Yesterday after work (though I worked from home, so after the work day), I changed into my running clothes and headed outside for a run.
It was probably my worst experience with running since I started about a year an a half ago. I was just not feeling it at all, and I have no idea why. I have mentioned before that I sometimes need to talk myself into running once I get started, and in those times I usually feel better in the second half of my run and I pick it up. But this was a serious mental block that lasted the entire time.
On Monday I ran for 5k right after work, and I felt great! I pushed myself and actually finished in just under 30 minutes, which is a PR for me in a non-race situation (and I have only ran under 30 minutes one other time). But yesterday I could not make myself run fast. Every step felt like torture, but not for my body, for my brain.
I tried, and gave up on, my I Win game. I ran through every workout mantra I could think of in my head. I tried everything I could think of to distract my mind from what my body was doing. I listened to every song that would possibly pump me up. I thought of the people who run for hours in marathons. And I just kept thinking to myself “this is the SAME body as Monday, what is my prob? Why can’t I do this?”
I wanted to turn around the entire time, but I made myself run 2.5k so that I’d have to run the 2.5k back. And I finally settled on “I just have to run, I do not have to run fast,” and I didn’t. I ran sloooooow. I guess I jogged, but I really dislike using that word because I feel like it is lame. If you are running, you are running. It doesn’t matter how fast you’re going. I picture joggers at a nice leisurely pace in their matching red sweatsuits with hoods. My run, though slow, was anything but leisurely. No one jogs anymore. It’s a 90s word.
Anyway, somehow I ended up finishing 5k. In about 35 minutes. I was happy with myself for pushing through the running hate and not turning around, I gotta say. And every run still feels like an accomplishment for me, even a crappy one. I needed to remind myself that this time two years ago I could not run for 5 minutes straight without stopping. I have said it before, but not every run can be awesome! Some are just a straight up crapfest.
Food Time
When I got back, all I wanted was dinner. I had put chicken breasts in my crockpot in the late morning and covered them with a can of reduced fat, low-sodium cream of mushroom soup and a cup of 1% sour cream. I turned it on low and let those suckers cook all day, so that when dinner time rolled around, they were good to go!
Easy Crock Pot Dinner
I served the chicken with No Yolk egg noodles and roasted broccoli that I tossed in a bit of olive oil, sprinkled with garlic salt, and then roasted in the oven at 400F for about 20 minutes.
Normally when I eat pasta I am allll about the red sauce. I don’t particularly enjoy fettuccine alfredo, or any kind of cheese sauce, or just plain noodles. I love my Prego tomato sauce! This works out, because tomato sauce is typically better for you (and lower in calories) than cream sauce.
But this soup/sour cream sauce was pretty good, and not heavy on the calories either, so that is a win.
I was home today for lunch, so I made myself egg salad with two hard-boiled eggs, a chopped celery stalk, some green onion, and a bit of seed mustard (which kind of reminds me of Grey Poupon, which always reminds me of Waynes World 
).
I put my egg salad on a toasted whole wheat bagel smeared with a bit of low-fat vegetable cream cheese, which was a last minute idea and turned out to be a winning combination!
Egg Salad Lunch
Sometimes I find egg salad to be a little bland, and the vegetable cream cheese gave it a little punch, which I was a fan of. Sliced red pepper rounded out this meal.
And I am outta here! I have lots o’ work to do before the weekend. Catcha lata!
Question
- Do you prefer red or white sauce on your pasta?
She was my 
).
