On to the next one

On this eve of the new year I reflected on my accomplishments for 2014. I'm proud to say that I had an amazing year and have been able to become more of the person that I want to be. Hey, why don't we take a look back and see all the wonderful things that happened this year? Come on!

FEBRUARY

My first race AND half marathon all in one.

MARCH

The most fun I've had in a race thus far

APRIL

My oldest daughter's robotics team won their regional competition and headed to the world competition.

JUNE

Enjoying the Jay-Z and Beyonce concert for my oldest's birthday.

AUGUST

The baby is not a baby anymore. She is now 14 and got into a great high school, freshman year has officially started.

OCTOBER

10 mile race to get me ready for my marathon and the BEST HALLOWEEN COSTUMES EVER!

NOVEMBER

Completed my first marathon! Space Coast, we will meet again next year!

The other day I counted up all of the miles that I ran this year and the total came out to 1, 275. My goal for 2015 is to reach 2,000. Let's see if I can make it!

Relapse

Okay remember yesterday when I told you that I was cutting back on my sugar after the carrot cake cupcakes I made. Well...

This happened

My aunt made a sweet potato pie just for us. 

First let me say that I couldn't be rude and turn it down. I mean she spent all that time making it.

Secondly my aunt's sweet potato pie is DA BOMB!

So after the pie is done I'll get back on the wagon. Until then I'll just have to enjoy this delicious, scrumptious, heavenly pie. 

A spoonful of sugar helps the sugar go down.

Sugar, sugar, sugar. Sugar has been haunting me for the past couple of weeks now. A couple of months ago my wife was the pioneer in the family who decided that she wanted to consume less sugar. Not too long after, the rest of the family followed suit. I think the only person who was already on a restricted sugar diet was our toddler. Aside from her we all needed an intervention.

Before we cut back on our sugar I really don't know how much we were consuming but I would say less than the average person.

I had already stopped adding sugar to my coffee and started drinking it black. We are not a soda family at all so that wasn't a problem. We don't keep candy or eat a lot of sweets so we were good about that too. Of course sugar has snuck it's way into everyone's diet whether you like it or not.

Most of the things in this picture we had already eliminated or greatly reduced. All in all we were doing good until we actually paid attention to the amount of sugar we were consuming and tried to decrease it even more. Guess what folks... sugar is addictive! Not until I tried it get rid of it did I start to CRAVE it. Suddenly I wanted it all the time. And we can't help it, it's all part of who we are as humans to want to have more of the sweet stuff.

So I gave in and at the start of the holiday vacation my family and I went all out. We baked cakes and made cookies and baked more cakes, we wanted sweets and we wanted it NOW! It all came to a head when I made a dozen vegan carrot cake cupcakes this past week. Surprisingly the recipe didn't call for as much sugar as I thought it would but it was still more than we needed.

What you are seeing, ladies and gentleman, is the last hurrah of our sugar soiree. These are (were) the remaining cupcakes leftover from the dozen I made. These cupcakes were so damn good we thought about them constantly. We had to pace ourselves otherwise all of them would've been gone the first night. We thought about the cupcakes in the morning with a nice cup of coffee or tea, and at night to treat ourselves for the day. All that was on anybody's mind was those damn cupcakes. So yesterday we said that this would be it. After the last cupcake we would go back to eating less sugar. 

So long added sugar. Sweet, sweet crystals of joy. I will miss you so.

But I will not miss coming down from my sugar induced coma.

Ah fuhgeddaboudit

We are officially over the first week of Christmas break and I gotta be honest. I haven't wanted to run all week.

I know, crazy right!? But there's a good reason for my lack of motivation. This is the time when my family is all together with no obligations to work or school. No one is preoccupied with homework or deadlines, conference calls, reports, papers or tests. The house has a mellow vibe. Everyone is stress free. My toddler was so happy the first couple of the days during the break that you would've thought she had a sugar high. She was running around the house all giddy and excited. So with all that excitement and my family all together I didn't want to run and have that precious time taken away from them.

So I spent a lot of time just hanging out. When the little one would take her nap we would catch up on some television shows. By the way check out my new moccasins. My jeans are covering the fringe but they are sooooo comfortable.  

I've been able to get back to my garden and check on my plants. This is some mint that I planted a while back. It's taken some time to get it to this point but now it's starting to flourish. I used some in my tea the other day. I felt like I had an Oprah moment getting mint from garden and making my very own, homemade mint tea.

And the avocado plant that my wife's boss gave me is really starting to do well. The top part was burnt (long story) and I had to snip half of the leaves that were on it but after months of tender loving care, it's finally starting to come around.

We took little one to an indoor play area where she got to run around and play to her heart's content. Here she is trying out the trampoline. She absolutely loved that thing.

Then a ride on the carousel.

We found a vegan/raw food restaurant close to our house and had lunch there. This is a living pizza. I don't remember all the ingredients but just know that it was EXCELLENT!

My wife ordered a sun burger...

And our oldest had some tacos with a smoothie that she shared with the little one. We also had a serving of nachos for an appetizer which is also in this picture.

So not that I couldn't run AND do all of these things but I didn't want to have to insert a run into days that have been relaxed and easy going. Plus I'm not getting up early just to run. When our teenager is off from school and doesn't have to get up early in the morning, neither do I.

Training is great, but family is greater.

How do you juggle fitness with work and family?

Christmas family time

Christmas came and went so fast. It's crazy that there is such preparation and planning for a day that seems to go by in the blink of an eye. Christmas morning we went to my mother's house and did our gift exchange. My mom loves Christmas and goes all out every year. We decided to not have a tree this year because little one would have tried to bring it down. There's already a gate around the television and we didn't want to buy another gate just for the tree. And since my mom was going to have a tree it made sense to skip it this year.

Mom's tree

Little one opening gifts

All eyes on little one

Getting help from big sis

The day was a success with everyone enjoying not only the gifts but the time spent with family. On Sunday we have our big family dinner which I am looking forward to

How was your holiday?

The break is finally here

Last week was quite a busy week for me. I attended a couple of practices at the Buddhist center, the group of moms that I workout with had a holiday party, I was in full swing with running. So much going on.

First off my meditations have been going very well. Though I don't do it everyday I have been able to be consistent and that makes me feel good. I had a great time with my workout moms at our holiday party.

It was the first time that we got to hang out without kids or workouts going on. We enjoyed ourselves so much that we are trying to make this a monthly thing. Fingers crossed that we will be able to keep doing it.

I've gotten back into the groove with running again (finally). I'm back up to doing between 6 and 8 miles for my daily runs. I'm hoping to get up to 10 as a regular run in the near future. I have no doubt that I will be able to achieve that goal.

Tomorrow is Christmas and it is usually a low key day for us. We'll be going to my mom's house in the morning to have coffee and open gifts, then we'll come home and veg out for the rest of the day. We're going to have our big dinner on Sunday rather than tomorrow. We have big dinners every month on the last Sunday.

How are you spending your Christmas holiday this year?

A Buddhist monk and I walk into a bar...

After stalking a local Buddhist center near my home on the internet for the past six months, I finally decided to actually go and participate in a meditation. No I'm not a Buddhist but I was raised in a spiritual home. Meditation and chanting are all normal to me so I wasn't green to the environment when I arrived. I remember reading about Buddhism when I was ten years old and having such a deep fascination for it. Of course as I got older and became a teenager I switched meditating for going to the mall. Priorities. As I got older I moved away from my spiritual upbringing to explore other religious and ideals. All I knew was spirituality and wondered if this was really the right fit for my life. Though there were many things that I thought were interesting and romantic about other religions, I never felt a connection with any one in particular. I was looking for something to connect to, something that I could feel comfortable in.

Since getting on a healthy track and really taking care of my body I realized that I also need to take care of my mind and my spirit. I am striving to be a whole, happy person and I can't do that if I neglect the other two aspects of my being. I kept saying that I would get back to meditating but I didn't have time for it. There's a funny saying that goes:


You should sit in meditation for 20 minutes a day, unless you're too busy then it should be an hour." -Old Zen saying

I kept putting it off time and again. I could make time to run abut I couldn't make time to sit and just be quiet. I figured that I needed some external assistance to get my spiritual life on track. Within the past couple of years I have been going back to that interest I had in Buddhism. I figured that before I go to any meditations or practices that I should educated myself on the background. So I read books, I watched documentaries and I found a center close to my house. But once again I came up with excuses. Sometimes stepping outside of my comfort zone can be a bit frightening. 

I'm sure many of you have been there. Maybe you wanted to introduce yourself to someone but were afraid you would get rejected. Maybe you wanted to ask for a promotion but were scared your boss would say no and fire you. So you did nothing and you said nothing. Well the same goes for me. But since I've started running I have found this stream of confidence running through me and every time I step outside of that comfort zone wonderful things happen.

So last week I finally participated in a Heart Sutra practice and Calm Abiding mediation. At first I felt awkward because I did not know the chants. But fortunately for me the chants were written in a way that was easy to follow and recite. The people in the center were helpful and kind and able to answer any questions I had. I felt right at home the very first day. And I have even noticed a change in my running. I don't flip through random thoughts like a Rolodex when I'm running. My mind is a bit clearer and more at ease.

This is week two of my practices and I am working on trying to incorporate meditation at home. I've only been able to meditate twice and each time really helped to calm me down and set the tone for the day. So it's still too early to tell just how much this will help my running but it's already helped me feel more centered and connected to becoming a more whole and fully present ME.

Vegan recipe #2

It's been a while but I got another great vegan recipe for you to try.

Vegan Bacon Cheeseburger Potato Pie

• 1 1/2 cups of vegan ground beef
• 1/2 cup of plain breadcrumbs
• 1/2 red onion, diced
• 1/4 cup A1 steak sauce
• 2 tsps yellow mustard
• 1 tsp Bragg's liquid aminos
• Dash of liquid smoke
• 2 to 3 warm baked potatoes
• 1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 3 tbsp margarine
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp soy milk
• 1 tsp nutritional yeast
• 1 tbsp vegan bacon bits
• 1 cup shredded Daiya vegan cheddar cheese
• 1 small tomato, sliced
• 2 green onions, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the vegan beef, bread crumbs, onion, steak sauce, mustard, Bragg's, and liquid smoke. Press the mixture in the bottom and up the sides of an u-greased 9in. glass pie plate, like a pie crust and bake for 5 min.
3. In a bowl mash the potatoes with their skins.
4. In a Dutch oven, mix the mashed potatoes, broth, margarine, garlic, soy milk, and nutritional yeast. Heat over medium heat while continuously stirring with a large spoon. Remove from heat. Stir in the bacon bits and 1/2 cup of the vegan cheese.
5. Remove the partially baked crust from the oven. Spoon the mashed potatoes into the crust. Use a spatula to smooth out the top and make it even. Sprinkle the remaining 1/2 cup of vegan cheese over the top. Bake for 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
6. Remove pie from the oven. Let cool before serving.

This was the recipe that I was so excited to make. It was well worth the wait. Even my wife, who is not a casserole fan, said that this could be added to our regular recipe list. We were all very skeptical about the vegan cheese but it tasted great. This Daiya brand is new to me but now that I see how it cooks and how it tastes, I will be using it more often. I'm thinking about doing this one again once everyone is off from work and school. LOVED this recipe.

Overall rating: Three thumbs up!

A picture is worth a thousand words

Here they are! Time to share my pictures from the Space Coast Marathon. Lift off...

 Starting off great! 

THE WALL! 

Getting my stride back at 26 miles

I can see the finish line!

YES!