Paralysis

Tonight's run...like almost every summer run here in Southern Alberta, starts late. It was hot today. Real hot. So I waited til it cooled off a bit before heading out for my long run.

So out the door I go, only to be greeted at the end of my driveway by my neighbor Dave. Now Dave...he spells trouble. I see him and it is all down hill. Him & I are like applesauce & pork chops (I never got that whole food combo). He started P90x a few months ago and is trying damn hard to get himself into shape. So he is like a HUGE ALARM screaming at me. It is saying, "Runnnnnn, Wendy, RUNNN". But I stop. It's because I like Dave and we can talk for hours about fitness and he is like a HUGE sponge and I can talk the ear off a dead horse and so on and so forth. THAT is the problem. We have THINGS to talk about. ;-)

So 45 minutes later, I crank the ipod up, the sun is almost set and dark is looming. But off I go on my usual route.

Ironically, on ISFP today we talked a LOT about fear. The kind that grips you, takes over your body, deems you immobile. Well, I don't talk about this a lot, but I have this fear of the dark.

Ever since I was a little girl I was petrified of the dark. I know it has to do with my religious upbringing and the old adage(?), "The devil's gonna get you cos he's hiding under the bed". Boogieman? I think not. I had Satan under MY bed. That is just a little daunting to an 8 year old. This may seem odd, but every now & then I get freaked out putting my feet on the floor, getting out of bed, in a dark room. Things like that stick. There were a few preachers from our church growing up that could have used a little tuning in back then. But I digress.

So...I head out in my usual direction, out past the golf course, into the fields of nothingness, for about 4.5k. It is getting dark. Fast. I am all pumped up and rearing to go. Maybe I should run a little farther. At this point I cannot really see my feet or the road, so sidestepping the rattlers could be iffy. So, I make the turn.

I always have one ear bud in, one out so I can hear traffic. So as I am running along, another fear, the dastardly coyote, makes his presence known. Now he isn't close, but I have serious issues with them. They have creeped me out my whole life, right along with that bastard, Satan. And I am getting a little sick of it all. So tonight I decided that if one were to make it's presence known to me, I was planning on Ninja kicking him into next year. The fear is lessening, I think. Or all those BodyRock workouts are paying off.

So onwards I run, back towards town. Ok...it is almost full-fledged complete darkness. I need Adam Levine. I dial him up...I pick up my pace and he is singing, "Bang, bang, she shot me". I am seriously singing at the top of my lungs, and could care LESS about the campers at the park, sitting around the fire. Kumbaya, my lord? "She shot me, she shot me"...I am still singing, then BANG!!! There IS a gunshot. Coincidence? My heart starts beating it's normal rhythm again and I move on.

I have made it back to town. There are very few street lights and I still have distance to make up so I do what every good runner would do: I hit the highway. I run almost out to the grain tower, but I can't see anything, and I am feeling surprisingly unafraid. There is lots of traffic and lots of light from the cars. I head back. Some friends of my daughter drives by and blows the horn at me. Another van waves and blows the horn. Two semis pass and also lay on the horn. The friendly doth overfloweth here in Bow Island tonight. Maybe they knew I needed it.

I head down the final stretch, make the turn down Center street to head home. The air is warm, and smells perfectly heavy and strongly of mint. It is pitch black. And I am running in it. Unafraid.

I think tonight the thing I discovered I should be most afraid of is myself. I scare me. But not in the way you think. I scare me because all of the things I was once afraid of I am now not so much. I am changing. Fear can paralyze you. I am a runner. Paralysis is not part of the training plan.

I was never one to back down from a challenge & I don't intend on starting now. So Satan, you have picked the wrong chick to mess with. I will fuck your shit up if you cross me now.

And Wile E Coyote: I have a nice fireplace in the bedroom with a spot on the wall just begging for a stuffed and mounted presence. I will, in fact cut you.

Things you WON'T find at I See Fit People

Things you WON'T find at I See Fit People

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1. Fluffy, cutesy quotes oozing rainbows & unicorns. We prefer subtance & meaning that hits home when we read them.



2. Masking or denying how we really feel in order to appease the masses. Sorry, but if we have a mouthful of crap, you can count on us saying SHIT!



3. Holding back our thoughts. Um. NO. If we have something to say, we say it. If we are vexed (and it does happen occasionally) we like to use impactful words like the F Bomb. It cures a LOT!



4. Pretending our lives are perfect when they are not. We all have trials...issues...problems. We are human. And we share that with you on a daily basis because you can relate. We all just want to know in the end that we are not alone in circumstance.



5. Photos of fluffy chickens, baby rabbits or any type of farm animal that could induce the Cuteness Coma. (OK, there was that one time with Matt & the cow). We prefer pics of sweat, muscles & well used gym equipment. We opt for adreneline over coma. Common sense really. (We aren't hatin' on chickens. Really, they are adorable)



6. Disrespect, jealousy or any words in the Thesauraus remotely related. We are SOLELY about support, drive, motivation, inspiration, listening, helping and most of all LEARNING. That is what we do and we do it with friends, both old & new.



7. Fake pictures of ourselves. OK..we post pics a lot! It is not because we are narcissistic. It is because we are DAMN PROUD of how far we have come. This is NOT a magasize shoot, photoshopped to the nth degree. This is us. We have fun with this, and we are proud of our accomplishments. We want you all to feel that too! We DON'T think we are perfect. We are a work in progress. Every single day our feet hit the floor...let the work begin!



To recap, if you came to ISFP looking for any of the above things...sorry to disappoint, but you must have "LIKED" the wrong page. :-)



**stepping down off soapbox**

GIVEAWAY: Jelly Belly Sport Bean pack!!!

So, there are LOTS of good things to come here at I See Fit People & this is one of them. I have ANOTHER great prize pack donated by Jelly Belly which includes Jelly Belly Sport Beans, a hat, notepad, key chain & a some other goodies!

For anyone who is looking for sports nutrition, this is a great option. These are my choice when running. If you haven't tried them, now is a great chance to do so! Jelly Belly has been really GREAT to us and has supplied us with many prizes so THANK YOU Jelly Belly!

The reason I like these is they are small, portable & they are not hard to chew in comparison to some larger gummy types. They just work for me! There are lots of great flavors to pick from. The winner will be receiving sample bags, which are assorted. So YAY..you get to try them all!! WOOP!!

This is what Sport Beans offers:

**Carbohydrates to fuel your body during intense activity

**Electrolytes (sodium and potassium) vital for maintaining fluid balance

**Vitamins B1, B2, & B3 to help burn carbohydrates and fat

**Vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against oxidative damage

So this is what you need to do:
1. Repost this link on your Facebook page then come back HERE and leave a comment telling me you did so.

OR

2. "LIKE" our I SEE FIT PEOPLE Facebook page (if you haven't already), then come back HERE and leave a comment telling me you did so.

OR

3. Tweet this contest then leave a comment HERE saying you did so.

OR

4. Add us to your blogroll, then leave a comment HERE telling us you did so!

EASY PEASY!!!

Contest will close July 30 & winner will be announced July 31st!! There will be only ONE winner. Good luck!!

July Chin Ups Challenge

It is time my friends to get this underway! We gave you a little break from challenges because mainly, we felt you needed it. It is summer, we are all busy and it is freakin' hard to commit to anything extra when you have kids, a job, a life and summer time festivities. After the Burpees Challenge, which was kind of a dud (no offense to those who participated...including myself), it was good to have a little break.

But now we think it's time to pick at the one thing, next to push ups that most of us want to beat into submission: The Chin Up. Mother. Of. Pearl.

For those of you who have been here a while, you might remember the first time we did this challenge, about a year ago. It was a worthwhile thing...there were results, no doubt. So it will work yet one more time.

After a little banter back & forth, Matt & I decided we are going to KISS. HA...gotcha...we are just going to Keep It Simple Stupid. (No we are not calling you stupid). We both, personally are BUSY, BUSY!! So we figured you all are likely going through the same thing. (BTW, the shirt was NOT planned...haha!!)

This challenge is EASY: Chin ups (reverse grip) to failure. There will be a daily tracker on I See Fit People, as always. If you aren't a member on Facebook, look to the left of this page for the Facebook application & simply click "LIKE". Then join in!!

I (W) will be pretty much starting from scratch. This is not my strong suit. I can only do a few right now, so don't feel discouraged. If you can do ONE, ONE is what you start with. Each day, you should AT THE LEAST be able to do one more. There will be some of you on the opposite end of the spectrum, that are way more advanced. That's GOOD. You can be fuel for our fire. :-)

So with that being said this is the deal:

Start Date: Monday, July 18th
End date: Monday August 1st

NOW...it gets good. There is a nice prize attached. Vega has so generously donated a small tub of Vega Whole Food Health Optimizer in Berry flavor. This is worth $42.50 CAD. A VERY generous offering on their behalf! Check out the above link to see all the wonderful features & benefits their products offer. I am a HUGE fan of this company & their line up. It is sports nutrition at its finest! Vega is made exclusively from natural plant-based whole foods.

With every daily post of your total, you are going to receive an entry into a draw for the VEGA when the challenge is over. I think that is a great incentive!!!

We hope there are LOTS of you that want to join in!! Spread the word and get your friends in on it too. Feel free to post the link on your personal page and get someone else fired up too!

Cheers!!
Wendy & Matt

Peanut Butter Protein Ice Cream

Last year I came across this blog that had TONS of recipes for protein ice cream, all using different forms of protein powder, milks, etc. I threatened to try them, but just didn't. I also came across some random message board post about using cottage cheese as a base for it then flavoring it. It thought to myself, "SELF: You love Cottage Cheese and this sounds inspiring"!

So today was the day to give it a whirl. Literally.

So I grabbed my food processor (the old one because I was in a hurry & it is lightweight). Off to the kitchen counter I go!

I dumped all ingredients into the processor, hit pulse and after about 1 minute (really), it looked like soft serve perfection.

Into the freezer it went, and after about 1.5-2 hours, it wasn't fully frozen, but enough for me to dive into.

Words cannot express my love for the texture, the flavor & the divinity of this little concoction. I shall in fact be playing around with this one and giving it some depth. I did a basic version, and it worked out. Now let the fun & games begins!

So when everyone else is hoovering their high fat confections, you can feel free to indulge in this amazing treat. How freakin' perfect for after a workout this time of year?

Love, LOVE, LOVEEEEEE!!!!

Cheers,
Wendy

Here is the recipe & nutritional breakdown.


Peanut Butter Protein Ice Cream
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1 500g tub of Fat free Cottage Cheese
3 Tablespoons of PB2
4 small packets of Krisda (stevia)
Little splash of butter flavoring
1 tablespoon chopped raw peanuts, to sprinkle on top

Put first 4 ingredients into a food processor & pulse until it resembles soft serve ice cream, about 1-2 minutes. Scrape into a freezable container, then sprinkle with chopped peanuts. Lick spatula. ;-)

Freeze about 2-3 hours. Dig in. Send me thank you note.

Nutritional info for 1/4 recipe:

Calories: 126
Fat: 2.1g
Carbs: 8.3 g
Protein: 17.4 grams


Now this is based on the ingredients I used. If your cottage cheese is different, of you use nut butter instead of PB, info will change. It is easy to calculate with any recipe calculator.

NRG Bars review

I am slightly smitten. Just a little bit. I had the pleasure of receiving some samples of NRG Bars. I was totally curious about them after seeing a post on Tony Horton's wall on Facebook. He said he was a major fan of NRG. So then I started stalking doing my homework & finding out what the HECK all this commotion was about.

When I received the samples,I kind of felt all giddy, like a kid in a candy store. You know how you pick up the packaging and gaze upon it's beauty, give it the sniff test then go in for the kill taste test.

OK. This could either be a good thing or a bad thing. The good thing is all of the bars are delicious. I tried the Pumpkin Ginger, Cranberry Almond & Chocolate Chip Coconut. Here is where it gets ugly: remember the icebox cookie dough that was always a staple in the house? The slice & bake kind? OK...I LOVED the cookie dough as a kid (and even now as an adult). Well, after I had sampled the second bar, it was crystal clear: THIS is what they reminded me of. Ice Box cookie dough. Good. Lord. It is perfect!

NRG, you did a fabulous job of putting together a bar to fuel our lives!! They are all-natural, energy bars made from real foods. How can you beat that??

The down side is, I am going to have to stock up- when I go south of the border. We can't get them here in Canada (YET...crossing my fingers).

If you haven't tried them, trust me...they are for lack of a better word, yummy.

Also, I have been hoarding the stash of samples....trying to keep myself from mowing into to them. Oh NRG bars...you are cagey, how you weave your magic web!

Thanks again, Danny!!

If you haven't checked them out yet go to their website and take a peek at NRG!!

Also they have a Facebook Page you should scope out & "Like"!!

Cheers,
Wendy Kennedy

DISCLAIMER: I am not being paid in any way to promote this product. Trust me, if that ever happens with ANY product I review, there will be one kick ass party at I See Fit People Central. :-)