Do you guys know the song “Proud” by Heather Small? It’s the Biggest Loser theme song and I absolutely love it! I feel empowered every time I hear it so that’s why before my 7 mile run yesterday (which I was very nervous about) I went to itunes and downloaded the Josh Harris Pride remix of this song (a little faster than the regular) and listened to it before my run (and at about mile 6.5).  I really wanted to title my next post the way I did and for that of course I had to kick that 7 mile run’s booty, right? Well I did it!!!!!!! I did it with no walking at all, at that! I was SO proud

Strategies for yesterday’s run to ensure success:

• Had a smallish but hearty breakfast + coffee;
• Updated my workout playlist, which got me really pumped for the run;
• Made sure to purposely slow down at the beginning of the run.  I felt like I was SO slow, but I knew it was necessary for me to finish strong.

And I did! My average speed was 9:01, much slower than I’ve been running but it was the best run mentally, and my goal was to finish it – I didn’t care about speed. It was hard, but I didn’t think about walking at all. And I just kept on thinking about this post and how proud I’d be to write what I’m writing

Oh and another small personal victory: I wore just capri pants + a sportsbra for the run. It’s been so hot and I didn’t want to overheat, so I just went for it. My clothes were cute (thanks Innz for my lululemon gear!) and my newly acquired little tan made me feel confident. I have never ever worn just a sports bra to the gym or outside, even when I was thinner. This was a huge confident booster because I felt like I was rocking that sports bra and no one could tell me otherwise. I’ll spare you the pics

Onto the weekend’s eats. It was a really fun weekend! *This is 2 days’ worth of food.*

SATURDAY

Insert a speedy 2 mile run here at 8:07 minute/miles

I dragged Adam to Tendercrop Farm again to buy some grass fed lean beef to make my little burger. I also bought some corn on the cob, a large tomato, and brought 1/2 Food for Life english muffin (all I had) + 1/2 avocado (all I had). I felt a little high maintenance doing this but whatever – my body was thanking me for not consuming over processed sausages the guys were eating. I also stuck to water at the pool party; just didn’t feel like drinking light beer.

On corn: I’ve never grilled corn (never had a grill) and it was interesting to hear that everyone had their own approach to grilling corn – some left the husk on and just plopped it on the grill until the husk was charred, some took the husk off, buttered and S&Ped the corn and wrapped it in tin foil; others left the husk on and wrapped it in tin foil. We decided to test out all the methods on the grill on Saturday. The clear winner: husk on, foiled = juicier corn, less messy grilling

I tried a new bar: Nature’s Path Weil Goji Moji

It was delicious, but very orangy. It says it’s cranberry and goji berry flavored but two of the ingredients were orange peel and orange oil and they really overwhelmed the rest of the flavors. Despite the mislabeled bar flavor (in my opinion) I really enjoyed this bar! *I only had 1/2 of it, so maybe when I have it again and it’s less hot (it was sitting in my purse in the heat before) the cranberry and goji berry flavors will stand out more. We’ll see…

Other food related news: our friends Kyle and Tiffany had their wedding cake at the end of the party (Kyle’s parents, hosts of the pool party, froze a piece of the cake for them). They celebrated their 1-year anniversary last weekend. Here’s is a little action shot of them tasting it. So cute

Um, apparently it tasted like freezer.  Oh well

Dinner was at a local pizza joint in Newburyport – Oregano.

I started with a glass of cabernet and took forever to decide what pizza I wanted. Everything sounded so good! Finally we decided to split a large – my half was the scampi (evoo, crushed garlic, fresh basil, shrimp & grape tomatoes); Adam got the sopressata topping. Oh and I asked to omit the evoo on mine

I had 2 slices of the scampi:

And 1 slice of Adam’s sopressata:

I loved the little fresh oregano sprinkles on it

The pizza was so yummy! Maybe it was because that was exactly what I was craving but I thought it was really great. I fought hard not to eat the last piece and was happy at the end of the day that I didn’t. On the ride home my belly finally caught up with my brain and they both agreed I was satisfied and not hungry at all

SUNDAY

Leftover stir-fried tofu and bok choy in ginger sauce + quinoa:

Brownie from Tendercrop Farm; coffee from Au Bon Pain:

The brownie melted in my purse during the pool party so the caramel and pecans kind of melted into the brownie batter, making for an ugly picture – but man, this was incredible!!!! I raved about their rocky road brownie last week and this one was potentially even more amazing. I think a trip to Tendercrop Farm every time we’re near Newburyport is mandatory from now on

Insert here a picture of some raw pecans. I burnt a lot of calories on my run (nearly 900, including the 1+ mile walk home after the run) but I just wasn’t that hungry (working out really curbs my hunger – weird!). Concerned that I wasn’t eating enough, I grabbed a bag of pecans and had a few handfuls. I love nuts!

Dinner: TJ’s quatro formaggio tortellini with zucchini, spinach and sundried tomatoes + a little bit of garlic and evoo. Yum!

All right, I think that’s it. That was a marathon of a post How was your weekend? What have you done today to make you feel proud?

PS – I did wear my bathing suit to the pool party on Saturday (and didn’t keep it conceiled under a summer dress like on the Fourth of July). No more self doubt! It felt good and I got a sweet tan