I really wish I was faster at blogging; there is always so much to talk about and not enough time to capture it at the end of each week. I will need to work on trying to blog multiple times a week.
There are a couple of promises that I need to keep before I start this post. I promised to share what my Cookie Dough Baked Oatmeal looked like for breakfast this week. I am happy to report that it came out looking and tasting pretty good considering I accidentally doubled the amount of milk when I was adjusting the recipe for serving size. You definitely can’t go wrong with chocolate in anything you make, so I think I will try this recipe again for sure (this time with the right amount of milk)!
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| I ate it for breakfast with a scoop of plain Greek yogurt, blueberries, and pomegranate seeds |
I also promised a couple weeks ago to share what some of my new gear looks like. I didn’t manage to take a picture of all my items at once since some are in the laundry but here are some purple highlights including my race day singlet. I am so excited to add these items to my running wardrobe but my drawers are definitely getting more difficult to close these days (Josh, I promise I won’t over stuff our new set of drawers like I did with our old Ikea ones which caused the bottoms to fall off).
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| We were trying to mimic Will Smith and his family’s face during Miley Cyrus’s performance on the VMAs |
Tuesday night, we ran track intervals on the Great Lawn track at Central Park. Tuesday night, I submitted to peer pressure and let my over achiever self take over. The plan was to run two sets of 3×600 meters, on the curves we were to go at 10K pace but for the straightaways, we were supposed to reduce our speed down to marathon goal pace. Generally for the strait aways, I was pretty on target for marathon pace but for the curves, I definitely ran some faster than 5K pace (around 7 minute miles). We finished up our two sets and some how I succumbed to peer pressure to run another set. Running is fun, right? Tuesday night’s practice was actually a lot fun and I felt great after the three sets until 24 hours later when my quads were extremely sore!
Josh’s birthday was Friday but since we were going away for the long weekend, I wanted to treat him to a nice dinner in Hoboken before we left. On Thursday night, we went to Augustino’s and they were incredible! We had never been before because usually you need to make reservations weeks in advance and they only take cash. However, I think we may need to make more of an effort to come back soon. The service was amazing and the food was delicious. Italian restaurants aren’t usually my first choice when going out to eat, but I highly recommend Augustino’s! You’d think by the looks of this picture that it was my birthday meal, not Josh’s. I ordered the special which was a seafood (lobster, shrimp, clams, and mussels) pasta with white sauce and he ordered the chicken parmesan. Just like chocolate, how can you go wrong with lobster? Yummy!
On Friday, we set out to Fire Island. Despite the accommodations not being up to par (or Cindy standard), we had a great time. This weekend’s run was supposed to be 14 miles and after exploring the neighborhood where we stayed, I was a little worried that I wouldn’t be able to fit in that many miles. The outside perimeter of Cherry Grove is around a mile, once you go outside of the perimeter, there is no longer a boardwalk and it will require going through sand. However, the community is similar to a grid, so in addition to the boardwalks along the perimeter, there are cross “streets” that run perpendicular. If you run through the entire community, that adds up to slightly less than three miles. After speaking with a local and a runner who I approached when she was running (fortunately for me she was really nice about it!), we discovered that there is a path that connects Cherry Grove to the Sunken Forest. On Saturday afternoon, Josh and I set out on my adventure to find 14 miles. We started by going towards the Sunken Forest first, found the path after two tries since some of it was washed away we had to go on sand, ran through the forest, and then back to Cherry Grove which added up to slightly under three miles. Josh went to back to the hotel and I was on my own to add up the mileage. I think I saw every person out in town at least three times! I ran the entire community 3+ times and I still only got to 11 miles. At that time, it started getting dark, so I called it a run!
Also, while we were in Fire Island for the weekend, I finally read Born to Run by Christopher McDougall. I’ve been wanting to read this book for over a year and downloaded it on the Kindle a couple months ago. The reviews for the book are really good and everyone I talked to who has read the book all agree. I have to say though that I thought it started off a little slow but once I got into it, it was a fast read. Without giving away too much, the book definitely makes you think about your diet, barefoot running or minimalist shoes at least, and truly inspires you to go the distance (short or far). I enjoyed the book so much that I downloaded Eat and Run by Scott Jurek as soon as I got home. I am really looking forward that read.
Do you have any good book recommendations?
P.S. I can’t believe tomorrow will be 60 days until the marathon. Just two months away… time flies.