rain, rain go away

It's raining again, and this time my run was not so blissful.  Not bad, but chilly and slow.  I was also a little concerned about running late for class.

Things turned out fine -- I finished the short run, gulped down a green monster, and caught the bus to school.  Allegedly, the rain will stop around 2.  I hope so -- the temperature is fall-like, but the sogginess is hard to enjoy.

misc.

• I made my first green monster today.  It was quite good -- I used flax, spinach, banana, frozen strawberries, milk, and ice.  I'll be making two changes next time -- halving the recipe (the volume was  a bit overwhelming) and using less banana.  As advertised, the other ingredients camouflaged the spinach quite well.
• Dinner was kind of a fail.  I was excited to make a broccoli cheddar soup, but it was not so tasty.  I think the mustard may have been the culprit -- the taste was weird, and I ended up eating a bowl for dinner and putting the rest down the drain.  I hate wasting food, but realistically, I never wanted to eat it again.

• Another run tonight, not in the rain.  I'm starting the runs short...somewhat ridiculously so.  Using a .62 mile circuit around my house as a base.  The plan is to add a block a run.  I feel somewhat silly doing this, but I need to strike a balance between being active and not becoming obsessive, or starting too hard and getting injured.  So this is where I'm starting.  Tonight was .68 miles, according to Map My Run.
• New shoes seem okay so far.  Small amount of heel slippage, but I have narrow heels.  Part of starting short on distance is being conscious of how I'm running -- trying to alter my default stride from heel striking to a more midfoot or forefoot strike.  Tonight was the first attempt at that, and I think it went well. I will have to see if I get shin splints as I keep doing this.

• I was not productive today, school-wise.  Tomorrow will be a buckle down and do things day.

to market.

My Saturday routine has become a trip to the farmers' market near my house, followed by a trip to the grocery store two blocks over to round out my market finds.  This forces me to do some thinking about what vegerrific meals I'd like to make over the next week before I can do one of my favorite things...make a list!

This week's list:
From the market:

• spinach (1 lb)
• red peppers (2)
• onions (2)
• garlic (1 bulb)
• broccoli (1 large head)
• mozzarella (from Neopol, a local smokery -- a splurge at $7, but worth it!)

From the store:

• feta
• vegetable broth
• eggs
• milk
• NY extra sharp cheddar
• grainy mustard
• can of white beans
• frozen strawberries
• Cheerios
• Stash English Breakfast Tea
• vitamins

Hopefully this will get me through the week (combined with pantry items I already have).  There will be a milk run at some point, but that's par for the course with me.

running in the rain.

It monsooned all day yesterday.  We on the east coast got slammed by tropical storm leftovers, and I got soaked three times -- riding my bike to the clinic, riding back home, and when I got home from school and went for a run.

It was a short run, in new shoes, and I could feel my feet squelching by the time I was done.  But there's something about running in rain, about abandoning any hope of staying dry and simply embracing the downpour. It's cleansing in a way few other things are.

the bucks.

After class today, I headed a block over to Starbucks.  It hit me when the manager said "hi" to me that I'm becoming a bit of a regular.

But there's regular, and then there's regular.

To explain, let's go back to my college years.  I wasn't so much a regular as a permanent resident of the Starbucks a mile from my house.  I spent pretty much every hour not spent sleeping or in class in that Starbucks.  To be fair, many people did -- in a time before free wifi at the Bucks, there was stealth internet there, and a truly amazing number of square feet filled with chairs, tables, and even a fireplace.  But as far as I know, nobody else had a drink named after them.

Because I didn't just live at Starbucks.  I ordered the same thing every single time.  I could get in line, and by the time I got to the counter, one of the baristas would have said "I need a K" and presented me with a grande skim no-whip hot chocolate and a glass of ice water.

So I had a bit of a routine.  Lots of people do.  But, as it's since been pointed out to me, not everybody depends on hot chocolate for nutrition to the point of saying on a regular basis "I ate a hot chocolate."  That was a problem.  Well, to be more specific, my eating disorder was a problem, and my Starbucks residency and subsistence on hot chocolate were symptoms.

I went pretty much cold turkey on the Bucks when I moved to my current city (and once I was eating actual food fairly regularly).  Part of it was a lack of what I considered a satisfactory store.  My standards were pretty high, and none of the stores in this town are what my old Bucks was.  But lately, I've found myself heading to the Starbucks near school twice a week to kill time between classes when it's not practical to go home.

This is different, though.  I spend two hours at the Bucks twice a week.  I order a variety of things (well, variety might be a strong term to describe cycling between tea, hot chocolate, and peppermint hot chocolate). I have been known to order actual food -- I am quite fond of the morning bun.  And I no longer consider hot chocolate a meal.

And now there's free wifi (finally, Starbucks...seriously, what took so long?).  So I think this is okay...healthy, even.

a blog.

Here it is -- my attempt to write something every day.