Quinoa & Beans!

One day a few months back I was kind of sick of the way I ate quinoa all the time and wanted to switch it up so I threw a bunch of ingredients together and created this fantastic recipe!

Quinoa & Beans

Makes 6 servings 
196 calories per serving.

• 1 cup quinoa dry
• 1 can tomato sauce (small can)
• 1 ear of corn
• Half an onion
• 1 can of black beans
• Chopped green chilies
• Garlic
• Italian seasoning
• Salt and pepper
• 1 tsp Olive oil

Rinse the quinoa and put in a pan with 1 1/2 cups water.  Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  While the quinoa is cooking heat a pan over medium heat and saute onions until translucent in olive oil.  Remove corn from the cob and add to pan with onions.  When corn is cooked at black beans, tomato sauce, chilies and herbs, salt and pepper to taste and when quinoa is finished add to the mixture.  Heat through and serve over greens with shredded cheese.
Optional to add grass fed ground beef. 

Jamestown Half Marathon Race Report

I got up super early when no human should ever have to be awake.  3:30 AM!!!  I stumbled around getting all of my pre-race stuff together, not awake enough to feel like vomiting yet.  I made my green smoothie with what would be my normal long run ingredients plus spinach and headed out the door.  After trying to sleep in the car with no luck and an hour and a half ride we were finally in Newport at packet pickup.  We arrived a 5:15 and there was not a lot of people there yet.  I stood in line for about 5 minutes to pick up my number and didn't even bother with the port-o-potty line.  We got a goody bag with the usuals cliff bar, other race flyers, t-shirt and some granola mix. 

They had to bus everyone to the start and the first thing the hubby and I noticed was this race was not spectator friendly.  After a 5 minute bus ride we arrived at the start or was it finish line?  It was a bit confusing until they started to set up the start line in a different area.  There was no wait for the port-o-potties at the start which was great.  I then proceeded to text message Monica from http://insertwittyrunningpunhere.tumblr.com/  and Beth from http://bethrunsinri.blogspot.com. because we had arranged to meet up prior to the start.  I waited for a bit then Monica spotted me and we had a quick hug then began to chat.  She then introduced me to Maryann and Mal two of her friends from work. 

Beth was on one of the last buses so we weren't able to meet up with her before the start.  Before we knew it we were off.  I ended up running the whole race with Monica, Maryann and Mal.  I had a blast!  This is the first long distance I have ever done without music! The whole race was like a party!  Monica is in my top 5 favorite people I have met since moving to the East coast and I cant wait until we run another race together.  Along the way we talked about boobs, poop and other runner things.  We met a fellow Fanatic from Texas on the run and she totally photo bombed us!

We also ran into Jen who is a fellow crazy runner and we chatted with her for the last 3 miles.  We also ran into Brian who was also a blast and we had to get a photo with this crazy guy!

I spotted my husband at mile 13 and he grabbed a few shots of us running by.  By mile 13 there wasn't an inch of dry on me and man were we miserable.  14 hills and sooooo HUMID.  

We met up with Beth after the race and I was able to ride with her on the bus back and chat.

Overall it was a blast and I can't wait for my next half!

I finished with my worst time ever but my best experience ever!  Monica however PR'd and was super excited!  2:28:25 was my official time and 10 minutes more than any race I have run!  All I wanted was Gatorade and a cheeseburger.  On the way home I got just that a Bacon cheeseburger with curly fries!