Fridays are Awesome

Good evening!

I was spirited today. I hopped out of bed and into the surprise of the sun. We have been expecting lots of rain and it didn't come today. Apparently, the rain is arriving with violence tomorrow for our 5K in Somerville. This event was the firs that B-May and I ever did and our debut to the world of running with others. It was awesome and I'm confident that tomorrow will be better. We're shooting for well under 30 minutes.

To get me going today, I scarfed down some oatmeal with maple syrup and brown sugar. Not the finest of choices but it was sweet and a good boost of energy for a busy day at work. I forgot to take a picture.

During my ride to work, it became obvious to me that I needed more food and some caffeine or something. So I went to Dunkin Donuts nearby for a blueberry muffin and a chocolate frosted donut with a small black coffee. Again, not the best but it was good in the moment.

Looks good though, doesn't it?

Around 2pm I took my lunch and enjoyed another tuna melt on an Arnold's Thin with some reduced fat Wheat Thins I boosted from my parents when we were in Massachusetts. Sitting out on the lawn with the cool wind whipping at my backside, I finished lunch with a Chex Mix Turtle flavored granola bar. All in all, not that bad.

Rode my bike to and from work today to count for some exercise and am currently sipping a Samuel Adams Irish Red waiting for a huge plate of macaroni and cheese with all sorts of veggies. Like a true blogger, I'll post again after supper.

Funny note, I thought that this beer tasted like blood in college. Now that I have it again, I wonder if I was actually bleeding at the moment in school because this does not taste like blood at all. Rather, it's quite good!

Almost Forgot!

Last night, as I lay in bed, unable to sleep I sifted through B-May's collection of older Self magazines. There's not much story here so I'll just cut to the important part:

Check it out. plus3network.com

You run, bike, swim, hike, play an hour of baseball and depending on the level of activity a donation is made to a charity of your choice by the site's sponsors. I just signed up and my run from this morning made .19 cents for Project Rwanda. And, it's totally free. At least so far, my experience has been free of charge.

Awesome!

Two Days off of Work

When I last posted, I was hungry.

So I went to Me and Ollies for a sandwich. Seeing the special of the day matched the number of dollars in my pocket, I ordered the turkey club panini. (Not pictured.) I was proud of myself for eating it! Considering the mix of alfalfa shoots spread over lean turkey meat, lettuce, tomatoes and a couple strips of bacon, it was not my usual fare. I did have a soda with it - can't seem to break that habit. I'll get on it.

More work to do: home from a day of reading and tired from cleaning and packing for the night back in Massachusetts (the excuse), I nuked another sizable slice of lemon pound cake (the crime) sprinkled with far too many chocolate chips...doused with too much chocolate syrup. (Not pictured). But whatever man, I ran ten miles the other day...I know; it's a poor excuse.

Which brings me to the debut of my newest segment: What I Learned Today. Such an addition to this blog was so predictable. So here's What I Learned Today. Just because I run a lot and bike to work every day and am rocking a crazy high metabolism I can't eat cake with the simple idea of replacing calories as energy. B-May let me in on the fact that the cake and all the Hostess Cakes I've been likewise justifying are loaded with refined sugars which pass right through me (and you!) and serve no good. Rather, I should be ingesting natural sugars from fruits and stuff. Okay, I clearly have a new subject to research. Still, despite my ignorance this was an important reckoning for me as I strive to embrace a healthy lifestyle.

For yesterday's dinner, B-May's mom served up two calzones - one with broccoli and cheese, another with ground turkey and tomato sauce. Both were exquisite and filling. I should note that I did not, as B-May says "drink my calories." It seems there is a milk shortage in my life -none in my fridge and none in her parent's fridge. Seriously, I'm close to with withdrawals. I had water. That was the point of that.

THEN, B-May and her mother brought out a mixture for pumpkin whoopie pies from the Stonewall Kitchen. These things were deadly. Thankfully there were only 12, entitling every one in the room to three pies but even I had to stop at two. Then I waited 20 minutes and had my third. Totally stuffed.

In the morning, we took off for a brief three-mile run. We took off on what used to be our usual route in our sleepy New England town. We talked about how difficult the course used to be for us. We talked about how something happened when we moved to Portsmouth, and all of a sudden we were running six, seven miles without batting an eye. It was my first time running in my Five Fingers in my hometown and I was quite impressed with myself on my stride. I even sprinted at the end for 100 yards. Totally awesome!

Breakfast was far from enchanting: two scrambled eggs and a bowl of corn flakes. Water for a beverage. I did however, down a SlimFast before leaving town. Apparently these things are supposed to be a meal replacement. I cannot for the life of me see how. "Controls hunger for 4 hours?" Yea, right.

Which brings me to lunch at Not Your Average Joe's. A longtime favorite, not just for its bread and olive oil preceding every meal. I must admit I ate an entire basket of bread on my own and then a little more. This was well within four hours of the SlimFast. Sometimes I forget they serve more than their bread at Joe's like just now. Before I do forget, I had a bland, forgettable, (and perhaps, regrettable) turkey burger. Some asparagus too, which was excellent but the sandwich was blase. No accent on the "e". Sorry. Oh! And then I had a beer for dessert: Roxy Rolles, a fall offering from Magic Hat Brewery. Excellent choice, Jon! Why thank you!

Back in Portsmouth, B-May headed out for a work event and left me to my own devices. I played a lot of video games and a quickly nuked some leftover penne with three slices of breaded eggplant. I'm a big boy now! So what do I do now that I'm a big boy? I enjoy the first mug of hot cocoa of the season like a child. (Free from whipped cream and chocolate chips, though they were offered to me.)

I just scrolled through the above post and it's crazy long and wordy. I really should update more often and play a little less catch up. That's the other thing I Learned Today: real bloggers update three times a day! Forgive me if I'm wrong but I gotta thing that's crazy, man. Think how much you're on your computer. Do you even have time to cook and eat? Perhaps not. I notice a lot of the girls eat raw vegetables.

Later!

Long Distances and Leftovers

It's been two full days since our run on Monday and I am still a little sore. Perhaps this is because we ran 10 miles! That is easily the farthest I've ever run, B-May too. Our course took us through the beautiful coast of Newcastle and back into town to rack up the double-digit figure. Honestly, I'm impressed with our improvement, making leaps from 5ks to 10k to 10 miles! Granted it was not easy and dare I say that part of it was not fun - hypocritical of my whole mission of running just for fun - but we did it and it was awesome. I got total bragging rights at work and to top it off, I only got a few very small blisters (which have since healed)under my toes. Because that's right - I did it in my ruby red slippers. Boo. Yah.

So for fitness accomplishment I was quite pleased. Our breakfast beforehand is typically, and in this case was, toast with water. There's so much room for improvement on that front and I think we both know it. It's worth noting that we (read: I) carried a bottle of water that we took frequent, tiny sips from. I think this hydration on the go was critical to our being able to complete the distance.

Exhausted and starving, I wolfed down the leftover apple cinnamon pancakes after a ritual
Nuun.

Nuun's are an electrolyte replacement tablet - very similar in composition to alka-seltzers - and accordingly dissolve into a glass of water. I find nearly all the flavors, sans Kona Cola, to be wholly refreshing and sweet after a run or bike ride. I like to believe that the product is actually picking me up, doing some good in place of the suffering I put my body through though I don't exclude the possibility that it's all psychological. Perhaps the reader will just have to find out for themselves. Bonus: they come in plastic tubes - no plastic wrappers - so when the tablets have been consumed, the tube is recyclable. Excellent green product!

For lunch I dug out a can of tuna for my fish fix (and protein?) to grill up a tuna melt. Also at the top of the cupboard was a bag of chips I think from our Exeter 5K a while back which although bad for me, I welcomed the salt and the crunch, still reeling from our run. At work I dined on the leftover leftover spinach ravioli (I tried to finish it before) and leftover chili with the three remaining corn muffins.

It was all excellent. Then inspired to keep my legs moving and feeling the need to treat myself, I did just that and walked down the road a little to pick up a package of Twix! Towards the end of the day, I felt myself tightening up and asked a fellow runner and friend at work how to stretch out my calves. Proving that I've been a runner for just over a year, I was thrilled to see how a lunge stretch with both straight and bent knees on a rising surface smoothed out my aching calves. (Seriously though, nothing else was sore from the run - this barefoot thing is legit!)

Then when I got home I finished a frozen slice of cake, which, after my Twix I was not
entitled to but ate anyway.

Tuesday morning, feeling fresh from the run but still very sore, I successfully made oatmeal
with bananas. (One step towards autonomy!) A liberal dash of cinnamon and I was good to go
until lunchtime at work where I kept up my new pattern of tuna-melts. Tuna-melts were often
a typical sandwich choice of mine throughout the summer and I often forget that tuna exists, let alone is a viable option of lunchmeat for months at a time. I was quite happy with its au pair - homemade applesauce!

B-May demonstrated once again her ability to turn apples into another something delicious. Apparently I made the mistake of not heating it up as it is "best out of the pot." I shall not make that same mistake twice.

When I got home, we went for a walk around town where we played on a swing set (!) and
practiced hop-skotch at a local elementary school. Feeling the desire not to cook, we set off for the Brewery Lane Tavern in Portsmouth. We have passed this place every time we have gone grocery shopping and I ride by every day before work. Granted, it's only been two months since we moved in but we finally satisfied our curiosities. It's a simple bar with an inexpensive menu of sandwiches and pizzas and select salads. My Texas Chicken (BBQ chicken with onions, tomatoes, and melted cheddar on a slice of French Bread) was excellent. I want to go back right now.

Once home, we watched a movie I had a generous slice of lemon pound cake with chocolate syrup and still feel kind of guilty about it. Not really taming the craving lately...

Which brings me to breakfast today. Opting for something filling I fried an egg, threw some cheese on top and a put the mixture in between an Arnold's Sandwich thin. It was quite good!
I understand why B-May loves these things - and I thought I was full until just now when I'm feeling the pangs of hunger start inside. I believe that's quite enough for now so,

Later!

Weekend!

Tonight marks the end of the weekend. And boy, was it a weekend! B-May had her friend Michelle up on Friday night and I joined them after work at the Portsmouth Brewery for a couple rounds. Then we headed over to The Press Room where it was kind of boring so we split after one beer apiece and returned home where an ambitious B-May was willing to make congo bars! For the unenlightened, that's chocolate chip cookies in the shape of brownies. So...amazing. We snacked on them throughout the weekend and at present, there are only four bits remaining from the batch.

Breakfast the next morning totally deserved a couple pictures but in my continuing amateur-ness, I forgot. It's too bad though because we made delicious and filling apple cinnamon pancakes. It was a group effort - B-May whipped up the batter and I plied my trade flipping flapjacks to perfection. Thumbs up all around.

In the morning we sauntered through the city and split up so B-May could pull a quick shift at work. Michelle then watched me eat another scrumptious meal that I should have photographed: BBQ chicken panini from Me and Ollies. We of course sat outside despite the breezes which kept all the tourists inside. Maybe I already touched on that subject last post but it's still pertinent. Crap, just remembered I had a soda with that...Failure.

At work I finished off the remainder of the homemade raviolis from a while ago -thank you freezer! Toss in a couple Fig Newtons and I think it was four (!) congo bars and I had a content belly. On my ride home I picked up some beers and helped B-May and Michelle tame their cravings for more congo bars...by eating them myself. You're welcome girls! Then there was a party at a co-worker's house and when we got back to the apartment, I successfully burned the life out of two slices of bread originally destined to be toast...and went to bed.

Today - that's Sunday if one can follow this rambling - I treated myself (for no reason) to an enormous chocolate-chip pancake and a slice of anadama french toast at the aptly named Friendly Toast. It was an adventure!

Thoroughly stuffed with breakfast treats I didn't eat again until seven hours later at work when I went the veggie route with this wrap slathered with sweet potatoes and onions, caked in black beans and topped with baby spinach leaves. I wish I could take credit - it was B-May's idea. I must admit though, it was quite of bland. More variations on this theme to follow. Also had some more Fig Newtons and a bottle of Coke to get me through my shift.

Which brings me to now. B-May cooked up an original chili of veggies and some pumpkin pie filling. And some corn muffins! Honestly, it was amazing. I can't wait to eat the rest for lunch (or dinner) tomorrow.

Excellent dinner and now reclining with a bowl of pumpkin ice cream and chocolate chips and chocolate syrup. I'm too embarrassed to photograph it.

BIG run tomorrow. Leg feels better, time to get off my butt and keep training.

Later!