Weekly Eats: Spring Break & Light Up Sushi Edition

A weekly roundup: eats, workouts, watches, and reads.  Spring Break and Light Up Sushi edition.

Picking up from where we left off last time, it's spring break and we took over the big city.  Chicago is home to SIL#2 & family, so it's the perfect trip for us because we can do Big City things and hang out with them for meals.  I don't want to start any trouble in the family by calling her the favorite aunt, but I think it's fair to point out that she's the only aunt with a soda stream.

My brain still perceives stepson #1 to be the little kid that he was when he came into my life, but the reality is that he's been taller than me for a while now and about the same weight.  But then I noticed as we were walking around the city that he and hubs are starting to see eye to eye.  Hubs is still taller but barely.  The little man is getting big and his little brother is not so little either.

Breakfasts
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday: ad hoc Egg McMuffins via the hotel's continental breakfast.

Thursday: breakfast potatoes with Trader Joe's pepita salsa and eggs.

Friday: looks like a breakfast burrito but it's really a mix of breakfast potatoes, eggs, cheese, and pepita salsa.

Saturday: waffles n' bacon a.k.a. long run fuel.

Sunday: it's rare for a week to go by without this combo.

Lunches
Monday: Chipotle (kids' choice)

Tuesday: a very delicious museum hamburger

Wednesday: turnpike s'barro.

Thursday & Friday: back at work.  Veggie burrito.

Saturday: leftover pizza with a side of garlic stuffed olives.

Sunday: snacks.

Dinners
Monday (vacay dinner out): out for light up sushi and a Spicy Girl Roll (hey if they're going to name it after me I'm going to eat it).

Tuesday (vacay dinner in): dinner @ SIL#2's.  Flank steak, potatoes, and salad.

Wednesday (date night after a long road day): back home.  Hubs had soup, I had snacks.

Thursday (fend for yourself night): the goody two shoes meal of the week.  I grilled salmon for the first time ever...and it was disappointing:-( Pan frying is the way to go.

Friday (family meal with a friend): takeout pizza.  One of my husband's lifelong friends came in from out of town and stayed with us.  I don't want to start any trouble with our friends by calling him the favorite friend, but I think it's fair to point out that he's the only friend we have who gave us his "old" 3D printer.

Saturday (family meal):Ad hoc Budget Bytes Weeknight Pasta Sauce.  A.k.a. ground beef, onion, and a jar of Costco's marinara simmered together.  Very delicious==>hit the spot.

Sunday (family meal): we had a good one.  Flat iron steak, roasted (frozen) broccoli, and twice baked potatoes. 

Stepson #1 has a lifelong aversion to mashed potatoes since he got sick while eating them as a young 'un, but he was curious when I made them for the adults a few weeks ago so I decided to take a chance.  I increased the odds of success by using green onions instead of chives (steps are obsessed with green onions + our garden chives are dead right now).

He took longer to eat his meal than usual, but said the potatoes were "pretty good" and he did finish without being prompted.  Based on this result, I feel like I can get away with serving them for one more meal before there's a revolt (no shade - kids are allowed to be kids).

Meal Prep
-Another batch of breakfast burritos
-Something new for lunches!  How Sweet Eats Korean Chicken Bowls. I made a little portion to taste and I'm very excited for tomorrow's lunch.  Changes: used soy curls instead of chicken, used a chopped salad mix instead of buying an entire red cabbage that I would only be using a little bit of.

Workouts
27 miles of running and a shopping spree.

Monday: Oof, the hotel gym was 90 degrees and heat kills me.  Miserable 3 mile tready run.

Tuesday: A slightly less miserable 90 degree 3 mile tready.  I rewarded myself by doing some shopping afterwards which you'll pick up on in my Friday and Saturday workouts.  Weights at night (I've traded in my weight routine for some running specific exercises with resistance bands)

(P.S. Our hotel was near the lake and I would have loved to run outside.  I let the low temps + not wanting to pack winter running gear deter me).

Wednesday: off

Thursday: back home and off my game from two bad workouts.  5 miserable tready miles with lots of breaks.  But as soon as I finished my workout I got the biggest case of runner's high and felt like A.Million.Dollars for the rest of the day.  Thank you running!  Weights in the P.M.

Friday: 4 OUTSIDE miles.  Listen, I love the treadmill and I am very grateful for it.  And I'm absolutely sick to death of it.  I treated myself to some knuckle lights and although I'm not thrilled about running in the dark these do let me see the ground in front of me so I'm a fan.

Saturday: 12 miler.  Things to tell you about this run:

1. I didn't feel 100% and wasn't sure if I would make the full distance.
2. I treated myself to a new-to-me neighborhood.  With all of the long distance running, I've gotten to know more and more of my town.
3. Said new-to-me neighborhood is very hilly.  I'll be going back.
4. My first run using the other item in my shopping spree: UCAN.  I don't want to rave too much about something based on one use but I have a feeling that UCAN is going to be a regular part of my running life from now on.  Yes it's mega expensive and exactly like drinking flour but I flew through the first three miles.
5. Psychologically the secret to getting through a 12 mile run is getting through the first 7 miles.  After that I know I'm over halfway there and the rest seems easy. #jedimindruntricks
6. Temps were in the 50's.  My first long run since early January in short sleeves and capris.
7. I love running in the rain but ugh way too much of a good thing and it was super windy.
8. My pace was slower due to the hills and wind, and I did take a few walk breaks.  But I still had lots of energy to throw into the final miles.  This bodes well for my first half marathon which is now just under 2 months away.
9. My final run of March brought the monthly total to a record 124 miles in spite of the time I missed for illness & vacation.

Sunday: off and a snow storm out of nowhere.  TBD if I'll run outside tomorrow with my knuckle lights or on the tready, but after that I should be good to run outside from here on out.  BTW, there are lots of good running challenges on Strava for April right now.

Watching
From the treadmill: Line of Duty
From the couch: On date night hubs and saw a few episodes of Love, Death, and Robots on Netflix.  And then watched the IT Crowd to get back to normal.  On Friday we saw Iron Man 2 as a family.  Loved the people I saw it with but it was a chore to watch.  Saw an episode of Manifest on my own (the TV show that I forgot about for a while there).

Reading
Finished A Hundred Summers and oh man loved it.  Beatriz Williams, there's a lot of hype out there about you and based on this book it's 10,000% justified.  Can't wait to read more of your books.