big burrito vegan style

February 2, 2010

I wanted to answer the question, “you’re vegan, what do you eat?”  and “aren’t you hungry?” with an example.   A vegan diet does require creativity sometimes.  And as I’ve mentioned, if you want something good, sometimes you just have to make it yourself.  But being vegan is not about deprivation – food is good, it’s healthy and it is filling.  It can be very simple.  With that in mind, I made super healthy, easy and hearty burritos for my family tonight: 

fresh ingredients

ingredients:

  • Kashi 7 Whole Grain Pilaf
  •  1 package of corn (canned or frozen)
  • 2 cans of organic vegetarian black beans
  • West Soy Seitan – 1 package
  • a handful of chopped cilantro
  • a couple of cloves of garlic
  • a teaspoon or so of chipotle spice (to taste)
  •  a tablespoon of olive oil 
  •  ¼ of a packet of vegan taco seasoning
  • giant tortillas
  • vegan gourmet cheese substitute (cheddar flavor). 

 Optional: salsa, avocado, vegan sour cream – any other stuff you want to stuff into this burrito. 

again, you can add anything to this - onion, mushroom... peppers

Cook the Kashi Pilaf as per instructions.  Heat the oil, cook up the minced garlic.  Add the chopped seitan and about a teaspoon of chipotle spice and heat the combo for about 5 minutes.  Add the black beans, corn and pilaf.  Add about ¼ cup of water and the taco seasoning.  Once it’s all simmering, throw the cilantro into the mix.

I like a little fresh salsa, the vegan cheese adds a gooey texture

 Assemble your burrito and wrap it up.   

yum

eldest son's second vegan burrito

This meal is a hit with my entire family.  My eldest child gobbled one down, asked for another … this is what we eat – we are not hungry.


the elements

January 25, 2010

I often feel like if I can run here in Colorado, I can run almost anywhere.  Now I am sure there are folks in places like say Alaska or North Dakota laughing at me right now … but Colorado offers some challenging elements.   For one thing, we are running at 6200 feet above sea level.  The Bolder Boulder race says it best with their “Sea Level is for Sissies” gear.   So naturally, traveling to a lower altitude immediately turns you into a super hero runner.  

Colorado is cold.  I know we boast something like 300+ days of sun but when it is 15 degrees outside with some unfathomable wind chill, it’s just cold!  Now granted most days aren’t that cold but temps in the 30s are common during the winter.  Most of us have an array of gloves, hats, jackets, vests, pants in our winter running arsenal.  There is nothing like chilly sweat icicles or trying to suck water out of a frozen water bottle …

And about that sun – it can be intense at this altitude.  I always slather on the SPF 50+ , dependent on that UVA and UVB protection, trying in vain not to end up looking like a sun weather, high altitude Coloradoan runner – you’ve all seen them, you know what I am talking about.

Snow is another fun one.  Just start training for a marathon and it will suddenly start snowing every single weekend.   I am not lying.  This happened to me last spring when I was training for the Colorado Marathon.  I ran many long runs while it was snowing, on snow packed trails/roads, over snow drifts – you know, snow.  I have since made peace with the snow – at least the snow that comes in peace and not with my #1 nemesis – the wind.  

 

In my opinion, the wind is the worst weather enemy for a runner.  There have been a few particularly windy when I’ve really questioned my sanity.   The feeling of being forced back while trying to move forward, gasping to catch your breath during a particularly powerful gust running backwards for a moment of relief… I hate it.  

Of course there are other elements we enjoy as well including icy roads and magnificent thunder/lightening and hail storms – these are the ones that definitely keep me indoors.  The rest of the elements I battle as the mood strikes – more often taking the challenge but also relying on the treadmill when my weather battling mojo is low.  


January running and veg-evangelism

January 22, 2010

While I am kind of just running right now with no near term race goal, my running strategy loosely follows a typical training plan for a half marathon – about 4 days of running including a long weekend run of 8-12 miles, an interval run and a couple of tempo/easy runs.  I don’t have a race scheduled but I am sure I will find something that I want to run soon – at least I will be ready for anything up to a half marathon distance, right?  I am relatively injury – free (knock on wood) with the exception of some pain in my hip – particularly on downhills.  I’ve logged about 30 miles on my new pink kicks that I got just last week

The Seattle Rock n’ Roll Marathon is on June 26, 2010 and I’ve been debating the full vs. the half.  I ran the half marathon last year. This debate is a blog post in and of itself…

 

 (concerns: several out and backs and hills in the 2nd half)

 On the food front, veganism gets easier and easier especially with articles like these popping up in the news regularly: 

I do have to remind myself that there is a fine line between being a vegan and an activist.  I think many veg/vegans want to share what they learn about the meat industry, the factory farming abuses, the health issues, the humanity issues etc.. etc… easily becoming an activist or vegevangelist as I’ve come to identify myself on occasion.    But many people simple don’t want to know: “don’t tell me,  “I don’t want to know…”   And on some level, I guess I can relate to the sentiment.  After all, didn’t I run around as a cheese loving vegetarian for the last 20 years – living happily in the dark about the realities of the quality and health risks of milk/dairy and horrific abuses of dairy cows and their little babies? 

 It’s hard, however, to “not know” these days.  The media reports, bloggers like Erik Marcus with his popular and informative blog: http://www.vegan.com/,  best selling books like Jonathan Safran Foer’s  “Eating Animals” all report the realities of the meat, dairy and egg industries and all through mainstream media outlets.   These are the pros, the people I will quote or point to their links for all things vegan…. and that will be the extent of my vege- evangelism.  Unless of course, you do want to know – then I would love to share thoughts, ideas, concerns and recipes!

To be honest, evangelism in general has never been a favorite thing of mine and despite my passionate views on animal factory farming methods, if you dont’ want to know, then you don’t want to know and it makes me uncomfortable to be the one that others might point at and whisper “why that sanctimonious vegan __________!”    

 


New Year, New me

January 13, 2010

We are well into January and I have finally stopped dating things with ’09 and started using ’10 consistently.   I didn’t make any big resolutions for the New Year but I did decide to go vegan about a month ago and so far, so good.  The things that I thought were going to be hard haven’t really proven to be a problem at all – namely giving up cheese.  I don’t miss it.  Every once in a while I miss pizza but Amy’s makes a great vegan frozen pizza that hits the spot when I have the craving.  

The more difficult part of this journey has been the realization that so many of our foods have dairy, milk byproduct, egg or egg byproduct in them – even many of the vegetarian convenience foods that Morning Star and Boca offer in the frozen food aisle.  So I have become an obsessive nutrition label reader.  I have learned to look for the “vegan” label.  And I have really reduced my consumption of convenience foods.  More often than not, as a vegan, if I want something good, I have to make it myself.   

One big example: my favorite Mix 1 drinks contain whey, a milk byproduct from the cheese making process – this was a big blow initially but I did my research and discovered that hemp is a more perfect protein than whey and hemp powder is readily available locally. There aren’t any ready made hemp shakes that I can grab while running out the door, but I can make a delicious soy/hemp shake with just a little bit of planning.  Plus all the predictable hemp jokes are fun.   So going vegan hasn’t been difficult in terms of any feeling of deprivation… it’s just a more thought out diet, one that requires a bit more planning. 

 (hemp protein you drink it, not smoke it ) ;-)

One byproduct of my vegan journey is that my kids have decided to be vegheads.  Not big meat eaters to begin with, they have decided to become vegetarian (not vegan).   I was rather disheartened the other day though when my high school son came home to tell me he skipped lunch because there were simply no vegetarian options available at school– the situation in our school cafeterias is unbelievable.   He normally packs a lunch – but the option to buy was a nice convenience … again, the veg diet is not always a convenient one. 

One more new thing for 2010 – in 2009, I ran in Asics Gel Kayano 15s…  I went thru 3 baby blue pairs… the last ones just hitting 400+ miles at the end of the year.  So last weekend, I went to the shoe store and the Gel Kayano 15s are marked down since the 16s are out now.  As I was getting ready to buy my fourth pair of these baby blue shoes, I eyed the Kayano 16s… the shoe guy was explaining all the new features to me.  I wasn’t really listening though – I was pretty much sold when I saw they are pink with a groovy disco pattern in the background.  After all it’s a new year, right?


2009

January 2, 2010

As I begin 2010 with a sore hip (compliments of running an icy race in Washington Park in some ragged out shoes), I am reflecting on 2009.  I am going to borrow my friend Julie’s format to reminisce on a few of my 2009 milestones, memories and runs.  

 

January

  • began another year, my first full year as a stay-at-home mom to my three kids and our brand new puppy
  • completed Sophia’s choice application for 4th grade at School in the Woods, submitted with fingers crossed
  • decided to start keeping a log of my running miles

 race: Chevron Houston Half Marathon, result: 1:58:36  date: 01/18/2009

 February

  • eagerly began training for my first full marathon…running all the time

 March

  • celebrated my 39th birthday in Las Vegas with my husband
  • Enjoyed a relaxing spring break stay-cation with the kids
  • Daniel begins track season
  • Began to have first doubts about running a full marathon

race: Runnin’ of the Green, Denver, CO (7 km) , result: 36:01  date: 3/15/2009

April

  • my daughter celebrated her 9th birthday and her choice application for SITW was selected
  • I refocused, continued training through regular weekend snow storms

May

  • completed my first marathon, the Colorado Marathon. The 42K was not all I hoped but I finished.
  • Andrew celebrates his 12th birthday and we all look forward to summer break

race: Colorado Marathon, Ft Collins, CO (26.2 mi) ,  result: 4:30:25  date: 5/03/2009

race:  Bolder Boulder, Boulder, CO (10 km) ,  result:   54:36 date: 5/25/2009

 June

  • started this blog
  • all three kids began swim season – swimming through some cold mornings
  • my parents came to visit from Houston, TX
  • headed out to Seattle at the end of the month for a half marathon and vacation.

race: Seattle Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon,  result: 1:53:30 date: 6/27/2009

July

  • Mark celebrated 44th birthday in Seattle.  Fireworks on Lake Union.
  • Headed home for kids to finish swim season
  • Maintained my mojo during a long vacation
  • Celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary
  • PR 10K

race:  Classic 10K Colorado Springs ,    result: 51:30  date:  7/25/2009 (PR)

August

  • my eldest child celebrates his 14th birthday and begins high school.  This more than any event of 2009 made me feel my age!
  • Sophia started her exciting year at School in the Woods
  • Depeche Mode – my first concert at Red Rocks
  • Boys begin an cross country season

September

  • spontaneous weekend in San Diego with my husband – a very relaxing trip to the beach
  • Sophia spends the night away – SITW for her first overnight, sleeping under the stars
  • Participated in the American Discovery Trail Marathon Relay
  • family runs the 4th Annual ThunderStorm 5K except  Daniel who competed in a cross country meet the same morning.

race: American Discovery Trail Marathon Relay (leg 3 = 6.75 miles) ,  result: 59:11  date: 9/07/2009

race: Discovery Canyon Campus Thunderstorm, COS (5 km),  results 25:30 date: 9/19/2009 (PR)

 October

  • impressed to watch the boys improve their performance/times in their respective cross country meets
  • decided to run Vegas (the half)
  • Oktoberfest run

race: 10K Oktoberfest, Denver, CO, result 53:23 date 9/27/2009

November

  • I complete 1000 miles for the year
  • happy month as my sister and her family come to visit us for Thanksgiving
  • we all run the Briargate Turkey Trot together
  • ready for Vegas

race: Briargate YMCA Turkey Trot, COS,  result:   26:38 date: 11/26/2009

December

race: Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll Half Marathon,   result: 1:51:56 date: 12/06/2009

race: 25th Anniversary Resolution, Denver, CO (5k) ,  result: 27:28 date 12/31/2009 (very icy conditions)

2009, almost 1200 miles, 180 + hours…

happy new year.  2010 is going to be a good one!


the end of a love affair (with cheese)

December 21, 2009

vegan-pyramid-1024x768Not too long ago, I light heartedly mentioned that I follow a vegetarian diet.  For over 20 years now, I have chosen to follow a diet that excludes meat but includes dairy and eggs.  It was easy.  I was happy.  Then I went to the bookstore and stocked up on some new reading material.  It began with Born To Run, a great book about the incredible super athlete, ultra running Tarahumara Indians.   I found it interesting that this tribe follows a primarily vegetarian diet and was even more intrigued by ultra-runner Scott Jurek who adopted a vegan lifestyle in the late 1990s and proceeded to win the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run seven consecutive times.  But it wasn’t until I read Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer that I even contemplated personally adopting a vegan diet.  I simply love(d) cheese.

My initial thought after completing Foer’s book was to seek out local, natural and more organic sources of dairy and eggs.  To that end, there are several options for eggs in particular that eliminate the concerns of consuming factory farmed products.   For example, Nest Fresh provides consumers with certified humane, organic eggs that are readily available in my area.   Dairy proved to be a bit more of a dilemma for me.  I had to acknowledge some of the harsher byproducts of the dairy industry – namely the baby calves.  As a dairy consumer, I am taking the milk (and milk product) that is naturally intended for the calves.  I am quite unsettled by what happens to these calves.  The logical argument is that these animals are created to provide food for humans.  I understand that argument – but it’s an issue that I find difficult to resolve personally.   

I also found out that many of the cheeses that I have so loved over the years are processed with an enzyme called rennet.  sigh.  Rennet is an animal enzyme that comes from the stomach of a baby calf.  Fortunately for lacto-vegetarians, there are many rennet-free cheeses that are available at most grocery stores.  I didn’t even know I needed to check for rennet – hell, I didn’t even know what rennet was!  This may be the end of my love affair with cheese… even though I know it will be hard to make a clean break.    As a vegetarian for health and ethical reasons, I am facing the fact that my egg and dairy habits are contributing to industries that treat animals as cruelly as any meat production facility.   

For myself, I am ready to try a a well intentioned vegan diet.  It’s going to be hard to break up with cheese for good.  For my family, I am fortunate to be able to purchase certified humane eggs and organic, rennet free cheese for my children, – I know that not everyone has these options.


Las Vegas Race Report

December 9, 2009

vegas1“What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” can’t apply to my experience in the Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon.  This Vegas extravaganza was just too fun not to share.  I won’t bore you with the details of my ups and downs with the roulette wheel but here’s my race report for Vegas.

Mark and I arrived in Vegas late Friday night to very chilly temps.  I had touched based with weather.com and expected it to be cold – but damn, it was cold!  For some reason Vegas cold just felt colder than Colorado cold – although some of the lesser dressed ladies roaming the strip seemed to be immune ;-) .  We checked in at the New York, New York and turned in since it was after midnight already.  Saturday we spent a good deal of time at the Expo.  It was a big Expo with lots of goodies – my favorite.  A quick shout out to the folks at the Mix 1 booth for hooking me and Mark up with a full serving of the blueberry vanilla drink … being vegetarian in Vegas is a challenge and the unexpected, familiar Mix 1 for breakfast was awesome.

We were fortunate enough to meet up with some friends from LA who also ran the race and we all had a nice vegan lunch at a nearby Whole Foods.  Afterwards, Mark and I relaxed for a bit, got our gear ready for the next day and later we went out to dinner at a fabulous Italian restaurant called Ferraros.  I can’t thank Julie enough for setting this up – I enjoyed the best homemade pasta and a lovely glass of wine.  It was a perfect pre-race night.

We arranged for room service coffee for 4:30 a.m. the next morning…the coffee arrived right as we were waking up – ahhh.  We had purchased some more Mix 1 shakes, bagels and coconut water from Whole Foods and we fueled up and headed out the door for the short walk to the start area at Mandalay Bay.  It was quite a sight, hundreds of runners heading out into the dark, cold.  Over 27,000 runners from all 50 states and 39 countries participated in this race! The strip was shut down in both directions.  And of course Vegas style - tigers, showgirls, fireworks … the atmosphere was unlike any other race.  Mark and I checked our gear, hit the port penthouses (that’s what they are called in Vegas) and squeezed into our start area, corral 5 with minutes to spare for the 6:15 a.m. start time.  As the sun rose over the strip, thousands of runners began their journey 13.1 or 26.2 miles.. it was truly awesome.

I ran with Mark for the first half of the race.  For some reason, even though we started in an earlier corral, we still had to navigate a lot of runners with a slower pace.  Usually this breaks up after a few miles but in Vegas we were still trying to pass and dodge people around mile 7 and that was frustrating.  Around this time, I lost Mark and fell a bit behind.  My muscles were screaming at this point too – quads and hip flexors.  I guess from running on pavement (rather than the trail).  

Running down the strip was such a unique, fun experience. I had forgotten my Garmin so I was trying to figure out my pace based on clock time at each mile marker… Mark says the Garmin didn’t work so well anyway because of the buildings along the course.  I warmed up and ditched a layer and my gloves after mile 7– but I regretted it big time coming back up the strip – miles 7, 8, 9 are a freezing blur to me.  At one point, I thought I was approaching mile mark 9 only to be thrilled when I saw that I was approaching mile 10 instead – benefit of forgetting my watch.  I got a boost from that and felt great that last 3.1 miles.  I approached the finish just as the clock time was hitting 2 hours.  So at that point I knew I had come in under 2 hours and probably better than my Houston time at the very least.  I found Mark who’d finished in 1:49:02 according to his Garmin and he told me he’d only finished a few minutes ago.  I started to have some hope for a PR – but really, I had no clue.  I texted my sister who looked up our finish times online.  She texts back: Mark: 1:49:01 and a +4 minute typo for my time… I was disappointed until she called me to ask me what my problem was since I had finished in 1:51:56!!   PR!   It was a great feeling.  We tried valiantly to enjoy our free beer and hang out but we were too cold – it was still in the 30s when we finished and with our teeth chattering, we headed back to hotel for hot showers.  I am so glad we did Vegas! 

vegas2


Thanksgiving holiday is over, next: Vegas

November 29, 2009

I can’t believe that Thanksgiving has already come and gone.  The dishes are done; the house cleaned up… my sisters and their families gone back to their homes, their routines.   We had a great time this year.  My family is an active one – we pumped, we went to spin class, yoga and ran the 2009 Briargate YMCA Turkey Trot.  I didn’t run my best 5K by any stretch, finishing with a 26:38 time according to my Garmin but still managed to come in 7th in my age group.  It is a pretty hilly course.

 

 tt2009

(Poor Daniel had to sit this on out..stress fracture)

Also, this year we celebrated our first completely vegetarian Thanksgiving.  In years past, we’ve had the traditional turkey for the hubbies and kiddos but we collectively decided to go veg this year.  I made a valiant effort to go all the way vegan but we did have some cheese on our vegetarian shepherds pie and our pumpkin pies were baked with what we hope are cruelty-free eggs from Nest Fresh.   Judging from the lack of leftovers, our feast was quite a success for adults and kids alike.

The Las Vegas Rock n’ Roll Marathon and Half Marathon is a week from today.  I don’t have a great expectation for a PR on this one.  Seattle was a great race for me this year and despite my speed workouts, I am sort of stuck at 8:30-9 min as my best pace right now.  It’s kind of discouraging but when I think back on my year of running, it is an improvement.  Early this year, breaking the 9 minute pace was monumental for me … anyway, we’ll see how Vegas goes… no matter what, it’s going to be a great time!


Born To Run

November 17, 2009

 BTRAfter spending weeks, actually months on the hold list at the local library for Christopher McDougall’s Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen, I finally headed out to Borders with my 40% off coupon and bought it.  I figured if this book generates a months long wait list at the library, it must be worth it – and it was …and more. 

There are so many book reviews for Born to Run and I don’t have anything profound to add to the words of praise already written about this book.  I can only say that I was at times incredulous, more often inspired, awed and impressed by this story.  I fell in love with the Tarahumara, their will, their joy for running and life. 

The journey begins with the author, Christopher McDougall’s quest to run free of constant foot pain attributed to running.  McDougall, despite more than one contradictory diagnosis from doctors (including a prescription to ditch his running shoes and pick up a bike) doesn’t give up; instead he begins a journey to find the key to running without injury.

What follows is an incredible story, unbelievable characters including a barefoot runner named Ted, a couple of hard-partying ultra runners and a self-exiled, gringo Tarahumara, and amazing races in the most extreme conditions.  McDougall argues that until the advent of the modern running age with its vast array of gel-supported stability shoes, humans ran free of pain.  He discovers and learns first hand about the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico who run hundreds of miles in little more than bare feet (thin rubber soled sandals).  These super athletes run through the treacherous Copper Canyons with out pain and with what can only be described as joy. From here McDougall’s journey takes us through ultra marathons (I thoroughly enjoyed paging through the story of the Leadville 100… an ultra marathon right in my backyard), the concept of barefoot running, primarily vegan diets and finally, the ultimate race in the Copper Canyons.

Even though I will never even come close to being an ultra runner or super athlete, somehow reading this book made me feel like a runner… whether you are a runner or not, check out this book – it’s inspiring.


I love my junk miles

November 10, 2009

I recently celebrated the fact that I’ve run 1000 miles so far in 2009.  I reached this milestone in large part while training for various races.  Tempo runs, intervals, long runs etc… and often, I just ran – laced up and hit the road – logging a lot of what I recently recognized as junk miles. 

Junk Mile – [juhngk mahyl] - noun – a run at an easy pace inserted into a program in order to reach a weekly or monthly mileage total rather than for any specific benefit.

More loosely defined, junk miles are miles that are logged without a specific purpose. Many trainers and training programs disparage these miles and there are some really good training programs out there that prepare athletes to run marathons while running as little as 3 days a week – speed work out, pace and longer run for example.  By all accounts, these training plans help runners stay injury free and there are many testimonials of PR marathons using these methods.  Clearly these athletes benefit from eliminating the junk miles from their training diets. 

When I trained for my marathon in May, I used Hal Higdon’s novice plan.  I ran about 4 times a week, cheated by cross training on rest days and went from an average of 19 miles a week to about 40 miles during my peak training.  Arguably, some of these miles could’ve been considered junk.  It was my first full marathon, so I have nothing to compare it with, but I ran a pretty good race that could’ve been better with a little planning (food, hotel etc) but the training was without fault – I was prepared.  Marathon: Race Report.   

The reality for me is that I am a recreational runner who participates in races. I often run for the enjoyment of it – logging a bunch of junk.  I like junk miles – lacing up, running with no purpose other than stress relief, relaxation and the achievement of miles logged.  I guess I am a junky.

junk

today’s run was more tempo than junk :-)

When I finally decide to run another full marathon, I will research some of these other plans and alternatives.  In the meantime, I will indulge in my junk miles.  Not all plans considered these miles to be totally worthless. In fact, the guru behind the training plans that I use, Hal Higdon, believes that that these miles may have an overlooked value: Junk Miles, by Hal Higdon