Saving My Life - One 6:30 wake up after another...

I got all those crazy tests from the week before last back this week! I am happy to say I am ridiculously pleased with my first plunge back into academia after my location imposed hiatus from school. Anthropology is challenging and broad ranging, which I love! I am so happy that I transferred into this program!

On another note, I've been thinking abut this awesome running quote this week. Now, I haven't been running a ton because I'm a weather wimp, but I've been fitting in time to workout on a regular basis. I think if I could switch out running with exercise, this quote would be perfect. There is no disease preventative like staying healthy. Sometimes there isn't much we can do to protect ourselves, but keeping our bodies strong can't hurt!

So, go forth and save your lives!!

Someday, I want this too!

One of my favorite running blogs is written by a runner and mom from  Texas, named Leslie. In her latest blog entry she talks about her kids responses to her running and healthy eating. It is so motivating to see how she is setting a great example for her kids. Someday, I hope it's the same for me. To read her blog entry, go here.

Cobbler - The Healthy Way

Since I began my quest to eat healthy, I have been LOVING my Rocco DiSpirito, "Now Eat This" cook book. All of the dinner, lunch, breakfast, and snack recipes have been amazing! So filling and so healthy. The desserts have been hit or miss for me. The cobbler, with a few tweaks is now a favorite. I thought I'd share it with you guys!

Healthy Cobbler
Ingredients:
5 Golden delicious apples - peeled, cored, and cut into large slices
1 lemon
1 tbsp cornstarch
1" Ginger root
2 tbsp Cinnamon
1/4 c Dried cranberries
1/4 c Agave nectar
3/4 c Whole Wheat baking mix
1/4 c Fat Free milk
2 tbsp turbinado sugar

Method:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spray an 8x8 baking dish with non stick cooking spray and set aside.

In a bowl, mix apples, juice of one lemon, cornstarch, 1 tbsp cinnamon, cranberries, and agave. Also grate, using a zester, the 1/2" of ginger into the bowl. Put mixture in pre greased baking sheet.

Using the same bowl (which is now empty), combine baking mix, as much of the remaining ginger (zested) as you'd like, 1 tbsp cinnamon, and milk. Stir until the mixture is well mixed. It should be the consistency of biscuit dough.  Add more milk if necessary. Drop spoonfuls of dough evenly over the fruit. Sprinkle sugar over the dough.

Bake the cobbler until the fruit is tender and the biscuit topping is golden brown, about 20 minutes. Let the cobbler rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Health Facts per serving:
165 calories
1 g fat,
0 mg cholesterol
126 mg sodium
40 g carbohydrate
2 g fiber
1 g protein

For my Weight Watcher friends, 1 serving is 5 points :D

This should serve 8 people. If you'd like to save an additional 23 calories a serving, omit the cranberries and turbinado sugar.

Yum!

Also, if you are looking for an awesome workout, you should check out the Tone It Up Fall Challenge. It's a great way to keep up the motivation! I am loving it and so is Allie over at Teaspoon of Life!

Remember, now that fall is approaching and it's cooling down out there, our furry children love to stay healthy, too! So make sure they're getting outdoor time and exercise (Mack wanted to make sure to get that plug in since our outdoor running has started again).

Run For the Bling of It - Race #2

Today was my 2nd Run for the Bling of It race! I was really nervous about the Surf-n-Turk 5k because of all the running on the sand. Every time I practice ran on the sand it completely wrecked my time. I went today hoping all my practice would pay off, but ended up with a lot higher of a time than I would have gotten on straight pavement. Oh well. It was a great day for a run and I got to run along the beautiful Gulf Coast on North Padre Island.

My total time for today's 5k was 39:29. Definitely slow, but not horrible either. I don't really track my speed per mile, but I would bet my first mile was the fastest because it was mostly on the pavement. Since I don't have a Corpus Christi running buddy yet, my awesome hubby comes out and watches and takes pictures of me! So great to have a built in photographer. I keep trying to get him to run with me, but running just isn't his thing.

All the race money today went to the Padre Island Baptist Church's mission fund, so that was awesome. I love knowing my entry money is going to a good cause. Plus, the mission committee made pancakes this morning and just asked for a donation if you ate some. I treated myself to one pancake post run. It was delicious.

With this run being so much bigger, they had door prizes afterward which was awesome. I was hoping for the gift card to the running store, but ended up getting a gift card for a month of free JAZZERCISE. First off, to any jazzercise fans that read this blog, I'm sorry, but I didn't know anyone actually did jazzercise anymore. So, I'll probably eventually use it just because it's free, but I keep having images of Richard Simmons in my mind....

Pre Race jitters!

Coming out of the starting shoot

Heading off for the one strip of pavement

Pavement between the beach grass

Passing more people!

Just crossed the finish line!

The beach where we ran - way down you can kind of see a pink buidling, we went all the way down there, turned around and went past where I'm standing.

Beautiful beach on North Padre Island

My Bling - T-shirt, bag of coupons, and jazzercise coupon!

Now my feet are killing me!!! That much running on sand make me thankful for running on pavement. I'll be glad to get back to runs where every step does not have the momentum sucked out of it! Cupid's Chase in February, here I come!!!

Fat???? I thought he was supposed to look like that?!?!

Last week, Mack had a vet appointment. It wasn't too big of a deal. When you move to a new military base and live on base, you have to get your dog registered with the base. They check to make sure their immunizations are up to date and in the last couple years have mandated having your dog micro-chipped. For Mack's vet appointment he was getting a quick dog physical, the rabies vaccine he had just come due for, and a new prescription of Heart Guard and Frontline. The reason he wasn't micro-chipped already was the last base we lived on was a little lax with dog registration and didn't require us to micro-chip him. Since Mack is anything but a runner, we didn't bother.

The visit ended up being anything but normal. Hubs was at water survival training, so I was on my own. I a had asked the vet to check out a weird bump on Mack's right front paw. The vet acted very concerned and told me that if it didn't go down with spray on antibiotics that we would need to get the bump biopsied. He didn't say directly that it was cancer, but mentioned that cancer is the leading killer of golden retrievers and that we should test the bump if it didn't heal in a day or two. Thankfully, a full week later, the bump has scabbed over, shrunk, and almost completely healed. So, Mack is in the clear.

The vet also told us that Mack has become a chub!!! It was decided that Mack needs to loose at least 5 lbs. He's gotten so chubby that we had to bump his dosage of Heart Guard. The vet tech felt bad for us and gave us some puppy sample doses to go with his normal doses until he loses weight. You might wonder how I didn't notice his weight gain. I wonder this too. I think it's all his hair. You just don't notice how chubby a dog is when he has hair as long as mine! 

Since our vet visit, Mack and I have upped our running and Mack has had his daily food amount reduced. This is Mack's response to dieting.

Nothing like a toy to tear up when you're hungry...

No one like diets

Mack and I have been picking up our running so I'll be ready to do my first Run for the Bling of It run on Saturday! I'm so excited! Woo!!!