I have always been a morning person but a Monday person? Not so much.
In fact, I didn’t start liking Monday until my son was old enough to attend school. Then I became all about Monday. If you have kids you understand, if you don’t have kids, you will understand when you do.
Anyway, it is a bit of a struggle this morning getting back into the routine of the week after the long holiday weekend of Thanksgiving and Hanukkah.
But here we are. And I am feeling lazy.
Lazy isn’t always a bad thing you know.
I was feeling lazy yesterday when I was about to bake my famous oatmeal raisin cookies for last night’s Hanukkah party.
The sweet genius that I am decided I could save some time and energy by dumping the cookie dough into a pie pan rather than scooping out the balls, dropping on cookie sheets and monitoring their performance in the oven.
I may never bake my oatmeal raisin cookies again in cookie form.
With no adjustment to my cookie recipe, the cookie pie baked up beautifully, perfect in texture and super tasty. Easily portable, easily sliced, easily served and eaten.
Come to think of it, I was quite lazy at Red Mango over the weekend as well.
Not my usual parfait cup. I know.
They didn’t have the parfait cups out on the counter so I just went with the flow and used the regular sized cup instead.
Same ingredients, different layout. Kind of like the oatmeal cookies.
My recent laziness has not affected my running though.
In fact, I ran something like 37 miles in the last week.
Running has been completely pain-free, stiffness free and all around enjoyable day after day.
I have never felt better. Not to mention, I have been hitting my “happy pace” each and every day.
Great news? I thought so too until I quickly assessed why I felt so fab.
Of course I have felt amazing – I have been on regular doses of Ibuprofen to ward off my monthly visitor’s mean gift of cramps.
Running on Motrin, Advil or Aleve may seem like a great idea but it is so not.
Not only does taking pain relievers on a regular basis mask your symptoms and keep you pounding pavement perhaps when you should be taking it easy, ibuprofen (NSAIDS) and running can produce several negative side effects and health risks.
According to this article in Men’s Fitness:
- Runners who used painkillers were four times more likely to have symptoms like stomach cramps, bleeding in the intestines and stomach, cardiovascular problems, blood in the urine, or muscle and joint pain.
- Symptoms increased as runners took larger doses of painkillers.
- Kidney failure, gastrointestinal bleeding or a heart attack.
You can also read more on the health risks and side effects here and here.
It’s funny – I did not know of these risks until the day before the Fitness Magazine Women’s Half back in April.
My race packet included the usual stuff plus the reminder to NOT take any pain relievers prior to racing.
You may recall that I ran the Fitness Magazine Half with an injured shoulder and was absolutely “doped” up on Motrin (or maybe it was Aleve, I don’t remember for sure) for several days prior to the race. The injury still known as the worst pain of my entire life.
I could not undo the amount of medication I had taken that week nor I could skip the dose I needed that night in order to sleep.
After the race, I DID in fact experience some of the side effects. Nothing severe but I was certainly glad I read what the side effects were prior to experiencing them otherwise I would have been quite nervous.
That being said, each month that my monthly visitor arrives, I have no choice but to take two Ibuprofen twice a day for the first few days.
I never feel or experience negative side effects during my routine runs while taking Ibuprofen but I do think that running super long distances and/or racing is a totally different story.
Anyway, time for Monday. Cyber Monday. This shopping of sales without having to leave the house is a lazy girl’s dream.
If you know of any great deals happening today, please let us know in the comments!
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I NEED TO KNOW:
Are you ready for the week or totally dragging like me?
Have you ever experienced the negative side effects of taking ibuprofen while exercising?
Do you have trouble running during that time of the month? What do you take to alleviate cramps?
The Cookie ChRUNicles 
My mom used to always make us “cookie cakes” when we were little, so that cake brings back great memories! 🙂
I love cookie cakes! Never had oatmeal raisin but it looks amazing!
Liking Mondays? Seriously??? We’ll see when I have kids…
Btw great advice on painkillers + running, something that should be never overlooked!
I had to quit the NSAIDs because it was getting excessive. I’ve come to deal with the mild pain I feel each day and remind myself that it’s better than an ulcer!
And you ARE a sweet genius!
Love the idea of a cookie pie – so much easier than individuals!
I’ve always wondered what would happen if you just tossed a whole cookie recipe into a pie pan, so thank you for killing the curiosity and convincing me that I need to do that STAT. Oooomigosh that looks absolutely amazing, and oatmeal raisin cookies are among some of my favourites. Care to send a slice to Canada? 😀
Some recipes will tell you to adjust your ingredients to bake in pie form – I have always followed my usual recipe and just cooked the pie longer than if I were cooking actual cookies. I have made numerous chocolate chip cookie pies and they have all baked up amazing. You must try it!