What's on the Menu

So, I posted that I was going to share some recipes for the week with you here today. I always meal plan and grocery shop on Sundays, usually as early as possible in hopes to avoid the huge crowds. I'm 100% not a nutritionist or dietitian. I don't create any recipes. I try to find recipes in cookbooks or online that are healthy, yet still flavorful. I'm not a person who enjoys eating plain baked chicken with broccoli. We enjoy a lot of ethnic food and I love using spices other than salt and pepper. I try to be strict during the week, but it doesn't always work. Sometimes I snag a Reese cup or end up eating pizza rolls for dinner. So, I am by no means perfect, but even the small changes have made a big difference in my life.

When I got home today, I made  Broccoli Quinoa salad with lemon dressing for lunches. The flavor of this salad is great, however, I didn't feel like it made enough for 4 servings if it's your main dish.I would definitely make it again though and maybe double the recipe. I left the tarragon out, because it's a spice I don't personally like, and it was fine without it.

I also had old bananas that I wanted to get rid of so I made Blueberry Banana Bread. I didn't have applesauce, so I use coconut oil instead. The bread turned out good, however I think the blueberries are a bit overpowering so next time I would use less of them. For some reason, we never finish a hand of bananas so I end up trying healthy banana breads all the time. I would say this is one of my favorites so far.

On the menu this week for dinner:

Monday: Sweet and Spicy Salmon with Mixed Veggies: This is a recipe from a cookbook in our home. I prefer to use cookbooks because I think they are easier to look at while you are cooking. I guess I'm old school. Anyways, it incorporates salmon with shiitake mushrooms and red peppers in a sauce that is made with sriracha and soy. We eat a lot of Asian inspired dishes.

Tuesday: One Pot Southwest Pasta: This stuff is delicious and vegan. Tuesdays are my workout runs, so I like to eat some extra carbs and try to do something with pasta or rice. We've had this before and both really enjoyed it. It makes excellent leftovers for lunch as well. Also one pot=EASY

Wednesday: Crock Pot Balsamic Pork: My husband is more of a meat and veggies kind of guy and his favorite recipes are not casseroles or one pot meals like mine. We already had a pork loin in the fridge, so I thought it might be a good week to use this up. The flavor is really nice and the pork is super tender after cooking in the crock pot all day long. We will be making Brussels sprouts to go alongside the pork.

Thursday: Shrimp A La Criolla: Again, this is from a recipe book at our house. We've never tried this before, but I'm just beginning to like shrimp. My taste buds have completely changed-I used to hate shrimp! The stew incorporates tomatoes, red pepper, and olives. I'm not sure how it will turn out because I've never made anything even remotely like this before, but I'll keep you updated. The "stew" cooks in the crockpot, with the shrimp being added later so it won't burn.

I am willing to share recipes from my cookbooks individually if anybody wants them, I just didn't want to post photos to respect the chefs who created them.

I think the number 1 myth I feel like people believe is that cooking healthy is expensive. My bill was under $100 today. Fresh vegetables and fruits really aren't terrible and Kroger has them on sale a lot. I only try and buy what I need for the recipe so I don't waste the rest. We've gotten a good supply of spices built up and after you buy them once, they can least for a year. You may have to push yourself into something new for some of these recipes, or find a new ingredient that you've never used before, but since we started doing that we feel a lot better about eating at home because our food actually tastes good! We have struggled with going out to eat in the past too much, and we still do on the weekends, but everything's a work in progress! Also, I said "I" a lot but the truth is we take turns making dinner, which also helps with eating at home since I don't particularly like cooking.

Happy eats!

One Week of Doing the Runs I'm Supposed To

I'll be the first to admit that I rarely have stuck to the training schedule in the past. I've never felt bad about that but I figured maybe that could contribute to some of my times not being exactly where I've wanted them to be or me feeling fatigued on some of the runs. I'm not a person who likes to do the same exercise over and over again so that was another problem for me. I feel like running can get boring and I like to mix it up. I never want to get burnt out on training, especially this early into my running career. I don't wake up with my legs twitching to run like some people do, but this week I stuck to the recommended schedule of running.

Let's rewind one week. Saturday I missed the run because I was in Frankfort for a meeting with teachers across the state of Kentucky. It's something I have a passion for, but I was bummed to miss the run with my group. I had to make it up on Sunday, alone, which is always much worse because it's not so much fun to talk to myself. However, I finished and felt good about completing it.

Monday was a recommended 3 miles. After having a giant Italian dinner on Sunday (thanks friends) I needed this run and since 3 miles is a shorter distance, I even got to do a strength workout afterwards. Tuesday was my birthday and I really wanted to skip so that I could go out with my husband, but I decided to stay dedicated and I went to run fartleks (I hate any workout that involves sprinting) but I actually felt great. It must have been because I was powered by a chocolate cake my friend brought me at lunch. That was 6 miles and I bet people that know me can't believe I didn't bitch the whole time about sprinting. Sprinting uphill most of the time, if I might add. Wednesday and Thursday I did morning strength workouts and then the schedule says to do a recovery run. I hit up the gym with T.J. and did 4 miles on the treadmill, remembering how much I flipping hate the treadmill. Friday I chose to do strength in the morning, which brings us right to today which was an 8 mile, long slow distance workout. I workout a lot and adding in the required runs I felt like would just exhaust me, but today actually went really well. I am enjoying my 4:30 group so far and getting to know them better. It was a pretty flat route, but sometimes those take the most mental stamina.

I was glad I stuck to my "required running" for training this week, but since it was my birthday my diet was VERY lacking. Wow wouldn't it be cool if I could have a week of good eating and following the training schedule? I might like gain some awesome super power I didn't even know I had. I'm not a nutritionist by any means, but tomorrow I'll post my meal plan and give you some ideas of what I'll be (hopefully) eating this week. I hope I can stay dedicated and consistent this week.



I hope everyone has an awesome weekend! Get out an enjoy the 50 degree temps in January!

PS My husband bought me a fancy new apple watch for my birthday. I am still figuring out how to use it, but so far I'm really enjoying the push it gives me for the high level exercise goals, the music controls while I'm on on a run, and checking the weather with a push of a button while I'm getting ready for a run. I'll try and share more as time goes on!

Here We Go Again

I really wanted to get back to blogging in 2018 but sometimes I feel like I've already said everything there is to say. Honestly though, there were a lot of things that I could have written about last season, but ended up not doing and I now regret. I dealt with my first injury, and completed a half marathon with said injury. I also had a sinus infection. It was mentally and physically one of my toughest races and I know a lot of people could have related to that struggle.

Blogging is something I enjoy and I'm really hoping to get back into it for this running season. I always start the year with a vision board and one of my visions is to keep up with this blog again.

Our first group run was January 9th. I missed this run because we had tickets to a UK game in Lexington that night. I did not regret missing the run because I had such a blast, but unfortunately our Saturday run was cancelled also, due to snowy conditions and icy conditions. We had a makeup run on Sunday but it wasn't quite the same as our whole group wasn't there.

With the Indianapolis Monumental being the last time I had really run, I have to admit I'd been in a funk of not running. I wanted to allow time for the sprained ankle to heal completely so I did no exercise for about a week (made me absolutely crazy) then started doing other exercises that didn't incorporate heavy running or jumping. I have to be honest that I grew accustomed to really enjoying other things and I didn't miss running. This was weird to me because when I first thought about having to not run, it made me miserable. How would I stay sane? What would I do? This was my healthy addiction and love! But I got comfortable. Other exercises became a new routine for me and running a short 3 miles when the weather was pretty became just an add on when I felt like it. I didn't feel super motivated to start this season and Tuesday was the day that changed that for me.

This Tuesday we had gotten about 4-6 inches of snow over the weekend and Monday during the day. When I stepped outside I realized just how cold it was, 10 degrees with a feel of 3 degrees. Of course all I could think was "I don't feel like doing this." and "This is stupid." Once I got with my training group my feelings quickly changed. I caught up with friends I hadn't seen in awhile. It was good to see them again. I went out with my new pace group (4:30-YIKES!) on plenty of packed snow, in the dark, in freezing temperatures and guess what? I didn't suck. I felt....good...? I think it's partly scary to get back into something because you think that you've lost so much, but your body is smart and it can do amazing things. I didn't feel like a person who hadn't been running for 2 months, I felt like a runner and a strong runner at that. I was confident again and felt ready to train for 26.2 miles. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the accountability and fellowship of being with a group is extremely important for me.

I've got many goals for the year, as I hope all of you do, and The Flying Pig is just the start. I'd also like to complete my first Tough Mudder. Beyond exercise, I've been working to eat 2 vegetarian dinners each week and many more vegetarian lunches. I've already cooked tofu and tempeh pretty successfully, which was fun. T.J. and I are doing ethnic dinners on Sundays. So far udon noodles (Thai) and spatzele (German) have turned out great! I always have goals of multiple vacations and saving money, yes I know, these work against each other. I'm trying to read more novels as well.

As you approach the year it's not too late to set goals. If you get into the routine of doing something specific, it becomes second nature and isn't really something you dread. I don't dread 5:30 AM workouts anymore because I do them regularly. However, I was dreading getting back to running because I was so used to not doing it. Activity or inactivity both provide a level of comfort once you get used to them.

Consistency is my word this year and there's sooooo many goals I have that fall under that. I might fall short, but I'd like to achieve as close to 100 visions as I can!

Blood of the Dragon

So since starting this blog, I feel like I had often had to defend women, especially women in athletics in some way. For example, around the Olympics I wrote the post about how women were being covered in the media. I have also blogged about a man who laughed at me when I told him I was trying to purchase BCAA's at GNC. I have blogged about being yelled at from men out of car windows as I was running. I've heard everything from "Run faster you fat, fluffy bitch" to "Look at your boobs bounce!" Yes, I wish I was kidding. I have blogged about a woman I follow Run, Selfie, Repeat being told she should care more about losing weight and stop using it as a crutch in an email from a stranger.

Now, a coach from my team has been called out for an outfit she wore to complete a half marathon.

The picture above is Laurah Lukin who actually won second place in this half marathon. After these comments were deleted, the man continued to comment on other pictures, then posted about the situation on his Facebook saying that just because women were offended didn't mean they were right. Please read Laurah's blog here to learn about here reaction. 

I don't want to spend time hating on this guy, because he is frankly not worth the time. 

The thing is, it's easy to tell each other to ignore it. It's easy to tell our fellow women to let the comments roll off their back. However, the truth is that these comments hurt and put us on edge. When men yell at me from their cars, I start doubting myself in my own head. It's hard to focus on running because I am instead focusing on myself and how I am being perceived. I also get nervous and find myself looking over my shoulder to make sure the car has left. The problem is not with women, the problem is with how our society views women.  This is why I will continue to post blogs like this. This is why I will continue to be a Girls on the Run Coach, which works to teach girls self esteem and confidence. This is why I will continue to post photos of myself after a long run or a hard workout. 

The other news about our society, that just so happens to be good, is that women seem to be stronger than ever. I know so many amazing women that are out there every day kicking ass and continuing to push themselves every day. These women are strong and beautiful. The job of changing the conversation is in our hands. The job of ending sexism is in our hands. 

If you are a woman who kicks ass, continue to put yourself out there no matter who tries to stand in your way. Focus on your inner strength and outer strength. Focus on all you have done to get where you are now.

You are strong.

Hold that thought close to you knowing that nobody can take it away. 

You are strong. 

“I am the blood of the dragon. I must be strong. I must have fire in my eyes when I face them.” 

― George R.R. Martin, A Storm of Swords

A Half Time That Scares Me

I've been gone for awhile now from the blog world, and every off season I think I'm finished with the blog. Then when the season starts, I end up having a lot on my mind and thinking that I should share with people the craziness that my brain goes through when I'm training.

First off, I'm in a new running group through Beyond Exercise. When our fearless leader, Rick, decided to leave our old group an start a brand new venture, many of us followed him. So although I'm with a new group, a lot of the people are the same and I'm enjoying the more social aspect that a small business brings to the table. Today we even had a party with beer, mimosas, chocolate milk, bagels, music, and shopping!

Second, I'm training for my 4th half marathon. Half marathons have actually become something that seem fun to me, but then I had to go and ruin it by trying to push my pace. In the fall, I will attempt to run a 2 hour half marathon. This means my pace will have to be a consistent 9:09 per mile. That is crazy fast for me! At the moment, I honestly can't remember the pace of my first three half marathons. I know they have to be somewhere on this blog. I want to say my first was in the 2:40 range. Something I do know is that I have gotten consistently faster with each race, making my fastest half marathon 2 hours and 8 minutes. So I know that 8 minutes may not seem like a lot to shave off, but running that pace was very challenging for me. That to me means I had already shaved off at least 30 minutes from previous races. It was honestly a surprise that I was able to finish it in that time. I know I've said before multiple times that I want to challenge myself, but as the season started, my runs were complete garbage trash. I now think I need to give myself more credit and realize that the heat and humidity play a huge role in this, but at the time we started I was becoming very discouraged. I was getting out of breath quickly and felt like I couldn't keep up. I was always falling back and then doubting my abilities. The good news is, my past 2 runs have felt much more doable. Hmmmm....and it has been slightly cooler and less humid!

This season I want to try and keep my confidence up whether the runs are good or bad. I want to not be afraid of the 2:00 half marathon, but instead try and conquer it head on. For those of you along for the journey, I'll try not to say the same story I've said for the past year, but in reality it will probably be a series of whines and triumphs as usual!

A Post I Wanted To Write A Long Time Ago

Okay, so call me superstitious but I was too worried about talking about the health benefits of working out, to actually write about the health benefits of working out. I thought I would immediately get injured during training season, because that's how this works and all. So now that I'm in between training seasons, it's something I wanted to post about.

When I started working out, I received a lot of positive feedback. Many people were complimenting me and saying "good for you." As the working out became something I really enjoyed and became more intense, some-not all people, began questioning me. Here are some examples of comments I felt like I heard regularly:

• Running is so bad for your knees. Are you sure you want to keep doing that?
• I can't believe you are lifting so much weight. You are going to hurt your back
• I'm worried about you running that much tomorrow
• I can't believe you get up so early to work out. You're going to be so tired all the time.
• I've heard running a marathon is really bad for your body.

I didn't have many issues with these things. In fact, the people I'm surrounded by haven't had many issues with these things and some of them have been running or exercising for 20+ years. Sure, there are injuries, and I have seen plenty of those. I even twisted my ankle one season and pushed too hard on it, ending up with more forced rest than I wanted. However, the health benefits I've experienced are far greater than the risk of injury:

• I lost 50 pounds- lowered risk for all kinds of diseases including heart disease and diabetes.
• I no longer have high blood pressure when I go to the doctor's office.
• I just had a biometric screening performed, and I was at low risk in every single category (except BMI.) This screening included cholesterol, blood glucose levels, and several other categories.
• I have had a reduced rate of illnesses and less headaches.
• Guess what? Working out at 5:30 a.m. actually makes me LESS sleepy!
• I am so incredibly less stressed out and overall more positive. 

I've had knee pain before and foot pain and leg soreness and I very well may lose a black toenail I have right now, but being on a regular exercise routine is more rewarding and has more BENEFITS than I could ever have imagined when I started. 

I feel that in some ways our society has some of this backwards. I totally believe in self confidence and positive body image being important. However, when I was 50 pounds heavier and I was not working out at all and eating dinner out or at fast food restaurants regularly, nobody expressed concern for my health. I really try and inspire people to work out because of the difference it has made in my mental and physical health. Sitting on the couch doing nothing was the most detrimental thing I was doing to my own health and wellness. I do try to push myself to the next level in several activities. I like the competition and challenge of doing these things. I follow training guidelines though and try to stay smart about lifting weights, running, stretching, and resting. I think we are hurting ourselves by putting exercise on the back burner. Making exercise a priority can change your life. Maybe that's exactly what makes it's so hard to do. Change is hard and there is always a chance that we will fail or in this case even get hurt, but I don't think that's a reason to hold back from the opportunities that are out there.

The Finish Swine

It all seems like a blur. What a cliche right? But I seriously cannot believe it's all over. Most importantly, I still can't believe I accomplished something that less than 1% of the population has accomplished. So much time, effort, training, lack of sleep, sweat, and pain was poured into this season. The time leading up to the race I was only thinking about everything and anything that could go wrong. I wasn't thinking about what could go right. I can be a doomsdayer.

First off, my pace pleased me though the majority of the race. My 6.8 pace was 10:54. My half pace was 10:48. My 19.7 pace was 10:56. My goal was to stay under 11 (finishing in a 4:45) and at that point, I had still done a great job. Unfortunately, I began to get super fatigued during the last 6 miles and my legs felt like lead, but let's start at the beginning.

Race day came and the weather was great for running. High 30's with no rain. I especially get very hot on runs, so I was really happy about the cooler temperatures. I had a weird sense of calm before I started. It seemed like I just calmed myself down and began to accept whatever at that point. Around 3 miles, my parents and my sisters were waiting in Newport with their kids. It's always exciting to see them, especially since the kids get so excited and are all holding up signs. It's a great way to start the race off and gives me motivation to stay strong.

After that, everything really kept going according to plan. I was running with a friend, but at Gilbert we got separated. I like to charge up hills pretty powerfully and stay in my zone. I just want to get it over with! On the large hill section, I passed some of my extended family and also a family from my school. It was a nice surprise and good to see familiar faces.

At the half marathon split, I still felt great! I wasn't even disappointed to see the halfers leaving, which I thought would be super tough mentally. I ran into another friend from my running group. It was nice to chat with her for a little bit because at this point the crowd had thinned out. It was a little tough thinking nobody else was waiting for me. We got a great downhill, and then I got a text from T.J. saying that he was at mile 15. This was so comforting.

Okay 2 more miles to T.J. and my parents.... I got to see them twice because they were at a turnaround spot and T.J. jumped in and ran with me for a bit just to make conversation, which was nice. After seeing them, I knew my coworker and her 2 boys were waiting at mile 17 so in my mind it was okay... 1 more mile to Kelly. After Kelly was a stretch from hell on Columbia Parkway. It was mostly highway and there was barely any crowd support. This was 18-20 and it was here that the 4:45 pacer passed me and I couldn't keep up. I felt a bit of disappointment and then, I just stopped caring and started thinking about crossing the finish line.

In my head I started thinking about Lindsey waiting for me at mile 20. When I saw Lindsey at mile 20 I was exhausted and thrilled to see her. My stomach had been weird during the run, as in I was worried I was going to poop my pants a few times. I only had eaten 2 of my nutrition packs because I was too nervous about my stomach reacting poorly. My plan was to have had 4 by mile 20. I think maybe I wouldn't have been so exhausted had I been able to stick to my nutrition plan. Anyways, Lindsey kept me going by running with me and telling me things to look out for that I would have been totally oblivious too. I'm glad she pointed them out to me, although I don't know if I can recall them all. My mother in law and father in law were at mile 21 cheering loudly for me. More friendly faces to help me reach my goal. At mile 22 Lori switched off with Lindsey.

One of the best moments of the race happened at mile 22. As exhausted as I was, I really wanted to try a "layup for Lauren." I got the small basketball and totally side armed the ball up there but it went in. I remember celebrating that moment and seeing the sign in the background that said "Never Give Up." Even now as I type that, it brings some tears to my eyes. Thank you Lauren Hill for inspiring me at mile 22. Lori was equally as great as Lindsey. My music stopped and Lori even played music on her phone out loud to keep me pumped up. At this point, 1 mile felt like 10 and every hill felt like Gilbert, but with Lori's encouragement I kept going. Lori and Lindsey are both coworkers and friends by the way, but seriously who else gets coworkers that are that amazing?

I made it to mile 24 and Lori switched off with my friend Tara from my very first running group. I have to admit, that seeing her was a little sweeter because I knew it was my last running buddy and then I would be crossing the finish line. Maggie jumped in with us at 25 and I asked Tara to tell me stories along the way.  Having them with me was great because we used to run together all the time and it was my very favorite running group. The "Monstars" helped me develop my passion for running. At this point my breathing was heavy and I was purely exhausted, but I remember them telling me I could cross the finish line. I remember them telling me to keep breathing. I remember them lying to me about "coasting to the finish line" when I really had 2 more hills.

After they jumped out, it was me and the finish line. I passed my friend Liz's mom and sister, who had a very recognizable sign at several places on the course that was such a welcome vision once again. I saw my parents and T.J.'s parents with T.J, holding up signs for me. I saw my friends Mallory, Brian, Tara, and Bessler. I saw my brother with his family and my niece and nephew waving at me. I couldn't help but smile. I was beaten down, I was ready for this to be over, but I felt such pure happiness. I crossed the finish line and felt pure relief. My time-4:55, 10  minutes behind my "ultimate goal" but still under 5 hours, my "secondary goal" and still doing it the whole time without walking, my "third goal."

The point here is truly said best in the words of Lauren Hill, Never Give Up. It was through not giving up on myself and not giving into my negative thoughts, that I completed something that seemed so unreachable at one point. It's so crazy because your mind will only prepare you for what you set out to do. When I set out to do half marathons, I'm tired at the end. At a full marathon, I felt great and alive at mile 13. Put it in your mind to accomplish something and don't let go of the goal until you get there.

I think the next lesson to be learned here is to lean on the support of others. I am truly humbled by all of the kind words I received, and especially by everyone that showed up at some point on the course to cheer for me. This is what got me through. If I was out on that course completely alone, I truly think the result would have been much different. Sometimes you have to use the strength of others to bring you up, and that is what I did on Sunday. The cheers, the smiling faces, the posters, the text messages, all brought me up and kept me putting one foot in front of the other. It really did mean the world to me.

A chapter has closed. The sweat is gone, the hard work is over. All that is left now is the t-shirts, the car magnet, the photographs, the medal, and of course, the sweet memories. As I look back on this marathon I think the most memorable thing will always be the people. To those of you who were there for me in some form during those 5 hours, I thank you very sincerely. No matter what I complete the the future, May 7, 2017 will always hold a uniquely special place in my heart.

To the people who have asked, totally worth it, and I totally would do another one!