Amazing

I stole this image from my sister's blog (you should stop by and tell her she has awesome kids). Anyway, this is my 12 year old niece crossing the finish line as the first woman overall... yeah you heard that right. Not the first one in her age group, the first female to cross the finish line. I wonder if the guy running just ahead of her had friends at the finish line yelling, "Hey! You are going to get passed by a little girl!" I like to think he did. Why am I posting this you ask? Well as a proud aunt I reserve the right to brag a little about my niece, but also because I think we can learn a lot from from niece and nephew.

They are tough and they are always give it 100%, even when they take a fall or they are behind. When I went to watch them in a triathlon recently I watched my nephew finish the run portion and tag the next member of his team. We were all telling him how great his time was when my mom noticed he had a bloody knee. We asked what happened and he said "Oh, I fell." Here is a kid running 5K, not only does he fall and hurt his knee and then gets back up to finish the race but he doesn't even mention it. My niece finished the entire triathlon on her own and came in the second woman overall... did I mention she's 12?

These kids are amazing! I want to be amazing too.

yummy yummy yummy

I just had a very yummy dinner... if you have been craving something creamy and cheesy you should try this it won't ruin your diet but your tastebuds will think you did. This idea came from the current weight watchers magazine (not really a recipe just a comment in one of the success stories). To a skillet I added 2T of vegetable broth, heated it on high heat until it was boiling. Then I added half a bag of spinach and cooked it on high heat. When it was almost done I added one wedge of low-lat laughing cow cheese and let it melt. It was so creamy and cheesy it made a great side dish to my veggie burger and fruit. With only 15 calories in the broth, 20 calories in the spinach and 35 calories in the cheese that is a 70 calorie side dish that tastes like 200 calories. Go ahead try it... Well... What are you waiting for?

Running went well this morning and I must have put on about 8 miles walking around town today. I had my littlest niece today (see is a very cute 1 1/2) and she loves to go for walks. We wouldn't be back at the house for 30 minutes and she would be pointing outside and asking to go again... and as her aunt I reserve the right to spoil her and do whatever she asks me to do.

run for fun?

This is one of my nieces, she is six years old and ran her first race this weekend. She did great and was very proud of her new running outfit and the ribbon she received when crossing the finish line.

I have been thinking about exercise today... what do I want to do, what should I do, what can I do? I was reading the Fat (free) me blog and she mentioned the couch to 5 k program. The reason I think running may be something I could get into is because my family has really gotten into running in the past couple years. They spend many weekends participating in 5K's ,10K's and half marathons. They seem to enjoy it and I enjoy going to cheer as they cross the finish line. I can only assume I would also enjoy a good cheer from the crowd. I did some poking around on itunes and found a couch to 5k program that I subscribed to. It suggests starting out with three days a week, so for "Week One" the goal is Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday for the fist podcast. I will reevaluate after week one.

Wish me luck!