Oops I did it again

Yep. I just registered for the Des Moines (Half) Marathon again. It's on October 20th this year - y'all come! It was so much fun last year - seriously. Right, Jeanie?! Although I am planning on actually running more of it this year so it probably won't be as much fun, but still.

I figured it was a fitting time to register for the race (which I had been planning on doing since last October) in light of the events at the Boston Marathon this year. I particularly like this quote that I saw on Pinterest:

I started reading a book last night, Running for Mortals, by John Bingham and Jenny Hadfield. After the second page of the introduction, I knew I'd be needing to read it with a highlighter. I am through the first three chapters, and here are several of the lines that spoke to me: "You can be a runner even if running isn't what you do"(p.x), "It doesn't do any good to have the legs of a runner if you have the soul of a nonrunner" (p.xi)," Today's runner understands that the old days of doing what someone else expected of you are long gone....the search for one's own excellence and potential must be undertaken alone." (p. xii).  See what I mean? And these are just from the introduction!

Before I leave the topic of running, just a few more thoughts: there are any number of Facebook groups that dedicate the next 26.2 miles of your running/walking/slow jogging to the memory of those affected by last Monday. (Isn't that everyone?) The distance can be done in a day, a week, a month... For me, it's just something to think about when I feel like quitting. And as I referenced on my FB page, Emmy wrote a wonderful post on running in light of Boston. If you haven't, read it here.

I tried a few new recipes this past week, but first - some breakfasts:

MaryLu's protein waffle and berries (guess who went to Costco?!)

PB English muffin, berries, and coffee

Oatmeal with blueberries and almond-coconut milk, and of course, coffee

 Lunches (AKA the Worst Meal of the Day) this week were a Kind bar, a store-bought Atkins protein shake, a PBJ, and leftovers.

For dinners, I made Kung Pao Chicken Burgers from my favorite recipe blog, Iowa Girl Eats. I was not too impressed since they were a little dry. As a matter of fact, I didn't even save the recipe. (It could be because I might have overcooked them; something about raw poultry makes me nervous...) HOWEVER, Dwight had one for lunch the next day and declared it way better, and I had one yesterday, and it was better yet. I think the sauce had time to soak into the burger. I might just make them again. And decrease the cooking time by a few seconds.

I topped the burger with spinach to get in a few more veggies 

And of course our favorite salad - baby cukes, grape tomatoes, good olive oil and balsamic vinegar

The other new recipe I tried was from this month's Cooking Light - Spring Vegetable Penne. This was fabulous, and will be in the meal rotation. And the serving size is huge - always a plus because I am pretty much starving come dinner time.

I love it when the meal looks like the photo!

My work hours have shifted a bit this week - to noon-3:30. I like these hours a lot, since I can actually get a (kind of) lunch in before I leave. I get up early, eat breakfast, work out, do any chores/errands I need to get done, eat lunch, then head to work. Now if there was just enough time to get everything done while I'm there! I was told that it would take three months to feel comfortable in this position; I am 1/3 of the way there. And still learning new things every single day. For someone who likes to have her checklist complete, it seems there is almost always some carry-over to the next day. I'm trying to breathe through it. If that doesn't work, there is always Xanax.

On that note, heigh-ho, heigh-ho, it's off to work I go....

TTFN!