Running Army Wife

I've been addicted to strawberries lately. This summer, it's been rare to not find them in my fridge. I made this strawberry-mango salsa (absolutely delish) and I got to thinking.. hm.. sometimes you can substitute strawberry for tomato and get away with it. Why not in caprese salad? Then I did some googling and discovered that my idea was actually not unqiue at all. But this is my own version of strawberry caprese. :) Strawberry Caprese Salad Sliced Strawberries Sliced fresh, moist mozzarella cheese Fresh basil leaves drizzle with Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette (I found mine at the grocery store, but there are plenty of recipes out there to make it on your own) That's it. I didn't add olive oil or salt and pepper, but that would certainly give you a more traditional caprese taste. I wanted it to be more about the strawberries. Because really.. anything tomatoes can do, strawberries can do better. :) Enjoy!

I just ran about 4 miles.. which doesn't seem like much but it was a hill workout and about 100 degrees outside. I just sweated a lot. And ate a pretty salty dinner. I thought I'd share my post-workout shake that I've been having lately with my obsession of strawberries. I know what you're thinking. It doesn't look like there is any chocolate in there. Trust me, there is. But the trick is that it's very subtle. That's why it's a "Strawberry Chocolate" shake and not a "Chocolate Strawberry" shake. Just sayin'. If you need more chocolate, go ahead and add it. This is my version though. Strawberry Chocolate Post-Workout Milkshake 1 1/2 fresh strawberries 1/2 cup of milk (this doesn't seem like a lot, but the strawberries make a lot of juice) 2 or 3 ice cubes 1 scoop of chocolate protein powder (I use whey protein* from Kroger, one of the main ingredients is cocoa powder) Blend. Garnish with mint leaf and strawberry. Serves 1. And...

I've been listening to this song a little too much lately. Perfect "I miss you" song. I'm seeing Owl City in just a few weeks and it's going to be amazing to hear this live. I might cry. "The silence isn't so bad til I look at my hands and feel sad, because the spaces between my fingers are right where yours fit perfectly."

I've had my bike for about 6 months now.. and I love it. I'm pretty sure that most runners end up being road bikers at some point, as soon as they can afford it. Our knees need a break every once in a while and it's nice to switch thing up and go really FAST. The only bad thing about my bike is that handlebars are unfortunately white, and so they are starting to get pretty dirty. See? So I decided to go to my local bike shop to get some bike gloves. And I thought.. hmmm. While I'm there, I should see what they have as far as biking shoes. I already have clipless pedals (well.. my hubby has them, but it's not like he can use them while he's at Ranger School). Needless to say, I walked out with my new biking gloves AND shoes. And the bike shop guy was nice enough to install the pedals for me too! Aren't they pretty?? I've been out on them twice now (3 times if you include the time I tried them out at the store!) and I haven't gotten stuck and fallen ye...

Yesterday I got to talk to my hubby for the first time in 3 weeks- with the exception of a couple letters. We got to talk on video chat for a while and it was great to see him and hear his voice. He just passed Phase 1 of Ranger School* and is on to Phase 2 today. Another 3 weeks til I will hear his voice. Whew. Here we go. I also randomly got this luna bar in the mail, apparently from doing the Naperville SheROX Triahlon a month ago. Kind of a nice surprise. :) There are perks to doing cool races like that. I decided to celebrate my hubby passing Phase 1, and made myself this 1-minute Peanut Butter Cake and a pretty drink. It was pretty good, but if I made it again, I think it would have to have more chocolate. I enjoyed this while watching an old Harrison Ford film. This morning, I'm off to the bike store to start looking at some cycling shoes! *If you don't know much about Ranger School, check out this awesome documentary on the Discovery Channel.

I love running and I love my husband. They also go hand-in-hand for me. I met my husband because we were both on the cross country teams in high school (yes, we are high school sweethearts). I also like to tell people that I had heard before "To decide who you should marry, run after God as hard as you can, and then look beside you." This ended up being more than a metaphor for me.. although in real life, my hubby is way ahead of me! I haven't been an Army wife for very long. But my husband has now been away at training for almost 6 months, so I now at least a better understanding of the long-distance Army relationship. And running really helps me deal with that. I've finally learned to be happy (at least most of the time), even while we are apart. This is my journey as a runner (and aspiring triathlete) and as an Army wife.. trying to figure things out as a I go along. I also love cooking both good and healthy food for my hubby and learning new recipes while he's...