Fabulous Fall Day

It turned out to be a fabulous fall day today: sunny, still some leaves on the trees, and a fall chill in the air (50*).

The sun was even streaming into our apartment which only happens for about one week in the spring and one week in the fall because the roof hangs over the side of the building so far that it blocks out any sunlight that should be streaming into our place. I will NEVER rent/own a place that prevents the sunlight from coming in. I love my windows and natural sunlight too much!

Sadly there are more leaves on the ground than on the trees now.

Saturday AM = long run

I have only been running 6-8 miles these past few weeks, so I didn’t want to push myself too far yet. (I have not run over 10 miles since the Skinny Raven Half-marathon in August!)

Distance: 10 miles

Time: 1:25

Overall, it was a good run, but my legs were feeling pretty tired half-way through. Nothing I couldn’t push through though.

Running for almost 90 minutes gives me lots of time to think. Here are some of my thoughts during my run:

“Should I really be passing someone who is riding a bike?”

“I love the fog this morning.”

“Whoah, that’s a big bull moose!”

“There’s the spot the high schoolers hang out and smoke weed.”

“Maybe I should stop at Target to go to the bathroom.” (This wasn’t enough half-way through.) “Nah, I’ve held it longer before.”

“Hmm. . . I wonder what flavor of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream I should have today.”

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After returning from my run, I wasn’t ready to eat a full meal, but I knew I needed something since it had been 5 hours since I last ate, so I had a mini Blueberry Muffin Larabar.

I like Larabars, I don’t know if I love them, but I love how simple the ingredient’s list is.

I was a little bummed this didn’t have more of a blueberry flavor. It definitely didn’t have a bad taste, but it just didn’t taste like blueberry. (I would think it would be hard to get a true blueberry flavor in something like this??)

This was another “granola” bar my sister sent me.

Check out how awesome she is! She sent me an entire flat rate box full of stuff from her Food & Nutrition Conference & Expo (FNCE) conference in San Diego a few weeks ago!

I have the best sister ever!! 😀

After stretching and snacking on a few other things: crackers and cheese plus a pear, it was time to do some errands.

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Three hours later (why do errands always take longer than I think they should?) I finally returned home.

Surprisingly I didn’t feel all that hungry. (This always happens on a long-run day.), but I knew I needed something in my system.

I ended up making Jenna’s Roasted Portabella and Goat Cheese Sammies. I loved the portobello mushroom and goat cheese sandwich I had at Bear Tooth Grill a few weeks ago, so I thought I give this recipe a try.

Sadly, it wasn’t nearly as good at the one at Bear’s Tooth. (There were a lot more add-ons on the one at Bear’s Tooth, which probably helped.)

I’m not even sure how much I like the texture of the mushroom prepared this way. It was pretty spongy and wet (mostly just in the middle though).

My late lunch also included some carrots and Sun Chips.

I have carrots almost every day for lunch. They are about the only vegetable I like to eat plain—broccoli (too dry), cauliflower (no thank you), radishes (too spicy), celery (yuck).

But carrots, I love eating carrots plain, and I especially love these carrots which are grown locally! There isn’t much farming in Alaska, so I get excited when I can eat locally.

I also had these jalapeno jack Sun Chips. They were good and definitely had more of a kick than I thought they would.

To quench my thirst, I tried this packet of Crystal Light Pure. I’ve had the lemonade (my favorite) and grape before, but this was the first time I have tried the strawberry-kiwi.

I used to love strawberry-kiwi flavored things as a kid, but I seem to have outgrown the taste as an adult. However, I was plesantly surprised that I actually liked this flavor. (The lemonade is still my favorite though.)

The rest of my day was spent unpacking my groceries, talking to my family on the phone, baking muffins, and doing other random things around the apartment. No relaxing for me today–although I enjoy doing these things!

Good night!