Tonight I made an altered version of a quinoa stir fry that I've made before. I realized after grocery shopping that I'd forgotten to get a protein for the stir fry, but then I remembered I had chickpeas at home. I wasn't entirely sure they would work, but they ended up being a delicious addition! I also found this sample packet of roasted hemp seeds that I'd picked up at a natural food store a while back: More protein, and added crunch! I tossed the whole packet in to a large frying pan, which also contained the following: A little less than 1 lb. pre-chopped, mixed stir-fry vegetables from Whole Foods (I cheated, and I'm glad) 1/2 white onion, chopped 1 large carrot, sliced into rounds 1 can cooked chickpeas 1 c. frozen organic peas 2 c. cooked, whole grain quinoa About 4 strands (whatever you call them) of scallion, chopped Organic sesame seed oil, 2-3 tbsp. Braggs Liquid Aminos, about 1 tbsp. Few shakes each cumin, paprika, turmeric, Mr. ...

I'm in about my seventh week of marathon training for Steamtown Marathon  (I didn't have an official start date--or plan--but started doing long runs some time back). Eleven more weeks of training remain. So far, so good. Yesterday morning I ran 15 miles with my friend and training buddy Nicole, and it was (for me) significantly better than last weekend's 12 miles. Part of this was because I'd just started to feel the effects of doing 13- and 14-milers for several weekends in a row without brining my mileage down, but what also helped yesterday's run was that I got to use my new GPS watch, and new running things always make a run better :) Last weekend, while running the 12 brutal miles at Upper Tampa Bay Trail , my old trusty Garmin Forerunner 305  (now discontinued and significantly more expensive than when I bought it) gave out on me. It had been giving me problems since the Nike Women's Half , back in April, mostly not charging properly and taking an extr...

Time has really gotten away from me, as I write this post more than a month after my last one. Fortunately little of note has occurred in the interim, but I have accomplished two significant things in my running life recently: I began training for the Steamtown Marathon, and  I ran another PR 5k race and won my age group!  I'll get to the training in a later post, but first things first. Lutz Independence Day 5k Since the earliest conversations I had with my boyfriend, Tim, a native of Lutz, he has talked about this 5k race. This is understandable, as it was the first 5k race he ran, which launched a significant lifestyle change for him; it was in his hometown; and it was the first race he ran with his dad, a longtime runner. He would tell me in the earlier stages of our relationship that if we were still together by July 4, I should run the race with him, his dad, and his cousin. I generally stop racing in May--maybe June, but even that's pushing it in the Florida h...