My First 5k!

Some photos from my first 5k – the Race for Hope DC! It was so well organized, there were a TON of people there! Before the race, they had all of the survivors of brain cancer/brain tumors walk past all the runners to the starting line, it was really touching. I am sure that some day Jackson will be among those survivors!

Here’s a view of the crowd from the starting line. If you squint, you can see the Capital building!

Here I am! It was so humid that my hair was frizzy before we even started running.

With my friend Mary who was nice enough to get up early and run with me! Mary’s been running a bit longer than I have, she just ran the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler last month. She was also nice enough to go slooooowly and stay with me and my bum ankle!

I managed to run about half of the race, but after that my ankle hurt way too much, and I kind of hobbled the rest of the way. But, I made it across the finish line!  I won’t embarass myself by disclosing my time… suffice it to say that it was much slower than I’ve been running 5ks around the neighborhood recently. Oh well! Hopefully my ankle will heal quickly and I can run another race soon. There’s one right down the street on June 6! 🙂

Nothing in particular

Nothing in particular of note going on this week. I had a great OP week and was down 2.2 at my WI this morning! That was with going out to eat two nights, as well. I’m happy that I’m able to work the plan so that I can go out and enjoy myself and still see a loss. That is very heartening.

I made overnight oats for the first time this week! They were quite yummy, but a little thin for my taste (I like my oats thick and chewy!) I used 1/2 cup oats, 1/2 cup almond milk, and 1/2 cup plain ff yogurt. In the morning I added 1/2 a banana, 1 tbsp of honey, and 1 tbsp of peanut butter. It was extremely filling. I ate it at 9ish, went for a run, ran errands and got my hair cut, and came home at 2 pm and still wasn’t hungry!

I also tried to make a smoothie this morning before yoga. That was a bit more difficult than I expected. I used frozen strawberries, frozen raspberries, frozen blueberries and frozen pineapple, 1/2 cup almond milk, 1/2 cup of water, 1 tbsp of honey, and one tbsp of chia seeds. I don’t know if we just have a crappy blender or what, but getting those frozen berries chopped up smoothly too FOREVER. I kept having to open the blender and push the chunks down towards the blades. It’s a Cuisinart, which usually makes good appliances, so I don’t know. Maybe it’s supposed to be that hard to make a smoothie?!

And YES! You did see me mention Chia seeds up there! I ordered them from Amazon and they came on Friday. Jason asked me what the “chia pet seeds” were for. Hah! I couldn’t really taste them in the smoothie, but I think that’s the point. I’m going to add them to my oats tomorrow morning.

Tonight we’re making Gina’s Spinach Lasagna Rolls. Yum! I’m so happy to have found Gina’s site. Sometimes I feel like I’ve looked through all the recipes on the WW site 1000 times already. But Gina’s recipes are all OP and consistently yummy!

Jason’s birthday is Tuesday, so his family is bringing cake over after dinner and we’re all going to watch a movie. His mom is an awesome baker, so I’ve been counting my points verrrry carefully today to be sure I can have some cake!! Next Saturday J and I are going to Baltimore for the day to check out some restaurants he’s heard about up there. By “heard about” I mean “saw on the Food Network”. Either on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives or The Best Thing I Ever Ate. Clearly it will not be the easiest day to stay OP… but the hubs only has a birthday once a year… plus he’s been an angel about eating all my WW recipes!  Between our food stops, we’re going to check out the American Visionary Art Museum, which got rave reviews from my friend Leah.

Sorry for the boring post and dearth of pictures (I’m trying to be better about taking pictures, really!) Hopefully I’ll have something more exciting to report on later in the week!

P.S. Please check out my post on little Jackson and donate if you have the ability!! On Thursday his parents/doctors decided that the best course of action is another round of chemo and then on to radiation. He is such a trooper!

Heartbreak and Hope

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m running my first 5k in May – The Race for Hope.  The race is a fundraiser benefiting the National Brain Tumor Society and Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure. I’ll be completely honest, when I signed up for the 5k, I did so because it was the one that worked best with my C25K training schedule.

A few weeks ago, though, I started reading the The Dundon’s Nest. It’s a blog written by a mom in my area. She and her husband have two adorable little boys – Jackson is 2 1/2 and Mason is 4 months. In January, she noticed that Jackson was having trouble with his balance, so they took him to the doctor and then to Children’s Hospital here in DC.  An MRI revealed a parent’s worst nightmare – a tumor on Jackson’s brain stem.

Jackson is a HUGE Washington Capitals fan, and tshirts designed after their logo are for sale at CafePress to raise money for his treatment. I ordered one, and then I emailed his mom, Kristin, and told her that I was running the 5k and that I’d like to do the run in honor of Jackson. Luckily, she was totally on board and sent me some of her favorite Jackson photos to share with everyone. Here’s the precious little boy who I will be running the 5k for:

Jackson and the whole Dundon family have been so brave and positive through this struggle. They are truly inspiring. He has gone through chemo and lost his hair, and this Thursday he has a follow-up MRI to see how the chemo is working. Please keep them in your thoughts on Thursday!

If you’d like to support Jackson by donating to the race you can do so by clicking here.

You can also join Jackson’s Facebook Support Group, or donate directly to his recovery fund:

The Jackson Dundon Recovery Fund
c/o Kerry Donley
609 N. Pickett Street
Alexandria, VA 22304

Haiti Relief Fundraiser

Jen Wallace over at Indie Fixx is holding a Haiti Relief Fundraiser on her blog. Every day she is auctioning off great finds donated by indie artists, crafters and designers – most (all?) of them sellers on the fabulous Etsy. Head over to her blog and bookmark it so you can check back each day for new additions to the auction. Obviously it is a great cause, I can’t say anything you haven’t already heard/seen/read about the horrific conditions in Haiti, and as always I love to support the Etsy community.

Other places to donate:
American Red Cross
Yele
Oxfam America
Partners in Health
The Lambi Fund
Doctors Without Borders