I woke up with a growling tummy this morning. How is that possible after all I ate yesterday? Empty calories will do it every time, I suppose. I had a giant spoonful (about 1/4 cup) of fruit salad from yesterday’s produce leftovers before heading out for my run around 7.

I kept the run short — about 2.5 miles — because my legs still feel like lead from the re-introduction of a different strength workout (scroll down to find the “Reach Your Goal 2008 Workout” video here) on Tuesday morning, and I wanted to leave enough time for a thorough stretch with yogadownload’s Gentle Hatha #1. This run was so tedious — my hamstrings just refused to warm up. And I don’t know if my HRM was acting up or if my heart was really going wild at some point along the way, but look at how high it went! Stats: 28 minutes, 212 calories, average heart rate 143, max 216. Coming back in for the yoga (and for breakfast) was a big relief.

I heated 3/4 cup banana bread crockpot oats and added 1/2 cup yogurt, sprinkles of nutmeg and coconut, and a spoonful of peanut butter.

I had the oats with my soymilky black tea and a flower because I was trying to channel the breakfast romance that Miss Banana Cabana conjurs every morning with her breakfast arrangements:

(But I don’t think my arrangement had quite the same effect as hers, somehow.)

I was in the mood for more of a mess, so I splattered the pb from my spoon all over the oats to shake things up:

Speaking of crockpot oats, Abbie at Foods That Fit is working on putting together a blogger cookbook! Imagine: all the recipes that you want to try from all over the internet compiled neatly in one simple location. Check out her cookbook post (that just happens to include my recipe for crockpot oats in the sample photo :-D) for more details about how you can contribute AND get your hands on a copy for free!

I left at 10 to head up to Hunter for the day. I usually have class on Thursdays, but it was cancelled today for Common Day. Hunter does this a few times every year with lectures and workshops on a single theme (today’s theme was racism) from 11am to 7pm. Ummmm, 11am to 7pm?? The other girls in my program and I lasted until 2. Hopefully they still let us graduate .

Before leaving the apartment this morning, I threw together a bunch of random things that I hoped would get me through the afternoon. (If I’m not eating during lectures, I usually end up sleeping.) At 11, I had a snack baggie with carrots from yesterday and a tbsp of peanut butter:

At 12, I had my last two stuffed kale leaves:

At 12:07, I had 1/2 cup yogurt with chopped banana, chopped pear, cardamom, nutmeg, and a sprinkle of kashi golean crunch:

At 12:16, I had another cup of fruit salad:

I was trying to pace myself, but the minutes were passing at the speed of years, and I had nothing to distract me from my bag o’ food and minimal hunger pangs. I took a little break from eating and then had my first-ever Kraft LiveActive bar at 12:52:

The bar was fine — it was very berry-y and chocolate-y and tasted like a candy bar — but I doubt I’d buy these again. I only got them in the first place because I had a coupon, and I’d really rather have a piece of real food than a bar any day! But, I can’t deny that bars are good in a pinch, never go bad, and have decent mouth-entertainment value … for about 49 seconds.

After the bar, I took a 15 minute nap in my chair. Until I realized the speaker was calling on a girl directly behind me and the entire auditorium had swiveled in my direction. Awesome. That woke me up for the last 10 minutes. Falling asleep was hard work and made me hungry, so I dug around for my one remaining snack:

Like I said, we busted out of there as soon as the talk was over at 2 (no small breakout groups for us!) … and again, I hope they’ll still let us graduate! I’m now home and resting my aching hamstrings. I really do feel like I’ve been dragging solid blocks of lead around all day. Maybe that’s why I’m so tired.

[Another giveaway alert: Chocolate-Covered Vegan Katie has some incomprehensibly amazing loot up for grabs. You really should not miss this one!]

Have you ever skipped out on something “mandatory” because you just couldn’t take it anymore?