Food

The shoes work! I don't feel light as a feather, but somehow the minutes are getting easier and easier (I feel like I'm going to struggle tonight, just because I'm saying this right now). I'm still not looking forward to my runs, but not absolutely dreading them is encouraging ha.

So I'm sure you're sick of hearing me talk about running, back aches (yep you guessed it - our handiwork around the house this weekend enraged my rhomboid muscle again) and being a vegetarian (still going strong since Mexico (although I may be adding fish in here and there... stay tuned)!), so I'm going to share a delightful little recipe Jason and I made for dinner last night that packs in the veggies and smells amazing while you cook it. It's from the genius chef Andie Mitchell's blog "Can You Stay for Dinner" and it's called Lightened Up Pad Thai for Two. Like her, I could eat it for days at a time. Mine didn't look as pretty as hers does, so I'll share one of her photos: 

Try it and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

New Shoes!

I've been ramping up my running in a big way over the past couple of weeks in order to do the Lifetime 90 day challenge 5K on May 6 and then the Race for the Cure 5K on May 11, and to be honest, it's getting pretty challenging (all of you long distance runners out there laughing, please keep your judgements to yourselves!). I'm not going to tell you how long I'm able to run before wanting to pass out, but I'm adding minutes daily and pretty soon I'll be proud enough of my milage to talk about it. Today is a rest day, but tomorrow I'm jumping in with these new pretties I picked up this afternoon:

Hopefully they'll make me light as a feather and I won't notice I'm running anymore...

A Week By the Sea

Sorry for the lapse in writing; I have a good excuse - Jason and I have recently returned from a week-long trip to Mexico (Puerto Morelos to be exact)! We slept in, relaxed, read, drank margaritas and other exciting drinks, kayaked, soaked up sunshine, ate fish tacos, walked the beach, learned about the ancient Mayan culture, swam, and overall had an amazing time! We needed the break more than I'd expected!

Right to left, top to bottom: Our first drinks (at the airport - c'mon give us a break, it'd snowed 6" in MN while we were leaving that morning!), my first glimpse of the ocean, the first meat I'd eaten in over 2 months, a jellyfish shot.

View from the pool and the beautiful beach in front of our resort.

Ruins, and the most beautiful beach I've ever seen!

Obsessed

The sunrise on the day we left. I may have teared up a little (no judging).

Winter, go AWAY!

Like, right now. Pretty please.

Pictures!

This is completely unrelated to anything I typically write about (maybe that's a good thing, been a lot of complaining lately haha!) but get this: Getty Images now allows millions (yep you read that right) of their images to be shared (online only, for non-commercial purposes) for FREE! Meaning, I'm able to give you this beauty:

 ...without having to worry about copyright or spending big bucks first. Pretty awesome huh?

Happy Monday!

Therapy

I met with the physical therapist yesterday who agreed that it is a strained muscle in my back that's causing so much pain. She lectured me about my posture at work, and showed me a few stretches to strengthen the muscles that are out of whack. Bad news: she said our meeting yesterday starts week one and that it'll be 6-7 weeks before I'm pain free. That means I'm stuck on the stationary bike for awhile instead of the treadmill, but I'm at the point where I'd do almost anything to get rid of the pain. I'm meeting with her again next week and I'm hoping I'm able to say that I've noticed a change!

On and Up!

Not much to report. I finally had an appointment with a general practitioner last week who told me the pain in my back is caused by a strained rhomboid muscle. I was super excited that we finally had a reason for the pain, AND she offered me ways to fix it! It's typically a 6-8 week injury (lucky me, this is week 9!) but my doctor thinks it'll last a little longer (of course). She gave me a few different remedies, one being physical therapy, so I'm crossing my fingers something starts to work, and fast!