Adventures in Racing

I'm in racing mode ~ like hard core. And by "hard core" I don't mean pumping out the miles left & right. What I'm talking about is the medals, the shirts, and the adrenaline that comes with the race...clearly not the miles associated with each one!


This weekend we have a family race....

The ESPN Weekend is this weekend in Orlando & Dick's Sporting Goods hosts the "Champion 5K". Dad & I ran it last year, and this year he thought it would be even more fun to have my husband, my mom, & my brother do it with us.
I'm not planning for an amazing chip time by any means...5K's require fast runners & well, I'm not fast. I've decided as long as I beat last years time, that's fine with me.
After a super thrilling conversation yesterday about half & full marathons, I've decided to sign up for my very first half marathon! Holler! And to reward myself, I'm purchasing my first running skirt. I've been totally obsessed with them lately. Of course MB (my hubby) thinks that I'm being hopeful by calling them a "running skirt", since he refers to them as "tennis skirts". Potato, po-tah-toe. I just feel the need to bring fashion to the races!
Another race on my radar is the Everest Challenge, hosted by Disney. (Disney medals are Ah-mah-zing BTW!). It's a 5K (bleh), obstacle course, & scavenger hunt. MB is totally game to do it ~ he's a sucker for a competition & I'm a sucker for a medal. We're the perfect match :)

"Healthy" Eating

I've been following some new blogs lately...& I've had quite some interesting reads! My favorite have been the "healthy recipes". Seems there is a major mis-conception that healthy = anything with a vegetable or fruit.

Here's what I've seen:

Baked cauliflower....sounds healthy right? Wrong. The second ingredient listed was 1 stick of butter, followed by 1/4c of bread crumbs. The picture was just absolutely gag worthy - you melt the butter in a sauce pan & then dump the bread crumbs in the butter...only to heap all that on the cauliflower. I'm sure it was called "baked" because after you drench it in the fatty goodness, you pop it in the oven for 20 minutes.

One recipe called for avocados (YUM!) - but then the writer went on to say how since this a healthy dish, with healthy ingredients, you can eat all you want. Um, not true. Yes, avocados are a good fat; but like everything else, you still have to be conservative with your consumption.

Alas though, I did find some promising recipes:

A veggie pot pie from the blog www.neverhomemaker.com looks & sounds like it will taste amazing & be ever so "comforting" as the delicious, "unhealthy" version. (I'm a sucker for a good pot pie!)

A baked apple dessert that get this - only calls for apples! WHAT!? You do have the option of seasoning it with cinnamon, honey, nutmeg, & if you can't resist, brown sugar.

It just seems that not many really understand the concept of "healthy eating". I'm trying to teach my husband this as well. It seems like people gravitate towards one particular thing about food - whether it's the type of food such as veggie, meat, pasta, etc. Or they gravitate to one thing about the nutrition facts: sodium, calories, carbs, protein, etc. Or they gravitate to the ingredients list: HFCS, MSG, whole wheat, unbleached enriched flour, etc. But really, it's a matter of paying attention to ALL of those things. It's about finding a healthy balance. When was the last time you read the nutrition facts label? Was there one particular area you focused on?