Sunday Morning Six Pack

After my internal clock woke me at 5 am this morning, I decided to seize the opportunity for some "alone" time and enjoyed a cup of coffee before deciding to give in and cozy up with this six pack...

...of dumbbells that is.  These guys help me deal with stress, take the edge of when I'm anxious,  and energize me when I need a little pick me up.  Talk about an awesome happy hour.  I enjoyed a great workout by combining these 3 workouts:

www.fit2flex.com

Check out the fit2flex website for all the details on this awesome workout.  Don't let it fool you into thinking it's easy like I did.  I had an easy time busting out the 50 dumbbell dumbbell deadlifts on the first set and thought everything would be as easy...ha!  The push-ups were the toughest for me.  Gotta work on those.  I really loved the challenge of the squats with dumbbell shoulder presses.

pbfingers.com

I did one set of each of these workouts from pbfingers.com  It was nice to get in some jumping jacks and burpees. I also liked the reverse lunges with front kicks.  I didn't even use weights for them and still found them to be challenging.  Instead of the crunches, I did mountain climbers.  Gotta be kind to my diastasis recti.  

pbfingers.com

It took me 33 minutes to complete my workout and fit the bill for a muscle-building, cross-training workout for my half marathon training plan.  I can't believe today already kicks off week 7 of my plan. I'm in the home stretch.  

As I was finishing up, I glanced out the window and saw this beautiful sky:

I hope I never take for granted that I get to wake up to these gorgeous views most mornings.  I live in paradise.  Hoping to get out again this evening to see the sunset.  Have a great Sunday.  

The Confidence Boost I Needed

I can't imagine a better way to start my day than with this...

which led to this...

I REALLY needed this run to boost my confidence.  I have been getting really discouraged lately with my runs and was starting to question whether I was making any progress at all.  This training for a PR is much harder than training for fun.  I'm not sure I'm enjoying it as much as when I used to train to just finish but I know I will enjoy crossing the finish line with hopefully a significantly faster time will make up for all my frustrations along the way.  

I stuck to a easy pace and didn't have to take ANY walk breaks, which was a huge relief after last week's 9 mile run where I think I walked at least 5 times.  I hit the 10 mile mark and felt so great that I decided to tack on another 3 just for the confidence boost.  I won't run 13 again until the race on October 28 when I will be finally running stroller-free again.  I hope I feel like I can run like the wind and get that PR I've been working SO hard for.  

Check out the view I got to enjoy this morning as the sun came up:

Sorry for the blurriness...I told you I didn't take any walk breaks.  I'm so neurotic I couldn't even stop to take this photo.  Crazy, I know!  This boardwalk, although it's short, is one of my favorite places to run.  It is always so beautiful and tends to get a great breeze.

With that behind me, I'm spending the rest of the day hanging with my little men.  I think a visit to the fountains is in our future...and another one of those pumpkin smoothies from yesterday.  I can't stop thinking about how delicious it was.  Maybe I'll enjoy it with a side of pumpkin granola.  You can never have too much pumpkin, can you?  Make it a great day!

Soup's On!

We had a great time on our date night last night.  Being the coupon queen that I try to be, I convinced my husband to go to Tony Roma's to use our Buy One, Get One Free Coupon.  I must say, my grilled salmon was some of the best I've had and the mashed sweet potatoes were quite tasty.  And since mine was the cheaper entree, it was free to boot!  If only we had sat in the bar to get the happy hour drink specials...next time!

We actually got dressed up for our date.  Check us out:

We weren't quite ready to call it a night after dinner so we stopped in Ian's Tropical Grill for a cocktail on our way home.  It's a cozy place to have a drink...if you have a coupon, which we did!

Today's a rest day on my half-marathon training schedule, so you'd think I would have slept in, but I was up and at 'em just after 5 am thanks to my new sleep pattern.  At least I got to read in bed for a bit before tackling the day.  

I also had time to play around with my blog a bit, as you probably noticed.  I've been thinking about changing the title for a while since my topics include way more than fitness and decided the best way to describe it was with the small tweak to the title.  What do you think?

Today's mission was to whip up a couple of soups for some go-to lunches using some of my organic produce.  I chose two different vegan recipes which turned out quite well.  I found the first recipe at Vegangela.com Her recipe for broccoli potato soup is just as satisfying as a bowl of broccoli cheese soup but much healthier.  You can find her recipe here.  

I also made a sweet potato and carrot soup.

Can you tell I've been playing around on picmonkey.com?  I'm not anywhere as gifted as my husband is when it comes to graphic design, but I can see why he loves his job so much.  It's fun!

The recipe is prettier than the soup but I promise it's delicious.  

After the soups were done, it was finally not too early to hit up BJs for some spinach, fish, mac n cheese and other necessities.  I can get carried away with the good deals there... like 12 boxes of organic mac n cheese for $7 with my coupons.  The boys will think they're in heaven with all the mac n cheese eating that is to come.  

We got home in time for a quick workout with my one and only client and then it was time for naptime for the boys and a little upper body workout for this mommy.  In my mind, rest days are for the legs when you're training for a half marathon and my arms had been neglected this week.  

I came up with the following workout and it felt great to pump some iron after almost a week off.

I used 20 pound dumbbells for the chest and back exercises and 15 pound dumbbells for the arms.  I ended up doing the last two rounds completely with the 20 pound dumbbells though since I was feeling pretty motivated.  

After my workout I enjoyed a yummy protein smoothie made by combining: 

• 1/2 cup pumpkin
• 1 cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 scoop SunWarrior vanilla brown rice protein powder
• 1 cup ice cubes
• 1 tsp honey
• Cinnamon, to taste

It was DIVINE--like pumpkin pie in a cup, and healthy to boot.

I'm meeting some girls tonight for a quick cocktail then hoping to spend the rest of my night on the couch.  I still haven't finished watching The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo so maybe I'll try to stay awake for the end.  I'm hoping to call it an early night though because tomorrow's scheduled run is 10 miles--double digits finally.  I'm a bit nervous as my last couple of long runs have been a bit of a struggle.  My plan is to get out as early as possible to beat the heat and to take things slow.  Hope it works!

I'm off to do some yoga with Fit2B Studio.  Enjoy the rest of your Friday!

Blocks, Running, Roasted Grapes, Etc.

We had quite the productive evening yesterday.  Mickey and I got the halloween costumes finished, I balanced the check book (yuck!), we ran some errands, squeezed in a beer and some chicken wings, we played with the boys and I finally got some photos organized for a little project I'm working on.  I'm normally a loyal Shutterfly gal, but I came across some great deals at York Photo that I coudn't resist.  I thought I'd pass along that they're running some photo book deals and also 5 cent prints if you type in the code nickel.  Hard to beat!   Don't worry Shutterfly!  I'm ready to pounce on your Christmas card specials just as soon as you announce them.

These guys were Mega Blocks masters yesterday:

This morning kicked off a little later than usual, not that I'm complaining because I got to read in bed for half an hour before the boys woke up.  Then it was time for some coffee before a 3 mile run.

With that behind me, it's now rest time until Saturday morning's 10 mile run.  I sure would love a cold front to come in time for that run.  I know I've been complaining about the heat A LOT but I run in the summer so I can maintain my fitness for when I really LOVE running--in the winter, Florida winters that is.

On a completely random note, check out this recipe I stumbled upon this morning.  I had heard about roasting grapes last week and was intrigued, so I looked up the instructions again and found this awesome idea which I'm hoping to try for lunch today.

Found at www.howsweeteats.com

The grapes are already roasted and they're just as yummy as I had hoped.  Now I just have to bake the potatoes.  I was thinking of subbing laughing cow cheese wedges for the goat cheese, since that's what I have on hand.  I'll let you know how it turns out.

We've got one more day of family time to soak up today before a date night tonight.  Looking forward to some alone time with my man.

Enjoy your day!

Some of My Favorite Things

Yesterday's goal of getting in some quality time was a success.  Check out my 3 favorite men...

Life is good!  We are so blessed.  The party last night was a success as well.  I love our little community and am reminded of how blessed I am any time we join together for a cause.  A huge thank you to everyone who came out to show their support.  And thanks to our amazing babysitters who took care of our kiddos so we could enjoy ourselves.  

Despite the late night, I was still able to get my 6 mile run in this morning without too much trouble.  I ran solo and enjoyed the time to myself to let my mind water and give thanks for my blessings.  Hopefully my 10 mile run on Saturday goes as smoothly as today's run.  Only 3 more long runs left before the big race. 

I am happy to report that MapMyRun was working and I could even see my splits while I was running, but I don't think it saves them.  Oh well.  A friend told me to try the RunKeeper app..need to do that.  

After a shower and a yummy egg sandwich, it was time to make the pumpkin granola I've been wanting to make all week.  The smells wafting through my house made my mouth water and the flavor is even better than I had hoped.  I will definitely be making more of this.  Bonus--it's VEGAN too.

The inspiration for it came from this recipe.  I halved it and omitted the pumpkin seeds, since I didn't have any on hand.  I'm not a huge pumpkin seed fan anyways so I don't miss them one bit.   It is DIVINE!  I'm looking forward to combining it with some vanilla greek yogurt for a snack later today...if it lasts that long.

I've been drinking a ton of this delightful beverage I found at Publix earlier this week.  It's SO refreshing and only 10 calories per serving.  It's not full of chemicals either, which makes it a win in my book since water can get kind of boring sometimes.  

I may or may not have ordered more of this in bulk from Amazon last night.  Love that site!

Speaking of food...I made some delicious monte-cristo sandwiches for Mickey and I last night that were quite delightful.  Pears, swiss, turkey, dijon, and spinach stacked between sourdough slices, then dipped in eggs and milk with a little cayenne salt a pepper, then grilled on each side...BLISS!

Enough food talk.  Off to enjoy some more family time.  I see some silliness in our future.  Have a fabulous day!

A/C + New Sheets + Family Time = Happiness

I slept GOOD last night.  I think I owe to a combination of a fixed A/C and the new sheets we put on our bed yesterday.  I found them on clearance at Target on Sunday and boy am I glad I snatched them up.  We were way overdue for new sheets.  What a difference they make!  It's kind of like when you get new underwear; you forget how great new ones are until you upgrade and then you wonder why you waited so long.  At least that's the case for me...

After a great night's sleep, it was much easier to hit the gym for a quick cross-training workout on the elliptical this morning.  I have been defaulting to the elliptical quite a bit lately since I can read while I work out on it.  This morning the time flew by as I plugged along on The Happiness Project.  Today's major takeaway came from this quote:

"When money or health is a problem, you think of little else; when it's not a problem, you don't think much about it.  Both money and health contribute to happiness mostly in the negative; the lack of them brings much more unhappiness than possessing them brings happiness."  

I need to learn to not take all of the great things I have in life for granted.  God is good to me and has given me so much.  I need to be thankful for what I have and see the happiness that just being in the moment provides.  Life is good!

Gretchen Rubin, the author, spoke quite a bit on the "Money can't buy happiness" argument.  It's an interesting argument as it's true that money can't provide happiness, but not having to worry about money can make it a lot easier to enjoy things that make you happy.  For example, if one of your loves is traveling and you work on minimum wage, a larger salary could make it much easier to travel.  I agree with her that it depends on the kind of person you are (do you love the theater or prefer a night in on the couch with Netflix?), the kind of things you like to spend your money on (organic foods or whatever's on sale?), and the amount of money you have relative to the people you're surrounded by or used to (do you have the smallest house on the block?).  Just some food for thought...As you can tell, I'm captivated by her insights.

With my workout and reading out of the way, I have the majority of my day left to spend with my my 3 favorite men.  We started off our day together with oat bran pancakes.  (The recipe needs some tweaks before I share it with you, but I'm making headway.)  Then we headed off to Coffe Bar Blue Door for Story Time.  We had a great turnout, with lots of new faces.  

The bubbles never get old for the kiddos. 

We had some really great listeners while we read a couple of cute books...

I just discovered Karma Wilson's books and she does a great job with rhyming and being silly, two major selling points for me.

The rest our day is dedicated to family time--a family lunch outing, a bike ride, probably some book reading and truck riding, a little fireman hat wearing...

Colton

(If you don't have these hats, you don't know what you're missing.  They come complete with a siren that never lets us which my boys adore.  It's quite relaxing... )

Mason

...and a little party for the grown-ups once the kids are asleep.  I'm hoping things go smoothly and we get some quality time in.  We're due!

Enjoy your day!

Some Book Talk

After a night with no air conditioning, a late start to my morning, and a potty-training boy who pooped on the rug, I did NOT make it out the door for my training run early this morning but I'll squeeze in my sprint work this afternoon on the air conditioned treadmill at the gym.  My plan is to do a half mile warm up, then alternate 6 quarter mile sprints with quarter mile recoveries before cooling down with a half mile jog.  I'm hoping I have time to squeeze in some drop-sets using the upper body machines as well.  I'm looking forward to getting my sweat on!

Despite the crazy morning, there was no way I was going to miss MOPS this morning.  Let me just tell you, I LOVE MOPS!  If you are a mother of little ones and you don't go to MOPS, I suggest you figure out a way to make it a part of your life.  I can guarantee you won't regret the support, love, and friendship the women in these groups can give you.  What a tremendous blessing the women in my groups are to me.  (Yes, I as a matter of fact, I love MOPS so much that I go to two different ones.  I'm a MOPS junkie!)

The group that met today is the one that's doing the book study using Francine Rivers' book, A Lineage of Grace.

I'll be honest with you;  I wasn't excited about having one more thing I had to do, but boy am I glad I decided to give this book a chance.  It gives some amazing insight into some amazing women from the Bible and led to some great discussions today.  The part we discussed today dealt with Tamar.  Talk about DRAMA!  It was like reading a soap opera which made it a real page turner.  

Our table's overall takeaway from our discussion questions was that we really need to TRUST GOD!  He sees the big picture and he knows what he's doing.  He has a plan.  We have such tunnel vision compared to his amazing vision.  If you look back on your past, God's work is obvious, and you have to trust that eh will carry his good work to completion in you.  Will it always be easy?  HECK NO!  But he has a plan, and it's a GOOD ONE!  Trust HIM!  I seem to constantly be reminded of this as I try to take the control away from God and handle things on my own.  Today, it was especially helpful to hear.  

The story also shows that God can and does use EVERYONE for his purpose.  We don't have to be perfect for God to use us, and good thing, because none of us are.  He seems to carry out some of his best work in situations where we'd least expect it.  It's all pretty amazing when you sit back and think about it.  

I'm not only a MOPS junkie, I'm a book club junkie as well I guess. My book club book, The Happiness Project, has been keeping my interest quite well too.  

She has some rules for herself that she continually refers back to throughout the book.  One of the rules that's making a big impression on me is her rule to "Be Gretchen."  In my case, it would be, "Be Rachel."  So often we try to be what we think others want us to be rather than just being true to ourselves.  I find that to be so true, especially in mothering.  We have ideas about how we're "supposed" to be, but we'd be better off if we'd just be the people God made us to be.  It's not an excuse to avoid self-improvement, but it does give us a bit more freedom to be able to say, "I tried that and it just doesn't work for me."  I think we need to remember that the same rule applies to our kids.  We have to let them be themselves, rather than trying to mold them into what we think they "should" be.  I find it especially relevant to my mothering of twin boys.  They may look the same, but they are VERY DIFFERENT children.  It's liberating to give yourself the freedom to be yourself.  Try it!

On a COMPLETELY different note, (I have random in my blog title for a reason...) I impulsively bought Method's Vanilla Chai hand soap yesterday and I am in love.  I will defintitely be stocking up on that one.  What a yummy scent and it comes in a pretty bottle too. See...

Don't worry, it's not too girly for your husbands to use as well.  Even though we're not really having an fall-like temps here in south Florida, I still like to enjoy all things fall when this time of year rolls around which reminds me, I think it's about time to get some pumpkins to put me in the spirit even more.  Check out the ones we carved last year...

I bet you were expecting something really exciting right?  I just wanted an excuse to show you my cuties.  I came across these pictures on our apple TV slide show this afternoon.  It's hard to believe how much my little guys have changed since about this time last year.

Time flies...Enjoy every moment!

Sweaty Sunday

If you read my blog regularly, you're probably thinking the title of today's post is in reference to a killer workout, but today the cause of my sweaty day is the result of a broken air conditioner that cannot be repaired until tomorrow.  Talk about fun times here at the Planker homestead.  Last night we sweated it out on the couch watching New Years Eve.  If you haven't seen it, you should!  I loved how lighthearted and sweet it was.  It really had quite the casting line-up as well.  Mickey enjoyed it as well.
I'm happy to report Mickey gave it a thumbs up too.

I know we're way behind on our movie watching, but hopefully you can cut us a break since we have twin toddlers.  Thank goodness for Netflix.  I don't think we'd ever watch movies if we didn't have them regularly delivered to our mailbox.  

This morning we actually made it to church on time.  I think we were anxious to get into the air conditioning.  Just kidding.  We seriously love TC3 and once again enjoyed great worship music and an excellent message on handling the wealth God has given to us.  Money is never a comfortable topic in church but I think Gordon is handling this fundraising campaign well.  He pointed out that your level of trust in God can be seen in your giving.  He challenged us to put God to the test by stepping out in faith and giving, even though it may not be comfortable.  He reminded us that often times we look to money to give us things that only God can truly provide, specifically, security. God has purposefully blessed us and the question is, how will we respond to his blessings?  What a convicting question that was for me!

After church, we swung by Target for a couple of necessities, including these awesome hats...

Colton

Mason

Maybe I'd have more money for the offering plate if I didn't give into impulsive purchases like this...Haha  I'm human, what can I say?  They're only $2 in the Dollar Spot if you're interested in getting some for yourselves.  I see a pretty darn cute Thanksgiving card in our future.  

I had a Starbucks gift card that was burning a hole in my wallet so I treated myself to a Salted Caramel Frappuccino Light and got the boys some chocolate milk. YUM!  I love their fall beverages. 

I've got the makings for a copycat Pumpkin Spice Frappuccino in my freezer as we speak.  I found the recipe here.  I'll let you know how it turns out.  I especially like that it's vegan and sugar-free which  means I can indulge in it daily if it's good, right?  I've got my fingers crossed that it lives up to my expectations.  I love healthy alternatives to indulgent things.  I'm thinking once we've got some a/c in this house, I might have to try out this homemade version of the salted caramel mocha as well.  

Nap time for the boys meant a trip to the gym for me.  Another visit to some air conditioning...SCORE!  I spent my time reading The Happiness Project on my kindle while working up a sweat on the elliptical since Sundays are cross-training days on my half-marathon plan.  I did a quick upper body workout last night after the boys were in bed so I wouldn't have to do it today.  I've also decided to back off lower body weights workouts during this  portion of my training plan.  Pushing that stroller is challenging enough for my legs and I don't want to get injured.  In place of my lower body workouts, I've added in some yoga which I am thoroughly enjoying thanks to Fit2B Studio.  I bought their Groupon last week and haven't regretted it for a second.  I'm already noticing how it's helping with my diastasis recti, which is an extra special bonus since I originally purchased the package to work on stretching and flexibility.  I suggest you check it out!

Once the boys get up, we're looking forward to sweating it out some more on a bike ride.  The boys LOVE bike rides.  Thank goodness they think their helmets are pretty cool too.  I still haven't gotten around to making that gorgonzola and acorn squash pizza so I'm hoping I can whip it up tonight as well.    

I'll leave you with my takeaway from today's portion of The Happiness Project...

Happiness is...simply growth.  We are happy when we are growing.  -Yeats

To summarize Gretchen Runin, if you try new things, you're more likely to feel happy than if you stick to the same-old same-old.  That's why projects like half-marathon training, potty training, Bible studies, parenting, traveling, and trying out new recipes are so fun for me I guess--I'm growing!

Get out there and GROW!

Getting Some Things Off My Chest

I love Oxygen magazine.  It is like my Bible for weight lifting.  Needless to say, I was intrigued by the cover article on last month's issue...

See that one there on the right side...Melissa Hall--How I Got My Body Back After Twins.  It inspired this lovely letter that I sent them yesterday:

First of all, let me just say I LOVE your magazine and have been a loyal reader for over 5 years.  I read every issue from cover to cover as soon as they arrive in the mail.  I have been using your training and nutrition advice and have seen huge changes in my physique and energy.  I feel well-educated in the areas of fitness and weight training and am even a a certified personal trainer.  I have run dozens of races, including 3 half marathons, and usually place in my age group, even winning my age group at times.  I just won my age group in a local 5k while pushing my 18 month old twins in a jogging stroller.  That stroller weighs over 100 pounds with them in it so to be able to pass dozens of people while pushing it is such a rush.  I guess what I want you to know if that I am very fit and knowledgable when it comes to fitness.  

As a mother of twins myself, I was intrigued to see your article on Melissa Hall and quite curious to read your article on how she got her body back as I have been struggling with getting my stomach back to it's pre-pregnancy appearance for 18 months now.  I was extremely disappointed after reading the article and doing a little research on Melissa Hall myself.  Don't get me wrong.  It is admirable when ANY woman gets her figure back after giving birth.  I know all to well have difficult that is.  However, you failed to mention that she gave birth to extremely premature babies which is a very different situation to bounce back from than a mother like me who carried her twins to 37 weeks and gave birth to 14 and 1/2 pounds of extremely healthy babies.  My sons weighed 6 lb 15 ounces and 7 pounds 5 ounces.  I was nursing them 20 minutes after they were born.

I would love to see an article on how to get your body back after going full term with twins and dealing with a diastasis recti where the abdominal muscles split to make room for the growing babies. How about an article on how to get rid of the excess skin that many mothers have from growing healthy babies?  Or safe abdominal exercises for women with a diastasis recti? Crunches and any jack-knifing motions are off limits.  I feel like your article gives an inaccurate portrayal of the post-natal body of a twin mother.  I'd love if you would address women like me and not make me feel so discouraged when I read your magazine, which I used to love.  

Thank you for your attention to my concerns.
Rachel Planker

I feel so much better now that I gave them a piece of my mind.  One thing I am working on is complaining to people who can actually make a difference, rather than just complaining to my husband and friends who are so nice to listen to me vent but can't really do much to help me solve my problem.  I hope my letter at least helps raise their awareness to my concerns.

Thank goodness for ladies like Stuft Mama to give all of us mamas, twin mommies especially, a dose of reality.  Her post couldn't have come at a better time as I've been feeling pretty unhappy with my loose skin and new mommy shape.  She is even way more fit than me and still struggles with a diastasis recti from carrying her twins to term.  Cleary it's not a body fat issue for her either.

Source

This is a quote straight from her blog...

It’s not the best idea to ask someone if they have a baby bump while they’re in the middle of teaching a fitness class. Yep, this happened to me tonight. I was the person being asked. I was even wearing my Spanx because my tummy was sticking out more than the usual diastasis issue. Um, I had to tell the nice lady while I had my mic on and was in front of everyone that no, it was a post-twin belly bump, not a pregnancy one.

I feel your pain!  My husband even bought me a shirt that says "I gave birth to twins.  What's your Super Power?" because it continues to be such an issue for me.  It's nice to know there are others in the same boat as me.  Thank you Stuft Mama!!!  Her post today touched on her diastasis as well in case you're interested.

Check out what my silly boys did while I penned that letter--peek-a-boo in the big box their diapers were delivered in.  Hope it's our last diaper delivery...

Enough about that.  It's Saturday!  It's a REST DAY for real this time!  I earned it after that long run yesterday.  And I must say I am glad I squeezed it in and enjoyed a couple yummy margaritas last night along with some delicious fajitas.  Thanks friends!

This morning kicked off with a yummy pancake breakfast before we went to the ...

...ZOO!  Let me just say, my boys love their animals and we had a FANTASTIC time!

We hit up Chicago Uno before heading home for some yummy pizza and calamari.  I loved their healthy crust option, with flax, oat bran and whole wheat.  We chose the eggplant and feta pizza with sundried tomatoes.  YUMMY!  I liked the banana peppers that they tossed with the calamari as well.  What a nice touch!

The boys had fun using big boy forks.

The rest of our day is dedicated to relaxation and trying to keep cool since the fan in our A/C unit decided to bite the dust last night and they tell us they can't get the part they need to fix it until Monday.  Good thing we have a pool!  Happy Saturday!

My Crazy Version of A Rest Day

It was so nice to wake up and realize there was nothing that I HAD to do on the calendar today.  Other than getting some groceries, dropping off some bank deposits, and making a couple of phone calls, my schedule was wide open.  I did originally plan to get in some yoga as well on my rest day from my half marathon training plan but I switched up my plan a bit as the day progressed.  Let me just tell you I'm a glutton for punishment and it appears I have my priorities a little out of whack.  You'll see why as you read on...

Our day kicked off with a leisurely breakfast of scrambled eggs, Morningstar sausages (my boys and husband love these things and I've learned to like them too), and a waffle topped with strawberry jam...oh, and of course, COFFEE.  Now that the Intelligentsia coffee is gone, we have moved on to the Caribou Mahogany blend.  We already miss those yummy Intelligentsia beans...Hopefully there are more in our house in the near future.  The Caribou blend smelled a bit like cigars...not sure what I think of that.

After we cleaned up breakfast and made ourselves presentable for the day, we headed off to one of our favorite places to visit, Publix.  We can't seem to get enough of that place and go there at least once a week, usually twice.  Lucky for us, Gina was there again this morning to give us balloons.  She's so good to the boys!

I had trouble getting them to look at me.  There were
too many other interesting things going on in the parking lot.

Our next stop was the bank where the boys got some lovely blue suckers.  They thought it was funny when they got home and could see their blue lips in the mirror.

Once again, they're not very smiley today.  So serious!  Maybe they knew what was next up on my plan for the day...haha.

As I unloaded the groceries, I started thinking, "What if I just do my long run today?"  My friend had just invited us over for "world famous margaritas" and I didn't want to have to miss out on enjoying them since I had a long run scheduled for first thing tomorrow morning.  (Last time I drank the night before a run, my run was less than stellar and I didn't want to repeat that event.)  This is what I meant when I told you earlier I have my priorities out of whack--I ran so I could drink!  What's wrong with me???  To my defense I also wanted to have tomorrow to dedicate completely to family.  If I squeezed in my run today, I wouldn't have to worry about it tomorrow.  I could make tomorrow my rest day and I'd much rather have my rest day on a day when we can have our whole family together.

Once the groceries were all put away, I had made up my mind to go for it.  I chugged some caffeine and electrolytes in the form of one of these delicious little babies...

(Thanks to Lindsey for the recommendation.  She described them perfectly, "like heaven and sunshine.")  I don't even like coconut water but I LOVE these.  Check them out!  Once it was polished off, I loaded up the boys in the stroller along with their snacks and water for all of us and we hit the road.  Did I mention it was 11:30 at this point and 87 degrees outside.  This is the part where I'm a glutton for punishment.  What doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

I can't claim that this was the best run of my life.  In fact, it might have been one of the most torturous runs of my life, but I figure if I can survive 9+ miles in midday heat pushing 100+ pounds of stroller weight, 13 miles at 6 am on October 28 should feel easy, right?  I'm not gonna lie.  I NEVER take walk breaks and I took at least 5 little breaks to chug water and convince myself to keep going.  On top of it all, MapMyRun wasn't working.  Check out what it was telling me...

 8.36 miles in 33 minutes and 45 seconds.  I wish! I think it was more like 9.5 miles in 1 hr 35 minutes. Only 3 more long runs until the big race.  I won't be doing any of them in the midday heat EVER again.  Lesson learned!  

At least the views were pretty.  I ran over that bridge you see in the distance.  It was probably the coolest part of the run with the breezes off the water.  Thank goodness for that relief!  Somehow the cloud cover that I thought I'd have when I left the house seemed to disappear as I ran.  Not cool!

Once we got back home, I chugged LOTS of water and finally felt like scarfing down a giant salad after my shower.  I love the combination of almonds, craisins, blue cheese, Organic girl super greens, black beans and balsamic.  YUMMY!

I didn't take a photo of my salad but if you haven't tried these salad blends, it's time you did.  I just bought a baby kale mix I can't wait to try as well.

I have a batch of black bean brownies in the oven as we speak.  I used this recipe and changed it up a bit by adding peanut butter to the mix in place of the oil and using a dark chocolate bar in place of the chocolate chips.  I hope they turn out as yummy as the batter tasted.

Now, I think I've got time now to squeeze in some of the yoga I had planned for today and them hopefully I can prop my feet up and read more about Tamar.  Monday's book club discussion is sneaking up on me and I have some work to do on my book.  Thank goodness I'm enjoying it.

It makes me really glad I don't live in Bible times and I got to choose my amazing husband.  I cannot imagine having an arranged marriage.

Only 2 hours or so til I get to enjoy a highly anticipated margarita.  Hope you have something fun planned for your Friday night as well.  Cheers!