My healthy happier life

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

Chop ingredients in manageable pieces.

Pile ingredients into Vitamix WITH some ice or water.

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

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.

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.

What is your favorite juice ingredients?

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

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!

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

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.

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.

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!

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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Before we get to today’s meals, I need to ask you all for your opinion:

Yesterday I received this exciting email:

6th ANNUAL LAST 10 MILE RUN

The body will feel what the mind has seen!
Run the last 10 miles of the NYC Marathon course, two weeks before the actual race.
Date: Saturday, October 23rd
Time: 8:00am (check-in from 7:00am to 7:45am)
Start Location: On East 60th Street at 1st Avenue
Finish Location: In Central Park at the NYC Marathon finish line at W67th Street in front of (the former) Tavern on the Green restaurant
Support: Pace Groups, Bag Transport (from start to finish), Maps, Water & Bagels (at the finish), plus Coaching to answer all of your marathon questions… WOW!

This seemed like the perfect end to my marathon training. This Saturday, I’m completing my last 2nd 20 miler before my taper begins. I was immediately excited for the prospect of running 10 miles on my own from 6:20-8am before meeting this group at the above start location to complete the last time miles. The opportunity to run the last 10 miles of the NYC Marathon 2 weeks before the marathon is so exciting! But, when I clicked register, I saw that the sponsor, The Running Center is charging $35 for the event. That $35 pays for the bagels, pacers, water, and bag transport. It doesn’t exactly seem like a good deal. Is it worth the $35 to run the last 10 miles of the race in advance?

Thanks for your input! Ready for today’s meals? ;) Let me know if you like seeing my meals? I’ve made it a goal lately to capture more food pictures for you guys but want to make sure you all like what you’re reading.

Today was a jam packed Wednesday. I have no words for the number of “fire drills” we had today. Lately, Wednesday has been the busiest day at work. What’s your busiest day?

Luckily, breakfast and lunch were no brainers. 🙂

Pumpkin Oatmeal and Chai Tea enjoyed desk side during conference call #1.

Pumpkin Oats with PB2

My mid day energy came from all the greens enjoyed during lunch. Today’s salad was 2x bigger than yesterday thanks to extra baby spinach and mixed greens! What is your favorite salad base? I love baby spinach as long as it’s paired with fruit and balsamic. Weird, I know!

By the time I walked through the door tonight, I knew our planned dinner wasn’t going to become a reality. We had a grand plan of making breakfast for dinner, including poached eggs, fruit salad, and turkey sausage. Instead, I still satiated my “breakfast for dinner” cravings with an easier, faster version!

Last month when we visited Zach and Brianne in Portland, she whipped up a delicious egg burrito. Ever since then I’ve had a craving to recreate it at home. Tonight was the perfect night. I had a fresh batch of Eggland’s Best eggs, Flatout wraps, Green Mountain Salsa, hummus and Garlic gold! It was exactly the wrap I’d dreamt of all this time!