PhillyGirl Actually Runs!

Last night was a good, good night. I don't know about the rest of you, but this week just CRAWLED for me. I can't even tell you how excited I was to be able to get home last night, hit the gym, have PhillyGuy grill us up some pork chops, and spend the evening hanging out, eating well, and playing with Sophie.

The gym was fantastic. On my schedule was thirty minutes of steady-state cardio, followed by "pull:" biceps, back and abs. I really, REALLY wanted to run -- it had been a long week, and it's been forever since I've been able to run. I gingerly stepped onto the treadmill, cranked it up, bit my lip and hoped for the best.

One minute went by...no knee pain. Two minutes...no pain. As soon as I hit a quarter mile, I knew I was good to go, and I was just thrilled about it. I did the first 10 minutes at 6.7mph, second 10 minutes at 7.0, and back down to 6.7 for the last ten minutes. Alas, can't tell you how far I went in that 30 minutes (though, mathematically, it should have been something around 3.4 miles), because I accidentally jabbed the emergency stop button about 21:20 into it...soooooooo annoying.

Pleasantly sweaty, I moved on to weights:

- Lat pulldown, 3x12 at 70lbs
- One-armed row, 3x12 each side with two resistance bands looped around one of the machines
- Dumbbell bicep curls, 3x12 with two 15-lb dumbbells
- Preacher curls, 3x8 with 40lbs
- Planks, 3x45 seconds each

It went well. I'm sore today, in a good way.

I had been looking forward to our grilled pork chops all day. Unfortunately, however, as those of you in the area know, it was a balmy 17-20 degrees last night by the time we got back from the gym around 8. Grilling anything was NOT in our future. Instead, I got out the 2007 Cooking Light cookbook that generally just gathers dust and looks pretty on my kitchen counter, and made Pork Medallions with Porcini Mushroom Sauce.

I improvised a little -- I used fresh baby portobello mushrooms instead of dried and cooking sherry instead of the Marsala wine, but MAN did this come out well. We had thick grilling chops, so I sliced them in half width-wise to make sure they cooked. By the time they cooked through, the sauce had reduced down more than it was supposed to, but I think that really made the dish. So, SO flippin' good.

Today we're heading out to my lil' bro's house for a housewarming party -- he bought his first house back in September. It should be a good time -- they're having a bonfire outside, which is always a great thing.

Happy weekend everyone!