Cross Country 2022 Season Recap

This post is FULL of pictures--just a fair warning.

Cross country season is officially over. I can't believe it! I feel like we'd just gotten started, but it was an amazing season and I am SO glad that I decided to volunteer again as a coach for third through fifth graders this year. I was trying to figure out when Renee and I started the team--and this is when my blog comes in so handy sometimes--I looked through my archives and found that our first practice was September 11, 2015.

I coached from 2015 until 2018 with Renee, and then I coached 2019 by myself. I took 2020 and 2021 off. And then I missed it enough to return this year with Renee. So this was my sixth year coaching. Each year brings different challenges and celebrations. It's so odd to think that Noah and Eli were actually on the team early on--and now Noah is 18 and Eli is 16!

Things haven't really changed much from the early days. We've always had the same sort of structure: warm-up, running plan for the day, play a game, cool down stretches.

I've been meaning to keep up with writing about cross country each week, but so much happens and so quickly that it's impossible! So here are lots of pictures from throughout the season. I wish I had more, but I was so busy during practices and meets that it was hard to snag photos!

I have to say (again) how grateful I am for your donations for prizes/awards for the kids. They loved them! I don't know if they even realize how spoiled they were ;)  The middle school and high school kids in cross country don't get prizes!

Anyway, from the bottom of my heart, I thank each and every one of you who donated something--as little or as big as it may have been! (I sent personal thank you notes via Amazon, but there were several who were either anonymous or that did not have gift receipts so I didn't know who they were from. If you did not get a personal thank you, please let me know--it wasn't personal!)

And now, here are some photos...

A six-legged race--so funny!

This boy worked SO hard to get this tutu!

Reader Karen sent this to me and I saved it until the very last practice--Renee and I chose someone for a coaches' award (most improved time, best attendance, good spirits, good sportsmanship, etc.) It went to the boy with the tutu!

Playing Connect Four on the hill--I'm always afraid of being crashed into.

Playing games on the hill makes the kids not even realize that they are doing hill work to increase their leg strength!

The parachute was SO much fun! A great way to end a tough-workout day.

Running against the wind with these running parachutes was MUCH harder than they expected!

I tried to get a starting line photo at each race

This boy (who ended up getting the coaches' award) got three medals through the season. This was his first year running cross country and he already ran a 6:51 mile!

The infamous big hill at one of the races

Two of the boys won medals for their times

Again, with another medal!

Halloween fun yesterday!

The parents and little sister of one of the runners. I thought the costumes were ADORABLE.

Look at these fall colors! Michigan is gorgeous in the fall.

Coaches' award (Renee had already taken off her costume!)

Yesterday's practice was a trick-or-treat run, so all of the kids could wear their costumes. The parents lined up around the course to pass out candy and Renee and I stood on the hill passing out candy (well, I passed out what was left of the prizes!). It was a super fun practice.

And that's a wrap up from the season! I'm not sure what's happening for next year (whether we will coach again) but I'd like to think that we will. It was fun coaching with Renee again; we work really well together as a team.

I'm going to miss these kids! :)

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VEGAN RECIPE REVIEW: Banana Bread

I realize that banana bread recipes are a dime a dozen, so I was unsure whether to even review one for this vegan recipe series. However, I've been eating bananas like crazy lately and I only like them when they are *barely* yellow. Even if they still have a hint of green, that's my preference. The last time I went shopping, I was overambitious and I bought too many bananas that have since gotten way too ripe for my liking.

There are lots of recipes using old bananas that I can find, but banana bread is just SO GOOD. It doesn't matter if it's cliché or overused; everybody loves banana bread. I wanted to find a recipe for one that wasn't from a site I'd already tried before when making other recipes. And that's how I came up with this: The Perfect Vegan Banana Bread by The Baking Fairy. (I will link to it again at the end of the post)

Interestingly, this banana bread is "accidentally" vegan--she did not develop the recipe to be vegan. She has only been vegan since 2019, so a lot of her older recipes are not. This recipe looked so simple that I wondered how it could possibly be "the perfect" vegan banana bread--which made me decide to try to find out.

There were very few ingredients:

Bananas, vegetable oil, non-dairy milk, brown sugar, vanilla extract, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. (I liked that it called for four bananas, because that's how many I needed to use). And yes, Jerry scratched "I love you" on the side of one banana--he knows that as it ripens, the words turn brown. Just a little love note for me :)

First, you start with preparing the pan. I have a good non-stick loaf pan, so I didn't think the cooking spray and flour was necessary, but I did it anyway (per the directions). Then preheat the oven.

The batter would be very easy to make without an electric stand mixer, but my carpal tunnel has been pretty bad since I started working on remodeling the bathroom, and I can use as much help as I can get when it comes to my hands. So, I used my stand mixer.

You start by mashing the bananas by themselves. I didn't totally purée them--I like them to have a little texture.

Then, you add in the wet ingredients: brown sugar, oil, non-dairy milk, and vanilla extract. 

I set it on medium for a minute or so, before moving on to the dry ingredients. It doesn't specify to mix the dry ingredients together first, but I didn't want clumps of baking soda in there, so I just stirred it together for a minute before putting the dry ingredients into the mixer. I turned it on medium again, just enough to get the ingredients to come together (the recipe specified not to over-mix it).

Then I poured it into the prepared pan. Compared to other recipes I've made, this was a very small amount of batter. I kind of figured this would be the case when I saw the measurements of the ingredients, but I figured that would be a good thing--at least I wouldn't pig out on a huge loaf of banana bread. The pan could probably hold double the amount of batter, though!

After 45 minutes, you cover it with foil to continue baking. This is what it looked liked before putting the foil on:

When I pulled it out of the oven and removed the foil, it looked like I would expect banana bread to look. And I inserted a toothpick into the center, which came out clean. The recipe didn't specify anything after that--whether to leave it in the pan to cool, remove it to a rack... I had no idea. I just let it cool about 15 minutes in the pan until I could handle it by moving it to a rack to finish cooling.

And for the taste? For the few number of ingredients, it was surprisingly very flavorful! The large ratio of bananas made it more banana-y (if that makes any sense at all). It was moist and not too airy (I prefer dense banana bread rather than the light and fluffy kind).

My only complaint was that the top wasn't crusty. My very favorite part of banana bread is the very top, where it's crusty without tasting burnt. Usually, I'll cut the sides and bottom off of a piece, so I have just the middle and the crusty top. This loaf, however, was soft all over--the bottom, sides, and top were soft. It was good! But if you're like me, you would miss that crusty top. In the picture, it looks like it has that crusty top, but it was actually just as soft as the middle.

I think this may have been due to putting the foil over it for the last 10 minutes. That would create a bit of steam and make top soft. I might try this recipe again and skip the foil to see what happens.

This loaf didn't even last the whole day in my house, though! With a husband, two teen boys, and banana-bread-loving me, it was gone almost immediately. I have to say, though, the size is perfect for when you have a craving for banana bread but you don't want to have a huge loaf lying around tempting you.

A big winner in my book! (My family agrees.) Again, here is a link to the recipe: The Perfect Vegan Banana Bread by The Baking Fairy

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Wordless (with a comparison picture)

I am SO tired today for some reason, so I'm going to make this a wordless post. (Well, as wordless as I get.) I went for a long walk with my reader-turned-friend Jen today, and it was fun to see how different we looked since the last time we met up (December 2020). We've both lost quite a bit of weight since then...

 I will write tomorrow!

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A New Challenge: Who's In?

With cross country coming to a close, I can already feel the extra time I'm going to have freed up. While I'll be sad to see the season ending, I'll most definitely enjoy feeling less pressure.

A few days ago, my sister mentioned that she was going to start another 75 Hard challenge starting November 1st. The last time she asked me to do it, I said no way. It was SO much work last time! If you're unfamiliar with it, there are some simple rules to follow for 75 days. When you read them, they actually sound pretty easy:

1) Do two (45-minute) workouts per day. One of these workouts must be outside--no exceptions. They can be any workouts you want.

2) Follow a diet of choice. There are no "cheat meals" or alcohol allowed.

3) Drink 1 gallon of water a day.

4) Read 10 pages of a non-fiction self-help, or inspiring, book. Audiobooks do not count.

5) Take a full-body progress photo every day.

When you look at each of those, they seem rather simple! The big kicker is that you cannot stray from the rules even one time or you have to start over from day one.

I'm not interested in losing weight, but this isn't designed to be a weight loss plan. It's a plan for mental toughness--you're learning self-discipline by sticking to the rules for 75 days straight.

When I did it before, I chose walking as my exercise. I walked 45 minutes in the morning and 45 minutes in the afternoon. It took me over an hour and a half a day, which was much longer than I was used to! But I listened to a bazillion audiobooks. (Those didn't count toward my reading).

My plans for this time around:

1) I'll run (likely on the treadmill or the rec center's indoor track through the winter) for 45 minutes inside. And for my second workout, I'll either walk Joey outside, ride my bike if the weather is nice, or maybe even bust out the old Wii EA Sports Active "game" (Amazon affiliate link) I used to do, which was basically a strength training workout). The exercises for 75 Hard are technically up to you, which you want to do; the whole point is to do *something* active for 45 minutes twice a day. The only caveat as that one has to be outside.

2) My diet is pretty much the same. I'll continue my vegan way of eating. I've been sober for 1 year, 8 months, and 7 days now, so alcohol won't be a problem. The only change I plan to make is that I'm going to eliminate sweets altogether. I don't eat many sweets now that I'm vegan (they're inconvenient, unless I want to bake something, so I'm just too lazy--haha). I will still include cocoa powder in my oatmeal because it's unsweetened, but I can do without the chocolate chips. I don't drink sweetened anything, even soy milk. So I actually feel like the diet part is going to be easy!

3) Drink one gallon of water a day. This should be fairly easy, despite how much I write that I have a hard time drinking water. I know that if it's a part of the 75 Hard challenge, I'll just make sure to chug my 1 Liter bottle four times a day. I usually do once in the morning (first thing after waking up), one at around lunch time, one in the afternoon, and one at around dinner time.

4) I've been wanting to read "How Not to Die" by Michael Gregor and Gene Stone. (All links to these books on Amazon are affiliate links, meaning I might get a small commission if you purchase through the link. I haven't read them, so I can't recommend them, haha!) It's super long (over 500 pages) so it'll take me a very long time to read it! But I've had it on my Kindle all year and I keep moving it down the list for my fun fictional novels.

Also, a reader named Ann wanted to send me a book called "Love Your Home Again: Organize Your Space and Uncover the Home of Your Dreams", by Ann Lightfoot and Kate Pawlowski. You all know I love to organize, but since my house doesn't have an attic or a basement or even a storage closet, I have a hard time organizing everything. Another interest is "12 Rules for Life: An Antidote for Chaos" by Jordan B. Peterson. And finally, "Atomic Habits" by James Clear. I've had this book for ages and I still haven't read it. I've started to a few times, but I just don't like self help books!

One book that I have read (and listened to!) several times is "Can't Hurt Me" by David Goggins. If you're looking for inspiration, or you think you can't do something, or you think something is too hard, you NEED to read and/or read his book. (FYI, there is a lot of swearing, but I think they may have a "clean" version if you're not into that). I can't recommend this book enough!

5) Take a full-body progress photo every day. I'm not trying to lose weight, so I don't think my body will change much, but I'll still do that. I'm thinking I might wear the same clothes every day for the picture--just black running tights and a tight black shirt--so that it shows my body. Or *maybe* I'll be brave enough for a sports bra and shorts. Probably not, though! This was Day 1 of 75 Hard the last time I did it (in 2020). I didn't make it through the whole thing, though.

And that's it! The hardest for me, by far, is going to be the double workouts. But I did it before, when I was very much overweight, so I know I can do it again. I walked in snow storms! When I injured my knee by kneeling on a screwdriver, I just switched to riding my bike. And Joey can certainly benefit from the extra walking, too. I've been wanting to get back to running, so this is a good way to force myself to at least get out there. I may not run the full 45 minutes, but I can walk some of it (either at the end or take walk breaks in the middle.

The biggest catch: If you miss even one single item on the list, you have to start over from day one!

Anyway, my sister is the one who said she was going to start 75 Hard on November 8th, and I only thought about it for a minute before I said I'd like to join her. I wanted to start earlier, though, so I'll start November 1st. The dates will run from November 1-January 14. Right through the holiday season! Holidays have never been a big deal for me as far as food goes, so I'm not worried about that.

I wanted to write about it now in case anyone else is interested in doing it with me. I had thought about creating a Facebook group to keep in check, but in the past when I've done those, it's hard to get people to participate. Also, I need to take on 

There is a great podcast that explains the whole challenge, which you can find links to below: 75HARD: A 75 Day Tactical Guide For Winning The War With Yourself, with Andy Frisella. (Again, the the language is pretty explicit.)

Here it is on iTunes
Here it is on Stitcher

I'm actually really excited about starting this! For once, I'm not doing a weight loss challenge; I'm doing this for mental toughness and something to keep me focused. My body can certainly benefit from the exercise as well ;)

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