Family Night with Kroger

I received this BzzKit from BzzAgent filled with goodies from Kroger. The instructions were to use the food for a family night or other such group thing, so I took my coupons to the store and picked up some fun food, along with a few extras not included in the kit, like an additional pizza and avocados for a layered dip.

The pizza is one of those self-rising kind. I used to be obsessed with these before I began making my own, though I still enjoy eating thick crust pizzas every now and again. We chopped some olives as an additional topping and put sliced zucchini on the plain cheese pizza (making us officially white people, according to my brother). I'd suggest cooking these for a few minutes longer than the directions state as these came out a little undercooked and gummy.

Here is the spread. My BzzKit included Kroger brand tortilla cups, frozen fruit bars, and a pizza (along with coupons that I gave to my mom to pass out). I made the layered dip to add more variety. I also had a zero-calorie vitamin-enhanced water that wasn't pictured.

Although the pizza was a tad undercooked, we still thought it tasted pretty good as far as frozen pizzas go. The chips were a bit crushed because the box they came in wasn't padded, but weren't anything special. My favorite was the fruit bars. Ice cream gets sticky and heavy, so my preference for a cold summer treat is fruit bars. Name brands can be expensive if I can't find them on sale so now I have an alternative. Six bars are in each box and they're not too high in calories either (I mean, it's a treat, and if I eat them often I don't want them to be any higher). The vitamin-enhanced water was good, too. The flavor I got was mango-melon and it had a nice, refreshing taste. It was sweetened with stevia instead of an artificial sweetener, but it had a little bit of an after taste. I drank it in sips so it wasn't too bad.

We ate all this while watching Master Chef, because you cannot help but be hungry while watching the Flavor Elevator attempt to win his way back into the Master Chef kitchen.

Thank you, Kroger and BzzAgent!

getting out there.

Kroger's had these G Series Energy Chews on sale 10 for $10 so I bought a few packages. Although I'm not running long or hard enough to necessitate the use of supplements, the heat seems to drain a lot of energy out of me (could really be mental, but whatever) and I am hoping these help a little.

Speaking of which, I ran 6.18 without walking. It was more the 79° temperature and 50%-ish humidity that made it possible, though I'm sure the chews helped because it was a nice little progression run.

There's really no need for me to be running six-milers right now, except that I registered for a 10k a few weeks ago. I did it more for motivation than anything, as I was struggling finding a reason to keep running. I figure the thought of crashing in front of a crowd would do it, and it sort of has. The race is the Logan's Run. I have never run this race before due to my usual race schedule, so I'm looking forward to it. Like the Holy Half 10k, this race course is run around Notre Dame's campus, including both their little lakes (read: SHADE!). It should be fun!

My leg is doing alright. I am doing a few lower leg and foot strengthening exercises twice a week along with walking squats and lunges. The calf is responding to it, as there is less of a dull throbbing sensation after I run. I'm paying very close attention to it - if it starts affecting my stride or causes me to limp while walking, I'm going to back off. Between runs, I'm wearing a compression sleeve for half an hour at a time.

Hopefully, everything continues to go well!

Been AFK - and Clif Things

That's "away from kitchen". I haven't really felt like cooking much, and when that happens I feel bad about posting on my blog even though it's supposed to be a food and running blog. When you're not running very much either, that leaves me with absolutely nothing to say. It kind of makes me sad, honestly.

Clif Bar sent me a package commemorating their 20th anniversary. The context of the box contained at least on of each product, including items from their running line. Clif Shot Bloks were my favorite! I'm going to look for the margarita flavor my friend told me about.

I gave a few of the bars away; staying true to their Italian blood, my brothers each picked the Gary's Panforte Clif Bar. Panforte is an Italian cake with fruit, nuts, and spices. Older Brother said it was tasty and the spices added to the other ingredients.

Along with the older items were Clif's newest product, Kit's Organic, which is a bar comprised of dates, other dry fruits, and nuts as the only ingredients. I wasn't sure how I'd feel about them as there are other similar bars out there, but I enjoyed them. In the interest of full disclosure, Clif had already sent me four of their Kit's Organic bars earlier, but I was out of town when they arrived.

Although I don't know what adventures are still left for the summer, this package kind of got me excited anyway. Thank you, Clif Bar!

On that note, I have been running a little. Unfortunately, my calf doesn't seem to appreciate. I suppose I need to get really serious about implementing lower leg strengthening into my routine, but when you're depressed you can't see the silver lining very well. In part, I'm angry that I seem to have so much trouble running when others are able to do it with relative ease. It's just annoying.

I purchased a calf sleeve today, though they didn't help the last time I used it... We can all dream.