Au Naturel.

There is no way I can go back. I used to buy into all of it. I took my Dunkin Donuts coffee with 3 equal and 5 ice cubes. I spent millions (ok maybe not millions) of dollars on deodorants and shampoos and lotions and face washes (when I was younger I, no joke, remember using a minimum of three different face washes each morning, trying to get rid of the dreaded acne). I bought the latest running shoes every couple of months. I was all about the low-fat, no-fat. But then something changed. I don’t know when. And I don’t know how. It just started to gradually happen. I started reading more about vegan and raw diets/lifestyles.  One book lead to another book which lead to a blog or an article or back to a book. Talking to people. Which lead to more books or blogs or articles. Until the other day, on my run, wearing my Vibrams, I realized how far into I was and that I would never go back.

The change wasn’t instantaneous, but the further into this lifestyle I get, the more I know this is where I’m supposed to be. I now use baking soda to wash my hair. Coconut oil infused with essential oils for my deodorant. I will never wear another pair of conventional running shoes. I will never put Splenda or any other type of fake sweetener in anything I consume. Real, whole foods are better than processed crap any day. Slowly but surely I am phasing things out of my life. B thinks I’m crazy. I joke and call myself a hippie. But who doesn’t want to live a more sustainable life? When did we lose that? My next project is to learn how to garden. I can’t grow a thing and have killed many plants, but I just know that’s my next step in this journey. Maybe I’ll start with some herbs.

Until then, I will continue to shop for my organic produce. And we were at Whole Foods the other day. Early, before all the crazies came out. And they had just put out some raw asparagus salad. We tried it and it was delicious. So I picked up three bunches of asparagus spears (what else was I supposed to do?), and came home and made the salad. So, here it is.

Copycat Whole Foods Asparagus Salad

One bunch of asparagus

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp minced garlic

salt and pepper

Directions:

Cut asparagus into two-inch long pieces. Toss in a bowl with olive oil, garlic, and salt and pepper to taste. Can be eaten right away, but if you let it marinate for two hours or so, it gives all the flavors a chance to sink in and it is delicious!

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Irritated armpits.

I have never felt like the scents in conventional deodorants reacted with my body well. They smelled good at first, but then as soon as I started sweating, it left me with a weird smell. This began my journey into natural deodorants. I searched far and wide. I spent lots of money. I threw away a lot of products. I’m not trying to control my sweat, I just want to smell better when doing it. As I have mentioned before, I have a very active job. So I needed something to stand up to that. Many of the natural deodorants worked well on my “days off,” but by the end of a work day, I needed a shower.

I thought I had found one that I liked. It was my “work deodorant.” It was pretty intense, while still being natural. If my pits were too wet when I put it on, they burned. And it did not feel well. So I learned to completely dry them before putting it on, and not making much movement until it was absorbed. This worked well for me until the end of this summer. I didn’t have any days off for two months. None. I worked every. single. day. So, naturally, I wore my “work deodorant” every. single. day. My pits did not react very well to this. They became raw. And developed sort of a heat rash. I know, I know. I am sharing a lot. But it is a real problem. So, I started experimenting again with deodorants. I tried just coconut oil. I tried just cornstarch. I tried my “day off deodorant.” I ordered from different companies. I found one that I do like. It is from a great company called Bumble and Bee and this is the one I have been using. It is wonderful. It has a very subtle patchouli scent, is gentle on my pits, and for the most part, holds up to my work day test. But I’m lazy and busy and don’t always oder more before I need it. Or run out of money exactly when I run out of deodorant.

I have been “pinning” recipes for some DIY deodorants for a while. Haven’t really made any yet, but I knew I wanted to start experimenting some more with some DIY deodorants. Because that’s what I do. I did what any other person would do, and I searched it on the internet. I found this recipe from Wellness Mama and tried it out. I used Recipe Number 2, mainly because I already had everything. I added some lavender oil to the first batch. When I tried it out, my pits already being sensitive, it burned. Which means it probably would have passed the test, but my sensitive underarms needed something a bit more gentle.

I tried it a second time and tweaked the recipe a bit. Wanting it a little bit more solid, I started with less coconut oil. Guessing that the baking soda was the ingredient irritating my skin, I cut waaay back on that and added more cornstarch. I used tea tree oil for its bacteria eliminating properties. It ended up definitely more solid and I could use it almost like a bar. I have worn it through two full 12 hour days at work while still smelling fresh by the end of it. The redness in my pits has gone down and my skin is super soft. I still have some itching, but it has gone down A LOT. I’m gonna keep using it and see how it goes! It is easy to apply and there is a lot less mess than some of the natural deodorants I purchased. This is what I did:

About 3 TBSP of coconut oil

1  – 1 1/2 cups of cornstarch

1 tsp of baking soda

5-10 drops of tea tree oil

I kneaded all ingredients together and added some extra cornstarch to make it all stick together and become fairly solid.

I’ve been keeping mine in a pyrex container.

No pictures because really, it looks like a white ball. Nothing fancy.

I have also been contemplating a neutralizing underarm “tonic” to help reset the pits after a particularly active day. Some sort of water and tea tree oil mixture. I will try out some different combinations. Bumble and Bee has some for sale on their website, but, once again, I’m lazy. And I have tea tree oil. And water. So I may as well make some of my own.

 

On another note, in the spirit of DIY, I want to build a desk. And a book shelf. And a reading nook. Not sure how any of those will turn out. I mean, I like tools, but I am not sure how handy I am with building things.

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Green Smoothies

Life has been crazy. When things get tough at work, I don’t always eat the best. I have really been trying to start my day off with a green smoothie to get some greens in my diet and also because I just feel better. More energy, better mood, alertness. And then I don’t feel as bad eating a cheese danish later in the day.

In my quest to eat mostly plant based and find a balance of healthy living and living in the real world, I know that what I choose to incorporate in my diet I need to be able to continue to do for the rest of my life. Or at least some variation. In the past, I have fallen into many “fad” diets or diets that were too restricting. Enter the green smoothie. By now, just about everyone has heard that greens are good for you. Kale is a superfood and green salads are king. So in my quest for lifelong health, of course I am going to try to incorporate these powerhouse foods.

The thing about green smoothies is that they are really versatile and they don’t even really have to be green. Especially if you add some blueberries and cherries. They end up looking more like chocolate. But they do not taste like chocolate. But you could put chocolate in a green smoothie.

So, my green smoothies. I like to use spinach in my smoothies because it doesn’t have a strong taste. And I don’t like eating it raw or cooked because of how it feels on my teeth. But blend it in to a smoothie and I don’t even know its there. Except sometimes for the color. This has been my go-to green smoothie that I have not gotten sick of just yet. And it’s super easy because I just get the big bag of frozen organic strawberries from Costco.

 

AB&J Green Smoothie

yields: about 4 cups (breakfast)

2 bananas (fresh or frozen, depends on how cold you want it)

2 cups frozen strawberries

1 TBSP raw almond butter

big handful (about a cup) of fresh spinach

1/2 cup to 1 cup of coconut water (depending on desired consistency and if you use frozen or fresh fruit)

1-2 tablespoons local honey or sweetener of choice (I know honey is not vegan, but I would rather use local honey for allergies than take a pill)

 

Place ingredients into high speed blender in order listed. Blend until smooth. Drink up!

 

Apologies for no photo. It’s been that busy. And I mean, we haven’t even posted for almost a year…but…we’re back!

 

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Spaghetti Squash baked seeds

After cutting open the spaghetti squash I realized how similar this inside was to a pumpkin.  The recipe I was using to prepare the spaghetti squash said to scoop out the seeds and discard, but like a long tradition of using every corner of a napkin before you get a new one, I thought there had to be something interesting i could do with the seeds.

When we were younger while we were carving our jack-o-lanterns we’d take the seeds from inside the pumpkin, lay them flat on a cookie sheet, rub them in olive oil, sprinkle with lawry’s salt, bake for 20 minutes then enjoy.  We’d keep them in a cup on the counter and between my sisters and my mom they didn’t last long.

When you go to the store there’s always bags of pumpkin seeds baked, salted and sold $3 for 5 oz’s but you never see any squash seeds. The recipe I used for the spaghetti squash told me to throw the seeds away, but I couldn’t bring myself to do that.

What a pleasant surprise.

I coated them in olive oil, sprinkled them with dried chipotle & smoked salt seasoning, baked for 20 minutes and ate them while they were tying to cool on the cookie sheet.  For what I can tell these taste just like pumpkin seeds.  So if you do find yourself using the spaghetti squash PLEASE don’t throw away the seeds.  Just bake them and eat them for a delicious snack! You could always turn them into a pesto if you really wanted…

INGREDIENTS
spaghetti squash seeds
lawry’s or other seasoning salt to taste
olive oil (or your preferred oil) to evenly coat seeds

Coat the seeds evenly with oil and seasoning. Bake for 25 min at 350. Try to let them chill but you’ll most likely eat them straight from the cookie sheet.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Seasonings

Another week with the glorious CSA, another vegetable I’ve hardly ever cooked.  This time it’s spaghetti squash.

Although I’ve eaten the stuff I’ve never actually prepared it.  It was somewhat difficult to cut it open, but with some love and a sharp knife I was able to make it happen.  The cool thing about spaghetti squash is that after warming it up in the oven (or possibly some other way) you can take a fork to it and pull the inside out like actual spaghetti (OH, that’s why they call it that!). Since I’m not entirely on the gluten-free band wagon but trying-to-cut-out-white-flour-to-help-cut-out-calories this was a delicious alternative to actual spaghetti.

Using this recipe from “and then I cooked” as a base, I basically prepared it similar until the spices and the discard part.  Please save your spaghetti squash seeds for a nice snack.

Since this was my first time cooking with spaghetti squash I wanted to get a good understanding of how it tastes, etc so I know what to do with it.  I nuked it for 8 min, baked it for about 20 min, forked out the spaghetti guts then sauteed it with butter, coconut oil & garlic.  Although she called for cooking it in only butter, I figured I’d just use about a tsp of it for flavor mixed with the healthier coconut oil.  If you’re gonna Paula Deen it up by all means use a half stick, I’m just trying to watch my calorie intake.

This kind of reminded me of tofu, where it has a fairly neutral although ‘gordy’ flavor, it takes on the spices very well.  I can see this used with taco seasoning or the like for some squash tacos, etc.  Hmm…

I had 2 squashes so I seasoned them differently, so, season to your liking, but below is what I did.

INGREDIENTS
1 whole spaghetti squashed.  Roasted, then fork out the guts
2 tbsp no salt seasoning to taste, mix all over
1 tsp butter for frying
1 Tbsp coconut oil for frying
garlic for frying to taste

First nuke in the microwave or possibly the oven for 8/10 minutes.  Scrape out the inside then scoop onto a skillet with coconut oil or butter if you’re into that sort of thing.  Saute until golden, golden brown.  Place on a salad or eat straight up.

*I’ll figure out the pictures soon enough.

Homemade Chipotle Hot Sauce

As you’ll soon find out I have an extreme love for hot sauce. My go to is usually Sriracha, like most people. Although it’s recently been the hottest thing since sliced bread, I once again thank my mom for introducing me to it years ago.

During my one and only trip to Europe a few years ago each country that I went to had a different style of sriracha. In the US it’s ‘cock sauce’, but in France it might’ve been panda, belgium it was whale, etc. It sort of became a fun game going to the different countries to see which type of animal was on the hot sauce.

I’m also a big fan of Tabasco hot sauce. I prefer their Mild & Chipotle hot sauces to their straight up red sauce, but would use the red if it was the only thing in front of me. Like any hot sauce freak I put it on any meals that it could possibly compliment. No I don’t use it with cereal or smoothies or ice cream, although spicy chocolate is delicious..

Being the multi-cultural type dude that I am aside from the CSA my go to grocery store is the local Mexican fresh market. Underneath their veggie isles they have giant bags of corn husks and dried chile peppers. Every time we go to the store I dream of all the different hot sauces I can make. My particular store usually has serrano, amongst a few others.

Finally I came across some dried chipotle chilies.

I used the whole bag (maybe 8 peppers) plus 2 from a separate ancho dried chilie bag. I’m assuming it’s the other chilies that made this so hot, but i still need to play around with adding vinegar to thin this out.  I kept it in a glass container for a few weeks.  I didn’t notice any molding etc but would be interested to hear from someone more involved with canning/hot sauce knowledge on the best way to do this.

INGREDIENTS
10/12 dried chipotle chilies
2 ancho/jalapeno/choose desired hotness chile
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup onion
1/4 cup vinegar

Place all ingredients into the food processor.  I kept in all the seeds for a spicier flavor.  Don’t use the extra peppers or seeds if you want something a little more mild.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge and enjoy on almost anything.

Mac & 4 Cheese

mac & 4 cheese

Who doesn’t love mac & cheese?

For me, I have memories of back in the day at a friend’s house eating multiple bowls of some MSG filled orange/yellow type cheese stuff, that I’d scarf down like I was trapped in a desert for weeks and haven’t seen food since I left on the journey.

Once I was old enough to make it myself, but not smart enough to know better, I’d make my own box of bright orange/yellow cheese like substance and load it up with Sriracha or chipotle tabasco and eat it until there was just a milky residue left at the bottom of my bowl.

We bought some a few weeks ago, at you guessed it, and still have the boxes staring me in the face when I kneel down to figure out what I want to eat on those late nights (link to drunken food lament) and this Friday I decided to make some.

As this blog evolves more stuff will be made from scratch, but for now I like taking something that was about 60% made for me, then add to it. This time I had gorgonzola, gouda, goat & regular box organic dried cheese to add to the mix.   Since I don’t like just eating senseless calories with white flour & cheese I added some ‘normandy style vegetables’ steamed, and then mixed with the finished cheeses and consumed with my chipotle hot sauce*. Delish.

INGREDIENTS
2 boxes of mac (from basic store bought mac & cheese, although basic quinoa basic pasta would be best, only 1 cheese packet if box pasta)
1 packet mac & cheese cheese.
1/4 c shredded gouda
1/2 c blue cheese/gorgonzola
1/4 c goat cheese
1/2 c almond milk
3 cups vegetables of choice
curry spice, onion & garlic to taste

*I try to watch my sodium and salt intake, but there are some things that I HAVE to eat some type of salt. Mac & cheese & popcorn are 2 of those definite things. In addition to penzy’s smokey mixed salt, I prefer some type of hot sauce, and in this case my chipotle hot sauce. The only boundary that my hot sauce addiction knows are cereal & ice cream, other than that I think I’ve basically put hot sauce on everything else.

Tough Mudder Wisconsin (Part 3)

Part 1 & part 2

With the cold of Artic Enema still in my underwear, we shook off the cold and jogged onward.  About halfway to the next obstacle we approached another set of bale bonds, but not before a quick 3 foot trench.  This time we wait about 10 people deep before getting the chance to jump over the hay bales.  The first one was no big deal.  For the second one I ran and as I was about to jump I slipped and slammed my foot into the bale.  If I haven’t mentioned before, a few weeks ago when I was carrying some carpet down my stairs I slipped and smashed my toe into the wall.  I thought it was broken, got an x-ray and the Dr. was unable to tell if it was in fact a hairline fracture, or if I was actually OK.  My foot felt OK for most of the race, but this hurt.  My toe throbbed and I felt like it was going to swell up the size of a plum. I tried to suck it up and went on to the next obstacle.

The Berlin Walls were a feared obstacle.  After my issue with the 7 foot wall at the beginning of the race, a 12 foot wall didn’t seem like the most fun.  I was the first one to be hoisted over so I could help the girls down on the other side.  Josh and Kim B helped me over and basically were the only reason I got over.  In the time of getting up, over, and landing I pulled something in my groin.  I helped everyone get down and because of the groin only did 1 wall.  Josh was able to get over the 2nd wall on his own and helped the girls down.  I helped boost them up on the first side.  Great.  Done.  For now.

Onto another random test.  This was the wheelbarrow.  You pair up with someone.  Kate got on her hands and I grabbed her feet.  She walked a good part of the way, then we walked to the halfway point.  Then it was my turn, she grabbed one leg and KK grabbed the other.  I made it about 10 ft shy of the end, and they dropped my legs.  My arms were on fire.

We jogged along and I realized there was a 3rd obstacle I was nervous about.  I go on airplanes, I work in a tall building and I’ll occasionally put my head against the window and stair down.  There’s something about the high dive that makes me nervous.  This was Walk the Plank. When we got close enough to see it in the distance I realized I was nervous about this, too.  At this point however psychologically I felt very strong, and figured it’s just another obstacle in my way to finishing, I may as well get it over with.  To approach it you need to climb some muddy 2×4’s, grip with your finger tips and scale the wall using the sides of your shoes.  I made it up fairly quickly and got to the top.  A few people went in front of me, then it was my turn.  I walked to the edge and there were people beside me.  There were about 6 different places along the top people were jumping from.  As soon as someone would swim a few feet away from the bottom someone else would fall.  Splash to the right.  Splash to the left.  the person to my left jumped in.  the person in front of me jumped in, then it was me.  Once I got to the edge the 15+ foot tall drop seemed a lot further down that it looked running up to it.  the person before me was swimming out of the way when the girl told me to jump.  I hesitated. I took a breath and jumped.  I hit the cold water, kept my mouth closed and swam as quickly as I could to the top.  Then I doggie paddled out of the water and watched the rest of our team jump.  Heights fear, accomplished.

Next was the wounded warrior.  Most of the people would throw someone over their shoulder, but not us.  KK and I grabbed Kate by each leg and carried her to the halfway point.  It was a little awkward, and you definitely realize how awesome soldiers are that carry full grown ass men on their backs during battle, when they’re exhausted and most likely thirsty and hungry.  Thank you.  Then we switched and Kate and KK carried each of my leg and carried me about 20 ft.

Then a nice refreshing mud bath for Mud Mile 2. This was basically just like the first mud mile.  We were waist deep in muddy water with big ole worms floating around on the top of the mud water.  Most of the 2 ft tall hills for us to climb had been knocked and worn down.  Even the course is taking a beating at this point.  Walking in mud was quite refreshing.  I got about halfway when I saw KK right behind me.  I waited for her and we finished the obstacle together.  We were both covered up to our necks in mud, wading through the big ole worms floating at the top of the brown water. How cute.

If I’m not mistaken this was the last set of hay bales.  We did em.

Great prep.  This brought us to the Funky Monkey.  I don’t remember the last time I did the monkey bars, especially after 10 miles of running and other random obstacles, but this was difficult.  I was still wearing my gloves at the time.  I was still wet from the mud mile, hay bales and sweat. I grabbed up to the 2nd bar and barely had the strength to hold myself up.  The gloves almost slipped off.  Jeez I thought, and my feet are still on the ground.  This is going to be fun.  The guy in front of me was a few feet in front of me and I waited for him to cross halfway before I started.  I put my hands back on the 2nd bar, then the 3rd and hung there for a minute to adjust to my weight.  I could stand to be skinnier. No time for that, the beers I’m going to drink after are going to be awesome.  I took a deep breath and just went for it.  I got into a pretty good groove and made it to the halfway point.  I feel like at this point others on our team yelled ‘go for it mike’ and I was going for it, I felt great.  then the dude in front of me was struggling.  Then he fell off.  At this point I questioned myself and it was a terrible thing to do.  He slowly go out of the water while I dangled and waited for him to move.  I started moving again but couldn’t do it, I lost my grip and fell into the water.  Next time make sure the person in front of you is 3/4 of the way done before you go.

Then we got to the pull ups.  They were going to contribute money to the Wounded Warrior project as long as they got at least 30,000 pull ups throughout the day.  We all tried.  I might’ve gotten 1.5 at this point, and amy showed us all what’s up by doing 2.75.  Nice!

The cage crawl was nice.  Like, relaxing.  We waited about 3 minutes before we had our chance to go.  You would sit down in the water, turn around then hold yourself up as close as possible to the fence and pull yourself backwards.  The water was so high that if you dropped a little bit your mouth would be covered in mud water, and let’s be honest, that’s disgusting.  I might have dipped my mouth in once or twice, but thankfully my mouth was closed.  there were a few hold ups but it was the last relaxing wade before the final challenges.

Then it was Everest.  This also freaked me out, but I didn’t realize until we were standing there watching it happen.  I remember this from when we took pictures last year, people would try to run up with their muddy shoes, only to slip and smash their head, or barely make it up.  I knew how little strength I had at the Funky Monkey and I didn’t know how I’d be able to pull myself up a muddy, slippery half pipe with even less upper body strength.  Even worse, the line to try it was about 25 people deep so we probably waited about 15 minutes before even attempting it.  What’s even worse is when you’re standing there your body is feeling everything you’ve just done to it, and all it wants to do at this point is sit or lay down.  I almost considered calling it a day.  Nope, I told myself, we’re almost done. You got this.  I watched everyone get pulled up.  all the random strangers helping people they’ve never met make it up this half pipe.  People would just hold onto the rope that 1 person was holding on to from the ledge, then someone else would pull them up from their arm pits while someone else grabbed their legs and hoisted them up.  They thanked each other and the person would go down the back.  A few of our people went and most made it.  then it was my turn.  What if I slip and fall?  What if there’s only 1 person and no one else to help me up?  What if they let go of the rope?

Don’t worry, you got this.

I took a deep breath and ran through the mud.  Once I hit the half pipe I doubled my steps and ran up about halfway, then jumped and grabbed onto the rope.  “don’t let go” the guy said.  “ok”, I responded.  I tried to pull myself up but couldn’t.  someone grabbed my arm and helped yank me up.  someone else grabbed my other side and helped me get my arm around the lip at the top.  “I got this” I said to myself.  With whatever strength I had I tried, but i think at the end of the day they were the ones that got me up there.  I thanked them, then they left.

then there I was. Someone to my right was helping someone, and someone to my left just finished.  I asked him if he’d help.  You could tell he wanted to finish the race, just like me, but he agreed to help.  I got on my stomach and held the rope down the half pipe.  I asked him if he was ready, then made eye contact and pointed to the next person in line.  they pointed at me, took their deep breath then ran.  They gave it all they had, they ran, got to the bottom of the half pipe then jumped and grabbed the rope.  they’re in my hands now.  The guy to my left reached down and grabbed them.  The guy from the right came to us and helped pull them up.  She got up, thanked us then went down the back.  I got back down on my stomach and looked at the next guy in line.  He was big.  The dude to my left got ready, we made eye contact, I pointed, and he took off.  “This is gonna be tough”, I thought, and held the rope tighter.  He got to the bottom of the half pipe then jumped, missing the rope by almost a foot.  He dusted himself off then went to the end.  We locked eyes with the next person, pointed and they were off.

The determination you see in someone right as they’re starting to run is amazing.  You could almost see right as the person starts running if they were would make it up.  The determination. This one was going to make it.  He ran, jumped and grabbed onto the rope.  I held tight.  I didn’t want to be the one responsible for their one shot at everest and then dropping them.  They made it.  My buddies to the left and right were a big help. I just held the rope.

We helped 2 more people in a similar fashion.  They thanked us for our help. The dude to my left and I declared defeat.  We were beat.  We asked the last dude we helped up to stay, he agreed.  I shook hands with the dude who’s name I’ll never know, thanked him and wished him luck.  Then I slowly climbed down the back, with my gloves.

I got down, met up with our group and we all high fived. Someone started talking about how brutal that was, and what was left.

While we waited for Everest we watched the last obstacle, electroshock therapy and I winced at the thought of getting shocked in the head or back again.  With the downtime at Everest I decided I wouldn’t do the last shock obstacle and would just walk around it to the end.  When we started towards the obstacle something took over me.  While everyone in our group was still chatting I started to jog.  I rounded the corner and the obstacle was right in front of me.  The announcer was telling walkers to stay to the right, runners on the left.  A group of 3 guys were in front of me and I was coming up behind them.  The announcer yelled at them to move. ” There’s someone coming up right behind you!  Walkers to the Right! Go for it man!” I wouldn’t walk.  I couldn’t stop.  I had this.  So what if I get shocked a few more times, I’m at the end.  This is it.

I jumped into the foot of water and ran over the hills.  I tried to dodge some of the wires, I know I got shocked and twitched my body, but I kept going.  After 20 feet I was clear.  I turned around and saw the team.  When I saw KK my eyes swelled a little.  Sure it sounds lame, but 3 miles in to this she was telling me how she couldn’t do it anymore.  she didn’t have any strength left.  Yet she stuck it out and she did most of the obstacles.  Now here she is running through the last bit of electric wires and I smiled realized how much I love her.  I waited for her, kissed her cheek, grabber her hand and we ran across the finish line together.

After a quick burrito we drove back to Illinois.  I think everyone but me fell asleep at one point (thankfully, I was driving).  We were exhausted.

Course Map.

Tough Mudder Wisconsin (part 2)

When we reached the official starting line, who I’ll assume is an ex-marine had us kneel down in the rain and spoke to us about the importance of helping each other out, that this was a challenge and not a race, and we paid our respects to current and past service men/woman. After an energetic speech, he gave us words of encouragement, we cheered in a hooRAH! x3 together and were on our way. As the cold rain dripped onto us we ran through the muddy path and almost immediately found ourselves waist deep in mud water in a small trench.

After another half mile of running we made it to “Kiss the Mud“. You basically fall to your stomach in an inch of water (because of the rain?) and mud and crawl under barbed wire. They started the course off easy.  Just be careful not to lift your head or body up too far.  We all got through this obstacle no problem and made our way to the next one.

Along the way we probably went through 1 or 2 trenches, some muddy terrain and made our way to the “Glory Blades“.  This is similar to my feared Berlin Wall, except the 8 foot wood wall was at a 45 degree angle, so yes you literally had to pull yourself up without any foot assistance.  Josh and I helped the ladies up, then he helped hoist me over where I pulled something in my left side back.  Since my left foot is the side with the bunion, I think my entire left side of my body is somewhat messed up.  I don’t know if this has something to do with my right side being the more dominant side in drumming (pedal and high hat hand) but I’m definitely off weighted in coordination and strength.  I’m attempting to fix that this year, but it probably won’t be fixed in a weekend. Either way we all made it over, with some slight injuries from the crew, and josh was the man.

For the sake of not including them and I don’t remember exactly, every 1/4 mile (or so it seemed) there was another slight trench, where you’d walk 3 feet in waist deep water, get out then keep running.  In addition every other 1/2 – 3/4 mile or so would have the extra ‘challenge’ of 30 lunges, if you liked leg cramps and 10 push ups because why not? I would usually do just 10 lunges each sign and all 10 push ups when we got to them.  Assume these happen between each or every other obstacle.

The next obstacle was the electric eel.  This freaked me out taking pictures last time, as randomly getting shocked by wires didn’t seem like a fun thing.  This was similar to the ‘kiss the mud’ challenge, except in addition to crawling on your stomach underneath barbed wire there would be random electrical wires with 10,000 volts at the end of them.  Of course you didn’t know which ones were live, so as you’re crawling in the mud your arm would get shocked and then your body would tense up.  Or your back would get shocked and tighten for a brief moment or the worst possible one your head would get shocked.  When my head was shocked it felt like I was hit in the head with a bowling ball and I paused for probably a second, but it was definitely a feeling I didn’t enjoy.  It was over after about 6 different shocks and 50 feet* of crawling.  We pulled the remaining teammates from the last 3 feet and shared the horror stories and where we got shocked.  ‘My butt’s still numb’ was one humorous experience we heard from someone jogging past us.

At this point we might have reached a water station.  Anytime we approached one of these we each drank 2 or 3 cups of water.  It was so refreshing and definitely helped.  They did a good job spacing these out.

With all the physical activity & running it tired us out. It sort of hit us all, but we weren’t going to let that get in our way. We continued on to the bear walk, where you’d walk on your hands and feet about 30 ft, slipping along the way in the mud and letting the blood rush to your head.  We bear walked about 70% of the way, got up then jogged to the killa gorilla.  This was really fun. You basically ran up the side of a muddy hill, then slid down on your butt.  This I could get down with…

After this was the bale bonds.  This was different than the picture.  I’m assuming because of the rain they knocked them down?  It was basically 5 foot tall hay bales spaced 20 feet apart.  You had to latch on and jump over them.  It wasn’t the hardest thing we did all day, but eventually jumping over 4 of these in a row would get to you.  Not to mention the slippery mud leading up to the bale made it especially difficult to jump without falling.

Next was the boa constrictor. I initially enjoyed these stomach crawls, and by now I thought they were the rest that I needed.  Similar to kiss the mud, you’d get down on your stomach and crawl through plastic tubing in 2 inches of water, to end up in 2 feet of water and then crawl up similar tubing.  This messed with you psychologically because I was basically rubbing my arms on the inside edges of the pipe, with someone 2 feet in front of me and someone else coming right behind at probably the same distance.  When the person in front of me or the person in front of them slowed down, you had to stop and wait inside the tube.  Although claustrophobia is something I’ve experienced in some random tight spots, I was able to control my breathing and make it through OK.

After the last obstacle was where KK was feeling out of it.  She didn’t think she could do it and she was getting annoyed with me when I was trying to get her to smile.  I don’t blame her.  I jogged up to josh so she can hang with her friends and he was feeling it too.  It would’ve been nice to have some sugar snacks but after what we’d been through would they have made it?  Now that I know it’s possible, maybe a sealed plastic baggie or something.  there’s always next time..

This brought us to Hold Your Wood.  Cute, right? Josh and I grabbed a 3.5/4 ft log and carried it over our left shoulder with him leading the way.  Every minute or so we’d pick it up over our heads and switch shoulders when that side would get tired. About halfway through Josh asked me why we didn’t get a smaller one. We had a pretty good groove going with him leading the way.  We had a steady walking pace, we’d say when we got sore then lifted it over our heads to the other side.  The trail was littered with people holding it in front of them 3 to the side and having a hard time.  I remember a guy and assumedly his girlfriend getting a little heated, him angrily asking her why she was walking to the side. We made it OK.  This was about when Josh’s fair skin was getting red, so he applied mud to his neck and face to try to help him from getting burnt.  He definitely got burnt, but hopefully this helped a little bit from what it could have been.

As we finished Hold Your Wood you could see artic enema just in the distance.  This was my 2nd feared obstacle, after the eels, as I also had no interest jumping into a dumpster full of freezing cold water.  Over the past few weeks off and on I’ve tried ‘cold shower therapy’ (suggested from a great blog) and it would usually take me a few breaths to actually catch my breath, and was nervous what might happen jumping into a pool that cold.  The trailer with the words ‘Artic Enema’ mocked us for 2 more obstacles.

The next obstacle was the mud mile.  Those 3 ft trenches we’ve been running through were just preparing us for this.  this was 50 (100ft?) of waist deep mud water, with 2 foot mud hills for us to climb over.  Lots of slipping and sliding was involved getting up and down those hills.  There were also quite a bit of 7″ worms floating at the top of the water.  At first they looked like a snake, but it didn’t bite anyone.  Thankfully. After this we were basically covered up to our necks with mud water, with a few of us just above our mouths.  This always freaked me out because no matter what water I’m in I always accidentally get some water in my mouth and considering these conditions I definitely didn’t want it to happen here.  It’s been a few days, I hope I’m OK.

After a quick jog and a banana and water station, we were on our way to the Fire Walker.  Although we didn’t have to walk on hot coals, this was a pretty cool obstacle.  you’d jump over 1ft of burning fire, run 20 ft then jump over another foot of burning fire into a pool of mud water about 4 feet lower than where you were.  Once in the water it was a quick 3 foot swim to the rope ladder where you’d climb yourself out.  Thankfully none of us got burned, but it was very hot as you approached the fire. Duh, it was fire.

After this we ran around, did some lunges then ran up to my 2nd most feared obstacle, the ‘Artic Enema‘. When we approached it there were 3 dumpsters next to each other, with 2 people at each dumpster looking over, dropping fresh bags of ice into the brown water. We ran to the far right dumpster as there was no one else there. Josh jumped in first and although looked cold, swiftly got to the middle piece, swam under and exited.  My turn.  i jumped in as close as I could to the middle plank.  My breathing basically stopped as I tried to catch my breath, then focus my mind to the task at hand.  Once I caught my breath I held it again, swam under the middle plant then doggie paddled as quickly as possible to the wood ladder at the other end of the dumpster.  I was paranoid I’d go into some kind of shock, or just not be able to move before I got out.  Luckily I made it, climbed out of the dumpster and for the immediate future I had a chill. My underwear and shorts, shoes, shirt, etc were all covered in wet water, and of course we had no towel. I shook and tried to dry off like a dog.  It eventually worked, but it gave me and us the boost we needed to jog to the next obstacle.  Halfway…

To be Continued…

the course.

*all numbers are to the best of my recollection and could be more or less.  I could have most likely assumed everything was much worse and magnified considering, but, this is what I felt/assumed.

Tough Mudder Wisconsin (part 1)

Although we focus mostly on food recipes, since Franny and I try to be active runners the occasional race review/experience will slip into a post. This is one of them.

Franny initially got me into running.  After we did our first Turkey Trot 5k, the next year her & I did a half marathon in Schaumburg, IL in the busse woods forest preserve.  It was 2 days after thanksgiving, cold as heck but an awesome time.  After that I was hooked. I jumped it up to a full the next year, a few months later a half and after that I haven’t been the same.

Plantar fascia got to me.

It was possibly running in too small shoes, not stretching after I ran, bunions, and/or sitting in a desk all day. I’d chip around here and there with a 5k or 10k but after the race and the following day I’d have some of the worst pain in my foot.  Stepping those first few steps in the morning felt like I was walking on a bed of nails, with one of those wraps they put around your arm to get your heart rate compressing against my foot.

Although I miss running regularly, I still try to substitute by going to the gym a few times a week, mostly on the stationary bike, a few weights, yoga, and once every 3 months swimming a few laps. I like being active and feel like I get in a more negative mood when I haven’t worked out in over a week.

Over the past week KK and i were debating doing the tough mudder with her work friends.  Neither of us have been training for it, but last year we went and supported them while they did it, took a bunch of pictures and call me crazy but watching those people covered in mud doing all the crazy obstacles looked like so much fun to me. I wanted to do it but the thought of 10+ miles running on my foot would be a pain.  Plus I should probably train for lifting myself up over the berlin wall, etc.

About a month ago when we got back from a trip to North Dakota I slipped carrying some carpet down the stairs and jammed my toe.  the x-rays didn’t show a fracture per say, but the Dr’s office called to say they weren’t sure if I had actually fractured it but if I had pain I should stay off it, blah blah blah. Makes sense to me, so I continued with my stationary bike and the random yoga class.

Then Friday as I’m taking the train home KK is texting me asking if I want to do this thing tomorrow.  Her work friends are going and she’s trying to coordinate with them. When I told her I wasn’t sure she said she said she was going to do it, so I decided then I’d do it with her.  Why not?

We got up at 530, 5:45 the next morning and drove to meet her friends to drive up with us.  The ride was smooth until about 20 minutes before we showed up.  Driving north we all noticed how black the sky was in front of us. Our phone said the storms would pass, plus these things happen rain or shine.  How much worse can it get when most of their obstacles include you waist deep in mud water?

When we were within 5 minutes of being there it started pouring.  The kind of rain where the people driving on the highway dropped 20 mph and the full speed of wipers barely does anything. We made it in, the rain kind of stopped, then as we walked in to sign up it rained again.  We saw some massive lightning bolts but signed up anyways.

As we waited in the first corral, an army dude shouted some stuff via his megaphone, pumped everyone up then told us to proceed.  The group of 100 people rushed forward and were approached by a 7 foot, 8 foot and 7.5 foot wall lined side by side, where 1 by 1 we pulled ourselves up to climb over.  When my turn arrived I could barely pull myself up over the wall by myself, and with nothing to lock my foot into the generous folks behind me boosted me up and helped me over.  After my poor display of upper body strength we walked up to the start line and waited for the race challenge to begin. I was disappointed in my performance so far and the race hasn’t even started yet.

11.5 miles to go.

To be continued…