I Can't Stop Eating These Chips

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My last post was so chock full of weekend goodness that I forgot to tell you about the yummy lentils I made for dinner last night. I modified a recipe, Simples of Simple Yellow Lentils in The Indian Slow Cooker by Anupy Singla.

1 lb lentils (I didn't get yellow ones)
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 small vine red tomatoes
1/2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
1/2 green chile, seeded and diced
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
3/4 teaspoon salt
1.5 teaspoons turmeric powder
dash of cayenne pepper
8 cups water

I put the water and lentils on to boil. Once they were boiling I dropped in the tomatoes for easy peeling. Meanwhile I diced up the onions, garlic, ginger, chile, and sauteed them for a few minutes in a little olive oil. Once they were fragrant and a bit soft I added them to the lentils. I removed the tomatoes, peeled them, diced and added them back in. I dry toasted the cumin seeds for a few minutes (don't ask me why, just seemed like a good idea) and then added that along with the rest of the spices. Let the whole thing cook for 20-30 minutes in total (from when the lentils started boiling).

Served myself 1 cup of lentils over a 1/2 cup of white rice. Oh my yumminess. So good. Ok, that's my recipe share for the year, on to other things.

I went for a run this morning, as planned. I met up with Amber and Anne, a couple Marin Tri Club ladies. We ran along a levee that has some beautiful scenery. We were all together at the start and then I drifted off on my own, made a wrong turn and ended up having to backtrack. I had my Garmin but didn't look at it much. At around mile three I glanced and saw my overall time was close to 33 minutes, averaging around 11 minute miles. Oh come on, I can do better than that. So I picked up the pace.

And I kept picking up the pace. Mile five came in at 9:27 even! Fortunately the path is almost completely flat, running along the water and all. I was so happy with my final time, 1:02:09 for an average pace of 10:21 per mile. I'm inching my way back.

post-run smile

Speaking of inching my way back...I registered for a half-marathon, the US Half Marathon San Francisco in November. Finally got something on the books. While this will be my first time running this particular half-marathon, I've run in this area many times now, both in races and for fun.

It's hard to go wrong with a route that includes running over the bridge. So I have plenty of time to train, November 2nd is still 17 weeks away. But I'm also thinking about doing the Santa Cruz Triathlon again. Such a great race. That's in September. We'll see.

Back to the present. After the run I came home and we packed up the kids to take them to breakfast with my mom.

I'd already had my morning cereal before the run so this was pretty much my second breakfast, being it was still too early for lunch. I had a 2-egg scramble with onions and mushrooms, a slice of dry sourdough with jam and a bowl of fruit.

After breakfast #2 we took them to the pool. It's been a pretty warm weekend and they're starting swim lessons tomorrow so I thought it would be good to get them in the water in preparation for the lessons. We all had a great time, me especially because during one of the adult swim sessions I swam laps for 15 minutes., probably my first time swimming since Santa Cruz. My arms were aching at first but they settled into a rhythm before too long. I really do love swimming, so relaxing, especially the way I do it, like a casual Sunday stroll, but in the pool.

After the pool both the kids and I were sort of burnt out. We really packed a lot into this weekend. We basically vegged out for the rest of the day. I did household stuff, laundry and whatnot, while the kids fried brain cells watching cartoons between short bursts of outdoor activity. It was a cranky evening for all of us but we survived.

The tracking continues to go well. The biggest thing is that I'm still doing it. Tonight was a little touch-and-go for a moment when I was on the couch with a bag of potato chips (leftover for our 4th party). I had some, put the clip back on, took it off, had some more - you know the routine. And then I had the thought, "I can't stop eating these." I recognized this as a sabotaging thought that basically gives me permission to keep eating them. So I responded with, "Hey, maybe put them back in the cupboard, that would probably help you to stop eating them." So I did, and then I made myself a cup of tea. So far, so good. I logged the chips and that put me 16 calories over for the day. I'll take it.

Ok, so I stayed up ridiculously late last night, don't want to repeat that, gotta go to bed. Thanks for reading.