Thanks for all the positive feedback on the Marathon Monday feature.  Sounds like you guys like it, so I’ll definitely keep it up throughout my training.  I’ll be sure to include all the ups AND the downs so that you guys can learn from my mistakes as well as my wins… since this is my first full marathon, I’m sure I’ll have a lot of “whoops, bad call” moments!

I feel a RANDOM post coming on so I’ll just give you fair warning now.  It’s probably going to be all over the place!  Lots to catch you up on!

Lets start with some EATS, shall we? A few food highlights to share from the last few days.

Here’s my portobella ‘burger’ that I grilled on the George Foreman using Ezekial ‘heels’ as the bun.  Toppings include broccoli sprouts, avocado, Tofutti, salsa and some spinach.  On the side I have steamed cauliflower sprinkled with nutritional yeast.  That was a tasty dinner right there!

Yesterday’s packed lunch was SO GOOD!  I’ve really been missing my large salads that I used to eat every day for lunch when I was home at lunchtime.  So I packed up a good ol’ Shari-Salad of the past (spinach, dulse, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, nutritional yeast and Annie’s Goddess dressing.)  I also warmed up some leftover steamed veggies from the weekend and put them on top of the salad.  Then I shook the whole thing up and darn near licked the last few drops of salad dressing out of the bowl when I was done.  I ate an ENTIRE CONTAINER of spinach yesterday between my green smoothie at breakfast, my salad at lunch and my dinner.

Dinner was a mushroom and spinach quesadilla.  This pic is before I put on the top tortilla:

The ‘innards included mushrooms, spiralized zucchini, spinach, small sprinkle of raw goat cheddar, a spoon of 505 gluten-free vegetarian green chile and some nutritional yeast.  While it TASTED FANTASTIC, I have a new “note to self” which is this:  Do NOT use just-steamed veggies  for the innards of a quesadilla – you end up with a SOGGY-dilla instead.  Next time I will use leftovers because they’ve had time to drain.

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OK switching gears on ya!

A FitFeat reader and good friend of mine is also on a mission toward her first marathon.  Unlike yours truly who is running a marathon because I can’t seem to say no when presented with a challenge, Beth is actually doing her marathon for an amazing cause.  I’m sure many of you have heard of Team In Training, that raises money for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.  Beth has signed up to run her first marathon in June in honor of her friend Diane who is a 15 year Leukemia survivor.  If this is a cause near and dear to your heart (or you just did your 2009 taxes and realize you could use more charitable write-offs for 2010!) head on over to Beth’s TNT Page for more info on the TNT cause and info on how to donate.   Beth has been a running machine the last few years, competing in tons of half-marathons and she’s very excited to be aiming for her first full marathon.  I’m sure she’s gonna kick that course right in the shin(splints)!

I’ll be getting a link set up in the sidebar too so that if you think of people to whom you’d like to spread the word for donations, you can send them right to FitFeat and there will be a banner to click on.

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OK this will be the last gear-change, I promise.  I thought I’d give you a little update on how my AeroGarden is doing.  The basil is going CRAZY and growing beautifully.  I even harvested my first few leaves on Sunday for a Lemon Basil White Bean dip that I made for a SuperBowl party.

However the chives and the thyme are not looking quite so happy!  In fact, they’re looking downright PATHETIC.

I think the basil is a big bully, stealing all of the UV light and shading the other two in its huge leaves.  And probably using up all of the root space in the bowl!

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Time is flying by and I have lots to get done on the ‘catch-up’ day so I better get cracking!

Near-future blog topics you’ll want to come back for:

• Thoughts on Physique 57 (finally, I know)
• Thoughts on Born to Run
• Calling all ABS for our next Flex-It Friday feature

Make it a FIT day!  See you next time!

– Shari B. =)

Related FitFeat Posts to Check Out:

• The Lean, Light and LARGE Smoothie
• Dressed Up Like Tabouleh
• Recipes to Inspire: Volume 3