Too Hot to Handle

  Race #11 for 2014 is in the books!  I've run 2 small races with Gage between my Spartan weekend and this little 15K and I just realized today that I didn't do race reviews for them.  Doh!  I can tell you that both of them were a ton of fun and Gage did great.  Although he did tell me after the 2nd one that he doesn't want to go run anymore, he wants to stay home with Dad on Saturday mornings.  We both laughed about that, but I told him that it was totally fine with me.  Of course last week, he asked to go exercise with me, so we'll see how long his resolve lasts.
  On to the race review!  I've run this race a handful of times over the last 10 years.  There is a 5K and 15K option and I've always done the longer route.  It used to be just a loop of the lake, but they've changed it up in the last few years to be an out and back from Norbuck Park to Garland Road along the west side of the lake.  This race always has great swag - the tech shirts are great, there's usually a hat and one of my very favorite gym bags is the bag from the 2006 or 2007 race.  This year, it was a double medal that caught my attention.  Theresa and I ran the Too Cold to Hold in January and the medal from that race clicks together with the medal from this race for a double medal extravaganza!  Exhibit A:

  So let's start with the obvious.  Yes.  Yes, it was hot.  Very hot.  The race starts at 7:30a, but it was still a ridiculously warm day.  However, we all knew going into this one that it was going to be hot.  That's part of the fun of signing up!  The organizers are aware of this as well and they did a great job to make it as bearable as possible.  The route actually has some really large shaded areas - although there is a large section that is not shaded as well - there were people dumping shop rags into ice water and handing them out at each aid station and  3 or 4 of the aid stations had large mister/sprinkler contraptions that were spraying everyone.  There were also a few extra aid stations for a 15K distance.  The volunteers were really great and I never felt like the heat was unmanageable or overwhelming.  

  This was a fun run for me, just hanging with Theresa and enjoying the day.  I went out early and put in about 3 miles on my own, which was a good warm up, and then I picked up Theresa and we headed to Norbuck.  It was nice to chat with some of my street racing friends that I haven't seen in a while, everyone was laughing about how hot it was and looking forward to sno-cones after the race.  We took off and it was a really comfortable pace.  We did a little walking on this one, just saving some energy for the last couple of miles.  When we got back to the finish, we snagged our medal and headed over the check out the freebies.  This race has a great post race party with a lot of vendors, treats and contests.  There's a foam rolling station, a group doing massages, a group handing out sno-cones (best thing ever, btw) and a handful of vendors just handing out swag.  

  I will be honest and say that the first few years I ran this race - 2006, 07, 08 - there were some issues that were a little off putting.  I would often talk people out of doing it back in those early days, especially newer runners.  But I've run this race twice in the last 3 years and they've really stepped up their game.  I would absolutely recommend this one to anyone looking for a fun summer race (summer races can be tough to find) with a lot of great goodies.  

Here's my current race schedule for the rest of the year:

August 23, 2014 – Nocturnal Lands 5K

September 6, 2014 – Superhero Scramble

September 13, 2014 – Savage Race

October 5, 2014 – Tough Mudder

October 11, 2014 – Rugged Maniac

November 1, 2014 – Spartan Beast

November 23, 2014 – Route 66 Half Marathon – not registered yet

  I'm not sure about Route 66 yet - I'm trying to find a street half to run this fall because I really want to try and get as close to a 2 hour half as I can with these improving legs.  I'm still planning on a full marathon in March 2015, so once I get past the Spartan Beast I'll be back to focusing on some of my street running and getting some miles under my belt.  I've been keeping them in the 13-15 range this summer and will be trying to get some 17 milers under my belt in the next month or two.  

Starting to think about 2015!

Spartan Race Weekend - Part 2

   After an awesome race on Saturday, I was stoked to get up and head out again on Sunday.  I took my foam roller with me, which helped a lot that night and tried to get some rest.  I slept well and woke up feeling pretty good for Sunday's race.  The only real issue I had was that some of my scrapes and bruises were a little uncomfortable, but that was no big deal.  The Sprint distance is listed as 3+ miles and I had in my mind that it would probably be close to 5.  I had previewed the course map a little the day before and it looked like it was pretty close to the same route, minus the big "mountain" climb.  I got to the race site with about an hour to spare and ended up hanging out with the team again.  Made some friends, laughing and joked around, everyone was talking about their aches and pains from the day before.  Overall, everyone seemed pretty relaxed about the whole thing - we had done twice the distance on the same course the day before, so this should be a breeze, right?

BEFORE

  We headed over the starting corral again and I have to tell you that it wasn't as easy to jump over that wall on Day 2.  Ha Ha!  I figured it would take a minute for two for my legs to really warm up.  Another great speech and we were off!  The trail was pretty much the same for the first mile or two and then I could tell that it cut in closer to shorten the distance.  Much of the same - wide open trails with a few smaller paths, river crossing, a small amount of climb, but not much - I kept a good pace, but there were some bottlenecks at the narrow sections and the climb.  We hit many of the same obstacles, wall climbs, over unders, tire drag/pull, pipe crawl (15 burpees again), inverted wall, log walk, mud trenches, the swim, sandbag carry and then back to the festival area for the gauntlet again.  I may have missed a few things there, but you get the idea.  At this point I was feeling really great, I ran as much of it as I could.  I got stuck a few times in small packs, but it was fun to talk to people and make jokes about the situation.

Wall you have to climb to get in the starting corral

  
  The overall atmosphere on Sunday was way more laid back than it had been the day before.  The weather was a little cooler due to the earlier start time and it just didn't feel as serious.  By the time we got back to the festival area, I was totally ready to give that run of obstacles another go.  This time I made the traverse wall, but did not land the spear throw, darn it.  I failed the rope climb again as well, so I still ended up doing 60 burpees at the end - same as the day before.  I will say that crawling through that barbed wire with open wounds and bruised from the day before hurt like HELL.  That may have been the hardest part of the entire race.  

Barbed Wire Crawl

Dunk Wall

DONE!

  I knew several people that ran the Sprint multiple times and looking back, I wish I had gotten one more entry.  I really wanted to run it again when I was done with it - the Sprint was just a blast.  Total mileage ended up just shy of 5 miles - I think most people got it at around 4.8 or 4.9.  After the race, I jumped in the lake again for a good rinse, got in some dry clothes and took a few last looks around.  I signed the wall:

"Tara Campbell Came and Conquered"

  Then it was time to catch the shuttle back to me car and head back to reality.  Some of my race friends and I were joking about just living in Spartan village forever, but we know that all good things must come to an end.  I had SO much fun and I'm still riding the high of the weekend.  Yes, I am absolutely covered in bruises and scrapes, but I can't wait to go back and do it again.  The Beast is in November, which will complete my 2014 Trifecta.  I mentioned in my last post that I've run that race a couple of times, but this year I'm going back with way more confidence.  The goal for the Beast?  NO BURPEES!  AROO!

Spartan Race Weekend - Part 1

  This past weekend was my big Spartan double weekend.  I completed my first Spartan race in December 2012 - it was the Beast (their 13+ distance race) in Glen Rose and I remember feeling so amazing after it was over.  I couldn't believe that I had tackled something so huge!  I came away from that race ready to work on some skills and strength so that I could go back the following year and destroy.  Fast forward a year and things went a little awry.  September 2013 had my training schedule completed flipped and thrown by the wayside, I stopped running and just got caught up in life.  I had signed up for the 2013 Beast early in the year, so when December came around, I went out there with my cousin and decided that worst case scenario, I would walk the whole thing and finish.  Well, that's basically what we did...and it hurt like hell.  I walked away yet again, lamenting my fitness level and determined to get even stronger than I had been a year before.  Shortly after, emails for the Super (8+ distance) went out and I got a few people to jump on board with me to head to Burnet in May.  You see, if you run all 3 off the Spartan distances in a calendar year, you get what they call a Trifecta - and this appealed to me in a big way.  I heard rumors that they were working on bringing a Sprint to Texas and if that was the case, I wanted to try and get all 3 races done.  The Super was originally meant to run on Saturday and Sunday, but then the announcement for the Sprint (3+ distance) came out and it appeared that they were doubling up races during the same weekend.  Fast forward to present day and this is how I ended up running back to back races in one weekend.

  With all of the time changes and race shuffling, everyone that was going to go with me ended up unable to attend, so it looked like it was just going to be me running solo - something I haven't done at an OCR before.  Last year, I had joined a few FB groups that participate in OCRs and when I realized I was going it alone, I got more involved in one of those teams and added myself to their roster.  This way I knew I would at least have some friendly faces around to ask for help if I needed it.  Luckily the group I ended up in, Lone Star Spartans, ended up having the largest team at the event (close to 300) and they had their own tent and wave for each race.  It was really nice to have a place to hang out with people before and after, and there are definitely no strangers at these events.  Everyone was so nice and I made a few new friends - shout out to Amy, Bea, and the 2 Cassidys.  Back in April, I went to an OCR training simulation out in Rowlett and made a few new friends there, and they were all down there as well - shout out to JB, Melissa, Paul, Christina aka Honey Badger and Kimberly aka The Mud Pixie.  I seemed to run into people I knew every time I turned around, so it really helped calm some of my jitters before and during the race.  My friend Theresa was super cool as well, traveling with me to just keep me company on the drive and be a cheerleader during the races.  I was glad that I didn't have to travel alone and she and I had fun with her sister, checking out the nearby towns and trying to track down cupcakes.   

Kimberley aka The Mud Pixie

My new friend Amy, who just signed up for the 2014 GR Beast

Team Huddle before starting the Sprint on Sunday

  So the weekend started with some driving on Friday night - we stayed in Killeen, which is about an hour from the race.  Up early the next day to head to Burnet and try and get to the race site with a good hour before my Spartan Super wave time of 10:30a.  Spartan Race sites are always pretty awesome.  They set it up like a little village, which food vendors, bag check, registration, showers and changing tents, challenge areas, main stages, etc.  This little Spartan village was no different and this particular race seemed to have a lot of spectators.  The event is very family friendly, they have a Spartan kids race, so there were a lot of kiddos running around, just dying to get muddy.  The first thing I noticed once I got my bib information and checked in, was that the race had set up quite a gauntlet of obstacles right there at the festival area.  At the Beast in Glen Rose, there were usually a handful of obstacles that you do right there in the festival area - once about halfway through the course and then once again right at the finish line.  This race had 8-10 obstacles right there at the end of the race.  Once you hit the festival area after being out on the trails, it was all the big ones - herculean hoist, traverse wall, climb over, barbed wire crawl, spear throw, another barbed wire crawl, dunk wall, slippery wall, rope climb and then fire jump.  That was an interesting thought to keep in mind while out on the trails, knowing that there was a whole mess of fun waiting for you at the finish.  I caught up with LSS at their tent, got my bag checked and then just hung out for a bit until we headed over to the start.  I was a little nervous, but not too much.  I felt rested and fueled up, and I figured if I could finish the Beast in the shape I was in December, I could totally knock out this Super.

BEFORE

  We headed to the start corral, which has a wall for you to climb before you even get to line up.  It's not super tall, so I was able to get over that one with no assistance, which was a confidence builder.  We all got lined up and after the customary Spartan start line speech (lots of "I am a Spartan!" and "Aroo!") - we took off.  They described this trail as a "Runner's Course" and they were not lying.  The first 2-4 miles were a great trail run, nicely laid out with some rolling hills, but nothing too technical.  There were a lot of rocks, but usually there were flat areas to work around.  There was a river crossing in those early miles, but it was all pretty reasonable.  I felt good, running at a nice pace, only having to stop here and there for bottlenecks, etc.  I got a few "Great job!" as I passed people, which was encouraging.  There were quite a few obstacles during that first few - several walls, some over unders, atlas carry, tire drag or pull, etc.  Then we got to Mile 5, which was a lot of upward climb on granite.  At first I felt like I could have run more, but the areas to pass were getting narrow and it was difficult to pass others.  So I just relaxed and found a groove in the pack.  Eventually we realized that the climb was not going to end any time soon - we started up a straight granite face and as we looked up, could see tiny outlines of racers WAY in the distance.

  The little pack I was in kind of laughed like, "Oh, ok...we see how it is."  I was starting to see people sitting and suffering a little and I tried to ask people if they were ok as I passed them.  At this point, I gave out a pack of shot bloks and some of my water to a guy I saw sitting on one boulder.  It was pretty hot out there and there were several people that had not brought camelbaks or nutrition.  We kept climbing up and up and when we reached the top, it was totally worth it.  The view was so beautiful and at the top of the dome, they call it "Decision Point", there's a cross with makeshift pews.  Just a place for people to come and reflect, I guess.  It was beautiful.  Several people stopped not just to rest, but to pray and take a moment - it was a pretty cool scene.  As we descended the dome, the mile marker for Mile 5 assured us that we were halfway home.  At least we hoped so - Spartan doesn't tell you the final mile count, but we all kind of banked on it being around 10.  

   Coming down from the dome was easy peasy - the downhill just kept going and going, which some rolling hills, but what felt like mostly just descent.  I was running really well, but I started stopping more frequently to help people with water and nutrition.  Spartan actually had several water stops, which I wasn't used to, but there were no snacks, etc., so I gave out the rest of my shot bloks and gels to people that needed them.  We started racking up obstacles again, the back half included the tractor pull, pipe crawl, inverted wall, log walk, mud trenches, swim and sandbag carry.  The pipe crawl was where I did my first set of burpees.  You could go in the smaller, longer, white pipes without penalty or crawl through the wider, shorter, dark pipes and do 15 burpees.  This claustrophobic girl took the penalty, and I was not the only one.  Those pipes were TINY. Once you got past the sandbag carry, you turned a corner back to the festival and it was time for the gauntlet, which I outlined earlier.

Dunk Wall!

DONE!

  BIG VICTORIES: I got over the inverted wall for the first time!  I landed the spear throw! I got over the slippery wall without help for the first time!  NEEDS IMPROVEMENT: I failed the traverse wall - burpees. I failed the rope climb - burpees.  The traverse wall is a silly fail, because I should have asked someone for help.  Ah well, live and learn.  The rope climb continues to be my nemesis, but I got a little further than I had ever gotten before.  It's tricky - the water was really high at this one, up to my armpits.  So jumping out of the water and then trying to find the bottom of the rope to get my feet around it was tough. Work in Progress.  I ended up finishing in 2:42, which was pretty damn good, because I had predicted something like 3-4 hours.  I finished so early that Theresa and her sister didn't even find me for another 45 minutes.  I had time to jump in the lake, change clothes, walk around, eat and chill.  It was fun to hang out at the festival though, just take my time and enjoy the scene.  The lake felt so great after being out on the hot trails, I could have just floated there the rest of the day.
  Post race dinner included a giant hamburger, sweet potato fries and a cinnamon roll.  That's right, I said cinnamon roll.  I had my heart set on a cupcake, but we could never find the damn cupcake place in Marble Falls. I was in bed and asleep by 8:30a since I had to get up the next day and do it all again....to be continued.

Gladiator Rock N Run

Race #6 for 2014 is officially in the books!

  This is my 3rd year running the Gladiator Rock N Run, and as usual, I was able to recruit some friends to come out and try an OCR for the first time.  Something about this race is just beginner friendly, so I always end up running it with a larger group.  My cousin Sarah and her friend Kelly were out there with me again, we have all run it since it started here in 2012.  Here's a picture of our group BEFORE the race:

  This OCR is a pretty quick 5K, so I got up early and ran 6 prior to the race.  By the time I got there, I was warmed up and ready to go!  The atmosphere at this race is always fun, everyone is there to have a good time and enjoy themselves.  The face of this race is Dan "Nitro" Clark, who was my very favorite American Gladiator when I was a kid.  I got some pictures with him at my first race in 2012, and we got another one this year:

  

  So down to the details of the race!  We started at around 9:15a and most of our group did a great job of running most of the race.  We were all determined to stay together and race as a team, so we had fun taking some walking breaks and laughing about what I had gotten some of them into.  There were about 17-20 obstacles and most of them were repeats of last year: tires, cinderblock burpees, tunnels, bear crawl net, dumpster, cowgirl carry, couple of mud trenches, rope climb, slippery wall (the beast), cargo net climb, over and under, 12 foot wall climb, fire jump, monkey bars, etc.  There was a pretty gunky mud crawl that people were losing shoes in, so we all just started crawling through it and everyone else followed our lead after that.  I helped pry one girl's shoe out of the muck on my way out - helping people is 1/2 the fun!  I was disappointed this year that they didn't have us to the "swim", which is really just a walk through the lake about chest deep with a couple of submersions under logs.  It also felt a little short this year - I think the final mileage ended up around 2.98 or so.  I REALLY missed the 300 yard mud pit from last year.  In general, it felt a little watered down, BUT there was a pretty big storm that came through a couple of days before, so it's entirely possible that limited their abilities to build it out as bad ass as they planned.  I hope that's the case, because I really love this race and would like to see it stay here and get more awesome.  I was also surprised to notice no one in line to start when we were leaving around 11a.  They typically run waves pretty late, so I hope that wasn't indicative of attendance in general.  Another favorite for me of this race - the tshirt.  They have consistently put out the best race tshirts ever.  The first year's shirt was designed by Affliction and it's STILL one of my favorite shirts ever.  This year's shirt was pretty bad ass as well, although they did skimp a little on the sizes.  Glad I ordered a large!  

Here are some pics from the course:

Jumping the fire at the finish line!

Telephone pole carry - we combined with another team

Coming out of the dark, muddy tunnels

Wall climb!

MUDDY FINISH PHOTO

Clean up in the lake - showing off the bling!

  This was a lot of fun, I always love racing with my friends and I ALWAYS love running with first timers.  We really had fun and worked as a team, which is what OCR is all about for me.  

  Next weekend is a big one for me.  I'm headed to Burnet, TX for a double Spartan weekend.  I'll be running the Spartan Super on Saturday and the Spartan Sprint on Sunday.  The Super is 8+ miles with approx 20+ obstacles and the Sprint is 3+ miles with 15+ obstacles.  This will be 2/3 of the way to getting my Spartan trifecta this year - I am scheduled to run the Beast in November, which will complete it for 2014!  Texas Trifecta!  I'll be running this solo - not really solo, I'm on a large team that I know from FB - but I won't have any of my normal running buddies with me.  I'm excited about getting out there and seeing what I can do on my own and so grateful that I've met some fun people that will be there so that if I need a hand over a wall, I won't be completely alone.  Ha ha!  That will get me to the halfway point of this year - no races currently scheduled in June - but my plan is to keep my miles up, get out for some more OCR specific training sessions and get stronger for the larger races in the fall.  Here's the updated schedule:

May 17, 2014 – Spartan Super

May 18, 2014 - Spartan Sprint

July 5, 2014 – The Patriot Games

July 13, 2014 – Too Hot to Handle

September 6, 2014 – Superhero Scramble

September 13, 2014 – Savage Race

October 5, 2014 – Tough Mudder

November 1, 2014 – Spartan Beast

  In looking over my blog, I just realized that I've never done an actual race review of my Spartan Beast races.  I think the trauma was just too much at the time.  Don't you worry, I'll have a full write up for you after next weekend.  Wish me luck!

Hit and Run 5K

   Last weekend was my 5th race of the year, the brand new Hit and Run 5K!  This is another new one, something that I signed up for back in October with a bunch of friends.  This one is definitely more of a FUN obstacle course race, the obstacles are mostly large inflatable type things the include foam and water.  Have you ever seen the show Wipeout?  It was a lot like that.  Here is their promotional video - we did every obstacle you see here: 

  So of course, we all decided to have some fun with it - everyone wore superhero gear and we took a few silly pictures before the start:

   The obvious thing to say first is that the weather was GLORIOUS.  It was a little warm, since most of us were wearing cotton shirts, but in the shade it was just perfect.  This race took place at River Legacy Park in Arlington, which is actually where I had my first attempt at a running career in 1998.  I haven't been there in about 10 years, but I'm happy to report that it's still one of the nicest parks in the area.  It was a really great location, I would love to trek out there from time to time with the family just to hang out.  

  It was clear that this race was all about fun - the MC at the start line did a great job DJing some fun music and keeping everyone entertained while waiting for their wave to start.  Lots of dancing, laughing and people being silly.  There were a lot of costumes and large teams, a handful of vendors with freebies and a bag check for anyone that needed to drop something off.  The swag included a cotton tshirt, a really awesome red sweatband (for your head - see Nana in the middle of the picture above) and a temporary tattoo. The sweatband is pretty sweet and I would have worn it for the race, but it didn't match my outfit.  Ha ha!  

   We ended up starting around 10a, after waiting for a couple of waves in the start area to get going.  They were pretty good about spacing it out and we only had to wait at one obstacle.  There were 5 obstacles total - walk across pedestals, balance beam with people throwing balls at you, run across the wall whose panels open randomly...while people throw balls at you, BIG BALL jump and then a final balance beam over a pool of ice cold water...while huge balls swung around overhead.  Lot of balls in the way at this race - insert your joke here.  These are pretty much designed for EVERYONE to fail, but that was the fun of it!  I just tried to not injure myself.  I fell off of both balance beams, got smacked in the head by a panel on the red wall and don't even get me started on how the big ball jump went down.  We were all laughing so much though, it didn't even matter.  The run was great, we even did a little off road trail running during a portion of the course, and since they spaced everyone out so well, we were able to really get a good jog in.  I also took what may be my favorite race picture ever: 

  I would recommend this race to anyone, it's untimed and extremely noncompetitive - just a fun time for everyone involved.  It would be great for the kids and fun to hang out after.  

  May is a busy month for me race-wise, I have some big ones coming up, including a 2 race Spartan weekend in Austin in the middle of the month.  I'm working hard to get up to speed for that one, but I still have some things to work on.  My plan is to do these 2 races (part of my Trifecta this year!) and then to keep working so that when it comes time for Tough Mudder and Spartan Beast in the fall, I can head out to those and just KILL it.  Here's my updated schedule:

May 10, 2014 – Gladiator Rock N Run

May 17, 2014 – Spartan Super

May 18, 2014 - Spartan Sprint

May 24, 2014 - Firemen's 5K 

July 13, 2014 – Too Hot to Handle

September 6, 2014 – Superhero Scramble

October 5, 2014 – Tough Mudder

November 1, 2014 – Spartan Beast

   I am toying with the idea of throwing another half in there somewhere, but don't want to over commit since I'm really focused on Tough Mudder and the Beast.  I've already decided that I'm going to plan on the Little Rock Marathon in March for next year.  Why?  Because the medal is awesome, of course!  

Next up: Gladiator Rock N Run in 2 weeks!

It Starts with Food

Hey!  It's a post about food, NOT about a race or workout.  Let me start with a brief timeline of how I got to this current challenge:

March 2013: I was in great shape!  I was the lightest I'd been since Gage was born, getting super strong, running long and racing at least once a month.

June 2013: Missing a lot of workouts, barely running, went on vacation and stuffed my face like you wouldn't believe.

September 2013: Our whole family dynamic and schedule changed when Jason went back to work and Gage went back to school.  Stopped working out, stopped running, still had a few races scheduled.

December 2013: Did Spartan and barely survived, now about 25 lbs heavier, eating total junk every chance I got.

January 2014: Decided I couldn't keep going on like that, started working out and running again regularly - did not change my food habits.

March 2014: Realized that while the running and working out were keeping me in check, my food habits were keeping me from seeing real progress.

INSERT: Whole30 Challenge  http://whole30.com/

  For a few months (December - March), I had been on a roller coaster of trying to turn my eating habits around all at one time, FOREVER, and then falling off of the wagon 1-2 weeks in.  I truly believe for me that eating is an inside job and that until I was ready to really change, it just wasn't going to happen.  This really helped me when I wanted to beat myself up about failing AGAIN.  I've always had to approach these things from a place of acceptance and not from a place of TRYING TO MAKE THINGS HAPPEN THE WAY THAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO.  So 26 days ago, I decided I was ready to start feeling better - not necessarily lose weight, look better, etc - I just wanted to feel better.  I was doing a lot of unconscious eating, which for me just leads to more shame.
  What really appealed to me about this challenge is that I only have to commit to 30 days.  It wasn't forever, it wasn't that I would NEVER get to have a cupcake for the rest of my life, I just had to do it for 30 days.  The basic plan is no added sugar, no dairy, no grains, no white potatoes, no alcohol (easy), no legumes, no carrageenan, no sulfites, no MSG and no paleofied desserts.  Now, to make this REALLY fun, I decided to quit caffeine as well.  The goal of this plan was to kick my physical cravings and mental obsession to the curb by eliminating those things from my diet.  After the 30 days, they encourage that you add back one thing at a time so that you can really see how different food items affect you physically.
  I will tell you that week 1 sucked.  Big time.  Week 2, better physically, but bananas mentally.  By the 3rd week, I could really tell a difference in my energy level and mood and now, on day 26, I can tell you that I feel great!  I've been able to make this work pretty easily and have found so many amazing recipes (even Jason will tell you how great the cooking has been) that it feels like this is way more sustainable than I once thought.  I've noticed a difference in my running (my speed is picking up) and my workouts (my recovery time is insanely fast).  I feel more productive in my day, I'm more engaged in my life and what's going on around me, I even keep up with chores more.
  With 4 days left, I will tell you that I am looking forward to a sweet treat next weekend - I already know what I want - but I'm definitely going to continue to eat like this 85-90% of the time.  My goal will be to add some grains back on heavier run weeks, but keep it to things like quinoa or brown rice.  I am going to allow myself a fun meal or treat once a week or so and for special occasions.  I have made a list of a few things that I have really missed and it will be fun to portion those things out over the weeks.  I am really looking forward to my favorite saag paneer at India Garden in a couple of weeks.
  I think the most surprising thing has been how just this small amount of time has changed my palate and my cravings.  I am trying new vegetables and WANTING them on a regular basis.  I have hated avocado my entire life, but I have to tell you that I have discovered in this little adventure that it's really good!  I am having fun making new things and finding fun new snack ideas.  There are things that I was eating or drinking every day that I thought would totally ruin my life if I had to quit them for any length of time, but it turns out, they weren't that big of a deal.  It's been pretty awesome to enjoy food again and not just unconsciously shove it in my mouth without even tasting it.
  So that's the current health adventure I've been on and I can report that the results have been outstanding.  I know some of you will ask, so I will also say that I've lost about 16 pounds.  I lost the first 10 really fast and it's been a pretty steady 1-2 lbs/week since then.  Of course, I've been running and working out the entire time, so a lot of that contributes.   I've tried to track my calories, not for weight loss, but just because I was afraid that with changing my eating habits, I wouldn't get ENOUGH.  I use a website that's pretty simple and free - www.myfitnesspal.com.

Here are some of our favorite recipes so far:

http://cookeatpaleo.com/paleo-avocado-tuna-salad/ - I don’t like raw onions, so I subbed in diced green apple and added a little cayenne pepper.  This is currently my favorite lunch/snack.

http://paleomg.com/clean-it-up-mondays-turkey-and-spinach-stuffed-sweet-potatoes/ - This is delicious and it could definitely be made the night before and the assembled/heated up the next day.

http://www.tgipaleo.com/2014/01/04/no-mayo-avocado-slaw-paleo-raw-vegan/ - The dressing for this is so unbelievable.  I only used half on the actual slaw and then used the extra for veggie dipping the rest of the week.

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/19886925277/sweet-potato-hash-with-fried-eggs - This is my very favorite “easy” dinner or breakfast.  I add in turkey breakfast sausage – I cook the sausage, take it out and then fry up the hash in the sausage grease. 

http://comfybelly.com/2014/01/mexican-chicken-soup-quick-easy/#more-16401 – This chicken soup is AMAZING and EASY.  If you are into avocado or sour cream (if you are eating dairy), you can toss a little of either in your bowl and Jason loves it that way.  This is also a great leftover for a couple of days. 

http://everydaypaleo.com/one-pot-chicken-drumsticks-and-a-release-week-recap/ - This is another super simple, easy chicken recipe.  I usually buy the BIG thing of chicken legs then I cook half with this recipe and roast half at the same time in the oven for lunches.

http://www.multiplydelicious.com/thefood/2012/12/paleo-veggie-beef-chili/ - This chili is really easy and really filling. 

http://www.steamykitchen.com/31325-paleo-cauliflower-bacon-fried-rice-video-recipe.html - Ok, this one is a little weird, but I promise you, it’s oh so good.  It’s a fried rice recipe, but you use grated cauliflower instead of rice.  She gives a basic rundown and then gives options for different stages of cooking.  I add in shrimp, 1 scrambled egg and frozen peas and carrots to my version.  I use the coconut aminos instead of soy sauce as well.  This also heats up great for leftovers.  Maybe it’s the bacon, but it’s just ridiculous how good it tastes. 

So there you go - feeling good on the inside, which has helped me catch up with how I was doing on the outside.  

Next up will be a race review/recap of the Hit N Run 5K next Saturday!

Women Rock Half Marathon

Race #4 for 2014 is in the books!  It's been a little over a week since this race, so I'm hoping my memory doesn't fail me!

This was the inaugural race here in Dallas - this group runs this race out of Minnesota, I believe - and running a first time race is always fun because the excitement is always pretty infectious.  I'm going to start with the reason why I signed up for this one: SWAG.  When Theresa told me about it, I wasn't sold because it was pretty pricey for a half marathon, but then I checked out the goodies.  The coolest thing was instead of a shirt, we got really badass jackets.  There's always a risk that the quality won't be great, but luckily they really were awesome.  They are like any nice running jacket I would buy retail, complete with thumb holes, full neck coverage and hot pink piping, of course. Here is a picture showing the front of the jacket on the left and the back on the right.  Pretty sweet.

Of course, this race is marketing as a race FOR women, so the entire thing was set up to appeal to us girl runners, so there were a lot of fun touches outside of the jacket.  Of course EVERYTHING was pink, but one of my favorite touches that I've never seen is when we got to the race venue, they had set up tables in the restrooms with pink tablecloths, flower arrangements and baskets with goodies that might be helpful (bobby pins, hair ties, facial wipes, etc.)  They even hung baggies of items in the outside porta-potties.  I thought that it was a really cute touch.  The merch and race flags, etc. were so amazing and of really nice quality - I was impressed with the setup.

This race had a really late start, when compared to what I'm used to for start times.  The race was scheduled to start at 9am, but a couple of days before, it got pushed to 9:15a.  Day of race?  We started the half marathon at 9:30a, which in the nice (hot) weather we were having that morning, ended up making the race a little sticky toward the end.  This race took place at QuikTrip Park in Grand Prairie, which was fun since it was a new location to check out.  There were 2 other large events going on in the same little compound that day, one at Verizon Theater and then the LARGE DFW Swap Meet in the parking lot next to us.  That was fun to run by a couple of times to check out what everyone was selling out there.  Even with these large events, parking was a breeze (and FREE) and we never had trouble with traffic or people getting in the mix.

There was a 5K, 10K and a Half Marathon option for this race.  The half marathon route was 2 loops of a 6-ish mile route.  We all started on the field in QuikTrip Park and then we ran one main back road on the way out, then hit a trail through a more wooded area (which I didn't know existed!) back to Beltline and the main entrance of the ballpark.  We passed the ballpark to head out on our second loop and we spent a little more time on the main road for that one.  Even though the loop changed a little on the second go around, they volunteers had already updated the signs and moved the turnaround, so there was never any question as to where we were supposed to go.  It was pretty warm, but there were a couple of water stops - 3 total on each loop - along with porta-potties and gel at the halfway mark.  There were 2-3 minor hills, but other than that, pretty flat course.  I remember one hill was a little intimidating, but once we were up - no problem.  Overall, the course was great.  I've only done a repeat race once and that was a 3 mile loop that I had to do 5 times.  I prefer the longer loop for less repeats, for sure.  The second loop took us back through the entrance of the ballpark, we ran the entire outfield and then finished on the other side.  Once we finished, there were more treats waiting for us:

Champagne or 7-Up in a commemorative glass AND a beautiful silver necklace with a ruby 

Super cute men that were there SOLELY for us to ogle and take pictures with

Yep, they marketed to the ladies and delivered the goods in a big way.  We really had a great time, the race was organized fantastically and we felt like we walked away with a great experience.  I do want to comment on one more thing about this race:  the volunteers and energy were INCREDIBLE.  When we first started the race, everyone was SO excited, there was cheering and hooting - something you just don't get at every race.  It felt like my first half again, I was excited and having fun.  I realized that after running so many races, I may have a little race cynicism and this was the kind of race that knocked the doldrums off.  It was impossible to have a bad time or get upset.  The volunteers were so amazing as well as some pretty great spectators.  One group of women came out and just handed out popsicles - and they stayed there the entire race.  There were DJs at the water stops playing fun music to keep things lively and they had groups of very energetic high school kids handing out the water and gatorade.  There were people cheering and yelling for us at each turning point, the police officers were super friendly and overall the energy was just awesome.  Grand Prairie gets 2 big thumbs up for putting on such a great showing of people.

Next up is the Hit N Run 5K next Saturday - it's a fun little obstacle course 5K that looks like that Wipeout show on TV.  Here's my current schedule:

2014 Races

January 11, 2014 – Bold in the Cold 15K - DONE

February 2, 2014 – Too Cold to Hold - DONE

February 8, 2014 – Hot Chocolate 15K - DONE

March 29, 2014 – Women Rock ½ Marathon - DONE

April 19, 2014 – Hit and Run 5K

May 10, 2014 – Gladiator Rock N Run

May 17, 2014 – Spartan Super

May 18, 2014 - Spartan Sprint

July 13, 2014 – Too Hot to Handle

September 6, 2014 - Superhero Scramble

October 5, 2014 – Tough Mudder

November 1, 2014 – Spartan Beast (TEXAS TRIFECTA!)

I'm talking to some girls at work about training for Dallas this year, so that may be my last race in December. I'm definitely planning on Little Rock in March.  I want that BIG MEDAL!

Stay tuned for more fun. 

PS - I did not check this for typos, so please ignore run on sentences, grammatical and/or spelling errors.