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.
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.
Costumes are incouraged 
Kaci, overall female winner 
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.
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.
