Spaghetti Squash Virgin

"What is that?!"  I said with weird disgust.

"It's a spaghetti quash."  Explained my roommate.

"Why? Does it have spaghetti inside?!"  Now I was getting excited.

"Well, no.  It's a squash.  But after you cook it, it looks like spaghetti."

"Oh.  That's gross."

That was the end of that conversation a mere five years ago... until two weeks ago, when on a whim, I purchased a spaghetti squash from the super market.  The scariest food purchase I've made, to date (I'm just not ready for beets yet).

What to do with this thing?  Can I made it taste like spaghetti?  Forget cooking it, how do I open it?!

My Facebook friends seemed to have a lot to say.

Some hate it, some love it.  Some swear it tastes like spaghetti, some told me if I expect it to taste like spaghetti, I'll be disappointed.  Some told me to bake it, some to microwave it, some to cut it first, some to cut it later.  I became very confused.  Then I became sick with a cold.

So the spaghetti squash sat patiently on the counter.  Until last night.

Armed with a lot of how-to pictures, I preheated my oven to 400 degrees,

carefully and somewhat awkwardly sliced my squash in half,

scooped out the centers (like a pumpkin!),

placed both halves facedown in a baking dish with some water, covered them with foil, and cooked them for 40 minutes.  

The sensation of being able to scrape the insides of the squash with a fork and have it come out like spaghetti was strangely satisfying.  Dan got half a squash and I got half.  Covered both with sauce and meatballs.  The moment of truth.

It was ok.  Yup, just ok.  I didn't love it, BUT I didn't hate it.  It didn't taste like spaghetti.  In fact, it didn't really taste like anything.  Dan and I were amused by it's tastelessness.  So instead of focusing on my tepid review of the taste, let's focus on the amazing things that happened last night:


-I tried something new and out of my comfort zone
-I found a VEGGIE that I would eat again
-I got Dan to try it with me

All wins in my book!  Tell me, how do you like to prepare and eat your spaghetti squash?!

Did I tell you...?!

Did I tell you I'm training for my very first marathon?!

I'M TRAINING FOR MY VERY FIRST MARATHON.

I feel very excited and very much like a psycho.

I entered into running pretty reluctantly.  When I was young I played soccer and softball and I danced and did aerobics videos with my mom.  But when I got to college, all of that was gone and what was left was a gym with a treadmill.  So I got on it, and that's how I got my start.

I remember when my best friend asked me if I wanted to run a 5K with her my senior year of college.  

I thought she was a lunatic.

I legitimately trained for that run.  And listen, I KNOW how hard it is to run 3 miles when you have never run or you are not a runner.  That's why I'm telling you... I trained for that run, less than 8 years ago.  It was painful.  I thought I was running forever.  When we finished the run, I thought I was such a badass.

Less than a year later, I got this crazy idea that I should try running Broad Street, the largest 10 miler in the country.  I don't know what I was thinking, except that I could do it.

And I did it.  I remember finishing that 10 miles and thinking, "I have no desire to run a half marathon.  What psycho would run 3 more miles?"

Two and a half years later, I was that psycho.

And as I ran from mile 12 to mile 13.1, I remember thinking, "I will ABSOLUTELY do this again."

I signed up for two more half marathons (with the possibility of a marathon in the back of my brain), and with that, most definitely jinxed myself.  In January of 2014, just six weeks after my first half, a piercing pain in my knee sidelined me.  It took four months, two MRIs, PT, a knee brace, a cortisone shot, and three doctors to diagnose my mysterious injury:  Synovial Plica Syndrome.  On June 18, 2014, I had arthroscopic knee surgery and on June 19th, I signed up to be a Beachbody coach.  That day they introduced a new program called PiYo, that promised to be low-impact, especially for knees, but high-intensity.  My thought was, "Well, I won't be able to do anything else, I suppose I can do a little yoga."  You guys know my story.  PiYo taught me that I don't have to run to feel strong, healthy, and in shape.

But, four and a half months after my surgery, I ran a 10K race, and less than a year after surgery, I was reunited with my true love, the Broad Street 10 Miler.  That race sealed my fate.  I was all in, and a week later, I signed up for the Rock'n'Roll Half Marathon in Philadelphia on October 31 and the Rock'n'Roll Marathon in Phoenix, Arizona on January 17.

I truly believe things happen for a reason.  I have seen so many things happen in my life that, at the time, felt like the end of the world, but in the end turned into a lesson or a blessing of some kind.  Being able to run this marathon means more to me now than it ever would have before, had I not gotten through the surgery, become a coach, and discovered PiYo.  Of course, there is a little voice inside of me wondering if I could beat my last half marathon time of 2:08, but I keep reminding myself, that's not what THIS half marathon is about.  This half marathon is just one more triumphant return to running; another distance my healed knee was able to carry me, the halfway point to my marathon, the ultimate goal.

In the next few days, I will post my marathon training calendar, along with how I came up with it!  Thank you for all your support and for sticking with me through this!

Beachbody Performance Line: How I used it on my long run

I was so excited when I woke up on Sunday morning for my 9 mile run!

And no, it wasn't because I was about to run 9 miles.  That would be crazy talk!

Back in July when I went to Beachbody Coach Summit in Nashville, Tennessee, I purchased a sample pack for the brand new Performance Line.  There was one serving of each of the five new formulas in the pack.  The main purpose of the sample pack is to make sure you like the taste of each formula, since supplements do their best work when used consistently over an extended period of time.

HOWEVER, I wanted to make sure that if I used them, I was using them in a way which would maximize their ability to work.  And what better time to use supplements than before, during, and after a 9 mile run?

So, I was very excited!

First up, the pre-workout formula Energize.  Energize is a combination of three main ingredients:  Beta-Alanine, which inhibits muscle acid buildup; Quercetin, which is known to increase the production of mitochondria and therefor improve exercise performance and recovery; and finally, low-dose caffeine from green tea.  I mixed one packet with 8 oz of water and drank it about 30 minutes before I started my run.  I had already had a bowl of oatmeal.  It was really yummy... it tasted like thicker lemonade, but it wasn't gritty AT ALL.

During my run, I put the during workout formula, Hydrate, in one of my water bottles with 8 oz of water.  Like a sports drink, Hydrate is a combination of carbohydrates and electrolytes to help keep your body hydrated during sweat loss.  Unlike a sports drink though, Hydrate has much less sugar, allowing the formula to be absorbed more quickly and easily into the bloodstream.  This was also delicious and tasted like a thicker citrus gatorade, but didn't leave my mouth feeling sticky and like I needed to keep drinking... which is the effect gatorade has on me.

Finally, after my run, I enjoyed the post-workout formula Recover.  Recover is essentially a protein shake, made with a variety of different proteins (whey isolate, pea and macular casein protein) and branched-chain amino acids (leucine, isoleucine, and valine) which help to promote muscle synthesis.  There is also pomegranate extract in it, which is being studied as a natural non steroidal anti-inflammatory (NSAIDs)!

All in all, I had NO negative side effects with any of these products!  Yay!  If we are being 100% honest (and we are), I didn't feel much different after I took the Energize.  And I'm not surprised.  First of all, I don't need energy to workout... ever.  Second of all, caffeine has no effect on me.  There were many times in my former life that I would fall asleep half way through a can of Coke.  So... yeah.  But if you're someone that needs your morning cup of caffeination, I bet you'd really like Energize.  And like I said, it was tasty!  I'm not quite sure how the Hydrate worked for me.  I don't think I felt much different... that being said, it's been five months since I ran nine miles and almost two years since I was running that much consistently... and I felt really good!  So, I may be looking into a container of that!  Finally, I LOVED the Recover.  Loved it.  I actually thought it tasted better than my chocolate Shakeology!  I didn't blend it, I just shook it with water.  You are supposed to drinking it within 30 minutes of finishing exercising and usually, I don't feel like putting anything in my stomach that quickly.  But the Recover was SO easy to make and drink, that I had no problem.  I also felt fantastic the rest of the day, as well as the next day.  No sore muscles!  Was it the Recover?  MAYBE!  That's definitely going on my list!

All in all, a VERY positive experience using the Beachbody Performance line.  I know they are meant to be used with Beachbody workouts (duh), but they are even more valuable to me if I can use them as a runner as well.

Looking for more information?  Just fill out the form below!  I'm excited to talk to you!