I Run Cross Country…On A Track?!

Yesterday I had a Cross Country Meet! (as usual) But I wasn’t able to post about it until now because I had a lot of this… ↓

and this…

and this…

Yup, Homework has to come before blogging. Got to keep those straight A’s up!

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Anyways…

On Saturday I decided to keep my eats similar to the ones before my first meet in order to have enough carb-y energy for the race.

Like the last time, I had banana soft-serve the night before.

Chocolate Banana Soft-Serve to be exact…with some frozen Justin’s Chocolate Hazelnut Butter on top! ♥

And in the morning I had a toasted Sandwich Thin with(retired! ) Justin’s Cinnamon Peanut Butter and topped with even more cinnamon.

Pre-Run Breakfast

 Absolutely delicious.

After eating my breakfast we were off to the meet. We had to leave the house by 9AM in order to get to the park an hour before my race time (10:55AM). The ride seemed to take forever!

When we finally got to the park it also seemed to take forever to find where my team was meeting before the race. I pretty much had to walk the whole park looking for them because I forgot my phone and couldn’t call to ask.

Eventually I did find my team and we pinned on our numbers, jogged to the bathroom for a warm-up, and then went to the starting line. There was only three of us (Sam, Nanci, and I) today because one of the girls was out with shin splints (Ouch!) and the other was on a trip for choir.

As we were getting race directions I was really nervous: Sam and Nanci usually finished in front of me and I didn’t want to be last out of my school! I was also worried because we had to finish the last quarter-mile of the race on the track. It was about 90 degrees outside so the last thing I wanted to do was run on a hot track!

It was too late though, the official shot the gun and we were off. Sam, Nanci, and I sprinted off the starting line and stayed together for the first ½ mile (Saturday meets are 2.2 miles long) but gradually Nanci fell behind. Sam was in the front for the entire race with me close behind. Once we got to the track, however, I told myself to speed up to Sam and keep with her and I did. We stayed together while running around the track. She finished first and I finished less than a second behind her! (Literally!) I finished at 18:29:84 and Sam finished at 18:29:28.

No, it wasn’t my fastest race but I still felt pretty good knowing that I gave it my all and did the best I could in the circumstances. (I can not run well in hot weather.)

Plus I got a medal!

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When I got home from the meet it was around 1:30PM and I was starving! I refueled with a nice protein/whole grain combo.

First a Turkey, Laughing Cow, and Dijon mustard Sandwich on a Sandwich Thin… ↓

…followed by a Chobani Blueberry Greek Yogurt. ↓

Post-Run Lunch

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Alrighty, I hope you enjoyed reading this post! Check back later for my Manna Bread Review.

Nothing New

Hey Bloggies! How was your Monday?

Mine was nothing special. I was tired all day and felt like I was just going through the motions. I’ll definitely need to get more sleep tonight.

Breakfast was a simple favorite: 2 Whole Wheat Eggo Nutrigrain Waffles with Friendship 1% No Salt Added cottage cheese ↓

Delicious, as always.

By the time lunch rolled around I was starving! I blame all the thinking.

I had a Turkey Sandwich on an Arnold‘s Sandwich Thin with a bag of Sensible Foods Cherry Berry.

I wasn’t lying when I said Cherry Berry was my favorite flavor - It’s just THAT good!

After lunch I had history and then an easy day of Cross Country Practice since we have a meet tomorrow! We only ran 3.9 miles! (I always giggle when I say only because 2 months ago I would have been like “3.9 miles?! I could NEVER do that! I guess that just goes to show you that you never know until you try!)

Once I got back from my “easy” Cross Country Practice I refueled with a Green Monster. ↓

Green Monsters=YUM!

I am so glad I was introduced to Green Monsters! It’s a veggie serving you can’t even taste!

Yes, I had to include two pictures because I probably won’t get to enjoy another Green Monster until next summer. I can’t drink cold smoothies when it is cold outside. Can you?

While enjoying my Green Monster I started my homework and then had dinner.

Dinner:

• BBQ Pork Chop
• Some kind of yellow rice that we found in the pantry
• Green beans with slivered almonds

I love Pork Chops!

It was so nice today that we decided to enjoy dinner outside. I can’t believe summer is coming to an end but at the same time I want fall to come so badly!

After dinner activities included:

• No Karate
• Watching DVR’ed episodes of Flipping Out
• Watching DVR’ed episodes of Keeping Up With The Kardashians
• Being lazy
• Having a snack
• Blogging

After Dinner Snack

Another Snack

What a boring  nice day! Sometimes I just need a day to relax and unwind. Doesn’t everyone?!

I hope you had a relaxing day!

My First Cross Country Meet!

Well, today was the day! My first High School Cross Country meet was this morning and I think I did great! But before I get into the details of the meet let me tell you about my preparations. 

Last night I figured I should have a snack consisting of a lot of carbs (running fuel)  so I made myself a batch of Peanut Butter Banana Soft Serve topped with some cinnamon. 

 

I also kept my breakfast on the light side so I wouldn’t be running on a full stomach. I had two slices of toast spread with a packet of Justin’s Almond Butter and drizzled with honey. (As seen on Give Me The Almond Butter , who, by the way, is having an awesome giveaway right now!) 

Breakfast

 

Look at that artistic drip of honey…↓ 

Beautiful, right?

 

This was so much better than I thought it would be! The sweetness of the honey and the nuttiness of the almond butter complimented each other so nicely that even I, the honey hater that I am, enjoyed it!  

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Okay, enough food talk. Let’s skip to the meet… 

Me before the run.

 

The meet was an hour away and even then I was there by 9:15AM ← so much for sleeping in on the weekends!  

Anyways…I ran the freshman race (2.2 miles) with the 4 other freshman girls from my school and ended up finishing 2nd out of the 5 of us. Not too shabby!  

Sam and I! (1st & 2nd from our school)

 

The Freshman Girls (minus 1)

 

↑ Did you notice the medals in our hands? It turns out that the top 35 (out of 50) finishers got a medal! I came in 23rd out of 50 with a time of 17:58! All of us Notre Dame Freshman Girls placed in the top 35 (we all got medals!) and did so well! 

What a rush!  Woot Woot!  

The next meet is Tuesday the 14th…bring it on! :-P

Time Trials

Okay, I know I said Goodbye, Nutella but am I one to pass up OOIAJ?!  No, not at all.  

Mmmm...Chocolate!

 

I know I have only had OOIAJ one other time, but I seriously think I could be addicted to OOIAJ! I am already thinking about playing Musical Jars!  

I kept this batch of Overnight Oats pretty simple because I didn’t want to upstage the Nutella flavor. 

 

In the mix was: 

• 2/3 cup Vanilla Dannon Light & Fit
• ½ cup oatmeal
• 1 tbsp. ground flax

One word: Delicious ← There is nothing like a big jar of chocolate-y goodness to start your day on the right foot.  

After breakfast I was right out the door and on my way to school. My Dad will probably be driving me from now on because who really wants to get up an hour earlier just to sit in school for 45 extra minutes?  

Definitely not me.  

Once I got to school I went right to my locker and went to first period, second period, and so on. No big news about school today other than the fact that my (packed) lunch was pretty good and that I got a bunch of homework.  

Turkey on a Sandwich Thin, applesauce, & cheese

 

Cross Country was pretty eventful though! 

Today was the day that we all love to hate: Time Trials 

For all of you non-runners out there time trials are basically timed runs. You do a workout and your coach (or whoever) times how long it takes you to complete each mile. 

Today we did a 3.1 mile course. (AKA a 5K) In the beginning I felt pretty good and felt like I was going pretty fast, which I was…for me at least. I finished my first mile at 8:29 which is 30 seconds shorter than my time a month ago! 

Yay!  

I don’t have times for my 2nd and 3rd miles since there are only 2 coaches but my overall time was 33:14 which is about 10 seconds shorter than when I competed in an actual 5K.  

Now let me tell you why I am happy about that time… 

…It was 95 degrees outside with barely any wind and a lot of humidity. I pretty much went all out for that first mile that I was pretty burnt out for the rest of the workout. Bummer, right? 

Wrong. Yes, I had to walk. Yes, I was going at the pace of a snail when I was running, but I still did better than the last time when I was actually feeling good! Just imagine what my time would have been if I was feelin’ it! (You’ll find out soon because my first meet is Saturday!)  

After Cross Country Practice my Mom picked me up and we went to a couple of stores in search of navy tights for my uniform. No luck.  

When we got home it was nearing dinnertime so I did my homework and then got right to work in the kitchen. (I had the kitchen to myself!) I made myself a pasta dish that just popped into my head the other day. I named it “Spaghetti Alfredo with Spinach and Tofu.”  

Dinner

It was pretty good for the first try, (no measuring, etc.) but it’s not perfect so I am not posting a recipe…yet.  

After dinner I cleaned up the mess that I made of the kitchen and finished homework. Now I am relaxing and blogging and later I will have Karate.  

I think that’s it for now… 

Oh yeah, snackage for the day so far was a pack of Cocoa Roast Almonds and a Strawberry “Fruit Roll-Up.” 

 

After Karate I’ll probably have a little something too. 

Ta-ta for now!

Frozen Peanut Butter Apricots

Have you ever felt like there is this one blogger that is a foodie genius? Well I have, and the blogger I am talking about is Gracie at Girl Meets Health.

This girl is a freaking genius! She comes up with things I would have never dreamed of doing. Some of my favorite ideas of hers are:

• Vitatop French Toast
• Solo Cookie
• Sweet Banana-Date Dog

But the other day when I checked her blog I found another new idea of hers: Frozen Peanut Butter Dates!

I thought it looked so good - I mean, I love frozen nut butter, the only thing I didn’t really like was the dates. So I decided to make a slightly tweaked version of Gracie’s Frozen Peanut Butter Dates.

Frozen Peanut Butter Apricots

Step 1:

Spread a layer of peanut butter on a sheet of plastic wrap. (I used Skippy Natural.)

Step 2: (according to Gracie)

Make sure not to leave any peanut butter behind! (No picture, but believe me I never ever waste nut butters!)

Step 3:

Place an apricot in the center of the peanut butter.

Step 4:

 Fold the plastic wrap so that the apricot is completely surrounded by peanut butter (It will be purse-like, with the excess plastic wrap twisted at the base.)

Step 5:

Freeze for at least 15 minutes. (It all depends on your freezer.)

Step 6:

Eat, devour, enjoy, and savor the peanut butter-y goodness! I ate all 3 of the ones that I made in one day – they are so good!

I am already thinking of variations on this recipe. What ideas do you have? I am thinking of one that I think will be a hit, but you will just have to wait and see to find out what it is.

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On another note… The first day of vacation in Myrtle Beach was awesome. We arrived at 10AM and stopped at a pancake house for breakfast. (I went all healthy and got buckwheat pancakes – so good!) Then we checked in at our hotel, unloaded luggage, explored the premises, swam, and slept. (Well, I didn’t sleep – I went to the workout room and ran!) Then, we went to PF Chang’s for dinner and hung out at the hotel for the rest of the night.

*Yawn* I think I am ready to fall asleep right about now. Goodnight! ♥