Delicious Homemade Juice

Like many people, I’m trying to save money between now and the holidays. The holidays inevitably mean an expensive flight home to Savannah, gifts for friends and family, and lots of sales. In addition, my winter wardrobe needs some updates as a few of my pants and sweaters have seem better days. Luckily my JCrew shopping trip last week helped this cause but it also cost a pretty penny.

Therefore, over the past few weeks, Bo and I have been trimming costs by making a few small, easy changes. The changes I’ve made have been easy but meaningful:

-bringing breakfast to work

-brining lunch to work at least 3x per week

-ordering takeout less

-use items in our freezer and pantry

-making my own juices

When I bought my Vita-Mix , I knew it was a great investment. It whips up soups , protein shakes, and more in mere seconds. But, it can also serve as a juicer. This week, in preparation for the marathon, I’m enjoying juice as a morning treat each day. I’ve done a lot of research and have decided that each juice needs to include beets and baby spinach. The baby spinach is a nutritional powerhouse which will hopefully help fend off any germs while the beet juice has been found to have positive affects in distance running.

This morning’s juice did not disappoint and was quite easy!

Gather ingredients: 2 stalks celery, apple, 1 beet, 2 carrots, and 1 orange

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Chop ingredients in manageable pieces.

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Pile ingredients into Vitamix WITH some ice or water.

IMG_6654Blend for 5-10 seconds until all ingredients are combined and smooth.

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There is one extra step that is required when using the Vita-Mix as a juicer. These “juice” must go through either a cheese cloth or a strainer to separate the juice from the “pulp.” Trust me, you don’t want to skip this step or you’ll be chewing the juice.

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The result was a delicious juice which gave me a great early morning boost! It was also a LOT cheaper than the normal $5.00 price tag at NYC juice bars.

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What is your favorite juice ingredients?

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Poland Springs Marathon Kick-Off Race Recap

 

Marathon week has arrived! NYC is already dressed in orange for the occasion!

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This morning Bo, Rebecca, and I celebrated the season by participating in the Poland Spring Marathon Kickoff 5 miler. This race is a great race due to the energy and spirit. It is a perfect way to kick off marathon week. This year there was an added bonus of costumes since it’s Halloween! IMG_6646

The race sold out this year which meant the park was packed this morning!

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Due to the crowds, they started ordering us into the corrals earlier than normal. We didn’t mind because our time in the corral was spent catching up, seeing other friends, stretching, and snapping pictures.

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We were all smiles before the race. We’d already aligned that we would spend the race catching up since I didn’t want to push my pace one week before the marathon and Bo’s calf is still giving him issues.

A few minutes after the national anthem we crossed the start, ready for a great race. The fall leaves welcomed us with open arms!

Today’s course was one of my favorites as it was a reverse loop around the park. This means we were able to run DOWN Cat Hill instead of conquering the gradual incline.

 image Bo, Rebecca, and I had an absolute blast during the race. We talked about work, school, the upcoming marathon, training, and Bo’s injury. The great conversation and beautiful Fall weather kept us occupied until my short breathing gave me a reason to check my Garmin.  I couldn’t believe my eyes, our pace for mile 2 was 9:10! Our splits were putting me on pace to set a new PR. My fastest pace in a NYRR race, longer than 3 miles, before today was 9:51.

We did our best to slow down after mile 2 but the three of us were all feeling way too great! Our breathing was definitely short and the sweat was dripping but our legs wanted to sprint. Bo volunteered to pace us and did his best to keep us around a 9:30. He had to tell us multiple times not to pass him if we wanted to keep a slower pace. We were running so quickly at the end that I barely noticed Jessica along the sidelines.

Five miles later a new PR had been set and we were still all smiles!

IMG_6648 Poland Springs Marathon Kickoff 5 miler

Final Net Time: 48:12

Avg Pace: 9:38

Mile 1: 10:05

Mile 2: 9:10

Mile 3: 9:32

Mile 4: 9:33

Mile 5: 9:17

We gulped some water, stretched our legs, and then enjoyed an easy 3 mile jog home which rounded out my last long run of marathon training!

I can’t wait for next Sunday’s marathon!

If you are interested, I’m looking for readers interested in contributing week of and day of marathon tips. If you’ve run a marathon then I want readers to learn from your experience. Please email them to healthyhappierbear at gmail dot com this week! I’ll feature them this week!

Have a great Sunday!

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