Fall is officially upon us. 

One of my favourite seasons, theres nothing better than taking walks in the brisk air to catch the fall leaves changing colour, or sit on the couch with a cozy sweater, book and cup of tea. Plus theres Thanksgiving and Halloween to look forward to.

This year, I've compiled a list of my five favourite things so far this season.

1. Post run baths

Theres just something about climbing into a hot bath with epsom salts and bath balls after a long hard run. Not only is it good for the muscles and joints, but good for the soul ;) and it will make your skin feel super hydrated and soft.

Recently I've been obsessed with products from a little bath shop in Mahone Bay called Sugar Bubbles. They have a great selection of scrubs, fizzes, soaps and my fave.. bath balls.

2. David's Tea

A cup of tea a day keeps the doctor away! For those of you who struggle getting your 2L of water a day.. tea is a great solution. Also a wonderful solution to coffee for you addicts ;) some has caffeine so you shouldn't withdrawal too badly if you switch, plus theres so many delicious flavours to choose from!

My current faves are the fall collection "The Great Outdoors":

• Blueberry Muffin
• Nutty Granola Crunch
• Pom Cider
• Carrot Cupcake
• Pumpkin Chai

3. Loaded Oats
Oatmeal is a fantastic food for runners. They're quick carbs that are easy to digest and provide a lot of energy for putting in miles.. plus they taste great.
Recently I've been loving a local companies apple cinnamon oats. Its all natural and local ingredients, and as it says on the back of the bag, No Weird Sh*t.
Nothing says fall more than spices and apples!

Of course I eat my oatmeal with a side of smoothie, tea and a great book.

4. Apple Cider

Like I said, to me nothing reminds me of fall more than apples and spice! (Except for maybe pumpkin too)

Thats why I'm loving a new local cider company thats come to Wolfville. They have refillable bottles for around $6-8 a refill, which is a great price. Apples are full of antioxidants and are perfect for detox (goodbye fall colds!). Plus cider is delicious and great paired with a nice pasta dinner.

The Annapolis Cider Company has $5 taste tests and my girl friends and I couldn't resist.

5. Fall Running
Let's face it, winter isn't too far away, and summer is long gone. However, fall makes for the best time for running. The air is crisp, the temperature is near perfect (you won't over heat, or freeze if you dress appropriately) and the scenery is something out of a movie. Our environment has a lot to do with how we feel, so getting outside into the fresh fall air and in the beautiful forests of gold, orange and red can be a huge mood booster. Not only will your endorphins kick in because you're being active, but your mind and body will thank you as well.
Plus it makes for some beautiful pictures!

Happy Fall!
The Rural Runner

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I plan my route before hand, carefully calculating distance, potential hills, and trying to avoid busy roads where drivers can be reckless and fast. I lounge around on the couch, attempting to delay as much as possible the inevitable long run that I have now planned and am required to do according to my training plan. I hum and ha and procrastinate until I've realized its actually 3 in the afternoon and I still haven't left, and by the time I finish the 23km, its going to be getting late and close to supper. Reluctantly, I put on my running clothes and lace up my shoes, careful to pack my Camelback with Gu, lip balm and kleenex before filling it half full with water, and I head out the door.


I must be f-ing crazy.




I start running, following my route as planned. I'm only on kilometer 5. My lungs are burning, my feet are sore, my legs hurt and I'm pretty sure the tightness in my chest is comparable to a cardiac arrest.

I keep repeating to myself, over and over, I must be f-ing crazy.


I'm the one who decided to run, to train for a race, to do an "easy 23k" today.

I must be f-ing crazy.

But its these difficult times, when your hips are aching so bad it feels as if they're yelling at you to quit.

When your legs are so heavy, that even a 2lb Camelbak feels like it could cause you to collapse under its weight.

Even the wind feels as if it is pushing against you.

In fact, it's as if all of the odds are against you, and the only thing you want to do is sit on the side of the road and cry.

Mentally, you begin caving into the dark thoughts of the deepest parts of your brain.

You tell yourself how you can't do it and ask "why am I out here in the first place?"


I must be f-ing crazy. And I'm sure to repeat this to myself at least 100 more times during the run.

But this moment, this is what it all comes down to. This moment is when you have to rise above the pain and realize, I'm doing this.

I left the house to run, even when I could have done a million other, easier things.

I took that first step.

I'm here trying and I'm giving it my all.




The thing about long training runs is, theres no water stations, theres no one on the side of the road cheering you on, you're out there suffering on your own.


But these long training runs, these days that you dread, the days where the running and everything feels wrong and miserable, these are the days that make the races great. These are the days that help you achieve your PRs, these are the days of hard work that we do in private, so we can shine our light when it counts.


And when race day finally comes, you will look back upon these days, remembering the struggles, and feel the strength from enduring, and doing something that not everyone is capable of. Because the thing is, training is going to suck some days, but thats what sets you apart from everyone else.


Yes, I'm f-ing crazy, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Trails,

The Rural Runner

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This month, I had decided to again review and rewrite my goals. We're officially 5 months into the year (where is the time going?) and I decided it was a great time to add some new goals in. This month, I've decided to try to explore more of Nova Scotia, since I've lived here my entire life and there's still places Kirk and I haven't gone yet. To start, we went to Evangeline beach, a cute little beach close to our apartment where the tides are so high, you can either walk a kilometre out on mud, or there's too much water to even see any ground. We ended up there when the tide was in, and it was all the way to the stairs.

Also as a big goal this month, my boyfriend Kirk and I decided to go all of May sugar free. So far were on day 7 and haven't broken down and eaten any sweets. This challenge is pretty difficult because I constantly crave sugar whether it's chocolate, cookies, froyo.. Etc. It's also hard because families at work always bring in treats to leave at the nursing station, and we almost ALWAYS have goodies on night shift (gotta make shift work more bearable right?).

Some of the reactions I've gotten upon declining sugary treats are funny, others concerning. The main response is "oh I could never do that for an entire month" or "um why.. You're crazy.." Also got "so basically you're just going to eat vegetables all month?!"

Let me clear one thing up, when we said were giving up sugar for one month, that means no processed or fake sugars. No donuts, no ice cream, no pop (at all. Diet is just as bad if not worse), no candy. Fruit is FINE. I'm tired of everyone being so afraid of eating fruit "there's too much sugar" and then going and eating a fricken Big Mac (etc.). Fruit is natural, fruit helps with metabolism and to keep you regular, fruit can prevent heart disease and stroke, even some forms of cancer. Fruit is delicious, eat your fruits!!

And now we're off to start the drive to Fredericton, NB for our race this weekend! Race recap will come after.

Happy trails, 

The Rural Runner

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Recently I discovered a post on Pinterest for 1 ingredient ice cream.. All it called for was bananas! Being a lover of all things banana, and simple recipes, I decided to give it a try!

Similar to banana bread, it works best if you let the bananas get very ripe! The riper the banana, and the more brown little specks on it, the more nutritious and flavourful they are! Once they've hit this stage, peel the bananas (I used 2) and cut them into small pieces. Then throw em into a ziplock bag and stash them in the freezer over night. I always like to have bananas in the freezer for smoothie emergencies anyways, so this step was easy for me ;)

Once they're completely frozen.. Toss them into the blender. Mine got pretty thick, and my blender isn't all that great, so I added a little almond milk (really any milk will work, this choice is just great because it's lactose free!) guess that means it's 2 ingredients haha. Use your own discretion here.. Whether you want it to be thick and crunchy.. Or like liquidy.

Easiest ice cream ever with only 2 ingredients!

The final product was great, so I decided to make it even better.. And added vanilla extract and a couple pieces of chocolate. It's so delicious it's comparable to chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream.. Without the added calories and sugar.. And dairy free!

Up close and personal with my yummy guilt free dessert.

This is a new favorite for me and I'll definitely be making it again. I think next time I'll make it more festive with peppermint extract and pieces of candy cane.. Or maybe some peanut butter, or Nutella! The options are endless with this easy basic recipe, and you can really add anything to the base and create a delicious healthy alternative to typical ice cream!

Enjoy your dessert friends,

The Rural Runner

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Sunday:

Sunday evening, Kirk and I made a dish I found on one ingredient chef, the author, Andrew, creates generally easy to make vegan recipes which all start off with basic whole ingredients. I love his blog and decided to give a coconut sweet potatoe curry a go (original recipe here). Now, mind you, we made this for my family, and they're not the kind of people that like eating anything with vegetables in it, especially if it's spicy. Since I've been trying to get them to eat healthier, I figured it was worth a try, and I knew if no one liked it.. there would be plenty of left overs for me ;)

The recipe included chickpeas (love them!!), diced tomatoes, sweet potatoe, coconut milk, onion, chilli (for me, the spicier the better), ginger, garlic and lots of spices (yay!), all on a delicious bed of rice (it called for jasmine, but I used white and it tasted just as well). The recipe was easy to follow and surprisingly just as easy to make. Here it is simmering (50 minutes felt like forever when the entire house smelt delicious)

I was worried about it being too soupy/runny because we didn't drain the can of diced tomatoes, but it ended up being a great spicy kind of sauce on top, and added more flavour to the rice.

The finished product.

I loved it.. And so did everyone else too! It was relatively cheap to make (assuming you already have all the spices) and was a delicious healthy meal! The leftovers lasted me all week.. It made ALOT of servings.

Recently I've been cutting meat out of my diet. Mostly for the reason that the only meat I really ate anyways was chicken and sometimes a burger, but mainly because of the way it makes me feel lately. It's like my body doesn't want to digest it (not surprisingly) and I just end up with a bad stomach ache. So anyways, for the past almost month I haven't eaten meat (I can't drink milk either because of lactose intolerance.. So that part was easy haha), honestly it's been going great. I'm at my lowest weight I've been in years (not that I had toooo much weight to lose, but this makes me happy!), I have more energy for my runs, and now less digestion problems. It really hasn't been all that difficult for me to cut meat out, except for the fact that it's the only thing my family eats. So basically I just bring my own rice and salads to family dinners haha. Since the change, I don't even crave meat anymore, and it's opened my eyes to just how many meat free options and meals there actually are! Just gotta do a little research. I'll probably still eat eggs every once in a while (eggs are in cookies okay don't judge me.) so I guess that means I'm not a full on vegan.. And I still love honey (sorry not sorry.. Bees are scary insects.. Not animals..) but that's okay because I'm happy with my change so far! 

Srsly.. This meme is spot on.. I've already gotten the "but how will you get your protein?!" Judgement question like 20 times. Hmm lets see, chickpeas, broccoli, kale, soy.. Want me to keep going? "But you need meat!!" And then I respond with this sassy answer.. "Have you ever actually seen someone end up in the hospital because they haven't eaten enough meat? No? Me neither, in fact I've seen more people in the hospital because they eat too much meat and fat and bacon, etc.".. Then I awkwardly laugh and say "just sayin" as they stand there with their mouths open trying to think of a comeback.

Anyways rant over. On to the next topic..

Monday:

Me and Kirk were talking on the phone and decided to do a New Year's Eve fun run this year!

It's free and is only 5km and isn't timed or anything.. But we're doing it together and I'm going to dress up and it'll be a great time! There's chilli and hot beverages afterwards, and then we will probably head to Cape Breton to ring in the New Year with his family.

Tuesday:

I had a wonderful 10km run yesterday evening, everything went smoothly and I ran basically the entire thing without walking, which is an accomplishment for me. I finished with 64 minutes.

Note to self.. Selfies while running = bad haha.

Next week.. I'm determined to do 10k in under an hour. It's been a long term goal for me and I'm SO close. I know I can do it if I just push myself a little more, especially now that I've been way more on top of my nutrition.

Wednesday:

Remembrance Day.

A very important day of the year for me, being in the military. Today was my 3rd year attending the ceremony. It's honestly an amazing feeling marching in on parade to the cenotaph with the veterans. It's so humbling being able to speak with them afterwards and I'm so proud to be able to serve my country. My fellow soldiers are like brothers and sisters to me, there's very few jobs out there where you become a family like we all are.

Here's a couple of us after the ceremony.

There was a wonderful turn out this year with hundreds of veterans, soldiers and civilians attending the ceremony, and the weather was perfect.

Also, exciting news.. I got promoted today! Officially Cpl Misner. Been a long time waiting for this, so it was great to be able to celebrate after with everyone. And yes, I'll have to update my DEU's now with my new rank :)

With all the activities going on, and my long drive home, I didn't have time to get my run in today.. Which is probably best since my dress shoes gave me HORRIBLE blisters on both heels. I lost a couple layers of skin (yuck) so will probably go for a bike ride tomorrow to cross train instead of making up the kilometres by running.. It is what it is and I'd rather not make my feet worse. Especially since I will be doing a long run this weekend, 16.1km is on the schedule. Stay tuned, I'll post my running schedule later this week.

If you're still reading, God bless you, what a long pointless post haha. But now you're all updated!

Until next time friends,

The Rural Runner

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