Fresh Out of the Freezer

Tonight’s dinner was fresh out of the freezer! How’s that for an oxymoron?

Salmon Dinner

Before heading to work this morning, I took a couple of salmon filets out of the freezer and let them thaw in the fridge so they’d be ready for bakin’ for dinner tonight.

What’s your favorite kind of fish?

My favorite fish is salmon, followed closely by grouper.

Our salmon dinner came together quickly. After sprinkling the filets with dill, salt, pepper and lemon juice, I put them in the oven at 375 degrees and let them bake for about 10 minutes.

(For some reason Ryan finds the “Dill Weed” spice label unusually funny. :D)

Fishy

The fish was moist and flaky.

On the side we enjoyed roasted zucchini sprinkled with garlic salt and portobello mushrooms. Can’t forget the veggies!

On our evening walk with Sadie we snagged two oranges off a neighbor’s orange tree and they were a juicy and delicious addition to our meal.

Freshly Picked Orange

Am I a Runner?

I don’t consider myself a runner. Even when I was training for a half marathon, I didn’t consider myself a runner.

I’m intimidated by the people I think are “runners.” The people who run in several races a month and have completed marathon after marathon… I can’t keep up with the big guys!

I like to run for fun. I run in races because I love the atmosphere and the enthusiasm of so many people gathered to do something great for their bodies.

I started signing up for running races after I graduated college. I’ve never tried to improve my time (though it has improved a bit naturally), and always set out to enjoy the race experience.

I don’t know what criteria I have in my head that qualifies someone as a “runner.” I think anyone who runs regularly for fun or to improve their ability is a runner… so wouldn’t that make me one of them? Maybe… Right now I think I’m just a “worker-outer.” 😉

What do you think makes someone a “runner?”

Half Marathon, Here I Come

Guess what I did today?

I signed up for the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll half marathon!

Run Baby, Run!

The race isn’t until August 1, so I have plenty of time to not train before race day.

I’ve only run one other half marathon, which I completed with Ryan in December 2007. Our official time was 2:14.

OUC Half Marathon, Dec. 2007

I was not running for time (I never do). My goal was to run the whole thing, and that’s exactly what I did. No walk breaks!

I basically followed Hal Higdon’s novice half marathon training plan, and made sure to stick to the long run distances. Unfortunately I got sick two weeks before the race, so my longest run was 9 miles before the big 13.1 mile race.

It was definitely challenging, but I really enjoyed the experience. Ryan’s support was so amazing and I really appreciated having a running buddy with me. He didn’t train at all and stayed with me the entire time. While I was totally fine the next day, poor Ryan was sore for about a week! I guess that’s one of the benefits of training…

For the Chicago Rock ‘n’ Roll Half Marathon on August 1, I will have several running buddies! Five of my girlfriends from college will also be running.

If you’re a runner, do you run for time? What’s the longest race you’ve run?

My goal for this race is simple: to have fun! I never get bent out of shape about my race times anyway and am one of the least competitive people in the world. I will not be focusing on a time and I plan on taking it nice and slow and enjoying the sights of the city. I’m so excited!

Lunch

Though my lunch was not quite as exciting as my half marathon news, it was still quite delish!

I enjoyed a Swiss cheese and artichoke sandwich on a whole wheat sandwich thin.

Swiss Cheese + Artichoke

I also munched on carrot sticks and enjoyed a sugar-free orange jello on the side.

Tuesday's Lunch

Also, for your viewing pleasure, please enjoy the lil’ pic of my mid-morning snack!

Gingersnap Yogurt

Around 11 a.m. I dug into Greek yogurt topped with two small Gingersnap cookies and chopped pecans.

Yummmmmmy!

Hot Mess

After my morning workout I was a hot mess!

Phew!

I guess interval training will do that to ya.

I initially planned to go to spinning, but a new teacher took over the 6 a.m. time slot and he’s not my cup of tea. You can tell he’s the kinda guy who thinks he’s pretty nifty and he doesn’t ride the bike at all. He opts to do weird dance moves beside the bike (you know, the kind where you don’t move your feet?). It’s like Club YMCA and is not something I care to partake in as my first activity of the day.

In your opinion, what makes a good fitness instructor?

To me, good fitness instructors are positive, encouraging and play upbeat music. (For you Biggest Loser fans out there, I am much more of a Bob lover than a Jillian fan.)

Since spinning was out, I opted to take myself through an interval workout that I saw on Jessica’s blog a couple of months ago. I keep print outs of about five different cardio workouts in my gym bag as a fall back plan for when I’m not feeling creative. The 20-minute interval workout called to me today.

Workout

• 5 min. incline walking warm up (7.5 incline, 4.2 pace)
• 20 min. intervals (2.0 incline, 20 seconds at 9.0 pace, followed by 40 sec. at 4.5 pace… repeat for 20 min.)
• 5 min. incline walking cool down (7.5 incline, 4.2 pace)
• 20 min. elliptical

By the time the 20 minutes of intervals were over I was sweaty! I still wanted to read the latest US Weekly since I couldn’t read it while running, and opted to finish my workout with 20 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical while taking in my celebrity gossip.

Breakfast

Along with the tasty BBQ chicken pizza from last night’s dinner that I took from my parents’ house, I also nabbed a box of Eggo NutriGrain waffles and toasted one up this morning.

Leggo My Eggo

Toasty

I dipped it into a mixture of 1/2 c. cottage cheese, 1/2 c. organic pumpkin, sweetener and pumpkin pie spice.

Organic Pumpkin

Cottage Cheese Pumpkin Dip

It was quite the yummy breakfast.

Save the Date Help

Thank you to all of you who weighed in on my save the date question. It sounds like sending them out 6-9 months in advance is a good amount of time. We’ll probably send them out sooner rather than later. Time is flyin’!