Harry Potter and The Fish Run

Sometimes, I get really sick of my running playlist. I know exactly why - I never change it up, and I don't really think the shuffle feature is that intuitive. Even though I haven't really touched my playlist since I started training for my first half marathon in 2011 (almost 3 years ago!!), there is still one song shuffle has never played. Weird, right??

I've been experimenting with listening to podcasts while I run, but I haven't really found one that speaks to me. I tried out Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!, Pop Culture Happy Hour, and How Did You Get Into That?, but some days I really just wasn't feeling it. I'd rather listen to those when I'm driving than running. So, I switched back to listening to audiobooks - and my fallback, of course, is listening to Harry Potter.

Why yes, I am a nerd! :P

On Thursday, I planned to run 5 miles. I got out my iPhone and realized I needed to put an audiobook in my library. I hooked it up and waited for it to update, and then selected the book I wanted (Goblet of Fire, one I haven't listened to in a while) and waited for it to load again. This took an hour. What?! And then it didn't even work. Ummm. So much time had passed that I could have run 5 miles twice. Plus, by the time I had decided to just put another book on there, it was 2pm- My yoga sculpt class was at 4:30pm, and there just wasn't enough time for me to both recover from running and to have a successful yoga class. So I skipped it.

My Summer Shape Up meals for the past few days:

Perfect Microwave Banana Oatmeal

1/2 ripe banana, mashed = 45 calories
1/4 cup rolled oats = 95 calories
1/4 cup skim milk = 23 calories
1/2 tsp cinnamon = 10 calories
1/4 cup blueberries = 26 calories
5.25 g slivered almonds = 32 calories

Calorie Total = 231 calories

Yeah this is the ugliest picture of food ever - I know. I tried to take it from like 3 different angles and each time it just looked more and more like vomit. However... the taste was okay. I'm realizing I like very little cinnamon (a 1/2 tsp is still a lot to me), and slivered almonds in oatmeal is something I won't be trying again.

Banana & Spinach Smoothie

Half a ripe banana = 45 calories
1 cup skim milk = 90 calories
30g of power greens = 25 calories (I did measure this time!)

Calorie Total = 160 calories

This was pretty good, but either my blender wasn't doing as it should or the banana wasn't ripe enough - I kept finding chunks of banana in my straw. But, I really couldn't taste any of the greens - just banana and milk. Go figure.

Salmon and Quinoa Salad (my own "recipe")

4.5 oz salmon (it was a lot of salmon, but it was the last of it, so I figured what the hell?) = 180 calories
30g power greens = 25 calories
1/2 cup quinoa = 140 calories

Calorie Total: 345 calories

I mean, there's really not much more to this than just heating up all the ingredients and throwing them into the bowl. I didn't even cut the salmon - just kind of mushed it around the other ingredients with a fork. It really was the easiest dinner ever. And with me, the easier it is, the more likely I'll eat that and not our Face M&M's. 

Somebody (hint: starts with in, ends in laws) sent us 12 tins of our Face M&M's. 4 of them have mysteriously disappeared..

This morning, I decided to try and do the thing I used to do.. which is run in the mornings. It was hard. I was still pretty full from the night before (I ate like I was running 5 miles yesterday.. but didn't), so I didn't eat anything before my run. It worked okay - I felt my brain raging, Why did you not eat??!?! but then realized that I wasn't actually hungry, and my brain shut up.

The worst part about my run was that I tried a different route (keep it interesting, y'all) and ended up on the tiniest stretch of non-sidewalk, and ended up running into a bed of thorns, practically. What resulted:

Ow.

Dannng. This happened at like, not even the halfway point. So my leg was burning like, all through the rest of the run. :( 

It's a fish! With a big head and a little fin! About to chomp on the word "Bellevue" - do you see it?? (I'm a child.)

I'm really glad that despite running with scratched legs, the last mile was the fastest. I really need to get back into this habit! It ends the run on a good note and leaves me feeling accomplished.

Hope you have a good weekend!