Christmas Break Day #1: On the Road

     At 4:40 AM, Jamie, Johnny, and I began our road trip to California in two fully loaded cars. Before starting out though, I was sure to have a light breakfast consisting of tangerine/tangelo/clementine juice leftover from Saturday.

     As the journey commenced I spent the first 8 hours reacquainting myself with my extensive iPod music library and randomly making comments to Jamie and Johnny over the two way radio. By then we had mad nearly halfway across Wyoming and I was beat.

     This is where having three capable drivers comes in handy, if someone gets tired there is a relief driver. In this case Jamie joined me in my car to allow me a nice two hours of sleep and another two hours spent dozing and taking pictures.

     Around 4:20 PM we reached the outer city limits and I discovered (thanks to my awesome 3G internet) that there was a Whole Foods and an Exon gas station right next to each other two exits ahead.

Sadly, most of the fresh fruit was unripe 

(the pineapple being one of the few exceptions). 

However, they had some great organic dried fruit, 

raw fruit/chia bars, and raw chocolates.

     So we stopped to grab dinner, get gas, and switch drivers before driving 2.5 more hours before stopping for the night at The Rainbow Hotel and Casino in Nevada.

     After we checked in we played in the pool and relaxed in the hot tub for a bit. Tomorrow we'll have just 10-11 more hours until we get to Jamie's parents house. I honestly can't wait. Driving all day with little to no movement is not my idea of fun. I'm ready to get outside to swim, hike, run, and explore!

     On that note it's late, and we want to try to get as early a start as possible in the morning so I need to go get some sleep. Until tomorrow...

Total Miles Driven (from Lincoln city limits): 1,000 miles.

My "Chocolate" Pudding Three Day Weekend

     I just love weekends, particularly the ones that last three days instead of two. I spent all day Saturday relaxing. I slept in, laid in bed and read, took our family dog, Charlie, for a walk with my mom, and went crazy with my Chocolate (Black) Sapote. 

You remember this decadent fruit from my last post?

     I had bought quite a few sapote from jourdansbeautifulfood.com. However, unlike the last batch, these sapote ripened all at once. Yikes! Now don't get me wrong, I love eating massive amounts of sapote mono meal style, but after a while I was ready for a new spin on this scrumptious fruit. So I turned on my culinary creativity, went to work, and came up with this luscious meal that I dubbed. . .

Chocolate Silk Breakfast Pudding

     Despite its name, I love this meal so much that I have it for more than just breakfast. I often enjoy this pudding 2-3 times a day and as a result, I'm almost out of sapote. Oh no! I better go order some more. Chocolate Sapote only comes around once a year and I want to have my fill of it before the season ends.

Yum yum. . . eat em up! LOL 

Another meal that I have been enjoying 1-2 times a day lately is this tropical thirst quencher. . .

Punchy Pineapple Smoothie

     I just love how rich the color is because it gives the food the aesthetic appeal we humans often need to enjoy our meal. 

     The ingredients and prep work is really simple: take one ripe pineapple, chop it up, put pineapple pieces in the blender, add enough water to blend (I just use a splash of coconut water), and blend until frothy. That's it, your all done! Now just pour yourself a glass and enjoy. =D

     The rest of the weekend went well. By Sunday it was time to stock up on food, so the entire morning was spent making the Whole Foods and Farmer's Market rounds with my mom. I was really lucky that all my favorite fruits for the season were ripe (or almost ripe) and were being sold in bulk (it really saves me money). I ended up buying a box of large pineapple (6 pineapple), 2 boxes of persimmon (28), 2 lbs. of red grapes, 4 Organic red mango, 15 lbs, Organic bananas, and 2 Organic Hawaii Papaya (score!). I also got a bunch of greens and un-sweet fruit (e.g. tomato, bell pepper, cucumber) for giant dinner salads.

     Today(Monday) went less smoothly then the rest of the weekend. My college classes are supposed to start tomorrow and this morning all the classes I had registered for have somehow managed to unregister themselves and I can't seem to get them back. Hopefully someone in the administration office can help me get that sorted out tomorrow morning. 

     Then this afternoon I accidentally drove all the way to the gym and back with my emergency brakes on. I feel like such an idiot about that. I'm just praying that I didn't total the emergency break. *sigh* I guess I'll find out when I have the car checked out later in the week. *chuckles* The things that life throws at you huh? I just do what the penguins did.

     Well, it's getting late and I have a full day tomorrow, but before I wrap this post up, my weekend workouts:

Saturday

• Day off - 20 minutes walking dog and 20 push-ups

Sunday

• 8 miles cycling - avg. 16 mph pace
• 1 hour of yoga (my 2nd class and my arms are still feeling it!)
• 20 push-ups

Monday

• 1 hour run - 6 miles - avg. 6 mph pace

Athletic Recovery, Fruit Shopping, and Alice in Wonderland

     Since the Georgia ING Half-Marathon almost two weeks ago thing have been pretty uneventful at the moment around the house. However, things are looking to be more lively soon as I am starting the up the spring garden, making plans for starting my own business, writing a book with my mom, and eventually moving to southern Florida.
     
     I've signed up for the Georgia ING Half-Marathon next year and I plan on signing up for another half-marathon scheduled for this fall, so i'm going to be training through this summer. Hopefully that training can begin this weekend as I have finally been able to take off my ankle brace. Yes, for the past few days I have been stuck with an ankle brace. I was stupid and went running to hard, to long, and to fast, to soon after the half-marathon and the lower part of my ankle (which was sore after the half marathon) began to ache and swell up. Word of advice, no matter how antsy you are to get back out onto the pavement after a big race, give your legs the rest they deserve, otherwise you will end up doing more harm then good.

     Yesterday, Wednesday, was "Market Day" and it was most probably the best one I have had in quite a while. The weather was sunny and unusually warm, my mom and I decided to take the day without any sort of rush, and just enjoy eachothers company. We visited Whole Foods to have lunch and to pick up some yummy Ataulfo Mango.

My lunch: 4.37lbs. Cantolope Melon

                                        

     Afterwards we made a quick side stop to visit the Apple Store so that I could get myself some new headphones (mine broke AGAIN!) before heading over to Rainbow and the Farmer's Market for our routine grocery shopping. This time around my mom and I decided to pull our budgets together so that we could buy more melon and bananas than we could usually afford by buying in bulk for a discounted price. All in all we bought:

• 6 Honeydew Melon
• 9 Cantolope Melon
• A 40 lb. box of Organic Bananas
• 30 Atalfo Mangoes
• 10 llbs. Organic Valencia Oranges (for juicing)
• 15 lbs. Organic Navel Oranges (for eating)
• 1 pint of Organic Strawberries
• 170g packet of Organic Rasperries
• 170g packet of Organic Blueberries
• 7 pkg. of Medjool Dates
• 2 lbs, Muscadine Grapes
• 20 oz. fresh pressed Sugar Cane Juice
• 3 20 oz. bottles of fresh Coconut Water

     Today was the first day I was able to take my ankle brace off and walk comforatbly. The sun was out again and it got up to 88 degrees! I walked for 70 minutes around my neighborhood in the early cooler morning air without my iPod for once. It was refreshing to just think and take in the morning in semi-silence.

     Later this afternoon my mom surprised me by treating me to a movie at the Carmike Cinema. My family and I rarely go to the theatre due to finding most of the movies uninteresting or to the price of theatre tickets. I brought my big purse with me which I used to sneak in a bottle of water and 10 Navel oranges that I had peeled and bagged before hand. We ended up attending the final showing of "Alice in Wonderland" in 3D. The storyline wasn't very original with the usual good vs. evil and good eventually triumphing plotline, but the graphics, colors, costumes, and characters were beautiful! All in all it was a fun fairytale to allow my mind a break from the burdens of reality.

Training for Half Marathon - Days 61 to 64 + Recipe

Day 61 - Friday

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     Friday was to be ver rainy day. Fortunately the morning clear long enough for me to take a drive over to Johnson Park for a 40 minute run (approx. 4 miles). I just kept going and going until the rain came tumbling down. I think this was the moment I realized that I had officially become a running addict. 

I. LOVE. TO. RUN! :-D

     I was stuck spending the rest of my day indoors. Not to worry though because I kept myself occupied with my studies and Dance Dance Revolution 3. Hehe.

     That evening I made myself 2 quarts worth of OJ for the next day for breakfast and lunch. I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly wanted loads of citrus! Hehe.

Day 62 - Saturday

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     Saturday we were once again promised rain, but not until the later afternoon hours. From morning until about 3:40 p.m. the sky was blue, the sun was out, the sun was shining, and the weather was pleasently warm. On a day like this, how could I not spend as much of it as possible outside? So I took Charlie for a 23 minute run before heading to Dowtown Covingtion (lots of sidewalks and beautiful scenery) for 44 minutes of 4mph walking with some sprints.

Picked a dandelion. The grass was filled with them!

     That evening, since I  knew that Sunday was going to be a busy day for me (didn't help that I was still in major citrus craving mode), I made 2 more quarts of orange juice.

Day 63 - Sunday

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     By Sunday, most of my brother's food had run out  and the only place that carries most of what he likes is at Whole Foods. So my mom and I had to make a little trip. Unfortunately, the time change really through my body clock for a loop, and staying up later then I should have the night before didin't help. Anyway, it turned out that I accidently slept in for the first time in months, thus resulting in my mom and I getting off to a late start up to Whole Foods in Atlanta.Not to worry though, we made it there with little trouble and I got myself a lovely fruit juice (strawberry, blackberry, blueberry, grape, and apple).

     After getting home and putting my brothers food away, I felt like working out. Outside was a bit to wet and nippy for my taste so I played Dance Dance Revolution 3 for about an hour; you would not believe how much of a sweat you can work up playing that thing!

Day 64 - Monday

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     Todays training consisted of some weight training, followed by a 35 minute afternoon run in Dowtown Covington. The weather was lovely and I had my mom with me. She walked and I ran, and let me tell you that she is a brilliant cheerer. She kept me motivated to increase both my speed and distance on saying things like, "Go around again!" and  "One more time up the stairs!" Today makes me think that althoug I am nervous about the half marathon this Sunday, I really feel like I can do it.

     My eats for today:

• 4 C. Orange Juice
• 2 Chocolatete Sapote + 2 C. Strawberries, whole
• Green Smoothie (2 bananas, 3 mango, 3 huge handfuls of spinach)
• Smoothie/Pudding (10 bananas, 6 medjool dates)
• 1 C. blueberries + 2 C. Strawberries, whole

     What can I say? I was ravenous! :-D

Recipes

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      I've recently recieved a few comments requesting the recipe for my raw apple crumble. I would like you all to know that my mother and I are in the process of writing a recipe book/e-book, and recipe for my raw apple crumble will be in there, so at the moment I will not be posting it on my blog. I will however, leave you guys with my absolute favorite apple dish at the moment. I have been known to have this dish for breakfast, lunch, and dinner! LOL.

 

Caramel Apple Delight

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

- 1 large Banana, very ripe

- 5 Medjool Dates

- 0.3 C. Coconut water (or filtered water)

- 0.25 Cinnamon (optional)

- 2 large sweet Apples, cored and chopped

 Put the first four ingredients into a blender and blend until it's a smooth and creamy sauce. Take the chopped apple and put it into a bowl. Pour the sauce on top of the apples, stir to mix, and devour!

Catch Up!

     For this post I'm not giving you my half-marathon update in my usual format. This is mostly because the last ten days have been so crazy, everything I've done has kind of gotten all jumbled up. This blog post is about giving you the highlights of the last ten days to get you up to speed. So, here we go!


     Let us begin with a training update. Let me tell you I have been on FIRE these last ten days! A few of the highlights would be one day, I had so much energy, I was able to go for a 30 minute run that was immediantly followed by a 65 minute vigorous lap swimming session. Man let me tell you did that feel GOOD! The rest of my days have been filled with runs varying in intensity with some lap swimming and weight training thrown in there for good measure. 


     Back in elementary school I was a VERY active kid. I was in horseback riding, swimming, gymanstics, and karate.  I don't know how I was able to live such a sedentary lifestyle once a got into middle school and the first two years of high school. It was like I never felt like doing anything that didn't involve a TV screen. Now I go stir crazy if I can't get some sort of exercise every day; even on my rest day I go for a walk.


     I have found exercise to be a significant and often much neeed mood booster for me. If I ever feel depressed I go for a run and I come back home feeling pumped up and bubbly! LOL :-D And appartently exercise is contagious because I've gotten my mom to on some runs with me. She can't do my level of intesity so we go speed walking with my doing periodic 1 - 3 minute full out sprints with mom doing some light jogging in between. Together we are going to work on her stamina.


     In other exercise news, I have finally gone back to karate! Six weeks of hip adjustments and physical therapy has all but eliminated my knee pain. I am now only visiting the chiropractor once a week instead of twice a week. This was just in time too because my karate pictures came in just a couple days ago. It was a great inspiration to get back in the game so to speak.

     Next on the agenda is my latest raw food exploits! I have found the perfect smoothie to tantalizes the taste buds, keep me running around hunger free for up to six hours, build muscle mass, and pack in the much needed carbs, calories, and nutrients that I require to function. The. . . 

     

 Banana Date Coconut Smoothie

 

6-7 medium Bananas

4-5 Medjool Dates

3/4 C. Coconut Water

     I also came up with a pretty awesome salad that had a dressing made up of no overt fat!

Tomango Cuke Salad

Salad Fixings:

- 3/4 head of Romains

- 1 Cucumber (peeled if not organic)

- 1 C. Grape Tomatoes, halved

Dressing:

- 2 large Tomatoes

- A hanful of Grape Tomatoes

- 1/2 of a Red Bell Pepper

-1 ripe Mango

Directions:

Take all the salad fixings, chop them up, and put into a bowl. Take the dressing ingredients, pulse in a blender or food processor until smooth, and pour on top of salad. Mix the dressing in with the salad and devour! Yum yum. ;-)

    Also, this last Wednesday morning when I got back from training, a 5lb. box of Florida Chocolate Sapotes arrived from Taylor's Tropicals! At this very moment the Chocolate Sapote are ripening atop my refrigerator. :-) If you would like to order some tropical fruit that is grown in the U.S., and whose produce is of good quality, then go here: http://taylorstropicals.org. As soon as the Sapote are ripe I'll show you a picture of them and let you know what they taste like. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose heard of Chocolate Sapote, wanted to see what they taste like, but never gotten the opportunity to taste one.

     Speaking of trying new fruits, I bought myself an Organic Jackfruit from the Farmer's Market to give it a try. Man the people who described the taste of Jackfruit were not kidding because it really does taste like Juicy Fruit gum!

     Also during my weekly Farmer's Market excursion, I met a Raw Vegan, Sonny, who I learned has been raw for a few years now. Being on the the Gone Raw and 30 Bananas a day forum has allowed me to know and interact with other people who share the same views as me when it comes to diet and nutrition, but to actually meet one in person was quite refreshing.

     And now we come to recreational activities. When I'm not exercising, studying, playing/walking my dogs, raw food preparing, or surfing the web, I like to spend some quality time with my family. This last Sunday my mom, brother, and I drove into Atlanta to visit the Apple Store, Barnes & Noble, and Whole Foods (for lunch). 

     The Whole Foods that my family frequents, had a pretty good selection of food that day, and I wound up having Kiwi, Pineapple, and Grapefruit, with a 16 oz. cup of Clementine juice. Mmmm. . .

     My mom had a sprouted garbanzo bean salad with marinated mushrooms and antipesto with a piece of my grapefruit for dessert. Didn't take a picture though. Sorry guys!

     My brother though, I was so proud of him! :-) Sure he got himself cheese pizza for lunch, but he also got himself this:

     Fruit AND veggies, and he made this salad himself at the salad bar! It makes me feel so happy that he is starting to take a step in the right direction of health on his own.  :-D

     The Apple store in Atlanta is inside Perimeter Mall, so on our way out I just had to stop into my favorite clothing store, Anthropology. They have such quality and classicly styled clothing there. The only sad part is that they're a bit expensive so it's a rare occasion for me to actually buy somthing from them, but that doesn't stop me from looking. Take a look at their latest design.

I think I might try to save up to buy these two pieces.

This one I just that was pretty.

     What is really sad though, is that even though these are quality, well designed clothes, the cloth itself comes from forign countries such as India and China. None  of the cloth itself was made in the U.S. because all but two textile mills are left in this country. Isn't that sad? We don't produce anything anymore with all those jobs having been shipped overseas. :-( I will probably devote a whole blog post sometime this month to discuss this problem in more detail.

     On that note I will end this blog post with a bit of positive news, I have started recieving acceptance letters from various universities! So far I've gotten one from Union College (Lincoln, NE), Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ), Kennesaw State University (Kennesaw, GA), and University of South Florida (Tampa, FL). Right now I am awaiting for a response from Colorado College (Colorado Springs, CO), Whitman College (Walla Walla, WA), Emory University (Atlanta, GA), and Dartmouth College (Hanover, NH). Wish me luck!