Plan Jan 27-Feb 1

Monday

Run 3

Cycle

Vegan Sopes

http://thymeandlove.com/mexican-sopes/

Tuesday

Swim

Cycle

Sesame peanut crusted tofu over brown rice and mixed veggies

http://kblog.lunchboxbunch.com/2009/04/recipe-sesame-peanut-crusted-tofu.html

Wednesday

Run 4

Rip Esselstein event!

Thursday 

Swim

Cycle
Choir Rehearsal.  

Sunshine salad at work for dinner.

Friday

Run 11

Seitan and broccoli with teriyaki 

http://veganyumyum.com/2010/01/seitan-and-broccolini-with-clementine-teriyaki/

Saturday

Cycle

Walk off the Earth

Vegan tapas with friends before the concert.

Superbowl Sunday

Rest day

We may have some friends over.
BBQ Seitan (I'll use the Happy Herbivore seitan recipe for the base)

Mushroom pastries (http://elfieroan.tumblr.com/post/74197693883/simple-vegan-mushroom-sausage-short-crust-pastry)

Spinach phyllo pockets (http://86lemons.com/mushroom-and-spinach-pockets/)

Veggies and hummus

Frito chips and vegan chili

I'm currently reading Hollow City, which is very good. I'm still reeling, though, from the great dystopian trilogy (MaddAdam) that has made other books a little dull lately. I read the Divergent series, too, and really liked the first one, though I thought that the third really sizzled.

My family and I have challenged each other to a triathlon competition which starts on Monday. 15 miles swimming, 250 miles biking, and 65 miles running. Speed is not the goal, but first to complete all three wins. I want to win.

I rejoined my swimming class this semester, and will do much of my bicycling on a stationary bike at the gym until it gets warmer, when I will hit the rail trail at least once a week on a bike. Like I said, I want to win.

In food news, Rob has agreed to do the 28 day E2 challenge starting February 3 (which I, of course will be doing with him!) if you haven't heard of the E2 diet, it's all plant based, but also eliminates oils and processed foods. So, for the next month, I will be relying on recipes from Rip Esselstyn and Lindsey Shay Nixon to comply with that challenge. I think it is only appropriate that this challenge starts AFTER the Super Bowl!

Plan Jan 20-26

Monday

Run 3

Korean BBQ bowl

http://www.thesweetlifeonline.com/2014/01/13/korean-barbecue-bowl/

Tuesday

Swim

TVZ Apple Pancakes & tempeh bacon

I didn't get to make this last week!

Wednesday

Run 4

Roasted Brussels Sprouts and Quiona

http://thugkitchen.com/post/66979503286/get-that-soupy-green-bean-shit-outta-here-cmon

Thursday

Swim

Choir Rehearsal, so dinner for me will be a Sunshine Bowl

(1 c. warm chickpeas, ~15 cherry tomatoes, halved, 1 avocado cubed, 1 T. vegan pesto)

Friday

Run 10+

Curried chickpea saladhttp://thesimpleveganista.blogspot.com/2014/01/curried-chickpea-salad.html

I'll likely prepare this as a sandwich with some arugula, as I've some pumpernickel bread in the fridge.

Roasted Tumeric Carrots

http://ahappyhealthnut.com/2014/01/13/turmeric-roasted-carrots/

I'll sub agave for the honey

Saturday 

Bicycle riding?

Lindsey Shay Nixon (aka the Happy Herbivore) event in DC

TVZ Chilli

Sunday

Walk or Bicycle

Mashed Potato Enchiladas

http://thymeandlove.com/mashed-potato-enchiladas/

So, you'll notice that there is a wider variety of exercise this week. While running is still my main focus (March 14 and the Rock and Roll Half Marathon is getting closer and closer!) I will soon be participating in a triathlon challenge with some of my family members. The running and swimming portions should be doable, since I already run 3+ days a week, and I was planning on swimming anyway with the start of the new semester. Biking, though will be tough to get in. My bicycle, while I love it, is not conducive to ease while riding.  It is my dad's Schwinn from 1980 and has seen many, many miles.

This past Saturday, Rob and I went up to Great Falls and did a Ragnar training run on the trails. It was tough, but fun to climb rocks and duck under branches and all as we ran!

We also took Rob's mom out for lunch at this neat little deli where I spotted a vegan sign last week. The Firehouse Deli in Gaithersburg has an extensive vegan menu. Sorry I flaked on taking pictures of the food, but it was so tasty, it was gone before I remembered!  I got the Vegan Meatball Sub, Rob got the Vegan Corned Beef Ruben, and Paula got the Vegan Turkey Ruben.  I got to sample all three.  Everything tasted slightly familiar- I believe the vegan turkey was lightlife, the meatballs as well.  But I was so pleased to see such an extensive menu.  And, I wore my Vegan sweatshirt, and the lady behind the counter complimented me on it, and said they should sell them there- since they get so many vegans!  Huzzah!  It's the vegan revolution! (The vegolution?  Too much?)

In other news this week, the Spring semester starts on Tuesday, and while it is a little sad to give up my carefree (sleeping in, running later in the day when it's not so cold, lots of time for cooking and reading) lifestyle, part of me is really happy to be on a strict schedule again. 

Races run 2014

My goal this year is distance, but I still anticipate that I will run 14+ races this year.

Races run:

1. Resolution Run Virtual 15k - 9.5 miles, 1h. 54m. 1/13/14

2. Run for Rover Winter Escape Half Marathon Virtual - 13.25 miles, 3h. 8m. 2/7/14

3. Shamrocks and Saints Virtual Half - 13.12 miles, 3h 20 min, 2/28/14

4. Rock and Roll Half DC- 13.1 miles, 3:11:10, 3/15/14

5. Lost in Running Station 1 Hydra 5k- 4.01 miles, 54:19, 4/4/14

6. Lost in Running Station 2 Arrow 8k- 5.19 miles, 1:12:09, 4/11/14

7. Lost in Running Station 3 Swan 15k- 9 miles, 2:14, 4/27/14

8. Lost in Running Station 4 Flame 16k- 12 miles, 2:53, 5/2/14

Signed up & training for:

Inagural Earth Day Virtual 10k 5/9/14

Wilds Half NJ 5/18/14

Lost in Running Station 5 Pearl 23k combined 6/8/14

Lost in Running Station 6 Orchid 42k combined 6/20/14

Run for Rover Sprint into Spring Virtual 15k 6/27/14

Lost in Running Station 7 Staff 7k 7/1/14

Lost in Running Station 8 Looking Glass 8.15k 7/2/14

Lost in Running Station 9 Tempest 9k 7/7/14

Lost in Running Station 10 Lamppost 10k 7/11/14

Christmastown Dash 8k VA 12/7/14

Anticipated: 

CSM Turkey Trot 5k MD 11/?/14

Photographic Evidence 1/14/14

I'm guilty of taking pictures on my phone, and then never posting them, so I thought I'd share some I've taken this winter.

On Monday, I earned my first virtual race medal of 2014, for a 15k (I ran 9.5 niles)!

This past weekend, we visited Rob's mom, Paula, and took her to lunch at a vegetarian Indian restaurant. I was excited because I could eat most things on the buffet! That never happens!

I posted some of these pictures from Westmoreland State Park on my personal facebook page. This is where Rob and the pups and I spent New Year's.

We hiked every day, and had a fire each night.  Perfect.

One thing I love about being vegan: how pretty my groceries are. This was about $100 at my local supermarket.

After our travels over the holidays, Mia took a nap on the floor of the airport while we waited for our bags.  I wish I could tell you that this was the first (or fifth) time she's done this.

Silliness with my Love.

The above and below picture were taken at a great little Asian Fusion restaurant in Denver.  Mia got General Tso's Tofu, and I got Orange Sesame Tofu.  Both were very tasty.  

Love Colorado.  We're going to live there one day.  When we grow up.

You know, if I did this more often, it wouldn't be such a pain...  Sigh.  Lesson learned.

These next three pictures are from City O' City in Denver.  This is one of our favorite vegetarian restaurants.  And we finally got my parents to go there, AND they even liked it!  Whoo-Hoo!

I got the Vegan BBQ, kale, and Mac and Cheese.

Mia got some Pho, and Rob got the Savory Waffle.  As with any veg establishment, I laid claim to whatever my fork reached! Rob and Mia are great sports.

Ok.  Last few.  These are from a Mysteryfunland adventure we went on in December.  We went ice-skating on the mall in DC in the sculpture garden, had some vegan pizza at the District of Pi, and then saw Die Hard at the midnight movie showing at the E Street Theater.

Allright, I will try to be more timely in the future!

Plan Jan 13-19

Monday

Run 10

Breakfast for dinner: Apple cider pancakes

Tuesday

Yoga

Quiche & Butternut Squash soup

Wednesday

Run 4

Fettuccini Alfredo & steamed kale

Thursday

Yoga

Citrus baked tofu and twice baked sweet potatoes

Friday 

Run 2

Mac and cheese (with paprika)

Saturday

Ragnar training run

Jon's Homemade chili

Sunday

Walk

Broccoli and spinach stuffed pizza

Chocolate Mousse

The recipes this week are from Chris Cooney and Jon Tedd's new book: The Vegan Zombie Cook and Survive. I've been a Vegan Zombie fan for a long time now, and when the announced their kickstarter campaign last year for their cookbook, I was on board. I received their cookbook (autographed!) this last week, and it is beautiful. It begins with a graphic novel story starring Jon and his trusty pup, Indy.

Some of the recipes included in the book are the same as those featured on their fantastic YouTube channel, but that's ok. They are tasty and fun, and generally not difficult. Many of the vegan zombie recipe are substitute recipes (meat/cheese-like). Therefore, they aren't low-fat recipes, but they are all vegan, and all yummy!

Re: the Ragnar, I've wanted to run the Ragnar race in WV for two years now. It is a trail race, wherein  your team of 8 runs 15 miles each in 3-7 mile legs during a 24 hour period. Each year, I've only been able to put together about half a team. This year, I was asked to join the vegan Ragnar team! Hooray! This Saturday, instead of running 10 miles on Friday, I'll do a 90-minute trail run to practice for the Ragnar. It should be tons of fun! Since I missed my normal long run this past week, due to freezing rain, I will do a long run on Monday. Hopefully I'll log enough miles to earn my 15k Resolution Run medal (that's 9.3 miles).

Books read 2014

1. The secret life of Walter Mitty - James Thurber 1/1/14 (audio- read by Ben Stiller)

2. Fantastic Mr. Fox - Roald Dahl 1/2/14

3. Lanterns and Lances- James Thurber 1/3/14

4. Danny, Champion of the World - Roald Dahl 1/4/14

5. Dreams of terror and death - H. P. Lovecraft 1/5/14

6. The Vegan Zombie Cook & Survive - Chris Cooney & Jon Tedd 1/6/14

7.  The year of the flood - Margaret Atwood 1/7/14

8.  The Dangerous Alphabet - Neil Gaiman 1/7/14

9.  MaddAdam - Margaret Atwood 1/7/14

10. Counting by 7s - Holly Goldberg Sloan 1/8/14

11. Divergent - Veronica Roth 1/10/14

12. No Meat Athlete Half Marathon Training Plans - Charlie Pabst 1/13/14

13. Insurgent - Veronica Roth 1/14/14

14. Go the f*** to sleep - Adam Munsbach 1/14/14
15. Practical Statistics for Educators- Ruth Ravid 1/16/14
16. Mathematics for Pleasure- Oswald Jacoby 1/17/14
17. The Pension Grilparzer - John Irving 1/18/14 (audio- read by the author)
18. Allegiant - Veronica Roth 1/21/14 

Distance

So after my run this morning, I was listening to the radio, and they were interviewing a woman about new year's resolutions and the like.  She suggested that you instead of thinking about traditional resolutions, you set goals for yourself (like I did!) and pick a word that might define your upcoming year.
Once you pick a word, you're supposed to share it with your family and friends to help you stay accountable.  Then throughout the year, you should work towards fulfilling your goals with this word.
Driving home, I thought pretty hard about this.  It at first seemed impossible to sum up all of my goals with one word, but this I realized it wasn't so tough after all.
My word for 2014 is:

DISTANCE

Now, for some aspects of my life, this should be pretty self-explanatory.  I want to start running longer races.  Distance is key.
Yesterday, I stumbled on some information about the Wilds Half Marathon along the boardwalk in New Jersey.  It looked so great- and I just love running on the boardwalk in Ocean City.  The one drawback is that this half is just two months after the Rock and Roll Half that I've been training for.
Then I read an article about a vegan couple in their 60's who ran a marathon EVERY DAY in 2013! Wow!  Now I had no excuse to not do a second half marathon in a year.
Then this morning, I opened my email, and had a coupon code for registering for this race.  C'mon, how obvious do these signs need to be?  I bargained with myself (as I am wont to do) and decided that if I was to get up and go run a 5k in the rain, I would be fine to run two half marathons in two months.  So I did.  3.7 miles, actually, and it was cold AND wet. And I signed up for the thing.

Otherwise, though, Distance works in with my other goals.
I'm working on my dissertation for my PhD.  Currently, I'm in official research approval stages with my school, but very shortly, I should be cranking out this research with interviews and literature reviews and all sorts of fun stuff.  I can go the distance here.  I spoke with my mentor today, and she was very positive about my progress, and even told me I was her "lowest maintenance mentee!" (I'm going to take that as a compliment, thank you very much.)

Lastly, as I type this, I realize that Distance works for me in another way.
My daughter, who is a sophomore in college (but this is still her first year, yep.) will be going away in the fall to another school, which, while it's not terribly far away is still a hike. My relationship with her is something very special that I really cherish, and while I think I might be ready for her to go, I know I'm not.  That will be a challenge that I will need to hurdle. I need to remember that she doesn't need to be in my house to be my friend, and we will be fine.

So enough sappy stuff.  And sorry for the Disney earworm.  I figured that since it had been stuck in my head all day, it could be stuck in yours, too.

Some goals for 2014

I'm not much of a resolution gal, because I think I live a pretty fantastic life already, and making a resolution would imply that I wanted to change some aspect of that.

I do, however, believe in goal setting, so here are some things I want to do this year. I am especially cognizant that 2014 will be my last full year of my 30's, which I am content with.

Fitness:

I started running in September of 2012. In 2013, I set a goal of running 13 races, which I almost doubled. This year, I will likely run at least 14 races, but I'm not pressed on the number. My goal this year is to start running some longer races. I'm signed up for a half marathon in March, and also plan to run some 10-milers. Last year I logged about 970 running miles, so I think it would be cool to shoot for 1000 miles in 2014.

I'd also like to incorporate more variety of fitness activities, so I'll be looking for abs, arms, legs, etc. challenges to complete, and I plan on doing yoga more often because I feel better as a human when I do so.

Reading:

I generally read about 100 books a year. A few years ago, I read 140 in a year, but felt rather burnt out by December, so I think 100 is a good goal. I do want to make more of an effort to track what I'm reading, however. I've tried sites like goodreads, but that doesn't seem to fit my style. What I think I'd like to do is just be better about jotting down finish dates here, instead of just listing books each month.

Veganism:

I want to continue listing here my food plans each week. I love the way that forces me into shopping efficiently, and I think it has saved me money in the long run. I also like pushing myself to try new recipes on a weekly basis. That way, I don't get stuck in a rut.

One other goal I have this year is to review my myriad of cookbooks here. I love vegan cookbooks, and want to encourage myself to re-visit each one. I am thinking that once or twice a month, I can use one cookbook exclusively for the week's meal planning, and then at the end of the week, post my thoughts about the book. In addition, I will start WRITING in my cookbooks. Notes, dates, etc.

Teaching:

I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches on a new course that will go live in January. I also want to revise my other two concepts courses to include more about the Common Core. I plan on again teaching kids college in the summer, and am hoping for an exciting speaker to join us for Women and Math this spring.

Learning:

As many of you know, I've finished my coursework and comprehensive exams for my Ph.D. program, and am currently in the dissertation process. I'd like to finish that in the next 18 months, early in 2015. It is sometimes a frustrating process, because there are so many hoops to jump through. But I think when I am done I will be really pleased.

Other:

I will continue to love life with Rob, spend time with Mia, talk about my dogs too much, save turtles from the road, and sing too loud in my car. Some thing you can't improve on...

Happy 2014, friends! Have a great year!