Hustle N Bustle 10k

Sunday, me and a friend did the Hustle N Bustle 10k for the Wounded Warrior Project. I'll start by saying it was a great run and it was for a good cause, but it had a rough start. The location of the start line was a little unclear and it was a bit of a gaggle, but once we started running all the little things didn't matter. It was a great course through the woods in Prince William Forest Park and even though it was a little humid, it was pretty cool in the woods. And as usual, it included the bain of my existence - a mean hill at the turn around point. If you read my last post, it was a 40-breath hill.

It was a really pretty run

But, I'm not a very pretty runner. Yeah, running isn't cute

The other side of the spectrum from hills, is my favorite thing in the world - Sunday brunch. We went to The Cheesecake Factory, which I didn't even know they had a Sunday brunch, but oh. They do. Right before we got seated, a waiter walked past with someone's food and all I knew was I wanted THAT. "That" ended up being Factory Huevos Rancheros, which pretty much came down to 3 sunny side up eggs, on top of cheese quesadillas, on top of black beans and covered in salsa, sour cream and avocado. I don't have a single complaint and I recommend you go there this Sunday.

I also got a piece of cheesecake to-go - Mango Key Lime. Yeah. Get that, too.

Yesterday, I woke up with a shooting pain radiating from my ankle up the side of my calf, so I decided it was time for a rest day, even though that's really hard for me. I woke up refreshed today for a 7-miler before work, so obviously it was just what the doctor ordered. Sometimes rest really is the answer and even though you feel as though you're getting off track by missing a run, you'll be even more off track if you cause more damage.

Tomorrow, I'm *hoping* to knock out an 8-miler, but the long weekend is going to be a little iffy because I'll be traveling. After the holiday, it's really going to be time to start buckling down because we're just over two months out from the Air Force Marathon! Woohoo!

Meatless Half Marathon

Meatless Half Marathon doesn't quite have the same ring as Meatless Marathon, but not every title can be a winner.

I did the Alexandria Running Festival Half Marathon this morning and before I tell you the time, take this into consideration - "Remember the feeling you get from a good run is far better than the feeling you get from sitting around wishing you were running," -Sarah Condor. So, good or bad, at least I did it.

Now, the time...*drum roll*...
well first, let me add that Runner's World magazine gave me the guidance to go into a race with three time goals - the first is your 'having the best race day ever and the wind is in your favor' goal time, the second is the more reasonable 'I pushed myself and I'm happy' goal time, and finally, your 'I better be bleeding or limping if this is my time' goal time. My three were a sub 2 hour (even 1:59:59 and I would be ecstatic), 2:10 and 2:20.

Knowing this, *cue drum roll* 2:03:25! So, I wasn't as excited, BUT it was still a PR! It beat my last one of 2:07 from the Woodrow Wilson Half Marathon from October 2011. And either way, it was a really great race. The weather was perfect - cool, but not cold, sunny, and no humidity. Unheard of in these parts at this time of year. Fingers crossed for these great conditions next weekend at the Run For a Dream Half Marathon in Williamsburg, VA. 

Now that we've chit-chatted about running, time for some food talk. After the race, me, the hubs and a friend went to Bread & Chocolate in Old Town Alexandria for my absolute favorite brunch item - eggs benedict with smoked salmon. Seriously, the egg yolk, hollandaise sauce and the saltines of the salmon was a.m.a.z.i.n.g after running 13 miles. And let me tell you, you had to have just run a half marathon to eat it because it runs you about 20 Weight Watchers points! Totally worth it.

For dinner, I was too tired, and lazy, and hey, we don't have much food in the house because we're moving, so we went out to eat again at Grilled Cheese & Co. It is a gourmet grilled cheese restaurant. Oh dear.

I got the Veggie Delight and the hubs got the Crabby Melt and we both got a bowl of tomato soup because every good grilled cheese has tomato soup on the side. Mine had harvati cheese, roasted veggies, olive tapenade and black pepper aioli. Hubs had Monterey Jack cheese with crab meat because this is Maryland!

The tomato soup had big chunks in it and was topped with pieces of Parmesan cheese and croutons and the sandwich had hot, gooey cheese and you could taste the olive tapenade with every bite. I can't decide if I liked mine or hubs' better with the sweet, creamy crab dip spilling out the sides. And then... We went back up... And bought ANOTHER. But we shared it and it was the Sweetest Thing with brie, mascarpone, raspberry preserves and chocolate chips, so, technically it was dessert. Do you see why I had to join Weight Watchers?!

They even serve an 'original' with american cheese if you want to stick to the classics.

I don't even want to think about running right now, but I should probably mention my running plans for the week:

Monday-3
Tuesday-4
Wednesday-5
Thursday-4
Friday-4
Saturday-1
Sunday-13.1

Now, put me to bed!

Home sweet home

I was going to stop at a friend's place for the night yesterday, but I was terribly homesick, so I took a nap at a rest stop and 16 hours later, I was home!

So, today (my first day home in about 3 and a half months) me and the hubby went to Sunday brunch. This is my favorite part of the entire week and the thing I have missed the most about being away. It gives us a chance to hang out, relax and have really good food! Do you understand why it's so hard for me to lose/maintain my weight? My entire family loves food and a lot of our plans center around it, for example, Sunday brunch.

This brunch venue was a bit different than any others we've been to. There have been little cafes in Old Town Alexandria that we walk to, bar-type places that we stop at after a run, but this one came with a show - a burlesque show. The restaurant is called Sax and it's in DC and it was a blast! The whole place is dimly lit, there's super comfy couches to sit on and all the waitresses wear corsets. Then, about every 10 minutes, some of the girls will put on a dance up in this glass case. Nothing like half-naked women to make your Sunday.

Oh, and the food! It was soooo good. I had smoked salmon (my favorite) on pumpernickel bread that was very crispy, then topped with capers and a dill cream sauce. You can't go wrong with dill. Me and the hubs also shared a little pot of blue crab and gruyere fondue with bread as the dippers. (I calculated this to be about an 18 weight watcher point meal, but it took up breakfast and lunch). Everything was delish and the show was spectacular! Definitely recommend this place if you're ever in the area and looking for an exciting Sunday brunch.

Again, it was dimly lit so you can't really see the food and I didn't want to be that weirdo that had their flash going off, but this is the smoked salmon and pumpernickel bread.

They had really great coffee, too, and I loved the glass! They had great service and the coffee just kept on coming. They also offer bottomless mimosas/bloody mary's.

For dinner, I made due with what we had at the house (not much) and made some red wine and tomato shrimp over spaghetti that I just kind of threw together based on what we had available. I thought it was tasty, but the hubs didn't finish his (he doesn't finish a lot of things though).

Red wine and tomato shrimp 

(Makes 2 servings at 9 weight watchers points each)

-Heat up a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of chopped garlic in a pan

-Add half a cup of red wine and let it simmer for about 2 minutes

-Add about a half cup of diced tomatoes and about 2 cups of deveined/shelled shrimp and let it cook till the shrimp are done (try not to overcook so they don't get tough)

-Split in two servings and pour over the top of 1 cup spaghetti and give it a stir. Enjoy!

After dinner, it was time for dessert! Now I don't have a terrible sweet tooth, but sometimes I like to end my evenings with a bit of fruit and my mom introduced me to this homemade banana ice cream that is to die for.

Banana Ice Cream

(0 points if you don't add toppings with points)

If you're like me and you always have cut up bananas in your freezer from when they started to brown and you always tell yourself that you'll make banana bread, but never do, then you're in luck! Take those bananas and make ice cream.

Whenever you freeze them, make sure you cut them up first so that they look like this:

It makes them easier to blend.

-Put the frozen bananas into a food processor or blender and give it a whirl. 

-Stop it frequently and scrape the bananas off the sides and push the big pieces back into the path of the blades

-Keep doing this. It may get tedious and seem like nothing is happening, but sometimes mine only goes about 5 seconds before I see that nothing is moving so I have to scrape the sides again

-The bananas are going to start looking kind of grainy and you're going to think it's not working, keep scraping and spinning

-Eventually, the bananas turn into this creamy, amazing consistency that totally will fulfill your ice cream craving. 

Just keep blending until it looks like this.

Now, you can add whatever toppings you want either directly into the blender or after it's in the bowl. My mom will add some PB2 directly into the blender for peanut-banana ice cream, my husband will add some chocolate syrup on top once it's in the bowl, and I poured some strawberries over the top of mine. Seriously, amazing!

I finally got a run in, too! Nothing great, but 2 miles was better than nothing. It felt good just to move after being in the car for 16 hours yesterday! Tomorrow I'm going to try to start getting on some kind of actual workout schedule again. 

Until tomorrow :)