Before...and during photos!

First I want to give a shout out to my good friend and fellow running gal Beverly.  She has just started a new blog depicting her healthy life style changes.  Bev will also be co-instructing the For Women Only (Learn to Run Clinic) through the Running Room with me this coming July.  If you have a moment, mosey on over to A Pond's View and see what she has to say.  I look forward to following her journey.

I found some old photos of me and thought I would share a side by side, or in this case, a top to bottom.  My husband was looking at them today and couldn't believe I ever looked like that.  These photos are not that old, and I was wearing a plus size 24 in them.

Probably taken last summer at Canada's Wonderland...
less than a year ago!

That is a maternity top I'm wearing...
I'm not pregnant!

This is my most recent full body shot...taken on Mother's Day after my morning run.  I think this was an 82 pound difference.  I'm currently wearing a size 14/16 regular.

Be kind...I haven't showered yet!

The photo on the left, taken last summer in Port Stanton.  The Photo on the right taken last week by my computer.  Almost exactly a year between photos.  We were in Port Stanton for the Victoria Day long weekend last year which fell on May 21st this year.




So there you have it!.  I'm not done yet, but well on my way to being a normal, healthy weight.  I've said this before and I'll say it again, if I can do it...anyone can! Now for some motivation!

Run for Wells

Almost at the finish line, waving at my little guy!

This morning was my third 5k race.  My chip time said I ran the race in 42:17.  I'm not sure how accurate that time was.  There was no chip detector at the start line, the race started about 3 minutes late, and according to my friend Enz's Nike+ it says we ran 5.44k.  It was a pretty small race, so the timing was completely unorganized.  It annoys me a bit because I ran the race to see if I could better my last time, and I can't say if I did or not.  There are just too many discrepancies.  So a touch disappointing.

Puffing along...

I did however, get a technical t-shirt, and the added bonus of running along a real pretty (and hilly) route.  It was a nice challenging run and I did enjoy chatting up some other runners along the way.  My pace bunny was a 7 year old girl named Mercedes who I spent the entire race passing, then watched her get a burst of energy and pass me.  If only she could have kept up the pace the whole way, she would have won!  She was real fast when she got her bursts of energy!  I told her that it was all mental and she could run the whole way if she talked herself into it.  That's around the time she rolled her eyes at me and stayed behind me the rest of the way.

Greeting my boy after the race.

Another added bonus of the race was the lovely road kill along the way.  There was a particularly gruesome raccoon in the middle of the country road, entrails and all spewed all over the place.  I didn't look at it as I passed and kept my eyes on the road, only to see foot print entrails in front of me.  Yuck!  Thank God my stomach was empty, I'd have hurled from the smell alone!

Enz and I just after she crossed the finish line.

 Although the race was for a good cause (Wells in Africa), I'll likely not run it again.  The organization left much to be desired, and there was no medal.  The only way you got a medal is if you placed.  That definitely wasn't happening for me, but there was a young boy (around 10 years old) who came in 4th for the 10k.  He completed in about 44 minutes.  I'm going to find out his name because I'd be very surprised if he doesn't turn into some running star in the future.  Just imagine how fast he'll be when he's 18!

Harley, Tanya, me, Bev and Enz after the race.

We waited around for Pauline to finish the 10k before heading out to Kelsey's for the celebratory lunch.  I was pretty much spent by this time, but had to rush out to the grocery store to buy BBQ supplies for my brother, father and niece who were coming out for dinner.  I'm pretty tired as I type this out and I really should just pack it in for the night.  I have to get up tomorrow morning for my regular practice run at the Running Room!

Pauline coming in from the 10k run.

Pauline and Bev at Kelseys.

Julien and Enz playing Tic Tac Toe.

The thigh's the limit

I went to see Dr. Stephen today for my official weigh-in.  I'm down 5.6 pounds...4.8 of that is fat!  That brings my total weight-loss to 87 pounds!  That number is a bit overwhelming to me. A year ago, I was talking about how I was going to finally get gastric bypass surgery.  I never dreamed I would lose all this weight by diet and exercise alone.  Especially the exercise part.  I never made it a secret about how much I hated exercise.  I'm now fully addicted to running, I really enjoy my yoga class, and I'm still taking the stairs...all the time.  Admittedly though, I hate the stairs.  I just do it to get some extra cardio in my day and I just pretend that all elevators are broken!.

While running tonight (I ran 5k on my own for only the second time ever), I noticed that my inner thighs no longer rub together.  I'm thankful that it was just me along the rail trail tonight, as I kept touching my inner thighs as I made this discovery. Something you should really do in private.  I don't believe that my inner thighs have ever NOT rubbed together.  Maybe when I was 6...before I started gaining weight.  According to my BMI I have another 43 pounds to lose.  I still have some real problem areas that I will be glad to be rid of.  My upper arms, butt, outer thighs, gut...I can totally see where I can still lose 40+ pounds.  Only 2 more pounds before Heloise's restoration. Yikes!

The last two weeks, I have followed Phase 2 of Dr. Poon's Metabolic Diet.  I lost 5 pounds, which is what I lost on average when I used to follow Phase 1, and I didn't exercise.  I really want to get faster with my running, so I think I'm going to try and follow mostly Phase 1 for a couple of weeks and see where I end up...with the exception of  eating a protein bar 1 1/2 hours before I run.  I ate a salad with lean protein about an hour before I ran tonight, and I had cramps the whole time.  Eating the protein bar before running definitely works better for me.

I know that the key to getting faster, is dropping more weight.  One thing I can honestly say about following this metabolic diet is I am never hungry.  I always eat until I am full and the key is to eat the right foods (ie: no cheating).  When I'm hungry, I just want to eat to subside my hunger.  I rarely think too hard about the variety of food that I eat.  This diet may not be right for everyone, but it has helped me to think of food as being fuel for my body. It's just food, and it will no longer control my life.  I was an emotional eater my whole life and I hope to never go down that road again.  I've come way too far to mess this up now.  I have boundless amounts of energy, and I never feel better than I do right after a run.  I LOVE that feeling!  It's completely addictive.

This past weekend was my nephew's confirmation dinner.  It was also his cousin's confirmation, so the mother's had a joint dinner for both.  It was a lovely evening and I saw people I haven't seen in a year, and some I just saw a month ago.  My sister-in-law's sisters-in-law (hope that's not too confusing) were shocked by my appearance.  I hadn't seen them since last summer.  My father and mother-in-law only saw me a month ago, but said that they didn't recognize me when they saw me.  I had no idea that I looked that different in the span of a month!  My sister-in-law said something that choked me up.  She told me, in a whisper while hugging me, that every time she sees me, she gets tears in her eyes because she's so proud of me.  Of all the compliments I got that night, that was definitely the one that touched me the most!  It's moments like these that make me want to reach my goal.

My boy Jules, me, my handsome nephew Nicolas,
his beautiful cousin Victoria, and my hubby.

Big, exciting news...

As you all know, I've become a little obsessed with running.  I completed my "For women Only" clinic through the Running Room, which is the "Learn to Run" clinic...for women only.  It was a great experience and I'm still amazed at how quickly my body adapted to running.  Twelve weeks ago I struggled doing 1:2 intervals (that's 1 minute running, 2 minutes walking).  Today, I can easily do 10:1 intervals and don't feel like I need to stop for my minute rest.  I think this week, while running on my own, I'm going to try and run straight without stopping to rest.

On Friday, I met my gal Beverly for a run.  We did a fairly difficult route that my former running instructor showed me and Enz.  It's got a real steep hill and a fairly long incline.  I love the hill/incline routes because they work the muscles in my legs really well and I feel like I'm getting an optimal workout.  I can recover from doing a hill while I'm running which just proves to me that I'm really getting the hang of this running thing.  This morning I had a run with Enz and we ran 4x10:1 intervals, which was up a gradual incline.  It was definitely harder going than coming back.

This morning's run was good, because I learned something else about my running.  I've always said that I was not a morning runner, but this morning I felt great.  The difference, I believe, is in what I ate.  I normally eat 2 hard boiled eggs every morning.  We had a guest speaker talk to us about nutrition and running a few weeks ago and she mentioned that just eating protein before a run may not be the best option, because it takes longer for protein to settle and digest in your stomach.  This morning I ate a protein bar (which has carbs) and drank a coffee.  I felt like I had wings on my feet.  My run was very easy.  This excited me because I really want to be a morning runner.  I will try this again this week and see how I do.  We'll see how good I feel at 6am, as opposed to 8:30am.

So now my BIG exciting news.  Me and my running gal Beverly are going to co-instruct the next "For Women Only" clinic through the Running Room.  What?  That's right, I'm going to teach other women how to run.  Who would have thought that I would ever get here?  I'm so excited about this and can't believe that I will get paid...to run!  My dream come true.  Actually, I'm not sure if I get paid, I know I get the employee discount though.  That's more than enough incentive for me.  I only hope I'll be as much of a role model and inspiration as Carol was to me when I took the "For Women Only" clinic.

The next "For Women Only" instructors at the Hamilton
Running Room!

I'm hooked on a feeling

On Monday I started my 5k clinic at the Running Room.  I'm sad that Carol is no longer my running instructor.  She really rocked...and called me Lynn up until a month ago.  However, all of my running gals, with the exception of Jennifer, have moved onto the 5k clinic with me.  Our new instructor Eric seems like an amiable dude.  So I'm sure all will be wonderful.  I'm hoping to work on improving my speed during this clinic as well as running more hills.

Our "For women Only" clinic.
Enz, me and Bev in the back.  Carol, Jennifer and Tanya up front.

I have a race next weekend.  Another 5k...the Run for Wells.  This is my first, and likely only race without a medal.  At least it is chip timed so I can see if my speed has improved since the Hazel 5k.  I have races planned every month until November.  I was getting a little addicted, so I've limited myself to one per month.  I can't afford to enter any more than that.   After the Run for Wells comes the Meredith Hagan Inspiration Run.  I'm looking forward to this one.  It's near and dear to Tanya's heart because her fiance went to school with Meredith.  It's a 5.6k trail run with hills.  I'm looking forward to the challenge and for supporting such a worthy cause.

Yesterday I had dinner out at a work function.  It was a banquet style dinner.  The only thing I could eat was the chicken breast and the 4 stalks of asparagus served with the entree.  So I could not eat the cream of mushroom soup, the rolls, the mashed potatoes, the apple crumble dessert with ice cream, the iced cupcake lollipops or the two kinds of cake (chocolate and vanilla).  According to everyone at my table, it was all pretty tasty.  Some questioned how I could not be tempted to indulge in the many desserts that were served.  It was surprisingly easy.  I drank a ton of water and just reminded myself how great I felt.  No food could replace that feeling.

I saw many people that I have not seen in a few months and must have gotten at least (and I'm not even exaggerating) a dozen comments on my appearance.  During the work day, I got an additional 6 comments from people who see me on a daily basis.  I was wondering if my appearance changed dramatically over night.  It is a big incentive to keep going when I get so many positive comments.  Makes me want to reach my goal more than ever.

Today I went through the clearance racks at Old Navy.  I found a score.  A pair of shorts for under $6.  Right now I have no shorts and my 16R jeans and capris are getting a bit baggy.  Baggy but still comfortable.  So I purchased the shorts in size 14R.  A size I haven't seen since my hubby and I were first dating.  I figured I'd fit into them in a few weeks.  So I bring them home and try them on...and they fit perfectly.  Man, I love that feeling!

My $5.90 Old Navy shorts.  Cute huh?

Heloise revisited

I'm quite proud of myself.  I did something tonight I thought I would never do on my own.  I ran.  That's right, I ran all by myself.  Now if my clinic instructor knew that I ran during dusk on the Rail Trail where there is no lit path, I might get in a lot of shit.  Not only was I wearing all black, but I wasn't wearing anything reflective.  I did not follow the running safety speech I just heard yesterday in my 5k clinic.  And I could have easily been mowed over by a  bike, since there were lots of them...with no lights, or warning bells!  And I was listening to my MP3 player and was therefore very distracted.  So I broke just about every running rule I know of.  If they hear about me at the Running Room, they may ask me to leave the club lest my nefarious attitude towards important safety practice rub off on other runners I come into contact with!

The point is that I did something I thought I wouldn't enjoy on my own...and it wasn't that bad. Granted I was listening to a book on tape. And it wasn't any book on tape, it was this book on tape. I was hot and bothered by the end of my run and wasn't sure if it was from my exertion, or the book. Judge me all you want, but it made my 40 minute run go by so quick.  I just may listen to books on tape during every run.  I paid no attention to my watch and my run felt almost effortless.  It also kept my mind off of possibly being attacked, either by evil bikers, or wild animals (since my section of the rail trail is pretty dense).  My laces hitting my shoes made me think that someone was running behind me the whole time.

I have started thinking about my "incentive" for when I hit my Onederwall (Onederland to others).  I am referring of course to Heloise.  You can read about her here.  I'm almost there.  I have 7 pounds to go.  Then I'll have to make the trip to the tat place...and receive my reward.  I think I'm more nervous about the actual procedure, not getting the tattoo bigger.  The tattoo will represent my son (I'm gonna get his birth date in the banner instead of his name), but also my weight-loss milestone of getting under 200 pounds.  A weight I have not been in over a dozen years and then, only for a short time before I ballooned back up to the 280's...sometimes 90's.  My highest weight ever was 310, just before my son was born.

A close up of Heloise.  You can see how faded she truly is.

I know there are still some who do not think that altering my tattoo is a good idea.  I feel as though the very little thought I put into getting it the first time around will be rectified by the important meaning it will represent once it is reborn.  My son is my world.  If it wasn't for him, I don't think I would have gotten serious about my health.  It's funny how I didn't think to do something as important as getting back my life just for me, but needed the incentive of having a child to see the seriousness of my destructive ways.  It is because of my special little guy that I will ignore the butterflies (no pun intended) in my stomach and welcome my new tattoo.  Like I said in my previous tattoo post, if I'm gonna have a permanent scar on my body, it might as well be beautiful and something that has meaning to me.  My altered tattoo will represent not only Heloise's rebirth, but mine as well.

It's the most wonderful time of the year, revisited

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, grandmothers, foster mothers, Godmothers...anyone who is maternal!  You get the drift.  I got a wonderful photo montage from my son signing "I love you".  So cute...and I was a hot mess of choked uppedness when he gave it to me.  He's truly a wonderful boy and I don't know how we lucked out.  So well mannered and the sweetest disposition EVER.  I am completely biased though!

I love the spring/summer.  Not only is it gardening and lovely weather time, but it's grilling time!  I love a good bbq.  I found this fabulous marinade recipe here an I've been using it for years.  I use it on all meat and on my grilled veggies too.  With a one minor alteration, it is Phase 1 and 2 friendly for Dr. Poon's Metabolic Diet.

You will need:

1/3 cup of light soy sauce
1/2 cup of olive oil
1/3 cup of fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons of minced garlic (because I love garlic)
3 tablespoons of dried basil
1 1/2 tablespoons of dried parsley flakes
1 teaspoon of pepper
1/4 teaspoon of pepper sauce

Put everything in a large Ziploc bag and mash it all around.  I add the meat to the bag and mash it again, usually leaving the meat in the marinade overnight.  I also use the same marinade to do grilled vegetable shish-kebabs on.  Sooooo yummy.

Veggie kebabs, turkey sausage and pork chops.

My master griller!

Note the good picture quality.  I finally upgraded my "ghetto" phone with an android.  Yay me!

The scale is just a number

The last time I was at Dr. Poon's clinic for an official weigh-in was February 3rd.  The scale says I lost 21.6 pounds between then and now.  The Tanita Body Composition Analyzer says I lost 29.2 pounds of fat.  How does that work if my weight is only down 21.6 pounds?  Water weight.  I'm down three pounds from when I got weighed at Dr. Pitt's office on April 19th, but I have gained 5.6 pounds of water.  This doesn't surprise me since I had a fairly high sodium day yesterday.  Not a smart thing to do right before a weigh-in.  Am I disappointed?  Nope.  The scale is just a number.

I know that my body has changed over the past few weeks.  Not only are my clothes getting big...yet again, people I haven't seen for a few weeks have commented that I have noticeably had another loss.  My fat mass went down significantly in the past three months, as did my fat percentage.  And I know that I have built muscle.  My legs are testament to that.

Over the past 5 weeks or so, I have probably eaten more than I have the previous 7 months.  I have been eating a lot of lean protein and Phase 2 vegetables.  I had two cups of air popped popcorn last Sunday and felt like I was cheating (even though it's allowed on Phase 2).  Regardless of how much (of the right) foods I have been eating, I'm dropping fat and my body is changing rapidly.  This is what running is doing for me.

On average I run about 20k per week.  For my body weight that works out to be just below 2000 calories burned by running per week.  Not too shabby, and I'm burning a lot of fat which makes my loss even greater.  Running has boosted my metabolism and it's working overtime regardless of how much I eat.  Because of the foods I do eat, I never feel low energy or bloated during a run, I just feel like I could run forever.  I still have that moment of "Why am I doing this again?" right when I start my run, but it's soon replaced with "OMG!  I'm a runner".  And I feel like a million bucks when I'm done.

Exactly one year ago, I was gorging myself on processed carbs and foods high in sugar, sodium and fat.  I also weighed 288 pounds.  I never dreamed that I would be running 20k per week and pretty much addicted to entering races.  I do have to admit though, that I'm becoming a bit of a running snob.  I only want to enter races where I get a medal.  And then I want a medal display rack...great gift idea, just say'in!

Last week, a co-worker asked me how I stayed focused and able to continue on this diet for so long.  I told her that I could do it because I realize I'm always going to have to eat like this.  Maybe not always as strictly as I do now, but always low carb, low fat and low sugar.  I look at my obesity as a potentially terminal disease.  If I was allergic to peanuts I would never eat nuts because they could kill me.  Carbs, fat and sugar will also kill me if I go back to my old habits.  Does anything taste good enough to risk re-gaining the 82 pounds I have already lost?  Not on your life.  I have way too much to live for.

This is my Peanut when he was just a little guy!

Starbucks Coffee Hazel 5k

What a fun day Saturday was!  Although we missed our running gal Tanya (getting ready to leave for Paris); Enz, Beverly, Pauline and I had a great time.  Pauline (our Parisian friend) came only to support us...and take photos.  She was a bandit, someone who ran the race, but didn't register.  She also brought dark chocolate brownies (that she made) for us.  I admired them, but only had a tiny morsel to see if they did indeed melt in your mouth like Beverly claimed.  They really did!

Enz, Beverly, me and Pauline hamming it up before gun time.

The Hazel 5k had a very different energy than the Chocolate Race in Port Dalhousie.  It seemed more official and serious.  Even Beverly had some nerves going in.  Her back was a bit sore and she wasn't feeling her best.  We took some snaps and waited for the gun to sound.  The last 20 minutes of waiting were the worst because after you've visited the porta potty, there's really nothing else to do but stand around.  I just wanted the race to begin already!  I want to give a quick shout out to Cintya.  She introduced herself to me while we were waiting to begin because she recognized me from my blog.  The Hazel 5k was her virgin race and from the results, I can see that she kicked ass.  Congrats to you Cintya and thanks for coming to say hello!  I really appreciated it!

The racing gals!

It was a great day for a run.  No too warm, not too cold.  Once the gun sounded, I started out too fast.  Never a good strategy, because you tire early that way.  We ran this race using 8:1 intervals.  Unfortunately (for Pauline), we all ran different speeds, so we broke up pretty early on in the race.  I pretty much ran the whole thing without a buddy, except for Pauline who ran back to check on me a couple of times.  She must have been tired!  She was running between the three of us!

The route was really pretty, along the Mississauga waterfront.  I did not notice one professional photographer until the finish line, but apparently they were all over the course.  After viewing my photos, I'm not too impressed with the results, so I didn't purchase any.  If you are feeling so inclined, you can view them here.  Pauline got one of me crossing the finish line as well as one of me along the route.

Enroute!

And the winner is....Not me!

I had a better overall time than the previous weekend.  Maybe I'm a touch faster, but there also weren't any hills.  The medals were real nice, and afterwards we stood in line for all the food freebies.  Pauline was in luck because I can't eat any of the freebies.  So even the "bandit" made off with the free food!  Here is my official time and stats for the race.

I bettered my previous time by almost a whole 2 1/2 minutes.

Again, I'm not the fastest runner, but I'm getting better every week.  My next race is in 2 1/2 weeks.  I'm "training" now to get below 40 minutes for that 5k.  With determination and hard work, I know I can do it!  I'm still amazed that I can run any distance at all since nine weeks ago I could barely run a minute.  And prior to that, I did absolutely no exercise what so ever!  It's amazing how quickly the human body adapts.

Yesterday I ran with Enz.  She is nursing a bruised knee.  She fell during the Hazel 5k because she was cut off by another runner and lost her footing.  This happened fairly early on in the race.  I know she would argue, but I thought she kicked ass!  If I fell during a race, I'd likely have given up.  Enz got up and kept on going.  What an inspiration she is.  I know she's down on herself because she didn't have a great finish time, but the fact that she finished at all is the true victory.  Beverly also had a bitch'in race.  She has a healing tailbone to contend with and bettered her time by almost 3 minutes!  Both of these ladies inspire me to keep on going.  Thanks for the memories gals:)

Commemorative t-shirt and medal.

Phase 1 friendly garlic lemon chicken with spicy baby bok choy

Although this is a very long awaited recipe post...I did want to mention briefly that I ran the Hazel 5k yesterday and bettered my time by 2:24.  I'm waiting for the official race photos to be posted tomorrow to see if I wanna buy any before I do my race post.  I am proud of the fact that I bettered my time by more than 2 minutes...and now I'm looking to better that time on the 26th of May when I do the Run for Wells.  I have three weeks to train, so I'm sure with determination and hopefully a few more pounds shed, I'll be able to better my time yet again!

A pretty unflattering photo...I look old around the eyes!
Definitely sunglasses next time!

I made a slow cooker chicken recipe today.  The unaltered recipe with a picture is here.  My chicken pretty much looked identical in my crock pot, except I didn't return it to the crock pot after shredding it.  Unfortunately, I'm still without a camera...and have not gotten around to upgrading my ghetto phone just yet.

For this recipe I used:

I whole chicken, washed and patted dry
3 bulbs of garlic, peeled
2 small cooking onions, peeled and cut into large chunks
lots of Italian seasoning
1 1/2 lemons
Half salt
pepper

Other than the garlic, onions and lemon, I didn't measure anything.  I washed and dried the chicken, layered the peeled garlic (minus about 6 cloves) and the chunked onion (minus about 1/2 an onion) in the bottom of my slow cooker.  I rubbed the chicken generously with Italian seasoning and sprinkled it with Half salt and pepper to taste.  I placed the remaining garlic and onions in the cavity of the bird, along with a generous amount of Italian seasoning.  I put the chicken in the slow cooker on top of the garlic and onions.  Then I cut the lemons in half and squeezed them over the chicken.  I placed the lemon halves inside the slow cooker and managed to stuff one half a lemon in  the cavity of the bird.  I set it on low for 6 hours and took my son out for the remainder of the afternoon.  When we got home, my house smelled AMAZING.  I love garlic and lemon.  My two absolute favourite things!  When the cooking time was up, I took the chicken out and let rest on a plate.  I removed all the skin and bones and shredded it, but DID NOT return it to the crock pot (as done in the original recipe).  Instead I made this Spicy Baby Bok Choy recipe, exactly as described, and served the shredded chicken on top of it.  It was mighty tasty and I'm happy to have left overs for tomorrow.

So there you have it!  The meat was so flavorful because of all the garlic, onion and lemon.  Even though I didn't eat any of the crock pot ingredients, all the flavors together worked really well.  And the liquid from the bok choy kept the meat moist.  Looking forward to doing it again, I have an abundance of whole chickens in my freezer.  There was a good sale about a month ago.  Enjoy!

Official race photos

I swore I wouldn't purchase any, but I couldn't resist.  It was my first race for Pete's sake!  So here are some official pictures from the Chocolate Race.  Trust me, these are the cream of the crop.  The other dozen or so, not so flattering.  But seeing those unflattering photos, definitely makes me wanna keep running!  Talk about an instant motivator.  I may look decent in street clothes, but compression wear, not so much!

Me on the left, Beverly, Enz, Pauline and Tanya.
It was the first race for Bev, Tanya and I, the first Canadian race for Pauline.
Pauline's a Mathematics student from Paris, France working towards her PhD.
She's freakishly smart and scares the Bejeezus our of me!

This is the beginning of the race.  My running girls are behind me.
Tanya on the left (checking out my shoes, or my butt), I'm blocking Enz, and Bev (#214) to the right.
I look like a strong runner with good form here but looks are deceiving.
Bev and Tanya finished almost three minutes ahead of me!

Me and Enz coming to the finish line.
It's a shame they didn't get my arms pumping into the air as I passed the finish line shot!

So there you have it!  My first race is now recorded in the Chocolate Race picture archives.  If you want a fun race to do, I highly recommend this one.  It's probably the most fun I've had in a long time!  And all the chocolate!  There is lots of chocolate to eat during and after.  Well worth the registration fee.

I'm hoping to post some new recipes soon.  I've put them on the back burner for a couple of reasons.  I don't have a working camera, and I've been obsessed about running.  How boring for those of you who don't care about running!  I have a very yummy pickled onion and arugula salad I want to post about.  I adapted it from a recipe in the latest Running Room magazine.  Hopefully, I'll get it posted within the week.

Note to self...never let your 4 year old take pictures with your digital camera lest he drop it and damage the lens.  $190 to fix it?  Ummm, no thanks.  I'll just get one of those funky new android phones.  I haven't upgraded my phone in three years!  When it comes to technology, I'm sooooooo old school.  I thought it was cool enough to have a qwerty keyboard phone, but apparently not.  My adolescent clients tell me I have a "ghetto" phone.  I need to remedy this tout de suite!  The last thing I want to be is ghetto! I really can't pull that off, nor my qwerty phone apparently.