Easy Chia Seed Pudding

I've been hearing so much about how chia seeds are a Super Food--they are a good plant source of Omega 3 and each 15 mg serving (about a fat tablespoon) provides 6 grams of fiber, 3 grams of protein, and 4 grams of essential fatty acids for 80 calories.  So I decided to give them a whirl.  I had been seeing a bunch of recipes for chia pudding so I thought that would be a good entryway dish to try them.

I put a 1/4 cup of chia seeds in a bowl:

And then I stirred in a cup of almond milk (rice milk, coconut milk, or any liquid should work):

And then I just let the chia seeds absorb the liquid.  I strongly advise stirring it occasionally to keep the chia seeds from clumping (which prevents the individual seeds from absorbing the liquid):

After about 50 minutes, the chia seeds are like little tapioca balls with a little nutty crispness inside:

The taste is pretty much the flavor of the almond milk which is fine but not amazing.  So I experimented dressing it up.  I added 1 teaspoon of unsweetened cocoa powder and a dash of cinnamon, with a sprinkle of splenda and made a cocoa pudding:

I wouldn't rave about the cocoa pudding--I still need to play around with that one.  But adding a few chopped almonds and drizzle of honey made the chia pudding outstanding to me:

Besides being good for me, it was fairly filling too.  Overall, I think I can incorporate this chia pudding easily into my diet. Anybody have other suggestions for chia seeds that they like or find delicious?

SC Mud Run - Fall edition!

Survived the SC Mud Run AGAIN!

I lucked out with another dynamite team again:

So clean to start!

Theses ladies were go-go-go (I was keeping up but definitely bringing up the rear--looks like I should have done a few more runs) with great spirit and teamwork.  It was a touch chillier than last April, where it didn't quite warm up to the 70s but thankfully, the running warmed us up and the sun came through at good places.

A few things I was pleased with--I managed to get through the "Low Crawl Under Logs" without putting my face under the muddy water so I avoided the major dirty contact lens recovery from my first mud run.  Also, I had a personal goal of doing at least 2 rope transfers on the Tarzans--I did 4.  My memory thought there were only 5 ropes but apparently there are 9.  Next year, my goal is to do all 9.  I also started the Weaver on my own but in the interest of time and keeping things moving, it was quicker to make it a team effort.

The mud pit, still so darn muddy.  The Marines told us to doggy paddle (without kicking) but I felt I was barely moving:

Afterwards was the (second) 15' wall but man, it would have been nice to have less muddy hands and shoes and/or a less muddy wall:

And aaahh, the last obstacle: the fireman carry--which means we're just about done!

We finished with an official time of 1:56:27 and placed 37 (out of 63) in the Corporate division. Pretty darn respectable in my book but I'm just glad we had fun and did really well with the obstacles.

So muddy at the end

Now for some down time before spring when the Mud Run season begins again:

There goes my leg modeling career

Hopefully by then, the cuts and bruises will have healed! Thanks again to my great team!

Getting ready for the SC Mud Run - fall edition

For some reason, my cardio preparation has been a bit lacking for the SC Mud Run next week:

I have run only three times since the Camp Pendleton Mud Run in June and my pace since then is definitely much slower (from a 9:52/mile pace last June to a 10:43/mile pace now).  Granted, the SC Mud Run isn't nearly as running-oriented as the Camp Pendleton one.  And since it's very obstacle-oriented, I've been focusing on tackling and preparing more for the obstacles I remember lacking at the last SC Mud Run--specifically getting over walls and transferring ropes.  Fingers crossed!

Camp Pendleton Mud Run

So glad I can finally STOP RUNNING.  I can now cross the Camp Pendleton Mud Run off the bucket list.  It was really great accomplishing this with my co-workers. I suggested this tag line for our team shirts--dig the takeoff on the classic phrase?

Thanks to Carol (my team captain from the SC Mud Run), who lent me her silver cape that she was given for her first mud run -- I needed all the good mojo I could get! Though I didn't wear it on the actual run (I foresaw getting snagged and garrotting myself), I loved the good will and positive energy and encouragement that traveled with me from SC to Camp Pendleton:

This mud run was very different from the experience I had at the SC Mud Run in that this was a LOT more running. This Camp Pendleton Mud Run was a 10K (roughly 6.3 miles) compared to the 5 mile in the SC Mud Run.  And unlike the SC Mud Run, which was so loaded with obstacles I felt that the most distance I ran at once was about a quarter of a mile, this mud run was ALL running for the first 3 miles and most was UPHILL.  It was a steady and steep climb and made for a very challenging "run" for the first half hour.  At some moments, I thought, Okay, for sure, we're done with this hill and nope, I'd turn a corner and see a long line of people going upward and onward ahead of me.  Each one of these moments was fairly demoralizing, but I carried on.

There were a bunch of co-workers who had been training after work regularly for this Mud Run, running about 7 miles, 2-3 times a week, but all I had the heart for, on my own here in SC, was a weekly run on Saturday mornings.  The longest was a 6.5 mile run a couple of weeks before on Memorial Day:

I tried to make up for the holes in straight running with boot camp and kettle bell classes and hoped it would do.  It turns out I managed to keep up with them in general, though initially I just wanted to get ahead of the crowds which, for what it's worth, was kind of never-ending when you're in the last wave.  You start catching up with groups of those who started in an earlier wave and were gassing out. 

Unfortunately I jerked my hamstring during the steep downhill where I was like the boulder in that infamous Indiana Jones scene.  Observations from my teammates indicate I was flailing mess tumbling down that hill but I needless to say, I made up some time from my slower uphill run.  Another observation confirmed that I am indeed, a "gasping" runner from the get go.

But surprisingly, even with the low mileage training and contracted hamstring, I managed to finish with the first team (our company was divided in 3 teams, roughly based on time estimations) who finished in 14th (out of 294) in the Mixed team category with a collective time of 1:18:11.

I waited less than 20 minutes for the rest of my team members and we finished with a collective time of 1:34:09--coming in 100th place.  And our third team finished at 200th place with a collective time of 1:51:12.  Not bad considering with one or two exceptions, this was all our first time doing the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.

Immediately afterwards, I remember thinking that I was so dunzo with running--that I was crossing this motherblesser off the bucket list and never looking back at this Camp Pendleton mud run.  But after seeing that our company almost cracked the top ten of the Mixed team list, my mind starting turning with a bunch of what if?s.  What if I actually trained more than once a week running?  What if we trained so we didn't turn our ankles, jerk our hamstrings, or cramp our calves?  For what it's worth, other folks kind of thought the same things but for now...who knows...

Comparing the two mud runs, I liked that the Camp Pendleton Mud Run was not anywhere near as muddy as the SC Mud Run.  Honestly, I think these runs are enough without the added mud.  I would love a fun run with an obstacle course, sans mud.  I definitely preferred the more challenging obstacles of the SC Mud Run--the Camp Pendleton obstacles in comparison were very, very doable and frankly, welcome breaks in the running.  Besides the challenging aspects of SC Mud Run obstacles, I liked that it was more team-oriented.  So whether you did the obstacle by yourself or not, you had the encouragement and support (sometimes literally) of your teammates with you the whole way.  But I will tip my cap to the Camp Pendleton Mud Run--it is a very grueling run.  I definitely recommend it to runners who aren't so interested in obstacles but a really (and famously) challenging run.

Going forward--some of my co-workers are moving on to the Long Beach half marathon (13.1 miles--of JUST running!) in October and I'm wondering if Carol would be up for the doing the SC Mud Run on October 13.  But for now, I'm looking forward to relaxing and NOT running.

Hill run

So yesterday, I motivated to do a 4 mile run:

The good news is that I maintained my average 10 minute pace while adding hills into the run.  I routed my path on gmap-pedometer to figure out the elevations:

It looks like at a couple of points I climbed about 80-90 feet and goodness knows my pace above reflects that (as well as when I was careening downhill at the end when I was clocking an amazing 9 min pace).Of course this doesn't come close to the 450 peak run at the Camp Pendleton Mud Run, but I hope, hope, hope it helps!

Countdown to the Camp Pendleton Mud Run

I'm pretty sure I've recovered from most of the bumps and scratches from the SC Mud Run last month.  Again, I am grateful for the great team who stuck together from the start:

SC Mud Run Team BEFORE

til the end:

SC Mud Run Team AFTER

Now I'm trying to gear up for the Mud Run next month in San Diego at Camp Pendleton.  That one is less obstacle-driven (7 obstacles to the 36 here in SC) so I won't have to worry about the cargo net:

And I believe it's slightly less muddy, or at least it doesn't have a chest-high mud pit to slog through:

Unfortunately, for me, the Camp Pendleton Mud Run is a lot of running.  If I'm reading the course correctly, it looks like the first half (about 3 miles) is all running and pretty much UPHILL to a peak of 450 feet. My co-workers in SoCal have been running not only regularly (2-3 times a week), but also have been increasing their mileage (they're up to 7 miles per run).

I haven't been running nearly as regularly.  Or killing the mileage they are:

Obviously RunKeeper was NOT working correctly on 3/29

To boot, running hasn't gotten any easier or enjoyable. In fact, as I mentioned to my co-workers, I'm pretty sure I'm looking forward to the day after the Mud Run so I can STOP RUNNING.  When I run, I'm out of breath immediately and by the end my lower back aches--apparently because my hip flexors in the front of my body tighten up.  But most annoying of all, I have lost NO weight for all this running.  In fact, to my imagined chagrin of my team, I've actually gained a few pounds and back up to 155 (after hovering around 153 for a while).

But what I've really been getting anxious about is the uphill portion of the first half.  On the positive side, at least it's pretty much downhill and flat in the second half.  And I don't really dread the obstacles since the Camp Pendleton run allows individual competitors (unlike the SC run which is teams only), the obstacles are reasonable for an individual and should be quite conquerable as a team.

Tomorrow I plan to do another run.  Tomorrow is also 4 weeks away from the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.  The countdown begins...

Greetings from the South Carolina Hunger Games!

Kidding, of course.  Today was my inaugural attempt in the USMC Mud Run in South Carolina.  Aannnddd  I can now cross it off the bucket list!  I was so lucky to be with such a great team.  It was all of our first times except for our captain, Carol, who had done it for the first time last October.  It was really great to have someone who had experienced the obstacles before and shared other tips and knowledge (including how to tie our shoes so we didn't lose them in the sticky mud!) and had faith in us that we could all do it--truly a great captain:

Team Hard KORE 1181: Sheena, Carol, Sharon, and me

So let me start at the beginning:  a caravan of us arrived to take on "The Leatherneck"--nervous yet excited, and so clean:

It was a great experience.  Some parts that I thought would be challenging were incredibly doable as a team effort.  I learned it was a general understanding that to keep teams moving and conserve energy for all 36 obstacles, that team effort would be used whenever possible-so we would put out a knee for a step up to get over 5' walls and we pretty much slid our team members across as each of us clung to the bar of the Under Bar slide.  And sometimes we relied on other teams to help--whether it was getting our first (or last) team member up the sheer side of a 10' wall or helping hold a 12' cargo net taut.  It was, of course, etiquette to return the favor to another team.

A memorable challenging obstacle that surprised me was doing the low crawl under logs, as we were submerging our heads under muddy water.  The physicality wasn't difficult but I remember how I couldn't help get the muddy water and grit in my eyes as I had nothing dry or clean to wipe my eyes with.  I'm not sure if having contact lenses made it worse but I remember everyone saying how there was a gray sheen in our sight for a while after that obstacle.  You know how sometimes your ears ring after hearing a real loud bang?  This was like an analogous visual impairment (that, thankfully, eventually went away).

I also remember feeling briefly panicked when I reached the top of the 15' wall.  I guess I didn't expect the top to be so thin and when I got up there I looked down and it just felt so high up.  Fortunately, I was able to get my legs over to the other side before panic froze me up (which I witnessed with a couple of people on other teams).

The other thing I remembered was that some obstacles were challenging enough in their own right like the ascending/descending monkey bars and arm walk on parallel bars.  But adding wet mud to them?  As much as we wanted to try to do some of these obstacles unassisted, the wet mud on the metal bars added enough challenge to eschew individual effort and make them a team strategy.

And man, so much mud, dirt, and grit.  A lot of the obstacles were about crawling and running through mud and sand.  My shoes and clothes felt so heavy with it all and I swear the worst was having some of the grit in my teeth, shoes, and of course, my eyes.  Also wading through a creek and cutting up my shins stumbling on thick roots and branching lying underneath the water was an unexpected stinging experience.  In that regard it was actually a nice relief to the swimming obstacle where we swam across a water hole 48' long and 10' deep:

I went with a crawl/doggy paddle hybrid to keep my face above the muddy water:

I remember we all agreed that it was the most "refreshing" obstacle because you felt so rinsed off and cleaned up when you emerged:

We surprised ourselves by getting through the Weaver as a team because at first when we saw how we were expected to get ourselves over and under (yes, weave) the ascending and descending logs without touching the ground we almost skipped it for the penalty.  But we agreed to give it try and we did it.  Great feeling after that one.

Another challenging obstacle for me mentally was the last mud hole.  It was so thick and deep (up to our chests) that you needed to dig into the side of the wall to pull yourself along.  But the worst part was the texture of the mud.  Not only was it super thick (like concrete as it's getting poured) but it was warm and so grossly chunky.  I swear at times it felt like I was making my way through a canyon of poop.  I don't know how they got that mud to be chunky like banana halves--it literally felt like my hands were wading through turds

The only obstacle we officially failed at was the Tarzan, where 5 ropes hung down vertically about 5-6 feet apart and one was supposed to swing rope to rope without falling.  It was pretty much individual attempts and most of us fell into the pit trying to switch to the second rope--except for Captain Carol who at least successfully transferred to rope 2.

Finally we reached the last obstacle:  a fireman carry for a 100 yards.  We were all so happy to reach (and finish) the final obstacle:

Because it meant we finished the Mud Run!  We did it in a fairly inglorious time of over 2.5 hours (teams who really race it do it in a little over an hour) but we did hit some bottlenecks and occasionally walked between obstacles.  But honestly, I was happy and proud we completed it--no matter what the time.

Afterward, we started talking about parts we wanted to improve on for the "next time".  For me, I aim to eventually transfer to the ropes in the Tarzan and conquer that Weaver unassisted!

I would have loved if the reservoir was the last obstacle.  It would have been awesome to have rinsed off all the sticky mucky mud off.  I tried my best with the communal showers but as you can probably see from the picture below, the water coming down those PVC pipe holes had the effective power washing ability as if the dial was set to "drunk tinkle".  On top of that, they wanted to limit people to 1-3 minutes in the "showers"--making it fairly impossible to get all the mud off.

I settled for getting the thickest parts of mud off and rewarded myself with a post-race sno-cone:

Here's to the next Mud Run, y'all!  Now to get ready for the Mud Run in Camp Pendleton!

Getting Ready for the Mud Run

I've been trying to get ready for two Mud Runs, my first ever. My first will be here in South Carolina, where I've been told that though it is an over 5 mile course, the focus is less on running distances than it is on obstacles--36 in all. And looking at the description of the course obstacles, I'm definitely getting a bit nervous.

In terms of running, I did a serious run (for me) of 4 miles when I was NJ last month, where I was pleased that I was able to average 10 minutes per mile:

The next time I ran a straight distance was 2 weeks ago, while I was in California and had an opportunity to run with some of my co-workers with whom I'll be doing the Mud Run at Camp Pendleton in June.  I was pleasantly shocked at how much my time improved running with friends from work.  I guess running with friends motivated everyone to pick up their speed:

That said, I haven't run a straight distance since then, and kind of just been fretting about all the obstacles that I'll be doing this Saturday.  And carbo-loading.  For what it's worth, a woman on my team and I have been trying to practice some obstacles, like getting a team over the sheer side of a 10 foot wall and swinging on monkey bars.  Has anyone been on monkey bars lately since they were a kid?  Man, I though my arms were going to pull out of their sockets! 

Yeesh, is it time to panic?