Winter in Minnesota = Comfort food

Welcome back loyal readers, it's been a while. I kind of lost focus of my life over the summer. Everything went too quickly, I lost inspiration, I quit cooking healthy food and working out regularly- The excuses can go on and on, but as my high school history teacher used to say... well... that's not really appropriate but the gist is: no one likes excuses. The important thing is... I'm back!

Winter and the holidays are here in full force in Northern Minnesota (I am not sure if I am ready for either). We've had our first snow fall (I am loving the snow covered rooftops), we made it through the first holiday, I decided to throw up holiday cheer all over my apartment, it's the perfect weather to snuggle my kitty, and most importantly: IT'S COMFORT FOOD SEASON.

Most people don't associate comfort food with healthy food, at least I know I don't, and I can't help but love Baked Potato Soup so I tried my own lightened up version of it. It turned out great and did not taste "light" at all.

Load Baked Potato Soup:

• 4 Large Russet Potatoes, diced into 1/2in. cubes skins left on
• 16 oz- 1/3 Less Fat Cream Cheese, softened
• 5 cups Fat Free Chicken Stock
• 1 Yellow Onion, diced
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt
• 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
• 6 slices Thick Cut Applewood Smoked Bacon
• Green Onion, diced, for garnishing
• Shredded Reduced Fat Cheddar, for garnishing 

1. Cook up that bacon in a large pot over medium-high heat. You want it a little on the crispy side to give the soup a little texture when you add it to it. Once the bacon is cooked, set it aside on a paper towel so some of the excess grease drains off. Then drain the bacon grease out of your pot, reserving about half a tablespoon to a tablespoon.
2. Next you will add you onion and garlic to the pot and cook it in the reserved bacon grease over medium heat, if you really wanted to be good you could do this in olive oil as well. Cook the onions and garlic until onions are tender and the mixture is fragrant.  
3. Add the potatoes and chicken stock to the pot with the onion mixture and bring it to a boil. Cook for approximately 20- 30 minutes or until potatoes are tender. While the potatoes are cooking mix the cream cheese until smooth, I found this made it easer to incorporate it when it came time.
4. Once the potatoes are cooked remove the pot from the heat. If you have an immersion blender, add the cream cheese slowly while blending the potato soup mixture. You want soup to be creamy with out any cheesy chunks but still with a few potato chunks (does that make sense). If you are in a makeshift kitchen like myself, I blended about 3/4 of the soup mixture in a blender then added that to my stand mixer with the cream cheese and mixed until smooth and cheese was completely melted. I then returned it to the pot with the unblended potato mixture and combined until it was one smooth mixture with some potato chunks.
5. Finally, return the pot to the burner, add the Lawry's, black pepper, and bacon. Simmer the soup for about 5 more minutes.
6. To serve add about a cup size portion to a bowl and garnish with the reduced- fat cheddar and green onion. I served mine with honey wheat pretzel braids as well. 

The recipe made a lot! Wade and I will be eating it for days to come. It makes about twelve 1 cup servings, each of those servings are under 300 calories. Not too shabby, if I say so my self. That leaves me room for a Cran-brrr-rita for dessert. If ya haven't tried them, get on that.

Hey, it's festive. Right??

 Well, I am off to enjoy some Sunday night football and my beverage. I'd love to hear everyone else's comfort foods though!

Clean Eating Citrus Grilled Chicken with Grilled Eggplant with Herbs and Feta

   The other night Wade and I actually had a few minutes where we were home at the same time and I wasn't exhausted. (Man, summer is busy.) Soooo, I got to make dinner!

   The chicken is a recipe I have done before. It's incredibly simple and incredibly healthy, two things I love in a meal. Youknowwhatimean? Yep. 

   The eggplant was something new I was trying. I get daily recipe emails from ten million different places and this one caught my eye. I am a newer fan of eggplant and boy-oh-boy is it good. So eggplant and Feta? Together? I hopped right on that wagon and gave it a try!

Clean Eating Citrus Grilled Chicken- www.thegraciouspantry.com

Ingredients:

• 1 orange
• 1 lime
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon minced garlic
• 2 (6 ounce) boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper (I omitted this so Mini Chef would eat it)

Directions:

1. Zest orange and lime into a large bowl.
2. Squeeze orange juice into bowl.
3. Add oil, garlic and chicken, tossing to coat.
4. Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes.
5. Prepare grill or grill pan over medium-high heat.
6. Remove chicken from marinade, and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
7. Cook chicken 6 minutes per side or until done.

Nutrition Facts: Calories per serving 142; Fat 1.7g, Carbs 13.5g, Sugars 5g, Protein 25.1; Sodium 191.5g

Now, like I said I had made this before and loved it... So, when I made it this time I thought I could do it from memory because it's pretty simple, right? Wrong. Looking at the recipe now I realize I did it allllll wrong. I forgot to zest my orange and lime and just juiced them. It's still pretty good that way if zest is not your bag, but I definitely recommend doing it the right way. Hopefully next time I won't trust my memory... Womp, womp. 

   Now for the eggplant, this recipe is from Fine Cooking magazine but I did make some alterations to make it easier and tastier in my opinion.

Grilled Eggplant with Herbs & Feta- from Fine Cooking

Ingredients:

1 small clove garlic

Kosher salt

1 small shallot, finely diced

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 Tbsp olive oil

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1 medium size eggplant, sliced into 1/4 inch thick slices

2 Tbsp fresh minced cilantro

2 Tbsp fresh minced mint

1/4c crumbled reduced fat feta

Directions:

1. Preheat grill and broiler.

2. Add first 6 ingredients to blender or food processor and blend until smooth to make a vinaigrette.

3. Brush slices of eggplant with the vinaigrette. Grill over medium-high heat for 3 minutes per side. 

4. Once eggplant is grilled place In a shallow baking dish, so that the slices overlap slightly. Top with the remaining vinaigrette, fresh minced herbs, and feta. 

5. Broil under high heat until cheese is melted. Serve immediately.

Nutrition Facts: Serves 5; Calories per serving 93; Fat 6.4g; Carbs 7.4g; Sugars 2.1g; Protein 1.9g; Sodium 177.3g

Enjoy friends!

I Fell Off the Wagon... And Decided to Get Back On it

   The past two weeks since Grandma's have kind of been a mess. I am not going to lie. I have been busy as hell. In fact, today is my first day off in the last 10 days (HALLELUJAH!). So, between work and the 4th of July holiday, and the two concerts, and the 5k I did. I. am. exhausted. Seriously folks, I have never been so happy to have a day off, I almost cried when I woke up at 7:30 am instead of 4:30 am. It was glorious.
   I guess that's how summer works, go while you can and enjoy the beautiful season. But with that has come a complete lack of routine. The only run I have gone on since my half marathon was the Midnight Sun Midnight Run 5k... which involved a lot of beer and rain (and Wade running for the first time in the 3 years I have known him.
   I have eaten like complete shit, and that's putting it nicely. One night, post Trampled by Turtles & Atmosphere concert, I ate an order of cheese curds, and a burger and fries... to myself. Don't even get me started on the few burgers I have had from 7 West Taphouse, so darn good. The worst is with going out to eat comes going out to drink. Damn beer. If beer were the water in Lake Superior I would have made a good dent in it.
   I say all this not to beat myself up, but just to let you guys know that that day you step on the scale and realize you are up three pounds can kind of be a good thing. That was this morning for me. I stepped my well rested butt up there after two weeks of not taking care of myself and feeling the drained side effects of that I thought "Aw shit", in the same tone my Grandma Pease used to use when she burned food or put her foot in her mouth. Instead of beating myself up though, I laced up my  shoes and went for a run.
   Was this the best run of my life? Ummm, no. I made it 1.75 miles and walked the rest.  Did it make me realize what I have been missing? YES! Simply put, I relish the fact that I got to be naughty for a while. It was needed, I have been in race training mode since December and while it totally paid off (yes, one of these day I WILL actually share the story of my latest half on here) I was burned out. I did need that break, but with that being said it's time to make some new goals and try some new things and get myself ready for the next adventure. It's time to start taking care of myself again.
   Going forward with that, I am hoping to be a little more dedicated to my blog and to using this as a tool to motivate myself. I look forward to sharing a couple new recipes that I have been working with... besides my AMAZING pizza. I also look forward to sharing more of my fitness journey and getting back on track with what I wanted this blog to be in the first place.

Margherita Pizza Salad

  Hi, my name is Molly and I am a pizza addict. I will eat it any day, anytime, anywhere especially when I am hungover.
   A year and a half ago I was lucky enough to go to Rome for my 25th birthday. I love the way they do pizza there, everything on it so fresh. Fresh veggies, meat, minimal sauce and cheese, and homemade delicious dough. Domino's ain't got nothing on the Italians. So, when one of the RN's I work with gave me an issue of Eating Well Magazine with a section on "Pizz'alads" (pizza salads) that had a fresh Margherita version, saying I was thrilled was an understatement. Seriously?! A healthy(ish) way to make pizza?! Hell yes my friends.
   Today I am sharing with you my adaptation of Eating Well's Margherita Pizz'alad. It made a perfect Meatless Monday dinner for Wade and I. Luckily, it was cool enough out today to use the oven.
  To start off I made two batches of Eating Well's Whole- Grain Pizza Dough (you can find the recipe here). I have made my own pizza dough before, but I have never found a recipe that used whole wheat and had the consistency I like in a pizza dough. This stuff was about as good as it gets for a healthier version. I was a little worried I screwed up the first ball of dough and that it wasn't going to rise, so to be on the safe side I made two of them. Looks like I am having pizza twice this week! Woot woot!
  So, the deviations I made from original recipe are very minimal, mostly done to make it cheaper, quicker, and get my Artichoke fix. Enjoy this great summer recipe in the oven or on the grill and always with a glass of wine! (or two or three or four)

Margherita Salad Pizza

• 1 ball of Whole Grain Pizza Dough
• 2 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil, divided
• 1 Tbsp Minced Garlic
• 1 Large Tomato, thinly sliced
• 4 oz Marinated Artichoke Hearts, diced
• 1/2 c Shredded Part Skim Mozzarella Cheese
• 1 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 1 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 2 c Arugula
• 1 c Torn Fresh Basil
• 2 Tbsp Dried Parsley Flakes
• 1/4 c Shredded Parmesan Cheese 

1. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat it to 500 degrees.
2. Combine 1 Tbsp olive oil, balsamic vinegar, Dijon mustard, sugar, and parsley and whisk together in a large bowl. Add arugula, basil, and Parmesan and toss. I like to do this before I start putting together the pizza because letting it sit for a while kind of wilts the arugula and makes it a little less crunchy (I love the taste of arugula but the texture weirds me out)

3. Place the ball of dough on a lightly floured surface, corn meal works great for this too to get a crispier crust. Roll out dough into a 12-14 inch circle, then transfer to a pizza stone or pan.

4. Combine 1 Tbsp oil and garlic in a small bowl and brush the dough with it. Top with tomato, artichoke hearts, and shredded mozzarella. Bake until golden and crispy, about 10 minutes.

5. When pizza is done , let cool for 5-10 minutes.

6.Put arugula salad mixture on top of the pizza, slice, and serve immediately.

  

Nutritional Facts: Servings 8, Calories 234; Fat 11g; Carbs 26; Protein 8g; Sodium 472mg; Sugars 4g

Now, off I go to enjoy that glass of wine. Hope you enjoy this great summer meal!

Grand Marais Day Trip

   I have been truly neglecting my blogger duties, I apologize again to the few followers I may have but it has been a pretty big whirlwind of a week and a half in my life... more on that in upcoming days.
   Since my life has been chaos I decided to just leave it all yesterday. The plan when I started out yesterday was to go sailing with my Ginger friend, Eric. When he came to pick me up he asked if I would be opposed to making the two hour trip up the Northshore to a small fishing and artists community nestled in the middle of no where called Grand Marais. If you have never been I highly recommend it! It's just so darn beautiful.
   I first stumbled upon Grand Marais a few years ago when I was living with a good childhood friend, Anne. She and I had moved to Duluth together when we were 18. This town has always been an escape for me, that day it just so happened that it was hotter than hell in Duluth, a city where no one has air conditioning. Rather than sitting around our house sweating like whores in church, as my mother would say, we decided to drive until we stopped sweating... yeah, thank god that happened before we made it to Canada. When we got there we stumbled upon this little restaurant on the side of Highway 61.

The excitement before the let down.

   If you should know anything about Anne and I, we are OBSESSED with Mexican food. This retaurant was advertising what they called "Puff Tacos", ummm ok? Forgoing the usual tourist stop to Sven and Ole's Pizza, we decided to try Hughie's Tacos out. ERRRRRMAGEERRRD... Deep fried doughy taco shell stacked to Jesus with taco fixings. I had died and gone to heaven.
  The next year I had introduced Eric to these little slices of heaven and yesterday we were on a mission to put them in our bellies. I am not going to lie, I had way too much fun over the past weekend and may have been trying to recover my shoving my face full of anything that had grease (clearly, I fell off the healthy wagon). Deep fried taco? YEP! For two hours of scenic driving and catching up, Eric and I obsessed about the greatness that we were about to encounter. Seriously, OBSESSED.  We arrived to town ready to gorge ourselves, spotted the building, parked a block away, and pretty much ran like kids on Christmas morning towards the place.
   As we got to the door I heard Eric utter, "uh oh".
   "Don't you dare tell me this place is closed Gingerbread!" I cried.

The view from our table. Oops, that beer got in the way.

   Yeah, two hours later we come to know that Hughie's Tacos is NOT open Sunday and Monday per summer hours. Son of a biscuit. My life was over (I know dramatic right?). We walked away from the building, heads hung low and headed towards "The World's Best Doughnuts", or so they claim, which only had bagels left. Womp, Womp. So I sat my rear down on the curb and busted out the trusty iPhone and looked up restaurants in the area. I wanted something more than mediocre pizza with a funny Northern Minnesota name and was delighted when I found a place I remembered people talking about before: The Angry Trout Cafe. This place was awesome, a cute little place with outdoor seating that had a dock you can park your boat at. I could see the bottom of the lake from where I was sitting, it was pretty sweet.

   Honestly though, as cool as the scenery and sunshine was it had NOTHING on the food we ate. For an appetizer we ordered the Artichoke and Spinach Cheese Bread, a perfect mixture of the three first ingredients with some herbs baked on top of perfect little baguette like crostinis and these bitches were served with fresh fruit on the side and violets to garnish, which was unexpectedly refreshing. For our main courses Eric got their fish and chips which was great, but I am not a huge fried fish person, he liked it though. My dish however was about as close to heaven as seafood can get, Smoked Trout Fettuccine. One thing I forgot to mention about this place is they are all about sustainability and local produce, everything is made from scratch, the fish are caught nearby in that big ol' lake, even their napkins are special eco-friendly canvas or something like that. So my dish had locally caught Lake Trout smoked to perfection tossed with homemade spinach fettucine, tomatoes, and olive oil and herbs and then topped with melted parmesan and crushed up hazelnuts. I die. Served with it was the best damn looking salad I have ever eaten, grilled zucchini, fresh cucumber, tomato, strawberries, watermelon, beets and a homemade Maple Mustard dressing. It was so good.

Eric's new chair for his sailboat.

   After I returned from heaven we walked around downtown Grand Marais for a bit. We visited a really cool outfitting store called Stone Harbor Wilderness Supply. This place was really cool, basically everything you would ever need to have a Northern Minnesota adventure, plus they have rentals and guided tours. They do paddling in both the BWCA and Lake Superior, fishing trips, and rock climbing and ice climbing trips. Seriously, add that job to my list of dream jobs along with flight nurse and retaurant owner. I would love to be able to go up there again and be able to use them for a kayak tour or something.
   Once Eric and I stopped drooling at the equipment, we headed towards Artist's point which is the perfect photo opportunity for any visitor or native. You can walk out on the lighthouse's point and see some pretty breath taking views of the Lake and the shoreline.
  With that being said, I will leave you loyal readers with some pictures to make you a little jealous. That whole half marathon I was psyching everyone up for and then left folks hanging? No worries, I am planning on sharing how I killed that beast tomorrow. Ciao friends!

They are pretty concerned about pedestrians.

The necessary North MN tourist photo stop.

A Seasoned Veteran, or Something Like That

Tiffany's blue and a handsome man too.

   Can I just start out today's post by saying it has been a WONDERFUL summer day here. I had an awesome day at work, went for a great short run with my girl Lindsey, and came home to dinner all ready for me. Sometimes the boyfriend knows just the way to top my day off.
   With that being said, Today brings us one day closer to race day! Keeping up with race week I wanted to share my story of my second half marathon. It was the Innaugural Nike Women's Half Marathon in Washington, D.C. and if you are a female runner and ever have an opportunity to do this race I highly recommend it. I mean, what woman wouldn't run 13.1 miles for a Tiffany's necklace? Yeah, that's right, all finishers receive a Tiffany's necklace.

   So, I read about this race back probably around September and immediately, obviously the finishers necklace caught my eye. I ended up posting the information about it on my Facebook and my cousin that lives in D.C. said she'd do it with me. Sold. The beginning of December it was official, I had gotten in and the training began.
   This time I can say "the training began" because I actually did it. I made that treadmill my bitch all winter long, when it would have been easier to go home and take a nap after work I was there running. When it wasn't below zero I was bundling up and letting the cold burn my lungs. Hard work pays off.

My Cousin and I pre-race.

   Race day came. It was beautiful out, sunny, warm, in the 60s (Minnesota hadn't even broken 50 degrees at that point). The energy was just as I had remembered with other races, any feelings of it being a little "too commercial" (Nike swag EVERYWHERE, things got a little ridiculous at the expo where Paul Mitchell stylists were giving girls blow outs.) wore off as we headed towards our pace corral. At 15,000 runners it was BY FAR the largest race I have ever participated in, the crowd was just insanely huge. We arrived at our already full pace corral unable to actually line up on
the street, an error I feel will be fixed in future years.

Battle wounds from the fall.

   When the gun went off it was a little hectic. We were in the 10 minute pace group and by time we were actually in the street and running I was seeing 11 and 12 minute pacers. Needless to say my cousin and I did a lot of passing. Off we went running the streets through some tunnels passing people on the sides... and then I fell... extremely awkward. There was something sticking up out of the pavement as we were running through the tunnels and I still had my sunglasses on and completely missed it. But the minute I was down I felt a stranger reach down, loop their arm in mine, and yank me back up. It felt like I had never even been down. Like I was saying yesterday folks, runners have an amazing sense of camaraderie.
   After that slip up less than a mile in I was a little nervous about what was to come, but along Alyssa and I went. As we got around mile 3 the crowd thinned out and we found our paces. Alyssa ended up speeding up a bit while I kept going steady where I was at.
  The run was beautiful, we ran along the Potomac down near Arlington Cemetary, then back up around the Kennedy Center, around East Potomac Golf Course and the Jefferson Memorial, then up across the National Mall around to the U.S. Capitol and ending on Pennsylvania Ave near 10th St NW.
   I would love to say there was something remarkably memorable about this race itself. There wasn't really. Except that it felt so serene being out there along the river, being able to do something with a cousin I hadn't seen in about 15 years, my music going, and the sun shining down (clearly I am a little vitamin D deprived Minnesotan when all I can talk about is how glorious the sun is). Around mile 10 the pace picked up, we were back in the city area and there were crowds lined up cheering us on, like I said before I love me a marathon crowd. Around mile 10 I also hit my wall, my legs were heavy and it was starting to get a little too humid for my liking, but nothing unbearable. I kept reminding myself "I did this once with no training, this should be a cake walk" never realizing just how much faster I was running this race than the previous one. No wonder I was exhausted. At mile 11 my friend that had flown out to D.C. with me was there to cheer me on giving me more of a boost to keep going. However, around 11 1/2 you see the finish line (why do these damn races keep teasing you?) and you have to go about a mile around it to the U.S. capitol and come back around. It was miserable, but I kept watching that big green finish line waiting for my running app to tell me I had a quarter mile left so I could sprint my heart out (that's one thing about running in a different city I feel like you lose your orientation for distance). When that moment came I was off, just like the last one I was so ready to be done.

Smiling with the finish line behind me.

   As I crossed that finish line the same rush came over me as the first one. 2:13:15 was my official time, that's over a half hour better than my first race. I was shocked! I was just trying not to cry in that crowd of strangers, but it's such a happy feeling. I will never get sick of it.
  So here I am 4 days out from my 3rd half, my 2nd half in two months. After today's great run with Lindsey I am really feeling ready and excited and can't wait to see what this Saturday brings... and hopefully it doesn't bring rain. 

Marathon Monday

   When I was about 14 or 15 years old my dad's wife was a native Canadian, so even though we always made a summer trip up north this year we did it so she could renew her visa. It was a weekend in June, hotter than hell, and it was me, my sister, my dad, my step-mom, a yorkie, and a black lab piled into a Ford Expedition to make the 7 hour trip from Austin, MN to the Canadian border. We were about an hour and a half away from our goal when the car died. Like dead, dead, dead. Apparently there was an oil leak in the engine and the whole darn thing just seized up... great. An hour wait for a tow back to the closest town with a Ford dealership (Two Harbors) to get the darn thing fixed (hindsight this was way more stressful for my parents than myself). In the mean time we were given a loaner car (yeah, a 1978 Chevy Caprice with velvet interior, can you say classy??) for all 6 of us to boil in since there was no air conditioning.

Yeah, that would be the beast we were in.

   Needless to say we made it to Canada, but we were going to have to wait a day or two for the car to be fixed so we needed to get a hotel. Every. single. hotel. in. the. area. was. booked. My dad kept telling me that it was something about Grandma's Marathon weekend. Being from southern Minnesota I had no idea what the heck that was, nor did I care in my moody teen years, I just wanted to be some where that didn't involve four wheels for a few hours. We finally found a place that had a room. I remember my sister and I going to the pool and there were these long, lean, athletic looking people all over the place. Everyone seemed so excited and there was such a sense of comraderie amongst everyone that I distinctly remember at the time wanting to be apart of... even though I had absolutely no idea what was going on. This was my first marathon experience. If only 14 year old me knew where I would end up someday. When I turned 18 I moved 4 hours upstate to the Northshore of Lake Superior in Duluth and Grandma's Marathon became one of the best parts of my summers for the next 8 years.
   With Grandma's weekend and my third half marathon race coming up  I wanted to share how I got into running long distances and my experience with my first half.
   I completed my first race as an adult at age 22, it was the William A. Irvin 5k which is part of the Grandma's festivities. My friend Riley and I did it. I hadn't experienced a rush like that since playing sports in high school and I realized how much I had really missed that high. I love picking out someone in the crowd a little ways ahead of me and thinking "that bitch is next, I will beat them across the finish line". Okay... I may need to lay off the competitiveness, but I can't help it, I LOVE IT. Over the next few years I participated in several more 5ks and they started becoming a little too easy. I wanted a race that I needed to train for so I would force myself to workout on a regular basis. I was craving a challenge and had gone through some big life changes the year before and needed to change, recharge myself, and take better care of myself. So February 2012 I signed up for the lottery for the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon. Well, as it was I needed something more to motivate me to get my ass in gear and train. I did some casual runs, my longest one before the race being about 6 miles. The week of the race I was ready to back out, I didn't really have anyone to run it with and I was pretty terrified with my lack of training that I would even be able to complete the darn thing. I was talking to my same friend Riley, who had also been chosen to run the race that year, and he said he hadn't trained as much as he'd like to and was thinking about backing out too. Hearing him say that I got a spark of motivation, I mean if we had each other we could do it right?
   The night before the race I was a mess. I was forcing myself to eat even though I felt like vomiting. I kept going bi-polar from crying to excitement. I am pretty sure the boyfriend was wishing he had a horse tranquilizer for me at that point. It was real bad folks. To make matters worse he had friends who came to town that weekend and was going out to celebrate, leaving me home alone to agonize about how early I was getting up to run the most miserable 13.1 miles of my life.

The night before the race, trying out my duds.

   I woke up early, ate my breakfast, got myself dressed, and met up with Riley to walk the few blocks down to the shuttle to the starting line. It was a beautiful morning, I wish I had taken pictures but I was too worried about my, at the time, ghetto phone dying before I got to the finish line (which it did) the temperature was just right, it was sunny, and the slight breeze was at our backs. When we got to the starting line all the feeling that I remembered about running shorter races came rushing back, only it is way more intense. I love the energy, I love everyone who is so passionate about something so crazy, I love that it's not something every wants to or CAN do. Still having no idea what I was in store for we did our stretches, made our last bathroom stop (hey, who knew how long it was gonna be before we got to go again), and lined up to start.

Riley and I at the start.

   The music was playing, the racers, were ready, I was pumped, and then the gun went off and we were off slowly but surely making our way along the shore of Lake Superior back to Duluth. If you are unfamiliar with the race course for Grandma's, it runs along the Scenic Highway 61 on the shore of Lake Superior. With the lake on one side and the woods on the other it was so peaceful. Riley and I kept steady at about an 11:30 minute per mile pace, both of us being capable of going faster but neither of us knowing how long we'd make it if we did.
   Around mile 6 you make it to the edge of town. I remember thinking "hey, this isn't so bad, I am almost halfway there". Once you are in town there are more people along the sides. I turned off my music and just listened, watched the spectators and other racers, and read all the great signs along the way. At this point Riley and I broke apart from eachother, he hung back a little while my adrenaline pushed me forward. I did my usual mental take down of the runners in front of me and even ended up running along with two girls for a while. Whoever those girls were they were amazing pacers for me, I wish I could thank them even though they probably wouldn't even remember who I was.
   And the crowds, marathon spectators are amazing. So many people out there at the buttcrack of dawn to cheer on friends, family, and strangers. There's no better feeling than passing thousands of people telling me I can do it. It may sound weird, but there were several times I just wanted to walk and I couldn't. I felt like I just couldn't disappoint all those strangers cheering for me.
   So on I went, getting closer to downtown Duluth watching the crowds and running along. In between mile 11 and 12 I hit my wall. I was dead. My legs were like giant anchors weighing me down. All I wanted to do was quit, I just wanted it to be over, I at least wanted to just walk. My legs never started cramping or anything they were just done working. The worst part is too at one part of the race you see where the finish line is and you have to make a loop around another mile-mile and a half to the finish line (if you have done this race before I am sure you can sympathize, as other racers had warned me of this before the race started). I just kept going. It was all I could do, I had to do it. I had to prove to myself that I could. When I finally came down the finishing straightaway I was sprinting. My mom was at home in Austin watching the fnish line streaming on her computer and said she could see my bright orange shoes hauling ass from a couple blocks away. I couldn't remember passing anyone, according to my mom I was passing anyone I could. I heard my high school soccer coach chanting in my head "finish strong, finish strong" and I was going to do just that. I ended up crossing the finish line in 2:44:16 chip time. I couldn't believe it, I walked through the finishing crowd to get my medal, tee shirt, snack and to find the boyfriend. I fighting back tears the entire time.

Crossing the finish line.

   Once I saw my boyfriend, I broke down in tears (like a fool. in front of everyone. womp womp). I had never been more proud of myself in my life. I never knew my body was capable of being that strong and after some of the things I had gone through in the past few years I needed to know I was strong. My goal was to simply finish the damn thing, I finished and I ran the whole thing. That was it. I was hooked. I loved it and couldn't wait to do another (once my muscles recovered anyway, I couldn't walk straight for a week). I also couldn't wait for a giant Bloody Mary either, but at least this time I had earned it.
   There you go, what finally turned me around and got me exercising on a regular basis and taking care of myself a lot better. Apparently I just need a little boost of self respect, because this past year I have been continuing to amaze myself. I have become a real runner (even going out there on freezing Minnesota mornings), a great healthy cook, I am on track to run 3 half marathons this year and a hand full of 5ks, and I even stuck to my goal of starting a blog this year. I love remembering I can do anything I put my mind to, sometimes the self doubt takes over. Everyone needs to take a minute to appreciate what they CAN do, not what they can't.

Hope my few loyal readers (hi mom) have enjoyed me pouring my heart out. Up tomorrow I will try and share my experience running my second half in Washington, D.C.
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