Another One Bites The Dust

I've decided that any days I take off from CrossFit, I will instead go for a run. I don't want to lose my momentum with an entire day of laziness. So this weekend, I opted to run Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm easing back into running, so just did 3 miles on Fri and Sat. I felt really good (thanks, I believe, to CrossFit strengthening every single muscle in my body), so decided to do 5 miles today.

Everything started out lovely: it was 56-degrees, sunny and I had found a new route that was proving to make for a lovely - yet challenging - run. Then when I was about half way through, I was running on the sidewalk and looked over my shoulder to see if there were cars coming, so I could cross over to the other side of the street. OF COURSE I did this just as I was approaching a raised lip in the sidewalk and bit it like you would not believe. I hit the ground HARD, taking most of the force on my left shoulder, left hand and right knee - sort of like Twister on the sidewalk. I did a sort of tuck-and-roll military move and was back on my feet in under .4 seconds, but it didn't matter. There were witnesses. I had a minivan pull over to see if I was OK and to point out that it was "quite a tumble" I took. Yeah. I know. Thanks.

I continued on, acting fine until the minivan was out of sight, when I looked down to see flesh and blood hanging off of my left hand and dirt all over my clothes. I think I sprained three fingers, but beyond that and some scrapes and bruises, I'm fine. Really, it's my pride that's in the worst shape. None the less - I made great time on my 5 miles and will pay better attention to where I place my feet from now on! :)

Because of a solid run, I thought I deserved some carbs. I bought sweet potatoes recently, after reading about how they are a good source of Vitamin A, Vitamin C, potassium and iron. They are also antioxidant-rich and a natural anti-inflammatory (which may help with my swollen fingers!). Anyhow, I'm not a fan of just baked or steamed sweet potatoes. They are sort of squash-like (and I like squash, but not my fave). So I decided to make some homemade sweet potato fries - which I LOVE to order when they're on the menu. Easy and healthy (because they're baked), I'll def make these again soon!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

1 sweet potato (= about 1 serving)
~1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400-degrees. Use a peeler to remove the skin of the sweet potato (no need to wash, since you're taking the skin off...plus the water would add too much moisture). Slice into thick spears. Toss in bowl with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper (don't go overboard - you can always add more later!). Spread onto baking sheet or stone and bake about 20 minutes, turning them over once. Remove and serve immediately!