Month: July 2012

30 Day Running Challenge: Day 11

What kind of clothes do you run in? Actual running clothes or old t-shirts? Show us a picture!

I now have actually performance gear that I wear.  I LOVE workout clothes, and would live in ADIDAS, Lulu, Nike… you name it, clothes if I could (even though I love fashion.  It is like my Gemini twins doing battle again.  One is a fashionista, the other is a little more low key).

It has taken me a long time to get here though.  It used to be that any old tee-shirt and pair of short would do. Now that I am logging way more miles, comfort is key…and matching always helps :).

Here is a picture of me and my beautiful friend, Jess, post Warrior Dash last year.  I am in Nike shorts and an Alo Performance tank top. (I’m on the right… and it just took everything in my power to not simply say, “I’m the big one”).

Recipe of the month: Beet and Walnut Salad!

I went into this recipe like a complete 12 year old; “Beets are gross and I hate Rachel Ray” (because it is a Rachel Ray recipe).

Ok, I don’t really hate Rachel Ray, I just think there was an over-saturation of her a few years back that I am scarred from. I didn’t need to see her on every channel, not to mention on my box of Wheat Thins.

But I digress…I said, “I don’t like beets”, but I would be hard pressed to tell you the last time, if ever, that I have eaten one. Plus I figured, this whole cooking experiment was to open my mind, so with my open arms in a cranial sense, I loaded up at the grocery store.

The best part about this recipe is that there is no actual “cooking” involved. Not only did it turn out to be super tasty, but it is a great way to get loads of vegetables into a meal, vegetables that I would guess most people don’t use on a daily basis.

Beets are actually a very underrated vegetable. Ancient Romans used beetroot as a treatment for fevers and constipation , amongst other ailments. Today, beets are one of the best foods out there for you. It is a high-fiber little power house that can help lower your LDL, or bad, cholesterol, is a known anti-inflammatory, is loaded with natural antioxidants, and contains folate, an essential B vitamin.

A picture of my dad and aunt picking beets back in the day… I’m just kidding, I found this picture on the internet. I have no historical connection to beets.

Let’s not forget about the radishes! Also a high-fiber contender, radishes are loaded with vitamin C. Both beets and radishes are also noted as being cancer fighters, mainly colon cancer.

Pick ‘em up next time you are at the farmers market! They are great for snacking too!

The preserves (I used raspberry) gave this salad a very sweet and refreshing finish, and all in all I found this to be a great little dish! And it turns out that beets aren’t really gross at all.

You can find the entire recipe at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/rachael-ray/beet-and-walnut-salad-recipe/index.html .

I will have original pictures back next month. Technology was not on my side this weekend.

Enjoy!

These are the new shoes I get to test out!  The color is a little out there, but I have learned to not be picky when someone hands me a free pair of shoes saying, “here, run on these for me”.  Ok!

I’ll run in anything, and this will be my first go around with K-Swiss.  I will see how 5 miles feels tomorrow.

Side note:  I lost one follower after my embarrassing story… they must not like fart stories.

30 Day Running Challenge: Day 10

Where do you run: treadmill, street, track, trail? And why do you prefer running there?

I do most of my running on the Lansing River Trail, which is a paved trail circuit that goes along the Grand River/Red Cedar River though East Lansing and Lansing.  If I had my way, I would LOVE to run on real trails through a national park or something.

I love the river trail though because I don’t have to worry about traffic or motorists yelling stuff at me, and it is beautiful!  If I looked at pictures of some of the spots, I would never guess that it was in Lansing, but the river is so pretty.

Word to the wise by the way:  Never eat spicy pad tai before a run… it does not feel good.

Pinned Image

30 Day Running Challenge: Day 9

What’s the strangest or most embarrassing thing that’s ever happened to you on a run?

This is a fun one…. I was on a long run on the river trail right off of campus one evening, when my stomach started moving around and grumbling a little bit.  I should side note that I am not a farter really.  I have never been a gassy person.  I can’t burp, I hardly ever fart, but let me tell you what, nothing gets gasses bouncing around and out like a run.

So anywho, there I was, rocking my way down the river trail, head phones in, when suddenly, I am pretty sure I need to fart.  I do a quick look around just incase I do in fact let some bodily music slip, to make sure that no one is within ear shot.  I had just come around a curve, but I hadn’t seen anyone on the trail in at least a mile…I’m safe.

Sure enough, not 5 steps later, over my head phones, I hear probably the biggest fart my body has ever produced… followed immediately by the Michigan State Men’s Cross Country team flying by me…  

“Of course”… I say to myself…”that would happen to me”.

Good times

Me