Long runs, beaches, and chocolate zucchini cupcakes

Things I like to do on my day off: lay on the beach, go for an 8 mile run, and bake chocolate zucchini cupcakes. Not in that order. 😀

This morning I woke up and knew I had to do my long run today, because there was no way I was running that much on the Fourth of July. I have too many plans and a four mile race that morning!

I fueled with some peanut butter toast and honey, with some chia seeds sprinkled on top, and a cup of green tea. And I was ready to go.

Miles 1 – 4 on treadmill in 44:45. Felt great.
Mile 5 – 10:14
Mile 6 – 9:58
Mile 7 – 10:16
Mile 8 – 10:13
Total Distance: 8 miles
Total time: 1 hour and 26 minutes
Calories Burned: 901

After my run, I came back and rehydrated with some coconut water! This brand was so good, I will most likely be buying it again.

The top of the cap says “Happiness in a bottle”, and that is true!

I also had a chocolate strawberry protein smoothie in a mug. I finally figured out the key to making rice protein taste good: use half a scoop! It tasted SO much better!

In my smoothie: A handful of frozen strawberries, 1/2 scoop of chocolate rice protein, 1/2 cup of almond breeze.

The rest of my lunch was a vanilla honey Chobani with some raw oats thrown in. Yum!

Then my sister and I headed to Thompson’s Lake Beach to enjoy the sun!

The beach isn’t much, but it was nice to lay in the sun, relax, and try to get rid of my runner’s tan!

We stayed for a couple of hours, and then headed home to make some dinner. I was feeling creative in the kitchen today, so I decided to make some chocolate zucchini cupcakes!! 😀

While they were still in the oven, I had tons of leftover shredded zucchini, so I made zucchini and potato pancakes! I got this recipe a while ago from Cooking Light, I think..so I just modified it a bit to fit the ingredients I had lying around.

Shredded zucchini, shredded potato, salt, pepper, breadcrumbs and 1 egg mixed together and formed into patties, grilled on one side for a few minutes, and then baked in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

The mixture made about four good sized patties. I had two for dinner!

Dessert was a chocolate cupcake still warm from the oven! They were so chocolatey and delicious…you can’t even really taste the zucchini!

So far my day off has been pretty good! 🙂 Tonight I’m off to hang out with my cousin and listen to some good music in downtown Albany! Have a good weekend!