This morning I had the first of my long runs for my next half marathon (the double half Pelican Challenge).  It took me 40 mins of running until my body felt like running.  I probably should have taken another rest day this week, but we cut about 20 minutes of the run instead.  My big toe also really started hurting! I felt like the thing was broken it was in so much pain every time my foot hit the ground.  My husband told me I had turf toe.  I told him only football players get that.  Neither of us know what we are talking about, but I am staying off my feet the rest of the day and hoping it gets better!

Pre-run food was a piece of toast with AB and cinnamon.

This nearly empty jar makes me so sad and so happy at the same time!

The hubby and I then went forth and did 1 hr 22mins for a total of 8.33 miles.  It was slow and I don’t care.  Tomorrow is a 5 mile tempo run, so I wanted the energy.

Let me recap dinner last night:

Greek yogurt, banana, blueberries, tons of cinnamon, and Kashi.

On the side sandwich thin with Laughing Cow and strawberry jam.  The BEST combo ever, if you haven’t tried this- YOU NEED TO!  No joke.

Dinner was fairly small because I mindlessly snacked soooooo much last night.  The hubby wasn’t getting home until late and I just sat in front of the TV and munched.  It was relaxing.  I also watched Lifetime Movie Network for a good couple hours while the hubby was gone.

My snacks are unpictured but I had a few handfuls of tortilla chips, lots of handfuls of Special K cereal (cereal is deadly around me!), 2 of my truffles, and then a late dessert of vanilla frozen yogurt.  Somehow I still managed to wake up hungry this morning so my body must have been hungrier than I thought!

The hubby and I are going to check out a rumored gumbo cookoff and then watch the Boilers!

What are your plans this lovely Saturday?  Lovely because I saw the sun peak its little face out!

Is it just me or is 2010 flying by without me even noticing?  I am one of those people that NEEDS to slow down and smell the roses.  I have actually been pretty angry with myself lately for not enjoying life more.  I use law school as an excuse all the time (and trust me it is a pretty darn good excuse), but law school is NOT my life.  In 20 years my life may have absolutely nothing to do with practicing law and I don’t want to look back wishing I had done all these things or enjoyed where I am right now in life.

That being said, I don’t want to fail out of law school either!  I will straight up admit that I don’t get straight As in law school, which was really hard to accept when I had only gotten 2 B’s my entire life until this point.  But I am glad.  I don’t want my life to be nothing but work, those people aren’t happy, they burn out, and in the field of law there are many horror stories of addictions and falls from grace.

I need to work on my life balance.  These are the things that are important to me (in no particular order):  School, Husband, Dog, Running,  Friends, Developing Life outside of Work/School, blogging.  Right now I wake up, blog quickly, try to hit the gym (usually doesn’t happen), work on reading, go to class, come home, usually get in the workout I missed, and do homework until it is time for bed.  I need to spend more time with my husband and our dog (my little family), I need to spend time being young and going out with friends, enjoying the things that Houston has to offer (even though it isn’t a lot), and I need to find time for myself.  To give you a little glimpse of how long it has been since I have actually done something for myself:  I haven’t had my nails painted in well over  year because I feel I shouldn’t waste time doing that when I have reading to do!

Anyway all my ranting is just me being angry that I don’t have a life or more fun.  I fear that I am wasting my youth (this girl is a young 23) and missing out on life around me.

Do you “stop and smell the roses”?  Do you ever feel like you’re missing out on life?  If not, give me some tips on how I can have more fun and enjoy my time now

Okay, enough ranting.  Food time:

Hump Day’s lunch was yogurt topped with blueberries and Kashi, sandwich thin with Laughing Cow and jam (a little smidge of AB too)!.  Unpictured snacks included some white cheddar rice cakes and an apple.

Dinner was packed up so we could watch the game with fellow Purdue Alum across the street.  I packed a salad and half a tortilla stuffed with hummus and mushrooms

Dessert (unpictured) was hot chocolate with whipped cream and one of my Godiva truffles. I think the hubby has eaten more the my Valentine’s gift than I have- the box is halfway gone!

Workout: Wednesday morning I got up and did 10 mins on treadmill (ouch my leg hurt!) and then 30 minutes of strength moves!  After the hubby got home from work we did a very slow 3.5 mile jog.

Thursday: Woke up, briefed my cases as fast as possible while enjoying this big bowl of cereal:

1 cup Special K Vanilla Almond, 1/2 cup Kashi, blueberries and banana.  So good!  I also sprinkled a little vanilla protein powder on because I think I need to add a little extra with my new training program.  (Soon to debut my training schedule)

I also got to use my lunch gear again!  Makes lunch much better I think:

Excuse the phone photo, didn’t have time to photograph before leaving.  Today included a AB and banana sandwich with a bag of apple slices and side of greek yogurt with blueberries and banana.

This homemade latte was my morning snack before class.  I really needed the caffine.

Lunch was a banana/PB sandwich.  I used huge pieces of banana and lots of cinnamon.

Of course I had to dig into my Chobani!  First up, blueberry topped with blueberries, banana, and Fiber One.

All together now.  I also had like 1/4th of an apple in the fridge that I sliced up.  This was a really good lunch.

My unpictured afternoon snack was two chocolate rice cakes.

Dinner was a repeat leftovers wrap so I won’t bore you with the picture.

Dessert was more chocolate.  I never eat this much chocolate usually, but I figure it is Vday (sorta) so why not.

The hubby brought me home a big box of Godiva truffles.  Like I said, I usually don’t care for chocolate a whole lot, but I enjoy some good chocolate every once in awhile.

Look at all those truffles!

I tried this Hazlenut Toffee + Milk Chocolate+ Raspberry Cappuccino

Now that I have eaten way too much chocolate, it is time to go to bed.  I am up early and headed to Austin!  I am nervous for the race.  And I am nervous about this cold weather!  Packing will be interesting tomorrow morning!

Enjoy your weekend and I will blog the next chance I get!

After talking with mi madre today I am going to try and not complain about the gray weather we have been having here in Houston.  Back in Indiana, my mom’s road is completely in-passible.  They used the tractor to plow a path across the corn field down to the highway.  (Yes, I grew up in the middle of no-where  Midwest)  And areas up on the East Coast that got pounded with feet of snow a couple days ago are about to get hit again!  So crazy.  On the other end of the spectrum it is about to rain here again and there are tornado warnings.  Mother Nature is a funny thing!

Dinner tonight was a butternut squash that needed to be used.  This is about half the squash topped with cinnamon and dollop of plain greek yogurt.

I also made a sandwich thin with Laughing Cow Swiss and strawberry jam.  I have seen this combo on a few blogs and wish I would have tried it sooner!  So good!

As I type this post the rain is coming down so hard I can’t even see across the street!  One thing I have learned about Houston is that when it rains, it pours.  Dang it, I am already complaining about the weather again!

After dinner I had a small chickpea blondie.  I can feel more snackage going on tonight.  I am in a really snacky mood lately, so I will just fess up that more snacks will likely be eaten tonight.  Sometimes a girl just needs her snacks!

Do you go through major snackage phases too?  Do you give in or resist?

I got my butt going and ran 12.5 miles in right about 2 hours.  It was slow and somewhat painful given that I put in 11 miles yesterday, but that is my last long run before my race this weekend!

I used this on my feet and bra strap area before my run.  It prevented blisters/soreness in my feet, but it didn’t stop my already formed blister from getting worse.  Guess I should be more preventative!

Lunch was sandwich and snacks:

Sorry for this picture.  I need to start using my new camera!  I had a sandwich thing, topped with apple chicken sausage, Laughing Cow, and mushrooms.  I put this baby under the broiler to get toasty!

Then added some pretzel nibblers (so addicted to these things!), carrots, and hummus.  The chicken sausage was a bit greasy for me, but I used to old paper towel blot to fix that!

Off to whip up game day recipes!

As with every Tuesday/Thursday I am in a huge rush to finish my briefs and get my butt to school.

For breakfast I had a Carnation Sugar Free Instant drink (made with Almond Breeze) and half a sandwich thin with a tiny bit of AB and jam.

I really wasn’t hungry at all given the massive amounts of after-dinner snacking that went undocumented yesterday, but breakfast is the most important meal of the day!

This week is totally messed up training wise!  Grrr!  (That is my angry noise)  It rained again all day yesterday and I was unable to fit in my hour tempo run.  Luckily I did those 3 miles of intervals at the gym.  This morning I had soooo much reading still to do I couldn’t hit the treadmill.  I did hop on my stationary bike here while I read to at least get some movement in my legs.

Friday was originally rest day, but I think it will be catch-up day.  I will not push myself too hard, but Wednesday the 10th is my last running day before my race so my legs will have plenty of rest.

So, I bet you are wondering what my new challenge is!  I knew if I didn’t find something else to train for it would be hard to push myself because of my school schedule.  Thanks to this lady-

my Mom, who paid my entry fees I will be running The Pelican Challenge as part of the Seabrook Lucky Trail Marathon!

• The Pelican Challenge is running a half marathon on both Saturday and Sunday
• Maybe next year I can run the half on Saturday and then the whole on Sunday!  (A girl can dream!)

I am so excited to have something to keep training for!  I plan on taking a few days off after my half on Valentine’s then starting up again.  I would like to incorporate more cross and strength training this time around!

How often do you incorporate strength or cross training?  Any tips to get this girl to lift some weights?

Just a tiny, little, bitty peak of the sun was seen today.  There may be hope!  Lunch was warm and toasty.  My favorite tomato bisque soup topped with shredded mozz.  On the side a toasted sandwich thin with laughing cow, sweet pepper spread, baby gouda, and a slice of turkey.  I put the sandwich under the broiler for about a minute and all the cheese got bubbly and golden!  Yum!

Here are a few of the random undocumented snacks from the last couple of days:

Sorry phone pic.  I got this in my race packet this weekend.  Sunsweet Fit Stix-Apricot.  It says 100% fruit and the ingredient list is simple.  The consistency was a bit softer than expected but it wasn’t bad.  It was very apricot-y.  And yes, I realize it is apricot, but it was still a bit overwhelming even though I really like dried apricots.  I don’t know that this would have been good run fuel, but it was a quick snack.

I saw this Luna Protein-Cookie Dough bar over at Une Vie Saine and picked up one to try myself.  One word:  Delicious!  How did I not find these before?  It was as close to a candy bar as you can get without being a candy bar.  These could definitely be dessert and a whole box could definitely be dangerous in my possession!  I will have to pick up another one (or dozen) soon!

Briefing time.  I need to get in an hour tempo run but I just can’t get myself to run outside without my hubby or a partner.  I realize I am an adult and should be able to run alone in broad daylight, but I feel like a lone 5ft nothing woman running alone is a bad idea!  (I will mention I had no problems running alone back home in Indiana and ran alone even in early mornings, but Houston is a whole different story!)

Anyone else worried about running alone outside?

Return of the best soup ever for dinner tonight:

First I made a nice little sammie with Sandwich Thin, Laughing Cow, baby gouda, and slice of turkey.  I just set it under the broiler for a minute to toast up.

Together with the tomato bisque from Sams Club.  I topped my soup with fresh ground pepper and some shredded mozz.

I also made my hubby dinner tonight.

Baked chicken breast marinated with balsamic vinaigrette and a side of cajun rice.

The weather did not improve so I decided to do homework, take today as a rest day and do my 2 hour run tomorrow.  I am not happy with this schedule because it pushes my training together and forces me into a two-a-day.  But, next week is taper week so I should have time to recoup!

• Tuesday:  2 hour run
• Wednesday:  Morning-speed intervals Evening: 1 hr pace run
• Thursday:  3 miles + strength
• Friday:  Rest
• Saturday:  3 mile pace + hills
• Sunday:  2 hour run

The rest of the evening will be spent doing homework for my dreaded Pre Trial class.  Here is a little peak of how I spend the majority of my day:

Excuse my bad posture.  Trooper feels the need to be as close as possible to me while I do work.

Although I didn’t sleep well, I was up and ready for the Rockets run this morning.  Wouldn’t you know one of the very few days it gets cold here in Houston would fall today!  Ugh!  It was maybe 35 degrees when we headed to the start line.

We sucked it up and I ended up finishing about 24:20.  I set a goal of 25 minutes:  mission accomplished.  I placed 13th in my age division.    Sunday is my long run day, so on my training schedule I have a 2 hour run.  I might move it until tomorrow so I can get some homework done before the Rockets game tonight.  (You get tickets to game with entry to race).  We shall see.  I realize it is crunch time, but it is cold-ish outside and I haven’t even cracked a book this weekend.

Anyway dinner last night was yummy!

I roasted up this HUGE spaghetti squash.

I then added some cheese and little bit of pasta sauce!

On the side some “fake garlic bread”.  I toasted a sandwich thin, spread on some Laughing Cow, then sprinkled on Italian seasoning.  I let it warm in the oven for just a minute.  Yummy!

I could only eat about half this bowl of squash, it was so filling!

Dessert #1 was banana soft serve topped with fresh blackberries (on sale now at Central Market), and two kinds of baking chips.

Dessert # 2 was an unpictured Cliff Z Bar-chocolate brownie!

I almost forgot:  Pre-fun fuel:

Time to be productive or take a nap.  Yet to be decided which is the better option!

I had no idea what I wanted for lunch today, so I went for a good fallback.  Oats.

Sorry for the crappy picture, but these were amazing!  Huge apple chunks, banana, Fiber One, and almond butter.

All stirred up and creamy!

On the side half a sandwich thin with Palmer’s blackberry jam.

I used the other half to make this sweet treat I have seen on the blogsphere:

Peanut butter and chocolate chips all warmed up and gooey.  Yum!

And…a rare occasion.  I actually wore something to school besides jeans or gym clothes.  I still didn’t wear makeup or do my hair, but one step at a time here folks.

Black leggings, white cowl neck tunic, and Michael Kors rainboots.  I wish the boots came out clearer because they are gorgeous!  Yes I have a slight problem with shoes!  To top it all off my rain coat because it was rainy and windy out there today!

The rest of the day will be a 5 mile run, happy hour (no alcohol), and hopefully relaxing!  I will recap my dinner tomorrow if it ends up blogworthy, good chance it won’t be anything special!

Happy Friday!