A Run and a Recipe

This post is about a run and a recipe. First, the recipe.

I used my pressure cooker again over the weekend. First I made hard boiled eggs in it. Then I made this shredded chicken recipe:

[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:158]

While the chicken was cooking, I did food prep for the week for lunches. I sauteed up a bag of cauliflower rice from Trader Joe’s and put them in individual containers for each lunch.

(Snacks, hard boiled egg and plain Greek yogurt with strawberries):

The chicken turned out great again! It shredded really easily. I put it back in the pressure cooker to soak up some of the teriyaki sauce and then put the chicken in containers with the rice. I topped it with chopped green onion and toasted sesame seeds.

Now, the run!

It’s been YEARS since I ran on the waterfront during my lunch hour. Part of that was because my lunch hour was 30 minutes for many years. And the other part was that I wasn’t doing a lot of outdoors running. But after having Logan, I started taking him for walks when I was home. Then the walks got kind of slow and boring and I started jogging a bit. Then I started running. I got up to running a loop around our neighborhood, doing about 4-4.5 miles total.

My schedule changed a little while ago and I now have hour long lunches. So when I saw that Monday was going to be a sunny, warm day, I decided to give it a try! The idea of being stuck on the treadmill during my lunch hour sounded deflating.

I’m so glad I ran outside! It was SO NICE OUT! It just felt good to be outside with the sun on my skin, the fresh air, the waterfront…

Since it’s been a few months since I’ve been running outside (due to winter), I took it easy. Treadmill running and outdoor running is just way different. My body tends to get sore in weird places when I run outside. So I didn’t run too hard or too fast and I took some short walk breaks.

I ran down to the waterfront, crossed the Steel Bridge, and then decided to cross over the Morrison Bridge back to downtown. In the past, I usually ran the whole loop–Steel Bridge to the Hawthorne Bridge and then back to the office. It’s been a long time but I think I remember that loop being about 3.5 or 4 miles totals.

Since this was my first time out, I cut it short and didn’t push it. If the weather holds up later this week, I might try to go back out. I’m going to work my way up to running the whole loop again.

Here are my stats:

So when I run on the treadmill during lunch, I usually do between 3 and 3.25 miles in 48 minutes (so I have enough time to stretch, foam roll and then shower). I’m slightly disappointed I only made it 2.8 miles on the waterfront but I am reminded myself I was going to take it easy for the first time out!

I got back to work and ate my cauliflower rice with teriyaki chicken for lunch and felt SO amazing after my run!