Running for My Life

Running a few miles has always been a symbol of strength and great health for me, of overcoming painful limitations. After chronic pain from multiple car accidents, each recovery was checked off as I reached the 2, 3, 6 mile marks with a smile and a fist pump in the air. Each winter hibernation ended with a trusty 2 mile reunion with my body. I am that weirdo on the hamster wheel (treadmill, whatever) with a big, goofy grin as I sweat because to me running is freedom. It means that my body is strong and free and that makes me happy, even as I grunt, drool, and wheeze through that last quarter mile.

I was feeling stronger than ever, healthy and free and light. Until the Really Bad Stuff happened. I entered a dark time of anger with my body, surgeries, recoveries, and tears. I was stripped of my power and crippled with fear and panic. I kept telling myself I was okay, telling family and friends "I'm fine, drop it."

Looking back, I can now see that I was not fine. I was muddling in molasses, the dark time lasting 2.5 years. I would panic on the way to yoga class and drive home. I would plan to run and then simply run in the opposite direction of the gym, hiding on the couch. My body and personal power grew weaker and weaker, making the thought of ever running again increasingly overwhelming.

When I showed up for my first day of personal training, the fear was heavy in my gut. I felt like it could actually kill me if I walked through the door. I took a deep breath. I did it anyways. I vowed that I would just show up, I would see what was hiding deep inside me, and I would pray the angel of death to pass over me as I held plank pose for what seemed like forever.

About 6 weeks since I walked through that door, I am changed. The hope is settling in that even if I'm still not completely okay, that I can and will be more than okay soon. The promise of power is coursing through me, prana flowing as I just keep breathing.

(Cue Chariots of Fire)

Last week, I just kind of felt like running 2 miles after a pretty challenging yoga class. So I did. Then, this past weekend I thought I'd just see if I might be ready for a 5K this coming weekend by going for the 3 mile run. If you're not a yogi, this may sound crazy to you, but I even patted my body, thanking it for the strength, loving it for all of its miraculous glory. And then the impossible happened. Sweating, wiping snot from my nose with my sleeve, wheezing, grunting, gasping, I just kept going. 2.75 miles and I sped up, letting my legs fly out in huge strides of freedom.

3 miles!

If the other gym members knew what that moment meant (instead of thinking how gross that she wiped her nose with her sleeve), they would have been cheering. If my life were a movie, it would be a major scene in the comeback montage. My life is not a movie, so instead it was just the goofy smile as the tears snuck out of the corners of my eyes and the feeling gently washed over me that I might finally be okay again, stronger even.

It's more than "working out." It's showing up, facing my fears and weaknesses over and over again and proving to myself that I'm so much stronger than I knew. That I have, and always will, overcome. Just breathing, healing, showing up, running it off, letting it go. Letting it go. Letting me grow.

Day 9: Move! And ch-ch-ch-choose Chia

 “Recognize that anything worth having is worth fighting for. Good health, vitality, more energy, more confidence, better sex, great abs, a tight ass- you either want ‘em or you don’t. You can continue plodding along in your life feeling like you’re not living up to your glorious potential or you can dedicate yourself to creating the life you want.”   Skinny Bitch

As I’m sure you know, exercise has many benefits. It is better than an antidepressant, sending pleasure hormones to your brain. According to Dr. Neal Barnard,

“Vigorous exercise not only gives you an opiate effect of its own, but also helps you sleep, boosting your resistance to cravings.” 

And of course, I’m sure you’ve heard by now that most every study ever conducted on health proves that regular exercise (30 – 60 min, five times a week) can help reverse and/or prevent nearly all health problems, from diabetes to high blood pressure to depression.

I’ve also noticed that I have much more energy the day after I’ve exercised. Honestly, I believe regular exercise to be one of the secrets of life. It makes me feel more efficient, my brain processes better, my body hums as energy moves more freely. I can get exceedingly more accomplished in a day if I’ve been exercising. Being sedentary makes life feel more like molasses. If you have missions and adventures that you would like to accomplish in your limited time on this earth, then get that momentum going and keep it going!

To be honest, I’ve been guilty of hibernating this winter. Working on this blog post today is actually my motivation to get active. That and reading Light on Life, where Iyengar discusses the importance to keep moving:

“If we break off our practice, inertia reasserts itself…it takes more energy to overcome inertia than to pick up speed. For instance, it is more difficult to push a stationary car up to one mile per hour than to push it from one mile per hour to two miles per hour." 

 Yep, I’ve definitely been feeling like a “stationary car” lately. Or maybe even a truck. But this is a great reminder to jump back in now, knowing that it will get easier once I get moving and that if I only make it easier on myself and keep going this time, perhaps energy and balance will join me!

NingXia Nitro and chia seeds help me with that extra push of energy when I need to get going. Have you tried chia seeds? In Born to Run, Christopher McDougall calls chia seeds “Home-brewed Red Bull!”

He continues, “In terms of nutritional content, a tablespoon of chia is like a smoothie made from salmon, spinach, and human growth hormone. As tiny as those seeds are, they’re superpacked with omega-3s, omega-6s, protein, calcium, iron, zinc, fiber, and antioxidants. If you had to pick just one desert-island food, you couldn’t do much better than chia, at least if you were interested in building muscle, lowering cholesterol, and reducing your risk of heart disease; after a few months on the chia diet, you could probably swim home.”

According to Dr. Todd Pesek in Eat Yourself Super, chia has more calcium than cow’s milk.  Also, an excellent Superfood, chia can stabilize blood sugar, contributing to the prevention and reversal of diabetes.

You can eat the seeds raw, sprinkle into soups or whole grain dishes, or add them to baked goods.  The best way for your body to streamline the nutrients, however, is soaked in liquid for at least 10 minutes.  It forms a gel.

As you can see, the gel is not the prettiest or the most pleasant drink, but it makes a HUGE difference if I chug a glass right before a run. I find a bit more endurance. Try it.

If you are sore after a tough workout, marjoram oil is an excellent muscle relaxer. I find I have much less muscle pain for the days following, especially that brutal first week, if I rub myself down with marjoram oil or take a bath with a few drops sprinkled into the water.

Now for a treat! This is the perfect after-exercise snack (or a great way to start the day as breakfast.) The banana in this smoothie will nourish your muscles and replenish your carbohydrates. 

Fun banana fact: When running long distances (over an hour,) a banana is a perfect snack for refueling – the high water content keeps you hydrated and the carbohydrates keep you going.  It’s very popular with marathon runners. “Is that a banana in your pocket…?”

Bananas for Peanut Butter “Milk” Shake
1 Frozen banana, in small chunks
¼ cup chia gel
½ cup almond milk (unsweetened vanilla for now – the chocolate almond milk is wonderful in this but contains sugar)
1 ice cube
1-2 Tablespoons of peanut butter (depending on if you plan to snack on nuts later, if so, have just one)
2 scoops protein powder, like Power Meal or Balance Complete

Blend together. I pulse a few times, then blend for 30 seconds straight, pause and blend another 15 seconds, then check consistency. If it’s too thick, add a little more almond milk and blend for 15 more seconds.

You can also add cacao powder.

*In today's picture, I added a heaping teaspoon of cacao powder and 2 teaspoons of steel-cut oats. I put the oats in first, then poured the almond milk and chia gel over so that the oats could soak for about 5 minutes, then started adding the other ingredients. It was delicious! If I had more time, I would probably use more like 1/4 cup oats and soak in boiling water, then let cool (or make a bunch to keep in the fridge?) The raw oats surprised me by disappearing though - I barely noticed them.

It tastes like a milkshake and is my favorite smoothie of all! You are welcome!

Stay tuned- tomorrow I will be sharing another amazing recipe with chia seeds- contributed a couple of weeks ago as a response from the recipe request shout out! Is it yours?

Day 15 – Better than Ever and Better than Most

Yesterday, I ran 4 miles for the first time in almost two years.  I did not really ramp up gradually – I ran 3 miles a couple of days ago, slowed down and just went for 4.  And I feel GREAT!  In the past, I would really be hurting (ice, motrin, hours of stretching) after adding an entire mile out of nowhere, but I feel perfectly fine!  I’m wondering if it’s the cleanse diet or the chia seeds or all of the extra vegetables or the yoga?  Maybe it’s everything.  There really is something to this.  I can’t believe my after-run recovery.  I’m testing what I’m preaching and it’s TRUE, brothers and sisters!

Though we have been told that we need to eat meat and drink milk for optimal performance in sports, there are many incredible athletes who prove the contrary.  Scott Jurek & Brendan Brazier are both vegan and Ultramarathon runners – that means they typically run 50 – 160 miles per race, without stopping the clock like in the Tour de France for sleep.  More often than not, these ultramarathons are 100 miles.  To say that’s hard core is like saying it’s warm on the equator.  And they do it with plants and whole grains!  There are also many bodybuilders and Olympic athletes who are vegan or vegetarian.  Their muscles are just fine without animal protein and they are going on not just to compete, but to win.

Being a vegetarian is not a trendy fad.  These were some early and contemporary trend setters: Plato, Ovid, Leonardo da Vinci,  Voltaire, Jean Jacques Rousseau, Henry David Thoreau, Leo Tolstoy, Abraham Lincoln, Sir Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Mahatma Gandhi, Rosa Parks, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Mary Tyler Moore, Oliver Stone, Alec Baldwin, Deepak Chopra, Prince, Lenny Kravitz, Alanis Morrissette, Ellen DeGeneres, Shania Twain, Reese Witherspoon, Tobey Maguire, Natalie Portman, Nelly, and Anthony Kiedes. 

Olympic medalists include: Lizzie Armistead, Edwin Moses, Bode Miller, Carl Lewis, Ruth Heidrich, Chris Campbell, and many others.  Other athletic superstars include 4 time Mr. Universe winner and bodybuilder Bill Pearl, football player Joe Nameth, basketball star Robert Parish, baseball’s Prince Fielder, and David Scott (who holds the record for most Iron Man World Championship wins).  Now tell one of those guys that being vegetarian “isn’t cool, man.”

I did not share these lists for the sake of saying, “Look at the cool people who are doing it!” Think of how much these people have accomplished in their lives.  Think of the focus, endurance, athleticism, brainpower and/or energy required.  They’ve managed not just fine, but far better than most while eating veggies and granola.

I’m currently reading Scott Jurek’s book (Eat and Run: My Unlikely Journey to UltraMarathon Greatness) and he talks about how he noticed better performance in sports from eating vegetables and whole grains in high school.  He went away to a camp for cross country skiing and they fed him vegetarian fare.  He realized on his own that his sports performance was better than ever, resulting from the new diet. 

I’ve never before run in conjunction with a vegan diet and I'm shocked by the difference I feel personally.  I’ve also started experimenting with more interesting grains, like kasha (included in the recipe below.)  I think the kasha had an effect on my endurance.  This is really exciting!  There’s no going back for me.

To quote my Teta (Aunt) Kata, “Try it- you will like it!”

I’ve just discovered kasha – it is cracked buckwheat.  It has a very nutty, earthy taste and is amazing in this salad.

Dijon Brown Rice & Kasha Salad
½ cup kasha (prepared according to box)
½ cup brown rice (prepared according to box)
1 red bell pepper – diced
1 yellow bell pepper- diced
1 avocado – diced
3 green onions, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
½ cucumber, diced
½ cup walnuts (bite-sized pieces)

Dressing
¼ cup rice vinegar
½ TB Dijon mustard
1 tsp agave nectar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground pepper
2 cloves garlic- minced
¼ cup olive oil
(whisk together before pouring over salad)

Cook rice and kasha as directed on the package.  Let cool for at least 1 hour.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Pour dressing over the salad & mix well.  Serve cold.

This serves about 8-10 people (or will make you tons of leftovers for lunches.)  It’s great to bring to a family gathering and delicious.  Someone always asks for the recipe.  Enjoy!

Note:  You can use any other veggies that you like, but the avocados, peppers, and nuts are very complimentary with the dressing.  Also, I used half olive oil and half pumpkinseed oil, along with fresh grilled corn in my recipe.  It was delicious.