*Sigh*

That’s how I felt about yesterday in general.  I really have no idea why I always get into a funk when it comes to Tuesdays.  It’s not like it’s Tuesday’s fault.  Well… maybe it is.  Because it sure can’t be mine, right?

Either way, Tuesday, or so lovingly called the speed bump of suck during the week, came and went without too much excitement.

The highlight of my work day was definitely lunch. Yeah, I get excited over a salad with leftovers from the night before in it.  Clearly it was a slow day.  This one included sweet potato, mushrooms and peas.  I’m a wild and crazy kind of gal over here…  ha ha

I did get further in my Russell Brand book, My Booky Wook.  I do believe I adore him a bit more with each turn of the page.  His humor that you know him for is evident and in every story he tells.  But what I love is his unapologetic honesty.  The dude was a mess.  Remember that one morning in college where you wake up and things from the night before are a wee bit blurry?  He lived a number of years in that blur.  Which I personally would find exhausting.  But he’s still willing to talk about how he got through it.  And find some humor in it.  Which I find intriguing to read about.

Anyhoo… I’ve been doing most of my lunchtime reading over in the building next to me. I like it there.  Fresh faces.  Gets me out of the office for a bit.  And most recently, there’s an attractive boy who runs down to grab lunch at about the same time I’m there.  The only thing I really know about him is he likes ketchup on his fries.  Not sure if I can build a relationship on that info alone, but we’ll see what I can do… 

Because my mom occasionally reads this, I expect to get a call about him at some point today.  No mom, I don’t know anything else.  Ketchup.  That’s all I’ve got.

I don’t even like ketchup.  But I’m willing to look past that.

Moving on quickly…

I busted my butt to get to the gym and stake out my treadmill.  Success!  It was ALL MINE.  And in efforts to improve on my speed for upcoming races, I took it a notch or two out of my comfort zone.  Four miles with an average pace staying between 8:10 and 8:15- a bit faster than I normally do my regular runs in.  Nothing special, but I want to be prepared for when I start doing interval training (yeah- I sort of hate it, but my desire to run faster is outweighing the hatred) in a few weeks for the 15k I’m looking at.

Anyone out there a fan of interval training?  Do you like it better than long runs?

And yes, I know a couple of you asked- I’m pretty set on doing the Hot Chocolate 15k in Chicago on November 6th.  Anyone around here wanna join?  They have a 5k, too… just sayin’… if anyone’s interested…

Ghiradelli is the new sponsor this year (I’m pretty sure Hershey’s used to do it).  Either way, both of those names mean chocolate.  And chocolate and running happen to be two of my favorite things.  So I almost feel like it’s fate that I do this thing!

Now if only I could find a race that was sponsored by a pancake house…

I Didn’t Celebrate

Did you know yesterday was National Junk Food Day?

I found that one out half way through the day.  How did I celebrate?  Um…  I didn’t.  Unless you think celebrating with salad counts?Had someone told me it was National Junk Food Day, I may have planned appropriately.  Oh well…

Over lunch I started my new book- Eat, Drink, and Be Gorgeous by Esther Blum.  The title caught my eye.  Because seriously- who doesn’t want to do all three?  We’ll see how it goes, though.  As many “lifestyle” books as I’ve read, it’s starting to fall into the typical category.  Especially the beginning, which is a rah rah rah warmup telling me about how you can eat and drink whatever you want and never to restrict yourself and this isn’t your typical diet book (which I find to be an ironic statement since they all seem to claim this).  But whatever, it seems like it’ll be a fast read and maybe I’ll pick up a couple things from it.  I’m not counting it out just yet. 

Was supposed to run last night, but didn’t.  Instead, I ran a mile and then cross trained the rest of the time with the elliptical, some free weights and a session on the stairmill.  Nothing much else exciting to report there.  Still being careful.  Still icing the leggie-poo.  (I call it that now being as how much I baby it.)

I didn’t celebrate at dinner either.  Sorry guys.  I’m being a health nerd up in here.Huge.  Fantastic.  Salad.

Yeah, I had salad twice today.  Because I was feeling uninspired it the cooking department.  And I happen to actually like salad.  So yeah… there ya go.    I don’t feel like I slighted myself at all. 

I did, however, have a spoonful of almond butter and handful of chocolate chips.  Is that getting closer to celebrating a national junk food day?    I’m counting it.  Especially because then I went back for an encore with another spoonful.  And even more chocolate chips.  I tried to cool things down with you, nut butter.  But I can’t help but love taking this casual dating to the next level every once in a while. 

So my big excitement of the day (clearly there wasn’t much going on yesterday)?  I got a call from the library that one of the books I’ve been on hold for came in.  I’ve been really digging Russell Brand as of late.  I loved his standup on Comedy Central, loved him in Forgetting Sarah Marshall, and most recently loved him in Get Him to the Greek.  So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this:You can’t read it because I took the pic in a mirror.  Fail.  But it’s Russell Brand’s autobiography, My Booky Wook.  I like to mix it up with quirky reads like this bad boy.  Hooray! So maybe if I get bored with learning how to eat, drink, and be gorgeous, I’ll take this one for a spin. 

I also refuse to show you the sheer excitement on my face because I’m a gross mess in this picture and happen to currently be sporting a zit the size of Missouri on my face.  Seriously- where the f did you come from?!?!  Needless to say, I’m zap-zitting it up right now.  Because it is soooo not invited to my birthday party this weekend.

I’m thinking I might take a rest day today.  Firstly, because my shin is  a little sore (the reason why I decided to keep it to cross training last night).  Secondly, because I have my second round of girls coming up to visit!  Last week was some good friends from high school, this week is two of my best girls from college!  So, needless to say, I’ve got quite a few things to take care of after work.  Plus, my long run is being rescheduled to tomorrow morning (instead of the  usual Saturday), so I need to be ready for it.  I decided to take a spontaneous day off tomorrow (hey it’s my birthday- I’ll do what I want!) and I’m sneaking the run in before everyone gets here.  Weeee!

Now the question is- will I be up early enough to do the whole 10-maybe-11-mile run outside?

Have a good Thursday everyone!