Starting Whole30 and my First 1st place Medal

This week a group of the badass army started Whole30, myself included. If you are looking for a way to clean up your eating and get your body back on track then Whole30 is for you (or so I've heard). Pick up a copy of the book It Starts With Food. For those who are wondering, Whole30 is basically eating right: proteins, fruits and veggies and healthy fats. I'm not going to get into the specifics because, ahem, that's what the book is for, but here's a run down of what isn't allowed: dairy, butter, wheat, white potatoes, rice, legumes, alcohol, and sugar.  Since I was traveling this week for work I started Whole30 in my hotel in St. Petersburg. I checked in with my cooler and totebag full of food and immediately stocked the mini fridge in my hotel room.  

I'm so glad I brought extra food with me because my first breakfast in the hotel included learning that "eggs" aren't really eggs.  I had planned to order eggs, veggies and a bowl of fruit. After interrogating my waitress I learned that I couldn't order eggs over medium, only scrambled. And why only scrambled? Because the hotel only uses egg beaters. And what's in the egg beaters? (she brought me the container from the kitchen) second ingredient was whey (dairy) and third ingredient was skim milk. I learned my lesson and ate both breakfasts in my hotel room. I'm also glad I brought food for lunch because my work companions ordered from Taco Bus and brought in both cake and pie for the training. Yaye for my homemade yummy salad of chicken, egg, green bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, avocado, slivered almonds and homemade oil and vinegar with spices dressing. I'm also so glad I had a Cavegirl Bakes muffin to help fend off the wanting of sugar in the chocolate cake they brought in!

I really thought this was going to be super difficult but now that I've realized I can commit to the meals (well hopefully, it's only day 4) then I can commit to this whole program for 30 days. I was already gluten and dairy free to begin with so what's the big deal if I give up a little more? (ok I'm not going to lie. I already miss my homemade coffee with soy French vanilla creamer and stevia in the raw, and of course, Starbucks and sushi. Plain, English tea isn't really doing my coffee justice. But if it wasn't for Whole30 I'm not sure my grocery shopping would look like this:

Or that I'd be eating as clean as I did with this delicious meal of grilled mahi mahi, plantains, yucca "fries" and green beans with garlic:

After getting home from work travel this week a few of the Badass Babes, Mitzi, Crystal, Erin, Ashley and Robin drove to Blountstown for the BFD (Blountstown Fire Department) Catfish Crawl 5k. Thank you so much Mitzi for recommending this race!

It was a beautiful race morning on a flat out-and-back course on a paved trail. It was made for PR'ing which our entire group did. I crossed the finish in 27:54 with a pace time of 8:58. It earned me a 1st place medal for my age group. I also later found out I was a bunny for the first time for Tonya. I'm used to chasing folks, but have never been chased. I was honored to be her bunny!
  

I was so excited to see that clock time and the medal was just the icing on the cake. Running that race injury free reminds me of how far I've come since running the Donna back in February. This week coming up will be back to a full work and workout mode. I'm really looking forward to seeing what Mitzi has in store for us in HIIT Kamagon on Monday and Allison has for us in TRX Circuit Power on Wednesday. And I'm really excited for Tuesday, the opening day of registration for the Washington, DC Army 10-miler. We'll finish the week with one of my favorite workouts - Bootcamp in Doak Campbell stadium on Saturday. Feel free to join me for a workout or a meal, or both this week!

Run Happy? Yes Please

Many of you know that I was undergoing ARP therapy to deal with an old injury in my hip that turned into a knee issue and sidelined my working out and running for a couple weeks. Dealing with all of this while being in the midst of legislative session and the stress, poor eating choices and consuming of alcohol that comes with session, put me at a serious disadvantage. I'm sure everyone gets to a point where they moan about going out for a run, or whine when the alarm goes off at 4:30 am for a 5:15 am class. But when injury put me on the bench, well I didn't like it. Not one bit.

When I finally was cleared to return to bootcamps and running I was overjoyed. My alarm made me happy. The long nights of work followed by early morning classes made me smile. And when I laced up my shoes and turned on my tunes, well I just embraced the mantra "Run Happy."

Two Sundays ago I ran 8.5 of the happiest miles I had run in quite some time. It was hot, muggy and wonderful. I certainly felt that run the next few days though! On that run I crossed over 250 miles since buying that iPod in November, 2013. A milestone I never, ever thought I would see.

This past Sunday I ran another 6 miles that were joyous beyond belief. I'm not overly religious; I don't usually spend a lot of time talking to God. But those 6 miles it was just me, my tunes, and my thoughts with the big man upstairs. I thanked Him for the path beneath my feet. I thanked Him for good coaches, good trainers, and good doctors. But mostly I thought about the Donna half marathon and the Boston marathon and then thanked Him for the fact that I could run when others could not. Sure it might seem a little silly when I'm pouring my heart out to God and Missy Elliot and Eminem are playing in the background. But that's how I roll. Or rather, that's how I ran.

Tomorrow I start a new milestone: I am challenging myself to get my eating back under control by starting the first round of Whole30, a food road map to kick start a healthy eating plan for life. If you don't know what it is, google it. Or better yet, buy yourself a copy of "It Starts With Food".

I'm not gonna lie, I'm nervous. I have doubts I can/will complete this challenge. But like all other challenges in my life, I first have to believe, and then take the step. So here goes nothing.