3000 Miles Later…

Date: August 29, 2014

Author: astottler

Hello, hello! I’m back in CA!

Everyone has been complaining about how “hot” it is. It’s 82 and dry. That’s cute. I ran in long sleeves yesterday morning!

In terms of travel, everything went pretty smoothly. I enjoyed one last Sweetgreens salad.

And one last Georgetown cupcake. These are salted caramel and chocolate birthday cake.

The cupcake competition in DC may require its own post.

After packing my bags, I lugged 125 lbs of luggage through the cobbled streets of DC. That, my friends, is why I do Crossfit. Needless to say I had to pay quite a bit in overweight baggage fees…

Immediately upon arriving home, I became a furry mess, as I will continue to be for the next 3 weeks.

Besides cuddling my kitty, I’m going to be putting some work into this blog in the next few weeks. I haven’t had much time to do much with it lately other than throw up posts-my race page is sorely outdated. So be on the lookout for a fun recipe tonight!

In terms of the last few days, yesterday morning I tried out my current pre-run breakfast. Yogurt with cocoa banana and sunflower seed butter.

Then, I headed out for my run. I went out to the bay and my mom walked while I ran. I guess I got a bit faster this summer-it’s really nice to run when a) it’s 20 degrees cooler and b) not 5am and I’m just rolling out of bed to the street.

Lunch out with my family afterwards was a cobb salad with chicken and avocado.

For snack, I had some pumpkin yogurt. Yes, I know it’s too soon. It was good though.

In the evening, I went to my home Crossfit! I’m so happy to be back there! We worked on pull ups, and then the WOD included lots of tire flips. My arms hurt.

For dinner, I made a copycat Sweetgreens seasonal salad.

I also utilized my new knife skills I learned at a culinary bootcamp in DC that I went to for work to cut the watermelon.

The salad included arugula, baby kale, fresh mint, feta, watermelon, cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, spicy sunflower seeds, chicken, and champagne vinaigrette.

It came out really well!

And because we need to end on a cat picture clearly:

Running the Golden Gate

Date: June 8, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

I had the best day today. Seriously. Since I finished my first final yesterday and I don’t have another one until Wednesday, today was definitely a day off!

This morning, I ran with Crossfit in San Francisco! We carpooled up to Crissy Field and I ran with my phone for picture taking purposes.

It was an absolutely beautiful day to run. Fairly warm but windy up higher, with some fog around the bridge.

My Crossfit coach’s dog.

Please note how high up the bridge is in these pictures, and that we began at sea level.

A group of us wanted to run the bridge, which was a bit of a ways up-lots of stairs! And the bridge isn’t super flat either! So here are some bridge pictures!

And of course proof that we indeed did reach the other side:

We definitely kept up a decent pace. When we weren’t climbing, it was under 9:30 which is on the fast side for me, especially after the hills! I was basically dying by the end. We ended up doing just under 7 miles and my legs are definitely feeling it!

On the way to brunch afterwards we stumble upon a giant food truck gathering so we stopped there instead.

The first thing I got was the best latte I’ve ever had. By far. It was AMAZING.

Since the coffee took a while and I didn’t want to make everyone wait, I got my food from the place with a shorter line-I ended up with and Indian roll filled with Chicken Tikka Masala.

It was good but MAN was it spicy. I bought a bottle of water and was getting seriously concerned when my water was disappearing faster than the pain in my mouth! I’m the biggest wimp with spicy food!

I then went back home to drop some things off to begin the move out process and ended up getting drawn in by the air conditioning and the cats.

I actually broke my no sugar thing. Sort of. I was tentatively planning on ending it today, and I celebrated with a slice of leftover birthday cake from the freezer.

It didn’t spark any crazy cravings, so here’s to another week! I know what my next dessert will be though-I volunteered to bake a Boston Cream Pie from scotch for my sister’s graduation next weekend!

Like I said, I was sucked into the world of cats at home. I ended up not leaving until late into the evening, and I spent a lot of time with a very purry kitty.

It was such a hot day today, and since my dorm has no air conditioning, it gets pretty bad. I’m sitting here now sweating! I also had dinner at home. We had a spinach and mushroom quiche from Whole Foods, broiled asparagus, and a green bean creation I made. I sautéed up some frozen green beans (we didn’t have a lot on hand in the veggie department) with roasted garlic, green onions, and later some garlic and herb laughing cow. Yum!

A tough run in an awesome place, with awesome people, plus cat time? Does it get any better??

What did you do this weekend?

MIMM-“Ski” Trip

Date: January 20, 2014

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday! How are you guys doing? I have to day off today for MLK day, so I’m currently at home doing food prep for the start of The Project!

Today, I’m linking up with Katie for Marvelous in My Monday!

Over the weekend, I went to Lake Tahoe with my dorm for our ski trip. I use the term “ski trip” a bit liberally-not many people skied-there’s hardly any snow right now! We are officially in a drought. It meant the weather was nice though!

Friday before we left, I got in a great workout-I did my treadmill workout, followed by some weights-back lunges, single leg RDLs, and abs. Basically all my favorites! My knee is still not fabulous, so it limits what I can do a little bit. On the plus side, this means I’ve been running more, which I really should do anyway since I claim I’m trying to PR a 5k soon.

We left school in the afternoon, and hit horrible traffic. We stopped for dinner-and there was a Safeway nearby! Not just fast-food!

Whole wheat pita, chicken, veggies, and hummus.

Kombucha.

I also got some 86% chocolate for the bus ride.

I have to warn you guys-not a lot of food pictures from this trip. Or a lot of good food. The food they provided us was basically carbs and sugar. And lots and lots of potato chips. Mmmm and blueberry muffins-definitely a weakness of mine!

The most Marvelous part of my weekend was probably Saturday’s run. Not skiing meant I basically had all day to hang out and do whatever. I was excited to run in a new and beautiful place! I bundled up (sort of) and got going on my first snow run!

It was definitely not as cold as I was expecting, especially given there was some snow on the ground. I’ve had much colder runs at home!

I ran through the little ski village, taking a comfortable pace. I wore my Garmin just so I would have some idea of how far I had gone (so I wouldn’t get too lost) ad just listened to the sound of my breathing and my footsteps. I didn’t really have any destination in mind. I ended up in another state, which was cool.

I somehow ended up finding a trail that took me through a forest/wildlife preserve area. I stopped a bunch for pictures, and to read some of the signs-there were a bunch that talked about casinos that were supposed to be built there (definitely not in CA anymore), but how the space was preserved instead.

One of the best moments of my run was finding a pond that was completely frozen over.

I have a strange obsession with finding frozen puddles (maybe because I never see them) so this was pretty exciting!

I was tentatively planning on running 4-5 miles. I wanted to get a glimpse of the lake, so around the halfway point, I decided to go a little bit further to try and get a picture. That was a good decision-I turned a corner and BOOM. I was on the beach!

That was one of my favorite runs in a long time! I didn’t really feel the high altitude either!

I spent the rest of the day walking around and exploring the little village.

Like I said, food was not the best quality on this trip, and I definitely ate so much junk! This was actually one of my healthier things (and I felt the need to document it!)

Graham crackers with melty banana and 86% chocolate.

For dinner, we had frozen pizzas to cook up (we were staying in suites with a small kitchen)-this was an interesting task, as the pizzas had thawed a bit and were floppy, and there were no trays or anything. One of the pizzas ended up as a calzone because there was no other way to get it into the oven!

Sunday morning we were up fairly early to head home-we left early enough to get back in time for the 49ers game!

Lunch stop along the way-Starbucks salad. (Bonus-it had kale!)

Upon arriving at school, I packed my things up super fast to head home in time for the game. It was disappointing, to say the least. And I’m kind of embarrassed I go to the same school as Sherman did…

Dinner was Greek salads with grilled chicken-we grilled up a ton extra for food this week-enough that some will have to go in the freezer!

And of course being reunited with this guy was kind of Marvelous too.

And now, I’m finishing up meal prep. I’ll do a post on this as well as other “project” food later tonight! Before I head back to school, I’m going to get a Crossfit style track workout in-I can’t do the Crossfit workout today thanks to my knee-squats are still a no go!

What did you do this weekend? Do you have today off!

Big Game

Date: November 24, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Happy Monday! I hope you all had a terrific weekend! I was busy, busy!

Sunday morning, I went to Crossfit. The WOD was rough-it took me 46 minutes and involved lots of push ups, pull ups, and double unders. I actually did all 100 double unders! It was hard. And I have a bruised pinkie to show for it!

Immediately after Crossfit, I headed out to Big Game-the football game against our rivals.

It must have been my lucky day-I caught a free water bottle AND a free t-shirt!

Things started well when we scored a touchdown in the first 30 seconds or so.

I ended up leaving at halftime-we won 63-13! It was great. I actually ran into some of my high school friends who now go to my rival school while I was biking around after the game-how crazy is that? It was great to catch up-it had been way too long!

Then, it was time for a mass packing and room cleaning. I had to take home an insane amount of stuff, especially given I’ll only be back for a week! Since finals are coming up, I had to take every single textbook. The number of shoes I brought back is embarassing as well-like 7 or 8 pairs, and I am almost positive I’ll wear them all. When you have Spin shoes, Crossfit shoes, workout shoes, running shoes, old running shoes for if it rains…etc. It adds up quickly. Getting everything to my car was an adventure to say the least.

For my first meal home, we brought back food from a local restaurant, and I had huevos rancheros and a salad.

As well as a delicious pumpkin cookie with sticky toffee icing from my grandma.

The best part? I was reunited with this guy:

He sheds like crazy. I’m pretty much a ball of fur at this point. My dad picked up my turkey trot shirt from the expo, and it got all furry just from ME. Well worth it though. Want to know a lesser known about Aurora fact? I’m actually allergic to cats. I just put up with it because they are 100% worth it-but it’s amazing how fast allergies come back-it’s not something that ever even crosses my mind at school!

This morning I went to my home gym to go to one of my favorite spin classes. I did a bit of erging and ab work beforehand. The class was amazing. It’s so nice to have good bikes-it’s a completely different experience. I left the class feeling exhilarated. I have a new appreciation for spin classes now that I’ve been making my own!

After spin I spent way too long in Whole Foods, mostly buying granola bars and THIS. I could not resist.

Almond milk eggnog. Guys, this was seriously amazing. And so much less sugar than regular egg nog, but the flavor was still spot on.

I also picked up lunch-an Asian chicken salad wrap and Thai carrot ginger soup for my mom and me.

Then, we did a little shopping-some Christmas decorations, some workout clothes, and some real people clothes-so basically it was great.

This is going on my dorm door. My roommate and I may or may not be going crazy with the Christmas decorating this year.

The mall was so festive! Santa is ALREADY doing pictures with kids. It seems ridiculous that this all is happening before Christmas, but I guess Thanksgiving is really late this year.

For dinner, I had a teriyaki chicken bowl. I can’t remember the last time I had one of these!

We also may a trip to Starbucks for some berry coffeecake and a peppermint brownie cake pop. They’re good. Get one. They are more or less moist brownies with peppermint bark on the outside. Yum. And so pretty!

The rest of the evening has been spent planning 12 Days of Christmas. And cranberry bread is currently in the oven-we’re going to Napa tomorrow per our usual Thanksgiving tradition, so we’re baking it to take along.

Throwback to Napa trip 4 years ago!

And here’s a question: What do I wear for a rainy race??

What a Difference a Few Months Makes

Date: October 6, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey guys! I had a pretty awesome day, despite a little hiccup. I recently changed my pre-run breakfast, and I’m experimenting with the timing of it a little-it’s not as hard on my stomach so I don’t have to wake up as early!

Banana. Egg. Cocoa powder. Plus a coconut garnish. Which somehow managed to get all over my desk…Plus blackberries.

I went home today, so I ran on my favorite route. Since I’m tapering, I’m thinking a little more about speed-my last couple of runs were hilly so I didn’t even consider pace.

I pulled into a parking space and began gathering my running stuff when all of the sudden, the car parked in front of my starts backing up….quickly. I guess he never even saw me, because he rammed into the front of my car. I’m fine-but it definitely shook me up a little bit! My car is pretty much ok-my front bumper has a crack in it. First of all-how does a bumper crack? Oh yeah, my car is made out of plastic. So I have a plastic bumper. Awesome. I’ve never been in an accident (knock on wood!) but I’ve been backed into 3 times. Talk about pre-run adrenaline though!

My run felt really good-minus some more technical issues. I stopped the clock a couple of times to adjust my shoes-I think my foot inserts help prevent the toe pain I get, but they cause such bad rubbing that I had to stop and take them out 2 miles in. I ran another 4 miles without, and then my feet starting bothering me so I put them back in…only to have to remove them a mile later.

What a difference a few months makes! A lot of my training runs (the flat ones) have been faster than the last training cycle for my first half, but this one really stood out. A few months ago (the picture on the left), I ran 9 miles, in the same place, at the same point in my training. The run was by far my fastest long run, but I destroyed my calf doing it, and was barely able to race. Today, I killed that time. I wasn’t dead. My legs are still intact. I’m ready to rock this race!

I visited my parents and kitties after running. And ate a snack.

I then met up with one of my best friends from high school for lunch. We got sandwiches-turkey and avocado for me! I can’t remember the last time I had a sandwich!

We then both had the genius idea of stopping by an amazing cake shop on the way back to the car-Nothing Bundt Cakes.

It shouldn’t be any surprise that I immediately went for the pumpkin spice cake…I’m a tad obsessed.

We also got a chocolate chocolate chip cake. We shared them both.

Since Jessica is super artistic, I dragged her to a party favor store for a little craft project-I’m Sunshine Chair in my sorority which means I’m in charge of sending out inspirational messages, kitten pictures, and recognizing people’s birthdays (ok, I kind of read between the lines about the kitten pictures…). I wanted to have sometime nice to give people for their birthdays…with the secret hope that they will keep it and put in on their walls for ever. This is the end result (it’s a girl’s birthday tomorrow!)

I then settled in with this baby-it’s time to get serious folks!

And then the tiredness from the past few days began to hit me, and I started to fall asleep with images of freshly cut mango dancing through my head. I think this is a sign that I’m severely mango deprived. I then went to a quick dinner.

And then I proceeded to break into the giant can of pumpkin pie filling my mom got me. Spoons up! (To be fair, there was some yogurt involved.) I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I may be kind of pumpkin-ed out for a while!

I hope you all had great weekends!

What is something you are proud of that you accomplished lately?