An Oregon weekend

Ok so today is obviously Monday. As if that actually needed saying. Ha. Normally we all know I am not a fan of Monday’s but at least this week we are cut off by a Thursday holiday. One of the many perks and/or questionable things about my job is I actually have no idea about Friday. I assume we have Thursday off but I have no clue if anyone plans on working Friday. I just kind of go with either no matter what happens. Nonetheless, Thursday is a given so that means 3 days and at least 1 day off.

Anyhow, this weekend was pretty much as close to health perfection as I am capable of getting. I say close because nothing is ever perfect and I’m not certain that one should strive for perfection; ultimately that just sets you up for failure with unrealistic expectations. Friday I ended up going out for Mexican food dinner with my husband. I did NOT order the margarita but in hindsight maybe I should have because despite being fairly conservative at dinner when I came home I decided it was okay to eat a bunch of shit. Now granted in the bigger picture it wasn’t awful but the old spoon in the Jif peanut butter jar woops you consumed at least 1/3 of a whole jar trick happened. Now I fully comprehend that peanut butter is not the worst thing in the world by a long shot so ultimately I did not beat myself up too much about that. Plus Friday was my cheat day anyway so if that was my worst treat than I’m totally cool with it.

Saturday morning I got up and went to my 9 AM kickboxing class which I later found out is actually officially called turbo kick so I guess it’s not kickboxing, not really sure. But anyhow I loved it. It’s amazing that after just 1 take at it, the second time I was so much better. I really enjoy the instructor and had a good time. I made my mom take the class too which is always more fun. After the class we did some free weights and some machine weights for a while and then finished up with 15 min on the stair climber. Over all I burned about 850 calories and felt good for the day.

After the workout we headed to Big Town Hero for a little sub sandwich for lunch and grabbed a Jamba Juice before heading out to a furniture store where we had a voucher for. We didn’t get anything and instead will have to go back to pick up $200 worth of product that we paid $49 for. Anyhow, nice day. But hot. I like the heat so I really am not complaining in the least. You hear me complain about the cold all the time but I would not really complain about the sun. I really enjoy it actually. My food was pretty great the rest of the day as well. Score.

Sunday morning I got up and got dressed in my workout clothes although I could not really make myself go to the gym immediately. I made egg whites and Canadian bacon for breakfast and had a nice up of coffee. Then I headed over to my mom’s for a while before we got a wild idea to go and pick berries. That is truly one of the amazing things about living in Oregon. Literally 10 minutes from my house is a u-pick farm. We got raspberries and cherries and it was cheap and delicious and quite honestly the perfect way to spend a sunny Oregon afternoon.

At this point it was about 3 PM and it was now really time for me to head to the gym. Sunday afternoon’s at the gym are like dead dead. At one point I counted and there were literally 7 people in the whole gym, including the 1 person who worked there. Since my weeks at the gym are filled with all the classes I rarely have the dedicated time or energy for a long run so I decided that yesterday was a perfect day to set my sites on a nice longer run. I won’t even say it’s a “long” run because I’ve done longer and I am certain could do longer but I did also want to do weights so I just wanted to make sure I can still run a solid hour without stopping. I have spent so much of my last 8 months running 5 days a week for an hour at a time. It’s been a strange shift for me to give up that much running. I love running so much that I don’t ever want to be not be able to do what I know in my heart I can do. Basically once a week I have to test myself and make sure I am still capable of an hour run or else I am going to back off the weights and put more energy on the run because it is that important to me.

Anyway, the treadmill area was completely dead. I was the only one which was kind of nice I guess. Just competing against myself, the way it should be. I put the treadmill at 6.0 and started running. I was clipping along at a very comfortable pace and knew I was “feeling it”. Actually I am not going to lie it felt so fucking amazing that I swear to you at about 12 minutes I almost teared up. I almost had real tears dripping down my eyes because I was so happy. In that moment, running at 6.0, feeling alive and amazing and knowing ah yes, you are a runner. Emily, you’re an athlete. Look what you can do. Look what you’ve been able to accomplish in the last 9 months. My mind jetted back to those first few weeks on the treadmill where I was dying at 20 minutes walking at a 4 speed. In that moment I somehow grasped the magnitude of changing one’s life. It was complete and utter happiness just to run. I cannot explain in words how crazy good it felt. I just wanted to run my 60 minutes and move on. I ended up doing 61 minutes 7 seconds and completing 6.2 miles. The high afterwards is priceless.

I then spent the next 45 minutes walking around the empty gym on weights on machines and free weights. In the end I burned 1000 calories for the day. I ate pretty dang good yesterday as well. All things considered not a bad day at all.

Now I want to talk about Quest Bar’s. I talked about them last week and said I was ordering some. I ended up getting a variety pack that included all 12 of the different flavors of bars they sell. Thus far I have eaten 6 different flavors of bars and each one of them was AMAZING!!! I am completely in love with them. They are more natural or organic than other protein bars and have a high amount of fiber in addition to 20 grams of fiber plus they just taste great. I am certain I completely have a new addiction.

These are the flavors I have tried thus far:
Chocolate Peanut Butter
Apple Pie
Cinnamon Roll
Mixed Berry Bliss
Coconut Cashew
Peanut Butter Supreme

Still to try:
Lemon Cream Pie
Chocolate Brownie
Strawberry Cheesecake
Peanut Butter & Jelly
Banana Nut Muffin
Vanilla Almond Crunch

Of the 6 flavors I have had I can honestly say that I would eat any of them again. I have a particular love of coconut and cashews so that is probably my favorite but the peanut butter is too die for and the chocolate peanut butter tastes like a Reece’s peanut butter cup. Cinnamon Roll is pretty tasty as well. See, now I just named 4 out of the 6. If you love apple pie it truly does taste like a piece of apple pie. I will let you know how the other flavors pan out as well.

Here is a link to the sampler pack that includes 1 each of all 12 kinds of bars http://www.questproteinbar.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=51&idcategory=2

Seriously SOOO good. I am going to be a lifelong customer I am sure. I want to eat thru all the varieties and then pick my favorites and order boxes of them. That ridiculously good.

Anyway, tonight is my personal training session at the gym. Funny how I get all nervous and scared right now and am afraid but I am sure I will love it and feel amazing after I’m done with it! Anyway, that’s about it for the day. Time to go out and get some work done.