There are
so many signs that autumn is finally here - the cooler air, the leaves changing
colors, and of course let’s not forget the return of Starbucks’ pumpkin spice
latte. I have to admit that I used to
buy this drink religiously over the past few years, but I haven’t bought one
this season. Mostly because I’m trying
to cut back on eating or drinking anything with too many artificial flavorings
and added sugars. Don’t get me wrong, I
still crave the taste of this pumpkin-y delight, but I’m trying to make better
choices for my body.
Another
reason I haven’t bought this drink is because I recently read a blog post from
the Food Babethat questioned some of the ingredients in Starbucks’ drink. After I did a little research, I decided that
I needed to take a step backwards to reevaluate my drink options. Of course, I don’t know if the Food Babe post
is accurate, but I am equally concerned regarding the amount of sugar used in
the latte and the chemicals used in Starbucks’ signature pumpkin spice syrup.
So when I
found this Pumpkin
Spice Protein Smoothie recipe, I knew it was going to be my favorite
treat.It’s filled with real pumpkin,
which is a great source of vitamin A and beta-carotene, making it a healthy
addition to your diet. This smoothie that has less sugar
and fewer caloriesthan the traditional Starbucks latte, but will
still tackle that fall pumpkin drink craving. Check out the recipe below to get
your Starbucks fix at home with infinitely more nutritional value. If you decide to try it, let me know what you
think. Happy blending!
Pumpkin Spice Smoothie
[Inspired
by thispumpkin spice smoothie from Lululemon.]
Ingredients:
1 cup of canned
pumpkin
1 cup of
almond milk
1 or 2
frozen bananas (depending on how sweet you want it)
2 dates
1 tsp
vanilla extract
1 tsp of
nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger, to taste
1 scoop
of protein powder (optional)
A handful
of ice cubes
Directions:
Makes 2
servings
Prep
Time: 10 minutes
Blend all
ingredients together until you achieve the desired consistency. Adjust flavorings as needed and add more
almond milk or water if it’s too thick. Pour the drink in a glass and
Enjoy!
There
aren’t too many races that will make me stop what I’m doing to sign up and
register for a race, but this one gets me every time.
The 2014 Lululemon
SeaWheeze Half Marathon took place on
Saturday, August 23rd Vancouver, BC. This is the second year in a row that I ran
this race and unlike last year, I’m finally getting around to sharing my race
recap. This race was extra special to me
because my mom came along for the fun to complete her very first half marathon. She did an awesome job and I’m so proud of
her – Go Mom! My dear
friend, M, my mom and I arrived in Vancouver a couple days before the
race. As soon as we got settled in, we
could feel the energy for this event throughout the city. It was pretty easy to spot the SeaWheeze
runners because they were dressed in full Lululemon gear wandering the streets
of Vancouver.
PRE-RACE EXPO
On Friday morning, we arrived at the Vancouver
Convention Center around 10:00am to find a long line stretched halfway around
the building. Luckily, there were two separate lines for both the race packet
pickup and the special SeaWheeze Showcase Store. (This is where Lululemon
sells a line of SeaWheeze-branded clothes, which exclusively made for the race.)
We decided to let the line to
the store die down a little and went to pick up our race packets first since
there was a shorter line.The packet
pickup moved pretty quickly.Unfortunately,
we made the mistake of not getting to the convention center earlier in the day,
because the store was a complete zoo by the time we got in. We waited in the store line for about 45
minutes and there was hardly anything left.
Workers were removing empty racks and shelves throughout the room as
dozens of women buzzed around trying to find their sizes.It was very clear that they were not going to
restock anything at this point.I
grabbed a bunch of clothes in my size so I could try them on.Luckily I was able to find a few things in my
size that were placed on wrong racks, so I was pretty happy about that.However, there were a lot of people that
weren’t so lucky.After a few hours, the
only sizes left in the store were size 2s and 4s and eventually they sold out everything
by the early afternoon.Normally, the
showcase store is opened on both Friday and Saturday, but they officially ran out
of merchandise and closed up early on Friday. If you want to see what so many people missed out on, check out Lululemon Addict's blog (here) for most of the merchandise sold.
We grabbed a few snacks at the pre-race
expo outside of the convention center.The pre-race expo also included hair braiding, manicures, spray-on tattoos, cotton candy and yoga.The festivities went on all
day, but we decided to skip out on some of the fun.We grabbed lunch at nearby restaurant and
bought tickets for a bus tour around the entire city.The weather was gorgeous during the whole
weekend and despite missing both the nooner and sunset yoga sessions, I’d say
that Lululemon did an excellent job on the pre-race expo this year.
RACE DAY
The morning of the race, we were pretty relaxed and
quiet in our hotel. We woke up around 5:15am so we would have enough time to
get ready.I ate a cup of yogurt and a SimplyProtein®
Bar (which kept me full during the whole race). Our hotel was about a 10-minute walk from the
race start line so we decided to head down to make it for the Sunrise Warm-Up
stretch. However, we thought it started at 6:30am and we ended up missing the
whole thing. We did our own warm up and
stretch after I dropped of my bag at the gear check. We started to make our way to the corrals
around 6:50am.
I didn’t have a major goal in mind for this race
considering I didn’t train as hard as know I should have.My main goal was to beat my time from last
year, which was 2:16.M and my mom
didn’t have a goal in mind either so we decided to line up in the 2:30
corral.The race started promptly at 7:00am
and I finally started to get a little nervous.We waited for about 30 minutes before we got started because of all of
the groups of waves before us. There
were so many people waiting to run.Lululemon
capped this race at 10,015 people this year.I’m not sure how many people
actually ran the race, but this was the largest half marathon that I’ve ever
participated in.
When it was finally our turn, I wished
my mom and M good luck and I took off.I
wanted to find my pace and move away from the crowd of people as quickly as
possible.The course worked its way quickly
through downtown, over the Dunsmuir Viaduct into a small part of Chinatown
before getting to False Creek. Immediately, there were all kinds of
entertainers and cheer stations along the way.I typically don’t take pictures while I’m running, but I’m really
wishing that I had.
We eventually worked our way over to the
Burrard Street Bridge and crossed into Kitsilano and returned back on the Burrard
Street Bridge. It was a real treat to see Lululemon Corporate offices
along the way.Shortly after we headed
back into the city, we moved our way towards the Sea Wall and I tried to stay
focused from there to the end of the race.I had already passed the 2:30 and 2:20 pacers, so my goal was to either
catch up to the 2:10 pacers or not let the 2:20 pacers pass me.
I eventually crossed
the finish line with a time of 2:11 and I couldn’t be any happier.I got an awesome
medal and grabbed some water to cool down and stretch my legs.I’m still trying to figure out what the medal
is (if anybody knows what it is, please comment below).I didn’t leave the finish line area because I wanted be there to watch
my mom and my friend M finish the race.I was so excited to see my mom cross the last mat.She was so happy and proud of herself.She really worked hard for this race and now
she knows that she can do it again if she had to.She had so much fun and she’s still talking about
it to her friends.I have a feeling that
she’ll be signing up for more races in the near future.
After my mom and M finished, we all made our way
through the finish chute to get some food from the Runner’s Brunch.The volunteers clipped on a small
bag of roll-on essential oils from Saje Natural
Wellness, handed us a bottle of Whistler Water, a
bottle of Zico coconut water, and a cold wet washcloth to help cool down from
the run. We also got a black Lululemon baseball cap, which was an unexpected
bonus. The Runner’s Brunch was pretty
awesome because they served Belgian waffles, blueberry compote, yogurt, fresh
oranges, grapes and watermelon, my favorite.
Afterwards, we headed back to the hotel to shower
and get a little rest before dinner.We
all decided that we needed to reward ourselves with a nice meal and cocktails
for all of our efforts.Last,
but not least we took one of the shuttles over to the Sunset Festival at the
Brockton Oval in Stanley Park. The evening began with an incredible yoga class
led by Eoin Finn.There was food, wine
and beer and even a trapeze swing set up for guests to explore a life as a
trapeze artist. The year’s entertainment
was headliner, Capital Cities (check out their newest single “One Minute More”)
and opening act, The Colourist. We listened
to The Colourist, but we missed Capital Cities because we got too tired, so we
left early.
THOUGHTS
All in all, the SeaWheeze race weekend was an awesome
experience and one of the best-organized events that I’ve attended. This was
definitely more than a race; it was a yoga, run, party. If you’re looking for a
new race to participate in, then I highly recommend the SeaWheeze Half
Marathon. I’m not sure if I’ll be back next year, but I will certainly
run this race again in my lifetime.
Did you run SeaWheeze this year? If so, what were the
biggest highlights for you?
If you are thinking about attending next year, then here are
some of the details. SeaWheeze 2015 takes place on Saturday Aug. 15,
2015. Registration is Sept. 10, 2014 at 10:00am PDT. This race will
definitely sell out quickly, so pay attention to the date and time
and get ready to run! Good Luck!
Check out what went down at last weekend’s Lululemon
SeaWheeze Half Marathon in this great recap video above.
happy monday everyone! i've been struggling over the past few weeks to find inspiration
to update this blog. i thought my
writer's block was just because I've been busy with work, working out/running
and my personal life... but i just might be a little burned out. hopefully this funk will pass soon and i’ll
get back to blogging on a regular basis. i’ve added my random ramblings to carissa’s
miscellany monday party! check out
carissa’s blog here and join in on the fun.
{one} running.this past saturday, i ran in the
largest 15k race for the third year in a row – the gate river run. i didn’t have time to write a full recap about
the race, but i wanted to write quickly about some of the race highlights. the race started promptly at 8:30am, but
there were 4 waves to start in order to avoid the congestion all of the runners.
this year there were a total of 15, 569
total finishers, 7409 male finishers and 8160 female finishers. the weather was picture perfect for a morning
race, despite the cool weather when i first woke up. i wore a long-sleeve shirt over my race
shirt, but i removed it before i got to mile three. the course took us on a scenic route
throughout the city where there were tons of fans along the way. one of my favorite part of this race is
getting a ice pop around mile 6 or 7 courtesy of a local family. there were people handing out mimosas, beer,
donut holes and sausages and oranges. if
you didn’t eat breakfast before the race, you could have eaten it there. this race is infamously known for runners
tackling the green monster. the green
monster is also known as the hart bridge.
the last mile of the race took us over the bridge and back to the
stadium. i was pretty happy with my time
this year. my official chip time was 1:30:04.
{two} lululemon. lately, i’ve been going to yoga at
my local lululemon store. did you know
that they offered free yoga classes? i
recently discovered this little perk and i thought i would share it with
you. do you have a lululemon in your
town? if you’re not sure, check out the
store finder here
to find a store in your area and the calendar of events.
Hey
everyone…I hope that you all are having an awesome week. I wanted to share some news with you all that I'm pretty excited about. Why? I recently signed
up to participate in the Lululemon SeaWheeze Half Marathon on August 10, 2013.
I heard about this race from one of my besties last year and I’ve been thinking
about it ever since.
This race looked
like it had a successful inaugural event last August and I’m hoping that this
year will be just the same if not better. This will also be my first visit to Canada. If you want to learn more about the race, check out the photos and video below to get
a better idea of why I’m so excited.All
of the details about the race can be found here.
Quick Race Stats
What: The SeaWheeze Half-Marathon is 21.1kms (13.1 miles)
When: August 10, 2013
Where: Vancouver, BC, Canada (SeaWheeze Central at the Vancouver Convention Centre)
Every
year at this time, there is always an influx of news articles, blog posts and
tweets regarding staying fit and getting healthier in the new year. So I thought that it was only fitting that I
create a fitness related Fresh Picks to Follow.
I enjoy working out and buying new workout clothes and gadgets to that
help me stay motivated to exercise at my peak performance. For this week Fresh
Picks to Follow, here’s my top 10 workout essentials that will help you stay on
track this year. Is working out and
staying fit on your new year’s resolution list? How do you plan to stay
motivated all year long? Let me know in
the comments.
There are
so many signs that autumn is finally here - the cooler air, the leaves changing
colors, and of course let’s not forget the return of Starbucks’ pumpkin spice
latte. I have to admit that I used to
buy this drink religiously over the past few years, but I haven’t bought one
this season. Mostly because I’m trying
to cut back on eating or drinking anything with too many artificial flavorings
and added sugars. Don’t get me wrong, I
still crave the taste of this pumpkin-y delight, but I’m trying to make better
choices for my body. 
[Inspired
by this pumpkin spice smoothie from Lululemon.]
