Victory!!!

VICTORY is mine!!! 😀

Guess what I did this morning?

I went running!

6 Mile Stats

And my heel didn’t hurt. Plantar fasciitis ain’t got nuffin’ on me! 😉

Truth be told, I am beginning to think I don’t have full-blown plantar fasciitis.

Though the “running expert” at our local running store felt my foot last week  and said he was pretty sure I had plantar fasciitis, I did a lot of research and talked to more people about the symptoms of the condition. I have come to the conclusion that I may have a very mild case of plantar fasciitis, but that the real pain I was experiencing in my heel last week was likely due to a bruised heel.

Ninety-five percent of the pain I was experiencing in my heel occurred on impact, when I would walk or run. It sounds like those with plantar fasciitis feel tightness and pain regardless of whether or not they’re running or walking.

After noticing pretty intense pain in my heel, I gave myself a little more than a week off from running completely. 

My heel started to  feel remarkably better on Wednesday of this week.Though I was tempted to run on Thursday, I told myself to take a couple more days of rest and save my first attempt at running for this morning.

At 8 a.m., I leashed up Sadie for a run around the lake near our apartment. I promised myself I would stop at the slightest sign of pain. Six miles later our run was done and I was still pain free!

I am so happy. I feel like I will be able to at least participate in the half marathon on August 1. Now I just have to build up my mileage after 2+ weeks off of running my long runs. Eek!

Breakfast

Breakfast this morning resembled yesterday’s lunch because I couldn’t stop thinking about how delicious my spiced up peanut butter and banana sandwich was during my run this morning. (There are some adorable odes to different foods in the comment section of that post that you should check out if you’re in the mood for a smile. 🙂 )

I made myself a pb & b sandwich with Krema natural creamy peanut butter combined with one tablespoon of caramel sauce on one slice of honey wheat bread and banana slices on the other slice.

Banana + Pumpkin Pie Spice

I sprinkled everything with pumpkin pie spice before slicing the sandwich and digging in.

Saturday Morning Breakfast

I don’t know about you, but I find that spreading refrigerated natural peanut butter can be a huge pain. I recently started microwaving the tablespoon or two of peanut butter I remove from the jar for on my sandwich before spreading it, which makes it much easier to spread. Just a lil’ tip!

Ooey-Gooey Peanut Buttery

The Goods

This breakfast was a slam dunk! 😀

Today’s Plans

Today will be a busy but fun day!

Our plans include:

• Returns at the mall
• Pool time
• Select the tuxes/suits for Ryan & his groomsman for our wedding
• Register at Bed Bath & Beyond

Annnnnd I’m off!

Two Guys, Two Dogs & a Girl

Ryan and I had another buddy join us for our morning workout!

Our friend Ross and his dog Kona ended up staying the night last night. Ross is en route to Jacksonville, by way of Gainesville (where he’s a student at UF), to begin his summer internship for law school.

Ryan, Ross and I all woke up at 5:30 a.m. to hit the gym. Let me just say, Sadie and Kona were wiiide awake! We left the dogs to mouth and play while we got in a quick workout.

(For those of you who commented on Ross’ hotness last night, you should know that he’s single and in law school… and has one heck of a cute dog. 😀 You’ll be seeing more of him on this blog because he’s going to be one of the groomsmen in our wedding.)

Post-Workout Walk

After the gym, the three of us leashed up the puppies and headed out for a 40 minute walk.

A Feeble-Looking Sadie

The Men & Their Dogs

(I think both dogs were mid-shake when I snapped this pic.)

I really enjoyed the extra company on my morning walk! Usually it’s quality Julie ‘n’ Sadie time, so having Ryan and Ross along for the journey was a treat. (Ryan doesn’t typically join us on our morning walk because he goes into work early. He had a little extra time on his hands today because he has jury duty. Fun!)

Post-Walk Breakfast

After our walk and showering up for the day, I made us quite the happy breakfast.

Smile!

The banana and peanut butter combination alone is enough to make me smile, but when your food is literally smiling up at you, you know it’s  gonna be a good day.

PB & B

In the process of making our peanut butter and banana bagels, you know I indulged in a peanut butter finger.

Too Hard to Resist

For those of you who have asked in the past, Skippy Natural is typically my peanut butter of choice.

Not only is the ingredient list on this bad boy 100 percent understandable, this peanut butter actually tastes like the peanut butter you grew up eating. Plus, it’s much cheaper than a lot of the “gourmet” peanut butters.

Question of the Day

What is your peanut butter brand of choice?

Viiiitamins

Do you take ’em?

I do!

Some readers have emailed me asking if I take any vitamins. I suuuure do.

Every day I take two vitamins.

Viactiv + L'il Critters

I take a Viactiv calcium chew and a L’il Critters Gummy Vites multivitamin. (Sometimes I pop a few of the L’il Critters. They’re like fruit snacks!)

I used to take a calcium supplement and a multivitamin that I would swallow, but for some reason I’d always forget. For me, when vitamins taste delicious, I’m excited to eat them and much more likely to remember to take them daily.

The calcium supplement is very important to me, as osteoporosis runs in my family. When I was an intern in college, the company I worked for had a free health screening for employees. What really scared me was learning that I already had osteopenia, a condition that is often a precursor to osteoporosis, characterized by low bone density. I eat a lot of yogurt and calcium-rich  foods, and strength train regularly, but clearly that is not enough for my body. I began taking a calcium supplement every day from then on.

Breakfast

After poppin’ my daily vitamins, I got to work in the kitchen.

First, I toasted a sweet wheat Alternative Bagel to serve as the base of my breakfast bagelwich.

These Alternative Bagels are the only lower-calorie bagel I’ve tried that actually resembles a bagel. Those bagel thins are decent, but a bagel they are not.

While my bagel was toasting, I prepped my chocolate PB2 to spread on the toasty bagel.

Chocolate PB2

Though it’s definitely not a substitute for the thick, creaminess of normal peanut butter, PB2 is pretty darn tasty in its own right.

For those of you who haven’t heard of PB2, it is a powdered peanut butter to which you add water to “bring it to life.” Eighty-five percent of the fat is removed from normal peanut butter to create PB2, which therefore reduces the calorie content to around 50 calories per two tablespoons (compared with approximately 180 calories per two tablespoons of normal peanut butter).

Creamy & Chocolatey

I like it a lot, but it is not as filling at normal peanut butter and the texture is a little different.

To complete my breakfast, I spread the chocolate PB2 on one half of my toasted bagel and topped the other half with frozen banana slices.

PB2-Topped Bagel

Open-Faced Bagelwich

PB 'n' B

Eat Up!

Taaaaasty.

Workout

I suppose I should back up a bit to recap my morning workout…

Per the usual Monday workout, I hit zee gym for the 5:45 a.m. BodyPump class, which I followed up with 20 minutes of light cardio on the elliptical.

I spent the entire time on the elliptical reading all about the new Sex and the City movie in the latest issue of Entertainment Weekly. I can’t wait to see it!

Question of the Day

Of the Sex and the City girls, which character is most like you?

I’m definitely a Samantha. Kidding! (I bet my mom just had a heart attack.) I think I’m most like Charlotte. 😀

Peanut Butter Buddies

Meet my peanut butter buddy!

"I Love PB Almost as Much as My Mama!"

Sadie and I were peanut butter buddies this morning. As I enjoyed a peanut butter finger, Sadie enjoyed a peanut butter spoon (or two).

PBF

I had to spoil Sadie a little bit because I’m going to miss her so much this weekend!

Ryan is taking Sadie up to the Appalachian mountains to go hiking with his dad and his friend Terry, while I head to Jacksonville to spend the weekend with my family. Being away from Ryan makes me sad, and when I don’t have Sadie with me either it’s like a double blow.

At least I have a fantastic and fun family to hang with! 😀

Breakfast

If you didn’t already guess, peanut butter made a starring debut in my breakfast this morning.

Creamy PB

I topped a honey wheat Arnold sandwich thin with the creamy goodness and microwaved frozen banana slices.

Nanners

Open Faced PB & B

The banana was hot and gooey and tasted extra sweet.

PB 'n' B

Elvis would be proud of this breakfast. 😉

Workout

My workout began with an early morning BodyPump class. We had a substitute instructor who decided to do an old throw-back release, which was a neat surprise. I love challenging my muscles in new ways and this release definitely did that.

The throw-back release was easier on the lunges and squat tracks, but my biceps, triceps and chest we killin’ me! I actually increased my weight by five pounds during the chest track. I figured I should give it a go since the release we’ve been working on has a really challenging chest track.

Post ‘Pump, I headed home and leashed Sadie up for an easy, breezy 20 minute run around the lake by our apartment. She seemed to enjoy it and I relished my last moments with my lil’ girl for the weekend. 🙂

A big spoonful of peanut butter was Sadie’s post-run reward.

Worth the Run

Question of the Day

Do you treat yourself to something especially yummy after a tough workout?

I usually eat similar things regardless of the difficulty of my workout. However, after running in a race I always eat a BIG breakfast with dippy eggs, toast, fruit and whatever else I’m cravin’ at the time (like whipped cream, straight out of the can).

Paaay-ink Breakfast

Is it just me or do you feel a littler happier when you consume a breakfast that is pink?

I think my love for the color pink goes all the way back to my childhood when, according to my grandma, I used to pronounce the word “paaay-ink,” with a slightly southern accent.

My breakfast this morning was Pepto-pink from to the strawberries I blended up in my strawberry shortcake smoothie.

Pre-Blended

Into the blender went:

• 1 c. frozen strawberries
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey cup cake batter protein powder
• 1/2 scoop All the Whey strawberry protein powder
• 5 ice cubes
• cold water
• 1 tsp. xanthan gum

Blended

This made a whole lotta smoothie and I ended up eating a bunch of the smoothie straight from the blender with a spoon.

The rest was poured into a tumbler and garnished with a neon straw.

Smoothie and a Spoon

Fun Straw!

Breakfast

Pretty ‘n’ pink!

Workout

Today’s workout began with a BodyPump class. The chest track on release 73 is killerrrr.

After the ‘Pump, I headed upstairs for a 45 minute power yoga class… my third yoga class within the past eight days! This is crazy for me since I’ve never really been able to get into yoga.

The Wednesday morning power yoga class is right after BodyPump, so the timing is perfect. I enjoyed the class a lot and can’t get enough of the pigeon pose! I love the way it stretches out my hips!

Save the Date Thank You

Thank you all so much for your sweet words about our winning save the date picture!

I feel a bit relieved to have a picture to use that I think looks kind of professional since we didn’t take engagement pictures. Hopefully all of the paper I ordered will come soon so I can get a lil’ crafty this weekend!

Question of the Day

Do you prefer to drink out of a straw or straight out of a cup?

For me it totally depends on the beverage, but I really love straws! I think they’re so fun!