Training is Hard, but I am Tough

Saturday was honestly one of my favorite routes that we do. It's hilarious to say this because I wrote a blog post once about wanting to throw up on this exact route. For all you Piggers out there, it's Gilbert Hill up to Eden Park. This route even continued onto Madison road and was oddly like the Pig course. It was 9.5 miles in total, but we actually got the downhill of Gilbert, which you don't get blessed with in the full marathon. It's pretty awesome to look at a route and not dread it, but appreciate that I can do it, and also to be able to appreciate the view from the top. The Eden Park overlook is beautiful at all times, but it's more beautiful when you're not struggling to breathe and telling yourself you just might die. Our program has been revamped this training season and it is not easy. Tuesday was one of the hardest workouts we have ever done in my opinion, but I forced myself to keep going and didn't fall back. It's moments like Tuesday and Saturday (even though difficult) that have shown me how far I've really come. I struggle at times telling myself that I haven't made enough progress or getting disappointed about really not making the scale move, but when I can keep up and when I can feel good, I am reminded that at one time running a mile was nearly impossible. It really is every woman's goal to lose weight. I'd be lying if I said I didn't want to cut another 20 pounds off, but in reality it's important to appreciate daily accomplishments that show you are stronger and can endure more than you could yesterday. We should put as much weight on these accomplishments as we do on the scale going down, if not more.

By the way, my group is awesome!

Anyways, I have made some good recipes lately that I want to share because people seemed to be excited about those.

Shrimp Creole: I posted about this a couple weeks ago, but I had never tried it before. Actually T.J. and I have never even cooked with shrimp before, but this was a good first effort. Let me tell you-it's delicious! T.J. and I both loved it. Why not make it tomorrow for Mardi Gras?!?! It would be perfect. By the way for all you weight watchers, the recipe says it's only 1 smart point (I'm not sure if this is the new system or not) without the rice.

My friend Luke had an Olympics gathering to show off his new home. T.J. and I pitched in by making Korean food. T.J. made Bulgolgi (a thin sliced marinated beef) and I made spicy chicken. This stuff will make your nose RUN, but it is delicious. People have asked me for the recipe. It's from a friend, so I'll type it out. I'd have to ask T.J. for the bulgolgi recipe he used, but there are several online and it's pretty easy. Make this and watch the Olympics for a fun night!

1.5 pounds chicken
4 cloves minced garlic
1 chopped jalepeno
sliced carrots, thin
white mushrooms
Sauce
1/3 cup Gochujang (it's a paste, you can get it near the other asian sauces at Kroger)
2 T hot pepper flakes
2 T brown sugar
1 T soy sauce
1 T seasame Oil
Stir fry ingredients until chicken is cooked and veggies are soft
After sauce ingredients have been mixed, pour over stir fry and cook for one more minute
Serve over rice

We are going out of town later this week, so I'm trying to make easy recipes that do not require a lot of dishes.

Baked Potato Soup is on the menu tonight. She sneaks in cauliflower as a filler, but do not worry, it still tastes as hearty as other loaded potato soups I have tried.

It's been hard to resist sweets lately and I'm still working on that. Fat Tuesday donuts, candies from valentine's parties, and homemade sugar cookies are some things I've been failing at resisting. Sugar is most definitely an addiction, but I'm working on it.

Enjoy your week!