I'm an old man jogger.

Heys and heys. Happy weekend! It's been a happy weekend! I super love starting out the weekend with a great Friday night, which is exactly what we did.
(P.S. Here's how I started my Friday. It rocked my Toms off...yes I wore them again.) 

I call it: Smoothie From Heaven. Its a lovely mix of frozen strawberries and bananas, a scoop of chocolate whey protein powder, a cup or so of ICE COLD water, and a container of 0% chobani greek yogurt. It turned out so smooth and creamy! Next week I'm planning to add spinach...gonna rock that baby to the next level!

I left school at 3:00 (early, it seems, but I get to school at 7, so it's a solid 8 hours, and have a working lunch!) and headed to the gym. I got there early enough that there weren't a TON of people working out, which is ideal...I've never had to wait for a machine, but I just hate being crowded.
I did another interval run, similar to what I did on Wednesday. This run included some walk breaks...

  

It says 5.2 miles in 65:00 minutes. Not good, not bad. 

I realllllllllllly need to figure out how to UP my speed and endurance. I'm just creeping on the runs lately...totally jogging...and I hate it! I feel like an old man, jogging in my track suit( I don't wear a track suit, I swear...just Nike capri tights and a tank top) down the sidewalk in a Florida retirement community. Nice visual? I think so. But I can't get myself go longer, faster! I could run at a 12 min. mile pace for days...but speed up to a 10 min. mile and I croak! Hmph. Good news though! My husband, the former long distance runner, has agreed to "train" me on Sundays! He's always been a runner, and has some great tips for me! We're starting tomorrow by heading over to a nearby high school track to do some speed work. I'm excited! 

Ok, back to my weekend. 

After my run, I stretched and headed home. A friend called and invited us out to Red Robbin for dinner, and after some debating about our original plan of sushi, we decided to be social and meet up for a double date. I was worried about the vegetarian/healthy options, and found two possible choices: a Gardenburger, and the "Red Rice" entree. I went with the gardenburger, as everyone at the table was having real burgers! I had it in a lettuce wrap, instead of a bun...and had a side salad instead of fries. 

YUM! I didn't take a pic, it wasn't really that photogenic, but it was DELISH! It came topped with pickles, tomatoes, and a spicy dijon mustard sauce, topped (and bottom-ed) with huge hunks of iceberg lettuce, all wrapped up like the do with their regular burgers in a paper holder. SO GOOD!!! I didn't even feel tempted to nibble the table's MANY baskets of steak fries, or take a bite of Ben's double patty melt. I tried to eat my side salad, but was pretty full of lettuce by the time I finished my burger. Overall: GREAT dinner. 

The best part, though, is that I'm SO PROUD of my dinner choice. Usually I'm such follower when I go out to eat, having whatever the group is having, and not sticking to my eating plans. I TOTES kept it clean, vegetarian, and healthy. *pats on back*

After dinner we headed home, and I CRASHED, lights out at 8:45. I was so tired!!

Saturday!

Started off my day with a perfect bowl of oatmeal, topped with bananas and a spoon of almond butter. I made Ben a triple-sized bowl of maple syrup oatmeal with the same toppings as mine. I needed some serious fuel, as I tutored from 9-12 and knew I'd be famished by lunchtime!

Tutored all morning, la la la...

Finally made it home and did a quick Saturday morning house cleaning! I always feel so much better when the carpet is clean, dishes are done, laundry is done, etc. etc. 

Ben needed new shoes, we needed groceries and lunch...so we headed out for errands. We stopped first at Qdoba, our faaaaaavorite spot. I chose to pick from the Craft 2 menu, and got a naked veggie burrito topped with corn and mild salsa, and a cup of the tortilla soup. MMMMMMMM I was in heaven, it was the perfect sized lunch! Ben, on the other hand, got a massive steak taco salad, which was swimming in cheese and sour cream...it looked amazing. 

Next stop: Khols for shoes! I wandered around the women's clothing section while Ben picked out some tennis shoes for work. Quick stop, easy! 

Then, we headed right next door to BJ's! It's a Costco-type store with big amounts of basic things. We stocked up on cereal, hummus, yogurt, bell peppers, got an 8-lb bag of apples which I HOPE I can get through before they go bad, and various other things. The highlight:

mmmmmmmmmmmmm!

This cheese is phenomenal. I had a few bites on some Wheat Thins, but I'm saving it for something reallllly special...not sure what yet! haha!

After we finished at BJ's, we headed to a local grocery store to get a few smaller items, including black beans, frozen fruit, 9 frozen pizzas for the hungry man, a few HUGE avocados, and some sunflower seed butter. I can't wait to try the new nut butter...I wanted another jar of almond butter, but it was $12! Rediculous. 

 (I promise I'm almost done with  the play-by-play...baha)

Came home to a (clean...ahhhh so nice) house, put away groceries, and got a call from my girlfriend that she was coming over for dinner! So I hopped on the treadmill to get some cardio in, thinking that may be my last chance of the day.

...Insert FRUSTRATED AMY FACE...

Again, my running endurance is pitiful. I ran 2.3 miles, with some walking in between. I DON'T KNOW WHAT'S WRONG!! I've ran over 4 miles without stopping! My total time was 40 minutes, 3.2 miles. Just so frustrating. I know I need to stop comparing myself to this rockstar who ran 15 miles today, and this rockstar who ran 10 miles today. I am a beginning runner, and am still learning. Learning? Do you learn to run? Idk. 

So anyway. My bestie, Alyssa, came over, and I got all HEALTHY on her butt and cooked her tempeh! Seriously, this is the girl who used to come over to my house when we were kids and claim that kiwi was "exotic". So I got all exotic on her and pan-fried some tempeh like I did on Thursday. She had hers in a wrap with lettuce and shredded cheese and Franks...I had mine on top of another salad beast:

 

It was heaven in a bowl, let me tell you. In the mix:

• romaine lettuce
• tempeh pan-fried in lite northern italian dressing
• radishes
• feta cheese
• a few stray carrots
• a sprinkling of dry roasted almonds
• a drizzle more of the italian dress

SO GOOD! And a small bowl of roasted veggies on the side that, let's be honest, I didn't eat. I did, however, top them with the remaining tempeh and put in the fridge for lunch tomorrow. Maybe.

Now: in bed. Thinking about a sleeve of oreos in my cabinet. So tempting. SO TEMPTING. Also, thinking about doing my lesson plans for this week. Not tempting. ALSO, thinking about downloading a new book on my Kindle. VERY tempting.
Stay tuned...

(P.S. You guys, the pics look way better, right? I sent them from my phone to my email as size "large" instead of the "original size"...idk what that even means, but it worked!)