Happy Birthday Maci!

“Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.”- Unknown

Mmmm…. looks tasty right?

Today was a monumental day! Maci celebrated her very first birthday! To celebrate I treated her to her favorite canned cat food with her dry food as “sprinkles.”

She destroyed her “cake” in three minutes flat!

I *think* she enjoyed it and is currently in a food coma on the floor. Happy Birthday Maci!

This wasn’t the only exciting event today, I had another GREAT session with Girls on the Run.

Breakfast:

This morning I was DRAGGING and I have no one to blame but myself! Literally five minutes after I posted last night, my friends called me and asked if I wanted to come over. Usually I would have politely declined because I had to get up early, but I have not spent time with my friends (other than in classes) in over a month (not to mention all the times I had to decline their Friday night invitations when I was training for Disney and had to run Saturday mornings!). So, I went over and planned to stay until midnight. Well…midnight turned into 1:30. Oops…not my best decision.

However, breakfast did a great job fueling me for coaching and my workout after practice.

In the mix:

• 1 container 0% Chobani Plain Greek Yogurt
• 1/4 c. multi-grain oats
• Strawberries
• 1 T wheat germ

GOTR:

I can not tell you how much I LOVE my girls! Today they were so positive and upbeat! We did a lesson on gratitude where the girls had to write down what they are thankful for. Some of my favorites included: intelligence, elephants, teeth, and dogs. We also had a second lesson about slowing down where we did  a nice relaxation exercise. The girls were fantastic and super quiet during the exercise. AND, the girls walk/ran roughly 1.5 miles! They are going to show their end of the season 5K who’s boss!

It amazes me how happy those girls make me. I love spending 2-hours every Saturday with them!

After practice, I headed to the Y to get a workout in.

Workout:

I parked at the gym, but started my workout outside. As per my therapist’s request, I hit the pavement again and went for an easy run. I was told to stay at a steady and comfortable pace and see how I felt.

I felt AMAZING! I ran two glorious miles without stopping (other than to tie my shoe!) and guess what? NO shin pain and very little tightness in my calf/Achilles! I do not want to get ahead of myself, but I am praying that I am finally on the mend and can slowly start bringing myself back from this injury.

I haven’t ran 2 miles since February 11 when I found out that I had a left shin splint. The past month has been filled with ups and downs, but I have found a new understanding for running and will NEVER again take running for granted. Even though it was “only” 2 miles…it was 2 miles more than I have been able to do in awhile and I am so thankful!

My run took me 16:27 for a pace of 8:13…probably a little faster than I should have gone, but I honestly did not look at my Garmin until the last quarter mile. I did what felt good and was comfortable.

Basking in my “runners high”, I did 45 minutes on the spin bike (18.7 miles) to loosen up my legs from the run and my spin workout yesterday.

Lunch:

I wanted nothing more than something cold after my workout. Enter green monster!

In the mix:

• 1/2 c. frozen spinach
• 1/2 c. fresh spinach
• 4 frozen strawberries
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 1 scoop whey vanilla protein powder
• 1/4 c. vanilla almond milk
• 1/2 c. water

On the side I enjoyed a slice of Ezekiel bread with PB Flour butter…

After lunch, I headed to Starbucks to get a little work done. I tend to focus better when I am out of my apartment, away from distractions.

To help me focus, I sipped on an Unsweetened Tazo Shaken Iced Passion Tea and snacked on a tangerine.

Over the course of three hours, I did homework for my nutrition class AND did a lot of blog work:

• I backed up the blog and upgraded to the newest version of WordPress.
• I updated my Quotes page (I was a month behind! Eek!)
• I cleaned up some of my recipes. (There were formatting issues that were bothering me!)
• I added a few new posts to my top posts.

Quite productive if you ask me!

After working for a few hours, I headed back to my apartment to clean the kitchen and make dinner.

Dinner:

Roasted broccoli and carrots with barley grain and black beans (and salsa!). Simple, but a great way to end my day.

Tomorrow I have another busy day ahead of me! The cycle never ends!

I’m headed off to bed! I’m exhausted! Have a wonderful evening and a great Sunday!

Did you celebrate anything today? What are YOU grateful for? Do you find that you are more productive when you are out of the house/ apartment?