Marathon Mom

 Finally a picture of me running!  Last weekend I ran a race despite being sick for the two days prior. I had gone into it hoping to PR and possibly place higher then last year. All this changed when I started coming down with a respiratory virus. The same thing happened last Spring around Boston time and a coworker suggested Super Lysine, I was willing to try anything. So once again I took massive doses for two days and was actually feeling better by Sunday morning.  The race wasn't great, but it wasn't awful. I just didn't do as well as I'd hoped and don't have much to say about it. I wasn't going to write a race report, but figured I always like to compare and look back so here it is short and sweet. I started out great with a sub 7 pace for a few miles but quickly slowed as my breathing got tougher. By Mile 7 I knew I couldn't push much any more so I just ran comfortable and still had hopes of passing the group of three women in front of me. This...

Today I was told by three people that I didn't look like I had a baby. It's been nearly 20 months, what should I look like? I almost asked if they wanted to see my ab muscle separation that is still there, then would I look like a woman who had given birth. Maybe that is my only outward sign, well except the 20lb ball of energy running crazy around me! What does someone who has given birth look like? Are women expected to retain all the weight gained during pregnancy and have a belly for the rest of their life after giving birth? Trying hard to stay off my soap box here, but I think this is part of the issue with our society. Women/mothers are given the given the okay to give up on healthy habits once they have a child. I don't know how many times I have heard "I was small until I had a baby" and said baby is no longer a baby. Some days it is difficult to fit in a workout or eat healthy when dealing with the chaos of parenthood (grad school...

When I'm stressed I run, cook and eat. All of which happened this weekend in anticipation of the busiest semester of grad school yet that starts Tuesday. The next semesters will be packed with hundreds of clinical hours, completing and preparing a doctorate project for publication and preparing to take another board exam. All of this along with working and being a mom/wife and hopefully keeping my sanity. Once again my work schedule is getting in the way of running so I had to start my taper a week early and decided since I had 4 weeks instead of 3 I'd go for 22 miles on Saturday. This combined with overripe bananas, a refrigerator full of squash and Ophelia asking for "noodles" for dinner resulted in an afternoon of cooking. Banana Blueberry Bread (Sugar Free/Dairy Free) Adapted from this recipe at Fat Free Vegan 3 large over-ripe bananas 1 cup pitted dates (about 8) 2 tablespoons lemon juice 1/3 cup apple sauce 1/2 cup agave nectar 1 3/4 cups whole whe...