For the Love For Running

Lovely Tuesday evening! I woke up today feeling so giddy even with  my 5 hours of sleep and failed attempt to run at 5 in the morning. Well if you ask me why.. It's because I woke up to the sight of these lovely flowers on the bedside table. :)

Nah, they're not from JR unfortunately. He's not the "chocolate and flowers" type of guy. Stole Got them from the church AFTER last Sunday's service. Oh yes with emphasis on AFTER. LOL.

Well the week started pretty fun considering how busy our schedule was for the past few days. 

Last Sunday, I managed to go for a 50-minute run before going to church and I thank the heavens for helping me wake up so early even with my lack of ample sleep from last Saturday's dinner with friends. Just after the service, JR and I accidentally took a nap and ended up sleeping from 12:00nn - 3:30pm (Can you even call that a nap?). Then we went grocery shopping - picked up the little boy at my in-laws house - dropped him off at my parents house - did some SALE shopping at a nearby mall - picked up the little boy again - and finally head home. That pretty much covers our entire Sunday.

I honestly love the thought of marked down items but I totally dread the fact that there are a bunch of people falling in line at the dressing room and cashier counter. It was near impossible but the crowd was lesser when we came, probably because it was the last day of the mall sale and it was pretty late for somebody to 'just' start with their shopping. 

Monday showed some threat of a busy week ahead but we managed to start the week right. :)

First by unintentionally wearing pastel colors to work. LOL.

We honestly look like ice creams - mango and strawberry flavors.

We've decided to grab a quick dinner before heading home so we agreed to dine at North Park. 

I was in the mood for their Lapu-Lapu Fillet with Soft Tofu Hot Pot and I was always craving for Shrimp Dumplings so I ordered it right away without even taking a glimpse at the menu. Good thing it was available or I would've probably suggested we suppress our hunger and just go home.

JR had the Beef noodles, which he was not able to finish because it was too salty, and the Century Egg with Seaweed which was not impressive at all. Wait, are they supposed to be that impressive anyway?

We slept late that Monday and running on a Tuesday morning was too impossible. Thank God JR agreed we do it after work instead. 

Since I woke up a few minutes earlier than usual, I got to take photos of my packed lunch a.k.a. Green Monster Smoothie. Just so you guys know, every time I feel like I've been reckless with my diet the past days, I slow down and result to this and exchange the smoothie for at least 1 meal.

Though I've heard about this smoothie a couple of times already, it was a friend who really recommend that I try it. 

Ingredients:
- 2 handfuls of spinach
- 3-4 small leaves of celery
- 1 handful of malunggay leaves
- 2 pieces of banana
- 2 slices of mango or papaya (or any fruit)
- 2 tablespoons of low fat greek yogurt (or any regular, plain yougrt)
- 1 cup of water (or coconut water - tastes so better!)
- 1 cup of Soy milk (or any preferred milk)

Blend them all together.. and Voila! You have a healthy smoothie that can either replace 1 meal or give your regular meal a healthy kick. :)

So Tuesday afternoon it is when JR came in the area 2 hours earlier from our agreed time which was supposed to be 6pm. This guy was NEVER on time. He either comes in really really early or really really late. Believe you me. :-/

He just got off from a meeting and said he was starving so we've decided to grab some snack and fuel up for our run tonight at Coffee Bean.

I was calling out his name to look at the camera but he's really busy with his food. There are times I've been starting to really believe that hunger causes deafness. :-/

I thank God for the innovative and bright minds who created banana bread with walnuts! They're superb.. uh-mazing and delish!

And here comes my hot and good-looking running buddy for tonight...

 

Well now I can say he's very satisfied with his pre-run meal.. He smiled when I asked him to look at the camera.

Told you! Deafness and Hunger are correlated. Somebody should make a study out of that. :-P

And I'm ready to shed some fats..

 

And to my new little warrior... you did more than what is asked of you...

Therefore, you are blessed among the other running shoes. You made your master happy and proud. :)

The place was a haven for running and biking enthusiasts so as expected, there were teams and groups of people doing their own thing.

See the group in the middle? If I'm not mistaken that's a running clinic practicing for their run on September.

I can't wait to start with my actual training on Sept. 11. (More of it on the next post/s) 

But the crowd did not stop me from doing my post-run workout. 

My husband call this exercise "The Kim Kardashian workout". Haha.

I'm a big believer of push-ups. I got toned arms for doing 100 push-ups a day and even my other friends have noticed that. I never take this off from my 300 or 500 workout a day.

After running, we were invited for dinner by a friend since it was his dad's birthday. 

His dad was an amazing and disciplined runner and was just appointed as the President of our town's running group. He has been to several half and full marathons and he has been inviting us to some of his runs. When we arrived at their house, I was surprised to see all of his medals framed on the wall. I can always see the happiness in his eyes every time he gets to talk about his accomplishments when it comes to running. It actually inspires me more. It gives me a heightened sense of well-being to be around people who enjoys what they do no matter how unremarkable it may seem to others. To some people it may just be a past time, but to another, it might be love and passion. :)

XOXO
Einah

A Sunny Run and a Rainy Bike Ride.

Last Sept. 27 was a public holiday and it means I have the entire Monday to waste my time to. Recalling from what happened the night before, we went out for dinner at Red Palace (A Chinese resto) and we had another dinner at a friend's house afterwards. So now if you could just imagine the carbs I felt the need to burn. :(

JR woke up with a good working out mood and the weather was just so perfect for an outdoor run so I took advantage. Ha ha. We ran for about 40 mins. and biked for about an hour.

We don't have any bike of our own so we're lucky enough to find a store where we could rent some for as low as 25 PHP/hour. Really cheap eh?  

JR said he honestly prefers biking than running since he finds it easier. Even so, at least he has another physical activity that he most likely enjoy other than basketball and hiking. :-/

 

Probably it was just about after 30 mins. of biking that the rain started to pour. 

Have you noticed the house submerged in water? Unfortunately, the flood hasn't subsided yet on their place from the last typhoon. :(

JR said that the rain was just "passing by", funny that he used such term but he was practically right since after about 20mins. of raining, Mr. Sun showed up again.

And here I am totally giddy after all the running and biking.. and totally wet from the sweat and rain.

We went to Banapple for breakfast since I was craving for some cheesecake.

JR had the Hickory Smoked barbecue and a home brewed ice tea which I believe was way too sweet.

 

I had the Asian Salad, a Cafe Americano and oh my oh my! a blueberry cheesecake which totally made my awesome day! 

Not bad to reward yourself once in a while right? :)

Since it has been a stressful week for us at work, we decided to just spend the rest of the afternoon at home. The only time we went out again was for dinner with JR's friends at a nearby restaurant called "House of Kare-kare" in Antipolo. The food was "okay" but not enough for me to want to go back there again. I can say that my mom and JR's lola (Filipino word for grandmother) has the best kare-kare I've tasted so far. 

I actually miss spending holidays at home.. The last job I had requires us to work during holidays and sometimes weekends even if I worked under HR/Recruitment. So now I'm enjoying every single public holiday and making sure I make the most out of it. :)

- Einah

Highlights of the Past Weeks

Today, I set out a promise to myself to be more devoted in my blog and update it as soon as I've got something interesting in hand. It's been weeks.. and hell did I realize.. it's been almost 2 months since I failed to update it. Poor blog. :'(


Anyhoo, allow me to give you a recap of the interesting things that happened from the past weeks.. err.. months. Well, I can say that I am proud of myself for being more active though I've been a tad bit careless with my diet. My advocacy for being slim has shifted to being more FIT and FAB while having FUN! LOL.


Our plans for starting out with a Yoga class finally happened and we tried the Ashtanga Yoga which involves synchronizing the breath with progressive series of postures. 


I can say that the Yoga instructor was patient enough to guide us all throughout the class. I love the ambiance and the view from the yoga rooms though my main concern was that the shower rooms are located near the swimming pools which are supposedly for the hotel guests only. We just sneaked out and pretended that we just finished swimming.

We were able to also celebrate my son's birthday at a private pool nearby and though it was a last minute reservation, we were able to score a really nice and affordable place.

The living room

A view from the pool

From L-R: Feline, Me, Carla, Neeca, Dawn, Cherry, Apol and Aly

Keifer, Feline and Faith having fun in the rain.

Munch time! :)

Also last June (if my memory serves it right), I had a 10k run at the UP Campus which took me for about an hour and 15mins to finish. Well, I know it's something I don't have to be proud of but at least a 5-minute improvement from the last was a good start. And considering the fact that I was too lazy to go for a good run before the actual "run". Hehe.

We were actually 30 minutes late but still managed to take a picture before running. Haha.

And finally after an hour or so... 

Then we head out to Banapple (which is a place known for their delish cakes) for some BIG breakfast.

Well definitely not me.. =P

We also spent the last weekend of June at Malvar Batangas with my hubby's family. His mom got a discount to one of the new hotels there so we've all decided to just spend some quiet family time and just catch up.

As you can see it, it seems like we're the only living guest in the hotel so it feels like we've exclusively rented the place. =P

Just as I thought we were the only guest, there was a birthday celebration held at the function area.

And yes you're not mistaken.. he did not forget to bring his dear PS3.

 We woke up with some really great sunshine! :)

This is the first time I heard JR's sister play the piano. As you can see, Keifer's her number one fan. :)

 A stop over at a nearby restaurant for lunch..

Well that pretty much covers the details of the past weeks I failed to update. Well there is one thing actually but I plan to create a well-deserved separate post about it. 

Last June 24, I joined e 5-week fitness boot camp that gives you a chance to experience all sorts of (well, most I guess) physical activities. From yoga to pilates, boxing, cross fit, trx, circuit training, running, etc. I'm on my fourth week now and it has been one of the greatest things that happened to me this year. It taught me how to push myself beyond my limits and enjoy exercising as a physical activity. I got to meet a lot of people who inspires me more to be fitter and healthier. I promise to share a separate post so I could share each particular learning I had from the very first day. :)

Talk soon! ;)
Einah

"One More Night" Maroon 5's new song

Don't you just find A.L. really hot on this video? Well I do.. though he'd look way HOTTER sans the shirt on. LOL. =D