Good morning guys! I was glad to hear that I’m not the only one who enjoys watching depressing movies every now and then.

I’ve been made fun of on more than one occasion for my taste in films. I’ve never seen When Harry Met Sally, Beaches or Steel Magnolias and I’ve gotten flack for it a few times, but we all just like what we like. I also really like horror films, but I’ve had to lay off them since I started living alone again, ha.

Yesterday was as busy as I anticipated it would be, which was not very conducive to taking pictures. It was very conducive to eating, however.

I had my usual smoothie and some watermelon for breakfast, popcorn for a morning snack, a big ‘ol salad for lunch, and Greek yogurt and a Banana Nut Vitatop for another snack. Good stuff.

After working late, I headed straight to the gym. I knew that if I didn’t I’d never make it there. I did 20 easy minutes on the elliptical (while reading, putting my hair up, texting, checking email – yeah, I was that girl) and then went to Body Pump.

My energy level was pretty low during class, but I left happy. I’ve been keeping my weight pretty low on the leg tracks so I won’t be sore the next morning during my run, but I kind of feel like a slacker. Maybe next week I’ll bump it back up and see how it feels.

When I got home I whipped up a quick burrito bowl.

I just layered some Mexican rice, vegetarian refried beans, sauteed zucchini, and a dollop of Greek yogurt in a bowl and called it good.

Well, actually, I called it really good – even though it looks disgusting.

I’d been seeing veg refried beans all over the blogs lately, so I picked some up last time I went grocery shopping to have on hand for a super quick meal. I don’t tend to like refried beans at restaurants because they’re so greasy, but these were really good.

I was craving something sweet, so I had a peanut butter and apricot jelly wrap for dessert.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed for another 5 am run. I was cursing the world when my alarm went off at 4:15, but I had an absolutely amazing run, so it ended up being so worth it.

This was my first strong run since I’ve started training and my spirits are so high right now. Love it.

If you ever need to get your mind off something, start training for a marathon. Seriously, it’s all I think about besides work, eating and sleeping these days.

I wonder if what I’m eating will help me on my next run. I wonder if I’ve had enough water. I wonder what it feels like to actually run for 4+ hours straight.

I go to bed thinking about it… and wake up thinking about it. It’s nuts! But I like it.

I’m sure once I get a little farther along it will stop pressing on my mind so consistently though.

Are there any hugely popular movies you’ve never seen? I’ve not seen the second two Twilight films or a single Harry Potter movie either. Social outcast? Yeah, probably.

As I begin my second week of marathon training, I figure I should probably lay out my intended nutritional goals.

I’ve been having a hard time with this, because clearly I’ve never undertaken such a challenging, physical goal before and I don’t have a clue how my body is going to respond.

First, let me just say -I’m not running this marathon to lose weight.

If I only wanted to lose weight, I would choose a form of exercise that didn’t make me want to eat my left leg once or twice a week. Simply put, running makes me hungry.

Realistically, I will probably gain some weight during training (I gained while training for the half marathon), but ideally I’d like to shed a few pounds.

Even though I’ve toned up a lot since I started going to Body Pump a few months ago, I’m still carrying around some uncomfortable weight in my stomach and I’d like to get rid of it – not just for vanity reasons, but also because it’s likely the unhealthy visceral fat and heart disease is a huge problem on both sides of my family.

In my head, I’m not training for “a marathon“, I’m training for “my first marathon” (though my future in running will probably be determined by this race) – so this process is going to be very much one of trial and error. Each race will come with a little bit more knowledge than the previous one.

I want to try to stick to an approximate ratio of 60% carbs, 20% protein and 20% fat. I am NOT going to track this every day because I simply don’t have time, but I do plan to check myself every now and then.

I think it’s important to get in plenty of carbs when increasing mileage, so that’s where I’m going to focus most of my energy.

Obviously, my diet is already a carb-friendly one, so another goal will be increasing the amount of whole grains, fruits and veggies I eat and limiting processed foods.

I started eating meat again about a month ago in preparation for this training. I plan to continue eating lean, mostly natural meal 4-5 times a week to maintain muscle.

Other than that, I’ll be chugging water and eating fruits and veggies out the wazoo to make sure my immune system stays strong.

It’s far from scientific or methodical, but it’s the plan for now. I’m sure I’ll have to make some changes along the way, but that’s why you train right?

I’ll be sure to post updates to how it’s going and anything I learn along the way, so stay tuned!

What are your tips for marathon training nutrition?

Good morning! It’s going to be one heckuva busy day, so I have to make this a quickie. How about some highlights?

• Saturday night I did go out with friends. It was pretty shocking how late I stayed up. We talked about how much boys suck, met a few randoms, mingled with my upstairs neighbors and then headed home. It was a good time.
• Sunday morning I had a balanced, balancing breakfast.

I was craving savory and sweet, so I had both.

For protein, I had some savory scrambled eggs.

To quell my sweet tooth, I had an English muffin with whipped cream cheese and Crofter’s superfruit spread.

I also had some honeydew  melon on the side, but I was sad to discover that it wasn’t very sweet and juicy. Melon fail.

• I watched three movies this weekend – A Single Man, An Education and Capote. All three were depressing, all three were good. An Education was my favorite. I’d been putting off watching Capote because I’ve already seen Infamous and really enjoyed it. However, I’d have to say Philip Seymore Hoffman was a far better Truman Capote than Toby Jones was.
• Yesterday was spent by my friend Chelsea’s pool, which was nice. I always like to do one super relaxing and indulgent thing on Sundays – it makes Monday a little bit less stressful.
• I’m still in a food rut. Or really, it’s just the product of living alone. I have to finish up these turkey patties and I don’t want to waste them.

A reader asked if I made these patties or if they were pre-made. They’re definitely pre-made. I don’t like sticking my hands in raw meat, so I take the short cut and buy the pre-made patties and season them myself.

Speaking of reader questions, I’ve been responding to comments in the comment section. So if you ever ask a question, you can always go back and check there.

• I had to work from home this weekend, but mid-way through my Dell work computer stopped working and now I’m way behind and we have a proposal due tomorrow. Ick.
• I took yesterday as a rest day from exercise because my hips were really sore from Saturday’s run. I stretched for about 10-minutes before bed and feel much better today. Rest days are good.
• I’m not going to lie, I’m really not excited about work this week – or the fact that it’s Monday, but I’m trying to be positive.

Every day can be a good day, yes?

Hey guys! Just stopping in real quick. Hope you all have had a good weekend so far. Mine got off to a hectic start at work, but is shaping up quite nicely.

Friday for lunch I had an Amy’s burrito and some carrots.

I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like Amy’s burritos. I always think they’re going to be great, but they never are. I am just writing that down so I’ll remember and stop buying them.

Later on I snacked on a Pineapple Chobani with sliced banana.

After a long day of work I ran home to be picked up my Dad for a lovely cajun dinner. No pictures, but I had an absolutely fantastic jambalaya from The Shack. I will definitely go back another time to do a review.

I went to bed early so that I could wake up early this morning to run. I had somehow overlooked the fact that marathon training would entail waking up at 5:30 a.m. on Saturdays. However, it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be. I got so much done after the early wake-up call!

• 6 mile run
• breakfast
• laundry
• a two-hour nap
• shower
• changed of sheets
• makeup
• lunch

All before noon! It was amazing! The run went okay by the way – not terrific, but not terrible. It’s just so dang hot out there.

Speaking of breakfast and lunch… I had a Cranbran Vitamuffin with cream cheese to re-fuel after the run.

For lunch, another turkey burger.

And on the side, another salad.

After that, I worked five hours at the running store, then stopped by the library and the grocery store.

Now I’ve just finished up another fake chicken salad (I may in a bit of a food rut), and I’m getting ready to perhaps go out with a friend for the evening. I’m supposed to be doing some work I brought from home, but they, you only live once right?

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Last night I had the pleasure of attending another cooking class at The Tasting Room, hosted by Chef Kurt Fleischfresser.

Due to an exponential increase in attendance (I think my last Tasting Room blog post may be to thank for that, haha) we were unfortunately not able to front and center seats this time, so the pictures aren’t nearly as fun.

The theme of this month’s class was Italian food, so as you can imagine it was a carb-lover’s heaven.

For a mere ten extra dollars, you could also choose to participate in generous tastings of three fabulous Italian wines. We started off with a glass of Tiamo Prosecco.

I think the wine may have been served a tad bit too cold, because at first I wasn’t sure about it, but after it warmed up a little bit the flavors really popped and I definitely enjoyed it.

It was an excellent pairing for our first course, which was Artichoke 2 Ways. I was thrilled that Chef Kurt prepared fresh artichokes and taught us the process as I’ve always been intimidated by them and have opted for the canned version.

Well, this was just phenomenal. I have a far-reaching love for artichokes as it is, but I’ve never had the pleasure of scraping an actual artichoke leaf of it’s goodness.

This dish consisted of blanched artichoke leaves topped with a roasted tomato chutney of sorts (I don’t think I caught the actual name) and an artichoke flesh crostini. Both were spectacular, but I think the artichoke leaves were my favorite – I could have eaten a dozen more of them.

The tomato compote (I’m just going to keep changing the name, ok?) was full or rich onion flavor with a hint of anchovy. Yes, anchovy, and I liked it.

Next up was a dish that somehow managed to outdo the artichoke magic – a gorgeous Heirloom Tomato Salad.

This salad was not only one of the best things I’ve ever eaten, it also taught me several valuable lessons. Allow me to share them with you:

1. When making a salad containing fresh onions, begin by marinating them in the vinegar you intend to use.

2. If that same salad is to contain cucumbers, cut them up second and sprinkle salt over them – this will draw out the moisture.

3. Heirloom tomatoes will not necessary have a perfect exterior, but they will have exquisite flavor if you find good ones.

4. Shredded basil is one of the most amazing things on the planet, and up until last night I wasn’t even sure I liked basil.

5. PVC pipe is a really good tool for making cool shaped food.

Seriously though, this salad was the epitome of summer. The tomatoes were so fresh and perfectly toothsome. The vinegar took the bite out of the onions and wasn’t overpowering. The croutons added another delicious texture element. Everything was genius.

This dish was paired with a glass of Campogrande Orvieto.

This wine is apparently made from a combination of four grapes, but don’t ask me to tell you which ones. Wine expert I am not. I do know that this wine was very delicate and tasted delicious with the tomato salad. The SIL loved it, so it must be good.

For the main dish, we had Stuffed Shells with Shrimp and Arugula.

I have to say I was really skeptical that I was going to enjoy this. Why? Because I abhor shrimp (and pretty much all shellfish) and this was stuffed with a shrimp mousse of sorts, plus I’m not really too crazy about stuffed shells or manicotti. However, I love arugula and I like trying new foods so I gave it a go.

Leave it to Chef Kurt to make even shrimp taste good. The robust bell pepper tomato sauce may have had something to do with it, it was very flavorful and satisfying.

Very delicious, but overall this dish was my least favorite – mainly because the first two were so amazing.

There was a red wine served with this dish, but the sommelier didn’t put the bottle on the table like he did the other two. It was something resembling a chianti, but it wasn’t a chianti, but I don’t remember what it was. Sorry.

Last, but in no way least, was one of the most innovative desserts I’ve ever eaten.

You know how the chefs always get kicked off on Top Chef when they get stuck with the dessert course? Well, they need to take a cue from this recipe – Blueberry Basil Sabayon.

Chef Kurt said this was his first time ever pairing blueberries and basil together, and that he was just going to throw it together and hope for the best. It definitely worked.

It was lightly whipped egg whites, with whipped cream folded in then poured on top of some crumbled cookies the blueberries and basil and torched. Genius.

Someone in the audience asked him if he was going to use cinnamon and vanilla, and he said that cracked black pepper would actually work better. I think we all thought he was crazy, but it totally put the dish over the top.

Overall, the evening was stellar. I will definitely keep going to these classes when I can, the food is never-fail delicious and you even learn a few things. Can’t beat that. If you live in OKC - GO - I dare you.

The next class, which covers Basic Cooking, is September 16th. Call 405-604-3015 to reserve your spot. (No, I wasn’t paid to say that.)

Thank you guys so very much for your tips about portion control. It’s one of those things I really have trouble with, so I need all the help I can get. There are some great tips, so be sure to check out the comments if you guys need portion control advice as well.

Invariably, the week after a vacation is always stressful at work. I have sort of felt like Chandler from Friends this week – getting all bent out of shape about things that people in the real world have no knowledge of. Mr. Bing and I are indeed kindred spirits.

But then I always remember that it’s just work, and the important things in life are not located at my desk or on my computer. So I take a deep breath, and let it all go.

That, or I take my frustration out on a crunchy salad – eaten at my desk.

Something about stabbing veggies repeatedly with a fork is oddly therapeutic.

If I just would have had some feta cheese to add to this, I could have created a Mexican Flag salad. Definitely a missed opportunity there.

I had to run home a little bit later, so while there I had a toasted English muffin – half with peanut butter and banana and half with whipped cream cheese and banana.

One bad thing about running first thing in the morning, when you have a desk job, is the abundant muscle cramping that can occur. That’s what the banana was for. That and because bananas are delicious.

The potassium seemed to help my cramps and the combination of whole grains, good fat and carby fruit quelled my bottomless hole of a stomach, then it was back to work.

I worked late and afterward headed out for a fabulous dinner, which I will write about later this afternoon – it deserves it’s own post.

So I’ll be back with that soon. Have a fabulous Friday!