Let's Tri This Again

Today I was something that I don’t often call myself: a spectator. The triathlon I signed up for a few months ago became out of the question last week after injuring myself, so this morning I found myself on the sidelines with my brother as my parents competed. Kind of backwards, I know!

2 weeks ago I was excited. I was starting to put in some higher volume training. I was feeling like I’d set a pr come this race.

Then, my birthday came and I found myself unable to do my favorite activity. My shin bothered me and since it didn’t clear up in a few days I got a bone scan to check things out. In the meantime I was swimming and biking to keep up. Until, I managed to pull some muscle in my hip. As I struggled to walk for a few days, it became apparent that I would not be able to take any part of the triathlon other than watching.

I spent several days inside in a sour mood. I tried to talk myself into a good attitude but it wasn’t working. Today I figured out why. I sometimes take myself too seriously. I was putting way too much pressure on myself and it took me watching 600 other people having fun to figure it out. I made this cross country season an all or nothing thing, sitting out last year and taking nothing in hopes that this year I would get it all (a dream season that is). I wanted to have my cake and eat it too. Determined to catch up to the rest of the NCAA all in one summer, I started training like crazy. 50, 60, 70 miles. Too much asphalt. Crash!

I didn’t pace myself. I made a rookie mistake in my fifth year of college running. That fact is what horrified me the most. I don’t have the results of the bone scan back yet to know whether it’s a fracture or not. Either way, once I get back to training, I’ll have to take it slower. I can't force things to happen. There are no short cuts in this sport. I may not run as fast as I anticipated this fall. But I’ll take that over not running at all.

Even though I did not race today, I made a mocha frappe worthy of getting me going at 5 am:

1 frozen banana

1 scoop Choc-a-lot Vega Energizing Smoothie

1 packet Starbucks Via instant coffee

1 tsp maca

¾ cup almond milk

8 ice cubes

What does a smoothie girl do on her birthday??

Make a birthday cake smoothie?

Nah, that's been done.

How about a smoothie with all her favorite things?

Bingo!

It just so happened that we had most of my favorites in the house, so I combined them all for one celebratory breakfast concoction.

Here's the line-up:

• 1/2 cup watermelon
• 1/4 of an avocado
• 2 thick slices of cucumber
• 1 spoonful chocolate flax oil
• 1 spoonful chocolate peanut butter
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 1 spoonful Hershey's dark cocoa
• a dash of cinnamon
• 1/2 of a banana
• 3 strawberries
• 2 pitted medjool dates
• 2 shelled walnuts
• 2 spoonfuls old fashioned oats
• 1 spoonful wheat germ
• 3 almond milk ice cubes

Into the blender everything went.

 

The result.

 

So, did it taste good?

 

 

Does this answer your question?

 

 

My horoscope today says: Few work harder than you to make other people's lives better in rather obvious ways. Gifts and surprises will trickle in over the next four weeks. There's a financial boost in August. You'll commune with nature in September. A windfall happens in January. Taurus and Libra people adore you.

I hope this is true.

I'm Running to Your Arms

As a Christian runner I struggle with what value my sport holds in my life. As my teammate Amanda Winslow likes to say "I'm not running for a win." Because here's the thing: I know that God doesn't care if I win a foot race or not. He has offered a prize that is much greater than an All-American or Olympic medal.

Today as I was running, I started reminiscing some great moments I've had in my still-short running career. I do this sometimes to make it through a boring or tiring run. I replayed the day I won the ACC Steeplechase Championship in my head. One of my favorite memories I keep is when Coach Harvey came sprinting across the field and lifted me off the ground in congratulations and we were both just elated.

I wish that will happen again. Please happen again. Please happen again. What if it never happens again?!

Then it struck me. It WILL happen again. Just not in the same place I imagine it. It will be when I get to heaven. Jesus will scoop me up with a greater joy and excitement than I have ever felt from winning a race. From this image my pace on the trail quickens. I will face the prize I've truly been training for my whole life. And it will have little to do with the miles and times I ran. To be sure, 1 Corinthians 9:24 is not about a 10k (although some people will twist it that way). It's about the race of a lifetime.

"Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever." 1 Corinthians 9:25 begins the rest of the story.

What happens on the trails, how my training goes, or where I finish in my next race does not determine failure or success. I'll only fail if I don't live God's words. I'll only fail if I don't love. I'll only fail if I ignore God's plan for me.

After these images and thoughts play out, I look down at my watch. I've just clocked the fastest mile of my run...

Today's smoothie was something new to me:
2 figs, picked straight off my Dad's fig tree
1/4 cup cooked Jasmati rice
1/2 cup chocolate soymilk
ice cubes

Turn Around, Silly

Today on my run I was heading into some wind, and I, getting tired and frustrated, asked God, "Why does there have to be this stupid wind pushing against me?" He replied, "I actually have blessed you with the wind, just turn around silly!" So I did. That makes me wonder what other solutions are right under my nose...

Anyway, today's smoothie was green:
1 cup turnip greens
1/2 of a banana
1 stalk of celery
1 spoonful of maca
1 spoonful of ground flaxseed
a drop of almond extract
1/2 cup of almond milk

Hello July

It sure is heating up around here! This morning's run was the sweatiest yet and afterward I spent $1.75 on a homemade ice bath. I've been lazy and spending most of the time inside the air-conditioned house, but I am looking forward to this month. This week, I'm adding more miles to my summer running routine. My family will be attending 2 weddings. Mom, Dad, and I are preparing for a small triathlon on the 21st. After that, I'm hoping to take a one-night camping trip with my brother to Birmingham, which will entail a challenging run in Oak Mountain State Park. Oh, and I turn 22 this month! Tonight, we are kicking off July with dinner on the grill: ribs, black bean burgers made by me, and corn on the cob. I'll be watching the last night of the Olympic Track Team Trials on TV. The Olympics could not have come at a better time. Just the inspiration I needed to fire me up for my last year running at FSU.

This morning's smoothie was one of my more simple ones:
1/2 an avocado
a handful of strawberries
a handful of raspberries
a scoop of Vega vanilla almondilla energizing smoothie
spoonful of maca
1/2 cup almond milk
Served in a frosty mug with a mint chocolate JD Bar :)

I'm a writer

I always said that writing was my least favorite subject in school. I was much more interested in science and loathed essay assignments. Even with the GRE test I have coming up this summer, the part I am dreading the most is the writing portion (2 essays and only 30 minutes for each!). Yet, here I am writing a blog…

Wait, I’m a writer? You see, one thing I have slowly learned is that writing is essential to everything, as it is a prime form of communication (another dreaded topic of mine). College has taught me this. Albeit I have written far less papers as a science major than is required of a liberal arts student, I now realize that even scientific information has to be relayed somehow. Sure, charts and graphs can communicate a great deal, but writing is required to explain their significance to us.

What has hammered this idea home to me is a book that I am just finishing up reading called The China Study. This scientist, Dr. T. Colin Campbell, who I believe to be the most brilliant researcher in the field of nutrition, spent 30 years compiling the most compelling information about diet in relation to disease. The only reason I was able to learn all this information was because he, a person who certainly never set out to be a writer, authored a 400-page book! This book has not only opened my eyes to the tragedy of the Standard American Diet and how our government and healthcare system are failing to improve it (more on that at a later date), but it has in part, inspired me to take a new view on writing and even played a role in the beginning of my blog.

Today I found the hilliest part of my neighborhood and cruised around for about an hour, then cooled off with this:

½ of a banana

a handful of strawberries

a handful of raspberries

2 handfuls of kale

a scoop of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer

a spoonful of maca

½ a cup of almond milk

a spoonful of raspberry-lemon Natural Vitality Calm

Red and green don’t make for the prettiest colored smoothie, but the tart berry flavor made up for that.

Commitment

The truth is, probably the main reason I put off starting a blog for so long was because I was afraid of the “C” word. It seemed like a tough commitment to continue to post regularly, and the last thing I wanted to do was to begin something and then “fail” at it. But I’ve thought about it a little further. It’s not like writing papers for school, where I have to do research before painstakingly forming sentences about a topic I am not excited about. This blog is supposed to encompass my life. I am committed to: training for track and cross country, getting a college degree, my family and friends, my relationship with Christ, living a healthy life. If I am blogging about all these things that I’m already committed to and constantly thinking about, then is blogging really a tough commitment? I don’t think so! Albeit, I won’t hold myself to any certain schedule. This shouldn’t be so hard after all.

Today’s smoothie that powered my 8-mile run:

¼ of a cucumber

½ of an avocado

a stalk of celery

a cup of watermelon

2 kiwis

2 handfuls of blueberries

¼ cup of almond milk

a scoop of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer (natural flavor)