Since it is Thursday, I decided to Think Out Loud with Amanda 🙂

I dislike nothing more than planning a weekend around a toddler… Yes, while “back home”, family is more than willing to watch the little man while I run “errands”. There are several things that I would have liked to do and see the last weekend while “back home” for a running event – some of which would have required said family to be a part of – i.e. Costco (yeah, I am that person that uses my MILs membership to get a few staple items when I am in town…I am okay with the side-eyes I am getting through the computer).

I am really excited to pace more races this spring and in the fall. My “sweet spot” for pacing well is between 2:40 and 3:00 for the half marathon distance.

I am excited to “find the joy in the journey” with running again this summer! I have a half that I am pacing in August in Colorado (Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half Marathon), but other than that, my summer will be a base building time. I look forward to getting back to the basics and making my own plan of attack.

I love that we live “close” to home…but the 2 hour drive is a little draining. Little man thinks that I can snap my fingers and we will magically be at Nana and Papa’s house. So these days, I cannot tell him where we are going or what we are doing when we get in the car… “Let’s Go!” That’s it. No expectations. The other day, I asked him if he wanted to go get some ice cream (he walked around the yard with me while I mowed and we were both super hot – ice cream was the obvious choice). He expected the ice cream to be in my hands 2 seconds later…and then cried and pouted about ice cream the whole way to the store. Since I knew that it would be like this for the next 30+ minutes if we bought ice cream from the store (and then had to wait to pay, drive, get home, serve,…etc), I decided to just stop by Wendy’s and get him a frosty. Some battles are just easier to pay a little more for less…

With multiple weekends away in the coming weeks (off and on the past several weeks as well), I really need to get my meal planning game in check! While it isn’t “difficult” to come up with what I am going to eat for the week, I have just been throwing things into my lunch bag in the morning and hoping that I don’t have to eat my arm off at any point in the day… Due to not having any races this summer (so far…), I should be able to get back on track in the next several weeks…

Due to my late finish at Scout Strong, the final finishers were urged to take a lot of the extra goodies. I ended up taking 3 bunches of bananas (no…not the whole box like the race director requested). Now I am in limbo as to what to do with them! I found quite a few Pinterest recipes that I might try… If all else fails, I will probably just freeze them and make a big batch of “nice cream” 🙂

BREAKFAST BANANA SPLIT

CINNAMON CRUMB BANANA BREAD

PEANUT BUTTER BANANA QUESADILLAS

Well…that’s all that I can think (out loud) of… 🙂 Have a great Thursday! Check out the other great link ups this week!