wiaw: school days

Posted on May 22, 2013 by Kristen

Today is my last official day of my first year of teaching.  While it has been a long and trying year, I really do feel like it has flown by as well.  I still have a lot to learn as a teacher, but I feel like I have grown so much this past year.  I am becoming much more confident in myself and my abilities, which has helped me immensely with my classroom/behavior management, my biggest struggle this year.

Next year is going to bring a whole new set of challenges.  I will be teaching new classes, new curriculum, and taking on a new role as the head volleyball coach.  I am excited and nervous, but can’t wait for next year to start.  Although, I also can’t wait to spend the next 2.5 months with MacKenna at home.  I’ll still be doing plenty of work (who says teachers get the summer off?!), but it’ll be nice to have some time with my family before things get crazy again.

Since today is WIAW and I really haven’t been doing a great job at keeping up with these, I figured I’d give you an insight to what I’ve been eating everyday for the past 180+ days…

Breakfast

Breakfast is absolutely ALWAYS a green smoothie.  I very my fruits everyday but it is always the same base recipe:

1/2 banana

1 cup of frozen fruit (usually 1/2 cup of 2 different fruits)

1 tablespoon chia seeds

1/2-3/4 cup milk (I eyeball it)

1 scoop vanilla protein powder

1 handful of spinach

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This won’t hold me over lunch, so I always have some dry cereal in the car after I finish my smoothie.  Either Frosted Mini Wheats or Quacker Oatmeal Squares.  Easy to eat in the car and doesn’t make too much of a mess.  Coffee is usually involved as well.

Lunch

My lunch time this past semester has been at 10:48.  Yuck.  It’s a good thing I’m usually starving by then, otherwise this would be way to early for me.  I like to eat leftovers most of the time, but it’s usually some sort of veggie, protein (veggie burger, quinoa, beans, etc.), and Greek yogurt.  Yesterday, I had a salad with tomatoes, carrots, broccoli, hummus, homemade Italian dressing, and croutons with some Yoplait 100 Calorie Greek Yogurt.

Unfortunatley, I forgot to take a picture, but you can imagine the deliciousness.

Snack

I always keep a dozen or so protein/granola bars in my desk drawer for easy snacks, as well as some honey roast peanuts.  I’m usually running out the door to head over to the high school to coach or trying to enter my grades before I leave for the day, so I need things that are quick and easy.  Protein bars are perfect!  My mom gave us some Kashi ones for Easter that I have been snacking on for the last couple of weeks.  Plus, it gives me my chocolate fix.

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Dinner

Last night, we had our 8th grade awards ceremony, so I didn’t get home until around 7 PM, after Matt + MacKenna had already eaten dinner.  Thankfully, we had some leftover brown rice, so I threw in some veggies ay.nd a leftover black bean burger, microwaved it, and voila!  A quick, delicious dinner, despite the fact that it looks nasty.

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Dessert

I have a slight cereal obsession.  I LOVE dry cereal, especially for dessert.  Matt bought me some chocolate shredded wheat cereal last week and I am addicted to it!  They have little bits of chocolate mixed in that make them even better.

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I’ll be honest:  I can’t wait to not have to worry about making my breakfast and lunch every single night for school the next day.  And maybe, just maybe, I’ll eat something besides a smoothie for breakfast.  Or maybe not…

What are your favorite grab-and-go snacks?  Does your eating schedule change on a daily basis or is it the same every day (what you eat/at what time)?

Posted in What I Ate Wednesday | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

kona kase {review}

Posted on May 21, 2013 by Kristen

**The winners of the Finding Kind/Indie Flix giveaway are Caroline, Angela, Melissa, Sarah Jane, Kristy, and Carlee!  Please email me at klvanhorn [at] gmail [dot] com to claim your prize!  Thanks for entering!**

I have found a new addiction lately.  It doesn’t really take much for me to get addicted to something.  It’s just my personality.  But, once I get addicted to something, it’s hard to break that addiction.  Take running, for example.  Can’t imagine my life without it.  Luckily, I have a good head on my shoulders and can tell when something will push me over the edge.

However, my new obsession is something I’m not sure I can give up so easily.  My new addition:  boxes.  To be more specific, those boxes that are mailed to you once a month with stuff that interests you.  It all started with PV.Body (now known as Ellie), where I had a set of workout clothes sent straight to my door each month.  Not long after that, I signed up for an Ecobaby Box through Ecocentric Mom.  I get a bunch of baby and mommy products to sample, along with a ton of discount coupons for “green” products.

Now, it’s the Kona Kase.  Kona Kase sends you 8 awesome nutritional products each month, specifically geared for active foodies, like myself.  Things like nutrition bars, chia seeds, and specialty nut butters, as wells as training tips and inspirational quotes.

Kona Kase-box

I was beyond excited when I opened my Kona Kase.  I received a KIND bar, a Rickland Orchards Greek Yogurt bar, 2 miniature Zing bars, a SoyJoy bar, 2 small samples of Wild Squirrel chocolate sunflower seed almond butter (which I have been dying to try since they were on Shark Tank a year ago), a small sample of Justin’s honey peanut butter, a package of TracHealth chia seeds, a Journey savory nutrition bar, and a package of caramel Sun Cups.

Kona Kase-stuff

I think what I like most about Kona Kase is that I get to try products I would never have a chance to try before going out and buying a huge package of them (and subsequently letting it go to waste because I didn’t like it as much as I thought I would).  And for only $15, it’s a pretty good deal for everything I got in my Kase.  Plus, you get free shipping and can cancel at anytime.

Go check out Kona Kase for Performance. Fueled. Monthly.

If you could have anything shipped to your door each month, what would it be?

**Disclaimer:  I received my Kona Kase as part of a FitFluential campaign in exchange for my review.  I was not compensated for my review.  All opinions are my own.**

Posted in food, reviews | Tagged | 1 Comment

race recap: ferguson twilight run 5k

Posted on May 20, 2013 by Kristen

I went into this race hoping to PR.  This was my goal race.  The race I was determined to PR with.  I have been training hard to get faster since January and was pleasantly surprised with my half marathon PR.  I really felt confident that I could PR at the Ferguson Twilight Run.

However, I had a few elements to deal with.  One, being the time of the race.  A 6PM race was going to be tough.  I’m used to running in the afternoon, but I was afraid that it being a weekend and not having a consistent routine would really throw me off.  In addition to the time, I also had to worry about the heat.  We’ve had a fairly cold winter and spring, so I haven’t had to worry about it being hot out nor have I really had a chance to acclimate to the warmer weather.  And unfortunately, the weather at race time was supposed to be 85 and humid – not ideal racing conditions.

My goal was to PR.  Run faster than 19:58.  I ran that time in the fall on a fairly flat course in ideal racing conditions.  I had another flat-ish course going for me, but I knew the time and temperature were going to be a factor.  I really wanted to PR, but I kept it in the back of my head that this might not happen.

I was running with my brother again (can I tell you how much I LOVE having someone to run with?!) and we decided to do a little warm-up jog before the race on the last mile of the course.  I’m so thankful that we were able to do that because the last part of a race for me is the last mile.  It gets so mentally tough and I’m tired and just want to be done.  Running the last mile really helps me so I know exactly how much farther I have to go.

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We lined up at the very front since the fastest pace signs were 9 minute miles and faster (of course, I had a walker line up right next to me).  I let the guys I knew who were faster than me get ahead, but otherwise we were directly at the starting line.  Looking around at the start, I tried to check out my competition.  Very few women lined up in the front and the ones I knew were going to be competitive with me were all running the 10K.  So, I knew at least if I didn’t PR, I could win.

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I’m in the center of the frame, on the right side of all the runners.

The first mile was actually the hardest of the race for me.  For some reason, my hands decided to go numb as soon as we started.  I don’t know if it was nerves or something else, but I didn’t get feeling back until we were half a mile in.  Plus, the first mile had the biggest uphill, which was nothing compared to my normal route or GO! St. Louis.  Brian was a few steps ahead of me until we hit the downhill and I was able to use that downhill to my advantage.

Mile 2 was flat and fast.  For a smaller race, there were quite a few spectators along the course.  Several spectators and volunteers kept me informed that I was indeed the first female.  Brian kept me focused and helped me by telling me exactly where and which way we’d be turning.  I was so happy that he was by my side, helping me get through the race.

By the time we hit the third mile, I was hurting and wanting to be done, as I expected.  I was so happy that I knew that part of the course though.  I knew exactly where to turn and exactly where I needed to start kicking it in.  Brian also started to pull away from me and I let him.  I was starting to get some side stitches from the heat (and dehydration) and my body just couldn’t hang with him anymore.

Rounding the last corner, I knew I had to start picking it up a bit.  I had about 1/3 of a mile left and could see the finish line the whole straight away.  Brian kept getting farther and farther ahead of me.  I was trying really hard to stay with the guy in front of me, but I just couldn’t pass him.  With about 0.1 left in the race, I could see the clock ticking by 19:58.  I knew I wasn’t going to PR, but I knew that I could definitely shave some time off my last 5K time.

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I crossed the finish line in 20:27 (official time) and was the first place overall female.

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While it wasn’t a PR, it’s 30 seconds faster than the 5K I ran back in December.  And honestly, that paces I have been training with weren’t for a sub-20 5K.  They were for a sub-20:30 5K.  My training worked!  I pushed myself on every single workout, hitting my times, and listening to my body when I needed extra rest.  And it totally paid off.  It wasn’t a PR, but I couldn’t be happier with my performance and training.

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Posted in race, running | Tagged , , , | 4 Comments