First thoughts about the race: It. Was. Awesome.

Second thoughts about the race: I am so freaking sore.

Third thoughts: I have, have, haaave to train properly next time because if I can run the whole thing with very minimal training then my competitive little self could have a lot of fun with this.

Fourth thoughts: When’s the next one I can sign up for?!

Yes, this is my third half marathon in a row that I didn’t train for (by definition that makes me certifiably insane by now, right?) and I was SURE that the third time would be a charm training-wise. I was on my A game in January, but February flew by in the blink of an eye while I finished up writing my memoir, and come March I shrugged off the training telling myself, “Ehhh, whatever distance training I do now won’t even matter!”

All I have to say is thank god for Orange Theory Fitness keeping me on my cardio game, because even though I didn’t train distances for this race, I was still running pretty much every day. At OTF we do crazy intense HIIT like sprinting on the tread at an incline and then hopping off to do weight training before even catching our breath, so I had been bumping my endurance wayyy up without me even realizing it.

And I have them to thank for the race being surprisingly easy for me to do without fully training. The last two times I ran a half marathon I ended up walking 3-4 miles throughout. My goal this time was to just run the entire time — I had no goal time or anything to prove. I knew I had it in me to just keep moving, so that’s what I set out to do.

It’s been a rough year — for reasons I’ve written about on the blog and reasons that I haven’t. It’s also been an amazing year, between writing the book, releasing the app, growing the blog, launching the clothing line, moving back to LA, getting the chance to meet countless people who inspire me and more. But between all of that mayhem it has sometimes been hard to focus on myself… On what I needed in order to feel good about myself, my relationships, my body, my eating disorder recovery, my fitness, etc.

This half marathon meant a lot to me for those reasons and beyond. I am a very driven person. Some people would even say too driven — too headstrong about what I believe in, too unwilling to make certain changes, so very determined to stick to my willpower that sometimes I crack and it all comes undone. It’s the messy truth but it is the truth at least.

So of course I signed up for this half marathon and didn’t train. I was in over my head with work and life in general, and running 10 miles on my Sunday mornings never sounded like the best use of my time. Not because it wasn’t actually a good use of time — it would have been an amazing accomplishment had I done it, but rather because I was so caught up in making sure everything else in my life was moving and that I was on top of work and the people in my life. I had to whittle it down to those two things: work, people. People, work. The only two things that really seemed to matter in order to stay afloat.

And maybe that’s what I needed to do to keep my head above water, and I don’t regret doing it that way. But when March 15th rolled around and it was time to get out there and run that race with my three siblings, I had a few thoughts in my mind: A) I wish I had trained more, and B) I am finishing this thing while running the whole time if it’s the last thing I do. (You know I’m extreme like that.)

So I ran, and I had the support of my amazing family waiting for me at the finish line. My sisters Lisa and Melissa and my brother Christian all totally killed it, finishing in well under 2 hours and reaping the benefits of the hard work they put in to training. Knowing that they were there at the finish line made it much easier to keep my legs moving when I hit mile 11 and I thought my feet were going to fall off. And coming around that bend with the finish line in sight, high-fiving both of my parents with less than .01 mile to go and hearing them screaming my name, was the COOLEST feeling in the world.

I knew, even if I didn’t put in the time to train, that where I was mentally throughout the race was so much stronger than I had ever been in the past. Other than the intense cardio work I put in at OTF and the short distance running I do because I enjoy it, finishing that race without walking was very mental.

I kept drawing inward and going back to the reasons I was running in the first place… Yes, because my family was doing it and doing it with them was super fun, but also because challenging myself and having goals to check off and look forward to keep me motivated in every aspect of my life. Those 13.1 miles were the goal, and I knew if I worked hard and ran through it then I would feel amazing afterward.

Annndddd I was right. I needed something like that, and now I am motivated and re-dedicated to training for REAL this time (I know no one believes me, but when I do it you’ll see!)

My legs are still sore as F and the mental concentration it took from miles 10 onward were insaaane, but I am so beyond proud of myself for doing it. I am sooo very proud of my siblings as well– I feel super lucky to have a family that values fitness and health and who are also SO good at something like running that doesn’t come as naturally to me.

Also, (and lastly I promise), I fell even more in love with my beautiful hometown of Sacramento. Running through the streets in the early morning light with so many people who love this town was truly remarkable, and I saw parts of the city I had never even seen before! I would describe where but I don’t exactly know because I felt a little turned around from mile 8 onward (lol).

SO, there is my very stream of consciousness recap of the half marathon– more personal than physical, but I guess that’s what you can usually expect from me.

Sending you all so, so much love. Happy Tuesday!

P.S. Happy St. Paddy’s Day! If you haven’t seen my St. Patrick’s Day inspired Green Dream Cashew Butter recipe with my BFF Sophie yet, check it out here and tell us your thoughts!

There’s nothing quite like being home… and I feel so lucky that home is such a positive and happy place for me. In fact, in college I struggled because I had such a rounded, full life in LA and such a rounded, full live in Sacramento and I felt very torn between the two. (It might sound silly to struggle about being torn between two awesome places, but it was a lack of that “settled” feeling and caused a lot of anxiety.) Now I have a third place to add to that list (NYC!!), and though it certainly has its hard days to have my heart in three places, I can now appreciate how wonderful that is, too.

Having my heart in three cities means having people I love, favorite restaurants and smoothie spots to hit up, yoga studios, gyms, and those tiny little comforts you can only know when you’ve truly lived in a place with your whole heart.

 So even though it kills me to see photos and hear about the awesome times my friends are having in the cities where I am not, it makes me happy to know that I can go back to each place and feel that hominess and that love in all three.

And being “unsettled” (as much as I’ve tried to fight it!!!) is A) just a product of being in your early twenties, and B) a side effect of the career path that I chose. This career makes me happier & more whole than anything else I can imagine, and to work for no one but yourself means you are free to live anywhere. Without a job or school tying me to any city, it’s easy to feel a bit all over the place.

(PS… Have you SEEN this amazing creation I tried yesterday from The Parlor in Sac!??!?!)▼ ▽ ▾ ▿

 Today I am headed back to LA (6 hour drive, anyone?!) and I am excited to get there, dive into work, have some kickass meetings with kickass people, and be surrounded by many of my lovely best friends. (Although I am very sad to leave my family… I can’t get used to the fact that we’re not across the country from each other anymore – so goodbyes don’t mean as much!)

I just wanted to pop in & say hello before I went on my merry way on my drive across California, and I also want to tell you about some fun things to expect on TBB this week (and next… too many exciting things coming up!)…

Coming Up:

1. Organic Gemini raw, organic TigerNut review & GIVEAWAY! Yippee!

2. Q&A with Miss Kayla Itsines, fitness and nutritionista sensation. I started her Bikini Body Guide yesterday, and boy am I sore!!! The best kind of sore, though.

3. Things I’m Loving Lately post—only my favorite kind of post!

4. Recovery Series #2… can ya guess who it’s going to be?!

5. My Thoughts on Alcohol… For Real, Real

6. Mushroom Matrix review & giveaway (smoothie powders… mmm!)

7. “OMG, you ATE that????”  ◁ ◂ ◃ ◄ people’s reactions to my dietary changes

8. How to STYLE TBV Apparel tees, whoop whoop!

Lastly, I’ll leave you with this yummy oatmeal JOY recipe…

Peachy Berry Cinnamon Flaxy Oats

Ingredients:

½ cup gluten-free steel cut oats

1 cup water

¼ cup almond milk

1 tbsp flaxseed meal

½ peach or nectarine

¼ cup blueberries

2-3 sliced strawberries

a few heavy shakes of cinnamon (I use an ungodly amount, but use as much or as little as you’d like!)

Directions:

1. Boil oats in water over medium-high heat until the water is fully soaked into the oats.

2. While the oats are boiling, slice the peach and strawberries.

3. Once your oats are boiled, stir in cinnamon and flax.

4. Pour into a jar or bowl, top with berries & enjoy!

How were everyone’s weekends?! Anything exciting going on this week?

Before I tell you the story (and announce the TBV Cleanse sales for the week), let me tell you how difficult it is to surprise a man like my dad. First of all, it’s been a rough year for our family, so he wasn’t in the best of moods come birthdaytime. He didn’t want to do much, and kept telling my mom he didn’t want to go out and celebrate and they should just hang out at home.

Secondly, he is perpetually and freakishly early everywhere. They had a 6:30 reservation, so I knew I had to be there at 5:45 if I wanted ample time to chill at the bar without worrying they were going to walk in right behind me.

And lastly… he’s your typical selfless dad who doesn’t like to do anything for himself, so instead the fun surprises and celebrations are usually reserved for the girls in the family.

Well… not this time! I was determined to make this surprise work, and timing-wise it was kinda perfect since I have been wanting an excuse to spend some time in Sac for the last several weeks.

On Saturday morning I woke up at the crack of dawn because I was so excited (after a night out, yeah I was feelin’ wild, jumped into my car to make the drive, and stopped to get an almond milk latte because coffee is my new thing. Seriously, can you believe it? I’d gone almost 24 years without having a sip of coffee, and now all of the sudden I’m weirdly in love with it.

Post-coffee, I hopped back into my car and set out on the cross-state trek. I had about 5 weeks worth of IIN health coaching classes to catch up on, so that’s how I occupied myself on the drive. Thank god for that, because anyone who has ever made that drive from So Cal to Nor Cal knows that the beautiful views (a.k.a cow pastures) get a wee bit old after a while.

 ^ This is Sacramento by the way. It’s beautiful.

Driving into Sacramento was lovely and grounding as it always is. Approaching your hometown after having been gone for any amount of time is always a beautiful feeling. I feel so lucky that home embodies so many good memories and such warmth and beauty in my mind. Plus, Sacramento is “the city of trees,” so it’s always gorgeous (even when it’s 95 degrees out…yikes).

I went to my best friend’s house when I arrived to get ready for the surprise, and after much internal debate decided to drive to the restaurant where I was meeting my fam almost an hour early for fear that they would be extremely early. Which they were, because they always are.

My parents are regulars at the restaurant and everyone was shocked I had beat my family there. I got them all in on the surprise so no one told them, “Oh, your daughter’s sitting over there!” My mom texted me when they are valeting the car, so I made sure to angle myself away from the door and focus on intently pretending to read the menu.

I felt them walking up behind me so I turned around in my chair and said, “HI!!” (I couldn’t help myself.)

My dad jumped back and had such a genuine look of surprise on his face I almost started wondering whether he even recognized me. “What are you doing here?!?!?!” he asked.

He was absolutely shocked. And after the shock wore off, he was totally thrilled. He hadn’t been having the best day, but the surprise was just what he needed to shake himself out of it. We had the best night catching up, eating yummy food (in your face, eating disorder) and enjoying each other’s company.

Being able to BE there, fully in the moment, without worrying about work or food or outside crap whatsoever, was so, so unbelievably wonderful. It reminded me how amazing it feels to just breathe and enjoy the beauty of each and every moment. And how important it is to connect with your loved ones, obviously.

So… why did I tell this long-winded story in the first place? A couple of reasons:

A)   To remind you all, my beautiful readers, that no matter what kind of unfortunate shit is going on in your life or the lives of people you love, you can turn someone’s entire week around by doing something unexpected that you know will make them smile.

B)   Even though I was kinda freaking out about the food situation that night, I put my freak out aside and was able to totally enjoy myself in the moment.

C)   In honor of my dad’s birthday, I am selling TBV Cleanse Programs at a 10% discount this week. Both the summer cleanse & the original cleanse. DISCOUNT CODE = “birthday surprises.” My dad is my hero and the first person who believed in TBB fully and 100%. He helped me get the blog going with his love and support, and when I decided to leave grad school last spring he stood behind me and agreed with my choices even though the unknown was super scary.

TBV Cleanse is discounted this week on ooonnnee condition: do something special for someone you love. Surprising them is optional, but doing something special that will totally make them smile and lift their spirits is mandatory. They will love it and you will feel all warm and tingly and wonderful inside. 

How was everyone else’s weekend?! Xox

It’s happened to me a handful of times in my life, and talking to Brooke Preston was one of them. Brooke is the owner and head chef of The Green Boheme, a raw vegan restaurant in Sacramento. It is the only fully raw restaurant in all of Northern California.

I had been wanting to chat with Brooke ever since I discovered the restaurant last year. I was a new vegan completely spoiled by the raw vegan restaurants in Los Angeles, so whenever I came home to Sacramento I found it very difficult to eat out. Someone told me about this awesome raw food restaurant in the Del Paso area so I decided to give it a try.

Holy yum. It was love at first bite. I mean, look at this Banana Monkey Sundae!!!

Brooke’s story, and her amazingly down to earth and contagious energy, touched my soul when I interviewed her. I absolutely love the fact that she went raw for health reasons and encourages people to go as raw as they are comfortable going, however far that may be.

She urges her friends and family not to worry about her when they eat out because she knows that the true importance of eating out with loved ones is about spending time with them, it’s not about the food. It is so refreshing to talk to such a dedicated raw foodie who has this realistic, selfless and inspirational perspective.

^ Me waiting for the interview, sippin’ on my Black Currant Kombucha! They have Kombucha on tap here. SO. GOOD.

Brooke Preston Interview:

 Q: How long have you been raw?

A: About 7 years now.

Q: How did you get involved with the raw food lifestyle?

A: I became ill with hypothyroidism, and I was not excited about taking medications for the rest of my life so I wanted to look for alternative methods of healing. I went online and ended up on a raw site that talked about how, regardless of your condition, if you are eating a diet of primarily living vegan foods then your body will have the opportunity to heal itself. I thought that made a lot of sense, so started to make the transition almost immediately.

Q: That’s so cool. Is that when you went to culinary school, or had you been a chef before you went raw?

A: I was a chef for about 18 years beforehand. I was on the road to opening an organic corporate lunch delivery service. It was going to have non-packaged, non-preserved, good wholesome organic food including meat and dairy. I honestly thought that was the healthiest way to eat. That’s the way I ate, and I eventually became ill. It really woke me up.

Q: What was it like being raw before starting the restaurant?

A: I was raw completely on my own and realized that was a very hard road. I made a lot of mistakes and I spent a lot of money that I shouldn’t have.

Q: What were some of the initial mistakes that you made?

A: Looking back, I wouldn’t even call them mistakes. It was more of a learning curve. It took a long time and a lot of money to get educated. I didn’t know anything about green juice or green smoothies. I got up and I ate a chocolate avocado pudding every day, and I did all of the programs out there. I did the 80-10-10 diet by Dr. Douglas Graham, then tried various other methods and experimented on my body for a while.

What I learned is that once your system is cleaned out to a certain level, you can truly start to listen to yourself and stop listening to everyone else’s opinion about what you should do. That was pretty profound to me. When we have a lot of toxins in our body, we don’t realize that those voices are not always speaking clearly to us.

Q: And then the restaurant came to be?

I was so passionate about raw I wanted to share it with everybody, so of course I started making food for people, having them over to my place and trying to share the raw experience. I was convinced I was good at making food. I had been a chef for a long time. But I made some awful food when I went raw. I realized that if I’m making some awful things and having to scratch whole recipes, then other people were definitely having the same issue. I thought about how hard it must be for the average person who is not a chef to get going with this and to be successful.

I ended up going to Living Light Culinary Institute soon after that, where I learned how to get the textures and flavors in raw foods that I was missing from my favorite cooked dishes. I also went through a great course on the science behind raw from a nutrition standpoint. I came back and immediately started teaching, and then opened a pick-up window in Midtown. I was able to test the marketplace there and see how many people wanted raw food. I started out in 2008, and even back then people wanted it. There weren’t a ton of people who wanted it, but they wanted it. Then it evolved into this location.

The insanely delicious Wellness Burger with zucchini bacon (it takes four days to make!!!) wrapped in a lettuce “bun”:

Q: How do you think the marketplace in Sacramento compares to raw food in larger cities like LA, NYC and SF?

A: It’s something that’s growing every day. I think the prime motivation is the same thing that motivated me. I got sick, and I didn’t understand why.

Q: Did your illness reverse itself once you went raw?

A: Yes, very quickly. The hypothyroidism dropped off. At the time I had accepted that I was 35, I was getting older, and I just had to deal with it. I was pre-diabetic, took Adderall for ADD, had migraines once a week that I took medication for, I had major seasonal allergies that I took medication for, and I thought that that was all part of the game of life. Now I look back and see that nobody at 35 should have to go through that! There is a lot more to it. Now all of those things are gone. I am 42, and I feel better than ever.

Q: After you went raw and opened the restaurant, did a lot of people in your life become more interested in raw food?

A: Not in my personal life, no. A few. What the restaurant does is bring people in to learn about raw and get exposed to what raw can really taste like and feel like.

Q: What kinds of classes do you offer at the restaurant?

A: Every Tuesday night we have a Dine & Demo where people come in for dinner and I do a live demo of the featured recipe. It’s a super fun event. We always pack the house and it is very community-oriented.

When you’re going into this lifestyle, you don’t usually have a lot of people in your personal world that are committed to raw like you are. So you might feel alone. It’s really cool to have a place to go and reconnect and know that there are other people like you that are like-minded. The restaurant brings grounding to their choices.

On Thursday nights we have our 30-Day Raw Challenge intensive class. We do it almost every month of the year, which we have done for four years. In the series I teach 6 intensive classes about how to go raw in your own kitchen, how to star local and how to optimize your health over the long term.

Q: How did you come up with the name ‘The Green Boheme’?

A: I was in a prayer session with some very dear friends of mine about this food entity, and one of us saw The Green Boheme and then my spiritual mentor, who is also an artist, started to sketch out our logo. That’s what it has been ever since.

Q: Can you walk me through a typical day of your eating schedule?

A: A half cup of a probiotic beverage first thing in the morning, then a 16 oz green juice. In the late morning I usually have a 32 oz green smoothie. Around 2:00 I have my main meal of the day, which is something a little bit more complex. Then late afternoon/early evening I have a snack. It’s pretty normal.

Q: Do you have a favorite dish at the restaurant?

A: It depends. Every day is different. I like the variety. I’m in love with the enchiladas right now (pictured below). Every time I eat one I go, “This is the best thing in the whole world.” And then I go, “Well, there’s this over here too.” So many great options.

(This is when my mom, who had been sitting there listening to us chat while enjoying her delicious raw enchilada, interjected and asked a few questions of her own. Don’t quote me, but I think she was asking these questions because she has wondered these things about ME – her daughter – and really saw an experienced and balanced example in Brooke.)

Q: Has it affected your personal/social life being raw, or not so much because you’re involved in the raw food community?

A: Believe it or not, I’m not really involved with the raw community. We have our own raw community that comes out of the restaurant, but I don’t ever go to raw events. I’m really busy, and because I’m so outward when I’m here I am a very quiet, private person at home. My life is centered around my family.

Also, I’m a firm believer that we shouldn’t be judging people on their food choices. If we happen to help then learn by being an example, then that’s great. I make myself incredibly flexible so for social events and dinners out I always encourage people to not worry about me at all. I’m perfectly happy with that because for me those occasions are not about the food, they’re about the people.

Q: Can you usually find something at a restaurant that you can eat?

A: There have been a few occasions where there is not one thing I can eat or drink on the menu, but I just say, “That’s alright, I had a green juice before I got here.” I’m here to enjoy the people. It’s never a big deal.

Q: Do you know many couples where one partner is raw and one is not?

A: Tons of them. They make it work. I have some guys that are 100% raw and their wives aren’t. They’re the chef in the family, they come through all of our classes, and they make other food for their wives. Or vice versa. I know it seems like a lot of work sometimes, but they’ve made that investment in themselves and they don’t want to let it go.

I always tell people they have to find a balance and figure out how raw they want to be. If it’s impacting their family life too much and it becomes too much of a struggle, then by all means they should have a cooked vegan meal with dinner. If you’re getting your probiotic, your juice and your smoothie in at the first part of the day, then start there. People just freak out when they feel like they can’t be perfect, and the truth is you don’t have to be!

Q: Do you have anything you’d like to add?

A: We are going to be finishing our filming for our 30-Day Raw Challenge that will be going online. It’s available to anyone anywhere, which is very exciting. I really want to make it easy for people to understand and stay focused with what they want to do with the raw goal, whatever that is. There’s so many opinions and so many different ways to go about being raw, it’s good to just have a very level-headed start and then as you research, you take what you feel is important and you let go of what’s not as important.

Now that I am back in New York, dubbed the “raw food capital of the world,” I legitimately dream about the food at The Green Boheme. I cannot wait until next time I’m home to get some delicious raw goodness. And thank you so much, Brooke, for inspiring me to do my Fully Raw February Challenge. I have decided to add in a few cooked vegan dinners here and there, but being raw for at least the first two meals of the day has made me feel fantastic, energized and rebooted.

Visit The Green Boheme online to check out their awesome menu, schedule of events, programs, videos and more.