I wasn’t sure how long my MRI results were going to last yesterday morning, so I snuck in a quick 20 minute walk before work.  My knee hurt a little bit the first few minutes, but then it was fine.  Um, note my pajama pants (coffee stains and all – ha!).  It was pretty windy and about 34 degrees when I left.

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With my leftover steak from the night before and 3 ounces of a leftover twice baked potato from Easter, I made a steak and potato hash, with an egg white and spinach scramble on the side.  Wouldn’t be complete without some dashes of Frank’s hot sauce, am I right?!

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My appointment took 40 minutes – gah.  It’s right across the street from my office – I left my desk at 9:28 for a 9:30 appointment and got there right on time.  The doctor?  He came in 20 minutes later.

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First of all he said “nice legs!”  Ha, I am kidding, he didn’t say that, but he said basically there was no meniscus tear, no cartilage tear, just . . . “an old knee.”  He said there was some degeneration in that knee, and he gave me a Cortisone shot and scheduled me for physical therapy.  Apparently in the last month my knee has been bothering me, I’ve switched my walking to favor the right side of my body, and I am kind of out of sync.  He said after that I should be good as new – oh and that I don’t stretch enough!  Oops.  Yep, I used to be so good about that – remember me talking about Classical Stretch a few years ago?  I’ve gotten a new DVR box since I recorded those shows, but I need to get back to stretching every day.

It was quite a relief to know that I didn’t have to have any kind of surgery, so I hope with the PT and stretching, I’ll be just fine for my Spartan race – I have no goal other than to finish it, so fingers crossed my training continues to go well.

I defrosted a package of chicken breasts over the weekend and just cooked them up with a bit of salt and pepper and I would decide what to make with them later in the week.  I decided on tacos, duh.  Probably my second favorite thing to eat after pizza.  My boss asked if I could pick her up a salad at Mariano’s, and I ended up spending .47 cents to accessorize my tacos with mixed peppers, shredded radish and black beans.  I couldn’t decide which picture to post, so you’ll get both.  You’re welcome.

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With the fruit, that plate above comes in at 551 calories, 15.5 fat, 59 carbs, 11 fiber and a whopping 45 grams of protein.  So fricken good – and topped with my baja fresh salsa that I made over the weekend, first batch of the season!

As the day progressed, my knee kept feeling better and better so I went to the gym after work.  Still not doing any of the lower body strength exercises yet, so yesterday was back and triceps.  It took me 35 minutes to that (5 sets, 10 reps each!) and abs on the ball, then finished off with a 5k on the treadmill while watching Man v. Food. Open-mouthed smile

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While cleaning out the freezer I noticed I had frozen ground turkey and about a 12 ounce London broil.  Huh.  I wondered if I could combine them in a dish, when it popped into my head – chili!  This made 8, one cup servings:

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So with my before work and after work workouts, I got in quite a bit of steps!

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And I have a quick favor to ask – my bosses daughter is doing a Relay for Life race this weekend and she is looking for donations – she’s a super smart, nice kid – I’ve known her since she was 8 years old and now she’s a month away from finishing her freshman year at University of Rochester!  Since Tony was a cancer survivor, and my Dad and cousin Pam passed away from cancer, events like this are close to my heart.  If you can spare $10 or so, you can find Ally’s link here.  I would appreciate it!

Alright, time to head out on my morning walk – make it a great day!