Watcha been doing?

Today's post is geared toward a little bit of this and that. Probably not the best statement to lead with in a new blog post but needed to warn you in case you needed to turn back now...hehehe. 

In all the busy of life in the last few weeks, I have failed to share a couple of races that I have participated in.

The first was on September 28th with a few of my girlfriends from work. We knocked out 3.1 miles in the Women's Running Series in Nashville as others took the long road ahead for the half marathon. 

The most recent was the Booby Bolt 5K in my home town. My hot, bald man and I completed it on October 12th in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness. I actually hit a PR on that race with just under 33 minutes. My Garmin measured the distance at not quite 3 miles so I have my doubts on whether I really improved my run by 3+ minutes in just a couple of weeks so I have been really working on getting faster since this race. Notice that he wore a pink tutu in this race instead of a purple one as before. Even better...he made it himself. :) That's my guy!

Next on the race calendar is the Mayor's Challenge 5K in Nashville on November 17th. This will be my 2nd time competing in this one. The best part...my man is competing with me this go round. In fact, he has committed to me that he will do each and every one of them with me moving forward. True LOVE people :)

Over the course of the last few weeks, I have tried several new recipes and wanted to share a few of them with you all. The first being this pasta dish that I ran across on the web that I have tweeked into a little more of a healthier version. I used whole wheat pasta and substituted pork sausage with chicken sausage as well as Half and Half instead of Heavy Cream. It was pretty scrumptious, I must add. Not to mention easy, peasy for that quick after-work one dish meal.

Spicy Sausage Pasta Dish

1 tbsp coconut oil (or olive oil, if you prefer)
4-5 links of Chicken Sausage (Got mine from Costco, Brand- Casual Gourmet: Roasted Red Pepper)
1 medium onion (chopped)
3 rounded tsp. crushed garlic (or 2 cloves, minced)
2 cups of low sodium chicken broth
1 can Ro-Tel tomatoes (original)- do not drain
1/2 cup Half and Half Cream
8 ounces uncooked Rotini pasta, whole wheat

Saute onion and chicken sausage in coconut oil over med high heat until lightly browned. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
Add broth, Ro-Tel, Half and Half and pasta. Bring to a boil, cover skillet, and reduce to medium low heat. Simmer until pasta is tender (about 15 minutes).
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Another creation that I have managed to fall in love with is the Broccoli Slaw Pre-Mix mixed with dried cranberries, pumpkins seeds, and poppy seed dressing.

If you enjoy salads, it's worth you throwing this together. I get my Pre-mix at the local grocery along with the cranberries but the pumpkin seeds are a Whole Foods find.
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Finally, I want to give you all a little snapshot into what is occupying my occasional down time. I completed Jon Acuff's Best Selling book, START. Now...on to another of his great works, Quitter. If you want (or need, like me) a little motivation toward finding your awesome and not being a quitter when life gets tough, these are must reads for even the not-so-avid reader like myself. I started reading Quitter as I left town on a short business trip last Friday and struggled to put it down. I still have about 35 pages to read and won't delay wrapping it up. If you want to find out more about Jon, you can track him down on his blog or on his Facebook page.

Later gators...