Giveaway Winner!!

This whole traveling stuff is crazy!  I finally got back home last night and am now scrambling around unpacking, doing laundry, and grocery shopping.  I promise to visit your blogs soon!  And, I can't wait to tell you all about Muddy Buddy!  It was awesome! :)

Now, to the point of this post! :)  There were 201 comments...wow!  Based on Random.org,

The Favorite Things Part 2 Giveaway Winner is.....

Running, Tri-ing, and Living 

Woohoo!  Please send me an email with your address and I'll get your goodies out to you asap! :)

Favorite Things Giveaway-Part 2!

Favorite Things Giveaway!
Woohoo!  I finally got all the stuff together for the giveaway I've been talking about!  Like my first giveaway, I decided to focus on my favorite things.  This time however, since it's the off-season (for most of us) for triathlons, I wanted to do some of my favorite things for running, and some other fun things mixed in.  None of this stuff was donated, so I guess it's kind of a "pay-it-forward" giveaway.  So, I hope you like what I've got for you! :)

Here's what you'll get if you win:

1.  1 pair of black reflective Yankz!  I love my yankz and have them on pretty much every athletic shoe I own.  Now that the days are getting shorter, reflective gear is a must.  So, I thought I'd give away a reflective pair for that extra bit of visibility.


2.  A CD of some of my favorite running/workout songs.  I have over 5hrs. of songs on my Ipod playlist, but unfortunately they wouldn't all fit on one CD.  But, you'll get 22 songs (about 80min.) of music to help get you through those long, or short, runs! :)


3.  1 Hammer gel, 1 Gu Roctane, 1 packet of Clif Shot Bloks, and 1 packet of Sport Beans


4.  One container of Kola NUUN.  I use NUUN on every run/bike ride over an hour and absolutely love it!  


5.  1 tube of Yelpstick - This lip balm is awesome.  It has an SPF 15 and has a nice scent to it.  I don't know about you, but my lips get really dry and cracked over the winter months.  This lip balm really helps keep them smooth. 


6.  I tube of Aquaphor - If you've never tried Aquaphor, you're missing out!  This stuff is great for cuts, blisters, chaffing, dry/cracked areas, and much more.  Although I've heard you can use it for your "sensitive" areas when you're on the bike, I haven't gotten the chance to try it out yet.   But, we have used it for our son's diaper rash, and it worked great! 


7.  1 "run." sticker

8.  2 tattoos - 1 for beginnertriathlete.com (best site ever!) and 1 RMAO (Run My A** Off) Saucony tattoo

9.  1 awesome metal hook - The last thing is, in my opinion, something unique and really cool.  My brother-n-law makes amazing things using recycled metal and other materials.  I am giving away one of his hooks that he made.  I loved the design on it because it reminded me of a running path.  The hook is called "Ungawa," and the tag reads:  Ungawa looks after you, your keys, your jewelry, or just about anything that hangs.  I know this isn't exactly "running" related, but you could definitely use the hook to hang your workout bag, race medals, clothing, etc.  
He has an Etsy shop {HERE} that you should check out if you get the chance.  He sells a lot of unique things that would make great gifts for Christmas, or any time.  Oh, and the bottle openers are awesome.  We own 3 of them ourselves..ha ha! :)  


Here's how to win:
**  Please leave a SEPARATE comment for each one.**


1.  Follow my blog, or if you are already a follower, let me know! :)

2.  If you were one of the first 206 followers (through the "follow" button on blogger, not Google reader) let me know because you get an extra entry! :)

3.  Tell me what one of your favorite running items is!

** The contest will run until Tuesday, Nov. 16th.  I will announce the winner on Wed., Nov. 17th! **

A week in review and other things too

Training:
*  This week has been awesome as far as training goes.  It almost seems like I am training for a tri again because I've been able to swim, bike, and run!  Yay!  This week made me realize just how much I like to train for tris.  Don't get me wrong, I love running, and I've been enjoying training for my marathons, but it's nice to switch things up a bit and go for a bike ride every once in awhile.  The weather has been really nice here, especially for the end of Oct/early Nov., so I've been taking advantage of it and getting outside to ride.  It's been great!

*  Another reason I'm glad I've been able to ride outside is because I need to get my riding legs back in shape for next weekend!  My sister and I are doing the Muddy Buddy in Phx. and I am so excited!  We have our costumes picked out and everything and it's going to be so much fun!   I'm thinking about wearing my VFF Bikilas for the race.  Since we're bound to get muddy, I don't think I really want to get my running shoes dirty b/c they'd be a pain to clean!  But, I don't know how they'll be on the bike.  What do you think?

*  I've decided to do the Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge that Amanda at Run To The Finish is putting on.  You can click on the button on the right of my blog to get the scoop!






*  I went to my yoga class again yesterday, and it kicked my ass!  The instructor focused a lot on working our core and legs/hips and it was tough!  At one point, I was breathing so hard that my lips got tingly.  Have I mentioned how much I love that class?!?

*  I have a couple of exciting things coming up in the next few weeks, that I'm still waiting on.  They need to be worked out a little more, but when I get it all figured out I'll be sure to share them with you!  I'm pretty excited about them, so keep your fingers crossed that they happen! :)

Other Things Too:
*  I've won three blog giveaways in the past couple of weeks and I am so excited!!!  First, I won an awesome Nathan Handheld water bottle from Marcia at Running Off at the Mouth.  Then, I won an awesome outside PR gift bucket from Mel at Tall Mom on the Run.  Then, I just found out I won a nutrition goodie from Kevin at Half Tri-ing.  Woohoo! :)

*  I'm still trying to get together the stuff for my giveaway.  I'm sorry it's taking so long, but I promise I'll have it up next week sometime.  Yay!

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*  We're going up to the mountains this weekend to visit my sister-n-law and her husband.  They've gotten quite a bit of snow up there, so I have to get out all of our winter gear.  Brrrr!  My boys are so excited about it, so it should be pretty fun!

Sunday Run and Halloween!

Sunday Run:
Sunday was my first "long" run since my marathon.  I was scheduled to run 7miles and I was itching to get out and run!  The weather was beautiful and I was looking forward to being outside.  I know soon enough that I'll be doing the majority of my runs inside on the treadmill, so it was nice to have a 65 degree day!

I know fully recovering from a marathon takes time, but my legs have just felt a little off on my runs lately.  This run was no different.  But, after about 3 miles, my legs actually started to feel "normal" again!  It was a great feeling and I decided to ignore my Garmin and just run.  It was awesome.

When I got about a 1/2mile from my house, "Sweet Child of Mine" from Guns-N-Roses (yes, I have that song on my training playlist!) came on.  It instantly reminded me of my cousin Denis who passed away years ago.  He lived with us for awhile when I was in high school and he was obsessed with GNR.  Something about the song coming on, the beautiful weather, and feeling good on the run, made me point to the sky and say, "This one's for you Denis." I sprinted all of the way home, and the song ended exactly when I reached our driveway.  I got a little teary eyed when I finished, but it also brought a smile to my face remembering him at a happy time in his life, rocking out to GNR.  :)

  
Halloween
Halloween was great this year!  My husband took the boys out trick-or-treating while I stayed home to pass out candy.  Here is a picture I took before they headed out:

My oldest was the transformer Optimus Prime and my youngest was Spiderman.  In this picture, I told them to pretend they were using their super powers and these are the poses they came up with!  I love it! :)

The Switch Witch

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My husband and I decided to try something new this year.  I read somewhere about the idea of the "Switch Witch" and thought it was awesome.  So, here's how it works.  On Halloween night, we had the boys pick out 10 pieces of their favorite candy.  The rest was put into a big bowl and placed on our living room coffee table.  When the boys are sleeping, the Switch Witch comes, takes all of the candy, and leaves a special toy for each boy in its' place.  Of course, it takes a little planning to buy an awesome toy for each boy ahead of time, but it was so worth it.  Our boys were so excited about it and it was a great way for us to get rid of all of the candy without dealing with the tantrums that may have occurred if we just took the candy away from them.  Now, they have their 10 pieces to eat and then it's gone!  I don't know about all of you, but if there is candy around, I will eat it.  I think I've actually gained several pounds from grabbing a piece of candy here and there over the last couple of days.  I love candy, but there is such thing as too much of a good thing.  So, my husband took the whole bowl of candy to work with him so the other employees can eat it.  Let them deal with the extra pounds! :)

Tag, I'm it!!

Yay!  Colleen at IRONDIVA tagged me to do a fun questionnaire post!  If you haven't been to her blog, you should check it out!  O-kay, so here goes!


1.  If you could eat anything without any health repercussions or guilt, what would your meal be?

Out of all of the questions, this one was the hardest for me.  I don't really know why, but it was really difficult for me to think of something.  So, this answer may seem kind of lame, but whatever.  I absolutely love the combination of chocolate and peanut butter or chocolate and caramel.  So, I guess if I could eat anything it would be lots of goodies like samoa girl scout cookies, rolos, homemade fudge, Cold Stone's Founder's Favorite ice cream creation (sooo good!), reese's pieces, reese's peanut butter cups, chocolate chips with peanut butter (yes, I have been known to take a scoop of PB and load chocolate chips on top of it!), or any other thing you can think of that is pure chocolaty goodness! :)


2.  If you could meet anyone living or dead, who would it be and why?
I've  never really been into wanting to meet some famous or historical person.  I don't know why, but I just never have.  So, I think I'm going to steal use Colleen's answer and say my blogger friends.  I just think it would be so much fun to put an actual face and personality to a name.  I love reading all of the comments I get and I love following all of your blogs.  I have learned so much from all of you, and it would just be nice to meet you in person.  Hopefully someday that will happen! :)


3.  Why did you start blogging and what did you expect when you started?
I started blogging last fall because I think I needed some way to connect to other people who were going through this crazy triathlon lifestyle.  I don't have any friends that are into endurance sports, so it was hard for me to talk to people about my training and what I was going through because they just didn't "get" it.  I started following a couple of blogs, and learned a lot about nutrition, training, products, etc.  I started wondering if maybe I had something to share with other athletes out there too.  I decided to start my blog, but I didn't tell anyone, not even my husband.  I was kind of embarrassed about it for some reason.  But, I found that I really enjoyed writing about my training and life.  I started connecting to people out there in the blogosphere that knew exactly what I was talking about, and it was awesome.
I honestly didn't expect anyone to follow me, but I found myself getting excited when I had 3 followers, then 5, then 10!  My blog has definitely evolved since the beginning.  My hope has always been that the things I share help others in some way, whether it be motivation, training tips, healthy recipes, or just support.
Like I mentioned above, I have learned so much and have gotten so much support and encouragement from all of you.  I hope I've done the same for you! :)


4.  What is the one book you could read over and over again?

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I don't know if I can really pick one book that I loved so much to read over and over again.  But, I do have an author.  When I was younger, I was obsessed with wolves and would always pick books about them to read.  I was introduced to Jack London and loved every book that I read.  "Call of the Wild," "The Sea Wolf," and "White Fang" are some of the more popular ones.  So, while I may not have a specific book, I do have a specific author that I could read over and over again.    

5.  If you could travel anywhere, where would it be?

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I would love to go to Europe with my husband and do the whole bicycling tour thing, but on our own.  Since we both love riding, I just think it would be fun to tour different places while on a bike.  It would be cheaper, a way to get in exercise, and we'd get to see things that most "tourists" wouldn't get to see or experience.  We've talked about doing it someday when our boys are older.  Hopefully someday it will be a reality.  :)
 
6.  If you could have a TV show on the Food Network, what would it be?
Humpastry Day TV! :)  Ha ha.  I would actually love to have a show on Food Network that talked about how easy it is to switch ingredients for healthier ones.  Guests could email some of their favorite recipes, and we could work together to recreate their recipe incorporating better ingredients. I think the majority of people do not know how many different options there are out there to make their food healthier. I also think people assume that taking away the butter, sugar, and white flour will leave their food bland, but it's really not so.  Anyways, I just think that would be awesome! :)
  
7.  What was the best meal you ever had?

source Seriously, look at this view! 

You know, I have had a lot of good food in my life.  But, when I think about my best meal, it wasn't really the food that made it so great.  It was more of the atmosphere, company, and all around experience.  With that being said, I would have to say that the best meal I ever had was during our honeymoon in Kauai.  We went to this amazing seafood restaurant called The Beach House.  That was before we became vegetarians, so we had this macadamia encrusted mahi mahi that was absolutely delicious and the most amazing desert afterwards.  But what made it the best meal was the fact that it was such a romantic time.  The restaurant overlooked the ocean and the whole side of the restaurant was open to the outside.  You could smell the ocean, hear the ocean waves, and enjoy the most beautiful view ever of the sunset!  It was amazing!  


8.  Who has been your greatest influence on your love for food and learning to cook?
I would definitely have to say my mom.  Growing up we almost always ate dinner as a family.  My mom is an amazing cook and baker and she definitely had a huge influence on me.  But, my father-n-law was the one that started me thinking about being a vegetarian.  He recommended I read The China Study, which I did.  One month after reading that book, we started transitioning into vegetarians and haven't really looked back.

Since then, I have taken it upon myself to learn how to cook and bake as a vegetarian (almost vegan).  I got lots of great cookbooks and did lots of research online.  I found that just because you're a vegetarian, it doesn't mean you eat "healthy."  There are lots of vegetarians that are overweight.  So, as an endurance athlete, and a mother to two boys, I then took it one step further and really started thinking about the food we were eating and how to make it as healthy as possible.  We still eat pizza, Chipotle, and Jimmy John's, on occasion.  But, for the most part, we eat home cooked meals almost every night.  It can be a lot of work, but I have a system for planning meals and having certain ingredients on hand already.  My boys love to "cook" and "bake" with me, and I love that!  I can't wait until their older when I can start teaching them how to cook too.  Hopefully, I can instill healthy eating habits in my boys for when they get out on their own.  But, who knows.  Only time will tell!        

Alrighty, now I need to tag some of you!  I know there are some of you that have already been tagged, so I'll try and pick those of you who I haven't seen posts from yet!

1.  Cynthia at Balls in the Air
2.  Kristin at Gotta Love Triathlon
3.  Mark at Journeys of a Triathlete Father of Five
4.  Alisa at Ambitious Aspirations Make Great Accomplishments

Humpastry Day-Pear Bread and DIY Pumpkin Latte!

Pear Bread

I just realized that it's been about 3 weeks since I posted a recipe!  Yikes!  Hopefully the fact that I'm posting two recipes will make up for it! :)

I had some pears that were starting to get a little too ripe and I didn't want to throw them away.  So, I decided to try  making some pear bread.  I have never had pear bread, and I wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the result.  This bread doesn't rise up like yeast breads, but it is moist and really good plain or warmed with melted butter on top.  I don't usually put nuts in my breads, but I think the combination of pears and pecans worked  nicely.  However, if you have a nut allergy, this bread would be good without them as well.  

Ingredients:

Makes 2 loaves *Note: this bread freezes really well.  I usually keep one loaf to eat, and freeze the other one.

  

*  1/2C applesauce

*  1/4C coconut oil (or vegetable oil)

*  3/4C raw sugar

*  3/4C brown sugar

* 3 flax eggs (3Tbl. ground flax mixed with 9Tbl. warm water.  Let sit until thickened.)

*  3 pears -peeled, cored, and chopped

*  1C chopped pecans (optional)

*  2tsp. vanilla

*  3C whole wheat flour

*  1tsp. baking soda

*  1tsp. baking powder

*  1tsp. salt

*  1 1/2tsp. cinnamon

*  1/2tsp. nutmeg

*  1/4tsp. cloves

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the flax eggs and set aside. 

2.  Lightly grease two 8x4" loaf pans.

3.  In a large bowl, mix applesauce, oil, sugar, and flax eggs. 

4.  Stir in pears, pecans, and vanilla and stir to combine.

5.  In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.

6.  Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined.

7.  Pour the batter into the two prepared loaf pans.

8.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center of the loaf comes out clean.

9.  Cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

10.  Enjoy!  

DIY Pumpkin Latte:

I'm sure we've all seen the return of the Pumpkin Latte at Starbucks.  I really like their drink, but I could do without spending the money.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and tweaked it a little bit after some trial and error.  Let me tell you, this is soooo good!  I actually like it better than the one at Starbucks.  And, it's A LOT cheaper to do and is super easy to make.  You can drink it as is, or add some of your favorite morning coffee to it.  

We made this when we carved our pumpkins and my boys loved it!  Now that the weather is getting colder, it's nice to have a fun, warm drink, other than hot chocolate.  :)  I hope you like it! 

Ingredients:

Makes 4 grande size servings

*  1C pumpkin puree (just pumpkin, NOT canned pumpkin pie puree)

*  1 quart (4cups) soymilk

*  1/4C sugar **Note: this could definitely be decreased.  I usually start with less, than add more if I think it needs it. 

*  1Tbl. vanilla extract

*  3/4tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Directions:

1.  Combine all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat over medium heat.

2.  Use a whisk to blend well.    

**Note:  The brown flecks in the picture are the spices.  This is pre-blended.  You have to keep whisking in order to incorporate the spices into the milk.  I usually use my immersion blender (best device EVER!!)  to get it completely mixed in.

3.  Heat to a simmer, do not boil.  

4.  Pour into your mugs and enjoy!!!  **Note: if you want to add coffee to it, I usually fill the mug 3/4 full of latte, then fill the rest with coffee.  Yum, yum, yum!!

I hope you all  have a good day! :) 

                    

Pumpkin fun!

For the last few years we've been going to an actual farm where the boys can see farm animals, go on a hay ride, pick pumpkins, and do other fun things.  This year however, Halloween just snuck up on us (is October really almost over???) and we ran out of time.  At first I was a little sad that we wouldn't be doing our annual trip to the farm.  But, we found a fun local pumpkin patch to take the boys too, and they still had fun, so all was good.

The pumpkins:

Ian searched around for a long time before deciding on this one.  It was perfect!

Owen walked up to the biggest pumpkin in the patch and decided that was the one he wanted.  It was sooo cute.  But, we told him he had to be able to carry it, so he decided on this one instead. :)

Our family!  We've come to expect with family pictures that at least one person will be looking somewhere other than the camera! It is what it is.  Ha ha!











Let the carving begin!

                                                            I love this picture!








Finished products:
All of our pumpkins on the porch all ready for the trick-or-treaters.  Ian carved his little pumpkin all my himself.  He was so proud of himself! :)

Roasted pumpkin seeds anyone?  Yum!