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!

Earn the Bird

And just like that, we turned our calendars to November. As I write this, I may or may not be listening to Christmas music. What? It's positive! Don't judge me even though I know you are.




So, let's take care of the elephant in the room. I've mentioned before that I'm an ambassador for the Sprouts-Mesa Marathon but I never talked about which specific event I'm participating in! Obviously this is old news if you follow my Instagram account (@britanyg) but, you know, I'm bad at this whole keeping up on writing thing. With the folks at Spooner PT nursing me back to life and slowly easing into piling on the miles, I'm committing to running another marathon.

Use the code BRITTERS10 for $10 off the half or full!

I'm pretty excited to embark on another journey of marathon training and to run the streets of Mesa. I've had a huge change of heart about running, for the better. I'm finally accepting where I am today and not where I used to be. Des Linden actually gave me that advice *lifts a glass of imaginary bourbon*. I recently spectated my first ultra race and it blew my mind how no one gave a crap about how fast they were but just had the goal of finishing. Oh, the goals of 2020 I have in mind already but, one page at a time.




Speaking of which, that race was Javelina Jundred. As Kimberley Newberry (Mile Long Legs on YouTube) described, it's "Burning Man for runners". Though I wasn't a participant, I took in all of what the environment had, including the sea of crew tents, the food court area, and the beer garden. I stood at the loop start/finish line and could see runners of many ages and abilities from elites to a woman who appeared to be in her 60s. What an amazing community and I can't wait to join them in the future.

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  Costumes are incouraged

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  Kaci, overall female winner

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Let's shift to another subject: nutrition! As I mentioned having a huge change in heart about running, I also have made changes to my overall perspective on many things. Now, this is going to go against a lot of principles I've promoted in the past. I've been down the path of being a stickler for tracking food, whether it's with containers or macros or whatever. I was recently watching some of Steph Bruce's videos and she mentioned how you'll rarely see elite runners tracking their nutrition. Clearly I'm not an elite runner but I literally paused the video and said out loud, "Holy crap, she's so right". I've finally decided to step away from the community of individuals who are obsessed with trying to have "perfect" nutrition and burning millions of calories to just rolling with the punches. It's been three weeks now since I've logged a meal and it feels so good. Now, I'm not saying I'm just shoving whatever I want in my mouth. I'm mindful of my habits. I've been doing this for so long that I could probably tell you from memory the macros of specific meals. I'm also enjoying the foods I love to eat as well, including the burrito that was the size of my face. If you've ever rolled your eyes at me promoting things in the past then I apologize. Though I'm not here to impress anyone or think you need to be doing what I do, I also do want to flip the switch and promote healthy living by living free from the square you could end up standing in forever. I think my husband is also happy to not have me obsessing over specific numbers anymore. No hate on those that like to keep things by the book in a book or app or whatever. This is just how I'm going to roll from now on to keep my everyday life as stress-free as possible. I feel more alive than ever and that says a lot. Speaking of which, you know I'm a vegetarian but I've embarked on a 30-day challenge of being vegan. It was "World Vegan Day" on November 1st so I figured, what better day to start.

We'll see how far I get. Which brings us to the end of this entry and surprise, a new recipe share! Though we're still sitting in the 80s here in Arizona, it's Fall, and that means I want all of the savory things.

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I hate turning on my oven when it's hot out but I really wanted to make this recipe. This is vegan stuffed acorn squash! While the recipe calls for quinoa, I *forgot* it at the store but always have brown rice on hand. It worked just fine, it just took longer to cook. It's spiced up with some sage, thyme, cinnamon, and pepper as well as walnuts and cranberries. So friggin' good and it tasted like Thanksgiving. I'll share the recipe link here. It can feed 4 or have leftovers for 2!




Well, now I'm hungry so I guess we'll cut it off there. Thanks for coming by! With more training ahead, we'll see what the week brings.