Spooky season is nigh!
Happy Monday, all! I enjoy my running route this time of year especially due to the Halloween decorations that pop up at one of the restaurants by the water. They go pretty ape: 8 foot skeletons, werewolves, giant spirits that grumble a scripted threat, smiling blow-up Jack-O-Lanterns, some weird stringy-haired witches in a kayak.
Gives me a bit of a good-natured fright at 4am.
I’m not a huge Halloween person – albeit I am a huge fall person – and horror is not my genre, but I do love a good cute-spook decor piece and the eerie little witch’s cottage on SlingScapes. I like to develop a couple of Halloween-adjacent recipes in October, and since the month is winding down, it’s high time for me to get into the orange and black spirit.
And, dudes, I’ve only enjoyed two pumpkin spice lattes this season. I think I need to change that today.
I took two extra days off this past week anticipating that we were to head up to Universal for our makeup trip that didn’t quite happen in February. The weather, however, had different ideas. A stalled front dumped rain for much of the week, and we didn’t even see the sun poke out until Friday. We decided over the weekend to stall our trip and move it to next year.
So, I had some extra time to play with. On Tuesday J and I had a date night which was so lovely! We started at The Candle Pour and made homemade candles, which turned out amazingly. His smells of “vintage library” and mine a cozy fireplace and baked goods.
We walked over to On Swann for dinner thereafter. Such a cozy ambience on a weekday evening, but towards the end of our meal the volume picked up a bit and was a nice droning background noise. We shared the kale salad and I ordered the roast chicken dinner. Both were excellent.
Wednesday I didn’t really have anything to do, but I ended up spending most of the day hyper fixating on a very frustrating muffin recipe. The muffins were amazing, the photos not so much. I wrenched myself away for a spell to get a pumpkin latte at Elevenses, which was fabulous, and did a bit of drawing while I was there.
Before work on Thursday I felt completely and utterly morbid until later in the morning, after which I felt inspired to get a couple errands done. I dropped by the library then tried out a chai at Kahwa next door. It kinda sucked, but it was nice to switch things up prior to my shift.
Saturday I enjoyed a full day of fun recipes, then J and I cooked up a roast chicken dinner. SO GOOD. He spatchcocked the bird and I threw some potatoes, carrots, apple, and onion onto the pan. Very cozy and ultimately simple, but rib-sticking, Saturday meal.
Good eats…Repurposed a creamy soup I’ll be sharing soon into a new soup with added white beans and veggies, plus toast; chicken pot pie with biscuits; an autumn prosciutto pizza; and, a cute little Americano in my pumpkin mug!
A couple outfits I wore this week that I’m quite proud of. Trying to dress a little more mindfully since it always does a positive number on my mood. Plus, I love me some autumn pieces!
That’s all for today, good people. Until next week!
The Fuck We Cooking This Week?
…Cozy French onion soup, with a twist!
…A warm bourbon cocktail for the sickies.
…A very cute and spooky Halloween treat.
A Few Things I’m Digging
Apple cinnamon oats…I took a LONG hiatus from eating oatmeal because it just stopped appealing to me, but now I’m back! Little cozier than oats cooked with banana, apple, and cinnamon, and topped with peanut butter. Mmmm.
Soupification…Yes, I made that word up. I’ve been cooking a lot of comforting protein-and-rice dishes lately, including Monday’s salmon dinner, and I’ve enjoyed tossing leftovers into broth with various inclusions to recreate the scraps into tasty soups! This time around I used half a bottle of ‘Trader Joes’ Harvest Soup and some extra broccoli.
Shoes…Loving my Dr. Scholls Be Bright tennies. They are super comfy and stylish for the season. I bought the “light honey brown” color.
Notable Food Holidays
Wednesday, 10.14: National Dessert Day (gee, how do I choose? Let’s go with Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!)
Saturday, 10.17: National Pasta Day (let’s go full comfort with Cheesy Baked Pizza Pasta!)
Sunday, 10.18: National Chocolate Cupcake Day (peep below for my faves!)
This Week’s Menu
Meatless Monday…Spicy Vegan Kimchi and Mushroom Ramen
Tuesday…Rosemary Mushroom Provolone Pizza
Wednesday…One Pot Rosemary Pesto Salmon and Wild Rice
Thursday…White Wine Pumpkin Ricotta Stuffed Shells
Friday Happy Hour… Hot Honey Pumpkin Margarita
Saturday Baking…Chai Spiced Pumpkin Pie
Sunday Brunch…Chewy Spiced Sweet Potato Bagels
Five For National Chocolate Cupcake Day
4. Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes with Bailey’s Buttercream
5. Salted Caramel Chocolate Cupcakes
Week in Training
Monday, 10.5: 10.05 miles, 11:21 pace
6.5 miles easy -> 8 x 100m stride at 5:30ish pace -> 2.5 miles easy. Strides felt really controlled and I was surprised to be well below 6 minute paces! The whole run surprised me since it was balls awful outside yet my pace was better than it has been for most longer sessions. I also ran most of this with half my nose strip hanging off my nostril. Real cute.
Tuesday, 10.6: 4.05 miles, 11:44 pace + 26 minute lift
Pretty nice run except for a dude who was trying to drive ONTO THE TRAIL, probably thinking it was a street. He backed out the first time, then pulled in again! Moron. Luckily he would not have gotten far since there’s barriers on the walkway.
Heavy squats and proprioceptive work felt good afterwards!
Strength:
- 5 x 6 squat 90#
- 3 x 10 biceps curl 20#
- 3 x 20 ea. banded knee drive
- 4 x 6 mid row 70#
- 2 x 15 sit squat-to-stand 30#
- 3 x 15 ea. single leg calf raise
- 50 crunches
- 5 minute stretch/somatics
Wednesday, 10.7: 8 miles, 11:46 pace
Usually try some speedwork on Wednesdays, but the drizzle and probable puddliness were not very inspiring for getting my legs moving. Opted for easy miles, I don’t think I hydrated well yesterday from an electrolyte standpoint so they started feeling kinda meh by the end. Finished with a few minutes of balance exercises in the gym that felt nice!
Thursday, 10.8: 4.25 miles, 11:27 pace + 25 minute lift
Dare I say this run felt more normal than any run I’ve done recently? The splits were actually very akin to what I would run for an easy pace before my accident. Turning point? I don’t know, but we’ll see!
Strength:
- 3 x 10 ea. reverse lunge 30#
- 2 x 20 single leg squat sit 10#
- 4 x 8 triceps pushdown 41#
- 4 x 6 narrow press 25#
- 3 x 12 alt. single leg extension with pickup 10#
- 6 minute somatics/balance
Friday, 10.9: 4.25 miles, 12:08 pace + 17 minute mobility & somatics
9 x 50m hill this morning. I felt surprisingly refreshed despite the quick turnover between my late shift (and later bedtime) and my early Friday shift, but perhaps the somatics and magnesium are truly helping the quality of my sleep. My glute, however, was very frustrated after my little strength sesh Thursday so I was glad my reps were short and minimal. Hit a 4:54 top pace which surprised me!
Saturday, 10.10: 12 miles, 11:25 pace
Definitely a more normal pace, especially for the 80 degree/80 dew point morning! I didn’t feel AWESOME as it was hot and sweaty and just miserable, but it’s good to see my splits and my cadence at more familiar numbers.
Total running mileage: 42.6
