Pumpkin Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I used this Martha Stewart recipe for the Pumpkin Cupcakes.

I checked the Better Homes & Gardens website for the frosting - apparently, they changed it. . .such a shame. But here is the recipe I used:

Cream Cheese Frosting
8oz cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla
6 cups powdered sugar
Mix together cream cheese, butter and vanilla.  Add powdered sugar 2 cups at a time - to avoid it blowing up in your face :)

You will have frosting left over.  I think I'm going to spread the rest on graham crackers and freeze for after school snacks.  I read that it can save for at least a month in the fridge, but that makes me a little nervous.

what's better than today?

Very early Wednesday morning, I started a Couch to 5k program. I'm using this app.  It literally gets you into it without burning you out, and without too much pain - pushes you just enough to want more, and not too much you want to give up. So I say. After 2 days.

Chad is working through the program with me (with this app) so we'll be accountable to each other.

The first week of the program consists of 3 workouts all including a 5 minute warm up walk, then alternating 60 second jog and 90 second walk for 20 minutes, then a 5 minute cool down. Wednesday, I did 2.1 miles. Far from a 5k, but I was surprised all the same.

This morning, I did 2.29 miles with a 11.38 running pace and a 13.46 walking pace. Which is far from my goal of an 11 minute mile, but it's only day 2. I pushed a little harder, especially in the early runs to pick up a little speed. I felt less awkward on the runs this morning than I did yesterday.  I didn't think that I would be able to pick up any extra mileage doing it back to back days (which I won't be doing typically - but I wanted to stay on the same schedule as Chad).  Anxious to see how he does tonight on his day 2 - WITH a day of rest.

Yesterday afternoon, I did some music hunting.  I found this blog.  She has really put time and effort into these playlists.  They are designed specifically for a C25k program.  Each playlist is the perfect amount of time (excluding cool down time).  At each walk-to-run or run-to-walk transition, there is a Barry Manilow-esq 5-4-3-2-1-0 countdown in the background, barely audible - but you hear it subconsciously, and then the song changes as your activity changes.  I was very surprised by all this, since I literally downloaded a few and hoped for the best this morning.  And it worked great - until my program somehow got paused half way through and my music was 30 seconds ahead of where I actually was in the workout.  For me though, it was less about the music, and more about the beat.  All of the songs she chose were perfect for a first week pace.

Am I training for a 5k? Seems kinda funny to say, since it's only 3.1 miles.  But the end goal is a 5k race. Start small.  However, I'm not ashamed to say - no marathon for me!