Bad fuel and new foods Friday

These shoes are ready to run!  Thought I would mix it up today with my orange Newtons.

Since it’s Friday the 13th I thought I would indulge in a some Lucky Charms this morning.  I haven’t eaten any of this cereal in a long time.  It was fun!

But soon after the Lucky Charms, I had some bad luck and the kid’s Thermos broke.  BIG bummer 🙁  I’ll be taking that back to the store tomorrow to see if I can get it exchanged.  At $20, it was an investment!  It should last longer than a few months.

Taking a look at the temperature this morning, which was -5 when I woke up, I decided it was best to just do my long run on the treadmill today.  It was a 16 mile run with the last 12 at MP (8:50).

So I queued up some entertainment for the next few hours.  Started with the first hour of Celebrity Apprentice.  That show is two hours long, but I lose interest after an hour and need to watch something else.  Then it’s some of the Grammys award show.  Once again, not keeping my interest.  Finally, I watched a few episodes of International House Hunters.  I enjoy that show because I get to learn about countries all around the world and see how they live.

Around mile 9 I felt it.  Uh oh, my stomach was turning.  Decisions – hop off now and use the bathroom or can I finish my run.  Nope, had to hop off.  And again.  In total, I think I had to take 4 bathroom breaks.  I gotta say, those Lucky Charms were not lucky at all!!!  Ugggh.  One lucky thing was the stomach issue did not last all day.

Outside of hopping off the treadmill, I did keep my pace as I needed to, and when I had 5 miles to go I increased my speed progressively and for the last mile I ran it at decline around 7:55.  That part made it a good run 🙂

My relaxation was short lived as I was Copy Mom today over at the school.  Even though I arrived early I had a ton of copying to get done.  And it’s Valentine Day parties in the class rooms!  I did get my copying done, but I arrived very late to the class party and missed a lot of it.

But I did get to see my guy and he showed off the big box of love notes from his classmates.  And I got to eat marshmallow rice crispy treats.  I wonder, why am I the only Mom who is ever chowing down on the classroom treats at the parties??  Apparently they must not know how delicious everything is.  Or, they are not a runner and always hungry.

This was the big event of the night…  I made a recipe with 3 new ingredients!  I know, crazy stuff going on here!  I’m not exactly a gourmet chef, or a dietician or anything like that.  I follow a few blogs that have lots of organic ingredients, and other foods that I never cook.  I like to think I have a pretty good diet and we don’t eat a bunch of junk food.  But we don’t exactly bust out of our shell when it comes to cooking new foods.  Well today changed that!  One of my favorite websites, Iowa Girl Eats, had this great looking recipe.  I had no idea what a butternut squash even looked like in the store, but with some good instructions I figured I could rock it.  And I did!

I was pretty proud of myself for trying something new.  However, when I told my family what was in it, I got a less than excited reception.  In the end, Alan and I liked it and had seconds, my daughter liked it, and my son took at least 30 minutes to eat it (begrudgingly).   I suppose it did not qualify for the “make again” list of foods, but I impressed myself.  Now, what do I do with all of the left over kale and squash??

Q: Do you make recipes with kale?  If so… give me one!