Posted on August 25, 2009 - by Ashley Jackson

Grilled chicken, mmm mmm good…

After getting very little sleep the night before last and having a nice two hour nap yesterday evening, I got very little sleep again last night.  I was more tired at work today than I was yesterday! I got into work around 7AM and decided to breakfast with my first taste of Chobani 0% Greek Yogurt while I checked my email.

This was surprisingly good! The consistency was more like custard or thick sour cream than your typical yogurt. The yogurt itself was neither too tart nor too sugary, and the peaches on the bottom provided just the right amount of sweetness to make this absolutely delicious. This was a little pricey, but well worth it–I grabbed a couple more containers of Chobani 0% and some of Stonyfield’s Oikos Greek yogurt with fruit on the bottom to try, too. I hope they’re as good!

And it turned out to be well worth the cost, because this kept me full until I ate lunch. I did remember to bring those brownies I bought Sunday to work, though, where they were eaten and enjoyed. But not before I grabbed another one of each…

Even though I wasn’t hungry, I ate the little cream cheese one on the right. These brownies were surprisingly good for having come from Harris Teeter’s bakery–they just need to tell the guy who piped on the icing to tone it down a little next time.

I have been instructed not to forget to mention the cheese puff I ate this morning, purloined from a co-worker’s snack bowl. I haven’t had a cheese puff in forever, and it was goooood…I meant to go back for more, but fortunately I forgot.

At 11AM I took my official lunch break, which for the past few months has consisted of taking a half hour walk down the trail near the office. Since no one wanted to walk with me today (*ahem*) I took my MP3 player and got my brisk walk on. It was a nice day for walking–it wasn’t 90 degrees and  unbearably humid for once.

When I got back, I put together my lunch and popped it into the microwave, and ate it while I worked. (Thanks to college, I have magnificent eating-while-working skills.)

Last night I used my awesome food steamer to steam some broccoli florets, a carrot, and some mushrooms. When they were done, I smothered them in marina sauce, and for lunch I mixed them with some leftover tortellini from Sunday night and had a little bit of wheat French bread on the side. This was strangely delicious, and I have about the same amount as shown here still in the containers I brought for lunch–guess I’ll be eating it tomorrow, too! I have another little container full of tortellini that is going to have to go into the freezer, as I’m really not a big fan of pasta and don’t think I can eat it more than three times this week.

For my afternoon snack, I ate the chocolate frosted brownie, and it was good. But it is also good that the brownies are gone…

I wasn’t very hungry for dinner, but I was craving a grilled chicken thigh and wanted to use up the rest of my salad, so I threw together this:

The rest of the European salad mix, some halved grapes, bacon crumbles, and grilled mushrooms, sprinkled with a bit too much balsamic vinegar. And “on the side,” a beautiful, delicious grilled chicken thigh, heavily seasoned with Penzey’s Ozark seasoning.

I love my George Foreman Grill–it cooks up chicken in no time and give it a nice crispy grilled outside and a juicy center. I didn’t eat all of the salad, but the chicken didn’t last long.

About an hour after dinner, I decided if I didn’t get a Couch to 5K jog in today I was going to completely mess up my schedule again. So I put on my workout clothes and my running shoes, strapped on my MP3 player, zipped my keys into my back pocket, and headed for the fitness center at my apartment.

And while I was walking there, I realized the sun was shining and it was almost cool outside, and something in the air reminded me of summer in Kentucky when I was a little kid playing in my grandparents’ backyard, and I couldn’t bring myself to go inside to run…so instead, I walked to the posh neighborhood next to my apartment complex and did my run outside.

And oh, how I forgot how different running up those little hills and valleys in the sidewalk is compared to running flat on a treadmill. I had decided to go back to Week 3 of the Couch to 5K, which is a five minute walk, then a 90- second run, a 90-second walk, a 3-minute run, a 3-minute walk, then repeat staring at the 90-second run. he runs didn’t seem nearly as long as the last time I was in Week 3, but midway through the final run I had to stop and walk–my calves were killing me from those hills.

I walked for about thirty seconds, and then I scolded myself and started running again, faster than before, and got through that last bit of jogging. It was difficult, but I can tell I’m doing better than I was before. Last time I got into Week 3 and life intervened and threw me off track–so here’s to finishing Week 3 and getting into Week 4!

After my jog and a shower, I put together a little platter of food to snack on before bed.

Four slices of Genoa salami, half a slice of co-jack cheese that looked lonely, a handful of those wonderful grapes, six strawberries, and a little bit of Fage 0% Greek Yogurt instead of sugar for dipping. A strange snack, but satisfying.

And now, I’m going to bed, even though it’s not even 8:30…