Chicken Run Race Report

Yesterday, I got up at 6 am to run the Chicken Run, which is in conjunction with the Midwest Wings Fest. It was the first 5k that we ran, five years ago, and we missed one year, but we've run it every other year since. The first year it was actually postponed because of rain, and we didn't run for another two weeks! Steve won third place and his picture is still on the website! 

The first year, the race was at the local park where we run, but it's not big enough to support a lot of runners. Now it's at the mall, where the Wingsfest is held, so we basically run around the parking lot twice. The joke is that there's only one hill (the speed bump at the entrance).

A runner's dream, no lines!

There was one woman dressed as a chicken (pretty awesome -- feathers everywhere!) and two babies in strollers that came as chicks. 

My 5k PR is 31:29, so might have tied it (depending on what the official time turns out to be -- that's just the number I saw on the display as I ran by). A 5k is basically a sprint for three miles, so I tried to run as fast as I can so it would be uncomfortable, but at a pace I could keep up. My GPS said my split times were 9:44, 10:00, 10:04, with an average of 9:54, but even though the race is professionally measured, I apparently ran 3.2 miles. 

There was a little girl (maybe 10 years old) running with her dad. She finished right after me, but she started crying around mile one, and pretty much sobbed and whined her way through the whole thing. Just think how fast she would have been if she hadn't wasted her energy complaining! I hope she got a medal and decides to try again! 

Afterward, they had sweet tea and pancakes. Yum. Totally worth it. Run three miles, get a pancake! Here's mine: blueberry with whipped cream and syrup.

I waited for a while, but I wanted to get to Piyo at 8:30, so I wasn't able to stay for the awards. I'm in a new age group now (35-39!!) so I wanted to see how fast my competition is now!

My Wingsfest Times

2010 ... 44:49
2011 ... 39:14
2012 ... out of town
2013 ... 37:00
2014 ... 31:29* (unofficial)

So at least my times have improved!

Transformation

I got up today and ran 9.5 miles. The weather was surprisingly nice for seventies and 93% humidity. At least there was a breeze and the sun wasn't too brutal yet. I did my usual run 9/10 and walk 1/10 because I find it makes it more enjoyable for me. It was a really great run except for the jerk in the park who specifically didn't greet me when I said good morning. Have a great day, jerk. See how nice running endorphins make me? 

So, as promised, here are my "After" pictures.

My first 5k:

The July Fourth 4-Miler, 2 years ago

 At around 150 pounds

Training and Springfield Half Marathon

Recent Pictures After Reaching a Healthy BMI Weight

 As you can see, I'm about 65% of my former self (haha). There are still improvements I could make to my diet (cut down on sugar!) and exercise (lift more weights)! but I'm super proud of how far I've come. Hopefully the pictures didn't crash your computer! 

My goals remain to run 100 miles every month, go to the gym an average of at least once a week (to make sure the membership is worth it!) and three times a week if I can (to hit all the classes I like!), eat cleaner, worry less, and enjoy life! (Oh, and not to spend more "birthday money" than I actually received!)

Why I Don't Mind Turning 35

I've never much minded birthdays. Probably because my family always made such a big deal of them (and still does) so they're something to look forward to. I also think getting older should only be a problem if you're not accomplishing anything from the year before. So on the night before my birthday, here are some "Before" Pictures to show you that 15 or 25 may not feel as good as 35, and there's always time to make a positive change. No excuses!

 My 16th birthday. Obviously I was not "athletic" even then.

 College. I remember trying to get a good picture to send a pen pal (yes, we had those back then. The internet was barely invented in 1998!). I was so disappointed because I thought this dress made me look skinny, but not in the pictures!

When Chico was a puppy, 2007. I had this in a frame, but I made a label for it so I could cover my stomach! The only reason I can show this now is that it doesn't even feel like a picture of me. Chico is still adorable, though! 

I thought this dress looked GOOD! Why didn't anyone tell me it was a muumuu?! I had it in dark brown, too! 

On my wedding day.

And finally, a sneak peek of the "After" pictures so you know that Ugly Ducklings (or Couch Potatoes) can turn into Swans (or Runners).

Birthday Fun

We celebrated my birthday early because Steve will be working. So we went to Meramec Caverns yesterday, since it was the only place in the area we could guarantee wouldn't be 100 degrees (60 degrees year round!). 

It's pretty cool, especially if you haven't been to a cave before, although we have. Steve didn't want to do the zip line though :( We did the cave tour and the riverboat ride and ate at Route 61 Roadhouse on the way back. (As seen on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives) I got the barbeque spaghetti, which was very, very filling. I think I should've gone for the sweet potato pie instead!

I ran 5 miles today, and it was awful. It was 79 when I finished, but it felt like the fifth circle of hell. I have 5 days to run 19 miles to finish the 100 mile August challenge. I should already be finished, but I've taken a lot of days off running and just exercised at the gym because it was too hot! Oh well, there's always next month to log more! 

Since it's my 35th birthday this week, and I'm stopping at 35 because I don't need to get any closer to 40 (ha), I'll post some before and after pics, since I look better at 35 than I ever did in my twenties! 

Cooking Up a Storm

We made all kinds of things this weekend! 

We made strawberry glazed chicken from a recipe I took a picture of in a book about Atlanta! 

We made carrot sandwich rounds (surprisingly good!)

We made peach ice cream (easy!) 

Strawberry Glazed Chicken
*The original recipe was for "drumettes" and it would have been good with chicken legs or thighs, maybe. We halved it in case it wasn't good, so here's what I did:

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
1/2 C strawberry all-fruit
3 T spicy mustard (we used Cleveland stadium mustard, but you could use Dijon)
1 T olive oil
2 tea paprika
3 T minced garlic

Combine all ingredients except the chicken in a large Ziploc bag. Smush it together (by squeezing the outside of the bag!). Add the chicken to the bag and marinate for at least 12 hours or overnight. We grilled the chicken, but the original recipe said to bake. If you bake it (with the rest of the sauce), it will definitely be saucier and sweeter, but it was good on the grill and would be GREAT on a spinach strawberry salad!

Carrot Sandwich Rounds
*see original recipe here

1/4 C coconut flour
2 small carrots
1/4 C milk (we used coconut) or water
2 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line banking sheet with parchment paper (we needed two baking sheets, which we baked side to side on the top rack).

2. Blend the coconut flour and carrots in your food processor until the mixture looks like orange crumbs. (We only have a little 1 1/2-cup chopper, so we had to divide this into two batches)

3. Blend your mixture and the remaining ingredients in a bowl (or in your food processor if it's big enough. It might be smoother in the food processor, but it worked fine with just a spatula)

4. Divide into 8 parts (I did this by eye with the spatula) and place on the baking sheet. Flatten into rounds (again, I didn't want to touch it, so I used the spatula, but the original recipe recommends dampening your hands first and patting them down). They should be about 1/4 inch thick.

5. Bake for 15-17 minutes until slightly brown on the bottom and dry on the top. Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy! 

We separated the extras with parchment paper and kept them in the fridge overnight. They were good the next day. Any longer, you might want to freeze them.

Steve made his into makeshift Cuban sandwiches, with gluten free ham and turkey, pickles, and mustard. 

Easy, Fast Peach Ice Cream
*Basically, I wanted to avoid getting out the ice cream maker and we don't have any rock salt anyway

1 16 oz. bag frozen peaches (you could probably cut up fresh peaches and freeze them, but we were hungry NOW)
1/2 C coconut milk (from the can)
3 T honey
1/2 tea vanilla

We combined ours in a blender. A food processor would probably work better, because when it turns into ice cream, it's kind of thick and clogs up the blades. We ended up separating it and using our bullet blender, so you might want to do individual servings that way if you have one!

Bon appetit!

Sole Challenge 2014

The Sole Challenge 10k and 5k was hosted by the Sole Sistas of the 618, a running group in Southern Illinois. We weren't sure if it would be a good race, because sometimes the smaller local ones aren't very well organized. It started at 8:15 for the 10k and 8:30 for the 5k, so I decided to run the 10k. I wish it had started earlier, but I don't know if it would have helped, because it was HOT and humid! The course was around a lake, so that was pretty and scenic (and would have been awesome if the temperatures were 20-30 degrees cooler, but it is Southern Illinois in late August!) 

Their website says it's a challenging course, and they were right! The first four miles are up and down hills, and the last two are around a lake, on a gravel trail, that also goes up and down hills! It was my first official 10k, and my first trail race, and you know what that means. Guaranteed PR!!!! So unless I fell down and skinned my knees, I was going to have a good day!  

At each water stop, I dumped the water on me instead of drinking it, since it gives me cramps if I drink too much, which was a good strategy, except I was soaking wet by the end! I had read in Runners World (after my disastrous half marathon) that runners often get water-logged when it's hot, and dumping the water over your head can cool you down better, and then I read on another blog where the writer had the people at the water station douse her, and they loved it. I made sure I picked a kid, and they all looked at me like, "REALLY?!" and then they seemed really happy, so that was fun. 

I finished in 1:14:45.8, which is 12:08 per mile. My GPS has my split times a little faster, of course, but not bad for the conditions, I'd say! And I should be able to beat that easily next time!

The swag bags were really nice -- good t-shirt, Cliff bar, fan, reflector, chapstick, etc. plus it's a reusable bag. Afterward, they had water, ice pops, chips, crackers, two kinds of cookies, trail mix, bananas, and chocolate milk. All for $20. Like I said, we were afraid it would be minimal and disorganized, but since it was put on by a running group, so I guess they know what runners like! 

What's for Dinner?

So as I was making my cheesy pepperoni rollup today, I noticed there's a recipe on the back for skillet lasagna. It looks really good, but we don't really eat noodles (the first gluten free kind we found was kind of slimy although I noticed that our local store has Barilla gf noodles. Need to try those!). Anyway, basically you brown some meat, then add your sauce and some water, and cook the noodles in the same pot, then melt cheese over the top. With that last step, I'd probably eat a shoe. 

So tonight, we were having spaghetti squash, and I figured I'd do kind of the same thing. I made the spaghetti squash in the microwave, because seriously, it's so much easier than cutting it in half while it's still raw! It was medium size, so I cooked it 10 minutes, but it still felt hard, so I cooked it another five -- and it was definitely done! It was whistling, and the steam poured out of it like well, steam escaping from something really hot! Quite impressive! 

Then I added some leftover chicken (cut up) and diced tomatoes to some hot oil in my wok, and wilted a big handful of spinach. Finally I added the spaghetti squash and mixed it all together. I added shredded mozarella to mine, but Steve just salted his and said it was good. We had some pasta sauce too, so we could have just eaten it like spaghetti (maybe with some Aidell's Italian sausage, which is kind of spicy!) but there's always the leftovers!

I also had some peaches so we cut those up, and they were delicious, so you get a picture of those too! Yum, peaches!! 

It was 80 degrees in the workout room at the gym today, although the manager said it was set on 65. Do you have temperature wars at your gym? I mean, the heat index is 105, and there are 25 people in the class. We can't expect it to stay at a comfortable 68-72 in there, which seems to be what people prefer. Do you like it cooler or warmer to work out? I just bring more water, and I'm fine, but you know, the demographic for Zumba includes some older ladies, and it's a safe class for people who are starting their journey to health....I wouldn't want them to be discouraged because they're so hot they can't work out.

I ran 5 miles at the park this morning as well (hot and humid! I was hoping the track would be less painful on my calves, which are a little sore). Lucky me, the cross country team was running too! I think it made me run a little faster, but geez! I wish I had EVER been that fast! And that I could take off my shirt and run too! It was a sweaty one! 

Yoga

I wasn't going to go to the gym today, but they called to say that instead of Zumba, they were going to have a Piyo class, so I changed my mind at the last minute and went. And then people weren't too sure about Piyo so we ended up doing Yoga, which I think is harder, because you can't really fake any of the moves. 

I managed to do almost everything except this one:

I mean, really. My arms are not that strong yet! 

So I was glad I went. But I might have done better if my legs weren't already sore. I'm at 60 miles for the month, which isn't even that high, but it is if I go to group classes too. I think I'm mostly sore from doing burpees this week -- so that means MORE burpees on the schedule, right? 

I have three different gluten free recipes to try, and a party next Friday where one of the girls is low-carb. I tried to look up low-carb recipes, but they all seem to have erythritol in them. Not sure what to do with that! I guess I could bring a platter of meat! 

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

I bet I had you at double chocolate! Stay with me through the zucchini part. It's SO worth it. Here's the original recipe.

Here's what I did:

Ingredients

• 2 extra-large eggs
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa 
• 1 1/3 cup all-purpose gluten-free flour blend - I used Cup4Cup
• 1/3 cup coconut flour
• 2 cups shredded, unpeeled zucchini
• 1 cup Nestle chocolate chips 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan with butter.
2. Put eggs, honey, oil, brown sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl and mix until combined. Add the salt, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa, gluten-free flour blend, and coconut flour and beat until smooth. My mix was kind of stiff. I probably should have added a bit more coconut oil, but when I added the zucchini, it gave it enough moisture to mix together. 
3. Gently squeeze the zucchini in paper towels to remove as much moisture as possible. Fold into the batter. Stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake for 55-60 minutes if you're using a dark pan, and a bit longer for a glass pan. Mine was glass, and it took more than 90 minutes! Check loaf by inserting a toothpick or knife into the center, it should come out clean (unless you hit a melted chocolate chip).
5. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to finish cooling completely (if you can wait that long).

It turned out great! I ran 9 miles today, so this is my treat -- so worth it. Plus technically it's a vegetable so no guilt! 

I ran with 9:1 splits (so I walked a tenth of every mile). My first mile was slower because some guy in a Honda Fit was apparently lost and thought he'd turn at the red light and then BACK UP into oncoming traffic to turn out. Great idea, dude. Not sure what was going on there, but I had to wait and stay out of his way! I was really proud of myself because I jogged DOWN the big hill (it's super steep) and then ran UP the next two big hills. There were some dog walkers in the park with at least 8 dogs. Nothing better than a herd of puppies in the morning. I've been toying with the idea of running to the gym in the morning, working out, and running back, but I don't know about carrying my water bottles and yoga mat...do I just buy a drink there and use their mat? Then I have to carry money. Do I use a backpack? Isn't that going to be awkward to run with? Seems silly to DRIVE a mile to the gym just to exercise!

Call Me Crazy

Considering a 10k for next weekend. I've never run an official 10k, which means a guaranteed PR! It's half road and half trail, which should be interesting. And then I have a 5k the next week, before I go to a wedding. I was just talking to someone tonight about the Warrior Dash (his wife has already signed up for next year!) and I almost said that I don't have any races until October. Oops! I lied! Anyone interested in running the Warrior Dash with me? I feel like I might need a good team for support if I'm going to tackle it!

I still haven't made the zoodle casserole that I've been planning all week! Maybe Saturday... I barely managed to exercise today. I worked onsite and my boss drove and ended up in a meeting when we were supposed to be leaving, so I didn't even make it to the gym to exercise! I just did a quick 3 miles on the treadmill (which could have been avoided if I had gotten up early this morning, but my bed was SO COMFORTABLE) and then I went to a church meeting. I think they should add calisthenics into any meeting because people wouldn't be so long-winded if they can't catch their breath! 

Tomorrow I want to run 9 miles in the morning, and then we're going to Red Robin for dinner because August is my birthday month, and you know what that means! Free burger (yum). I actually have never had a beef burger there. I usually get the whiskey bbq chicken wrap with the fruit salad. I need a backup, in case that doesn't count as a burger! Do you have go-tos when you go out to dinner? I usually have one or two things that I get at each restaurant, and I never try anything else! 

Challenge: Be a Light

New invention: tortilla with mozarella cheese and two big pieces of Applegate pepperoni. Microwave 45 seconds. Roll up. Eat. Yum! It's like a pizza roll!

I have a lot of stress right now. Let's not even talk about all the depressing things in the news. And school starting. But one of the classes at the gym switched from Tuesday to Wednesday and that screws up my whole exercise schedule! I think I'm going to have to go to choir practice sweaty each week. I'm sure they'll appreciate it! 

I ran 3 miles today, and I felt like I was going really fast, but I wasn't going as fast as I'd like. Two and a half weeks to shave some time off if I want a PR on my 5k! I want to start running hills, but there aren't many near here! 

Back to the bad things in the news, my challenge is to do one thing today or this week for someone else. You'll feel better, someone else will feel better. We can each do something to make the world a little better, even if it's nothing that anyone would ever acknowledge as sweeping or significant. Offering to take back someone else's grocery cart can make their day a little easier, and they might still be smiling about it later. Try it. Let me know what you did and how it worked out!  

Menu Planning

I went to Zumba tonight, but I was NOT feeling it. After beautiful, cool weather in Cleveland and Michigan, St. Louis is HOT AND HUMID. It makes it hard to breathe! I told myself that I could leave before kickboxing, but I stuck it out, and I'm glad I did. I felt so much better after completing the workout. (I think she went a little easy on us because we were sweating!) It's always so great when you feel like you pushed yourself (and you're done and you can go home and eat food!)

Speaking of food, the carrots were awesome. I had an Aidell's sausage with mine, and Steve had a leftover chicken breast, which I apparently ruined on the grill because I flipped it too soon, so it was like a rock. Sorry, Steve! 

Menu for this week: shrimp and broccoli (sauteed in olive oil with Soulard grill seasoning). Pretty simple. Throw it in the pan til the shrimp can't swim away.

Veggie lasagna: zucchini, cottage cheese (instead of ricotta. Try it. It's awesome), some kind of sauce, pepperoni...I'm thinking about using the zoodler and making it more like a spaghetti casserole. In my experience, you can't really screw it up, and it tastes better as leftovers! I'll let you know how it turns out! 

Carrot raisin salad: shredded carrots (we still have one and a half left. They were HUGE. Love you, farmers!), raisins, and "dressing" made from mayo and honey. If you've never tried it, it's DELISH! You can use apples instead of the carrots as well. It's sweet and tangy and yum! 

We Made "Cookies"

New recipes! We made "cookies" with no flour today! They turned out good! Kind of like oatmeal cookies...but no oatmeal! 

1 C pecans (the original recipe called for almonds, but we can't do almonds)
1 C macadamia nuts
1 banana
1 cup apple (we used one medium-sized apple)
2 tablespoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 teaspoons coconut oil (melt if necessary)
3 eggs
1/2 C raisins

Preheat oven to 350 and line baking pans with parchment paper.

Put the nuts in the food processor and blend until they're small pieces. Pour them in a bowl.

Put the apples and banana in the food processor and blend until smooth (this makes an interesting baby-food consistency. Bananas are magic!). Add to the bowl.

Add the rest of the ingredients and mix together. Finally, fold in the raisins (or any other add-ins you want. Chips would be good)

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes. Enjoy! 

Great Chefs, Great Cities

I think there used to be a show of that name on the Travel Channel...I watched it all the time! We are in beautiful Traverse City, Michigan (going home tomorrow), and as always, the Cherry Capital is DELICIOUS. I have some recommendations for future "As Seen on Television..." signs. We had cherry chicken salad yesterday for lunch and seafood for dinner. Today we ate at Pearl's, which is Cajun. They own several gluten free restaurants in the area, and I was SO happy to go to a place that gets it. 

First, they specifically asked if we needed a GF or vegetarian menu. Yes, thank you. Then, their menu is labelled "celiac friendly" and it explains that while they do their best, there may be cross contamination, etc. (which means they understand that eating out could cause a reaction). Then, they asked if we wanted gluten free cheddar jalapeno corn bread. OH MY GOSH, YES! It was good AND you have no idea what it's like eating out without the bread until you have to do it. I swear, restaurants expect you to fill up on bread, so if you just order a salad, it's like a teeny tiny little thing, and you leave hungry, after paying $13! Steve got shrimp and grits and I got BBQ shrimp. There was another dish on the online menu that he didn't see when we got there, but we didn't think to ask about it until after we'd ordered. I bet they would've whipped something up if they had the ingredients. 

We got up at 6 to run. It's downhill for 3 miles from the hotel, then the bay. Totally worth getting up early! 

Of course, that means it's three miles back UPHILL at the end of your run, but it's not too bad. We both ran 10 miles (to earn our lunch). And then we went for frozen coffee (cherry lemonade for me) and they had gluten free peach pecan muffins!!! It's like paradise (for $1.33!). I went to the grocery store to pick up some snacks, and they have a TON of cherry stuff, but I limited myself to the cherry honey mustard and the cherry vinaigrette, since it all has sugar. At least these were pure sugar, and not corn syrup. I'll probably use them to marinate chicken -- if there's any left! The cashier said both of them are her favorites. Glad I made a good choice! 

I'm trying to get 30,000 steps today to make up for all the travel! I might have to walk laps around the ballpark tonight.

The Smell of Gas in the Morning

Seriously, never get on a plane with me! I flew Southwest yesterday for the first time in a long time -- and it didn't treat me any better than Delta. We got on the plane, and it smelled a little like a gas station, but not strong enough to give anyone a headache or really complain about. But then it came time to leave, and we started to taxi...and we returned right back to the gate because apparently the engine was leaking fuel. 

You know that's not going to get you to your destination on time. 

So we sat at gate E24 while they unloaded the luggage and tried to find us a new plane...for about an hour....

Eventually, it turned out they were able to fix the first plane before they could get a new plane to us. So back we went onto the plane, which the pilot assured us was safe.

And then, hahaha, he announced that we were "going to find this funny." We were ready to go, but the plane need more fuel. I assure you, I was in stitches. 

And then we were cleared for takeoff, but hahaha, the air traffic control tower got rid of our flight plan because we were on the ground so long, so we just had wait a little bit for them to file it. 

Two packages of peanuts does not make this ok!!

I have to say, the crew was great. They were very nice, and very patient, especially with the man in the sherbet-colored collared shirt, who seemed to think that the plane had been sabotaged specifically to ruin his life, and I think was serious when he requested that they fly him directly to his final destination, even though that was an impossibility. There were fourteen of us on a connecting flight, and we all got on the next plane, and arrived only four hours late...

Is there anyone who has had a good or even routine flight lately?! 

I ran 5 miles this morning, even though I was still (and very very slow) from travel, but my legs felt good. On Wednesday I'm planning to do a long run, but we'll see how long it ends up being. Somewhere between six and ten miles. I had pierogies for dinner last night, which were good, but maybe a little too carb heavy for just five miles! 

The Half-Marathon Is Over...Time to Train for the Next Half Marathon!

Ok, technically, I don't have to start "training" until tomorrow, and that would be if I were starting from scratch, but there are 8 long runs before the MO' Cowbell Half Marathon! I did four miles today, and it felt good. I swear, the race itself doesn't do me in, but afterwards I tend to get randomly injured. After my first half, I sprained my ankle the day after because I stepped off my flip flop wrong, and it took about three weeks to heal! This time, I dropped my shave gel (on the same foot!), and although you can't SEE any bruising, it feels a little hurt. I figured I deserved to take it easy and recover, even if the injury was in my head, so I only ran five miles this week, until the four miles today. I did go to the gym for some classes, though. 

Side note: It's so frustrating to see tall, skinny people say they lost weight and now they're at 170. I think we need a new scale. Like, you put your height in, and then you "weigh" 1-10 depending on if you're in a healthy range or not. We can all just weigh "5." Then we couldn't compare ourselves with other people who are six feet tall! 

I usually walk at the beginning of each mile but I'm going to try "strides" instead -- basically sprinting the parts I used to walk. The idea is that this will help me get faster. I didn't do it today, though. For some reason my hip was sore when I walked, but felt fine when I ran. 

We grilled some zucchini on the grill -- I didn't even put olive oil or seasonings on it because I forgot! Then we shredded up the grilled chicken and put that on top. I covered mine in cheese, because what's not better with cheese?! Right now though, we're pretty much out of EVERYTHING. There's a little bit of cereal left, but no milk. And we're pretty much out of all the staples, like bananas, peanut butter, pecans, eggs, coconut milk -- everything! Although we do have shrimp in the freezer and quinoa in the cupboard. 

Looks like my Saturday plans will be Piyo and Zumba and then shopping!