Pumpkin Parfait

I am an a-typical college student, and proud of it. Some may find it odd, but I function quite well at 5am and therefore I have made it known to my boss and so I am at work by 5:45 three days during the school week and on the other two I get up even earlier to bet in a pre-sunrise run. And on the weekend, sleeping past 7am is a rare occurrence.

But just because I am awake before 99% of this university population--student and staff combined--does not mean I wait for them to wake before I have a little moment of joy called breakfast.

Breakfast is sacred.
Take me to a breakfast restaurant and I can easily find something to eat without having to make half a dozen alterations to the meal because of my gluten-free needs.

Yesterday, my nerves were a twitching as I put the first bit in my mouth but...I almost died it was so good.

1/4 cup oats

1/3 cup plain greek yogurt

1/2 cup pumpkin puree (or less if you're not an addict)

dash and a half of pumpkin spice

Directions:

Put it in a bowl and mix and enjoy. :)

B-A-N-A-N-A-S

Thank you Gwen Stefani for teaching me that 'banana' does not actually have a double 'n' after the first like I admit I've always thought.  If you don't know what the heck I'm goofily referring to, GO BACK TO THE TURN OF THE CENTURY AND LISTEN TO CHEEZY POP/ROCK.

Anyway...

Since I started distance running last spring (training began in January though so really since then), people have told me I'm crazy. psycho. loony. bananas. Whatever word they used, they've been complimenting me by putting me down. How's that work? I'm not a fan. People, these are mixed signals. You tell me I'm crazy but keep it up--you can't just redefine 'crazy' like that.

Now, there are also some people who tell me I'm crazy and mean it--not in the sense that I need to be put in a mental hospital to be treated for psychosis right away (or ever), but meaning that they don't think it's a well thought out idea. I can appreciate and respect those comments regarding my craziness much faster than the others. Yes, I like being propped up but the idea of saying something demeaning as encouragement does not sit well with me.

Whatever the case, whoever the commenter, thank you for thinking about me and caring enough to say something--good or bad. Your words keep me motivated...and keep me humble. But, honestly, I'm doing this for me. At first, I wanted to do this to make my mom be able to be proud of me for something. She's been a runner (though nothing more than a 10K) for as long as I can remember and so I figured she'd be able to connect with what I was doing and find something respectable and prideful in it. Well, I stopped holding my breath on that one. She encourages me to keep it up but it's not exactly the achievement of relational bonding I had hoped for...and that's okay (no lies, it was disappointing for awhile but that's how it is). I run for me. I run to help control my asthma. I run to clear my head. I run to feel. I run to be in the moment. I run to eat chocolate chip pancakes. I run to be proud of myself for doing something I thought I could never do.

And while we are talking about bananas, I just made 

gluten free, dairy free 

BANANA PANCAKES!

1 banana

1/2 c. egg whites

3 tbsp. almond flour

mash

pour 

flip

cool

eat

YOU CAN EAT THE WHOLE BATCH FOR

less than 200 calories 

(actual calorie count depends on the size of the banana)

approx 18g. protein

1 serving of fruit

100% YUM