Headband review and giveaway

So, despite the fact that I ate way too much sugar this week, I was only up half of a pound on the scale for my Wednesday Weigh-in...

When I eat crappy all week, I FEEL like I've gained 100 pounds back. Even after one meal of eating too much, when I feel too full, I feel like I'm 253 pounds again. But then after a day or two of eating really well, I feel light as a feather, even if the scale doesn't show that.

Regardless, I'm happy with my weigh-in today, and I'm even happier that I'm back to making better food choices. My main focus this week is to cut back on the sugar--one treat a day, not three or four ;)

Jerry suggested weighing Chandler to see if his diet has done him any good yet. So I think I'll weigh Chandler in on Wednesdays as well. I was shocked to see that the diet is actually working--he's lost half a pound!! He weighed a svelte 24.5 pounds after a week and a half on his new diet. I'll write more about how he's doing on my Saturday cat post (Caturday?)

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I was recently contacted by 6 Dollar Bands, a website that sells no-slip headbands, to see if I wanted to review their headbands (and give one away to a reader, of course!). Last year, I reviewed Sweaty Bands, and was actually pretty impressed with how well they stayed on my big head (I can't get headbands to stay in place, for the life of me).

Lately, since I've been doing quite a bit of running on the treadmill, I've been wearing them to keep my hair out of my face. My hair has gotten long enough that I can't put it in a bun, because the bun comes loose in less than a minute or two. So I put it in a ponytail, but then my bangs wind up in my face. So I was using the Sweaty Bands that I had, and was happy to review the 6 Dollar Bands and see how they compare.

They are called 6 Dollar Bands because most of them are, well, $6 (some are $8--I'm not sure why some are more than others). They sent me two bands:

How do I always manage to look the same in every picture?!

They are lined with velvet ribbon, so that they stay in place on your head. They were nearly identical to the Sweaty Bands, except these ones are adjustable. They have a little slider thing on the elastic. In the pic below, the band on the left is a Sweaty Band, on the right is the 6 Dollar Band.

The only noticeable difference between the Sweaty Band and the
6 Dollar Band is the adjustable strap (on right)

In comparison, the Sweaty Bands are $15-18, and the 6 Dollar Bands are $6-8. I really do like these bands, and I discovered that they stay put the best when I wear them closer to my hair line, like in the pictures above. If I try to wear them back farther, they slip off. But if I wear them an inch or so from my forehead, they stay on through my entire long run (I wore one during my 14+ mile run a couple weeks ago, and I didn't have to adjust it at all).

I'm still not sure about the care of the headbands--I just hand wash mine in the sink quickly after a run, and let it air dry. They look like they'd probably hold up okay in the washer, but I haven't tried that. The fabric of the sparkly one seems a little more fragile, so I'm not going to be wearing it for daily runs.

These headbands do absorb a little sweat, but I wouldn't consider it a "sweat band"--it doesn't absorb much. I wear them to keep my hair out of my face, and they do that job very well (also, they look cute).

Would I buy these at a race expo? Yep! I definitely think they are worth the $6-8 price tag. 6 Dollar Bands generously agreed to give away a headband to a Runs for Cookies reader! So if you'd like to try one, just leave a comment on this post, and I'll randomly select a winner on Friday (4/12) at 9:00 AM EST. CONTEST HAS NOW ENDED.


You can check out 6 Dollar Bands on their website and on Facebook. (Disclaimer: I was given two headbands to review for free, but was not required to give a favorable review--my opinions are honest, as always).

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Hills

Yesterday, I did a hill workout for the second time ever. I've always hated hills, but talking about them in my RRCA class made me want to add them to my training. Because of my history with knee injury, I am doing these on the treadmill so that I don't have to do the downhill part (which is what usually causes injury).

In my mind, the workout I had planned seemed simple enough:

1 mile warm-up at 6.7 mph
1/2 mile at  7.5 mph with 5% incline
1/4 mile walk at 3 mph with 2% incline
(repeat intervals for a total of 4 times)
1 mile cool down at 6.7 mph

It was MUCH tougher than I anticipated! The incline and faster speed was really hard. I thought it was interesting to see my heart rate...

I think the 5% incline at 7.5 mph was much harder than 1% incline at 9.3 mph (the speed I was doing my quarter-mile repeats at). At first, I was thinking I should probably do 6-8 repeats--ha! I felt exhausted after four.

Yesterday morning after my run, I went to Kroger to pick up some potatoes and postage stamps--a quick in and out trip to the store. I did the self-scan checkout, and asked for stamps. After I paid, the cashier still hadn't gotten my stamps, so I had to wait for her to finish helping someone else. Finally, she gave me the stamps and I walked outside.

As soon as I walked out the door, I saw a car go FLYING past the store (at what I later learned was 100 mph). Following the car, were police cars, with lights and sirens going. I counted nine of them! I was so stunned at how fast the cars were going on that two-lane road that I just stopped and gawked  for a minute.

I was curious what was going on, and if the person ended up being caught. The road is a twisty road, and not very safe for a high-speed chase. I run on that road, and thankfully, I wasn't running yesterday morning. I drove a few miles down the road, and saw that the chase had ended with the car crashing into someone's privacy fence.

I later read an article about it in the newspaper, and learned it was a 36-year old woman, who was high on cocaine, and they had tried pulling her over for speeding on the expressway 25 miles away. She fled, going the WRONG WAY on the expressway, causing a couple of accidents. They managed to put out spikes and blow one of her tires, but she was still driving over 100 mph. When she crashed, she was trying to enter a subdivision, and thank God she crashed before driving like that through a sub with houses everywhere. She ran when the car stopped, but she was caught.

I was thinking on the way home that if I didn't have to wait on the stamps, I would have been just ahead of the whole car chase, and who knows how that could have ended?! Interesting how things work out that way.

Anyway, this morning, I had plans to get together with Jessica for coffee, so I got up bright and early at 5:30 to run on the treadmill before the boys woke up. Ever since I started going for walks in the afternoons, my sleep has become a little more regular. I am super tired at the end of the day, and usually in bed by 9:30 or 10:00, and then I usually sleep until 6:00. I used to wake up several times during the night, but lately, I've only been waking about two times per night. It's nice!

I turned on Sons of Anarchy (for those of you that are interested, I'm on season four, episode two), and hopped on the treadmill. I ran a mile warm-up, and then three miles at my "happy pace", and then walked for about a half mile until the episode was over. (Oh! When I saw the first episode of season four, I was SO happy to see that Jax cut his hair; he was hot before, but he's a million times hotter now...)

After the kids went to school, I caught up on some e-mail and then went to meet Jessica. She's running the half-marathon this Saturday, also. We're going to go to the expo on Friday and then go have dinner at La Pita! Then we're going to meet on Saturday morning to ride together to the race. I'm bummed that the half-marathon start time is 8:45--that's late to start a half-marathon! There is a marathon, a half, a 10K, and a 5K, and the half-marathon is the last one to start. Weird, right?

I had another day of good eating, so I'm hoping the damage on the scale tomorrow isn't TOO bad!

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Motivational Monday #10

I've made some really bad food choices this week, and I was feeling pretty down about it all weekend. I've been spending way too many PointsPlus on sweets. I don't mind using some every day for a sweet treat, but it was pretty ridiculous this week (I spent more PP on sweets than I did on regular food!), so I'm going to work really hard to rein it in. I want to feel GREAT for my half-marathon on Saturday!

I am proud that I didn't let the overeating of sweets turn into a binge, though. It was SO hard not to, but a long conversation with Jerry helped me quite a bit, and kept me on track. I'm so glad that Easter is over, and the candy at the stores is almost gone (Kroger has Cadbury Creme Eggs on sale for a quarter each!)

I'm also proud of the fact that I have been going on lots of walks lately. I should start keeping track of my mileage, just out of curiosity. I probably walked about 15 miles this week, in addition to my running. 

Anyway, I did not let the poor choices make me say "screw it" and eat everything in sight, and for that I'm proud. I'm back on track and had a great day today. I'm not sure what my weekly weigh-in will show on Wednesday, but I can handle it, even if it's a legitimate gain.

Reading your Motivational Monday accomplishments has me fired up to have a great week! Here is what a few readers have been up to:

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Shanna finished her first 5K in 42:19! When she first started walking/running, she couldn't even go a half mile without "wanting to die". Since late December, she's lost 26 pounds!

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Leslie has been trying to get into the 170's for a very long time, and this weekend, she finally did it. She's lost a total of 93 pounds, and just PR'ed a 5K, taking 6 minutes off of her time from the same race last year! (The photo shows a comparison of last year's race and one year later...)

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Danielle hit a huge milestone in her weight loss this week--the big 50-pound mark! She's lost 52 pounds in five months by doing Weight Watchers and exercising.

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As always, there is a ton of motivation to be found on the Facebook post. Here are just a few:

If you ever want to share an accomplishment, you can always e-mail a photo with the subject "RfCMM" to SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com, and I may include it on a Motivational Monday post. (Make sure you use that subject, or "Motivational Monday", because it's basically your way of saying you don't mind if I include it on the blog.)

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Decaf, please

Yesterday was a rest day, and I had a pretty lazy morning with the family. We ate breakfast and then watched a movie. I went grocery shopping, and when I came home, it was already after noon! I had lots of plans for yesterday, but all of them pretty much fell through.

My brother Brian was in town from Minnesota, and my younger brother, Nathan, got tickets to go to the Tigers game. He'd asked me and Jerry if we wanted to go, and we said sure. Then later, he said he was only able to get four tickets, so he, Brian, and their girlfriends were going.

I had no interest in the game whatsoever (I'm not a sports fan), but I was hoping to be able to spend time with my brothers, so I was disappointed. But then I remembered that there was a benefit dinner for my friend Sarah (who has melanoma) last night, and I wanted to make sure to go to that, so it worked out fine.

The benefit was at a local bar, and Jerry and I got dressed to go. We weren't going to have the steak dinner, but I at least wanted to donate some money and see Sarah (the last time I saw her was when I visited her in the hospital a while ago). When we got there, there weren't any parking spaces, so we had to park across the street. I took that as a good sign that it was going well!

But when we walked in, I was really confused. There were signs for the benefit, but nobody was there to greet people or tell them where to make a donation or what was going on. We stood at the bar for about five minutes, waiting to order a drink, but the bartender was talking with people and never even glanced at us.

I didn't see Sarah there, so I asked Jerry if he just wanted to leave, and that's what we did. I was disappointed not to see Sarah, but I sent her a message asking if she'd want to get together for lunch or something soon.

I really wanted to go out somewhere after that, because I had actually taken the time to do my hair and make-up (haha, I sound like such a slob), but we couldn't think of anywhere to go. We ended up getting a flurry from the local ice cream shop that I'd been craving. That place has the BEST flurries, and I hadn't had one in almost two years (last spring I made a goal to go an entire season without one, and I did it). I got half Reese's Cup and half Butterfinger, and it wasn't nearly as good as I remember. My craving is definitely gone now, and I won't be getting another flurry!

Jerry said his wasn't as good as he remembers, either. We used to get those all the time, and that ice cream shop made better flurries than anywhere--I guess I just lost the taste for them? Weird. But good, because those things did some serious damage to my weight two summers ago. ;)

Since yesterday was a rest day, I didn't run, but I still wanted to try to meet my ActiveLink activity goal for the day. In the afternoon, Jerry and I went to the State Park for a walk. We stopped for coffee at the Circle K to carry with us, because it was freezing outside. It was funny--I got decaf coffee and put in regular half-and-half; Jerry got regular coffee and put in this stuff called Stok, a creamer that has TONS of extra caffeine in it.

When we got to the park, Jerry grabbed the coffees and I asked him which was mine. He didn't know. One was decaf, and one was extra caff. I said he'd better not guess wrong, or I'd have a heart attack on our walk! He sipped both, and was very confident that he chose the right one. (Thankfully, he did choose correctly).

We walked the long way around the park, which was a little over five miles. It was cold, but nice to hang out and do something active.

We ended up staying in last night, and we got a movie from the Redbox. I was SO tired, though, that I could barely keep my eyes open. My brothers called me and asked if we wanted to go to Nathan's house for a bonfire, but it was freezing cold outside, and I was just too tired to go out after that. Sadly, I was in bed at 9:00 on a Saturday night ;)

Oh! When I got the mail yesterday, I noticed an envelope from the RRCA... my certification!

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The True Nature of Cats, Part 2

(This is the second post in a four-post series about what I learned at Purina ONE headquarters about The True Nature of Cats. You can read Part 1 here.)

Last week, I wrote about feeding cats. Something I learned that is closely related to feeding them is playing with them.

What we consider "play" is probably more like "work" to a cat. In nature, they have to work for their food--stalking, pouncing, and killing prey. It's an instinct that cats have, so they can't control that urge to stalk, pounce, and kill. I learned that I was playing with my cats all wrong!

I used to get a toy (usually something dangling at the end of a string) and I would dangle it in front of my cats and they would bat at it. Cats may find this a little entertaining, but once I started playing with my cats the way I was taught at Purina ONE, they went crazy for it! Even Chandler, who is SUPER lazy; I've never seen him so active as I have this past week.

In nature, a cat's prey doesn't jump around right in front of the cat, or dangle itself right in front of the cat's face. The prey tries to run and hide to get away from the cat. Meanwhile, the cat is watching very closely, and sneaking up on it, and, eventually, pouncing on it for the kill.

So the best way to play with your cat is to imitate the prey. Instead of dangling the toy in front of the cat, we can slowly drag the toy across the floor, turn corners, make it "crawl" up onto a table, etc. All of my cats (well, except Paolo--I think he may have problems with his vision) are obsessed with a particular toy that was included in the box Purina ONE sent me. Here is what it looks like:

It's a long skinny pole (like a fishing rod) with this feather thing hooked to it. The feathers are unique because when you "fly" the thing through the air, it actually kind of spins and looks similar to a bird. Rather than just dangle it in front of them, I use the pole to make the "bird" fly all over the room. The cats watch it very carefully, and once in a while when it swoops down, they leap in the air and try to grab it. I don't make it easy for them, because then it's not as fun for them. It's important to let them catch it before you put the toy away, though, so they have the satisfaction of getting their "kill".

I learned that the best time to play with the cats is right before they eat. In nature, the cats hunt and then eat, so that is what we should try to imitate. Play (hunt), catch the "prey", and then eat.

Another way you can get your cat to work for their food is by using a puzzle feeder. I'd never heard of these until I went to Purina ONE headquarters. There are lots of different types, but basically, they make your cat have to work a little bit to get the food out. Here are a couple of pictures of the ones that were included in the box from Purina ONE:

In the first one, with the little green cups, you put a few pieces of kibble inside each cup, and the cat has to reach in and grab a the food and pull it out. Estelle has been using this one a lot, and she does really well with it. Paolo watches her, and then tries to get the food that Estelle has gotten out--sneaky cat! ;)

The second picture is a white ceramic puzzle feeder. You put the dry kibble in through the hole in the top, and it spreads out on the bottom. The cats have to reach in through the sides to pull out a few pieces of food at a time. Phoebe prefers this one.

The third picture is a wobbler puzzle feeder--you put food or treats inside, and there is a little hole (just big enough to dispense a couple of pieces at a time) on the side. When the cat swats at the toy, and it tips on its side, some food may fall out. My cats haven't gotten the hang of this one yet, but Estelle ripped the fuzzy tail off the top of it, and she adores that part!

I haven't had any luck getting Chandler or Paolo to use the puzzle feeders. Chandler is too lazy and set in his ways, and Paolo is just too finicky and dependent. If he had his way, we'd be setting a place for him with candlelight and a silver platter ;)

So anyway, your cat's instincts make them want to work for their food--whether it's the stalking and "killing" before eating, or by using their brain to come up with ways to get the food out of a puzzle feeder. My cats have absolutely loved that I've been playing with them the "right" way, and they've gotten into a good routine now (play, eat, groom, sleep). It took about four days of craziness to get them used to it, but it's gotten much easier now, and I know they are happier.

Next week, I'll write about the best "natural" environment at home for our cats.

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Now, the winner of last week's photo contest for the cat food...

I got nearly a hundred photos, and they were all fantastic--I've loved going through them! But I left the decision up to my boys. Noah and Eli both agreed on the winner:

 

This adorable kitty is Kiwi! Congrats, Kiwi, and I hope you enjoy your food from Purina ONE!

I realized last week that I looked at my coupons incorrectly. One was for dry food, the others are for wet food. So for this week's contest, to win a coupon for cans of wet food (Purina ONE Healthy Metabolism variety), please e-mail me a "playful" photo of your cat. You can interpret "playful" however you'd like. My e-mail address is SlimKatie (at) runsforcookies (dot) com. Important: Use the subject "Playful Cat", to make sure it doesn't go to spam or get buried in other e-mail. I'll accept photos until Thursday, 4/11/13 at 4:00 PM.

Here is a rare picture of Paolo being playful. That's about as lively as he gets!

 Finally, the photos that everyone sent were SO ridiculously cute and/or funny that I just had to put them together in a video. :)  Enjoy!

You can check out more about The True Nature of Cats movement on Facebook and on the Purina ONE website.

(Disclaimer: Purina ONE covered my travel costs and provided me with a box of cat toys and food in exchange for my thoughts on the True Nature of Cats movement. I was not required to give a favorable opinion.)

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Peanut butter cream

Today started out on a really crappy note. Jerry got up SUPER early to go to Detroit for the Tigers opening day tailgating. I fell back asleep, and then at 5:15, the phone rang, waking me up. It only rang once and then whoever it was probably realized it was way too early to be calling, and hung up. So I didn't know who called, but there was no way I was falling back asleep after that.

Then I fed the cats (I've gotten them on a feeding schedule, which has been a huge pain in the ass for me, but I'm hoping will help with Chandler's obesity). Paolo wolfed his food down, then ate Estelle's leftovers. Within a couple of minutes, he threw it all right back up (which happens sometimes when he eats too much, too fast).

So I was cleaning up cat puke, and then the boys woke up, and I was getting them ready for their camp. I made them eggs, and Eli came to the table from the bathroom. The kids are constantly tattling on each other, and Noah said, "Eli used three butt wipes!" I knew, before I even asked, that he'd clogged the toilet. So there was that.

It wasn't even 7:00, and I was already having a bad day. I got dressed in my running clothes, so that I could take the kids to camp and just head out for my run from that parking lot (it's right next to the trail that runs through the state park). I signed the boys in to their camp, and then headed out for a 12-mile run.

I had a couple of goals for today's run--first, to run sub-9:00 miles throughout; and second, to try and run a negative split (the second half of my run faster than the first half).

About a mile in, I started to doubt that I would even be able to finish 5 miles, let alone 12. I just felt tired and "off" for some reason. Mentally, I let go of the idea of trying for a negative split, but I still held on hope to run the sub-9:00 miles. Next weekend is my goal race, and I wanted the confidence of a good last long run before the race.

I didn't bring my iPod, and listening to the wind, I realized why keeping pace felt so tough. The wind was brutal coming off the lake! I really didn't want to run through the park, and then past my car to do another five miles, so I decided to try and fit all 12 miles into the park. It was kind of fun just running without a planned route. Since I know the mileage of the park so well, I would think in my head, "Okay, from here it's 0.6 miles to the bend" or "From here, it's a straight 3 miles to the car," etc. That helped pass the time.

Once I turned away from the wind, I felt some relief. I was able to pick up the pace a little, and felt a little peppier. I saw a couple of women walking together, but each was listening to her own earphones. I thought it was so odd! At one point, I saw a man (probably about my age) running on the path coming toward me, and when he noticed me, I could see him run a little taller and pick up his pace ;)  (Although, to be fair, I tend to do that when I see people, too!)

Toward the end of the run, I really wanted to take a short break--either walk, or stop and rest a minute. I was so ready to be done! But my pace was great, despite feeling tired, so I just struggled through it. The last mile was killer. I deliberately tried to get stopped by a red light, and I managed to catch about a three second break before the light changed again. Funny, when I don't want to get stopped I always do for a full minute or two; but when I want to get stopped, I almost never do!

I got back to the parking lot at mile 11.85, so I ran past it to get to 12. When I heard my Garmin beep, I was SO relieved to be done. I had actually met both goals for today's run! All of my splits were under 9:00/mi; the first six miles, I ran in 52:41, and the second six miles in 52:00--negative split.

Based on today's pace, I'm estimating my finish time for the half-marathon to be about 1:55. I'm not really aiming for anything, as long as it's less than 1:59:59, though ;) I tend to do best when I don't feel pressured, and I'm very confident that I can finish under 2 hours, as long as nothing drastic happens with my body or the weather.

After I got back to the car, I went to Subway to pick up lunch for the boys; I dropped it off at their camp, and then stopped for my long run treat on the way home. I've actually been thinking about what to get for the last couple of days, and I decided on a peanut butter cream-filled doughnut from an amazing local bakery. I wasn't sure how many PointsPlus it would be, because their doughnuts are bigger than typical ones from other places. So I weighed it when I got home to calculate the PP.

It was 5.5 ounces, and I calculated it at 16 PointsPlus--not too bad, actually! In comparison, the cookie sandwich I was getting for a while was 23 PP.

I was ravenous when I got home, so I quickly showered and then ate lunch, and still had plenty of room for the doughnut. It was delicious! I could eat that peanut butter cream for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Jerry, who I'm sure was having a much better morning in Detroit with his friends than I was while out running 12 miles, sent me a text that made me kind of excited:

I don't think I will ever get used to having random people know who I am because of my blog!

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Killer cravings

This morning, I got up bright and early at 5:15. I wanted to run and shower before the kids got up. My plan was to run four miles, so I did a mile warm-up and then ran three miles. I'm not sure what to call that pace, because it's faster than an "easy" pace (8:45/mi), but it's slower than a "tempo" pace (8:05/mi). I guess I could call it my "happy pace", because that's where I do most of my running!

I was watching the season three finale of Sons of Anarchy, which was a longer episode than normal, so I knew I wouldn't be able to finish the whole thing. But I ended up running a mile cool down so that I could watch a little more. I'm definitely liking it more now that they are back in California!

I plugged in my ActiveLink after my run, and saw that I was already at 78% of my daily activity goal, and it was only 6:15 AM!

Yesterday was a rest day, and it took me ALL DAY to finally reach 100%--and I was pretty active yesterday. I ran a few errands in the morning, walked on the treadmill while reading a book (which I'm going to review soon), went for a walk outside in the evening, put away laundry and cleaned up the house... the only time I sat down yesterday was to write my blog. I was at 93% when I finally sat down last night with Jerry to watch some of our shows, so I jogged in place during a few commercial breaks just to hit 100%. Some days, I don't even come close to my goal, but when I was that close, I wanted to just finish it out.

I've been having some killer cravings lately for specific food items. Of course, they aren't healthy things; so I've been making substitutes, and they work so well!

The first is pecan pancakes from Cracker Barrel. I looked for a lower-calorie pancake recipe, and I found one for banana pancakes in Hungry Girl's 200 under 200 recipe book. I used whole wheat pastry flour (instead of regular whole wheat), and I added pecans. They were AMAZING! (I put the recipe over on my recipes page). So I've been on a banana pecan pancakes kick for breakfast lately.

Another craving I've had is for this pasta at Olive Garden--I can't remember what it is, but it was penne coated with alfredo sauce and then topped with marinara sauce and cheese. Or something like that! Anyway, I did a VERY simplified version of it a couple of days ago, and it was so good that it killed my craving. I didn't take a picture, because I honestly didn't think it would taste very good using jarred alfredo sauce.

I just cooked gemelli pasta (12 oz dry) and added a whole jar of light alfredo sauce and stirred it together to coat the pasta. Then I topped each serving with a couple of spoonfuls of diced tomatoes, and a Tbsp. of parmesan cheese. I used this seasoning grinder thing that I bought for a quarter on clearance. This stuff is awesome, on all kinds of different foods!

The ingredients are just sea salt, tomatoes, roasted garlic, black peppercorns, sweet basil, dehydrated green bell peppers, and dehydrated red onion.

My biggest craving has been for a Reese's Cup Blizzard--and I haven't thought of a decent way to kill that one! When I took Noah to the Dairy Queen, I ordered one, but it wasn't good. The ice cream place by my house makes REALLY good ones (tons of Reese's) but it would use up all of my PointsPlus for the week, I'm sure.

Tonight, my kids have the task of choosing a winner for the cat food! I've gotten probably about a hundred photos, so it's definitely a difficult job. I think I'll put all the photos into a slide show, so if you want, you can see all the submissions. They're too cute not to share! Here's a picture I just took of Phoebe a few minutes ago...

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RECIPE: Banana Pecan Pancakes

I was looking for a lower-calorie pancake recipe, and tried Hungry Girl's banana pancakes from her 200 under 200 cookbook. They were pretty good, but I made a couple of changes the next time I made them, and they turned out perfectly! Adding the banana to the batter as well as topping the pancakes with chopped bananas made them extra yummy. Here is the recipe with my changes...

Here is a printer-friendly version!

Banana Pecan Pancakes

1/2 medium banana, mashed (chop the other half for topping, like in the picture)
3 Tbsp. egg whites
1 Tbsp. milk
dash of vanilla extract
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour (you can use whole wheat, like in the original recipe, but the whole wheat pastry flour made them fluffier)
1/4 tsp. baking powder
dash of cinnamon
1-2 Tbsp. chopped pecans

Heat a skillet over medium heat. In a bowl, combine the mashed banana, egg whites, milk, vanilla extract, and sweetener. Add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon and stir until combined.

Spray the skillet with cooking spray, and then sprinkle the chopped pecans in four separate little sections. Pour the batter over the pecans, making four small pancakes. When the top starts to bubble after a minute or two, flip them over and cook for another minute or so.

I top mine with syrup and half a banana, chopped.

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Runs for Cookies turns two!

Exactly two years ago today, I made a big leap from blogging in a tiny little community, with a handful of readers, to starting Runs for Cookies. I had no idea at the time what a huge life-changing moment that would be.

This cookie is what made me title my blog "Runs for Cookies". It was called
a monster cookie, and I was obsessed with them, until the bakery stopped
making them (which is probably a good thing).

I spent LOTS of time Googling, "How to... on Blogger" because I was clueless. I had no idea what html was, or what an RSS feed was. I didn't know that people could actually earn money from writing blogs, or that there were tons of different niches of blogs.

I still don't know much about html or other "computer talk", but my blog has grown much more than I'd ever though possible. When I first started Runs for Cookies, I assumed it would be just like my previous blog (no longer available online--I'm putting it into book-form)--just a small corner of the web where I could write about my day. I started it as a journal to look back on occasionally.

An early version of my header ;)

My handful of readers started growing, and continued to grow. At first, I was terrified--"Why are all these people interested in my boring old life?!" It was kind of scary to see the numbers of people who were reading about my personal thoughts, especially regarding my weight. But I developed a sort of "friendship" with my readers, and I looked forward to reading about them in the comments. I learned how much we all have in common.

My blog has given me all sorts of amazing opportunities, from being in Fitness magazine to meeting my Ragnar Relay team who would eventually travel to Florida and make a documentary (not to mention that the Today Show filmed us!).

In early 2012, I learned that I could earn a small income from placing ads on my blog; not a ton of money, but considering it was earned for doing something that I would have done regardless, it was very exciting for me. I also started getting offers to review products and give some away on my blog, which is always fun.

In January, literally HUNDREDS of people ran a 5K with me (virtually) on my 31st birthday! How many people can say that? 

Eli's drawing of me, running for a cookie ;)

But my favorite part about blogging, by far, is getting feedback from my readers, through comments, e-mail, tweets, etc. I love to read that someone was inspired to start running, or has gone X number of days without binge eating, or has lost X number of pounds. When I was losing weight, I loved finding inspiration from others who had done it; and if I can provide inspiration for someone else, that makes me very happy! This is one of the reasons I started Motivational Mondays--I was getting lots of e-mail from people writing about their accomplishments, that I wanted to share it with everyone.

My blog has now become a HUGE part of my life. It's fun to go back to old posts once in a while to compare what I was thinking then with what I am thinking today. When I am out doing something with the family or with friends, I sometimes think, "Oh, I'll have to get a picture for my blog!" Sometimes I do, sometimes I forget, but I do try ;)

I even felt a need to make business cards when people were asking
for the web address of my blog!

Posting my weight weekly has been a huge source of accountability for me in maintenance. Sometimes, I think, "I could binge, just this once, and no one would ever know!" but I would feel too guilty to do that. I know that I'm not expected to be perfect (because clearly, I'm NOT), but it helps keep me on track when I know that I'm going to write about it.

On the days that I have screwed up, and I feel down about it, all of you make me feel so much better by telling me that you go through the same stuff, too. You tell me that I'm "normal" for having bad days, and even though I know that, it's nice to read it.

I feel so very grateful, to every single of one you reading right now--whether you comment daily, or once in a while, have e-mailed, or tweeted, or even just lurk here. I really appreciate your support, and I want to thank you for taking the time to read!

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And since I mentioned it, I should probably post my Wednesday Weigh-in... just as I expected, the scale was back down this week:

I was 131.5, which is two pounds down from last week (but back to "normal"). I've been maintaining for almost 4 months now!

When I looked at last year's anniversary post, I noticed my weight from this day for the previous two years. On April 3, 2011, I was 139. In 2012, I was 142. And today, I'm 131.5--I'm very happy at how closely I've maintained my weight for two years. I've had lots of ups and downs, and that's what I'm working on now in maintenance, but according to "statistics", I should have gained it all back by now ;)  Ha!

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The saddest cone ever

I feel like I'm finally getting back in the swing of things after such a crazy week last week. My kids are on Spring Break this week, but they wanted me to enroll them in a week-long day camp. They did this camp over Christmas break and loved it, so I let them do it again. The days are long (8 hours) but they play lots of games and sports, and come home exhausted.

Today, Jerry drove them to the camp while I ran on the treadmill. Ever since my RRCA certification class, I've been tacking a warm-up on to my runs. In class, we learned how important it is to warm up in order to avoid injury. I'm REALLY hoping I can do my marathon training injury-free this time around, so I'm going to do whatever I can.

Today, I normally would have done a fast three-miler, but I did a one-mile warm-up and then three miles at a comfortably faster pace. For some reason, by calling the first mile a "warm-up", it makes my mind believe that my run is shorter than it is--doing three miles plus a warm-up sounds much better than four miles, doesn't it? ;)

I've been having a hard time with season three of Sons of Anarchy. The first episode was good, but when the whole gang went to Ireland, the show just stopped making me feel like, "I HAVE to keep watching!" I just got to the end of season three, and now they are back in California, and I'm interested again. I hope season four is better.

Yesterday, I had a huge scare! I was driving home from my mom's house, Noah in the front seat next to me, and I was going pretty slow through her neighborhood. I'm always paranoid about kids playing in the street, so I was glancing around while I was driving to make sure there weren't any kids.

On the right hand side, I saw what looked like a person on the ground next to the road. I stopped the Jeep, and backed up--and sure enough, it was a kid (probably about 12 years old). He was about six feet or so from the road, lying flat on his back, arms at his sides, head turned to the side with his eyes closed.

It didn't look right, at all--I told Noah to put his window down, and I yelled, "Are you okay?" Nothing, not even a flinch. I yelled again. Still nothing. So I got out of the Jeep, and my heart was racing, and I was thinking about having to do CPR and call 911 and all that. I ran over to him yelling loudly, "Are  you okay?!"

Finally, he slowly turned his head and opened his eyes. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just laying here."

Good grief! Who lays like that next to the road, basically playing dead? Anyway, I was glad he was fine, but my hands were trembling so badly the whole way home.

This morning, after Jerry took the kids to camp, I went with him to a dermatologist appointment. He had to get two skin biopsies. He had to have a shave biopsy on the back of his head and a punch biopsy of a mole on his back. I'm hoping everything is normal. I've been so on-edge about any atypical skin issues ever since my friend Sarah was diagnosed with stage 3C melanoma a couple of years ago. She's not doing very well right now, and it just amazes me how one little mole can do SO much damage.

After we picked the kids up this afternoon, we took them to get an ice cream cone at McDonald's. We ordered four cones, and the first two looked really good--we passed them back to the kids. It's always a gamble what the cones are going to look like at McDonald's, and Jerry and I have had some pretty messed up ones. The third cone they handed us made all four of us start laughing. It was truly pathetic looking. This is a terrible picture, but maybe you can get the idea:

The picture actually makes it look much better than it did in-person, however! Especially compared to the other ones. So Jerry and I (jokingly) fought over who had to take the crappy cone, and naturally, Jerry lost ;)

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