Hi I'm 340 calories.....

would you still eat me?  I'm fat free though.....

(photo courtesy of MSNBC)

I was reading some news headlines today and came across a few articles about the new regulations in NYC regarding nutrition information.  Chain restaurants have to post calories alongside items on their menus.  You can read one of the articles here.  

Would actually seeing the calories you are about to eat stop you?  Its one thing to have it on the side of a box.... where you have to actually pick up the box and turn it to that side to read it.... in this case, its staring right back at ya..... saying hello!  Plus eating out is where many of us fall off the healthy eating wagon, often eating food we would never make at home or never prepare that way at home (ex. fried food).  

Personally I wish more places did this.  Its so hard to calculate the calories in restaurant food.  Although I rarely eat at chain restaurants, it would be nice to at least have a ballpark idea of what the calorie count is.   Although I wonder when they will start fudging and saying that what they serve you is actually 1.5 servings or 2 servings.   

What are your thoughts on this?  Good?  Bad? You are smarter than me and can figure out how many calories there are already in food when you eat out?  ;-)

----------------------------

I have to briefly revisit my road race directing glory.....  at least I'm feeling more glorious about it.  Here are a few pictures snapped by others of the start.

Look at all those fast people.......

See they are a blur once they get going.....

Even thest people are a blur.....

Yay!  So now I'm inspired to volunteer at more races too!  Figure its helpful to the race and it will be helpful for me to see how others coordinate volunteers and handle logistics.  The weekend after the NYC marathon I'll be volunteering at a local 1/2 marathon!  :)

Now on to FOOD!

Lunch time I headed home to walk the pooch.  My lunch consisted of leftovers from last night. 

LUNCH

-sandwich thin w/ leftover haddock, greens & some soft herbed cheese

-leftover soycutash w/ feta 

Then it was back to work.  Needed an afternoon snack..... 

Strawberry Chobani & granola

At work today I got my flu shot.  Regular flu shot, not a swine flu one. My arm is a little sore, but I'm glad I got it.  I usually get one and they have managed to keep me healthy through flu season, so I'm a believer!

After work I headed home.  Reggie and I went for a walk.  I started some laundry and finally got around to swapping out some of the pots on our entry stairs with hearty fall plants.  The summer ones were looking a bit scraggly and after a few more nights of frost they were going to be toast.  So I changed them to mums, kale & cabbage.  By the time I was done it was a wee bit dark so no pictures.  :(

I got caught up on So You Think You Can Dance and made some dinner.  Where was that show when I was little miss dancer back in high school, I would have tried out in a heart beat.... I was running from one class to another for awhile... ballet, tap, jazz, modern... ah those were the days. 

Anyhow.... dinner.

DINNER

-sauteed chicken with mexican seasoning

-ww tortilla

-salsa

-mexican shredded cheeses

-plain Oikos 

And a Pumpkinhead Ale.  :)

In case anyone missed it, I'm in search of vegetarian chili recipes.... got one you love and want to share???

Have a great night!

Britt

Applemania!

Ahh fun night!  I'm sure I'll get more great pictures from the other ladies later on but I'll share the few I snapped. 

But first, remember my packed lunch from earlier today.....

Well I spruced it up with some brussel sprouts and broccoli at work.  Yum. Much better.

After work I ran some errands.  Grabbed some supplies for the road race, I felt a little sketchy about my purchases..... duct tape, 200 feet of rope and tent stakes.....  

Then I stopped by the grocery store.... again, to grab some pears for the recipe I found for ladies' night.  On my way home I stopped to trim up some hostas in the planter downtown, just cut back their flower stems so you can see some mums that we planted.

Changed and freshened up and was off to ladies night.  Soon my friend Aviva's house was a flurry of activity......  Lots of apple chopping going on!  I should have taken a picture of all the apples (I'm a bad blogger).  She had 3 huge buckets of them, a bucket of each variety.  They were all so yummy!

I started off as bartender but then Amy here got adventurous and tried her hand at it.  The results were delicious!

Caramel apple martinis!

My contribution to the meal was broiled apples & pears with rosemary. 

They smelled awesome and tasted great!  I would highly recommend it, especially since it is a quick, easy and simple recipe. 

Another martini.   ;-)

Plus so me water.

DINNER

-pork roasted with apples, onions & cider

-broiled apples & pears

-pumpkin/cheddar cranberry ravioli w/a maple pecan cream sauce to which we added apples (this was a bit of a cheat as it wasn't from scratch, instead its from a local pasta company.  They make awesome pasta & sauces, Terra Cotta Pasta Company, so good though!!!)

Not the most colorful meal, but it was extremely flavorful.  We all definitely enjoyed ourselves and the wonderful apples from Aviva's house!

My camera forgot to come out for dessert..... oops. 

But we enjoyed a delicious apple crisp w/ vanilla ice cream.  The perfect ending to our apple themed dinner.  Ahhh.......

It was great to hang with the ladies and catch up.  We haven't done one our ladies's nights since July and even then it was a small crew.  Life gets so busy and we get wrapped up in all the craziness of it.....  it feels so great to take a break and have some belly laughs with friends.  Going to bed happy for many great reasons..... I know I'll be stressed again tomorrow, but I'll hang out in my happy place for now.  Plus the race will soon be done and tomorrow is my "Friday" so that I can be free to work on last minute race details on Friday (and get my haircut). 

When was the last time you connected with good friends and had some belly laughs?

Have a great night!!

Britt

An Apple A Day.... or two or three or four.....

Good Morning!

Well I didn’t get to bed as early as I had hoped this morning, but I only got to kettlebell class like a minute late…. So I got 2 minutes of jump roping instead of 3…. No big deal.

Today’s kettlebell workout was ok, several exercises but you did lots of one then switched.

With a partner we went back and forth, working and then resting while the other worked. We did 3 sets of each. Ex. I did one windmill on each side, then my partner did one windmill on each side, then I did 2 each side, etc. Once we got to 5 we started over again and did it all two more times. So by the end of windmills I was sick of them……..

Windmills- 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5 (26lb weight)
Suitcase Lunges- 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5
(started with 2- 32lb weights then switched down to 2-26lb weights on my second set)
Static Presses-1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5 (2- 20lb weights)
Pullups- 1/1, 2/2, 3/3, 4/4, 5/5 (use a rubber band to lighten the load a bit, but still was a struggle by the last set)

After class I headed home to get ready for work and packed my breakfast, lunch and snacks.

BREAKFAST
(bit of a repeat of yesterday)
- oats made with ½ c oats, ½ c water, ½ c almond milk
- toppings: walnuts, dried cranberries, ground flax and little almond butter

LUNCH
Leftovers!
- salmon from last night
- quinoa from last night
- might grab some veggies from the cafeteria at work

SNACKS

-kashi granola bar

-apple or two

After work tonight I’m hitting the grocery store (again) to get ingredients for my contribution to our ladies night dinner, which is featuring an apple theme. One of my friends has some apple trees in her yard, so they have an abundance of apples. I’m thinking of doing a side dish and maybe a dessert, we are going to prep & cook at her house.

I might keep it simple with the side dish and do this,
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/105687
Broiled Apples and Pears with Rosemary

Although I also found an apple & sweet potato recipe that sounds yummy. For a dessert I might try to find a healthy apple bread to do…. Any suggestions?

Do you do cooking nights with friends ever? We have done themes in the past, but based on a movie we are watching or an event we watching/going to.

Hope you have a great day!

Britt

Sweet dreams.....

Last night I had to do it, had to take some Nyquil.

The night before I tossed and turned with an achy shoulder (from what I do not know) and a stuffy head/nose. I needed sleep and I needed something to dry my head out….enter Nyquil. Ahhh….. finally sleep.

I enjoyed my sleep so much I kept hitting the snooze button so today’s run will be during my lunch break. Try to get in a quick 5 miles. Thank goodness we have a locker room here with showers.

I am on it this morning and got my breakfast and lunch packed for the day, plus a couple snacks.

BREAKFAST
-oats w/ 2/3 c almond milk and 1/3 c water
-mix-ins: walnuts, dried cranberries, almond butter and ground flax

LUNCH
-sandwich thin w/ turkey, provolone and pesto
-toppings to add later tomato & artichokes

SNACKS
-TJ’s pomegranate greek yogurt
-Kashi’s coconut dark chocolate granola bar (just found these, cannot wait to try it!

After work its off to do some weeding downtown and get things spruced up for the festival & race this weekend!

Do you have any fall festivals where you live? Does it include a road race?

Have a great day!

Britt

Intersection sprints......

That was my workout tonight.

But first my day in food.  :-)

BREAKFAST

jar oats!!

-oats, 3/4 c water, 1/4 c milk

-mix-ins: walnuts, dried cranberries, ground flax and of course ALMOND BUTTER!

I meant to do my run this morning, but I hit that evil snooze button.  I really should remove that from my alarm.......

So it was off to work. 

Before lunch I had a slice of ww bread w/ PB.  (it didn't like the camera)

Lunch time I had to hit the Home Depot. 

My list of needed items included....

-huge bag of potting soil 

(that was fun to try and get in my work clothes, luckily some dude helped me)

-Osmocote (aka plant food)

-Soil Moist (magic water absorbing stuff that keeps the soil moist)

-new shower curtain

LUNCH

Had to find something in the cafe at work since I did my Home Depot trip and ran out of time to pack a lunch this morning. 

(also I cheated, forgot to take a picture.... this is a re-use of an old picture)

-ww wrap w/ chicken salad and loaded with veggies, side of carrots

-few unpictured sweet potato chips

After work I went to revisit these beauties form a couple weeks ago at the greenhouse. 

It took 2 trips but we used about 2/3's of these plants tonight. 

I had a crew of about 7 volunteers help me plant 17 of the 21 barrels downtown. 
I was running around like a crazy woman and didn't snap any pictures.... but they look kinda like THIS.......
I still have 4 more barrels to plant plus a fountain that we now use as a planter.  I think I should be able to get it all finished tomorrow after work. 

So this is where my intersection sprints came in.  The barrels are on traffic islands in the center of downtown.  We did this all basically during rush hour.  But that is the only time I have to get it done..... so rush hour it is. 

We made good use of the cross walk button. 

I tried to see how many times I could sprint back and forth with plants before the light turned green again.  So they were slightly weighted sprints.

Needless to say after doing all that I was a bit exhausted and hungry..... so no run tonight.  But I did get some sprints in.... right?

Once home I showered my dirty wet stinky self. 

And while my gourmet dinner was cooking snacked on some of this.....

One gourmet dinner coming up!

DINNER

Yep, frozen pizza. 

The dinner of health gurus everywhere.  ;-)
I need to get to the store tomorrow.  I got loads of veggies but need some something to add them to.........  well at least for the hubby to eat it. 

Hope you had a great day!

Last night I was in TOTAL freak out mode about the 5K I'm directing.  

I think it was abou midnight when I bolted out of bed and started jotting things down. 

There are just so many details to straighten out.....   

how many volunteers  I need, where they all need to be, how best to instruct them all, what items I need to purchase, getting all the donated items there.... food, prizes, etc., making sure my race vendors will have everything they need to make it a succesful event...... and so on. 

You get the picture. 

People have been hugely supportive though, so I am very thankful for that!

Have you ever organized a large event?  How did you keep yourself focused and not get overwhelmed by all the details? 

 I guess in some ways its almost like a wedding.... except I get to do it again and learn from this year!

Have a great night!

Britt

Ready to Run... just not THAT early

So this morning when my alarm went off at 5:20.....  

I didn't get out of bed. 

Instead I hit snooze. 

Stupid me. 

BUT........

I did finally get out for my run by 6:15!

It had to be a bit shorter than planned unfortunately though.  I did just over 4 miles in about 32 minutes, warming up the first mile at about a 9 minute pace. 

Even with my run cut short I was running a bit behind, so I quickly showered and got ready for work.  Had to breakfast at my desk, fortunately the cafe has oats. 

BREAKFAST

-oats

-mix-ins: little brown sugar, dried cranberries, ground flax and a little coconut flakes

Plugging through the workday, I hadn't packed a lunch.... so I am home right now eating that.

LUNCH

-crop share lettuce, tomato & cukes

-feta

-kalamata olives

-veggie burger

-little balsamic dressing

I have WAY too much on my plate, I think that is part of my issue with getting my runs in.  

Last night I had school board, got home from that and worked on some job application stuff.

My "To Do" List Today

• Let my Reach the Beach team know I'm alive and send out final details, since I'm captain and all
• Put together my "to do" list for the 5K race I'm directing, nail down the # of volunteers I need and where they are all assigned, figure out what tasks I need to full unload on key volunteers, also need to follow up on age group prizes
• Meet my team of weeders after work to do some weeding & prep for some fall plantings downtown next week.
• Get my job application out to my dream job!

Um I think that is it for now.... I have little notes to myself all over the place... not good. 

Hope your day is a little less chaotic than mine. 

What type of organization system works best for you, do you do everything on your computer?  Do you write it down?  Do you do both (that seems to be what I'm doing lately)?

Have a great day!!

Britt

My big news & another beach run!

Hello!  Hope you are having a great Sunday!

I could be out biking with the hubby on his birthday ride, but I ran this morning and have stuff to take care of this afternoon.... so I let him go ride with the boys.  He's all excited to ride his new bike!  (a new one was required as his frame on his old one cracked!)

We had a fabulous time last night, but unfortunately my pictures came out awful..... it was so dark in the restaurant (and I didn't want to use my flash).  So after I skipped my 5 mile race in the rain, yes I'm a wimp, I took the hubby out for his birthday dinner (well the fancy one).  

We went to one of my FAVORITE places ever in Kittery, Maine called Anneka Jans.  If you are ever in the area I HIGHLY recommend this place.  So. Good.

What we ate......

Bangs Island Mussels, Bacon, Shallots, White Wine, Cream

Organic Greens, Sweet & Sour Golden Raisins, Toasted Pine Nuts, Champagne Vinaigrette

Halibut pan seared w/ peas, lobster cream sauce, spring onions and potatoes (what I could remember, they don't have it on the website)

Seared Duck Breast, Wild Rice Pancake, Grilled Asparagus, Blueberry Glaze (the birthday boy's meal)

We shared a yummy bottle of Pinot Noir.  After dinner we met up with some friends for cocktails.  

I took it easy though and didn't finish my drink at two places we went.  I had to be ready for my run this morning!

Today

I didn't get the earliest start, but that is ok at least I got going.  :)

I ate breakfast in the car, as I needed a little ocean for inspiration again.  

BREAKFAST

-Clif Kid Twisted Fruit 

(super sweet)

-Kashi Granola Bar
Then I was off.  See why I go to the coastal route to run.
In some parts there is even a nice little trail, but primarily nice WIDE bike lanes most of the way.  

I brought 3 Gu's with me.  I took one about every 40-45 minutes.  This was at about the half way point.  Me and lots of surfers.  :)

I didn't do all 20 miles though.  The first half of the run I was dragging, the second half I got some energy but I could feel a little aching in my right foot's arch.  I ended up doing 16 miles in about 2 hours and 15 minutes, so around an 8:30 pace.  

I grabbed some stuff from the car and hit the beach.  

I figured some nice cool ocean water would be good for my feet.  

Aaaahhh.......
I did some stretching on the beach and enjoyed some food and drink. 

-Cashew Larabar
-Peach & Mandarin 10 Calorie Vitamin Water

(I was craving something other than just water, which I drank a good amount of on my run... thanks to my fuel belt)
I couldn't stay too long though, I had to run some errands and get home.  On my way home I picked up the hubby's b-day cake for dinner to night with the family. 

I was HUNGRY so I whipped up a quick lunch....

LUNCH

-canned salmon & chickpeas w/ little olive oil mayo and herbs

-peas

-left over potato salad

It was actually pretty darn tasty, I also have some leftovers for tomorrows lunch too!  Yay!

Ok, so my big news.....

.......

..............

....................

Nope not pregnant.  LOL

I got my own website.  :)  

Figured if I was going to do this blogging thing I should go a little more all out. 

I'm not transitioning quite yet, but you can do a quick preview if you want.  

www.runnerbelle.com 

I welcome any suggestions too.  :)

Enjoy the rest of the day!!

Britt

Big news a coming.....

But, you will have to wait.

But I took a big step today.

And it wasn't just signing up for the 2010 Boston Marathon. :)

Maybe I'll share tonight but at the latest Friday.

I tried to be a bit more creative today with lunch......

LUNCH
-1 leftover ear of corn, cut from cobb
-1 c TJ's Cuban Style Black Beans
-1 c Broccoli
-1 small cucumber
-about 10 cherry tomatoes
-1 T hummus
-sprinkle of mexican cheese
-1 piece of bakery bread

It was pretty good. Interesting mix of flavors but it was tastey.

Plus I am crazy full now from those beans.

But since I have kettlebell & yoga planned for after work I packed a Oikos & granola for a snack a little later.

Alright back to work.

It is so beautiful out I hate to go back. :(

Hope y'all had a great lunch too!

Britt

Older Runner/Fitness Blogs?

I had lunch with my mom today (hi mom!) and we were chatting about blogs.

I think she would make an excellent food & fitness blogger!

She is a HUGE inspiration to me and I think she would be to others as well. Plus her past careers have involved journalism and photography, so I think she would have some great content.

But as I'm trying to find some inspiration for her, I'm having trouble finding fitness, running or healthy food blogs by those of the older generation..... like 60+. Do they exist? Can you recommend one or any? Maybe this is an area folks haven't tapped into yet?

We had lunch at one of our favorite spots....

Portsmouth Tea Company

Along with great tea they have some yummy lunches too!

I had my favorite iced tea ever, iced Geisha Green Tea

LUNCH

-lentil chili

-curried chicken salad w/ bacon on sourdough toasted...... YUM

Tasty lunch. :)

As usual I wolfed mine down in comparison to my mom..... the. slow. eater.

Maybe someday I'll learn to go slower.

So let me know about those "older" blogger folks if you have come across any. :)

Enjoy the rest of your FRIDAY!!!

Britt

I'm a haht breakah

he he....

sorry... I have that photo in my picasa album and it always makes me laugh. not sure why I didn't use it when it was taken.

That is the shirt I bought at the Boston Marathon this year.....
as only a Bostonian could say "Heart Breaker" for conquering Heart Break Hill!

Every year Nike does some fun girlie shirts for the marathon, I tend to go for one of those over the "official race apparel" that Adidas does.

Anyhow back to food stuff....

oh but wait

dentist visit this morning.

Went ok. I need to take better care of my gums though. They aren't perfectly healthy, but no horrible.... yet. So I need to get moving on buying a Sonicare Toothbrush and some different mouthwash.... got keep my lovely teeth & gums happy!!!

Now on to food. Despite my hearty oats for breakfast, I needed a nibble mid-morning.

SNACK
-ww toast w/ little honey PB
-green tea


Then it was home around noon time to walk Mr. Reggie.... apparently he couldn't wait for me, I found an accident. :( He has been so good lately, not sure what's up.

After cleaning it was time for some lunch. I attempted Elizabeth's "crack wrap", but failed due to lack of time. I just couldn't wait for the melty goodness to happen....I did try but jumped the gun too soon and removed it from the heat too quickly. No melty.....

LUNCH
-light spinach flat out, Sabra hummus, provolone, little turkey (unlike E, I'm not a veggie)
-side of apples w/ a little AB


Then for a treat I grabbed some Silken Vanilla Cake as I headed out. Still not sure how I feel about this.... I may try some of the recipes from Nasoya's site sometime though. Definitely some tastey looking treats to be made with the Silken Creations line.

Back to work. Lucky me, I have NO MEETINGS tonight! Yay!!

What is your favorite "healthy" dessert?

Britt