Tag: Running

• Early Morning Confessions

  Posted at 8:48 AM by Brittany, on April 2, 2013

  1. The sunshine outside my window has allowed for nearly naked runs. Aka shorts and tank tops!!!!!! I have my first tan lines of the year. Shorts shorts SHORTS!

  

  2. I did not and will not clean that mirror, even after taking a photo and seeing the filth. That photo was also taken before the tank tops were brought out. It was the first shorts run of the season. These things must be documented.

  3. Did I mention the weather has been nice in my area?! That also means busting out the Vibram’s and running WITHOUT socks! Left: socks, right: NO SOCKS!

  4. I have made it to $2.00 on my coin counter. You all laughed when I started, laugh no more! $2.00 can ALMOST buy a cupcake!

  5. I went to Africa.

  

  Elephant

  6. I’ve been tearing through books lately. I just can’t stop reading.

  7. I think coffee is one of the most amazing smells in the world. Just the smell makes my bowels quiver. 99% of the time I drink coffee I only drink half the glass. I mean business.

  

  8. I’ve been playing tourist again around Seattle. While there I rode a carousel for the first time in years.

  

  

  9. Biggest confession of the post: Over the last couple days I have secretly stolen some of my sisters Easter candy to eat. I ate it..I ate her candy. That’s not the confession. The candy is not vegan! It was DELICIOUS! I may have had a cookie or a bite of non vegan cake too. OK no more Easter candy for me.

  10. I also ate my body weight in Field Roast on Easter, and make a bunny cookie that could probably win some kind of art show.

  
  

  Just a little fun fact about me: I do not pluck my eyebrows to be like this, I was just cursed blessed with STUBS that vanish at the end for eyebrows. I’m too lazy for makeup everyday, so if anyone has any magical hair growth HOOK ME UP!

  Q: What’s your morning confession? 

  

  | 68 Comments Tagged Adventure, Cash Money, Coins, Confessions, Cupcake, Running, Tourist, Vegan, Vibram

• Exploration

  Posted at 10:49 AM by Brittany, on March 28, 2013

  One of my goals this year is to spend some quality time exploring my state. Having lived in Washington my entire life, I feel it’s time to really start appreciating all the beauty around me. Seattle is always an easy go to being that it’s only an hour ferry ride away, but there are still plenty of hikes, lakes, mountains, and restaurants that I want to explore!

  

  The trees in this city are different than in mine. Only an hour of separation, but completely different landscape. There are also new to me wildlife parks that make for great afternoon adventures.

  

  The sun was in hiding for the first part of this wildlife trek, but eventually made an appearance.

  

  There were birds, ducks, snakes, turtles, and lots of foliage to see. I’ve become a pro at identifying skunk cabbage, and could continue living contently if I never had to see or smell that stuff again..blech. Another smelly substance left me in fear every time packs of geese flew over my head.

  

  No body likes poop hair.

  I have walked so much this week that my legs feel as if I have run a half marathon everyday. It’s been a welcomed change from the constant running, and giving my knees a break every couple days has been nice. While I LOVE running in new areas, I find that walking helps me appreciate the scenery around me more.

  

  Spring time is a perfect time to start exploring, but I need serious fuel when it comes to hours of exploring. Spring time also means BRING OUT THE BBQ!

  

  Pre BBQ

  

  There aren’t many sights more beautiful than grilled veggies. Match made in adventure heaven.

  Q: Do you ever explore areas close to home, or do you prefer adventures further away? I like both, but close to home is easier to do on a whim! 

  

  | 56 Comments Tagged Adventure, BBQ, Exploring, Food, Grill, Running, Spring, Vegan, Walking, Washington

• Spring Eggs

  Posted at 9:28 AM by Brittany, on March 26, 2013

  Spring has sprung!! Sorry to all you east coasters that are still getting inches of snow, that’s rough. Over here in the north west it’s been sunny sunny sunny.

  

  It was so sunny on my run yesterday I felt wildly overdressed. It’s almost time to bust out the running tanks, my favorite! I feel like a cartoon in this picture.

  Spring means flowers, sun, birds, birds mating, and Easter for those of you that celebrate. I’d be lying if I said Easter didn’t make me think of candy, eggs, and searching for money in a giant yard. As I get older I am trying to appreciate the real meaning behind Easter, with maybe a chocolate egg or two. Before I went vegan my go to chocolate egg was none other than the Reese’s egg.  The thick PB center was far more delicious than their regular PB cup. Any holiday Reese’s was divine.

  Last year I tried to give my love to another, which was a terrible mistake. Nothing compares. Sorry TJ’s, I love you, and I love your candy, but your choc eggs suck. Since Easter isn’t complete without chocolate covered eggs. I made my own! I was inspired by this recipe, and if you want a non vegan version give it a try! They also have more pictures, and better egg shaping skills.

  

  Before you judge my egg shaping skills, I’ll have you know that no matter what the shape..everything goes in and out of the same place. So deal with it.

  Chocolate PB Eggs

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup PB (I used chunkaayy!)
  • 2 tblsp Earth Balance butter
  • 1-3 tablespoons almond milk (depending on texture)
  • 1.5 cups of semisweet or dark (dairy free) chocolate chips
  • 1/2 tablespoon coconut oil

  Mix together the powdered sugar, peanut butter, and butter. Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until it becomes a nice workable dough. Form the dough into egg shapes, or dinosaur turds, and place in the freezer for about an hour.

  I used the stove to melt my chocolate chips and coconut oil, but a microwave would work too. Dip each egg into the melted chocolate and place on wax paper.

  

  I put mine back into the freezer to set up. The coconut oil will make these melt quick at room temperature, and I like my treats cold anyway. This made about 16 sm/med eggs. Which were gone in two days..between three people.

  These were delicious, and I think it’s time for another sugar detox!! Would you believe I pulled a muscle in my neck reaching for a cupcake?? I did pull a muscle, I’m not sure how, but I’m going to pretend it’s a sign to cut back on sugar…again. HA!

  Q: Favorite Easter time treat???

  

  | 50 Comments Tagged Easter, Reeses, Running, Spring, Sun, Vegan

• Early Morning Confessions

  Posted at 9:23 AM by Brittany, on March 9, 2013

  1. I have eaten the exact same lunch the past three days and I am officially obsessed.

  

  Spinach, kale, broccolettes, and sweet potatoes. Topped with mustard and nooch.

  I dream about this bowl.

  2. I have competition. When asking my (autistic) sister if she had a boyfriend her reply was, “*****. He is a good guy.” Well that’s odd, ***** is my boyfriend. Hahaha.

  3. I have FINALLY finished Scott’s book.

  

  I still want to be his best friend.

  4. I haven’t had sweets in too long. I lost count. I would shank someone for some Snackimals right now.

  5.  I went urban hiking yesterday. I didn’t know that was even a thing. It’s what you call walking around town, I guess it sounds cooler to call it urban hiking. Weird. The sights were still as good as a mountain hike though.

  

  6. I love the smell of cleaning products. It’s bad. Citrus smell, bleach, Ajax, laundry soap, cat litter..nothing like chemicals to awaken my senses. Who needs drugs when you can smell cleaning products…….JOKE!

  7. I’ve owned my car for 5 years and have yet to change the wiper blades, until yesterday. This may seem like no big deal to my desert friends, but I live in a state that rains..a LOT.

  

  With a combination of discounted blades at Costco, and an insisting family, I bought the blades. I also wanted to use them as ninja sticks.

  

  Fortunately for me I didn’t have to put them on.

  Now it just needs to rain.

  8. I have found the next half marathon I am going to run. Super jazzed.

  9. Sitting in a coffee shop reading a book, people watching, or blogging is one of the most relaxing things ever.

  

  10. I have found the most amazing app for my cheap frugal ways. I have this habit of picking up change when I see it on the ground. I get wayyy too excited when I find pennies, nickles, and dimes on the ground. Don’t even get me started on finding a quarter. I decided to track how much change I find starting from the beginning of March. I found at least $1.50 from January to February. Laugh away, that will buy me a free donut!

  

  So March hasn’t been a big payday yet, but I’m holding strong for the day I find those quarters! My friends won’t be laughing at the end of the year when they see I’ve found $5.00 for free!

  Q(s):

  • When’s the last time you changed your wiper blades?
  • What’s your weekly confession?

  

  | 63 Comments Tagged Confessions, Food, Half Marathon, Random, Running, Vegan

• Birch Bay Half Marathon

  Posted at 9:09 AM by Brittany, on February 19, 2013

  After what felt like the longest week of the year, I was able to successfully complete my second half marathon!

  

  The race would have been tough without this. 

  I contacted Pro-Tec Athletics about reviewing a knee brace, and Jennie with the sales/marketing department replied to me that same day. She was so helpful in suggesting a brace, and she ended up sending me TWO just to be sure I found one I liked. I ended up LOVING this patellar strap (the one she suggested), and I am SO impressed with this companies customer service. I’ll admit I was skeptical of a strap helping my knee, but boy was I wrong! This little strap worked WONDERS!

  Not only were these braces sent to me for free, they were sent priority mail and I received them the very next day. This was such a life saver. I wore this strap anytime I was on my feet for a long period of time. I wore it on walks, and I wore it for the race. My knee performed amazingly. I would recommend this patellar strap to ANYONE with runners knee, or anything similar. Oh and if it couldn’t get any better, Scott Jurek wears these braces..since we’re best friends and all. Thank you so much Jennie and Pro-Tec, you helped me run this race! Ok enough mush..onto the race!

  The location of this run was gorgeous. Along the bay for a good chunk of the race meant views like this.

  

  The race was flat for the most part, but did have some rolling hills. One of the hills was so beastly and lasted for over a mile (I am a wuss when it comes to big hills.) My pace held steady around 10:40 until I hit this hill and I dropped to an 11:40ish pace. That hill killed my hips. This was around mile 7 and I really started to feel the effects of being on my butt all week. While my knee felt great (yay) my hips were screaming.

  By mile 10 my thighs were burning so bad I thought they were going to cramp. This was a new sensation for me, and two days later they are STILL sore!! Miles 11-13 were on autopilot. At this point I wanted to be done. My legs were burning, my back was hurting, and my energy was GONE. I don’t think the cinnamon toast crunch I had for breakfast lasted longer than the first 3 miles. Free continental breakfasts are great! Thankfully I had my running rock with me and having him next to me was enough to keep going.

  With a bum knee, a week off from cardio (seriously this week off made me sluggish!), a lack of fuel, and massive hills, I finished without walking and I now have a shiny new PR.

  

  I chopped 9 minutes off from my last half! The Disney congestion during the first three miles made for some very slooowww miles. This meant I had plenty of room for improvement, and improve I did. Thank you to EVERYONE that sent me good knee vibes, it paid off!! I will be taking some time off of running to ensure my knee gets back to 100%. Hellooooo spin class! YAHOO time to look for the next half marathon!

  Q: Have you ever run/walk/biked in a race or something similar while injured? I saw two other people with patellar straps in this race, I felt like I was part of a special club! 

  

  | 75 Comments Tagged Half Marathon, Knee, PR, Running

• Taking A Week Off

  Posted at 10:07 AM by Brittany, on February 13, 2013

  A couple weeks ago I tweaked my knee. From running 11 miles in crap shoes, to attending too many spin classes and getting the B.A.C. (badass chills..this is when you know you are going HARD!) I of course didn’t listen to this nagging irritation in my knee, and I continued to workout on it. I took it easy in spin, but I didn’t take it easy with running.

  

  I actually had the best run of the year this past Sunday. A 12 miler around my favorite lake.

  

  Aaannndd then shit hit the fan. The second I hit stop on my watch I felt my knee yelling at me. Ugh..WHY! It was swollen to the point I couldn’t make out my patella anymore. I’m 99.9999% sure I have a slight case of runners knee. I’ve had it once before, and without the $20 copay and some cold hands rubbing all over my knee, I’ll do my own self diagnosis.

  Here’s the dilemma: I have a half marathon this Sunday. *&#*#&$@@!!! I am not a natural runner, half marathons take training for me. I have been training for two months for this race, and I am so excited. I am staying optimistic that I will still be able to run this race (even if my pace is 15:00min/mile!) I’ve been R.I.C.E-ing like it’s my job, and I am not doing ANY physical activity this week. No running, no spinning, no WALKING! Nothing. I’m skipping three days of scheduled running in HOPES that I can still participate this weekend.

  It was clearly my turn to get spanked with the injury stick, but boy is this rough. I never understood how hard it was to sit back and do..nothing. It’s only been THREE days, and I am going stir crazy without movement. For all my friends out there that have serious injuries and are sidelined for months..you have my sympathy and support! I’ve naturally been drowning my sorrows with cupcakes, and I made these on Sunday night. I of course veganized the recipe and they turned out pretty good, not enough mocha flavor though.

  

  My pictures were not pretty, so I am using theirs.

  Tomorrow is Valentines day, and then the day after that is my birthday. I would loveee to run a half marathon for my birthday…just sayin. Happy day of love to you all.

  

  

  My favorite accessory.

  Q: Any tips/suggestions/comment/ideas/stories about knees, or about cats that anyone can help me withhh!!?

  

  | 57 Comments Tagged Birthday, Cupcake, Half Marathon, Knee, Running, Valentines day

• Stick With What You Know

  Posted at 8:56 AM by Brittany, on February 8, 2013

  Confession: I have been running in the same shoes for a year now. Any running expert will tell you shoes need to be retired anywhere around 500miles of usage (I’m looking at you dad..shoes from the 1990’s!.) Oops..I think I exceeded that. I can’t help it..I’m as frugal as they come! I finally..FINALLY went last week to buy some new shoes, but it didn’t go so smoothly..

  I had no specific shoe in mind, I just wanted a new pair. I have to admit I was partial to Brooks for a few reasons. Number one being I reverted back to my high school days of being a brand snob, and Brooks are just “cool.” They also make vegan shoes..double cool. Oh and my boyfriend runs in Brooks, and so does Scott Jurek..triple cool. I’m telling you now..what an awful way to base your shoe choice. You can possibly guess by now I ended up buying a pair of Brooks.

  

  Brooks Ghost 5..what a GORGEOUS shoe.

  Gorgeous as this shoe may be, after a 4mile test run something wasn’t right. Just my luck that with a prettier running shoe would come problems. Any shoe I’ve ever worn that was “pretty” (heels, fancy flats, studded flippy floppys) ended up causing PAIN! NO PRETTY SHOES! So despite Brooks awesome reputation, pretty shoes, and catchy slogan..I had to take these vegan shoes back.

  

  I decided to buy another pair of my old shoes, but no one had them in store so I had to wait a WEEK and order them online. I ate a lot of cookies to pass the time and drown my sorrows.

  

  I also had to put 11more miles on my old shoes, which really ended up hurting my knees. My left knee still hurts. Ugh..never waiting a year again! I did have a good run with my running partner despite the knee pain, and the views were awesome too..but nothing is worth hurting your body!

  

  1896 Olympia Brewery. I need a beer to sooth my funky knees!

  I am now coming to the falling action of this story. Yesterday I received my new shoes. There is something magical about seeing the UPS or FEDEX truck outside your door. Oh so magical.

  

  Aesthetically these shoes are awful. Absolutely AWFUL. They look like they were colored by a 5yr old, funny that they have similar colors to the Brooks. Physically..these shoes were like running on CLOUDS! I AM SO HAPPY with these shoes! I took them out for a run IMMEDIATELY and could have cried I was so happy. It was such a good run I even found some chachachaangge.

  

  That’s a whopping $0.11 cents, and I sure did STOP running to pick those coins up!! I can’t get to Disneyland without money people!

  The moral of this long story is: STICK with what you know!! The tread difference on the bottom of these two shoes was embarrassingly pathetic. I was LONG overdue for a new pair, and I am stoked to have my beloved Asics. I am now partial to Asics because they WORK FOR ME, this is how you should choose a running shoe! Maybe one day I will run in some Brooks, but until this shoe is discontinued I will stick with what I know!

  Q: What do you run in and whyyy!?

  

  | 68 Comments Tagged Asics, Brooks, Disneyland, Free Money, Half Marathon, New Digs, Run Happy, Running, Vegan

• Donut Daze

  Posted at 9:43 AM by Brittany, on February 6, 2013

  One of my all time favorite donuts has always been the apple fritter. The cinnamony appley goodness just melts in your mouth and is hard to pass up with a morning cup of coffee.

  

  I was inspired by a recipe that is sure to excite not only your taste buds, but your body will be empowered to go for a run. Seriously..sugar rushes and coffee highs make for great runs (5miles and under.)

  

  Apple Fritters 

  • 1 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • dash of salt
  • 2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 tblsp Earth Balance Vegan Butter
  • Equivalent of 1 egg ( I used Ener G egg re-placer.)
  • 1/3 cup vanilla almond milk, plus more if needed
  • 1 cup chopped/diced apple. I used a honeycrisp.
  • For the glaze-1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tblsp almond milk or more. Start with 1tblsp.
  • Coconut oil for frying

  Mix all the dry ingredients together, and then slowly add the wet ingredients MINUS the apples. Mix together until well combined, but not over beaten. Gently fold in the apple pieces. Once the oil is ready (when a test drop of dough floats to the top of the oil, a drop of water sizzles, or a piece of white bread browns in 60 seconds) place 3-4 balls of dough into the oil. Watch for browning and once the underside is browned flip over and fry the other side. Once the golf ball sized ball is completely browned they are done. I used a basic frying pan with enough coconut oil to cover about 1/3 of the dough. Once the donut is dried off, paint or dunk into the glaze.

  

  These are the best donuts I have ever tasted. Partially because they are homemade, and everything tastes better when you make it yourself. You can’t even tell they’re vegan. Make these now. This batch makes about 14 medium sized donut balls, and they were gone in two days. I was in a donut daze.

  

  Q(s):

  • What’s your favorite type of donut? Apple fritters, maple bars, and ANYTHING filled with creamy goodness.
  • Donut or doughnut? Why can’t we just pick one way to spell this word!? 

  

  | 80 Comments Tagged Baking, Cooking, Food, Pinterest, Recipe, Running, Vegan

• Cravings

  Posted at 7:28 PM by Brittany, on February 3, 2013

  Usually my food cravings are so spot on that it takes less than 10 minutes for me to make some magic happen to satisfy my needs. The other night I wanted grease, and carbs. Solution? Cheesy tots.

  

  I don’t think I stopped to breath while I ate these. Daiya cheese has found a new way into my heart. Craving satisfied. Then yesterday something horrific happened. I was craving..nothing. Not a single thing sounded good to me..NOT even cupcakes or cookies. Oh the horror! So my dinner consisted of a random throw together. I would have gone to bed hungry, but I needed to eat something for my longer run today.

  

  The saddest part about this gorgeous looking mish mash, was that it was just MEH to my taste buds. Such a rough life I know. Speaking of rough, in my last post I mentioned that I judge other runners apparel. Check out this atrocity that hit the streets today..

  

  Green pants, grey top, PINK gloves, ugly shoes that are a YEAR old. Judge away friends..JUDGE AWAY! My shoes are so far gone it’s not even funny..more on that in a future post. I am officially the epitome of what I “judge.” Inefficiency at it’s finest running in shoes that will KILL my legs. New shoes are ON THEIR WAY.

  My knees HATED me today on my 11 mile run. On the upside I had my HOT running partner with me, and I tried a new energy gel.

  

  I have been obsessed with chia seeds for at least 4 years now. I have heard AWFUL reviews about this product, and it sold so poorly that Manfriend got all of these for free from his work. I also got some freebies from Liz (thanks again L!) I LOVED them. I have to try them again to judge the endurance aspect, but I didn’t mind the taste and I was already used to the gel like consistency of chia seeds in liquid. I think Scott Jurek would approve. Shot Bloks still have my heart though.

  After this run it took me a few hours to find my hunger beast and while I struggled finding a craving, the stars have realigned because I was willing to shank anyone with a cupcake. I didn’t get a cupcake though, instead I had Chipotle. My intestines will thank me later.

  Q: What do you do when you crave NOTHING!? 

  

  | 52 Comments Tagged Cravings, Food, Random, Running, Vegan

• Running Thoughts

  Posted at 9:26 AM by Brittany, on January 21, 2013

  Running longer distances allows for a lot of time with your thoughts. Thoughts about life, thoughts about family, thoughts about food, and most importantly thoughts about cookies. While on a 10 mile run yesterday, I thought about all of these things. My running partner was with me for good conversation, but anytime there was silence my mind was thinking about how excited I was to get to the grocery store destination so I could buy myself a cookie.

  10 miles done and the grocery store was waiting for me to purchase sugar laden treats and guzzle water with blueberries floating inside. If you don’t end your run at the grocery store, you are missing out. While walking the aisles patiently waiting to stumble upon the cranberry orange cookie I had discovered just the day before, I looked at my friend as he muttered the most beautiful words I had heard all day, “let’s make compost cookies.”
  

  Compost cookies were originally founded by a restaurant called Momofuku, but I wanted to make my own version..vegan friendly of course. I used my chocolate chip cookie base, and added the random ingredients to it. It doesn’t feel right to call these compost cookies, and anytime I mentioned the fact that I was tired on this 10mile run my friend would say “basura” which means trash in Spanish  It was the theme of the run, so I present to you..basura cookies.

  Basura Cookies

  

  Ingredients

  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup coconut oil
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup applesauce
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup crushed potato chips
  • 1 cup crushed pretzels
  • 2.5 teaspoons fresh ground UN-brewed coffee beans
  • a few splashes of almond milk depending on texture

  Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
  2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
  3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted coconut oil, brown sugar and raw sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, and applesauce until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips, potato chips, pretzels, and coffee grounds by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
  4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.

  

  I will run marathons for these cookies. I am savoring one of these as I type this post, they pair perfectly with a cup of coffee. Lets be real though, I haven’t found a cookie that DOESN’T pair well with coffee!

  Q: What do you think about on long runs/bike rides/swims/hikes? 

  

  | 83 Comments Tagged Cookies, Recipe, Running, Vegan

• 

• 

• Search for:
• BRITTANY- Self proclaimed minimalistic nomad striving to maintain a balanced, healthy life with good food, long hikes, deep connections, exploration, and lots of potatoes.

• If this blog does not meet your standards, please lower your standards.

• Contact: blissfulbritt@yahoo.com

• ¿Quieres Más?

  Like my witty attitude and delightful charm? Enter your
  e-mail below for the party to come straight to your inbox!

  Email Address:

  Follow the adventure

  Join 4,724 other subscribers
• 

•