One Year Annivesary…

OF RUNNING!

One year ago today I was home for Thanksgiving break, overweight, and pretty down on myself. Desperate for a change of any kind, I drove to a park nearby my house, put on some Under Armour spandex that I wore under my jeans on days it was extra cold in South Bend, and started running. If I got a little tired, I slowed down instead of giving up. When I was nearing my car, I turned and ran down a different street so I didn’t have the excuse that I was already back.

That 30 minute run, no matter what distance it actually was, gave me the confidence to start running regularly. It made me ask for a Garmin for Christmas and lead eventually to my first half marathon. It taught me to eat enough food to get me through long training runs and to appreciate what my body was capable of. It totally changed the way I viewed exercise, health and nutrition. Definitely worthy of an anniversary celebration.

So what did I do today?

Yoga.

 

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Work today was busy again. Trying to fit a weeks worth of work into 3 days all while making up for people that are on vacation is hectic! But I’m thankful for some time off now. Breakfasts have been pumpkin yogurt messes & lunches have been salads from our cafeteria eaten at my desk. Snacks have been carbolicious and relatively constant. Chocolate is stress relieving.

Today the checkout lady goes "wow that's a big salad!" mmhmmmm girl loves her veggies

Found my mom's hidden m&ms while looking for xmas music. Time for a new hiding spot.

 

OUTFIT:

I’ve been trying to think of ways to mix up my wardrobe so I don’t feel the need to buy new clothes. Plaid shirts don’t only go with jeans anymore 🙂 This outfit was created in my head while I wasn’t sleeping on Monday night. At least I get something useful out of my insomnia.

 

Shirt - Target, Belt - Target, Skirt - Old Navy, Boots - Aigner

 

I didn’t want to straighten my hair since the rain would just make it one big frizz ball, so I randomly decided to french braid it. I’d never attempted this, and was really scared to see what this picture looked like. I actually think it turned out alright!

 

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Tonight was chili night with all of my relatives that are in town! Last night I made Rachael Ray’s Meatless Winter Chili as a vegetarian contribution. A few changes were made: neither my mom nor I could find ancho chilis anywhere, so they were omitted. I also used one onion and one yellow pepper since we didn’t have two whole onions.

First I browned the mushrooms in some olive oil, then added chopped zucchini. I used the food processor (like my mom wants me to!!) but ended up dicing the zucchini way too small. I like chunkier chili, but I guess it doesn’t really matter.

Next I chopped up one onion, one yellow pepper, and a lot of garlic in the food processor and added it to the pot.

Next up was a sliced and seeded chili pepper, spices and fresh thyme

A beer to deglaze the pan, followed by some tomato paste and a can of black beans…

And a taste test!

It was good! As I said, I would have preferred it a bit chunkier and maybe a little spicier. Probably could have been solved by using those ancho chilis. I’m not in love with it, so will continue testing out vegetarian options. And also – you gotta like mushrooms for this one! My older brother picked around them 😦

Aside from my chili, my uncle made his famous beef chili and my mom made a white bean chicken version.

We had “beer bread”, my moms amazing corn bread that is more like a corn pudding because it has so much creamed corn in it:), and some cheddar bacon bites.

All the chili toppings and salad that got completely ignored.

My first dish: some of my mom’s white bean chili that she left the chicken out of and a few pieces of beer bread.

That is a completely inaccurate picture of what I ate tonight. Add about half a jumbo bag of chex mix, 4 more pieces of beer bread, another helping of chili, 2 beers, 4 chocolate truffles, and some TJ’s chocolate covered pretzels and you’re getting closer.

But it’s hard to be upset about overeating when you have such great company – relatives that I practically had to re-meet because it’s been so long and a new baby cousin that is a budding foodie:)

 

Aunt Wendy up front:)

I asked Kevin what I should say about him on the Blog. He said "MEAT. It's what's for breakfast. And lunch and dinner". Also - my little brother is identical to McLovin from Super Bad. Look it up.

Mia!

 

 

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I decided to get out of the house, almost 50% just to remove myself from the food. And because I wanted to see the gggurrlzzz 🙂 I couldn’t be part of their big pot luck dinner since it was Chili night, and I’m not going out to the bars because of my run tomorrow, but I had to at least go say hi!!

Maggie danced as usual. This doesn’t even require alcohol.

And I made sure to get everyone together for a girl pic before I left! A “blog” chant may or may not have been started.

 

Am I the only one that doesn't go tanning? Or have I just not reapplied bronzer since 8am.

 

And can’t forget about our lovely photographers / only two boys at the girls night.

 

Chaz & Opp! Chaz = #1 male blog reader.

 

 

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AH what a day! Now I’m in bed having serious second thoughts about my 6 mile turkey trot tomorrow. The forecast looks like this:

I could just suck it up and do it, since I already paid for it and keep getting “good luck” text messages. I DID give up going out tonight for this, after all! Or I could just sleep in and hit the gym when I wake up. I would feel guilty about skipping a race, wasting my money, and missing a night out with friends for no reason. But I would also feel really really silly if I forced myself to get hypothermia for a 6 mile run by myself.

• what would you do?

 

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Last but not least, some announcements:

1. I finally signed up for the Frostbite series, long run version. 5 races throughout the winter ranging from a 12k to a 20k! Should keep me motivated.
2. St. Louis was once again voted most dangerous city in the USA. That is something I pride myself on. And the onion did a hilarious article about it!
3. Thank you so so much for all of your awesome comments on yesterday’s post. You guys sure know how to cheer me up:)

 

See you tomorrow for my race decision, lots of thankfulness, and even more food!

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