Preparing For For My First 5K And A Healthy Snack

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homemadegranola.jpgHere is a funny tidbit of information about me. I worked as a regional manager for a chain of health clubs for about 10 years, I married a marathon runner and I absolutely hate exercise. Everyone always assumed that I was a health nut. Nope! While my husband is running marathons, I am trying to find my way to the finish line with a forty ounce of beer. I don’t workout & I definitely do not run. For years my husband has been trying to convince me to run a race with him, but I just would not budge. I just could not understand why he and so many others loved this. Running hurts my knees and my shins. I am a big baby. I just was not interested in putting my body through this torture for no reason. Lately, I have begun to find myself more and more curious as to why so many loved to run. I know that obviously it is great for weight loss, but there are other ways to do it, so what is the draw. I have been gaining motivation through watching my husband, friends and even some of my fellow bloggers, Runsaltrun .

Soooooo, I, Kim the anti-runner have agreed to do my first 5K. I am a registered participant for one at the end of next month.  This week, I began my training. What I have discovered is that I am grossly out of shape, but I am working on it.

When ever I start a exercise routine, I know that I am going to need some extra fuel to keep my body going. One of my favorite energy foods is granola. It is healthy, delicious and easy to make.

Ingredients:

2 cups of quick oats

1/4 cup organic honey

1/4 cup organic peanut butter – Make sure to stir the peanut butter well before measuring out as organic peanut butter can have an inconsistent texture if not stirred well.

1/3 cup coarsely chopped almonds

1/4 unshelled sunflower seeds

1/3 cup dark chocolate

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp of sea salt

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix oats, honey and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl. Mix well, breaking up any chunks of peanut butter and evenly distributing honey and peanut butter through the oats. Mix in the almonds, sunflower seeds and chocolate. Add the vanilla and sprinkle in the sea salt. Stir well. Spoon on your mixture onto a greased baking sheet. Spread out the mixture compactly to form larger granola chunks or scatter for smaller bites. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until golden. Watch carefully not to burn. Remove from the oven & let cool. Toss in the cranberries and crumble granola in to chunks.

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I bagged up snack sized portions in snack baggies to take to work.

The great thing about granola is their are so many possibilities and different fruit and nut combinations. Granola is great alone or sprinkle over yogurt or even ice cream.

Stay tuned for more on my 5K training saga…

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12 comments

  1. I am totally am not a runner either and still to this day cannot get into doing it for fun. I give people who do tons of credit, but just not my thing. Can’t wait to hear more though and rooting you on for sure here on the sidelines 🙂

  2. I also loathe exercise, and while everyone else got on the 5k kick a few years ago I adamantly refused to tag along as anything other than the official event photographer. There must be something in the air because I finally jumped in the exercise/sign up for a 5k train last week too. Thanks for the recipe! It looks delicious (and healthy)!

  3. I’m looking forward to trying out that granola recipe- yum! Running is awesome; such an exhilarating feeling to sprint to the finish line :). All the best with your training- it will be great to read more about it! It is more than 17 years since I ran in a race, but one day I hope to be able to run for fitness again.

  4. Looking forward to trying your granola recipe – I have been wanting to make one with peanut butter in it. Pinning. Also, good luck with your run. I am not a runner but I do workout regularly at home.

  5. OH MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!!
    First of all, thank you so much for the awesome shout out! Secondly…I AM SO EXCITED FOR YOU!!! This is awesome! I cannot wait to read all about your training journey. I hope you fall in love with running as much as I have. 🙂 Please if you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask! (I love to talk about it as you know!)

    Also this recipe is amazing and I need to try it at home. We went to a new brunch place yesterday and Betty could not get enough of their granola! She would love this!

    1. You are welcome. I love reading about your races. My husband is a marathoner, so he is over the moon about me training. I will keep you posted and definitely hit you up for some pointers.

  6. You sound exactly just like me, haha… I’m also married to a marathoner (who doesn’t have time to run that much anymore since we have our little one!), and I never understand the whole ecstasy about running, at all! So I’m pretty much curious where your training will bring you to, looking forward to your next stories. Good luck! 🙂

  7. What a great post! I just began training for a 5K this year. It’s S-L-O-W going for me because I am a bit older than you and just now beginning to run, but I love it! AND, I love granola too – what a great power snack! I’m happy to collect a new recipe. Thanks so much for sharing! I’m pinning and visiting you from the Pin It Party.

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