Brushing your teeth with a fat lip is not easy. It’s really no surprise that I drooled toothpaste all down my shirt that I just put on 30 seconds before picking up my toothbrush. Because really, even if my lip wasn’t fat I would have done this:
Typical. Luckily, I got that sucker out and headed to the kitchen to make some delicious banana muffins with robin egg chocolates hidden inside. If you are too old to hunt for eggs- at least you can find them in your treats!
Banana Muffins with Robin Egg Chocolates
INGREDIENTS
1 1/2 cups of robin egg chocolates 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup granulated white sugar 1 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 2 large eggs, lightly beaten 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled 3 ripe large bananas, mashed well (about 1-1/2 cups) 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place oven rack to middle position. Butter and flour (or spray with a non stick vegetable/flour spray) the bottom and sides of your muffin tray. Set aside.
In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and robin eggs. Set aside.
In a medium-sized bowl combine the mashed bananas, eggs, melted butter, and vanilla. With a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, lightly fold the wet ingredients (banana mixture) into the dry ingredients just until combined and the batter is thick and chunky. (Do not over mix the batter. You do not want it smooth or else you will get tough and rubbery muffins.) Spoon the batter into your prepared muffin tray. (You may want to use muffin cups so that the candy coating on the robin eggs don’t stick to your tray.) Bake until the muffins are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 50 to 60 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing the muffins from the tray.
And, voila!
After spending time making festive muffins and waiting for my sister and bro-in-law to arrive, we had our egg hunt. You heard that right. The Easter Bunny came to my house even though I am not four years old. He placed some eggs on my favourite figures on the fireplace and us “kids” went hunting for the eggs as if we were challenged to a million dollar prize. We are pretty competitive. There were no time for pictures at that point. Our elbows were up and our game faces were on. I did manage to get a before shot of my figurines before the whistle was blown:
Once I officially had a sugar coma, I spent the evening popping some pills to get rid of my fat lip. Anti-inflammatories make me drowsy and more dopey than usual. Can you can even imagine? During the trip to get my little pink pills, I got some new protein bars to experiment with on my runs and some moleskin for my blisters. You know you are a runner when your shopping trips end with these purchases sitting on your lap as you watch The Amazing Race:
I don’t know how many times I have told you that I just want to be on The Amazing Race. But I reaaaaallly do. I even went so far as to find out about casting:
It turns out if you don’t have a US passport, you aren’t eligible. Maybe one day they will bend the rules for me?! A girl can dream. Maybe I should start working on my audition reel now. Anyone wanna be my teammate?! I am officially accepting applications!!
I woke up with a fat lip staring at me in the mirror:
This could be for one of two reasons 1) I had a Snooki moment in a bar last night 2) I ran my body down. I would love to tell you that my fat lip resulted in option one but I’m lame and option two is really how this bad boy showed up in my life. Everyone’s body tells them that they are draining themselves differently and lucky for me I get Angelina Jolie lips when I do. Awesome!
This became the debate: do I run 18K and hope that my body doesn’t go into shock and make my lips fatter or do I rest and do 18K another day? I was very tempted to go with option two but the sun was shining and it was finally acceptable to wear shorts on a run. So, option one it was. I loaded up on protein bars and Gatorade and put a smile on my face:
You can hardly even tell my lip is fat when I smile! Win, win? I’d say! I actually had a stellar playlist during today’s run. I have a slight obsession with So You Think You Can Dance hence the reason why I am so excited that Cat Deeley is hosting the Royal Wedding on CNN on Friday morning. But I also fell in love with Stage Fright by Blake McGrath after watching his dance audition themed music video.
And then the rest of the playlist just made me declare that this my favourite running playlist of the moment. I know, big statement. Here’s how it went:
The On-The-Go Playlist Stage Fright- Blake McGrath All of the Lights- Kanye West feat. Rihanna and Kid Cudi Run the World (Girls)- Beyonce Give Me Everything- Pitbull feat. Ne-Yo, Afromack, & Nayer Papi- Jennifer Lopez Sweat (Snoop Dogg vs. David Guetta) [Remix]- Snoop Dogg & David Guetta Just Can’t Get Enough- Black Eyed Peas Baby- Justin Bieber & Ludacris Who’s That Chick?- David Guetta & Rihanna Best Love Song- T-Pain feat. Chris Brown More (RedOne Jimmy Joker Remix)- Usher Next To You- Chris Brown feat. Justin Bieber Under Cover of Darkness- The Strokes Juliette- Hollerado Howlin’ For You- The Black Keys The Stand- Mother Mother Fixed To Ruin- Sam Roberts I’m With You- The Stills Till The World Ends- Britney Spears Higher- Taio Cruz & Travie McCoy Dancing With Tears In My Eyes- Ke$ha Born This Way- Lady GaGa Pack Up- Eliza Doolittle Hummingbird Heartbeat- Katy Perry What The Hell- Avril Lavigne On The Floor- Jennifer Lopez feat. Pitbull Hello- Martin Solveig & Dragonette Show Me How You Burlesque- Christina Aguilera Fireworks- The Tragically Hip Little Lion Man- Mumford & Sons Lisztomania- Phoenix
This run was actually a hard one. It was about 10 degrees hotter than I am use to and it was humid. Throughout my run I started to wish that I went out earlier but after seeing many runner friends, I came to the conclusion that you have to be prepared for whatever type of weather you will get on race day. And- I love the heat and sunshine so it was easy to stay out there. I decided that running for time was out the window and I was just running to complete 18K. I know that if it was 10 degrees colder, I would have had an amazing pace with this playlist. So, at 10K I re-fueled with some sport beans and just kept running like Forrest.
You might be wondering why my lip is actually fat. And it’s from renovations:
This dark colour was leaving and a new bright colour was coming in:
Mumsy started messing about and wrote my name on the wall. She only got as far as “Sio” and decided it could be a key segment on today’s blog. So Nancy Love, these pictures are for you. She thanked me by slacking off some more and doodling on the other wall:
I hope your Easter Sunday is filled with creme eggs the size of a mountain!.. (Or whatever candy is your weapon of choice!)
Happy Easter, friends! And Sporting Life BFF’s– one week today! 🙂
Siobhan McCarthy.ca 
