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). 🙂

Rouxbe

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 bonus entry will be awarded to more thorough 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 the 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.

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PLATES

Too much. I hear those words often and I am probably not alone.

“Don’t eat too much!”

“Don’t do too much!”

“Don’t drink too much…”

Errrr, am I the only one who has heard that last one? (kidding!)  Generally I hear, “Don’t WORK too much!” That’s a common one that I am sure a lot of people hear but in my case it is generally directed at the fact that I have three jobs, run ultras and do a bunch of random things on the side.

This week I was tired. No doubt a result of last weekend’s run (you can read about that by clicking here) or perhaps the fact that Squeaker is sick this week and up a lot throughout the night … or maybe the fact that work has been extra frustrating and stressful lately. Most likely, a combination of all of that I am sure.

Still, I posted something on Facebook and a lot of comments came back saying things like: “burning the candle at both ends” or “too much on your plate girl!” While I don’t disagree that is true, I do feel that I am handling ‘my plate’ fairly well albeit not the way in which I would handle it if I only had ONE plate. But who has one plate in life? A mom certainly never has one plate. We juggle so much that it makes clowns look like amateurs.

Moms are typically able to juggle kids, work, personal lives and everything else that is thrown our way pretty easily. Sometimes however, the body says otherwise. As much as our minds want to go, go go all the time, our body needs to be honored.

This week, instead of working out at Breakout Fitness on Monday morning at 5 am, I opted for sleep because Squeaker woke up. Tuesday morning I made it, but didn’t really “feel” like I was working out vs just going through the motions. No one wakes up at 4:30 am just to go through the motions.

When Wednesday rolled around and the Squeaker came in like a burning ball of fire and curled up next to me scalding my pjs, I decided not to workout once again. Squeaker is not alone in feeling “off” this week. To be honest, I haven’t felt quite right for weeks. Something is off in my digestive track and I just keep feeding the problem (no pun intended) instead of figuring out what is causing my discomfort.

I’ve resorted to eating pretty bland with no relief or results. Sadly, I am one of those people who holds their stress in their belly. I may look fine on the outside but my belly is in knots. Work has definitely been less than happy lately, my other jobs are fine although they take me away from my family time and that stresses me out too as the girls are at the age where they WANT to be with me. The Peanut is going through some emotional things right now that have me a little bit worried. I am thinking constantly about the fact that I have to run a 50K in 3 weeks and a 50 miler in about 4 or 5 both of which I don’t feel I have put in enough miles towards and if I have put in the miles, why am I not recovering as quickly as I used to? Stress. It all comes down to stress, poor sleep and diet.

I eat well. There is no denying that I eat probably far healthier than most (I could probably cut back on the wine but it is good for the heart right?). I lack sleep. QUALITY sleep. But I am a mom. I have a two year old that is having nightmares and/or is fighting a cold so she is up and only wanting the comfort of her mother. Unfortunately, that comfort comes in the form of taking her back to her room and sleeping on her hard cold floor which really doesn’t treat my aching tired muscles very well.

In an effort to combat that situation, I miss out on morning workouts which will result in guilt and more stress about lack of training. A vicious circle that goes round and round sometimes.

Of course there is the logical side of me that says, “Snap out of it Trailmomma! There are people with far greater worries in life than what you are faced with! You have a healthy happy family!” I need to just chill out. I do. I admit it. I also need to create another day in the week or learn to say ‘no’ to some things in life.

But I enjoy the things I take on. I wouldn’t take them on if I didn’t enjoy them! I enjoy working for the Kings on occasion (namely weekends), I enjoy working for Gold Country Run and Sport on Sundays, I enjoy my FT job (okay, that’s not entirely true but I like my manager and we do have a mortgage), I enjoy long runs with Pigeon and friends, I enjoy blogging here and I enjoy taking a class. Wait. Did I fail to mention that I am getting a certification from Cornell online so that I can have a certificate in Plant Based Nutrition? Um, yea, I am doing that too.
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I’ll probably write more on the certification when I finish the course. It is only 6 weeks and while not entirely at your own pace (you do have to follow a curriculum) it isn’t as high pressure as I thought but I do wish I could devote more time to study and learn. It is fascinating information and has really changed a lot about how I look at food and food intake in the face of major diseases like heart disease, cancer and diabetes.

It has also changed my thoughts on taking additional courses while doing what I am doing. This course has some flexibility, some of the other courses I want to take, do not and I would undoubtedly need to create more time in my day to take on something a little more intense. Just more food for thought (there I go again).

So really, there is no point to this post. I am just sort of randomly writing about what I am facing right now. Perhaps blogging is my therapy? My way of alleviating stress in my life? I certainly don’t stress about what to write here because honestly, I don’t have that large of a following and while this blog gives me great pleasure, I do hope to grow its readership some day but in order to do that, I guess I should have a common goal or purpose. However, for the time being, I love posting about my training runs. Whether they are interesting to anyone else, it doesn’t really matter. They serve as a way for me to look back in time and see what I have accomplished. A way for my girls to hopefully look back and see why their mom was nicknamed Trailmomma.

My plate may be really really full right now … but my heart and brain are as well. Things happen for a reason in life. Doors open and door shut and who knows where my life may take me this year. I guess I just have to wait and see what my plate is served with next.

Happy Trails!

~Trailmomma

A focused Peanut
A focused Peanut
A healing Squeaker
A healing Squeaker

 

 

 

 

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