As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not really a fan of running, even though I’d like to be. In fact, the idea of running a race terrifies me!

But the fact that a race terrifies me also really makes me want to challenge myself to rise up to the occasion. Heck, at one point I was afraid to do zumba and now look how things turned out!

As Eleanor Roosevelt said:

“You must do the thing you think you cannot do.”

So today, with the encouragement of some really fantastic friends, I did something I thought I couldn’t do.

I ran.

Here’s my support group: Michelle, Kath, (me), and Caitlin. (Caitlin’s photo) Talk about a great group to be there for my first big running adventure!

These wonderful, running-expert ladies were kind enough to take a break from their fast-paced running to do a Couch-to-5K style of interval running (2 minutes running and 1 minute walking) for 3 whole miles – probably the farthest I’ve ever gone running…EVER! Not one mile. Not two miles. THREE!

Stepping back, I woke up 2 hours before run time to get some fuel in my system and give my body time to digest.

Hot coffee.

Banana oatmeal in my fantastic new bowl!

Pre-cooking ingredients:

• 1/4 cup coconut milk (carton kind this time, not can)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp chia seeds

Cooked stovetop till thickened up.

Post-cooking:

• 1/2 sliced banana (stirred in at end – I ate the other half, minus a bite for Bailey)
• ground flaxseed on top
• sliced almonds on top

Nom!

After breakfast, I decided it was a good idea to make my trial batch #2 of my Green Monster muffins. If you read earlier, you probably already saw the recipe because they were a success!! Hazzah!

Click here for my Green Monster muffin recipe.

Anywho, I pulled these babies out the oven just as it was time to leave the house. Cutting it close time-wise!

Then, it was off to Caitlin’s place to meet up for our run. It was suuuuper hot outside! Eeks!

Michelle and I made friends with Caitlin’s “new cat” till Caitlin and Kath showed up to for our group run.

I still can’t believe how patient every one was with me. I was worried about slowing them down, but everyone was so encouraging, it was great!

We did running / walking intervals for 3 miles. I felt pretty good when we started out but started feeling tired around mile one. I pushed through the rest of the way and it seemed like it was over before I knew it! I thank zumba for keeping me in good cardio shape.

Caitlin used her Garmin for some lap stats:

• Mile 1: 12:28
• Mile 2: 12:53
• Mile 3: 12:38

I’ve never tracked miles time-wise before, so I don’t really know what they mean, but Caitlin said they were pretty good for both running and walking the miles.

Future runner? Future racer? Either way I was just proud for running today. I had a great time! I think I need to hire Caitlin or Michelle to be my running coach! I’d hire Kath but she’s moving!!

Michelle and I toyed around with the idea of running a 5K later this year on the car ride home. I’ve always thought it would be cool to run in a costume so I suggested we get a group to wear matching tutus (any takers?). Then Michelle said we could get shirts made too! Sweet! Hey, I am a sorority girl. Give me a costume party and event shirts and I’m in!

After heading home, showering and changing, a few of us met up at The Flying Biscuit for brunch.

We had a pretty long wait in the heat outside, but it was worth it! I brought green monster muffins with me to help tide everyone over during the wait (which was like an hour!)

Hot coffee (what? it was cool inside) with sugar cubes and creamer.

I got the high flyer: 2 fried eggs over medium, creamy grits and potatoes (you can get 1/2 and 1/2!! neat ordering trick for TFB), chicken sausages (I don’t normally like meat sausages but they’re pretty darn tasty here), a famous biscuit and apple butter.

Oatmeal pancake and peach topping.

So freakin good!

I worked up a sweat and appetite this morning and guzzled a lot of water at brunch and ate quite a bit of my plate. More than normal at least, though I did end up taking some home to hubby.

Michelle, Ben, Kath, Matt and me headed out to IKEA post-brunch. I brought a coconut water with passion fruit to help recover from the hot run earlier. I got these coconut waters with fruit flavors to test out because I saw them on sale at Earthfare but I definitely prefer the taste of just coconut water.

Michelle and Ben got cinnamon rolls!

They shared a bite with me!

The goods: a laundry basket for our towels/linens, stools for our outside patio (inspired by Caitlin’s), plus some curtains (not pictured).

Poor Bailey was kind of bored today with me running all around.

I broke out a fave vegetarian ingredient for dinner. Both hubby and I were feeling something “light” so soup sounded good to me.

I loved the big bunch of kale added to this soup.

Dinner = Ellie Krieger’s Lemony Lentil Soup from her So Easy cookbook.

Lucky you I found the recipe online here!

Plus some Great Harvest Whole Grain Goodness toast with real butter.

And for dessert – Yoforia!!

Hubby and I met up with Karen, Matt, and Kath for dessert. We even brought Bailey for some fresh air and socializing. That ham!

I got some tart plain and some taro. Toppings = coconut, kiwi, strawberries, blueberries and pineapple.

Is this stuff addicting or what?!

***

Another fabulous day guys! I feel so lucky to have such great friends to play with all day!

***

I think I’ve signed myself up for 6:30 am yoga with the girls tomorrow. Eeks! This means 2 back-to-back morning exercises for me and I never work out in the morning! I must say, while post-work workouts seem to work better in my schedule, I think morning workouts are a great way to start the day! Guess I’d better go dig out my yoga mat…get to bed! G’night!

Do you prefer morning, afternoon or post-work/night workouts? Why?

Hello fabulous readers!

Have I got some good news today!? For the rest of July (ok, there’s only a little over a week left in the month, but still), I have 2 wonderful coupons for you to use in my OpenSky shop:

• july20pct – use this for 20% off anything in my shop!
• julyfreeship – use this for free shipping

NOTE: You can only use one coupon or the other (cannot be combined) and you can only use your coupon ONCE!

Still, I’m so happy to have finally scored a coupon to share with you guys!

***

Here are some of my favorite items:

Augisa Whipped Body Butter – organic and so heavenly on your skin

Click here to buy Augisa Body Butter

Chia seeds – heirloom quality – great in oatmeal or on Power Toast

Click here to buy heirloom chia seeds

Organic Food Bars – yummy snacks – great for pre-workout

Click here to buy some organic food bars

Galaxy Granola (available in 4 flavors: Raspberry, Not Sweet Vanilla, Vanilla Almond *my personal fave*, Cranberry Orange) – delicious granola

Click here to get your own Galaxy Granola

Chef of the Future seasoning – perfect for all the grilling this time of year!

Click here to buy Chef of the Future seasoning

***

There are lots of other great things in my shop right now and more being sourced and added all the time.

Click here to check out the other fun stuff in my shop and remember to use either your 20% off or free shipping coupon!!

Thank you everyone for the shoe tips on yesterday’s post!

Sounds like there are some common favorites for comfy work shoes:

• Aerosoles (def have some of these and love them)
• Naturalizers
• Sofft (I always want to buy these but never do…not sure why!)
• Born
• Enzo Angiolini (have some – love)

Click here to view the other comments or leave your own suggestion. Plus the suggestion of inserts is a good one. I’ve been wanting to buy some foot petals for awhile, but the packages are so pricey! Though right now it looks like you can do a survey for a 20% off coupon! And I think they do free shipping over $20!

Think I need to save up some money to go shopping. Or, perhaps I’ll consign some of my old stuff so I can afford some new stuff?!

***

Guess what I found in my fridge yesterday ya’ll?

Zucchini bread! I had been saving this piece to give to a co-worker, but she’s been WFH all week, so I decided to eat it today. It was fabulous. I did my re-bake trick and microwaved it for 20 seconds and then baked it at 300 degrees F to get that fresh-baked taste.

I also had a fried, cage-free egg and some organic cherries.

I ate most of the salad I had leftover from last night’s dinner. It was a little soggy for my taste and the avocado was icky (I picked that topping out), but I was glad I didn’t waste it completely.

I was trying hard to not eat out for lunch today but I ended up picking a cup of chicken noodle soup up to accompany my lunch.

It went well with my AB+J though the combo did make me feel a bit like a 5 year old.

Btw, I wore my boat shoes to work today. Not the most attractive but so much more comfy! My feet couldn’t take heels again after yesterday’s painful pumps.

***

I was feeling hungry again around 3 pm but I talked myself out of going out to get a snack. I didn’t want to spend the time (take a break) or money.

However, roughly 45 minutes I gave in and decided I deserved oatmeal since I had meetings till 6pm and would be working late. Plus it would be good brain fuel so I could concentrate better.

I decided to try out Caribou’s new oatmeal concoctions since their flavors sounded way more interesting than the Starbucks oatmeal + 3 toppings. Caribou had original, brown sugar, cinnamon apple and cranberry orange.

I went with cranberry orange – 7 grain oatmeal blend, soy protein, dried cranberries, and orange marmalade.

I ended up stirring all the marmalade in, which was a big mistake! I forgot how overly sweet some people like things (yes, this coming from probably the biggest dessert-eater you know). I wish I would have scraped like half the marmalade out and THEN stirred it together. But, overall I thought it was a nice, quick, healthy option for a girl on the go. I still prefer stovetop, rolled oats, but these were great to-go.

I ended up staying at work till 6:30pm today. Blech! I went straight home and then hubby and I hit up the mall to visit the Mac store. I’m shopping for a new laptop guys! So excited! I’ve been so sad I haven’t been able to take my laptop to our patio or to local coffee shops to work. I’ve been shopping for the last year or so and I’m still loving my Mac so I think we may stick with the brand.

We didn’t buy anything tonight but I hope to get something soon!

Lookie what I got from our garden today – a whole cali bowl full of cherry tomatoes! Yum!

Hubby and I went for pizza for dinner. We started with a baby spinach salad and cherry tomatoes from our garden.

I had half a real, bottled coke to drink.

I had 2 small pieces of cheesy-bread with tomato dipping sauce.

Plus 3 small pieces of pizza.

Do you eat lunch/snacks out often when you’re at work? What do you frequently get?

No, I’m not pregnant. You’ll have to read on for the pickles + “ice cream” story. lol

Guess who came running into the kitchen this morning at the first *plunk* of my knife hitting the cutting board? Bailey of course! He may or may not have scored himself a little bite of banana.

I had oatmeal again! It’s been too long.

Banana oats with flaxseed, chia seeds, and walnuts. Plus beautifully cozy hot coffee. Mmm…

Hubby brought me some treats to work – a mini cinnamon roll and a piece of butterscotch scuffin. They made for a great lunch dessert.

Sidenote: these shoes really pissed me off today. They looked so comfy but they were so not! I couldn’t wait to change shoes by the time I got home. Blech! I’ve had such bad luck with shoe buying the last few times. They look comfy…they feel pretty comfortable when I try them on, but wear them long distance and…not so much.

These had what I think was a plastic interior lining that just started rubbing my feet the wrong way.

***

I had special plans for after work.

Recognize this place? It’s Caitlin’s new place!

We enjoyed a lil brewskie before heading out for dinner at Big Daddy’s to meet Cindi.

We shared a plate of fried pickles.

Caitlin had never tried them before! I thought they were a nice rendition of a Southern classic. Nice and crispy with a tasty ranch dipping sauce.

For the main event, Caitlin and I split a Cantina 1511 (I was just there last night!) black bean burger.

And we each got our own side salad.

Thank goodness we shared food because we had so much! I ended up taking a lot of my salad home. I downed the delicious black bean burger (great flavors there!) and ate up all those yummy sweet potato fries. Another wonderful Big Daddy’s meal…hoorah!

Neither Cindi nor Caitlin had been to Yoforia before, so when we started discussing sharing a spiked milkshake, I suggested froyo as another option.

Froyo won out! (photo courtesy Caitlin)

We grabbed a sweet spot outside near a fountain to soak up the warm weather.

I ended up getting the plain original tart yogurt with blueberries, strawberries, kiwi, pineapple and my fave Yorforia topping – the coconut! So tasty!

Did I mention I got to meet Maggie and James?! They are the cutest little doggies. I hope they can become good friends with Bailey!

Guess what I got to preview?! Caitlin’s new book – Operation Beautiful: Transforming the Way You See Yourself One Post-it Note at a Time!! Her book is fabulous and is available for pre-order on Amazon. Score!

SUCH a fun time hanging out with Caitlin and Cindi tonight! And, I love a good weeknight outing! Let’s do it again soon girls!

Any suggestions on new shoes for me? I typically like Banana Republic and J Crew but lately they seem hit or miss comfort-wise. Ideas?

I totally hit up Great Harvest yesterday with full intentions of chowing down on my delicious, carbalicious eats.

On my bill:

• whole wheat rolls (b/c they’re so much better than biscuits!)
• whole wheat cinnamon chip (b/c it’s freakin delicious…and semi-healthy)

I couldn’t wait for breakfast this morning – scrambles with green pepper, onion, parsley on my GH WW rolls (re-heated in the oven for that fresh-baked taste). Plus coffee.

Been feeling sluggish all week. Not sure why I didn’t think of it sooner, but I prescribed myself a tall everything juice (too many veggies to name, but it’s a nice assortment).

Our parents love us. We got an e-card from hubby’s mom and a card from my fam for our 2 year anniversary. Love the little birdie sticker they put on the envelope!

Thank you family!

Bailey’s been one cuddly puppy today. Not sure if corgis are natural cuddlers or if I just taught him that.

After getting some fresh lettuce, I made a big salad with a micro-baked sweet potato (bit of real butter and dash of brown sugar).

Lookie what I found on sale at the grocery store! White Chocolate Wonderful! I’ve been wanting to try this stuff for like years! Not like 10 years, but maybe at least 2. I was leaning towards getting more dark chocolate dreams for the cocoa (it’s good for you!), but I figured I could always add some unsweetened cocoa powder.

Nutrition.

I knew the WCW would be awesome on my cinnamon chip bread. Yuuum! I also added chia seeds. Not quite what I’d classify as Power Toast, but delicious nonetheless!

See the cinnamon chips and the ooey gooey, melty PB? Nooooommmmmmmm!

It was so good, I had another slice.

I made hubby and myself smoothies later.

I’m always jealous his is prettier because his goes naked while mine usually gets at least a half scoop of Vega Health Optimizer.

Today, our smoothies had:

• Frozen mixed organic berries
• banana
• OJ
• ice cubes
• water

On top: granola and pepitas.

Post-work, I donned my DIY-cut zumba tank top for a special 90 minute zumba class. I led Let Me Think About It again and it was…per the usual…AWESOME!

Such a fun class…it almost didn’t feel like it was 50% longer!

Check out my happy bunny sweat band. He’s saying “kiss my a$$” basically.

My cut tops and wrist bands make me feel like a rock star on stage! I’m finding this is very important because you have to at least pretend like you’re the shiznit when you’re in front of class. No one wants to see a wimpy, non-confident zumba instructor. They want someone bursting with energy and confidence! Dressing the part always helps get me in the outgoing instructor frame of mind.

I think the whole dressing-up thing comes from my skating background. I always wanted to look like my idols. If Michelle Kwan practiced in black leggings with a black leotard, then I wanted to practice in black leggings with a black leotard. I remember I used to have a warm-up pre-skating-session that I heard MK did, so I did it religiously! When my mom’s friend went to China, I begged her to get me a good luck charm with a red string so I could wear the same type of necklace that Michelle wore. She got one for me and I didn’t take it for yeeeears! All these things always made me want to skate better and practice harder. Amazing how simple things like certain tops and stuff make you feel more professional or confident.

I came home and practiced some of my zumba dances and a couple songs I’m trying to choreograph (sorry, mum’s the word!). All in all I ended up doing about 2 hours of cardio tonight. Needless to say, post-workout I was RAVENOUS!

I wanted to eat EVERYTHING!

I settled on dinner.

I made a quick chicken stir fry:

• chicken
• broccoli
• green pepper
• onion
• soy sauce
• peanut oil
• sesame seeds
• rice

Seconds.

Dessert #1 – a vegan chocolate chip cookie from the other night. Plus some 1% organic milk.

Dessert #2 – an organic gala apple.

Did I mention I got new zumbawear today? Can’t wait to share! Squeeee!

Hubby and I have a MAJOR shopping trip planned for tomorrow. Guess I’d better get some rest! I think I’m going to need it!

Do you wear anything that makes you feel more confident (in general or in a particular setting)?