I DID IT!!!!

A personal goal I've had since I picked up running again is to get pretty close to my high school XC pace. Ok, that's not true, my first goal was to finish a 5K under 30 minutes and I kicked that goal's butt, so on to the aforementioned goal. Note: I only ran one year of varsity cross country in high school, only because a girl on my basketball team asked me since I was a fast sprinter (totally not the same thing btw). I didn't really want to, but eventually gave in. After summer-long and fall training, my fastest pace was around 22 minutes.

Today, I finished my 5K in 22:58 minutes!!! Crazy, I almost reached my goal!!! I think this means I'm definitely ready for a 10K race now, or at least am ready to kick the crap out of this current goal.

When we signed up the website advertised the top three finishers in each group would win prizes. I thought in the back of my head that I really wanted to finish in the top three of the women's 20-29 group. And guess what.... my 22:58 was THIRD OVERALL in my group!!! CRAZY :) Bring on the medal ceremony!

What I didn't know was that the top 20 finishers of each gender -- out of every age group (12 and under all the way to 60+ -- got shirts at the end of the race. I totally dismissed that idea in the back of my head, but again, though that would have been neat. Well, when I pushed through the chute, a purple sticker was placed on my bib as one of the top 20 female finishers. I'm so amazed at what I accomplished!!! In fact, I was the 12th female finisher in the ENTIRE race. Overall, I placed No. 52 out of over 400 runners. But what made this run even more special (other than the obvious fact that J.D. agreed to run with me to help motivate me), was the fact that this was my first race in over eight years. I'm so excited and ready to run in more races :)

What was INSANE about the race is how I felt during the entire time. My iPhone GPS doesn't work out in the middle of nowhere, so I had NO CLUE as to what my pace was. I knew what time we started and I knew that after 1.5 miles the course turned from pavement to dirt, so that was about the only thing I had to gauge my distance/pace. I felt like I was running about an 8-9 minute mile pace, but I ended up finishing at a 7:41-minute/mile pace!!

I felt spent at the end, because the temperature picked up to nearly 90 degrees in full sunlight. But I tried to stick with a pack of runners who seemed to be running quickly. Eventually, I passed them up and also passed about a 60 year old man who had been back and forth with me the entire way. Running back to the chute, I summoned everything I had and competed in a full-blown sprint. I saw the timer was under 23 minutes and I WANTED to make it under the tape before that mark. AND I DID! The only thing that bummed me out was that some 12 year old boy finished seconds ahead of me. I should have finished before him, haha.

The race took place at Wente Vineyards in Livermore and it was such a beautiful trail to run! The post race ceremony took place right next to the vineyards, overlooking the golf course at the foothills. This was my first time at that specific winery. I'd been to one Livermore winery before when I was a bridesmaid in my friend's wedding back in 2008.

Back to the post race events I guess. I went back to my car, grabbed my camera, and came back to the race in time to see this guy approach the finish line.....

I also lingered near the race for a while to await the 10K finishers and help cheer them on. It was really fun to see the top finishers in that race! I also lingered to say hello and thank you to all the firemen who volunteered and put on the race. All the money spent there went to benefit their fund for fallen firefighters -- something I was glad to contribute money to!

Post race, I also tried my first few sips of Muscle Milk. I have always been a bit wary of it, because a.) I never worked out enough to warrant consuming that high of a caloric beverage and b.) it really just scared me. But it was yummy! I drank about 1/4 of the bottle and then popped the rest in the fridge to maybe drink after another long race.

And now I leave you with a bunch of extraneous photos from this morning:

I guess I'll have to be saving my parents' dinner party post for tomorrow. Trust me, you want to see these photos! It was so awesome AND I was a good girl. I didn't stuff myself, I ate a half-sized dessert and I only sampled two wines, never had a full glass for myself. Guess it all worked out, eh?!

And as I write this, someone's making me a delicious-smelling dinner. Can't wait!

What can I say, I'm an international girl??

Oh my GOSH, I felt so Euro tonight. Wasn't able to get to dinner until after 9 p.m., speaking of that it's almost 11.... jesus where's my day??

Oh that's right, I SPENT FIFTY SEVEN HOURS OF MY LIFE THAT I CAN'T GET BACK AT WAL-MART. FML

Honestly, J.D. and I had a light list of items we needed for the house and seeing how Wal-Mart's the cheapest and I needed an oil change, off we went. I was initially told it would take about an hour until my car could be serviced. No biggie, we could waste an hour at Wal-Mart. We ended up browsing around for 1.5 hours and then I went to check and my car and noticed only two were left ahead of me. I figured it'd probably take about 30 more minutes then we could be on our merry way. Except, 30 minutes later, I was told it'd be another hour until my oil could be changed. At this point, it was almost 8 p.m.!!!! You've GOT to be kidding me.... so I asked them to cancel my service and we went home with several bags of things I didn't need as a result of wasting time in a super store.

Let's rewind a few hours. I got my House Party Game Night package FedEx-ed to me today!!! The Newly Wives opened my eyes to this website and I got selected to host the Game Night party! My package included a generous mix of snacks and Hasboro games for our party. I'm so stoked and ready to break into all these goodies:

Now, back to 9 p.m. After my last few French meals, my lunch at B.J.'s with our new interview candidate -- yup I'm on a hiring committee -- had me wanting to order fish tacos. Except, the nutritional facts side of the menu dissuaded me from doing so. When dinner finally rolled around, I couldn't get Mexican off my mind!

So I started by marinating some chicken in chili lime sauce and seasoning

Then I chopped up my little chicken breasts (in case you're wondering, I cooked for Mr. Fox who was on his run prepping for our 5K this weekend -- we're on different training schedules so today was my rest day)

And tossed them on a plate of natural Tostito's corn chips + Mexican blend shredded cheese. Into the broiler all of it went.

Can you tell that one of us likes cheese waaaay more than I do the other does??? While that was cookin' I got to work making myself a special treat. A Patrón pomegranate margarita on the rocks ;)

It was super hot today. I deserved a treat!

When the nachos were ready, I loaded them up with some fat free refried beans then turned it all into a taco salad-nacho hybrid!

My nachos paired well with a dallop of plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, cucumber, carrots and Pace salsa.

Someone else enjoyed his plain nachos with a side salad along with a side of refried beans. We agree to disagree on our food preparations haha, but when all was said and done we both had the same thing over the course of the meal.

Well, that's it for tonight. We're headed to my parents' house in the Bay Area tomorrow (after a half work day... I love Fridays over the summer) for my mom's Williams-Sonoma Dinner House Party and then SUNDAY'S vineyard 5K race.

Bonne nuit!! xx

Crêpe-inspired breakfast

What's your favorite food of all time?? For me, it's the first thing I really learned how to make. When I was really young, my French grandma always used to make sugared crêpes and I quickly figured it out on my own. Then living in France I used to find crêpe stands all over the country.

Needless to say one of my favorite foods, for both taste and nostalgia, are crêpes.

(Source)

J.D. and I made a batch a few months back, and for some reason I had a hungering for crêpes last night. The desire inspired an idea for breakfast I'd been envisioning for literally over 12 hours.

Let me introduce my Crêpe-inspired oats:

The idea came from the delicious pairing of Nutella, strawberries and bananas in most of the typical dessert crêpe menus.

First I chopped up some strawberries and a banana, since both are running on their last legs (fruit doesn't last too long in this valley heat):

Next up, prepped some quick cook oats on the stove and topped them with the fruit plus a large dallop of low fat Greek yogurt from Trader Joe's (love that store!!):

And now the fun part: NUTELLA!!!! (Plus a little bit of peanut butter for some protein):

Once I was satisfied with my creation -- except for the lack of actual crêpe haha -- I washed it all down with some vanilla soy chai tea.

Yum, yum. I loved playing around with crêpe toppings and just might have to do it again!! ...Or I just might have to make some crêpes soon to satisfy my craving for them.

So why am I on such a French kick lately (well, minus the obvious fact that I am French)??? It all started with the new tablecloth I donned for last night's dinner post. Check it out if you haven't yet!

Busting out the camera again

I'm fairly certain the last time I used my camera was for our Halloween party. Well over six months ago.

So let's just say I'm inspired by all you food bloggers out there! I wanted to try it for a day, just to see how it feels. I'm pretty lazy about loading my photos, so this might just be a once-in-a-blue-moon type of update ;) Or not, I haven't decided yet.

Last night J.D. came back from work early and while I wanted to run with today off, he hadn't consumed lunch and was STARVING. I got on board with that, so I started cooking up a storm in my neeeeew apron while he made the 45-minute drive back from Sacramento. Sidenote, it's a good thing I took yesterday as my rest day because June 2 is: NATIONAL RUNNING DAY! I'm thinking about celebrating by doing a timed 5K as my last aggressive run before Sunday's 5K race.

So back to the dinner. Knowing that we both work in athletics and are VERY short on time some days, I like to throw things in the freezer, or buy frozen "healthy" foods. Luckily, everything I wanted to make last night all required the same cooking temp and time in the oven.

On the menu was artichoke pesto tilapia, sweet potato frites from Trader Joe's and asparagus spears I marinated in olive oil and a little bit of garlic sea salt for taste.

I was given a GIGANTIC bundle of asparagus at one of the baseball games last month and ate half, froze the other half. Last night was a good time to bust it out because both the tilapia and frites called for a cooking temp of 425º at 20-22 minutes. Just enough time to cook my asparagus!

It was pretty much all ready by the time J.D. arrived and we enjoyed our dinner while watching House Hunters on HGTV. I can't wait until I'm at a point where a.) I know where my permanent career will be and b.) I'm financially stable enough to purchase a house :) But that's a long time from now. Until then, I'll keep watching all the ups and downs with H.H. or My First Place!

I was on my own for breakfast this morning because..........

............J.D. flew out at 7 a.m. to Burbank for his interview at Pepperdine!! So maybe big news coming in the next few weeks? Or maybe things will stay the same as they've been for a while now. I'll keep y'all updated. Wish him luck for me!

My baby's still sick, so I opted for a quick breakfast this a.m. I mixed together half a bowl of Crispix and half Smart Start (because I get waaaay too bored with just one cereal in my bowl, I love to mix up textures). Then I tossed in some dried cherries/cranberries, cut up a banana and drizzled some almond butter over the top before dousing it all with light soymilk. Voilà, quick and easy breakfast.

Now that I'm back to work, I'll leave you with one final picture. I love him! Doesn't Woody look like a muppet or something??? haha :)

Run girl, run!

After doing a little bit of this last night, I felt like today was a good day to really indulge in the "holiday eating" spirit:

I'm in disbelief at what I'm about to do....

What a way to celebrate my first minutes of freedom, huh?? All 16 of our Division I sports have wrapped up until the fall so you're now looking at a girl who DOESN'T HAVE TO WORK WEEKENDS!! I've pretty much been working games (sometimes two a day) every single weekend since August. I got three days off for Christmas break and Easter, then my boss gave me last weekend off.

About an hour after the last out had been recorded at our final baseball game, J.D. came by and we laced up our sneakers to tackle some hills! Our old football stadium is loaded with stairs and has a very hilly track around the stadium. I figured this would be the best way to prepare for this weekend's 5K race we'll be running. All of that was in anticipation of a big hilly section at the end of the race. After officially signing up today -- surprise, last day until the registration fee spiked -- I learned that the course is entirely flat!! What a waste of perfectly good energy ;) I ran about 2.5 miles of hills, then did the bleachers five times up and down, including sprints on the football field grass in between. All in all, a good effort, just not a useful way of training for this weekend's 5K.

Hellooooo, Stagg Memorial Stadium!

Given my gigantic use of energy last night, we hosted a "morning drinks party" at the condo this morning in celebration of a.) a day off from work! and b.) the first day of summer in our athletics department!!!!

So a few friends and co-workers stopped by for mimosas, tequila sunrises (my new favorite drink, btw!) and screwdrivers. Being the happy hostess that I am, I made 12 berry muffins to serve and a huge fruit platter - that no one other than yours truly sampled. Our guests brought over cinnamon rolls and oatmeal cookies while J.D. scrambled up some eggs and fried a little bacon. I ended up with a heaping plate of fruit, an egg white, piece of bacon, half a cinnamon roll and a muffin to go with my four morning drinks.... haha oops.

The brunch spread + my mimosa!

And by about 2 p.m. I conked out for an hour and a half. Great holiday if you ask me!

I didn't really eat lunch, so I don't think I went too far over my caloric intake goals. But it's ok, because I plan on timing a 5K simulation tomorrow, running three miles slowly on Wednesday and then a 1.5-2 mile run for Friday with lots of rest on Saturday the day before my race!

And now I am thoroughly exhausted. Talk to you all next time xx.

Question: How'd you spend your holiday?? Do you go crazy for special days during the year??

It was my first time!

...that's what she said. Oh wait, I really did.

That's because I tried two new products (well, sort of, I'll explain later) this week.

First if you haven't yet discovered this website, I think it's about time you take a peek on over there. Essentially, companies send you trial sizes of new products they're coming out with or reinventing. I've received a few samples already and some flat out suck (I'm talking to you, Lacoste, with your cheap "free sample" of your new perfume. I think the samples that come in magazines are larger. And it smelled horrible, btw), while some have been homeruns!

Enter the new South Beach Living bar: the Fiber Fit S'mores Bar.

Not only did they send me a free bar, but I also got a coupon for a free box at the grocery store! And, I know, I've had protein bars and fiber, cereal bars from South Beach before that either taste like cardboard or are loaded with yucky sugar alcohols. This one - as far as I can tell - fell into neither category.

For starters, it was DELICIOUS! The marshmallow coating on the top was so airy and light it made me want to smile for a ridiculously long period of time. Well, maybe not, but it was like a yummy party in my mouth. I'd definitely go and buy these again for a post-run snack (or maybe I should be eating fruit or something.....). Give them a try if you haven't already!

The other "new product" in my life as of this weekend is my Map My Run iPhone application. Yes, the one I've had a few weeks now. Turns out there's a feature on it I hadn't yet discovered. While you're running and tracking your run via GPS, you have the option of audio enhancement. You can decide how frequently a woman's voice will play over your iPod and tell you your current time, distance, speed, minutes per mile and miles per hour.

WHY HAD I NEVER PLAYED WITH THIS BEFORE?!?!?!

I am not a Garmin user (mostly, because I'm cheap and can't really afford one right now), so I've been playing with the iPhone GPS tracking to determine my pace/total distance. It's kind of like running blindly and checking my pace with fingers crossed at the end of every run.

Now that I'm in my final week of training for a 5K next Sunday, this is like a GODSEND. Every 0.5 miles, which today was about every new song that would play in my earbuds, the woman would tell me how fast or slow I was going. Kind of like a kick in the pants to pick up my pace! With this feature, I've run my fastest 5K pace since I've been back to running this year! I don't remember the exact time (so you math people can figure this out), but I finished just under a 7-minute mile!! My total run for the morning ended up being 4.56 miles which I ran in 35:09 - a 7:41-minute mile total pace!!

So I think for the next week I'll be training with this application and then I'm going to use it in Sunday's race. Wish me luck :) And happy free sample hunting!

I'm back!

After a baseball weekend in Bakersfield (check back on my sports blog, I'm sure some weekend stories will pop up there soon), I'm home. Ugh, I'm so pissed too. Someone egged my car while I was gone.... I'm guessing it's due to the UC Santa Barbara Alumni plates I have and how this weekend was Pacific's graduation ceremony. Maybe you shouldn't display rival schools plates on a weekend celebrating your campus??

But I do have this weekend off! And I plan to go home and see the fam for the first time in about a month.

So how about some life updates, eh?

* Last night I finished the longest run of my life! 7.59 miles and today my legs feel GREAT. I was super sore during my workout and I also tried my very first running gel, which was a horrible first experience. My stomach was hurting the entire run and I told myself I wasn't going to do more than two miles. But it FLEW by and I figured that trying the gel around mile 3 would calm down my stomach. It did, but it tasted SOOOO nasty. I had the PowerBar Tangerine caffeine/protein gel and I literally had to choke it down. The consistency reminded me of warm, chunky toothpaste. Bleh. I won't be trying that one again.

* At work we've purchased the newest version of PhotoShop and WOW it's amazing.... it's so so so so so cool and much easier to work with than the version I had, from two generations ago.

* Purchases! I've been a buying machine. Well, not really, I'm staying within my limited budget so as to put about 1/3 of my paycheck into savings each month. But I did buy something cool I've had my eye on for a while. THE APRON!! I couldn't resist. I've never had an apron before and it's so girly and awesome.

And I promise, I'm not naked under it. I had on a tank top and shorts, just finished either running or yoga as this photo was snapped. And I apologize for the crappy iPhone quality photos. haha, but I did buy J.D. a new digi camera for his birthday last weekend, so maybe he'll let me use it for the blog ;) I also really want to buy this Champion running shirt in hot pink. It's also very feminine and cute. I'm going to hold off for a bit.... but I realllllllly want it!!!

* And finally, there is some possible relocation in my life. J.D. is interviewing for a job at Pepperdine in Malibu, California, ON THE BEEEEACH!!! If he gets it, off we go this summer :) I loooove Southern California and have been trying to get back there since graduating. And, I've been responsible and already notified my co-workers that this may be a possibility if it all works out. We'll see though. Otherwise, I'll continue my adventures in Stockton!

(Pepperdine looks a lot like my alma mater, UC Santa Barbara, no??)

* Which also reminds me..... I guess I've now officially turned down a possible life-changing offer. A while ago I applied to do some grad school at the University of Melbourne...... in AUSTRALIA. It would have been a two year program, but would have cost me waaaay more money than I'm willing to spend. Plus, I have my little doggie now :) I really would like to keep traveling and living abroad after two stints in France. But I think I'll need to work up some money first. And then, back to travels :) Sorry for keeping that a secret from y'all for so long!

Fuzzy Woodstock (ha, get it?!) seeing me off before my 7.59 mile run last night!

Enjoy the weekend everyone! xx

Gotta case of the Mondays? Tuesdays?

Every morning, I wake up at 7:30 a.m. when my alarm goes off. And every morning I struggle to stay awake, hitting snooze until 8, sometimes even 9 a.m. Don't worry, I'm off to work before 10 a.m. usually (hey, when you stay until 10 p.m. three nights a week AND work weekends, you can complain about me showing up at 10 a.m.).

But those days, it's suuuuuch a struggle to get out of bed so I don't have time to make anything to eat all day. Usually, I'll grab a yogurt out of the fridge and off I go.

Which is why over the past several months, I've been going leftover crazy. I loooove making enough dinner for 4-6 people. When J.D. and I are done, I portion out several different Tupperware containers for various lunches and/or dinners! Leftovers might just be my favorite lunch :)


Today it was a mix of Zatarian's jambalaya with spicy andouille sausage and cilantro lime rice. So yummy! As a follow-up meal a little later in the day, I grabbed a bag of trail mix from Trader Joe's!

Some mornings when I'm feeling ambitious enough, I'll make a French press latte or a fruit smoothie. Or in the case of yesterday: I ran 3.25 miles and made a post-run smoothie. I know J.D. doesn't really care much for the smoothies, so I had an entire pitcher to myself! Instead of going crazy and not having room for dinner, I plopped it in the fridge and voilà, had enough for breakfast (and an after-work snack) today.

Leftovers really are the lazy man's meal :) And I wouldn't have it any other way.

What do you do for lunch/snacks at work? Do you go out? Do you make something in the morning? Or are you too tired in the a.m. like me and bring last night's dinner??