Strength #4: CrossFit St. Louis

I have an AMAZING CrossFit gym at CrossFit St. Louis. I absolutely love all of the people in it and everything that they have to offer. We are such a diverse group of people, individuals that would have never come together had it not been for CrossFit. Yet here we were the past weekend standing side by side supporting one another, cheering for each other, and competing on teams together at the Heart of America Competition. I would have never met these amazing people had it not been for CFSTL and the community it has brought me.

This past weekend at HOA was incredible. I was lucky enough to be a part of St. Louis's "A" team or CrossFit St. Louis Black. I got to compete with the top athletes at our gym and let me tell you we put on a show! Most of the top teams in our region were at this competition and everyone is there to show off or see how they stack up for the upcoming CrossFit Open season. The HOA competition doesn't really count for anything. If you do well here, it doesn't qualify you for something else, like Regionals would. But it does show you your team's strengths and weaknesses.

My team learned a lot this weekend! We were able to show our gymnastics and body weight skills are pretty darn good but our strength and sprint work is lacking. Another thing we really need to work on is just training as a team and really learning where we can pick each other up. One beauty of a team is everyone has a strength to contribute to it and where someone else is weak, another person can pick them up.  We had many examples of this over the weekend and sometimes that caused individuals to do a workout or part of a workout that wasn't necessarily their favorite. But because we are a fairly cohesive team, everyone was willing to do whatever part of the workouts they needed to do.

My amazing team!

At the end of the weekend, CrossFit St Louis Black placed 9th. We were poised for a 4th place finish heading into the final workout, but a mishap caused a 30 burped penalty, a 41st place finish in
workout 10, and took us out of the running unfortunately. One of our teammates blames their self for this loss solely but if you're going to win together as a team you also have to lose together as a team. Our team doesn't fault this person at all, giving 110% in a workout is never something to be ashamed of. We understand their competitive spirit and it's one of the reasons we love them.

One of my favorite highlights of the weekend was getting to do a workout with my training partner. We work together every morning and really understand each other's strengths and weaknesses. The workout was:
16 min time cap, split up the work however you want between 2 people
100 calorie row,
100 kettlebell snatches (35#)
100 pistols
While one person was working, the other had to hold a 70# fat bar in a static position (deadlift, front rack, and over head respectively). Both of us are strong but we definitely are better at body weight movements. We knew the snatches would take us a little time but the row and pistols would be good for us.  Getting off the row, we were probably about 4th in our heat of 12, after the snatches we came out in about 10th (yikes), but when we got to the pistols we took off. I for some reason am able to do pistols pretty well and my partner is no joke either. I started off with 30 of them, she took the next 30, and then it was up to me to finish off the last 40 as fast as I could.

Once I started moving on the last 40, I found some energy that I didn't know I had. The guys on our team had just completed the same workout in reverse order and came down to cheer us on. I was moving so fast I was literally jumping from one leg to the other. I knew I was moving fast because the crowd started to get excited and all the announcers were around us watching. When I got to about 90 my legs were dying, and at 95 I wanted to stop but everyone pushed me through them and we ended up finishing 3rd! I know I moved well on the pistols, but the real hero was my partner here because she held the bar overhead for all of those reps after doing all of that work. I don't know how she didn't put it down!

Another highlight was just watching everyone else compete! People did things that I didn't know they were capable of and I am not sure they knew they were capable of them either! It is a lot of fun to see all of the hours we put into the gym pay off and make us better CrossFit athletes especially when we hit the big stage. Cheering and hanging out with everyone made the weekend that much better!

From this competition, I learned a lot about myself. One of the big things I already knew was that I need to increase my strength. It has been an issue right now with my knee but once that starts to allow me to do more, all I will be doing is squatting. Well maybe not really but I can't wait to squat again! I also need to work on my sprinting ability. In a team competition, you go for short bursts of time and then hand it off to you other teammates. This is something I need to continually work on and will be a focus at times over the next few months.

This weekend, CrossFit St. Louis had a great community down in Springfield, MO. Everyone cheered for everyone and we were all able to do what we love and compete in fitness. I was overwhelmed by the support of people and how they stayed for hours after their competition wrapped up just to watch us compete. It really makes me realize how special CFSTL community is and how lucky I am to be a part of it.  The coaches are great, the members are awesome, and the community we have forged is unbelievable. I am so blessed to be a part of it!

One last thing, I failed on my food challenge this week. With being gone all weekend, coming back to a test that I was unprepared for on Monday, and then leaving for Nashville tomorrow morning, I just didn't have enough time this week. I promise to step up my game next week and finish off my food challenge! On the bright side, I visited Whole Foods yesterday and found Justin's Chocolate Hazelnut Butter... I am pretty sure I have to limit myself on this adventure!

October Food Challenge: Week 4

So I am posting this week's a little early but I going to be busy all weekend long so I figured I should post before I forget! This weekend is the Heart of America Competition or #HOA6 in Springfield, MO. There are going to be 10 of the top 12 teams from Regionals there so this is a very big competition! Granted we were 4th at Regionals but with every competition we are presented a new set of obstacles. I am on our "A" team this year and it comprises most of us that were on the team at Regionals. We are prepared and ready to go and let me tell you I just want to be there already! Anyways my food for the week!

October 20th: I made a stir-fry kind of thing. It was simple with chicken and lots of veggies. I used a recipe to give the chicken some kick and let me tell you my mouth was on fire but it was really good! I thought this would last me for at least 3 meals but I barely got 2 out of it. Oh well, my appetite seems to be growing haha.

October 21st: I made cauliflower pizza crust!!! It was really, really good! I was so nervous making it but when it was finally done I was so happy with it! Granted I used a whole head of cauliflower and that made a lot of pizza crust! Next time I will probably only do half of a head because I don't need that many left overs! Also, the recipe told me to put wax paper underneath it but that was a BAD idea! Next time I will definitely just put olive oil or something else on the bottom of the pan so I don't have to meticulously separate the pizza from the wax paper.

October 22nd: I was looking for a side to make because sometimes you just need something to go along with an entree. I found a recipe for spicy sweet potato fries! They were delicious and super easy to make. One of my friends suggested that next time I put them in the broiler so they be a little bit crispy and I am going to try that. I had to leave them in the over for a lot longer than the recipe called for which was fine but the little ones got really crispy and the others were not as crispy.

October 23rd: For HOA I needed a treat for the weekend which ended up being a different kind of paleo crunch! I love how much food I yield from these! It is pretty good and has some pumpkin spices in it so it is #sofall! I am ready to demolish it in between events this weekend!

October 24th: I made a pumpkin smoothie this morning. I got the recipe from Jacque, the nutritionist who is helping me with my eating. The smoothie itself is rather good, however, it is pretty thick. Next time I need to add some water or something to it so it has a better drinking consistency!

This weekend my goal is to have confidence in everything I do. I am confident this week that I fueled my body so that it is ready to go. I am confident that I have put in the effort and the hard work necessary to compete at my top level. I am confident that I can do anything they put in front of me.  I am telling myself that I can and will dominate, that our team is going to kick booty. We have all had to communicate before and done well with it, this is no different! So here's to an awesome HOA weekend!

October Food Challenge: Week 3

So last week, I may have failed a little bit on my challenge... I went home and was only able to get four new things made last week. I all honesty, I could have made something on Sunday but I was way too tired from driving all over the place, working the St. Louis marathon all morning, and studying the afternoon away. Anyways my food from last week (I even have some pictures this week!).

 October 13th: I made some some delicious Mediterranean chicken this night. I pulled some chicken out of the freezer and cooked it on the stove with lots of spices and some lemon juice. I then added olives, tomatoes, green peppers, and mushrooms to it and cooked it all together. I originally only made half of the chicken I had pulled out but after I finished eating some of that, I cooked the rest of the chicken up so I could have leftovers the rest of the week.

October 14th: On Tuesday, I went to an Aaron Carter concert. Yes you read that right Aaron Carter. He is still touring apparently and has new music out (that no one has heard). It was a very small concert. There weren't a lot of people there but it was fun. The opening band Liberty Deep Down was great and reminded me of One Direction. We ended up talking to the for a lot of the night and they were super nice. We almost got into their bus party for free but were unable to because their manager wouldn't let us trade shots for bus tickets. They were underage apparently but we had no idea because they were playing in a bar all night.

Muffins on the left, cookies on the right

October 16th: My friends came over again to watch the Cardinals play! Unfortunately, we couldn't bring them the same luck that we did the previous week and they lost but we still had a fun time watching the game. I made pumpkin muffins for us as a treat while watching the game. First off they were a little too moist for me and next time I would probably try to bake them a little bit longer. I was nervous they were gong to burn, which they didn't but they weren't my favorite.

October 17th: I made paleo protein chocolate chip cookies. I have had them many times before because one of my friends at the gym makes them all the time. They are delicious and I was nervous to make them because I wasn't sure I could do as good of a job. I used Enjoy Life chocolate chips. They are gluten, dairy, and soy free so relatively healthy. The other ingredients included almond flour, coconut oil, honey, eggs, and a few other staples. One thing I have learned is that I am not allowed to make these anymore because they are soooo good and soooo easy to eat. I have to limit myself to eating one or two everyday. No more paleo cookies without sharing them with everyone else.

October 18th: I made some chicken in the crockpot. Super easy to make too! In the morning I threw peppers on the bottom of it, added some chicken, and some taco seasoning. Cook it on low all day and it falls apart.

October 19th and 20th: I was lucky to go home and able to see my family and some of my little girls! I saw two of them run in their cross country meets! I have never been to one before and didn't realize how much I would be running myself! For high school they run 3 miles and I ended up running around 1.5 miles! I then went to grade school state on Saturday and saw another one of my little girls run. They run 2 miles and I was probably close to running 1.25 miles! I had a great time though and was so excited to see them run! After that I got to hang out with my brother and family the rest of the day before I made the trip back to St. Louis Saturday night.

Josie and the Hermann family on top, Savannah on the bottom
left, and Maggie on the bottom right! So much running!

October 21st: I worked the St. Louis Rock'n'Roll marathon as part of the medical staff. I have never been to a marathon or half before and it was a neat experience. It was cool to see all the different people that run these and how everyone does well in their own ways. I didn't get to see a lot of action medically but I did get to see a lot of my friends finish it! I went to the gym on Sunday and got after a few sprint workouts. I PR'ed my "Grace" time by about a minute and did a lot of muscle-ups. I have been working very hard on consistency on these and I am getting better and better at them! This makes me even more excited for HOA this weekend!!!!

Struggle #15: Unanswered Questions

So I am sitting in Panera (or Bread Co. If you're a St. Louisian), in Springfiled, IL, blogging... Why? Because as I was driving home, I was thinking about things and I needed to write it all down to help me figure them out in my head. What exactly was I thinking about? Unanswered questions.

I HATE unanswered questions! They scare me. I don't like not knowing what is going to happen, why I am doing something, or the answer to a question. Something about this makes bothers and makes me think about it incessantly. A big question that has been bothering me all week, is why the water in bathroom sinks gets hot in like 5 seconds but it takes a minute for the kitchen sink water to get hot.  This makes no sense to me. It's the same situation, so what gives?

But in all seriousness, unanswered questions are something I like to steer clear from. Right now I am in my third year of PT school and I will be graduating in May.  Everyone always asks what do I want to do, where do I want to go, and do I feel ready to be a PT. I have NO idea.  I mean I kind of have an idea, but that seems like a long time away and I don't want to commit to anything because a lot can change between now and then. It scares the crap out of me that I don't know what I want yet but I'm hoping I can figure it out over the next few months. Some people in my class are so sure of their self but I have no clue! Ahhhh!

Why this whole thought process truly entered my mind today is because of one of my goals. I want to be be a sponsored CrossFit athlete. I have been working my butt off in the gym daily. I have had my set backs (specifically my knee right now) and I definitely have my weaknesses, but I also have my strengths and I think I have potential in this sport. I have had a few people tell me I have potential and recently, I have started to believe them and believe in myself. (I am not trying to gloat here or say that I am some amazing CrossFitter because I am not. I am just trying to write as honestly as I can.) All of the great CrossFitters are sponsored by big name CrossFit companies.  It is a way that they get
their name out there and help further themselves in the sport. I want to get my name out there and represent a great company. I want to continue to CrossFit and compete at higher levels.

I don't know if this is something I can achieve or not, but I have to try. I set this goal for myself a little while ago. I originally started to try to market myself, but then I got scared because I kept asking myself, what if I am not good enough? What if these companies look at me at me and think I am a joke and silly for even trying?  Am I someone that companies want to represent their products? Again, more questions that I don't know the answer to.

Earlier today, it was brought to attention that I had stopped trying to market myself, and why? I could make a ton of excuses but really when it comes down it, I'm scared of the unanswered question if someone wants me to represent them or not.  It's scary putting yourself out there, but sometimes you have to "just do it."

If I don't try then how can I be proud of myself? How could I set a goal and then not following through on it? A big thing that bothered me is how can I be a role model for all of "my girls" that look up to me in Peoria? I have coached them in swimming for 8 years and have always taught them to set goals, work hard toward them, and to have fun while doing it. I have always told them to reach high and often times have pushed them to reach even farther than they think they can. If they fail, I am still so proud of them for all of their hard work and dedication that they put toward reaching their goals.

So I am going to take some of my own advice here and reach for the stars. I don't know if I will be able to achieve being a sponsored CrossFit athlete just yet, but I am going to try very hard to get there. I am going to try to achieve my goal and if I fail, I will be proud of myself for trying and not quitting on myself. I will just have to accept that sometimes questions will be unanswered and the only way to answer them is to put the work in yourself.

October Food Challenge: Week 2

So this cooking new things is pretty fun! I have found some really good new recipes this past week! And totally failed on one... But overall this past week has been a success! I would love to post pretty pictures of all of my creations but unfortunately my phone went for a little swim on the winery trip this past weekend. Sad thing is that it wasn't even my fault, but oh well such is life. Thankfully one of my CrossFit friends let me borrow a phone for a bit! Anyways, without further ado...

October 6th: The St. Louis Cardinals are playing in October again! This of course calls for some game watching parties and therefor many of appetizers. Last Monday, my friends and I got together to watch the Cardinals defeat the Dodgers 3-1 on their way to winning the NLCS. I knew I would want to partake in eating the appetizers, so I decided to make something that was "friendly" to my diet. I decided on making spinach artichoke dip. It was super easy to make with frozen spinach, a can of artichoke hearts, some bacon, coconut milk, and garlic! I still haven't learned my lesson and made a huge amount (due to the recipe) but thankfully one of my friends helped me out in eating most of it! I ate it with some sweet potato chips, which aren't the best, but it was delicious none the less!

October 7th: O.M.G. I made some stuffed mushrooms on this lovely Tuesday and they were absolutely amazing! They were super easy to make and a definite repeat for the future. I "de-stalked" some mushrooms and then made the stuffing for them. The stuffing contained the mushroom stalks, left-over pulled pork, garlic, almond flour, cilantro, ginger, and pepper. I popped them in the over for 20 minutes at 350 degrees and they were good to go! I made about 10 of them and had leftovers for lunch the next day!

October 8th: Total and epic fail! I attempted to make spaghetti squash noodles with an alfredo sauce. Neither thing turned out to be a success. First problem, I don't think I had the right kind of squash. I am not sure if that makes a difference or not but what I got out of the squash was basically mashed squash. The sauce wasn't even close to setting up after many tries to fix it. Oh well I tried. I made some chicken to go with the mashed squash and put the two together which was alright. I am definitely going to try to make the spaghetti again but I think I will forget the sauce.

October 9th: Another delicious night! I made chicken fried cauliflower rice and it was surprisingly very good! It took a little more effort than I anticipated but it was definitely worth it. I had to pull out the food chopper to make rice from the cauliflower and then cut up a lot of veggies. It didn't call for a ton of veggies but I threw in mushrooms, peppers, garlic, and tomatoes. I simmered all of them in some seasonings and then added the cauliflower to steam. I made some chicken on the side in teriyaki sauce so I could get some protein in. I threw all of it together at the end and it was absolutely delicious! I was very skeptical after my fail the previous day but I didn't have any need to worry. I even had the roomie and a friend give it the "A+" seal.

October 10th: I am not sure why I didn't make anything on this day but I didn't. I do know that I ended up eating some delicious Ted Drewes frozen custard later that evening and it was amazing, like always!

October 11th: This was the day of the winery trip! I was super nervous about what I was going to be eating because everyone was bringing food. I brought some stuff that would be good for me to eat but luckily didn't really need to eat any of it. Everyone that came on the trip brought Paleo-like dishes and almost everything was healthy! We even had delicious protein paleo cookies that I may have eaten a few of!

October 12th: I realized I hadn't made my fifth thing of the week yet at about 4 p.m. Sunday night! I had bought all of the ingredients to make paloe pancakes on Friday morning but forgot to make them so that is what I made last night! I had a recipe from one of my friends that was relatively simple and easy to make. It did call for ground almonds though and the best I could do was chopped almonds so my batter was a little chunky. I threw some blueberries in the pancakes as well and this caused the batter to turn an interesting color... Making them on the stove took some effort. The batter was very thick and didn't seem to be cooking very well. The looked burnt from almost the beginning but I soon realized it was the blueberries that were making them look like that. The pancakes honestly looked horrible but turned out to be really, really good! I had a lot of left over batter so I will definitely be making them again!

Once again I apologize for no pictures! I actually took quite a few but when your phone goes for a swim they unfortunately disappear when it no longer turns on. Oh well I hope to have more pictures with the upcoming week!

Struggle #14: Asking for Help

I suck at being injured. I think I have mentioned that before, but I really suck at being injured. I absolutely hate sitting back and not being able to do everything. It makes me sick. This stupid knee injury from playing soccer has hung around for a little over a month now. While it is progressively getting better, it still isn't 100% yet and it is driving me crazy.

I have been trying to keep my knee issues to myself and figure out what I can and can't do in a workout but it isn't working out the greatest. Usually I go into a workout with a plan about what I am not going to do to spare my knee. However, once we get moving in the workout, I end up doing everything until it is too late and my knee has flared up. I know this isn't the smartest thing to do, but then again I am not the smartest individual and I will be the first to admit that.

A struggle of mine is asking for help. I don't like to bother a lot people with my problems (there are a select few that usually hear about them though...). So with my knee being injured, I have struggled asking anyone else for help. Number 1, I am going to school for physical therapy, I should know how to treat patellar tendon issues. Number 2, when looking at a workout, I should be able to know what is going to bother me and I don't want to bother my coach and have him have to figure something else for me to do.

After last week's training on Friday, I pushed my knee too far. I had already done snatches, front squats, and then was trying to do box jumps and double-unders in a workout. By the time I got to the box jumps and double-unders, I had done enough on my knee but since it felt "alright" I figured that I should try to do the workout. Wrong. My knee told me about 10 minutes into a 24 minute workout that it was done. So frustrating. But of course I pushed my knee one step too far and caused pain.

A few people at the gym reached out to me on Friday and gave me a stern talking to (for lack of a better word). They basically informed me that it is ok to ask for help and to take a step back to let my knee heal. This is hard for me to do though because I want to keep improving and to do everything that is written on the board. I finally reached out to my coaches and asked them to tell me "no" in situations when we do a lot of leg work. I am hoping we formulated a plan to get me through the next month or so with a healthy knee because I have HOA and ShredFest coming up! (two rather large CrossFit competitions!)

Alright enough about that already. Sorry this is a place where I have found it helps me to write things out. So if you read my blog, you may hear me vent a bit. But on a positive note, I visited a few wineries this weekend in Missouri. Apparently the wine isn't very good from Missouri wineries, but I thought it was delicious. I had a fun, relaxing day with a very diverse crew! It is definitely an experience that I want to visit again! Who knew Missouri had such beautiful views just waiting to be discovered! Hang tight and I will fill you in on Week 2 of my recipe making!

October Food Challenge: Week 1

So I have challenged myself to make something new 5 out of the 7 days of the week for the month of October. I am trying to add some new recipes to my repertoire because I have become very repetitive in what I am eating. This will hopefully introduce me to some new things and help me stay dedicated and excited in continuing to eat healthy. I know this is going to be a challenge with school, CrossFit, and everything else in life, but it is something that I am looking forward to doing. In reference to my last post, I am good at going 15 different ways, so this is just going to keep me busy.

In order to stay on top of "going 15 directions," I have to make lots of lists of everything. I always keep a daily planner of everything that I have to do for the week because other wise I would be completely lost. Before I make any semi-big decision I make a list of the pros and cons. Grocery shopping requires a list or I could spend hours in the store and still forget something on top of that. So of course this new adventure requires me to make a list as well. I have a notebook of all the recipes that I could potentially make, the ingredients in them, and then trying to figure out what ingredients I could use multiple times in the week.

Organizing all of this is taking a lot of thinking and planning, but it is fun. After the first week, although it has been short, I have made 4 pretty great new food things!

October 1st: Pulled pork- in my previous post I talked a little bit about this. It was super easy to make because all I did was make a dry rub, put it on the pork, and then leave it in the crockpot for 6 hours. It was so good I didn't even need BBQ sauce on it.

Pork salad

October 2nd: Since the smallest pork shoulder I could find weighed 3.8 pounds, I needed to make something with some of the left overs. I decided to make something like chicken salad, only with pork instead of chicken. I cut up the pork into small pieces and then threw some grapes, almonds, and guacamole into a bowl. I mixed it all up and then ate it with some plantain chips. I was a little wary about what it would taste like, but it was good as well. And again easy to make.

October 3rd: I decided to make breakfast egg muffins this morning. I knew I would be busy the rest of the day, so in order to make something it needed to be breakfast. Again fairly easy to make. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and while that was warming up, I cut up some ham, red and green peppers, tomatoes, and mushrooms. In a bowl I wisked 8 eggs together with all of the other ingredients and then equally distributed them into the muffin tins. I let them cook for about 30 minutes until they were set up and solid all the way through. Two problems with these... Eight eggs was way too many. I did not need 9 of these for myself. Thankfully the roommates helped me in eating them though! The other problem was cleaning the pan was a pain in the butt. Next time I make these, I will definitely use cupcake liners so they don't get stuck to the pan, making it difficult to not only get them out of the pan but clean it as well.

October 4th: One of my CrossFit friends makes this delicious paleo crunch, so I asked her for the recipe. The recipe calls for a lot of ingredients and some of them aren't the cheapest ingredients either, however, the outcome is pure deliciousness. This recipe definitely calls for a food chopper because otherwise you will be hand cutting a lot of nuts up. Once I had everything cut up and mixed together I just threw it all into a cookie sheet and baked it for 20 minutes of so. It did require me to flip it half way through so that was kind of a pain but overall this recipe is amazing. I doubled the recipe so it made enough to last me for snacks for this week which is wonderful. It does have some honey in it, so that has some sugar but it's less than a Lara bar or some other things that I would want for a snack.

October 5th: This was an off day. After a crazy week, I just needed to take Sunday to relax. I slept until 10:00 a.m.  I never EVER do this! Usually even if I can sleep in I am up before 7:00 because my body doesn't understand sleep apparently. So after this week, I guess my body just decided it needed a lot of sleep to get ready for the upcoming week!

I am currently in the process of creating my grocery and recipe list for the week. I will keep you updated on how this coming week of food goes! I currently have a squash sitting in my fridge and I am going to attempt to make spaghetti out of it. I am skeptical but we will see how it goes...


 

Strength #3: Going 15 Directions

Wow, it has been a long time since I have written a blog post! This past week was crazy for me between school, CrossFit, and life. And to top it all off, I look at the calendar and it is October already! What the heck happened to September? I would be ok with time slowing down a little bit. I feel like I have so much to talk about so I am going to try and hit the highlights!

So school finally decided to start picking up... I have had three tests and one practical in the past 8 days. I am not sure how teachers think that is acceptable, but they do. It keeps me busy that is for sure. Except now I feel like I have lots of little assignments that I need to catch up on... Gross.

I have been fortunate enough to see my parents and brother, Mark, twice in the past week! My brother plays soccer for Illinois Wesleyan and they have had two games in the St. Louis area the past week! He is their goalie and has had played very well in the past two games. It is so much fun to watch him do what he does best. Monday night he officially had his "goalie swagger" and you could see the confidence radiating off him while he was playing and directing his teammates on the field. There is something to be said about watching someone who displays confidence and I am so proud to see my brother like that.

3 generations of beauty

As much fun as it is to watch him play, it is also fun to hang out with my family! When they come into town it also means a free delicious dinner and a little mall shopping... Anyone knows me, knows that I am a bargain hunter. Almost everything that I buy is on super sale. I managed to get a pair of dress shorts from gap for $5.27 and then two pairs of booty shorts for $7.99 a piece. I really don't need any more booty shorts but when they are that cheap... I may have a slight workout clothes obsession. I blame CrossFit.

This past weekend, my friends and I made our way down to Ball Park Village and saw Eli Young Band perform. They were awesome and we somehow ended up super close to the stage! There guitar player was super attractive and the only one without a ring on his finger.  I am pretty sure we made eye contact a few times, but that may have been in my head, haha. Sunday was a great day because the Cardinals officially clinched their 2nd consecutive National League Central title! It is going to be fun to watch them play this October and my friends and I are hoping they can pull off a World Series win so we can celebrate while we are all still in St. Louis!

These past few weeks in CrossFit have honestly been really, really good for me. I am still very limited in what I can do with my knee but it is slowing allowing me to do more and more. I can finally perform weighted squats and thankfully it doesn't seem like I have lost a lot of strength. Because I haven't been able to use my legs really, I have been working on more gymnastic things. My muscle ups have gotten a lot better and I was able to do 5 in a row during a teaser WOD for the Heart of America Competition. This is a huge team competition in the mid-west and a lot of regional teams will be competing in it. CrossFit St. Louis managed to get 4 teams in this year and I am so excited to be competing along with my regional teammates! It is going to be a great weekend.

So on top of everything going on in my life, I decided to add something else in to spice up my October. Literally... So I keep a food journal everyday and recently going back and looking at it, I noticed that I eat a lot of the same things over and over again. While they are relatively healthy, after doing an assignment for my nutrition class, I realized that I am probably not getting all of the nutrients that I need due to my repetitive diet. So, my goal for October is to cook a new recipe 5 out of the 7 days of a week. I kicked off this adventure by making pulled pork tonight. The dry rub was so good, I didn't even need BBQ sauce. I promise to write more about this adventure every week. I am going to attempt to include pictures of my delicious (or not so delicious food), my grocery list, and whether or not I think something is worth making again. I am going to start a new tab with all of this fun stuff so keep your eyes open (I'll be sure to blog about it first).

On the left here is the pulled pork I made. The big picture is all of the spices that I used to make the dry rub. It was so convenient to stick it in the crock pot and let it cook for arond 6 hours and then pull it out to eat it. Definitely worth making it again, except currently I have leftovers for 10 days.

So since school, life, and CrossFit are keeping me busy, why not add one more thing in and go after this food challenge. Busy is good for me though and going 15 different directions keeps me organized and on track however messed up that may seem. So here is to 31 days of adventure!