Eat Teach Blog

I went for a 3 mile interval run this morning at William R. Mason Regional Park in Irvine. I actually wanted to go trail running and searched for some suggestions on Yelp. They gave me this. It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it was a nice little discovery. The park was just 10 minutes from my house, but I had never been before. It’s a fairly large park with a huge lake, lots of trees and grass, picnic tables, a playground and a nice cement walkway (I’m assuming this is the “trail” Yelp is referring to). It’s also nice because there’s not many cars (because they charge for parking) so it really feels like you’re off in this distant place of peacefulness.

The only downside was that there were lots of ducks around the lake area. Which I initially thought was SUPER SUPER cool. And then as I got closer, I realized that I had to dodge a ton of duck sh*t on the run. Lovely.

After the run, I met up with Sister to grab lunch at Subway. Surprised? Well, turns out I’m much more of a Subway freak than I thought. I checked in on Yelp and suddenly became the Duchess of that particular Subway. Either people don’t check in as much as I do or I just go to Subway WAY too much. I think it’s the latter, but I’m too embarrassed to admit it.

After lunch, Sister and I went to Snail’s Pace to buy some new running shoes. Tomorrow is official starting day of my half-marathon training. There are so many training programs online – I’m not sure which one to follow. But seeing as how I’m kind of a noob at this long-distance stuff, I think I’m going to try this particular program:

HalfMarathonGuide2012-Beginner

Anyone have a better suggestion? Any advice at all for a first time half-marathon runner?

I’ve been feeling kind of out of it all morning – maybe that’s what happens when you wake up at 4AM. I think I’m going to head to bed right after this post (I know, I know – it’s only 7:20 – my mind thinks I’m in NY. My body doesn’t understaaaaand).

My day in a nutshell:

I went to Michael’s and Target earlier this morning to pick up some scrapbooking supplies – I want to get everything out of boxes and into scrapbooks once and for all. I have a huge problem of starting really large, overwhelming tasks, only to let years go by before I finish them. I really have to be more regimented; when cleaning out my room, I discovered multiple journals I had started and given up on after 3-4 entries. I’m so surprised that I’ve kept this blog going on for as long as I have. I didn’t expect that at all – maybe it’s all the free time I have or the extreme amount of support from fellow bloggers, but whatever it is, I need it to be there for all the other sh*t I’ve started and quit mid-way through. Come make me finish my scrapbooks, pleeeeeease?!

I was going to head to the gym, but it was such a nice day out that I decided to go for a run around the Back Bay. The last time I was here was with Megan and her family! I only ran for 2 miles, but walked around to explore a bit. I usually run east (toward Jamboree), but decided to explore the west side of the Back Bay. It was seriously such a beautiful day for trail running/walking.

After that fun adventure, I rushed over to make the last 20 minutes of the Costa Mesa Farmers Market. I noticed they were setting up for the OC Fair – I’ve lived here for 26 years and have yet to attend that. Maybe this’ll be the summer…

(*Side note – I’ve had this habit of “checking in” to places on Yelp lately since I found out it got me a free drink at Mom’s Bar. This week I’ve been extra crazy with the check-ins, because I have no life so much free time. After I checked in at the farmers market, I got this really cool badge telling me I’m domestic. Cool Yelp, let’s get me married, put an apron on me, and call it a day.)

When I got home, it was time for lunch and I was excited to use all my goodies from the Farmers Market to make a Greek Salad.

I bought a Trader Joes pre-made Reduced Fat Greek Salad yesterday, but they’re so teeny-tiny. I wanted to add some of own my veggies and chicken (and fresh feta – YUM!) to make sure I wasn’t snacky an hour later.

My favorite kind of salad – hands down!

I swapped the dressing from the pre-made salad for some lemon juice, cut up the chicken sausage, and threw all the ingredients in a bowl.

Delicious, healthy, and filling!!

I think I can live off of salad and Subway for the rest of my life and be completely satisfied. What meal is your go-to meal for lunch?

After lunch, I got some organizing done and then tried out a 30-minute Barre3 video workout thanks to Courtney at Sweet Tooth Sweet Life! Not gonna lie – it was harder than I thought it was going to be. I’m not good at keeping myself balanced and centered. So, thankfully I’m able to practice a bit before I look into studios around the area. I definitely worked up a sweat and fell over a couple of times. But luckily it was all in the privacy of my own home! =) It’ll be nice to see the progress I make in the two weeks – I want to make sure to try all the videos on their website!

Okay, time to hit the sack. Seriously. I’m a grandma. Give me a break.

Related articles

• Healthy Salad in a Jar (todaysmama.com)
• Summer Salads (janetshouse.typepad.com)
• {Lunch Craving} (alimoll.typepad.com)