my giant volleyball team + Thai chicken soup

Morning, friends! Today is a must-needed sleep-in/rest day. I was out way too late last night playing seven games of volleyball with my extremely tall, three-man-one-girl team. I blend right in, right? HA.

Even though we were all half asleep (or in my case, 99% asleep) for the last couple games, we came out victorious! League champs.

After our 10 pm game, I drove to the other side of town to pick up Anthony at the airport. So glad he’s back in town. And was so happy to finally go to bed… around midnight. Yikes!

Rewinding to some earlier food and fitness adventures. How about yesterday’s run?

It was a perfect morning. Fresh air and breezy temps. Lots of dew, too!

I covered six easy miles. Definitely took it easy since I knew I had a night of volleyball and was still a bit sore from Saturday’s mountain-climbing adventures.

I also met up with my friend Rayna the other day for a walk! She was my fall/summer running buddy but has been injured for the past few months. She’s on the mend, though! (ps, I think I’ve decided to retire my Oakley running sunglasses. Any recommendations for a different but cute/practical pair?)

It was sort of grey out, but we had a lovely walk nonetheless. Isn’t it odd how when you walk the same route you’ve run, you notice new things? I feel like I’m an attentive runner, but as a walker you have time to soak up so much more.

Here’s the same skyline on a different day and from a different bridge. Lunch run club is still going strong! Joe and I had to miss a few weeks due to weather, but we’ve been meeting up when it’s not too cold or rainy out.

And speaking of lunch, here’s what’s been on the menu lately. Thai chicken soup — officially known as tom kha gai.

The recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated, but I can’t seem to find the original online. Seems like Food.com has it, if you want to check it out!

We thought this soup was pretty tasty. We served it over brown rice for a quick and pack-able lunch.

I don’t know if I’d rush to make this soup for weekly lunches again (after a couple days, I got a bit tired of the coconut flavor), but I could see it working well as a starter or side dish for pad Thai or something.

The jalepenos gave it a pretty spicy kick, too! #ShouldHaveDeSeeded

And that’s it, guys! Hope you enjoyed that hodgepodge of eats and events

• Running sunglasses recommendation?
• Would you call yourself an attentive runner?
• Coconut: yay or nay?