I’ve been hoarding links and things to share all month – I better get down to it before the month is over!

Why You Should Drink Warm Water and Lemon

After I read that article (the comments in particular!) I decided to try it.  Hot water with just lemon?  And no tea or anything else?  It was very simple, and I felt like it was worth a shot.  (a shot of lemon.)

It was… nice.  And then I made coffee (with coconut oil) because coffee is nice too.

So it’s done!  The Flower City Half Marathon has been run.  By me.  And 2,364 other people too.

Pre-Race

My day started dark and early around 5 AM.  I spent the early morning hours puttering around the house getting ready to go – putting together things for Zak, the kids and my mom who would be coming along later, and packing up my own bag too.  The race started at 7:30, so I had a little something to eat around 6:30 to give myself an hour for digestion.

Pre-Long Run Breakfast

Less than 12 hours until Flower City Half Marathon!  I felt more excited about the race today than I have all week – the day almost here!

Workouts The Week Before a Race

I ran Monday and Tuesday this week (5.75 and 4 miles respectively) and 40 minute bike rides on Wednesday and Friday, 8 miles each.  I spent today taking it easy to rest up, although I did ride my bike to a yoga class and back (2 miles each way) this afternoon to help loosen up my legs and get my muscles moving just a bit.

The Flower City Half Marathon is one week from today.  Like most runners right now, I’m feeling pretty nostalgic about the sport of running in light of what’s happened in Boston over the past week here.  I’ve had this post in the works for a while, but my running woes and sore toes suddenly felt insignificant on April 15, 2013.

With that said, running can be a healthy way to deal with tragedy or stress –> and sore toes can keep you from running!  This post is for anyone who has struggled with sore toes so you can get out there and keep running.  This is where my riveting sore toes tale begins, to give you some ideas of what to try when toe pain strikes – or better yet, beat it to the punch.

Did you know yesterday was Earth Day?  Well, Monday is Earth Day, but we celebrated on Friday.  And I spent Friday thinking it was Earth Day.  Whoops.

Monday, Friday, whatever.  On Friday we got together with one of our homeschooling groups for a fun, low key Earth Day event for families.  Each family was invited to share something with the group – like a science project or even just an idea. We decided to demonstrate how we make one of our favorite healthy snacks – date balls!

I decided on date balls because they are round… like the earth.

This is quinoa and sauteed kale in a sauce made from red peppers, onions and tahini.  I initially made this to stuff into portobello mushroom caps, but this stuff was so stuffin’ good that we’re going to focus more on the stuffing instead of what was stuffed.

Quinoa Kale Stuffing

Stuff this into mushrooms if you like, but you could just as easily choose to eat this as-is and call it lunch.  Or use it as a side at dinner. Or as dinner itself.  Or even for breakfast.  Watch me eat this for breakfast tomorrow.  WATCH ME!

(ok, maybe don’t watch me.  that’s a little creepy.)

Have you heard of Cuppow?

Cuppow

It’s a drinkable lid that you can use with a canning jar.

(I think I’ve made it obvious that we like to drink out of canning jars here?)

I love canning jars as glasses mostly because they’re so sturdy – when the girls were really little I was frustrated with how frequently regular glasses were breaking.  I soon noticed that the few small and wide mouth canning jars we had hanging around were the only glasses that were holding up.  I eventually stopped replacing our broken glasses altogether and just used canning jars and old almond butter jars instead.  Soon, our entire glasswear collection consisted of glasses with threading at the top.  Oops.

Coconut Oil Coffee

April 7th, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Fitness - (43 Comments)

Coffee pot, blender, coconut oil, cream… what are we making today?

How to Make Coconut Oil Coffee

We’re making coconut oil coffee!

No, I have not lost my mind. Yes, I realize coconut oil in coffee might sound crazy, but it’s good!  You won’t believe it until you try it.  I sure didn’t.

I’d heard (read) about people putting coconut oil in coffee when I started reading about Intermittent Fasting a couple years ago.  I’ve been in love with coconut oil and all of its benefits for quite some time now, but the idea of putting coconut oil in coffee seemed a little extreme and frankly, sort of gross.

The Fountain of Juice

April 3rd, 2013 | Posted by Alison Spath in Vegetable Lovin' - (4 Comments)

Yesterday was my 34th birthday.  Thirty four.  What a perfectly ordinary age.

Although I think I’m officially in my “mid-30’s” now.  How about “early in my mid-30’s”?  That’s a little easier to swallow.

Getting older isn’t so bad, it’s the looking older part that doesn’t thrill me.  There are more gray hairs sprouting from the top of my head than I can/should pull out now.  I’ve been noticing more fine lines around my eyes lately too.  And there is definitely less distance between the floor and my butt these days.  Hmmm, what other embarrassing things about myself should I admit here?  I think I’ll stop now.

This is one of the current meals in my breakfast rotation.  I call it a “Breakfast Bowl” because it’s not cereal or oats, it’s just a bowl full of stuff.  And it’s for breakfast.

Today it was a Strawberry Coconut Banana Chia Breakfast Bowl, but your choice of toppings/adjectives is completely up to you.

Tailor this to suit your own tastes –  there are lot of ways to make it a little different each morning too.  Today’s chia breakfast bowl base:

Coconut Chia Breakfast Bowl

(I usually estimate ingredients but measured today for the sake of this post.)