The (figurative) storm is over, but a literal storm has rolled in today.
Just as Kevin and I were squeezing in the final steps of our 20-mile training run this morning, the rain began to dust to the ground, and now, hours later, a depressing mix of drizzle, thunder, cold, and clouds has taken seemingly permanent residence in our hood.
I'm so glad it waited to visit until we were safely inside.
Here are some super awesome fantastic pieces of data from today's run!
The run kicked. my. butt. However, I'm happy to see my overall time on the low end of things. When I flipped back through all of my long run data in my Garmin today, I noticed that I've been shaving off a few seconds with every long run. I ran today's 20 at 1 second/mile faster than I did the 18 last week. Amazing what a few weeks of taking it easy will do for a runner.
Enough data. Time for yumminess. After a couple of long, luxurious showers, it was time to eat. We snarfed down some Trader Joe's Organic White Cheddar & Shells mac 'n cheese (one of my few culinary masterpieces).
Then, I broke out the blender. And we got crazy in the kitchen making some Strawberry Oatmeal Smoothies. I've mentioned this tasty treat in an old blog post, but I don't feel like mining back for it. Plus, you get cool pictures this time around. I've adapted the recipe from an AllRecipes one that you can view here.
Why I love this recipe:
1) It's quick.
2) It's filling.
3) It's great for breakfast, with a salad for lunch, or as a snack.
4) It's made with stuff you usually have around the kitchen already.
What You Need for TWO servings
A blender
1 c. milk
1/2 c. dried oatmeal
1 ripe banana
14-16 frozen strawberries
1 tsp. blue agave syrup (or regular sugar)
1/2 tsp. vanilla
Basically, you just throw it all in a blender until nice and blended (duh). But here's what I do:
Gather your stuff. Make sure to snag a banana that's not camera shy. Mine was.
Put the 1/2 cup of oatmeal in first. Blend it until it's nice and powdery to avoid big oatmeal chunks in your smoothie later.
Toss in the strawberries, milk, vanilla, and syrup or sugar. Break or cut the banana up into little chunks so that your blender can attack it with ease.
Then it's time to get real funky with your blender. Blend, puree, whatever. Just hit buttons until everything looks pretty smooth. Remember, no chunks. Gross. Pour the deliciousness in a couple of glasses and, if you're feeling real crazy, add a cool colored straw from IKEA.
Sit on the couch, watch multiple episodes of Entourage with the husband and enjoy all of that hard work that you the blender just did.