Half #13: RNR Portland 2012

PORTLAND!

He has mad skills.

The inaugural Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland Half Marathon was my 13th half marathon! 13 is kind of a weird number which is fitting because all week I’ve been seeing “Keep Portland Weird” bumper stickers. There were definitely a few weird runners out on the course but I didn’t see nearly as many as I expected. Honestly, I was a little disappointed.

Another reason this event was kind of a big deal was because it was the first event for which I had family present! My parents came with us to the drizzly start area and enjoyed seeing all the runners getting ready. They enjoyed watching the elite runners start and finish and were there to cheer for Jason and I at mile 13. My mom even got some pictures on her camera which I failed to get from her before they went home. Dang it!

Photo taken by my sister-in-law!

Then my brother and his family were at mile 9 and the finish line. My sister-in-law got some good photos (thank you!). It means a lot to have people you care about there to witness your accomplishments. I had a weird mix of pride and pressure. I was proud to be able to show my family what I can do and proud of them for coming out on a wet Portland day just to see me run by for 30 seconds. I also felt a little pressure to not be too slow, to make sure I wasn’t on a walk break when I went by them, to finish strong, etc.

Focused on the finish line.

Another first was seeing a carpeted bridge! The course took us across the Willamette River, twice. The first time we crossed on the Hawthorne Bridge, one of the oldest surviving vertical lift bridges, which has a steel grate deck. I’ve ran over bridges like this in Chicago. The steel grating feels uneven under your feet, can be a little slippery when wet for running shoes, and looks super creepy if you’re afraid of heights or water. When you look down you can see through SO WELL that it’s hard to feel like there is sufficient mass between you and the rushing river so far below. It’s kind of fun, actually, but it was very nice of them to carpet the bridge. Too bad it wasn’t a red carpet!

This was the first race I’ve ran where they stopped runners to let cars go through. The course crossed Cesar Chavez Blvd twice in the East Portland area, and apparently they weren’t able to fully close this street for the race. The first time the course crossed this street was right after mile 5. I was stopped for about 20 seconds. The second time was right after mile 8 and I was the last runner past the cop before he started yelling, “Give me 4 cars! I’m sorry. Just 4 cars!” as he put his hands up and began pleading to the runners behind me. I guess they couldn’t get it 100% closed down for the event.

All in all, it was a good event and I ran my second fastest half marathon (2:22:45). Had I ran more after Ragnar SoCal and not stopped for a bathroom break, it could’ve been a PR. I’m not disappointed though. It was just awesome to be out there with my family watching. J did get a PR, though! I am proud of him. I think that the cool and rainy weather was a boon for us and helped us run a little faster. We don’t often get to run in that kind of weather and it was fun!

Misleading? Perhaps.

I know a lot of people were taken back by the hills on the course. Apparently the provided elevation chart wasn’t quite spot on. My runkeeper deviates a little from the elevation chart. There were quite a few hills but most of them were short and steep and kind of a fun challenge to race up. Nothing like the Hollywood Half Marathon. At the end of the longest continual incline (from 3 to 6) there was an even steeper hill to overcome. I ran this entire portion and got in a bit of a race with a guy up the last part of it. It was kind of funny. I heard his heavy footfall before I saw him in my peripheral. We were about the same pace up most of the long, steady incline. I decided to try to pull away a bit up the last push to the top and could hear him quicken his steps. Maybe it’s not smart to race a guy up a hill half way through your race, but I totally beat him to the top. Don’t know what happened to him after that. He probably beat me on the downhill.

Around mile 10 I saw two little boys running together and their parents taking pictures from the sidelines and asking them how they felt. It really struck me how little these kids looked! And they were plugging along pretty well. About a mile later I came up behind them again and so I asked them if they’d been running the entire thing.

Me: “Good job, guys! Have you been running the entire time?”

Them: “Yeah”. [Smiles]

Me: “Awesome. Are you running for school or to raise money or something?”

Them: “No. We just decided to run like a month ago.”

Me: [Shocked face]. “A month ago?! Did you train for this?”

Them: “Yeah, we started training a month ago.”

Me: “Wow! That’s amazing. You’re going great! How old are you guys?”

Them: [Exchanging unsure glances] “Well…we’re 11 actually, but we had to say we were 12 in order to run.”

Me: “Oh! Okay. I won’t tell.”

At that point, I made a mental note to not let them pass me in the last 2 miles. They came in a little behind me but unfortunately they had started quite a ways behind me so they’re chip time was faster than mine. Stupid bathroom break! Haha.

Great medal!

I wish I would’ve enjoyed this race more. I had a weird shoulder pain in the first 2 miles and I was thinking too much about where my family would be, which side of the road, etc. At one point I stopped and looked around and said, “Tiffany, you need to take in this race and enjoy this run!”. I would definitely do this one again, but I think we’ll save our Oregon trip for August in 2013 so I can take my husband to the Tillamook County Fair.

Tillamook Country Creamery Association symbol on an Oreo. I wish these really existed.

I grew up in a small town with more cows than people. The day after the race we drove out to Tillamook and showed my husband where I was born, where I grew up, where I went to school, etc. The Tillamook Cheese Factory was very important to my childhood as the family businesses was to distribute their products to stores, schools, and restaurants.

So J got to try squeeky cheese and smell the sweet smell of the cow fields. It was appropriately rainy that day so he got the full of effect of the conditions in which I spent the first 13 years of my life. It was fun to share that with my husband so he can place the stories I tell him about growing up in cow town.

Visiting my home state: Oregon.

Some Mt. Hood recon

My nephew!

Traveling around Oregon with my husband has been fun so far. We’ve seen the Columbia River Gorge, blue mountains and Full Sail brewery, and got to watch my nephew win the open junior division in motocross at the Portland International Raceway! We also drove up to Timberline Lodge on Mt. Hood. It was a clear day with a great view and plenty of people still hitting the slopes. It was also good to get an idea of what the start of Hood to Coast is going to be like! After the race we’ll head to my point of origin: Tillamook.

At Full Sail Brewery.

Come Friday we headed to the Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland Half Marathon expo. Coming on a Friday to an expo is pretty awesome. We didn’t get there until about 3:30 so we missed the opening/lunch rush and were really able to walk the booths and talk to the vendors and try samples without big lines. I like that.

My mom came with us. It was her first race expo. She quickly found a booth that was selling some pain relief gadget and of course she bought it. She also bought some Nuun tubes. We had to get out of there before she bought more stuff!

Of course I stopped by the Maui Jim booth and I got a lei! How fun. It was pretty awesome to try on the other styles of shades and see some styles yet to be released. I have a new wish list of sunnies now.

I also got to meet Caitlin at the Nuun Hydration booth! She was a rockstar holding down their exhibit all by herself. I tasted all the flavors of course and my new favorite is Lemon Tea. Tracy Sunland also happened to walk by so I said hi. I should’ve thanked him for having an event in Portland. I had met Tracy at the TNT dinner the night before the inaugural RNR Los Angeles. We sat at the same table and I told him how having an event in Portland, Oregon would be great because I had family there. I like to think I planted an idea seed.

Caitlin!

Tracy!

Flavor testing.

Other highlights of the expo were freebies from FRS and learning about Cheribuni which has naturally occurring melatonin in it! I did not know that before. I went to Safeway and bought some.

Anything but driving.

I’ve never been in love with driving. In high school, I wasn’t dying to get my permit or my license. In college, I didn’t even have a car until senior year. My dad gave me his truck for my graduation but I gave it back when I left for China a few months later. In China, there was absolutely no need for a car. I miss that.

Well, good news! The current geographical relationship between my home and my office is such that I can easily commit to self-propelled commuting. I’ve ran to work several times now [more on that]. AND NOW THAT I HAVE A BIKE, I have yet another (somewhat easier) option for avoiding the car altogether! Bike commuting is faster, less sweaty, and it doesn’t massacre my PB&J like run commuting does.

I like my bike! But, it is kind of like other bikes. A lot of other bikes. For now.

This week I drove to work on Tuesday and after coming home, hopped on my bike and rode back to work to make sure my bike lock worked with the available bars in front of my office and just to see how it would feel to ride there and back.

On Wednesday, I packed my lunch and rode to work. I’m still getting used to the feeling of being on a bike again. It’s been a long time. My stopping/dismounting and then going again is a little awkward. There’s a rumor going around that I may have ran into a golf course fence and a parked car. Psh.

Riding to and from work for the first time I realized two things:

1) I must look like a high school kid; riding a mountain bike on the streets, wearing skinny jeans, hoody, backpack and my classy aviators. How cool am I?

2) Since I’m not peddling hard, I’m not breathing hard. Since I’m not breathing hard, I’m totally singing or whistling. I just can’t help it. I do it when I drive, when I cook, at my desk at work…I’m always humming or sing-talking. Now I’m the crazy high school girl singing to herself on her bike. Perhaps I should work on a ‘Songs from the Bike Commute’ album. Who doesn’t want to hear that?

Anything but a car: I’d like to try ditching my car altogether for the summer at least, maybe indefinitely (too romantic of an idea?). Actually, there’s talk that J will sell his car altogether and use my truck for his commute. We could get down to 1 car! How awesome would that be?! Gas prices aren’t shrinking ever. $pare the wallet and world. Between 1 or 2 days of run commuting and the rest bike commuting, I should do fine. I’m sure my running would improve exponentially with that kind of schedule.

Working out the kinks: There are a few things I need to think about to make a habit of bike commuting:

1) A reliable coffee travel mug. My husband is gracious enough to make coffee in the morning, but unless I want to chug it down before I hit the road (and I really don’t), then I have to find a way to take it with me so I can drink it at work. You could argue that I could just drink the coffee provided at work. No one drinks that coffee. You could suggest that I just have tea in the morning instead. I might listen to you.

2) I need more skinny jeans (I could care less if they’re not “in” anymore), or I need to get some of those leg straps to keep my trousers safely away from the moving parts on my bike. I do not like either option very much. Ideas, anyone? Should I do as I do when I run commute and keep a change of clothes at work? I was hoping to avoid that extra step.

3) Inclement weather. Not that we get weather in southern California…but if I really want to ditch the car altogether and begin bike/run commuting as a consistent practice, what would I do if it DOES happen to rain? Just make sure my pack has a waterproof cover on it? Should I also cover my bike so it’s not getting drenched all day? Should I avoid riding in the rain altogether? Get my husband to drop me off and pick me up on those days?

Sponsor Review: Maui Jim Sunglasses

I don’t know how much it hurts the cred of a review to say that I got $600 worth of free product. Hopefully not much if you believe me when I say that I wouldn’t agree to wear Maui Jim sunglasses, and only Maui Jim sunglasses, if I thought they weren’t absolutely awesome.

So why are they so awesome, you wonder?

Well, I took two pairs with me on my Ragnar SoCal relay not long ago: the Cliff House aviators and the Sugar Beach aviators. It was a good thing I had them, too, because the sun was out something fierce during that relay.

The first thing I noticed when I picked up the Sugar Beach sunnies was how incredibly light they were. Scary light. I thought I might break them. But no, they’re not fragile. I wore them around a little before taking them on a run and I could barely feel them on my face. That took some getting used too, but it didn’t take long to trust that they were securely attached to my head.

Sugar Beach (Smoke Grey / Maui HT)

Ready for my first run wearing Sugar Beach shades.

I ran the first leg of my relay (5.5 miles in 90+ degree weather) wearing these beauties. I was amazed that I had no indents or sore spots on my nose or my temples, which I’ve become used to with my previous glasses. I didn’t have to take them off to relieve the pressure on my head or massage the bridge of my nose. In fact, they were pretty easy to forget about and I was able to focus on trying to keep moving in the heat.

I’m really glad I selected this pair because of the coverage they provide around my eyes and I appreciate the rimless design. Out running in the relentless rays, my eyes felt relaxed and I wasn’t squinting for visuals on the runners ahead. I use them for all my runs now, which is perfect as I’m currently training for Rock ‘n’ Roll Portland and the days are getting sunnier and sunnier in SoCal.

Running in the heat.

Team costume for “In-N-Out ‘Til We’re Done!”

I wore the Cliff House aviators on this trip also. Mainly for driving around and cheering on the side of the of road for other runners. However, on my last leg of the relay, I totally ran with them simply because I felt they completed my outfit. Haha. What’s a Ragnar without a costume, right?

Anyway, I noticed that the Cliff House shades slipped slightly on my nose, which may have to do with the length of the arms. So I would push them back up my nose causing the rims to make contact with the sweat on my brow, which would in turn start to drool inside the lenses. So I handed them off to my teammates mid-run. No biggie.

Cliff House (Gunmetal / Neutral Grey)

Running in Cliff House shades.

I very much like the Cliff House style but more for hiking, walking, and driving of course. Maybe even a leisurely bike ride along the beach. With a pure titanium frame, these don’t feel so fragile but they are still super light. I’ve had aviators before that pinched and rubbed my nose. These sit ever-so-effortlessly on my nose and I barely feel them.

What impressed me the most about them are the lenses. They have a beautiful, color enhancing effect on the world, which is a Maui Jim specialty, and really cut down on the glare. I wear these the daily.

I have another pair that I plan to review as well. Gotta save something for later!

Eye protection is important for everyone, but especially for athletes out in the sun for extended periods of time. I’ve had my eyes laser zapped so that I don’t need to worry about contacts anymore, which is a huge blessing! I definitely want to protect my peepers and hold on to my good vision as long as I can. I really appreciate the thoughtful design of Maui Jim sunglasses to be as protective and comfortable as a sunglass can be. Not a doubt that they’re the best I’ve ever had.

The next time you’re at a Rock ‘n’ Roll Series expo, stop by and try some pairs on at the Maui Jim booth. You’ll see what I mean when it comes to the lightweight comfort of their designs. Very impressive.

Giving up and other updates.

Last year at about this time I pushed through a hectic work schedule that left me a little mentally and emotionally bruised. I am the type who tries to do it all because I know I’m capable, but even I can only do so much before it isn’t worth it. So I am working on giving up some things. This last week I was working in Chicago for our company’s biggest event of the year. A lot of things started happening all at once and I could feel that familiar fight or flight feeling building up inside. I usually pick fight and that usually sends me up to the next level of the stress games, which we all play at our own risk. This weekend I’m totally bailing on a commitment in order to simplify. And I don’t even feel guilty about it like I normally would! The world moves on beautifully without me, thank God.

So, with that said, I’m happily sitting in my pj’s on a Friday morning and catching up on my blog! I have so many wonderful things that I haven’t officially posted about yet and they’re all going to come rapid-fire right now!

Hood to Coast 2012!

1) I’M RUNNING HOOD TO COAST WITH NUUN HYDRATION! Over 100 deserving women applied for 30 spots on 3 teams. Nuun was careful to try to select a variety of women blogger’s from a variety of areas, California being one of the areas with the most applications. By some magic, my video application landed me in the top 30, so I will be flying to Seattle in August to meet up with Nuun and the other running bloggers and then travel to Mt. Hood for the world’s largest relay in my home state! And Nuun is paying for everything (minus my flight)! I AM SO EXCITED! The best part is that I get lots of awesome, tasty, Nuun stuff!

2) I’m now sponsored (with product only) by Maui Jim sunglasses. They are an official sponsor of Rock ‘n’ Roll Series events, which we all know I frequently attend. To be honest, I hadn’t heard of Maui Jim until I saw them at an RNR expo. THEY ARE AMAZING! I received three free pairs to wear this year. Thankfully, I took two pairs on my Ragnar SoCal relay (the Cliff House and Sugar Beach styles). SoCal sun can be a beast and, if you read my recap, you know we were battling with it during that relay. A review of Maui Jim is forthcoming.

3) I’ll also be doing a review and special offer of ShowerPill later this month. I’m excited about trying these because I think they will be perfect for run/bike commuting. You should subscribe to my blog now to get in on it.

Sorry for the bad photo. Better ones to come.

4) I GOT A BIKE! Oh man, I’m so excited. It’s a Trek Marlin 29er mountain bike and I got a dude’s bike because of my longer torso, the fact that it was a better color than the women’s version, and the women’s version was probably on back order anyway. Whatever. I’m super excited about it but haven’t gotten to ride it yet. I learned from Lisa @RunLikeaCoyote that I also get to name my bike! Will have to start thinking about that.

5) Thinking about body goals. I’m turning 28 this year and already thinking about where I want to be at 30. I want to be a more well-rounded athlete, I want all my abs back from Freshman year of college and then some, I want to get into adventure racing, some serious trail running (50 miler?), and I want the world and I want it now. Perhaps I should start all this off with embracing the pain of CrossFit this summer? When it comes to working out, I need real group motivation. Not virtual.

Whoops. I’m late for my run.

Ragnar SoCal 2012 – Hot as hell but swell!

Team 86: In ‘N’ Out ‘Til We’re Done

This was my first time captaining a relay team. I knew I could pull a team together but coughing up the entire team’s registration fee in advance was a smidge worrisome. It all worked out though cuz my team was good folk! This was also my first time wearing my new Maui Jim’s sunglasses. They were amazing invaluable in the SoCal sun!

Actually, I can’t say enough about how proud I am of my awesome, awesome teammates! They were fierce in the face of cramps, IT band issues, brutal heat, night-time nausea, last-minute wake-up calls, and of course just plain ‘ol exhaustedness.

J and I decided to split up between vans. We had a lot of newbs and no one knew everyone so we divided and conquered. He led Van 1 and I led Van 2. This was good because we do things differently. Very differently. It worked out famously and each van had a great time in their own way.

I am particularly proud of the members of Van 2 as they managed to last through the entire relay with me. They ran hard and they were very helpful to each other. They were quick to jump out with a water bottle to support our runner and got out to cheer them in at every exchange, even at 3 am. I didn’t even have to ask them to refill the ice chest or take out the trash when we stopped. How awesome is that?! So awesome.

Check out my super video (6 minutes)

Round 1 – Friday Heat
Starting at Huntington Beach, it was beautifully overcast and cool at 7:30 am. Some of the team hit traffic on the 710 South and we literally got Elliott bibbed and tagged about 5 minutes before our heat started. A sign of things to come for poor Elliott.

By the time runner 3 (Jason) finished his leg near the Angels stadium is was already heating up. By the time runner 6 (Missy) finished in Yorba Linda, it was over 80 degrees.

The Friday heat was referred to as “brutal” at the beginning and ending and middle of every leg after that. My male runners in Van 2 had to take walk breaks it was so brutal. I believe the temps bumped into the 90′s in Corona with a heat index (or the perceived temp) of high 90′s/100′s. Just in time for my 5.5 mile leg through shadeless, windless hills.

While I was mentally trying to determine what heat stroke would feel like during my first leg, the bright side to it all was that I able to keep jogging along up the hills. This was in large part due to my awesome team support with ice water and grapes and my not-to-shabby training. And because I was able to keep moving, I passed 14 runners-who-had-been-reduced-to-walkers! DOUBLE DIGIT ROADKILL!

Round 2 – Beautiful Night

Sometime around midnight we started our second legs for Van 2. Van 1 had a ton of mileage to cover and some of their runners had to struggle through some pains and ill feelings. That meant we had ample time for some rest and relaxation before starting our second legs. And we KILLED IT!

For round 2, our van only had a total of 22 miles to cover. These were the shortest legs for most of us. On top of that, we were so excited to have cool 55 degree temps to run in so we busted through those legs pretty fast. Poor Van 1 barely got an hour of rest. Their #1 runner, Elliott, had went off to sleep without his cell phone and Jason couldn’t find him until 10 minutes before our last runner came in. He finished like he started. In a hurry.

I gotta say I love the night legs. Mine was mainly downhill. I was passed by more than passed me, I’m afraid, but it was pleasant. Well, all except for the creepy 3 AM animal sounds which are being attributed to wild peacocks.

Round 3 – Saturday Fog

It was weird to arrive at exchange 30 (around 4:30 am), be able to hear the exchange and the excitement of the first runner coming through, but not be able to see a damn thing; no lights in the distance or anything. Fog. When I “got up” (didn’t really sleep) it was light out but I still couldn’t see very far into the distance. I got my runners up, we had some breakfast and got prepared to bring it home from the glider port in Torrey Pines all the way to Coronado Island.

Our last legs had some great scenery through La Jolla and down to the marinas. Unfortunately for Liz, her 11 mile leg turned into a 13.5 miler when about 20 runners got lost around the harbor. Nothing like finishing a long distance relay with a half marathon effort.

Saturday was a mostly cool and overcast day, with one brief hot spell during Scott’s last leg. Actually, finishing on Coronado Island was downright chilly with the ocean wind. I was happy my team was willing to put on out costumes for the finish line dash and team photo at the end. We got a lot of cheers for our costume and even more orders for double doubles, animal style.

Event Remarks
-Crowded: As of now, this is the largest relay I’ve participated in with about 530 finishing teams. The positive side to that is there were always runners to pass, talk to, cheer for, and see up ahead to make sure you were still on the right road. The negative side, of course, is the crowded exchanges and the inability to use smaller venues (like churches and schools who sell food for a fundraiser) as exchanges. I think we passed through one exchange that was selling food. Bummer.

-Volunteers: In order to fulfill our team’s volunteer requirement, we got one super awesome person to be a SWAT volunteer. She was partially in charge of major exchange 18 and was there for like 20 hours straight. She is amazing. She is also fundraising for Team in Training right now and our team is going to make a large donation toward her goal.

-Overall it was a wonderful event and I would totally do it again. Maybe I should try to do an ultra team next year…?

Taking time to eat dinner.

Collage Map

I love the megaphone!

The Scottie with the body

Van 2 back window

Drive by cheering

JZ mans the megaphone

Ready to record our kills.

Went to target to find reflective vests and lost Liz. Where is Liz?

Running by my team who is buyin fruit.

Did I mention how much I love using a megaphone?

Proper Packing Technique

Liz records the kills.

The grape support.

Team Sparkle’s Van

More van decorations

Team at Exchange 6

The team costume.

Van 2 is hanging out.

Cooling off DJ.

Dryin the puffy paint

The heat gets to Scottie

Van 2 is ready for business!

The ladies get better sleeping spots

“You’ve Been 86′d” sweat activated text shirt by ViewSports.

Van 1 Kills (they stopped recording after their first round).

The team sleeps at our place the night before the relay

Last major exchange

Collage Map 2

Our Team at the finish Line!

Saturday morning

The Severin Brothers. Again.

Leg Studying

Decorating the van.

Jason & I (I got my Cliff House Maui Jim’s on!)

DJ at Exchange 18 at night.

The very last runner on the last leg

Waiting to cheer on some runners.

Jason & I being goofy

After my 1st leg. Wearing Runningskirts.com and Maui Jim’s

Exchange 24? Sometime Around Midnight.

Me capturing video.

My last leg!

Liz and Charmaine

Ready to start my leg of fire.

Stretching

Waiting at the finish area.

Getting support on my last leg.

More leg study.

Accidental Vegetarians: The CSA weight loss program.

Okay, so the title to this post is misleading. I’m not really a vegetarian and I am not a proper source for info on how you should lose weight or proper nutrition. I simply want to share my food story with you. Running and eating are two activities that are married in my mind and will forever be together.

Beats! We love 'em!

When I started running in 2008, I was super excited that I could “eat whatever I wanted.” I figured I was going to burn it off, so it was all good. During those months of hitting new mileage highs every weekend, I became known as the garbage disposal. When traveling for work, my boss would order a prime rib, only eat a portion of it, and say “Tiffany will finish the rest.” And I would. My co-worker told me that I could eat more than her 17 year old son. I wasn’t gaining weight, though, but I wasn’t losing any either. Also, running was new to me, so I didn’t think anything about how much of a struggle it was to recover from long runs or about my super unpredictable energy levels because, well, running was new to me. It was supposed to be difficult. So it was all good. Right?

I’d basically kept that same mentality until last fall when a friend, Javier, told us we should watch this food documentary, Food Matters. Javier has an amazing story of serious weight loss through diet and running. He ran his first ultra a couple months ago and finished 6th overall! I’ve often seen him as something of an extremist in his love for running and his super pure diet. But I know his transformation and amazing running achievements didn’t come by foolish decisions, so my husband and I listened to him and watched the documentary.

Half way through the film, which talked about how malnourished and nutrient deficient the average diet is, my husband and I were already reaching for our multi-vitamins. So, I started mentally reviewing what we ate the last week, hoping I’d come across some fresh food, but all I could remember was prepackaged goods like canned pasta sauce and noodles, and meals we ate out at restaurants, or worse, fast food.

The one thing that really hit me was realizing that not valuing food or what I put into my body was equivalent to a life sentence of sickness and disease. My youth and running were only going to “protect” me for so long. The problem was I felt that eating was just a chore. I had complained several times that I wished I didn’t HAVE to eat because it took too much time to stop and prepare something. AND, “healthy” food was a joke because it was so expensive. I wanted food to be quick, easy, and cheap. What a scary thought! That kind of thinking leads to pink slime.

What came in our CSA box one week.

So, Jason and I immediately started making some small, manageable adjustments. We also signed up for a CSA box through Tanaka Farms, a local organic farm that delivers to Whole Foods were we can pick up once a week. It’s only $23 and we get 5-6 FRESH veggies and 3-4 FRESH fruits. (FRESH = recently harvested and retaining the majority of it’s nutritional value. NOT FRESH = 2 weeks old on a grocery store shelf with less than 40% of it’s nutritional value left.)

Our weekly CSA box has done more to change our habits and lifestyle than anything. Here’s why:

• It forced us to wash and prepare fresh food items when we brought them home. This is the paradigm shift I needed; learning to see food preparation as time well spent. We’ve gotten faster at prepping our food and learned a few tricks over time about how to keep them fresh, but at first this was a difficult adjustment.
  

  My dinner = colorful salad!

• We have to eat our CSA box items for nearly EVERY MEAL if we want to get through it before MORE COMES! This leaves very little time and stomach space for the prepackaged foods that used to make up our main diet. This means LOTS of salad or vegetable soup. Without intending too, we’ve cut a lot of meat from our diet. If we do have it, it is more of a garnish than the main portion of the meal.
• We don’t get to choose what comes in the box. I’ve gotten veggies I didn’t recognize and wasn’t sure how to eat. But this is a GOOD thing! It has forced us to try new things and it’s giving us a healthier, more well-rounded diet. Now we know that we like beets, turnips, and kolhrabi! We never would’ve tried those things otherwise.
  

  Homemade salsa!

• An unlooked-for side effect of eating all this fresh food has been that we’ve lost some weight. I don’t mind sharing that I’ve gotten back in the 120′s, which is great for my 5’7″ frame. When I started training in 2008 I was in the high 140′s and maybe even 150. I won’t tell you how much Jason weighs now, but he says he’s close to his high school weight.
• Another unlooked-for side effect has been gained energy. I’m more clear-headed in the morning and I don’t get the 2:00 PM slump/fog at work that I was used too. I have a more sustainable alertness throughout the day and feel “lighter”, like I can be ready to run any time. I feel like my energy level is reliable and predictable. All this has helped my running.

Pita pockets with veggies and chicken.

• We eat out a lot less which saves us some cash but we are spending more on groceries. This is good, though, because it shows we value purchasing quality food and preparing it at home over the easier and often unhealthier alternative.
• The CSA box has helped us focus more on what we put in our body. It’s been a stepping-stone to making more adjustments to our diet. We don’t drink soft drinks anymore. I’ve replaced vegetable oil with coconut oil, white sugar with a xyla substitute that we rarely use anyway, honey with agave nectar, etc. We even make our own salad dressing now!

I didn't know what this was. Asian Guava.

All this good stuff is made even better with the realization that I’m supporting a local family business and local agriculture.

Reality check, though. We don’t have a perfectly healthy diet now. We still go for the occasional cheeseburger and I will ALWAYS LOVE BROWNIES! I still try new foods and beers when I travel and I don’t consider the calories. But I think that’s the key to why we’ve been able to come as far as we have in the past 4 or 5 months. We haven’t approached our food choices with a mentality of “can’t”. As the Hungry for Change documentary explains, the moment you tell yourself you CAN’T eat certain things anymore, you go crazy for it! Instead, we’ve just slowly, carefully and relentlessly ADDED good things to our diet. The continual addition of good things leaves increasingly less room for the bad things. Eventually we realized we no longer craved or wanted the bad things (like soda or french fries). We never told ourselves we couldn’t have those things, but now we’ve gone without them for long enough that we don’t like how we feel (lethargic, foggy, gassy) when we do have those things.

I drink crazy green things and actually like them!

Our biggest victory has been the simple realization that we now CARE about what we eat, that it’s worth our time and money to select fresh foods that aren’t prepared by a microwave setting. This is a journey we’ve only just gotten started with, but, one small adjustment at a time, it has been a huge step in the right direction.

To see good food as a better investment than the clothes we wear or the house we live in used to seem bizarre to me. But if a house falls apart you can fix it and if you don’t like your clothes, you get new ones. If your body falls apart or you don’t like how you look, you can’t just buy a new body! So, put good things in your body so you can feel good no matter what you wear and have a long life no matter where you live!