00 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.