HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

Hello all!  I hope that your mid-week vacations are off to a fun start.

This morning, Brian and I woke up nice and early.  5am to be exact.  We needed to be up and refreshed with food in our tummies to fuel us through our little 4th of July tradition.

Breakfast for me was half of a baked oatmeal mixed with some Greek yogurt, topped with raspberries, and almond butter….yum!  I let it sit in the fridge overnight so that the baked oatmeal gets nice and soggy while sitting in the Greek yogurt.

After breakfast Brian and I headed downtown to run our 2nd annual Firecracker 6 6 mile race.

We started the tradition last year, and after having such a great time training together and running together we had to make it an annual event!

Next year, this will be the day before our wedding (crazy!!!) so we plan on having all of our family members and people in the wedding party either walk or run the race with us.  I can’t wait!

Last year, Brian and I made a point to stick together throughout the entire race, but this year Brian said that I could go off on my own 😉  He ended up finishing in under an hour (woo!) and I ended up finishing in the top 75 females with a pace of 8 minutes and 5 seconds and a finishing time of about 48 minutes…a personal best for me!

Brian and I were reading about the awards a couple of weeks ago, and when we read that the top 75 females and males each got a glass goblet, I immediately decided that was a goal that I had to strive for.  Did I mention that I am slightly competitive???

I started of in the 8 min/mile bracket, and as I ran, I kept my pace around 7 minutes and 40 seconds for the first 4.7 miles…I was completely shocked because it didn’t feel like I was going any faster than usual…but I just kept chugging along.  Needless to say, I am very happy with my results and I needed that little confidence boost!

After the race, Brian and I decided to walk around the City Market to see the various food stands that were open.  Unfortunately, we didn’t have any money so we were just window shopping.

U-Relish Farm

As we were window shopping, I saw a cute little station with a ton of neatly packed crock pot meals.  If you are a regular reader, then you know that I have been searching for little ways to save time by preparing meals on the weekends, and even using the crock pot…I was very intrigued by this little shop.

I started talking with the shop owner, Cara, and she was so personable and knowledgable about the ingredients in her crock pot meals.  She owns the U-Relish Farm, where she creates and sells pre-packaged dehydrated meals containing fresh ingredients from her own farm that you simply pour in the crock pot, add a little water, and let the crock pot do it’s thing.  How amazing does that sound!!?

We hit it off right away, and I informed her of my little blog and that I would love to write a review of her products.  She sent me home with some goodies and I was on my way!  I can’t wait to try these little goodies out.

Now, we are at our friends’ (Caitlin and Dave) apartment for the day just hanging out…but before I have a chance to hang by the pool, I have to practice a little bit of Body Pump (and eat some snacks…meal number 2:  broccoli, hummus, egg muffins, and a quarter of a peach!)

Happy 4th of July!

What are your 4th of July traditions??

• Growing up, we would always go camping and watch the fireworks at a large baseball field near the campground.  At the time, I hated fireworks and would spend most of the time hiding under my blankie crying….I was a really fun kid 😉  Now, I love to play a little game where we guess what color the next firework will be!  It keeps things interesting.