Important Things

Hey kids!

I’m about to peace out and go play in rush hour traffic hit the road for St. Louis.

Yes, you guessed right, I’m hitting up my 3rd wedding there this year.

My life would be so much easier if all my friends just moved to Chicago. For real.

Luckily, I’ve gotten used to the 5(ish) hour drive. And have learned a few important things after the multiple road trips to and from good ol’ Missouri.

I’ve packed a peanut butter sandwich that will hopefully help to avoid an Arby’s curly fry situation. They are not allowed until we’re on the way back home when I’m in yoga pants and not having to slip into a cocktail dress, my friends!

And my iPod is pretty well loaded up for when I hit Central Illinois (aka Country Music Central- ew). So we should be all good in the entertainment area.

I also find it important to get in one last workout. No matter how big or small.

This morning’s consisted of 3 circuits from No More Trouble Zones by Jillian.

Only 3 because they’re the ones I like the most and that’s all the time I had. Sleeping in was important. And I wasn’t going to ruin part of the fun of having a day off.

Plus, I was coming off an hour deep tissue massage from the night before.

That massage is another reason I slept so freakin’ well last night.

Completely and utterly relaxing. Not to mention necessary. It almost seemed appropriate to apologize every time she found another knot in my back.

What can I say? I play hard…

There’s a possibility this could become an addiction. And expensive one. Yikes.

Anyway, it’s about time I fill up my coffee and do the most important thing for any road trip.

Actually get on the road. On time.

Have a good Friday everyone!

Oh yeah, I also got my hair did. And have not cleaned my bathroom mirror…

Sorta. My friend Jaime got her license to do hair years go. So she’ll occasionally give me a bang trim in the bathroom at work. This time I just requested a little more than a trim.

Yay or nay? I’ve got about 9 hours before this wedding I’m attending and you need to tell me if I should keep them or sweep to the side.

I mentioned I love you guys because you’re honest, right?

Laters!

Thinking is Overrated

The other day, someone found my humble lil’ blog by searching the term “I hate thinking.”

You know what, buddy? I do too.

Especially on the weekend. It’s supposed to be reserved for fun. And besides, thinking is highly overrated.

And since it is Monday and I am STILL too tired to think, here is just another list of things to sum up where I’ve been:The man friend scored some tix to Game 4. It was hard to watch and we lost. Sadness.

So we decided to make ourselves feel better.No, we did not buy matching shoes. That’s gross. We met up with one of my friends and did some serious bowling.

I was horrible and broke two nails. But it was fun. And the drinks continued to flow. So we’ll call it a win.

Another thing that made me smile? Trippy stairs…Because I am amused by the smallest things, the stairs that continued to change colors at the hotel where we stayed kept me amused for no less than 20 minutes.

The next day, instead of running or any of that active nonsense, we strolled a sculpture park.I enjoy random things like this. Had I actually had any energy, you can bet your bottoms I’d be climbing that thing.

But then again, maybe that would have been a bad idea:Now come on. Really? Were there budget cuts? Do they not have tape that lasts 24 full hours?

There is one hour of the day where shit gets REAL. So watch yourself.

After that, I found my way over to my friend Mary’s house. She’s a total dear and lets me stay with  her when I need to.She even gets fresh cut flowers for the occasion. Cardinal themed (of course). Her husband also enjoys when I come to visit. Mostly because that means the bathrooms get cleaned. Win win.

Because her husband and my man friend were in the wedding, Mary and I were each other’s dates to the ceremony and reception. The ceremony was held at a greenhouse in one of the bigger St. Louis parks (Forest Park). And the reception was in an old ballroom in the Central West End area.That is a happy Amy face. Because we were having a good time and they served heavy appetizers as the meal. Chicken skewers and stuffed portabellos were dominated by yours truly. WIN.

Oh and the dress? It was awesome. I need to publicly thank Mon for letting me borrow it. And also publicly announce I will be dry cleaning it.If you look closely, as I fill up my cup with vodka from the ice shot luge, you’ll see some spillage. An old lady rammed into my friend who consequentially rammed into me. The dress broke the fall of her drink. 

Sigh. This is why I can’t have nice things.

After a fun time at the reception and a fun time out at the bars afterwards, I can officially say St. Louis kicked my butt.

My friend drove home as I groaned about exhaustion and hunger.Gas station finds are fun. Until they’re gone and leaving you completely spazzed out on sugar.

Luckily I have a good friend who recognized the issue and promptly pulled off to get us some Arby’s. I smiled a smile of contentment and food coma the rest of the way home to Chicago.

Spent the rest of my evening at home baking (Yay for the sweet swap!) and watching the St. Louis Cardinals make the the World Series and the Chicago Bears prove they’re still a somewhat respectably good team.

And that, my friends, is how you do a big weekend in St. Louis and back. Excuse me while I go do a major overhaul on my health habits.

Holla’.

Weekend of the Sweet Tooth

Well.

Football really let me down this weekend. Looks like I’ll be sending Kacy some loot for Oklahoma’s win against Mizzou.

Meh. But for the record, since we were up against the 1st ranked team, we held our own for a good portion of the game. Whatev.

And I didn’t get to see one minute of the Bears game due to delays at the airport and the stupid tiny bars not playing it.

At least the Cards didn’t let me down…We’re one behind Atlanta for the wild card spot. Don’t let me down, boys!

I went to the game and dinner with my whole fam to celebrate my mom and dad’s 33rd wedding anniversary.

Even if he’s about a foot taller than me and we’re completely different complexions, it looks like my lil’ bro and I have the same crooked smile. And mannerisms.

Turns out we may actually be related afterall…Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad!

We had a casual dinner in downtown St. Louis together the night before the game.You can take the girl out of Chicago… but not the Chicago out of the girl. Love my Goose Island beer…

The beer was a nice change-up from the two chocolate martinis I consumed upon arriving in St. Louis. My male friend picked me up and took me straight to a Chocolate Bar before taking me to the hotel to meet up with my parents.

Clearly he knows me well.And because I was flying, it was a little impossible for me to bake for my parents. However, my mom loves baking, too, and made sure to have a little chocolate cake ready for us at the hotel after dinner.

Score.

Seems to be a full weekend of excess, if we’re being honest. Saturday was spent at a bar watching Mizzou try their hardest, and Sunday was spent at Crown Candy Kitchen. My male friend took me there, again, because he knows all too well about the sweet tooth I have.If that’s not pure bliss, I don’t know what is.

He sat back and watched my attempts to devour this monster sundae that was topped with candied pecans, caramel, hot fudge and whipped cream.

I tried oh so hard.Even with his help, I failed.

Sadness.

But man… that ice cream was goooooooood.

And I shall think about it tonight as I get back on the treadmill for the first time since last week. There was a serious urge to go last night after my flight came in, but after various airport delays (seriously- this ALWAYS happens to me), all that happened after I got back home was collapsing on my couch and catching up with dvr.

Priorities, you know.

Go! St. Louis Half Marathon Recap.

Hey kids! My sinuses must have agreed with me in the “not ready yet” mentality because my boss actually sent me home yesterday.

I believe his exact words were, “you look and sound awful”.

Thanks, sir. How was your weekend?

Actually, I was semi-relieved. My voice was gone. My eyes were a little puffy. I was hacking. And I was achy (although I couldn’t really distinguish if this was because of the half marathon or because of sickness).

A day on the couch was exactly what I needed.

That and a box of nighttime sinus medication.

Enough about grossness. I’m feeling better. And would rather talk about other things.

Like the race I just did- the Go! St. Louis Half Marathon!

Just like the Rock n’ Roll half, I had my crew of supporters. Last time, the awesome Annie and Mon were the ones who were gracious enough to travel around the course to see me. This time, I had my family (waving Mizzou flags so I could spot them!) and my girls Mary and Laura who even made a sweet sign!I don’t think you could get more fabulous if you tried. Each letter of my name represented a fast animal. (And yes- Mary checked to make sure that zebras were, in fact, faster than most animals of the wild.)

After walking up and down the Landing for decent pre-race eats and a birthday dinner for my mom, we finally settled on a Tuscan restaurant in the casino along the river. Who woulda thunk it?I like spinach just as much as Popeye. Holla’.

My wakeup call was at 4:50 on Sunday morning.Chewing a bagel AND sticking my tongue out for the camera all at the same time. I’m a talented individual.

I was assigned to corral B, but knew damn well I wouldn’t be running at the same pace as the rest of the group, so I started in the back of B. When running, I stumbled across the 2-hour pace group and decided to try and keep them in sight for as long as I could. Which worked well for a while.

But it was HOT. Even at the beginning of the race, they were stressing this and to make sure you got plenty of water while on the course. I almost got too much- another guy and I collided into each other in a water station around mile 11, causing me to almost take out an entire table of cups.

That would have been awkward.

And the hills… oh the hills! Running all my races in Chicago (a relatively flat course every single time) has left me spoiled. For this run through downtown St. Louis, it seemed every corner I turned would present another stretch of incline to run up.

Luckily, the isolated storms they originally called for never happened. And the severe wind? Maybe just a gust here or there- nothing to complain about. Unless you count the slight breeze being *just enough* to waft body odor efficiently, but that’s sort of expected…

My original plan was to stop every 3 miles to check out the leg. Of course I didn’t do that (it’s a stubbornness factor that won’t go away). Instead, I stopped at mile 6 to see what was going on. It was feeling ok. So I kept going! And was pretty satisfied until after mile 8. Half way up a hill and I was hurting. My stamina was fading. And my calves were tightening.

That’s when the walking started happening. I think it was 3 times where I slowed to a walk, stopped off, stretched, walked a little more and started running again.

At that point, the 2-hour clan had pulled too far ahead for me to catch up. Clearly I wasn’t in it to win it, but there’s always the desire to try and do decently well, ya know?

The last mile was rough, but I pushed. Up that hill. In the heat. And finished with everyone watching!My attempt to use excel paint is weak,  but if you look closely, my mom took this pic and didn’t even realize Mary and Laura were right across the course!Finished. Tired. And quite pasty.

Summer need to get here already… this non-tan thing is NOT working.

But whatever- not the point. My final stats? I finished the 13.1 miles in 2:05:41.

A 9:35 pace. 270/1470 in my division. Still not too shabby. 

I rewarded myself properly with this:And this:Topped it off with some swedish fish on the way home. Clearly it’s not always about “balance”. 

Not Ready Yet

Hey kids!

After I got home last night from my trip to St. Louis, there was a refusal to unpack and an early bed time.

I’m still struggling. Considering that I’ve been sounding like a man and hacking up awesomeness the last couple of days, I may have a sinus infection. Pair that with the stairs to my apartment being my greatest nemesis today?

I’m feeling rough.

However, I have lots to say about the race I did. Yes, the half marathon was completed- no records were broken, but I was pretty proud of my time!And St. Louis was a great time. It’s a fun town. Mostly because of girls like this:Mary and Laura were awesome this weekend. They gave me a place to crash AND got up at the crack of dawn to watch me race.

I’m really blessed with all the good friends I have in my life. Either that, or I’m really good at bribery.

On that note (being blessed, not bribing people), I’m also very lucky to have family come up to celebrate my mom’s birthday and my race all in the same day!They didn’t get to see me run the Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon last year, so I was really excited they’d get to see this one. Dad even broke out the video camera. So you know it’s a big deal.

This year’s Easter entertainment in a few weeks will be footage of the race. Also known as “Amy runs by the camera a few times”. I honestly haven’t seen myself run before, so this could be fun.In between all the shenanigans in Soulard with some of the besties, birthday celebrating with the fam, and a little 13.1-mile jog, I found time to chill in the ridiculously amazing temps (which may have been borderline HOT for this girl who did not pack well).

But hey- that means spring is HERE. 

And I’m ready for it. As soon as I can breathe properly once again and do a little more than slowly hobble from point A to B, I’ll be ready to celebrate it accordingly.

Woot!

We’ll catch up on the running stuff tomorrow. Until then, enjoy the day!

Road Trip Ready

Today I’m making the drive to St. Louis for the weekend. Plans include meeting up with besties, celebrating my mom’s birthday, and running this darned race.

Long weekend, right? Good thing I’ve been carb loading.Not that I made a point of eating pasta. I just didn’t have much else in the house being as how I’ll be out for a few days. I’m even out of marinara now, so the sauce was a simple olive oil and various seasonings- heavy on the garlic salt and pepper. 

Oh… did I not mention part of the reason the family is getting together is for my mom’s birthday?  Well, it is. And it’s a milestone birthday at that. I won’t mention which one, though, because I’d rather not be greeted with disapproving look and “oh Amy!”

Anyway, in usual Amy fashion, I am so freakin’ good at procrastination, and since I’m leaving straight from work, my alarm was set 30 minutes early to make sure I wouldn’t forget a thing while getting ready this morning.

I’m tired.

And know I forgot something… it’s just a matter of when I figure it out?

Because of Holly’s little unfortunate incident of having to run in lacy underwire unmentionables, I triple-checked my running gear. So at least we’re good to go on that front.  I still applaud her for that one. Not that my teeny tinys need the support (insert my mom’s “oh Amy!” here instead), but I would be nervous of chaffing issues.  Eeek!

But anyway…

Luckily, in case my “eyes get tired”, or in case I use that excuse (because I’m a brat), one of my good guy friends is making the trip with me.

Don’t feel bad for him. He drives faster. So we’ll get there faster. Everyone wins this way.

Are you the slower driver or the faster one?

Because of some… ahem… speeding ticket issues from a few years ago, I’ve slowed my roll. The tickets finally dropped off my insurance and the added cost is not allowed back into the budget. Know what I’m sayin’?!?

Happy Friday!

What My St. Louis Friends Were Hiding

Good morning, kids!

Sleep well? Stay out too late? Haven’t gone to bed yet?

Any answer is acceptable. It is the weekend, after all…

I slept fabulously (thanks for asking).

It’s a good thing, too- today is a busy one. I’ve got only a little bit until I’m picked up by Megan to travel to Madison, Wisconsin to see Holly the Healthy Everythingtarian! We had been discussing a road trip for a while now. Sure, there’s snow everywhere, but it’s almost perfect timing- we’re all starting to get a little stir crazy with all this crazy weather.

Anyway, since Miss Holly is nice enough to put up with us Chicago gals for the next 24 hours, we thought it would be a good idea to come with gifts in hand. 

I’ll use any excuse to bake a little more this week.

A few months ago, at a party, I was in a circle of people who had pretty much all met for the first time. When I said I was originally from Missouri, one girl grabbed my arm dramatically and said, “oh my god, since you said you were a baker, do you make ooey gooey butter cake, like, all the time???”

Huh?

“Ooey gooey butter cake.  I heard it’s a St. Louis thing.”

Huh?

This blew my mind.  I’m not from St. Louis (I’m from the middle- on the map there are a bunch of trees and rivers- that would be my hometown!). But still- a good majority of my college friends ARE from St. Louis. And I’ve never heard them talk about this thing that sounds too good to be true.

I do recall an old roommate’s mom bringing a buttery cake to go as a side for breakfast once. But just the once. What gives, St. Louis?  Why are you hiding this from me???

So I googled. Because that’s what you’ve gotta do when something bugs you. From what I can tell, it traces back to the 1930′s as an “accident” in the kitchen. And it’s sort of like Chicago’s deep dish- there are a few contradicting accounts/debates of who came up with it first.  Ooooohhhh… it’s a mystery!

Anyway, I emailed Megan the recipe Smitten Kitchen uses and said “it’s so on!”  But I went back to it later on and realized I don’t really have the time on a Friday night to be messing with yeast and dough rising and all the time that would have to go into the cake. And I recalled the girl at the party discussing how you can use yellow box cake mix.  So I googled more.

And finally, I found the adaption she was talking about.

I really do want to try the recipe from scratch one day. I’m not one to often use box mixes because I enjoy baking and prefer to do it from scratch because it’s the “process” of baking that I love so much. But if you’ve only got an hour (seriously, it doesn’t take any longer than that start to finish), this recipe that was a guest post on Confessions of a Cookbook Queen is great. Check it out!

The two main ingredients I had to acquire:

Grabbing the “lower fat” version was a total accident. I was in a rush last night when I went. I also went to pick up the ingredients over lunch, but sadly left them at the office.  I bet the cream cheese I left at work was the right kind…

But to be fair, I will be raving about this dessert at the bottom of the page. So maybe it doesn’t matter? Because I’d probably buy the lighter cream cheese again if it’s going to continue to yield fantastic results…

The cake mix portion makes the “crust” and the cream cheese mixture is the “filling”. According to the recipe, you bake it all for about 40-45 minutes. I pulled it out just shy of 40 because it had the dark edges as they said it would:Then, let it cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar before serving.

But if you’re like me, you get nervous with cakes.  I’m always terrified about things not getting “done”. This also applies to cooking meat- I slice the crap out of chicken before I’m satisfied that it’s fully cooked.  You can never be too careful…

Plus, I figured it’d be easier to transport in bars. So I broke out cupcake liners and sliced it up like little pastries: This also meant I could try it. Which is mandatory- I’m not about to tote along a recipe I’ve never tried before and serve it to someone. That’s too dangerous.

So I ate a piece. And another one. It’s ridiculous how good this is. So rich. And buttery. And sweet. I used to be one to believe that no true dessert was actually dessert unless there was chocolate involved.  Things like this are really going to start changing my mind…

According to Wikipedia, this cake is also served as a breakfast pastry (which is what my roommate’s mom served it as). Oh St. Louis.  You kids really know how to rock out breakfast.

Now I have to go call some of my STL girls and yell at them for never turning me on to this cake…

Sexy Cauliflower?

I have a bit of an announcement to start off today’s post.

I’m running another half marathon!

And yes, it’s in the great state of Missouri! 

Why a half marathon in St. Louis, you may ask?

1. It was cheap (compared to the Rock n’ Roll I did last year).

2. I was looking for a good spring race. Let’s face it- the winter doldrums are going to kick in at some point.  This will at least be something to keep me going.  The light at the end of the bitter, cold tunnel winter.

3. The race is during my mom’s birthday weekend!  She and my dad liked the idea of a weekend getaway to St. Louis.  Plus, this way, I get to have my parents at the race.  We didn’t even talk about it that long before printing out the course map.  When I emailed my mom about being officially registered, she said dad was already on top of the hotel and restaurant situation. I’m glad everyone’s excited!

4. Downtown St. Louis is pretty.  As much as I give my St. Louis friends a hard time about it being inferior to all that is Chicago awesomeness (can you tell I have some major pride in where I live?), I do think St. Louis has a great historic downtown area. 

5. Why not?

My training starts in a few weeks.  There’s a training plan being made- even if I sucked majorly at following the one for my 15k  in November.  This can be discussed later.  I’m just excited about signing up and wanted to share! 

I’m also going to focus really hard on good nutrition.  I do what I can to keep myself in check on a regular basis.  But for my last half marathon, I worked really hard at making sure I was properly fueling the majority of the time.

This means watching my consumption of things like this:Oh buttery goodness…

One of the ladies I work with brought these in yesterday. A variation on thumbprints I assume? Even if the chocolate fudgy-ness in the middle sort of looked like poo, it was sooooo good.  Although it’s definitely not a cookie to sneak- everyone who grabbed one also left a trail of powdered sugar evidence. Throughout the entire office.

Since we’re on the subject of leftovers from Christmas…

One thing I miss out on during Thanksgiving (since it’s spent in Chicago vs. at my parent’s house in  Missouri) is all the tasty leftovers.  Yeah- I KNOW.  It’s a tragedy.

When leaving for my drive back to Chicago, mom made sure I would not go hungry.  This included plenty of turkey.  For things such as sandwiches:Again with the avocado? 

Yes. It is delicious.  Deal with it.Sigh. No matter how hard you try, cauliflower will never look sexy.  But please turn your attention to the sammie instead- pepperjack cheese will make it out of control good. 

Write that down.

Is everyone wide-eyed and chipper this morning?  I’m working on it.  Yet it’s hard to do when it seems  a majority of my office will again not be in and it’s rainy and gross outside.  Ho hum…

My boss mentioned everyone getting to leave early today.  Crossing my fingers!!!

Big Plans

Hello everyone! 

So no one actually likes pants.  Hmmm.  We should start a movement.  Yes?

Anyhoo, I feel like it’s been too long!

Not just because I didn’t post yesterday, but because I’m still trying to catch up with how everyone else’s holidays went…

Anyways, the story left off in St. Louis.  I spent the night at my friend Mary’s house, not only to break up my trip back home, but to spend some time with two of my best friends over the holidays.Another wine night. We had originally talked up a big night out.  Drinks flowing… dancing… cute shoes…

We went out to pick out a bottle and get a red box movie.  After agonizing for 10 minutes over a selection, we ended up deciding on watching Entourage reruns instead.  We’re wild like that.

And reruns of Entourage turned into an episode of South Park that was about the shake weight and people’s ridiculous obsession with the Food Network.  I think I laughed the loudest.

All three of us got up around 9:30 yesterday morning.  Yes- 9:30. After we all said we would probably “naturally” wakeup by 7:30.  The long holiday weekend has clearly taken a toll on everyone.  Anyone else suffering the “holiday hangover”?

Getting up that late only means one thing.

Time for BRUNCH!We hit a local joint just down the road from Mary.  Last time us girls were together, we all ordered the same thing (it’s ok to roll your eyes here- we were just as embarrassed about it as you’d think).  This time wasn’t any different. Omelets for everyone! Like the ”Bacado” pictured above.  Mine was stuffed with avocado and bacon and I couldn’t have been happier.   

We’ll discuss how this triggered my avocado obsession (again) at a different time.

We sat there and chatted over free refills of coffee for way too long.  Not too long because I needed to go (which is probably true), but because we were rivaling all the old people with time spent there and the waitress was getting annoyed.  Oops.

Do you ever overestimate how productive you’ll be during the day?  I do- all the time.  Original thoughts were to leave St. Louis by noon or so, get a good run in (I’ve been dying to- that’s not a joke), grocery shop, unpack, etc etc.

Yeah…

I didn’t leave until close to 1:00.  Hit some traffic.  Lost any energy to workout.  And the ONLY reason grocery shopping happened was because it happened before I got home- I knew I wouldn’t drive back out to do it otherwise. And a girl needs to eat. 

And if you think any of my stuff is unpacked, you’re just crazy.  Who was I kidding?  I usually live out of my bag until it’s all been used or it has to be repacked.  True story.

However, it should be noted how thankful I am for fantastic driving conditions to and from Missouri.  That never happens.

And I would also like to note my favorite road trip tune came from a station somewhere in central Illinois.  Chumbawamba?  YES PLEASE!

Because I got to bed early, getting up to work out this morning wasn’t that big of a deal.  I figured this work week should be started with a BANG. Tuesday won’t take me down that easily.

I did my new Jillian Michaels ”No More Trouble Zones” dvd.  It left me a little sore the first time I did it, so I’m assuming it’ll let me know once again where all my underworked muscles are. 

On that note, I did “feel it” from the P90X ”Ab Ripper” cd.  Just not as badly as expected.  Maybe it was because people were building it up to such a horrible thing. Maybe because it should be combined with other circuits (really have no clue how that system works).  But I had planned to crawl out of bed. And was pleasantly surprised when I didn’t have to. Awesome.

Let’s pretend Tuesday doesn’t suck and focus our attention on how it’s yet another holiday (aka “short”) work week!

Meet Me In St. Louis

Why hello strangers!

I sort of did the disappearing act yesterday, but it was for the best.  My brain was a bit mushy from not getting home until a little before midnight on Sunday night and then turning around to get to work by 7:30 the next morning.  Any written words would have been a jumbled mess. 

Anyhoo, I had a great 24 hours in St. Louis with my blondies (Mary and Laura).  Like I may have mentioned, it was sort of a last-minute thing, but I’m glad it  happened.  I miss some of my college girls, so the chance to see them was jumped on!  I got in late on Saturday, but it didn’t take long for us to freshen up and hit the town for a bit…We had a great time running around with a group of their friends and then retreating back to Mary’s house.  Because of their football party earlier, there was plenty of leftover food around. 

I tried White Castle for the first time.  (yeah- FIRST time)

I really have no idea what the big deal is.  I’m positive they should have made a movie about Jack in the Box instead.

Laura and I shared a room and stayed up whispering and giggling.  Then, when Mary’s fiance left for his tee time the next morning (how grown-up do we sound???), we hightailed it into Mary’s room and jumped into bed to make a Mary sandwich and giggle and gossip some more (ok, just cancelled out the grown-up thing).

“Giggle” was the word of the weekend. 

The three of us didn’t really do too much other than chat it up all Sunday.  Since we don’t see each other nearly as often as we used to (ie everyday), that’s all I need to call it a good weekend.

Well.  That and food.  Turns out we still have similar tastes.Fiesta salad with chicken and added avocado. For all three of us.  How obnoxious is this??? The waitress looked at our table funny as we ordered our round of iced teas and the same exact salads.  I’d be embarrassed but we have good taste in food.  What are we supposed to do? 

Although Laura just HAD to be difficult by getting the sour cream on the side.  GEEZ!  It was something about trying to make the salad healthier…  whatever…

We also have similar tastes in sweets:Oh buddy.

On a separate note, after discussing it in detail and a trip to Target for the dvd and weights, Mary decided to try out The Shred.  So far I haven’t received any hate texts from her.  Then again, she also hasn’t hit Level 2 yet. 

I really should get paid for this, Jillian.

After the lovely lazy day, Annie and I roadtripped our way back to Chicago.  We had fun on both drives (to and from), but were horribly tuckered out on the way home.  We tried to remedy the situation by digging up some of her old cds and listeing to some of Top 40′s greatest of 2000 – 2002.  Yessss….  You can’t help but love the smooth sounds of Savage Garden and Mandy Moore when she was still blond.  Classic stuff.

All this traveling left me without much physical activity for the rest of the weekend.  And that was OK.  I seemed to forget the importance of stretching after a race and adding 10 hours in a car didn’t help.  So last night was just walkin’ it out a little on the ‘mill.  I’m not pushing myself back into a serious workout routine at the moment.  I’ve been saying for a while I want to take a break from the consistent running.

Not that I’m going to stop (seriously- that would be tragic), but adding a little more to the mix isn’t going to hurt anyone.  Plus, now I’ve got the Hustle Up the Hancock to train for!

Oh and by the way, here are my final stats from the Hot Chocolate 15k.  They were no surprise- I knew it wasn’t the best race. But we’re ok with that.  Promise!*Sigh.  Even though I wasn’t planning it, I may have to sign up for maybe one more race this winter just to redeem myself.  Maybe…

Ever had a crappy race?  What caused it?  Let’s discuss…