Happy Easter!

I've been meaning to post all week, but I've been a procrastinating loser. Oh well....

Happy Easter! I hope everyone celebrated in a way that resonated with them. I started off with a fun new breakfast recipe that I'm going to name Chocolate Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal!! Here's a pic

For one serving:

1/2 c of your fav oatmeal
1 c of chocolate almond milk
Microwave 2-2.5 min (only you know the power of your microwave)

Add 1 extremely ripe banana (some people call them rotten, but they are crazy) and drizzle some melted peanut butter over the top. Yum!!!!!!

Now, you can also get a little crazy and add some raisins or nuts, but it was great as is.

I went with take out from a local Asian restaurant as my Easter brunch and I was too hungry to take a photo before eating it. Sorry.

When I posted last, I was deep into a funk about having a crappy run outside. Poor me. You can tell I'm new to this running stuff. Of course I had a bad run outside! I haven't run outside that much. It was windy. It was Friday and I was tired. I've only been running since January!!!!!! I should have walked a little more. I get so competitive with myself and all the numbers sometimes and I need to calm it down. I'm reading a new book "Running for Mortals" by Bingham and Hadfield. Wish I'd had this book in January. Lots of great info, with the most important right now being "SLOW DOWN". I think this is what messed me up when I tried to run a year and a half ago. Too much, too soon, you get burned out, it isn't fun and it hurts. This gives a more commonsense approach. Patience is the key. I have had 2 good runs outside since last weekend and I feel much better about it. Running is so mental!!!!

I've also been to yoga a couple of times this past week and felt great about that. And I got a great massage yesterday to make up for a crappy one that I had several weeks ago. So, it's been a great weekend on the whole.

Also trying to make some style changes to this blog, so bear with me folks! I'm not the most technical person.

Funday Friday

Funday Friday? Well, let's see.....

Today was to be my long run of the week in my training program--4miles. Let me just say that I have never, ever, in my entire life, ran 4 miles. And guess what? I still haven't. Yes, I completed 4 miles, outside no less, wind in my face both figuratively and literally, but I had to walk AT LEAST 4 times, could've been 5, I lost count I was so disgusted with myself. Me, a runner? What? I felt horrible. I felt like a fraud, a phony, a poser. Kept trying to talk myself into,it's mostly mental, right? My body wasn't buying what my mind was selling. It sucked, no doubt.

I was using Map My Run on my iphone and was running in a neighborhood that wasn't all that familiar to me. I kept picking the direction that took me uphill. Killing myself! Then somehow ended up in a not so nice couple of streets, which at least inspired me to run more than walk. It was just a mess from beginning to end.

This is what I felt like

Anyway, I'm trying to focus on the positive: at least I'm trying, right?

Tomorrow I'm going to a free yoga class. This totally fits my budget so I'm pretty excited about it. I have found 2 weekly free classes, which is awesome. I hope it's good, I'll report back.

I also tried a new recipe: Red lentil, tomato and kale soup. It is fantastic!!! Here's how to make:

Heat couple teaspoons coconut oil to saute onions, garlic celery. Add 1 can diced tomatoes (with sauce), 4 cups veggie broth, 1 cup rinsed red lentils, 1 bay leaf, and about a teaspoon each (I'm really bad at measuring) smoked paprika, cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt/pepper. Bring to boil, then simmer until lentils reach desired tenderness (which isn't long for red lentils), add in kale just to soften. I then also added a couple tablespoons of my favorite hot sauce, but that is optional. It was just so good!!!!!!!! Almost made up for the crappy run.

So, to sum up: exercise-bad, food-good. As long as there's balance. Till later.

Catching up

I really meant to write this post sooner! Had another "race" this past weekend, a 3K, and after running the 5K first, this wasn't as big a deal. It actually felt good. After the first mile anyway. Why is the first mile such a beast?!

Obviously, it was a St. Paddy's Day event. Check out my new Brooks! Very lightweight and felt great on the run.  The rest of the day was spent drinking way too much beer and Irish spirits. Very stupid. Makes for a rough Sunday. Anyway.....

Now have a training plan in place for an upcoming 8K. What the hell am I thinking? It's an event sponsored by my church, so I figure I should give them my race money. Don't know if I can actually run the whole thing, but I will finish one way or another. And I'll have a cool pint glass to show for it. Yeah, my church is cool like that.

I ran 3.5 miles yesterday, while is the longest I've ever run at one time, so that felt pretty amazing. Tomorrow will be 2miles, then 4 miles on Friday or Saturday. Scary.

I've been scouring lots of gluten free vegan blogs lately looking for new thoughts/ideas. Still want to try gluten free baking again but am overwhelmed by the thought. I did want to address the question that I still get asked all the time, especially now that I'm GF: "What DO you eat?!" This drives me crazy! It's almost as bad as "Where do you get your protein" and "Where do you get your calcium"?  So, here is a very short list of all the foods I can think of off the top of my head that I can eat whenever the heck I want!

Almond milk (or soy, hemp, coconut, rice or oat), any and all nut butters, any and all legumes (lentils, pinto, kidney, black, white, garbanzo), potatoes, greens (spinach, chard, kale), any fruit (bananas, oranges, apples, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, grapes, kiwi), any vegetable, brown rice, quinoa, tofu, olives, pickles, any fermented foods, hummus, rice crackers, GF potato chips and tortilla chips, avacado, salsa, homemade pizza, pancakes, cornbread, coleslaw, gegan ice cream & cookies, sushi, juices and smoothies, CHOCOLATE RICE CHEX CEREAL!!!!!! Who could even get all that in one day?! I could add more, but I'll shut up for now.......

Since it's late for me, going to end with a recommendation for the book I'm reading at this moment and loving.

If you like the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, you will love this! Check it out. Gonna go read some right now........

Peace

Sunday, Sunday.........one of my favorite days of the week

I love Sundays. I purposefully do not plan to do a lot of things on Sunday. It's a time of rest, catching up, getting ready for the coming week. It's a lot of "me" time, and I get really cranky without it.

On this Sunday, I'm a little sore. Why you ask? Well let me tell you: I ran my first 5K in over a year and a half yesterday!!!!! Whoop Whoop!!!! It was a cold morning, but at least the sun was out and no rain/snow. My goal was 35min and I finished in 35.09, according to my timer, haven't looked up official time yet. I did have to walk one time in the 3rd mile at a really steep hill (or at least it seemed pretty steep at the time; did I mention it was in the 3rd mile?), but otherwise I ran it all!!!! It was hard but I felt so good after.

Got some grief over my bib number. Ha!!! But hey, it's the year of my birth!!!!!

Next up is the Shamrock Shuffle 3K this Saturday; after the 5K, a 3K shouldn't be so bad, eh?

It was such a beautiful day here today, temps in the 60's. Walked my doggie to a nearby park where we lounged in the grass eating carrots, listening to music and growling at people walking by. Sorry, only my dog did that. So nice!

The afternoon was spent in the kitchen, getting some good food ready for the week. This is a must if you are vegan or just want to eat well, some prep and organization. I find it to be so worth it. Nothing particularly amazing, but yummy nonetheless

Roasted Brussels!

Salads!

Oh, how I love you, lentils.......

I also found time to get some new running shoes from +Brooks, but I don't have a pic of them yet. Just know that they are purple and fabulous.

I really planned on doing my taxes this weekend, but alas, that never happened. Too many naps :-)

Happy Sunday Everyone!

How can it only be Thursday??

As you can surmise from my post title I'm wishing it was Friday. But it isn't. But here is what is happening on this crazy Thursday night..........

1. I got a running mentor today! And quite by accident. A girl that I work with is a fairly new runner (probably couple years or so) and I ask her running related stuff all the time and after I irritated her with lots of questions today, she offered to be my mentor. I think it will be cool because she is not so far removed from being a beginner that she cannot remember how hard it is and how clueless I pretty  much am. She has already set a goal for my time in the 5K I'm running this Saturday (35mins or under?!?!), which leads me to number 2.....

2. I'm running a 5K on Saturday. Crap. I can't run 3 miles yet. This could be a problem. I've ran 2 miles this week (outside no less) and thought my lungs were going to explode. My legs didn't feel that bad. I passed a few walkers outside and I was fearful that they would think something was wrong with me because of my labored mouth breathing. But I had my ear buds in and so it wasn't that much of a bother to me. I'm pretty much guessing I'll be doing a run/walk Saturday, which sucks, because I can get a little competitive. But this is a start, only the 2nd 5K I've ever done, so I'm going to cut myself some slack and try and enjoy the process. We'll see. Still don't know what to wear.

3. Product Review!!!!! I tried a new snack today:

I have my morning smoothie pretty early, so by 9:30/10am, I'm usually starving. I always take enough food to work for 3 people, so I always have 2nd breakfast. The Bora Bora bar had that honor today. It was gegan, of course, and really quite tasty. Bananas, chocolate, walnuts, yummy. A good ratio of chewy/crunchy, salty/sweet. Winner. Got me through to lunch. (which was a potato and pea curry with a dessert of banana topped with homemade peanut butter, raisins and toasted coconut, in case you were wondering) Too bad we don't live in one of those European countries where it's considered ok to take a little nappy nap in the middle of the day, cause I could have used one, let me tell you.

4. I'm tired and I'm going to bed in just a bit. I've had some issues with my sweet dog the last couple of months and it has been hard on the sleep patterns. He is almost 13 years old and has never had bathroom issues, but lately has been waking me up at night to take him out (2am, 3am, even 4am & I get up normally at 5). This is now happening multiple times each week. I'm exhausted by it, because I live in a loft, so I have to get dressed, take him out into the bright hallway, down 3 floors, out into the cold. Very hard to get back to sleep after that. The vet has suggested I halt food and water intake about 2 hours before bed and I feel guilty about taking his water away, but this girl needs some uninterrupted sleep!!!! I pray every night when we go to bed that he doesn't get up. So here's hoping the lion sleeps tonight........

I'll update after the race! Hope everyone has a great Friday!