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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Spaghetti Squash Parmesan Bake

We've all heard the saying "don't judge a book by its cover", weeeeeeellllllllll that would be tonight's dinner. It looked like crap, I am not going to lie, BUT it was sooo good and so easy. I found a recipe on Skinnytaste for some baked spaghetti squash boats. They looked amazing, only two things. They called for spaghetti squash on the smaller side (so that each half was a portion) and the grocery store only had HUGE ones and I've been eating a lot of chicken so I decided to try ground turkey instead. Which brought me to my adaptation: Spaghetti Squash Parmesan Bake.

Finished Product

Spaghetti Squash Parmesan Bake:

Ingredients:

• 1 20oz Package 93/7 Lean Ground Turkey
• 1 Large Spaghetti Squash
• 1 Tbsp Italian Seasoning
• 2c Marinara Sauce
• 1c Shredded Reduced Fat Mozzarella
• 1/8c Shredded Parmesan
• Salt and Pepper
• Parsley or Basil (optional garnish)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Slice the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out "guts" i.e. seeds and membrane with a grapefruit spoon. Season the squash with salt and pepper and place guts side up in a shallow dish. Bake for approximately 40 minutes. (Spaghetti squash can be cooked in microwave by piercing with a knife several times and cooking 8-9 minutes)

   

   Uncooked, prepared Squash

2. Meanwhile, cook ground turkey in a skillet over medium heat. Once cooked through add italian seasoning and 1/4c water. Cook until water is evaporated.
3. Once spaghetti squash is cooked, scrape the guts out with a fork. It will come out in strands.
4. In a Baking dish, layer the squash, turkey, marinara (make sure to use a thicker sauce, I used my mom's homemade sauce which tastes great but made the dish a little runny) and top with the shredded cheeses.

   

   Layers before the cheese

5. Bake at 400 for approximately 20-30 minutes until cheese is golden brown. Garnish with minced or sliced parsley or basil and serve.

Nutrition Facts: Serves 6; Calories per Serving 271; Fat 15g; Carbs 9; Protein 25 g; Sodium 442mg; Sugars 4g

Enjoy!

Chicken Fajitas + Faux Refried Beans

    Anyone seeing a theme here? 2 out of 4 posts are Mexican recipes? I am such a sucker for Mexican food. It's bad... it's real bad. If I don't get some chips and queso every couple weeks I start going through withdrawls... No, seriously I need that cheese (see? not always healthy.) 
   Anyway, the other night I made my mom's fajitas. They are pretty much amazing, this is a recipe I have used basically ever since I have been cooking and my friends always ask for it. Over the years I have made some modifications and deviations, finding ways to make it a little healthier (not that it's bad to begin with). I also love the addition of zucchini, my favorite Mexican restaurant does it this way. 

Mom's Chicken Fajitas:

• 1lb Boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 1 Green bell pepper, cut into strips
• 1 White onion, cut into strips
• 1 Zucchini, cut into half moons
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 2 Cloves garlic
• 1/4c Fresh minced cilantro
• 2 tsp Ground Cumin
• A dash of Red pepper flakes
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Optional ingredients and toppings:

• Corn tortillas
• Salsa
• Cheese (queso fresco or just generic shredded mexican blend are my favorites)
• Sour cream

 Combine all of the ingredients listed and marinate for atleast a half hour, the longer the better! (Mine accidentally marinated overnight because working on the sailboat and drinking beer seemed like more fun the night I planned to eat them. They were just as good, if not better, the next day.) In a large frying pan, I prefer to use my electric skillet, cook all ingredients until chicken is cooked through and peppers, onions, and zucchini are tender. Toss equal parts on warmed corn tortillas and top with additional toppings, make a salad and serve over a bed of lettuce with some salsa on top, or just eat them plain. No matter what they are awesome!

Serves 6, Calories per serving 118 (without tortilla); 3g fat; 6g carbs; 19g protein; 63mg sodium; 3g sugar

  I've been trying to find some healthy side dishes to accompany my Mexican fiesta that goes on a couple times a week. The canned re-fried beans were not cutting it, clearly. Then I stumbled on this great blog, The Skinny Fork Blog. This site has some pretty good healthy modified recipes and I have to say I am a believer. These were awesome and EASY. 

Faux Re-fried Beans:

Ingredients:

• 1 Lb. Dry Pinto Beans, Sorted & Rinsed
• 1 Onion, Diced
• 1 Jalapeño, Seeded & Diced
• 3 Cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tsp. Cumin
• 1/2 Tsp. Paprika
• 1/2 Tsp. Black Pepper
• 1/8 Tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 6 C. Water
• 1 1/2 Tsp. Salt

Directions:
1. Toss everything into a slow cooker (except the salt), secure the lid and cook on high for 4-5 hours or low for 8. The longer they cook, the easier they are to mash at the end.
2. When cooked, mash the beans. Feel free to remove or add any water from them until they are the desired consistency. I would recommend making them a little thinner than you may think, since they do dry out slightly as they cool. Once mashed, season with salt to taste, about 1 1/2 tsp. Adding the salt at the end let you use less and allows for the beans to be more tender. Serve warm and enjoy!

Yep, They're that easy and HEALTHY.

Nutritional Facts:
Servings: 9; Size: 1/3 Cup; Calories: 62.8; Fat: 0.3 g;  Carb: 12.4 g;  Fiber: 3.8 g; Protein: 3.4 g; Sugar: 0 g; Sodium: 486.1 mg

A seriously tasty meal if I do say so myself. I brought some left overs to work for lunch today and my coworkers were sold too!

With that I will wrap things up today and leave everyone with some pictures of the FIRST REAL DAY OF SUMMER TODAY! It was amazing, the boyfriend and I got off work at the same time which doesn't happen often so we played tourist for the afternoon and went and walked around the canal and enjoyed some beer and ice cream. Enjoy!

At least I got a small, A for healthy effort right?

Canal Park Brewing Co.

I. Love. This. Lake.

I know, he's pretty cute huh?

Small Scale Victories (Pun Intended)

   Wellllll, looks like a rainy day for me so there's no excuse to not blog... or do my laundry for that matter. I figured I would share the highlights of the week today. Seems appropriate to recap the week at the end of the weekend right? 
f   First of all, I weighed myself the other day... dun dun duuuuuuuuuunnnnn...

153.6, that is the least I have weighed in quite a while. When I started taking better care of myself and my body I was around 170. Needless to say, I'm feeeeeeeelin' goooooood (Like the song, ya know?). It's great when all that hard work you've put into getting back in shape starts paying off. Sometimes you start to lose sight. I am definitely in that rut, I have another half marathon in 2 weeks and I have zero motivation to continue training. I have burnt myself out. Then I saw that number on the scale and it reminded me that I am doing all this work for something, and not only am I working hard but it's paying off in a big way, slowly but surely.

Notice where I am standing, that's a 6 foot drop directly behind me.

   Last Sunday I got a wild idea. I tore up the over grown garden plot behind my apartment and planted myself a small vegetable garden. I will be honest, along with blogging, this is something I am trying that I know absolutely nothing about. I spent a few hours on the phone with my mother trying to figure out how to do it. It would be much easier if I didn't live four hours away from her, luckily she's just a phone call away. I got it done, now let's see if those veggies grow!

   I have been living with the boyfriend for about a year now and as he puts it I am "taking over". My latest "takeover" was on the bedroom wall. I am pretty darn proud of this project. I got all crafty on my boyfriend a side he has never really seen from me. The letters on the wall were $3.50 boring plywood that I painted brown to match the color brown in our bed set. The two paintings are ones my boyfriend did (he's a darn good artist, I think anyway). The Minnesota is just foam that I cut to the shape of Minnesota and wrapped some fabric around. And the small white canvas, which actually says "Home Sweet Home" on it, I left plain and just put the gold glitter alphabet stickers on it. I have been Pinterest stalking gallery walls for a while now and I am pretty thrilled with how it turned out.

Gingerbread surveying the seas... or the Marina.

   Lastly, we finally had a day above 60 degrees in Duluth. It. was. GLORIOUS! I was so happy to have the day off to enjoy it yesterday. I went for a run along the lake in the morning and spent the afternoon helping out my friend fix up his sail boat and get it ready for the season... and there may have been some post work drinks on a deck over looking the lake. But let's not get off topic. My dear fellow ginger friend, Eric, and his father bought a sail boat last spring. It's amazing, I am so lucky he's willing to let me play on it.
   That about rounds up the highs of the week so I will leave you all with picture of Duluth. This is why even though it's freezing and miserable most of the year I love this place. You can't beat a Duluth summer. Not anywhere.

  

First Foodie Post

   It's freezing today... lame. Will summer ever come??? I'm dyin' here Mother Nature!! 46 degrees my friends, welcome to the tundra. So, since life has handed me lemons I am pretending I am in Cancun and made some shrimp tacos for dinner! Exciting, I know.
   I did really well today, ate healthy all day, worked out after work, it only seemed appropriate to have a nice light dinner. Besides the tacos I made grilled avocados stuffed with pico de gallo. They were amazing, but could have been better. Let's be honest folks, I am no professional at cooking, a lot of what I do is trial and error. Tonight my error came in the form of picking avocados that weren't perfectly ripe.

I don't think I have ever had an avocado pit just split right in half on me. However, these things were still AUH-MAZING. I can't even begin to fathom what they would be like had I used fully ripened avocados. The mellow creaminess mixed with the crunchy spicy pico de gallo. YUM!

Grilled Stuffed Avocados:

•  2 Ripe Avocados
• 4 Tbsp Pico de Gallo (I made a big bowl of homemade Pico for tonight and another meal later this week)
• 1 Tbsp Olive Oil, for brushing
• Salt and Pepper

1. Preheat Grill.  Slice avocados in half and remove pit. Brush avocados with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper to desired taste. Once avocados are prepared place them guts side down on grill, cook approximately 5-8 minutes, basically until you get some nice dark grill marks on there.
2. Remove the avocados from the grill and place a table spoon of pico de gallo in the crater of each of the halves.

Serves 4; Calories per seriving 119.8, Fat 10.6g, Carbs 7.5g, Sugars 0g, Protein 1.8g, Sodium 116.8mg

*My calculations for nutrition facts are not rocket science or exact, they are thanks to the Myfitnesspal app on my iPhone. I do enjoy having a rough estimate though.

    Moving on to the main event, these shrimp tacos were a great pair with the avocados. Light, fresh, delicious.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos:

• 1 lb Shrimp, deveined and tails removed
• Juice from 1 lime
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1 Tbsp dried minced onion
• 2 Cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp fresh cilantro, minced
• 1 Pinch ground tumeric
• Salt and Pepper, to taste
• 8 Corn Tortillas

Optional Toppings:

• Reduced fat shredded Mexican cheese
• Fat free sour cream
• Lettuce
• Pico de gallo or salsa

1. Combine the shrimp with the lime juice, cumin, chili powder, minced onion, garlic, cilantro,  tumeric, and salt and pepper in a plastic bag or shallow bowl. Marinade the shrimp for a half hour to an hour.
2. Preheat grill. Add shrimp to grill, smaller shrimp may need to be skewered for easy cooking. Cook for 3-5 minutes total, turning once, until the fish is no longer translucent. Be careful not to over cook.
3. Divide the shrimp amongst all the tortillas and top with desired toppings.

Serves 4; Calories per serving 266.5, Fat 3.4g, Total Carbs 1.5g, Sugars 0.2g, Protein 58.7g, 619.4mg
*Nutritional facts do not include tortillas or toppings.

Hope you enjoy this light and delicious summer meal!

I Have No Idea What I Am Doing.

   I have no idea what I am doing, that seems to be the theme of my post. I have had this blogger profile for about six months now and have had intentions to begin a blog for about ten months, and yet here I sit telling you: I have no idea what I am doing. 
   I have uttered these words aloud several times tonight. My boyfriend has been hounding me, asking me what I am writing about and then I look at the screen feeling a pang of shame over my Facebook or Pinterest page appearing. C'est la vie. When I asked my boyfriend if he thought it would be difficult to write a blog he replied, "No, I write about nothing all the time" (I guess that's the writer in him... grrr). 
   So enough, I will not say I can't anymore, this is it: My first official blog post. I am a little scared, a little excited. Why these emotions? I don't know because I have done many more daring things than this but whatever emotions are silly.
   Let's start this B off right with a proper introduction. I am Molly, 26 years old, Minnesota born and raised. I live in Duluth in northern Minnesota, don't know where it is you say? Well....

I live with my boyfriend of three years. He's a student and an excellent writer himself.

I love enjoying myself and figured a blog is a great way to share my experiences running, eating, drinking, living life in general! 
   All through high school I had been a pretty big athlete, as an adult not so much. Over the last year I have made some pretty big changes. Almost a year ago exactly I completed my first half marathon here in Duluth, the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon, without having trained AT. ALL. my goal was just to complete the race, I ended up completing the race without walking at all! This started my obsession, that knowing what my body can do. A little over a month ago I completed my second half (woot woot!) in Washington, D.C. at the Nike Women's Half Marathon. This time coming in a 2:13:15 and killing my previous race by over a half hour. My next race will be in a little less than 3 weeks when I run the Gary Bjorklund Half Marathon again. I've got the itch and it feels amazing having a hobby again.
   Along with my fitness goals I have been trying to adjust my diet. Unfortunately all the beer and late-night bar food of my early 20's has caught up with me and my damn metabolism. On the bright side, cooking is an all new joy for me. I have gone from that teenage girl that used to tell her mother "I am just going to marry a guy who cooks" to meticulously meal planning for the week. Healthy food, check! Fuel for my OCD, check! But lets face it this gal loves a good burger and beer. After all I did devour this the night before my last marathon (I wouldn't recommend doing this, but I was clearly starving):

   Beyond running and cooking I love to be outdoors. Duluth is known for it residents' love of the outdoors. I live for summer when I can kayak, sail, ride my bike, or sail in Lake Superior. When I have a chance to get away from Duluth though I take it. The travel-bug has been in my blood for as long as I can remember, and only got worse after my first trip abroad in high school.     I am fortunate enough to have the opportunity to share my experiences through this blog, even if it makes me feel exposed. I am excited to see where it goes and hopefully use it as motivation, especially on that exercise and healthy eating front. So there it all is I guess, cheers and enjoy!