Breakfast with strangers

The Fisher House is a place for the families of patients to stay while they receive medical care at major military medical centers. There are 61 Fisher Houses around the country, with more in the building and planning stages. Rooms are suite style, with adjoining rooms available, so that families can stay together. There is a common kitchen, laundry facilities, and large dining and living areas. Families always stay for free.

This morning, I helped provide breakfast for the current residents of our local Fisher House. This is the second month I have taken part in this fun undertaking. Once a month, 8-10 of us bring various parts of what turns out to be a huge, restaurant quality breakfast. This week, our spread consisted of 3 kinds of quiche, 2 kinds of muffins, sausage and bacon, bagels and flavored cream cheese, and a huge platter of fresh fruit. I made yogurt, fruit, and granola parfaits.

We had a full, busy, and appreciative kitchen as families came through, served themselves, and then enjoyed their full plates. I recognized one family from last month -- a dad, a pretty pregnant mom, and three beautiful (and painfully shy) little girls, ages 3 to about 8. They are originally from the next state over, currently stationed in Germany, and here for medical treatment. And they've been here for at least a month. 

Now don't get me wrong - the Fisher House is great. It's big, and clean, and warm, and friendly, and has everything you need. But it's not home. I can't help but think - the days and weeks must be getting long, especially with little kids, and another on the way. 

So I am working with the volunteer coordinator to go back next week, and hopefully every week. Not to provide a meal, but hopefully to provide some entertainment, or least some distraction. I'm thinking maybe a craft or cooking project: maybe we could make door decorations for the other families or bake rainbow bread. Maybe the weather will still be warm, and we could go outside to chalkpaint the sidewalks, or have a whipped cream war. These three beautiful, shy little girls look like they haven't done anything messy and fun for a while. They're due.

If you'd like more information about volunteer opportunities 

or wish to donate to the Fisher House, please click here.

An awesome gift

Our kids surprised me with an awesome gift: a sampling of high quality olive oil and vinegar from Emerald Coast Olive Oil in Panama City Beach, Florida. You can find them online here. And they ship -- so I know where I'll be headed once I use up my stockpile!

The main type of fat in olive oil is monounsaturated - a healthy dietary fat. A diet including unsaturated fats, like monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, instead of saturated fats and trans fats, provides certain health benefits. Olive oil may help lower the risks of heart disease and cancer (particularly organ cancers), lower total cholesterol, and decrease low-density lipoprotein (LPL) cholesterol - the bad kind. Vinegar can help regulate blood sugar levels, is high in antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals, and may also reduce pain and inflammation.

These are the three samples of olive oil I received and I have tasted each one. Yep, literally finger-licked a sample from each bottle. Each is very smooth and rich with its own unique flavor. And the lime one - oh my gosh - so limey! Delicious. 

Due to the popularity and scarceness of high quality, 100% Extra Virgin Olive Oil (EVOO), many grocery store varieties have as little as 15% EVOO and are then diluted with low quality olive oil or even other types of oil, but still labeled and sold as EVOO. (whaat?) These, from Emerald Coast Olive Oil, are the real deal - pure and unadulterated. I know it will be very hard to go back to the grocery store variety after being spoiled with these!

Here are the vinegar flavors I received. Yep, I tasted each one as well.
The depth of flavor is amazing - so rich and sweet and wonderful.

✿ڿڰۣ(̆̃̃

I will be using my olive oil and vinegar mostly for dressings and toppings so I can fully enjoy their exotic flavors. I figure, when I cook with olive oil and vinegar, I'm usually adding other spices and flavors and likely won't be able to appreciate the unique flavors of these special ones.

First up: a dressing made with Persian Lime olive oil, Strawberry balsamic vinegar, and a pinch of salt and pepper, drizzled on baby spinach, topped with feta, fresh strawberries, and slivered almonds. Three words: To  die  for.

Special thanks to my wonderful children for this awesome gift!

"So...how's your training going?"

I get this question at every social event I attend lately - mostly because the only social events I attend are my honey's work social events and everyone at his work knows we are registered to run the Air Force Marathon on Sep 21, 2013. We are also registered to run the Virginia Beach Rock n Roll Half Marathon on Sep 1, less than a week away.

So... how's my training going?

Not well.

On Sunday, Aug 4, my honey and I set out for our 18 mile scheduled training run. Up until that point, we had been following our marathon training running schedule fairly religiously. My honey wasn't catching all the weekday runs, but we were right on schedule with our long runs. So, somewhere during the second half of mile 14 on this previously mentioned 18 mile run, I felt a very distinct and sharp pain on the lower inside front of my left shin. It brought me to a complete stop. I walked (or more accurately, hobbled) for a few minutes, and then gutted out the last 3 miles (walking a few more times) to complete the 18 mile run. When I got home, I iced, took some anti-inflammatory meds, and didn't think too much about it. Two days later, I set out for my scheduled 6 mile weekday run. My leg hurt. I was slower than usual. I didn't feel like my gait was really affected by the pain until the last mile or two. Again - ice, anti-inflammatory meds, crossed my fingers, and hoped it would magically feel better. And two days later (Thursday, if you're really paying attention), I headed out again. What was supposed to be a 5 mile run, turned into 2 miles of walking, jogging, crying, limping, and more crying. My shin was now bruised, swollen, and painful to the touch.

My daughter, aka Coach to her cross country team, said: no more running, at least not on land, for a few weeks. So I am trying to limit all impact and doing the elliptical trainer a couple of times a week. She also suggested deep water running. The idea is to mimic the mechanics of running but in deep water, with no impact. This gives your body a chance to heal yet, thanks to the resistance of water, keep your cardiovascular and muscle fitness.

 So I ordered a waterproof mp3 player.

And some Aquajogger equipment.

And found a pool at least 8 feet deep (at $6 a pop). Sidenote: rehab ain't cheap. 

Deep water running isn't easy. Besides just feeling a little weird, it takes a bit of time to figure out the mechanics and the correct pace of movement. I try to follow the tips in the official workout guide.

The belt has to be pretty tight, like uncomfortably so, to stay in place. I made the "hand weights" out of an old pool noodle and scrap pieces of PVC pipe to try to save a few bucks after quickly realizing I didn't know what to do with my hands. The water "running shoes" gave me killer blisters but they do help control the movement and provide some extra resistance. 

So, there I am - neck deep in the water, with a long sleeve shirt over my bathing suit and under my blue buoyancy belt, which is so tight I can barely breath, music blaring in my ears, hat and sunglasses on to protect from the glare, funny looking purple floating shoes, janky homemade water weights, all limbs churning away, barely visibly moving along the length of the deep end, trying desperately to log 60-120 minutes of deep water running while avoiding kids, ages 4-16 who insist on playing sharks and minnows in the only part of the pool deep enough for me to use and/or diving over, swimming under, and throwing underwater toy torpedoes directly at me. Is it fun? No.

But I've been 4 times now. My water running log looks like this:

Sat  60 min

Mon  90 min

Wed  110 min

Fri  60 min

Unlike swimming laps, deep water running is the definition of getting nowhere fast, so I am training for time, not distance. The hope is, churning my legs and arms as if running for 9-10 minutes in deep water might be equivalent to running on land for a mile. I get tired and I get breathless and I am definitely glad when my self-imposed training time is up. But it's not the same. And I worry that all this time in the pool won't translate to the road. On Sep 1, I will tape up my leg, pull on my compression socks, and hope to complete the VA Beach Half. 

Wish me luck.

Meal Plan (8/25 - 8/31 )

Back at it.

Make a plan. Shop the plan. Prep the plan. Then meals are a breeze - no excuses.

This plan reflects our meals for the week. I try to include a protein in most snacks and meals - for me, most animal proteins are replaced with plant proteins (like tofu, protein powder, or various legumes), while my honey eats a lot of chicken and dairy. We pack lunches in the morning so the day is pretty fool proof... unless, of course, there is a donut run at the office (oops!) or we receive Qdoba free entree coupons.  :)

I'm back. I think.

I was...

MIA.

Lost.

Overwhelmed.

I just couldn't take it anymore.

So I took the blog off the internet for a bit. I took a break. I read a couple of books. I helped make a quilt. I had a huge life event - I mean HUGE - or rather my honey had a huge life event, I just get to come along for the ride!! 

But now I'm back. I think.

This blog is supposed to be about healthy living. And living healthy means finding balance, doing things you love, finding value in yourself, and appreciating the value of everyone around you. And I lost sight of that for a bit. I saw the blog as this obligation. Ugh. I felt compelled to write every single day but then was disappointed with what I did write, and questioned why I was doing it at all. In short, I lost the joy. And if something doesn't bring you joy, you shouldn't do it. (Except for cleaning the bathroom and doing your taxes - both joyless, but do them anyway!!) So I stepped away.

But then, ... I missed it.

I missed the structure of knowing I could spend an hour or two writing stuff -- maybe even stuff no one would read, but felt cathartic none the less. I missed being serious about planning my meals and workouts -- without the accountability of the blog, things fell by the wayside. I missed thinking of ways to make my boring, every day life seem less boring and every day.

And so I'm back.

I think.