Habits

The fundamentals course is 5 workouts (5 days) long. It used to be 2 weeks long. I think I would have preferred the 2 weeks, it is after about 2-3 weeks that we start developing habits. I am going to make it a habit to attend a minimum of 4 days a week after fundies (for the month)-the 5th day will be for my long runs. I do have a marathon to train for, after all.

There was an awesome Aristotle quote today on the white board in the box “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” I really want to remember this when living my life.

Everything that we say and do defines us-it builds our character. I want to be remembered as someone who stayed true to their word and gave everything she had, no matter what the situation. I held myself up (sort of) on the rings today. Very proud of myself. One step closer to (and a little bit stronger for) that pull up. I can't be judged by what others do, but what *I* can do, with my abilities. ;)

Who's ready for the Zombie Apocalypse?

I woke up this morning and everything hurt. It hurt to sit and pee, hurt to move around in the bed, hurt to walk down my stairs, hurt to move. I woke up to the earthquake at 3:18 this morning and my body hurt so much to move. My only thought was, "please don't shake anymore, I don't want to get out of my bed."

Reluctantly, I got up a couple of hours later and got ready to take my dogs out for a walk. Did I mention I still do my ritual morning walk (it's only a walk right now) before the workout? Two miles today. That hurt too. But it helps with the lactic acid buildup and with soreness.

I popped a couple of ibuprofin and got on my way to day 3 of Crossfit Fundies. The warm up was really cool, burpees, lunges, caterpillar crawls, broad jumps (burpees and broad jumps), and of course our dumpster run.

I learned how to do a power clean (weak sauce 35lb) but I got an "atta girl!" out of my form-I think it was because I almost cried out of fear, knowing that I had to pick up that weight to my collar bone. Yikes!

The wall ball was super fun, I wanna get one of those for my house. I need to practice. Our workout was running, lots of reps of hang power cleans and wall balls, and more running. It was mostly using legs, so the workout wasn't too bad.

Adan also gave us a quick lecture on "What is Crossfit?" (quickly defined as "constantly varied, functional movements performed at high intensity") and it certainly inspired me to continue this training. I have to check myself and remember, I am a marathoner and I need to get in long runs, too. Although it would nice to be physically fit *in case* there really is a zombie apocalypse sometime in the near future.

I'm eating oatmeal with 1 tbsp of Nutella, banana and 1 tbsp of peanut butter-all mixed together. Takes five minutes to make. No need for additional sugar, add a pinch of cinnamon and mix.

I have a left over half chicken wrap from the California Chicken Cafe that I will be eating for lunch...in about 2 hours. That's how fast my metabolism is working this week. Insane.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, TIME!

I wasn't so apprehensive driving up to the box today. I was looking forward to what was in store for the workout. My shoulders are in pain. Not bad pain, good pain that I know will go away once I keep working those particular muscles. Pain that I like to feel after an awesome two hour run. My legs crave this sensation. I also used my marathon trick and took some ibuprofin before going in to the workout. Just keeping it real. :)

I greeted my fellow "fundies" peeps and we headed in for another galvanizing workout. They were aching as much as me (I don't think they liked the feeling as much as I do....but I can't read minds).

We did a dumpster run (400 m-to the dumpster and back) and started our warm ups. More push ups, squats, bear crawls, leg lifts, high knees, butt kicks...I fell on my chest when I tried to do the bear crawls from putting so much weight on my shoulders after the push ups. I laughed out loud, got up and tried to keep going, slower. I crack myself up.

We also did 500 meters of rowing (on the only exercise machine in the box). That was fun.

Adan then taught us how to properly do a hang power snatch, a power snatch and a burpee. I remember learning how to do a hang power snatch from my friend, the trainer, back in the day. It came back to me when I had the bar above my head. I hear that stance is the most technical part of lifting weights. One wrong move and those weights are coming down-with your arms. I practiced that stance until Adan stopped saying "not bad" and "better" and started saying, "good"....I need more help on that one. But I have hope! (That's not me, it's a photo I found on the internet of a woman with excellent form).

Did I ever tell you that I love you, burpee? (Covers face in shame...not really).

Todays WOD was 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1

*Hang Power Snatch

*Burpees

I rocked that. It was electrifying. I didn't even think about my shoulders hurting or how much I pain I knew I was going to be in later. I called time after the last burpee and gave a big shout...as if I finished a half marathon in record time. Another guy was struggling at the other end of the box...I went into coach mode and went to cheer him on. He was half way finished so I counted for him. He did 5, 4, 3 and Adan called time. I hope that guy comes back. He had a perfect stance for the hang power snatch .

I ate two chorizo con huevo tacos and hash browns with my coffee. Maybe I'll take some more ibuprofin in a bit, too. See you tomorrow!

the "off-season" and a "real" push-up

I used to call my summer months "the off-season" because I only trained for the LA marathon and didn't have another race after that. In the last three years, I have also started running a marathon in October. I've run the Nike Women's Marathon for the last two years and also plan to run the Long Beach marathon this October.

What I really mean to say is that the "off-season" is when I train alone, me and my music, my dogs and routes south of Kenneth Hahn State Recreation Area and more in my neighborhood.

It is also a time for me to reevaluate what I do at practice for the youngsters during the school year, to get them trained for the LA marathon.

A couple of months ago, Amazon sent me an deal email for a month membership to the local Crossfit "gym". I've never had a gym membership in my life (except when I was in college and it was a part of my student fees-I went twice). I thought this training would be good education to share with my runners. This isn't a typical gym. In fact, they call it "the box" because it is. a box with weights, pull ups, rings, etc. Simple.

My good friend is a Crossfit trainer/coach on the other side of the country. He took me to a workout once and I left feeling light-headed, my arms felt like spaghetti, and yet I was excited to try more. A person can go on the general crossfit website, watch the videos, learn how to exercise the crossfit way and not have to pay for a membership. The women on these videos are bad ass.

I do modified Workout of the Day (WOD) with my runners every now and then. They do burpees and squats on the regular during marathon training season.

Nothing compares to what I went through today-well maybe marathon day. I had a piece of toast with peanut butter (typical pre race food), checked the directions for the place, fed my dogs and got on my way.

Today, was my first day of fundamentals class. Crossfit has us newbies learn all the proper stances, movements and warm ups before setting us out into the "real classes." The warm up consisted of leg lifts, high knees, lunges (again, I learned the proper way), some bear crawl things, and running. I was sweaty with just that. Fun stuff.

Midway through the class, when Adan was teaching us how to do a proper push up, I thought to myself "F*#&, I've been doing them wrong my whole life." I'm in for a tough WOD. Yikes. I take back what I said in my last post. I can only do two real push ups. All the others are a "nice try".

Then it was time for the WOD. He writes it down on the board: Deadlifts, pushups, squats, run (4 times). Push-ups? I'm screwed. And I was. It took me almost a minute each time to get through 10 push-ups the "right" way (barely). The other stuff I could do and enjoyed it. I am excited that I actually am learning how to lift weights properly. By the end of the third run, I was burping up that toast and peanut butter. Probably wasn't a good idea for this workout. Lesson learned.

My arms feel like spaghetti, my legs (which are used to the pain) are yearning for more and I was starving and craving carbs after the workout. I went to the market and bought two peaches and immediately ate one of them. Came home and made myself some waffles. I smeared one waffle with Nutella, another with peanut butter (we eat a lot of peanut butter in this place) and smothered the top with a peach and banana compote.

The pancakes were from store-bought Bisquick. But the compote is something I came up with on a whim once.

Banana and peach compote

(You can substitute the fruits for whatever you like)

1 banana (as ripe as you can find it, even with black dots on it)

1 peach (soft and squishy to the touch)

1 tbsp butter (I use the low calorie Smart Balance stuff)

1 tbsp sugar (you can also substitute a tbsp of honey)

a pinch of nutmeg and cinnamon

a dash of vanilla extract

Heat the sauce pan to medium heat, add in the tbsp butter let it sizzle, add in the ingredients and let simmer. The more ripe your fruit, the less sugar need.

The bananas will melt within a minute. The peach will melt into the compote soon after, depending on the firmness of the peach (I ate the wrong one coming back from the market....I ate my super soft one, but I digress). Let it simmer while stirring the compote together to mix everything evenly. I added in a splash of strawberry nectar this time and I really like how it added to the texture and flavor.

This paired perfectly with the waffles. And the peanut butter. And the Nutella.

In the box, I noticed the white boards had lots of writing about proper nutrition and how food affects the fit body. I smiled, thinking how awesome this training is going to be. In huge red letters at the top of the board, it read "No Sugar". Yeah, that's not going to happen.

I do look forward to tomorrows workout! Maybe I'll be one step closer to doing a pull up.

165

In April 2010, I weighed 165 pounds. I am 5'3". And I was getting slower. My marathon time slowed about thirty minutes and my knees were hurting. I have always been a runner. I competed in high school Varsity cross country and track and have been signing up for community races since college.

Running has been a part of my life. As a youngster, I could really eat whatever I wanted because the amount of exercise helped me burn it off almost instantly. It wasn't until I was in my 20's that the weight slowly crept up. I was still eating three servings of whatever I felt like it.

I really was never taught about serving sizes or how to eat. I just ate. People used to talk about portion control but I never knew what that meant. I never knew that eating a super star with cheese at Carl's was 920 calories. And I had no idea how much exercise it would take to burn that off.

I am forever appreciative for whatever clicked in my head on the day that my long time friend introduced me to this cool calorie-counting app for my phone. I started using it all the time-it sort of felt like an obsession. I learned how to portion out my food and how many calories certain foods had. I liked the app because I was able to give myself a goal weight and the app would tell me how long it would take me to lose the weight.

I started cold turkey. 1500 calories a day. I earned more calories if I exercised (I think that's like Weight Watchers) so I incorporated running with my dogs every day (they need it too). We woke up every morning and ran. I walked on the days that I didn't run. I hiked on the other days. I climbed the Culver stairs every day the week of Thanksgiving to give myself enough calories on reserve to "pig out". I tried to eat more than one plate on Thanksgiving and I was spent on the first.

For the first three weeks of this challenge, I was hungry. Every day, all the time. I drank lots of water and made myself tea (unsweetened tea has almost no calories). It was tough, I won't lie.

However, there was a point in time after the initial period of hunger that I stopped being hungry all the time.

I started cooking a lot more for myself and learning what it meant to eat a serving size. I bought a kitchen scale and used my measuring utensils a lot more frequently. Told you it was an obsession.

When I went to the doctor in September of that year for my physical, I had lost 10 pounds. I felt awesome! I knew there was much more work needed to be done and I really didn't see the results on myself but I saw progress on the scale. I went out and bought a scale for my bathroom. I told myself that I would only weigh myself once a month-that seemed like enough time to watch the scale drop a little.

I continued to watch everything I ate. Now that I knew how to portion my food, I was eating appropriate serving sizes and taking my home cooked meals to work every day. I made myself a to-go breakfast of 1/2 potato, a hard boiled egg, 1 oz. of cheese and coffee. I ate that almost every work day. My snack was a serving size of almonds and cherry tomatoes or cucumber slices, to be snacked on until lunch time.

Cooking for myself was so much more exciting because I knew veggies would fill me up and would not add much in the way of calories to my weekly calorie count. I started finding new recipes and used my kitchen much more than I was used to. I started to read more about eating for a marathoner. I used "RunnersWorld" recipes and paid close attention to how foods would benefit my running. I absorbed everything I could and began looking at food as fuel for my running.

By December, I definitely saw results.

My clothes started to fit loose after that. Little by little, my clothes became much more baggy and pretty soon, my size 12 was just too big. I had to buy more clothes. I did so sparingly, buying only a couple of pairs of jeans on ebay, because I wanted to treat myself after hitting my goal weight. I even unpacked some of my clothes from college and asked for hand me downs from my family members.

I started sharing what I learned with my runners (I'm a coach, mentor and leader for a running program in Los Angeles and have written about my experience with them-sans weight loss). Nutrition was part of training that I never could share with anyone because I wasn't well versed on the subject. I learned so much about food in the year that I was so excited to share it (I still am) with my marathoners-in-training.

February, 2011 was when I hit my goal weight, 135. It was a month after I expected, but I did it. I also saw other benefits. My running pace improved by almost a minute per mile. In 2011, I beat my marathon time from 2010 by 26 minutes and beat it again this year by 43 minutes.

Changing the way I ate and the way I perceived food certainly helped my training, it made me a better (and smarter) runner. The process sometimes felt impossible-especially when I really wanted a piece of chocolate cake and man did it challenge my self discipline!

But slipping into a clothing size 4 for the first time ever in my life was exhilarating. Would I recommend it to others? Absolutely. But have patience with yourself.

I still don't know how to do a pull up and have a hard time doing any more than 10 push ups at one time, but I'm working on that. Stay tuned! Cheers!

garbanzorizo....whaaat?

For nearly a year, I counted the calories I consumed. It was one of the most difficult tasks I have ever done. The counting of the calories wasn't the problem, it was having to restrain myself from overeating and finding foods that weren't saturated in butter or sauces or whatever high calorie options permeate American culture. What I did learn during this time, was that it is completely possible to feel satisfied and satiated with a 500 calorie meal.

One of the tricks was to also ease away from eating so much red meat. Don't get me wrong, I love the juiciness of a nice piece of carne asada topped with avocado and queso fresco and salsa on a corn tortilla. I also salivate at the thought of eating an In-n-Out burger animal style. But I have learned how to balance out my food consumption with the amount of running I do for the week. Balancing out my food and exercise actually gives me something to look forward to after a really long run.

10-mile run? I get to treat myself to a #2 animal style at In-n-Out.

13 miles? the Fiesta Martin Special at my favorite restaurant (steak and eggs, beans, potatoes-heaven).

26.2 miles? Anything I want (although I do get really full now, this isn't as exciting as it sounds).

Vegetables and legumes are some of the best food options to satiate a very large appetite-and are low in calories as well as "good for you". Doctoring them up makes life so much better.

I had an idea one day.

It was a day that I really needed to go to the market but I was also really hungry. In the cupboard, I had a can of garbanzo beans and a packet of chili seasoning. In the fridge, tortillas. What the heck? Turns out, they can all go together quite nicely. The seasoning coupled with the flavor and texture of mashed garbanzo beans makes me really feel like I'm eating chorizo. Put that in a tortilla? Garbanzorizo tacos.

Say what?

Yeah, 1/2 cup off garbanzo beans=120 calories. Two tortillas?=110 calories. Half an avocado? 114 calories. 1 oz. queso fresco for topping? 80 calories. Yup. You get the picture. A meal under 500 calories. Beware, the tacos are so good that you may want to eat more than two tacos...eat them slowly. Enjoy the flavors.

serves 2

Garbanzorizo tacos

Ingredients

4 tortillas

1 can-15 oz garbanzo beans

1 packet (1.25 oz) Hot chili seasoning (McCormicks is my favorite, but you can use any that you find in the spices and seasonings aisle.)

1 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

juice from 1/2 lime

1-3 tbsp canola oil

I like to make the entire can but I only use about half of it for this serving. I would store the remaining for another fabulous day.

First, you'll need to warm your hotplate or metal skillet to warm the tortillas, eventually.

If you are lucky enough to have an awesome sister that bought you a hand-held food "processor" the mashing up of the garbanzo beans gets really easy. Smash up the can of beans good enough so they have a really smooth consistency.

Once you've smashed up the garbanzo beans, add in the parmesan cheese, lime juice and the packet of chili seasonings. Mix well.

Use 1/2 tablespoon of the oil in a saucepan, add in the garbanorizo and let it heat up.

There are a couple of ways to make the tacos: soft or hard shell. The hard shell tacos increase the calorie count (because of the fried tortillas) but also increases the yumminess.

For soft tacos, warm up the tortillas and add about a tablespoon of garbanzorizo into the tortilla. They are awesome.

For hard tacos, heat up two tablespoons of oil into a frying pan (I use an omlette pan because I don't like the tacos to be saturated in the oil. Just enough for the tortilla to get a little crunchy.

Fill the tacos with the garbanzorizo. I keep the two sides of the tortilla together with toothpicks on each side. Place the taco into the oil and let each side get crispy. Once the tortilla gets a bit golden, flip them to the other side.

Pull the tacos out, place them on a paper towel to cool off (and to absorb the excess oil). Pull out the toothpicks and get them ready to fill with extra flavors. Add in whatever toppings you'd like. I add in some shredded lettuce, queso fresco, and avocado.

I've been told that these tacos can trick a person into thinking they're eating a meat of some sort. The flavors of the garbanzo beans, lime, parmesan cheese and seasoning mix is a perfect kind of happiness on a plate with a great depth of flavors. Tell me what you think! :)

Homage to the Southland

Living in Los Angeles gives me the pleasure of fast paced, urban awesomeness. I love (dare I say it) traffic, people, diversity in places; it is amazing. I especially love the bits of nature in the city where I can go, work out, breathe in the beautiful scents of the arid climate and forget for a minute that I live in this bustling city.

Three miles away from my house is the very convenient Baldwin Hills Scenic Overlook. It is a place one can go if they want a great 300 degree view of the city, from San Pedro to East LA on a good day.

The catch? You have to get up there.

Of course, someone could drive, park, pay $5 and enjoy the view, but what's the fun in that?

Being at the top of the "stairs" (as they are called out here) with calves, quads and lungs burning while enjoying the breathtaking view of the city, is quite the accomplishment. It's why patrons frequent the place. The stairs are a pretty intense workout and lots of fun, especially with the right music or company, just watch your step! Yelpers have taken some pretty cool photos of the stairs but the best way to enjoy the view is to be there. And you can't just go up once.

In honor of nature and eating fresh and healthy, I decided to make a delectable breakfast dish of fresh vegetables-Mexican style, something that my family (mom, aunts and grandmother) taught me to make.

Nopales (prickly pear cactus) with eggs (and potatoes...did I mention that I love potatoes?). It sounds weird and crazy and everything in between if you've never tried nopales-or tried them when they weren't cooked properly. But they are yummy and smell delicious when cooked!

Of course, I watched my grandmother make this dish on more than one occasion but in all honesty, making nopales terrifies me. I worry that they won't come out right (that doesn't happen) or I worry that someone won't like them (that doesn't happen either). It would be a good idea to google (or bing or ask jeeves or whatever internet search is on your current computer) the health benefits of nopales-oodles of Vitamin C and antioxidant properties that would make you go "hmmm." I was inspired to make this dish last week after my friend ordered it at my favorite restaurant.

Let me give you the ingredients...(and the calorie counts because I'm a bit obsessed).

Serves 4

Nopales Scramble

• 8 eggs (74-90 calories per egg depending on size)
• 1 cactus leaf chopped (14 calories)
• 1/4 brown onion chopped (4 calories in an entire onion)

you can substitute any kind of onion you'd like or have in your home. I have brown onions because they're inexpensive...and in my home at the moment.

• 1 red bell pepper chopped (30 calories)
• 1 green bell pepper chopped (30 calories)
• 1 serrano chile chopped(miniscule calories)
• 2 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 tbspn butter (I use Smart Balance extra virgin olive oil buttery spread because it's only 60 calories a tablespoon)
• Juice from 1 lime
• 1 tsp salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/4 c cilantro
• 1 heaping bunch of bravery (if you've never had nopales)

Warm up your frying pan with medium heat.

Start off with taking the prickly stuff off the cactus. Run your sharp knife sideways on one side of the cactus like you're trying to spread oil over it (it will start feeling slimy-but no fear that will cook away). Do the same thing for the other side. Then cut around the leaf, taking off the prickles from the outside of the leaf. Once you have a slimy leaf, it's time to start slicing away!

It may be a good idea to wipe off your cutting board (or use another) for the rest of the chopping.

Once you've done that, take a tablespoon of butter and put it into the pan and let it melt, toss in the nopales and onions and let them cook until the onion is translucent. While the onion and nopal are cooking, squeeze in the juice from one lime, add in salt, pepper, and garlic. You will notice that the slime is cooking away at this point.

When the onions are "ready" (and the slime is nearly gone) toss in the bell peppers, chile and let them cook together. If you'd like more heat, add another chile.

While those are cooking, it may be a good time to crack your eggs into a bowl and scramble them. (I add in grated parmesan cheese to add texture and about 1/4 c of milk for creaminess but shh don't tell anyone!).

Right before tossing in your eggs, add in the cilantro and let it cook for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs and scramble! When the eggs have cooked, add oregano at the very end and mix everything together for one last time.

I garnished it with a slice of queso fresco to cool my mouth a bit from the heat of the serranos (the cheese could be crumbled, yes).

Eating the nopal alone will reveal that they have almost no flavor. The lime, salt and pepper enhances the flavor. Bell peppers are sweet and not only add beautiful color to the plate, they add crunch and lots of antioxidant properties. The red peppers add almost a fruity flavor to the dish while the green bell peppers even it out with a hint of bitter (fajita) flavor. My grandmother also likes to chop up tomatoes and add them in, but I forgot to buy one yesterday. Oops.

Mixing it in with the rest of the vegetables makes for a very healthy, low calorie and filling breakfast. You can also put this scramble in a corn torilla and take some to-go tacos or fill a flour tortilla as a burrito.

I had food coma after my meal. I guess I deserve a nap after my workout on the stairs and in the kitchen.

Garlic and cilantro fries

The last several days has me scouring pinterest for recipes, new DIY project ideas, crafts, and home decoration inspiration. It was actually on that site that I realized how amazing some of these home cooks are and how excited I was to know that so many people are willing to share recipes! It's quite awesome.

Growing up, it was a common understanding that if someone wanted to know your recipe, you wouldn't just hand it over...you had to teach them how to cook it.

That's how I learned to make mole, Mexican rice (Spanish rice is yellow, not orange/red like Mexican rice), frijoles de la hoya (pinto beans-of course I under cooked and over cooked plenty a pot of beans before I could be comfortable saying this) and the list goes on.

It's also where I learned how to substitute ingredients if I didn't have anything of this spice or that one. My grandmother has quite the creative mind when it comes to cooking.

She's about to celebrate her 80th birthday at the end of the month. She has over thirty grandchildren and several great-grand children, and nine children of her own.

Gramma had to cook for a lot of people. There are 10 seats at her dining table. When

we get together, we often eat in waves at the table.

The rest of us that aren't so patient take our plate to the living room and eat it sitting on the couch or another chair, using our knees as a table.

Today, my breakfast brought me back to gramma's house, partly. It consisted of chorizo (spiced ground beef) and egg tacos (that she taught me how to make) and garlic and cilantro fries-a recipe I pinned earlier last week. They look yummy in the picture. I don't know how people make their food look so yummy in photos. My photos barely look delectable (even though they are delicious). Anyway, thetalkingkitchen's recipe looked simple enough so I made them this morning.

by lafig

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 20-25 mins

Keywords: potatoes cilantro garlic

Ingredients (2-3 servings)

• 5-6 yukon gold potatoes, cut into thin fries
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 – 3/4 tsp sea salt
• pepper
• 1/4 c. loosely packed cilantro leaves, finely chopped

I replaced the "Yukon Gold" potatoes with Russet potatoes because I have those coming out of my ears ($0.89 at the local market for a 10lb bag would have you buying a few bags too).

I love potatoes.

Because I only cooked for myself this morning, I made one potato and fractioned up the rest of the ingredients (almost 1Tbsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp garlic powder, small handful of cilantro leaves).

I added finely chopped garlic to the olive oil mix and some onion powder (I love onion powder-but that's another blog). Added the potatoes to a plastic container, added the oil and shook away!

When I put them into the oven (for 15 minutes), the aroma of warm garlic immediately filled the room. I'm so glad I added the fresh garlic!

The chorizo and egg tacos were easy. I used store bought beef chorizo, cooked up about 1/4 cup before adding in the (previously mixed) egg. The grease (I know, yuck but yum!) cooks the eggs and chorizo so it is really not necessary to add anything else to the pan. Adding any sort of spice to the eggs will be washed out by the flavor of the chorizo. I only add some shredded Parmesan cheese to the egg before tossing it in to cook.

Once they're finished, I cut up some avocado and added slices in the taco.

Avocados are 7/$1 at the market so I add avocado to everything. This entire meal is about 700 calories. Crazy, right?

My running partners

When I'm working, I often wake up before the sun to go out for a run or a walk with my dogs. I don't wake up that early on vacation. I make it up to the doggies as they bask in the sun and smell every corner of our neighborhood on very long walks or they let their tongues drag to the floor as we're on even the shortest of running courses.

I have three small canines, by accident. Frida, the oldest and original dog that came from an unexpected litter from a family in the Coachella Valley. The family told us she was part chihuahua and wouldn't grow very big. She's thirteen pounds with long hair and long legs. She looks nothing like her siblings.

Lola came along six months later, she's the smallest-part min-pin, part chihuahua. I call her a chin-cher. Canela ( (ka·ne·la means cinnamon in Spanish) is the youngest and most traviesa (troublemaker).

I joke about having so many dogs, saying "I have a house full of bitches" or "I went running with mah bitches".

Most of the walks are about two miles, the runs are between 2-3 miles. Sometimes, I just feel like running so we head for a 5 mile course. That's the longest distance Lola can run. If I know I'm going further out, I'll switch back and drop her off and head back out with Frida and Canela. They don't give up.

They enjoy the runs but sleep the rest of the day afterwards. I wish I could sleep the day away....

I don't cook for them. They eat dog kibble.

Time to eat

I've spent most of my life as a runner. I remember being five years old and chasing my sister around. I remember my dad coming in to the house and telling my older sister that she could run track. I couldn't wait until it was my turn.

After practice, we would visit my grandparents, and my grandmother would let my dad have it, scolding him for keeping us out in the triple digit heat. She would tell him that we shouldn't be out there running, that it wasn't good for us. My grandmother tells this story to us now, twenty five years later, describing primary schoolers in ponytails, in tiny running shorts, hair disheveled from training, and with electric red cheeks.

Anytime we stopped by my grandparents house, there was always something cooking and we needed to prepare to eat...no matter what time of day it was. I remember her feeding everyone from my grandfathers employees to my aunts' friends. We learned how to cook in that home.

I can count on my hands the time we visited a fast food joint growing up. Everything made at home or at my grandmothers' was made with fresh foods and made with lots of love. All the recipes I originally learned were meant to feed a football team (I have an obnoxiously large family full of cousins). It wasn't until I moved to college that I learned how to cook for one...and two....albeit with a few screw ups.

Cooking for myself has become such a fun activity. But it has also saved my sanity and my health. I am a marathoner. I have been blessed with the ability to run many miles and still have strong knees...not to mention a healthy appetite. I look forward to sharing my victories and blunders in the kitchen and on the road.