It is truely gorgeous outside. I saw the temps rise to 60 degrees today and I just got back from a four-mile run on the bay. Plugged in, I cranked up some tunes (though only at 60% of max volume, B-May) and took in the wonderful views. Felt good to get some miles in on a day that was made for miles. That being said, I am snacking on some rich desserts - the remnants of the weekend. But I'll get to that in a second.
Friday morning I pulled the 9-5 at work and finished off the tostadas for lunch. I brought along some desserts - congo bars - and washed it down with the usual seltzer water. When I got home, I found B-May laid up on the couch, and feeling quite sick. Something had been bugging her I remembered in the morning and apparently that fatigue or whatever remained throughout the day. Having just got off my bike from the ride home, I was eager to eat some dinner! But when I found B-May like this, I thought of running instead. I owe this inspiration to some mulling over a new book I'm reading, Zen and the Art of Running. It's quite fascinating and while my grasp of the subject is elementary at best, I can already see myself applying its practices. Clear of any negative connantations of running in the dark, I did just that. As soon as I stepped off the deck and onto the curb I started running. As it turns out, I was moving! I set a new PR, finishing a 5K distance in under 24 minutes. This works out to be my first run at a 7-something mile pace. It was awesome!
I kept my excitement to myself and whipped up some black bean burgers while B-May prepared sweet potato fries. This was a wonderful dinner and a pleasant and healthy way to spend Friday night. I also had a couple PBRs for dessert with dessert. That's not a typo.
Saturday I made disastorous chocolate-chip whole wheat pancakes. I called them "the Good, the Bad and the Ugly." Only two pancakes came out as I hoped they would. They were not photographed. Afterwards B-May and I walked about in the rain and sipped a coffee from Breaking New Grounds and went birthday shopping for my mom and B-May's cousin. Neither of these intiatives proved to be very successful but we enjoyed ourselves. With a tuna melt and a slice of apple for lunch, I was out the door and off to work. Staying late, I finished the remaining black bean burger and tried an entire Chobani vanilla flavored Greek Yogurt. I was quite thrown by the tart-ness of this yogurt and did not enjoy it nearly as much as I did the Stonyfield. When I got home, B-May had been baking some sweets for my mom's birthday: pumpkin, chocolate swirl brownies with cream cheese frosting. I had four. Then we went to a Halloween party and down two beers from a Long Hammer IPA keg before heading home.
What I ate on Sunday would take too long to list so it will suffice to say that after leaving brunch at the Colonial Inn in Concord, MA, and indulging at B-May's cousin's birthday party, I was uncomfortably stuffed. For the record, nearly everything was vegetarian - thank goodness chocolate does not have meat - and while we ate in extreme excess, there was cause to. B-May got a run in before the morning started. I did not.
Today, I headed up to Maine for some fall cleaning with my parents for my Gram and beforehand I enjoyed a big bowl of oatmeal and sipped another coffee on my ride up to South Portland. After a couple hours of chatting, cleaning and raking, we went out to Applebees where I had tortilla chips with their spinach and artichoke dip before my chicken fajita roll-up. Water for a drink!
Well, I cut out quite a bit there, but I'm all caught up and looking forward to a more routine eating week while upping my mileage on the runs.
Later!
