Uncategorized

Back to Busy-ness

/ runningchickago / Leave a comment

Hey world!

I’m back.  I know, I know, I said the same thing about…a year ago.  But, I’m trying to hold myself to it this time.  This blog’s theme just wasn’t doing it for me.  Things have changed – and it’s time for the blog to change, too!

So, what’s my vision you ask?  Well, this blog will still be about running…..

Chocolate Run

But, it’s going to have a few other things to…namely, “Chicago”.

Chicago

Hellooooo this blog is called RunningChickago.  Clearly I’m in love with running.  And Chicago.  The hubby and I love going out to eat – and we have great choices.  Whether it’s the burger I had for lunch at Au Cheval (which I think should be re-named Au MyGod), falafel, or sushi, we’re always up for something delicious.  This ol’ blog will give some restaurant reviews.  Because as my grandma says (without fail) every time we’re on the phone...”Is it [life] all about food, or is it all about food”?  It’s all about food, Gram.

sushi

Unfortunately, we can’t eat out every night….if only our wallets were as bottomless as our appetite… So, until that happens, this blog will share some recipes, too.

Kale, Sausage & White Bean Soup

Kale, Sausage & White Bean Soup

Like the title of this post says, it’s “back to busy-ness”.  Life is busy, but it’s more fun writing about it.  Leggo.

– Sarah

 

Lazy Sunday Lasagna

/ runningchickago / 7 Comments

Hey there!

So as mentioned the other day…this blog is back my friends, this blog is back.  Some things have changed within the past few months.  Well…a lot of things.  But here are some big ones…

1.  I’m engaged!

NYE 2012

NYE 2012

 

2.  I registered for the Chicago Marathon – thankfully, before the lottery system went into place!  And, Joe registered for it too!  It’ll be his first marathon and I’m super pumped for him.

3.  My knee has started acting up…no bueno.  So running and I are taking a little break until I see a doc and he/she can tell me what’s up.

But wait…does that mean a break from working out?  Uh yeah…yeah right.  In the mean time, I’ve been doing yoga and some elliptical workouts. 🙂

Oh…and I’ve been doing some cooking and baking.  I mean…I have all this extra time from not running, I might as well eat it away…right? 😉  Well this past Sunday, Joe and I did just that.  I made us a healthy and easy lasagna.  I was a little nervous because (a) it was my first lasagna (b) I’m Italian and I’m cheating by using cottage cheese instead of ricotta (c) I’m cooking it for Joe, and I’m using fake meat (he is kind of a carnivore).  The good news is this lasagna passed both of our expectations with flying colors.  Thanks, Aunt Kath for the recipe!

Spinach Lasagna

Ingredients:
– 1 big box of oven-ready lasagna noodles- 2 jars of your favorite spaghetti sauce – [fyi: I used about 1.5 jars]
– 2 packages of mozzarella cheese (long ones) – [fyi: I used part skim mozz]
– 2 eggs (beaten)
– 1 carton of reduced fat cottage cheese (drained)
– shredded parmesan cheese
– 1 ten-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach (thawed and drained)
– 1 package of Smart Ground (fake meat) – [*fyi: this was not in my aunt’s original recipe…and is totally and completely a (delicious) optional ingredient

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  Spray a glass baking dish with cooking spray.  Cover the bottom with a little spaghetti sauce.
2.  Mix the cottage cheese, spinach, 2 eggs, and 1/4 of shredded parmesan together in a bowl.
3.  Layer the lasagna noodles over the spaghetti sauce, add half of the cottage cheese/spinach mixture, place mozz cheese slices over that.  If you’re using the smart ground meat, but that on top of the cheese.  Then, cover with more spaghetti sauce.  Repeat the layers as many times as you desire.  End by pouring sauce over entire lasagna.  Cover with foil.
4.  Bake at 350F covered for 60 minutes.  Let stand for 10 minutes after.  FYI: After it has baked for 50 minutes, take the lasagna out, sprinkle some shredded parm cheese over the top and let it continue to bake for the last 10 minutes uncovered.

This lasagna was amazing.  Best part?  It was healthy, vegetarian, and my carnivore fiance liked it.  Even better part?  My Italian future mother-in-law tried leftovers…and loved it.  Then Joe preceded to tell her that it wasn’t ricotta.  She was shocked.  Then he mentioned how it wasn’t real meat.  Again, shock.

My advice?  Make it for your friends whether they’re vegetarians OR carnivores.  Or make it for yourself and eat until your heart is content.  I’m not judging.

I’m baaack!

/ runningchickago / 2 Comments

Hey there!

After taking some time off of blogging to start my full-time job / post-grad life…I may have forgotten my blog password 😉 But, I finally was able to e-mail the right people and get everything figured out.

WOOHOO!!

I’m so happy to be back.  Can’t wait to start reading everyone’s blogs and getting back in the swing of things!

❤ Sarah

Tapas Tour (Madrid, part DOS)

/ runningchickago / 2 Comments

Hey everyone!

So I planned on breaking down my Spain trip into 3 sections…but the tapas tour we attended deserves its own section…so there will now be 4  🙂

Today was a very fun day!  After my Cross Fit class on Monday, I’ve been dying to get in a good workout.  I was too sore on Tuesday and Wednesday to get in a good run, and unfortunately it was storming big-time here yesterday.  Such a bummer.  I decided to make up for it today though. I woke up early ready to run.

I ran 4.37 miles at 8:41 pace.  It wasn’t my best time, or my farthest run, but I’ll take it.  I’ve missed running after taking 2+ weeks off for vacation, and only running 3 miles at a time before vacation.  I don’t know about you guys, but I definitely prefer my cooler weather runs.  C’mon Mother Nature, throw just one 40-degree morning my way, please?  It can get hot later on, just give me a cool morning 😉

After my hot & humid run (80s and 50%+ humidity at 7AM), I got ready for the day.  My mom and I headed to Oak Brook where they have a beautiful outdoor mall.  They decorate it beautifully with flowers and some fountains – oh, and I guess the beautiful shoes & handbags don’t hurt the landscape, either 😉

We enjoyed our day shopping and talking, which was very similar to our trip to Spain.  Mom and I pretty much shopped every day while in Spain – tough work, but someone’s gotta do it, right?  Although Oak Brook has delicious restaurant options, they don’t quite have the tapas that Madrid does.  But that’s okay, I can live through my pictures tonight.

Before going to Spain, we booked a tour with Adventurous Appetites which had rave reviews on Trip Advisor.  Our tour guide was James, who was great and provided us with helpful tips about tapas, bars in Madrid, and Spain in general.

One tip about ordering tapas?  Always order your drinks first and wait before you order your tapas.  Some bars give you free tapas, but if you order your food when you order your drink, they may skip giving you the free tapas.  Thanks for the tip, James! 🙂

Without further adieu, here’s the tapas!

Bar 1

(Seriously) Blue Cheese

Cider, Cheese + Ham, and maybe a Tortilla in the back? So much food, so little time…

Sorry the picture above isn’t so hot!  I wasn’t going to include it, but I didn’t want to leave any of the food out!

Delicious Sausage + Potatoes (covered in paprika)

Cheesy Tortilla (get in my belly)

Walking to Bar 2

how cute is this chocolate shop?!

Bar 2

*NOT* Sangria! it’s red wine + soda.

I can’t remember what the above drink is called, but James made sure to tell us that it is not sangria.  It’s something that is less tourist-y than sangria, and what locals drink.

Sausage, Rolls, and Ham

Those little sausages were my favorite in Spain.  SOOO GOOD

Ham (from a pig that ate chestnuts, so the meat is fattier) and Cheese

Walking to Bar 3

Bar 3

mmm pouring Rioja

CHEERS! we had a fun group!

part of the tour group!

Mussels (with green and red peppers) and Toast (with olive oil)

Tripe and Beans

Beans, beans, the magical fruit..

Fried Pedron Peppers

Some are spicy, some are not…you don’t know until you bite in!  So much fun 🙂

Croquettas (filled with cheese and pieces of ham)

Black Pudding (Blood Sausage)
(Gross stuff that tastes good because it’s seasoned well)

Amazing Mushrooms and yummy meat (can’t remember what it was, exactly.. pork maybe?)

Cold Vegetable Salad topped with Cold Cod
(Mom and my favorite dish!)

Walking to Bar 4

Bar 4

Mushrooms with Garlic Mayo Spread on Toast

I didn’t have the tapas picture shown above, but past tour attendees described it as being so good and like “crack”.

Garlic and Oil Shrimp

Octopus covered in paprika

At this last bar, some drank white wine and others (like me) drank water.

I may have ended the night with some gelato, too.  My sweet tooth was callin’, and I couldn’t ignore it.  Luckily they have smaller portions in Spain (they’re small is a “baby” size in the US), so I could eat it without exploding.

Hope you enjoyed the tapas tour with me!  If you go to Spain, I highly recommend going with Adventurous Appetites like I did.  As you may or may not have noticed, I didn’t include the names of the bars.  This was done at the request of my tour guide, because they change the bars every time.  They try to switch up the bars and keep them unpublicized to help them from becoming tourist-y.  If you are extremely curious about one of the pictures and need to find out where exactly you can get it, let me know and I may be able to help you out.  🙂 But trust me when I say, you really can’t go wrong.  Especially with a tour guide like James helping you out!

Adios! 🙂

Questions for you:
Do you usually take tours while on vacation?  My family almost always does!  I love them because you get to ask a local tons of questions- some related to the tour, others just about food and life in that city!
Do you like to branch out and try new foods while vacationing?  I tried blue cheese, tripe, and black pudding during the tapas tour…some things that I’m either not a fan of (blue cheese) or never had (tripe and black pudding).  I’m so glad that I stepped outside my comfort zone to try these!  Even though I probably wouldn’t order them on my own in the future, I’m glad I had a bite! 🙂

Spain Part 1: Madrid

/ runningchickago / 25 Comments

Hola!

I hope your day is going well!  My morning began with a 6+ mile bike ride.  I had planned on going for a run, but after Monday’s CrossFit class (and the 2 mile run that night), my legs are still feelin’ it.  Apparently doing my first squat ever- and 199 more after that– in one day isn’t necessarily the smartest idea.  Who would’ve thought?

I love feelin’ a good workout though, so I can’t complain too much. 🙂

Okay, let’s get to the travel stuff.  There’s so much to say about Madrid, and not enough web space to hold it.  Instead, I’m going to share my trip mostly through pictures and include a few words.

Ready to head to Spain from your seat? 🙂 Let’s go!

Ready for the flights (to NYC first and then Madrid!)

Spain from the sky!

Madrid Airport!

Seriously, how cool is the airport’s ceiling?

Okay, okay, I’ll stop with all the airport pictures. On to some real stuff! 🙂

Here’s Madrid architecture:

love this so much

check out that statue in the park 😉

Madrid is gorgeous at night

Madrid Cuisine:

Seafood and Chicken Paella

One of the richest, and most delicious things I ate.
Toasted bread with ham, drizzled with olive oil.

Rioja ❤

Octopus and potatoes, cooked in olive oil and covered in paprika

From the hotel breakfast buffet:
Tortilla (basically, a Spanish frittata) with spinach
(and, of course, delicious grapefruit and oranges)
holy yum!

Okay, okay, I know this isn’t necessarily “food” but it’s a market that serves incredible tapas. Check out some of the tapas we tried there in the next few photos!

Cod + Tomatoes on Toast (from the market)

“Seafood Salad” – fish + peppers and other veggies, in an olive oil and vinegar dressing (from the market)

Shrimp with an avocado-mayo spread on toast
(from the market)

macaroons = ❤
(from the market)

churros and “hot chocolate”

You dip the churros into the “hot chocolate” (which is really a chocolate sauce, because it’s thicker than regular hot chocolate).
You’re supposed to drink the hot chocolate after you finish the churros, but my mom and I found it too rich (and thick) to do that.  But don’t worry, we tried 😉

delicious chocolate = happy girl

amazing bean salad. one of the best things I ate.

Roast Chicken and Patatas (fries)

oh you know, just one of the sweetest waiters in Madrid. and my ice cream dessert. (vanilla, chocolate, and cream)

Are you hungry yet?  🙂 I’m definitely getting ready for dinner after looking at all of these.  These are most of the food pictures, but not all of them.  My mom and I also had dinner at the OLDEST RESTAURANT IN THE WORLD (Botin), but unfortunately the pictures didn’t turn out super well.  Apparently my camera didn’t want to make pretty pictures? what the heck.  My mom and I also attended a tapas tour, but that is worthy of it’s own post.  Plus, can anyone really handle any more pictures of food in this post? 😉

Hope these pictures made you feel like you were in Spain, too!  Or, maybe they gave you some inspiration for tonight’s dinner.  Let me know if you decide to make a Spanish-inspired meal after seeing these! 🙂

Okay, after all of those pictures, I think it’s time that the Madrid recap comes to a close.  Although the Tapas Tour photos are still to come, it’s time to say “adios” for now 🙂

Questions for you:
Have you had Spanish food before?  (Either in Spain, or at a Spanish restaurant somewhere)
What’s your favorite type of food? (Spanish, German, Italian, Mexican, American…)

Españaaaa!

/ runningchickago / 2 Comments

Hey there!

Today’s post is going to be short, because I’m waking up bright and early tomorrow to begin my journey to Spain! 🙂  Cannot wait to explore Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona… and also try new foods and wines!  Hope you all have a good couple of weeks-

Adios!
Sarah

Questions for you:
Where’s your favorite vacation spot?
Do you workout on vacation?

I’m not planning on working out too much; unfortunately/fortunately? our hotels do not have treadmills or workout rooms, so I will be counting on lots of long walks!  And hopefully some little circuit style workouts in my room 🙂

Thirsty Thirty

/ runningchickago / 8 Comments

Hey everyone! Happy Thursday!

I can’t believe it’s already this far along in the week!  The past few days have been filled with shopping and running different errands because…

My mom and I are going to Spain on Sunday!

We both have never been there before, and don’t speak much Spanish, but we’re really excited for our trip together.  Have any of you been to Spain before?  We’re going to Madrid, Seville, and Barcelona…any good restaurants we need to try?  Any types of food we need to try/try to avoid?  🙂

Except for food/restaurants, everything is pretty much planned.  Tours are booked, tickets are bought, and new cameras are ready for action.  As I mentioned in another post, I have been hunting for a DSLR camera.  After asking a million questions, I purchased the camera from my local Wolf Camera store.  I chose the Canon Rebel T3 and I can’t wait to play with it later! 🙂

my first legit camera! 🙂

Source

With all of this excitement going on over here, it’s been harder to have the longer workouts I love.  I won’t cut working out altogether though so I am making my shorter workouts count.  This is why my “thirsty thirty” elliptical workout was born! Next time you’re looking for a quick workout, try this one out:

guaranteed to make you thirsty/sweaty/challenged!

Although it doesn’t mention it in the picture, I would recommend a warm-up as well.  I usually do a five minute warm up and a five minute cool down (in addition to the actual workout).

Time to go run some errands, mess with my camera, and sneak in a workout!  Hope you all have a great day!

Questions for you:
Have you ever been to Spain?
What types of food should we try in Madrid/Seville/Barcelona?
Any restaurants we should try in these areas?

“Sometimes the stars don’t line up”

/ runningchickago / 11 Comments

I heard the title of this post a lot this past weekend.

Last weekend was the Bayshore Marathon.  It was supposed to be my second marathon.  After 18 weeks of training, trading in nights out with friends (for early morning runs), and other “sacrifices”, I did not finish my marathon.  Instead, I stopped after reaching 13.1 miles.

I made sure to “eat right” during the days preceding the race.  I tried to maintain my usual diet, while slowly increasing my daily carb intake.  Unfortunately, sometimes our systems just decide to be goofy anyways.  That’s what happened to me.  (Don’t worry, I won’t share every detail in my story)

Long story short, I became sick the night before the race.  I slept for maybe two hours- combined.  It was terrible.  I woke up at 4:30AM to start getting ready for the race.  I like to wake up early on race days (or long run days) so that I can eat as early as possible.  The last thing you’d want on a race day is a crampy stomach because you waited too long to eat.  Except on this Saturday, I knew I would have a crampy stomach throughout the race.

After debating internally, and with my mom, I decided to run.  My thoughts:
If I run one mile, cool
If I run three miles, awesome
If I run five miles, that’s great
If I run 13.1 miles, that’s awesome
If I run the whole thing, that’s unbelievable and amazing.
(I know, I know my thoughts aren’t ingenious.  But it was 4:30AM and I didn’t sleep- okay?! give this girl a break! 🙂 )

So I started.  The course was beautiful.  I was surrounded by beautiful homes, trees, and (of course) the bay.

around the five mile mark

The bay is a little hard to see in this picture, because it blended in with the beautiful blue-gray-lavender sky.  Looking at the bay, listening to John Mayer, and looking for my family and boyfriend helped make this run a lot more enjoyable.  It wasn’t quite “fun”, but it was definitely a challenge I will always remember.  And although I didn’t finish, I am still proud of myself for making it 13.1 miles.  Will my time ever show up in the record books?  Nope.  I didn’t PR.  And according to the Bayshore online results, I never even ran the race.  But I know I ran.  And at the time, I knew I needed to run.  I couldn’t stand the idea of giving up completely, so I didn’t.  I ran.  And ran.  And ran.  And then I listened to my body and stopped.  Could I have finished?  Yes.  Would I have hurt my body?  This one I’ll never know for sure.  But my body was telling me to stop, so I knew I needed to listen.

As much as runners like to plan, sometimes the unforeseeable happens.  Sometimes, the stars don’t line up.  Maybe we won’t be able to run the race at all.  Or maybe we’ll start, and not finish.  But either way we learn.  We learn to listen to our hearts and our bodies.  We learn to be thankful we can even run at all.  And then we spend all day looking up future races.

running with my heart

Four Days Till M-Day

/ runningchickago / Leave a comment

Hey there!

I cannot believe I will run my 2nd marathon in 4 days!  Whaa?!  Glad it’s finally here, but training definitely went a lot faster for the second marathon than it did with my first.  As I mentioned in my last post, tapering kind of throws me off.  I’ve been looking for things to do and have been pretty productive throughout the past couple days.  I have successfully unpacked all of my clothing (I just moved back home after graduating).  I also donated too-many-items-to-count to Goodwill.  It feels good having less stuff in my closet!  It also feels good knowing my stuff will hopefully be enjoyed by someone else- whether they actually like it, or it’s for some kind of joke.  Like a 90’s/00’s party.

these shoes were all the rage in 7th grade. so much so that my friend Liz had a matching pair.

Now that we’ve gotten that embarrassing picture out of the way…

I’ve had a lot of fun besides the excitement that comes along with reorganizing my closet 😉 – I’ve hung out with friends, spent time with the fam, and also have done some arts & crafts.  Hellooo why can’t every day have designated arts and crafts time?  I think I’ll need to incorporate that into my usual schedule.  But really, making t-shirts for my family and boyfriend was just too much fun.  Is it pathetic that I made the shirts for them to support…me in the marathon?  Or is it just me being prepared to find them in the crowd?  Uhhh… don’t answer that.  In my defense, it was nearly impossible for me to find them during the Chicago Marathon.  The Bayshore Marathon crowd will be approximately a million times smaller, but there’s no harm in being overly prepared, right?  Plus, they’re so cute…they’ll probably want to wear them all the time.  Especially my brother.  He’ll refuse to wear it for sure love it.

Here’s a sneak peek (it was taken on my phone, so it’s not the best quality)…I’ll put up another one after they’re finished:

paintin’ t-shirts = perfect afternoon

I’d love to keep working on them tonight, but gotta let those puppies dry!  Tonight will be filled with looking up carbo-loading tips and post-marathon recovery tricks!

Questions for you:
How do you carbo-load? Do you usually start 3 days before the marathon?  What are your favorite ways/recipes to get in those carbs?

Hope you have a great night!

Long Run Essentials

/ runningchickago / 3 Comments

Is it possible to have a “leisurely” nine mile run?

…yes!  I made my mid-week long run enjoyable by allowing myself to run slower and just have fun.  The weather was absolutely beautiful.  Temperature: low 70s.  Wind: a little high as it was over 14 mph, but that’s a better problem than having no wind!  With conditions that were near-perfect for a run, I was determined to make my run perfect too!

Including my breaks at red lights and a dash to grab my hat that flew in the opposite direction (stupid wind), I was averaging 8:34min/mi! This made me extremely excited because I truly felt like I was running slow – which compared to my 7:32min/mi yesterday – I was.  But what made me excited was the fact that my now “slow” run is about 60+ seconds faster than my normal runs were in October! Yippee!

Although not all runs are relaxing as today’s was, there are some essential items that can make it more enjoyable bearable.  These include:
1. GU
2. Bodyglide
3. Running Clothes
4. iPod/iPhone
5. Watch with  a timer

GU:  probably one of the grossest things a long distance runner eats- but without it, our long runs would be much more difficult.  It’s basically gel in a small pouch that you squeeze out into your mouth while running (and then you drink a lot of water so it absorbs into your body quickly).  Why is GU so important?  It provides you the energy need to complete your long runs.  When should you use it?  For runs lasting over an hour.  They have many different flavors, and my favorites include: Chocolate, Lemon-Lime, Vanilla, and Strawberry Banana.  Although I’m obsessed with coffee, I do not recommend the coffee flavor.  Here’s the website if you’d like more information: https://guenergy.com/

Bodyglide: helps prevent blisters, chafing, and irritation.  You can put it everywhere and anywhere.  Enough said. http://www.bodyglide.com/

Running clothes: so, so comfortable (much more than the Soffe shorts I used to wear).  Not only are they more comfortable but they make you feel like a runner.  I know this sounds silly but… when you’re dressed like a runner, how can you not feel like one?

iPod/iPhone: music is essential for me on my runs.  Without it, I would probably be bored to tears after about…5 seconds.  I personally use my iPhone as my iPod.  This not only helps with safety (I can make “save me, Mom” calls if necessary), but also allows me to complain to my friend Elise about how much I just hate love running sometimes.

Watch with timer: this is similar to the running clothes section.  Using a timer on your run makes you feel as though you’re a “real” runner in a competition- even if it’s just against yourself.  I am extremely competitive, so I love trying to beat my old times.

Hopefully these long run essentials will help you out on your next run!

Questions for you:
What are your long run essentials?
Do you listen to music on your runs? Or do you prefer running without it?

Hope you had a relaxing day, too!