Looking back, I never imagined how much my life would change over just 5 years, but I couldn’t think of a better way to celebrate 5 amazing years than running one amazing triathlon, for one great cause, all while being supported by some of the most amazing friends in my life. 

It’s funny this picture I think puts it perfectly how the past 5 years of my life have played out, I’ve been held up by so many people over the years, and I couldn’t have done it without all of them.  I am ever so greatful for how good God has been to me, how richly blessed he has blessed my life with family and friends to run one amazing life changing race with.

A lot has changed in 5 years..

I’ve lost a 115 pounds! Craziness! That is like an entire person.
I am eight sizes smaller than where I started.
I’ve grown to know God on a deeper level than I ever thought I could because I couldn’t have gotten here without him.
I’ve ran 7 5K’s, 7 Sprint Tri’s and 2 Olympics!
 
God is so good, I am ever so thankful, he won my heart over 6 years ago, and uber thankful for his constant and faithful grace to run the race he has for me daily even when I don’t neccessarly feel like it.  I am thankful for his little nudges and reminders to run towards what he has for me, and not what this earth tells me what I need, I am soo thankful for his truth in all of it. I am thankful for how he has faithfully lead me over the past 5 years and I am excited to see where he will continue to lead in the next 5, it’s one amazing race I am looking forward to!

Thanks to many many faithful friends and family to numerous to list, I successfully held my first ever garage sale for raising funds for the Leukemia and lymphoma Society.

We were pretty busy on Friday, and less busy on Saturday… BTW… don’t let anyone tell you holding a garage sale is easy, or requires no work.. It was a lot of work but it was worth it.  All together we raised over 700 dollars for a great cause!!!

Thank you to everyone who came out and thank you to everyone who set up and donated, I couldn’t have done it without you!

1. The race changed distances the morning of the tri as I arrived to transition zone from an Olympic distance to a Sprint.

2. I walked on Hampster bedding to get to the transition area on the morning of the race.

3. I did my very first ever time trial swim start.  You line up according to your number, and a swimmer enters the water every 3 seconds, instead of a large wave entering every 4 min.

(This is me, coming out of the swim, It was a nice easy swim, it was more of a warm up than a hard swim. I really wished it was longer)

4. At several times I had to be uber careful not to slip and fall while getting out onto the race course, and had several volunteers telling you to becareful not to slip on the course.

(This is me in transition, going from swim to bike)

5. While out on the bike course I saw a guy riding past me with a flat tube hanging out his back tire.. ODD!

(This is me coming in to transition from the bike,  my jersey is the one with the white strip in the middle and red on the sides, and a silver helmet, I almost thought I wasn’t in this pic.. ahaha.. cuase I thought they all looked to fit!)

6. When I started the run, 10 min into it, it started lighting and thundering and I kept going

7. While on the run, and less than a mile left, I had a firefighter who was a volunteer on the race say “go go go, just think in less than 5 min you’ll be seeing your smiling face on that big jumbo tron!” I said “that’s right” and he gave me a high five  

8.  As I got closer and closer to the finish line I wondered if the race had stopped, there were no cheers, large crowds, people were leaving, I could no longer hear the music playing, or the announcer dude, I heard dead silence, but I was soo crossing that finish line.

9. As I got closer to the finish line, you would hear, thunder, than see lightening, and then hear large amounts of screaming, like scared screaming from people leaving.. it made me laugh

10. As I crossed the finish line, warning sirens were going off, I am assuming for a severe thunderstorm warning, and then the announcer says seek shelter immediatly (nice)..

(this is me, really close to the finish line Horray!)

11. I didn’t end up in the medical tenT!  

12. I RAN the entire run! (PR in the run, woot woot!)

13. I still got to hot on the run, even in the cooler temps, and in the rain, booo! (at the water stops, I was pooring water on my head to keep me cool)

14. I saw ALL of my fam throught the race, even my dad!!!

15. When I collected my gear, it was in a puddle of mud up to my ankles.. ewww, it was soo yucky.

(this is one of my lovely towels that I had my gear sitting on in transtion, and by the time I got to transition since it was a mud pit.. so was all of my stuff, towels, gears, clothing, all of it)

Other random facts!

• I wasn’t nervous at all going into the swim.
• The water def, was NOT 75 degrees
• I was consistantly worrying on the bike about having a flat tire, I infacted prayed several times, that I wouldn’t have one.. whew!
• The run was way to hilly!
• I found my self seeking “shelter” in the massage tent, best idea ever!
• I had some cramping in my calves on the end of the bike and the first half of the run, but thankfully it eventually went away.
• My family rocks! I couldn’t do it without them.
• I have never felt better doing a tri.

We celebrated Hannah’s bday friend last Friday, I had a fabulous time and I am hoping that Hannah did too!

We went to Zin’s in Cedar Rapids, if you’re not sure what Zin’s is, it’s a fun upper scale small plate restaurant, and it was delicious!

The crew got dressed up, and we enjoyed a night of great food (for the most part, mine was amazzing) and great looking food, and good conversation. I am very thankful we got to celebrate your birthday with you Hannah! We love you much!!

Fries and Aeoli? – Jeff’s 1st course

Crab Ragoon Chips

Grilled Portobello

Open Philly

Mac & Cheese

Lobster Risotto

Asian Braised Beef Ribs

I was very thankful, I even got to enjoy a lovely meal, I called ahead of time to the restaurant at an off hour, that I knew wasn’t busy and asked a thousand questions, and found one meal I could eat, and it was most delicious!

The Girls!

Happy Birthday again friend! We love you, and are sooo glad we can celebrate your life with you!

I am going to be honest, week 5 was really challenging but it’s over, and I am on to week 4, recovery!! Yay. Just in time to recover before my first tri of the season, this Sunday in Des Moines.

This week was the first week that we started two a day workouts.. eek!

Monday is my normal recovery day/non workout day, but we were grilling out with some friends, and some of us decided to go Mountain biking at Sugar Bottom on Memorial Day, it was a LOT of fun!! I forgot how much fun it was, we went out mountain biking for about an hour and a half.  I had so much fun it only seemed like 10 – 15 minutes of like working out.. I am definantly going to have to get back out there again.

On Tuesday, I completed an hour swim, and a half hour run.  The swim was no problem! I swam well over a mile in under 45 minutes, life was good, the run, however I did immediatly following was HARD, every step I took my calves and shins were like.. hello moto, they hurt, and it was challenging, but I kept telling myself if I wanted to do the Hy-vee Tri I had to make it thru the run.. Thankfully I made it all the way thru the run! yay!

On Wednesday, I completed another 45 minute run, my legs were toast from the days before, and not to mention it was H-O-T but I made it These two runs were the things that I said if I completed, I would consider doing the Hy-Vee tri.. eek!

On Thursday, I was supposed to bike an hour but since I mountain biked on Monday, I skipped, and took it as a recovery day, it was soooo needed.  I also signed up for the Hy-vee Tri. Craziness.

On Friday, I did my first open water swim of the season, to make sure I could remember how to put on my wet suit and swim in open water, Amber venturned with me to Sugar Bottom and I took a little swim out across to the other side of the cove and back.  Ahh it felt so good, the swim went really well, better than I could have ever hoped and I felt really fluid and confident in the swim, and looking at the pics from it, made me feel better as well, my elbow stayed high at all times and I had a good turn over, ahh swimming I love it!

On Saturday, I was planning on a long bike.. but sometimes things don’t always go as planned, my long bike got post poned due to some weather, and then post ponned again by helping some friends move at the last minute, and then post poned due to the weather, and then just cancelled as we put up a new ceiling fan in the basement and learned wiring instead.. oh well! I am not at all worried about the bike coming up, other than some bike malfunction or such, so hopefully all goes well.

On Sunday, I had a long run, 1:05, and I made it! It definantly wasn’t the prettiest of long runs, but I made it.. I made it 4.75 miles.. yuck.. I am still really struggling with a few things, nutrition on the run, I tried a new honey gel thingy, it did not sit well at all in my stomach, so I had to end up walking, and I am also struggling with getting to hot.  I don’t really sweat that much so that’s part of my problem unfornunity it doesn’t cool me off when I am not sweating.. bummer, so I tend to overheat. My run graphs as of late have been alll over the place, which makes me a little nervous for the Hy-vee, but hopefully it will be okay. I am really missing my old running days, which is sad to say, but they were way better than these… but hopefully I will find the way some day

So after a little research.. I found coconut flour donuts – here and since it didn’t look too complicated I decided to give it a whirl I bought my first bag of coconut flour from the Edgewood Hy-Vee to see if I would like it.. I have throughly enjoyed it and will probably buy some online next time.. I’ve made crepes and now donuts with it.. it’s so yummy! But I will for warn you, if you don’t like coconut these donuts are probably not for you.

Mix the non liquid ingredients first.. then add the liquid, and blend well.

Then I used the smallest cookie dough scooper I had, and placed them into my new donut pan (I could only find mini donuts, so that’s what I used) – and filled about 2/3 of the way

Then at the very end, you dip into hot honey (I heated mine up in the microwave for ~30 sec and then into toasted coconut (I toasted the coconut in the oven for ~5-10 min) this is the best, don’t skip it sooo worth it!)) and you then have yummmy donuts!

I brought the majority of my donuts to work, for national donut day!

And incase you’re wondering, It made 35 mini donuts, Calories per serving  60, Fat 4g, Carbs 5g, Fiber .5g, Protein 1.3g

I am still pondering the thought of doing the Hy-Vee Tri, which is less than two weeks away, and so in order to do this, If I decide to do this, I would need next week to be a taper down week and a little recovery.  Since week 4 is a built in recovery week in our plan, I swaped week 5 and 4 around.  It’s gotten a little intense in training, but it’s still going fairly really well

Week three had it’s ups and downs.. my runs weren’t great.. I am not sure if it was the heat or still trying to figure out the carb/electrolyte thing, but they weren’t great, they most definatly could have been better.. but it’s okay, I am working with it.. I had to slow my pace slightly and walk once during my 45 min run and walk twice for part of my 60 min run, which means I got a little less mileage than I would have liked.. but I made it thru the time required so I am hoping my body will adjust to the heat, carbs and electrolyte thing soon!

I also went out for a longish ride on Thursday, but around 4 miles in… flat tire, you can read about that here..  But it then allowed me to bike on Friday night with Amber! Biking always goes faster with a friend, thanks for biking Amber!! and way to hang in there… We hit some tough hills, but rocked out for about 20 miles and an hour and a half of biking, it was good!  It’s good to share the journey

On Saturday, I got to meet up with my Tri coach at the pool and we worked thru some swim drills and she evaluated my swimming.. I was happy to hear her say that my swimming looks really good, I just need to work on not crossing my center line.. This makes me feel a little more confident about my swimming, I wasn’t really worried about it, but it’s great to hear a coach say, they aren’t worried about it either

On Sunday, I had planned to bike with another friend, but plans got shifted again, so I rocked out 2 hours alone, leaving early to beat the heat, it was a good ride, and got in about 30 miles. Spent some great time thinking about life, and talking to God, life is good!

Training is going really good, surprisingly well. Better than I could have ever imagined to be honest.   I am soo thankful for all of you who have chosen to support me already! I’ve come so far and getting closer and closer to my financial goal in raising money for the Leukemia and Lymphomia Society!  If you haven’t had a chance to fill out your form or send it in yet, you still have time! Or you can donate online here.

P.S. If you haven’t already, mark your calendars!! I’m holding a large garage sale for fundraising on June 18th and 19th at my sisters in Amana on G Street! I would love to see you all there, and if you have anything you want to donate to sell, let me know.

So I made this for a BBQ this past weekend… It was amazing, the dish came home empty, so a good success! – All my friends enjoyed, some even commented it tasted like pecan pie, ohh it was so good I think you could even pass it off as dessert.

You can find the original recipe and pics here.

I think the only thing I would change would be is actually way less honey, and less butter all together, it was almost to sweet for me.. I noticed that as I have backed off sugars and such things have become sweeter and sweeter, but over all this was good and I would totally make it again!  Oh and I left out the bourbon

I didn’t use all of the honey that the recipe called for to begin with.. so if your making it, it’s sweet, but gooooood!

And incase your wondering, Serves 9, Calories per serving  172, Fat 11.6g, Carbs 17g, Fiber 3g, Protein 2.2g

So your wondering what to do with all that left over zucchini your all getting from your garden right? Or you want something that you will actually eat and enjoy! Or you want something that is really really yummy, that you can pass off to your roomates, and they will actually enjoy it, rather than saying yeah its edible.. OR you just want something really yummy and edible and healthy.. then THIS is it!!

It takes 2 days to make! Yes you heard correctly.. but it is sooo worth it.. I mean, I let Amber try some of it today, she actually said “that is reallly really good” which is an amazing complement! Trust me, it’s Yummy!

You can find the original recipe here.. ALONG with Pics!   I forgot to take some, was to hungry.

The most important thing to remember is to spread out your zucchini on a cookie sheet to dry at room tempature for at least 24 hours, I let mine dry for like.. 30ish.. It was amazing!! Also make sure your black beans are as DRY as possible when putting them into the dish..

I of course made changes to the original recipe.

4 c shredded zucchini, spread out on a cookie sheet to dry at room temperature at least 24 hours ( I let mine dry for about 30ish)
2 c. SCD Black Beans, thoroughly drained and dry. ( I used regular black beans, from the store, I attempted to make black beans, but failed miserably earlier in the day, ahahaha   )
2 c. cooked chopped chicken ( I cooked mine on the stove, in some oil and garlic, mmmm, yummo!)
1 small can chopped olives (ommitted, I don’t really like olives, but if you do! add them in!)
1/4 c. chopped roasted chiles (optional)
1-2 c. Tomatillo Salsa or your favorite salsa or enchilada sauce (I just used enchilada sauce)
1/4 c. chopped onion (Didn’t have any on hand so I skipped)
1/4 tsp. cumin (Skipped)
1/4 tsp. garlic powder (eyed amount)
1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
2 c. shredded cheddar or Monterey jack cheeses, or a combination of both

And incase your wondering, Serves 9 Calories per serving  228.3, Fat 9.9g, Carbs 15.6g, Fiber 5.0g Protein 19.5g

I don’t know how long it cooked?! I went for a run, (45 min) and asked my roomie to take it out when it got bubbly or after 40 minutes.. And when I returned from running.. It was amazingly delicious!  I had some the next day for left overs, still amazingly delicious..

Update – You can also freeze this… it is still delicious reheated, horray!

I made this “bread” using this recpie only altering it by using 1 TBSP of canola oil instead of the butter. The only thing I would change with this was I would slide the “bun” thinner and have less of it.. but it however was most delicious!