Cherry Almond Coconut Granola

Granola's such a rewarding thing to make, don't you think?

If your answer to the above is "I don't know," then you need to try this recipe.

I can think of few things that require little more effort than pouring, sprinkling, mixing, and baking, yet make your home smell so divine and yield such deliciously impressive results.

Picture this: You roll out of bed on a lazy Sunday morning, all by yourself, sunlight streaming through the blinds. You brew coffee and produce from your refrigerator a neat little jar of this crunchy, toasty, nutty, wholesome goodness. Sprinkle over Greek yogurt, add fresh fruit, open the windows, and relax before walking into town for the farmers' market.

Or this: You're entertaining guests for the weekend. Maybe your parents, your in-laws, your best friend. You don't want to slave away in the kitchen, yet you want to impress. You want to show them, See? I can do more than just show you a good time. I can nourish you.

Enter this granola. Simple, carefree, wholesome, and delicious.

Admittedly, I wasn't born a granola goddess. My last few attempts at granola have ranged from okay to blech, and I wanted to make something delicious. (If you're curious, the blech was peanut butter and banana granola. Sounds delicous, right? Wrong! Though I suspect the problem had more to do with my method than with the idea itself.)

I needed a bit of guidance, so I did a little reading. I checked my cookbooks. I surfed my favorite blogs. And I started to feel a little overwhelmed.

See, there are complicated granola recipes that call for multiple kinds of flakes and seeds that I don't keep in my pantry. There are high-maintenance granolas that demand multiple steps of toasting, mixing, simmering, and soaking. And then there are decadent granolas that involve as much butter as a Paula Deen cookbook. While butter has its own special place in my life, that place (usually) isn't my breakfast bowl.

I decided that I didn't need a recipe. What I needed was a formula.

In the end, I liked Kath's Crunchy Buckwheat Granola for the simple, straightforward method. I also liked Ellie Krieger's Nutty Granola recipe.

I decided on a ratio of 4 1/2 cups dry ingredients to 1/2 cup wet ingredients. Then, I broke down the dry ingredients into 2 1/2 cups grains, 1 cup nuts/seeds, and 1 cup of fun mix-ins (coconut and dried fruit). For the wet ingredients, I settled on equal parts sweetener and oil. Finally, I decided to slow-bake my granola at a low temperature.

I wanted to stick with clean, simple, well-paired flavors. I love a combination of cherry and almond. I also added some pepitas (pumpkin seeds) rather than using all almonds, because I thought their savory nuttiness would balance the sweetness of the almonds and coconut. 

Cherry Almond Coconut Granola
(makes 12 servings; serving size: about 1/3 cup)

2 1/2 c rolled oats
1/2 c slivered almonds
1/2 c pepitas
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c honey
1 t vanilla
1/4 t Kosher salt
1/2 c unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 c unsweetened dried cherries

1. Combine oats, almonds, pepitas, canola oil, honey, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine. 
2. Pour mixture into a metal baking pan with tall sides. 
3. Bake at 300 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour, stirring every 30 minutes. 
4. When granola is golden brown (and your kitchen smells like freshly baked cookies), remove from the oven. Stir in coconut and cherries.
5. While the granola cools, give it a stir every 30 minutes or so. Allow to cool completely before storing. 

I keep mine in the fridge to help it last longer. Probably doesn't matter much, though--this granola's so good it'll be gone before you know it!

Enjoy!

Sneak Peek

The past couple of days have been a whirlwind and I haven't had much time to write, but I've been doing plenty of cooking! 

Yesterday, I tried to post a few photos but they didn't show up, so I'm trying again today. Here's a sneak peek at what's been going on in my kitchen...

Cherry Almond Coconut Granola

Blueberry Jam

Iced Coffee

Fresh tomatoes from the farmers' market

I'll be back soon with recipes!

I've also updated my About page, so please click over and check it out!

Who's watching Top Chef tonight? And how cruel is it that Food Network is rerunning last week's The Next Food Network Star during Bravo's Wednesday night Top Chef marathon?!

Local Weekend in Indianapolis

Last weekend, I went to Indianapolis to visit an old friend. I love to explore new cities!

On Friday evening, we ventured downtown to Massachusetts Avenue. We walked up and down Mass Ave, chatting and catching up on life. For dinner, my friend suggested Bazbeaux, a local restaurant serving creative pizzas and a nice selection of beer.

We spotted this Tesla Roadster at the pub across the street. (Last summer when I visited Indy, I got to ride in one of these!)

While waited for a seat on the patio, I had local beer, Upland Brewery's Dragonfly IPA. I enjoyed it! It was nice and crisp and hoppy, but also tasted light enough for a hot summer evening.

For dinner, we decided to share a couple of Bazbeaux specialty pizzas.

My friend ordered the Tchoupitoulas, with spicy shrimp, andouille sausage, red and green pepper, and tomato. I decided on the BBQ--with homemade barbecue sauce, chicken, red onion, and cheddar cheese.










After dinner and a little more walking, we stopped in at The Rathskeller, a German restaurant and beer hall. The Rathskeller had an impressive beer list featuring numerous craft beers from Europe and the United States. I chose a Delerium Tremens. Here's how the menu described it:

Starts with a creamy head with a sweet and spicy nose. The palate brings white grapes mixed with wheat. Finishes with orange zest and clover.

Here's how I describe it:  

Pretty, with a nice creamy head and a nice mouthfeel. I could definitely taste citrus, but it wasn't overwhelming or bitter. And there were just enough hops to keep me happy! (And the cutest beer bottle ever, right? Can you see the dancing elephants?)





While enjoying our beer, we also enjoyed some live music from Red Wanting Blue, a Columbus, Ohio-based band. I'd never heard of them, but they were a lot of fun--eclectic, with catchy beats and lyrics.


On Saturday morning, I started out with a short little run around my friend's neighborhood. For the past couple of years, running has been one of my favorite ways to explore a new place (besides eating, of course!). Not only does it help me stay active so I can enjoy a few treats, it provides a little slice of "me time" where I can process things I've seen and done, decompress, or just relax. My friend lives in a particularly beautiful area of town, so I had a blast oogling all of the big, gorgeous homes.


For brunch, we hit up Cafe Patachou. No pictures, but a fun little place. Self-serve coffee bar, freshly-baked breads, awesome granola, and great menu. I love little cafes like this one, and brunch is my favorite meal to eat out! I couldn't order everything I wanted to try, but my must-try-this-at-home list is growing.

Our first stop after brunch was Fountain Square, which is an artsy, developing area of downtown Indianapolis. There was an eclectic assortment of independent galleries, secondhand shops, restaurants, and wine bars, lending an edgy, exciting vibe to the area. 

We visited the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art to check out the PostSecret exhibit.

Stunning, moving, amazing.

Yes, you.

He checked out a vintage hardware store while I shopped at a second-hand clothing store. I spotted this inspirational message on the side of one of the buildings.
















 Then, we moved on to Monument Circle.

And the Indiana University/Purdue University Indianapolis campus.

After all of that walking, we stopped for a late lunch at TaTa Cuban Cafe. I've never had authentic Cuban food, so I was pretty excited! We shared the black beans, and each ate a piece of this massive Cuban sandwich.

The soup was simple, but tasty. Beans cooked from scratch. Onion, salt, cumin, lots of fresh cilantro. It didn't blow my socks off, but I did really like the cilantro addition. Next time I cook black beans at home, plenty of fresh cilantro will definitely be involved!

The sandwich, however, was fabulous! Buttery bread pressed crisp, succulent roast pork, thin-sliced ham, melting Swiss cheese, thick sweet pickles, and mustard combined to make a helluva sandwich.









After lunch, we walked over to the Indianapolis Convention Center for some people-watching. Gen Con, a huge gaming convention, was happening in Indy last weekend. It was majorly entertaining to watch everyone leaving the convention center, many dressed to the hilt in various costumes. The highlights included many, many cool tattoos, a spectacular version of Lara Croft (I was duly jealous, I assure you), as well as a couple of fine specimens of the Indiana Jones ilk.


Later on, we decided to do a little wine tasting and a late dinner before I hit the road for Cincinnati. At my suggestion, we returned to Fountain Square to visit a wine bar we had seen earlier, only to find that it wasn't even open yet!

We spotted this cool Citroen, though!













Not to worry--we simply crossed the street and found ourselves at the New Day Meadery's newly opened tasting room. We decided to stay.

This proved to be a very good decision. It was National Mead Day, after all.

For $5, we got to sample a hard cider and 6 different kinds of mead, all brewed using local, artisanal honey. A few of the varieties we tried were also brewed with locally grown fruit.









While we sampled, we got to chat up the owners, husband and wife team of Brett Canaday and Tia Agnew. They were both awesome--so personable and passionate about their work! They explained a little about their brewing process as we sipped.

 Before walking into New Day, I didn't really know what mead was. It turns out that it's wine, only it's brewed with honey instead of grapes! How does that work?

From what I understand, yeast is added to a mixture of honey and water. The yeast consumes the sugar from the honey, leaving alcohol behind in its place (just like with wine brewed from grapes).









We started with the Dry Hard Cider. Then, we sampled two more dry meads: the Dry Peach Honey Wine and the Dry Blueberry Honey Wine. Finally, we tried four semi-dry (sweeter) meads: Dry Red Rasberry Honey Wine, Semi-Dry Mead, Semi-Sweet Plum Honey Wine, and the Semi-Sweet Black Raspberry Honey wine.

Overall, I preferred the drier meads. My favorite was the Dry Peach Honey Wine, which tasted nectar-y without being sweet. The Semi-Dry Mead was really interesting. It was complex like honey, only more open, sort of like when you drink Scotch with a few drops of water.

Unfortunately, they were out of their Dry Mead, which I would've loved to try. Fortunately, now I have a good excuse to go back the next time I'm in Indianapolis!


For dinner, my friend suggested Napolese, an artisanal pizzeria by the owners of Cafe Patachou. More pizza? But my friend insisted that Napolese was someplace special.

 

When our waitress set these down, I knew this was my kind of place. Gotta love a place that serves complimentary olives instead of bread and olive oil!

We shared a salad. Spinach, summer squash, roasted tomatoes, fennel, Parmesan, and lemon-basil vinaigrette.










We each chose a pizza to share. We knew we wanted to go home with plenty of leftovers!

Mine: Buffalo mozzarella, roasted tomatoes, basil.

His: Homemade sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms, aged provolone.

Pepperoni? Where?

When my friend politely mentioned that the pepperoni was missing from his pizza, the waitress brought this! Seriously?!

I tried a piece--it was seriously good pepperoni.





OK, I love pizza, and I've eaten a lot of really good pizza (much of it in Italy). This was the best pizza I've had outside of Italy. Chewy, doughy crust and the freshest, most delicious ingredients you could possibly imagine, all blistered in the brick oven. Delicious!

It was a wonderful little vacation, full of good company, good food, and good beer!

Running for Ice Cream

Yesterday morning I went out for a run. It was my third time since I wrote my post about starting over. So far, so good!

I've been doing a combination of walking and jogging based on Hal Higdon's 30/30 Plan for beginning runners. Here's how it's done:

• Start walking at a comfortable pace. Last week, I started out slowly. This week, I kept it nice and brisk.
• Walk for about 10 minutes. I've been walking for anywhere between 10-20 minutes.
• When you're good and warmed up, begin alternating 30 seconds of jogging with 30 seconds of walking. Do this for 15 minutes.
  
• For the last 5 minutes of your workout, cool down by walking.
• Do this 30-minute workout for a total of 30 days. You don't need to train every day, you just need to follow the 30/30 Plan for a total of 30 days. Listen to your body and do what it tells you to do. If you're a beginner, it's better to do too little than too much!
• Congratulations! Now, you're ready to progress on to a beginner 5K training program!
  

Last week, I started out slowly and followed the plan exactly. When I followed the plan exactly as written, I covered about 2 miles in 30 minutes.

Yesterday, I chose my route before starting out like I normally do. My ankle, hip, and knee have been feeling great, and I'm already in good cardiovascular shape, so after my warm-up, I alternated 45 seconds of jogging with 15 seconds of walking.

I've been using my body as my guide. If I feel stiffness or muscle fatigue, I keep on keepin' on (these are normal sensations, especially during the beginning of a workout). Any sharp, shooting, or localized pain, and I'm done for the day--I walk it on home. So far, it's been working out well!

Here are a few resources for new (or returning) runners:

Hal Higdon's 30/30 Plan
Hal Higdon's Novice 5K Training Program
Cool Running's Couch-to-5K Program

After my run, I came home, stretched for 20 minutes, and drank 2 big glasses of water. This heat is no joke, people!

I don't have any fun running pictures today, so here's my lunch instead.


Homemade hummus, tomato, sweet bell pepper, and goat cheese on whole grain bread. Creamy, crunchy, cool.

Hummus
(makes about 2 cups)

My hummus recipe is based on Mark Bittman's hummus recipe, which is a great basic recipe that I've altered to my taste. It's so simple to make, and I bet you have most of the ingredients already!

I like to buy organic chickpeas because they usually have much less sodium than conventional. You can control how much (or how little) you add later, unless it's already in the can! Tahini is a peanut butter-like paste that's made out of sesame seeds. You can find it in the ethnic foods section of your local grocery store.

Ingredients
1 14.5 oz can organic chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
1/4 c sesame tahini
2 T extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
1 clove garlic, pressed through garlic press
1/2 t ground cumin
dash cayenne pepper
Kosher salt
black pepper

Equipment
food processor

1. Drain the chickpeas, but remember to save the liquid in a little bowl. (You'll need it in a couple minutes!)
   
2. Add chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, and garlic to the food processor. Puree into a coarse paste.
   
3. Now, stream in the chickpea broth, a little at a time, until your hummus is nice and smooth, but not runny. (Most recipes call for water, but this works so much better!)
   
4. Add cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste.

Enjoy!

DQ Miracle Treat Day

Hey, today's Miracle Treat Day at Dairy Queen! For every Blizzard sold, at least $1 will help sick and injured children in your local Children's Miracle Network Hospital.

I love DQ, and it's been awhile since my last Blizzard, so I'm planning to hit it up. I love Blizzards--Reese cup is my favorite!

What's your favorite Blizzard flavor?

Junk Food Junkie

My cat loves junk food.

Here's a little back-story about me, pets, and health food. I used to have a dog that loved peanut butter. Yes, Sophie loved peanut butter so much that she'd do anything for peanut butter. And when she wanted her way, Sophie also had an iron will--far, far stronger than mine. So peanut butter she got.

But not just any peanut butter. See, I adopted Sophie as a tiny, 7-week-old ball of black fluff, and I just couldn't bear the thought of harming her precious little sharp teeth with any old sugar-sweetened peanut butter. So I bought Sophie the healthiest, most premium natural peanut butter I could find.

Meanwhile, I continued to eat Jif. (Just in case you were wondering, I'm now a natural peanut butter convert.)

So, getting back on track, now I have this cat, Maxine the Bean.

Doesn't she look like a black bean?

I feed the Maxine the Bean the healthiest, most premium cat food I can afford. Max loves Purina cat chow.

My parents think it's a great joke to bring a little tub of Purina when the come to visit. I swear, Max knows as soon as she sees (smells?) them. She morphs into a little social butterfly. She rubs on their travel bags and weaves around their ankles, purring and grinning her cunning little kitty grin. And when they produce the little tub of Purina, she attacks it like it's going out of style. She's like a junkie.


Lately I've been feeding Max a combination of dry and wet food. I've been experimenting with different brands of the wet stuff--natural, whole-food ingredients and no by-products, of course--and yesterday I took advantage of a sale to try a premium brand that's normally over my budget.

I was especially impressed with the ingredient list, because it included several yummy additions that her usual doesn't. Blueberries? Sweet potato? Carrots? Ginger? Cool!

The Bean was less impressed. Her initial, Pavlovian, excitement upon opening the container faded with her first whiff. She stalked out of the kitchen and didn't come back for a taste until half an hour later.

After the first bite or two, she warmed up to it...except for this forlorn carrot, rejected with much disdain.

Vegetables? Eeew!

Everybody say it with me...one...two...three.... Eeeeeeew!

OK, I hope this post hasn't turned anyone away from Crave! I just had such a giggle over this that I had to share. Ironic, right, that the nut-butter-iest of health nuts has a cat that craves McPurina and won't eat a vegetable?

Does anyone else have a picky pet? A pet with a "special" food craving?

Shrimp Tacos with (Peach Tomato) Pico and Guacamole

Last time I was home visiting my parents, they took me to a little Mexican restaurant. I ordered the shrimp tacos, and they came--three of them--simply wrapped in tinfoil and served with fresh pico de gallo and guacamole. They were delicious, and I'm not sure why I was so surprised by that. After all, I love fish tacos. But the combination of chewy, doughy tortillas with sweet, succulent shrimp, all slathered in cool, creamy guacamole and fresh, piquant tomatoes and cilantro? Texture and flavor intersected, and mmmm! I enjoyed a few unexpected bites of heaven.

Ever since, I've been wondering if it would be possible to recreate those shrimp tacos at home, and the other night, the opportunity hit me over the head. At Sunday's farmers' market, I picked up some peach tomatoes (cool, right?) and I had been keeping them waiting for inspiration to strike. Meanwhile, half a package of corn tortillas, a bunch of scallions, and a ripe avocado were languishing in my kitchen, begging to be used. So I went to the store, picked up the shrimp, a lime, and a bunch of cilantro, and got to work.

Pico de Gallo

6 small (4 medium) tomatoes
1 clove garlic
2 small scallions, white and light green parts
1/4 c cilantro leaves
juice of 1 small (or 1/2 medium) lime
Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Slice tomatoes in half, remove the core, and scoop out the seeds with a spoon (you don't need to be too careful; it's OK to have a few seeds!). Dice them into small pieces and put them in a medium bowl.
2. Press the garlic through a garlic press onto the tomatoes.
   
3. Thinly slice scallions.
   
4. Roughly chop cilantro (just run your knife through a few times; a few big pieces are OK).
5. Add the cilantro, scallions, and lime juice to the bowl.
   
6. Add a pinch of salt and a few grinds of pepper, and toss together.

Greener Guacamole

Why "greener"? I usually use red onion in my guac, but tonight I used scallions because that's what I had on hand. Scallions are also milder in flavor than red onion, so even if you're not an onion fan, I dare you to give this a try!

medium ripe avocado
juice of 1 small (or 1/2 medium) lime
1 clove garlic
1 small scallion, white and light green parts
2 T cilantro leaves
1/4 t cumin
dash cayenne
pinch Kosher salt
freshly ground pepper

1. Scoop the avocado into a medium bowl. Add the lime juice and mash (a wire whisk works really well for this).
2. Press garlic through a garlic press into the bowl with the avocado and lime.
3. Thinly slice scallion.
4. Roughly chop cilantro.
5. Add scallion, cilantro, spices, salt, and pepper and whisk to combine.
   

Shrimp Tacos

1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 T extra virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
Old Bay seasoning
Kosher salt and fresh pepper
6-8 corn tortillas

1. Heat olive oil in a pan. Press garlic through a garlic press into the oil.
   
2. Season the shrimp with Old Bay, salt, and pepper to taste.
3. Add shrimp to pan and cook, in batches, until done (about 2-3 minutes per side).
4. Serve on warm tortillas topped with guacamole and pico de gallo. Garnish with more cilantro if desired (I did; I love it!).

My tacos turned out pretty well! My shrimp ended up a little overcooked, which threw the texture off a little. My tortillas fell apart, too! Hmm...I wonder what I could've done to help them hold together better? Warm them in a pan in a little bit of oil? Drain the juice off of my pico? Or maybe just use good old flour tortillas! Any ideas?

A Beginner (Again): Setting Goals and Starting Over

When I started Crave and Create, I set a goal for myself to post twice a week. Why? Well, I think that setting a specific, measurable goal will encourage me to set aside time to write, giving me something to look forward to. I know from experience that having a goal to work toward gives me a sense of direction and purpose, and helps me feel better about myself. And come on, who doesn't need more of that in their life?

So, I keep a list new recipes to cook, restaurants to visit, and other things I'd like to write about, and it's staring me in the face right now. The list started to form in my mind when I started reading blogs and thinking about writing my own, which was way before I started Crave and Create.

The problem is--and it's a great problem to have--everything I do brings new ideas, and the list is growing exponentially. At two posts a week, I'd have plenty to write about even if I didn't do a single interesting thing until December 31!

Sometimes, I have to stop and remind myself that it's OK to change my plans, and the world won't end if I can't check off everything on my to-do list by the end of the day. Does anyone else have to do this?

My Plan A for tonight was to recreate the shrimp tacos (deliciosos!) that I had the last time I was home visiting my parents. But I rode my bike about 16 miles this afternoon, and all I really want to do is languish on my behind and read Twilight for a little while. Of course, as soon as I sat down, something I've been thinking about all week long popped into my head, and here I am.

On Thursday, I went running for the first time since I ran the Flying Pig Half Marathon on May 2.

After the half marathon, I had to take some time off to recover from an ankle injury and some related leg "issues". I'm not going to go into great detail about that today--chances are, if you're reading this, you already know the whole story! That's right, I definitely did my fair share of analyzing, bitchin' and moanin', and maybe even a little kicking and screaming, because taking time off was hard.

Taking time off made me think--a lot--about the way I view myself and my body. I realized that I set very high--sometimes unrealistic--expectations for myself, and that I do a lot of negative self-talking when I don't meet or exceed them. It also made me realize that, for my health, that needs to change.


I'm writing this post as part of Change the Way You See, Not the Way You Look Week at operationbeautiful.com. I also plan to write a series of related posts on Crave and Create in the coming months.

Here's a little background about me:

Fitness has been a huge part of my life for the past four years. Not only does exercise help me maintain my weight and my physical health, it helps me maintain my emotional health. You've heard of all of those studies that show that exercise can help elevate our mood, increase our self-esteem, and have all kinds of positive carryover effects in other areas of our life? Well, in my experience, that's all true.

Training for and running the half marathon opened up a whole new world to me. I like structure, so I liked having a training plan to follow. I enjoyed the feeling of anticipation mixed with trepidation leading up to my long runs on the weekend, and I loved finishing each long run feeling like I'd accomplished something I wasn't sure I could do. I also loved rewarding myself for my efforts--a new top or headband here, an ice cream cone there.

Crossing the finish line was amazing--one of the best moments of my entire life. I had done something that, until recently, I had never believed I could do.

Here I am at home after the race (and a shower). I felt like a million-bazillion bucks!

Sometimes I laugh to myself, because one of my goals when I started training was not to "burn myself out" on running. I went one better than that...I got hooked!

So, yeah...going from running 13.1 miles to being able to do pretty much nada, for an indeterminate amount of time, sparked a bit of a personal crisis for me. Without the structure of my training plan and the big goal of my race to look forward to, I pretty much tanked for awhile. But even though I got caught up in negativity quite a few times, I also learned a lot about myself and my body during my time off.

These are a few of the things I learned:

• Not being able to run, or even exercise at all for awhile, isn't going to kill me. When I didn't need to rush off to the gym or go for a run after a busy day at work, I had a lot of time to get things done at home, so I stressed less. I spent a lot more time doing other things I love to do--reading, cooking, hanging out with friends, and yes, even watching TV! As a result, my life felt more balanced. I enjoyed my free evenings and weekends. I had time to set goals in other areas of my life that I'd neglected during training.
• I really have developed good, solid, healthy habits. At the beginning of my time off, I worried a lot about getting lazy. I was afraid my healthy habits would start to slip if I couldn't exercise, and that eventually I'd be right back where I started out five years ago. Well, that didn't happen. I kept eating healthfully, most of the time. I still went out, had fun, and enjoyed a treat now and then (just not as many as when I was running 15 or 20 miles a week!) I gained about 3 pounds in 2 1/2 months. All of my clothes still fit. The bottom line: I realize now that I've achieved some very big and important lifestyle changes that are going to be with me for a long time.
• Running isn't the only way to get my fitness fix. I attended yoga and Pilates classes. I hauled out my old bike and started cycling. Pretty soon, I threw swimming into the mix. I even went to a few water aerobics classes at my gym, and--surprise!--discovered that I enjoyed the classes and the other women I met there.
• Strength training is awesome. When one of the doctors I saw for my ankle told me to swear off all cardio and weight-bearing activity (yoga, etc.), I started doing core and upper body strength-training workouts just to keep up a routine. At first, I felt like a dork trying to figure out the weight machines, but once I found my groove I really started to enjoy strength training and the quick results that I saw. (Hellooo, shoulders! Woman cannot get abs of steel from running alone...and besides, strong is beautiful!)
• It is really, really important to listen to your body. OK, this one's still a work in progress. But lately I've been thinking that (a little) pain is not a bad thing. It's our body's way of telling us we need to do something differently. It's when we ignore pain that we end up injured. It's OK to stop for the day and head home. It's OK to take an easy day or a day off, even if that's not what your training program says to do. It's OK. There is always tomorrow. My body is an amazing gift, and it deserves my respect.
  

I'm thrilled to be getting back on my feet right now. I'm grateful to my friends and my family, who've been patient and supportive (and who doled out the tough love when I needed it), because I've been an absolute pain in the rear.

It would be so easy to write this off as a waste of time. It's hard to resist the temptation to jump back into training like nothing ever happened, to push too hard and too fast to make up for the "lost" time. But that's how I got hurt in the first place. I got caught up in my enthusiasm, and made a lot of common beginners' mistakes--too much, too fast, everything, all the time. I didn't know better then, but now I do. So I'm going to take this opportunity to start all over again, and I'm going to set some new goals for myself right now.

Here are my goals for moving forward:

• Keep cross-training and strength training. Out of the things that I've tried, I've really enjoyed cycling, yoga, and Pilates. There's a great Pilates instructor who teaches twice a week at my gym, and I think making Pilates part of my weekly plan would really help to strengthen my core and my legs (and hopefully help prevent future injuries).
• Let myself be a beginner. Hard to do when you know there's a half-marathoner (and maybe more) lurking within! But the reality is that even though that potential is there, I haven't run in 2 1/2 months. I need to start over from the beginning, and train smartly, in order to stay healthy.
  
• Listen to my body. Part of training smartly is learning to listen and respond to your body. I can tell you right now, this is the goal I'm going to have to work the hardest at! Instead of beating myself up if I need to cut my workout short or take an unplanned rest day, I'm going to try to congratulate myself for being a smart athlete who respects my body.
• Focus on enjoying my workouts. Especially with running, I'm not going to get crazy about time, distance, and speed right now. I'm just going to work on building my strength and fitness. I'll set some basic goals, but I'm not going to get hung up on setting a strict timeline for meeting them.
  
• Enjoy my rest days. I plan to take 2-3 rest days each week, and I'll use that time to do things I enjoy (or things I need to do). I hope this will help me keep a better sense of balance in other parts of my life, too.
  
• Set mini-goals. During training, I learned something about the way I work. I like goals, plans, and structure, so I'm going to try to incorporate those into other areas of my life besides exercise.
  

I'm not saying I'll never make a mistake again. Sometimes we need to learn the same lesson more than once, and that's OK. It's just the way learning works. But when I think about all of the positive things I gained from this experience--a better understanding of myself and my body, increased awareness of my thought patterns (positive and negative), a renewed appreciation for the gift of movement--it's impossible to view it as a loss. And if I can use what I've learned to be a better person and a better athlete, then it wasn't a waste after all, was it?

Have you ever had a similar experience? How did you cope? What did you learn? Did it change your outlook or the way you do things now?