A major victory for me in 6.04 miles

background: In sept 2010 I start on a weight loss journey with
determination and did really well (I started at 258.8 and was down to
218 by January) I managed to maintain that weight for a while and
started to train to run a half-marathon in June.

I was doing well and by April I was able to run 6 miles (took two
hours but I could do a run/walk combo to get to 6 miles). However, I
started experiencing really bad pains in my side and my running
started to take a real hit - I couldn't go more than two minutes or so
and then suffer from significant pain...and the pain started cropping
up when I was doing other exercise :( I finally decided I could not
run the half a few days before hand and I was shaken and very upset
because I felt like I might be using the "side" pain as an excuse so I
didn't fail.

There was a lot of questions and non-support from family about the
decision not to run for medical reasons.

I did get in to see my doctor and was checked and found that I still
had outstanding issues with my gallbladder to so I was referred to a
surgeon in September and in the beginning of October I meet with the
surgeon who agreed that my gallbladder was an issue but wasn't certain
that the pain would be caused by running and that surgery would fix my
problem.

After much discussion my choices were: (1) have the surgery and hope
that it fixed the problem and if it didn't face the other
possibilities afterwords (2) not have the surgery and continue with
referrals until we found the potential source.

Given that I have had gallbladder attacks before I made the decision
to have it removed as it would definitely eliminate one possible cause
of the pain if not the cause of the pain. This was extremely
difficult decision and I was scheduled for surgery on December 15,
2011 again with not a lot of family support in favour of having
surgery to fix what may or not be causing my problems.

Anyways surgery went wonderfully I was off my pain meds right away but
then everything else started crashing down around me - I had vision
problems related to the surgery and spent a lot of time being checked
by other doctors, having an allergic reaction to antibiotic and then
suffering (still) from insomnia brought on potentially by well who
knows.

I was back at the gym very early with the help of my trainer to keep
me motivated and working out in a way that wouldn't hurt me.

I was cleared by my surgeon on January 24th and could lift again but I
took it easy.

On sunday morning I was doing my cardio warm up for my trainer and
managed to do 2 miles before our session. He pushed me to do another
mile and then we did our resistance training. After our session I head
the treadmill again and did another mille bringing the total for the
day to 4 miles.

On monday night I decided I wanted to run and I was going to try for 5
miles because I had done four the night before.

I started with a 5 minute walking warm up and then did my first 10
minute run and was going to die but I was determined to at least 2.5
because once I'm halfway it seems easier and I had done it the day
before... so I did another 10 minute run... and I started doing it I
bit 0.25 during warm up; 1.92 miles during my next 30 minutes; 1.95
during my next 30 minutes; and then 1.92 in my last session

add that all up and you get 6.04 miles (and I could have probably done
another mile but I had to stretch before the gym closed)

and the best part was I FELT NO PAIN my worst fear was to have gone
through all of this and still not have fixed the problem but I did it
and it was absolutely amazing especially to get txts from some friends
and my trainer during the run motivating me and reminding me I could
do it.

Baking up some Cranberry Orange Loaf

Cranberry Orange Loaf
Time: 1 hr 30 mins

Ingredients
2 cups Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Baking soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tbsp Grated Orange zest
1 1/2 cup Fresh cranberries
1/2 cup Pecans, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup Margarine, softened
1 cup White sugar
1 Egg
3/4 cup Orange juice

Notes

• I usually make a triple batch of the recipe because it is so yummy and because the bag of cranberries usually is enough to make more than one batch.

I also could not find fresh cranberries so I used frozen unsweetened cranberries and found that it worked just like normal.

I can say for making three loafs I usually use about 2-3 oranges per loaf to get enough zest and then I juice the oranges to use in the recipe. I will say that this is a really great arm work out :)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degree
2. Grease and flour 9x5 inch loaf pan
3. First thing I do is zest my oranges.

4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir in orange zest, cranberries, and pecans. Set aside.
5. In a large bowl cream together margarine, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in orange juice. Beat in flour mixture until just moistened. pour into prepared Pam.

6. Bake for 1 hour in the preheated oven, or until the bread springs back when lightly touched.
7. Let stand 10 minutes, then turn out Ono a wire rack to cool.

I usually don't care about mixing baking items separately (I know I know). However, in this recipe it is rather important to coat the cranberries evenly in flour before the loafs are baked to ensure that they stay properly in the mixture while baking. Also, given what it is being mixed the other components of the liquid mix are easier to mix together before adding to the flour mixture.

RR - Chicken and Corn Soup

Chicken and Corn Soup
Makes: 6 servings
Time: 6 hrs 30 mins

Ingredients
1 lb Yellow Potatoes, peeled and cut
1 lb Sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
4 lbs Chicken breasts, skinless and boneless (This was my modification because that's what I have)
4 cups Chicken Broth
4 Scallions, chopped
4 cloves Garlic, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
3 ears Corn, cut into 3 inch pieces
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped

Notes / Directions
1. Place the yellow and sweet potatoes into a slow cooker. Add the chicken, broth, scallions and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Add 4 cups water and tuck corn around the chicken. Cover and cook on low heat until the chicken is tender and instant read thermometer inserted into a thigh away from the bone registers 165 about 6 hours.

2. Transfer the chicken to a shallow bowl, leaving the slow cooker on.

3. Skim the fat from the cooking liquid. Smash some of the potatoes in the slow cooker. Add the chicken and stir in 1/4 cup cilantro. Top the soup with avocados and sour cream.

My Notes:

1. This recipe originally called for the use of a chicken (whole or chicken parts I can't actually recall) but I don't keep that in my house on a regular basis so I used chicken breasts which I always have in my house.
2. I know that this was suppose to be a soup. However, when I took the chicken breasts out of the slow cooker to mash them everything looked rather good on it's own without having to put it back in the broth so we ate them as is - chicken, corn and potatoes.
3. I had forgotten to pick up scallions for this recipe and I could note that the potatoes and chicken were good but rather one note. I would make sure I either have the scallions next time to increase the flavour OR I would add some diced Onion and Garlic to the mix. Also I would likely add some poultry or italian seasoning to kick up the flavour.
4. I also didn't have the corn and the chicken completely under water and it definitely affected how they turned out. Next time I would make sure that everything was under the water.
5. I also found that the pound of each kind of potato was an awful lot (we had left overs for two other meals during the week).

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures but I will be sure to take a picture next time :)