2013 Year in Review

This year flew by! I remember in January I had so many thoughts about how this year would go, and now it's almost over. I've learned so much, done a lot of cool things, and met some really cool people (in real life & online through blogging).

This year was dedicated to a lot of soul searching and finding who I am and who I'm meant to be. I have some things that I've gotten some answers to and now I feel like I can move forward. I've learned so much about who I used to be and who I want to be. Running became a huge part of my life this year so I'll always remember 2013. 

Anywho, without further adieu, here is my Year in Review. (Totally did not mean to rhyme, guess I'm just cool like that) :-)

1. What was your best race experience? 

My best race experience was when I ran my second 5k with my husband. It was his first race so I was super excited to be running with him on his first one. We were running with a bunch of high school and college students on track teams so I thought we were toast; turned out, we both placed 2nd in our age group! It felt good to get a medal on my second race and I'm sure my husband felt pretty good about getting a medal on his very first race. It was also a PR for me.

2. What was your best run?

My best run was just the other day and I bragged about it under "I have found my Chi". :-) It was almost perfect. Surprisingly it was a treadmill run. But I felt awesome. I won't go on and on about it here since I already did in a post of its own. 

3. What was the best new piece of gear you received this year?

Hmm... I'd have to say getting a treadmill. I get in more runs than ever. My daughter isn't in school yet so it's hard to go out in the cold with her and it's hard to find someone to watch her for an hour or so. It's much easier to plant her in front of a good movie with a snack or on the computer to play educational games. Ok, so I don't always put on educational games. So what? 

4. What was the best running advice you received this year?

Listen to your body!! Don't push through the pain! 

5. What's your best advice for new runners?

I like to tell people to enjoy the mile they're in. Don't worry about how far you have to go. Running is much more enjoyable when you focus on the present mile. 

6. Most inspirational runner?

I can't think of one person in particular, but I am always inspired by mother runners. Moms who get out there WITH their kids and run. One woman comes to mind. She would run around our neighborhood (with hills) with one kid on her back and pushing one in a stroller. That woman was a true mother runner. I'm inspired by a lot of weight loss stories too. I love reading how running has changed people's lives. I lost a total of 43 pounds in a year, and I'm amazed at how much other women (and men) have lost from running.

7. If you could sum up your year of running in a couple of words, what would they be?

Determination & faith

8. If you could change one thing, what would it be?

Running without knowledge. I've learned (the hard way) that you can't just lace up any pair of shoes and go for a run. We all know what I'm talking about. There is so much more to running than just moving your legs. 

So there's my recap. It was nice reminiscing. The year is over, a whole new year awaits. The same questions still come to mind: I wonder what will happen this year? What will I accomplish? Will I lose any loved ones? Will I do all the things I planned? Will I be better than I was?... There's no way in knowing, we just need to keep on moving forward. 
Whether we're crawling, walking or running. ;-) 

Banana pancakes

These pancakes are packed with protein and potassium. And they are oh so good! And easy to make! All you need is 2 bananas and 2 eggs.

Mash up the bananas then mix in the eggs one at a time. 

Batter will be sort of thin and lumpy.

Cook over medium high heat in a buttered skillet. Or you can use nonstick spray. These take a little longer to cook than regular pancakes.

This batch made 4 large pancakes. I may or may not have eaten all four. 

These are great by themselves. No syrup or jam needed. 

What other kinds of delicious healthy pancakes have you made?

I have found my Chi

Since I started running, I've always been pretty tense while running. My shoulders felt like they were squeezing my neck and every so often I felt as if I needed to "shake out". I eventually got a pinched nerve in my neck which caused terrible headaches from all of this tension. Physical therapy and a wonderful book called ChiRunning has changed the way I run. 

Today I was feeling sluggish and lazy. I wasn't sure if I'd get a run in at all today. But after sitting around long enough I decided to jump on the treadmill even if it was going to be for 2 miles. I started thinking about what I've learned from ChiRunning and started to apply it to my form. The only word that came to mind after my run was EPIC. I had an epic run. I ran with almost no effort. I never felt out of breath, I never felt tense and I felt as if I could go on for hours. BUT, I know that I need to be careful too and since I've never ran more than 5 miles, I stopped at an hour. (just over 5 miles) 

I have never gone an hour straight and felt so good. This gave me such encouragement. I was beginning to feel like maybe long distance running isn't my thing; but after a run like that, my thinking has changed. I know that I'll have "bad runs" still, BUT this is something I've been needing for a long time. Effortless running. I love it. If you've never read ChiRunning, I highly suggest you give it a try!

Have you read ChiRunning?

Did you apply it to your running?

How has it helped you?

If you haven't read the book, have you heard of it?

Interested in reading it?

Don't you just love when you have an awesome run?!

A Rut and a Promise

I've been in such a workout/running rut lately. It's been a few days since I've done anything active. I know rest days are good but I'm just not feeling up to doing anything! Maybe it's the weather or maybe it's a little spout of depression. Who knows? But what I do know is that exercise helps fight off depression and I need to force myself to workout today. I'm planning part of Jillian Michaels' Killer Buns N Thighs and then a run on the treadmill. Everyone goes through these "ruts" every now and then right? I couldn't possibly be the only one.

Enough about that stuff.

So the man and I have been very blessed lately when the weekends come around because my lovely mother in law picks up our kids and has them over for a night or two. This weekend we were able to enjoy pure freedom for two whole nights! And since we have such amazing lives, we sat around the house and did absolutely nothing the first night; except ask each other about 5 million times "What do you wanna do?" Yesterday was a bit more exciting. We did some shopping, some eating and some boring movie watching.

I busted out one of my favorite kitchen appliances. I love making fresh juices but it is a lot of cleanup work, so it doesn't happen as often as I'd like. I made some carrot and orange juice with chia seeds. I used 4 carrots, 1 orange and about a teaspoon of chia seeds.

Since I've been wanting egg rolls, my husband offered to take me to a restaurant that I've kind of been avoiding because of what the outside looks like..shallow, I know. I'm so ashamed I judged a book by it's cover. I gave in and went since my craving for egg rolls outweighed my thoughts of what the building looked like. I also HATE buffets. I avoid them because I think they're gross. I'm really not a shallow person, I promise. I have my quirks just like everyone else.

 I know my plate looks pretty wimpy, BUT, they charge by the pound if you waste food, so I wanted to start out with a little bit so I could taste what I wanted. The food tasted great, but it wasn't very hot. The restaurant was pretty clean where the food was, it wasn't too busy so not a lot of people touching everything, but the floors were dirty, which was a turnoff for me. (writing this post I'm realizing I have a lot of strange quirks)

The decor was pretty cool. Loving this tree!

After dinner we drove all the way home (about 10 minutes) and pulled in the driveway and decided we weren't ready to be home. So what did we do? You probably won't guess...we went to Walmart to return some insoles that didn't work so well for the man. Of course we couldn't go into Walmart and not look around so we browsed a bit. I found the coolest hat! Well, I think it's pretty cool, even if it is a toddler hat. 

(My name is Fawn, and when I was younger my friends called me Fawntastic.) 

I'm aware that this is not helping the "cool" factor in my life but who cares? :-)

Ended the evening with my first cup of hot cocoa of the winter and a super boring movie we spent almost 8 bucks on. We didn't even make it halfway through it and switched to Leave It To Beaver. We're cool like that.

Oh! I almost forgot! My fortune cookie's fortune was too good not to share!

 Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so shall you become.

Such great motivation eh?

Now for my promise: I promise that I will have some information/educational type blogs coming soon. Lately I'm sure they haven't had much of a point to them, and I like to blog about things with meaning. So, I am working on a couple blogs that are either informational or personal/serious topics. Although this won't happen often and I'll still post about random junk I do every day, I still want to make the effort to bring my readers something more than just what I do in my every day life. 

How was your weekend?

What's your favorite hot drink on cold days?

How do you get motivated after being in a "rut"?

Enjoy your Sunday everyone!

I'll be making a donut cake today and noshing on some chicken fettuccine alfredo later. After enjoying some fellowship & Bible study with friends and family.

What I ate & What I did Wednesday

Today was FREEZING! The air was dry, the sun was shining but it. was. cold! Cold is an understatement. Here in Central California, anything under 50 degrees is FREEZING! According to me, and probably many other Californians. Right now it is 37 degrees...Like I said, freezing. 

Started my day off with some chia water. 

I woke up with good intentions to be super healthy...well turns out I wanted candy today. I'm usually not a big candy eater, so I figured it was ok. I've been thinking about skittles a lot lately so that was my candy of choice.

I thought Kate and I would stay indoors all day but the sunshine was alluring.

 It turned out to be false advertisement. We decided to go to the park but lasted only about 10 minutes once we got there. Looks can be deceiving..

This girl does not care how cold it is outside. She's just happy to be out of the house! 

(FYI- I searched all over her room for leggings or tights. Looks like I need to go shopping. And it's a good thing we were only out there for 10 minutes)

Mouth full of skittles

Her poor little nose was turning red so we played on the swings for a few minutes then raced to the truck to get warm. 

I've been getting in more workouts lately. Which is a good thing. Today I woke up pretty sore so I was planning on just doing some yoga but I was tired of being cold so I did Pure Cardio from Insanity. I was dripping sweat before it was over. I earned that hot shower. 

I made Creamy Chicken Fajita Soup for dinner and everyone loved it! It was "soup-er" good! K that was my corny moment for the day. I got the recipe from sixsistersstuff.com. I love how most of the recipes use ingredients you probably have in your kitchen. I'll post the recipe link under the "recipes we love" tab.

I used dark red kidney beans instead of black beans. That's all I had. Still tasted amazing! 

I ended up having more candy than planned..My husband bought two World's Finest chocolate bars from some kids selling outside the grocery store. I ate 3 squares from those. I also had a couple or five red licorice that my mother in law brought over. I should be good on sweets for a while. At least until Sunday when I make the donut cake that I got from the above website. 

Enjoy your Wednesday night!

How was your day?

What's your favorite candy? or goodie?

Did any good workouts lately? 

Do you tend to hibernate like a bear during the winter?