19 Weeks Run/walk

This baby has been different so far, they say the third one is a 'wild card' I never believed it... till now! Why is the 3rd one like that??

My energy levels are not as good and every day I feel different. One day I want to go for a run! do gardening! mow the lawn! Then the next day I can't imagine leaving the house... ugh! Maybe its because I have 2 other little boys who take my energy? Or I am older? Not sure... jury is still out on that one.

So on a good day just recently I felt like going for a run! Lets do this! Getting the kids ready is a chore in it self... that was another blog post.... so an hour after my bright idea we headed out. Me with the youngest in our Phil and Ted's stroller, the oldest on his bike and my hubby with the oldest making sure he doesn't wipe out.

It was a beautiful central Florida afternoon, light breeze, sunny sky about 80 degrees. Perfect day for the run and trip to the park. We headed out, the park is only 0.7miles from our house, it was going to be great! After a nice brisk walk with intermittent runs I felt great! This was what I was missing, a little bit of change and exercise. We got to the park and in classic florida fashion... it started raining, no pouring!!

There was no where to hide but the bathrooms, while we ducked for cover I pulled up my radar and there was a storm coming! Big one! With the ever familiar 'thunder storm warning' even. Guess that means we need to go home.... good thing the hubby came with and has a fantastic min/mile time. With his long legs and 7min per mile pace he ran home with the keys, grabbed the car and rescued us.

Lesson learned... check the radar before you go, no matter how good you feel.

Pregnant Vegan Runner Mommy

Yep add that to the title now too. We are happily expecting baby #3, at the end of August. Adding to our little 'Farm' of sorts was in the plans but had to wait until I was done with my half marathon. So here we are!

Will I keep running while pregnant?
I'd like to try, but I believe in listening to my body and going with that. If I can I will, if I can't oh well!
But I was able to run a recent all women 5k in Winter Park, FL The Lady Track Shack 5k. It was packed! over 3,000 entries and they had to close it off at that!

We did it last year too but with a bigger group of girls. This year we got awesome race 'swag', pink tutus, awesome medals and just a fun race!

So back to running while pregnant... being the person I am means I research A LOT! So I did just that, researched running while pregnant, and talked to my midwife. The conclusion I came to was that since I was running before, my body will be used to it, so it's not like I am trying out a new exercise routine while my body is growing a new person. But everything in moderation, I am not trying to aim for new PR or take on a half marathon right now. But I will keep my muscles going and hey its a nice stress burner too!

The first trimester was no fun, I didn't feel like moving, let alone running. So for sure I didn't do much then. The 2nd trimester is just now starting and I have my energy back and can't wait to hit the ground running again. Updates to come...

Eating Vegan While Pregnant

Nothing will change here, I am still sticking to my normal diet. Increasing my calorie intake as needed and drinking plenty of water, but that is nothing new, and I have been taking a DHA supplement made from Flax so that covers the DHA part... I love my prenatal multi-vitamin I have been taking too!
All the great stuff in it a vegan mom to be could need.

Is it safe to be a vegan and grow a human at the same time? YES! Do the research on it and you will find it that just like any way of eating we need to be sure to get in the the right amount of proteins, carbs, B12 etc... and there is no reason to doubt your plant based diet, if you are smart about it. As always though I trust my instincts and cravings to tell me if I am lacking in something and will take the needed steps to take care of that.

Feeding Kids in a Vegan Family

It is amazing how concerned people are for your health and well being when you tell them you are vegetarian or vegan. The look on their faces sometimes is priceless! It's almost like you just told them you don't eat anything at all and that you are starving yourself and your family. Close your mouth, a bug might fly in. 

It gets better when you tell them your whole family eats that way, including the 2 toddlers you see running a muck. They immediately ask one of these questions: "Where do you get your protein? Where do you get your calcium? Where do you get your B6 or B12?" Followed by, "What about the kids? Don't they need milk for their growing bones?" Sometimes its asked in a condescending way, almost like they think we are backwoods hippies (is there such a thing?) who don't know any better and have not done our research. That is when I want to hid them over the head with my large juicer and ask them "How to you get your daily vitamins in? A large hamburger doesn't count you know?!?" of course I maintain my self control.

We recently went to a friend's house who has a older teenager who is picky still to this day. So when our boys are fighting over who gets the last apple for a snack the dad was shaking his head in amazement, "That is not normal" he said. Its not??? Should they be fighting over candy? Is that "normal"? Or when we made dinner and our oldest, who loves his broccoli, was upset because it was all gone! The friends we were visiting thought that was just crazy too! What 4yr old is visibly upset because he ate all his broccoli and there is no more to be had? Ours!  

I like our version of normal, it makes me happy our kids are getting a good start and being educated from day one about normal foods that happen to be healthy and good for you. I like that they fight over apples, broccoli, apples, carrots, tofu and any other fruit and vegetable. Is it weird? Is it not the 'normal'? YES! But who cares! Be different! Tell people you are vegan! Tell people you don't eat fast food! Shock! Educate! Carry on....

So we get asked "What do you feed the kids?" "How do you make sure they get their protein?" Etc... So glad you asked! We had a policy with our kids that they eat what we eat, no special meals unless there was an allergy to something. But so far so good and no food allergies! Here is an example of the day:


Breakfast: Blueberry waffles and protein shake with bananas blended in

Lunch: (Leftovers from the night before) Brown rice with Black beans 

Snack: Banana and peanut butter

2nd Snack (you know it happens): fresh veggies picked from the garden green beans, broccoli, sugar snap peas

Dinner: Spaghetti and Lentil 'meat' balls

That is only one day mind you but its filled with vitamins, protein, fiber, fruits and all the other good a kid might need. We also make sure they have their multivitamins along with everything else.



Hope this helps give you an idea! If you have a picky kid there are so many creative ways to make the food look cute and make them want to eat it. But that is a post for another day...

Garden Harvest

Had to share the beautiful harvest we got today from our 4 raised bed gardens. Green tomatoes, sugar snap peas, zucchini, green beans and spinach. All 100% organic! my only bug prevention is companion planting, soap and water spray if needed and coffee grounds at the base of the plant.

Quick Qunioa Black Bean Bowl

 

I love quinoa! And pecans and black beans!! So toss them together and beautiful things happen. If you like simple and quick meals then this recipe is for you. As always it is vegan...

Level of difficulty: Mad easy

Special equipment:  a cooking pot and your hands

Ingredients: 

2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp  ground coriander

1 tsp cinnamon

6 tbsp olive oil

2 bunches green onions

3 cups (not cooked yet) quinoa

2 avocados

4 tbsp orange juice

4 cloves of garlic (4 tsp)

2 15.5oz can black beans rinsed and drained

1 cup chopped pecans (or more if you want)

1. Put 6 cups of water to boil in a large pot, once boiling add oil, quinoa, green onions, salt, cumin, coriander, cinnamon and green onions. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and simmer 18-20 min or until the quinoa gets its tails (if you make quinoa then you understand what I mean). Remove from heat and 'fluff'.

2. Slice your avocado and drizzle with orange juice and olive oil. Notice I said drizzle not let it go swimming in the liquids.

3. Heat up your oven to 350, place your pecans on a cookie sheet and put your pecans in for about 8min our until they smell amazing.

4. Heat 2 tbsp olive oil in a pan in a skillet over medium heat and add garlic, saute for 30 sec. Stir in 2 tbsp orange juice, then black beans. Cook until warmed through. Add bean mixture to quinoa mixture. Serve garnished with pecans and avocado.

Simple right???

First Half Marathon Complete! Light House Loop

 It has been accomplished! With help from my dear friends and running buddies we did it! This was my first half marathon and the scenery was beautiful. The food after was eh... but lets start from the top.

 

I saw the beast of a bridge we had to conquer the night before and freaked my self out good! My nerves were getting to me and the lack of training was starting to scare me. Let me add some to the scene as well, I had a tooth infection and my wisdom tooth was killing me so Tylenol became my friend so I could get thru the race. The cold air gave me worse pain then childbirth! Oh you evil pain killer how I avoid you but yet loved you on race day. 

The crowd we raced with, view from the bridge

Race day started out early for me and my running buddy (and dear friend) as we woke up at 4:30am to down some quick food and coffee before we set out. The bagel with peanut butter and coffee was welcomed by the butterflies in our stomach. Weather was cold and crisp at 49degrees, cold for Florida! I chose my running gear that was most comfortable to me, shorts and tank-top. But not a good match for the cold and my nerves! So on went the light jacket and race shirt.

We parked near the finish line thinking in all our wisdom and race experience (haha!) that after 13.1 miles the last thing we wanted to do was walk another mile to our car. Well that was in the end a really good choice! We warmed up our cold tired racing legs by running over the bridge to the start line. 

I had on a baseball cap not a skull cap.....

 Once near the start line we searched for our other running buddy and dear friend who got there before we did. She was already by the 2:30 pacer and ready to go. We had bags to drop off and waited in line for 10min to not get much closer, race was starting we still had 10+ people in front of us! (Note to self, don't bring a bag! Leave it in the car!) Getting anxious my friend starting asking who was in line for the 5k and could we cut in, thank goodness that worked! We quickly jumped in line and dropped off our bags, then ran to the start line. Found our friend and so began the race! The adrenaline was pumping and we were cold so off we went. I kept telling myself "Make adrenaline your friend, use it at the end". If not then I would have burned myself out by mile 3!

I didn't get many pictures along the way, but I will do my best to give you 'word' pictures of the race. It wasn't very crowded at first, I was expecting a sea of people (since 1,600 had registered) to have swim thru to find my pace but it was nicely spaced out. It was cold! My 3 top layers helped me stay warm as the 3 of us started off slow with our 11:30 per mile pace. Once mile 2 hit I was ready to go! My fears over lack of training and the over all nerves of the race were gone. The course was beautiful, we ran parallel with the ocean and watched the sun rise. As we ran and watched the sky change from a dark blue to vibrant orange and then the amazing sun rise over the waves and sand! What a scene!

By mile 2 our one friend who had trained way more then us jumped ahead. She had done 10miles as her longest run and myself and my other running buddy had only done 5miles at best. Horrible I know!! You see now why I was so scared of failing! She wanted to keep up or pass the 2:30 mile pacer, and in the end she did. Girl did great for her first half marathon! 2:22! We all want to grow up and be like her.

The first goal me and my friend had was to make it past mile 5, once we did that everything else was a Personal Record (PR). And we did it! Mile 6 came and went in a flash! After that we had the Ponce Inlet Light House to look forward to. That was our half way point for the race.  

Once we got there I finally used the dreaded porta potty, GROSS! I was not about to squat in the trees so there it was... but done and done we carried on. The stinky thing (like that pun?) was when you wait in line for the bathroom your time does not stop. So I'm sorry but my time was wrong for the race. I'd like to protest that the large man who was using it before me took way to long and I'd like 3min taken off my time. Stepping off soap box...

After the Light House we circle back and on a different road. So new things to see! But man mile 8 was the slowest! My knees started hurting, and my pain killer for my tooth was wearing off. I know, whine whine, boohoo, no sympathy for me.... 

The knee pain was new for me tho, until that point I had never had knee pain! So maybe I need to strengthen my hips? Will look into that more later. After mile 8 we did a walk run combo, it was run till it hurt then take a fast walk break. Run again, walk, run walk.

 

The last mile was over the dreaded bridge! But once that bridge was in sight I knew the end was near! "Just go" I told myself, "use the adrenaline"! So I did! I ran thru the pain in my knees and now in my foot, we had come so far. This whole race was a new PR for me and something I had always wanted to do, it was almost over. Breakfast was waiting on the other side of the bridge. GO GO GO!

 

 

There waiting on the other side was our friend who had ran ahead of us and was there to take pictures thankfully. She got this nice cheesy shot of me coming to the end. After that I used any bit of energy left and ran across that finish line! We did it!!

Gimme that thing!!

 Then breakfast awaited, I was starving at this point! Give me some food! Found a banana but that was not enough. They had promised a glorious breakfast buffet provided by a local restaurant that is really good. So I was looking forward to some pancakes, waffles, fruit, anything at this point! But reality set in, we had the choice of sausage (not vegan), cheese grits (obviously not vegan) and some sketchy looking eggs (again not vegan). That was all!!! My stomach was NOT happy! Boo on them!

Things I learned from this experience:

Not doing the full training can hurt you but won't stop you. If you are intimidated by the hours and miles it takes to train for a half marathon, please don't be! I totally understand, as a busy mom the hours of running you have to commit to the training look like a mountain on top of the mountain of laundry we already have. I did not do near what I was supposed to do! Yet I crossed the finish line on my feet! Amazing! My knees hurt at the end, but considering I only ran 5miles as my top long distance run I think that was nothing in comparison to what could have been.

Do cross training. It helps you on your off days stay on track and keep focused to the goal of running the following day. You get a stronger core, which is never a bad thing in my book. So pick a YouTube video to do some cross training when the baby is sleeping for 15min and cross that little item off you list.

The New Indian Slow Cooker book review

The New Indian Slow Cooker book review

1 Fork out of 5

When it comes to slow cooker cook books I think of easy, not hard. This book was just that, HARD!

First, the term slow cooker to me makes me think, throw everything in and let it do its job. This book had so much prep work that needed to be done for the meal it was like the slow cooker was an after thought. So much needed to be pan fried, or sauted before it even touched the slow cooker that I had 2 pans dirty before even dirtying the slow cooker. Not a fan of that.

Then, the ingredients are a bit hard to find. If I couldn't find it in my local grocery store then forget it. Some of these spices or beans were so hard to find I had to order them off the internet. Again, hard.

If this book wasn't given to me I would never have bought it. This book is not meant for me, a mom with small kids. You need to be prepared to do prep work, let the slow cooker cook for hours on end and do a hunt for ingredients. So who ever has time for that, then please get this book.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review. Shop Amazon - Save on Dutch Ovens