Morning Runs - Allysin's Update

GOOD MORNING!
So I am home again for the summer and things are starting to pick up, fitness wise I mean. 
We started following a fitness blogger/youtube channel named Cassy. You can check out her Blogilates. On her site she makes a fitness calendar that each day has youtube videos she's made for you to follow. Well for the month of June Eve, Roxanne and myself have kicked it into high gear and really started to crack down on doing on the workouts each day. (We still miss certain days, like today where we have stuff going on in the evening) But for the most we stay dedicated. 
On top of this we started morning runs with week. It's killer when your alarm goes off at 5:40 in the morning and all you really want to do is stay in your bed with your nice fluffy, warm duvet. But somehow there is this drive in us that pushes us to get out of bed and go for a 45 minute run (lets be real it's a jog). 
Now you have to understand we live out in the country and our road isn't this nice flat, paved road. No! OUR road is this packed gravel, bumpy road with monstrous hills that kill as you try to run up them but really you're jogging at a walking pace because the incline is so intense. 
So we've set our distance goal to be from our house to the end of our road, across the attaching road to the next road parallel to our road. There and back is approximately 5km. So Monday, the first day we ran, I ran the "flat" part of our road, up the first big hill and felt like I was dying by the top, walked the other hills and ran on the next road. TODAY when I went for the run I ran all they way on our road up and down all the hills. On the first hill my shoe had come untied but I knew if I stopped on the hill I wouldn't start up again so I ran with it untied all the way up the first hill, tied it and kept right on running. Then I continued on the next road and kept going. 
The whole time having Eve right next to me saying, you got this, we're almost at the top. You're doing great. Keep going. She's such a great running partner continuously encouraging me to do my best and push myself it's awesome! We did end up walking part of the way back but we attacked most of the hills with as much enthusiasm as we could muster.
Even though at the end of the run we were sweaty and a little worn we were energized and excited that we got up and did the run and encouraged by my victory of running the hills! 
We're looking forward to the victories to come in the future!
We have set our end of the summer goal to run the "road" to our cottage. It's approx. 4.5 km. So although the distance is not very far it the the terrain that makes this our challenge. The "road" is an old logging road full of really big hills (like twice the size of the ones on our road), twists, turns, over all just a very challenging run. We look forward to the day we can say we overcame that challenge!
Keep pushing yourself, it's totally worth it!
Infinite x's and o's
-A

Here is Eve and I's sweaty pic from the other day after our workout (not run).

Creamy Avocado Pasta

Hey Everyone,

So this semester I moved into an apartment which means, NO MORE CAFETERIA FOOD! Yay, it's nice to be able to cook my own meals again.
Now I don't know if you are into all the pinterest hype that is going around, but if you are you know how it goes. You see all this great stuff and pin it all and you have all these great intentions to do the stuff you pin, and then. . . it NEVER happens.
So this week I decided to actually make a recipe I pinned. Technically, I heard of this recipe from a friend of mine first but then I pinned it.
It was a "Creamy Avocado Pasta" recipe and I made some adjustments to it, but it was fantastic. It reminded me of a pesto sauce almost, but it was absolutely delicious. With it I had some oven cooked tomatoes and some fresh cucumber.

Creamy Avocado Pasta

• 1 medium sized ripe Avocado, pitted
• 1/2 lemon, juiced
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 2 tsp dried Basil
• Ground pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tbsp parmesan cheese (grated)
• 2 servings or your choice of pasta

Instructions:

Boil water in a pot and cook pasta as per usual. While pasta is cooking mix together all ingredients in a bowl. I attempted to use a blender to just blend in the garlic better, however this did't blend very well so I just mixed it by hand. This just meant some of the garlic was still in pieces and some bites were quite strong, but still tasted excellent) Once the pasta is cooked strain it and mix in avocado sauce. Serve hot.

(Makes 2 portions)

Oven Broiled Tomatoes

• Tomatoes (As  many as you need)
• Dried Parsley Flakes
• Grated Parmesan Cheese

Set oven temperature to broil. Slice tomatoes up, or I cut the tomato into wedges, sprinkle with parsley flakes and parmesan cheese. Place on a baking sheet and cook in oven until cheese is lightly toasted.

Here is a picture of my meal, I'm not a photographer so don't judge the quality of the picture. The recipe is delicious no matter how the picture looks and if you don't trust me, you'll have to just test this recipe out for yourself.

I hope you enjoy!!!

Infinite x's and o's

-A

Allysin

Hmmm...
       Describing yourself is always a challenge. There are so many different things you could say. Like I said in my first blog post I'm the second oldest of six kids. I'm in college, Bible College, more specifically. People probably describe me by saying I'm pushy and demanding. It's probably true. I love to organize and plan things. Hence why putting together this blog and planning thirteen weeks of training for the run is all my idea, and my job. 
          I love my family and really want to see them and myself step up and change the way we have been living. It just so happens that this fall with the stress that came with school I turned to the gym as a way of releasing that stress, and running quickly became my favorite activity. So the idea of running a 5k is so exciting to me. As well as just having that goal to really work towards is motivational for me. 
         I am really excited to see my family join together and work towards this. My sister and I thought about running for different causes, but cancer was the one that stood out the most to us. Our world has seen so much pain brought because of cancer. Not only for those who have had or have cancer but for the family members who have lost loved ones because of cancer. It breaks my heart every time someone tells me about a loved one being sick with cancer. The feeling of helplessness that individual experiences, knowing that there is nothing that they can personally do to help their loved one, is almost overwhelming. But doing this run, and raising funds for this cause I can finally do something to help. Although it cannot heal the hurt or remove the cancer I plan to run because of the hope that it brings. 
        My family knows best, I am a visionary, I have plenty of ideas, and most of them are really good, but I suck at following through. But this run is something I really want to do, I really want to stick it out and complete it. I want to see what can come if I persevere. I know my parents think that I won't stick to this plan to run, but I want to prove them wrong. I am doing this run to not only prove to my parents that I can say I'll do something and stick to it, but to also prove to myself that I can reach my goals. 
       I'm excited to see all my hard work pay off, and I'm excited to see my family come together over this. 

Infinite x's and o's
- Allysin