10 day cleanse results!

I haven't been posting because I've been waiting for my cleanse to be over.

On Sat April 9th, the hubs and I started the Advocare 10 Day Cleanse.  You can do this as part of the 24 Day Challenge or you can do it solo.  As you know in Jan we did do the full challenge.  The recommendation is to cleanse every 90 days.  Some people do the challenge every 90 days.  We have been eating pretty much like you do on the 24 day challenge 90% of the time, so we just did the cleanse.    I'm going out of town next week and we found 10 days where we didn't have any events.

The consists of 10 days of clean eating.  You *eat*.  You don't starve yourself.  You eat three meals a day and 2-3 snacks.  It's all clean, avoiding things like dairy, sugar, alcohol, condiments, bad carbs. . . we eat very little carbs.  You can have whole grain breads, but we don't. I know for myself that I will have better success if I don't.  But I do eat grain like quinoa every day.  Since I run, I really need the carbs to keep that energy level up.  I eat three snacks as I have that extra/optional one after dinner, before bed.  That's my snacky time and I just can't give that one up.  But snacks are clean: fruits and nuts.  That kind of thing.

My start weight was 188.2.
My hubs start weight was 207.8

My final weight this morning was 182.6.  That's a loss of 5.6 lbs.  I'm happy with that.  I wanted more, but I did the best I could and this is what my body gave me.  I lost half inch off of: hips, waist and both thighs, for a total of 2 inches lost.  I really want to see the 170's soon so I'm going to keep up with the clean eating and see if I can get there before I go to KY next week. 

My hubs however ended up in ONDERLAND!!  His final was 199.8.  I don't think he's been in the 100's in his adult life.  He was much larger before I met him and lost weight prior to meeting me in 2006.  But I know that he has always been in the 200's the whole time we've been together.  He's pretty excited!  He also lost a total of 2 inches: 1 from both the chest and hips.  He's kind of shrinking before my eyes.  I think he's loving it.  He was resistant to any kind of "cleanse" or limiting food groups/eating before.  But he's loving the reaction he's getting from people and I know he feels better.

The thing I love the most about the cleanse and clean eating in general is that my weight is more stable.  I don't have wild fluctuations of going up a few pounds in *one* day.  Here's my daily weight since the start of the cleanse (from the bottom up!)

You will notice that my fat % went up.   But gosh darn, those monitors are something else.  Any change in hydration can affect it.  It seems to take much more than 10 days to see results.  So I'm not too worried about that.   I've been stuck since Saturday morning at the exact *same* weight.  That's becoming a bummer.  And even more of a bummer is that it's my TOM starting today.  So I suspect I will fly up 3 lbs in a day or two from that bloat.  That's one thing clean eating can't control.  The bloat from Aunt Flo!  Ha!  

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I thought since I haven't posted in a while, that I'd share some images from this weekend.

First - my horse, Eli is lame.  I don't know what he did and I don't know if it's related to his neck arthritis.  But there's no riding right now and I don't know when I'll call the vet yet.  I leave town next Wed so I may address it when I get back, unless it gets worse.  This is a sad face selfie.  I was excited to try a horse selfie with my new phone because the front camera is wide angle.  It's much easier to fit a horse head in the photo!

On Saturday I took my nephew to his baseball practice.  His Dad was working and his sister was sick, so his Mom couldn't take him.  I love that boy! He's so funny and so well behaved. 

He's a true farm boy and he loves working with his dad in the field (his dad does field work for someone when not working his *real* job @ John Deere).  So on the way home from baseball practice we stopped to check on my husband in the field.  Have I mentioned on here that my husband farms?  Probably not, cause in reality farming sucks and it sucks all your money down the drain. 

Sunday morning, before my husband went to the field, we went for a run. Whew - he's just too fast for me.  I really have to up my speed to run with him.  I know it's good for me, but as summer comes and the temperatures go up, it's getting harder.  I hate hot weather running.  But I sure am proud of myself when I'm done and see that speedy pace! :)

On Sunday, my nephew was at my Mom's house and she sent me this photo.  She said he noticed the tractor a mile away and starting getting excited that it was my hubby.  I thought this photo was about the sweetest thing I've seen in a while. 

Hope all is well with everyone that reads this!  Post a comment once and while and say hi! :)

5 year anniversary

Yesterday, April 2nd, was our 5 year anniversary.   We talked about going out of town, but time got away from us and we didn't make any plans.  

We decided to have a day out locally.  I asked my parents to give Sophie her mid-day medicine so we didn't have to come home.  

One thing we wanted to do was run the loop around Forest Park in St Louis.  There are two tracks, one paved and one gravel.  Both are just over 5.5 miles.   I cannot tell you how far we've come in 5 years. . .  neither of us ran back then.  Driving to St Louis to run is not something either of us ever thought that we'd do.   But that's what we did!  It was a windy day (there were wind advisories) and Forest Park has more hills than we have at home.  It was challenging and I walked briefly to get up a hill.  The wind was getting me and affecting my breathing and I was just so done.  But I didn't walk long and I picked it up again and kept going.  Thankfully my husband stayed with me otherwise I'm sure I'd have walked more.  I was kind of thinking "whose idea was this?" and I actually said that at one point near the end.  But soon it was over and we had ran 5.75 miles!   It was actually fun for the most part.  Forest Park is just full of people being active and that's inspiring to keep going. 

Forest Park is HUGE at 1,293 acres, it's larger than central park.  It's the 7th largest urban park in the US.  The St Louis zoo is in Forest Park.  So we changed clothes at the visitor center and decided to go to the zoo.  The St Louis zoo is free, but you have to pay to park if you don't park along one of the streets in the park.  We paid to park cause it's more secure and I look at it as a donation to the zoo.  The zoo is really really fabulous and there is often random chatter about charging admission.  I hope they never do.  It's so great that it's free!


We saw the penguins :)  We see them more often than the other animals because the zoo is open during Christmas at nights.  It's called Wild Lights and the penguins are one of the only animals you can see when you go.  Of course you're going mostly for the Christmas light display. 

St Louis Zoo just got a Polar Bear named Kali (it's pronounced like Kuli and he's a boy).  I don't think he's been there a year.  He was available to see during Wild Lights this past year but he wasn't too cooperative while we were there.  This time we had *perfect* timing.  We arrived right as they were feeding him.  They toss his fish (?) in the water and he finally jumped in and started eating.  It was so fun to watch such a big bear swim around.  I even took video! 

Late we walked by to catch him outside.  He's soooo gorgeous. 

I love all things monkey!  So of course we hit that section of the zoo.  This guy was just hanging out. :) 

This guy was hanging out on the platform playing with the crowd.  People were nodding their heads and he'd nod too.  He even poked his hand on the window at children.  It was really cool.  I wish I could have got closer, but the crowd was too large. 

The St Louis zoo has quite an elephant population.  I love watching them as they are so big and fun to watch walk around. 

We rode the train for he first time in years.  It isn't free, but for $8 you get an all day pass and can get on or off wherever you want.  We rode it once all the way around the zoo.  What we didn't know was that the train took you past some elephants that aren't on display to the public.  One of them in the youngest one at the zoo and it was so adorable.  But I didn't have my phone ready to take a photo. 

After the zoo we stopped at Ballpark Village for some drinks.  It's across the street from Busch Stadium (the St Louis Cardinals' stadium).  We sat at the outside bar.  It might be April but it was chilly.  We moved near a fire for our last drink. . . it wasn't very crowded so it was really nice to enjoy the place without the normal crowd during baseball season.  The fact that we were wearing Cardinals attire yesterday was a fluke.  :)

The Anheuser Busch emblem above the fire is really old and was originally in a different city near a train track.  We think that's why it's black in some parts.  It's not from the fire below - that's for sure. 

On the way home we stopped for dinner at Peel Brewing Company.  We've never been and have wanted to go for some time.  They are known for their wood fired pizzas.  My husband ordered a flight of beer.  I had told the waitress that I wanted the Blood Orange beer on the flight, but she misunderstood me and brought me a full size beer.  Thankfully I liked it. 

I was told their Mac & Cheese is fantastic and that was the truth!  We got it as an appetizer.  It was amazing.  Of course we eat pretty low carb and haven't had mac & cheese in forever, so that certainly helped with how impressed we were.  But I really think it was just *that* good. 

We ordered the Maple Bourbon Pork pizza.  It was good but the toppings were kind of scarce.  We weren't all that impressed.  Our expectations were really high so that didn't help.  It was good but we aren't anxious to go back any time soon.  We honestly prefer Papa Murphy's take and bake pizza.  I'm not sure if that sad or funny. 

We stopped at the grocery store and got some cake for dessert.  I chose this one cause our wedding color was pink. :)   In the past we've ordered small cakes from the bakery that made our wedding cake.  That bakery makes amazing tasting cakes, but this was certainly yummy enough. 

And since this was all about our 5th anniversary, here is a photo of our amazing wedding cake.  Not only did it look fantastic, the taste was amazing!!!!!  Everyone commented how good it was - that it wasn't just pretty.  Wedding cake has a reputation of being dry.   Ours actually had filling in most of the layers.  Totally yummy!!!

Easter Weekend

This weekend went by in the blink of an eye!  Saturday we went to the outlet mall.  We hit Under Armour first, as usual.   We got some good deals.  My husband got more than I did, but it's always hit or miss for one of us.   

Sunday we went to my husband's mom's house.  We did Easter with my family last weekend because that's when my brother had his son.   (every other weekend )  But we started Sunday morning by getting up in time to run 5 miles.  Like we set an alarm so we'd get up in time to get this done and be at my mother in law's house by 11 am.  Who are we?!?!  Like seriously!  We set an alarm to go run.  A few years ago I'd have laughed my butt off if someone told me we'd do this.  In recent years this is something I would do. . . but now my husband is joining me.  It's just amazing how much we've changed. 

Again, in order to run "together" I speed up and my husband slows down.  The previous 2 weekends, we've been at 10:40, so this was just a tad slower.  It was just so fun though!  We took a cute selfie afterwards. 

I love the spring flowers :) 

So we went to our Easter gathering.  A fried of the family comes every year and she works at Walgreens.  She gave our great-nephew a kite that she got on clearance for $0.19!  It was a big hit and he was a pro kite flyer!  He looks tall in this pic, but I believe he's about 7 years old. I  think he turns 8 in July.  I'm not sure.  . . I can't keep up with the ages of all the kids. 

I love that you can see that the kite is a turtle in this pic.  Turtle Power!!!

After that we took my car to a mechanic friend to be worked on today.  I won't get it back till tomorrow though.  I had three lights coming on randomly. . . check engine, vehicle stability control and the traction light. . . a weird combo, but the point to the O2 sensors, so both are going to be replaced tomorrow. 

I did better with eating this weekend.  Last Sunday I was at my low for the year and the next day - bam! 2 pounds up!  What?!  Last weekend was that time of the month so I had that against me.  It took me all week to get those pounds to budge. 

Here I am today.  Last Sunday I was 184.2.  So pretty much a wash.  I'd like to see the 170's sometime soon, but I know I"m not being strict enough on my eating.  And yes that is Bachelor Ben in that photo.  I had the People magazine in my bathroom! :) 

Last but not least - I got a cat trap in the mail and I caught my cat!!!

Ha ha.  Mr Blue is a sucker for a box.  Put one on the ground and time him. . . he's in that sucker within 30 seconds flat!  

Have a great week!

Hot Chocolate 15K 2015

This was my third year running this race.  I LOVE this race!  This year when I got sick (first post here), I had already signed up for this race (we signed up in May).  I was worried there was no way I'd be able to do this run.  But I was determined that somehow I'd cross the finish line.  

The first year I did this race, the high was 20 degrees for the day and the race was under a weather advisory.  This year we are unseasonably warm with highs in the 60's (yesterday we hit 70) and today's forecast was all rain.  It's grossly hot in my opinion and unhealthy for animals, but many people are happy that it's this warm.  I was really worried about the rain and watched the forecast non-stop.  I was so worried about getting soaked.  I've been caught in the rain, but never voluntarily started a long run knowing I'd be rained on the whole time.  Needless to say I was stressed. 

Yesterday we went to get our packets.  If you were in the first 15% to sign up, you got special city embroidery on your jackets. 

See the "St Louis 2015 Finisher" below the Hot Chocolate logo?  I thought the StL skyline was nice addition as well.  I love this race - it has one of the best goodie bags that I've ever had. 

We got up bright and early this AM, and it wasn't raining.  Woo hoo!  But the forecast was rain and the radar didn't look good.  I forgot to take a screenshot of the radar before the run - but this was around noon and you can see that basically we are having an all day rain. 

We drove to St Louis for a 7:30 start time and it was dripping by the time we got there.   I started to worry about how exactly I'd get through 9.3 miles with wet shoes/socks.  We walked to the Soldier's Memorial, where the race and post-race set up was.  We immediately used the ports-potty and it was about 7 am.  It was windy, damp and I was chilled.  We headed towards corrals but I wanted to use the bathroom one more time.  It was the whole "I'm cold and need to pee" feeling.  We got in a line and I knew there was no way we'd be able to make it before the start.  So we gave  up and got in our corral.  We were in corral B and I'm not sure why.  There were pacers from 10:30 - 11:30 in our corral, but there were pacers in the 9:xx range in corrals behind us.  I didn't understand that and when those group passed us on the course it really wasn't all that cool.  I felt like I was getting passed by a large crowd. 

The race started on time and it was dripping. I made the dumb decision to put a plastic poncho on while waiting in the corral.  That didn't last the first mile.  I felt like I was in a sauna.  I took it off and trashed it.  I basically got too hot to start and I paid for it.  My face felt like it was fire red through mile 5-6.  My husband ran the 5K and we didn't stick together at the start.  I can't stick with him knowing I have such a long race before me.  But I have to admit that he did amazing and we actually both crossed our respective 5K markers (the course split at mile 2.6) at the exact SAME time.  I thought that was CRAZY.  The time (the actual time of day) was 8:08 that we both crossed our 5K markers.  34:43 was my time.  His was 1 second behind me, I think cause he was a second later across the start.  My husband does NOT run or train at all.  He just does these runs with me for fun and he rocked this 5K.  I was kind of jealous of his time.  I train for this and he practically beat me!

I did really well through the 6 mile and 6.2 mile split.  But then things went down hill.  I walked a few times and then right after I crossed the mile 8 marker we hit a rather long hill.  I think it was about 1/2 mile of hill.  That's why mile 9 was the worse time.  All StL races that I've done end up hill.  Once we got over this hill and headed back near the finish we had a few small hills including up to the final turn to the finish.  It really sucks when you have 0.2 miles to go and are just getting killed by a hill!  I was really proud of my splits through mile 6.  I really need to train on hills more often in order to really improve my time in this race. 

 I beat last year by 52 seconds.  That wasn't as much as I hoped.  But I will say that my only goal was to finish this race!  I always want to beat the time from the previous year, but I was so thankful that I was healthy enough to run this race. 

The chocolate fondue finisher mug is fantastic.  This year it was hard to eat because we couldn't sit on the ground - it was a muddy mess. So holding the mug and eating was a challenge. I should say that the weather held out in the sense that there was never more than a light drizzle.  My shoes only got wet really when I stepped in a puddle or kicked water onto my feet myself.  I'm so thankful for that!

We really had a great time and are already talking about next year.  I asked my hubby if he wants to do the 15K?  Ha!!  Or if he actually trains for the 5k - he'd whoop my butt!!!!

My final finish time was 1:47:06 and a pace of 11:30/mile.  My Garmin was actually pretty close this year.  I tried not to weave like a crazy person through the crowds. 

Here is a close up of my medal and my jacket embroidery:

We continued our tradition of eating breakfast at Cracker Barrel following this race. I always get Eggs in the Basket.  I call them Hole in One Eggs when I make them at home.  I get them with runny yolks and it's so good.  I get turkey sausage cause quite frankly their turkey sausage rocks and their regular sausage does not!

They say that time heals all wounds.  Well it also fades your memories a bit.  I sometimes tend to "forget" just how much pain I was in during that time I was sick.  I tend to forget how painful it was to put my feet on the ground in the morning.  There were mornings I couldn't put my hair in a pony tail.  There were morning I couldn't get my hand to my mouth to take medicine.  I had pain in almost every single joint.  It was horrible and I think about it and try to take myself back to that time every now and again to remember just what it was like.  People are sympathetic to those with chronic pain, but until you experience you really truly cannot imagine what it's like. Even now. . . even when I've experienced this. . . it's faded and I take my health for granted somewhat now.  Whatever I had hit me with no warning.  I know the date, time and exactly what I was doing when it hit.  I have no clue if it can happen again.  Not getting a diagnosis sucks cause I just don't know what happened or if I'll have to go through that again.  I'm so thankful I'm "healthy" right now.  I'm so happy I was able to run this race.  Don't take your health for granted.  And if you are thinking of taking up an activity like running - do it!  Start small.  But just do it!  There are people that wish they could and they can't.  Be thankful for every little step you can take.  Doesn't matter if you walk or run.  Doesn't matter if you move 1 mile or 9.3 :)  Thanks for reading!

Pre-Race Update

I'm 3 days out from the Hot Chocolate 15K.  Training wise I'm doing really well.

I had my last long run this past Saturday.  What a hot mess that was.  I woke up to a dense fog advisory on my phone. I rolled over and thought "let the sun burn the fog away".  I couldn't really relax enough so I got up 20-30 mins later.  No fog!  Told my mom when I was leaving (she was going to pick me up in town at the end of my run).  I over dressed.  At mile 1 I was ripping off my hat and jacket.  I was sweating as the sun was on my back.  At the hour mark (mile 5-ish) I was freezing cause I was in the shade.  Suddenly I realized there really wasn't any sun and the fog was rolling in.  WHAT?  Usually the fog happens in the morning and the sun burns it away.  So I had 3 more miles (about 30 mins) of running in cold damp fog.  My hair was so wet I was surprised I didn't have icicles.   I was so happy to be done and so super surprised to see my pace.

So Saturday we pick up our packets and on Sunday we do the run.  And the forecast is all rain on Sunday (starting Sat night).  So I'm freaked.  I've been caught in the rain before.  In the summer.  I haven't chosen to run a full 9.3 miles in the rain.  I don't have any waterproof running clothes. :(   I'm not really sure what we will do.  This is my third year running the 15k.  This is my hubby's 2nd year running the 5K.  I want to run. But I don't want to be miserable.  We are having unseasonably warm temps so maybe it'll be ok, but if it's truly raining I'm not sure.

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Life has been crazy busy.  I had a few days home alone when my hubby went to a tractor pull in Mississippi.   I enjoyed that.  I didn't even talk to him while he was gone.  I didn't want to know if he was drinking.  I'm not saying he's an alcoholic.  I'm saying it's caused problems and I wish he just didn't drink period.  There are people that don't drink a sip. That would make our life easier cause right now our marriage is rocky as hell. 

Last night we went with my parents to the St Louis Zoo Wild Lights.  It was a nice night (55 degrees) and the lights were beautiful.  You could see the Sea Lions, the new Polar Bear and the Penguins/Puffins.  The sea lions were really really hard to see.  The walkway you walked through was lighted and the water the sea lions were in was not.  You mostly saw your own reflection.  The polar bear's home was also dark.  We got to see him for a few minutes before he went and laid down to sleep behind a rock out of the eyes of the public.  We got lucky there.  The penguins were fun though, even though no one was swimming or moving around much (last time they were and that was a blast). 

I wore my new tall boots with my skinny jeggings that I never wear.   I wish the boots were a bit taller (the pains of being 5'10") and I got blisters.  Probably not the best idea to wear them the first time to walk through the zoo.  Oh well! :)   And that's some hot chocolate with Bailey's.   Yum!

I'm gaining weight and was 191 earlier this week.  Not cool.  I'm trying not to stress.  I know I will do the cleanse or the full 24 day challenge after the new year.  I'm just trying to say in the 180's till then.  189.4 this morning! :)  It's a tough time of year.  I'm staying active and trying not to stress too much.  Long runs always seem to bump my weight up for a few days anyways.  So having 7, 8, 9.3 three weekends in a row is working against me. 

Historic Moment and some other random things. . .

I'm 5'10" and have struggled to find clothing that is long enough. Jeans are a continuous problem.  Skirts have been impossible for a long time.  Long skirts stop at a funky spot on me, not just below the knee, not mid calf, but somewhere mid calf to ankle.  Basically in a funky spot that they should not stop and therefore I've never been able to wear long skirts.  Through the years of trying them on, I've also that that even if they were long enough, that I didn't look good in them.  I've always felt they've made me look like I have huge hips.  And lets be honest I have had huge hips.  That's my problem area.  Earlier this summer a FB friend suggested I try Kohl's.  I did and I actually found a skirt that was long enough.  I didn't have a chance to wear it.  I got it in early July, went to Canada, got sick. . . suddenly it's fall.  But I wore it to a wedding this weekend.  I called this a historic moment and had to get photographic proof. :) 

It felt weird to walk around and feel the skirt at my ankles.  At my ANKLES!!!! I pulled it off and didn't think I looked too dorky.  I refused to wear a short dress so it was this or pants.

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I started my weekend with a 3 mile run/walk on Sat.  I repeated that on Sunday.  Remember I had a goal of running by Oct 1st.  Well I consider this success.  I'm not running the full distance, but that wasn't the goal. The goal to be hitting the pavement and putting in the miles.

My lung capacity isn't the best and my heart rate sometimes gets too high. But I'm working on it and I'll get it back.  It's going to take time, but I knew that going in.  6+ weeks of laying around doing nothing had to have some kind of impact.

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It feels good to be working out again cause I'm fat. I see it in that skirt photo.  I'm slowing reintroducing advocare back into my life.  I missed it.  But I cut out all supplements other than what the doc told me to take for my illness.  I'm not very good at taking a lot of stuff.  So I had a hard time keeping up with what I needed to take to get better.  So I'm back on the wagon!  I feel like I have the willpower today to get through the day without eating sugary things and without soda.

Spark helps with avoiding the soda.  Advocare doesn't make a variety box.  I bought all flavors and made my own variety boxes.  I still have some that I'd like to sell.  These are packaged in the older square packaging (except for 2 flavors), so I have a special price on them.  If you've wanted to try spark, or try all the flavors, let me know.  If you aren't local I'll ship them to you.  Ask me about the price!

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On Sunday we went to the last Cardinals home game of the regular season.  There was a special for all inclusive seats and we sat on the Powerade Bridge. 

I pigged out yesterday.  I don't even want to think about.  The scale is *so* high this morning.  This was my *first* round at the buffet.  I made my own brisket nachos.  I went back for a hotdog and more cookies.  We had Chinese for dinner.  Ahh!  Today is *going* to be good.  I feel fat and that is motivation to be good. 

I took a fun photo of a bracelet that I got on etsy. 

I wear that to every game.  I LOVE it! 

We ride the Redbird Express to the game.  Because there was also a football game in StL yesterday the traffic was awful.  It took us over 30 mins to get out of downtown and let's just say I'm surprised we didn't get in a wreck.  Our bus driver lady was NUTS!  But we were talking to the people sitting behind us.  We were in sideways seats and they were in front facing seats so it was pretty easy to chat.  And suddenly I realized that the man seemed *very* familiar.  Maybe he was my 8th grade science teacher?  So I asked.  I was wrong, but he was my teacher.  He was my math teacher when I was a Jr.  I had him for Trig/Pre-Calc.  He was one of my favorite teachers!  His voice was so familiar but I couldn't place him at first.  I think since he was wearing a hat it threw me off.  It was fun to catch up and also fun to tell him that I went on to get a degree in math.   Now I might be looking for him on the bus next season!  

Inches lost. . .

Oh gosh. . . I'm so discouraged by the scale.  Up and down. . .the same 2 lbs basically.  This weekend I saw the 30 lbs lost mark. . . but my scale was goofy.  It took like 6 attempts to get two weights of the same number.  So scrap that.  I'll wait till I really believe it.

Yesterday I measured.  I needed some motivation.

Total lost since May 9th (that was the end of my last cleanse and the last time I measured)
Chest: -2 inches (really?  goodness.  I don't need or want to lose my chest!)
Waist: - 1 inch
Hips: -1 inch
Thigh: -0.5 inch

My totals since the beginning of the year when I first started Advocare:
Chest: -4 inches
Waist: -5 inches
Hips: -6 inches (I freaking LOVE this!  That's my problem area)
Thigh: -3.5 inches

The scale doesn't show it all, but gosh darn it if I won't do a happy dance when I see that 30 lbs mark for realz.

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Sunday I did my first real 5 mile run (ran the whole thing) in a long long time.

I cannot freaking tell you how good this felt!  Whoop!   I had negative splits!  Holy crap. I never have that on a 5 mile run.  It was cold!  It was like 58 when I started my run.  Breezy too.  I had a head wind from miles 0.5-1.5.  That was kind of a struggle and might explain the slower miles 1 and 2.  Normally my first mile would be below 11:00.  Funny how running into the wind can be tough, but when it's a tail wind, I can't feel nothing and it sure doesn't feel like it pushes me on!  This was one of those runs that felt so steady and strong. Just very rhythmic.  I LOVE those.  I was flying high after this run.

I've been taking Advocare's 02 Gold before my runs on the weekend.  People call it a 3rd lung.  I haven't quite got the timing down - you are suppose to take it an hour before you run. I'm usually out the door well within that first hour that I'm awake.  That being said I do feel like it helps and it's on my list to reorder this week.  I don't tend to keep using things that I feel don't work.  So there's something going on!

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I don't think I mentioned this here, but this past week I had Brussels Sprouts for the first time.  In my life.  First time ever.  I loved them.  Of course they were made with pork belly and might have been fried to some capacity.  I tried to roast some last night with oil and balsamic vinegar. 

They were ok.  I'm going to keep trying. If you have a recipe that rocks, please share it with me.