I’m officially stocked up on things to blog about!

First things first! On Sunday I took my camera along with me on an overcast and very-mild-for-January morning run.

I took a punk along with me too.

Who wants to come along on a 5 mile run through my new neighborhood? Well, you don’t have a choice. Get your sneakers on. It’s time to go.

Our first landmark would be what is currently my most favorite thing to run over in the whole wide world. A pedestrian bridge that crosses the river that divides the city in half.

Why I take so much pleasure from running over a pedestrian bridge I’ll never know – but I love it, I do!

(Pictures are more fun with people in them so expect to see my running friend Shawn a lot during this post.)

Over the river.

To the river path that also happens to run along a college campus.

A glimpse of downtown from the path.

Getting closer…

I should let you in on a secret goal I have in life: to be able to do a cartwheel even when I’m 100 years old.

30 years and going strong! 70 years to go.

After the river path, it’s time to break into the cemetery though a broken spot in the wrought iron fence.

Dude, you ran right by it!

The only problem with taking my camera with me on this run was that Shawn would run up ahead while I stopped for my mid-run photo shoots, and then I would have to bust ass to catch up with him. Ah well, probably a good thing really, especially given I haven’t done speed work in ages.

Spooky!

Don’t just lay there, get up and run with us!

Through the cemetery. (And figuring out to just take pictures while I’m running.)

Back across the river.

To stop and admire some graffiti.

Why does this come as no surprise that this very cryptic message was spray painted on by men? I certainly can’t imagine a group of women spray painting “BALLS” under a bridge. “KITTENS”? Probably not. “DIAMONDS”? Maybe. “CHOCOLATE”? Getting closer now.

There! 5 miles! Done! That wasn’t so bad now was it? We were only gone about 45 minutes, and it seemed to go by like the scroll of a mouse wheel, didn’t it?

Next on today’s bloggy agenda would the awesome care package that arrived via United States Postal Service from my boyfriend Brendan Brazier yesterday!

OK, maybe not from BB himself, but a girl can still dream.

I need to give a big shout out and thank you to my girl Kelly at Sequel Naturals for offering to hook me up with Brendan’s latest book, Thrive Fitness. I’m so excited to read and review this book!

In case you missed it, I happened to love Brendan’s book Thrive. The changes I made in my diet thanks to everything I learned in his first book have made such a difference in my life. Thrive gave me the information I needed to make adjustments in my approach to eating which in turn has given me more energy in general, has allowed me to sleep better, and made my runs and workouts feel positively amazing – I can’t wait to see what Brendan’s training program and book dedicated to fitness has to offer!

This happens to the perfect segue into Blog Worthy Item #3:

I realized this weekend that the half marathon I plan to run in April is now less than 12 weeks away! Considering the training program I used last time is 12 weeks long, I guess that means it’s time to start thinking about training? Ugh. I’m not ready yet. The Sunday long runs don’t start getting longer for another 5 weeks, but still. If I hope to beat my previous half marathon time of 1:47, I’ve got to get back to doing long runs and speed work too. Speed work is so much easier in the summer! Or at the very least, on a treadmill.

Well, it’s not anywhere near summer and I don’t have a treadmill or even a gym membership, so I’m going to have to figure something out. I’m probably going to have suck it up and run fast outside. In the cold. Joy to the world.

Runners! Do you do speed work outside in the winter? (And if you live in a warm climate, your comment doesn’t count!) Does it suck as much as I imagine it’s going to? Maybe I’ll be surprised and sucking in cold, frozen air fast and hard will be petting a kitten? Putting on a diamond necklace? Eating chocolate? No?

• Half Marathon Race Recap
• Turn It Up
• Secret Goals

Dear Blog,

Hi. How are you? I am fine.

That’s a big fat liiiiieeeee I ammmm insssssaaaaannnneeeee!!!

*ahem*

My Dearest Blog, I’m terribly sorry that I’ve been neglecting you in recent days – please know that I am here and still love you. We’ll be moving into a new house together in just a few days so please hold tight and know that I still love to run, eat healthy food, write crazy posts and return library books late. My daily insanity will return when real life insanity subsides – I promise.

So Blog, the very least I can do is fill you in on some of things I’ve been up to when I’m not packing, carrying all our worldly possessions out to the car in boxes or wiping cobwebs from the basement out of my eyebrows.

First, we’re still doing our homeschooling thing.

Yesterday we hit a park that just so happens to be right down the street from our house. This would be the same park where I ran trails this fall and found a big wad of cash on the ground. Remember that, Blog? Good times.

We had a lesson on gravity, potential energy, kinetic energy and selected a sacrifice to be an example and show the rest how a catapult works.

Another lie. Well, really – a joke. They just played. They’re kindergartners and preschoolers for crying out loud.

Maxine actually did pretty well at the start of our trail walk, but before long was cranky and into the sling she went. I considered signing her up to be the next catapult sacrifice but we moved on to other things before the sign up sheet came around to us.

Right after I took this picture she cried “Don’t take my picture! Did you take my picture??”

No honey, I definitely did not take your picture.

I’m up for mother of the year, did you hear?

Our trail walk ended with a little ice skating booting in the woods – fun for kids and adults a like.

As far as food goes, all you’ve been missing out on Blog is lots of cinnamon raisin Ezekiel toast with almond butter and bananas and giant salads too. When the going gets tough, the tough make a salad.

I did buy a green Kombucha today though.

A 10 day course of antibiotics (thank you infected tooth) is my excuse to spend $3.49 on a bottle of this stuff thanks to it’s probiotic magic.

I also like the Multi-Green variety because of all the B vitamins it’s got from the blue green algae and other sea shrubbery. Given my quasi-vegan lifestyle I like to believe drinking seaweed helps out with some essential B vitamins I am otherwise missing out on.

I should probably be taking a supplement but I hate supplements. I’d rather get it from food. I’m happily living in the dark and hoping my b12 stores are holding strong. What can I say, Denial isn’t just a river in Egypt. Or wherever the hell the Nile river is.

That’s right I am HOMESKOOLING ! I am totaly kwalified to teatch these kids.

I can’t forget about the vegan-minded man in my life either! I had a little one-on-one time with my boyfriend Brendan today too.

This Whole Food Energy Bar came from Vega and was one of many that was sent a while ago. It’s been in hanging out in my stash of the bars and I snagged it as I ran out the door today to make my 174th trip to the new house in the last 13 days.

Oh Brendan, you still rock. Thanks for everything you’ve taught me, I still think about your advice daily!

Sorry about the glare on your face, bro.

I do like these bars and they definitely do a good job of quelling hunger pangs on the run.

I’ve been eating a ton of oranges lately too (just one today though), much like the rest of the produce loving world. It is winter after all.

So Blog, that’s what’s been happening around here. We are slipping ever closer to the brink of insanity as our moving day continues to inch ever closer.

Wait, what do you mean Friday is CHRISTMAS?? All I’m thinking about is Saturday!

And to all my fellow blogs out there in blogland that I know and love – I miss you and will be around again soon.

Yours truly,
Alison

• Sweet Tooth Fairy
• Our Sunday Best
• Like a School Girl

It’s Sunday! How about starting today with a nice long run with Jillian Michaels on my shoulder? Jillian’s radio show may be over, but that doesn’t mean she can’t live on in my heart and my iPod too.

At 28 degrees, it was cold enough this morning to break out the pink fuzzy gloves. I think I got these gloves when I was in 6th grade. They matched the hot pink trim on my bright purple winter coat that year. Nearly 20 years later I’ve still got these gloves and I can only pray that jacket has been destroyed.

These are like wearing a mini blast furnace on each hand. Not only are they perfectly warm, they also happen to perfectly match my favorite self-knit pink hat. A hat I knit myself. Me. I knit that hat.

Have I ever mentioned that I knit that hat with my own hands? I did, it’s true.

Me, Jillian, the Pink Gloves and the Pink Hat set off for a Sunday long run adventure. Last year at this time, 5 or 6 miles was the furthest I went on any run. As soon as the cold weather set in my long runs packed it up and went south for the winter.

This year though, especially with a half marathon in mind for the spring, I want to keep my mileage up. It helps that long runs are much easier now than they use to be. I have to say thanks, at least in part, to my boyfriend Brendan Brazier for that.

I didn’t care about speed today. I just wanted to get out and spend some quality time on my feet. I hit the first mile at 9:00 exactly, and barely looked at my watch again until I got home.

Total time out this morning was 1:22:58 and mapmyrun reports that my total distance was 9.63.

Back for a breakfast of homemade cereal and bananas.

I’ve always been petrified of long runs in the winter. Today’s was not that bad. Of course it was sunny, there was no wind, the roads were dry and I only went 9 miles. Let’s chat about this again in mid-January and see what I have to say about then, hmm?

• Turn It Up
• Thrive Review
• The Infamous Breakfast Cookie

Yesterday during a grocery store excursion I was very excited to see young coconuts in produce! I haven’t seen them in ages and when I spotted three of them all in a row, I very happily played Eeny Meeny Miny Moe Get in the Cart and Let’s Go.

My-Mother-Says-You-Are-The-Very-Best-One.

With my sweet little young coconut in hand, I got to thinking that coconut water is really good after a hard work out. What a great reason to get out there and bust my ass first thing this morning, wouldn’t you agree?

Last night I decided I would run 7 miles this morning but then this morning decided to kick it up a notch and run a FAST 7.

I enjoyed my coconut oil laced turd on a plate MamaBar and got my sneakers on.

Knowing I planned to pick up the pace, I decided to give the old episodes of Jillian a rest and listen to some tunes so I could zone out and focus. I contemplated leaving the iPod behind all together, like I do for short fast runs, but decided today for 7 miles I wanted some music for the long haul.

I hit the mile 1 at 7:40 and felt comfortable at that pace knowing I had 6 more miles to go.

At mile 2 (I wear an old fashioned digital watch but happen to know some of the mile marker land marks because I do this route so often) at 15:26 – making my pace for Mile 2 about 7:46. My goal was to keep my average pace under 8 minutes – so far so good.

I cruised along and at mile 5 my watch said 39:11, which I knew was still under 8 min/miles. Thanks to my favorite pace calculator I can see now that made my average pace about 7:50 per mile at that point.

I was really starting to feel tired at 5 miles. I took my gloves off and turned up the music a little bit, knowing that a little bit of volume can bump your adrenaline and reduce your perception of pain.

At mile 6 I think my watch said 46:something. My goal for this run was to come in under 56 minutes, and I knew I would now.

As I rounded the corner into our neighborhood I cranked the music and picked up the pace hard for the last 3/10 of a mile, to hit the driveway at 54:41 – 7 miles at an average pace of 7:48.

PHEW! Now where the hell is that rubber mallet?

This young coconut contained approximately 20 oz of coconut water, which according to my new favorite toy clocked in at about 115 calories. I drank every last ounce.

After Zak took my picture he took a sip of the coconut water and then proceeded to make a sound similar to that of cat trying to expel a wet, matted ball of a fur from its throat.

What? I think it tastes good!

And that totally reminded me of something! In Thrive (you knew this was coming, right?) Brendan says that during or after a workout, the your tastes are different than when you are inactive. Something that tastes a little bitter or slightly sour is more palatable after a work out because our taste buds are temporarily altered during or after physical exertion, and “a slight tartness is perceived as refreshing”.

Brendan is so smart.

So, remember this for Christmas when it’s time to eat a big bite of grandma’s fruit cake. Tell her you’ll have some after you get back from your run.

• Half Marathon Race Recap
• A Nice and Easy 9
• Turn It Up

A typical Friday morning, a typical Friday morning run. I considered waiting to run until this afternoon since the girls will be off with Aunt Ellen for the day, but the blasted weather man is calling for rain so I went out early to beat feet to beat the rain drops.

Today when I was cruising along to a playlist instead of a podcast or audio book, I remembered something Brendan Brazier talks about in Thrive.

When we hear a loud noise unexpectedly, we might jump and get a little surge of adrenaline, which is a survival mechanism that triggers the Fight or Flight response. Brendan says that loud music can create a similar effect. It can get your adrenaline pumping and can increase athletic performance.

I thought of this today as I was rounding the corner at the end of my 5 mile run, almost to the house when one of my more recent favorites queued up – Forever by Chris Brown. (The Office last night anyone? Too stinkin’ funny!)

Brendan writes that loud music can be stimulating in a way that can actually reduce your perception of pain and can allow you to push harder, run faster and longer than normal. It’s basically a way to give yourself a natural energy rush! I know I’ve experienced this before and you probably have too, but I didn’t really understand the biology behind it until I read Thrive.

When Forever came on this morning, I turned it up and immediately felt compelled to rocket off, sprinting hard and fast, blowing right past the house aiming for the opposite end of the street. I felt like I was flying! It was amazing and seemingly came out of no where.

I didn’t turn it up so loud that the sound emanating from my ear buds might wake my sleeping children inside the house as I zoomed by, but it was a higher volume than I would normally run at. I felt perfectly safe as I transformed for 45 seconds from suburban housewife runner to Atalanta on my neighborhood street in broad daylight facing traffic all the while. I’m so rowdy.

Speaking of rowdy – let’s have ice cream for breakfast!

Ice cream – or really banana whip. Potato, Potato.

Topped with ground flax seed and sliced almonds. Ava took hers straight up, Maxine opted for Kashi Waffles. That kid doesn’t know what she’s missing.

Are you dancing to Forever in your chair right now like I am? Go ahead, you can sprint. It’s natural.

• When the Garmin Strikes Midnight
• Stay at Home
• Scary Spoon

Over the summer I was sent Thrive to read and review on the blog. I read it over the course of a few weeks and have written previously about how I’ve incorporated the concepts from Thrive into my life and with regards to training for the half marathon this summer.

Thrive: The Vegan Nutrition Guide to Optimal Performance in Sports and Life was written by Brendan Brazier, a professional Ironman triathlete. In Thrive, Brendan describes how a vegan and largely raw diet can help you lose weight, reduce your biological age, improve sleep, increase energy and eliminate food cravings.

Thrive is one of those books that has altered the course of my life. In May I read The Raw Foods Detox Diet by Natalia Rose. Her book was my introduction to a raw foods diet and why eating living, uncooked foods is so beneficial to your health.

When I heard about Thrive and realized it was written by a professional athlete who eats a high raw and vegan diet, I was absolutely intrigued. Thrive filled in a lot of the gaps left from The Raw Food Detox Diet for me. It was easy to see that yes, this approach to eating works not only for athletes, but for anyone looking to simply achieve optimal health. With Brendan, the proof is in the Energy Pudding. He has been able to train harder, recover faster and perform better all thanks to a plant based diet.

The book begins discussing the effects of stress on the body, and that there is stress that is helpful and stress that is harmful. He calls them complimentary and uncomplimentary stress, respectively. The first form of stress being something like exercise. This sort of stress can be helpful as it allows the body to adapt and become more efficient. Uncomplimentary stress would be stress that does us no favors. Uncomplimentary stress can come from work, the environment, eating processed, refined foods that are a huge drain on our bodies and are very taxing to our systems. Nutritional stress from processed foods makes up the largest percentage of uncomplimentary stress in most Americans.

When you are burdened with a lot of uncomplimentary stress, you feel tired and drained. You have no energy and your immune function is lowered. You can reduce the stress load you put on your body by eating a diet full of whole foods, especially a diet comprised largely of plants.

I have to say that after reading Thrive and The Raw Foods Detox Diet, my idea of “whole foods” has changed. I use to feel I was still eating whole foods when I ate whole grain crackers and organic boxed cereals. These items are what Brendan refers to as stimulating foods. Coffee, or caffeine in any form really, falls into the stimulating food category as well, as does junk food, refined sugar, transfats and high fructose corn syrup. When you have a diet full of stimulating foods, your body craves that stimulation and you find your self longing for stimulationg by food again and again. This is what we of course more commonly know as food cravings.

I’ve struggled with food cravings a lot this past year as I’ve worked to maintain my healthy weight. I’ve gone through periods where it’s not an issue and times when all I can think about is sweets and comfort foods and wanting to turn to food as a form of entertainment.

Brendan explains that when you remove these stimulating foods from your diet, food cravings diminish and can eventually disappear all together. When you get started, it takes a few days to recalibrate your system, to adjust and rid your body of the need for stimulation. There will be a couple days where it feels like it’s a struggle to stay away from these stimulating foods. You’ll eventually come out of it though and “recalibrate”, seeing that light at the end of tunnel if you can hang in there.

In my case these foods would be crackers, cereals and other processed grains. Chocolate and coffee too. When I eat only fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and dried fruit and avoid these processed foods – even processed organic foods – my food cravings disappear. It becomes easy and effortless to eat a plant based diet. I can eat when I feel hungry, without worrying about how long it’s been since my last meal or snack. I eat until I’m comfortably satisfied without worrying about calories or portion control. It makes eating a normal part of life instead of the center of my life. I now feel like I eat to live, rather than live to eat. It’s as though I’ve been relieved of a huge burden, and this is what I mean when I say that Thrive has changed the course of my life – I feel like I can move forward now having made peace with food.

I’m not swearing off coffee, crackers, dark chocolate and boxed cereals or even junk food forever. I’m sure I will have these foods again but I no longer crave them or long for a day when I can splurge. I now understand what eating these foods regularly will do to me, and that they are the source of food cravings for me.

I know that there are people who will read this or read Thrive and think “oh, I could NEVER give up X”. That’s fine. You’re just not ready. Whenever someone finds out I’m vegetarian, without even asking or prompting I’m almost always told what they could never live without. Chicken wings. Turkey at Thanksgiving. Cheeseburgers. Meatballs. Even vegetarians when confronted with the idea of veganism say they could never live without yogurt, cheese, ice cream. I have to laugh because I remember saying these things myself. For me the vegetarian silver bullet was always a turkey sub. I thought I could never be a vegetarian because I just loved turkey subs too much. I wasn’t ready yet. While I don’t consider myself a vegan at this time, I do feel as though I’m moving in that direction.

When you’re ready, this comes easily. It doesn’t happen overnight. It takes baby steps to move toward a diet that is best for your body and your health. It’s taken me years to get here.

I started following the principles in the Thrive diet more closely at the beginning of September. The fact that I was already vegetarian and had already begun eating more raw foods made it easier for me to move forward with his concepts and stay on track. It’s been a month and I can say without a doubt that I’ve had more energy, slept better and needed less sleep these last few weeks than ever before. My runs have felt fantastic and I’m not completely dragging at the end of the day like I use to.

In summary, I would recommend Thrive to anyone without a doubt. Depending on where you are in your life the ideas in his book might seem too radical, but it can still be a starting point and can get you moving in the right direction. I not only recommend it, I highly encourage you to read it if you are at all intrigued like I was. There are no gimmicks, this is not a fad diet, I believe this is the way we were meant to eat and live and I’m excited to move forward and stick with it.

Brendan encourages you to start slowly and ease into what he suggests. The more gradually you make changes the more likely they are to stick. He discusses how a plant based diet is perfect not only for athletes but for everyone. He also talks about exercise for life long health, and that it doesn’t mean hours and hours of daily exercise to be healthy. If you’ve struggled like me with food cravings, your weight, lack of energy, fatigue despite getting enough sleep – do yourself a favor and check out Thrive. It could be a large piece of the puzzle that’s been missing for you. It certainly was for me.

I’ve written about Thrive in many posts, if you’re curious to read more about my take on this book and how I’ve incorporating these ideas into my life:

The Fountain of Youth (Reducing biological age)
No Rest for the Weary (Making changes thanks to Thrive)
Thrive Inspired (Fueling for a long run based on Brendan’s advice)
Make Your Own Cereal, Take 2 (Fruit cereal!)
Intuitive Eating Refresher (Giving up coffee and chocolate on a regular basis)
Re-Runs (Thrive inspired thoughts on fueling before the half)
Half Marathon Race Recap (Half marathon day prep based on Brendan’s approach)
Let’s Play Brendan Says (Needing less sleep)

He also discusses the environmental impact on eating meat and processed foods, and how a vegan diet is not only good for us, but good for the environment too. The end of the book is full of Brendan’s recipes and a 12 week meal to follow if you are looking for some guidance.

My buddy Matt at No Meat Athlete also read and reviewed Thrive this summer, you can read his review here if you’re curious about someone else’s perspective.

I want to express my gratitude to the folks at Da Capo Press / Da Capo Lifelong Books for the opportunity to read Thrive, and especially to Brendan himself for putting this information out there. I’m excited to see what following this way of eating on the long term can do for my training and racing in the future as well!

If you’ve read or decide to read Thrive in the future, report back! I’d be thrilled to hear what you think.

• Turn It Up
• The Fountain of Youth
• Not January Yet

I’m still smiling after yesterday’s half marathon – even waking up with sore back muscles and quads, I think this smile is permanently affixed to my face for the next few days. Thanks for all the heart warming comments and congrats yesterday!

I got up early this morning to tend to things around the house. I’m loving this new routine, it’s working so well. I’m raring to go first thing in the morning and have been very productive in the early mornings recently.

Ready for my “Brendan Says” for today?

Wait, before I get there, let me back up for a moment. From a broad perspective I must say Thrive and the Raw Foods Detox Diet are pretty evenly matched in my mind. They both describe the benefits that can be reaped from a largely raw, vegan diet.

I became more interested in a raw food lifestyle in the spring after reading the Raw Foods Detox Diet by Natalia Rose. At the end of May I started incorporating some of the principles from Natalia’s book into my life. I dove in a little too fast and made too many changes at once – it became overwhelming and I had to ease up a bit. Not completely though, and of course I’ve always eaten raw fruits and vegetables – but I wasn’t (and am still not) ready to go “high raw”.

Thrive renewed my interest in eating more raw meals and snacks, cutting out processed foods – even the seemingly innocent Kashi crackers and organic, whole grain boxed cereals. I found it easier to incorporate his ideas into my life thanks to reading and trying out the concepts in the The Raw Food Detox Diet a few months earlier. While I’ve only playing “Brendan Says” for the last couple of weeks, I’ve really been moving in this direction for the past 4 months.

So today’s Brendan Says has to do with sleep. Brendan Brazier says that one of the benefits of the Thrive diet is improved sleep – and therefore you need less. Eating a diet consisting largely of whole foods takes stress off your body. Processed foods put a stress on your body, and when you remove that stress you are in essence saving energy.

I have always felt that I need 8 solid hours of sleep to feel good. I could squeak by on 7 hours, 6 hours left me pretty cranky and tired without coffee. 5 hours? Forget it.

Recently I’ve been going to bed between 10 – 10:30pm and I bound out of bed at 5:00 – 5:30am raring to go. 7 hours and I feel like a new woman ready to take on the day. Whether you read Thrive, The Raw Foods Detox Diet or any other book or blog *cough cough* that discusses these concepts, chances are you can benefit from these ideas! Whole foods are our friends, processed foods are not. Maybe it’s all in my mind, but I think there’s something to this and I’m sticking with it.

After I spent an hour and half working around the house and spent a little time getting caught up on my virtual life, I decided to take a short bike ride to loosen up my sore legs and get some of the lactic acid flushed out of my muscles. 30 some odd minutes and 8 miles later I was home to see Zak off to work and then get breakfast going.

Last week I received a sample Chia seeds to try from Greens+. Thanks Diane for hooking me up!

Bloggie gal pal Heather thought she was the last blogger in the blogosphere to have yet to try them, but I’m afraid I just stripped her of her title. (Sorry Heather!)

If you haven’t heard about Chia seeds – well, let’s just say they are the new black. Or better yet, the new flax! They are an excellent source of unprocessed Omega 3 as well as other essential fatty acids. You can read all about the benefits of chia seeds here.

A close up look at these little buggers.

Thanks to my girl Cindy and her love of tweaking recipes, I was inspired to toss my fruit cereal in my sample of chia seeds this morning!

I diced up a banana, a pear, some prunes and sprinkled on the chia seeds and mixed until everything was well coated.

Topped with some hand crushed walnuts and unsweetened vanilla hemp milk – I’m calling it another fruit cereal success story. The chia seeds gave today’s cereal the perfect crunch and the ones toward the bottom of the bowl at the end had a chance to develop that strange yet interesting-but-not-gross gel coating that people take advantage of to make chia pudding.

So now before I sign off I’m dusting off the old Magic 8 Ball and when I asked “Will I eat chia seeds again soon?” it said

It is certain

Will I win my new friend Averie’s chia seed giveaway?

Cannot predict now

Grrr… this Magic 8 ball, I tell ya!

I’m not usually a blog-about-a-giveaway kind of girl but this one seemed relevant today. Plus it gives me an extra entry into her giveaway and I want to win these!  BONUS! Now that I’m a Chia Seed Society inductee I want them again! You can enter Averie’s chia seed giveaway too if you want a chance to try some for FREE because they are not exactly cheap.  Clickety click click here. Now you can’t say I never told you anything useful.

• The Fountain of Youth
• Half Marathon Race Recap
• Weekend Randomness

I’m going to spoil the ending by jumping ahead and saying right at the start that today was probably one of the best runs of my entire life.

The day started at 4:55 AM when I woke up a half hour before my alarm was supposed to go off. I slept like a rock and felt great when I woke up. I called Shawn at 5:30 to make sure he was awake and moving around.

Shawn and I went over our strategy last night, but I was still feeling unsure about our approach this morning. Fast at the beginning? If so, how fast? Save it all for the end? How much do I hold back? Maintain a steady pace throughout?

I really wanted to finish in under 1:50 but I just didn’t know if I was going to happen. My dad, an avid runner, had called yesterday to predict a time of 1:48:15. My step dad, an avid cyclist, predicted a time around 1:45:00 when I saw him and my mom Saturday afternoon. I was touched they both had so much faith in my speed, but I was still wary.

This morning I remembered the McMillian calculator, a tool runners can play around with to predict times for various distances based on your best time for a given distance.

I entered my 22:56 5K PR from early August and it predicted a 1:46:00 half marathon time for me, meaning an 8:06/mile average pace. Given that’s about my average pace for a maintenance run, I decided I was just going to go out there and RUN and not give it too much thought.

I was also undecided about breakfast. I thumbed through Thrive for some guidance and decided on a smoothie. Brendan Brazier says (I feel like I start every sentence like that these days!) that whole foods in liquid form save your digestive system the work and basically provides you even more energy. I channeled Angela and decided it was a Green Monster for breakfast.

A Green Monster, and coffee for the road. Yup, it’s been two weeks but I definitely wanted the caffeine boost this morning.

These are a few of my favorite things!

Given how long I’d be running today, I used the same approach to fueling this morning as I used for my last 10 mile training run – aiming for my pre-race breakfast to be 60% carbohydrate, 35% fat and 5% protein.  My Green Monster contained two bananas, a couple handfuls of spinach, a good pour of unsweetened vanilla hemp milk, ground flax seed, and a scoop of almond butter.

This was the best combination of flavors! I’ve been so busy drinking green juice these days that it’s been a while since I’ve had a green smoothie!

While I waited for Shawn to arrive I made a breakfast picnic basket for the family, knowing that they would have little time to get out the door by the time they were awake and dressed… this way they could eat breakfast on the road or once they got there.

Shawn showed up and we were on our way. The race started at 7:45 and we got there at 7:00.

With a big travel cup of a coffee on the ride I definitely had to use the restroom before the race started. We grabbed our timing chips and used the restrooms at the stadium near the finish and then began the 1/2 mile walk to the start.

A 1/2 mile later I felt the urge to pee again. Nothing urgent, but I would have liked to have a completely empty bladder! I guess my cup of coffee was just a little too big.

We got in line for the porta-potties and it was probably 200 people long! We had 10 minutes until the start. I kept looking at my watch. Looking at the line. My watch. The line. My watch. Eventually we had two minutes until the start and with 20 people ahead of me I realized I was out of time. We jumped out of line made our way to the start.  I figured that when I had to go bad enough I would just use a porta-potty at a water stop.

The timer sounded and we were on our way.  We were among a sea of 1800 people. I started my watch when we finally crossed the start line about a minute behind the official start.

Shawn very generously offered to carry my camera since the pocket of his shorts were so big. I thought it could be fun so I agreed.

We weaved through the masses and after the first couple miles it thinned out.  Thanks to Shawn’s garmin we knew our average pace was at about 7:30/mile. We both felt great so we held on to the pace, calling it “money in the bank” for the end if we needed to slow down.

Shawn kept running ahead and then stopping to turn around and take my picture.

At least he entertained me!

I remember around mile 5 he asked how I was feeling. I told him I felt like I could cry – I was just feeling so good I had a hard time believing it. I honestly felt incredible. I felt fast and strong and from the pace we were holding I started to believe we just might come in under 1:50.

At mile 6 I snagged a Gatorade at a water stop. I didn’t want to stop running – since I wasn’t feeling very thirsty I managed a few small sips and tossed the rest.

Around the half way mark we passed this guy with crazy hair and a funny shirt.  Shawn told this guy he was going to take his picture and fortunately the dude laughed and didn’t care. His hair was in the upswing in this picture!

We were still feeling great around the mile 7 mark. Our average pace had dropped to 7:50/mile. I decided it was time to whip out the sport beans.  Shawn and I each had two. I didn’t need them yet but I thought it would be better to have a little cushion – because if you wait until you really NEED to refuel you’ve gone too long!

At 8 miles the urge to pee reared it’s ugly head again and I told Shawn I had to stop at the next water stop to hit a porta-potty. I really did not want to stop but I knew I would be more comfortable if I did.

The next water stop came at 9 miles and the urge had lessened some and I thought “ok – 4 miles to go. 4 miles is like a morning run. I can hold it for 4 miles”. Our average pace was now at 8:00/mile and I had my heart set on finishing in under 1:50 at this point. I knew that as long as our pace stayed under 8:23/mile we’d be good, but I just didn’t want to waste a single second in the stupid porta-potty! I could pee after we finished!

Around mile 11 I began to notice how tired I was starting to feel. I could feel my pace slowing too.  I decided to look on the bright side and told myself that if I was feeling really fantastic at mile 11 then that meant I could have pushed myself harder earlier on. Shawn said he wanted to push the pace for the last couple miles so we picked it up, easing off if necessary and then picking it up again.

Just before mile 12 we came off the park path we had been on for the past 5 miles and were back on the city streets. It was at this point I told Shawn that there was a good possibility I was going to pee my pants when we crossed the finish line. I was half joking, half serious.

We saw the the balloon archway for the start of the last mile to the finish and we picked up the pace and held on to it.  It was not easy but we did it.  We decided right about then that we were going to sprint hard as we rounded the last corner for the last .1 mile to the finish line.

I was tired, no doubt, but I had enough in me to finish hard. We saw the finish line and went balls to wall.  (Please note that my step dad took this picture earlier in the race – we did not spot the finish line at 1:35!)

I heard my mom and step dad cheering us on as we blew by, their support meant so much! We probably passed 15 people on that last stretch. I’m sure they all cursed us as we ran by. Shawn kept saying “keep going! We’re almost there!” and I needed those words so much, I’m positive that’s what kept my feet moving fast! From Shawn’s Garmin stats that he emailed me this afternoon I can see now that our pace for that last stretch got down to 5:00/mile!  I totally believe we were running that fast, it certainly felt like it!

We crossed the finish line and somehow I had enough wherewithal to hit the stop button on my watch. I hadn’t even looked at the clock because I knew the time would be off given we were about a minute behind the official start.

YAHOOOOO! And I didn’t even pee my pants!!  Shawn’s watch had the same time and said our overall average pace was 8:06/mile.

They took off our timing chips, hung metals around our necks. We walked through the tents and scored some post race food! I bypassed bagels, chocolate milk and pizza and went straight for the boxes of bananas and oranges.  Playing “Brendan Says” yet again, I took his post-exercise nutrition advice to heart and went with simple carbohydrates.  Protein comes later.

We found my mom and step dad in the crowd and they took our picture while we regaled our tale. Having Shawn as my running partner was amazing – everything fell perfectly into place and unfolded beautifully. He could have ran faster but stayed with me and pushed me along – but without pushing me too hard either. It was exactly what I needed and was a huge part of what made today’s race so fantastic.

I devoured my second orange while we waited for the results.

My jaw almost dropped when I saw the clock time on paper. My dad’s prediction was 3 seconds off!

Shawn’s time is on the top and mine is on the bottom. That bastard finished 2/10 of a second ahead of me!  We were 298 and 299 of out of 1800+.  I’m still unsure of my official chip time or age group results and won’t know until later tonight or tomorrow when the official times are posted on the race website.

UPDATE: My official time was 1:47:15. 19th in my age group out of 146. 297 out of 1716 finishers. 77th of 967 females.

We met up with Zak and the girls and the 4 of us we’re on our way home. I was tired but not nearly as tired as I was last year after the marathon. Besides some mildly sore quads I was feeling fabulous. And HUNGRY!

I got home and immediately whipped up a huge salad and some of my mom’s gazpacho that I demanded she share with me she gave me yesterday afternoon.

Although delicious, I knew I needed some protein too and had a little dried fruit and nut combo for dessert.

A shower and food – what came next? A NAP!

I could not be happier with every aspect of today’s race. The weather was picture perfect. I went into this race feeling well trained, well rested and well fueled. I’ve spent the last two weeks following the principles in the Thrive Diet diet as closely as possible. I fully believe that a largely raw food and mainly vegan diet had a huge impact on how fabulous I felt today. Vegetables are where it’s at baby!!

I want to THANK ALL OF YOU for your encouragement and support, both on and off the blog!  I swear to god that I brought to mind all the fabulous, sweet, supportive comments from yesterday when I was hurting at mile 12. Thanks to everyone for cheering me on! And a huge thanks to Shawn for being the best running partner a girl could ask for.

We’ve just finished an unphotographed dinner (any more pictures in this post and I think it just might burst!) and now we’re off to get ice cream.  Shhhhh don’t tell Brendan!

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It’s crazy me with my crazy green juice again.

I was thinking this morning about why I drink this juice most mornings of the week. I want to be fit and healthy, but I also want to hold on to my remaining shreds of youth for as long as I can.

Maxine was born when I was 27, and it was about that time I started to notice how old my body was feeling. Achy and tired, I blamed it on my second pregnancy. When I still wasn’t feeling like my old young self after her 1st birthday – and the big 3 – 0 creeping ever closer – I knew it was time to get down to business. I wanted to lose weight. Oh right, of course I did. It was only my New Years Resolution for close to the last dozen years. This time though, something was different. I realized it was more than getting into my skinny jeans. I wanted to feel good again.

So I finally did it. I lost the weight I’d always wanted to lose. I ran a marathon. I felt good in my skin. No more achy joints, unexplained muscle soreness or pains. I now sleep better, feel happier and more satisfied with my day to day life than ever before. Confident enough to post a picture of myself in a sports bra first thing in the morning with my camera on my bed head. This didn’t just happen by chance. (Although admittedly the picture was pretty of spur of the moment.) Bitch slap me if you must, but it’s no coincidence that I’ve moved away from the Standard American Diet and focused my diet around whole foods.

Now it’s all about fighting the hands of time. Thanks to The Raw Foods Detox Diet I’ve come realize the fountain of youth lies within a plant based diet. The fact that it makes maintaining my healthy weight effortless is just money in the bank. So yeah, that would be me knocking people over to push my way to the front of the line for green juice.

I’m still only at the beginning of Thrive because lord help me I get to read about one page before someone comes screaming into the room buck naked demanding my attention. From the introduction of alone he reaffirms my beliefs of the power of food and how a plant based diet can slow the aging process. Ummm, yeah, hand over the sign up sheet for that.

After some green juice reflection (thank you Erin) and pondering the reasons I suck down green juice faster than you can strip off your clothes and run naked into my living room, I set up camp to do a some yoga. Stretched out and centered, I enjoyed the continued peace and serenity with my white peach as the naked screamers slept late this morning.

Who needs botox and eye cream when you’ve got green juice? Bottoms up, here’s to keeping my body as young and immature as my mind.

If you’ve changed your eating habits, what factors motivated you? What differences have you noticed in yourself on your own journey toward health and wellness?

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