The Thing About An Afternoon Run...

I can admit it.  There are mornings when I would rather sleep-particularly those when it is rainy.  When my alarm went off this morning at 5:00 to signify time for a run, I heard the rain, and I felt the pain in my right foot, and that was all I needed to convince myself to skip my run.  But when I got up this morning and weighed myself (up .2 pounds from yesterday), I determined that after church I would have to go for my run-no skipping allowed.

So as soon as we got home, I got ready for my run.

The thing about an afternoon run is this:
1. I don't like it when it is clearly naptime and I am headed to work out.
2. I care more about my running clothes matching at 4 PM than at 5 AM, which means it takes longer to get ready.
3. When I run about an hour after pigging out on barbecue it makes me want to vomit (but thankfully, that didn't happen).
4. When I have been filling up on tea and water before a run it gives me cramps (and not to mention I can't wait to finish so I can get to the little girl's room).
5. Despite my previous claims that I run better in the mornings because that is when I have more energy, I actually had a decent time today.

Rainy Day

I just love a rainy day!  I put on my skinny jeans so I could wear my rain boots over my jeans, and we headed outside.  Funny thing is, I didn't even care that my hair was getting wet.  Yes, I love rainy Saturdays-no doubt about it!

Fireworks Night at Rangers Game

I love going to the Rangers game!  What makes it even better is when you can find $11 tickets.  And what tops even that-fireworks night!  For a while it looked like the game might be rained out, but it turned out that there were just a few sprinkles, and the temperature was perfect-lower 70's!  It was such a great evening-the only thing that could have made it better would to have walked away with another number in the W column.

Fish City

Tonight for date night, my hubby and I started driving, and we ended up where we frequently go-The Highlands in Arlington.  But tonight we decided to try somewhere different-Fish City.  What immediately struck me about this seafood restaurant was the types of food on the menu-including Maryland style crab cakes and Virginia apple cider vinegar cole slaw.  Making my choice for a selection tonight was very simple!  They had 3 choices for the crab cakes-an appetizer, a meal, or on a bun.  I selected my crab cake on a bun because most dinner portions are too much for me, and I figured the size of a crab cake on a bun would be just right (because I would probably skip most of the bun).  The crab cake came with only one side, but since I wanted both fries and the cole slaw, I ordered an extra side.  My hubby ordered the catfish-his seafood of choice.  My crab cake was very tasty, and true to "Maryland style".  The cole slaw was perfect for the no mayo kind-excellent flavor.  I will definitely remember Fish City the next time I want East Coast seafood.

Combined Service

Now that our youth are meeting separately (jr. high in one location and high school in another), we will join together once a month for a combined service.  Tonight was out first time doing this.  There was a lot of energy and excitement in the room, which made it extra fun.  Here are the bands combined together:

And the students...

And here we are during game time..

Cartwheels

I love interns-they really know how to have fun!  Today one of the interns at work did some cartwheels down the hallway after minimal prodding from yours truly.

Wordless Wednesday: See You At The Pole

Metro 55 Update

So apparently I should have waited just a little bit to blog about my 5K.  You see, the organizers posted pictures from the run on facebook.  Oh, well.  A second blog about the same thing can't be all that bad-especially if it is picture-dense!  Here are some of the pictures I "stole" from Buddy's facebook that either me or my son (or both of us) are in somewhere-in this first pic we are wayyyyyy in the back (sorry if there are any duplicates):

Buddy's wife blogged about the day here-neat blog-worth the read!

And, best of all, the results have now been posted online, here!  I do have to say, I was excited to see the results.  I had taken a picture of the results page at the event for my category, and I was at the very bottom-7th place.  Turns out, there was another page of runners behind me-they just couldn't all fit.  So, the good news is I wasn't 7 out of 7-I was 7 out of 19!  How is that for a confidence boost?  And my son-we already knew he came in first in his category, but now we have his time:  27:22!

I am a little sore, but already contemplating another 5K possibility before my Turkey Day Run.  This really is addicting!

Fireproof

After church, some of the youth, plus the boys and I ran the snack bar for the couples ministry at our church during their movie "Fireproof".  I haven't seen the movie in quite some time, and while I wasn't to watch it in its entirety, I was happy to see the parts I could.  Despite some major glitches getting the picture, and then the sound to work, it was a fun event.

Snickerdoodles

My youngest son was bored and had a taste for sweets today.  He found a recipe for snickerdoodles and asked if he could bake some.  They turned out better than mine do-I need to get some tips from him!

Vegetable Beef Stew

In honor of the first day of fall...okay, not really, but it sounded good...because it was food that we had in the freezer-I figured I would make some vegetable beef stew.  I had picked up a little barley at Central Market knowing I was going to be making soup.  We had one of those packets from the grocery store that had all the meat chopped for you, and had a packet of the fresh veggies already chopped.  It even had soup seasonings.  All I had to do was add the V8 juice.  But, of course I also added barley, and whatever leftover veggies I could find in the fridge.  It turned out pretty tasty-I liked whatever those seasonings those were, and I loved the fact that I didn't have to chop the meat and veggies.  It sure saved me a  lot of time!

Oregon Missions Trip

My hubby made it safely to Oregon, and said he loves the area-in fact he said he thinks it would be a great place to take a vacation someday.  He texted me a couple pictures.  He said each of the cabins have huge fireplaces like this one.

This is the gorgeous view from his cabin.  It is just so green, and the mountains look beautiful!  I can't wait until he gets home and can tell me more!

My First Running 5K

Well, I did it!  I got up this morning and drove to Ft. Worth for my first 5K (yes, I know I did a 5K last October, but I walked that one).  I won a free entry yesterday into the Metro Run 55.  Metro (aka Ft. Worth Metro) is a missions organization that helps inner city kids-and while I was excited to receive a free entry, I know that this event is a fundraiser for Metro, so I asked my son if he wanted to run, too, that way I would feel like at least I was donating something!  Here he is-I took a quick snapshot of him right after I completed my 5 kilometers (he finished much quicker than I did!)

And then a lady from our church who was volunteering at the event offered to take our picture together.

Once everyone finished the race (6 times around the large campus, with a few lives bands playing along the way), the prizes and awards started.

This little girl got first place for the 7 and under category-too cute!

Here is my son being called up to receive his bobblehead award-he got first place in his age category-although he can't remember his time.  I am hoping they post the race results online at some point so I can see what his time was.

Here he is with an up close of the bobblehead trophy.  In the background you can see the race t-shirts.  They look even brighter in real life-it will be great for me when I run in the dark!

After the awards were over, we were told we could look at the race results.  I just took a picture because I knew I would forget otherwise.  As you can see, my name is at the very bottom.  I finished 7th (aka last) in my age category at 38:45.6.  According to my Map My Run app, that was a 12:29 pace.  While I am sure many will look at my time and think how slow that is, I am very proud of myself.  My goal was to finish-without walking, and pushing as fast as I could.  And I did it!  Two more months till the next 5K and I hope my next one is even better.

Pork Chops and Sauteed Squash and Zucchini

While the hubby is away, I have to get to am going to cook meals for a few days.  I pulled some pork chops out of the freezer, because we seem to have an over-abundance of them at this time.  A co-worker told me that she puts pork chops with cream of mushroom soup in the crockpot and serves it with either rice or mashed potatoes.  I wanted a quicker version, so I found this recipe online, and tweaked it to fit my needs.  I browned the pork chops in just a little bit of oil, with some salt and pepper, hoping that would hurry the process some, and give them a nice golden color.  I happened to be out of cream of mushroom, so I figured cream of chicken would work just fine.  I also topped it all with some paprika for some more color (and a little flavor) before popping it in the oven.

For sides I made some chicken flavored rice (from a packet), and I saw some squash and zucchini that needed to be cooked before it went bad, so I found a recipe to saute it up really quickly.  It was tasty and flavorful (I actually followed the recipe pretty closely other than I chopped rather than sliced the veggies), although it was a bit greasy for my preference.  If I had had more time I would have made squash casserole like they have at Cotton Patch.  Oh, well.  This worked!

Pardon my poor photography skills, and the way I placed everything so sloppily on my plate!

Here are the recipes (as copied and pasted from the links above):

OVEN-BAKED PORK CHOPS

Printed from COOKS.COM

---

Pork chops, as many as desired
Cream of chicken mushroom or cream of celery soup (about 1 can to 4 pork chops)
1/2 can milk

Put pork chops in casserole, then spread soup and milk over pork chops. Turn oven to 350 degrees and bake for 45 minutes. Soup will make its own gravy (cover casserole).

Sauteed Squash and Zucchini

Recipe courtesy Barbara Baldovin

Prep Time:

10 min

Inactive Prep Time:

0 min

Cook Time:

10 min

Level:

0

Serves:

Ingredients

4 to 5 zucchini 
4 to 5 yellow crookneck squash 
2 tablespoons olive oil 
2 tablespoons finely chopped onions 
Salt 
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

Slice zucchini and squash very 
thin. Heat olive oil and saute onion until tender. Add zucchini and squash. Toss until 
tender and crisp. Add salt and pepper. Serve immediately (if it sits to long it will 
become mushy).

Directions

The recipes for this program, which were 
provided by contributors and guests who may not be professional chefs, have not been 
tested in the Food Network's kitchens. Therefore, the Food Network cannot attest to 
the accuracy of any of the recipes.

Am I Ready for a 5K?

Tonight I was just sitting in my chair, relaxing, and checking my facebook.  Buddy, the guy that is organizing a 5K tomorrow-the Metro Run 55-posted on his facebook that he was giving away a free entry to the race for the first person to guess his daughter's birthday.  I guessed a date in the spring, along with many other people guessing.  Finally, when no one  was able to pinpoint the date exactly, he gave a clue-it was in the summer.  I chose a summer date, and I was again wrong.  Then my hubby (who was on a layover in Portland at the moment) saw the posts, and typed in the right date. I asked who he was going to give the entry to since he was not here to run it himself-and Buddy let him give it to me!  Yay!

Wait a minute!  What?  Did I just agree to run a 5k?  As in, tomorrow morning?!?  How am I even ready for this?  I mean, I run every other day, but the 5K I am training for is not even until late November.  And I skipped my run today because I just couldn't see getting up at 4AM.  Ready or not...tomorrow morning is going to come awfully early!

A Fall Wardrobe

A week or so ago, I had noticed my wallet was getting a little difficult to zip closed, which meant one thing-time to go through it, and figure out what to get rid of.  In the process, I found a bunch of gift cards that I had somewhat forgotten about that I had received at Christmas, my birthday, and at other times this year.  Yay!  I had just been thinking that I needed to get some new shirts for fall (most of my shirts are either long sleeve or short sleeve-nearly sleeveless.  I needed some shirts with a 3/4 length sleeve).  I also noticed my jeans were getting frayed and needed replaced.  So today I actually had the time to go shopping, and that is exactly what I did!  It was so much fun, too, because I didn't have to spend one single penny  on any of it-it was all from gift cards!  I can't wait to start wearing some of my new things!

Follow-Up Appointment

Last week my youngest broke a bone in his hand.  Today was his follow-up appointment with the orthopedic surgeon.  Here is how he had had it wrapped all week...

And here is how they have it wrapped now.  It is in a partial fiberglass cast, wrapped in an ace bandage.  I love that they did it this way so he can take it off when he showers and not have to worry about getting it wet.

He goes back in about 2 more weeks for more x-rays to see how it is healing.

Gonna Miss This Guy!

Our church is planting a new church in Oregon, and this weekend is the first official Sunday (although they have been meeting for quite some time).  To show our support, and to help out where necessary, several people from our church are headed up to Oregon this weekend.  My hubby is headed that way, too.  On the way to the airport this morning, we stopped at Jack In The Box for breakfast

"Smile for your last picture before you leave!"

"That's too goofy.  It can't be your last picture.  I'm taking another."

"Your last picture is not supposed to be a sad picture!"

"I give up!"
Love this guy!  Hopefully the weekend goes by quickly!

Royal Thai

For Date Night this week, we hopped in the Jeep, and started driving.  We wound up in North Dallas-one of our favorite date night spots.  We decided on a Thai restaurant that we enjoy-Royal Thai.  In fact, I have blogged about this restaurant before.  I was feeling a little adventurous tonight (perhaps driving around with the top down gave me the edge I needed?), so I planned to order the Gaeng Ped Yang-roasted duck with some veggies and pineapple.  But at the last minute I chickened out-would the jalapeno be too much for me to handle?  I decided on the Pad Woon Sen.  I ordered mine with the chicken rather than the shrimp.  It was a great choice!  My hubby had his favorite here-Royal Thai Beef.  I had a taste because it is so yummy.

After eating we stopped by the 2 places we always do when we are up this way-World Market and Central Market.  (And by the way, still no luck finding Pumpkin Pie Soda at Central Market-it is beginning to look like I may be disappointed this year!)  It was a fun evening, but we had to make it home quickly so my hubby could pack for a short missions trip to Oregon.

Wordless Wednesday: Life Books!