Five for Friday

1. Contrary to what some people think, I actually eat pretty healthy. I don't blog about all the times I sit at home and stay in, so the perception is that I'm always out partying eating bar food. I also don't talk much about how I'm a nutritionist and know a ton about the content of food and what you need to eat in order to get which vitamins and minerals.... I could talk your ear off about all that stuff though. The reason I don't blog about all that is because I could go on forever about it. There are some blogs devoted to that type of content- if you have questions, great I will answer them, but helping people with their nutrition for 6 years got me burnt out on giving advice and listening to excuses, and I don't want to go down that road again.
This is what a typical week or 2 (depending on how much quantity I make, looks like) I haven't been in the mood much for meat, so aside from my ground chicken in the stuffed bell peppers, I've been really upping my veggie and quinoa intake. The more (natural) color my food has, the happier I am :)

2.  My friend Julia (who used to blog at Pain, Pride, and Perseverance) posted Tuesday night on Facebook they had 2 openings on the Cape Cod Ragnar Relay team this upcoming May. Thank goodness I happened to be cruising my newsfeed and responded within 5 minutes of her posting. I got in and they happened to find the 12th person as well-- woo woo. Team Name is Beauty and the Beast(s). 

I haven't decided what I'm most excited about yet:

• Crossing off another 'new to me' Ragnar off my list
• Seeing and getting to run with Julia again (she was on my Ultra Beast Mode team)
• Meeting Fancy Nancy for the first time even though I've been following her for years
• Turns out this random pairing of people has someone from Nashville on it! Betsy who blogs at LiteralB is in my backyard. I know zero bloggers who are in my city so its exciting to make an IRL friend and then actually get to see her in the area. sidenote: I do have 2 IRL friends that I met who were Nashville bloggers- Jill H and Ashley. Jill stopped blogging and Ashley moved. Both were also on my Ultra Beast Mode team. (also on my header- one of my fav pics)

3.  Wednesday I joined Leah at a 'new to me' run group- "East Nasties" in East Nashville. I've been wanting to go for years, but its hard to get out of work and fight the traffic to make it there by 6. There were at least 60-70 runners here which I'm told is pretty small. It was nice to see quite a few runners I know, which means one of my goals of getting to know more local runners is working. Since the weather was cooler (high 30s) that apparently means I'm going faster without realizing it. We had a 3.5 mile route and within 1 mile I thought I was going to wet my pants.  My pace slowed drastically and one of my friends purposely ran 20 feet ahead of me to antagonize me to catch him. With half mile left to go Leah came back to look for me (shows you how fast she is) and I told her I might explode so she showed me where a public bathroom was- ecstasy. Finished the run in 7:37 pace ---what?!?! I seriously thought I was going 9s, but I'll take it! 

4. After the run they were having free pints at Nashville Running Company as well as giving away entries to the Country Music 1/2. I hate this race so I decided I wasn't going to do it this year. I said that for past 2 years and then signed up last minute. This year its different because the race is the week after Easter and my family plans got switched around so we're celebrating it same day as the race. Now I don't have to worry about caving into peer pressure.  For those that are interested, here is the shirt this year. Medals are from last year, but I'm fairly confident it will be the same bulky pewter with a boring plain ribbon. 

At NRC they also had a $50 clearance shoe section. I happened to luck out and find a pair of  Pearl Izumi trail shoes in my size!! I've been going back and forth with purchasing some trail shoes for Trail Atlanta, as well as other trail Ragnars / races I plan to do. Obviously this deal was too good to pass up (originally $115) so I bought the shoes and am sporting them today so I can break them in before a group trail run on Sunday.

So comfortable and LOVE the bright orange. 

5.  My lease is up in June. I've moved every year I've lived here to a new house or apartment, always with a new roommate. Leah and I get along so great, and without sounding too sappy she has really enriched my life. For the first time since I've lived here, I've found someone I can tell ANYTHING to and don't need to worry about judgement. I trust her completely. She told me a few months ago she didn't want to continue to live in our apartment when the lease was up because, like me, she's always been in the same part of town and wants to expand. I live exactly 2 miles from work- it's been heaven this past year. My plan going into this year was that I would continue to rent for one more year, and if someone doesn't sweep me off my feet when my next lease is up, then I'll go ahead and purchase my first home. I really don't want to move, but I also don't want another roommate. I decided to take the plunge this week and start looking in a different part of town. I know sounds silly, but its a huge deal to me since Franklin has been my home for almost my entire time here (plus I've been spoiled with my lack of commute) I keep reminding myself that when I do buy, I can't afford Franklin anyway, so this is practice for the real deal. We've got 2.5 months to find something we both love- my requirements are at least 2 bed, 2 bath and ample closet space. Let the hunting begin!!!

Do you like to cook? What is your favorite veggie?

I have 3 I love preparing: brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes, broccoli! 

What is your trail shoe preference?

I haven't had trail shoes since high school, so I'm just venturing into this side of running