Share your eats Saturday

I had an amazing long run this morning!  It was the best I've ran since the Philly Distance run 2 months ago.  I had only peanut butter before I ran and didn't feel like I wanted to eat anything during the run, and then I really wasn't that hungry after. It was weird.

This was my week of improvement:
 Last week/recovery week-  average pace for first run back 10min/mile. Long run 10:24

This week:
Run #1: inside:7 miles- 10:13 min/mile
Run #2: inside: 5.1 miles - 9:49 min/mile
Run #3: inside:4.2 miles 9:32 min/mile
Run #4: LONG RUN outside: 12 miles 9:38 min/mile

Did my training this week get my body ready to run faster? I couldn't believe I was on my way to being done 12 miles in that last mile! It flew by and felt great. My goal once I hit 5 miles was to keep each mile under 10 min pace. It wasn't too challenging to do that but after 5 miles I did think I was starting to fade.  Mile 6 was the slowest then I got it back together. I tried to give whatever I had the last 1/2 mile and was able to get it below 9:30. All in all, I wish I could run like this everyday!

I did pay for this run the rest of the day - exhaustion, sore lower ab area - maybe that means I pushed too hard. I remember running the Baltimore 1/2 marathon when I was 5 months pregnant with Nick and it hurt to cough. It was like that today when I was done. Either way, it gave me great confidence for next weekend!  If I do run the full, I think I can beat the MCM time?

Moving on, here are my recipes to share from this week! What do you have to share?

Nutrigrain Bars - great for kids

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Pancakes
inspired by Mama Pea's Apple Cinnamon Pancakes

• 2/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 1/2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. cinnamon
• 1 T maple syrup 
• 3/4 c. almond milk
• 1/2 t. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. pumpkin
• 1 T ground flaxseed
• mini chocolate chips to your liking

Combine it all in a bowl. Let's get real here - I don't have time for steps. Cook them on the skillet till set. Enjoy!

Creme de Menthe Brownies and Creme de PEANUT BUTTER Brownies

I followed this recipe for the Creme de Menthe for Nick's nursery school bake sale and then a colleague from work needed a dinner after her pet died this past weekend and I knew she loves the pb/chocolate combo so I made half mint and half pb. Why didn't anyone think of those Peanut Butter layered bars? Or maybe I missed it!

For the creme de menthe, they were WAY sweet!! For my second go-around I took out 1/2 the sugar. I actually tried a vegan version but they did not compare, so I don't recommend it. I would just cut out some of the sugar in the brownie bottom, because you will be getting sugar in the middle and top.  For the peanut butter version,


Creme de Peanut Butter variation - I swapped in Trader Joe's creamy (pretty liquidy) peanut butter for the creme de menthe. It was easy to spread.