…November?
Happy Monday, all! It’s bleak and miserable here today, and was yesterday as well. Our late fall and winter pattern apparently points to wet, clammy, less-cold days, and though we’ve only experienced to so far, I’m pretty sick of it already.
My run this morning, a 10-miler, sits in my top 3 most miserable of all time. The rain was steady enough to compromise the structure of my hat, which pushed down on my glasses constantly, and once I hit the headwind threatened to fly off and was thus rendered totally useless. I yanked it off and ran with the hat in hand for 5 miles – which meant my face and eyes were pummeled by rain and wind with no protection except the menial amount provided by my glasses.
Oh yeah, and the puddles. It was like shuffling through a babbling brook.
If this is a premonition to the next 12 weeks of marathon training, I dunno if I want anything to do with it, yo.
Running complaints aside, Halloween week was quite a festive one!
J returned home Monday from a weekend at a music festival, and we headed up to a pumpkin patch in St. Pete to pick out our carving gourds! They had some serious monstrosities under the tent, like three foot tall pumpkins that could crush a small child if they went rolling.
The workweek I dubbed Hell Week due to our miserable staffing and general busyness, so I really didn’t do jack squat other than FMG work, run, and eat a lot of tea and warm cookies. Hehe.
Saturday was HALLOWEEN! I usually don’t get too amped up about Spooky Day, but this year, maybe because it fell on a day off for both J and I, I really channeled the festive ambience. I wore my witch hat all day while prepping, snacking, and sitting about. It was quite a busy day! I curated a new charcuterie board that I won’t be sharing probably until next year, but it is one of which I am extremely proud. We watched The Nightmare Before Christmas – though, true to form, I got up halfway through to start working on something else. I had a lot on my agenda!
We carved our pumpkins in the afternoon. I was pretty experimental with mine, and it kinda didn’t work out the way I wanted it to, but he’s still pretty cute. I saw a lot of those fairy house concepts on Pinterest and tried to emulate the designs. I half-succeeded. Mostly failed. Still, I’m charmed by the sight of glittering pumpkins on our balcony in the evenings.
J seared up a picanha for supper, and we tag-teamed for batches of cilantro rice and seasoned black beans as sides. A wonderful end to the day. He doesn’t give himself a lot of credit, but when a concept inspires him, he’s a pretty damn good cook.
Speaking of food, let’s see this week’s Good Eats…a bowl of TJs tomato feta soup with pot roast grilled cheese; my Chili Mac with broccoli and cornbread; ginger pork chops with baby broccoli and mushroom risotto; crockpot braised short ribs with butternut squash mac and green beans; my charcuterie pickings; and a cozy quasi-shakshuka breakfast with toast on Sunday!
To end this write up (thanks for sticking with me until now!), I must mentioned that…
The FMG 2026 Thanksgiving Menu & Guide: The Cozy Cabin Menu is now live!
I’ve a couple more recipes to share, but my tips, best practices, and terrible humor are all published for you to see! I’m SO excited for this beautiful handbook and can’t wait to see what ya’ll cook up for The Big Day!
On that hype note, that’s all I got for now. Talk next week, friends!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…A savory holiday appetizer.
…Chewy molasses cookies!
…A sweet and cozy tequila cocktail.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Witch hat…Been wearing my spooky gear as much as possible these final days of October. For some reason even lying around reading in my witch hat lends a strange amount of joy.
Crock pot…The countertop cauldron is back in action! I made pot roast last week and braised short ribs this week. Publix has had some mean sales on meats lately and the flyer is inspiring me to batch cook again as the weather kinda sorta cools off.
Notable Food Holidays
Tuesday, November 3: National Sandwich Day (why not a crostini instead? I could go for my Cranberry Brie Crostini this season.)
Wednesday, November 4: National Candy Day (got some Reese’s left from Halloween? Bake up some Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes!)
Thursday, November 5: National Men Make Dinner Day (I don’t know what J has planned, but Easy Smoky Chili Con Queso sounds like a “manly” recipe to make.)
Friday, November 6: National Nacho Day (easy: Chipotle BBQ Sweet Potato Nachos.)
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Beer Cheese Broccoli Noodle Soup
Tuesday…Homemade Cheddar Bay Biscuits
Wednesday…French Onion Meatball Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
Thursday…Bourbon Brown Sugar Salmon and Mashed Sweet Potatoes
Friday Cozy Hour…Cookies and Cream Hot Chocolate
Saturday Baking…No Churn Pumpkin King Oreo Ice Cream
Gameday Hosting…One Pot Baked Beef and Pumpkin Chili Mac
Five Comforting Dinners For Stressed Out Folks
1. Homestyle Pesto Chickpea Noodle Soup
2. One Skillet Apple Cider Glazed Salmon and Butternut Squash Pilaf
3. Creamy Caramelized Mushroom Swiss Tortellini
4. Pizza Stuffed Spaghetti Squash
5. 15 Minute Brown Butter Shrimp Scampi
Week in Training
Monday, 10.26: 10.25 miles, 11:15 pace
Three reasons for skipping my usual Monday speed session: 1) Crap sleep due to an absolutely THROBBING thumb wound I ended up draining with a safety pin. I know that’s a no-no in the medical world but by GOD THE RELIEF. 2) Ham is still tender from Friday’s hill sprints and wanted to be intuitive; and 3) It’s windy as fuck and I didn’t want to anyway. This run felt lovely and smooth and I really do think my Guides are making a difference in distributing the effort and taking much of the strain away from my hip flexors and quads. Big win!
Tuesday, 10.27: 4 miles, 11:35 pace + 26 minute lift
Sticky but not unpleasant morning, legs were definitely sleepy after my longer run yesterday.
Strength:
- 2 x 15 ea. banded donkey kick to hydrant
- 3 x 10 ea. front lunge 20#
- 2 x 15 ea. banded lunge hydrant
- 3 x 10 ea. single leg balance biceps curl 15#
- 3 x 15 ea. bird dog row 15#
- 3 x 20 ea. banded straight leg hip raise
- :30 ea. banded leg extension hold
Wednesday, 10.28: 9.5 miles, 9:55 pace + 3.2 miles, 10:54 pace
5 x 1600 hoping for 8:12-8:18 range, ran 8:19 with a nasty headwind for the final 3 reps. Felt strong for the first pair then kinda fell off, but the aforementioned wind certainly did me no favors. 8:16, 8:14, 8:21, 8:25, and 8:20 were my splits. Can’t be too unhappy with this, though!
Felt tired and wobbly with Little Miss Ba on my second run. She was pooped too!
Thursday, 10.29: 6.25 miles, 12:12 pace + 30 minute lift
Hip feels locked up so it took a long while to get warmed up, and I also didn’t sleep well the previous night so that didn’t help either.
Strength:
- 2 x 20 ea. elevated clamshell banded
- 2 x 15 ea. banded single leg bench tap
- 3 x 12 deadlift 70/60# (lowering weight so I can feel it in my posterior rather than my back. Still not having success here!)
- 2 x 15 ea. elevated split deadlift w band 20#
- 3 x 12 ea. bridge chest press with leg extension 20#
- 2 x 12 triceps dip/2 x 10 OH triceps extension 25#
- 2 x 20 banded bridge march
Friday, 10.30: 6.05 miles, 11:44 pace + 13 minute mobility
Leg felt MUCH better albeit certainly not ready for any kind of fast stuff – so, I slogged about in the wind for an easy run.
Saturday, 10.31: *HAPPY HALLOWEEN!* 12 miles, 11:46 pace
Out of sync today and wasn’t feeling it, BUT I did have a piece of Halloween candy as my pre-run fuel. That was kinda whimsical! I also wore my Jack-O-Lantern compression socks and an orange sports bra, so I felt a little festive.
Total running mileage: 51.3
