Passion, Patience and Training News

Hi guys!

How was your Thursday? Mine was busy, busy, busy! Good news is that tomorrow is FRIDAY! =)

This morning I snacked on my favorite Kashi bar and an apple around 3:45—

I love this bar because of the chew! It takes me forever to eat and I love the caramel flavor. It also keeps me full for awhile and that’s always a plus (although I am definitely not as hungry today as I was yesterday!)!

I also had a Kombucha while at work……I said only on Fridays but it just looked so good!

I was excited about breakfast because I got to try out this:

Turned into this—-

So portable and easy…I love it! The only ingredients in this rolled oats bowl are rolled oats, cinnamon, water, agave nectar and sea salt and it contains 220 calories. I’m guessing it contains the heart healthy portion of oats (3/4 cup dry) and that is why it is more calories than just a standard cup of oatmeal.

I was very very VERY pleased with this product! I did bulk it up a bit with a half scoop of chocolate protein powder, half a sliced banana and a scoop of almond butter, but the overall flavor and texture of the oatmeal was wonderful. Even though it does contain a sweetener (agave nectar), you would never know it because this didn’t taste sugary at all. It was very thick and “porridge-like”, just how I like my oatmeal to be. This breakfast kept me full and going strong for about 5 hours! I would be very interested in trying out the other Amy’s breakfast bowls (cream of rice, steel cut oats) to see how they measure up. This is one for one though!

Like I said before, my appetite was a lot less ravenous than yesterday! Funny how that is sometimes. I felt FULL all morning at work from my breakfast and when I got home I was craving yet another ab&j on an ezekiel muffin. I just can’t get enough of this (or nut butter for that matter!). On the side, I had watermelon, half a red pepper and cucumber….nice cooling produce for this hot day!

After lunch, I biked to Sarah’s house for bible study. Yes, my friend Sarah does have a blog (she’s had one for a long time actually) but she just recently decided to make it more “open” to the blog world! I hope you all will visit her site and support her as you continually support me! The bike ride there was….interesting. It took about 15 minutes and was on a narrow sidewalk next to a busy street (don’t worry, I wore my helmet!) so I was constantly having to stop and go. On the ride back, I took a longer more scenic route along the bay to actually get a bit of a workout in. However, I made the mistake of riding by my favorite health food store and therefore just HAD to stop for another one of those amazing veggie juice drinks that I had last Sunday! Here’s my favorite mix of carrot, ginger, beet, apple and celery:

After bible study, before starting the second leg of my bike journey (haha), I snacked on a primal strip for some protein:

I LOVE these!!!

Tonight’s dinner was super simple, yet again. I promise to make it up tomorrow night! When I got home from biking, I was having an intense Indian food craving so I heated up my favorite channa masala:

Tastes SO authentic!

I also had about 80% of my last Rudi’s wrap (the other 20% was left out in the fridge and had gotten all hard and icky) with sliced cucumbers and the last of the jicama. I’ve got to hit the store tomorrow! I’m going through my produce like crazy…I guess that’s a good thing though!

Dessert was a frozen Veggie Girl Chocolate Chip Almond Fig Blondie (!!!!)

Yes, Veggie Girl, I am still savoring every morsel of the delicious dessert you baked me!!! These were AMAZING straight out of the freezer…no need to thaw! Very very chewy and delicious.

I picked an event that is sort of far off, but it gives me a lot of time (and I’m going to need it!) to train and get strong and ready. I was thinking this morning at work at what I think it really means to be ALIVE (yes, I have deep thoughts after 2 cups of coffee while topping muffins at 4:15 am), and to me, really living your life is challenging yourself and doing things that scare you! I love the feeling of accomplishment, of strength and of just really feeling like I am living my life to the fullest every second of every day. That all being said, I have decided to train for a TRIATHLON on August 2nd. I NEVER in a million bagillion years would have thought this would be something I ever would want to do, and even the thought of it really freaks me out (I cannot swim to save my life), but I think it would be such an amazing sense of accomplishment. Sarah is hopefully going to do it with me (she has done three triathlons) and she’s going to sort of “coach” me through the training process….especially the swimming part, which I am terrified of!

The triathlon is a sprint tri in Key Biscayne….we swim in the Atlantic, bike in South Beach and then run over the bridge that connects downtown to Key Biscayne. Its for a great cause, too, and that is research for Huntington’s Disease.

For those of you that don’t know, Huntington’s Disease is an inherited disorder resulting in the slow and irreversible loss of both mental and physical capacity. The usual age of onset is between 30 and 50, usually after a person has established a career, married and begun a family. Initial symptoms can be hard to detect and identify, including depression, mood swings, forgetfulness, and lack of coordination. That all being said, I will be raising money for this event to give as my donation. There is no known cure to this disease, but the money donated will go to improving the lives of those who are affected with the disease and to provide further research on it. I haven’t worked out the details yet, but in the future there will be a spot where you all can donate if you feel called to! I have to raise $125, which shouldn’t (hopefully) be too difficult to do because I know how amazingly supportive you all on the blogging community are. More details on all that donation stuff to come in the future though!

(I really have no earthly idea what I am getting myself into so seasoned triathletes feel free to leave suggestions on how to train someone that is used to swimming doggy paddle in the pool)

Tomorrow is work, lunch with Courtney at GrassRoots, grocery shopping, mushroom recipe formulating and hopefully playing with a new toy that should come tomorrow in the mail………….

Bible study quote of the week: