Lunch on the run - how to pack a healthy meal to go

First things first. Let's talk about running. Since this is a RUNNING BLOG! Or the waaay lack of running that has been going on in my life lately.

I have not ran since the day before Christmas eve. I tried a run a few days after that, but was so uncomfortable that I GAVE UP after .85 miles. 

Whoop whoop!

I'm not really stressing out about it though as I thought that I would. I have still been walking, and I do a workout video when I feel the need to sweat. But right now with the extra 25 lbs strapped to me just cleaning my house and running errands makes me tired enough. I am however anxious to see where I'm at after the baby comes. Will I have to start back from ground zero or will I have kept my base line up? I am sure that I have kept my baseline up since I am packing this extra weight that my muscles have grown to accommodate. We will see I guess.

Good thing most runners are also highly obsessed with food as well. 

One thing I cannot WAIT for is to get back to yoga. Most people say they do more yoga when they become pregnant because they enjoy how relaxing it is. I would have to say I have done significantly less but maybe I do a different kind of yoga from them.

Remember when I used to be able to do this!!

Now lets talk about lunch on the run. 

If you know me you know that I am a huge advocate to packing healthy snacks or planning out your meals so that if you have to be stuck outside of the house during meal times you wont drive to the closest fast food place and eat something naaasty. It's partly for cost, eating out is expensive!! But its mostly for taste. I am so picky I cant eat at fast food restaurants, and I have become even more picky since becoming pregnant. Healthy picky that is.

What on earth would a health nut vegetarian eat at a fast food place. A side salad? I'll pass. 

Yesterday I ate lunch in 2 parts. The first part was some banana banana bread that I made earlier this week. Its SUPER banana-y and way addicting. And of course a smoothie. I have been obsessed with smoothies lately. High nutrition... so tasty. And of course my giant bottle of water that I love!

About a half an hour later I had to run out of the house and didn't know if I would be hungry or not. So I grabbed something real quick to take with me since it was about noon and I knew I wouldn't be back till after 3. 

2 home made tortillas, topped with a black bean and veggie mix I made the night before on my pregnant quesadillas and topped it with cheese. 

I mean, where can you get this at a fast food joint? And the cost?? Like a buck for both probably. It was gooooood.

My passengers on the go

Oh, and I didn't even eat them till I got home anyways :/

And my blueberry treat that I have been obsessed with lately. This one wasn't as thick as the day befores, but it was so good. I would give up ice cream forever for frozen fruit. 

I have never felt that way before... 

I feel so grown up!

Now if I could just figure out how to paint my nails...

Why do I have to hold that dang down dog for so long!

DOWNWARD-FACING DOG
ADHO MUKHA SVANASANA
(AH-doh MOO-kah shvah-NAHS-anna)

I love the downward dog, out of all of the amazing asanas (poses) that yoga has to offer to the world, this basic, probably most well known pose has remained my favorite to date. Down dog engages your entire body, forces a strong core, strengthens the arms, improves digestive, lymphatic and circulatory systems, and allows elongation from toes to finger tips. It makes me feel strong, balanced, and in control.

But I used to hate it, as I feel a lot of my students do. Because it can be uncomfortable, challenging, confusing, and cause a lot of wrist and shoulder discomfort. But it doesn't always have to be like that, and the thing that allowed me to finally master this pose and turn my anger towards its existence into a fond comforting love, was to practice the heck out of it. 

The first thing I had to do was develop the strength for it. We don't normally hold too much of our weight onto our upper bodies, and this makes them weak. But yoga uses a significant amount of upper body strength, so I figured if I am going to make this my life's work, I may as well develop some upper body strength. If you can't beat em' join 'em, right? More push ups is a great easy way to do this. 

The next thing I had to do was learn my body. In yoga there is a lot of hold this, relax that, squeeze there, pull that belly in AND breath! Umm.... what was the first thing you said? But it takes time. You can't go out and run a 10k the first time you try. You have to practice regularly, train responsibly, and accept that sometimes you may fail, but that you always try again and push yourself even harder.

So next time your in class and your teacher wont seem to stop talking as your holding your dog (did she forget that she just left us here? Hellooooooo!) Instead of focusing on how annoyed you are with the teaching at that moment and with the difficulty of the pose and how bad your arms hurt and the blood is rushing to your head and blah blah blah....

STOP THINKING

And close your eyes and breath. Turn off your brain and listen only to the breath and the words of the instructor. Maybe she has been giving you key points this whole time? Maybe you really like the song that's playing softly in the background, did you even notice it? Oh, push my palms into the ground? That made a difference. Deep breath... Wait... child's pose? We are done? That wasn't so bad after all....

Whatever task you are faced with at the moment, focus only on that task, and embrace all the challenges and experiences it has to offer. And learn to laugh through it all.

Nailed the scorpion today

Today was the first day that I nailed the scorpion pose. I have only tried it out a few times before this, but never been able to land it. I have been working on headstand pose for a while, and have finally got that one down really well so I figured it was time to step it up. I am trying really hard to only do one big pose at a time, and wait till I master it before moving on to the next one. So far I'm doing pretty good at it, but I am eager to move on most of the time. I have been wanting to nail this pose because I think it looks really cool, but I could never get my head off the ground very high, and my feet always seemed to weigh heavy toward the posterior. 

But today I figured it out. I have been working on headstand pose all day, playing around with leg position and trying to weigh them down to the front and back. Its been working my core out well, which is great. But I found out the key was to relax my belly and hang it anterior. It doesn't look like it too much in the picture, but to me, it felt like I was hanging my belly way down, and there was a much larger arch in my back. My doing this I then was allowing my weight to shift anteriorly so that when I dropped my legs down it balanced out. I had to spread my elbows out wider then I did in headstand, and there is a lot of weight in my hands. You can almost see how much my hands are dug into the mat, fingers spread wide. My deltoids are flexed way out, which shows how much my arms are working.

I could only hold this for a few seconds before falling out of it. But now that I have found my "sweet spot" for balance, it is just a matter of strengthening my arms and hands to hold it for longer. 

One day I will be famous, I will change the world.