Fit City: There's Nothing Mini About It!

I posted my race report over at Fit City Indy- go check it out!!  Leave me some comment love!

*****

Today, I accomplished a goal that I never even imagined I’d set for myself.

I moved my body forward for 13.1 miles.  I ran as much as I could.  I walked when I had to- which was a lot of the last 3 miles.  I felt fantastic for about 6 miles before I started to feel soreness and fatigue.  It was a vast improvement from my 10 mile run experience just 2 weeks ago. 

I stayed hydrated and fueled myself with dried pineapple. 

I wore my Merrell Barefoot Pace Glove.  My original pair gave me a terrible blister and Merrell was awesome enough to replace my shoes before my run.  A couple of weeks in them would have been better but I was still happy.   

I have some blisters.  My legs are tired, my feet are sore.  I came home and took one of the best baths of my entire life.

I ran and walked 13.1 miles. 

There was entertainment all along the route.  There were bands and people cheerin all along the route.  There men outside a neighborhood barbershop, there were families on porches, there were high school cheerleading squads.  I remember a lady holding a little gray toy poodle- that encouraged me because I thought of my own little poodle at home.  There were kids and older folks giving high fives and words of encouragement. 

I started and ended strong.

I crossed the finish line and couldn’t stop laughing and crying.  I stopped at the side of the road, hunched over with my crying and laughing and not being able to breath.  A medical person came to me to see if I was alright- I straightened up and told her that I was crying and it was preventing me from breathing.  She gave me the best medical care she could- an amazing hug. 

I ran with my best friend.  We’ve been running through all kinds of ailments and stress.  She ran with an injured foot.  We sometimes compared pain points and then redirected ourselves to focusing on parts of us that didn’t hurt- elbows, ears, shoulders, cheeks.  We ran our intervals for the first half pretty consistently.  With her hurt foot, she walked slower than I walked but ran faster than I ran when my hip was hurting.  So we just kept lapping back and forth for a good while. 

She pushed at the last 1/4 mile through to the end and was cheering for me as I crossed the finish line.  She cheered for me when I ran up the incline leading into the Speedway track.  She went the 4 extra steps to get me a bottle of chocolate milk at the post-race party. 

My husband sent me text messages with updates of what he was seeing on the TV coverage at home.  He is proud of me.  That’s an amazing feeling for me.

I did it.  I did it!  I fought my way through 13.1 miles.  I enjoyed many parts of 13.1 miles. 

I finished a half marathon.

There’s nothing Mini about that!

Friday. Thank God!

Truly, each day that passes, I'm so thankful that I am closer to the next day and the next.

My life has been taken over by this situation at work.  I can't get anything else done.  I'm bringing work home regularly.  I hate this level of stress and anxiety and high intensity.  It's getting better and will continue to get better. 

I don't like being thrust into a position with people that I will be working with long term where I have to be pushy and make "power plays."  It's not my style.  But I have a boss willing to take the lead on that so I will be able to form my relationship the way I like it once we get out of this situation.

Visiting Nebraska was good.  I like business trips that are valuable and this one definitely was. 

Today, I work half a day and then Christy and I head downtown to the Expo for tomorrow's big event- running my first ever half marathon.

The Expo will have tons of stuff to look at and maybe buy.  It's also where you pick up your race packet and get your bib. 

Tomorrow morning, I'm going to go 13.1 miles on foot.  I'm going to run some and I'm going to walk some.  I've determined that a lot of what I have to fight is a mental battle.  I'm reading Born To Run right now and it's providing some great mental boost.

13.1 miles is on thehorizon, right in front of me, about to happen.

It isn't going to happen the way I'd hoped.  Life side tracked training in the last month.  But I'm going to succeed because I'll be doing more than I'd ever dreamed I could and because I'm going to just plain old do it.

And then life goes right back on its super fast track- Mother's Day, preparing to preach at church, and this ongoing work situation.  But getting these 13.1 miles behind me will be a big milestone and a big relief of stress that's been building up along with the work stress.

Really, the next 2 weeks should be pretty awesome in terms of life getting back to normal

So I'm going to keep celebrating Fridays.  Because it's the mark of the close of another busy, stressful week.

TGIF!

Guest Post: Adventures in Healthy Cooking

It's Thursday and that means I am back home.  However, being gone 3 days and still being crazy busy with work means that I'm very happy to introduce another guest blogger to you!  Today, my friend Jen is going to share some adventures in healthy cooking she's had lately.  She's a brave one- not just adding familiar fruits and vegetables but actually going outside of her comfort zone and trying new things! I love that kind of spirit!!


Hey everybody! Jen here from Going With What We've Got. I know you're missing Liz but don't worry she'll be back soon. In the mean time I'll tell you about my culinary adventure.

 

So I tried some new things this weekend. Specifically, I tried some new foods. Or rather, I tried a new way to eat some familiar foods.

I tried a Strawberry Coconut Shake made with cashews, dates, and coconut oil. And no ice cream.

I tried Cauliflower Miso Mash and Miso Gravy. Neither one of those things sound immediately delicious to me.

Why in the world did I try them then, you ask? Because I would really like to be more healthy. And - I'll just tell the whole truth - I really want to lose some weight.

I have myself convinced that adding some raw food selections to our regular diet will help in both of these areas. They do go together after all. The good news is I've been down this road before so I already had a really great recipe book to search for something to try. (Is it called a "cookbook" if you don't actually cook the recipes?)

The book I have is Ani's Raw Food Kitchen by Ani Phyo. I already had some pages folded over from the last time I looked through it but I'd never tried any of the recipes. Today I decided to try a cauliflower recipe since I already had a head in the refrigerator and I didn't want it to go to waste.

Trouble was, I didn't know what miso was. Turns out it's just soy paste. No biggie. If you go to the health food store to look for it, look in the refrigerated section. You're welcome.

Here's what I learned this weekend about my pursuing a raw foods diet.

• I'm going to need a bigger food processor. 
• I have quite a bit to learn about the grocery store. 
• I don't know what kefir is. 
• Healthy food can be expensive.
• I really like cauliflower. 

So how about the recipes? Well, the Strawberry Shake? Ridiculously delicious. Seriously. I'm making another one for breakfast in the morning. I've already decided.

  

And the Cauliflower Miso Mash? I had my concerns after we made it. I even said as much to my husband. I have a real issue with some textures. I'm just as likely to hate a food because of the texture as I am to hate a food because of the taste. I was scared. But? It. Was. Delicious.

 

The texture was perfect. The taste was fantastic. It was all around yummy.

 

And the Miso Gravy? It was really more of a dressing or a dip than a gravy. It was a little strong tasting but grew on me as I ate it. Again. Delicious. And it added quite a bit to the Cauliflower dish. I think it would be great on a spinach salad, too. Hmmm, maybe lunch for tomorrow?

 

Now the picture above is of the items I needed to purchase so that I could make these fantastic recipes. The grand total for the shopping trip? $59.32. Yep. That one hurt the budget.

 

But, I'm not going to have to buy coconut oil again for quite some time. And the miso will last a while. The organic wine wasn't on the list but i thought it was worth a try to see if those sulfites which were not there really do make a difference. We haven't opened it yet so I'll have to report back about that later.

 

Here's the thing. I'm not going to lose weight over night. But I do believe that making choices one meal at a time makes a difference in the long run. I ate quite a bit of cauliflower. Way more than I would have if I'd just roasted it or steamed it and eaten it. We also ate some really healthy fats and way more fiber than we normally would.

 

I really believe that the short term pain in my pocket book, is going to pay off with a long term gain in health.

 

If you want to follow my journey toward a more healthy life, you can visit my blog at Going With What We've Got. I'm also a Twitter addict. Find me @jencrutch. I hope you'll come on over and say hi!

 

Thanks so much, Liz, for letting me come over and play with your friends today while you're out of town!
 
I love this post! I totally want to find that book so I can check out those recipes- especially since I spy choclate chips in that picture.  I have to admit that the only time I think I've had miso is when I have miso soup at my favorite Japanese restaurants.  I do know all about kefir- it's a great addition to any healthy kitchen.  It's similar to drinkable yogurt but has more probiotics and does some cool stuff in the body that yogurt doesn't.  I like to buy plain kefir and use it in smoothies with a little bit of honey.  Jen, thanks for sharing your culinary adventure into raw foods with us!  I hope my readers will follow you so we can all cheer you on as you continue on this healthy living journey!  You all know the drill- leave some comment love and appreciation and go visit Jen's blog!

Guest Post: More Morels, Please!

I first met Jeanette last spring when she was representing Indiana wines and the Indiana Wine Trail at the Tourism Media Marketplace.  Given her connection to Indiana wines, it's easy to see why we hit it off.  We've since connected on Twitter.  I think you're really going to enjoy her post- I had never heard of morel mushrooms until I moved to Indiana.  I've lived here a decade and have yet to try a morel, in fact.  After reading this post, I'm really eager to have the opportunity someday!

It’s a great pleasure to be guest blogging for Liz today; however I do feel a bit guilty in my choice of topics. You see, I’ve followed Liz’s blogs for her healthy advice, great kid nutrition information and even her running adventures. So I worry that I may lead all of her faithful followers astray when I introduce one of my favorite springtime adventures.

My husband, better known as The Farmer at my blog FenceRow to FenceRow and my 3 kids; Panda, Monday and my Lion Cub, enjoy heading to one of our wooded properties that adjoin many different farm fields we plant each spring with corn or soybeans. We are on the lookout for treasure- morel mushrooms. You can’t travel to any church service, coffee shop or farm commodity meeting this time of year without someone asking you how many mushrooms you have found.

My Farmer has taken the girls on a few different trips to the woods. With the amount of rain that has fallen and the few hours of sunshine we have had, The Farmer has been convinced the woods should be providing many more mushrooms than he has actually found. So imagine my surprise when he came home one night and told us all to grab a bag and follow him.

So our yard had not yet been mowed, thanks to the rain we have had. But the sunshine had produced morel mushrooms. A lot of them!

Both girls found quite a few hidden amongst the dandelions.

After spending a bit of time searching our yard, we brought our bags inside and counted 66 mushrooms in all!

Our favorite way to eat them is to wash them in salt water, rinse in cold water, dip in flour and fry in butter!

By no means is this a healthy meal, however we only indulge in this meal as we find the mushrooms. Thus far our 66 mushrooms have made a few meals. And I do run a lot to work off the calories this meal provides. Not to be left out, my Lion Cub, who is only 8 months old, has discovered a taste for mushrooms as well!

Don’t worry, I only took my hand off the sandwich to take the picture. He didn’t eat this whole thing!

If you have a better recipe for morel mushrooms, I’d love to hear it! Leave me a comment on my blog, FenceRow to FenceRow, and tell me how you eat this spring delicacy!

That pic of Lion Cub with that sandwich in his mouth is priceless!!  I bet that'd make a great pic for  caption contest.  I hope you will leave Jeanette some comment love, visit her blog and follow, and so on.  Most of all, I want to hear your morel stories and recipes, too!  I love hearing people talk about morel hunting but I rarely hear about the eating side of things.  I'm betting there are healthy ways to enjoy morels, too.  Although I think Jeanette's way sounds mighty yummmmmy! 

Guest Post: Aunt Virginia

I first met Rachel, The Lazy Christian, at the Indiana Statehouse event I was invited to a few months back.  There wasn't a lot of time for chatting at the event but we started to get to know each other through our blogs afterwards and it turns out we have a lot in common (one of the biggest being that we both Give a Damn and Love God, Too).  Here's what I've come to learn about Rachel- she is down to earth, totally Real about Faith and God, and she has a fantastically witty sense of humor!

My great aunt died this week.

I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, "Oh, super. A bummer of a post from someone who Liz told us was so funny." First, I'm sure Liz only told you I'm funny because I wrote it in this post and she felt like she had to set up this joke for me. (Thanks for setting this joke up for me, Liz!) Second, it's not going to be a total bummer. Promise!

I didn't actually know this aunt very well. I was just never around her much, and when I was around, her it wasn't like "Get to Know Aunt Virginia Time." It was "Family Dinner and Talk to Everyone You Can Time."

I'm sure you have those gatherings. You don't really have time to talk to any one person for very long, so you don't get to know everyone the way you'd like to. It's not super, especially since those people are usually family members who I like and want to know better, but I only see them once or twice a year. There just isn't time!

So, in thinking about this, I've gone into my usual Rachel is the Center of the Universe mode: Do people know me very well?

Am I hard to get to know? I don't think so. As evidenced by my blog, I'm a pretty open book with facts and information about my life. So I guess the question is, does anyone take the time to get to know me?

I've always been a generally happy person. Always smiling. Actually, I think I look weird when I'm not smiling. Those non-smiling senior pictures did not turn out well. When I got my first job out of college, I did customer service at a plastics company. You know, because I'm happy and smiley. I did really well with the customers and my coworkers.

Then a day came where I was not so happy and smiley. My life actually had a problem. I wasn't smiley and happy.

My coworkers didn't know what to do. They'd never seen me unhappy or unsmiley*.

It took being around these people eight hours a day, seven days a week, for almost a year for them to see the real me. For them to know what was actually going on with me and for me to drop my happy façade.

The happy was really an act. Something I did because I didn't know what else to do. I didn't want to be a complex person with feelings and stuff. Blecch. I wanted to be happy and supportive of others.

Kind of like a puppy.

So that was my act. It's been almost eight years since I realized that I even had an act. Sometimes I put that façade back on, just to keep things easy for other people. Doesn't make things easier for me, though. Maybe that makes me hard to know. Maybe my friends and family would have to be around me for eight hours a day, seven days a week, for almost a year to figure out who I really am.

Not good.

So now I'm kind of obsessed with the idea of how well people know me. How do they get to know me? How can I foster get-to-know-you-ness? And how can I make sure I'm truly getting to know the people I care about, as well?

Any suggestions? And while you're at it, why don't you tell me what your act is so I don't feel so alone in my acting.

And, Aunt Virginia, I'm sorry I didn't get to know you better.

(*Unsmiley isn't a word. You know, for when you go to use it in a research paper or something. Trust me, I'm an English major.)

*************

Rachel A. Snyder
The Lazy Christian

See? Don't you love her?  She's totally real and I'm betting you were nodding your head in understanding as you read along.  It's funny- her topic kind of goes along well with a sermon I'm writing.  You'll find out why when I eventually share that sermon with you!  Rachel- thank you for this post.  Please show Rachel some love and appreciation with comments and by swinging over to her blog and giving her a Follow!

Guest Post: Quitting

My first guest poster for the week is my friend Lety from U8MyCrayons.  She's new to the blogosphere and I know she would appreciate some new followers, some comment love.  Lety is a woman I admire greatly and I am honored to call her my friend- she is passionate and seeking her path and purpose in life.  She seeks to better herself and her family- and this post is about one way she's done that.  Sometimes, quitting is a very important thing to do.

People ask me almost daily how I quit smoking. Did you use a patch? Did you take pills? Did you gain 100 lbs? How did you fight the cravings?

I am no expert but I can tell you this much. You will never quit successfully until YOU are ready to quit. If you cannot commit to it…it will not work. It may work for a day, or a few days…a week or two. I’ve been there many, many times in the past 20 years.

I started smoking at the age of 14 years old. By the age of 15 I considered it a habit. I’d smoke one on the way to school, and one on the way home. I’d smoke one on the way to work, and one on break, and the last one on the way home. I moved out at age 16 and by the time I was 17, I was smoking a pack a day.

I just turned 36 years old on April 11th. Due to an increase in stress in my life I was up to almost 2 packs a day. I’d been there before. I’d quit for pregnancy. I’d start back up anywhere within 4 days to 4 months of the birth. I just didn’t see it as a problem. I saw it as just a part of life.

The older I got the fewer smokers I knew and suddenly I found myself being the only smoker in many social situations. It was kind of comical, in a sick sort of way. I promised myself I would quit by the time I was 35. The Dr. had said that if I hadn’t quit by 35 I couldn’t get birth control prescriptions. 4 children were enough for me so I decided that 35 was my magical age to quit…because I am as fertile as they come. I turned 35. I turned 35 and 1 month. Before I knew it I was 35 and 8 months old. I was running out of time and I didn’t even care. Life was so stressful. I couldn’t fathom how I would survive without self medicating with nicotine.

I woke up on January 1st, 2011 and went out on the front porch in the freezing cold to have my morning cigarette. I decided that it would be the last day of my life that I was a smoker. I was done. I had my fill and I was ready to move on. The weeks that followed nearly killed me.

Do you know how many times I have heard people say “I don’t know why so & so continues to smoke when he is broke all of the time? I don’t get it.” And to be honest…I didn’t either. I was sure that if my budget ever became tight I could just as sure quit smoking immediately to free up that money. I was wrong.

Do you want to know why people don’t “just quit”? Because it’s incredibly hard. That’s why.

I’m not talking hard in the way that makes life uncomfortable for you. I’m talking so hard that you want to inflict bodily harm onto someone else and you are sure that you will die before it is all said and done. I recall on several days I said I would rather give birth than go through the physical withdrawals that I experienced that first week. They were the kind of withdrawals that you imagine someone who is addicted to Meth would go through. It wasn’t pretty.

I started drinking black coffee whenever I needed wanted to smoke. I found that after I quit smoking my tongue was no longer fuzzy and numb. Everything tasted weird…which I assume meant that nothing really tasted like what I had once thought it did. The coffee helped numb my tongue and made my mouth feel a bit more like it used to. I sucked on just about every hard candy and chewed 30 different types of gum during those first few months. One day I chuckled with a friend of mine as I calculated the calories I had consumed in breath mints alone. It was something like 2,000. I gained 10 lbs in the first month. After that I joined the gym!

It took a lot of crying, pain, sadness, weight gain, patience, love, support, and commitment to get to where I am today. I’ve been smoke free for 4 months. I’m still not confident that I am “over the hump.” And I’m not sure when I will be. I’m still mad as hell about not being able to smoke. My mom said that she quit 6 years ago and she’s still pissed…so who knows. I may never get over it, but at least I can get past it and move onto healthier lungs and a longer life.

The only thing that keeps me from lighting up right now is fear. I don’t ever want to experience that kind of pain ever again. The smell of smoke is still intoxicating to me. I still crave it daily. I still have triggers, of course.

I’m doing it, one day at a time, and that is about all we can ask of ourselves, isn’t it?

I’d like to thank Liz for her support during the past 4 months of my quitting smoking. I couldn’t have done it without good friends like her being in my support system. I know she will stick with me to see me reach my one year anniversary!

I'm incredibly proud of Lety and the hard work she's done this year to improve her health.  Quitting smoking is hard.  I was a smoker- started around age 13 and quit when I was in my early 20's.  My motivation for quitting was that I was soon to graduate college and would be working with kids and teens and thought being a smoker wasn't the best example I could set.  It was hard and I've slipped once or twice since.  But I can honestly say that being around smokers now truly brings on a reaction of disgust- I can't stand the smell of smoke and especially can't stand the smell of stale smoke on a person or in a place.  Lety- keep fighting those urges.  The payoff is incredible.  I'm so proud of you for quitting and be smoke free for 4 months!!  Ii've also loved following your workouts the past month and love cheering you on!!

Support to help you quit smoking:
SmokeFree.gov

American Cancer Society: Guide to Quitting

Thanks to Lety for the post- don't foget to leave her some comment love and to go check out her blog and Follow her!

A Day At the Garden Center

My fantastic husband fixed the mower yesterday- turns out it needed a new spark plug.  So now the jungle of our backyard has been reduced to a neatly manicured lawn.

This means that it's my turn to start making it pretty!!

We spent some time at our local home improvement store yesterday and the kids and I enjoyed some time exploring the garden center.

I found oodles of flowers I'd love to plant around the house.

I kinda fell in love with these planters- I'd love to somehow incorporate a giant teacup and teapot into my garden.  They're too expensive for our landscaping budget at $30 each, though.

I'm not one to have statues and decorations in my garden or yard.  But this guy was pretty tempting.  His price tag kept me from buying him ($70- and that was on sale!) but he's adorable and funny!

I also picked up some seed packets.  One is all wildflowers but  haven't decided where I want to plant them.  I bought another pack of seeds that has 4 packets inside it and is designed to create a pretty climbing garden to put around my lamp post. 

I also need to plan out my produce garden.  And I think we need a second raised bed this year.  I'd also love for him to build a staircase off the other side of our deck so we can more easily access that side of the yard and also avoid the side that the dog currently uses for "business."  We'll see how much project Jeff wants to take on, I guess!

How are your outdoor plans coming along this season?  We aren't big gardeners or outdoor workers but I love being inspired by gardeners and crafty, building types who do ongoing cool outdoor projects! Inspire me!

And can you believe it's MAY already???