Move * Run * Thrive

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:10:00 +0000

I've taken a break (obviously!) from this blog to focus on a new one:
Run to Raise

Awesome Workout Day

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 15 Aug 2012 18:47:00 +0000

Yesterday I only ran and was feeling a little lazy because of it so today I decided to step it up a bit. I have a ton of fitness channels that I subscribe to on YouTube; all of which have really fantastic workouts. Today I decided to go with The 20/20 Workout from Blogilates. Great workout! There are 20 moves which you do for either 20 reps or hold for 20 seconds depending on the exercise. It went by super quick - it took me 15:12 to complete - and had my heart racing and ready for the treadmill. (side note: I keep trying to embed it into my post but then every time I add another link to something else, it goes away...what gives!?)

After the 20/20 workout, I ran an easy 5 miles with the sprints peppered in. After that, I turned to YouTube again for a workout I actually found on Pinterest a few days ago. This one is with Bob Harper (don't you just love some Bob?!). It's his 7 minute AMRAP workout. He does quite a bit of talking about the workout in the beginning so I'll give you a quick run down. There are four different workouts in the AMRAP (As Many Reps As Possible). You do each workout for the given number of reps repeating until the 7 minutes are up.

In this one, you perform 30 forward lunges with a weight overhead, 20 mountain climbers, 10 side to side planks, and 30 air squats. I did this workout for the first time on Saturday before my run and really liked it. It is quick - obviously...only 7 minutes! - but gets the job done. On Saturday, my count was 2 and 29. In other words, I completed 2 full rounds plus 29 forward lunges. Today my count was 2 and 30. I'm not really sure how I managed to get one more rep than I did on Saturday because Saturday I had fresh legs and today, it was the third of my workouts and my legs were toast. Especially during the air squats. Ouch.

After all three, I wobbled up to the kitchen and made a massive smoothie!

Green Recovery Awesomeness
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1/2 cup water
1 scoop vanilla protein powder
1/2 cucumber
1/2 banana
1/2 pear
2 big kale leaves
2 big handfuls of spinach

There is something about pear and cucumber together. This is by far one of my favorite smoothies! Feeling pretty pumped up about my workout success today. And soon the kids will be back in school so I can get back to my regular routine - yippppeeeee!

It's Like Christmas Morning!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Tue, 14 Aug 2012 14:24:00 +0000

I'm anxiously awaiting the newest edition to the Tone it Up Nutrition Plan that is due to come out today. According to their post in the community section of their site,

The update includes new grilling recipes, superfood snacks and entertaining dishes to share with all your girlfriends. We've also included new ice-cream pops & fruity summer treats... YUMMM ♥ Remember, all new updates and new editions are free for members of the Tone it Up Nutrition Plan.

I have hit 'refresh' on my email no less than 9 million times since I got up this morning. Since they are in California, I know this is a waste of time since it probably wont come until lunch time but still....so excited! The updates to the nutrition plan is one of the reasons why I finally plunked down the $150.00 for it. Love that they do regular updates and once you pay for the plan, you are a member for life. Sooooo....I'll keep hitting refresh then do a blog update as soon as it comes letting you guys know what I think!

Awesome Workout Combo!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 20:30:00 +0000

After yesterday's ~~rest day~~ hangover day, I felt particularly motivated to get my workout on this morning. Nothing like sitting on the couch shoving carbs in your face all day to get a girl moving! After downing my big 24oz cup of water, my TIU Meta-D and a mug of green tea, I decided to try the Sunrise Circuit Workout from Peanut Butter Fingers. Side note: you really should follow her on Pinterest because she posts some awesome workout ideas! The circuit looked innocent enough by I have to say, once I finished, my legs were shaking big time! I did the workout exactly as instructed. The only change I made was for the jump rope portion. I don't have a jump rope so I did the air jump rope move. I really liked this circuit. It's quick (only took me about 13 minutes) but very effective.

After that, I made a smoothie for breakfast. Check out the purple gorgeousness!

In it is 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk, 1/2 cup water, 1/2 scoop vanilla protein powder (I used this which I love), 1/2 frozen banana, handful of blueberries and some ice.

After getting my older son off to camp and doing some mom-chores, I hit the treadmill. I haven't gotten the sprint challenge in since Tuesday so I really wanted to include that in my day; I'm obviously not going to get all five done this week, stupid wine. I decided to combine the sprints challenge from Sweaty Beatties with the Tone it Up in 30:00 workout that the TIU girls sent out on Tuesday. Their workout calls for 8 minutes of cardio followed by five strength moves for 60 seconds each, a 2 minute sprint then repeat (total workout to be done 3 times). I chose to do the sprints challenge first then tack on the TIU in 30:00 workout. I warmed up for 3 minutes at 6.8, did my 5 30-second sprints at 9.4 with a 45 second rest in between. Now for the second workout. I dropped the speed down to 7.0 and ran for 8 minutes then did the strength moves. After three rounds, I was seating like mad, huffing and puffing like a 3-pack a day smoker and ready to be done! This was a killer combination. Both workouts took me about 40 minutes total. Of that, 24 minutes were spent running for a total of 3 miles. I really need to be running more miles but workouts like this just feel so much more effective to me. I'm always short on time - my younger son was upstairs while I got this in - so what time I do have, I really want to get the most of it. Once they are back in school, I'll start working on upping my mileage. Until then, I'm loving these interval workouts!

I was starving after my workout. Lunch was a giant green salad along with a piece of toast smeared with hummus and a few slices of avocado. I had a handful of nuts as well.

The toast with hummus and avocado has got to be one of my favorite things. So simple but oh so good! Now I have to vacuum the house. Does that count as a third workout of the day? I say yes!

Need. More. Coffee.

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Thu, 09 Aug 2012 15:34:00 +0000

Last night was girls night; a good friend had several of us over for wine Wednesday. Sounded innocent enough. It quickly turned into 'drink every bottle of wine in the house' night. Holy hell. Today is going to require an IV of caffeine. How the hell am I supposed to get my sprints challenge done today? I gotta get my ass together and quick. I'm starting the process with the breakfast of champions:

Gatorade (my #1 cure all) followed by a smoothie with 2 packets of instant coffee, a banana, spinach and a scoop of PB 2. I'm getting too old for this.

New to Me Deal Site

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 13:13:00 +0000

I just discovered GroopDealz. Have you seen this site? Like other deal sites, there is a different deal each day. If you purchase something, you receive a link to share with friends. Anytime three people purchase from your link, you get $5 off a future purchase. Today I bought this in yellow:

Love that yellow! I typically wear very neutral colors but this fall, thanks to being inspired by Pinterest, I'm determined to add pops of color to all my outfits this fall. Hopefully once it arrives, it wont be one of those things I love but don't have the actual guts to wear.

This pin is what prompted me to purchase the yellow necklace:

While I wait for my new necklace to arrive, I'll just have to wear this outfit I put together with a new yellow scarf I found at The Gap:


Trying to rock color

Not sure why I'm standing like my bored 12-year-old. Anyway, the tank is blue, kind of hard to tell in this photo. I think I like the green/blue/yellow combo. But is it too much color? Hmmmm....

Speaking of Pinterest, I've already mentioned that I'm totally obsessed and spend way more time browsing then I care to admit but now, thank you Pinterest, I'm even more obsessed with Polyvore! It is similar to Pinterest only with clothes. You can follow members, 'like' their sets and collections, and create your own perfect outfits. I tried to create a couple outfits but it just stressed me out....I am horrible at dressing myself, that's why I need Pinterest and Polyvore....so I am sticking with following, liking and pinning. I've gotten a ton of great ideas and I think it really helped when I was cleaning out my closet. I had a better idea of what to keep and what to toss once I started putting outfits together. What a concept, I know. Now my 'My Style' board on Pinterest is becoming as full as all my food boards!

Closet DONE!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Tue, 07 Aug 2012 15:53:00 +0000

It's done! I am so stinkin' thrilled with how the closet turned out! It feels so fresh and clean and I can find stuff and did I mention clean?? I no longer walk in there and feel my blood pressure rise. Now I feel totally calm and actually say, "Ahhhh". Such a great feeling.


Yes, yes I do color code my clothes, doesn't everyone?

The dressers that we got at Ikea, Hemnes, also come in black which my husband originally wanted but I'm glad I stuck to my guns (and won) with the white. We bought both the 6-drawer chest and the 8 drawer dresser .


His side - apparently no, not everyone color codes.

My beautiful dresser!

At the last minute, we decided to also get the Brimnes 4-drawer chest.

It matches the Hemnes pieces perfectly, fits that small space by the door and is perfect for both our towels and my sports bra collection of approximately 9 bazillion. We swapped out the handles for those little silver numbers to personalize it a bit more which I really love. I have to say that all three of the pieces are really nice. They look way more expensive (especially the dressers) than they were.

It feels so bright and big in there even though it isn't a huge closet. I still need to hang the bar for my necklaces but other than that, it's totally complete! At this point, the only thing I would have done differently is to have had my husband hung his shirts higher. I don't love that they kind of brush the top of his dresser but whatever...now I'm just gettin' picky!

Once we got all out clothes back into the closet, it made me take a hard look at our bedroom. Holy clutter batman. I have 9 million books on a shelf by my bed and in a basket on my nightstand AND on the floor in between. 90% of them I have already read, several more I started but didn't like. So why do I still have them all? I don't re-read books so it is time to donate. I purged like a mad woman and now, I get that same, "Ahhhh" feeling from my closet when I look at my side of the bed. I wish I had taken a before picture of that mess...you can kind of see it in this picture (can't see the bookshelf but you can see my night stand with the overflowing basket-o-crap):

And now:

Yay! When Purple Heart comes on the 17th, whoever is driving that truck is not going to like me. I have so much stuff ready to go.


All those brown bags are books!

Totally not closet related, I got my Sweaty Betties sprint challenge done yesterday (that's a first for this week...4 more to go)! I'm loving this challenge. It forces me to get on the treadmill when I really don't feel like it. My mojo has been non existent for a while now. Yesterday I did the challenge plus a few more intervals along with some lower body strength training (squats and lunges). It was a short run but with the sprints and intervals plus the squats and lunges, I felt pretty good after. Today I get to go to Body Pump again - second time since Sunday, I feel so spoiled! My plan is to get there a little early so I can do the sprints. Five times in a week remember!

Go USA!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Sun, 05 Aug 2012 10:57:00 +0000

I ate a decent meal and went to bed early last night only after triple checking that my alarm was set for 5:45 so I wouldn't miss a second of the women's marathon. Being a spectator involves proper preparation too! Davila has already dropped out due to a nagging injury but Kara and Shalane are hanging tough! Go USA!

Operation Closet Re-Do Part II

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Sat, 04 Aug 2012 18:47:00 +0000

The mess in my bedroom is getting worse by the hour. There are clothes and shoes and crap covering every surface including the floor. I'm a bit of an organization freak so this is making me totally crazy. My husband just keeps saying, "You are a bit out of your comfort zone, eh?" with a smirk on his face. Ugh. Fortunately my youngest has a full size bed so we slept in his room last night kicking him to the futon in the playroom. This shit better get done fast because getting dressed after my shower today was crazy difficult....lots of digging.

This morning I decided to get my Sweaty Betties sprint challenge done at the beginning of a regular run. The plan was to run 7 miles with the first 12:30 being the challenge. Got the challenge done (even increased my sprint speed from 9.0 to 9.3) but then started running out of steam. I think it may have had a little something to do with yesterday's happy hour:

Sun and sand and a live band just makes beer go down easier. That and thinking about the mess in the bedroom....I may have been drinking to forget. I felt totally fine this morning until I got to the end of those sprints. Blah. I managed to get 4 miles in but felt like I had run a marathon. Apparently I'm getting really old.

Look what arrived in my mail this afternoon!!

I'm super excited to give this a try. I've read a lot of positive reviews on J Core. There are 6 DVD's. The idea is to do a 20 minute workout 4 days a week. I really like the shortness of the workouts especially now when I'm not getting to the gym very often. I figure I can squeeze his workouts in when the kids are still half asleep in the mornings before we make a plan for the day. I plan on writing up a review after I've done at least 2 or 3 of the DVDs. Between J Core and the sprint challenge which is getting my ass back on the treadmill, I should be feeling much better any time now. As long as I ease up on the sandy happy hours!

Sprints Challenge!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 13:52:00 +0000

Because my workouts have been so sporadic this summer, I feel all
nasty and bloated more often then not. This is all in my head, I know,
because despite the fact that I'm not in the gym anywhere near what I
am when the kids are in school, I still make a big effort to eat
clean. Yesterday morning I was feeling particularly blah but had zero time
to try and squeeze in a treadmill run because I had to take my son to
the doctor.

Morning cocktails

I started the day with the usual 24oz glass of water, my
Tone It Up Meta-D drink and 2 cups of green tea. I pulled out a packet
of Perfect Fit Protein with the intention of making a protein pancake
but then I remembered a link Workout Mommy posted on Facebook
the day before....it involved sprints.

I found the link she posted and was
excited to see that it was a super quick sprint challenge on The Sweaty
Betties site. The August challenge (in addition to giving up
artificial sweeteners) is to do five 30-second sprints (with a short
recovery in between) five days a week. For the entire month. Wowzers!
I'm so in!! I probably shouldn't say this until the end of the month
but this workout really seems like a zero excuses workout. Check out
the time on my treadmill:

Done before I had time to think!

Twelve minutes and thirty seconds. Who doesn't have 12:30 they can
spare to get this done? I warmed up and cooled down for 3 minutes
each. My warm up pace was 6.5; sprints were 9.0 and my recovery was for
60 seconds at 7.0. Done! I'm certainly not saying this should be your
only form of exercise but for a quick wake-me-up first thing in the
morning, the 'I'm a badass' feeling cant be beat! And yes, I know if
I really were a bad-ass I would have set my alarm, gotten up super
early and gotten this challenge in plus full body strength training.
Stop judging me.

After the sprints, I had just enough time for a quick shower and a
smoothie before heading to the doctor. This morning's concoction
featured 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/2 cup water,
Tone it Up Perfect Fit Protein Powder, 1 tsp chocolate PB 2 (I'm so obsessed with
PB2!), 3 big handfuls of spinach, 1 carrot, 1/2 apple and 1/2 of a
frozen banana. Yummmmm!

Later in the day, right after my lunch my mother in law was nice enough to let me drop off my boys so I could get to the gym. The plan was to run then take Body Step. About midway through my run, I knew I wasn't staying for the class. I'm a total moron and ate lunch about a half hour before getting to the gym and was experiencing quite the heartburn. It was all I could do to get 5 miles in before I decided to stop. So frustrated with myself because I very rarely get to the gym in the summer and I totally screwed up my opportunity. Today is another day though! Going to get my sprint challenge done then head to the outlets to take advantage of tax free shopping!

Closet Re-Do

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 00:36:00 +0000

Project time. My husband tends to get a bit antsy when he doesn't have a project. I bitch and moan about our master bedroom closet on a regular basis so I shouldn't have been surprised when he announced last week that he was going to completely redo the sucka. Our closet, while a decent size (although would be better if all his ~~shit~~ manly garments weren't in it), only has the standard builder one shelf deal all the way around. A long time ago I bought one of those double closet rods which I thought was the best invention ever for about two weeks. It's cool and all but I am still totally unorganized and need more help than this little rod is giving. I also put a dresser in there which is overflowing with workout clothes so much that finding a sports bra is like going on an architectural dig.

My husband sketched out "The Plan" and off he went to Home Depot. My garage is now full of shelves and bars and racks and hardware. Then he immediately went out of town. Huh. The good news is that has given me until tomorrow night to go through all my stuff in preparation for the big demolition.

Mid-way through the clean out.


Some survivors!

I am convinced that I never have anything to wear. Because of that, I spend way to much time in places like TJ Maxx, Marshalls, Target and the nearby outlets. If I had to guess, I'd say I don't wear 80% of what is in my closet but I bet I'm way off and it's closer to 98%. I decided that this closet re-do was a big smack in the face/ wake your ass up and donate at least half of my clothes mission. In an odd coincidence, the same day that I was going to start purging, I read about the Stylebook app on a blog. Woah. This app is seriously some Jettsonion shit! Basically you take a photo of everything in your closet, organize in the app then make outfits or 'looks' as the app calls them. I'm in! I downloaded that sucker and went to work! Have I mentioned that my gym and run schedule has been non-existent with the kids being home for summer? This clearly isn't a good thing.

So far, things have been going really well. At first I was taking pictures of stuff I knew I wanted to keep but that got a wee bit tedious and when putting outfits together in the app, I just didn't get the full effect. So instead, I have been putting together outfits as I discover new clothes (Haven't seen this shirt in ages! and Wow! This still has the price tag on it!) and then taking a picture of myself in said outfit and saving it under the 'inspiration' tab. The picture I've posted is actually a really bad example because I wouldn't wear those shoes with that outfit because the tank and sweater are charcoal grey and the sandals are brown. I was just trying to get an idea of those pants with a wedge heel, blah, blah, blah. I have posted it because of my little helper in the background. Thank you for taking the time to sniff and lick at this particular moment. I think I have a future as a fashion blogger.


Better Murphy although still totally in the way.

Things are still a total disaster in there but I have made major progress. I have filled 3 1/2 large lawn bags full of clothes. Totally streamlining baby! I put together a bunch of outfits I never would have thought of before because stuff has been so buried in the closet.

I have extremely high hopes that this is going to turn me into one of those women that always look put together when at school volunteering. A girl can dream.

August? Really??

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 15:13:00 +0000

Wow. What happened to June and July? I know I've said it before...I'm a horrible blogger. Confession: since my father's passing, I've been all over the place emotionally and mentally. I've started so many things that I just can't seem to finish. In an effort to stay busy all the time, (which as I know is really an effort to not deal with the feelings I should be dealing with) I've become completely scatterbrained and totally unproductive in all aspects of life. Fortunately I'm a stay-at-home mom and don't have a 9-5 job because if I did, my guess is that I would have been fired by now. One thing that I do realize is that I need to get back to some kind of routine. To be able to do one consistent thing on a daily, or at least every other day, basis. I'd love for that thing to be blogging because I really enjoy it but who knows. Of course coming to that realization during the summer while my kids are still home from school is probably a bit much to hope for. My summer's with them have always been a bit crazy because we don't like schedules around here while they are on vacation. Anyway, it's August 1st. Time for me to try and gather myself.

Tone It Up Nutrition Plan

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Mon, 11 Jun 2012 00:04:00 +0000

Have you heard of Tone It Up? It's this great fitness/nutrition community founded by two trainers, Karena and Katrina. They have a blog, tons of YouTube exercise videos, a DVD, a nutrition plan and they even recently came out with their own (vegan - yay!) protein powder. I have been thinking about purchasing the nutrition plan for quite some time. I really like the trainers from Tone It Up, I watch the videos, read their blog, even bought their workout DVD. The nutrition plan is expensive though so I had a hard time making a decision. When my mother-in-law gave me money for my birthday, I knew just what I was going to do with it.


Best Birthday Present Ever!

The cool thing about the plan is that you can purchase the regular plan, gluten free plan, vegetarian or vegan plan. Once I knew I was going to buy, I spent another week trying to decided between the vegetarian and vegan plan. I ended up going with the vegetarian plan and I now kind of wish I had picked up the vegan plan. Regardless, I really like it! Some great recipes and a lot of really helpful hints about what to eat and when and an exercise plan.

There is also a section called the 7-Day Slim Down in the full plan and the 5-Day Slim Down in the summer edition (when you purchase their plan, you get all the updates as free downloads - bonus!). Karena and Katrina challenged the community to join them on the 5-Day Slim Down starting this past Monday. I don't feel the need to drop any weight (I'm more of a maintenance kind of girl) so I wasn't going to do it but then on Tuesday, decided to try it and see how doable it is. The result? In five days, I lost 2.5lbs (and to be totally honest, that is without giving up my wine!). But more importantly, I feel incredible. It was a wake up call to how much random snacking I was doing. A handful of gluten free crackers here, a couple pieces of chocolate there.....etc, etc. While on the 5-Day Slim Down, I stopped the mindless 3:00pm eating and followed the plan pretty much to a T. The only variation was in the recipes.


My new favorite lunch - tofu and veggie romaine wrap!

I took their recipes and tweaked them just a bit to my liking without adding any additional calories. My new favorite lunch - veggies and tofu wrapped in romaine lettuce - is now an addiction! I was never hungry on the plan, always felt full and satisfied. I can't believe how good I feel. I feel way more toned which I know sounds crazy, but I guess without the excess bloat of snacks/sugar/salt, that's what happens!

If you are interested, I highly recommend Tone It Up. Check out their website - there are a ton of good recipes on there along with printable workouts. And then head over to YouTube for some good quick workouts.

North Face Endurance Challenge

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Sun, 10 Jun 2012 23:35:00 +0000

What a total mud fest! We got hammered with rain in the days leading up to the North Face Endurance Challenge so I knew that my first trail race was going to be a bit messy. Little did I know it was going to be muddier than the Run Amuck race I ran a few years ago. It was crazy! People were falling all over the place because it was so slippery. I loved, loved, loved it though! SO much fun! It is just so different from anything I've ever done. It is so challenging in a completely different way than a road half marathon. The first thing I need to get better at is keeping my eye off my watch. Mile splits in trail running are quite a bit slower then what I'm used to. The course is so much more challenging for one and the majority of the race was single track, meaning passing was difficult. We averaged 11:30s most of the time. I finished in 2:33 compared to my road PR of 1:46 just to give you an idea. I think if we hadn't gotten so much rain, we may have been able to go a bit faster but I'm sure it still would have been quite the challenge to pick up the pace much more. There were several parts where all runners didn't have much of a choice other than to walk. Regardless, I just loved it. I felt so exhilarated after the race. I was telling my husband all the details at about 100 miles per hour....he just stood there and laughed at me. When we were close to the finish, my running partner said, "My trail running career is officially over!" but all I could think about was, "When can I register for the next one??"

After the race, we were waiting around for the kids race to start. I registered my boys for Dean Karnazes' Karno Kids 1k. There were races on Saturday too and on that day, he was actually there doing a meet and greet which would have been pretty cool (I'm a big dorky fan of his and have both of his books). Anyway, as we were standing there waiting, he actually walks right by me. As in, brushes my shoulder, walks by! I was already all jacked up from the race but this just put me over the edge. I started jumping up and down like a 3-year-old, grabbing my husband's arm saying, "He's here! He's here! He's heeerrrrreeee!!" My kids were laughing at me and my husband just shook his head.

Karno got up there and gave a really funny speech which all the kids loved then started them off. After the race, my oldest said that he ran by Karno who called out, "Way to go! You are doing great!" to which my son responds, "Thanks! My mom is a big fan!" Oh boy, that's a little embarrassing. We hung out a bit longer, my husband and kids talking about their run, me ~~stalking~~ watching Dean. My oldest says, "Why don't you go get a picture?" Of course I said no, not many people were approaching him and besides, I do my best ~~stalking~~ watching from afar. Well, finally Carter convinced me to do it and I'm really glad he did. He could not have been a nicer person. Chatted with us for several minutes. In fact, at one point he said, "So Carter tells me you are a big fan." (not in an arrogant way, more of a teasing way....it was pretty funny actually). I really don't remember what I said to that; my words were coming out like the teacher in the Peanuts. But I got a fantastic photo and that's the part I'll remember!!

All in all, a really great day. I'm so glad I did the run. I was pretty nervous in the weeks leading up to it because with my father's illness, I hadn't done a run longer than 8 miles in I have no idea when. Then I forced myself to take the week off of classes and running (did do one trial run) leading up to the race because of this hip/glute/hammy issue. I'm glad I didn't back out. Really glad. Yes the pain is still an issue but I feel like it was worth it for such a fun, totally different and crazy challenging day!

Vegan Cookbook!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Thu, 31 May 2012 13:32:00 +0000


New Books I'm Loving!

Do you watch Ellen? I'm such a big fan of hers, it's kind of ridiculous. Love her show, love her, love her attitude, etc, etc, etc. And I love that I can watch her show with my 9-year-old son who also is a crazy fan of hers. We never miss it. I get him from the bus at 2:55 and we get home just in time for Ellen. Anyway, because I'm such a fan/believer/cult member, I'd pretty much buy anything she told me to. Which is why, last week, I picked up Vegan Cooking for Carnivores. The author, Roberto Martin, is Ellen and Portia's personal chef and has made appearances on Ellen's show several times (hit up YouTube if you haven't seen him). I love this book because it's very beginner-vegan friendly. It is also great for someone like me who is the only veg in the house. I can easily pass a lot of this stuff off to my family and friends and not have them turn their noses at me.


Hellllooooo Beautiful!

My favorite recipe so far is the Asian Chopped Salad. How beautiful is that salad?? And this is probably the first time in my life where I've made something that ended up looking as beautiful as the photo. It was so good. I ate it for lunch and with dinner for 3 days straight. Yum! Next up, I'm going to try the mac and cheese. Should be interesting because I am not a fan of any of the vegan cheeses. I've tried a bunch and decided that it's easier to just omit cheese all together.

Another book I picked up last week is The Athlete's Book of Home Remedies. It is written by Dr. Jordan D. Metzl who is a marathoner and Ironman so he clearly understands both athlete's pain and their urgent desire to get back to their sport. The book is broken up into different sections of the body, ie: Feet, Ankles & Lower Legs; Knees; Hamstrings, Hips, Glutes & Groin, etc. Then within each section, different symptoms are given a two page summery of 'what's going on in there?', how to fix it and how to prevent it. It is written in very easy to understand language, quick and to the point. I personally have dug deep into the hamstrings, hips, glutes and groin section because of hip/glut pain that I just can't seem to get rid of. Unfortunately my pain is not gone yet and I have a trail half marathon on Sunday...panic time! My husband used it to better understand what is going on with his shoulder/chest problems from baseball and this weekend, when he sprained his ankle playing baseball with the kids, I tossed it at him as he iced it on the couch! I highly recommend this one!

Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 30 May 2012 20:00:00 +0000

It's been so long since I've blogged. So long that I can't even remember how long it's been! I mentioned a few times, a while back, that my father was having some health issues. Things got worse and everything in my life got put on hold. It has been a very, very difficult time for my family going back as far as two years but more intensely since Thanksgiving.

It's time for me to try and pick up and get back on track. Start to try and live my life again which is really, really hard. I take great comfort in working out with my friends, talking/reading/learning all things nutrition and just generally learning how to live a healthier life. My father's illness and my desire to learn from it and try and help him is what led me to choose to ditch animal proteins and go forward living a plant based diet. I hate to say vegetarian or vegan because I don't care to be judged by others, but that's what has happened. And, since my last posting, it's how things have remained. It's not easy. Well, that's not exactly true. For the most part, it is easy. It's only hard when I go out. Seriously. Why offer sauteed veggies only to saute them in butter AND chicken broth?? But I digress. And I ramble. It's what I do. I feel great and don't miss meat or fish or dairy in the least.

My point is, I'm trying to get back to the things I love and that make me feel a little better, a little more in control of life: fitness, nutrition, blogging. It's good to be back!

What to Expect When Having a Colonoscopy

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 15:23:00 +0000

I finally had my endoscopy and colonoscopy two weeks ago. I have the follow up appointment with my GI doc today and am very anxious to hear what he has to say. I threw all my eggs in this basket and really hope to find out what my problem is. If you have never had these procedures done, I'm going to tell you about my experience so you have a better idea of what to expect.

First of all, I've been dealing with GI issues for close to 5 years now. I've spent the better part of 2 of the last 5 of those years trying to self diagnose rather than go to a doctor for two reasons: the first being that I had two different doctors (when seeing them for other reasons and just kind of mentioning it to them) tell me that it is probably "just" IBS and the second is to avoid a colonoscopy. I had this huge mental block when it came to having that procedure done. No matter what anyone told me, "It's so easy!!", I just wasn't buying it.

The last year has been very hard for me with my stomach issues so I finally bit the bullet and went to see a doctor. Sure enough, he wanted to do a colonoscopy. But in addition to that, he wanted to do a endoscopy as well. When he initially said this, I went into panic mode....you are going to stick a camera down my throat?? But then he said the magic words: "Since I'll be doing both procedures, we will put you totally under." I didn't hear a thing after that. I'll be totally asleep?? Do whatever the hell you want then!

The prep. Ah yes, the prep. Wow. First of all, five days before procedure day (Valentine's Day by the way....so romantic), I was to stop eating all raw veggies, nuts and seeds. Dude. That is the bulk of my diet! Then a day and a half before, I was put on clear liquids only. My family wanted to run for the hills by that point because I was pretty damn cranky. Then the day before, at 2:00pm, I was to take 2 ducolax tablets. Let me first say that I believe based on talking to other people who have prepped for a colonoscopy, that my reaction/experience was not 'normal' although I'm going to talk to the doctor about that today. Anyway, I took the ducolax at 2:00 and by 5:00, I was having major, major pain. Gas pain but in a really horrible way. I was on the couch and couldn't do anything. At 6:00, I had to start the liquid portion of the prep. I had a 64oz jug of lemon lime Gatorade mixed with a bottle of myrlax and had to drink 8oz every 15 minutes. The fun began instantly. Bathroom trips every couple of minutes. I will spare you the details. Where I don't think my experience was the norm is that I had a lot of pain in the beginning (turned into dull cramping from then on out) and that I continued to run to the bathroom throughout the night (I was up 6 times during the night) and the next morning before we left the house at 8:15am, went 4 times then again twice when we got to the hospital. I'm sorry but that cannot be normal!

Once in the room, the nurse started an IV and fairly quickly I was wheeled into the procedure room. I don't think it took more than 3 or 4 minutes for me to fall asleep once the medication was started. I kept asking how quickly I would fall asleep because I was so worried I'd be in a drunk-like stupor that I'd say something inappropriate. I know, I worry about strange things. I remember them saying, "You should start to feel sleepy any minute now." and me trying to tell them that I wasn't feeling a thing but couldn't get my mouth to form the words.

Next thing I knew, I was awake back in the first room where the nurse started my IV. I was super groggy and generally out of it. The doctor had already been in and talked to my husband - this was where he apparently told him that he didn't see anything major but did several biopsy's. He did see esophagitis and gastritis and did a biopsy of both areas and then for celiacs as well.

We were out of the hospital very quickly and back home. For the rest of the day, I was super tired but generally felt fine. The next day, I could feel that my throat was sore but not anything major....just a little annoying when I would swallow. Similar to how you would feel if you had a sore throat/cold coming on. The biggest issue was that I had a lot of gas-like pain for the rest of the week. I tried to get back to the gym on Wednesday and had to leave in the middle of a class because I felt so off. Then still on Thursday, same thing happened. Tried to take a class and while I made it through this time, felt uncomfortable. Running was out of the question for the entire week because of stomach pain. By Saturday, I was able to get a 6 mile run in although felt crampy all the way through. I have read that some discomfort after a colonoscopy is to be expected but I'm not sure I get why my discomfort lasted so long.

So. Here we are two weeks later and it's finally time for my follow up. I'm interested to hear what he has to say although I'm a bit disappointed that he didn't see anything during the procedures that would explain outright what is going on. I have this feeling that he is going to recommend I see an allergist but we'll see.

Superbowl Sunday Eats!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 21:12:00 +0000

Needless to say, I'm not out doing a long run today. One of the things that I do not miss in the least about training for a full or half marathon is spending my Saturdays prepping (resting, worrying about food and hydration) for long run Sunday and spending my Sunday waking up at the crack of dawn, running in the freezing cold then spending the rest of the day in recovery mode. Not that it doesn't feel damn good finishing a nice long run, it really, really does but so does chilling with the Sunday paper, a cup of tea followed by a massive green smoothie and time with my family.

And speaking of Saturday, yesterday I had to run to the mall for my all time favorite Clinique facial soap (kinda wish I could pick it up at the drug store, but oh well, it's so worth the trip) and as I was zipping past the food court, I noticed a kiosk for Sweetz Bakery. They have gluten free, dairy free, AND vegan cupcakes.....holla!!! Unfortunately, you could either get gluten free, dairy free OR vegan. Why can't they do GF, DF and vegan in the same cupcake? Weird. Because I know for a fact that my stomach does not handle dairy, I decided to go with the double chocolate GF, DF instead of vegan. And yes, I felt guilty knowing that there were eggs in my cupcake. So why did I even bother? Because I am always interested in trying new gluten free products especially those not containing dairy.

I was shocked, totally, completely shocked at how good it was! I'm kind of glad that I can't get GF, DF and vegan in the same cupcake or I'd be buying them by the bus load!

Today is even more fun because it's Superbowl Sunday - woot! Not that I have care about either team....my poor Redskins are home watching on t.v....again, but I love, love, love the Superbowl and all the obnoxious hype that goes along with it.

My husband had to leave for a business trip today so our normal Superbowl party had to get canned. It's just me and my two boys. We hit Harris Teeter for game day treats - loads of crunchy carbs for them (it's the Superbowl, I may have spoiled them a bit) and veggies for me. Today I'm going to try my first recipe out of my newest cookbook, Cooking with Trader Joe's: Skinny Dish. The book is filled with beautiful vegan eats and I have a ton marked to try.

I decided to keep it simple today and go with the Creamy Spinach Artichoke Dip. I've got my spinach all thawed and the rest of the ingredients prepped and ready to go.

The recipe says you can serve it cold but I prefer my spinach artichoke dip hot so I'm going to bake it for 25 minutes or so. This is my first attempt at a vegan spinach artichoke dip so my fingers are crossed! I've got a bunch of cut up veggies to go with it along side millet and flax crackers. Bring on game time! Later I'm going to have a roasted veggie filled quesadilla (my all time favorite food) and make the boys pasta. Now this is what I call an easy Sunday!

Have We Talked About Pinterest?

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:12:00 +0000

I don't think I've brought up Pinterest before. Are you on it? Can I just tell you how stinking obsessed with it I am?? It has been the BEST thing ever for me during this transition to a plant based diet. I have been discovering so many yummy dishes both on Pinterest (a search for "vegan" results in a ton good stuff) and on foodie blogs and now, I have them all 'pinned' in one, easy to find, totally organized place. I love it. I added a 'follow me' button right over there on the right if you want to check it out.

Recently I found a new-to-me blog Bev Cooks. It is such a great blog! I spent a crazy amount of time on her site and pinned a ton of things to try (she is not vegan or vegetarian but has a lot of veggie dishes as well as some that I could easily make veg). The other night, I decided to give her Red Quinoa with Mushrooms and Kale recipe a try and I am so glad I did!

After mixing the cooked quinoa with the sauteed kale

Another kale hit - yahoo! The only difference between her recipe and what I did was that I didn't have red quinoa so I used my regular Costco white and I only had a small package of pre-sliced shiitake mushrooms which was less than what she called for.

Plated up with another favorite, squash with spinach and cranberries

Next time, I'll use the full amount of mushrooms if not more because I love me some mushrooms and I felt like they got a little lost under all that quinoa. It turned out really great. It's a nice change up from the Cosmic Kale that I've become obsessed with because it's not creamy so you get more of a crunch from the kale.

Yesterday I was at Harris Teeter and they had their Planters Peanuts on sale - buy one get one free - I'm a sucker for BOGO deals and for peanuts although I don't think my stomach loves peanuts! Anyway, they had a flavor I hadn't seen before, Five Alarm Chili.

Being a lover of all things spicy, I decided to push my fear of too much sodium aside and buy them. Oh mamma. So stinking good. This is the last jar I'll ever buy because seriously, they are like crack!

Still haven't run since the half marathon on Sunday. My stomach is still not back to normal which has me a wee bit concerned. I'm hoping I'll feel better by the weekend....I miss my cardio!

3M Half Marathon - Austin, TX

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:24:00 +0000

Sunday was like a blur. I managed to run the 3M Half Marathon despite having major stomach issues in the days leading up to it. First, the race. I was very impressed with 3M's organization. There were regular email updates and whoever was in charge of the Facebook page did an incredible job answering each and every question. Everything, in my opinion, was very, very smooth. It is billed as a 'fast, downhill' course and while it is downhill, it's certainly not noticeable. It felt more flat to me than anything else. It's such a gradual descent that you really don't notice that you are going down. Having said that, it's better than 13.1 miles of a gradual uphill because I'm sure I would have felt that!


Check out that goodie bag FULL of 3M products!

I've mentioned my stomach problems many times on this blog. Its been an ongoing issue for 4 years now and is as of right now, undiagnosed. I've gotten the, "Oh, it's probably just IBS." talk from 3 different doctors. They have had me convinced that it's no big deal, and to just live with it. I'm not a big fan of going to the doctor, I typically have to be pretty ill before I'll go get checked out and part of the reason is that I (this is very strange) always assume I'll get in there, they'll tell me nothing is wrong with me and I will have wasted every one's time. However, this intestinal issue for me has pushed itself into the forefront of my life and messed with my day to day living. I've missed many morning plans because I just can't leave the house yet. I've had days where I'm in pain for the entire day. I've had days where there is no pain, I just need to be close to the bathroom - TMI. I've tried going gluten free although to be perfectly honest, I can't say that I was ever 100% GF because it is in stinking everything and I didn't quiz servers when we went out to eat. I did notice that I felt a bit better off gluten but I think only in the way that most people would - bloating eased, pain got more manageable, I was way less puffy, etc. But I still felt bad so I took out dairy. That made a big difference. Then I took out all animal products. I did, though, ease gluten back into my diet although made every effort to keep it at a minimum.

Fast forward to two weeks ago. I had finally had it and went to see a GI dr. He ran blood work and scheduled me for both an endoscopy and a colonscopy. The blood work showed that I am vitamin D deficient so he put me on a prescription to get that back on par. It also showed that I have immunoglobulin A deficiency which apparently made my celiacs panal non diagnostic. Awesome. So. He is planning on doing a biopsy to check for celiacs and is hoping to rule out crohn's and colitis. And I get to have that fun stuff done on Valentines Day....so romantic!

Back to the race. I have no idea what happened but starting late Friday night, my stomach started acting up in a major way. By mid-day Saturday, I was in so much pain, I could hardly stand up straight. I know it sounds dramatic, but I really am actually pretty good with pain and am able to just deal most of the time but this time it was bad, real bad. I don't know if it was something I ate - being away from home it's so hard to control what you are eating. But whatever it was, it scared me.

I got up Sunday at 4:00am and finally made the call to go ahead and run at 5:30 so we headed up to the start. I had many issues that morning and after that plus the day before, I was feeling pretty spent.

I felt ok for about 6 miles then I started feeling more tired than I should. Then at mile 7, my watch ran out of batteries. I know, I know....rule of racing number one - make sure all your shit is charged. I totally slept on that one - completely forgot to even check it. So from mile 7 on, I was running blind. Had no idea how my pacing was....one minute I would feel like I was running way too fast, then the next, too slow. By mile 10, the nausea kicked in. I'm assuming that was dehydration. I carried water and drank regularly but I think the day before and that morning had taken it's toll and I just hadn't caught up with my fluids.

I finished the race in 1:46:38 and given how I felt, I'm ok with that (but, ugh, could I get out of the 1:46's??). I probably shouldn't have even run it because I still am not back to normal. I'm still dragging and still dealing with cramping although much milder now. It's good to be back home with my veggies and hopefully by this weekend, I'll feel much better.

Wow. Longest, and probably the most boring, post ever!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 19:08:00 +0000

I am leaving bright and early tomorrow morning....my father-in-law is picking me up at 6:15am, ouch - so today is my pull-everything-out-of-the-closet-and-attempt-to-jam-it-all-in-the-suitcase-day. I'm pretty sure I'm the worst packer ever. For some reason, I can't put together an outfit to save my life. It's very strange because I consider myself a very organized person. But all of a sudden, I'm going to be in a hotel without access to everything and I panic! I keep walking into my closet to pull out more stuff then I stare at it all on my bedroom floor and have to walk out. This obviously means I'll pack way more crap than I'll ever need.

Race day is hard to pack for too. The race starts at 6:45 (wha??) and the sun doesn't even come up until 7:24 (yes, I checked)!

I've for sure settled on carpi tights but from the waist up, I'm still clueless. I almost always dress too warm for races and end up regretting it so I'm trying to not do that this time. I think I may wear exactly what I wore for Richmond because it was very cold at the beginning but I never felt too cold or got too hot. If it ain't broke, don't fix it, right? For the record, right now they are calling for a low of 44 and a high of 62. I know 44 is perfect but my thought is that since we wont even see the sun until 45 minutes into the race, it's probably going to be quite chilly for most of the 13 miles. Ugh. Just decide!!

Stupid Butt Muscle

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 18:09:00 +0000

Tried out the glut again today. What the hell is wrong with it!? I really thought after that week off, I'd be magically cured. I can't deal. Why does this kind of thing always happen before a race? Is it psychological? I'm starting to think so. I only ran 5 today just to test it and it was just a nagging pain until I tried to bump up the speed...that's when it turned into plain ol' pain. Awesome. So my plan now is to do nothing until race day. Come race day, I think I'll start out real easy and just see how it feels.

So after I blogged about the Cosmic Kale yuminess the other day, I had a mad craving for it. I hadn't had it in a while and suddenly couldn't stop thinking about it. So last night I decided to make it but was out of kale!! I know!! Ack!! So I made it anyway only with spinach. And guess what? Still totally fantastic. It's because of that damn cashew 'cream' sauce. I could probably slather that on a piece of cardboard and eat it up. I took this picture just so you could see the creaminess. I'm still totally amazed at how much it tastes like a million calorie cream sauce.

How can something so creamy be vegan??

I was eating it as my main meal this time so I mixed in some rice noodles for a little added oomph. Delicious. I was a very happy girl.


Best dish EVER

Then today, I went to Wegmans to pick up more kale and apparently I'm not the only one on the kale train....this was all that was left!!

One little bunch of kale!! I kind of want it to go back to the green with a bad, bitter tasting reputation so I can have it all to myself.

Pre-Race Jitters

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 13:12:00 +0000

So once again, I'm a bundle of nerves during race week. I'm running the 3M Half Marathon in Austin, TX this Sunday and while I'm super excited, I'm also freaking out a bit. The last time I raced was The Richmond Half Marathon in November. That race was my first since Boston last April so I went into it insanely nervous. I hadn't raced in a long time, I didn't feel like my training had been at the level it should have been and to be perfectly honest, I was terrified of embarrassing myself.

It seems that qualifying for Boston is both a blessing and a curse. Once you do, you feel like you can do anything which is a good thing. But so does everyone around you which can be a bit daunting. Everyone automatically thinks you are a Kenyan and can run like the wind. I like to think I can get speedy with proper training but I'm certainly not born with a gift. It takes work. Lots of consistent work. So when I don't put that work in, I panic. Such was the case for Richmond. I was sure I was going to bonk. Turns out, it was fine. Once I got started, the nerves vanished and I just ran. I had a really great experience with friends and felt like, "Ok, I can do this. I can start racing again."

I signed up for Austin because my husband is there for business this week and wanted me to come spend the weekend. As most runners do, the first thing I did was check for any possible races during that weekend....I know, I'm quite the romantic. I was very excited to see that the 3M Half was happening on the same weekend so immediately signed up.

Training has been going really well, I felt 100% prepared until two weeks ago when after taking a step class, I felt a funky twinge in my right hamstring. Actually, I think it's more lower glute than hamstring because it's up pretty high and doesn't travel down my leg, rather side to side. I went on a group run of 12.5 miles on the 15th and all was well but starting around mile 6, I could feel it slowly creeping in. I finished fine and it just felt like a mild annoyance more than anything else so I didn't give it much thought. Oh, and as usual, I didn't stretch. When am I going to learn how important it is to stretch?? The next morning, it was killing me. I'm talking, limping around the house killing me.

The next week (last week), I didn't run at all. Not a single mile. I went to Body Pump once but that was it. I rested it as best I could. Then on Sunday, I decided to give it a try. Hopped on the treadmill and made it to 4.5 before it started hurting again. I stopped at 5 miles and worried. And worried, and worried. Yesterday morning, it seemed ok so like a moron, I decided to test it again. I ran 6 miles yesterday and again, starting at the 4-5 mile mark it started talking to me. Now this morning, it's quite sore. I was hobbling to the bus stop with my son and seriously ready to cry. What the hell?! Obviously I'm going to rest it today and see how I feel tomorrow but I have no idea what to do.

Maybe I should just forget about the race - I don't mean not run it, I mean just go and try and "enjoy the experience" (ugh) - and instead, think about how much fun it will be to have a weekend away with my husband. No kids! No dog! No toilets to clean!!! I'm trying to see that glass as half full!

Kale Beautiful Kale!

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 23:29:00 +0000

I have a new love. I've finally joined the masses and discovered just how yummy kale can be. I know....I'm way late to the kale party. It used to be that the only way I was getting kale in my body was via a green smoothie. And even then, I would load the smoothie with spinach then put only lonely kale leaf in and I only did that because I knew what a nutritional powerhouse kale was. Obviously getting one kale leaf every now and again wasn't really doing me much good. I kept reading about the 'massaged kale salad' technique so decided to man up and give it a go. Well, I'm here to tell you that taking that extra step to massage your kale is a very good thing! Basically, you are massaging the dressing of your choice into the kale leaves and in the process, turning them into a softer, milder, all around yummier green. I am now 100% addicted! I make a big salad every Sunday and munch on it until Wednesday if I'm lucky then immediately make another! The salad that did it for me is this one from Whole Living.


Totally addictive kale yuminess

When I make it, I find the best method is to put half of the dressing in with the kale, get in there with your hands - yes, totally messy but oh so worth it! - and massage away until it gets soft. Then I add the rest of the ingredients and the remaining dressing. So, so, so good....even my husband likes it which is saying a lot. Also, I had my father and step-mother over for dinner last Sunday night and served it to them without telling them what the green was. My step-mom loved it and halfway through it said, "This is so good! What is this green though?" Well of course I was so excited to practically scream, "Kale! It's kaaaaaaaalllllleeeee!!!!" They were both very surprised because of course, no one likes kale, it just too bitter! Ha!

I was so proud of my raw kale consumption that I decided to search for something cooked that would be just as good. I settled on a delicious sounding recipe from Fat Free Vegan. With a name like Cosmic Cashew Kale and Chickpeas, I figured I couldn't go wrong! Well it certainly delivered. This was also my first try at a cashew dressing/sauce. I know....what the hell? This lifestyle change is one that I wanted to do right and by right, I mean I wanted to stay away from packaged food and too much fat. I have been so frustrated by the number of blogs/recipes I see that use cashew 'cream'. I feel like it adds so much fat to the recipe. Sure, nuts are good for you, but I try to eat them in moderation and I was worried that if I started throwing cashew cream on every one of my dinners, I'd blow up like a balloon. Again, I mean no disrespect to the cashew cream lovers of the world, I'm just trying to keep the fat/calories in check. Anyway, I gave this one a go and really loved it. My husband - who is not on my vegetarian train - really enjoyed this and couldn't believe there was no dairy involved. He also said I should spring it on my father and step-mom next time they come over and wait until after to announce it vegan. He is so getting in on my game!

On a personal note, I know I'm a pretty sketchy blogger. My goal for this blog has always been to record my training process and race day experiences (I really do learn from past mistakes!) and now, to keep a running diary of my dietary changes in an effort to discover just what the heck is wrong with my belly and to get healthier. Having said that, I'm very sporadic in my posting because I have a sick parent and it can be quiet overwhelming at times emotionally. Some days (or weeks, months!) it takes a major effort to keep a sunshiny front for my kids and to put one foot in front of the other let alone blog about food and exercise. So. There you have it. I love to blog and I love the connection that comes from reader comments and input so I don't want to give it up!

Books I'm Loving Right Now

noreply@blogger.com (renae) — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 15:52:00 +0000

I love when my favorite bloggers also have books. Such is the case with both Happy Herbivore and Peas and Thank You. I'm plowing through both books and have so far loved everything I've made.

My favorite from Peas and Thank You has to be the hummus (for now!). There are so many awesome things in her book but in the last 2 weeks, I've made the hummus 3 times!

It's such a great base recipe but it's even better when you play with it a bit. She suggests roasted red peppers which I've done and LOVE and also kalamata olives...yum!

Happy Herbivore is another of my favorite blogs. Her Apple Jacks Smoothie is to die for. Notice that I drank half of it before snapping a picture....I just couldn't wait!

I've never thought to add cinnamon to a smoothie before but wow is it incredible! And chocolate zucchini bread? Um, yes please!

I ran my final long run before the Richmond Half (12 days - ack!) yesterday. I decided to do 13 again. It was fine up until mile 10.5 when the usual low back pain started creeping in. I'm SO frustrated by this pain! It's like clock work - just over 10 miles it starts as a dull ache but by mile 12, it's all I can do to stay upright. It has me very concerned about Richmond, to say the least.