Are you guys all having a good weekend? I definitely am! And Sunday marks the official 2 week out point for my race! I’m starting to get excited! 

I haven’t really posted in a few days (besides my scheduled post) so I have a kind of random selection of pictures from the last couple of days. 

Thursday morning started with Crossfit-lots of deadlifts! I refueled appropriately:

Nothing too crazy happened during the day- I got a veggie wrap for lunch with hummus. I didn’t actually bring money with me, and it was the only real food I could afford with the few dollars in my backpack.

And my pumpkin butter obsession continues (more on that in a minute!). One thing about dorm life-I have the tendency to buy something and eat nothing but that item until it is gone, which is really quickly. And then I buy something else and the cycle repeats. I guess this is what happens when grocery trips are infrequent…Well, the pumpkin butter is certainly disappearing quickly! I made “paleo oatmeal”-I wasn’t trying to make paleo or oatmeal, but I threw a ton of things in a bowl and that was what I got! This was applesauce, egg whites, chia seeds, coconut, and almond milk. Topped with pumpkin butter! It really was just a medium for pumpkin butter. I wanted pumpkin oatmeal, but I don’t have any oats….so there’s that.

That evening at flag football, the soreness from a full week of heavy lifting began to set in, and my hamstrings began a war on me that would last another day. I also did the spin class I wrote for myself that evening-it turned out to be pretty good! I definitely have a tendency to do a lot more in the saddle than out…talk about a quad burner! I really don’t like the spin bikes at school-they feel really plastic-y, and I don’t really get the feel of the road. It’s more like moving your legs with resistance that spinning-but the quad burn can definitely sneak up on you!

Afterwards, it was pretty late so I refueled with hot chocolate. Kind of. Another #dormlife problem-no milk. And as much as I love almond milk, it has almost no protein. I mixed (not very well based on all the powder floating around) chocolate protein powder, brown rice syrup, a little honey, cocoa powder, and almond milk and heated it up. Perfect. Kind of.

After my workout, a little socializing while drinking this concoction, and doing a pre-lab, I was beat. I woke up yesterday morning still really tired. I debated skipping my 5 mile hilly run, but I knew I’d never be able to fall back asleep because I had already gotten up. The run went pretty well-these are some intense hills. It took a while for my legs to loosen up, but I’m glad I got some hill work in. There was just one glitch-my shoe inserts. I think they do help prevent foot pain, but they give me the worst blisters-it’s only one foot for some reason, but I took them both out halfway through the run (so I’d be even). My foot hurt a little by the end of the run-so I’m not really sure what I should do at this point. 

Here are some random eats from Friday:

My roommate and one of my other friends baked banana bread-you better believe I was all over that! 

After my run, my legs kind of tightened up and all the soreness from the week hit. My hamstrings felt like death-I can’t even remember the last time they were that sore! After a 2 hour Chem lab (we finished 2 hours early!), my legs felt 100x better. Which was good given I had flag football practice. I swear, I’m so bruised up right now! I may or may not have bar shaped bruises going up my legs…at Crossfit, I got a big bruise on the front of my leg because I kept dragging the bar against my leg doing cleans. Smart one Aurora.

(Finally fading)

Plus, I’m getting a little beat up playing football. I guess that’s just what happens in sports-I used to be pretty bruised up from softball regularly.

Back to food. GUYS. I had the best idea. Pumpkin butter. Cottage cheese. I really liked how the pumpkin cream cheese was creamy and a little savory-but it’s too rich to eat with a spoon (or is it?). I found out that a little market on campus now uses meal plan dollars (part of our dining plan-I NEVER use them) and they actually sell really good, useful stuff. It’s basically a mini grocery. And meal plan dollars are like free money.

I immediately dug into the cottage cheese.

YUM. But for my next snack, I kicked it up another notch.

Cottage cheese. Sunflower seed butter. Pumpkin butter. Apple chips. That’s gourmet my friends. Or at least college gourmet. SUCH a good combo. Too bad I’m out of cottage cheese…and apple chips…and almost pumpkin butter. 

This morning I managed to sleep in until 9-which is a pretty big accomplishment for me! I hit the gym first thing-but I wanted to give my legs a complete rest day after this past week, and before tomorrow’s 9 miles. I did something I’ve never done before-arms and abs day. I NEVER do arm workouts-I usually do full body workouts, and occasionally leg days. But I didn’t want to do anything that put any stress on my legs at all. My workout ended up consisting of mostly pull ups and planks. I’m so close to being able to do a full pull up-only 25 pounds of assistance, which is such a huge improvement. My goal is to get it by Thanksgiving! And with the quantity I did today, I should be able to get there!

After my workout, I was starving and more than ready for brunch. I was really hoping to get a smoothie, but the line was insane, as was the waffle line. I still haven’t gotten a waffle yet this year!

But then again, I’m never going to complain about copious amounts of guacamole.

Giant Mexican salad. I also had a biscuit and this frozen fruit.

I spent the day doing nothing too crazy. I realized that Netflix streams season 8 of How I Met Your Mother. I was considering going to the football game today, but I decided to just hang out. Dinner with How I Met Your Mother? That sounds just right to me.

I made a scramble with the last of my spinach, plus laughing cow garlic and herb and pesto. I finally peeled myself away from the screen to do laundry, which is where I am right now. I discovered that blogging is the perfect thing to do while doing laundry!

And with that, I’ll leave you all to your weekends! I’m going back to the trail by the bay to run, so I’m visiting my cats and grabbing lunch with a high school friend also home this weekend.

What are your favorite TV shows? What other things should I put pumpkin butter on? What amazing pumpkin products should I try? Can you tell I’m obsessed with all things fall?