Beer, corned beef, soda bread those might be the foods that come to mind when you first think of St Patrick’s Day. But really this is a day about celebrating GREEN! What better day could there be for Vegans.
Show me your best GREEN creation for a chance to win some Once Again Nut Butter!
Enter by posting a picture to the RunToTheFinish Facebook page
Winner selected on Tuesday March 20
I am not running the Shamrock Marathon. I am not going on vacation. I am not going to meet up with really great people like Gael, Caitlin and Pam.
I am not going to get this totally awesome sweat shirt…I love me a good hoodie. I’d like to talk one of the ladies in to picking up my packet, but do I really want to wear a shirt for a race I didn’t run?
Why? The truth is I know that my body could not handle a marathon right now. I have been struggling to run more than a few miles at a time without stopping the last few weeks. I am not entirely sure why things are worse right now because overall I feel pretty darn good!! Just no stamina. I have come to the conclusion that since I am having trouble breathing as well this might all be related to allergies. Starting my Allegra and going to look back at anything new I’ve added to my diet.
Crazy thing is that this time my mind is excited to run…even dying to run, but my body just won’t agree. So for the first time ever, I am listening not to my crazy runner brain, but to my muscles and my lungs which are saying please let us slow down for a bit.
David and I decided that our goal instead is to plan for a great big wonderful trip that maybe is not centered around running…umm but if I feel better it might be (shhh hope he doesn’t read that) . Overall I feel great about this decision and I am very excited for a great weekend.
I am not beating myself up about this DNS.
I am going to do a one mile sprint in a Run Club Relay on Sunday.
I am not eating meat – ha that was easy with the challenge
I am going to cook up lots of yummy vegan meals for next week
I am not thinking about doctors appointments
I am going to enjoy yoga and zen out
I am not working this weekend
I am going to enjoy some free writing
I am not going to brag repeatedly about my new Kinvara 3’s
I am going to run in them this morning!!
Find out why I now love low profile running shoes
What are you NOT doing to have a great weekend?
Update: just finished up a test where i ran outside (SUCKED), came back for a bit then hit the treadmill and yes I do believe my issue is allergies.
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Gratitude Journal
March 16
I am grateful for the fun competition of an NCAA tournament…David is so going to be cooking me dinner.
By the way, the last one makes an awesome faux meat filling.
Here is the recipe: Lentil Taco "Meat" 2/3 cup finely chopped onion 2/3 garlic clove, minced 3/4 teaspoon canola oil 2/3 cup dried lentils, rinsed 2 teaspoons taco seasoning 1-2/3 cups vegetable broth DIRECTIONS: In a large nonstick skillet, sauté the onion and garlic in oil until tender. Add the lentils and taco seasoning; cook and stir for 1 minute. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 25-30 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Uncover; cook for 6-8 minutes or until mixture is thickened. Mash lentils slightly.
Salads 
I love salads of all kinds! Wheat Berry Salad, vegan german potato salad with cider vinegar, Tabbouleh, and lots of green salads topped with all that I can find in my cupboards.
Some common green salad toppings: craisins, raisins, chopped walnuts, Mrs. Dash, carrots, broccoli, purple onion, olives, green onions, sunflower seeds, pepitas, croutons, bell pepper, radishes, chickpeas, mangos, apple slices, and artichoke hearts.
Roasted & Sautéed Veggies Take some EVOO (extra virgin olive oil), salt and pepper to make roasted or sautéed vegetables. I like to roast root vegetables like broccoli, cauliflower, romanesco broccoli, sweet potatoes, and beets. When I sauté its usually collard greens with red pepper flakes, spinach, zucchini, corn, bell pepper, onions and yellow squash.
Smoothies We're talking green & fruit smoothies. My CSA box comes filled with lots of greens, like spinach, collard greens, parsley and red leaf lettuce. There are no hard rules with smoothies. And I use my old Oster blender to whip these up!
Thanks for another amazing guest post full of ideas for all the challengers!! Don’t forget to share your recipes and tips on the link up in Vegan Week Two.
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Gratitude Journal
March 15
As a vegan you can’t eat out, right? WRONG! You can have just as much enjoyment eating out than any person that eats a Standard American Diet. You just have to navigate the territory a bit differently. Here are a couple of tips I’ve used and still use to this day.
Number 1 – Google it! Type in the restaurant name along with “vegan” and voila, most times you’ll hit the jackpot. Often people have already written the company and done the research for you. Even without Googling there are some great sites out there that have databases of vegan food options. Vegetarian Restaurants.net is loaded with vegan options. There’s even a site that has vegan fast food options. And if you’re looking for vegan-specific restaurants head over to Happy Cow or VegGuide. Side note: make sure you try to find the most up-to-date sites for information. Restaurants can change their recipes at any time, making them un-vegan.
Number 2 – Check out the restaurant’s menu. With most restaurants having websites on the Internet, they often have their menus listed too. Once you start knowing what you can and can’t eat you’ll find that you can quickly peruse their menu before hand so that you’re prepared when you arrive at the restaurant and it’s time to order. You can also cross-reference the menu and your research from Googling to see what would be best for you.
Number 3 – Call ahead. No menu online? Call up the restaurant or stop by to have a chat with them. Chances are this won’t be required, but it’s an option, especially if you’ll be attending an even that’s a set dish. I prefer to do my research prior to eating at the restaurant because once you’re there you’re relying on the waiter or waitress’ information. You like to hope it’s factual but oftentimes this isn’t the case due to their lack of knowledge or care.
Number 4 – Will you be stuck with a salad every time? No. Chances are there will be at least one option for you. Don’t forget to check out any side dishes that can be made into main entrees too, such as baked potatoes and steamed vegetables. If there aren’t and you’re stuck with a salad, let’s hope it’s a big fancy salad. Not lucky enough with a big fancy salad and only have the small iceberg side salad? Order several side salads and do it up. When prepared, I’ve been known to bring my own additions to top off my salad.
Use these tips and before you know it you’ll be a champ at eating out as a vegan!
Thanks for another great guest post Miss BananaBuzzBomb!
Make sure to head over to Vegan Week Two and leave links to your Vegan posts!
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Gratitude Journal
March 15
I am grateful for my Mizzou Tigers having a great b-ball season going in to the tournament.
I wasn’t nearly as prepared the last 7 days for the Vegan Challenge, but I still go through with only a couple of very minor slips and again since this isn’t about perfection I’m ok with that!! Already I'm seeing how this challenge is making me take time to have meals, to think about my food and to know I feel good about what I'm eating.
What I am wondering is my fatigue has become even worse over the last two weeks and is it related to the vegan diet? I have been eating plenty of protein and obviously a wide variety of nutrients so that doesn’t seem exactly right to me, but who knows. In order to test this theory on Saturday I had some meat and cheese…I woke up on Sunday nauseous to my stomach and couldn’t shake it for the entire day.
EGGS
This has probably been the hardest thing to give up, so this weekend I made a greens quiche using tofu from Happy Herbivore. This was a decent food, but it was missing some flavor and I just couldn’t get excited about eating it.
ICE CREAM
After my second tweet of whoops had ice cream, I realized I needed to suck it up and pay for some coconut ice cream. I tried to make protein ice cream based upon a few sites…but I gotta say it was just not my thing and I didn’t eat it….whoops.
My thought was that I should just avoid David’s ice cream, but truly that wasn’t working so time to get smarter! I am not a sherbert fan and decided that I want to keep my overall soy to a couple things a week so that is why I went with SoDelcious.
CHOCOLATE
This one actually snuck up on me! I wasn’t craving chocolate, but we were at a surprise party and there was a bowl of trail mix. I was excited and dug in…only to realize a couple seconds later whoops there was chocolate in the mix. This is one reason I think going Vegan long term would be tough and yet so great, imagine if you really thought about your food before you ate!
Another yummy fix is avocado chocolate pudding.
RANDOM
I love hummus and it makes such a fun wrap! Sandwiches were always my go to in college, but on the go now a wrap is easier because it will contain the veggies where they fall out of a sandwich. 
Since we were originally planning to travel this weekend, I wasn’t planning to purchase a lot so I picked up some beet/carrot slaw and some California quinoa salad at Whole Foods. These more sweet potatoes, steamed broccoli and another round of lentil tacos have gotten me through another 7 days!
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I know there are 65 people currently signed up and many of you who are already Vegan. Please share links below to any posts you have done with recipes or your thoughts on how you are feeling!
