Tofurky Time

I think Thanksgiving is by far my favorite holiday. Yes, family time is great, but I love food. Comfort food, to be exact. The tofurky is already purchased and I'm reviewing the rest of the menu after I write this. This will be my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian but since I'm trying this '30 Days of Vegan' for November thing, everything on the menu will coincide. So far, it's looking pretty friggin' delicious if I do say so myself. Trust me, there will be pictures shared after next weekend.




News flash: it's raining in Arizona!

Look at me, trying to be artsy from my office window. But yes, the rain is here. I find it entertaining because the news treats it as if it's a huge snowstorm in the midwest. They send anchors out to different parts of the state and keep asking what the conditions are where you're at. Yes, the rain here can create pretty hazardous situations. Flooding happens fairly quickly. The temperatures have dropped from 80s to 60s. I can't tell if I'm happy or sad but let's be honest, it's great for running.




Speaking of which, training is going well. We are officially 80 days away from the Mesa Marathon. I've been limited to running at the park because it's the only 'flat' part of town as hills still irritate my knee slightly. I don't know what's worse: treadmills or running the same loop for 5 miles.

I started breaking in my custom orthotics this week. They definitely give that extra support to my rather flat arches. Still have to train some anti-rotation issues and work on glute strengthening but Rome wasn't built in a day and luckily my (not always there) patience is doing well. I even won a contest at therapy and scored a new Hydroflak! Hurray!

Switching gears from feet to pedals, I spectated my first mountain bike race this past weekend. Cycling is definitely something I know I need to do more of, it's just the whole pushing myself to get out and do it thing. I have a decent mountain bike (Specialized) that hasn't seen any dirt. That needs to change.

Speaking of the holidays coming up, we're hosting, and that means cleaning time. I mean, I already clean every week because I'm OCD like that and have to always have a clean and organized environment but like extra EXTRA clean this time. While I've always used normal bleach-containing products and good 'ol fashioned Windex, it was time for a change. A change to something way more environmentally friendly and stuff I could use around the house without making my husband have an asthma attack from the fumes. I'm a big fan of listening to "How I Built This" on NPR. I've always seen Method items at Target but never really knew the back story until the creatures appeared on the show. It's nice to know that if I accidentally drank this stuff in my sleep, I wouldn't have to ring up poison control. I'm a big fan of all of it so far. I like the minty smell. The floor cleaner is the bomb! We even got the laundry detergent! Why the hell does normal laundry detergent have petroleum jelly in it? I've become an ingredient reading crazy person and not just for food. Yes, you will shell out a little bit more but trust me, it's worth it, not only for you but for your whole family.

There's honestly a bunch more stuff I want to write about but I'm going to save it for next time and jump to the part where I share a recipe! What's my biggest downfall in trying to be Vegan? Pizza! Yes, I know there are vegan options out there, but a good, brick oven cooked margarita pizza is my jam. I know there had to be other ways to try some other options at home since frozen pizza isn't my thing. Queue Sam from 'It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken', my favorite recipe website.

Holy matrimony, this was GOOD. Feast your eyes on a BBQ chickpea pizza, complete with red onion, some banana peppers, and vegan mozz cheese. The dough is even homemade because that's how we do it here. This was so simple to make and I was thoroughly surprised how good it tasted. I even dabbed each piece in some vegan ranch like your typical midwestern would. Highly recommend giving this one a try. I'll link the recipe here.




Alrighty, folks. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving if you are celebrating it. If you aren't, have a great week. Try to #OptOutside on Black Friday instead of bowing to the man. See you next time!

Hocus Pocus

If you haven't seen the movie Hocus Pocus, can we even still be friends? I feel as though that's something someone who shops regularly at Target would say. Then again, that store is really speaking to me right now.

When I looked at the date today, I realized two things: I haven't written in over a month and I haven't run in over a month either. If you've been here since the last entry, I communicated that I'd be taking a mild writing hiatus because, well, I wasn't running, and I was about to do some traveling. Let's recap that, shall we?




The week after I got the news that I'd be benched from running, I was clearly devastated. I have never had a 'DNS' in my books. But you know what? Life goes on. I could have been stupid, ignored the pain, and kept going like most runners I see but I wasn't about to make things worse. I could have also still raced but that would have also been stupid. So, let's like, make a smart decision for once! For the love of taking care of your body! I made a promise to myself that I'd start my new life in Arizona with a clean slate, do all of the things I should be doing that I didn't before (warm-ups, stretching, foam roll, don't be an idiot) and I was keeping up with that promise. I even fell in love with yoga. My half marathon is officially deferred and now I sit with a credit that's good for two years whenever I decide what race looks good to me. Oregon is looking pretty legit (Mt. Hood) but, again, let's not jump the gun. We still have one race in the books that's officially 16 weeks away. Shameless plug:

https://www.thephoenixmarathon.com

So, what's happened between then and now? The family came to visit. We hung out around town for a few days and then set our GPS to Las Vegas for the weekend. We took in the sights, we ate good food, and we drank many beverages.

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  Bone Haus Brewing

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  Cuttings by Prisoner

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  Cabo Wabo

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  The Mirage Casino & Hotel

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  You know what this is

One of those things is not like the other. After Vegas, we flew to Michigan and stayed for a few weeks. If you aren't aware, Michigan is my home state. I spent the last 30 years of my life there (that makes me sound old, I'm only 31) and while I miss family and friends, I can't say I miss living there. From wheels down, the traffic was atrocious. My good friend, Tania, bless her heart for being so patient and driving to get us but also taking us to pick up Jet's for dinner because what else would you get when you haven't been home in 6 months? Also cats. Lots of cat time because I like to treat it as free therapy.

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Again, one of those is not like the other, but Dori is my granddog so she counts too.




Michigan was Michigan. Normal, crap weather 80% of the time. The humidity was high and the days were gloomy. My body felt as if it hadn't gotten sleep in a month and craved some natural Vitamin D. Let's be honest, I was eager to get home so I could start physical therapy and get things moving.

Going to a new physical therapist made me nervous. Not because I haven't done it before but because I was so used to going to the same person. It's hard to create a new, trusting relationship with someone you've never met before who you hope will carry you across the finish line pain-free. Thankfully, I absolutely love my new therapist. He is not only professional and knowledgeable but holds a good conversation and makes sure I'm having fun but also analyzes my form the entire time. We're now two weeks in and my knee is feeling good. Even after days of being on my feet all day, I wake up expecting it to hurt and it doesn't like it used to. While I'm not assuming I'm in the clear, all signs are pointing in the right direction. I've learned things I haven't before. Aside from the existing overpronation I deal with, I apparently also have fairly flat feet. Who knew? Time for a new analysis for shoes! And, let me tell you, I'm treating my home exercises as if it were a new religious practice to ward off evil spirits.




For now, we wait. We practice patience. We read. In fact, I just finished this book:

Super great read! I'd put it up there with Kastor's 'Let Your Mind Run'. It kept me entertained in a busy Detroit Airport while watching people go nuts over Chick-Fil-A (is this really still that popular?) or seeing Gate A76 find out their flight got changed to Gate A6, which happened to be on the entire opposite side of the terminal. That'd be a good speed workout.




Things are back to normal. Early morning alarms and eating normal food. Now it's just a matter of getting cleared to run again. For now, we wait.

Bench Warmer

So, remember last week, when I said things were going well? They were until they weren't.

I set out for three easy runs last week. Monday felt fine, Wednesday felt alright with some slight pain, and Thursday, well let's just say that afternoon, it felt like someone hit my knee with a sledgehammer. Like many, I try to defer going to the doctor unless I believe there's a real problem or the problem persists. Don't be like me. Go at the first sign of pain. I even worked in the medical field so you'd think I'm a picture-perfect patient. Thursday, I threw the towel in and called to make an appointment for that following morning. Now, the pain in my knee wasn't really worse really but it definitely wasn't better. You could notice swelling compared to my left and the pain area was definitely easier to identify because it seemed to have built a home on the interior part. After some exercises, adjusting certain ways, and the other fancy crap, she determined that my meniscus is fine (oh good, there's a positive) but I indeed have some really bad tendonitis. So bad, the swelling pushed my patella slightly out of place. I left with a physical therapy script and a warning of "no impact activities for at least the next month" and to wait until I was evaluated by therapy. Now, this isn't my first dance around the room with PT. I'm actually a huge advocate for it. But, with traveling the next three-ish weeks, I can't start until October. After chatting with my coach and deciding to be the bigger person, I've decided to withdraw from my fall half marathon. That was really hard to swallow. Lots of tears were shed. Lots of WHY ME. Lots of why do I even still run. This is my third injury in a year in a half. But, alas, we will come through. I still have plans for a winter race that I will eventually be discussing later on in November. For now, I'll be mastering my yogi-self, building strength, and trying to learn how to swim better.

After sulking basically all weekend, it's a new week. New, fun things are ahead. I've accepted the fact that I won't be running for quite some time. Can't lie and say I get sad scrolling through Instagram seeing all of my amazing running friends accomplishing great goals but 'comparison is the thief of joy'. Don't worry, I'm still super happy for all of you.




OKAY. Now that the world's worst update is done. I do have new food to share. Ta-da:

So, think of your typical summer noodle salad but put an Asian twist on it. The only thing that requires cooking is the noodles unless you decide to add tofu like I did. Nothing wrong with extra protein! It's refreshing, hits the tongue with some spice, and is super easy to make with leftovers for the next day. Sam, you did me right again. You can click here to get the recipe!




That's it for this week, folks. I will probably take a break from updating as I will be out of town for most of September but you can always follow me on the 'gram (is that how they say it?) to keep in touch with my whereabouts: @britanyg :)

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