Movin' it with Michelle

4th of July festivities and foods

July 6, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

Well, despite our basement partially flooding on Thursday and having to fork out more money than I care to admit I have to say-this weekend has been awesome so far.
I started the weekend with a 4th of July eve 4 miler…it went fairly well, and despite still having some breathing problems I was able to hold pace.

Friday we got together with my amazing friend Carolyn and her family for the 4th of July festivities. They have included us in their family tradition for the last 3 years, and I feel so blessed to have them in my life. We met up at her folks house to gather for the parade. I missed it last year due to work, so found myself extra excited to spend the entire day with such amazing people.

After the parade, we dispersed and took a much needed nap.
We had primo seats for the fireworks, and I was able to catch a few really good shots. Here’s one:

Today should’ve been ‘chore’ day as my house looks like a tornado hit it…I finally finished washing all the towels used to soak up the water for Thursday’s flood, but the rest of the housework is lacking. I asked my husband what he wanted to do today this morning, and he said, “Let’s go on a picnic!” Deal. I was IN. My oldest daughter was at a friend’s BBQ party, so we gathered our youngest, a cooler, our picnic basket and a bunch of yummy food and headed north on the Fox River.

I finished up the day by making this amazing zucchini, squash, and potato soup.

Here’s what you’ll need:
2 yellow squash, peeled and cubed
2 zucchini, peeled and cubed
2 red potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 white onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
2 pats of unsalted butter
2 tablespoons of avocado oil
2-3 cups of unsalted vegetable stock
Seasonings to taste:
Kosher salt
Coarse ground black pepper
Turmeric
Cayenne pepper
Smoked paprika
Tarragon
Basil
Thyme
Dill
Parsley for garnish

Heat a large sauce/soup pot on medium heat and add in one pat of butter and the avocado oil. Next, add your garlic and onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes until lightly translucent. Add in the rest of your veggies and seasonings, and cook for about 10-15 minutes or until the veggies are soft. Next, add in your veggie stock, and simmer for another 5 minutes. Puree with an immersion blender (see pic) or in your food processor.

Taste your soup for desired seasoning, and add your second pat of butter. Stir well, and serve! My hubby asked for seconds! 🙂

What is your favorite way to spend the 4th of July?

Do you enjoy soup? What are your favorite kinds?

Have a great day, and thanks for reading!

❤ Michelle

moving forward, Uncategorized

The obligatory like

July 3, 2014July 4, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

Part 1.

I caveat this post, with the fact it has nothing to do with food, or fitness-at least the physical type…

I will however say, it has a lot to do with moving forward, or ‘keep movin’ forward as my mantra states.

First point: Social media doesn’t always make you socially connected with people. Can I get an amen? It hit me recently that while scrolling through news feeds and ‘liking’ people’s posts, I still felt very removed from many people’s lives.

I have been doing a little ‘soul searching’ journey if you will over the last several weeks. More so, because I saw myself spiraling back in a bit of a negative funk that I did NOT want to revisit.
While on my bike ride last weekend, I decided to open my mind up a bit, and try and figure out what my deal was lately…
Guess what…I realized that despite who I wanted to blame, it was MY fault for allowing others creep up on my joy like thieves in the night…Time for some “Talk to the hand” action again. Right?

So lately on this journey of moving forward, I decided I would put forth more effort in things I found tugging at my heart. One, is being so close, yet still so far apart from my family. Realizing you can’t just pick up the pieces after being gone for 20 years I knew I needed to try harder. I miss them dearly, so I picked up the phone…

I reached out to my sister first, and we’ve decided to run Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth Minnesota next summer. She has ran the race previously, but since this race is in our hometown I thought HOW COOL would it be to run it TOGETHER!!!! She agreed, and we signed up on opening day-July 1st.
With that, I WON a shirt and a goodie bag for sign up on opening day. HOW. COOL. IS. THAT. LOL…ok, maybe not that cool but having not won many things in the past, this girl was stoked.

Secondly, I called my parents last night…often times a month can go by without us catching up as life gets busy, and time is easily lost track of in the midst of careers, travel, life, kids, training, household disasters, etc…LOL.

In the end, I am glad I picked up the phone vs. just liking status posts or pics on fb…sometimes you need to hear that person’s voice to really feel that social connection.
Is it me, or is social media making us LESS social?

to be continued…stay tuned for Part 2.

dedication, goals, moving forward, running

Weekend wrap up

June 30, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

Sometimes (often times) I find myself needed a weekend, well, FOR my weekend. This one was one of those weekends where we were on the GO all weekend. So this post will be mostly pics, filled with my little tid bits throughout the way…

Friday my husband had to go to a dress rehearsal for the wedding he was performing “Saber arch” detail in. So after dropping off my oldest at her BFF’s for a sleep over, I decided to embrace the moment and take my youngest out on a date. I asked her where she wanted to go to eat…SUSHI of course. We had such a nice time eating dinner, and walking the streets of Geneva window shopping and I treated her with well deserved ice cream.

We wrapped up our date with shopping for “Lucy” her American girl doll, and we found a beautiful hand made outfit.

We got home a bit late, and I was tired. I worked a few hours of overtime this week, and knew I had a long run scheduled for the morning. So I set my outfit out, fuel was ready, and I went to bed at 10 p.m.

Sadly, my husband came home late from his practice, and I wasn’t able to sleep…AT. ALL. I may have gotten two hours of sleep Friday night…MAYBE.
I got out of bed at 5:45 with baggy eyes and heavy legs. My long run was GOING. TO. SUCK. (and it did)
I met up with the Dick Pond run club gang, and we headed out promptly at 7 am. It was hot. It was humid. And all I wanted to do was go back to bed. But I ran. And thankfully Melissa stayed with me for the majority of the run. There were several walk/water/want to stab myself in the eye breaks. Here we are at mile 4, with a bug planted firmly underneath my eye. New make up scheme? I think…NOT.

Around the six mile mark, I sent Melissa on her way so she wouldn’t have to witness my epic fail of a long run. I couldn’t hold pace and the mental demons were winning. But I finished…8.18 treacherous miles logged.

And then. There was the food. Yes, I devoured this egg sammich like a mad women.

I wanted to nap when I got home…but we had a wedding to attend. Here are some highlights.

Today I was blessed to be able to take a NAP this morning…Morning you say? Yup, hubby got up at 6:30 for his long run and I got my youngest breakfast and settled. I may, or may not have napped until 10:30 a.m. I forced myself out of bed, showered, cleaned, and went to a dear friends housewarming/Mary Kay Party. I love my friends. Have I said that lately?

I came home to THIS dinner…Grilled steak, Egg plant, and quinoa…Can you say yum?

Yup...my hubby made this! — Yup…my hubby made this!

I finished the weekend with a 12.5 mile bike ride. I needed to find my happy place, which I can usually find during a long run…so I needed to feel the wind on my face, the sun on my back…and all that jazz…So I dusted off my bike, and hit the trails. My bike sucks, I’ll just say it, but it keeps me moving regardless. My pace was slow, but I felt great being outside as the sun started to set. I captured THIS awesome moment tonight….

And as I flew down the hill on my Walmart bike I realized…I can fly…I can run…I can ride. And as always, I keep movin’ forward.

❤ Michelle

dedication

The house I grew up in…

June 27, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

I will admit when I joined the Air Force, a part of me was running away. Both mentally, and physically speaking…
I left the house I grew up in, in 1991 and haven’t been back for over 20 years. But the memories are still with me, and I have decided instead of focusing on the hard times, that I will revisit all that I loved about growing up in this old house…

This house is over 100 years old…
Favorite memories include…
-Our kitchen had a fire when I was a young child. My Dad and his friends rebuilt the kitchen, and with that came huge appliance boxes with which we made some pretty amazing forts.
-I learned to cook in this kitchen, between baking with my Mom, and creating amazing dishes with my Dad with only our palates as recipe guides.

-The hill we had in our front yard may have been terrible for mowing, but it was amazing for sliding down on metal saucers in the winter. Watch out for cars!
-We were surrounded by amazing elderly neighbors who taught me respect, love, and hard work.
-As kids, we bonded with all of the neighborhood kids within a six block radius playing “red light/green light” and “hide and go seek” until our Mom’s called for us at dark.
-I helped my Dad (or at least I thought I was helping) build the deck, redo the siding, and make improvements to this house we called home.
-My bedroom window (the top two windows pictured above) looked out on to Lake Superior. I used to stare out at the lake, daydreaming…I spent many hours in this room reading and losing myself in the literary world. One of these windows was struck by lightening when I was around the age of 12, shooting a lightening bold through the springs of my bed (while I slept), waking me abruptly as I shot straight up into bed. One of the insurance adjusters told my parents we should be in church thanking God that I was alive. I’ll never forget that, and have since faced my fears of thunderstorms full force.
-Every Christmas season we would take down all of our knick knacks and replace them with holiday decorations making our house look like a winter wonderland. This was always my favorite season despite the frigid temps in northern Minnesota.
-Holiday meals were always recognized and celebrated as a family. Always.
-Every day, my Mom would leave us notes to do certain chores on our wooden kitchen table that was housed snuggly in our kitchen…but on all holidays she left us love notes, candy, reminders that she loved us. This has remained one of my favorite memories.
-I spent hours in the back yard with my Dad digging for earthworms for fishing, and practicing our fly fishing form.
-We had a choke cherry tree in the back yard that I loved sneaking the sheer indulgence of a tart choke cherry after a long day at school.
-We also had fresh rhubarb and raspberries that I loved to pick, eat, and enjoy daily!
-We plugged the cars that sat outside due to not having a garage in every day during winter.
-The house was so old, that we didn’t have a shower, so I would spend hours in the bath tub listening to Barry Manilow and reading books…I had to force myself out of the tub when I found my toes so wrinkled I was afraid they’d stay that way.
-My Dad would spend hours in the basement working…I loved watching him work on his guns, wood carvings, and the like.
-Twins baseball became pretty huge in my house…so we would all curl up on the couch and chairs munching sunflower seeds and watching baseball.
-Shooting bottle rockets and BBQ’ing on our deck during the 4th was always an awesome day!

I remember…leaving this house when my parents sold it just a few months before I left for the Air Force. I remember saying goodbye…

But I hold these memories near and dear, and no matter what has happened in the past, I can say I am pretty darn blessed.

And while counting my blessings, I have to account for my current blessings of amazing friends, an awesome husband, and family that although may not all be near-are a constant in my life.

Do you still visit the house you grew up in? Do your parents still live there?

❤
Michelle

dedication, food, goals

Gosh has it really been a week?

June 25, 2014March 3, 2015 Movin' it with Michelle

Last week I logged 3 runs, and kept my eating on par…well, until the weekend where I chowed down on chicken wings while watching the World Cup soccer game…ooooooops…

I started my week strong with my hubby, running a very humid and hot 5k to get us moving. It was hard, admittedly. There were plenty of swear words and more sweat then we could even quantify, but we kept moving…

Back to work today, and let’s just say at 9 pm I have finally finished my work day. Talk about exhausted…who wants to lift weights for me?

BUT…I’ve missed cooking. With the hubby gone last week our meals here were pretty simple…

Yet the best part of tonight was creating a yummy and healthy dinner and in less than 30 minutes. Now…what to name this dish, LOL.

Braised chicken thighs

Here is what you’ll need:

4 chicken thighs, bone in, patted dry.
1 small white onion diced
1 pepper diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 can of diced tomatoes, drained
2 teaspoons of capers, diced
1 tablespoon of tomato paste
1 cup of Sauvignon blanc (Fiddlehead cellar is my all time favorite)
Seasonings:
Pinch of Rosemary, sage, thyme, kosher salt, black pepper and roasted red pepper flakes

Here’s what you’ll do:
Season your chicken with salt and pepper and sear on both sides in a pan coated with extra virgin olive oil, until they are golden brown. Remove from heat and set aside. (Do NOT cook through). In the same pan, add your onions, garlic, peppers, tomatoes, tomato paste, capers, wine, and seasoning and let simmer for 5 minutes. Add back your chicken, coating them in the sauce, and cover. Let simmer for 15 minutes until cooked through.

Instead of serving over traditional pasta, I served over yellow zucchini noodles. What a hit!

How did I make these cool veggie noodles? My new favorite kitchen gadget!

Vegettie...don't laugh. — The Vegettie…don’t laugh.

Tonight’s work out? Arms…

Back at it with running tomorrow!

What is your favorite kitchen gadget?

❤ Michelle

food

Lemon Vinaigrette with a little twist

June 17, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

Here lately I have had people asking for my lemon vinaigrette recipe-which I have found to be so versatile, and my go to dressing for salads, fish, and even chicken/pork/steak.

What you’ll need:
The juice of one lemon
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 small clove of garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon (to taste) of apple cider vinegar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 pinch of Mediterranean oregano and basil

Lightly mix, and whisk in a couple tablespoons of a good extra virgin olive oil

Serve over your favorite salad or protein! Delish!!

Here is a pic of my latest creation that I dressed with this vinaigrette.
I got a new “noodle” gadget tonight, where you can take veggies and make them into noodles! It’s GREAT!
I “noodled” 3/4 of a zucchini, added 1/4 thinly sliced red onions, and some sliced roasted (gluten free) roasted turkey as well as some cherry tomatoes! Looking forward to lunch tomorrow!

This took only 10 minutes or less to prepare!!

Hope you all enjoy!

This week starts back to better eating and exercise…although I’ve done pretty well with my running, I know my eats haven’t been top notch! Here’s to more recipes and better adventures to share with you all!!

❤
Michelle

dedication, food, goals

Sammiches and Speed, in no particular order

June 4, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

The new season of Master Chef is upon us, and after watching the first episode last week I decided it is time to step up my game if I ever want to even DREAM of trying out. Regardless of whether or not I try out-I plan on upping my recipe collection and continuing to work on someday writing my own e-cook book. This cook book will encompass not only recipes for fancy dinners, but recipes for people on the MOVE.
So last night for dinner, I made Panini’s.
What you’ll need for a family of 4:
4 chicken breasts, pounded out thin with whatever have in the kitchen…I use a meat tenderizer hammer/gadget
–season with salt, pepper, oregano and basil and pan fry with avocado oil until lightly browned on each side-set aside
4 pieces of genoa salami
8 pieces of Ezekiel bread (or your favorite bread of choice)
thinly sliced parmesan cheese, 2-3 pieces per sammich
2 thinly sliced tomatoes per sammich
1 cup of baby arugula lettuce, 1/4 cup for each sammich give or take…
For the spread:
1/2 cup light mayo, mixed with one clove of garlic minced, 1/2 of a lemon juiced, pinch of oregano, basil, and cayenne pepper.

Preheat your griddle on high, and butter the bread lightly with unsalted low fat butter. Compile your sammiches with the above ingredients, lightly coating each piece of bread with your yummy spread. Once browned lightly, place on a cookie sheet, and see the attached pic for my make shift Panini press.

Cook at 325 degrees with the sammiches pressed for about 10 minutes at 325 degrees. I served with pita chips and stuffed tomatoes! The tomatoes were seasoned with evoo, salt, pepper, and stuffed with low fat mozzarella cheese/parmesan cheese and seasoned with salt, pepper, oregano, basil and parsley.

Quick, easy, and healthy all around for the most part…:-)

Today was run night, so after work I came home and made a quick dinner of tacos and beans before heading out to get our miles in. I can’t eat before I run, so we ate after our run.
I warned my husband who has started his half marathon training full force that I was feeling pretty tired and wasn’t sure about how fast I could go…he nodded, put in his ear buds and we took off. We had a 3 miler (ok, 5K because I can’t just run 3 miles lol) scheduled, and starting out I felt oddly strong. It normally takes me a few miles to warm up yet as we took off I felt strong. We finished our first mile in 8:51, and suddenly my goals switched from easy miles to running our 5K in sub 9 minute miles. Our second mile was a 1/4 mile of up hill so we clocked it at 9:02…I wasn’t going to let this sway my goal of a quick speed work run at this point, so we pushed each other the last 1.2 miles with a 8:50/7:58 min tick.

As a previously known ‘solo’ runner, I have found an inner peace and a new found respect for my husband as we train TOGETHER. We push each other, encourage each other, and at the end of each run we end it with a sweaty high five and “good job.” I still enjoy running alone, don’t get me wrong…but having my husband along side of me during these runs has given me an added boost that I really needed coming off a fall injury. I started to doubt myself this winter, wondering if I would ever run another distance race…wondering, questioning, asking myself CAN I DO THIS ANYMORE??

But I can now say…YES. I can do this…I CAN break my sub-2 half marathon goal THIS year…I don’t NEED anyone other than myself, to say, YES I CAN. But it sure is nice to get accolades from fellow runners, page owners, and blog posters. THIS, brought to you by Run Nerds Rock…he posted it on my page today and I had to choke back the tears…THIS dude, that just ran a 100 miler was telling ME I am bad ass…LOVE it.

And I tell you what…I feel pretty darn bad ass. I am no Kenyan, but my progress makes me proud regardless, in speed work, in the kitchen, and in my life.

Keep Movin’ forward gang…always…

❤ Michelle

dedication, food, goals, moving forward, running

Top 10 things I’ve learned as a 40-somethin’ year old-pictureless post

June 3, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

This post may seem a bit “common sense” like, but I felt compelled to share things I have learned in my 4 decades of being blessed to live on this earth…Some are fitness related in the relative sense, while most are a part of my mantra of #keepmovinforward

1. Do what you love, and do it with all of your being. No…we all can’t have those dream jobs of being (for me) an executive Chef or famous writer. But I do my job to the best of my ability and spend the rest of my time focusing on things I love. I love to run, I love to write, I love to cook, and above all I love sharing all of these passions with my family and friends.

2. Leave the past where it belongs. In the past. But…yes, BUT…learn from your past mistakes, your past situations, and your past hurts. Don’t let yourself repeat the past…Learn, let go, and move forward from things that may have caused you pain.

3. Embrace what you’ve learned from #2, and allow these past hurts to fuel your future. Have you racked up your credit cards? Have you lost your job? Have you found yourself in a failed relationship? Learn…pay off those cards and put the credit card DOWN. Let go…it sucks being layed off from a job, but don’t give up! Get out there and keep looking for where are meant to be! Is your relationship causing you complete and utter pain, day after day? LET IT GO. Life is too short…(these of course are just a FEW examples).

4. If you want to be better at a certain task-WORK for it. Enough said…No one can make you stronger at ANYTHING. More times than not, you have to be your own rock.

5. Do you dream of a happy life? MAKE IT SO…No ones life is unicorns and glitter all of the time. But embrace those moments that make your heart sing, and let the rest BE. Example? I had a rough day at work today…Monday’s are always my nemesis for disaster it seems. But today, after thanking one of my employees for her extra hours I found myself in awe listening to HER thank ME for being the best boss she’s had…I had to hold my emotion inside as I genuinely thanked her. This made all the “ick” go away in a heart beat. Find your moments each and every day…and hold on tight to the wonderful feeling they give to you.

6. Stop chasing people wishing for acceptance or praise. If you want to chase something, chase that runner in front of you in your next half marathon, but let the acceptance and praise come naturally. Not everyone was built to give out those warm fuzzies that we all covet. So be it…yet there are SO many souls placed on this planet for that VERY reason…I am grateful to have several in my corner who do just THAT.

7. Find your niche in life, and GO FOR IT no matter what the outcome. Here are some examples:
I love to cook, so I’ve worked hard these last several years to hone my skills. Am I a Master Chef yet? Not by a long shot…but I love it, and after a hard day at work I find nothing better (other than a good run) than to get in my kitchen and create. I rarely if ever use recipes, I simply cook by taste, touch, and the feeling I get from creating something wonderful for the people I love. I love to run, but will I win a race anytime soon? Probably not…but I will continue to work hard, run faster, and push myself to my outer limits to win MY race. I love to write but will I publish an award winning book? My guess is no, lol…but I love it, so I DO IT.

8. Don’t wait for tomorrow to start exercising and eating right. Life is short, and we are given ONE chance…take care of your body as it truly is a temple of God. I let myself go this past winter, and realized what a mistake I’ve made. It takes MONTHS even YEARS to get in good shape both mentally and physically…yet you can throw that away so quickly if you let yourself go. Don’t let life’s struggles serve as an excuse to let your body/mind go to the crapper.

9. Allow yourself the little moments of ‘ick’ but don’t let them steal your joy completely. We are all human, have problems, issues, kid drama, etc…see #2.

10. Don’t try to change people. Either embrace who they are and what they offer to your life, or decide that they aren’t a good fit in your life and let them go. Yup…see #2. again…

11. Yes, I said the top ten things…BUT…if your 7 year old comes running down to you, crying that there is a HUGE spider in her room and she needs you to help her, GO…save her from that monstrous spider, and kiss her sweet face goodnight. Because all too soon our children grow up and no longer need us in a sense…but if we show them we are here for them NOW, they will continue to reach out…don’t let those moments pass by…

As always, keep movin’ forward, learning, letting go, and moving forward with all of our life blessings.

dedication, food, goals, Uncategorized

Breaking up with the past, and more…

May 28, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

I didn’t blog last week…we all have those weeks that catch up with us and we find ourselves too busy to have time to unwind.
And this blog, is my unwind/rant/let it all go type of space.

Last week I only logged 10 miles. 2 runs with my hubby, and a five miler on my own. I see myself getting stronger, and a tad faster despite the impeding humidity. We gave ourselves the weekend off, as my hubby was suffering from a pretty sore knee and I don’t want him to get injured before official half marathon training starts next month.

Last week I cut out nearly all gluten, processed foods, and wheat to see if it helps my tummy issues. So far, not a big change, but I am continuing on my search for a healthier me. I am down 1 lb. with 8 more to go.

Last week I let some unnamed ghosts of the past haunt me, and I have since then kicked my own tail, and have decided to quit chasing relationships that don’t exist and focus on the great people in my life instead. It’s a daily struggle, but I’ll keep movin’ forward.

Last weekend, I spent the weekend with my family having fun in the city, and working hard on our home. We also enjoyed some yummy octopus that I can proudly say my kids ate and loved. I was also blessed to attend church with my family and friends, who have become family to me in these last three years of living in the Midwest. I even attending my running sister’s first Mary Kay party! What fun to be pampered for 2 hours!

me and the hubs at our favorite place in Chicago!

Carolyn's first MK party! — Carolyn’s first MK party!

Final dish, grilled octopus served over an arugula and escarole salad with sautéed shitake mushrooms, garnished with a red pepper relish

my amazing daughters that will try anything I put in front of them!

Memorial day we spent the day staining our deck, weeding the garden, and trimming the hedges that have somehow have TREES growing in them…WHAT? I have the scars to prove it, LOL. I got nearly 2 miles in before some major storms hit, and kept my pace in a sub 9 min mile pace. My goal is to keep that pace for many more miles, but I am starting this goal with realistic expectations.

Last night, my husband and I watched my all time favorite show, “The Master Chef” and I was reminded of my desire to be a professional Chef/cook one day. Besides running, I find myself at peace the most when I am in the kitchen ‘creating.’ He urged me to try out last year, but sadly real life can get in the way of our life goals and dreams sometimes and we have to keep plugging forward in jobs that satisfy the ultimate purpose of paying the bills, not fueling the life passions we may currently covet.

Tonight, the hubby and I ran our 2 miles in a gazillion percent humidity at a 9:18 min mile average pace. Not our best, but we got out on the trails before we were hit with some crazy storms.

As much as I preach it, I am still learning myself…to Keep. Movin’. Forward.

dedication, food, goals, moving forward

New kicks, and first double run today

May 19, 2014May 19, 2014 Movin' it with Michelle

Weekends always seem to fly by in my house. There is so much to get done in the short two days we call “the weekend.”

The hubby and I got new kicks this weekend for his upcoming half marathon training, and what will more than likely (unless I sign up for another before hand) my 10th half marathon this fall.

I got two pairs of shoes-both Saucony-the fast witch 7’s for shorter runs, and the Guide 6’s for distance. After shoe shopping we headed out to lunch as a family, saw the movie Godzilla (great movie!) and then came home to do a few hours of yard work. We live on an acre and a half lot, so while the hubby mowed, the girls and I trimmed hedges, planted seeds, and weeded the garden. I have an electric hedge trimmer, and I’ll admit my arms were on fire this morning after 2 hours of trimming, LOL! I am so glad we are finally seeing spring weather!
I was woken up by my hubby this morning after letting me sleep in until 9 am for our run. We had 5-6 miles on deck, and I am so beyond proud of my husband for logging 6 miles today. It wasn’t easy, but he didn’t give up. I had him try Sport beans for fuel at the four mile mark, which he quickly spit out, LOL. I guess we need to research fuel for him!!

For dinner, we had roasted chicken with a cucumber salad and Brussels sprouts.

Here is the recipe:
You’ll need:
8 skinless/boneless chicken thighs
The juice of 4 lemons
2 sprigs of Chinese celery chopped finely
4 cloves of garlic, minced finely
salt and pepper to taste
1 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard

Whisk all the ingredients (minus the chicken) together, and pour over your chicken in a sealable container. Refrigerate for 2 hours. Roast at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes and let rest.

Brussels sprout recipe:
You’ll need:
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 strips of bacon, diced
salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes
3-4 cups of Brussels sprouts cleaned, and halved
Sautee your onions, garlic, bacon, and red pepper flakes until crispy.
Add your Brussels sprouts, salt, and pepper for about 20 minutes or until lightly browned

Cucumber salad recipe:
You’ll need:
8 mini cucumbers, halved and diced
1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2 of one small red onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
dash of salt, pepper, oregano and basil
dash of white wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil
Mix well and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving

I needed a couple more miles to keep up with where I’ve been, so after dinner I laced up my new Guide 7’s with an added surprise of having my eldest ask if she could join me. We did an easy 2 miler, and although she struggled with her breathing I am so proud she decided to run with me tonight.

And, at the end of the day I find myself counting my blessings. I don’t have the picture perfect family with my kids getting uber grades or winning amazing awards in sports or music. They struggle with grades, school, social crap that I think we all struggle with in life. BUT…we struggle like champs…we don’t pretend to be something we’re not…we take the good with the bad, and we continue to hang on to each other which I believe has made us stronger.
BUT…we keep movin’ forward, and that is what counts, right?

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