..And that mojo continues!!

Well, I had a goal to get first place and I KILLED IT!!!! I got first place overall female! I can’t explain to you the feeling I had going back to racing. Saturday was my first day back since almost a year.  I just love being around “my people”. Walking up to the race, all of the cars have “13.1, ironman, 5k, 10k” bumper stickers. I’m always thinking “Ah! I have that! They GET me!”. When we got to the race, it was freezing and of course I’m wearing spandex shorts (awesome idea). My body was shivering, I had to pee every 5 seconds and I was shaking ridiculously cause I was SO anxious to start. Once I started, I still couldn’t feel my legs but my heart felt like it was going to pop out of my chest. During the race, I slapped a butt (girl I knew), high fived some peeps and thumbs up’ed a few others. Finally, as I wrapped around the last bend, people were cheering me on saying “you’re first.. GOOO GIRL!!”. Just hearing people scream for me gives me goosebumps which somehow makes me run faster. At this point, I’m literally flying as I run past the finish line. The best feeling in the world.

Britt's face though..

Gotta have our biggest supporter there!!

My thoughts about a 10k? Why the heck was I wasting so much time running a freakin half marathon while always getting sick the whole entire day after?! The 10k was so short and sweet (although it WAS 6.37 miles not 6.2 like it should have been). My sister ran the half for this race and ended up throwing up the rest of the night. As for me, I played ultimate Frisbee directly after the race. Such a great day. Sorry Britt ;)

Yes!!

Brittany was first for her age group!

This morning.. And the training continues :)

That racing mojo is back!

I can’t even remember the last time I wrote in here. It’s not even that I’ve been busy.. I’ve just been chillin, really. To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought to write in here again but I’m starting to get my racing mojo back and I wanted to share the excitement! It’s been almost a year since my last race… well last “real” race. My friends and I did a fun 5k a few months ago but that didn’t count.. sorry guys, lol. The last real race I ran was the Women’s Health half marathon that I usually just dominate. Since I didn’t “dominate” as much as I had hoped for, I kind of just fell off the racing bandwagon and gave myself a break. WELL!! Here I am again, ready to KILL this one I have next month.

Sunset 5k with the crew

I've never run this race before—but it’s only a 10k. I know what you’re thinking.. what everyone else thinks- “Oh, ONLY a 10k, Brooke?”… Yes.. I mean, it’s way shorter than 13 miles. Sooo 6 miles around Honeymoon island as fast as I can? DONE. It took me a little while to actually sign up, but once I did.. something clicked.

I WILL bring this up!

 For the past year now, my runs have just been chillin for 10 miles, going the speed of a caterpillar.. not really getting anywhere except 10 miles farther than I was before the run. Now I feel like I need to bust outta my turtle slowness and jump into my crazy she-hulk competition status! For a week now, I’ve been speeding up my runs outside and also sprinting on the treadmill. I feel like I'm already gaining more energy! Maybe it’s the green tea extract I’ve been taking in replace of coffee? (Thanks, Joy). Don’t get me wrong, before I run each day, I'm just like you.. I want it to be over! But after the run, It’s a whole different story. When training, I love when my face is burning hot, my cheeks are bright red and there is so much sweat happening that it drips all over the base of the treadmill. "Ewww gross Brooke!"

I can’t wait to share how the race went.. I’m really SO excited to get back into what I love doing – apparently I forgot just how much I do love doing it!

In other news, works great. Just Supervising and dietitian-ing it up! We added a new Dietitian to our clan… and we love her. Shout out to Loli!!!!

Adios amigos! 

New Food Label!?

Since America is getting fatter/heart disease is a killer each day, after 20 years, the FDA is coming out with new food labels. Some of you probably don’t even read them, and if you do, you most likely just say “wow, that’s a lot of calories/sugar/fat etc… I’m still eating it!” Ha, I know.. I do it everyday. So anyway, here is a sneak peak at the new food label coming out.

• Comparing left to right, the RIGHT one is the NEW one. Difference? Okay.

• The calories are now bold and HUGE. That’s saying, “Hey, I’m 230 calories, and you should probably know that’s a whole lot for just 2/3 cup!”

• Serving size… it’s telling you these 230 calories are coming from 2/3 cup of whatever food this is. So no, there is not 230 calories in this whole entire box.. there is 230 calories in 2/3 cup of the box so DON’T EAT THE WHOLE DANG BOX!

Just to show you the differences of "servings" over the past 50 years.

• The % Daily Values has been placed in front. Many of you probably don’t even know what those percentages mean. It’s basically just telling you, based on a 2,000 diet (which may be more or less than what your body requires.. this is just an average), this is the % that is contributing to how much you SHOULD be having each day. So like.. Total fat here is 12%. That’s saying that eating 2/3 cup of this food is 12% of the fat you should eat everyday. You have 88% more to go!!

• Vitamins A and C have now been removed and Vitamin D and Potassium has been added. This is because most Americans are getting enough A and C but lacking in D and Potassium. However, if you live in Florida and you’re in the sun all the time.. you’re probably okay with the D! :)

• Finally, they added a place for “added sugar”. Basically, when you read a food label and you see “sugars”, you don’t know if that occurs naturally in the food (strawberries) or has been added (strawberry gummy worms). Added sugar contributes many calories in a majority of foods we eat, even if it’s not sweet. This may not be one of the best implications of the new food label because there have been so many arguments that naturally occurring sugar vs. added sugar still has the same chemical composition. While this may be true, the natural sugars most likely have many more health benefits, like vitamins and nutrients, than just plain table sugar or high fructose corn syrups (yes, I know.. those stupid commercials… Ahhh but the corn is nattuuurall. Psh).

Apparently it is going to take a little bit for these changes to occur. Obviously industries don’t want their products to look “bad” or “unhealthy” per label so maybe it’ll create an incentive to produce healthier foods? Wishful thinking! As long as they keep chocolate around, I think I’ll be okay. For antioxidant reasons ;)

Just a Dietitian tidbit for ya! Buh bye. 

Coping.

It's been about 2 1/2 weeks now of no running. Am I going nuts? Slightly. I found out what exactly my injury was.. a stress fracture on my calcaneus (heel). The word "fracture" sounds so intense, but I am actually SO happy it wasn't Plantar Fasciitis. The word 'Plantar' is just gross.. like warts.. and 'Fasciitis' sounds like an infection. But that's not the only reason i'm glad I don't have it; the fact that its not a forever kinda thing is the best news ever! I have been still going on the elliptical, stretching, putting my foot in an ice bath, and wearing a damn boot! Look at this thing. This will be an occurance for the next month (hopefully sooner), or until I'm all healed! Or shall I say.. Heeled? ha.

After researching a million ways of how to make my recovery faster, I realized I just need to give it... as my Podiatrist says.. "T-I-M-E". He actually spelled it out for me too, so sweet. The first week, I was actually in denial.
"My foot is fiiiine. I'll just go on the elliptical really really fast!".
NO. This made the pain 10x worse and made me not even able to walk up or down the stairs the next morning. I was contemplating getting crutches but I'm not up for that armpit pain, although they ARE fun for like 10 minutes.

My sweet mamma brought over her stationary bike for me to use while I'm not running. It was literally used when she was pregnant with my sister. It's like 40 years old I think, but does the dang trick. It's not some high-tech-bobo-no sweat-bike. After 6 minutes, I'm already drenched. I don't even know how it happens. Thanks mommy :)

Anyway, I'm on the road to recovery! While researching, I decided it would be good for me to start taking Calcium and Vitamin D supplements, in addition to my [yummy gummy] Multivitamin. The two together help increase bone mineral density and trauma induced joint concerns, which obviously is my issue. it also helps with speedy recovery and is a pro-inflammatory after strenuous exercise! I don't eat much dairy and my bones/joints need to be strong in order to take all the pounding I do. In addition, I'm debating on whether to take B12. I do eat meat, but not as often as I should. B12 is what repairs our muscles and maintains our red blood cells by keeping oxygen flowing throughout our bodies. A while ago, I bought a collagen supplement to aid in stronger joints, but I never take them cause they're just so big. I need to get over that nonsense.

K! Just a little tid-bit for ya! Any other runners have your go-to vitamin/minerals??

Down for the count :(

I'm honestly at a loss for words. Well obviously not, since I'm about to type a bunch.. but by hearing that expression, you know something big happened. This may not be "big" to other people but for me it's HUGE. I've been having foot/calf/heel pains now for about a week. They started off not so bad, able to run.. but now.. HORRIBLE. I step out of bed and ask myself if i'll even be able to make it to my car, or let alone.. downstairs. My mom, along with a few other people, think it's Plantar Fasciitis. I'm going to get it checked by a podiatrist on Friday. Of course, freaking out, I looked up the treatment/prognosis of Plantar Fasciitis (lets call it PF.. aka Permanently F**ked). Some people live with it for months, some years, some forever. Literally... I don't know what to do. I want to cry not only due to the pain but because WHAT?! I won't ever get to run.. ever..? :( This is just so bad. 

I've been doing all the stretches you're supposed to do for this PF. I GUESS they work.

Of course I still am not slacking in the gym. I'm trying to find different things that aren't high impact.. or any impact. That leaves me with the elliptical, which just reminds me of college girls who wear their hair down, not wanting to sweat but still "working out". I did it yesterday and basically tried to sprint and actually got a good workout, but I can't see myself doing that everyday. SO BORING. I want to run outside, look at trees, look at cars, sing to myself... UGH! I can't bring a freaking elliptical outside. I'm really really really realllllllllly praying this goes away like, tomorrow. 

Was God trying to tell me to give running a break? I can't :( 

No more miles to go.