Peanut butter cookies, 15K fuel, and surprise giveaway wins

Hello everyone . I hope you’re all well. Right now, I’m getting my work done so I can go lunch and to the bank this afternoon with Clay (we’re planning to join a credit union). We might go look at homes later too- pretty sure riding around neighborhoods is one of the most fun parts of the home buying process, right?

I’ve been sleeping in more this week (yeah, 7 counts as sleeping in for me…) to get extra rest after the half marathon and before the Charlie Post 15K tomorrow. About 400 people are signed up for the 15K tomorrow, and it’s the USATF 15K State Championship so I heard the other runners would be fast. Personally I didn’t know adults trained for state championships, that the USATF had them, or that 15K was a distance people regularly raced. Guess I’m learning something new every day .

Unfortunately, I didn’t win my company’s Facebook quirky photo contest. My photo got the most likes by a landslide, but apparently there was some rule in the e-mail about wearing a goofy hat in the photo (the page had several other photos where people weren’t wearing hats). I saw it in the e-mail after the fact, but the rules weren’t on Facebook. It’s one of the things you miss out on working from home- there’s no flyers in my breakroom (err, dining room?) advertising contests and no coworkers to remind to put on a quirky hat before taking a picture.

What I’m trying to say is… you miss out on office nuances when you’re not there, even trying to be an active part of your company. At least people know I still work for my company and it was a pretty cool photo. Who needs a goofy hat when you have a race bib with your name on it?

However, I *did* win a contest from CLIF bars, one of the 12 days of CLIFmas prize packs. They sent me 3 cases of CLIF bars- all awesome flavors, a water bottle, a gear bag, a calendar, and stickers. I really like CLIF bars for snacking on in the car on my way to run or with fruit for breakfast. Coconut Chocolate Chip is the best- but I love them all, especially heated in the microwave for about 15 seconds, it’s like dessert for breakfast.

I received the package in the mail on Tuesday.

Anyway… CLIF has great giveaways- so if you ever see their contests, you should enter. I guess there were pretty good odds or either I was really lucky.

In honor of National Peanut Butter day, which was yesterday, I baked some super-easy 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies. They were inspired by this recipe, but I used Planter’s NUTrition banana granola nut peanut butter and left the vanilla extract out. The only ingredients are 1 cup PB, 3/4 cup sugar, and 1 beaten egg, mixed and plopped on a baking sheet for 12 minutes at 350. They are wheat-free and gluten-free if you’re into that (I’m not- I love my carbs, but these have plenty of those too).

They baked while I ate lunch- and were hot, ready, and delicious as soon as I finished lunch. Clay’s gaming friends really liked them too. They have a subtle banana flavor, especially toward the end of the cookie.

I’m thinking we shall see which is the better pre-race fuel: Cupcakes vs. Peanut Butter Cookies . Be back with the results of the showdown later this weekend. Have a great Friday!