Plant Curious

I heard Rich Roll say plant curious on a podcast the other day. My mind can’t help but jump from there to the word bicurious, especially since I listened to this podcast shortly after a mandatory diversity training session offered by my employer. The session was all about stereotypes and diversity and building inclusive environments. We started with an old standard, the human scavenger hunt. It was interesting to see how many of the statements applied to me (or didn't). I have been an out and proud lesbian since my senior year in high school (late 2001-early 2002).

My parents, grandparents, family, friends, co-workers, online followers, etc. all know that I’m queer. When I first came out I experienced quite a few uncomfortable situations and conversations. I got asked a lot of ridiculous questions by strangers and acquaintances alike. Eventually, that settled down. I can’t think of a moment like that in the last few years of my life, even when I was living in the rural South. Of course, I made a point to compartmentalize some of that in my last job because of the cultural climate, but I was surprised again and again by how much easier it is to be queer in 2013 than it was in 2003.

That being said, I know it’s not so easy for everyone. I know that gay men and genderqueer individuals experience a greater risk of violence, and that people who identify as bisexual will never really feel comfortable on either side of the gay divide. That’s one reason why I use the word queer as much as possible, it encompasses the varied spectrum of experiences in our community. I hadn't thought about this as much lately until I started openly identifying myself as plant based.

I am starting fresh with the awkward conversations and annoying questions. I am learning new words and conceptualizing the deeper meanings of terms like vegetarian and vegan. Again, in this context I use the work plant based because of its ability to cover so many bases. When I am eating out, though, I typically use the word vegan to communicate with servers/chefs because it’s easier to understand. I don’t share some of the radical political connotations of the word vegan, and I eat honey (rarely now as I've tightened up my diet and stopped adding extra sugars).

I had a moment where I realized that I feel more marginalized and apart from society because of my plant based diet rather than my queer identity. It’s amazing how much (for the sake of brevity) veggie bashing exists in popular media and the minds of Americans. There’s a popular beer/football commercial right now where a guy’s girlfriend is forcing him to eat quinoa burgers. He can’t pronounce the name, they look terrible, and he gets ostracized for his willingness to “give in” to his woman and not eat meat. This message is everywhere once you start looking for it. I’d bet that you can’t watch more than a few hours of primetime TV without coming across some veggie bashing.

Fortunately, I think things are changing much in the same way they've changed for the queers over the last 10 years. Mainstream chefs and authors are advocating for plant based diets, at least part time. Americans are starting to think about where their food comes from, and to link their health and wellness to their dietary choices. More restaurants are becoming sensitive to food issues in general, and allergen labels are a plant based eater’s best friend. I hope that plant based eating continues to gain momentum, and that those of us who identify as plant based can suffer through the questions and the push back to continue to spread the message.

Rawsta with Corn Basil Sauce

Here's the recipe for my dinner tonight, and it's completely raw! Good thing it's a hot day here in Florida :)

Rawsta with Corn Basil Sauce
Raw noodles:
2 large carrots
1 large zucchini
1/2 red onion
1-2 bell peppers
1 medium sweet potato
A few handfuls of chopped red cabbage

Use a peeler, spiralizer, knife, etc. to cut these ingredients into noodley shapes. I peeled my carrot and sweet potato first.

Corn basil sauce:
3 cobs worth of raw corn, cut off cobs
1-2 C spinach
1 cup kale
Large handful of fresh basil
1-3 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast
1 splash of non-dairy milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Throw everything in your blender and spin until smooth.

Combine the noodles and sauce at least 10-15 minutes prior to enjoying to let the flavors settle. You will definitely not need all of the sauce! I also added what we had left of chopped sundried tomatoes.

Blender shots:

Half Marathon: Challenge Accepted

Those of you who I know personally probably know this since I posted to social media, but if you haven’t heard I made the leap this week and signed up for a half marathon! I've been looking at races for almost a month now. I was going to look for a 10k since the only race I've done is a 5k, but I realized I was already running 10k or more on my long runs and could aim higher.

Then I dragged my feet looking for a half marathon, and also overestimated how much time I’d need to prepare. There is one that looked good in late January in Celebration, but I will probably be in Philadelphia that weekend for work. Once I counted out weeks I realized I could still get in 11-13 weeks of training if I did a race in December. I almost feel like fate had a hand in this because when I looked there was a half marathon right herein Orlando on Saturday, December 7^th. I love that it’s on a Saturday so I will have Sunday to recover. My goal is just to finish because I really have no idea what my time could be at this point. I am running my long runs around a 10 minute mile pace and that feels comfortable, but I don’t know how my legs will hold up after more than 7.5 miles!

I have started to do some preparations both in buying essentials and building a good training plan. I was going to buy a half marathon training plan but after spending money on the race entry, compression socks, a water vest, compression shorts, and a foam roller I was a little hesitant. Some friends online recommended good free sources, and I consulted about 5 to make this plan. My plan is basically a combination of Hal Higdon’s program and Anne from Fannetastic Food’s program. I usually run 3 days a week and strength train 3 days a week. On my rest days I've been doing yoga, so I guess they’re not truly rest days.

This plan will be interesting because I will be tapering off my strength training (but still fitting some in), adding a true rest day each week, and doing a weekly bike ride for cross training. I made the initial plan to do a 3 run week and then a 4 run week. If the 4 runs feel like they’re too taxing I plan to switch to all 3 run weeks. I’m excited, scared, nervous, and overwhelmed but looking forward to having a goal in mind.

Here’s the plan I came up with:

What I Ate Wednesday

It's been a week, and I think I like the recap of food pictures rather than trying to capture an entire day's worth of food. Here's my best shots from the last week:

Lettuce wraps that I ate as a salad. The lettuce wrap filling was mushrooms, water chestnuts, and tofu. Carly wrapped hers in rice paper but I was too hungry to do all that work!

Amazing pinto bean chili with hatch chiles and homemade cornbread. Topped with avocado, of course.

What I like to call the smoothie factory. This is what the kitchen looks like every Sunday as I prep a week's worth of smoothies. This week was an Elvis (PB&banana), apple lime, apple berry, watermelon beet & a honeydew lime.

Lentil loaf from Oh She Glows, Carly's magical collard greens, roasted portabello and applesauce. 

Play on taco salad - greens topped with quinoa and sauteed veg (zucchini, chayote, onions, cabbage). Also, always, roasted plantains.

Last night I dropped Carly off at the airport for a business trip, so I prepped for some great meals for the rest of the week. Corn cut off the cob (so sweet and tasty raw!), spaghetti squash (now turned into noodles), and my raw noodle blend (zucchini, cabbage, onion, peppers, carrot and sweet potato). 

Spreading the Message

I went through a long period of time where I felt embarrassed about sharing my weight loss story with people. It wasn't about the weight loss part – I’m proud of that – it was more about admitting to being over 300 pounds every time I tell the story. I’m over that now. I’m at the point where I feel like shouting from rooftops, going on TV, etc. I have realized that my story is valuable particularly because there’s nothing especially astounding about it. A lot of weight loss stories involve some incredible athletic feat, or rapid change but mine has been slow and steady. The longest race I've run has been a 5k (although sights are set on a half marathon).

I didn't keep a very accurate record of my weight loss, so I don’t know exactly how long it took to hit certain weight loss milestones. I wish I did, I get asked that a lot. Most people seem surprised though that the 170 pound total loss took about four years. Our culture is so used to Biggest Loser and gastric bypass as our weight loss benchmark that we overestimate what a healthy weight loss journey looks like. I've come to realize that the most important thing I can share with people is that I achieved (and have maintained) this weight loss by changing my entire mentality about food, exercise and healthfulness. I have worked hard to make slow progress, I work even harder to maintain it, and most importantly that I love the way my life is now.

I can’t imagine a day where I’m not moving my body, eating lots of plants, and feeling good about myself. I firmly believe that anyone can get there, regardless of how much weight they need to lose or what obstacles they face. I am starting to make an effort to talk about this as much as possible, in any setting where it’s appropriate. We all share food as a common experience, and I’ve found it easy to start these conversations without being weird or preachy. In fact, my goal is to never be preachy about this. I know people can’t make lasting changes until they are ready, and I just want people to know that I will be there for them when they are.

I have a co-worker who is on a pretty amazing weight loss journey right now. She has just hit her original goal to get back to her pre-pregnancy weight and we were catching up on how she’s doing last week. She made a statement to the effect of “I’ll never be as skinny as you but...”. I had to stop her and remind her that she could do that if she wanted to. She said her whole family struggles with weight. So does a lot of mine. I am so hopeful for her because I see that she’s making lifestyle changes that are lasting. I check in with her every now and then to see how it’s going, mostly because I like to talk about that stuff.

I also try to sneak it in subtly when I do my work as a librarian. I teach students how to develop good search phrases and to pick out the most important themes from their research questions. When I give an example I always talk about how I was ready to make the switch to a plant based diet but afraid that I wouldn't be able to support my nutritional needs as an athlete, so I did research on it. I like using that as an example for a couple reasons. One is obviously that I’m spreading the message of alternative routes to health and wellness. Another is that I want my students to learn that good research skills apply to their whole lives, not just their school assignments.

There are other times I get to sneak in some plant based chat, it happens a lot at the grocery store. Sometimes people will ask me about an ingredient that I’m picking out (like jicama – no one knows what it is!), or the cashier will make a comment about how many veggies I’m buying. I actually made some gym buddies in NC by talking to grocery store cashiers! It’s awesome to connect with other people who are either focusing on health and wellness or that have that voice in the back of their head telling them that there may be a better way to do things.

Yesterday we did a charity bike ride event for Habitat for Humanity where we biked a total of 4 miles and stopped at several restaurants/bars along the way. It was a lot of fun, and we met some new people. We  met some new people, and almost all of them were involved in active things like biking, soccer, running, etc. I also met a vegetarian and pescetarian It was encouraging to meet other people our age who make health and fitness a part of their lives. It makes me hopeful for the future generations! I hope that any of you reading this who are interested in health and wellness also do your best to spread the love.

Homemade Cherry Buckwheat Energy Bars Recipe

Every few weeks I make a batch of homemade energy bars based on Brendan Brazier’s Thrive series of books and programming. I love his recipes because they are so open to interpretation and what you have on hand. I've been tweaking mine with every batch and this version is the best I've made so far.

Cherry Buckwheat Energy Bars
makes 12 small bars or 6 large bars

1/2 c thawed cherries
1/4 c sunflower seeds
1/4 c almonds
4-5 Brazil nuts
10 dates
4 dried apricots
1/4 c buckwheat groats
1/8 c coconut flakes
1/4 c Vega chocolate protein powder
Salt, cinnamon and ginger to taste

Place all ingredients in a food process and blend until they form a cohesive mass. If it’s too wet, add protein powder in small increments. Mine have never been too dry!

Scoop out onto a large sheet of wax paper and use a spatula to form it into a square/rectangle shape, as seen below:

Wrap the entire thing in wax paper and leave in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. Remove and cut into 12 or 6 pieces. Wrap each piece individually in wax paper, and store in the freezer in an airtight bag or container.

Here’s the nutrition stats for a small bar (1/12^th):

I like to eat these after my morning workout and stretch either before or after a shower. It’s good to eat something within 25 minutes of a workout, and these have a nice balance of carbs and protein. The cherry and ginger are great for muscle recovery as well.

Remember…food is the best medicine!

What I Ate Wednesday

I did this last week with what I actually ate for the entire Wednesday. Today was my usual smoothie breakfast, leftovers for lunch and dinner, and the same snacks I eat most days. For this week’s What I Ate Wednesday I thought I’d share some of the food I’ve had over the last week that hasn’t made it to the blog (but you may have seen if you follow me on Instagram).

Last Friday we met Carly's uncle for dinner in one of those massive FL retirement communities. He wanted to go to a restaurant called TooJay's for dinner, and luckily they had this amazing roasted veggie salad that was vegan without removing anything! I also got hummus for an appetizer and used it as dressing for the salad.

Salads are my favorite meal, hands down. This one was topped with a homemade chickpea burger from Carrie On Vegan.

Every few weeks I made my own energy bars for post-workout, pre-breakfast smoothie. This is what they look like when I spread them out from the food processor, and this one was cut into 12 pieces. Look for the recipe on here soon!

After a long run I treat myself with a smoothie bowl. I always make my smoothie with cherries as the base for this because of their anti-inflammatory properties. Then I top them with homemade granola and fresh fruit. 

Cauliflower rice made by throwing cauliflower in the food processor. This was mixed with rice vinegar and rice seasoning (seaweed, sesame seeds and salt). 

Cauliflower rice from above topped with a pineapple stir fry.

One of my favorite pictures I've ever taken of food! This is a bite from my lunch yesterday. Salad topped with buffalo crumble, roasted cauliflower, corn, peppers and cucumbers. 

Can’t Do It Better

I follow a lot of blogs and use other tools/apps to curate content from the web. In my work life I use this extensively to keep track of trends, educate myself, get ideas, and inspire myself. I often write blog posts in response to other blogs or articles and find this reflection to be enormously valuable. My goal is to increase posting to this blog but life/work have been a bit insane the last few weeks. I think I’d like to routinely post a blog titled “Can’t Do It Better” where I share some of my health and fitness related finds over each week. Here’s the first installment, if you like them please follow these blogs and websites!

Five Tricks I Used to Beat My Unhealthy Eating Habits 

Lifehacker is an amazing website that provides information on improving your life in myriad respects. They often have health and fitness resources like this one. The list is tricks is great, and the beginning of the article discusses some of the foundational principles of food and diet such as satiety and the glycemic index.

6 Convincing Reasons to Start Working Out Immediately 

Greatist is a site that also has a daily email that I get. Their About section says it all “Greatist.com is the trusted health & fitness source for the young, savvy, and social. Health and fitness is hard. We want to make it easier. And for starters, we think you deserve better content than what's out there now. Every fact is cited by a PubMed study, every story meticulously verified, and expert approved.” Hopefully this list will inspire you to start exercising, continue exercising or bring your exercising to the next level!

Vitamin B12 and the Case For (and Against) a Plant-BasedDiet 

No Meat Athlete is one of my absolute favorite blogs, and it’s the one I clung to like a crutch when I was researching vegetarian diets for athletes. Matt (and guest bloggers) always does a great job of examining an issue in plain language with references to other material. This article talks about B12, which is often the sticking point in arguments about plant based diets. It’s a must read because it goes well beyond that and examines diets, habits, and health in general.

The Synergy Of Real Food 

Kath Eats Real Food is one of the more popular food blogs, and she is certainly not a plant based eater! That being said, she is a registered dietician and knows her stuff when it comes to food. This article is a short and beautiful discussion on the importance of eating real food, and the health benefits of eating as much unprocessed food as possible.

3 Simple Lessons Learned From My Failed Diet Attempts 

Until recently, Healthy Eater was called Diet-Blog.com so you may have been familiar with that. Again, it’s not a plant based diet resource but often has great short articles like this one. Simplicity is good, especially when making life changes, and this list is short and sweet!

7 Things Really Fit People Do to Stay in Shape 

12 Minute Athlete is a new entry on my RSS feeds and she is hardcore with her workouts! She is a good inspiration for those looking to push to the next level, and most of her posts are visually appealing representations of her workouts. This post is exactly the type of list I would make if someone asked me about how my life has changed from a journey to be healthy to being a consistently healthy person.

My New Obsession

I've got a new favorite thing – podcasts! I’m almost ashamed as an academic librarian to admit that I haven’t bothered with podcasts until now. I listened to my first podcast just before we moved in late April. It was a No Meat Athlete interview with Leo Barbuto from Zen Habits. I follow No Meat Athlete in my Feedly and found out about the podcast through a post. I enjoyed that enough to want to explore more podcasts.
I still am firmly in the novice camp and welcome suggestions from more experienced podcast users. I use the podcasts app from Apple on my iPhone and have only downloaded podcasts through their store so far. The first podcast I subscribed to was No Meat Athlete, but I quickly subscribed to several music podcasts to listen to when I run. I was getting bored with my playlists on my phone and didn't want to use data to stream from some of my other favorite sites/apps (Soundcloud & Songza) while I was out. I love that you can download podcasts to your phone or stream them!

Now I listen to 1-2 podcasts during each run. I did that for a few months and then would listen to a No Meat Athlete when they downloaded (not very frequent). I recently read Rich Roll’s “Finding Ultra” and saw that he had an interview-style podcast as well. I've LOVED some of the episodes I've listened to so far, especially the Mac Danzig interview. I used to listen to 10-15 minutes of each podcast during lunch but now I’m so hooked that I play them in my car instead of music on my way to and from work. I’m starting to explore more and downloaded an interview with Jenn Shelton from Ultra Runner Podcast that I’ll listen to tomorrow. I also downloaded some new podcasts on vegan eating and meditation. I've found them to be very informative and inspiring so far, and great soundtracks for running and commuting!

Here’s my favorite running podcasts:
Morgan Page
Tiesto’s Club Life
R3hab
Dirty South

What I Ate Wednesday

Several years of blog reading have introduced me to the food blogging phenomenon known as “What I Ate Wednesday”. I see a lot of variation in how people choose to do this. Some post random food shots over a period of time, some post their previous Wednesday, and some post photos of a complete day that may not be Wednesday.

I’m going to give it a shot with what I ate, am eating (it’s dinner time!) and plan to eat today. Today is a weird day for me because I usually work a pretty regular 8ish to 5ish day, but I am at work late tonight to teach a class at 8PM. Therefore, I ate breakfast at home and dinner/dessert at work.

Breakfast at home is always a treat because I get to make a fresh smoothie:

I have been eating 1 oz portions of this most days for a mid-morning snack:

Lunch was one of my go-to’s: last night’s taco dinner on a salad:

Dinner is also leftovers of veggie bean soup and raw veg/buckwheat noodles:

Dessert is usually 1/3 C of rolled oats cooked in water with cinnamon and some variation of protein powder/pb2/nut butter and fresh berries. But tonight will be one of these mobile treats:

Saving Money

One of the common opinions about a plant based diet is that it’s more expensive to maintain. Like any diet, there are huge variations in the amount of money people spend. It’s an unfortunate reality that fruits and vegetables are more expensive in the short term than convenience foods. Especially if you want to buy organic. It’s also true that a lot of vegan products cost more than their non-vegan counterparts. Fortunately, there are ways to save money and to switch to a plant based diet without drastically increasing your food budget.

We spend about $100 a week on groceries for two people, plus monthly excursions to health food stores or websites that total about $200. I’m not sure how that compares the average American couple, but in my opinion food is more important than anything else I buy. We also eat breakfast at home every day, lunch at home at least 6 days a week, and dinner at home at least six days a week. We have a lot of staples and our grocery list is pretty easy to throw together. Each week we go through 14 bananas, 1 bag of romaine hearts, 3 bags of other mixed greens, 2-3 cucumbers, 3-5 bell peppers, 1 bunch of kale, 2 pints of berries, 10ish pieces of fruit, ¼ watermelon, 1-2 bags of carrots, 1 bunch cilantro, several onions, and 2 quarts of almond milk. We also keep our eyes peeled for deals on bulk/packaged grains and beans to keep on hand so we use our pantry extensively.

A blogger I follow called “My Healthy Chef” did a series on vegan budgeting that I highly recommend. She goes very in depth on what she buys and tips to save money. The way we get it done is as follows:

1. Make a menu based on what we already have and need to use up.
2. Buy produce from a variety of sources based on what’s local, in season, cheap and safe (ex. I never buy non-organic apples).
3. As mentioned before, look out for places that sell in bulk or have great prices on pantry staples. We shop at a mix of organic and ethnic markets and always look for our staple foods (brown rice, dried chickpeas, lentils, etc).
4. Check out the big box stores like Target, Walmart, Costco, BJs, etc. They are carrying a lot of organic, natural and/or vegan products that used to only be found at organic markets.
5. Check out online stores, particularly Amazon, Spencr’s Market and Vitacost.  Amazon wins for variety, Spencer’s Market lets you try single servings of unique vegan products, and Vitacost has amazing products for much cheaper than I’ve found everywhere else.  (**note – if you use my link to Vitacost and make an order, you will get $10 off and so will I!)
6. If you live in an agreeable climate, grow your own food!
7. Make your own versions of your favorite things. If you eat protein/granola bars and are paying $1 or more per bar it's likely going to be cheaper to make your own. There are countless recipes out there on how to do this, try a Google search for your current favorite brand plus the word recipes. I like to use Brendan Brazier's Thrive Forward Balanced Energy Bars formula.

Transitioning to a healthy diet, regardless of if you include meat, takes work. It will be more expensive at first while you get used to making changes. By planning effectively and making use of a variety of locations, it is possible to build a solid pantry and get to a point where you can spend about $75 (or less!) per person for a week’s worth of meals.

Heart Walk, Summer Rolls & Bagels

This has been a big weekend. Saturday was the 2013 American Heart Association Greater Orlando Heart Walk and delicious homemade summer rolls. Today started with a new personal record for long run distance for me (7.15 miles) followed by several hours in the kitchen making smoothies, homemade cinnamon raisin bagels and bean soup.

The Heart Walk was held at the main campus of the University of Central Florida (this is where I work, but I work on a different campus). I was asked to join the Library’s team by one of my co-workers, and Carly decided to join the team as well. Between the two of us we raised almost $1,000 and contributed to UCF’s total of over $25,000. I was walking in support of my Dad who had a stroke in May (and is struggling through recovery every day), and my Uncle Gus who passed away from complications with open heart surgery almost one year ago. Carly was walking in support of them plus her Uncle Gary who has had several heart attacks, and her Grandfather who had heart disease at the end of his life. We had a great time on the walk and Carly completed it with ease (and even let us jog several times!).

Taco Lasagna

I came across a recipe for taco lasagna recently and I didn’t save it, but it piqued my culinary interest. Carly and I talked over some ideas and came up with our own version based some on what we have around the house and some on what we like to eat the most. It’s one of the best things we’ve made in a long time and I wanted to share the recipe with you.

Before going in the oven

After removing our dinner portions

 Taco Lasagna

(makes 6-8 servings)

Large zucchini, sliced into long strips (lasagna noodle shape)
Frozen or fresh corn
Your favorite salsa
Vegan parmesan

Main filling:
1 block tempeh, cut into small pieces
1 box of mushrooms, chopped into slices
1 small bell pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
2-3 cups frozen chopped greens
Taco spice blend (we make a mix of garlic, cumin, chili powder, coriander, salt & pepper)
Lime

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sauté tempeh, mushrooms, pepper, onions, tomatoes and garlic in a bit of coconut oil or water for a lower fat version. Add taco spice to your taste.

Once the mixture has browned, add frozen greens, the juice of a lime and some salsa if you’d like. Cook until greens have broken apart and warmed.

Get your lasagna pan. Add a layer of salsa on the bottom of the pan. Add a layer of zucchini noodles whichever way fits best for your pan. Lightly salt & pepper this layer. Add a layer of filling. Top with a layer of frozen corn. Repeat once (salsa, zucchini, filling, corn) so that the top of your dish is the corn layer. Add a layer of vegan parm, nutritional yeast, or non-dairy/dairy shredded cheese to the top if you’d like.

*Note: We ate ours with baked plantains and a side of greens. 

Energybits Review

About six weeks ago I read a blog post from Forks to Feet about ENERGYbits. ENERGYbits is a product designed for athletes to provide a plant based energy source. They are 100% spirulina, which is pretty much the #1 superfood on my list.

According to their website: “Want more energy, more mental vitality, or a healthy high protein snack you can grab on the go? How about a quick way to boost your athletic performance, supercharge your run or crank up your endurance while working or working out? If so, ENERGYbits® are for you. Made from 100% organicallly grown spirulina algae and loaded with 40 nutrients, ENERGYbits® algae tabs have the highest concentration of protein in the world (64%) all for just one calorie per tab. Endorsed by the United Nations as the most nutritious food on earth, spirulina algae has been a favorite of Olympic gold medalists for decades and is a super food in every sense of the word, delivering instant and enduring energy to your brain and body.”

I began following @energybits on Twitter after my first exposure to them, and was lucky to notice a tweet about a trial of the product. I received a tin of ENERGYbits in the mail a few weeks ago, but couldn't try them out until I recovered from my week of sick. On Sunday I made sure to get up 5 minutes earlier for my long run to give the ENERGYbits time to work. I also ate my usual date and sips of coconut and regular water.

Although I had a tough run (likely from my long break), I could sense a deeper reserve of energy to power my run. If my legs and lungs had been up to par I think my performance could have topped any prior run. I LOVE spirulina and plan to use it as my main protein source in smoothies once I run out of protein powder. Check out this graphic to see the nutritional info on spirulina:

I love the idea of this product and urge any athletes (regardless of vegan status) to check them out. They are easy to use, easy to transport, low calorie and filled with goodness!

Long Weekend + Fruity Pancakes

This long weekend has been pretty great, especially after a weekend lost to being sick last weekend. I planned for a long run on Saturday morning but it didn't happen. On Thursday after work Carly and I did JillianMichael’s Ripped in 30. Friday morning I did some serious strength training, and then Friday night I spent just over an hour mowing the lawn. When I woke up Saturday I was in pain, especially in my thighs and ankles. I decided that extra sleep/repair would be more beneficial in the long term than pushing a long run.

I struggled with the decision later when we drove by people exercising that morning, but I got over it eventually. I was also bummed because we had a couples massage planned for 11AM and I couldn't imagine a better post-long run experience than a massage! Fortunately, the massage got my legs back in shape for a long run on Sunday! We also went shopping on Saturday. I have been in the market for some running gear and I knew that the local running store might have Labor Day sales. I got LUCKY and got this pair of Brooks Pure Flow 2 for $70 (instead of $100!), plus a new sports bra.