
Madison a.k.a. the state capital of Wisconsin yo!
Welcome ladies and gents, children and babies, friends and families to the home of cheese – WISCONSIN (pronounced Wiss-cahhhhn-sin if you are from the Midwest)! I thought y’all might like a little pic of where yours truly roamed her college days as well as current days.
FYI: The State Capitol’s dome is one of the largest in the world. Ya heard it here.
Flashback to last night…
Believe it or not, I got EVERYTHING done on my to-do list, with a few modifications of course. I scrapped the Mint thang because online budgeting was too dang confusing. Instead, I relied on my old friend Excel to whip up a nice lil’ spreadsheet. Second, I found no plug-in converter at Target and forgot the oven cleaner. However, I did pick up some cooking spray, butter, a dress and the new Shape magazine. Damn you Tarjay!

grilled balsamic veggie wrap

1/2 container Siggi's Icelandic yog + raspberry jelly + ground flax

POM Pomegranate Hibiscus Green Tea
The lovely peeps at POM (shoutout to you Molly!) sent me some of their POMx tea to try. It’s got a new name, new flavors and is light! It’s real brewed tea with 100% POM juice and other natural flavas. I’ve also got Pomegranate Lychee Green Tea + Pomegranate Wildberry White to try!
After reading the label (always a must!), I have one small frustration: fructose + erythritol-sweetened. Although these claim to be “natural,” we all know the truth from the Vitamin Water 10 shenanigans of yore.
This mornin’…
With 15 miles on the brain, I set my alarm for 7am. That way I could eat, wait an hour then venture out around 8am to get the torture party started. Unfortunately, the allergies + cold that has been brewing all week reared its head when my alarm went off. Hence, hit the snooze and slept for another hour.
I woke-up at 8am, still not feeling the greatest (think sinus headache, sore throat + phlegm), but I downed a plain white bagel with a bit o’ buttah and read some bloggies while I let the food settle. Then I geared up and headed out!
Distance: 15.04 miles (according to MapMyRun)
Time: 2:50
Average pace: 10:00/mile
No, I don’t have a Garmin – these are estimates done the old-fashioned way! If you are a math whiz, you will see 10:00/mile for 15 miles does not equal that time. However, I am taking into consideration a crapload of stoplights I had to wait for, two Clif Shot Blok + water breaks (2-4 minutes each) and MapMyRun error.
By the way, head over to Matt’s blog at No Meat Athlete for an awesome guide to surving a 1/2 or full-marathon!
Overall, the run felt pretty good. I definitely felt sinusy (is that a word?), so I just kept it nice, steady and slow. The weather was fabulous (60 degrees when I left the house – PERFECT) and since I did it alone with no music or friends running with me, I was very happy.
Happier to devour this when I got home though…

Pineapple Chobs, Cherry Cashew PURE Bar + strawbs (along with a swimming pool-size water)
I forgot to mention this to ya yesterday, but I got my own swag bag of goodness in the mail yesterday from winning Kristin’s giveaway. Go check out her DROOLWORTHY photographs and show some love to a fellow Midwestern!

PURE bars, PURE tees and a PURE bag
By the time I got home, talked to the ‘rents, showered, ate + grabbed a Cafe Au Lait (1/2 skim milk + 1/2 coffee), I missed most of the Madtown Farmer’s Market :(. However, I did score 1 bunch of leeks + 1 bunch of beets for $2 from a stand just closing up.
Then it was time to visit a Madison landmark…Ian’s Pizza!

no need to adjust your screens...that is in fact MAC N' CHEESE pizza!
You have no idea how many pieces of this has been consumed by yours truly at about 2:15am on a Saturday night (slash Sunday morning) back in the college days.
I arrived back at la casa de Holly, having shopped around for about 4 miles. So yes, my legs hate me right now. Hence why I am going to finish chomping my Banana Nut Cheerios + sunflower seeds and finish dranking my green tea + Emergen-C packet to kick this allergy cold and make some dindin. Gots lots of fruits and veggies to make up for!
Some q’s, just because I like to get to know y’all better…
(1) What is your state capital? Obv, look above.
(2) What is your favorite cheese? Gruyere…I’m classy like that.
(3) What is your favorite pizza? Cheese for everyday ordering, Mac n’ Cheese on special occasions.
If you want to win those new, elusive Lara flavors, you have until Sunday night! Write me a lovely limerick about your fave Lara here and get entered for 1 of 3 chances. Woowoo!