Run-A-Muk 5k Race!

I woke up bright and early at 5:30 am to get ready for my first race. Registration was at 6:45am. My sister, my niece, my boyfriend and our friend Jan went as support.

It was so sunny and bright, as you can see with my squinty eyes. There was these "Activate" vitamin water drinks where you twist the top and vitamins float down into the drink...interesting. Todd and I tried to do a warm up walk but the announcer called everyone to the start line.

                                                                   I was ready to go!

         
Before the race I thought that I was going to have to stop to walk half way through or something because I've never ran that far before. After the first 15 minutes of the race I was starting to catch my breath and get in the groove.  I guess with the excitement of a new coarse and all those people around It was way easier than I thought it was going to be. The last half of the race some guy started chatting with me about the races hes done before. He said that he hadn't done this in a few years so he was back to square one. We kept up a pace till the end of the race. Then as we approached the finish line he said thanks and that If we hadn't been talking he probably would have been walking instead of running.

                                                             It felt so good to finally sit down.

    Here is a video of the end of the race. It was so much fun! Now I gotta train for the 10 k next year. I used my watch to time myself I think I took about 42 minutes.

1 Week off of dieting (eek!)

The past week my boyfriend has been on vacation because his sons are staying with us. We went went to the beach a few times. Then later in the week we toured around downtown Seattle all day before the Mariners game. In other words we walked a freaking lot!!

 I had a lot of fun. Even though I did walk a bunch I only went to the gym once that week and didn't count my calories. I guess it's good to take a week off once In a while. I gained 4.4 pounds this week (guess I shouldn't have eaten a whole pound of garlic fries at the baseball game) 

Right now I'm motivated this week to train for the 5k race on Saturday. This morning it was so beautiful outside. Perfect conditions for jogging. Today's workout...

• 18 minutes of jogging + 1minute walking+10 minutes jogging (to the gym)
• 35 minutes cardio on the elliptical
• 30 minutes lower body strength training (3 sets each machine/14 reps each)
• 2 mile walk home

Tomorrow is  20/1 + 10 min jog with upper body strength training.

Oh yeah when we were at Picnic Point beach we decided to take some after pics to go with the before pics from a couple years ago....

No More Slacking.

This week I lost 1.6 pounds. My currant weight is 197.2. My 2nd week under 200! I really wanted to lose 2 so close! For some reason 5 seems to be the number of days I've been working out the past couple weeks. This past week has been hard for me. I keep getting up at the time I'm supposed to work out in the morning and just resetting the alarm and going back into bed. Which is a little annoying for my boyfriend. If I want to finish the 5k race I'm training for then there needs to be no more slacking. Also since its been about 30 pounds since I've had a calorie cut, I've decided to cut my calories to 1600 per day and see how that goes. I like cutting my calories slowly. Small gradual changes at a time is what works for me. All I know is that no matter how low my calories get I'm never giving up my dark chocolate.


Here are some pics of some dinners that I ate this week.

  

Falaful and Lentil Soup ( 484 calories)

Tofu Spinach Lasagna with Steamed Broccoli (424 calories)

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

            Makes 16  3-inch cookies (about 150 calories per cookie)


 These cookies are from the  "Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar" cookbook. These cookies are kinda like Tollhouse cookies but even better! Every time I make these I have to make a double batch because they are that good!

½ cup brown sugar (organic is vegan)
¼ cup white sugar (organic is vegan)
2/3 cup canola oil
¼ cup almond or nondairy milk (I used almond milk)
1 tablespoon Ener-G egg replacer (tapioca flour, or arrowroot powder)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup chocolate chips ( I used ghirardelli semi sweet chips)

1. Preheat oven 350° F. Lightly grease two large cookie sheets.

2. Combine sugars, oil, nondairy milk, and tapioca flour in a mixing bowl. Use a strong fork and mix really well, about 2 minutes, until it looks like smooth caramel. There’s a chemical reaction when sugar and oil collides, so blend well. Mix in vanilla.

3. Add 1 cup flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Mix well. Mix in rest of flour. Fold in chocolate chips. The dough will be a little stiff.

4. For 3-inch cookies, roll dough into balls the size of ping pong balls. Flatten to about 2 ½ inches on a cookie sheet. They will spread a little when baked. Then bake for about 8 minutes—no more than 9—until a bit brown around the edges. Bake 8 cookies at a time. (Don’t double up the cookie sheets in the oven.) Let cool 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks.



*This recipe is not for people trying to watch their sugar but it is low in cholesterol!