Yesterday, I got out for my first weekend run in 3 weeks!
I was in a solid routine where I always did a longer (for me right now – so like 3 to 5 miles) run on Sundays with friends, but last weekend was the polar vortex (windchills in the negative temps? sorry, not feeling that hardcore), and the weekend before we were buried in snow! It felt good to get back out there. I’ve been to a few treadmill workout classes (OrangeTheory) recently where we did some running, and I occasionally will take the dog for a short jog (with many stops) during the week, but it doesn’t feel the same as having some nice, undivided time out on the trails.
The trail was a bit icy in spots from snow runoff, so my buddy and I decided sticking with 3ish miles sounded perfect.
Other fitness for the weekend was our usual Saturday morning routine as of late – Matt and I had back to back sessions at our place with Paul from Capital Energy Training (so amazing that he travels to you). This week I was feeling a bit run down and tired, so we focused on mobility vs. too much strength – and did a little core work as well for good measure. Here’s a photo of me in action in our basement – please ignore the cat hair and claw marks (Zara thinks our gym mats are her scratching pads..). My core still doesn’t feel as strong as it did pre-baby, but we are getting there!
On the food front this weekend, I had a fun girl’s night out on Friday with my college buddies Kathleen and Sarah. It had been a long time since the three of us got together… too long! It was so great to catch up – girl’s nights are good for the soul. <3 We hit up a Japanese place called O-Ku near Union Market in DC… isn’t this entrance cool looking? I loved the door!
Delicious food and great ambiance, too. It’s mostly small plates, so we got a ton of stuff and shared… I didn’t want to keep getting my phone out and the lighting was super dim anyway so I just have this one photo, but it was all really good.
For lunch on Saturday, I was craving some greens and we needed groceries, so Matt, Riese, and I hit up the “Naked Lunch” cafe attached to Mom’s Organic Market before hitting the store. I LOVE their kale caesar – super garlicky and delicious. It has a grain blend, kale, shredded carrots, and hearts of palm roasted with parmesan on top. I always add chickpeas to mine for protein and because I love chickpeas! Matt and Riese shared a mushroom, parmesan, and kale quesadilla that came out after I took this pic, and she ate some of my hearts of palm and chickpeas, too.
We did some chores and tidying around the house during the day on Saturday, then that night we had friends over for some snacks and drinks. We eventually ordered sushi and had a game night once Riese went to bed.
On Sunday, after my run, I had some leftovers to tide me over and then we headed out for the 1 year birthday party of one of Riese’s little buddies! I’ve made a great group of mom friends here in the area (so glad I put myself out there on the local mom’s listserv and in a FB group to try to meet people with kids around the same age), and most of our gang was there which was a lot of fun. Riese had a great time. 🙂
She took a nap when we got home (she is randomly back to 2 naps a day again after about a month of being down to just one?! anyone else’s kids do this?), so I spent some time prepping us my Slow Cooker Chicken Moroccan Stew (<- recipe) for dinner. I discovered the Instant Pot has a slow cooker setting, and it was already out and the slow cooker was in the basement, so I just used the Instant Pot! The recipe called for 3-4 hours on high heat, but I only had about 2.5 hours until dinner, so in the end I decided to just wait until a little later and use the “meat/stew” setting.
We made some quinoa to eat with it, and Matt toasted it! Have you guys tried toasting quinoa? It was yummy – very nutty tasting!
Dinner is ready! Yum, yum. I’m going to freeze some of this for a rainy day, and eat the rest for lunch (and occasionally snacks – I def had some at 10 a.m. this morning because my early breakfast didn’t cut it) this week.
Have a great day, my friends, and I’ll see you back here on Wednesday with some tips for prepping ingredients ahead of time to make throwing together meals during the week easy!
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