Ari's Menu

Little changes making a big difference.


Spinach Artichoke Deviled Eggs

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The other day, Steve and I had a little conversation that went something like this…

Me: When are deviled eggs in season?
Steve: Umm, deviled eggs are always in season.

Point taken.

Plus, you can’t just eat peppermint bark and eggnog all day long for the entire month of December, right? Actually that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea…

But with all the holiday parties going on this time of year, it’s always nice to have an easy recipe on hand that isn’t a dessert since, you know, every single person you know will be bringing ginger cookies and truffles. Including me. I will be bringing dessert. Every.Single.Time. But sometimes I also bring non dessert with my desserts to, ya know, “balance” and “make good choices”.

Can we just talk for a moment about the brilliance that is the spinach+artichoke+cheese combination??? So.Freaking.Good. Pretty much every time I go out to eat and they list spinach artichoke dip as an appetizer, I sit there for a good 10 minutes trying to convince myself it’s “healthy” because it has the word spinach in the title.

But I have the BEST news. Yes, the BEST. In all caps because I get really excited about food. These are the best of, like, every world imaginable–deviled eggs, spinach artichoke dip, and still being able to fit into your pre-holiday-jeans all in one perfect little egg!

They have just a liiiittttle bit of miracle whip (or mayo if you’re one of those weirdos who hates miracle whip), Greek yogurt and light whipped cream cheese to get the perfect creamy consistency plus the delicious flavors of spinach and artichoke hearts perfectly spiced and topped with a little parmesan cheese to give you the full cheese dip effect, then sprinkled with paprika because, well, that’s what you do to deviled eggs. 😉

Spinach Artichoke Deviled Eggs

yield 2 dozen

  • 12 hard boiled eggs
  • 1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
  • 2 tbs light miracle whip or light mayo
  • 2 tbs light whipped cream cheese
  • large handful spinach, chopped
  • 3/4 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
  • 1 tsp lemon pepper
  • 1 tsp Spike seasoning
  • dash salt
  • 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • paprika for dusting

Directions:

  1. Split hard boiled eggs length wise and scoop the yolks out into a medium mixing bowl.
  2. Add Greek yogurt, miracle whip/mayo and cream cheese to egg yolks and beat until well combined. Beat in spinach, artichoke hearts,lemon pepper, Spike and salt.
  3. Use a piping bag, extra small cookie scoop or spoon to transfer egg yolk mixture evenly between the egg whites (you may have some extra left over).
  4. Top each egg with a pinch of grated parmesan then sprinkle lightly with paprika.

Fiesta Bowl 5k Race Recap

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Okay friends, grab a cup of coffe, and settle in because this is a very long recap considering it was such a short race. 😉

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early at 5am, and quickly turned into my chipper race morning self. Every time I’m excited for a race I start dancing around the house singing “Good morning, good morning! It’s time to run ______! Good morning, good morning to you and you and you and you!” This girl has witnessed it first hand. I promise it’s cute, kind of.

By 5:45, Steve and I were out the door to meet everyone at Jason’s house, and by 6:15 we were on our way to the race to get registered. I’m a notoriously late registerer. Wow, I didn’t get the red squiggly line–apparently “registerer” is actually a word, and not just one I made up. Sweet. Okay, before I continue with what was an amazing race for me, here are a few gripes about the race itself

  • The volunteers seemed like they were given no information. We were told to stand in about 4 different looooong lines to register before finding the right place, and this table had no line. It was kind of annoying.
  • There was a total lack of information about the 5k. When I looked online, it said the race started at 7:30. Maybe I didn’t look in the right place–totally possible–but I saw nothing saying there were different start times, and all announcements were about the half marathon (which, I get it, is a bigger deal). I had to find out from an other runner what time my race actually started.
  • There weren’t nearly enough porta potties. I almost missed the start waiting in line on round 2 (yes, I go about every 5 minutes before a race).

Okay, back to the good. Complaining over. We rushed over to the start line and just barely made it in time. I told my friends I was going to try to find a good spot, and weaved in between the crowd to find a place near the front of the middle, if that makes sense. Actually, start lines freak me out when there are no corrals. WHERE DO I STAND???? IN THE BACK??? HOW SLOW AM I???? I have made the mistake of starting too far back before. I remember at the Iron Girl, Nicole looked to the side and saw a woman with white hair and a walker, and she was like “Really? You think we’re going to run her pace?” Suffice it to say, I have no idea where I fit in a starting line. I asked a lady next to me what her pace was, and she said she was aiming for 28-30 minutes, and that sounded like I was at least in the right ball park. I told her my goal was to break 27 minutes, and she said she was going to try to keep me in her sight lines. That made me feel cool! I don’t know how she did, but I hope she had an awesome race!

SIDEBAR: As I’ve mentioned, I’ve been having a lot of stomach issues when it comes to running. I used to only eat before long runs, but since marathon training got more intense, I started waking up really hungry in the morning, and so I’ve started eating a granola bar before I go, and a lot of times before a race, I’ll still have peanut butter toast, even if it’s a short race, since I’m usually up a couple of hours before hand. This time, I went on an empty stomach, and just took a gu 15 minutes before. It was the best my stomach has felt during a race in a long time. More on this in an other post…

Okay, back to the start. It was CROWDED. I’ve been trying to avoid weaving so that I don’t end up running extra miles, but there were some slooooowww people in front of me, and I knew I needed my own space to get in my groove, so I weaved around, and the next thing I knew, we were at a start line. I was so confused. So is THIS the start? Did I just run that last .14 miles fast for nothing??? Don’t judge me. I tried to start my watch over, but was too focused to actually think about how to do that, so I ended up hitting the lap reset. Turns out our original location was the start, and that had been the half marathon start. Very confusing for this little ol’ brain.

Honestly, I had no idea what I was actually capable of in this race. I just knew my PR was 27:16, and I wanted to break 27 minutes. I had pacing ideas that ended up getting thrown out almost immediately, while I tried to run what felt “fast” and “sustainable”. I feel like for me a 5k is kind of determined by how I feel at mile 1. Usually after the first mile, I’ve run a pace that I can only keep up for the one mile, I feel exhausted, and running 2 more sounds more impossible than running 10. This time, my watch beeped at mile 1, and I felt good. It wasn’t easy, but I felt good enough to make it my goal to negative split the next two.

0-.14 (cause my laps are wonky): 8:20

.14-1.14: 8:25

In mile 2 there were some small rolling hills. And by “hills” I mean what you would probably consider more like a speed bump, but it felt like a hill to me! I continued to feel strong even on the “uphills”–but okay I SWEAR it really did have some rollers!–and tried to let myself relax into the downhills. When my watch beeped off for mile 2, I was starting to feel pretty tired, but only a mile left! 1 mile always seems attainable!

Mile 2.14: 8:25–Not a negative split, but I always seem to positive split the crap out of 5ks and I was THRILLED to have 2 identically paced miles, especially since 8:25 was faster than I thought I’d be able to run this thing in.

The last mile was hard, as it always is in any race. I wanted to walk on the uphills. I wanted to slow down. I argued a lot in my brain about how I couldn’t keep it up, and my brain’s favorite argument “If you don’t take a walking break now, you’ll have nothing left for the finish.” This is a big fat dirty lie, and it gets me *almost* every time, but today I was like “Ummm F you, you dirty liar. I can, it’s just gonna hurt, and that’s okay.” I also think my lap reset mishap helped me here. Something about knowing that when I got to the end of mile 3, it would actually be the end of the race instead of the usual having .1-.2 left to go (which feels like an eternity at that point) helped me stay positive. I don’t know. My head responds well to mind games.

At the end of mile 3, I saw Steve waiting for me and I had a huge dopey grin on my face.I waved ridiculously, and pointed to my garmin to tell him “I’M GONNA MEET MY GOAL!!!!!”

Garmin stalking. Shocker. But at least both legs are off the ground! Note: The clock started when the half marathoners started 5 minutes before us.

“I’VE GOT THIS!!!!!”

Steve yelled at me to quit talking about how I was about to PR, and go freaking sprint to the end. I was reallllly tired at this point, and my “sprint” was pretty pathetic, but I did my best to finish strong.

Mile 3.14: 8:22 <–NEGATIVE SPLIT!!!!

The rest: 7:30

I couldn’t believe it. I’ve PRed a few times recently, but this was the first time in a looooong time that I had a goal and I really felt like I crushed it. 30 seconds may not seem like a big difference, but in a 5k, at least for me, it really is. My garmin had me at an average pace of 8:23 which is so far beyond what I thought I was capable of! As soon as I crossed the finish line, I wanted to puke (totally normal), but I grabbed some water, and quickly felt better, and I rushed back over to Steve to tell him my finish time!

Before I knew it, we saw Jason and Matt coming up pretty quickly.

I jumped in with them, and tried to say all the perfect motivational things Coach Susan says at the end of a race. Then I told them to sprint to the end, and they took me pretty seriously because before I knew it, I couldn’t keep up with those long legs, and I ducked off to the side. They ended up finishing in about 29 minutes which is a PR for Jason, and it was Matt’s very first race!! They did awesome!!

As soon as I ducked off, I went back to find Bethany. I jogged a little bit down the way and waited for her on the corner before where Steve and the boys were waiting. I jumped back in with her, and tried to be all motivational again, then we turned the last corner, and I told her to sprint to the finish. As soon as got got to the gates on the sidelines, I ducked out, and went back to see the guys.

GET IT GIRL!!

Umm, can we just talk about how GREAT you look????

Bethany finished in 37 minutes for a 2 minute 5k PR!! Rock star!

PRs for everyone!!!

As soon as we were done, we scooted out pretty quickly. We wanted to be able to grab breakfast, and it was my first day of tech rehearsal, so even though I wanted to see my teammates and friends that did the half marathon (and one in particular that crushed it with some ridiculous kind of 20 minute PR--WHAT??), we didn’t hang around.

In the car, I started trying to look up our chip times. When I found mine, I only really looked at the finish time, and jokingly complained about how it said 26:31, and I had been all excited about not just coming in under 27 minutes, but under 26:30. I’m silly like that. I looked up everyone else’s chip times, and went on with my morning. A couple hours later I was like “Hmmm, I wonder what my finish place is.” I always have kind of an unwritten goal to be in the top half. I know I’m not speedy, but I do want to be better than average. So I went back to look, and I was shocked and confused.

 

Okay, so either that’s a typo, or there were only, like, 2 people in my division, right?

Then I started crying. I asked Steve no less then 20 times “HOW DID THIS HAPPEN????” You see, I never expected to place in anything. I did one 5k where I came in 4th out of 12, and I remember feeling over the moon. It just didn’t seem possible to me. Then I went back and read about the awards–turns out I get one? My friend Michele placed 2nd in her age group, and GOT A MEDAL!!!! I mean, I have lots of race medals, but I never dreamed I would get one for coming in 2nd. I know 61 isn’t a HUGE division, but I never dreamed my times would be the slightest bit competitive. I think I’m still in shock.

I honestly can’t believe the way my life and my running has changed since Coach Susan came into my life. I know none of my recent PRs would have been possible without her wisdom, support, and guidance, and I just feel so unbelievably grateful.

In college, I did lots of vocal competitions, and never placed above honorable mention. It always seemed like no matter how hard I tried, I always fell short as a performer, and that sense of constant discouragement is what led me to change my focus to directing and choreography which I LOVE, and in a lot of ways love more than performing. I just can’t believe that I would ever place in anything. I remember telling my friend Diane when we worked together in Idaho that I had never won an award. Seriously. Never. At the end of the summer, she made me an IRT award, and it was so sweet. I still have it. I am not the person who wins or places in things. I am the person with that works really hard, and is noted for my work ethic, but always a step behind. Always seeming to just fall short.

I know for some people getting 2nd place in their division of a small, local race wouldn’t be totally life changing, but for me, it kinda is. It’s a day I will never forget, and something I will feel proud of for the rest of my life. It also taught me something else–I’ve been running for just over a year, and look how far I’ve come. There is nothing that is unattainable. With hard work, I can be a better, stronger runner than I ever dreamed of. I can also be a better stronger person. We are capable of so much more than we give ourselves credit for, so do me and yourself a favor:

Dream big.

 

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 3

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I didn’t run a ton this week, but it was a great week, and it ended on a a REALLY great note. I don’t have a ton to say other than that, so let’s get to it.

Look! A leaf! Maybe Arizona has fall after all? Anyway, Steve took this picture at the race on Sunday, and this post needed a photo…

Monday: 8 mile run. The schedule called for 4 miles easy, 1 mile at MGP, 1 mile at HMP, 1 mile at 10k pace and 1 mile cool down. Somehow I counted wrong and started the marathon pace mile after 3 miles. Whoops. So after 3 miles Nicole and I did a mile at goal pace, then 9:03, 8:12 (what????), then we added an other mile at goal pace, and a mile cool down. We ended the day with an average pace of 9:54, and I felt surprisingly strong.

Tuesday:  Upper body strength training? Okay, so I’m determined to get back into strength training. I’ve been ignoring it, and let’s just say I’m not too happy with the Atlantic ocean that has become my upper arms, so I’m starting slow with things I can do at home until I at least get my motivation back up enough to get in the weight room, and do some legit strength training. It’s weird, before I started running, strength training was my favorite, and now I dread it. Anyway, I did 3 sets of 10 regular and dip push ups, 2x1min planks, and my dance ab warm up that I used this summer. I was SORE the next day, so even though the whole thing only took me about 15 minutes, I feel like it did something?

Wednesday: 2 mile run. No, seriously. I waited around too long, ran out of time, and that’s just all that was in the cards that morning. It was probably for the best. After my Monday run my foot started really bugging me, and I wanted just a short easy run to see how it was feeling after hours of icing. The good news is, I felt AWESOME! The whole run felt so easy, and I really wanted to keep going, but I had a time deadline, so 2 miles ended up being it. I went out with the intentions of taking it super slow, but without garmin stalking, I settled into a 9:30 pace that felt like a breeze. That never happens for me. It was great!

Thursday: 8.7 mile bike, upper body. Rode to Dutch Bros, then repeated Tuesdays strength training. Twice in one week–WHAT??

Friday: 11.32 mile run. 3 miles easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy, 2 at goal pace, 1 easy. I felt super sluggish during this run. The marathon pace miles felt harder than usual, and I was just having a hard time getting my head in the game. Luckily, I had Nicole there to yell at me when I slowed down which was about every 5 seconds. Just kidding, she didn’t yell, she just ran in front of me and told me to hurry up in the way that the best running friends nicely do when you’re kinda sucking 😉 . Anyway, I still finished with an average pace of 10:07 and hit all my paces, so even though I wasn’t super into it mentally, I’m glad I got it done.

Saturday: Rest. 

Sunday: Fiesta Bowl 5k. Recap coming soon. Spoiler alert: it was one of the coolest days of my life, and included some happy tears 🙂

 

Weekend Ramblings

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1. About a month ago, I ran out of conditioner, so I went to Target to buy more. Well, about a week later, I realized that my hair felt kinda funky. I checked out my “conditioner” that actually turned out to be shampoo in a different bottle color. I then continued to have no conditioner for an other 2-3 which is how long it took me to remember to go to Target and buy some. I never seem to have a problem remembering to buy chocolate…

2. This morning I went to the grocery store at 10am and left with candy canes, fat free half and half, chocolate syrup, and a big bottle of Whiskey. It was a successful trip.

3.  I just discovered podcasts. I don’t know how that’s possible, but in 24 hours I’ve downloaded approximately 15 Jillian Michaels podcasts, and I made Steve listen to them in the car with me. He was not impressed.

4. My friend Nicole introduced me to gizoogle. It’s pretty much the most amazing website that has ever existed. Here are a few of the best exerpts from my bog:

  • I gotz a fundraisin goal of $5,000 ta support Chizzlez fo’ Lil Pimps AZ. Chizzlez fo’ Lil Pimps provides game n’ fitnizz opportunitizzles fo’ underprivileged youth. If yo ass wanna ta donate, please git on over
  • My fuckin name is Ari. I be just a other ho whoz ass pimped a bona fo’ hustlin ta balizzle up mah bona fo’ baked phats. Right back up in yo muthafuckin ass. Somewhere along tha way I lost 75 lbs n’ discovered tha thug I wanna be.
  • Yo Ass don’t have ta run ta be fit. Yo Ass just have ta find dat muthafuckin thang dat yo ass ludd, tha muthafuckin thang dat fills yo ass wit accomplishment, n’ motivates you, n’ do dat shit. I found hustlin. Da muthafuckin thang I thought I hated da most thugged-out fo’ realz. And it turns out, I kind of ludd dat shit.
  • I had always heard bout gangstas whoz ass ran marathons. It seemed so impossible ta mah crazy ass yo, but ever since I done cooked up tha decision ta git gamey, it had been dis trip up in tha back of mah mind. I decided dat I needed ta do some shiznit fo’ me.

Last night we put in Bank of America which was referred to as Bank of Tha Ghetto. It’s now provided me hours of entertainment. To participate in the awesomeness, you just put any website into the search bar and click “gizoogle this shiznit”.

5. On a slightly related note, if you’ve never seen this video, it is a must.

Also this video has nothing to do with gizoogle or inappropriate stereotypes, but it just makes me sosoSO happy.

Watch it. It will bring you a happiness.

6. My student secret santa made me a quote book of ridiculous things I’ve said during rehearsal, and funny things other people have said. I say the weirdest crap. Favorite quotes include “It’s okay to touch each other.” and “Touch my feet!” I don’t know why I ever tried to get someone to touch my feet, other than I’m gross and have no social skills. The book also included pictures that she drew (ummm I love this girl) and one of them was me leaning on the piano with the quote “Girl, you trippin'”. I honestly don’t know why anyone hires me to work with children. They are more mature than I am…

7. I LOST MY FIRST TOENAIL!!! Everyone thinks I’m gross, but I feel excited only. I took pictures, but decided not to post them on the blog. Sorry to disappoint…

8. MY CHRISTMAS TREE IS UP!!! And also Winston is cute.

9. Clementine is cute too…

Orange Cranberry Almond Meal Muffins

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Have you heard? After Thanksgiving, cranberry is the new pumpkin.

Oh and peppermint is the new sweet potato. Trust me, that’s coming too. I’m pretty obsessed with the chocolate peppermint combination, so it’s only a matter of time. But for now, I’m in cranberry land.

Let me just say, I’m usually pretty skeptical about any type of “muffin” that doesn’t include flour. I’m a girl who likes her bread. Thick, doughy, gluteny bread is a staple in my diet, and I’m not ashamed.

I had my reservations about just using almond meal. I thought they would come out dense and brick-like. I didn’t think there was any way I could have a perfect fluffy muffin with no flour.

Turns out, almond meal muffins are basically perfection. Soft, fluffy, hearty and filling! I hate when you try to eat a “muffin” for breakfast-and by muffin I mean a glorified cupcake that’s missing the frosting-and 5 minutes later you’re hungry again because you just ate the equivalent of a bowl of ice cream for breakfast. These muffins could actually serve as an on-the-go breakfast. That is, if you’re not me and don’t feel the overpowering urge to eat half your calories before noon.

I don’t know what it is, but I always wake up feeling like a ravenous beast. You know those people who skip breakfast? I DON’T GET IT!! So, you know, I’d probably pair one of these up with, like, half a dozen eggs, but if you’re a normal human, you could just grab one on your way out the door, and be good to go.

The sweet and tart orange and cranberry flavors meld perfectly with the hearty nutty flavor to make the perfect breakfast treat that you can share with just about anybody!

Orange Cranberry Almond Meal Muffins

yield 10-12 muffins

adapted from Bran Appetit

  • 2 cups almond meal
  • 3 tbs corn starch
  • 3/4 tsp baking powder
  • dash salt
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
  • 1/4 cup honey or agave
  • 1/3 cup orange juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)
  • 1/2 cup dried cranberries
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line muffin tins with paper liners. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together almond meal, corn starch, baking powder and salt. Stir in almond milk, honey/agave, orange juice and extracts until combined. Fold in dried cranberries.
  3. Fill muffin tins about 2/3 full. Bake for 20–25 minutes until golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

 

 

Gingerbread Hot White Chocolate

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So you know that moment when you have your first hot chocolate of the year? Like the real first one that doesn’t come from a powder? The kind that’s thick, creamy, rich, and decadent and makes you feel like a big jerk for not following the “don’t drink your calories rule”?

Oh yes, it happened.

LOOK AT THE STEAM!!!

I’m still real proud of my steam shots 😉 Anyway, one of my favorite things to do this time of year is get in the car with a scalding hot cup of hot chocolate (I can’t stand when it gets cold!) and go look at Christmas lights. Steve and I go at least once a year. It’s tradition. Something about the combination of the lights, the mood in the air, and the delicious treat just makes me all kinds of happy.

Buuuuuut, I have a confession. I’ve never made hot chocolate that doesn’t come from a powder. I don’t know why. That crappy diet hot chocolate has 25 calories so I can shovel pounds of whipped cream on it, or something? I don’t know. It’s silly, because this hot chocolate is sososoSO good! It’s so thick and creamy that you would think it’s made with whole milk or cream!

It was the perfect night time treat, and it’s like one of those secretly healthier recipes. You know, the kind you can make for all the people in your life that talk crap about all your Greek yogurt and vegetables. You can give this to them, then get that secret satisfaction as they slurp it all up. Then, if you’re me, you’ll yell out all kinds of unnecessary comments like “HAH!! That was healthy! I fooled you! Take that suckerrrr!” I swear, I’m very mature.

Moral of the story? Make the hot chocolate. Act super immature when you fool all your friends and family into chugging down your lightened up dessert. 😉

 

Gingerbread Hot White Chocolate

yield 2 servings

  • 2 cups unsweetened vanilla almond milk
  • 1 1/2 oz white chocolate
  • dash pure maple syrup
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/8 tsp almond extract
  • 1 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • dash cloves
  • dash nutmeg

Directions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a small-medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk constantly until mixture is desired temperature and all ingredients are thoroughly combined.

**Note: You could also make this in the crockpot on low for 2 hours whisking occasionally.

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 2

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And just like that, I’m back into peak marathon training. Somehow I only have 2 long distance runs left before it’s time to taper. This second section of training that I expected to take forrrrrrever seems to be flying by, and I can see definite improvements from the last time around! It’s nice because I’m no longer scared of these distances, so I can push myself more, and I’m seeing a pretty big difference in speed especially in my long runs. Sweet. Here’s how last week’s training went down:

Monday: Rest. This was the unintentionally real life becoming more important than exercise type of rest day. I planned to do something, but I had no idea what, and then life got busy and I didn’t stress myself out to try to fit it in. Most people have a hard time fitting their work outs into their lives; I sometimes have a hard time fitting my life around my workouts, and honestly, that just seems silly, so I took a real life day and got stuff done.

Tuesday: 6 mile run. My best friend Bethany is working really hard on her running and I am sosoSO proud of her! She wanted to tackle her first ever 6 mile run, so I ran with her and she ROCKED it! It’s so great to be able to run with her and watch her make so much progress!

Wednesday: 3.5 mile run. Easy run before physical therapy with Ashley. 10 min pace, then a whole like 5 minutes of abs that made me want to die. must.start.strength.training.

Thursday: Mesa Turkey Trot 10k. Check out the recap!

Friday: 8.5 mile bike. Easy ride to coffee with Steve.

Saturday: 17.17 mile run. This run started out tough. Nicole and I were both feeling slow and lethargic, and I watched our first few miles clock in ridiculously slow. I knew I wanted to beat my time for my last 17 miler, and I felt like finishing in less than 2:55 would be a nice bonus. I was a little worried about our first slow miles, but I know myself, and I know that’s just how my body works on long runs, and I really believe it’s for the best. I always start ridiculously slow and negative split the crap out of it, but I still always worry that I won’t have enough left in the tank to make up for it at the end. However, looking back at the splits from just 2 months ago, I can see a huge difference even in my slowest miles, and as always, we sped up. A lot. The plan called for the first minute of the final 10 miles to be at goal pace. This was a nice way to break up all of those miles at the end. We had something to focus on for a minute out of every mile that wasn’t “GOOD LORD HOW MUCH LONGER????” At first we were slightly speeding up to make these first minutes happen, but soon we were running faster than goal pace, and then we were confused–Do we speed up? Slow down? Run the same? Sing Call Me Maybe? 

We kind just kept doing our thing, and I finished 17.17 miles in 2:54:25 for an average pace of 10:09. That is pretty darn good for these slow legs! The end started feeling hard, and I was tired, but I felt so much better than after the first time. I was peppy and energized rather than lethargic and in pain. I also did a much better job of taking care of myself afterwards. Nicole and I got in her pool for an ice bath with our Dutch Bro’s, then stretched for quite a while. It made a world of difference!

Sunday: Rest. Necessary and fabulous.

Totals for the week:

Running: 32.95
Cycling: 8.5

Onward.

Tell me about your training!

 

Mesa Turkey Trot Race Recap

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Last year, I started my Thanksgiving with my first ever double digit run. This year, if I wanted to start it with a PDR, I would have needed to run 21+ miles, and ummm, that wasn’t happening. So I decided to run the Mesa Turkey Trot with Nicole. Thanksgiving morning, we headed over at around 7:45. The race didn’t start until 9 which seemed really late to me. We got there, quickly registered (it was only $25!! I was a big fan of that!), and got in the seemingly endless porta potty line.

After a good 20 minutes of waiting in line, we headed over to the start. I was really excited because I’ve only run one other 10k before and it was almost a year ago, so a PR seemed like it was in the bag. Unfortunately, as we were waiting to start I was like “Hey, I’m not cold. Not even a little bit. That’s probably a bad sign…” You see, I’m more temperature sensitive than an Eskimo at the equator. If I don’t start a race with constant complaints about how cold I am, I know I’m not going to feel particularly great once I start running.

The plan was to run the first mile around half marathon pace, and then slowly negative split from there. We ran the first mile in 9:05 which was right on pace, but it felt way harder than it should have. I was sweating and feeling tired way earlier than I wanted to be, and after the first mile my stomach decided it was PISSED. I started having sharp stabbing in my stomach similar to what I felt during Pat’s Run. It was frustrating. Actually, it still is frustrating. To be honest, all of the pain and, um, issues I was having before my surgery really haven’t gotten any better, and maybe gotten worse? But that’s a story for an other day. I was feeling pretty miserable, and Nicole kept asking if I wanted to walk, but I was trying to be stubborn, and we ended up running the second mile around 8:50.

Unfortunately, I just kept feeling worse and around mile 3 I asked Nicole if we could stop to walk for a bit to give my stomach a chance to settle itself. It helped a little, but I ended up having to stop about every mile for the same reason. Needless to say, I was not having a great time. Not to mention, it started to feel like it was about a million degrees out. It wasn’t that hot of a day, but the sun just felt so intense, and it definitely wasn’t doing me any favors. Luckily, the last mile I miraculously started to feel a little better? Maybe it’s just that I knew I was almost done, but I got a serious second wind and remembered that I liked running. It also helped that Nicole stuck with me the whole way even though I was kind of a mess.

It’s funny, in the middle of the race I had been pretty certain that I had sucked it up so badly that I wasn’t even going to PR, but then somehow I crossed the finish line in 56:40? My PR was 59:58. Hmmmm…

Nicole looks super cute in her turkey hat. My face looks pretty awful, but I like that both of my feet are off the ground 😉

Oh hey, that’s better 😉

Wheeeee!

So it wasn’t actually a total bust. I’m happy to have a new PR, even if it wasn’t quite the goal I had in mind, and the whole thing kind of gave me a swift kick in the ass to get some things figured out. I don’t think that feeling sick so much of the time is normal, gallbladder or no gallbladder. I try to just keep a positive attitude about things, and figure that everyone deals with some sort of issues when it comes to running, I think I’ve been in denial a bit, and it’s not doing me any favors. Even in Shun the Sun where I ran really well, I didn’t feel great for the entire last half of the race. So I’m gonna work on some things diet wise (l’m trying to eat less fiber–I think my intake might be bordering on excessive, and playing around with when/how much coffee I drink), and make an appointment with my doctor.

On a more positive note, here’s a picture of Coach Susan basically winning the whole thing 😉

Skinnified Sunday: Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

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It’s the mooooost wonderful time of the year!

Okay, so the truth is I’ve been listening to 99.9 since the day after Thanksgiving when they first started playing Christmas music, and I made these babies long before Thanksgiving.

I just can’t even contain my excitement! When Target put up the first few holiday items back in October, everyone else scoffed while I got secretly giddy.

I am a sucker for the holiday season and I have no shame. The lights, the shopping for presents, the music, and of course, the amazing holiday flavors.

I swear, every time I step into Starbucks it’s like an exercise in self control. Between the salted caramel hot chocolate (my favorite), those freaking snow man cookies (I just love those guys!) and of course the cranberry bliss bars–a white chocolate chip blondie topped with cream cheese frosting and sweet dried cranberries? I diiiiiie.

White chocolate and cranberry go together like peanut butter and jelly. No, like peanut butter and chocolate! For a long time I thought I hated cranberries. BIG MISTAKE!

I made these delicious bars last year and they were a huge hit, but the pictures were, um….

Yeah….suffice it to say, they didn’t do the food justice 😉 These are absolute perfection–the perfectly soft gooey blondie filled with while chocolate chips and the smooth and creamy white chocolate cream cheese frosting topped with the sweet and tart dried cranberries. Heaven.

I adapted this recipe from Recipe Girl’s Cranberry Bliss Bars.

My swaps:

  • Half recipe
  • Pumpkin puree or apple butter for butter (-fat, -saturate fat, -calories)
  • Egg substitute for eggs (-fat, -calories, -cholesterol)
  • Less brown sugar (-sugar, -calories)
  • White whole wheat flour for regular (+fiber, +protein)
  • Reduced fat cream cheese for regular (-fat, -calories)
  • Less white chocolate (-fat, -calories, -sugar)

 Skinnified Starbucks Cranberry Bliss Bars

yield 16 small bars or 8 large

Skinnified Cranberry Bliss Bars

For the blondie:

  • 6 tbs pumpkin puree or apple butter (I’ve tried both and they both work really well)
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup egg substitute
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup + 2 tbs white whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
  • dash salt
  • pinch ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries
  • 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

For the frosting:

  • 4 oz reduced fat cream cheese, softened
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 ounces white chocolate, melted
  • 1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

  1.  Preheat oven to 350. Spray an 8×8 baking dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
  2.  In a large bowl, combine pumpkin/apple butter, and brown sugar using a hand mixer.  Add egg substitute and vanilla.
  3.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking powder.
  4.  Add dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix until incorporated. Fold in cranberries and white chocolate.
  5.  Bake for 18-25 minutes until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, cool completely.
  6.  Using a hand mixer, combine cream cheese, vanilla and powdered sugar. Add in melted white chocolate. Spread cream cheese frosting across cooled bars and top with cranberries.

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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There is no better combination than peanut butter and chocolate. It’s a proven fact.

I would also like to say that chocolate chunks > chocolate chips. Fact. Just call me the Chocolate Encyclopedia. Or the Chocolate Whisperer. I like the sound of that. You can picture me sitting in my kitchen whispering sweet nothings to my chocolate.

In college, my friends referred to me as the Musical Theatre Lexicon. I guess you could say when something’s important to me, I spend a lot of time with it. Like chocolate. And peanut butter.

I made these for my wonderful friend Emily’s birthday. Then I spent too much time taking pictures of them and was late to her party. Story of my life. The cookies were so good though. Like, really reallllllly good, so I like to think they made up for it 😉

You know what’s REALLY hard??? Not eating all the birthday cookies you baked for your friend. Especially when they are so gooey it’s practically like biting through a slightly crunchy shell into hot cookie dough with rich, bold dark chocolate pouring out from the inside. Not eating all the cookies = true friendship.

I’d had my eye on doing some chocolate chunk cookies for a while now. I recently read a post on making the perfect chocolate chip cookies, and the two things that stood out were that you should use more than one type of chocolate to keep the taste buds interested, and always very lightly salt the dough before it goes into the oven–not for the “salted cookie” effect, but just a tiny bit to contrast the sweetness and bring the most flavor out of the cookie, so that’s what I did. The result? Cookie heaven.

 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

yield 1 dozen (these are BIG cookies)

  • 1 1/4 cups gluten-free baking blend (or white whole wheat flour)
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1 tbs corn starch
  • 1/2 cup apple butter
  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 3/4 cup turbinado sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1/4 cup water (+ corn starch = egg replacement)
  • 4 oz good quality dark chocolate, chopped into large chunks (I used a chili dark chocolate and an espresso dark chocolate, but any chocolate would be delicious)
  • sea salt for topping

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, and corn starch. Set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, beat the apple butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add water, followed by flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Fold in chocolate chunks. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
  3. Use a large cookie scoop (or your hands) to drop dough onto prepared cookie sheet. Lightly sprinkle the top of dough with sea salt.
  4. Bake for 14-18 minutes until just golden. Do not overbake. Let cookies stand on sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

PF Chang’s Marathon Training Week 1

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Or actual marathon training week 22? No, definitely starting fresh, otherwise that will make a girl go crazy. It truly does feel like a whole new training cycle. The runs are longer and more challenging (YAY!!!), I’m training more with Nicole since the plan was always for us to train for this race together after NYC, and I have a new much more relaxed attitude about training. This week, I did something crazy and took 3 rest days, and didn’t feel the tiniest bit bad about it. After Shun the Sun, I was super sore and my body needed some extra rest, so I listened. Don’t worry, I’ll probably be back to my crazy self too, but right now I’m enjoying the break from needing to “perfect” in my training. I’ve already completed a full training cycle, and I did that pretty darn well, so I have much more confidence going into this round.

Part of the reason I felt (and honestly, I still have my moments) so devastated in New York is because I made training my entire life. While it’s great to be passionate and devoted to something you commit to, it’s not great to suck at the rest of your life, and feel empty when that thing doesn’t work out. I can’t blow everything off (including my sanity) for an other 2.5 months, so I’ve gotta change my mental game, and ya know what? The world didn’t and, and I still got all of my important runs in. Funny how that works. So here’s a look at how it all went down.

Monday: Rest. I was originally supposed to do Tuesday’s run today, but I woke up on Sunday ridiculously sore, and realized I had put a lot into my half the day before, and my body just needed a little extra rest.

Tuesday: 8 mile run. This run was AWESOME! I was so glad I took the extra day because even though I still felt a little sore and tight on Tuesday, I met up with Nicole and had the most rejuvenating run! I’d been having a hard time getting my head back in the whole marathon training game, but this totally got my there! The plan called for 3 miles easy, then 1 mile at marathon pace, 1/2 marathon pace, and 1ok pace, then 1 mile cool down. Our paces were spot on with mile 6 @ 8:58 and mile 7 @ 8:19! We finished with an average pace of 9:48. Not too shabby.

Wednesday: 4.4 mile run. We had hill repeats on the schedule, and there was no way that was happening for me, but I met up with Ashley, and did the speed workout Coach Susan usually has us do the week following a race: 10 x 1min alternating hard and easy, which for me that day translated to run fast for a minute, then walk slower than ever before for the next, but that’s okay because my fast intervals were faster than ever! Even with 10 min of walking, we covered 2.04 miles in the 20 minutes. At the beginning a had a few intervals in the low 7’s, but after that all my paces read 6:xx with the last one at 6:18! I know it’s only a minute, but a minute is longer than you would think, and that is significantly faster than the last time I did this! I was really happy!

Thursday: Rest. AKA cookie baking. That’s what rest days are for, right?

Friday: 16.1 mile run. I’m not gonna lie, this run was tough. On daily mile I said I felt “great”, but maybe I just felt happy that it was over? No, it actually was really good, but also really hard. I ran with Nicole and we were definitely pushing the pace at the end, but we talked the entire time, and I never once even thought about turning on my music! We sang to each other and had the first official meeting of GSA (Garmin Stalkers Anonymous). I even developed our serenity prayer. You do weird things when you run for 2 hours and 44 minutes. Although Nicole ran slightly less than that because we met up a little over a mile in, and that crazy girl ran her first mile in 8 minutes. I ended up with an average pace of 10:11 which is my fastest pace for a long training run over 10 miles ever. No wonder I was so sore the next day… 😉

Saturday: Rest. Necessary.

Sunday: 9 mile run. Since we long ran on Friday, we did our medium run Sunday to avoid a 4:30am Monday wake up call. It was great–no rush and a really relaxed run, which I definitely needed. We had 3 miles easy, 2 @ marathon pace, 1 easy, 2 @ marathon pace, 1 cool down. My legs were tired (when are they NOT tired during marathon training though?), but 9 miles felt strangely easy! At first it was hard to zone in on marathon pace–we were too fast, then too slow, then too fast, blah blah blah, but actually once we relaxed, stopped stalking our garmins (more GSA meetings…) and just started chatting, we gravitated towards goal pace really naturally, and it felt pretty good. I think that’s a good sign, yes?

Totals for the week:

Running: 37.55 miles
Cross training: Fail
Puppy walks: 2. Do those count? Let’s pretend since I have nothing else that is not running to show for my week 😉 

So I’m back in love with marathon training, failing at cross training, and currently accepting new members into Garmin Stalkers Anonymous. How’s your training going?

ShowerPill

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You.Guys. I am so excited. I don’t know if I’ve ever shared with you my shower dilema. It’s pretty tragic. A Morning in the Life of Ari:

  • Wake up.
  • Curse the alarm.
  • Run.
  • Eat the same weird pumpkin/Greek yogurt/chopped apple/chia seed/handful o’ granola breakfast that Steve judges me for.
  • Attempt to clear out my google reader that somehow blew up in the middle of the night. Side note, could we all just start staggering our posts please? Waking up to 500 unread posts is so overwhelming! First world problems…
  • Snuggle with Winston and Clementine who couldn’t care less about how bad I smell.
  • Contemplate taking a shower.
  • Do some work instead.
  • Check facebook.
  • Realize I’m running late.
  • Finally get in the shower I’ve been procrastinating, realize I FREAKING LOVE SHOWERING!!! It’s so warm and comforting and I never want to get out. I want to move in. Like Kramer. But at this point, I’ve procrastinated for so long that I don’t have time to stay in and enjoy it, so I skip out on the whole shaving my legs thing for the 97th day in a row, and rush out to barely brush my hair and throw on the first clean clothes I can find. Don’t even mention doing my hair or applying make up. That’s just silly.

Clearly, my life is hard I have issues. I also have this really bad habit of making plans immediately following a run, like today when Nicole and I ran to breakfast with Emily with no thoughts given to how badly we would smell. Sorry Nicole, I outed you. On the internet. Anyway, most people at least pretend they don’t mind, but when you get to the point where you can smell yourself, it starts to legitimately become a problem. I’ve been reallllllly wanting to try out ShowerPill for quite a while. If there’s anyone who needs a shower solution, or at least a shower alternative, it’s me, so obviously I jumped right on the opportunity! What is ShowerPill? ShowerPill is “the hygiene supplement designed to keep you fresh and clean while on-the-go.” It is not a baby wipe, and no, it’s not a pill. It’s a thick 9×8″ square that you can use post work out when you’re unable/unwilling to shower. And let me tell you, it is AWESOME. I don’t know if I’ve ever found a product so exciting. I first tried mine after a run Wednesday morning. I often meet up with my friend Ashley who is a tech at my physical therapy office. We’ll run right before my scheduled appointment, so then the doctors are always working on me while I’m sweaty, gross, and admittedly smell pretty bad. It’s slightly embarrassing, and pretty unpleasant for all involved (yes, I am a gross human with limited time, so I schedule my life this way). This time, I was super excited to bring my new ShowerPill with me. After the run, I gave it a shot. It was amazing!! It smells like baby powder, and it didn’t leave me feeling soapy, but it did leave me smelling fresh, and feeling far less embarrassed for the duration of my visit. It comes with simple, easy to follow instructions, and I honestly have nothing negative to say about it. In fact, Steve asked to use one and I absolutely refused to share. I’m rude, but at least now I can be rude and clean smelling.

ALLLLLLL MINE!!

I would highly recommend ShowerPill, and I can’t wait to get my hands on some more! Did you hear that Santa? Some ShowerPill in my stocking next to the watermelon Gu chomps please! Luckily, I won’t even have to wait that long because  ShowerPill is offering the chance to Buy two (2) and get one (1) FREE as a special Black Friday sale on amazon.com. You will need to put three boxes in your cart and enter the code: SPFRIDAY to activate the coupon. This coupon is valid from 11/23/12-11/25/12. Discloser: I was sent samples of this product for review purposed. I was not compensated for this post. All opinions are my own.

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