this ish is bananas

hello world! i'm popping in because i haven't in awhile and i just know you all missed me dearly.

i'm still nursing this back strain which (i think) is re-healed after i brilliantly thought it'd be ok to do 65lb deadlifts and set myself back a few more weeks. i can sneeze without pain again but a weird, sometimes sharp, pain pops up in my right glute depending on how i move. i'm rolling, massaging and stretching my lower back, glute and hamstrings in an attempt to get back out on the streets and cross fitting asap. yep, another month of no-running, this is not fun.

i went to a super sweet j.crew warehouse/sample sale. it was crazy and required camping out on the sidewalk at 3am, but i got a lot of new clothes for way less than advertised.

there are no dressing rooms so you try stuff on over your spandex. but everyone's doing it, it's totally normal.

my car broke, but josh saved the day. some cable came loose and the shifter thingy wouldn't change  (clearly i moonlight as an automechanic). josh figured it out and luckily it was an easy fix. i also got to use my emergency car kit for the first time ever (well the screwdriver, not the flares).

and now for something entertaining since you've endured the above drivel.

i found this banana slicer on pinterest. somehow it got review bombed and they're hilarious; please enjoy your friday workday reading the reviews.

oh, and i'm still eating clean too.

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totes amazeballs

i'm only 14 years late to using that super cool vocabulary, but these brownies were awesomesauce.

yes, brownies. and yes they qualify for this primal/paleo eating (although josh says they defeat the purpose of this 'diet').

sweet potato brownies

from paleomg. aka my soon to be new best friend.

ingredients:

1 sweet potato (i only used half)

3 eggs, whisked (that means mix it up good after you dump in other ingredients, right?)

1/4 cup coconut oil, melted (i used evoo)

1/3 cup raw honey

1/2 cup enjoy life chocolate chips (plus a handful to snack on)

3 tbsp coconut flour

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp cinnamon

pinch of salt

note: cocoa powder is not delicious by itself. do not bother to lick the measuring spoon. you may end up like glozell.

1. bake microwave the sweet potato as you would normally. peel skin and mash it up. i neglected to mash mine up well so there are "surprise" chunks of sweet potato throughout the brownies.
2. add wet ingredients and then add dry ingredients.
3. stir it up. pour into an 8x8 pan. bake 30-35 minutes at 350°.
4. do everything possible to not eat the entire pan in one sitting.

and i swear i am not turning into a foodie. c'mon i was too lazy to fully follow the recipe. besides, wouldn't you rather discover a delicious healthy brownie recipe instead of hear about my whopping 1-mile run? exactly.

i did run a mile on tuesday though; it took forever. i also did 50 assisted (with a band) pull-ups.

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clean on the road

this weekend josh and i drove (yes drove) to binghamton, ny for a wedding. what should have been an 11-hour drive turned into a 13-hour drive thanks to "road construction" in pennsylvania. we split the drive on the way up and stayed in harrisonburg, va so that wasn't bad, but the 13-hour drive home sunday was just boring.

binghamton on the other hand must be the other armpit of america. granted i only saw the "downtown" area - deserted and full of sketchy folk. they were hit pretty bad with a flood last fall so i guess i'll cut them some slack.

not my photo (from facebook)

anyway, as the title of this post suggests it was a bit of a challenge to eat within my self-set dietary constraints. there aren't exactly paleo/primal/real foods fast food restaurants on the interstate ya know? i brought some baby carrots and peaches, and picked up pumpkin seeds, sweet potato chips and grapes on the road. friday's breakfast was complements of the hampton inn 'buffet' - scrambled eggs and mixed fruit. i also took a couple bananas for later. both rehearsal and wedding dinners were salmon with salad or veggies (i skipped on the potatoes both nights).

careful, don't fill up on the 4 grapes and 1/2 apple

my back is feeling better again (good enough to workout somewhat normally) but i'm still taking it easier until it fully heals. i did a little workout saturday before the wedding - running a whole half-mile on the hotel treadmill while oscar pistorius ran his opening heat in the 400 and qualified for the semi finals. i followed that up with a cross fit style workout: 21-15-9 man-makers (20lb weights), squats, and push-press jumping jacks (21 of each, 15 of each, 9 of each). the man-makers wore me out.

i didn't get to watch as much of the olympics as i wanted due to being busy with wedding festivities, and streaming them over my phone on the drive home didn't go over as well as i had hoped. not the clearest picture but as josh pointed out - i was watching a live event taking place many miles away while driving down the interstate.

women's 400m hurdles (heat) i believe. what you can't see them?

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july 2012

miles run: 15.30. it's hard to run when you strain your lower back! (but it's improving)

other workouts: bootcamp (x12)

days off: 13

netflix (/tv) obsession(s)/fail: pawn stars and of course the olympics!

artistic/creative outlet/new thing i tried: finally finished (my first ever) water color attempts to hang in the living room. i've hinted at these in the past; i'm finally content with how they turned out.

actually hanging them on the other hand may take 2-6 months

new food i tried: actually cooking for a change - egg cupcakes and coconut flour pancakes.

book(s) read: none. slack.

number of blog visitors: 671 (you guys are always rockin')

number of doctor visits: 5 (+numerous chiro visits)

number of postcards received: 11! thank you andrea, ginny, diana and non-blogging friends!

unlike june, july wasn't as kind to me what with straining my back and then trying to do too much too soon. i still got in a few good workouts and august will surely be better! it certainly can't be any worse than august 2011.

i think i've had my share of hurdles over the past year but i will continue to fight to get back up. i still have 40 more states to run and a sub-3 to achieve!

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