Monthly Archives: December 2013

MIMM-Christmas in the Park and Santa Run

Date: December 15, 2013

Author: astottler

I’m linking up with the fabulous Katie today because this weekend has been fun and marvelous! What could be better than getting in the Christmas spirit and spending time with cats and family?

The first marvelous thing? I finished bringing my stuff home from school, including my plant. It’s a plumeria I got from Hawaii, and it’s thriving in my room. I guess the humid, warm climate that seems to mold everything is good for it? Proud plant momma right here!

Then, my mom and I shared an amazing sandwich-turkey and avocado from Ike’s, which is kind of a big deal around here (and there’s one on campus!) Yum!

Then I did some Christmas shopping. I’m really excited about some of my gifts this year, and I cannot wait to share it with you guys…after Christmas though!

Which brings us to Sunday. Sunday I did a Santa Run 5k. I did the 5k last year, which is the only 5k I’ve ever done. After finishing training for halves, I’ve been working really hard on getting faster. I had countless 6am wakeup calls for 30 degree track workouts. I really wanted to PR this race.

For breakfast, I had something a little unusual-cottage cheese, cocoa powder, and a little honey, topped with raspberries and served with a persimmon.

Before leaving for the race that afternoon, I had super light lunch-persimmon, more banana bread, and a little spinach bread-like stuff. I was more concerned about having stomach issues than being hungry since this was such a short race, and I remember being stuffed going into it last year.

The race is in its second year-it benefits Christmas in the Park, and Christmas display the city puts up every year, which was ranked top 10 in the world! Here are some pre-race photos-everyone dressed up as Santa, but I wanted something more comfortable to race in, plus my parents requested I wear something that didn’t blend in so much as they had trouble finding me in my last race, so I wore my Santa Run shirt from last year.

The race itself? It was tough. I was super nervous before the race, and they nervousness kind of turned to nausea as soon as I started running. I most likely definitely went out too fast; I didn’t wear my Garmin because I was worried it would freak me out, but I know my second half of the race was much slower than the first.

Lately during my races, I question why the heck I keep signing myself up for them! SO painful. At least halves are slower so you can enjoy the first half of the race or so comfortably and not be dying until the end…

I definitely did not feel as prepared as I should have been. I haven’t been out of breath in this way in a while. My endurance base? It’s great. I haven’t done much sprinting though, and that needs to happen.

I didn’t PR this race. I realized that pretty quickly. My official time was 25:36, which is 37 seconds away from a PR. Here are some very unattractive running pictures:

I felt pretty awful right at the finish. They were handing out cookies and milk (cute, right??) which i grabbed for my dad.The thing about 5ks though? You recover pretty quickly, so it didn’t take long before I was game to try a s’mores pizza. Because why not?

It was pizza dough with nutella, dark chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers. It was delicious! And messy. Check out the aftermath.

Walking around after the race, my calf started to cramp a little. Nothing major, just felt on the verge of a cramp. After some salt, it was much better though!

I also got a new friend.

And here are some pictures from Christmas in the park:

My sister ended up meeting us there and then inviting us to her place for macaroni and cheese. It just so happens my favorite froyo place is on the way home…

A bit of tart with fruit, salted caramel pretzel, and pumpkin pie, with toffee, brownies, and chocolate pretzels.

And after some time in front of the TV prepping for tomorrow’s trip (more in a second), a little snack that included cheese, crackers, and these guys:

Have you guys had Jo-jos from Trader Joe’s? Get them. Now. They’re decadent and addictive. They’re basically chocolate covered oreos but in cool flavors-these are gingerbread and peppermint.

So my thoughts on the race? While I’m a little disappointed, I’m not really surprised. Based on my training, I knew hitting my goal pace would be really hard. I have two more 5ks in the next few months; the race made me both want to never run a race again and train even harder at the same time. Races hurt. But if I’m in better shape they hurt less, right? Or I just go faster and they hurt just as much. I have a couple of ideas of what I can do to get faster. I want to do more sprints-I need to do more agility types of drills anyways because my ankles are weak. I need to do longer runs OUTSIDE at my goal pace-like without breaks in the middle. I love doing workouts with intervals, where you get to rest in the middle. But you don’t get to rest on race day, so I need to prepare myself for that as well. And I need to click with the nutrition. To be perfectly honest, being lighter means instantly faster because there isn’t so much to carry around. I’m heavier than a year ago, and while some of that is muscle, it still has to be carried 3.1 miles. For the next couple of months I may put weight lifting more on the back burner and focus hard on running.

As for the trip-tomorrow I’m going to Solvang, a little Danish town near Santa Barbara, which should be adorable and Christmas-y. In preparation, we had to re-watch the Psych episode where they go there. I can’t wait!

What did you do this weekend?

Reunited At Last

Date: December 14, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

That’s right. I’m officially reunited with this guy.

Even better, I’m DONE with this quarter! Let’s back up a bit, shall we?

Thursday involved intense studying. And persimmons and sparkly pants. You know it’s finals week when your study snacks degenerate into this:

I have absolutely no regrets about that cookie. It was delicious and much needed. And it left me studying in a cafe with Christmas music playing. That was a good life choice.

I fueled my late night studying with the remains of my fridge-tofu, brown rice/quinoa, green beans, and a salad.

In general, my eating habits weren’t the greatest during finals week, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do to get through it. I super intense studied from 7pm to 1am when my brain shut off. I set my alarm for 6am to go over some things I didn’t get a chnace to the night before.

I think I need to start setting multiple alarms for the days when I’ve severely sleep deprived-my alarm went off as planned, but in the process of turning it off, I feel asleep and dropped my phone. Whoops. Luckily I woke up 20 minutes later and had plenty of time, but probably not a good thing to happen.

So, I got coffee and headed off to my last exam-Bio at 8:30am. It was LONG. The test itself was 35 pages, and we had 3 hours which was a bit of a time crunch. You know how your legs are shaking after a tough workout? My brain was legitimately shaking. To celebrate/revive myself, I went to a nearby cafe for something delicious.

Hot chocolate-SO good. I’ve been sort of dreaming about good hot chocolate for a while. And perfect for a quaking brain.

And quiche. Post run food? Try post marathon exam food! Best thing ever. I then proceeded to kill time such that I would end up running out of time to pack everything up, and therefore I have to go back this morning. I cleaned out some things-I won’t share the grisly details, and went to the gym for a quick workout. I took it easy yesterday, and today is a full day off in preparation for the Santa Run 5k tomorrow!

I can’t believe I haven’t mentioned this yet, but I’ve been doing #plankaday this month. I was at the track at the beginning of the month and had a little time to kill, so I decided to try it and have realized this is an easy way to build some desperately needed core strength. I got up to 5:00 yesterday! To be fair, the amount I can go varies based on the workout I’ve just done, and an easy 30 minutes on the spin bike was going to leave me with fresh abs. Last year when I was rowing, some of my friends asked if I could do a 10 minute plank. I got bored after 7:00 and stopped. Rower abs are no joke!

Then, I rushed home to be ready in time for my dad’s company Christmas party. I managed to sneak some food photos, because how often do I eat fancy food?

Salad with candied walnuts, apple, and gorgonzola dressing.

Sole and mashed potatoes with asparagus.

Chocolate cake.

Everything was so good, and it was nice to have an occasion to dress up for.

Here’s our tree with a side of dog! I think it looks especially good this year. This is probably the best tree we’ve ever gotten; it’s incredibly fresh and full. Seriously guy-Whole Foods has awesome trees, and about half of what you’d pay at a lot!

This morning I woke up, full of breakfast possibilities. I couldn’t decide what to make, so I ended up having exactly what I could have eaten at school-chocolae banana bread and a persimmon.

I’m really excited to eat delicious, high quality food. It’s amazing how much more satisfying it is! I’m also starting a detailed food log. Something has been bothering my stomach, and I would love to pinpoint it before I go back to school. Some theories-sugar, grains, coconut, snacks, large quantities of protein bars…so we shall see!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Next Quarter’s Meal Plan and Dining Hall Breakfasts

Date: December 12, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Hey everyone! I am literally so close to being on break! I only have one more exam to go-tomorrow morning! I’m taking a study break to blog-ok, to b honest, a pre-study break. For some reason I got a late start on the day, despite waking up and getting going before my alarm. But I’ve been thinking up a post all morning and I know I’ll be distracted until I post.

First thing’s first. Since my roommate’s birthday is over break, I wanted to do something for her before. She can’t eat gluten, and we’ve both in theory been trying to avoid sugar, so I made her the 21 Day Sugar Detox Apple Spice Sponge Cake from Pain Free Kitchen, and it came out so well! Delicious!

I started my morning with a spin workout on my own and a short run. When I walked out the door, I came upon Finnegan, the friendly campus cat.

He was meowing at someone’s window when I heard him and called out to him. It was 31 degrees this morning-I think he was so cold! He walked right up to the door of my dorm and acted like he wanted in. I felt so bad, but I was on my way out!

My run was only an easy mile on the treadmill. I was planning for 2 but my calves were kind of tired from spinning, and my book on tape ran out. Ok, maybe MOSTLY because my book on tape ran out. Since I was on the other side of campus, it occurred to me to try the campus coffeeshop (a different one). I’m so glad I did, my cappuccino was fantastic.

Also, I just wanted to share with you guys-I’m wearing sparkly pants. Hey, anything that makes me happy during finals week is good enough for me!

Now, let’s talk food. My eating habits haven’t been terrible this quarter. They’ve been pretty decent for the most part (not counting finals/midterm weeks…) and I generally feel pretty good.

As for my body? It’s fine. It’s whatever. I can lift heavy things. That’s cool. But I’m ready for the next thing, the next challenge. I’ve set my sights on faster 5ks-I think my life goal is to break 23:00 (and no I’m not particularly close). I think leaning out is definitely going to help get me there-carrying around extra weight will only make this more difficult! Plus, I hate wasting food. And I hate spending money. And dining hall food for the most part is so-so. And I could definitely feel more awesome overall-I’ve had way too many stomachaches lately.

For some reason, I’ve been especially hungry in the mornings the past few days, and I’ve actually been craving dining hall breakfasts. Here’s today’s (plus a pancake):

Toast with cream cheese, eggs, and spinach, a small blueberry muffin, and fruit. There’s nothing wrong with that. And yet…I feel so gross right now! Dining hall eggs…not the best. I’m not sure what they cook them in-tons of butter? Cream? Ugh. Anyways, back to the meal plan. I’ve made meal plans for myself in the past but they always horribly fail. Why? They’re completely unrealistic. Tip-never make meal plans when you’re really full and can’t imagine being hungry again. The food I plan is only a fraction of what I need to eat so I’m never able to follow them. That being said, I’ve been tracking my caloric intake the past few weeks. I have a pretty decent idea of how much I can eat to maintain my weight. Which means I can make much more realistic meal plans. Honestly, one of the biggest reasons I want to meal plan is to avoid wasting food and eat better food. And have more of a routine-if I have a plan for a similar eating schedule everyday, my body will adjust to it. Plus, if I plan I can go to the campus store and stock up on the veggies I need for the week-which takes meal plan dollars so free food!

I also want to focus more on eating REAL food. It’s hard to eat well when you don’t have the right things on hand. I found myself overdosing on Thinkthin bars the past few days, which is not great for my stomach-but they’re so convenient!

In the afternoons, I usually want something sweet and carby. So why fight it? It’s better than stuffing myself on “healthy alternatives” immediately before a workout (not a good feeling). I used to eat banana bread before morning weights in high school, and all kinds of quick bread before morning practice for crew last year, so it actually is the perfect pre-workout fuel for me (wonder why my body craves it? Our bodies are smart!). Over break, I’m going to make a ton of quick breads and freeze them. I’m already dreaming of my double chocolate banana bread.

For breakfasts, I might go back to my typical high school post workout meal of yogurt with honey (which the school market sells), or with brown rice syrup and cocoa powder.

Maybe some days, cottage cheese and fruit. Maybe something with sweet potato? It’s going to take some experimentation. And maybe some meals at the dining hall-with hard boiled eggs, not scrambled though!

I also want to do weekly veggie prep. And lunch prep-I generally pack my lunch, and given I usually have -2 seconds to pack my lunch as I run out the door, it would be great if it was easy. And I love getting some veggies in at lunch!

I’m also crazy excited to go home tomorrow and eat whatever my little heart desires. I’ve been craving my spinach-chocolate protein smoothies like crazy lately!

I’m also confident that I can maintain good health over the holidays-and no, I have no intention of depriving myself either! I’m in a much better place this year than last year-last year I felt like I was missing out on the holidays by being at school, so I compensating by gorging on holiday foods. I felt awesome over Thanksgiving break, so I’m just looking forward to enjoying the holidays free of worry!

Speaking of looking forward to-not sure if anyone’s been keeping track, but I have my Santa Run 5k on Sunday! I’m super excited-I pretty much have my outfit planned out. And no, I won’t be wearing a Santa Suit-I want to PR! After not being able to see me at the finish of the Turkey Trot, I had requests form my family to not wear the same color as everyone else, so I’m thinking my neon green shirt from last year’s Santa Run should stick out!

I’ve been training my butt off for this race! Track workouts 2x a week in dark sub-freezing temperatures, Crossfit, and extra rowing workouts…I’m ready!

I have 5ks scheduled for February and March before I get into half training, so I will definitely be able to see if my whole meal planning thing makes any progress for me!

As for the future? I really love short speed workouts. I have 2 halfs scheduled…and after that? Haha, most likely I will either retire from distance running for a while because my feet definitely prefer shorter distances, or run a full marathon. Opposite extremes, right?

Have a great day everyone!

Do you plan or prep meals?

WIAW and I’m a Weather Confused California Girl

Date: December 10, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

Well, one final down, two to go! It’s definitely crunch time over here-which is why I’m OH so happy to take a break to celebrate What I Ate Wednesday. Thanks Jenn!

Before I get into it, thank you all so much for your kind comments on my blogiversary post! They melted my heart and brightened my day inside the dark library.

Also-if you haven’t there’s still plenty of time to enter my giveaway!

Since I have been doing 12 Days of Christmas, I haven’t gotten a chance to post a lot of my recent eats! Hint: there have been lots of persimmons. I think my record is 6 in one day? Although to be fair, two of them were babies.

Why I was motivated to take this picture, I have no idea.

It’s been cold here in California. Ok, everyone else, feel free to laugh. I’m a wimp and take my bundling up seriously. Why be cold when you can wear 6 layers?

This morning I went to morning Crossfit-the low was 26 I believe, and I thought for sure my car wouldn’t start, since it was in the 40s the night before and it didn’t sound good. Luckily though, it did, and I only had to worry about cleaning off copious amounts of ice from my windshield, and not trying to find someone to jump my car! I really need an ice scraper though-I was lucky to have a towel with me-otherwise it would have been my fingers (I’ve done that before..ouch).

Also, our Crossfit box is literally freezing. It was colder in than out, and it was below freezing out so…

And the worst part? The bars are like ICE. Yuck. Anyways, by the time I returned and got coffee, I found myself craving a dining hall breakfast (what? who am I?) and since this was the second day in a row I wanted that, I decided to go for it.

A whole wheat english muffin with one side butter and (some) jam, and the other cream cheese, egg, and spinach. With a side of unripe pineapple! I also had a whole wheat pancake with butter and jam.

Ok, the real reason I tend to avoid the dining hall is because they often have the most delicious blueberry muffins (one of my major weaknesses), and I know eating 5,000 muffins before a final probably isn’t the best idea…

My lunch was a turkey sandwich made open faced:

Plus an extremely delicious piece of mystery bread that it’s been way too long since I’ve had.

I got them at a little cafe and settled in to relax after a morning of studying before my final. I didn’t bring headphones, and didn’t want to strain my brain my reading anything, so I eavesdropped for about an hour. Totally normal, right?

After my exam, I decided to actually go to the dining hall! To be fair, I complain about how boring dining hall food is, but it’s also because I almost always go to the same dining hall-I don’t seem to get back from Crossfit/other workouts before all the other ones close. Example-yesterday I finished Crossfit and tried to catch the tail end of a different dining hall’s hours. They had no food left!

But I finally got what I wanted today, since my exam ended earlier:

A burrito bowl with salmon. I’ve been craving Mexican food so much since listening to a book on tape during my workout yesterday-they went to Mexico and were eating tacos (keep in mind, I was listening to this at 7am and wanted tacos…).

And you better believe that I’m going to get dessert if I just took a final!

Chocolate soft serve, chocolate chips, marshmallows, jam, and cereal. I was SO tempted to add peanut butter-I made a ton of chocolate/peanut buttery soft serve cups of deliciousness last year, but I refrained for the sake of my face and skin.

Ok, so what have you missed on the food front?

Persimmon and egg cup.

Snack plate-guacamole, cinnamon laughing cow, pear chips.

Broccoli and white cheddar laughing cow.

A Whole Foods Southwest salad that I added avocado to.

Teriyaki tofu, rice and quinoa mix, salad with goat cheese, hummus, and avocado.

Christmas on a plate. They opened up a Harry and David store at my local mall, so pears were a necessity. I had to pull myself away from eating really delicious persimmons to eat a really delicious pear. I know, poor me.

Mass amounts of broccoli for lunch because that’s clearly what all the cool people do.

Mushroom and barley soup, and a salad with goat cheese, hummus, and fig balsamic. I accidentally poured half the container of goat cheese on there.I wish I could say I was sorry…I love goat cheese!

And the grand finale…

Last night I wanted something sweet, so I went forward with a microwave pumpkin oatmeal cookie in mind. Except I kind of just turned it into straight oatmeal. I used pumpkin butter, and then since I didn’t have any normal almond milk open and I’m leaving in 3 days, I used almond nog. O.M.G. The flavor combination of eggnog and pumpkin was unreal. You all you to try your oatmeal like this. I also mixed in some egg white, pumpkin pie spice, vanilla, baking powder, and butter (it was kind of supposed to be a cookie at one point…but delicious addition!)

YUM.

And since I was talking about cold weather and bundling up…here’s a picture of me being a weather confused California girl.

2 jackets. Scarf. Gloves. Shorts?

Let’s say that I regretted this decision when I left the library in the dark….brrr! It’s so much colder once the sun goes down. My friend wanted me to come over the other day at like 9pm…I wore 3 jackets, 2 pairs of pants, uggs, gloves, and a scarf that covered my whole face. I couldn’t move my arms. But I wasn’t cold!

I hope you all are having fabulous weeks! 3. More. Days.

What is your favorite seasonal flavor?

On the Twelfth Day of Christmas My True Love Gave to Me…

Date: December 8, 2013

Author: astottler

Categories: Uncategorized

12 Things That Have Changed in the Last Year

Today is the last day of Christmas! You know what that means? It’s officially my blogiversary! Yay! I hope you guys have liked these last 12 days of posting. (PS-if you haven’t entered yesterday’s GIVEAWAY there’s still time!) I certainly have had a ton of fun writing them. And forcing myself to be creative in the kitchen-it’s been way too long since I spent any time there!

I want to use this last day to reflect on the past year. I feel like so much has changed, but I think it’s all for the better. If you’re curious, here’s my first post. It’s not as embarrassing as I was expecting. My next few those? Yeesh. (Why would I name a post 1,2,3, Testing?) Also, can we take a minute to talk about how my writing voice has changed? For some reason last spring quarter I was so sarcastic. Not that I’m not now, but I feel like every word was dripping with it. Interesting….Also-check out this food picture from one of my first posts…work of art right there folks.

So without further ado-12 things that have changed in the past year.

1. I quit rowing. To put it quit frankly, I was drowning. Fall quarter, it was such an awesome experience. To this day I miss the girls on my team. Winter quarter we moved in with varsity, and I just didn’t love it anymore. Plus, the time commitment increased-it was about 5 hours a day. I had a tougher class schedule, and was rapidly falling behind. Plus, after being one of the fastest over the fall, I just wasn’t improving and couldn’t keep up. This all took a huge toll on me-but that’s not (directly) why I quit. I was determined to finish the year with my commitment, or at least the quarter. My body had other plans though and I got a really bad case of mono (which actually changed my life a lot for many different reasons). Long story short-2 ER visits, crazy high fevers for WEEKS (101 on Advil and Tylenol), inability to get out of bed for 2-3 weeks, and ALL of Friends. Like, all 10 seasons. It was really awful and I had to go home-fun fact, while I had mono, I also caught the stomach flu, strep throat, and a week later, a cold and cough that developed into an ear and sinus infection. I think it’s fair to say that’s by far the sickest I’ve been in my life. At that point, it would be nearly impossible to gain my strength back in time for racing season, plus I took it all as a sign that what I was trying to do was just not sustainable for me. When I got back to school, I had such an amazing time because I actually had time for a social life, not to mention time to study (I know a lot of collegiate athletes do fine, but it just wasn’t working for me for a sport that I didn’t absolutely love.)

2. I ran 2 half marathons! I have entirely the blog world to thank for this. Before discovering this amazing community, the only people I knew who ran half marathons were my spin teachers, and it seemed absolutely insane. After seeing so many bloggers do it, it didn’t seem so unattainable, and here I am now, a half marathoner! Heck, I even ran 16 miles once! One year ago me would have thought that was impossible.

3. I realized that I’m semi-allergic to nuts. Or at least have a sensitivity to them and they cause my face to break out like crazy (or the newest thing-now they’re causing itchy rashes.) The irony is I ate peanut butter (only like a tablespoon) for the first time in many months the other day and now my skin is rebelling…ANYWAYS-this is kind of a big deal because if you read my blog way back when this was started, the amount of peanut butter I was eating was insane.

4. I got spin certified! This was something I’ve been really wanting to do for a while, but if it wasn’t for the blog world, I wouldn’t have had the courage to actually do it! This would have been so much of a better point if I actually had a job teaching already, but I can’t even THINK about that until after finals.

5. My outlook on life has changed. Blogging has made me so much more thankful for everything in my life, and I appreciate the little things so much more. I’ve always loved the holidays, but I never celebrated fall in the same way (or ate so much pumpkin…) Last year around the holidays I felt really homesick, but not at all this year. Maybe it’s because I’m older and have more friends, but I think it’s also because through my blog I can still celebrate.

6. My weight. This is definitely not something I discuss a lot here on the blog, but it’s definitely a change. I avoided the dreaded Freshman 15 in the fall through rowing and being too busy to eat any free goodies, but the stress of winter quarter and stress eating, then dropping a lot of weight while I was sick and gorging to put it back on plus some-and going a little crazy in spring quarter (I’m not talking alcohol calories, I’m talking giant yogurt bowl calories and late night snacks with friends calories), I wasn’t in the best place with my eating habits or body going into the summer. I’ve figured so much out since then, and am slowly getting back to where I want to be, but it’s definitely a process. I still haven’t totally figured out college eating-especially with all the free food and stress dead week offers-but I’m definitely in a better place and know I’ll get there eventually.

7. My training (aka my workouts) have changed drastically as well. When I was rowing, that was pretty much all I was doing. We did team weights and some running/spinning, but it wasn’t the same as hitting the weight room hard on my own, or going to my favorite spin classes-unless I wanted to wake up at 5am and add a spin class to my 2 hour erg workout (which I did once..never again). In general, I have to be training for something. I used to always be training for softball, then for rowing. Now-I guess it’s for running. I trained for 2 halfs (yay!), started Crossfit, and am now attempting to gain some speed for 5ks. I’m actually really, really enjoying 5k training. Running fast (ish) is fun! Plus it makes my feet much, much happier. I definitely still crave the long runs though! The thing about 5ks…I think I actually have the potential to be decently fast. I think if my training and my NUTRITION (heh heh) was on point, I would actually be able to go out there and race pretty competitively (i’m talking local 5ks, not collegiate championships). And it helps I’m still in an age group with relatively few runners…But I just don’t see myself ever being remotely fast in long distances like halfs.

Last year’s Santa Run 5k

8. I started Crossfit! It really is so much fun. I’ve always loved weight lifting so this is right up my alley. I really miss the people at my home box…only a week until I’m back there!

9. I just feel like mentally I’m in a much better place than I was last year. I’m not a freshman desperately trying to make friends, and although I’ve had a pretty heavy workout this quarter, I feel like I have my life together pretty well-something that when I was rowing was definitely not the case. Now I’m the person getting homework done days before it’s due (this does not apply to all my classes though…)

10. My fitness level has changed. Although only this weekend’s 5k will tell the tale…I was in really good shape last fall while rowing, I did actually lose quite a bit of strength though because I wasn’t lifting hardly at all. Mono completely killed any fitness I had ever gained-after not being able to even sit up in bed for weeks, EVERYTHING made my abs sore. I never really regained any of my running shape until I started training for my half though-since then plus Crossfit, my endurance has skyrocketed! I PRed my second half by 3 minutes, despite the course being much hillier. I think I would actually be in decent rowing shape as well-since I can’t mentally force myself to do another 6k test, I did a 3k test, and was right where I wanted to be without totally killing myself.

11. I have so many blog friends now! Though I haven’t met hardly any in real life, they really do mean a lot to me, and every single comment really does brighten my day and bring a smile to my face. I also feel so lucky to not have gotten any of those negative commenters. I really do love each and every one of you! I seriously do get so much joy out of blogging. I love interacting with all of you and I love following along on your lives!

#bloggerproblems

12. I am so much more confident than I was a year ago. I’m another year mature, sure. I drive myself around places and live as an independent adult. But I also feel like spewing my thoughts to a bunch of strangers on a daily basis has also helped this. Reading inspirational stories from so many beautiful and strong women has helped this. I’m confident in who I am as a person-sure my body isn’t 100% where I want it to be, but that doesn’t bother me-I know I’m getting stronger and will get there eventually, and for the most part I don’t stress about it. I think about how far I have come in the last year. I’m so much stronger than I was a year ago, physically and mentally. The experiences of the last year have shaped who I am today, and I couldn’t be happier, whether they were good or bad (like Mono-it stunk but made me stronger in the long run). And I couldn’t be more grateful to have you guys by my side. Here’s to next year!

One Year Ago

Now