Matchstick Challenges

As stated in my previous post, I promised to be more active in my blog postings and updates.  This includes Molly's Matchstick Challenge.  I'm weeks behind, but am going to pick up this week with Challenge #9 while attempting to squeeze in previous week's challenges in order to catch up.

Click the link above to see previous challenges; below you will find Challenge #9.  Join us in the weekly challenges.  Play catch up with us and post your weekly updates!

Matchstick Challenge #9!

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Note: If you joined late, post the current week’s challenge instead of going back to the beginning and starting there. You can post past challenges as well, but part of it is the community that we build by working on the same thing together, every week!

Ladies and other ladies, (reader survey says my readers are 98% female) it is time for another challenge! Last week’s posts were really great, and I’ve actually turned them it into a running feature. I’ve posted some “Is It Really Healthy?” posts on this page right here, and will keep updating the list with new reviews that I write and receive from you! Visit the page to find out to have your review featured.

This weeks challenge is another “do” challenge. The last two you could pretty much do from your computer if you wanted to (or even yell from the couch and have a computer or hired slave type down your words for you), but not this week!

This week’s challenge is to make healthy choices more accessible. Think about the reason you eat chips, or candy, or a sugary protein bar.

It’s easy. It’s right there. You can grab it and take a bite in less than five seconds. When I’m hungry, I’m hungry right then, and I want to eat right away (probably why there aren’t any elaborate recipes on this page—I am almost admirably impatient.)

To grab something like, a handful of grapes, you have to get the grapes out, deal with those weird bags they come in, wash them, and put them in a bowl. To get some carrots? You have to get them, peel them, cut them, whatever. It takes work, and when you’re hungry and want something right away, you’re probably going to skip all of that in favor of something quicker (and probably less healthy.)

So this week, let’s flip the tables and make healthy food a little more accessible! Cut up fruits and veggies and have them all ready to go in a container in the fridge. Maybe make a couple mixes, like a container of carrots, cucumbers, cauliflower and sugar snap peas. You could get a little dish with some hummus or something to dip in them all ready and in the container with them, so that’s one less thing you have to do when the time comes. Make eating fresh & healthy foods easy on yourself by taking a few minutes right now.

You could also try to bring healthy snacks or lunches with you, instead of buying them at school or work. I would almost never buy something from a vending machine unless I was super hungry and that was the only thing around. I’ve caved before and went through a drive though just because I didn’t have something healthy with me and I wanted to eat right then. If you have a [healthy!] protein bar, bag of veggies, banana or wrap with you, you can eat that whenever you get hungry, instead of getting junk.

See how many healthy choices you make by making nutritious food more available!

Looking for ideas?
-88 Snacks Under 100 Calories
-Great Take-Along Ideas from Another Lunch

Tag it with matchstickchallenge and link up to this post when you’re done, and maybe do all of these things too. [I’ll stop bossing you now, I guess. Maybe.]

Super Slackers

Between the craziness of the holidays, training for our upcoming half marathon (runDisney's Tinker Bell half is only nine days away!); work, school, and our new love, CrossFit we have failed to stay on top of regular blog updates.  It has been one whole month since our last post. One Month!  That is far too long, and on behalf of both of us, I extend our deepest apologies.  As our title and description so clearly state, the purpose of this blog is to journal our training process for any and all races we sign up for and provide motivation along the way.  Rest assured that we have still been training.  We run, we CrossFit, and we somehow manage to fit life in between.  We have only fallen short on the blogging aspect of our journey.  I am here to tell you that we are going to make a better effort to get back on track as a means to provide motivation for our readers, as well as to continue to hold ourselves accountable.  This is especially important to us given that we have recently had two friends (Stephanie Q., and Stephanie L.) express their interest in joining us in running a marathon this year.

Yep, I said it.  Marathon.  Twenty six point two miles of both pure bliss and pure torture.  We have yet to pick a race, but will be sure to announce it when it has been decided.  I'm thinking a fall race is in order since Danielle and I are both teachers and can ideally train during our summers off.

So please stick with us as we get back on our feet and get back in the groove of things.  Motivational Mondays, Wordless Wednesdays, the Matchstick Challenge, and regular workout updates will work their way back into the blogroll, and perhaps a Tuesday Ten and/or Friday Five.  

Happy running, happy blogging, happy, healthy 2012!