{Weigh-in Wednesday}

A week after shark week ended and I feel great.

144.4lbs

I like it.

As I was getting dressed to go run, I passed my full length mirror in my sports bra and underwear and I liked what I saw.

So, I put on a pair of swimsuit bottoms and took a picture. 

What? You don't do the same?! ;)

I also ran for the first time in over a week today.

It felt great.

I gave the compression sleeves a try.

I felt very slow in them.

I'm not sure if that's because it's been more than a week since I last ran or if it was because of the sleeves.

Either way, I liked them. Other than the slow running, I felt great.

I'll continue to use them.

Yesterday, I also made a Thai Peanut Salad.

Oh. My. Word.

Amazeballs.

This salad is so good and the dressing is what makes it.

Here's the recipe for the Thai Peanut Salad.

Best. Ever.

{It's a beautiful day, Colorado}

Time to catch up! :)

I woke-up in a fantastic mood this morning.

Part of me believe's it has a lot to do with taking Unisom for the first time ever.

Because of my work schedule, my sleep pattern is always off.

I tried the Unisom last night because I go back to work tomorrow and didn't want to experiment with something like that during a work week.

I felt amazeballs when  I woke-up.

It had a little bit to do with him also.

He makes me smile.

Today marks me getting back into working out on a regular basis again.

I think only having 3 weeks in between my last two 5K races had something to do with me not working out as much these last 3 weeks.

So, since I wrote last I've gone to a Bon Jovi concert, ran the Rave Run 5k, and bought smaller jeans.

The Bon Jovi concert was really last minute.

A girl I know texted me to see if I would like to go with her since her boyfriend had to go out of town for work.

Only an idiot would say no.

Of course I said yes!

It was a lot of fun.

I definitely paid for it the next day.

I didn't get drunk, I only had 3 beers, but I got to sleep at 1am and had to be at work at 5:30am.

This past Saturday was race number 4 of my One 5K Race a Month For 12 Months goal.

Two of my co-workers, and friends, ran the race with me.

It was so insanely packed with people it was ridiculous.

There were over 7,000 people there.

My friend, Cat, and I had to walk a few times because of the conjestion.

That part was annoying.

We also had to walk across the finish line because of all the people. 

That part was more than annoying!

Overall, it was a lot of fun!

Afterwards, we went to get burgers at this restaurant that yelled at me for drinking alcohol without having my I.D. card. Shame on me. If I were younger than 21, I'd feel bad. As it was, I finished my drink anyway.

I know, I'm such a rebel! ;)

After that, my friends dropped me back off at my car and I met the other runner friend of ours at a bar.

That was pretty fun as well.

The next day, I had dinner with my friends and previous co-workers.

It's always such a fun time getting together with them.

So, and finally, some of the delicious dishes I've made...

Baked Egg in an Avocado

Avocado Chicken Salad

Chocolate Banana Blueberry Muffins
The recipe calls to grill them but I do not own a grill so I baked them.

Photo Credit
Thai Turkey Meatballs

{Clean Eating & Bunny Bolt 5k}

Yesterday, I was very productive and made 2 meals ahead for this week (and possibly the rest of my life).
Seriously, for only feeding one person, this stuff will last me forever.

I made a healthy version of Fettuccine Alfredo and a mis-mash spaghetti squash meal.

The spaghetti squash alfredo is delicious!

I've made homemade Alfredo before and there's only one recipe I really cared for, but this one is easily beating the other in yummy goodness.  Creamy, garlic-y, amazing. The spaghetti squash worked really well with it also.

Spaghetti Squash with Chicken & sun-dried tomatoes was absolutely probably one of the best meals I've ever made. I can even say I liked it better than the Alfredo dish above.

I've never eaten a dish with sun-dried tomatoes in it (at least, I don't think so anyway) and they really enhanced this dish.  I thought it would be bland and boring. It was anything but.

Try it. I dare you. 

haha

So, all this food prep gives me lots of food. Like 10 days worth of food.

It's insane and awesome.

Later today, I'm also going to make a quick avocado chicken salad.

You know, just to have something to mix it up a little bit.

So, today is the 3rd race to my goal of One 5k Race A Month for 12 Months goal.

It's the Bunny Bolt.

Today was a fantastic run! 

Well, other than the fact that I got there 10 minutes late.

Yeah...

I don't even know what happened. 

I looked at the clock and it said 9:24. 

I should have left then but I did not.

The next time I looked at the clock it was 9:35 and I said oh shit and ran to my car.

The race began at 10 and was 35 minutes away.

So, I get there and park and, by the time I begin running, the race had been going on for 10 minutes.

I kind of knew where the start line was from running my first race here, so I just started there.

I probably was the last runner for the 5k.

My official time for the race is 45:06.

I ran the "Map My Run" app while I ran to see what my time would be according to it since I knew it was going to be off from the official time.

I also was just shy of 3.1 miles.

I'll let the picture speak for itself...

Say What?! Right at 3 miles in, we'll just say 35 minutes!

And a pace of 12:01?!

Talk about extremely happy.

That's a PR for the win.

It probably was because I had to pee so badly.

I did stop at mile 1.7.

At a porta potty.

Gross.

Yes, that definitely happened.

So, what's a girl who just ran a 5k do?

You go to the gym and do the lower body workout you missed yesterday.

 And really, I didn't miss my workout yesterday.
I went there.
I got on the elliptical for my 10 minute warm-up.
I finished the warm-up.
I left the gym

I absolutely did not feel like being there.
I wasn't feeling well or like myself at all.

So, I came home and then made those two meals listed above.
Good deal.

{heureux de mardi gras}

Happy Mardi Gras, fellow bloggers!

I've been missing all the fun and action while here in Denver. Not to fret, however, as I make do. Today, rather at the ass crack of dawn, I made a King Cake for my co-workers. Lemme tell ya, it was bon apetit!
I'll let you in on my little secret as well... I cheat majorly with my King cake! I have a recipe for a homemade cake. It's 4 pages though!!! Do you know how intimidating that is?! Anyway, so I cheat. Here's my recipe...

2 cans of crescent rolls
a sugar/cinnamon mix (I've used white or dark brown)
melted butter

The website with the actual recipe I use is Real Cajun Recipes. It's ridiculously simple to make. There are other recipes that use crescent rolls also but none quite this simple. One note that the recipe does not tell you... How thick you roll your crescent roll "jelly roll style" is dependent on how thick you want your cake. I roll up, width-wise so that the cake is a thinner and longer for one cake and, for the cake below, I rolled sideways, length-wise so the cake is thicker but shorter. It fit into a pie baking dish this way. Make sense? Eh, you'll figure it out. ;)

I've also never used the sugar recipe on the Cajun recipe website. I always use...

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbls lemon juice
2 tbls water

The leomony-tasting icing makes a great contrast to the sweet cake.
After the cake cools *this is important if you want to have that white glazed icing look*, drizzle the icing over the cake. I just pour it all over it. ;)

You'll also need purple, yellow, and green sugar crystals. You can make your own according to the recipe above, or be convenient like myself, and buy them pre-colored.

Alternate the colors on the icing and, voila!

I then added a plastic baby and decorated it with beads I bought at Party City (none of which are pictured... I forgot! and didn't think of it). You see how my icing just melted right off the hot cake? That's because I was in a hurry and didn't let the cake cool enough.

I also warned everyone there was a plastic baby inside and to not choke on it. You do not have to include the baby; it's just generally tradition.

Anyway, so that is my King Cake. It was a hit, everyone loved it that tried it. Even if they didn't love it, I loved it and had 3 small slices of it!!!

{Homemade breakfast goodies}

Oh. My. Word. I have found the most delicious homemade pancake and homemade syrup recipe. I'm not even sure I can describe how yummy this all was.
Absurdly Easy Homemade Pancake Syrup
Homemade pancakes
With the pancakes, I used non-sweetened almond milk (just cause it's the only type of milk I buy these days) and I added a scoop of my protein mix. Those were the only changes I made to the pancake mix.
I made no changes to the syrup recipe. I did add frozen blackberries to it as the recipe suggested.  Next time I'll try to make a healthier version of the syrup. Such as using a brown sugar mix. I just didn't have any on hand.