Out of Towners

Good morning!

Just a quick post to tell you all about my fun weekend…

My sweet grandparents from St. Louis came into town for a visit at the beginning of last week, and I got to spend some quality time chatting the day away on Saturday and Monday.  Monday was Columbus Day, so the girls were out of school, which thankfully gave us an extra day of visiting before my grandparents had to pack up and head back home.

I am hoping we’ll be able to make a trip up there next summer, I miss them so much!

Sunday was a day I spent with just my girls.  The weather was wet and dreary, so we headed out to the mall to stretch our legs and get out of the house.  We started with a stop at Panera Bread for lunch-

I know it doesn’t look like much, but the bread bowl with bistro french onion soup= awesome.  Mer’s autumn squash soup was also delicious, but a bit more of a dessert than a meal.  Colette ordered the chicken noodle, which was literally gone 2 minutes after we sat down.  Yum-my!

We hopped over to Dillards and walked around the home department, oohing and ahhhing over the Christmas decor and fun gifts.  I loved the Mudpie engraved cheese and butter gift sets.   They would make the cutest house warming gifts!

Not to mention, the basket they were in, was too cute.

I also loved all of the blue and white cottage style dishware.  So pretty.

All in all, it was a fun weekend with the family.  Next weekend will be even busier, but I’ll leave it at that for now.  OK, I’ll give you a hint, there will be wedding bells… 😉

Workout:  As for this morning, I started off the day with a Shred workout, (level 1) courtesy of Jillian Michaels.  I wanted something fast and full body, and that certainly did the trick.  I upped my hand weights to 5 lbs this time, and boy was I struggling on the arm workout.  Ouch!

Breakfast:  After that I served myself some over easy eggs and a slice of caramel apple bread.  If you haven’t tried this seasonal bread(I bought it at Target), you are missing out on some serious awesomeness.  Sooo good.

Source

Alright, that about wraps it up for this girl.  I have some major grocery shopping to do.

Question:

• What did you do over the holiday weekend?

Have a great Tuesday!

Amy

100th Post + 2.3 Miles!

Happy Wednesday everybody!

Today is a special day becaauuse… It’s my 100th post on The Deviated Runner!!  Que the band and release the confetti!  🙂

I’m pretty excited to say that I’ve kept at this writing gig for as long as I have (since May), and I’m still exercising and working on my inner self in the process.  That makes me feel good, and I want to thank all of you awesome people that read my blog and leave encouraging comments.  You make my day brighter, and keep me going.  So, THANK YOU!  ♥

*****

On to this morning’s workout-

Workout:  I announced yesterday, that I would be doing a 5K run in the park today.  Well, I’ve never done a run/walk for more than 2.19 miles in 29:38 minutes, so I knew this was a stretch, but I thought what the heck, set a big goal, and see where it leads, right?

I threw on my new electric blue capris (because we all know new clothes make you run faster- :)), headed out to the park, set my run app, started up the ‘ole C25K app, and hit the trail.  With my 5k goal in mind, I pushed myself super hard, and while I did take a short walk break, I’m happy to say, I made a new record of 2.30 miles in 28:47 minutes.  

Splits:

• Mile 1:  11.31
• Mile 2:  13.58
• Mile 3:  10.48

My shins hurt, my side cramped a mile in, but I felt good.  I felt like a REAL runner.  Today was a huge deal for me, and I hope my next run is just as awesome.

I left the park and stopped in to a nearby Starbucks to treat myself with an iced coffee.

Breakfast:  I whipped up some healthy ‘fluff’- 1/2 C part skim ricotta cheese, 1/2 tsp vanilla extract, shake of pumpkin spice, and a 1/4 tsp of sugar– and spread it on two multi-grain waffles.  I was a little worried I wasn’t getting enough protein from the cheese that I would normally get from eggs, but after checking the egg carton and the cheese label, I’ve found they are exactly equal:  6 grams of protein for 1/4 c cheese (which I doubled), 6 grams of protein for 1 egg (which I would normally double as well).  Perfect!

I also had a small banana early this morning, before I made my run-

Yesterday was a fun day of (mostly) window shopping.  I hit Target while the girls were still in school to search for some new workout clothes and possibly a Halloween costume for Henry.  Well, no luck in the costume department, but I did find a cute pair of blue capris and a comfy dry-wick running jacket:

Love those colorful capris!  I wore them this morning, and they didn’t slide down (thanks to an interior drawstring), have a flattering colorblocking design, and felt comfy the whole run- I highly recommend!

Once the girls made it home from school, we set out to Spirit Halloween, a seasonal costume shop that opens up for about a month, once a year.  It has EVERYTHING Halloween, from the most disturbing electronic zombie clowns to the sweetest little puppy costumes for toddlers.  We immediately headed for the pet section, but left the store empty handed.  That’s not to say they didn’t have adorable pet costumes, they just didn’t have Henry’s size.  😦

Check out these adorable duds- from bacon, to hotdogs, to tacos:

I LOVED the taco costume (the hat made it!), but they only had it in an x-small, and Hen needs a medium.  Oh well, we’ll keep looking!  I foresee a trip to PetSmart today:)

I hope you all have a fantastic Wednesday!

Amy