Extraordinarily Ordinary

Hey friends! I’m bringing you a little something different today.

I always enjoy reading “Day in the Life” posts. A couple of the bloggers that I follow did these type of posts this week and I realized that I’ve never done one myself before. It’s time to remedy that! I like seeing little glimpses into other people’s lives. There is something about seeing the ins and outs of another person’s daily life that makes me feel connected to them in a deeper way even though they are a random stranger on the internet.

Hopefully you will enjoy this little glimpse into an ordinary day in my life. Besides, I think that the daily grind of ordinary days helps to prepare us for the extraordinary days!

4:40: Hello, world!

The alarm goes off, but I promptly hit snooze. Not quite ready yet, world! After the one snooze, I was ready to at least begin the wake up process, which involves reading my devotional and a quick scroll through social media.

I usually sleep in my running clothes (well, except for the shoes … that would be weird), so once I get myself out of bed, get my teeth brushed and put my eyes (contacts) in, I’m ready to go.

5:00 – 6:30: Let’s Run!

We usually start running between 5:00 and 5:15. Today I had a workout to do and Daniel decided to sleep in, so I hit the treadmill. The workout called for a 3 mile warm up, a 4 mile tempo with a goal range of 6:15 to 6:25 pace and a 3 mile cool down.

I like to ease into my treadmill workouts. For the warm up I start at 10:00 pace and every 2 minutes I increase the speed my 0.2 mph. Basically this turns the warm up into a little mini-progression run. My warm up miles were 9:00, 7:48, 7:18. By that point, my legs were awake and ready to go! I averaged 6:24 for the tempo miles, which was right within the goal range. I definitely had to work hard to hit that.

I cut the cool down a little bit short. I was DONE and just really ready to be off of the treadmill! Side note: I am pretty sure that is possibly one of the sweatiest runs that I’ve done. I had to wring out my socks afterwards. That doesn’t happen to me very often.

6:30 – 7:20: Randomness at Home

Lots of random tasks go down between 6:30 and 7:30. Things like post-run hydrating (I drank 20 oz. of water with 2 Nuun tablets this morning) and caffeinating, making the bed, updating my training log, playing with Brooks, checking emails, etc. Daniel always showers first (oh the joys of one bathroom apartment living) It takes me about 20 minutes to get ready for work, so as long as I am in the shower by 7:00, I’m good to go. Low maintenance #forthewin.

I don’t know that anyone has ever told me that my curly hair specifically looks good, but I go with a “hope for the best” outlook.

7:30: Breakfast

Breakfast is not a fancy meal at our house. Let’s face it … none of our meals are really very fancy. If it can’t be prepared in the crock pot, in the microwave or on the grill, it doesn’t get prepared. Thankfully, Daniel and I are on the same page with this. We eat to live, not live to eat. We eat what I would consider to be a fairly healthy (i.e., clean) diet, but we aren’t perfect (obviously) … we definitely splurge on not so healthy options every now and then. Moderation is truly the key.

Disclaimer: I think that food is something that I will always have to be mindful and cognizant of. It is easy for me to slip into bad (i.e., disordered) habits when things get stressful or life feels out of control. Daniel does a really good job of reining me back in. I have a decent amount of nutritional knowledge, but I am by no means a professional. I am not giving nutrition advice or telling you how you should eat. I have found what works for me. Everyone has a different definition of “healthy” and different things work for different people … #findyourhealthy #comparisonisthethiefofjoy #differentstrokesfordifferentfolks.

Where were we? Ahh, yes. Breakfast.

Greek yogurt with oats and raspberries (one of my all-time favorite fruits) and a side of G2 (actually it is a Sprite zero & G2 mixture). Simple and nutritious. I also take a calcium supplement with breakfast. Daniel typically does a protein shake, a pop-tart or a stop at Chick-Fil-A.

7:45 – 8:00: Drive to Work

I had the added pleasure of stopping by Coffee Loft on my way to work this morning, because I was working at a client’s office and Coffee Loft just happened to be right on the way. It was basically a mandatory stop.

Typically I just drive straight to our office, which is about a 15 (on a good day) to 20 minute drive. It’s not a bad commute at all and it gives me a chance to call my mom and chat for a few minutes each day.

8:00 – 10:30: Work

For any new readers or those that don’t know me well, my day job is in public accounting. I am a CPA. I have a master’s degree in tax accounting, so the majority of what I do at work revolves around taxes (preparing and reviewing tax returns, tax planning, responding to tax notices, etc.). Summer is a slow time of year for us tax folks, so I only work part-time during the summer months. Business tax returns that are extended are due September 15th, so that is the next deadline that we are working towards currently.

10:30: Snack

My stomach started to get a little rumbly mid-morning. I always seem to be hungrier on workout mornings. Luckily I brought some snacks for just such an occasion.

The nectarine was not quite as good as I was hoping that it would be, but oh well.

10:30 – 12:00: Work

Noon: Lunch

We had an internal meeting at work today and lunch was provided. We had homemade chicken salad on croissants and it was so good! Daniel and his co-workers go out for lunch pretty much every day, but I usually try to take my lunch with me. We don’t have a lot of great lunching options nearby, so it is easier just to take it with me. I usually eat pretty quickly and keep working anyway.

12:00 – 4:30: Work

Our meeting lasted for a pretty long time, so the afternoon flew by. I worked on a few returns after that until it was time to go. Thursday is my Friday, so leaving work on a Thursday afternoon is the best feeling!

4:30: Snack

Quest bars are my go-to afternoon snack. I love them! They have 20 grams of protein and they are very satisfying.

5:00: Let’s Run (Round 2)!

I don’t run in the evening every day by any means, but my coach has two to three double run days built-in to my schedule each week. It seems like I usually get two doubles in, but rarely get three. The evening runs are usually very easy, recovery type runs. I met Rebecca right after work and we did 4.75 miles. I ended my run at .25 that morning and I wanted to even that out. I might have some slight traces of OCD. I usually make Rebecca run around the parking lot until my watch beeps for 5 miles, so she was thankful that we didn’t have to do that this time.

She pushes the stroller and we just chat about life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

We had a good run and we hung out and chatted for a while after we got done.

6:00: Head Home

6:30 – 8:00: Randomness at Home (Round 2)

Brooksy greeted me at the door with a wet nose and puppy kisses and Daniel and I caught up on our day. He had an appointment after work with Dr. Justin (his piriformis is still being a literal pain in his butt) and after that he went out for a ride on the motorcycle and played with Brooks. I was really excited to discover that my RRCA certificate and my MPR business cards had come in the mail.

After a shower (round 2), I worked on the blog for a while with the Tour de France on in the background. The sun went down at 7:50 and it was a really good one. The pictures do not do it justice at all. It was just like the Kenny Chesney song … a “big orange ball, sinkin’ in the water.”

8:00: Dinner

By 8 I was getting hungry. I made myself a turkey “wrap” (turkey, cheese, pickles and spicy mustard on a flat bread) and had some chips and a sweet potato on the side.

Daniel had peanut butter, nutella and banana sandwiches with string cheese. Like I said … low maintenance. I take an iron supplement and vitamin C with dinner. I also had a big glass of chocolate almond milk.

8:30 – 9:30: Relax and Get Ready for Bed

We spend a little bit of time watching TV each evening. Our latest Netflix series is One Tree Hill. Neither of us have seen it before and it’s been pretty good so far. I’m snacking on a dark chocolate sea salt bar. I like to have a sweet snack before bed. Daniel is snacking on some Noosa (Australian yogurt) and applesauce. I also spend some time reading blogs in the evenings before bed.

9:30: Light’s Out!

Brooks says, “I can’t take it anymore.” He must’ve had a rough doggie day. Maybe I can get him to do a guest “day in the life” post one day!? Either that or we can just go see The Secret Life of Pets. It looks so cute.

Whew. That’s a wrap. It was a fun, busy day. I hoped you enjoyed following along.

How was your day? Did you eat anything delicious or nutritious?