Weekend recap and dueling greeks!

Good evening! Thanks for being patient with my posting- computer issues and such have been plaguing me. I want to do a quick weekend recap from my time in Chicago. I don't have too many pictures to share because my sis was the 'official photographer' so perhaps I will have more later.

The weekend began with a flight to Chicago Friday night, meeting up with my sis and bro in law, and hitting up THE BIGGEST WHOLE FOODS! It was in Lincoln Park and it was amazing. There were so many food options that it was overwhelming. Unfortunately, I'm a new blogger so I totally forgot to take pics in my awe-like stupor. It is safe to say that I got some good stuff from the "trail mix bar" and made an amazing salad for dinner.

Saturday began with a nice easy shakeout run. Me and the sis then went to Navy Pier for packet pickup. This is the part where I want to give a big shout out to Stonyfield for being a sponsor of the Chicago 1/2 Marathon. After I just revealed during my last post that I would be reviewing some of their products, I found them at the expo! They were giving out FREE greek yogurt and all of their volunteers were very friendly. Lots of coupons were handed out as well. Here is a pic of my surprised face that says "how-is-it-possible-that-i-have-a-free-greek-yogurt-in-each-hand?":

After the expo escapades, we went to a cute frozen yogurt place where I got some concoction that cost me $7! Gotta love the city! Atleast it was lunch and delicious. We spent the rest of the afternoon making hommade pasta and watching U of M pull something crazy out of their butts for the win! After a walk it was time for a pre-race dinner......

You better believe that that is a 1/2 pint of fro yo with cereal on the side and a 1/2 glass of wine. Ahh, dinner of champs!

The morning and the 1/2 marathon came. I'd rather not bore you with a play-by-play race report. Moral of the story: I psyched myself out mentally before the start. I kept saying things about how I was too fat or too slow or hadn't done enough speed work to PR. Bad way to approach a race. The whole time I wanted to speed up but I was afraid I would run out of energy. The course was pretty though (along Lakeshore Drive) and it was hot, which I like. I ended up finishing in the top 1% of women with a 1:35, which is off from my 1:30 PR, but I felt like I could have kept going for a full marathon. Sigh. Oh well, time to crank up the speedwork I guess!

After sommore free Oikos, it was back on the train and out to B-fast which went unpictured as well. Then, back to the airport and home! Such a good weekend with my sis. Here is us right before I left:

I should also mention that she is a very talented photographer. You can check out her work here.

Then Monday rolled around and my life was interviews and driving back and forth between my apartment and my parents' house. I did manage to chop off about 8" of my hair. Felt. So. Good. I'm very impulsive when it comes to my hair. I decided spur of the moment and went with it. Trying a more "professional" look in hope that it will help me look more 'teacher-y' and get a job.

What? You thought I only had the amazing $5 sunglasses in orange? Ha! How's that for professional?

Yesterday I ran 5 miles easy in the AM, then did a track workout with my old team in the dark evening. 6x800 with 200 jog rest which felt very...quick...for rest! 2:55, 3:00, 3:01, 3:01, 3:01, 2:59 were the splits - decent since I haven't done speed work in about 9 months! It was fun to run on the dark track with the team.

Today I had my first sub job of the school year today. It actually went really well, and I got hooked up for a couple more jobs in the upcoming week through talking to other teachers. The only way the day was made even better was by coming home to this:

My little soldiers all lined up:

When the nice people at Chobani contacted me last week and said I would have a package on Wednesday, they weren't kidding! I was SO EXCITED to see this on my doorstep. A cannot wait to try them all. This is what my "yum-excited-t0-try-yogurt-even-though-i'm-sweaty-after-a-run" face looks like.

Which leads me to the battle of the Greeks! I will be posting reviews of Chobani as I try them and let you know the final word from peaceloveandrunning land! A HUGE thank you to Chobani for being so giving in this lovely package!

Ok, you made it through this post. I may try to post a "day in the life" post soon of my eats if I remember to take pics. We shall see! For now I'm off for some fro yo and some sleeps! Catch ya later!

Alrighty, well thanks to those who commented on my last blog- good to know that I'm not COMPLETELY just talking to myself!