Healthy Runner

Winner

And the winner of the soup girt pack brought to you by Progresso and BlogSpark is:

Lynn from the Actor’s Diet! Send me your address girl!

On a more serious note, I will be taking a break for a while because of a family thing, I haven’t stopped crying since I got home from work:(
If you want to talk or know more you can email me always at leiannahellinga(at)gmail(dot)com

City is CLOSED

Wow we just got about 6 more inches of snow and it’s blowing around like a blizzard out there. When you drive you cant even see across intersections or around you because the piles are SOOO high. Almost everything has closed down and a lot of people are staying put in their houses, myself included!

I tried, keyword “tried” making kale chips and I don’t know what I did wrong, but they started burning up at the ends and my house smelled really funny. Maybe some advice, just oil and seasings right?

Pre-run fuel. 1/2

RUNNING: About 7 miles in 65 minutes, wasn’t going for anything, just needed to de-stress and this was perfect.

Post-run fuel. Other 1/2. This flavor Larabar was so yummy, I never used to like coconut but I’m beginning to appreciate more as a special addition to good foods.

A semi-nutricious snackplate consisting of an amazing orange and some tortilla chips, missing hummus or guacomole! Next time using a new cookbook for sure!

Dinner at work last night was another amazing Progresso soup, flavor was: Southwestern-Style Vegetable. Such great flavor intensity and full of amazing veggies. I give this one an 8/10!

Off to relax and then make a fun dinner for the hubs and I while watching college football.

Don’t forget to enter my Progresso Soup Giveaway, you have until 11:59 (Central time) on Friday, January 8th, 2010.

Do you make your own hummus or like store bought kinds? I want to hear the fun flavors you like, I tried lemon and horseradish flavors when I worked at a huge grocery store!

Soup Weather

Since it’s freezing everywhere in this wonderful nation I think it’s a great timeto eat lots of soup and other warm comfort foods. Although it needs to be somewhat healthy for me to love it!
The wonderful people over at My Blog Spark have gotten me in contact with a great soup company: Progresso. They sent me:

Thats 15 cans of the most amazing flavors of really healthy soup. We’ve got Chicken and Dumplings, Beef Pot Roast, Manhattan clam chowder and theres plenty more.
Each one is such a different variets, great taste and with 100 calories or less per serving, these are so perfect!
They also sent a really cool jump rope that counts everything for you and calories.

And the best soup mug ever, can’t wait to use it.

I tried the chicken noodle today and it was great, very tasteful yet still extremely healthy for my 4 mile treadmill run afterwards.

I also had a delicious salad today.

-lettuce
-cheese
-mandarin oranges
-artichoke hearts
- sunshine breakfast burger

Progresso is also having a really cool contest called “Progresso Souper You.” You could win an amazing makeover trip to NYC. All you have to do is go to this webite to learn more, then write a 200 word or less essay about why you love Progresso soup varieties and why you would love this makeover process. Also submit a photo of yourself that visually reinforces the theme of your essay.

In addition you can also go to that webiste and download $1 coupons for 3 varieties of soups.

Hurry up and enter, doesn’t it sound like a chance of a lifetime!

Would you like a chance to win some Progresso foods yourself? Up for grabs is:
-jump rope
-great Progresso mug- 2 varieties of soup

Leave a comment and tell me your favorite soup.
Another comment for how cold it is by you.

Contest will be open unil 11:59 (Central time) Friday, January 8th, 2010.
STAY WARM!

2010 Goals

A lot of other bloggers are writing downs their goals for 2010 and although I’ve never had resolutions I’m willing to put it all out there to make things happen this year. I’ve been a runner for 8 years and most people now are running marathons after being a runner for not even a year. So putting this all down on here makes it real and I’m excited:)

First goal is to not stress about food anymore. I’ve been living with this “disordered eating” now for 8 years and I stress myself out to make meal plans or eat the same all the time. What I really need is to eat what I’m feeling and make it simple. I love greek yogurt, lots of veggies and minimal chocolate. I also need to kick my diet pop addiction once and for all. I gave it up in H.S. and th caffeine now is just too much. I want to supplement with sparkling water, tea and of course plain old water, maybe with some lemon!

Second goal is to explore a lot of new recipes and different food options. This new recipe book will hlp m do just that. I do not intend on becoming vegan or vegetarian though, I just need some new meatless options for my hubby and I. He needs to get away from all meat and get a little healthier because his father had a heart attack in his early 30’s and I need to prevent that in my hubby.

I looked through this book just roughly and I have to say the hummus looks so divine and the soups = YUMMY, can’t wait!

Third goal is to update my running wardrobe and get some essentials for longer runs. Got a camelbak and some new Nike gear, courtesy of my brother. But also need to look at foam rollers, new shorts/winter gear and maybe recovery socks or knee sleeves. I don’t want to get an injury so preparing now is better than babying it later.

Fourth and final is to run more races. My last race of this year was October 3rd, it was a 5K and I got my best time ever of 21:17. I’m more than ready for a half and full marathon. I know I’ve said earlier I was going to do the Grandma’s Marathon in June, but after talking to my mom who has ran that one a couple of times she talked me out of it and into the Twin Cities Marathon in October. More support, downtown St. Paul and better time to take off from work to travel there!

This new year started out cold, it -17 degrees right now in IA, but I’m healthy, have a home and lots to look forward to.
What’s your favorite new step into the new year?

Snow again

Yes that’s right we woke up to more snow and it was still coming down. THe hubbywent out to shovel a llittle but ended up chatting with the neighbor more. It’s getting to the point where I can barely get out of my driveway and when in the car you can’t see out the windows because the snow is that high in all the yards.
Breakfast was some Chobani greek yogurt, a banana and some wheat germ. So creamy and delish.

I found out about wheat germ recently on Caroline’s blog and there were so many benefits so I gave it a whirl. No taste but the bnefits include:
-B vitamins
-calcium
-complex carbs
-fiber
-iron
-magnesium
-manganese
-omega-3 fatty acids
-phosphorus
-potassium
-protein
-selenium
-vitamin E
-zinc

Can’t wait to add it to more things like oatmeal and smoothies!

RUNNING: I completed 8 miles in 64 minutes on the treadmill at a 7.5 MPH

Lunch was leftovers and freezer finds. A mix of BBQ chicken, some green/yellow beans with carrots and of course some pickles.

Off to the Post Office to get some address stuff corrected and the MIL’s to get my house key back, then work for a wonderful 3-11pm

Have you tried wheat germ yet? If so what do you put it on?

Southern Eating

I stayed up until 1am last night because the hubby “had to” finish his ceiling tile house project. When he gets started he won’t stop. So we woke at 8:45 this morning and it felt great to sleep a little later.

I tried the infamous GloBar this morning and it was just as amazing as you would imagine. This particular flavor intrigued me because I love anything coffee flavored and it was rich and wonerful tasting. Definetely a 10/10 in my book so far!

Along with a juicy orange that was in my stocking:)

And Hazelnut coffee from my new Bodum machine, which I love. Need to try my milk frother tomorrow.

RUNNING: 4 miles in about 33 minutes with a MPH at 7.2-8.0. It felt great to do some speedy running. Over the weekend on my parents treadmill I did longer, slower runs while watching movies so I needed a short, speedy run today.

Lunch was made out of my head trying to use a new TJ’s product: Thai Curry Sauce. YUMMY! I put it with some okra (first time trying it) and an Amy’s Burger. Of course some pickles too!

The taste of okra is different than I expected but in a good way. Next time the curry sauce will be in a stir fry:)

Off to work and bed early tonight!

I survived a blizzard trip to MN

Lets just say it’s been way to long and we finally got the internet, router and vacations to MN out of the way. The holidays are over and I have to go back to work tomorrow. Didn’t want to leave MN because it has my family, Whole Foods, Trader Joes, all other family and less snow!
We came home to almost 3 feet and a huge drift against our house!

It took us about 7 hours (normally 4 hours) to get to MN on Wednesday night, Thursday morning we shoveled and made cookies for the cookie exchange with family. Thursday night was spent at my aunt and uncles house in Hudson, WI with lots of people and food. My aunt bought veggies and hummus from Trader Joes and I taught her how to make her own.
Friday morning we opened gifts, hung around and made homemade eggrolls and bulgogi.
Saturday morning my hubby and I went to Trader Joes and Whole Foods in St. Paul and it was a busy place.
That night I had friends over for homemade “Rude” (my maiden name) pizza, which is a family thing, amazing and we took a lot home for the ride and more. We left MN this morning and our cat meowed the entire
time:( Glad to be home, but sad it’s all over. Here is some foodie highlights:

My new Bodum coffee press.

Yummy oatmeal/cereal breakfasts.

Chobani Plain and Vanilla.

Synergy Kombucha in Divine Grape.

Dark Chocolate POM seeds, mini pb cups, fruit leathers and flattned bananas.

Yummy pizza with evrything.

Be back tomorrow with more yummy pictures and “regular” eating, w/e that is:)

How was your holidays and what was your favorite foodie present?

Internet Down:(

My internet has been down for a while because my wireless router died, but the hubby just bought a super expensive one he calls “Buffalo” so I’ll be back in full force tomorrow, but for now I’ll leave a picture of the most amazing package I got this morning:
GloBars from Angela that I purchased because they always look so amazing on her website. I can’t wait to dig in and tell you about them!
Firefox isn’t letting me upload my pictures either:( My husband will hopefully fix all this tonight when I’m working 3-11pm because I miss blogging.

No Bake Cookie Balls

While browsing other blogs this morning I came across Miss Polly’s blog post and seen she made some no bake cookie balls. I looked and made sure I had all the ingrediants. I mixed everything up, put the dough in the freezer for a while, then rolled and ate a couple for breakfast. YUMMY! I tweaked the recipe a little with 2 cups of oatmeal instead of 1 and 1/2 cups. Also put in the Cocoa powder for a little chocolate component.
For the peanut butter of course I used some White Chocolate Wonderful!

RUNNING: I ran 3.75 miles in 31 minutes at a 7.2 speed and 8.20 pace.

Lunch was a new thing created by the freezing cold weather and I saw it at Wal-Mart. I’ve seen Amy’s soups on other peoples blogs so I gave it a try and I’m not really a soup person, so I didn’t know what to think.

Chunks of hearty veggies and great flavor, not to bad! Also added some crackers later for crunch and added something!

Off to work another late one.

Have you made these cookie balls seen on so many blogs lately, so many varieties?

Trying to recover from all the snow and recent drop in temperature. It’s -4 degrees today!
Just got back from the gym trying to warm myself up. Didn’t get to run yesturday because of all the shoveling and lack of city plowing. Nothing was really open in town yesturday either.
So todays workout was the 8 miles in 65 minutes on the wonderful treadmill. Even better with the new shoes!

Breakfast was some peanut butter puffins, banana and WCW peanut butter.

Lunch was amazing combo that I had yesturday too because I’m so in love with these carrot fries and apparently I love anything orange today!
Carrot fries, a juicy orange and some Brown cow greek yogurt (found at Wal-Mart:)

Close up the carrot fry goodness. I need to make some more soon, but also want to try zucchini and squash!

Right now I’m snacking on some orange doritos for crunch, although not the best thing to have after an 8 mile run, but oh well!

I just thought this was neat and took a picture. It’s a gift from our realtor for buying a house through them! It’s a neat candle thing that’s also a lamp. Need to decide where to put it.

What’s a good way to warm up in this cold weather, I need some tips? Sometimes I forget how cold winters can get even though I’ve lived in the Midwest my whole life:)