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!

Happy Father's Day, and Running to a Podcast

Hope everybody had a good Father's Day! My dad rocks, in case you weren't aware.

© Kelly Garsee Photography

Can't forget about my Father in Law! Here's a neat picture of him surfing in Hawaii :)

:D

Last Friday, on a whim I decided to go running while it was 58 degrees. I'm not really sure what made me want to go out and run - maybe because it was cloudy and I knew the breeze would feel nice, or maybe it was because I spent a lot of the day reading other running blogs (it's a great motivator!), but regardless of the reason, I'm glad I ran.

I decided to go up and down Bellevue Way while listening to a podcast. Believe it or not, I didn't even have the Podcast app installed on my phone! I knew NPR's Wait Wait...Don't Tell Me! from Julie's blog was supposed to be hilarious, so I downloaded the latest episode (at that point, it was June 7th's show) and gave it a try.

(If anybody is curious about Podcasts, they're super easy! Just download the app, to go to the Search function at the bottom, and type in the name of the show. Wait Wait came up and all I had to do was click the most recent podcast, and it downloaded it right to my queue. It was ready to go in less than 30 seconds!)

The show surrounds itself in current events, with some games thrown in. It was... entertaining to listen to, but didn't have me literally laughing out loud. However, I think I've exhausted my running playlist, because my run seemed to go by much quicker with the Podcast than with my running playlist. Go figure.

I ended up running negative splits (score!!), and though I did feel myself pushing, it wasn't that bad. 

Pleasantly surprised with negative splits!

I came home, showered, and got ready to see Porgy and Bess with our friends Chelsey and Aaron - it was our last show of our subscription at the 5th Avenue Theatre! Can't believe how the time has flown by this year.

We enjoyed our time together and look forward to next season's shows.

Today I officially start training for the Bellingham Bay Half Marathon! We'll see how this goes....

What are you training for?

(P.S.! I will post my most favorite wedding pictures as soon as I get the un-watermarked versions! The above picture of me with my dad was just a taste!)