It’s been a pumpkin kind of morning. I had lots to do before I leave tonight, and since I’m running my very first 1/2 marathon tomorrow I thought I would give my legs a little rest.
I am a little nervous for the race, but after I got my first race jitters out of my system I am feeling a lot better about racing. I know this is a mileage I have not yet run, but I know I am capable of making it. I originally signed up for this race to be a practice run before the Baltimore 1/2 marathon which I plan to take a little more seriously.
The race is in Shepherdstown, WV so my family and Chris are leaving tonight to go down there and stay overnight.
This will be better than driving over an hour at the crack of dawn before I run 13 miles. The race is through the beautiful national and historic parks, and afterwords they are having music, food, and Oktoberfest. Does it get much better then that? Hopefully the rain will hold off for us. Keep your fingers crossed!
I’m so lucky my family and Chris are coming to support me. It means so much that they will be there when I finish. I just wish my brother was able to be there as well! 
So as I was packing and getting the apt cleaned up this morning I made my breakfast. Growing up I ate a lot of oatmeal. But my mom always made oatmeal with water, and we always used honey and never anything else. Since I’ve been reading blogs I have realized that there are so many different ways to make oatmeal. In lieu of fall I jumped on the pumpkin oats bandwagon and decided to try it for myself.
I’m not sure if I didn’t make them properly, but it wasn’t as good as I was hoping. Maybe I didn’t add enough pumpkin. I made it with equal parts milk and water (I love using milk-it makes the oatmeal thick and rich), pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice, and a little agave. I also had a side of strawberries and some coffee.
I realized the oats needed a little something more so I added some dried cranberries to them. This helped a lot!
This morning I had Italian coffee with my breakfast. When I was in Italy, Walter Lodali, was so nice and gave me a big bag of Italian coffee to take home. It is outstanding. Really bold and rich. Thanks Walter!
Walter Lodali and me at Lodali Winery
The oats made me stuffed, which is good because I have a busy day at work. Be back later!!! So much to do today!
~Lauren~
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Good luck on your first half marathon! I ran my first one in Dec. ‘07 & it was a truly amazing experience. Congrats on your success so far. I’m happy you’ll have people out there supporting you. That made such a huge difference for me!
Thank you so much!!! I’m glad you enjoy the blog!