Get ready for the Cliff Notes version of The Hungry Runner Girl today because somebody named Southwest decided it would be a great idea to delay my plane and so I am writing this way too late at night.

My SIL and I tried desperately to get them to take a cousin picture sitting nicely together like THIS ONE but it was not our lucky day.  We set them all down on the bottom stair next to each other and within 5 seconds they were like this:

The sweet SIL (she is one of those people that when you are with her you think a million times about how you want to be like her because she is so patiend/kind/awesome/funny/amazing/talented) drove me up to the airport.  Good thing she packed me treats to get me through that very hard time in my life that I had to wait for my plain. 

I have polka dot jeans now.  I kind of love them.

For the first hour of the flight she was just playing with toys and whatever else she could find…

And the second hour of the flight she was in the biggest cuddle mood which I gladly took advantage of.

Yesterday Brooke went on her SIXTEENTH AIRPLANE.  Girlfriend is a world traveler at the age of 9 months.

The sweet sweet reunion.  It was almost too good to be true.

And to celebrate Billy finishing his finals we went to his favorite restaurant…..

He starts his internship TODAY… he is a busy man.  Brooke and I have important things to do like teach spin (okay, she won’t be coming to that) and going to Costco to restock my sad lonely fridge.  

What is on your agenda today?

Is your fridge stocked or in need of groceries?

Fill me in on what race you are doing next…. I need to live through your life because it feels like I haven’t raced in a very long time:)

This picture is going to tell you a few things about me.

1. I am weird for taking pictures of myself while I am running.

2.  I DIDN’T WEAR SUNGLASSES and my eyes burned the entire time so I kept them closed.  As I was walking out the door to run I remembered my sunglasses were upstairs and I was too lazy to go get them which is ironic because I was about to go out for a run….

3.  It was really hot outside.

After the run my coach has me doing 4 x 10 squats and lunges and then level three of Runner’s Core.

At 9:45 a.m. this morning I begged my SIL to go get pretzels with me.  Since I knew it was my last day here I definitely needed one.  It is so cool because this particular place makes them when you order them… they aren’t sitting around for hours before you eat them and that is why they are so good.

While I was in the store getting our pretzels they were giving out FREEEEEE sandwiches.  They are trying to promote their new line of sandwiches and were giving them out for free.  Since we had 2 adults and 3 kids they gave us 5 sandwiches!

I was just a little beyond excited about the situation.   Don’t act like you don’t wear sweat pants when it is 90 degrees outside too. 

The beautiful parmesan happiness.  (PS don’t worry… fixing my nails is already on my list of things to do when I get home).

And the free sandwiches.

I am kind of mad about two things from my trip to Arizona.

1.  I didn’t go get soft pretzels every day that I was here.

2.  We didn’t master the ‘all three kids napping at the exact same time so that we can watch Chopped’ thing until my second to last day here.

In approximately 4 hours and 28 minutes I will be with my bestest friend Billy.  Three weeks is way too long.  We decided this is the last time we can do a full three weeks away during his finals…. from here on out 1.5 weeks is my max amount of time away from him.

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If you could choose to live in any state that you wanted… where would you choose to live?

Favorite carbohydrate lately?

-Large soft pretzels.

Tell me about 3 things about yourself…. I think this is going to be really fun so I think you should do it.

Many prayers to the people of Oklahoma!

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I have made it on to Buzzfeed. Another goal on my Life Goal List accomplished.

They have a post about the 40 Best Worst Runner Costumes and that is me hanging out in the back in my piñata costume. Now the forty hours I spent making that costume is all worth it.

Did you hear about this incredible 16 year old? Alana Hadley is the top 16 year old long-distance runner in the country and is training for the Cleveland Marathon! She is shooting for a TWO HOUR and FORTY MINUTE MARATHON! She has average 15 miles a day for the last 7 weeks. ***edited to add she ran a 2:58 this last weekend!!!!

Wowzers!

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Yesterday afternoon was spent hanging out together eating strawberries, watching an episode of Chopped while the kids napped and I am pretty sure I napped at some point but I can’t remember. My short term memory is struggling but luckily I take a picture of everything we do so then I can kind of remember what we did.

I got to meet more blog friends like Beth!!!

And Lara (met her fiancé at her running group, so cool!), Kristine and Lisa. Meeting new friends that are just as obsessed with running as I am is my favorite part about blogging.

Brooke thinks it is hilarious to put her hand in her mouth right as we are taking a picture just because she knows I want her to smile instead.

Take it from me, chocolate and gummy bears really do taste good together. I am the most indecisive person in the world so this way I didn’t have to make any tough decisions at the toppings bar (plus there were a lot of people behind me in line and I felt bad doing my normal ‘stand in front of the toppings for ten minutes stressing out over making the best decision’ thing).

Speaking of chocolate… I need this shirt.

And to continue on with this random tangent, I love the title of this ice cream and need to try it some day.

We got home at about nine and had dinner after dessert, just the way I like it. We had the same dinner as Sunday night because it was just that good. The fact that Brooke loves salmon as much as she does means a lot to me.

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Have you ever ran a race in costume? What did you wear?

How young is too young to be running a marathon? Any thoughts about this?

How old were you when you first started running? How old were you when you did your first race?

-12 & 21

I am sure going to miss seeing the three of them play together all day long.  

My scene this morning as I was eating breakfast.

I didn’t have a workout scheduled for today so I just did my own thing and ran for a little under an hour at a 7:35 pace.  That was a little bit slower than my pace on Saturday (which felt comfortable) and today it felt like I was sprinting with tree trunks for legs the whole time at that same pace.  Amazing how our runs vary SO much from day to day…. today was a run where I didn’t love running during but after I finished the endorphin rush made me love it again.

The friends you meet through blogging.  Emily and Emz came and met us for lunch.  I had never met either of them before and I instantly fell in love with them.  I have read Emz blog for YEARS and also followed her instagram (runemz) so I felt like I already knew this incredible running star.  I could talk to these girls for hours.  

La Grande Orange.  I am 100% honest here… if you are ever in Phoenix you MUST go there.  I can’t even describe how amazing everything looked and then when my sandwich came out I almost passed out I was so happy.  The Avocado BLT:

As we were driving to go meet them my SIL said how much she was craving sushi so we were forced to share this beauty: 

And then Emz bought us all desserts.

The A-Z cookie… it has peanuts, corn flakes, pretzels and pretty much anything else in the world all in that cookie.  

I am going to go back through every post I have ever written and fix any posts that talk about eating the best cookie ever because NOTHING even compares to this cookie.  

For the record, this IS the best cookie ever.

Emz even bought one for us to take to my brother since he works so close to the restaurant.   I am just amazed that I didn’t eat it on the way to his work, I truly am the best sibling ever.  

Time to enjoy the last 24 hours of my time with these people of mine.

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If you had a friend or family member coming to your area to visit…. what restaurant would you HAVE to take them to?!?! 

Sushi love or not? Favorite sushi roll?

Was your run today a loving running day or a not so much loving running day?

Guess who seems to be feeling much better?!?!

One of my favorite things in this life is Brooke with a ponytail.  I finally figured out why I love it so much.  It is because I wear a ponytail 99% of the time and my goal is for us to be twinners so it only makes sense that I get overjoyed by her having a similar hairstyle as me. 

I debated putting the below picture on the blog.  Billy’s FAVORITE type of food is Chinese food.  He really has a thing for Panda Express.  

My SIL found a recipe HERE for the copycat version of the Panda Express Chow Mein.  Seriously, I felt like I was sitting in Panda Express with my chopsticks eating their chow mein… it was spot on!  Most importantly it is easy and you could add in whatever veggies and proteins that you have on hand.  

My SIL did something kind of silly.  She thought that she was actually a faster texter than me because she uses the swiping app on her phone to text and I just do it normally.  We had a competition where my brother told us what to type and we both would type it and whoever sent the text to him first won.  Let’s just say I am a really fast texter…. I can probably even text faster than I can talk.

It has been a year since I have ridden a real outside bike.  Hmmmm my balance was a little shakey for the first part of our family bike ride.  Who knows how I once did a century ride.

Brooke loved being in the bike trailer which means I need one asap.

I repaid my SIL for the chow mein by making her Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Truffle Swirled Cookies.  I could and will live off of these.  My bro and his wife are quite the peanut butter lovers/professionals so to hear them say these were the best pb cookies ever definitely means that you should make them.  We followed the recipe exactly except we used chunky peanut butter (very good decision) and mini chocolate chips instead of the normal sized ones.

And then we all lived happily ever after when my brother grilled up some salmon for dinner with roasted potatoes and texas toast.  I have to say, we ate pretty delicious foods yesterday. 

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Do you own a bike?  Any outdoor cyclists or mountain bikers reading?  Anyone done a century ride before?

Do you swipe text?  Are you a slow, medium or fast texter?

What run or workout are you looking forward to the most this week?

Help me solve a debate that I am having with my brother and SIL.  Oreos:  they prefer the cookie part to the frosting part and I prefer the frosting part…. they like the normal ones better than the double stuffed!  Which do you prefer.. normal Oreos or double stuffed?

-DOUUUUBBBLLLLEEEE Stuffed.

Phoenix MEET-UP INFORMATION!!!

You can come to one or both:)

May 20th 11:45 a.m. at La Grande Orange!!

May 20th at 7 p.m. at KIWI LOCO!!

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Before we talk about rest days let’s get into the importance of having a delicious breakfast each day.

It is proven that starting your day off with cereal (yesterday’s mix was FMW, fruit loops, strawberries and a cut up pear) will make your whole day infinitely better.

Nothing like Sunday morning french toast with syrup.

She is very good at organizing her french toast bites into her cup holders.

PS fun tip from my SIL… she uses a pizza cutter to cut up her kids food because it is so fast and easy!

My view driving around town yesterday. I liked it.

Last night Brooke was not feeling so great and wasn’t eating so we took her in to Instacare. She has tonsillitis so the doctor gave her some medicine and said she will be feeling good in no time but today we are going to stay in and get her the rest and snuggling that will get her feeling better asap.

I was a little more than tempted this morning to get up really really early to get in a short run because I knew I was going to be inside all day. I stayed strong because I have learned how extremely important rest days are (especially for someone like me that tends to get injured really easily) and made up my mind to take today off like I normally do.

From The Rest is Easy: Why you have to back off in order to push hard.

Use that rest day to get some extra sleep, stretch out really good and hydrate and fuel for your upcoming running week:)

Not only do rest days help out so much physically but the mental benefits are also really important. During my speed work 10k on Thursday when I was starting to feel really tired I thought about my upcoming rest day. That helped me to push through the workout just by thinking about how I will take a day off from the craziness and that I will take the rest I need soon.

By the end of the week mentally and physically I am tired. On my Monday morning run (Sundays are always my day off) my mind and body feel like they have been reset and ready for another week of training. I guarantee if I worked out every day of the week I would not feel that same way.

Now does this mean that you only take rest days once a week on your scheduled rest day? NOOOOOOO!! Here is a list of TEN Signs That You Need a Rest Day to know if your body is screaming for you to take a day off!

Oh yeah, and don’t forget the IMPORTANCE of Easy Running in your training!

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What is your theory on rest days? How often? What day usually? Ever gone through a time in your life that you didn’t take rest days?

When was the last time you were sick? What did you have?

What is your current favorite cereal? (Mine changes on a weekly basis) What time do you usually eat breakfast?

Somehow I woke up even earlier than normal to run yesterday morning. My body knew that it would melt if I waited to go running later in the day so instead I ran when the sun was rising while listening to Regina Spektor Pandora station. Talk about peaceful.

5 miles with average pace of 7:31 and when I got home I did my 8 minute abs and 8 minute arms youtube videos while watching Scrubs reruns with my brother, our favorite show to watch together.

And then we went to THE coolest park in the history of the nation (to answer your questions, yes I go to a park every day of my life and I couldn’t be happier about it:)

We rode on the train that went around the park and Brooke was a little skeptical about the whole situation. I think she likes the car better because it goes a heck of a lot faster.

And then we hung out at the splash pad.

And the carousel.

And then fed the ducks and ourselves the bread.

Dinner really does deserve its very own post because it was that amazing but I will try to give you the shortened version.

We wanted (actually needed) Oregano’s for dinner but didn’t feel like eating there because why eat at a restaurant when the living room and your pajamas are at home? Plus eating at home is a million times easier with kiddos.

Flashback Sunday (can you do flashback on a day other than Friday or is that cheating?) to the one and only time I had been to Oregano’s before last night. Billy and I came to visit my bro and his wife 3 years ago and they took us to this heavenly restaurant and I have thought about it ever since.

We had the Pablo Picasso salad (actually the best salad I have ever had… there was a separate container with the chicken and sautéed veggies).

BBQ chicken pizza. Got out my tape measurer to measure this pizza. There was an inch of pizza dough, 1/2 an inch of bbq of sauce and toppings and 4 inches of cheese. Don’t even get me started on how good the crust was.

PHOENIX PEOPLE!!! If you are interested in a meet-up then please email me so that I can get you the information!!!