Races, Caffeine & Piercings

James and me in Phoenix.  Near finish line.

I left you with a post on my first Marathon experience that took place in Phoenix, Jan. 18th.

The next Saturday I attended my Race Walking weekly club meeting, a club I've been a part of for the last 10 years. The President of the club told me about a race on Sunday (the next day) in the Caves here in Kansas City.  His words to me were, "you're in marathon shape, you should go sign up."

I was still so pumped from the marathon that I immediately agreed to do it. I arrived at Gary Gribble's Sports on Ward Parkway and wasn't sure if I was going to do the 5K or the 10K. The girl there was explaining the prices to me and she said the magic words..."if you sign up for the 10K you'll get a medal at the finish."  SOLD - 10K IT IS!  I'm liking my shiny medals.  I have quite a few already, one  from a 5K and a few from 1/2 Marathons.

A few of my medals are in shadow boxes.  Here on the wall
and on my new Walker display is my first 5K race medal along with my
Rock 'N' Roll Phoenix and Groundhog Race medals.  I also decided to hang
up my credentials from the 3-Day walk I did in 2006.

Race Day was cold.  My hubby drove us and I took a shuttle to the race from the Casino near the caves.

The race course was flat and fast.  Some parts of the cave were a bit humid, but some nice cool breezes came my way as well.  It was a well organized race with water stations and potty stops.

My official race time for the 10K is 1:20:55.

Groundhog Run, Kansas City Jan. 2015

After the race, the lines were incredibly long for the shuttles back to the parking lot which was about a mile away. I didn't have my cell so I asked a lovely lady if I could use hers.  She was kind enough to let me call my hubby who was waiting in the car for me and I let him know I'd be walking back.  He offered to pick me up but I wanted to walk.  Well, by the time I walked a little over a mile in my shorts and very thin jacket, I was frozen.  It's a wonder I didn't end up sick.  

I will have a busy spring, starting up my new business and participating in several upcoming races.

February and March will be all about training for the Ultra coming up in April. Although I may not be able to do the one at the end of April for sure, I want to be in Ultra Marathon shape so I can do one pretty close to that date even if I have to travel to another state to complete one.

I've started up strength training again and will walk 18 miles this coming weekend.  I am also purchasing a Bike Trainer this month, about which I'm pretty excited. Soon I'll be getting a punching bag so I can take up kickboxing again as well.

In April I have a Half Marathon here in KC and the day after that I am participating in the Brew to Brew with the Heartland Racewalkers.  The following weekend another 1/2 marathon....leading up to the 50K during the last weekend of April.

Finally, the last 1/2 Marathon is in May.  The three Half's I'm doing are in the Heartland 39.3 Series.  At the end of the Ultra and 1/2 marathons, I will be rewarding myself by doing something I've wanted to do for years!  I'm finally going to get my navel pierced.  I've worked hard and it's now or never! I'm also toying with the idea of getting an Anti eyebrow piercing.

We are still reeling from our Arizona trip.  Someday we may call it home.  We can't wait to go back.  I wish our daughter could've joined us, but she didn't want to miss school.  I gotta respect that.

She did tell me that during a class at school a couple of her friends brought up her being a Vegetarian.  They told her she could not live without eating meat.  To which her response was "Tell that to my mom who is a Vegan Athlete."  Yep, that's my girl!

Finally, here's an update on my BMI.

In 2011 my BMI was 29.3%, in 2013 it was down to a healthy 23.6%.

As of this morning (2/3/15) I am down to 19.6%.

I'd like to touch on the subject of Caffeine.  I have been drinking coffee since age 15...maybe I was younger.  Years ago when I started race walking, I decided to not drink caffeine every day.  I let myself have 2 cups every other day instead.  That seemed to work out well.

I'd like to try to do that again.  Currently I drink 2 cups every morning and 1-2 cups at night.  I still only do Starbucks once a week.

So....I may be a bit cranky in the weeks to come.

From left to right:  Grandma MaryEllen, my hubby, James and my Mother-in-Law, Darla.
Picture taken in New Mexico.

We had a Starbucks right next door to our hotel in Tempe, AZ.
Darla, James and MaryEllen

My hubby put the 26.2 sticker on my car!  Love it!

Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Arizona

I finished!  I was hoping to finish it in 6:20, or at least 6:30 but I did a few minutes better than that.

After finish, with my hubby, James.

What a day!  James dropped me off near the start around 7am and it was a nice and cool morning.

About an hour before the race I drank 10 ounces of Almond Milk with a Vega meal shake.  This is my favorite pre-walk meal and always sustains me for 7-8 miles.

I started in Wave 7, the last Wave.  After about a mile or two I caught up to another fitness walker. I stayed with her until mile 7, at which point I pulled back a bit to eat my bar.

I had a vegan, gluten-free chocolate meal bar around mile 7.   The bar didn't sit well with me and I started to slow down a bit after mile 8.  It was not my usual Vega meal bar, but Whole Foods was out so I ended up buying something else. Mistake - lesson learned.

After eating the 'mystery meal bar', my pace was up and down after mile 8.

James met me at mile 16 with a banana (which I only took a bite of) and a handful of almonds. He also brought me the Vega electrolytes that I occasionally use, but the best was the Vega gel he gave me.  After having that I did really well.  It sustained me until the very end.

I sipped water at almost every water station and, around mile 20 the ladies gave me some ice for my water bottle and I chewed and sucked on it for a bit.  It was refreshing.  

There were only a few hills on the course, and I did so good on them.  The hill training paid off.  

I really did plan on taking pictures during the marathon of some of the scenery, but I honestly did not feel like pulling my cell phone out of my waist pack.

I stopped 3 times (maybe it was 4) to use the restroom.  There were no lines at all so that was nice. I paused my Garmin at each restroom break as well as when stopping to meet James.   I did not pause my Garmin when stopping to drink water.

My official race time is 6:24:35.  

I neared the finish line and had some tears well up.  Then I saw my mother-in-law smiling at me, taking pictures and I was there, enjoying the moment I crossed.  

I had no foot problems at all.  The Injinji socks and my shoes did perfect!

Around Mile 16 before I had my banana, almonds, electrolytes and gel.

Next for me, maybe a half marathon in between the Ultra I want to do if I have no schedule conflict in April.

And hell yes I'm buying that 26.2 Mile decal for the Honda's window!  Already ordered it!

Marathon Training

December, 2014

I have taken my old blog down, however if you are interested in reading those posts, I'd be glad to email them to you.  I may end up just reposting them here.

So, what's new with me?  I am currently training to walk my first ever Marathon and then go on to do an UltraMarathon.

I have come to realize that I have now been a fitness walker for over 20 years and a Race Walker for 10 years!  I'll talk about that more in depth in a future post.

I have a new found love for walking.  That comes along with eating clean and the amount of energy I now have. 

I am planning on doing some long distance walking once Spring arrives.

Saturday 12/13/14

With the Rock n' Roll Arizona Marathon just 35 days away, I'm definitely getting nervous.  I'm hoping that with my big 20 mile walk tomorrow, I'll at least have a better idea of how I will feel during.

Tomorrow I will dress in the shorts and shirt I plan on wearing, as well as use Injinji Toe socks and new waist pack.

I'm also hoping to do some of it outside, but if not, I will do the entire 20 miles on my awesome treadmill.

Let me tell you a bit about this very cool treadmill that my wonderful hubby purchased for my birthday for me.  It's an iFit/Proform treadmill with a built in Android Tablet.  I can go on google and map anywhere I want to walk or use the pre loaded maps (street view if I choose) or beautiful video workouts.

I can go on Facebook or just surf the web.  But I never do...I walk too fast!  

Sunday 12/14/14

Fueled up with a Vega shake in the morning and promptly got on my treadmill.  The Vega meal shakes sustain me for about 7-8 miles before I feel hungry again. 

So I did 20 miles on my treadmill while watching Wolf of Wall Street and catching up on Mr. Selfridge.

I'm not sure how I ever lived without Injinji Toe socks.  I have two pair now and they are just the best!!!  Therlos are a close second.

Injinji Sport Original Weight Micro Coolmax Socks

Tonight, I slept for a couple of hours in the evening and stretched a lot.  

Monday 12/15/14

My wonderful hubby let me sleep in this morning.  I am a bit sore and tired, but again, I'm stretching a lot.

Thursday 12/18/14

I woke up today and decided that each year I will walk one mile for every year that I'm alive.  My hubby suggested I make it an event and raise some money to donate to animal causes.

Walked 6 miles today.

Sunday 12/21/14

We tried Raw a couple months back but were not prepared.  We had no ready recipes and so we fell off the wagon.    So this time around we plan on eating at least 2 raw meals a day.  

Monday 12/22/14

Well I slacked big time last week, but with all the running my daughter around and Xmas shopping, I was just very busy.  I didn't get my usual big walk in on Sunday so I did it today.  12 Miles!

Saturday 12/27/14

Decided to do my 20 miles today.  Last 20 mile walk until the marathon.  I fueled up again with the Vega shake, and had 2 Vega snack bars during the walk.

This 20 miles felt a bit easier than the last 20 miles I walked a couple of weeks ago.  I did this walk mostly on an incline, as well.

I realized today that I am back in a size 1.  I think I have been for a couple weeks, but since I'm not working right now, I usually spend my days and nights in yoga pants.  I just didn't notice.

Friday 12/9/15

Haven't been keeping up on my walks during the week as well as I should.   With the marathon just 8 days away, I'm a bit worried because I managed to strain my Hip Flexor.  So I'm resting...may try to do a few miles tonight but hopefully my 10 mile scheduled walk for Sunday will go okay.

Sunday 1/11/15

Last entry for this blog post.

Yesterday I walked 4 miles.  For the first 2 my hip was bugging me a bit, but then it stopped.  I've been stretching so I'm sure that helped along with some ibuprofen.  So, I got up this morning and did 10 miles.  Hip feels good!  Went ahead and finally registered for the Marathon.   I had been waiting to be sure no unforeseen circumstances stood in the way.

I took a quick picture of myself today in my running shorts and No-Meat Athlete T-Shirt that my hubby bought me for Xmas, and compared it to when I first started out on my journey.  Will take some better pics in the months to come.

I am now a healthy size 1!

On the left, when I first started out on my Gluten-Free Journey.  On the right, GF Plant Based Vegan.

Gone are the days of thinking Vegans cannot be healthy.  Yes, we get enough protein, calcium, iron, etc.  (please click link below to watch the video).  Colleen Patrick-Goudreau breaks it down for you.  

Colleen Patrick-Goudreau, Vegan Author and Speaker blows Hosts mind!

Last thing I'd like to mention, is that I do love questions.  Please send me any you may have.  Last night I had someone ask me if I had ever heard of too much spinach being the cause of Kidney Stones.

I did some digging, because I had not heard that.  I found the general concensus is that: 

"Those with kidney disorders, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, or certain forms of vulvodynia are typically advised to avoid foods high in oxalic acid. For a normal healthy person developing kidney stones from a high volume of oxalic acid in foods is very unlikely." -Claire Georgiou, Reboot Naturopath, B.HSc ND

And let me clarify that the reason I got this question is because a person she knew was on a Green Monster diet/cleanse.  Something else I had not heard of that I had to look up.


Quote above taken from:
 Oxalates & Kidney Stones – What You Should Know

STAY TUNED---MY NEXT BLOG POST WILL BE ABOUT OUR TRIP TO AZ & MY MARATHON EXPERIENCE!  

I'm off to Arizona! 

Happy New Year!

Here's to a healthy, happy new year.

Many take this time of year to make resolutions and see it as a time of reflection and renewal.

I usually do not, however the last year has led to many changes for us.  We purchased a new home, moved to a smaller town and James started a new job.

I've decided to start my own business and have been working on that, hoping to have it ready by spring - details coming very soon!

Looking back, we have had a busy, crazy, wonderful year!  Yes, both ups and downs, but we always take our negatives and turn them into positives.

On the negative side, we have been put down on more than one occasion for being Vegans.
We've also heard more than a few times from people that being Vegan will not change anything.  While it doesn't really surprise or upset us that people think this way, we would like to tell you naysayers that you could not have been more wrong!

Here are just a few of our CHANGES from the past year: 

We celebrated our 16 month Vegan Anniversary at the end of December - YAY!

We have purged our house and lives of all animal products....leather/fur shoes, purses, jackets, etc...you get the picture.  CHANGE!

When purchasing new items for our home or ourselves, we make sure they contain no animal products.   CHANGE!

As a result of being vegans for 16 months, we have saved approximately 569 animals combined.  That estimate does not include our daughter who is vegetarian.  CHANGE!

The last time I checked, my cholesterol had come down 38 points, my LDL down 31 points and my triglycerides down 64 points.  BMI down 5.7% and Body Fat down 5.1%.  CHANGE!

We have also seen a major increase in our stamina/energy.  Our recovery/healing time has been shortened significantly.  CHANGE!

The world has increasingly taken notice of how animals are treated and we are seeing an increase in vegan/vegetarian food options everywhere.  BOOM...CHANGE!!!

James and I are eating two raw meals a day and one cooked meal. I am just a couple weeks from Race Walking my first marathon, and rang in the new year a size 0-2, shedding a few more pounds. All together now. . CHANGE!

In closing I'd like to ask you to take a bit of time to think about your heart.  We must remember that this muscle never rests.  Should we not take the best care of it possible?  Ask yourself "what do my arteries look like?"  I know everyone reading this would love to be around for as long as possible.  

It's simple...Make it Possible!  Consider a Whole Foods, Plant Based Lifestyle Change.

New Blog!

Just a quick post to let everyone know that this is the site of my new blog.

Many wonderful things coming!  We will be starting a podcast soon, Fitness Walking Clinics, nutrition tips and more!

Also, if you haven't already, please head on over to my new Facebook page and give it a Like!

https://www.facebook.com/MyFood4Life

-Susan