This week is all about getting back on track with a more well-balanced diet. After splurging on eating out in Hawaii more often than not, I have enjoyed making food at home that is based around whole foods and full of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and whole grains.
Monday night I baked a spaghetti squash, made homemade marinara sauce, and steamed broccoli for an amazing dinner. I think I like spaghetti squash better than regular pasta—unless I am running a race in the morning.
I used this Marinara Sauce recipe and let Craig spice it up because it was bland without extra seasoning. He added Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and thyme, along with a little more salt.
I also made The Very Best Homemade Whole Wheat Bread, which uses 100% white whole wheat flour. I did not have vital wheat gluten or lemon juice, but it still turned out phenomenal. Oh man, I could live off fresh homemade bread.
Tuesday night for dinner, I roasted chickpeas in the oven for Chickpea Tacos. A great vegan recipe that does not skimp on flavor. (I did add cheese to my tacos, so mine were not vegan.)
This was a recipe I got from a blogger who no longer has her blog, but I did find the recipe on this blog post. You can check out my previous post on how I cooked up the corn tortilla shells here.
Seriously, so good! I topped my tacos with the best salsa in Anchorage—locally made at Taco Loco.
As I mentioned before, my motivating is lacking these days for running, so for today’s run, I tried not to focus on my pace. That is really hard for me to do, but I know if I get caught up on how ‘slow’ I am going, it will only exasperate my frustration.
I covered 4 miles at a 9 minute mile pace, which is definitely slower than what I am used to, but I did my best to focus on the sunshine, chirping birds, and the fact I was outside running. It felt chilly at 25*F after running in the 70s in Hawaii. There were also quite a few patches of ice and snow out there, which forced me to run even more slowly.
Afterwards I spent some time with the foam roller. Oh, how I missed my foam roller while I was gone. My muscles definitely did not get stretched enough on vacation. 
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I am not a fan of asking for your vote, but if you would be ever so kind to hop on over to Salty Running blog and vote for my blog again, I’d greatly appreciate it! I am in the Elite 8, and would love to move on to the next round.
Click here for voting for the Greatest Women’s Running Blog of 2014.
Welcome back! Did you make it over to Thompson Road on Maui? Yes, it seems like eating out on vacation happens even when you have a kitchen and groceries. At least for us!
At least you came back to sunshine and the possibility of melting snow. I’ve been enjoying it, especially all of the light. I usually run around 3-4 pm so I have had little ice lately.
One sunny day last week my husband wanted to skate ski and I wanted to run so we went to the coastal trail, I ran while pushing the baby jogger and he skated. (He tried to ski and push the jogger but he kept getting caught up with his skis.) We were pretty close I am proud to say! He got ahead of me on the downhills but we were pretty evenly matched. Of course our daughter got to play at the playgounds along the way.
I am also more fond of spaghetti squash than pasta spaghetti, I like the flavor and I can do without the carbs at night.
I hope the sun is here to stay, please oh please!!
Heather
Bummer. No we did not.
What a great idea to use the Coastal Trail to run and ski together!
Great idea to focus on the other things you like about running when you don’t feel motivated! I’ll have to check out that bread recipe. I love to try new recipes!
I voted for you!! Good luck! Those meals look really good!!
voted for you! i’ve been making lentil tacos alot and they are so good (recipe on my blog in the last few weeks).
Thank you! I will have to check it out. 🙂