Now I’ve Got a Confession…

March 16, 2010 at 9:26 pm | Posted in Uncategorized | 5 Comments
Tags: half marathon training, If It Doesn't Have a Mama March, Polenta

Oh no.  Ohhhhhh no.

It happened.

I fell off the “If It Doesn’t Have a Mama” March wagon.  *correction* I carefully made the decision to exit the wagon momentarily, then I returned to my senses and my seat and continued on my journey.

If you’re thinking, “she didn’t eat that cupcake, did she?!”  Oh, she did.  Let me set the scene for you:

A co-worker’s birthday and mine fall within days of each other.  A third co-worker (and really, my work bestie) knew this and went to the trouble of getting us cupcakes to celebrate.  She called us to her desk and made a big to-do.  It was so thoughtful.  With all those eyes on me, I couldn’t just say, “aw, thanks, but this month, on my blog (I hate that phrase), I’m giving up all non-natural ingredients — which clearly, those cupcakes are FULL of.”  I just couldn’t do it.

It was internal emotional pressure.  So I ate half the cupcake.  Apparently I can exercise incredible self-control when there aren’t any friendship strings attached.  Look, I think this proves an important point: 1) I am human 2) sometimes you do things because it makes other people happy and 3) the most important part of failing is returning to the path that will help you succeed.  Okay, so there were actually three lesson in there.

Forgive me?  I’m working on forgiving myself.  Can’t you see the guilt in my eyes?  I had a lot of time to think about my sin on my….SUPER AWESOME RUN!

I had high hopes as I drove to work this morning admiring the clear, blue sky.  Would that sky hold out?  Would I be able to run in shorts and a t-shirt?  Would it amount to a training-altering, mind-blowing run in my new shoes?  Gosh, I hope so.

Instead, this is what the sky looked like when I set out after work.

Oh well, I still wore my shorts!  YAAAAAAAAAY!

Well, hello, pale, pasty-legs.  Haven’t seen you around here lately. 😉  Yes, I know that picture is upside down.  You try taking a good shot of your own legs sometime and then we’ll talk! 😉

After months and months of bone-chilling runs and layers and bundling and Aquafor-ing my face, I felt like a castaway emerging from the shipwreck of winter to this 60 degree weather. Is it true?  Did I make it?  Is this heaven?

I don’t know if it was the weather, the shorts or my new shoes, but I ran 5 miles in a better time than I have in a looooooong time.  Just the shot in the arm I needed to keep me going until I’m running all 13.1 ;).  Bring it on half-marathon training!

Dinner was an experiment tonight…Polenta Pizza Bake!  I adapted the recipe from Real Simple’s Polenta Deep Dish Pizza .  I used some ready-to-eat polenta we picked up during our Trader Joe’s blitz and squished it into a pie pan.  On top, I spread a thin layer of all natural pizza sauce, red pepper, yellow pepper, onion and garlic.  Sprinkle some parmesan and boom!  Into the oven at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.  I added a few pieces of spinach during the last 5 minutes to get it to wilt.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, having never had polenta before, but it was pretty tasty.  Although, given the toppings, how could I go wrong?  Always stick with the “holy trinity” (as I’ve heard it called…no sacrilege intended) of garlic, peppers and onion and you will be A-ok.  Polenta, in case you’re wondering and don’t want to ask, is basically like a corn meal mash.  It made for a good “bottom” to the “pizza”, but didn’t get crispy like I thought.  I’m glad I took the picture before serving it up to my hubs, because it looked like a hot mess on our squareware plates.

Oh, and for accountability’s sake:  I ate a few little pepper slices with homemade hummus while dinner cooked.  All natural, all with a mama or grew in the ground.  See? I’m back on that wagon already.

Well, I’m off to go work on my food contribution to a baby shower we’re having at work tomorrow.  Can you guess what I’m bringing?

I’ll give you a hint: shake your bootie.

Buenas noches, gente.