It’s Friday, my friends! And it’s a beautiful one, too. :)
Love those gorgeous fall leaves!
You know what I really love about running? It gives me the chance to get outside and enjoy the day and some fresh air first thing. And if it’s a little chilly, that’s fine, because I’m running!
I met up with my bud Sokphal this morning for some fun and chatty miles along the water.
Sokphal is a running fiend – she just ran the Marine Corps Marathon and is doing a half marathon tomorrow – good luck on that PR, girl!
I forgot to charge my watch, so I snagged a shot of Sokphal’s so I remembered what we did. A little over 5.5 miles at an 8:25 pace. Sweet! I was feeling rather sluggish during the run and was pumped to see that the reason why was because we were keeping up a good clip! I didn’t realize we were running that fast. Yay!
The other excitement of this morning’s run was a brand spankin’ new pair of my favorite running shoes, the Brooks Ravenna, which they sent me as part of my Run Happy Ambassadorship. Hooray! My old Ravennas were REALLY dead – perfect timing. Aren’t these cool looking? I love the black – so unique!
November is National Running Safety month (yes, there is a month for everything), and these fun black and pink Ravennas are part of the Brooks “nightlife” line, which is uber-reflective gear made for running in the dark and being seen by cars! (High visibility nightlife apparel is available for both men and women, and here is the brand new Nightlife line of shoes.) Using motion capture technology and the principles of bio-motion, Brooks has strategically placed contrast fabrics, retroreflective detail and active lighting to heavily increase not just visibility, but also recognition. This is important for runners who don’t just want to be seen – but want to be recognized as a person vs. a traffic cone!
I was rocking a new Brooks nightlife shirt on this morning’s run, even though it wasn’t dark out – just because I LOVE it. It’s the Women’s Nightlife LS. SO comfortable, and I really love the fit – nice and long and loose so it doesn’t ride up, but still fitted nicely/hugs the body so it doesn’t look like you’re wearing a sack. Add this to your Christmas list! It has a cute hood, too (although sadly doesn’t have a pony tail opening – love when hoods have that). I think I’m going to buy it in an additional color – gotta stock up when you find perfect running shirts, right?! In terms of thickness, it’s pretty light – good for 40 to 60 degree weather, I’d say! And runs true to normal sizing, too.
On to the food front, here is another easy packed lunch idea! I worked at a corporate health fair yesterday (I was there to answer nutrition questions anyone had) that took place over lunchtime (10:30 – 2), so I knew I needed to pack things I could easily shovel in my mouth in between people coming up to the booth – e.g. no complicated salads. The choice was clear: peanut butter sandwich FTW. I used my fave Ezekiel cinnamon raisin toast and slathered it on.
For sides, I packed a pre-peeled orange, some leftover string beans and assorted veggies, and a Nourish Snacks roasted chickpea/edamame thingy.
I ended up eating everything except for some of the celery/carrots. Worked out well!
As for today’s lunch, I’m working from home so I think I’ll be doing a repeat of the lunch I made on Wednesday because I need to use up the last of the barley sitting in the fridge. I simply mixed some greens + barley + microwave string beans (obsessed – so easy and tasty) + some beautiful From The Farmer peppers + tuna salad (made by mixing tuna, hummus, and gauc – that guac pictured kind of sucked, though, so don’t buy it – I’m officially only buying Whole Foods fresh guac from now on, it’s epic) + lemon juice + macadamia oil.
Aaaand now I’m hungry. Might be an early lunch sort of day!
Have a good one, friends – anything fun on the docket this weekend? Anyone else enjoy any beautiful fall runs recently?
I’m going to have a GREAT weekend studying for exams. But I’m going rock climbing and trying to squeeze in a bike ride and yoga class this weekend.
Good luck with your exams!
Loving that shirt! It’s always an early lunch kinda day IMO. :)
I’ll be working on a paper for one of my classes! The topic I chose is personal responsibility vs. the fast food industry in relation to our health! The paper has to be about real vs. imagined villains and this topic is so perfect!
How fascinating – such a good topic! Good luck!
I love the Whole Foods Fresh Guac, too, but I find it hard to use before it’s really brown. I love love love the Wholly Guacamole single-serving packs. I’ve been buying them at Target and today I found a 20-pack of the Organic ones at Cosco!
That’s a good tip – we’ll check those out because we have problems eating the whole foods guac quickly enough too!
I second the love for Wholly Guacamole single serving packs from Costco!! I love adding some to tuna. Makes a quick, easy lunch!
We don’t have a Costco membership so I’ll have to hope I can find them elsewhere!
Just had to say…your post totally inspired me today. I was feeling kind of lazy this morning, but then read your post and decided to go out for a run. Ended up doing five. So nice! Felt great and it was beautiful out…I never regret getting out there.
Yay, that’s awesome! :) The hardest part is getting out the door – good for you for getting out there!
Ran by your favorite spot for Peacock sightings on Sunday, it was gorgeous out in Paris (aka not raining for once!) ;)
Awww I’m so jealous!! Miss you (and Paris)!!
I’ve been doing my weekly long runs in Central Park and the trees this morning were especially amazing!! Although I’m from Northern VA so I love seeing your pics, makes me miss home! :)
i love brooks running shoes they are the only ones I buy. I love that they are black but I wish I could find women’s shoes that didn’t have so much hot pink! Not a fan. I really liked your whole outfit, but pink isn’t for me. Guys have the best shoe options :)
So with you on that Erin! Love the darker colors for women’s gym shoes but hate everything having pink on it. Also wish that when they make the darker shoes that they didn’t put a white sole on the shoe! YUCK.
I’m going to start my weekend with a 10km run, and at some point we are planning to attend one of the November Good Food Month events here in Melbourne … I’m thinking food trucks are in my future :)
This weekend is going to be poop! Lots of studying and work to do….boo! have a good one!
The best run so far this Fall was actually at 70 degrees in LA! Love the cool weather of Fall in the east, but it sure was nice to run in such warm, low humidity conditions.
That sounds amazing!
Going for my first run after 5 weeks of being injured! 1 mile will never have felt so good ;)
Yay, welcome back to running!
Hi Anne!
Your fall foliage photos are just gorgeous! I love running during this time of year. I live in Rhode Island and find that the crisp temps and falling leaves are such a great motivator to get outdoors and run. Tomorrow is my long-run day and I’m looking forward to my outdoor run — may be one of the last ones I see this year as fall comes to a close.
Hope you have a fabulous weekend!
Enjoy the run!
That hoodie is super cute and Whole Foods Guac!? ADDICTING!! :) Have a great weekend!
Not crazy abour Whole Foods guac…too much tomato and very expensive!
I love the look of those shoes! Fun colors! The hoodie is cute too!
Loving the colors of those shoes. Random question- I’ve been experiencing blisters between my big toe and second toe after long runs. Any tips / tricks? I am running a half-marathon in a few weeks and getting nervous a blister might prevent me from running (how dorky and lame; but they are super painful!)
Have you tried putting Vaseline or body glide on that spot before runs? New shoes might also help, but probably too late to switch now. ..