Remember my post from the other day about the holiday season starting too soon? Well, apparently, I’m not the only one who feels like Thanksgiving doesn’t get enough attention:

A national survey from Allrecipes found 82% of Americans think Christmas is marketed too early. Moreover, 42% admit being frustrated by Christmas shopping sales that begin before Thanksgiving while 39% just try to ignore them.

To commit myself to fully enjoying the Thanksgiving holiday, I recently took a pledge to Respect the Bird. The mission of this grassroots movement is to “restore Thanksgiving to its rightful place as a meaningful, respected American holiday, not one that’s merely a one-day delicious afterthought between Halloween and Christmas.” Obviously, I was on board immediately.

As part of the pledge to Respect the Bird, I promise to savor the true meaning of Thanksgiving and not begin shopping for the December holidays until after November 24th. It’s that simple. Of course, there aren’t many retailers that feel the same way, but kudos to those, like Nordstrom, who do!

If you love Thanksgiving as much as I do, please take the pledge to Respect the Bird!

Breakfast

This morning’s breakfast was a toasted whole wheat Bagel Thin with peanut butter and banana slices on top. I also drank a glass of iced coffee with coconut milk and a splash of vanilla-flavored creamer.

Workout

As I mentioned in my previous post, the weather here has been amazing lately, so I took advantage of it by running outside. I planned a 5-mile run, so I grabbed my Spibelt, Garmin, iPhone, and headphones. For shorter runs (less than 5 miles), I only take my iPod shuffle and (sometimes) Garmin. For the longer runs, I like listening to Pandora because it has a better variety of music than my shuffle.

Even though it was pretty warm this morning, I still wanted to test out my new New York City Marathon long-sleeve tech shirt. Unfortunately, the expo ran out of my size, so my shirt is a little too big, but it’s still awesome!

I rule at the self-timer on my camera. Derp. (I know I could have easily taken a better photo, but this one crack me up!)

I ended up enjoying my run so much, I ran an extra mile. Who am I?! I’m not going to lie, that hasn’t happened in months!

• Mile 1: 9:00
• Mile 2: 8:46
• Mile 3: 8:43
• Mile 4: 8:36
• Mile 5: 8:38
• Mile 6: 8:19

Total: 52:02 (8:41 pace)

After my run, I headed to the gym for a 30-minute TRX class. It’s Member Appreciation Week at my gym, so I signed up for a free class. Sweet. I love free!

The class ended up being mostly an intro session, so it wasn’t super tough, but I know I’ll still be sore tomorrow. When you do TRX, you use only your body weight and suspension bands to do the exercises, so you can’t cheat!

Lunch

Lunch was loaded with veggies today!

Salad with roasted broccoli, avocado, carrots, and balsamic vinegar.

On the side: Lemon-Glazed Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Bananas. Mmmmm! I can’t take full credit for this recipe as it was inspired by one from the Dole Healthy Lifestyles Blogger Summit for Lime-Glazed Roasted Yams and Bananas. Honestly, the only reason for the variation is because I didn’t have lime juice or yams.

Ok, are you ready for this thing? If you love sweet potatoes and bananas, this recipe is for you! Trust me, you’ll love it!

Lemon-Glazed Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Bananas

Ingredients:

• 2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces (you can peel them if you want; I didn’t bother)
• 2 bananas, sliced
• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350*F. Spray 9X13 baking dish with nonstick spray. Add sweet potatoes and butter to baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes, turning once after 10 minutes to coat sweet potatoes in butter.

Meanwhile, mix together the brown sugar, lemon juice, and salt in a small bowl. Remove sweet potatoes from oven, top with banana slices, and drizzle with brown sugar-lemon juice mixture.

Return baking dish to oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until lightly browned.

This recipe is so delicious! MAKE IT!!

P.S. I updated my Workout page! Lots of new cardio and strength workouts there!