I love November because I do not have to wake up at the crack of dawn to get my weekend runs out of the way. It was about 50 degrees today, and it was just fine that  I got my run under way at around 1 o’clock.

So I finally got up after 8:30 this morning. I had a small breakfast and coffee (and water). I threw in a load of laundry, and emptied the dishwasher. I watched MSNBC.  I basically futzed around the house this morning and loved it. I did not really let the fact that I had a five mile run scheduled loom over me (sure it did a little bit – but not really).

Breakfast was a small bowl of shredded wheat and 1 % milk.  The coffee was the chocolate almond, and it was wonderful!

I left the house and headed over to the gym. I checked in, put my stuff in a locker and then headed over to the new Lululemon store which is on the East Side of Providence.

I’m eyeing a bag and hoping someone might get it for me over the holidays. (Christmas? My birthday? Who knows!)

(Source)

After walking around the store for a while, I walked back to the gym and got ready for the run.

I had my Garmin with me and I had to try and figure out what to wear on a colder (than it has been) day. I decided on running pants, a short sleeve shirt and a light weight running coat. I actually got sort of warm after the first mile and a half.

The most exciting thing about my run was that a mile into it another runner started on to the same trail I was on, just in front of me (maybe 75 – 80 yards ahead of me?). For half a mile we were running like this. I finally caught up with her. She was definitely making me run faster, and it was great. When I finally caught up with her I thought I would just pass her – but instead, I asked her if she was training for a specific race. I couldn’t believe I had the nerve to talk to this person that I did not know.

I was immediately really happy that I did talk with her. She has run a lot of marathons, and we are about the same age (she’s a couple of years younger than I am – sigh).  She was very excited about the idea of training together and this made me so happy. We both tend to run in the evening, and she likes to run outside even when it is dark.  I really hope that we do end up doing some runs together, we are at a really similar pace. We talked for about four miles and eventually went back to my gym where I got a piece of paper from the front desk and we exchanged our information.  I love the idea of having a training partner!

After my five miles, I went to East Side Market to get some food. Spinach, red pepper, Greek yogurts, bagels, bread (Arnold’s Double Protein bread!), milk, Kashi oatmeal, and so on. I also picked up an Odwalla protein drink (vanilla, 25 grams of protein).

After the grocery store I stopped by City Sports to have get some winter running gear. I got a (geek alert) reflective running vest for running at night, another pair of running tights and a couple pairs of socks. I cannot seem to keep out of City Sports these days.  I drank my protein shake on my walk over to City Sports.

I got home, put away groceries and then whipped up a quick lunch. The rest of last night’s tomato soup and half a bagel:

This was a lunch I had a lot growing up – I remember weekend lunches in fourth grade of tomato soup and bagels. So good!

Dinner will be a chicken sausage, tomato sauce and pasta with sautéed spinach.

I’m signing off for now – see you in a bit.