August 2014 ~ TRAILMOMMA

August 27, 2014April 21, 2015

ROLLING WITH IT

Things have definitely been busy. Training forÂ my November 50K has officially started, Vans is getting ready to head internationalÂ for a fondoÂ and the Peanut had her very first soccer game. Squeaker is doing great, becoming quite the dancing queen actually.

This past weekend I ran a fairly “new-to-me” trail, Salmon Falls. I have been there only once before. Super close to my house, these trails offer some beautiful views and some pretty technical terrain.

StonegateÂ (formerly GCRS Girl) and Burning Girl suggested this run and I was down for a new adventure. We had planned onÂ running 10 to 12 miles as it was the first weekend of soccer games for all kids as well as Van’s birthday weekend.

The girls picked me up and we headed to the trail. It was a cool and quiet morning. We saw one mountain biker head out before us. The trail starts up hill which is always a great way to wake up the legs and lungs. Speaking of legs, mine had been quite tired prior to this run. We had done some hill repeats earlier in the week and I don’t think mine ever recovered from that effort. We didn’t do too many and I felt amazing after and during but the days following left me with some pretty slow turn over.

Regardless, I just plopped myself at the back of the train and followed the girls as we continued up Skunk Hollow. StonegateÂ and Burning Girl run run, they don’t walk, not even the climbs. Even though we were not going that far mileage wise, I would hike the climbs especially since we were all just chatting away. I think they got the hint as they started hiking with me. One of the biggest misconceptions of a trail ultra is that you have to run every single step. I have heard countless interviews with elites who agree you have to power climb the uphill sections if you want to survive the longer mileage of an ultra. Running with new(ish) people is always interesting and I adore these girls. We just have to figure out our groove. I know how Pigeon operates when she runs and now I have to adjust to these two awesome girls.

Stonegate & Burning Birl — Stonegate & Burning Girl

We finally had gotten into a groove and were running down hill. I was in the back and I was watching the ground noticing all the rocks, mentally telling myself “Watch out for the rocks! Do NOT roll your bad ankle.” What do I do? Hit itÂ a rock with my GOOD ankle. Snap! (Yea, I heardÂ a snap). Instead of just running through it and shaking off the pain, I was sidelined pretty quick. To be honest, I was pretty afraid I broke or tore something in my foot (not necessarily my ankle). I made the girls wait a few minutes with me to see if I could power through. Eventually I thought the pain was subsiding enough that I could continue on and so they put me up front so as to dictate the pace. I was feeling okay for about three-quarters of a mile and then we hit another down hill section and I could feel twinges of pain shoot through my foot. That’s never good so I called it. I don’t generally quit things but having had a history with ankle issues, I didn’t want to risk making things worse.

We turned around and ran the 3+ miles back to the car, hiking the ups. 😉 At the car I took off my shoe (I know I know) and there was no swelling OR bruising but it hurt like HELL. It hurt even more when Burning Girl dropped me off in my driveway … hobbling was pretty much all that I could do.

Inside I iced and elevated it and thought things were fine. I felt well enough to head to the Peanut’s soccer game. There was no way I was going to miss her very first soccer game as a Hummingbird!

Soccer means a lot to Vans and myself. We both grew up playing (starting at an early age) and we alsoÂ met each otherÂ while playing soccer. The Peanut didn’t want to play but we encouraged her to try one season.

While at the game, I tried sitting down as much as I could but with Squeaker in tow, who is DYING to play soccer … it was a bit hard.

My foot started throbbing severely. I had worn some loose-fittingÂ shoes thinking that it was better than wearing flip-flops. Wrong. People around me were concerned. I looked pretty terrible but I kept cheering!
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Later that afternoon when we finally arrived home, I was done. I couldn’t bear any weight. I couldn’t wiggle my toes. I was crawling on hands and knees all around the house until I could put my foot up and ice it. I called a Doctor who advised I take some Tylenol and they scheduled x-rays for Sunday.

The Tylenol did wonders. The throbbing stopped and I was able to bear weight again. Whew! Sunday came and I took myself to the hospital while the family slept. I met some Sunday Doc who said she didn’t see anything in my x-rays that screamed “broken.” So she gave me new shoe and sent me on my way.

Throughout the day my foot would feel better but there was no way I was going to be able to put on a shoe. I also didn’t love the boot so I opted for some supportive sandals instead. 🙂

Monday came and I saw my miracle worker Dr. Lau. He thinks there may be something else going on and advised me to get new x-rays which I did. Now I am just waiting to get those results (my foot surgeon doctor is reviewing them). Overall things are feeling MUCH better. I tried going to the gym and wearing a regular shoe and it was ‘ok’ but not great. It looks like more rest is in my future right now and wearing regular shoes is not exactly high on my list.

I am rolling with it though. Just letting this brief period of rest happen. I know it is nothing serious so I am just riding this train and letting my body heal. Vans’s trip will also be a form of rest for me since I will be solo-parenting (love me some girl time). I am just looking forward to getting back on the trails healthy.

Meanwhile, I will dive deeper into my Rouxbe Cooking Course (don’t forget you can enter to attend as well for FREE – see my post by clicking here).

And of course, watching my girl experience soccer for the first time. She may not love it at the moment, but she does like the social time she gets with her friends and it is a few hours out of the house and into the sunshine (go Vitamin D!) which of course we love!

Not to mention (terrible) treats after the games!

Â Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

August 15, 2014April 21, 2015

WHAT IS ROUXBE AND WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOU?

So a few days ago, I posted my very first give-away on www.trailmomma.com (you can find and enter that give-away by clicking here).

Since that day, I have had quite the reaction to that post. Some friends on Facebook commented or “liked” my post, but did not “enter” the contest. I had friends approach me on the street about the blog, who looked at the syllabus and thought “Oh geez, I do not have that kind of time!” I have had friends and/or family email saying that they do not think they could “stick” with the course for a full six months.

I probably should have written this post sooner but I will be completely up front about my experience with RouxbeÂ to date. And no, I have not been paid to do this. I paid for my tuition (granted, with a discount from the company when I stressed the same concerns that have been expressed to me) out of my own pocket. But in no way, am I being compensated for doing this give-away. I am already enrolled. My time is committed. I do not get ONE single thing out of whoever wins this giveaway EXCEPT the knowledge that I have given the gift of learning more about plant-based cooking, being more efficient in the kitchen and how to live a healthier happier life.

The students in my current course class, are not all 100% plant-based. They are not chefs or professional cooks. Some of them have battled diabetes, celiac, being over weight or even cancer. They just want to know MORE and so should you. Why not? My give-away is FREE. What does it matter to you? If you don’t find the course to your liking or a fit for your family, then don’t finish. I would hope that you would notify Rouxbe and let them know. They truly value the opinions of others. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t be enrolled right now. I stressed my concerns about the course in an email, and because I Â did, I was given a tuition discount. Note, not FREE tuition, just a discount.

So the bottom line is, what does this mean for YOU right? Everyone wants to know that. It is a valid question. Our lives are valuable. Our time is critical. We have jobs, families and commitments. Why should YOU give up some of your time? More precisely, just how much of your time will you give up if you enter my give-away?

Rouxbe’s prediction is 5 hours a week. Some weeks may require more than others. Right now, I am on the fourth unit. So far, I have not logged into my course dashboard every single night. How can I with swim lessons on Sundays and Tuesdays and soccer on Mondays, Wednesdays and Saturdays and let’s not forget my full-time job and the job that I work on Sundays and oh yea, that 50K and marathon I am training for later in the year. Am I more of an extreme case? Yes. Absolutely. Are my “assignments” the absolute best of my ability? Probably not but I try.

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The “tasks” you see in the course syllabus vary. They can range from 2 minutes to 10 minutes. Some of the more extensive assignments involve a bit more cooking or prep but that just turns into dinner for our family. For example, the baby green beans that I steamed were given to the girls, the rest that was sautÃ©ed in a miracle mix of shallots and garlic (easy and simple) were enjoyed by Vans and myself.

The tofu on the bottom was for lunch. :) — The tofu on the bottom was for lunch. 🙂

So basically, I want to say, whatever questions you have, whatever reservations you may fear, please let me know. You can email me at: trailmomma@trailmomma.com if you want to ask private questions. Remember, the give-away is open until August 31st. You still have plenty of time to enter. You can enter the give-away by commenting on this post (click here).

The entry requirements may seem daunting too and I did not mean for that to be the case. You are not required to do all five. You can do one or even two and that could give you two “tickets” into the drawing. All I am saying is think about it. Do you want your family to eat healthier foods? More vegetables maybe? Less processed? I am sure not every dish I am going to make with Rouxbe will be fabulous. But it will be is DIFFERENT. It will be something I didn’t think of before. Something that I didn’t realize I could make so easily at home and more importantly, something unprocessed, something natural.

On a side note, I created my own Trailmomma Facebook page but I have yet to make it public. I am holding back but part of me wants to let it go because I want that to be the place where people can go for this type of information. My personal Facebook page is mostly for family and friends and I honestly feel like I am imposing upon them when I post things like this. If I go “live” I will post it here but in the mean time, take a look at what Rouxbe is offering you … FOR FREE. Five minutes of your time is all it takes to share on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and to comment. In the grand scheme of things, isn’t five minutes worth it when it could mean five less pounds? Five more minutes in the kitchen? Five more years of your life?

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

August 11, 2014April 21, 2015

THE HIGHS AND LOWS

This weekend’s run was definitely an eye opener for me. I always write about having good days and bad days on the trails and Saturday was definitely one of my not so great days. I completed the run. All 15 miles and 3200+ ft of elevation gain of it including a brutal climb up K2. Yet, I truly feel like I was battling my body the entire way.

I have my suspicions as to WHY I had such a bad run. Lack of sleep for one. Squeaker has been up one to two times a night most days of the week and yet I continued to go to all my morning workouts instead of making up for any lost sleep. I also had some dental work this week that has left me with the inability to chew anything too hard or too “sticky” and ultimately left me on a smoothie only diet for a few days. While smoothies are a great way to get your greens and vitamins in … they are not an ideal source of energyÂ for multiple days on end right before you go do a run in super hot weather with significant climbing. Live and learn right?

I also learned on my run that some of my past fueling habits may have been helping me more than I thought since I was without one of my signature items on this run. Again, lesson learned.

Regardless, I am proud of the run that I had. It was with a group of people who I am fairly new to running withÂ as Pigeon was working. This group is a bit faster than I am used to but I like that. It encouraged me to keep up the pace at times. Challenges are good. They inspire and motivate us.

After the run I hit the canal to clean off my incredibly dusty legs and also cool the muscles and joints down a bit.

I was home by 10:30 a.m. having started the run at 6:30 a.m. which was really nice and Vans was quite surprised by my arrival

I am digging the 15 to 20 mile distance right now. That also seems to be my internal mileage marker anyway. Anymore than 20 and I think I might be pushing things. My body is telling me to be gradual about my runsÂ and for once, I am listening.

The rest of my beautiful Saturday was spent with my girls either doing art projects or watching them swim in the pool.

In the evening we made a family outing to cheer on the Sacramento Republic FC team against Oklahoma in one of their final home games of their inaugural season.
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The girls really enjoyed the game even though it was a super late evening. The Peanut has started playing soccer and for her, it was neat to see a real game in person.

Squeaker was starting not to feel very well. I could tell something was off when she was not enjoying the game. Needless to say, she woke up the next morning with a fever but she’s a strong kid and is fighting this cold with all her might.

Like I said, there have been a lot of highs and lows this weekend. Another one of the high points was having some quiet time Sunday morning to go over my Rouxbe cooking assignments and studying for one of my quizzes.

Just in case you missed it, last week I wrote a blog that contained my very first give-away. Click HERE to vist that post and be sure to comment so your name can be entered into the contest to win FREE tuition into Rouxbe’s online cooking school. I know everyone is worried they don’t have the time to fit this course into their schedule, but if I can do it (with three jobs, two kids, a husband and my training for an up coming ultra) than ANYONE can do it. Trust me. It is worth the time. What have you got to lose? It is FREE!

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

August 7, 2014August 7, 2014

ROUXBE GIVE-AWAY

Okay, I kind of have to control myself here. When I started this little blog in 2009, it was mostly to chronicle my running adventures and to showcase my girls and how fast they are growing. Most of my readership in the early days (on my blogspot account) consisted of my ultra-training group as we trained together for our first 50K and 50 mile races. It quickly grew however as people from all over the nation followed our training and were commenting on my posts. That blog was a labor of love but sadly, when my running slowed down, so did the blog posts.

When I purchased the Trailmomma domain name, I wasn’t sure what to do with this blog. The name alone lends itself to being a “running” blog which it is and of course it still encompasses my family and our adventures, but I have always felt that something was “missing” from www.trailmomma.com. It wasn’t a true reflection of me. If a stranger were to ask my friends or family what three things define me as Trailmomma, I would think they would say 1. my girls & family, 2. running and 3. living a plant-based lifestyle.

Deep down, I have always wanted to HELP people with my blog and I guess in the early days I did by way of motivation to train for ultra races. Once that stopped though, my following dissipated.

My current readership is primarily my awesome family and some really close friends which is expected when all I write about are my running adventures with a dash of Peanut and Squeaker on the side. Sadly, I don’t garner the comments I used to when I was posting about a 20 mile trail run through a massive rain storm while battling some injury. I miss all the comments that I used to get. I like comments (hint hint). 🙂

Fast forward to a week or so ago, I wrote this post about my new adventure with Rouxbe’s Online Cooking School and their Professional Plant Based Cooking Certification. After I posted that, I received a comment (yea for comments) from Rouxbe’s CEO and co-founder Joe Girard. Shortly after that comment, I received an email from him. His emails always seem to have these unbelievable offers that he makes really difficult to ignore.

You see, Joe wants to help ME… help YOU! I think he can tell how passionate I am about living a plant-based lifestyle while battling the realities of 2 kids, work and life. For those that follow me on Instagram, Twitter (@trailmomma) and Facebook (no official Trailmomma page, yet), you know that I sometimes post photos of meals that I have prepared with some comment about how “easy” it really is to enjoy wholesome plant-based food even with a hectic day-to-day lifestyle.

Getting the girls involved — The girls helping me with one of my Rouxbe assignments.

Let’s get one thing straight, I do not want to be a food blogger. Don’t get me wrong, I love food bloggers (a lot) but that isn’t who I am. I am just your average Jane trying to help people realize that eating healthy is not that hard. I want people to think about what they are putting into their bodies and how they feel or perform after they eat it. One of my favorite quotes of all time is by Dr. Caldwell B. Esselstyn Jr., “Genetics loads the gun lifestyle pulls the trigger.” You have the ability to change your health, you just have to know where to start.

And thanks to Joe Girard and Rouxbe, you can start right here!

As I mentioned in my last post, Rouxbe is an online cooking school. While they offer many different courses, I am currently taking their Professional Plant-Based Certification course. It is 100% online and you have six months to complete the course working at your own pace (a mother’s dream). The next session will start in October and I won’t lie, the tuition is not cheap but I am here to help you with that.

For the very first time on trailmomma.com, I am offering a give-away!!! Joe and the people at Rouxbe have offered me the chance to give-away ONE free enrollment to one of my readers. FREE! Let me say it again, FREE!! Excuse me?! That is a $1,500 GIFT …. FOR FREE!!!!!!!!!

People, this is no joke and truly the chance of a life-time. Please do not pass up this opportunity to improve your health and the health of your family!

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I am going to give you FIVE opportunities to enter. The winner will be chosen via www.random.org but of course the more times you enter, the greater your chances of winning and jumping on the train to better health.

Here is what you need to do. Each of these will constitute one entry into the contest so be sure to comment for each one:

1. Facebook a link about this contest and leave me a comment on this post that you did (provide the FB link);

2. Instagram about this contest and leave me a comment on this post that you did and use the hashtag #plantbasedtrailmomma;

3. Tweet a link about this contest and leave me a comment on this post that you did (tag me in the post);

4. Comment on this post and tell me WHY you want to win this and what it will mean for you (*a bonusÂ entry will beÂ awarded to more thoroughÂ responses – so put some thought into it!);

5. Instagram (yes, another) a photo of your favorite plant-based meal and use the hashtag #plantbasedtrailmomma

That’s it! All you need to do is comment here five separate times with a with the above requests and you will be entered in the chance to win FREE tuition into Rouxbe’s next Professional Plant-Based Certification Course that is starting in October (valued at $1,500).

The contest will close Sunday, August 31st at mid-night (PST) and I will announce the winner on Tuesday, September 2nd.

So what are you waiting for?! Do you want to feel better, live better and have a healthy family? Have you always been curious about a plant-based diet but did not know where to start? Do you want to be better and more efficient in the kitchen? Then let the comments begin!

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

*The tuition entry prize is given by Rouxbe. I did not pay for any of it nor am I employed by Rouxbe in anyway.

*Open to anyone regardless of residence (that is theÂ awesome part about it being online!).

*Contest ends mid-night (PST) on Sunday, August 31st The winner will be picked via www.random.org and announced on Tuesday, September 2nd.

August 4, 2014April 26, 2019

BACK ON THE TRAILS

As I mentioned in this post, the Peanut’s swim season is over. It seems, for the time being, I have my Saturday mornings back! Pigeon wasted no time and emailed me that we were meeting at 6 am and hitting the trails by 6:30 since the temperature was supposed to hit the low 100s.

She had emailed me that we were doing the Clementine and Stage Coach loops using our car as a make shift aid-station between loops. I remember this run. You can read about that ~~adventure~~ run here … I very clearly remember it being anywhere between 15 and 20 miles depending on how we finished the route. Ouch. 20 miles!? I haven’t been running more than 7 or 8 the last few weekends. My last run of 15 was about two weeks before Pigeon ran the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile race. Still, I was excited. I have missed my weekend trail runs and all the adventures that follow and yesterday’s run had its share of adventure.

Let’s start out with me waiting at my car at 6 am at our usual meet up place. I see Pigeon drive in and park a few spots behind me. I immediately jump out of my car and head to the back to gather all my things. I grab my bag and cooler and walk over to the back of Pigeon’s car. “What is that sticker? Did Pigeon put a sticker on her car?” I think as I am about to throw my bag into the back of this car. I stop and realize it IS NOT Pigeon’s car! The woman in the car just looks at me. I turn around and there is Pigeon, in her car, behind me “What are you doing?” she says. I just start laughing. Luckily, I kind of knew the woman whose car I almost climbed into but she looked a little confused. Just to clarify, they were the exact same car (make, color, everything) this girl had a few stickers on her car that Pigeon would never put on hers.Â I quickly climbed into Pigeon’s car and we took of laughing pretty much the first 20 minutes over my mistake.

I was excited for this run because three other girls were going to join us! Pigeon had thrown it out there that we were running early and luckily a few other ladies wanted to join us!

I have run with some or all of these ladies at various points over the last year. From left to right we have: Doc, Legs, Miss P, Pigeon and myself. These ladies are awesome runners. They are all super strong and a lot of fun. I was definitely the slow one in this group.

We started off with some climbing. Nothing like starting the lungs out on a high note up a big hill. Doc, Legs and Miss P took off running. Pigeon is still recovering from her 50 miles at Tahoe two weeks ago, so she was content to hang with me hiking and running our way up the hill.

We were just running along when all of a sudden my head gets stuck and I realize that once again, my pony tail was caught in the zipper on the back of my jenny vesta hydration vest. Â This has happened numerous times to me on various runs. Trust me, I have tried two side braids, a french braid and even pigtails but my hair is that long that it sort of just swings and gets caught in the zipper. This time however, it was bad. I stopped and yelled to Pigeon to help me.

“What!? Again? You and your wardrobe malfunctions.” She comes to take a look at my pack and situation and goes, “Oh man, that’s stuck. That’s really stuck. I don’t think I can get that one out. I think you are going to have to pull a chunk out of your hair.” I start laughing and then start pulling. I could tell it was pretty wrapped in there. I pull and pull and all of a sudden I hear RIP! Ouch.

Yup, that's my hair! — Yup, that’s my hair!

We eventually made it to the top of the hill and the others were waiting for us. We shared my little drama story, each of them agreed that it must have hurt.

Off we went down the trail. It was a nice run. We’d sort of separate at various points, each of us talking to a different person for a bit catching up on what is new in life or for me, finding out more about some people. It really makes the miles fly by when you have runs like this.

Eventually we got back to our car after a 6 mile or so loop. I hit the restroom and then when I got out, it seemed everyone was ready. I refilled one water bottle and dropped another thinking I wouldn’t need it since my pack was still quite full and had some ice. One thing that I forgot to do, was grab any additional fuel. I didn’t eat anything on the first loop as it wasn’t that long but I knew the second loop had some additional climbing and that we’d face some heat.This is no tadalafil 5mg tablets more than a new method of email spam only it’s permission based. Yelling and vardenafil india a spanking isn’t always the best solution. There might be uterine malformations, leiomyoma or uterine fibroids, and Asherman’s Syndrome. tadalafil canadian pharmacy Some of the more common treatments are :- Prescription Drugs – These medications are usually consumed orally about an line uk viagra hour prior to a sexual act and the sexual health issues that he generally suffers from are causes behind this.

Off we ran up the Stage Coach hill. When we got to the top, Legs called it a day and ran herself back down to her car. The four of us kept going towards the Auburn Damn Overlook with Miss P leading the way. She took a little different route to get to the overlook than Pigeon or I am used to but we were content to just follow her lead.

At the overlook we all tried to soak our bandanas Â in water as it was starting to really heat up and fast. The water in the fountains however was luke warm at best. Not exactly refreshing.

Down the hill we went. Occasionally we’d stop and talk to some runners who were also out running. It seems everyone was trying to beat the heat with an earlier start.

Doc bombing down the hill in the hot sun

Miss P was really feeling great on this run and was quite a bit ahead of us at all times. She’s in training for some nice races this year but both her and Doc ran the San Francisco marathon just the weekend before. Like I said, studs. 🙂

Pigeon was starting to slow just a bit. She was still in good spirits but the heat was rising fast. While the climbing slowed me down more than I would have liked, the rest of the run I felt pretty good. Occasionally I would pick up the pace and run a little harder or run up some tiny hill. Clearly I need to work on my climbing and hill repeats in the near future.

Soon we were coming to No Hands Bridge and the decision was made, we would head back to the car instead of heading up to K2 to try and make our run 20 miles instead of 16. I was fine with that.

When Pigeon and I reached the car and cooled down and said goodbye to the girls, the temperature gauge at 10:30 am read 97 degrees. That is hot at that hour!

I was home by 11 am and excited to spend the day with Vans, Squeaker and the girls. We had a little pool party planned and it was nice to just relax poolside (as much as you can with a million kids under the age of 6 in a pool) and enjoy the weekend.

Happy Trails! (it felt so good to be back on them)

~Trailmomma

PS: I have some very exciting news to announce in the coming week or so. Please stay tuned and be sure to “subscribe” to my blog (in the upper right hand corner) so you don’t miss out on this amazing once in a lifetime opportunity.

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