DAY 6

Did you ever miss outdoor recess as a kid when you weren’t feeling well? I did. I remember telling the teacher I had an upset stomach and she kept me inside during that coveted play time. I could hear all the kids running outside and having fun and then suddenly felt this horrible twinge of regret. Why did I say anything!? I wanted to be outside; I wanted to be playing and having fun too! What was I missing?? Something fun no doubt. Well, that is how I’m feeling about this marathon on Saturday. I don’t want to have that familiar feeling of regret. I want to at least TRY. Trying and failing is better than never trying at all, because that is just failing, period.

Unless you’ve trained for a marathon, it’s hard to understand the presumed insanity of it all.

I refuse to give up on the possibility that I can complete marathon #3. #1 went great, #2 was a freaking train wreck – BUT I DID IT and #3 was SO, SO  close until mile 23 when I decided to drop out due to injury. Race result? DNF (did not finish). I registered for yet another one and got sick 2 weeks beforehand – really sick. Didn’t even attempt that one. This Saturday is IT. I will cross that finish line, even if I’m walking. I need to prove to MYSELF that I can commit and not quit. I need to let go of time/pace and simply live in the present moment and put one foot in front of the other until I’ve traveled 26.2 miles. That’s it.

Having said that, I’ve been kicking this cold’s @$$ today. My energy is coming back, my head doesn’t feel like a medicine ball anymore and my attitude is much improved! I am confident that in the next 60 hours my body will be able to do what I’ve trained it to do.

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Not breaking tradition this morning, I had my Green Machine by Naked Juice, to wash down all my vitamins/supplements and of course I took my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement – same as Day 1, Day 2, Day 3, Day 4 and Day 5 ~ 200 calories, 38 carbs, 5 g fat, 2 g protein

Breakfast

Since I slept better and woke up feeling so much better I wanted to give this cold a kick in the pants while it was down. I concocted a smoothie jam packed with cold fighting, immunity boosting ingredients. Fresh blueberries, fresh spinach, fresh garlic, medjool dates, half a banana, crystallized ginger (soaked to help soften), whole apple with skin (cored and sliced) and maca powder. I used ice cold water as my liquid and watched it all get pulverized in my Vitamix blender. Sound gross? Believe me, I was preparing myself for the worst. I had visions of plugging my nose and slamming it if I had to. I did end up slamming it, but only because it tasted AMAZING. I need to put ginger in my smoothies more often. And the garlic? NOT BAD. Sure, I have horrible garlic breath but my four legged buddy Rocco doesn’t care. Take THAT cold! ~ 448 calories, 116 carbs, 0 fat, 11 g protein

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Lunch

A fresh pick-up yesterday evening from our Maya’s Farm CSA, meant I could have salads again – yay! Today’s contained organic mixed greens, organic baby carrots, tomato, sunflower seeds, popped amaranth, pepitas, lemon juice and balsamic glaze. I added the remaining half banana from breakfast to the plate too. It added a nice dimension to the salad, I liked it! ~ 249 calories, 36 carbs, 8 g fat, 9 g protein 

Dinner

Tonight’s dinner is based on a recipe a fellow vegan and runner friend gave me. I’ve made the original recipe about half a dozen times, but didn’t have all the ingredients tonight, so I improvised! It still turned out great! It also makes enough that we can have leftovers. ~ 198 calories, 48 carbs, 1 g fat, 10 g protein

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Oh yes, and while getting ready to make dinner, I realized how HUNGRY I was all of a sudden and knew it wouldn’t be healthy to wait until the soup was ready so I ate a gluten-free snack bar. 🙂 ~ 110 calories, 19 carbs, 3 g fat, 2 g protein

Grand total for today:

Calories = 1,205

Carbs = 257 g

Fat = 17 g (way, way below my RDA…)

Protein = 34 g

Scratch that. I realized that was too little fat and not quite enough protein. (This is the whole reason I started using My Fitness Pal!) I promptly went to the kitchen (still feeling a little hungry anyway) and went for (perhaps a little too many) NUTS! This is more than my whole dinner! :O ~ 367 calories, 13 carbs, 34 g fat, 8 g protein

NEW TOTALS!

Grand total for today:

Calories = 1,572

Carbs = 270 g

Fat = 51 g (now I’m over, but whateves)

Protein = 42 g

DAY 5

Today was a rough day for me fighting this cold. My positivity was almost non-existent and my head felt like a medicine ball trying to balance on a teeny, tiny, floppy pole. My back aches from sneezing all day yesterday and being unable to breath through my nose is getting old. Anyway, it wasn’t pretty. Head colds are my go-to colds. It’s the same thing every time – luckily this one seems fairly fast moving for me, so for that I am thankful. Having said that, the food for today was pretty boring, but again very real.

Pre-Breakfast (religiously, every single morning)

Just like the start of  Day 1, Day 2, Day 3 and Day 4, I had my Green Machine by Naked Juice, to wash down all my vitamins/supplements. Today like yesterday, I went for a full 8 oz. to give me extra cold busting nutrients. Of course I also took my Barlean’s Omega Vegan Swirl  3-6-9 supplement. ~ 200 calories, 38 carbs, 5 g fat, 2 g protein

Breakfast

Breakfast didn’t happen until lunch today. I’m not burning any calories besides fighting this cold, so it took me a while to get hungry after pre-breakfast. 😉  I wanted something warm and comforting, so oatmeal fit the bill! Oats, homemade almond milk, dried tart cherries, almonds, banana, honey, cinnamon and Maca Powder for extra nutrition as well. (You should check it out!) This meal was LOADED with calories (mostly due to the almonds I ate while making it and PUT in it…) and I could barely finish the bowl! ~ 645 calories, 99 carbs, 24 g fat, 18 g protein

Snacks

Throughout the day I had a few snacks. A cup of butternut squash soup from last night, the last of the chia seed pudding, a gluten-free oat cracker and an apple with homemade peanut butter with a little honey. Can you tell I was feeding my emotions today? Oh yeah. ~ 496 calories, 77 carbs, 20 g fat, 14 g protein

Dinner

To complete the need for comfort food today, I made breakfast for dinner. Cause why not? Exactly what I had yesterday morning, only I used more yellow squash and zucchini today. ~ 173 calories, 20 carbs, 0 fat, 22 g protein

One final note for the day: Besides LOVING the warm water with lemon and honey I’ve been drinking numerous times each day, there are a few things that have really helped my cold. Since we are in the season of sickness, I wanted to spread the knowledge. These Herbal Pastilles by Traditional Medicinals work wonders! They are completely sugar free and are more than just a cough drop.

Now, this puppy. WOW. Dan picked this up for me tonight on his way home, per my request. It is SPICY. The taste isn’t bad and it really opened things up for me! Just two sprays in the mouth as needed. I would highly recommend this if you are fighting a head cold. It has everything from cayenne to horseradish!

Grand totals for today:

Calories = 1,514

Carbs = 234 g

Fat = 49 g

Protein = 56 g (that’s 11 g over my RDA…)

Thanks to My Fitness Pal for making it so easy to track calories!