No I in Team

The photos from the Spartan Race were posted online yesterday.  I will admit when I first saw them all I saw was how fat I was, how big my belly was, how if I were even ten pounds lighter it would have made the whole race a lot easier.  But then I told myself to shut the fuck up.  I DID A SPARTAN RACE.  I wasn’t sitting on the sidelines, and out of the 23 obstacles I had to get through, I only couldn’t do three of them.  Only three.

When I see that picture I see. . . determination.  Perseverance.  Diligence.  And I could not be prouder of myself.  I am not sure I would have put myself out there if Tony were still here.  I would have worried about leaving him for a weekend, but I know if he were still here he’d be so proud of me.  More importantly though is my daughter is proud of me, and if I have taught her nothing less is that in life shitty things happen.  And while it’s tough, you just have to pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on as best you can.  This picture is at the very end of the race – an hour and 54 minutes after I started, 3.5 miles and 23 obstacles later. . . and I am still running to the finish line!

So here is a picture of my “team.”  Shawnta was standing in front of me when I tapped her on the shoulder and I told her my goal was to keep up with her.  She said “you are doing this by yourself?  Hey guys, Biz is going to be in our group!”  The group constituted a group of co-workers who worked in Milwaukee. Steve, the guy kneeling down in front of me lives in a town a couple towns over from me and commutes to Milwaukee every day.  He and I were at about the same pace, and the group would wait for either one of us to catch up before moving on.   It was a group effort, and I am so thankful for them pushing me forward.

That’s why I am so excited about all the participants in the 101 Days of Summer Challenge!  I will be communicated with you guys through e-mail and hope to have that group email set up by the end of today so we can cheer each other on.   It’s not too late to join – just pick some goals for yourself that you want to accomplish, and the group will help cheer you on to make sure you get there.

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I’ve talked a lot how I bake up several Idaho potatoes over the weekend because they come in so handy later in the week.  I can make quick twice baked potatoes, cut them up and pan fry them with fresh rosemary or I can make breakfast baked potatoes!  These are so good and filling – I cut one half of the baked potato (4 ounces) scooped out the potato leaving the shell, and scrambled those potatoes with deli ham, egg whites, baby spinach and then stuffed that mixture back into the baked potato.  I put that in my lunch container, and when I got to work, I microwaved it for 1 minute, then topped it with Cabot cheese (Vermont cheddar  -love!) and put it in the broiler of my office toaster oven.  That potato half is only 383 calories and 32 grams of protein.

My bronchitis is still clinging on, and it’s driving me nuts because I feel fine, just have this nagging cough.  The last two days I’ve barely made it 5,000 steps, which is why I have to be extra careful this week of the licks and bites that I don’t even know I am doing half the time.  So far so good!

I had frozen homemade naan in the freezer and grilled up some Greek chicken and made a Greek chicken panini with carrots, cucumber, tzatziki sauce and garlic hummus.  I made a small plate for my boss and she said “that’s better than at any Greek restaurant!”  I had marinated the chicken in olive oil and LOTS of Greek seasoning from the Spice House and it marinated for two days so it was super flavorful.

My store had both bone-in chicken breasts and drumsticks on sale this weekend so I picked up a package of both.  Jacob loves eating grilled meat as leftovers.  Before work yesterday I marinated the chicken in a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and this “chick magnet” Southwest spicy from Denny Mike’s – I got a selection of seasonings from Cabot cheese with the last box of cheese loot they sent me – it was very flavorful spicy.

And I made another batch of my zucchini tots since Hannah wasn’t home the last time I made them.  This time I added 1/2 a baked potato and shredded that into the mix for a zucchini potato tot – she gave them two big thumbs up!  I had a dozen people ask me how I got them in that shape – did I have a tater tot press?  Nope – I will do a quick video the next time I make them to show you how – I know people will be having a boat load of zucchini soon!   Blog reader Jennifer O. successfully baked these at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, flipped them, and baked an additional 10 minutes and they turned out great.  Thanks for letting me know that!

Alright, off to make some ham and egg baked cups for breakfast – while I miss not being able to walk outside because of my cough, I do enjoy all the time I have to do things in the kitchen before work – it’s my happy place! 

Make it a great day!