Hello there! Happy Sunday to all. I hope everyone is having a fabulous weekend. Mine has been busy, but a lot of fun.

Saturday Morning: Warrior Dash

It was Warrior Dash morning which meant I was going to have my typical pre-race meal: perfectly ripe banana with a light smear of Smart Balance peanut butter.

I gathered the first set of troops for a “I-just-got-out-of-bed-but-let’s-do-this” pre-race photo.

We made our way to Afton Alps and picked up some of our friends on the way. Parking cost $20 so we figured we would pack everyone in to one vehicle to cut the cost, and hey, we were going green too. The parking scene was an obstacle in itself–driving through farms, weaving around cones, riding over some seriously bumpy terrain; it was actually hysterical. Once we parked, we took a shuttle bus over to the race.

Here is my brother Kevi, and our friends Matt and Steph.

Dana and I, and behind us are our friends Adam and Stacy. Peace.

We arrived super early, which I love. We went and picked up our bib numbers, timing chips, t-shirts, and warrior headgear. We then had plenty of time to relax, pin our numbers on, use the facilities a couple of times, and snap some clean pre-race photos with our group.

Being that I have not been feeling my best lately, I was slightly nervous that this race wasn’t going to be a good idea. I become fatigued very easily, I feel weak, and my stamina isn’t where it could be, and mostly, I was afraid to be far from the restrooms. That’s the ugly truth. Not only that, I felt very sick the night before. I woke up Saturday morning feeling pretty good though, and mornings are usually better for me than night-time when there isn’t a whole lot of food being digested yet, so I decided to give it a go.

Off to the race we went. The first obstacle was a bunch of car tires tied up in a bunch, and you had to run through them kind of like you were playing football and knocking through everyone. I liked that one but that’s probably because I was the first one to run through and didn’t get knocked in the face by any of the swinging tires. 🙂

Let’s see the rest of the obstacles from what I remember:

• Balance beam that slanted up down up down.
• Climbing wall with uneven foot holdings and a slanted top which made it challenging to climb over.
• Cargo net wall
• Snow blowers set with water that basically blind you as you run through
• Crawl under barbed wire on rocky grounds
• Slightly slanted wall with rope to pull yourself up and over
• Grassy steep hill and rope to pull yourself up
• Hurdles and barbed wire so you had to go over a hurdle and then under a barbed wire, over a hurdle, under barbed wire, etc.
• Water slide!
• Jumping over fire twice
• Mud pit

After all the muddy shots, we headed to the rinse area where they had a snow-making machine shooting out a thick mist of water. It was very cold but felt good to get all the muck and dirt off! We then donated our shoes, dried off in the sun, and headed home.

I don’t know if I’m a true warrior. I’m more of a pansy, but I still finished the race. 🙂 Intestinally speaking, I was fine during the race, but I could tell my stamina wasn’t where it used to be. My body is fighting hard right now and I understand that, so just completing the race at all was a big accomplishment for me.

Wedding Reception

Dana, Kev, and I had a wedding reception to get to. We showered up, making sure to clean out the mud in the ears, and headed to my cousin Mike and Jess’ wedding reception. They got married in Mexico in March and are having their reception back home to celebrate with everyone. It was set up in a large outdoor shelter near a public lake. It was so nice to be outside; it was a little hot, but I kind of liked it. They had the reception catered with the great classic barbecue foods: burgers, brats, chicken, beans, watermelon, pasta salads, and lettuce salad. I didn’t snap a photo of my lunch but I had a few bites of chicken, a half a burger, and a huge lettuce salad with mustard.  Mike and Jess did a wonderful job planning for the reception. Thanks for a great time!

At this point in time, I was completely beat, but Dana and I had a few errands we needed to run. It started with what was going to be a quick trip to our nearby natural food store, but we ended up having to make a trip to Whole Foods, and Trader Joe’s in search of almond flour among other very particular items. If you’re looking for almond meal/flour, Trader Joe’s has the BEST deal. The other stores had the almond flour as well but it was about double the cost.

For dinner, I ate 1 1/2 leftover turkey burgers from Friday night with a side salad.

I think the burgers tasted even better the second time around!

The rest of the evening was spent with some food preparation.  Tomorrow’s post is going to be a big one. I am beginning a new way of eating, I don’t like the word diet so I am going to try and not call it that. It is going to heal my colitis, I know it is. I have already begun to feel better and I have only just started the process. I can’t wait to break it down for you, so check back tomorrow! I don’t mean to leave you high and dry, but there is a lot that goes into it, and I want to make sure I have adequate time to tell you everything I need to tell you. I have tomorrow off of work so it will be the perfect opportunity.

Alright, off to hopefully cut some awesome coupons. Have a great Sunday!