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I really enjoyed movie night with the hubby, Kick Ass was a brilliant film, we both really enjoyed it! I thought I’d post up a quick photo of last nights desert – some of my Strawberry Frozen Yoghurt and baclava sweet pastries.

The yoghurt turned out so well! That recipe is a keeper. It doesn’t ‘scoop’ like a regular ice cream – you have to almost cut a slice once its softened, but then when its in the bowl it turns into a more ice cream like consistency. I’ll be making up some more with a different flavour to stash in the freezer. I ended up eating all of the baclava too, they were just so delicious! I felt a bit of a glutton afterwards though.

Today I feel like I had my best run to date. I wanted to run a little later in the day than usual as the Great North Run doesn’t start until 10.40am. My long training runs tend to be first thing in the morning so I thought it would be good to do a run a little closer to this time. I was up at 7am and had a delicious bowl of Rude Health Fruity Date porridge made with 1/2 cup of the oat mix, 1/2 cup of water, 1/2 cup of soy milk and topped with half a sliced banana and a heaped teaspoon of smooth peanut butter.

Before I went out I also had a cup of teapigs yerba mate tea and one of my samples of Beet It Shot for extra energy and fuel. I also took half a bottle of cherry powderade diluted with water with me.

I set out and ran 8 miles in 1hr16. I was really happy with my splits too:

I had hoped to get all my miles in under 10 minutes and I was pretty close. This really felt like my best run yet, I felt strong, I pushed myself to run faster and everything just seemed to ‘go right’. Exactly what you want a week before a big race!

Lunch was really tasty, I made up one of my low calorie, high protein egg white spelt wraps using some of my Two Chicks liquid egg whites:

I used 7 tablespoons or the same amount as 3 large egg whites mixed with 2 tablespoons of spelt flour then fried like a big pancake. The two chicks made the wrap turn out much better than it does when I use plain egg whites, and along with reducing waste when using regular eggs (I usually bin the yolks) I think I’ll be buying this again. I filled my wrap with a posh pork and leek sausage, leftover roast butternut squash, beetroot chutney and a little tomato ketchup. I served the wrap with some more left over butternut, sugar snap peas and slices of cucumber.

This was just so good, the combo of sausage, sweet squash and sharp sweet chutney was the bomb! I also made myself a smoothie in a bowl containing half a banana, frozen blueberries, scoop of vanilla whey and soy milk. I topped it with half a pack of We Are Bear Cocoa Cherry Pie Granola.

Fantastically yummy! Like a big bowl of ice cream. The granola tasted great too. Mid afternoon I thought I would try making my own gingerbread spiced latte. To begin I made a small cup of my hazelnut and cinnamon coffee (but I guess any strong coffee would do). I then heated up some soy milk and added a heaped teaspoon of mixed spice, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon and a teaspoon of agave syrup. I used my little electric milk whisk to froth up the milk then added this to the coffee in a big mug.

A pretty good home made version of the Starbucks favourite I think! If I’d had some ground ginger I would have added that too.

For dinner I made up a new soup recipe:

Roast Tomato and Pepper Soup with Chilli (makes 3 servings)

• 450g of tomatoes halved
• 2 1/2 large red, yellow or orange peppers
• 2 white onions roughly chopped
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 500 ml Vegetable stock
• 1/2 teaspoon of finely chopped chilli (or more to taste)

Pre heat the oven to 220c. Place the tomatoes, onions, de seeded and sliced peppers, peeled garlic cloves and olive oil into a roasting dish. Make sure all the veggies are coated in the oil then roast until softened and browned (about 30 minutes). Put the veggies into a large pan and add the vegetable stock and chilli. Blend until smooth then serve.

Another wonderful tasty soup! So cheap to make as well, I used basics branded tomatoes and peppers. This was really filling too. For desert I made up a simple fruit plate of strawberries, a sliced pear and a sliced apple.

I’ve done even more cooking today too: home made hummus which turned out really well and an apple berry cinnamon compote (to use up some odd tasting braeburns) – I’ll post the recipes tomorrow in case anyone’s interested :-)

One week today I will hopefully be sitting eating pizza after completing the Great North Run! I can’t believe that it is only a week away. I have started to pack my kit bag in preparation (yes I’m an organisation freak). I’m excited and nervous all at the same time, I think as soon as I cross the start line and get on with the running I’ll be happy. I do get a bit of anxiety around being late for things or forgetting things – no doubt I’ll be a nightmare next Sunday morning while making my way into Newcastle!

Oh well here’s another weekend done and dusted – I’ve had a lovely time and have managed to get lots of things done. I’m busy posting old clothes on ebay right now! Hope you’ve all had a fab weekend, catch you tomorrow! x