Third half-ironman this year!

Waterman’s half ironman

I must start out this race report and say I have the best husband EVER! I can’t thank him enough for all he did for me this weekend and how he made this weekend possible for me.

It was a crazy trip that started at 4:45pm on Friday. I just started work 2 weeks ago and couldn’t take anytime off so Scott picked me up with Emmers and we left from the hospital. We hit a lot of rush hour traffic unfortunately but all worked out. I got a hotel on Priceline (Marriott for $55, normally $199, got to love priceline!) an hour on the Cincinnati side of the race. We pulled into the hotel around 1:30am. We all went to sleep eventually. Emi kept me up with her cute noises till 2am and then I woke up at 4:50 and couldn’t get back to sleep. So, less than 3 hours of sleep the night before a race (I don’t recommend that). We left the hotel at 6:00am so we could get to the race at 7:00am. After getting lost several times and taking wrong turns (stupid D.C. roads!) we got to the race a 7:25am! Yikes! I knew that check in closed at 7:30 and I hadn’t gotten any of my stuff ready to set up transition, so I was a little frantic and scrambled. Again, I have the most awesome husband ever and he helped keep me calm and pump up my bike tires and get things ready as well as take care of our little one. I was just finishing setting up transition when they said “ok everyone out of transition right now!” I’ve never cut it THAT close. I hoped that I had everything there and went down to the swim start.

 The cutie in the most comfortable bed ever (Marriot beds are the best!)

 The closest I've ever parked to a race. Literally like 10 steps away!

 Here’s my BIG THANK YOU to Cristy Doll for letting me borrow her wet suit! I would have frozen to DEATH without it! I got the wetsuit on and headed down to the dock after a quick kiss from Emi and Scott. I hadn’t had time to do my hair so I did two quick braids while I was walking down the dock 5 minutes before we started. There was a TON of wind so the water was supper choppy. It was a two-loop course with tons of sighting buoys, which was very nice.

8:05 I jumped in the water (in water start) and 8:06 we were off! I seriously wanted to quick about 20 strokes and 10 gulps of water later. The chop was HORRIBLE and I was freezing! I didn’t know HOW I was going to get through this swim. I thought about all the driving we did to get here and how horrible if I quit in the water. I then thought about how I always tell people to never think negatively at all during a race so I tried to think positive but then found myself with negative self talk 2 minutes later. I was finally on my second lap and thought that I would be happy with a 40min swim time after all this. I was freezing and kept thinking about how cold and miserable I was. I stuck interrupted in my misery when I stuck my hand in a Man sized glob of weeds! Eww! Gross! No sooner had I just stopped getting grossed out when 2 stokes later my other hand met a man sized weed! I got disoriented and looked up and a kayaker started waving his paddle to go the other way that I was swimming. I looked around so confused with where I was and realized I was about 90-110 degrees off course! Well, I’ll spare you all the other negative self talk that went through my mind the end of the swim.

 The strippers! I didn't think there would be any!

 Transition! I’ll never get used to the feeling getting out of the water and trying to run up a ramp through transition. Your legs feel like jello and this race I was freezing too. I was so cold I guess my brain froze and I forgot to take off my cap and goggles and start unzipping and pulling off my wetsuit until up the ramp a little ways two race volunteers asked if I wanted help pulling off my wet suit. SURE! I hadn’t ever had to struggle with it and was dreading having to. I didn’t think this little race would have “strippers” for us! So off it came! Scott tried to get a picture but they were to fast. There’s just a pic of me on the ground after the fact. Transition was a super long run and I’m just slow in transition (16^th/40ish). Scott ran with me, pushing the car seat as I went to transition. I was frozen how was I supposed to put things on fast! Everything was soaking wet and gross. Eventually I got on my bike and was off. Scott had told me he thought there were 7-8 women in front of me. Good! I like catching people!

I started around the same time as a woman in all pink with a pink bike. We went back and forth for most of the race. It was fun to have someone else out there because it was a pretty lonely bike course. Around mile 20 I saw Scott drive by the opposite direction. I waved and realized he didn’t see me and so I shouted his name, he still didn’t hear me. I thought “well, that’s going to stink for him!” We were planning on taping my phone in my saddle bag but obviously I barely had time to get ready for the race much less tape a phone in my saddle bag! I didn’t need to eat near as many calories on this race as my previous races. I think it helps eating a bigger breakfast. I had “weird” nutrition this race. I’ve made my own protein and granola bars that are tasty and gluten free and so I used those as well as some store bought ones. I usually also use some nutrition gummies (normally honey stinger chews). This race I didn’t have time to pick any up so I went with what I train with a lot: starburts and starburst jelly beans! It was nice to see Scott along the course cheering and he kept letting me know how far back off the leader and how many women were in front of me. I was nervous because the leader was around 12 minutes in front of me at mile 45ish. I would really be tested on my run! Bad things that happened: around mile 35 I realized what that weird noise was, my front brakes were rubbing the whole time!, around mile 40 I dropped my chain twice, at 43 I dropped my spare water bottle so I knew I NEEDED one at the next water handoff, mile 45 I dropped both water bottles that I tried to grab so I had to stop and a volunteer ran up and gave me one. Other than all that, and my back killing me (I need to find a good place to do a bike fit), all went well on the bike.

 Transition again! I knew I was way behind the leader because I saw her on the run course as I was coming in. I thought she looked like a strong runner too so I was worried. The no sleep the night before was catching up to me. I recommend not racing on less than 3 hours of sleep! Also the added stress of just starting work. I had previously said that I wanted to do 6:30 pace if the race was as flat as the other two that I’ve done. The last race had around 300-350 ft of elevation change and I was able to do 6:37 pace. Scott happily reminded me of this in transition and I gave him a glare I think. I said ha we’ll see. He said no you can do it. It REALLY helped to have him there because I think I was more negative this race than any other race EVER! I get negative and crabby when I don’t get sleep so I think that must have been it.

 RUN: So after 2 MASSIVE hills and one mile later I realized that this 3-loop course was anything but flat (1100 ft change). I looked at my watch where I saw the first woman…10-11 minutes behind! Uh! Well, keep trucking! The water/support team was AMAZING! They were the most with it I’ve ever seen at a race, ironman brand included. I had my bag of jellybeans and them with water to fuel me. I saw Scott so many times on that first loop which I really needed. When I saw him the last spot I asked him to try to figure out how far ahead the first place girl was. If I was going to catch her I needed to know what I had to do. Well, I answered that question myself when I saw her out on the course I looked at my watch to time how far behind I was. I was around mile 6 and about 6 minutes behind! I had hope inside me spark! When I saw Scott he said I was 3 minutes behind. I had around 4ish more miles to go! I could do this! Next time I saw her she seemed to give me this “oh shoot, I know you have me” look. 2.1 miles left and she was in the dust. I was CRUISING! Felt amazing and wondered why I hadn’t picked it up like this earlier in the run! It might sound arrogant but I love cruising by the spectators and look at their expression on their face. I went by Scott for the last time finally with a smile on my face! Less than .5 to go and so I just let it rip! I wish so bad that I had a watch that did splits so I would know my split times because I know that last loop was definitely my fastest out of all of them.  I finished and danced with a lady at the finish. They thought I was crazy for having as much energy as I did. I jogged back along the course to cheer the next girl in. (beat her by 2 minutes).

 All in all it was a good race for the circumstances, but sad I didn’t break 5. I know it would have been MUCH MUCH better with more sleep. I feel as though sleep affects different people differently and it definitely kills me! I wish the bike would have been faster, I wish the swim wasn’t as cold, and I wish I had taken my head out of my bum earlier on the run!

Thanks to all my support crew for your encouragement! It was really fun to race on the same day as my amazing sis did the world championship ironman in Kona. She had me call her the day before so she could wish ME good luck! Too nice! She’s my hero with this craziness! She is down right amazing and such such an inspiration. She asked what my goals are and told me I COULD do them. So helpful to have someone so encouraging!

Thank you to my parents who are always out there cheering when I have a race, even if it’s hundreds of miles away! I love knowing I have support from everywhere! You guys have always encouraged me to do my best in everything. Thanks!

AGAIN, a most special thanks to my husband who drove most of the way and had a crazy week and even crazier next week. He had a fireside Sunday he was in charge of along with going out of town Monday-Friday and then he had to do a training on Saturday. He had to cheer, take pictures, and take care of our 5-month daughter! All of those take a lot out of you on a half-ironman day. He’s way too amazing for his own good!

 After waiting TOO long for awards we went to explore DC a little bit. We went to the capitol building and had the CLOSEST spot you could park to the capital!  We went up and Scott stood on the steps with the security and their big guns staring down at us. I’ve been to DC before and thought it was crazy how dead it was. There were just a handful of people there. We then drove around trying to find a spot close to all the other monuments. We saw the white house, Washington monument, Lincoln memorial, WW2 memorial, and Jefferson. By that time it was 5:30pm and we had 8 hours of driving in front of us! The drive back was hard. We switched off with Scott driving most of the time. We arrived back in one piece and all alive. It threw Emmers off a little but she was a trooper.

Now we’ve both been back at work for a week and a half. Scott’s trip to Vegas for the Tucon conference (Spotfire- a tool he is the master at at work) went well. It was a crazy week at home but doable thanks to the best DEANNA RUNYAN! Thanks again for all your help with Emmers and the yummy food!

 We have a picture of me as a kid doing this so we all had to!

The white house!

 She wouldn't put her finger out so she's just punching it!

 Everything was closed down! There were tons of police out side the memorials.

 Just too cute!

 Date with his girls! She REALLY wanted some and kept watching!

 Cold drizzly run with the little one!

 We used to call her fingers BBQ fingers. I was holding her and cooking and she kept grabbing the sauce!



She pulled her beenie to be a pirate beenie!

Cool chick!

 Daddy was keeping it freezing in the house!

 Pintrest FHE night! We made these cute pumpkins with paint and black vinyl.

 Scott made an EMI pumpkin and then dressed her up in orange.

 Cooking with mama is fun!

 This is one of the most fun things. Tummy time on my tummy!

 I'm such a big girl I can sit up on my own!

 My sister who works for apple said that iphones are made for optimal teething!

 Who you looking at?

Just a cute face!

Already in daddy's pocket.

Squash "Fries"

So, I've been meaning to blog about these for a while now but haven't "gotten around to it." My sister asked me for a good recipe for yellow squash this week since she recieved 6 and I told her about these addicting things! Then she posted on facebook about them and people wanted the recipe so I figured I'd better blog about it or I won't get the credit! ;)

Well, these all started because I had 20 lbs of zucchini and several yellow squash to eat. HOW DO YOU EAT THAT MUCH SQUASH?!?!? Solution: zucchini/squash "fries" Seriously beware these are addicting...

Ingredients:
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
3-4 zucchini (depending on their size)

Instructions:
1. preheat oven to 475.
2. cut zucchini in 3in x .5in strips
3. beat egg and in a separate bowl mix almond meal, cheese, garlic powder and salt.
4. dip each strip in egg and then coat with the almond meal cheese mixture.
5. place on grease cookie sheet.
6. bake for 10 minutes, flip the fries and bake for 10 more. This makes sure that both sides will crisp up.

You can do this with zucchini or yellow squash. If you want to do it with other harder squashes like pumpkin or sweet potato you need to add a step. Cut the squash up and then let them soak in a water bath for 10-30minutes. Then dry them completely before proceeding. Also, they will need to cook slightly longer and you should cut them slightly thinner.


I do not have pictures of these lovely creations unfortunately because they are all eaten and were very quickly.

Nashvegas Half Iron Distance Triathlon Race Report

This was my second REAL half ironman. Scott had jury duty this week and was selected as the SECOND alternate for a case. That means he has to sit and listen to everything but when it comes down to the end he doesn’t get to deliberate and help decide the case at all (unless 2 jurors drop out, which the judge said he had never seen happen).  They thought they would be done by Friday so we were going to leave at 1ish. Well, they got behind and things dragged on so he had to do jury duty on Friday too L. We didn’t end up leaving until 3-3:30. I went out to try to buy Honey Stinger Chews but they didn’t have any. I decided to use fruit snacks and candy as my nutrition as well as some bars that I had.

We got down to my Cousin’s house (Zoe and Brad). Zoe had just had (1 week) a new baby and her mom, my aunt, was in town. It was SO nice of them to let us stay with them with last second notice and we didn’t get to be with them that much. We put Emi down and chatted with them for a little while, but I was fading fast and had an early day the next day so we all headed to bed. Slept as well as to be expected for me right now, ie horribly. It’s not anything to do with Emi or Scott, I just have horrible insomnia problems. It’s rough because even if I end up getting 6 hours of sleep it’s broken up into 4-6 segments so I never go through an actual sleep cycle. It’s like taking a whole bunch of short naps.

We ended up leaving the house at 5am, which I wanted to leave around 4:30. I was a little worried. Talked to my sis who I’m sure woke up early just to give me a pep talk call (THANKS). Everything went without a hitch packet pickup and setting up transition. In fact I was getting all my fruit snacks together for the run and a guy asked if I wanted a little baggie for them. I said no, this will work just fine, I actually usually use honey stinger chews, but my bike shop didn’t have them. He said what flavor do you want? So, he gave me a package of chews! SO nice! I meant to write him a note and stick it on his bike after the race, but that didn’t happen. 

 While I finished setting up transition the announcer said that the fog was too bad to start at 7:00 so they would reevaluate at 7:10 and let us know if we were going to start at 7:15. I still had to pump so it worked out perfectly for me! Instead of pumping I went off to a corner and fed Emi. Another woman came over and fed he son too. As we were feeding the announcer was talking about different rules and mentioned no public nudity! Thank goodness for breastfeeding laws! The announcer was hilarious and enjoyable to listen to as the race kept getting delayed. He mentioned that there were 666 participants so we needed someone else to sign up so it wouldn’t be bad luck. They kept delaying and ended up deciding to start the race at 8:15 and open up the water at 8:00 for warm up (if the coast guard said it was fine). Around 7:50 he announced that another participant signed up for the race! So now there were 667! Literally right after that the fog decided to lift, it was SO uncanny! The announcer said he wasn’t superstitious but that was just weird! Well, by the time we were going to start again the fog had come back, not as bad as at 7am but we literally couldn’t see the first buoy to swim to. I heard people talking about cutting the course etc.

 The women also had to start in wave 3 after all the males and Clydesdales (bigger males). I thought this was ridiculous! But we were off! Swimming into the dark mist to something we couldn’t even see! Finally it came into view and was way to far to the inside. I swam back out even though I saw some people just turn right. Then we were going down the far side of this lake. They only had 2 buoys to spot off of the entire .5 stretch down! So really it was just swim. I kept thinking what my sis has taught me about my swim technique and also this is the ONLY thing you use your arms on! Well the next turn buoy was in site and I again was WAY too far to the inside (at least 100m) So I had to swim back in and turn to go back across the lake. This time I guess I was determined not to be on the inside because I ended up 150ish meters to the OUTSIDE of the buoy! Well, It was the home stretch now. Because everything got delayed they had to start the Olympic distance right after us so we were all together the last .5ish miles. I got really bogged down. The end was in site! I kicked harder to get blood flow back down and got out. They had people helping us out of the water because the boat ramp was so slippery you fell right back down if you tried to stand on it.

 Transition! The last half mile of the swim I kept repeating in my head: jersey, glasses, helmet, shoes, salt, nutrition (ie candy), water. I ended up getting everything done except I forgot my candy! This crazy race only had ONE aid station on the bike and it only had water! I was off on my bike. The first bit was hilly but doable. I finished a water and switched things around and think I lost my salt pills then. I also though I lost my candy because it wasn’t in my jersey. I had three water bottles on my back and one on my bike. I ordered a rear double cage for bottles, which will conveniently get here on Monday. I hit the water stop and got two more bottles. Yes, I drink THAT much water. I’m a breast-feeding mom and it was HOT. Scott told me I was 15^th out of the water for women; I thought that that was impossible unless people really cut the course! I knew I would catch them on the bike and then if not I would on the run. I kept going back and forth with this girl who I though was doing the half until we talked with 15 miles to go and she said she was just doing the aqua bike. After the water stop things got CRAZY on the bike. It was SO SO hilly. I saw Scott and Emi right before the first big hill. That helped a lot with what was coming. My chain slipped 6-7 times for some reason to. And as I was going up a hill it locked up on me. I almost fell over because I was clipped into my bike but got off right in time. It took me a little bit to figure out what was happening and to get started up this huge hill again. I’ve never had to stop and it did frazzle me a little bit.

 Scott was able to drive the course, park and cheer for me. The roads were all open to traffic, which did cause problems now and then! I was able to see Scott SO many times, which really did help on the bike SO much. I didn’t have my salt pills, my back was killing from having all this water I had to carry, and I didn’t have ANY gummy nutrition so I was having to talk ALL solid nutrition. Scott said I looked mad at the world a couple of times, I really might have been. The biggest hill out there he actually was on and cheered for me up. THAT was SO helpful. I was literally in granny gear grinding out 3.5mph. 5 miles left I knew it was mostly down hill! YAY! I didn’t end up having as much nutrition on the bike as I did in Muncie, probably because I had 8-900 calories for breakfast this time around. I had 2 bonk breaker bars and another nutrition bar to total 700 calories on the bike.

 Into transition! I saw that there was a girl close behind me! I racked my bike and sat down to put my shoes on. My stomach wasn’t too happy with me because I only had solids and I saw my candy sitting there on my towel so I snacked on some melted candy (93 degree heat) as I got everything ready for the run. I really had no sense of time or how fast I was going. I left transition and ran into the port-a-potty that was already past the transition mats. I didn’t like that because I knew it would be part of my transition time. My watch that could do instant splits broke, the band did anyway so I just had a stop watch. I though about restarting it every mile so I would know but thought better of it because I wanted to know my total time more. I came up to mile one water stop where two ladies were sitting in their chairs. I called up two water two waters! They ended up getting them out to me but they were literally BOILING HOT! I thought great, this is how the WHOLE race is going to be?!?! Hot water and people not paying attention! The next water stop was better but I had to call for water 3-4 times each stop. From mile 1.5 to 11.5 it was on a rail to trail. It was mostly shaded which I think saved me! The water stops didn’t have any ice and only semi-cold water. Because we were on a trail, I didn’t think I would see Scott at all. I was mistaken. I came out of the trail at mile 5 and saw Emi and him! That made my day! Then the trail turned into a gravel trail. At the turn around I looked at my watch so I would know how far ahead I was of the next girl. I kept waiting and waiting and finally she showed up after 5 minutes! That meant I was 10 minutes ahead! I knew I easily had the win in the bag, which might not have been the best thing! I saw Scott and Emi again and gave her a high 5 on her foot. Scott said “you’re having WAY too much fun with this!” I really was. I felt like I was running easy and smooth and didn’t feel tired at all. An official drove by and asked if I wanted some ice. He gave me a handful, which I stuffed into my bra and was gone less than .5miles later. One mile to go I got another water from the horrible aid station. I looked at my watch at 2 miles to go and knew that I would be just over 5 hours! I was a little bummed because I wanted to break 5 hours again. It was hard to push it in because I knew I would win and knew that I wouldn’t be under 5 hours. Scott was standing right on the other side of the finish line taking pictures.
 

 The food was great even though half of it was gone because the sprint and Olympic distances had already finished a while ago. I had to ask for my award early because we had the BYU game to get to. I asked for it and the guy put my number in and he said 3^rd overall! I said umm I don’t think so. Scott said there still hasn’t been another woman to cross the finish line (happened about 27 minutes after I did). It ended up being because Two women got penalties and so their time was coming up as 2:00minutes. He fixed it (eventually) and gave me my award, which I greatly thanked him for doing.

All in all it was a decent race. I didn’t really tapper for it because I want to do one more this season and that one be my last hurrah for the year! My swim ended up being a 37:27 (with a lot of extra swimming) bike: 2:52:24 (19.49 mph, 3,500 elevation change), run 1:26:50 (6:37/mile pace, I think around 500 elevation change). I was a little bummed that I only had the second fastest run. The guy who won did a 1:25:27 on the run.

Thank you to all who were/are involved with this insanity! Thanks to Zoe and Brad for a place to stay and to Aunt Gloria for letting us kick you out of your room on the last night you were there! Also, thanks for the breakfast for Scott in the morning! It helped him have enough energy to cheer loud for me! Thanks to my parents who were cheering for me the whole time and tracking me and texting with Scott.

Thank you to my sis who woke up early in order to help me with my race plan and pep talk! I thought Scott told me once that I ate hills for breakfast and it kept me going knowing you were there cheering/tracking me! I wish we lived closer together so we could train/hang out more often! We are PERFECT workout partners because we can push each other in the others weak suits! Hopefully some day (soon)!!

And thank you to my most AMAZING husband who was out there cheering the whole time! I know how tiring cheering can be for one of these things and appreciate all the time he helps me out, taking care of our little girl and many other things so I can train and race. I wouldn’t be able to do it with out him and his enormous amounts of patience! LOVE YOU!

Black Bean Chicken Chili on Cornbread Waffles

Fall is coming! With these cold mornings here's a recipe to welcome it!

So, I'm sure that many of you have seen the chili on cornbread waffles on Pintrest. I wanted to make my own rendition of them and didn't have any chili, so I made some delicious chili thick black bean soup.

The waffles were easy enough. This recipe makes 4 waffle squares and is around 400 calories total, so 100 calories per waffle square.
1/4 cup Pamela's
1/4 cup cornmeal
2 tbs. brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

1 egg white

1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk

Can you tell I'm on a buttermilk kick lately? And also trying to cycle through some of our canned foods!
So, just mix the dry then add the wet to it, mix. Let it sit for a few minutes than slap it in a waffle iron!

The soup is splended. I did this from things I had in my cupboard/fridge. I really wanted to add some red bell pepper and fresh cilantro, but we are going out of town soon, so I didn't want to hit up the grocery store. I recommend it if you have it or are going to the store anyway!

Ingredients
2 cans black beans
1 can chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes with jalapano
2 cups cooked diced chicken (I cooked this with a little montreal seasoning I get at Costco)
1 tbs corn starch or more if you want it a little thicker
1/2 onion
2 garlic cloves diced
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp dried cilantro (if you have fresh add it at the end on top of your serving)
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
(1 bell pepper diced)
(cilantro)

Cook 1/2 diced onion and 2 diced garlic cloves in a large stock pot for 4ish minutes (also put the bell pepper in here if you have one). If you have a non-stick pan then you can do this with just a spray of pam.

Put one drained and rinsed can of black beans in blender with 1 can chicken stock. Blend till smooth.

Drain and rinse the other can of black beans and add blender contents and canned beans to the pot.

Add tomatoes, chicken, cumin, chili powder, salt, dried cilantro, and vinegar to pot.

Scoop some liquid our from the pot with a cup. add 1 tbs. corn starch and mix till smooth. Add this slurry back into the soup and bring to a simmer. Let it simmer for 1 hourish.

Add the cilantro right before you serve on top so it doesn't wilt.

Sorry no pictures of the soup! I guess I ate it too fast to post! next time I make it I'll add pictures in!





This recipe not suit your fancy? look forward to these others....

gluten free graham's!

gluten free calzones!

Have to feed these two too!

So, training is also all about nutrition that you put into your body! I have to eat gluten free and it's hard to find delicious affordable food many times especially things that are bready/carby. So, when I developed this delicious gluten free chicken pot pie I was SO excited to try it! Because it was SO good and only 307 calories per "serving." I say "serving" because it's a serving that most people would be plenty fine with (1/4 a 9" by 9" pan), but as I am training and nursing I need half the pan!

As this is the first food blog post I've ever done, I didn't take enough pictures! I also wasn't planning on posting this until my sister asked me for the recipe! She also has an awesome working out/foodie blog here.

So onto the actual recipe! When I did eat gluten I made a version with a biscuit-type topping. It's not the typical pie with pie crust and what not. It's much easier and faster than that!

So, again I didn't plan on blogging this, the only reason I took the picture was because I was sending this to my sister!

4 servings

Ingredients

1/2 tbs olive oil
1 medium onion chopped
3 tbs cornstarch
2 cups chicken broth
2-14oz cans mixed vegetables
1 cup cooked chopped chicken
1 tsp seasoned salt
1/2 cup milk (skim)

Topping
3/4 cup pamela's baking mix (you can use a different baking mix, but this is the best gluten free one I've found), I will attempt to make this with just flours, no mix soon!
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 egg white
2 tbs. melted margarine

1. Heat oven to 400F. In a saucepan heat olive oil. Add chopped onion and cook until tender. Add 3 tbs cornstartch. With a whisk, slowly whisk in chicken broth. If you do this too quick you will end up with cornstarch chunks in your mix. If you'd rather, you can always add the cornstarch to a little bit of the broth and make a slurry and then add the slurry into the pan with the other broth. Make sure you bring this mixture to a boil so it will thicken up! Add in veggies, chicken, salt and milk. If you want a little home "soup" flavor you can also add in a little thyme.

2. Pour all the contents of the pan into a square casserole dish. You can stop here and refrigerate it so all you have to do is pull it out and make the topping and stick it in the oven. I usually do this now that I have a daughter!

3. In a small bowl all all the topping ingredients and mix just until blended. "Pour" the mixture over the casserole. Spread it out over the top. It's fine if you don't get it to go to the edges of the pan. Alternatively you can just make little biscuit "plops" on top.

4. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until topping is browned and cooked all the way through.


Hope you enjoy! Let me know if you have any questions!

Here are the nutrition facts for 1 serving. This recipe has 4 servings.
You can always make your own chicken stock to decrease the sodium content.

Muncie 70.3 and pictures!

Muncie 70.3 race report

This was by far the most fun race I’ve ever done! Probably because of many factors: expectation-free because of 12 weeks post-baby and my first half-iron, Muncie is a great place to race, not far away from home, perfect weather, and MOST of all my sister came and did it with me!

So, I’ll put in too much detail for everyone to read but I want it so feel free to just skim the rest or go to the bottom with pictures and race results.

Scott was on a high-adventure all week and didn’t think he would be home till I had already left for the race on Friday. Well, I got a call Thursday from him saying he would be home Friday morning! I was SO happy! Emi didn’t sleep well for me the last couple days and I was ready for more than 4 hours of sleep in a night. I guess I was so happy that night that I didn’t sleep either (3 hours broken up in 3 segments). Emi on the other hand slept AWESOME! 11 weeks old and she ate at 8, down at 9pm and slept till 8am! AMAZING, just wish I could capitalize on it!

Well, Scott came home and I took a nap and then left so we really didn’t get to see each other for more than a few minutesL. I picked my sister up from the Indianapolis airport and we drove to the race check-in/expo. In the bathroom of the expo I discovered that my battery pack for my pump didn’t work! So, I found a secluded place with a pump and did my business. Oh the trials of a mom! J

Packet pickup was quick and we stayed and talked to some vendors. Shameless plug… there was one vendor that was a new goo-type product. They espouse that their product will not cause stomach problems. I tried both kinds and it was DELICIOUS! I plan on buying some online and trying it on my longer days. I have never been able to take goos. I talked to them for a while since the guys there were the owners. The one who started it was a collegiate runner and then joined the military. He said he used to mix chia seeds and water in Afghanistan and it got him through so he then developed this 100% natural goo when he got home. I also ate a whole bunch of bonk breaker taste tests because they are AMAZING! My sis says that I should write them in the fall to try to get them to give me free product, we’ll see how that goes, better get faster!

We went to the course to do a little shake out bike ride. I had already run a little that morning and just wanted to do 15 minutes on the bike. We both had to go to the bike mechanic people. My bike seriously rides SO much better because of them. It was a huge difference! I guess that’s what happens when you haven’t lubed your bike for a year!

We stayed 25 minutes away since all the hotels were taken when I started to look. I had made some brown rice pasta, sauce, and chicken for us to have for dinner. We went to Wal-Mart and picked up some water bottles to be able to throw on the ride.

I must have pre-race insomnia because I got about 4 hours that night too. I woke up at 12 and just couldn’t go back to sleep till much later. Well, we woke up and ate (pamela’s pancakes, banana, peanut butter) and went to the course. We somehow got to park RIGHT next to transition, SO blessed! I was a little worried about how this whole pumping situation would work out. I posted on the Facebook page to ask if there was a place I would be able to have a plug to pump. Someone with a house across the street said I could pump there.

After setting up transition I went to their house to pump, found the plug on the porch and couldn’t put my plug in because the plug had a plastic cover over that wouldn’t move out of the way enough! I was worried and started walking around their house to find a different plug. Their garage door was open and so I went and pumped in their garage. The wife came out as I had a couple more minutes left and I explained my self. Thankfully her husband had told her about me! She was very kind and let me finish up even though she wanted to go down to the start. I left my bag right out side her house and went over to the start. By this time it was after 7 as I headed to the start. My wave was second to go in the water. Meredith was going to do my hair but we just didn’t feel like we had time.

We were on the outside corner and I was going to try to stick on her feet for a few minutes, after the start I think I saw her hit the water, maybe not even that. I never saw her feet. I got a little rallied in the water the whole way. I kept hitting a good stride and then would get pulled, hit, water in my face, etc. I couldn’t see much because my goggles kept fogging and the sun was in the way too. I stopped something like 5 times to clear my goggles. I didn’t do that last year and was very glad I did this year. I also kicked harder at the end right before getting out, which gets blood to your legs so you don’t feel as unsteady getting out of the water.

I was able to get out at 38:05 which was great for being in the pool a total of 10 times before the race. My transitions are always slow. My sister asked me “what do you DO in transition?” At least the transition was faster than last year (not by much though). I was off on my bike. I was cruising averaging above 22 when I looked at it and thought “uhoh.” I’ve only been training on my trainer and went on one ride outside before the race. That one ride was only 2 hours and was in the POORING rain. So, I couldn’t even tell how fast I would be able to go on that ride. I scared myself and slowed it down a little. In hind site I shouldn’t have, but I guess that’s what race experience is for. My sister and I didn’t go to the athlete meeting so we were both surprised that there was a 3/4mile no pass zone. After that zone I saw Scott and Emi!!! It was just what I needed there and I even teared up a little seeing them. I didn’t have any idea when I would because Scott was planning on being up there for the start but hadn’t gotten much sleep and slept through 4 alarms on his phone. He left the house a little before the race started. Well, a little after I saw them my attitude went down the drain. The road condition was AWEFUL! Last year we didn’t have to go on this part of the road. I couldn’t wait for the turnaround! I also was so excited to be able to see Scott and Emi. It kept me going knowing that I would be able to see them again at the end of the awful road!

Oh I forgot, a little over an hour into the bike I was calculating my nutrition. I was planning on taking around 200cals/hour. I was STARVING after a little over an hour and couldn’t figure out why this nutrition plan wasn’t working for me. I then realized, I’m a nursing mom! Of course I need more nutrition than normal! So, I was craving bars not just goos and chews and liquid. I was a little worried because solid food can make your stomach a little upset. I ended up doing about 400cal/hour! I then did about 150/hour on the run.

My goal for the bike was to not let any women pass me and I had 2 pass me. They weren’t in my age group though! I kept going back and forth with this 20-year-old guy.

I got off the bike for T2 and my legs felt so so weird! I’ve done several bricks (bike then run) and I never have felt that weird coming off the bike. T2 was slow, like always. I changed my jersey into one I made that said 12 weeks postpartum. Also went to the porta-potty. My goal for the run was to not let anyone, guy or girl, pass me. The first mile you always have to tell yourself to go slower because you think that. My first mile was 6:37, 7:05, 6:50, 6:50, 6:52, 6:49, 6:49. 7:05, 7:01, 6:59, 7:11, 7:09, 7:13 (1.1). At about 10 miles to go on the bike I started realizing that I had the possibility to go under 5 hours. I kept calculating out what I was going to have to run to be able to break 5 hours.

I actually felt really, really good the whole run and thought to pick it up, but didn’t want to crash and burn. One guy barely passed me around 4 miles and I went with him, just behind him. I didn’t want to let him go but he slowly drifted from me. I kept him in my eye site the whole race. He probably finished 20-30 seconds in front of me. I felt good until the last two miles. I think I got a little heat exhaustion. I also never feel anything that hurts usually but my foot hurt the last couple miles. With two miles I was sure that I could make it under 5 hours! I got to see Scott and Emi one more time at the finish line! When I saw the race clock I kind of freaked out because I thought I had 5 seconds to cross the finish line to break 5. I sprinted it in the last couple feet and came in when the seconds said 59. I was confused because I thought our wave went off at 7:17 but it went off at 7:19 so I did break 5! 4:58.59! My first half ironman!

Right after, I went to try to find Scott and Emi and got to hang out with them and we went to go pump. We found Meredith as well and we had a little freak-out-hug-party.

I was an awesome, fun, amazing experience! Thanks to all who helped support me and cheer me on! Thanks for the text messages from everyone! I’m so blessed to have people who love me so much! Thanks to my husband for coming and brining our little one to cheer. It helped me so much and I wouldn’t have been able to accomplish my goals if they hadn’t come! I know it took a lot of time and effort on his part to make that happen! Thanks to my sister and BGFF. I hope that someday this will become a more common occurrence and we will be able to live closer together to be able to train, race, cook/bake, and hang out together! I wouldn’t have been able to break 5 hours without her here and seeing her on the course cheering me on! She always knew I could break 5 hours even though I said no way! That’s what family is for right, believing more in the person than they do themselves. The only thing I wish was different this weekend is that it was longer, lots, lots, longer…

Edit: I had to add that my sister did AMAZING too! She didn't taper at all for the race and used the day as an awesome training day. She didn't wear a wet suit and still had the fastest swim time in our division and also had the fastest bike in our division! I can;t wait to see her bust it out in Louisville and do amazing in Kona and Arizona!

And for the photo bomb!

I'm two months old!

This is what I like to do while mommy works out!

Bath time is the happiest time of the day!

 Guess who did this picture:)

Got my haircut for my race!

 This picture is a complete joke!

 Meredith and I and our awards after Muncie 70.3!