Happy Spring???

Is it really Spring? You wouldn't know it up here or I guess I should say that depending on the day you don't know it. Yesterday it was 50 and today it's cold, rainy and windy. YUCK! I was hoping that by this time I would be running outside more often but sadly, that has only been able to happen twice. Yesterday was one of those days, though and I found a wonderful (and free) new trainer! His name is Bascom and he's my 9 month old Golden Retriever (cutest on the Planet!). Micah had taken him out for a run the other day and since the dog was going stir crazy, I decided to take him with me yesterday. He was great. He pulled just enough to get me to run a little faster which was exactly what I needed. His favorite part was getting to the off-leash section of the park where he was able to run free and run he did....like the crazy dog he is. :)

Training has been going pretty well. I had to re-vamp my schedule a little as life had gotten in the way just a bit and I was about a week behind. No big deal, though because I'm perfectly on track for the 5k now. Runs are getting more challenging which is a little scary. This week I'm re-doing week 5 because it's supposed to be nicer so I can run outside based on distance as opposed to just time because I know that I don't run the 9 or 10 minute mile they expect. It's kind of nice that I have the ability to do that because this week is Micah's birthday week and there are a couple of nights out to eat that will mess with my schedule a little. I'm hoping to still fit a run in before dinner tomorrow night with our parents but I don't know if it'll actually happen with the longer school days now. I do feel good that I worked out 3 times last week. I was going for 4 but my spinning class was so hard on Wednesday that the instructor suggested we take two days off. I was sore and obliged. :)

I feel like I've been eating pretty well lately, too. We went out on Thursday and I ordered a great salad from the Great Dane. It is their take on Panzanella and Caprese Salad. It uses Pita Bread instead of a regular Italian bread and I think I only ate 2 of the slices of cheese, made for a pretty healthy salad. Tomorrow might not be quite as healthy as we're going for sushi and sometimes I just don't know how to stop with sushi. Tonight I was going to take Micah out for some yummy dinner but because his drill went soooooooo long he's just grabbing take-out from Granite City on the way home - still yummy! I am not deciding how healthy I want to be...pasta just sounds goooooooood.

I'm not seeing a lot so far as far as weight-loss but I am noticing that my pants and tops are fitting a little differently. I'm hoping that later this week I'll see a little more when I'm not retaining water. ;)

Anyway, I said I would throw a recipe in every time I blog and I will not back out on that promise. Last weekend I was craving chocolate but I didn't want it to be horrible for me. I found (this) recipe for some yummy and fudgy brownies that only have 132 calories per brownie. They were a great snack with some of the strawberries I've been hoarding now that they're on sale. Try them. They were even hubby approved. I highly recommend a high quality bittersweet chocolate and powder as it makes all the difference.

Anyway, off to grab a card and some candles for the hubby's birthday cake. I'll post a picture later this week. I successfully made a two tier cake and I'm VERY proud of myself. It's preeeeeetty. Have a good week all.