I have no clue what to tell you right now. No, seriously. Not a clue. You see, a lot of times I pre-write the main body of my posts one post ahead. I will edit, update and add the photos quickly closer to publishing, but the main writing has to come when I have more time to think – aka nap times and earlier wake-up calls.

This normally works just fine because I know ahead of time what I want to share or what I plan to do in a day. But, shooooot….didn’t work so well this time. I wrote this post this morning with not a clue as to what my day had in store for me…and therefore, not a clue what to tell you! But, it’s worth it. Or at least I hope it is. Remember, I have not a clue what is going on here.

After my long run this morning, Peter had some things planned as a celebration for my birthday. I had two requests – I don’t want to have to plan/worry/think about anything and I want to feel special/pampered/doted on more than normal. I know he feels he has to make up for the Mothers Day fiasco so he is sticking strongly to the surprise, fun, laid back, all-about-me day. But I don’t know what that involves. Good thing this control freak actually LOVES surprises like this and I promise to share it all with you tomorrow afternoon!

But I won’t leave you without anything. I still have this week’s FFF Features. Happy Saturday and happy reading!  

Featured Personal Post: Tough Decision – deciding to wean Braedon

Runner Up: More in 5-4-3-2-1 – a fun little survey type post I came up with (love reading all your versions that have popped up around the blogosphere!)

Featured Workout Post: Running Tips to Start Running – ten things that helped me get started running and continue making progress in my training

Runner Up: Sweating Another Birthday – Ouch. Ouch. Ouch. = this weights workout

Featured Recipe/Meal Post: Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Runner Up: Meal By Meal approach to eating habits.

Featured Fun Post: Blog Secrets – fun updates and tools for blogging

Runner Up: The Birthday Edition – recap of my actual birthday

Featured Cuteness: Kiddos Playing Together

Featured Reading: Then Heather Said 

Super duper sweetheart. Super duper funny. Super duper real. Super duper inspiring! Heather talks about a lot of stuff on her blog in a very genuine way. I always feel like I’m sitting down to chat with a good friend when I read her blog and am so proud of her! It felt fantastic to finally meet her this past weekend at Healthy Living Summit! She is just as wonderful in person. Give her some love!

• Do you like surprises? I love to be surprised for gifts/celebrations. I have never been one to try to find my Christmas presents and I would love a surprise birthday party someday!
• Have you entered the Luna Protein Giveaway??

Good morning!! Have you managed to enjoy yourself so far? Perhaps sleep in a bit or have a leisurely morning reading blogs, snuggling your children/furbabies? Or were you like me – waking up at 5:30 am to eat so you can start your long run of the week by 6:30 am? Good times. Good times.

I’m not going to lie to you. That run…ick. All because of that pesky half mile dangling off the end of those nine miles.

When setting out for my run, reaching 9.5 miles – half a mile longer than my previous personal distance record – didn’t seem daunting at all. Then, as I got going, the thought having to do an extra half of a mile seemed brutal. It felt cruel to have to give that extra effort…but not get the super high from hitting double digits! Don’t ask how my mind works that it would have seemed easier to do a 10 mile run instead of a 9.5 mile run. Logic fails me sometimes.

I could have ran an extra half to hit the ten mile mark, but I like to stick to the plan when it comes to long runs. Okay…I honestly just didn’t want to have to find somewhere to run around and rack up the extra mileage. I had my route planned out to the tee to help me get right at 9.5 miles. I even went so far to make certain I would get the ugly main road portion of my run out of the way first and have the last few miles to go through prettier neighborhood scenery.

Too bad that thought process of having the pretty part to look forward to failed me. I had to go past where I parked for the last 1.5 mile loop. It about killed me seeing my car and then having to wave bye-bye to finish up after already feeling so tired. My mind had checked out! And that made my body check out too because the last 1.5 were quite brutal. The joy of breakfast awaiting me after getting home pushed me through. 

Immediately after getting home I poured both sample boxes of the Quaker Oatmeal Squares cereal we received at the Healthy Living Summit into a bowl and added a large handful of blueberries and raisins. All topped off with some unsweetened vanilla almond milk. Chomp. Chomp. Chomp. Ahhhhh…

I heart cereal!!! I think Peter felt a little disheartened that I wouldn’t share a box with him. Sorry, bud. You don’t want to mess with a hungry runner’s breakfast!

Go ahead and laugh. Lisa – I know you are since you say I don’t have a mean bone in my body. Oh well…I have other ways to frighten Peter. Like bringing up quinoa. Oh, if he only knew what was coming his way next week. *insert evil cackle here*

• Do you have a fitness milestone you can’t wait to reach? I am so looking forward to hitting double digit runs! Hopefully next weekend!
• Do you plan the favorite parts of your workouts towards the beginning or end of your workout?