USUALLY when I wake up at 3 a.m., 4 a.m., 5 a.m. or 6 a.m. it’s to work a trans-con flight: serving drinks, smiling, checking seat belts and closing overhead bins! This morning I woke up at 4:40 a.m., the butt crack of barely dawn, to RUN 5 miles with my best friend and running buddy. We have been doing this once a week for about 5 months now and still the hardest part is getting out of bed! Once Katie and I meet at her house, all is forgotten that the rest of the world is probably still curled up in their warm beds not even thinking of waking up for at least another precious hour. We run from her house about a half mile to the city park, which has a running path complete with a hill and street lamps, run about 10 laps around the park and back to her house. It’s funny what two girls can chat about at FIVE O’ CLOCK in the morning at a 9 minute/mile pace, let’s just say nothing is off topic, which makes the run that much more enjoyable.
My favorite guilty pleasure after our morning run is crawling back into bed and watching The Today Show (after getting or making coffee and showering- of course!). It may seem a bit lazy of me, especially when I know my running buddy is scrambling to make it to teach her 4th grade class at 7:30! I validate my curling back up in bed, with breakfast, because 9 times out of 10 waking up at 4 a.m. means flying across the country! What’s for breakfast in bed today? I’m trying out Chobani’s new greek yogurt “Flips” in Coconut with Toasted Almonds & Dark Chocolate Chips I added my own Chia seeds as well, I consider this a very healthy post-run meal and very decadent for breakfast in bed- with a side of Starbuck’s coffee! I decided I really need a cup-holder for my queen size bed, do they make these? Or does that just fall into my lazy post-run morning wish list? 
Well now that you know a little bit about my fabulous morning- what’s going on in my life? I’m still a flight attendant, yes, and this week I just worked two very fun Beauty Expos at SFO and LAX, put on by the company for our employees (flight attendants and ground crews) so we all look as pretty as can be. As I was working I was lured into purchasing a gel manicure kit from nail tech celeb, Katie Cazorla, I really think this is the best purchase I’ve ever made (besides Asics’ running shoes). Not only can I give myself gel manis whenever I please, this product stays on for up to two weeks with no chips, is safe for your nails (unlike salon gel manicures that peel your nails) and it will save me a truck load of money in the long run- you can even use it on your toes! I will do a more detailed post about this product soon. For now, here is photo of my perfect self gel mani!
The girls I worked with at the Beauty Expos! They are all so fun and fabulous!
For the rest of the day I will be hanging out with my funny 84 year-old Nonni, researching and creating a summer half-marathon (and maybe full marathon) training program for myself and looking for the perfect Friday night clean eating meal.
I have been on a clean eating kick for the past few months, still trying to lose the 5 lbs I gained while touring Europe with my guy in February, but I think I’ve just turned the fat into muscle by strength training so the “losing 5 lbs” may be a hopeless cause. I am trying everything I can to do so, I may even switch my non-fat dairy for low-fat or even full-fat dairy to switch things up; according to my fellow flight attendant and nutritional counselor, Kristen, full-fat foods such as milk, yogurt, butter, olive oil, coconut oil actually helps your body burn extra fat and makes you fuller than if you ate the non-fat versions of these foods. She gave me tips on drinking lemon water with cayenne pepper to boast metabolism, using items like chia seeds to help you feel fuller, eating local organic foods that are higher in nutrition than grocery store foods most likely imported from a far away place. But, I’m still a little hesitant to change out all my non-fat foods for full-fat, that’s a huge step and a little nerve racking! For now I will try to use Kristen’s tips and stick to my clean eating diet, which I am getting tons of recipes from Katie at DashingDish.com. This girl seriously kicks butt by creating low-carb, low-sugar, high-protein recipes. I will be using this site to find a recipe for my girly cousin dinner get-together tonight!
I realize I didn’t write too much about running in this post- more about PRs, training and races in my next post! I have a lot to tell about my last half marathon- Rock and Rock San Francisco- where I finished at 1:41, my PR by 4 minutes! The race was quite hilly too! 
Pretty Runner 