No Go On Running In The Dark

Last night I tried to get to bed at a reasonable hour, and set my alarm for 6am. When I woke up, I just couldn't help but think about how probably my whole run would be in the dark. I kept thinking about Sam's post on the Operation Jack blog, and about how a treadmill run would be a lot safer. Plus, I'd get another hour of sleep. So, I changed my alarm and went back to sleep. When I got up for real in the morning, I noticed that it looked wet outside, and on further inspection, it was snowing. So I was kind of glad, and felt extra justified that I didn't go for that run in the dark this morning.

I wasn't exactly looking forward to running on the treadmill, but it fit into my schedule nicely. I went and saw Mindy's class do their music show and tell, and it was really cute. Then Elle and I went straight over to the gym. It was still snowing.

I picked a treadmill where I could look out the window and watch the snowflakes leisurely float to the ground. It was actually a really cool thing to watch while running because it was interesting, but didn't really require any attention.

I had to run 7 miles today. Ug. I knew this would not be fun on the treadmill so I tried to mix it up a bit by adding in intervals. Fun hu?!

I started off slow, but got going at a 10 min/mile pace, then every mile I did .25 at 7:47 min/mile pace. I had planned on doing 6 of these, but after the 4th one, I was done. I actually thought I was done after the 3rd one when I had to stop and walk for a minute, but then Muse came on and saved me. It seemed like my ipod knew what I needed because Muse song after Muse song kept coming on, and my Ironman song (Foo Fighters: The Best), and even Gans Oben at the very end that made me feel like I was on top of the world.

Total Distance: 7 miles

Total Time: 1:09:59 (seriously)

Average Pace: 10 min/mile

So, not a great time, but at least I finished the 7 miles. For being a distance that I don't really have trouble with outside, it sure is a daunting distance on the treadmill. I was actually a little worried I wouldn't be able to finish it, but I did! I kept thinking about another one of my blog/twitter friends, Megan Killian, and how she did a whole marathon on a treadmill! Can you imagine?

Now it's time for What I've Been Eating

First of all, we're done with not eating wheat and dairy. I couldn't handle it. I was thinking we were definitely not allergic to either of those so why bother, but now I'm having questions about it.

Here I am after snowboarding at Tarahumara. It's a Mexican restaurant in Midway, Utah (If you're ever there, you've got to try it!) that we love. I'm eating corn chips and mango salsa (mmmmm), which I think might actually be ok, but I don't know.

Pete got the 2 burrito meal, and I got the papaya and chicken quesadilla and a salad with passion fruit dressing (probably sugar in that). I have to say, the next day I wasn't feeling too great. Maybe because of the flour tortillas? It could be a number of things, though so I'm not placing blame yet.

We cheated a lot this weekend because we got our food co-op stuff, and it included some white rolls and some bread that had some whole wheat, but some white flower in it. I tried not to eat too much of it, but it was so good! This sandwich I had Sunday morning, and it was with this peanut butter that we also got from the food co-op and a banana. Bananas are the new sugar. They are so good!

I think this was dinner Monday night. I just threw some pork in the crock pot with salt and pepper and let it cook half the day. Then I baked some sweet potatoes, steamed some asparagus and made this really yummy quinoa recipe that Sheila recommended in the comments the other day. It was so good. I actually ended up putting my pork on the quinoa and it was delicious! I couldn't get enough. Just as she suggested, I had it again this morning for breakfast with a fried egg on top. It was really good, but I waited to long to eat it so it was cold. My bad.

Here's what I had for lunch after swimming yesterday and it really hit the spot! I put some Olive Oil in the pan and cooked some onion and spinach in there for a little while, then I poured on the beaten eggs (mixed with a little milk and salt and pepper) and let it cook. When I flipped it I put cheese, tomato and avocado. It was really good.

While we were at Whole Foods finding the quinoa, I decided to try something different and got this coconut milk. We really didn't like it as a milk substitute, but I thought it might be good mixed up with some pinapple and banana in a smoothie! I made that the other day, and we all really liked it. Today I made it again, but without the ice, and poured it into these popsicle molds. It kind of reminds me of a banana cream sicle, but it doesn't have any sugar! Score! We'll see how the popsicles actually turn out. Funny that I made popsicles today when it was snowing all day.

I also made some whole wheat, oatmeal bread today since it was such a perfect day for baking. Now I'm having that same pain in my stomach I had after the flour tortillas the other day. And I only had 2 pieces. Ok, maybe I had 3 pieces. Maybe there is some connection there, I'll pay attention and try to find out.

I was really craving candy today. Particularly chocolate. Maybe it was the snowy day bringing out the natural urge to drink hot chocolate or make chocolate chip cookies. Or maybe it was because people keep giving us Easter candy, and we're hiding it away in the cupboard (with the girl scout cookies....) to save for Easter. We are going to have candy on Easter. I don't think there's any way around it. I just hope it doesn't ruin all the work we've done!

The main benefits I've seen to not having treats around are that I feel good, and that I actually have a much easier time going to bed on time! Isn't that weird? That's one reaction I wasn't expecting. It turns out that I don't stay up late to watch tv. I watch tv so I can eat treats. If I don't have a treat, or some kind of snack to eat, the idea of watching tv isn't as appealing to me. Weird hu? Maybe I'm also more tired because I'm not hyped up on sugar at night too. We'll see if it lasts.