Last weekend I participated in the 9th Annual PNC Bank Miles for Moffitt race, which takes place at the campus I spend so much of my time at, the University of South Florida, Tampa. And even though I've spent roughly 40 hours a week for the past 12 years on campus, racing on campus is still exciting to me. It feels territorial, like it's somehow my race. But the thing about this particular race is that it's very much not my race; this race--or its proceeds, rather--belongs to everyone who can benefit from cancer research, and that pretty much means everyone . The race itself was a good one for me. I haven't had the spring race season I'd hoped for; even though I started off with a great marathon , the ensuing injury and nagging pain from it have kept me in running flux--trying to maintain miles but not really able to push very hard. But this was a shorter race (shorter than the last "trial" race I did), and I felt I was ready to push. Of course, I ha...

I was planning meals last week and thought the  kale and cannellini-stuffed sweet potato  meal I'd made before sounded good, but then I remembered a friend's recent Instagram post that showed a pan full of sweet potato "noodles," and I was reminded that I wanted to try that out. I'd had some  success  making "zoodles," or zucchini noodles, and I wanted to experiment more with alternative forms of pasta. So I basically decided to deconstruct the stuffed sweet potato meal and switch out kale for spinach. Ingredients 2 medium-to-large sweet potatoes 2 bags baby spinach 1 BPA-free box cannellini beans 2 cloves garlic, chopped olive oil salt, pepper, cumin, cayenne I used the same piece of equipment--a mandolin--as I used for the zoodles. I had a little more difficulty with the raw sweet potatoes, as they're much firmer than zucchini, so I had to press the potato across the blade with more force, which made me more likely to also slice a finger ...

I frequently mention the Tuesday night running group I attend, Four Green Fields Running Club , and I have continued to go to this club over the years , despite the fact that I don't really drink or socialize afterward, for several reasons. One is the location--the route is on Bayshore Blvd., where I often run, and close to the various places I've lived for the past six years I've been running; although now it's a bit farther away since I just moved, but not far enough away to keep me from going. Another is the people; even though I am not a social butterfly when I go to the runs, I love seeing running friends I've met over the years, even if just in sweaty passing. But one more reason I love this club is because they partner with my favorite local running store, Feet First , to demo different running shoes each week. A representative from the shoe brand comes out with Nikki from Feet First, and together they encourage the runners to try out the latest shoe models f...

A few weeks ago, a friend in the fitness community asked if I'd be interested in doing a cleanse through the company he and his wife started in exchange for a write-up of my experience. I received product for writing this review, which is my honest recounting of my journey into juiceland. I was genuinely excited and curious to begin this new way of consuming calories and cleansing out built-up toxins in my body. But I was also apprehensive; I love food, and I use it to comfort me in stressful times. I knew this relationship with food was a bad one, though, and one of the things I sought to change through the cleanse was the way I view and use food. Logically I knew I would be getting enough calories each day with just the juices, and I tried to rely on that knowledge to convince myself that I could do this. The one thing I did not anticipate is that I would still be in the process of moving from one home to another, a highly stressful event (I had hoped to be done the day prior ...