Ahh.. It never fails that as soon as the warm/hot weather rolls in I am wishing for it to be cold and crisp.
Today’s forecast calls for 89 degrees and tomorrow’s is even warmer.
I have heard a lot of you getting hit with a heat wave, well I think it’s finally making its way to Idaho!
What better way to celebrate the warmth than by creating a green monster that can bring you back to a time where the weather is cold. Like Christmas.
Ah yes, that is when the Christmas Monster was born.
So this morning’s creation was a bit of a stretch…. but let me showcase the three main ingredients.
d’anjou pear
ginger root
canned cranberry
The thing is, I had this brilliant idea last night to make a smoothie with cranberries. I dunno where the urge came from, but let me tell you how hard it is to find cranberries this time of year.
It was either craisins or this can. I figured the whole berry would add a nice little zing. You can bet though, as soon as I can get my hands on fresh cranberries I am ALL over it.
My Christmas Cranberry Monster:
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 handful of spinach
- 1/2 scoop of protein powder
- 3/4 of a pear (peel off skin)
- 1 inch grated ginger root
- 1/4 cup canned cranberry
- dash of cinnamon
- 1 cup of almond milk
It seriously tasted like Christmas. It was the cinnamon and sweet ginger, mixed with the tart and tang of the cranberry. MMmmmm!
If you look really closely you can see little red specs in the green monster!
Running Report:
I finally got around to tallying up my mileage for June and was ecstatic to see 58 miles as my ending number. I have to say I think that might be the most I have EVER ran in one month. YAY!
In looking ahead at what is projected for this month it’s looking more like 85 miles. Woah, that seems like an extreme jump but I am excited to be delving into the bigger numbers.
And I have moved my first DOUBLE DIGIT run to tomorrow due to my family trip this weekend.
That means THE LINZ will no longer be a double-digit running virgin. Oh no, this girl is literally running into uncharted territory.
10 miles… tomorrow….
You can be for sure I will be back with a full report tomorrow, including pictures and more fuel reviews. I stocked up on gu’s, chomps, bloks, electrolyte tablets… you name it. (don’t worry, I won’t be taking them ALL tomorrow).
If you have made it into the double-digit runs (or even a goal milestone) – do you remember the first time breaking that barrier? How did it feel?
Linzi's Life On The Run 
Sounds tasty! Hope you can try it with real berries soon! Do you have frozen cranberries? Those could work too…
I have a question re: frozen bananas. Do you freeze them in the skin? I threw some in the freezer recently when they started turning brown and now I have no idea how to use them in my smoothies. I tried thawing first and it just turned into a gloppy mess!
Good luckon your first DOUBLE DIGIT run!!! The BEST part about training for your first marathon is all of these milestones along the way. So fun and rewarding!
I take them out of the skin and chop them into pieces then put them in a container and stick into the freezer. It makes them easy to plop a few pieces into the blender when you need them. The first time I froze bananas I did the same thing- freezing them with the skin on. The skin freezes to the fruit and it’s more pain than it’s worth to get it off. 🙂
What an awesome idea for a smoothie! I’m going to try that next time I’m stuck in the Green Monster rut.
The first time I did double digits (10 miles for half marathon training), I had to run in gale-force winds. 30 mph…so strong, the wind actually pushed me off the trail. It was the hardest 10 miles of my life, but looking back, I’m so glad I kept chugging along.
I think double digits is the point in running where you realize, “I can do ANYTHING…I just have to KEEP GOING.”
Good luck, but you won’t need it! You’ll be a 10-miler before you know it :).
Love your blog…I ran my first marathon in March and relate to so much of what you’re going through!
And good luck with the ten-miler! I consider my first time breaking the double-digit miles to be one of my all-time favorite runs. I was in New Jersey for the holidays and it.was.cold. And to top it all off, not two minutes into the run, it started to drizzle which eventually turned into a downpour, but I refused to stop. My shoes got soaked from stepping in one too many piles of snow and by mile 6, I could have jumped into a pool and been more dry. But when I heard my Nike+ say “Congratulations, you’ve reached your goal of ten miles” I was SO ecstatic and got the ultimate runner’s high. I wanted to jump and dance and tell all the passing cars that I had just run ten miles. It was a great day. :]
The smoothie combination sounds good! Good luck on your run tomorrow. I remember my first double digits run. That’s when I started realizing how much of it is mental and just try to keep plugging away!
That sounds yummy, Linz! Anything with pears is probably a-ok in my book. And good for you for hitting doublt digits! That’s amazing!!!
Ha! The fist time I ran 10 miles it sucked up one side and down the other – literally. I ran a boring as all hell out-and-back course because it was close and convenient (started and ended at my front door). It was on an ugly stretch of road for the most part and I was soooo bored. If there’s anything I learned from that it’s that I need serious stimulation on long runs. Now I make an effort to map out a new route, or even take an old route backwards to spice things up. Also, try and update your iPod before you go! I enjoy long runs now that I’ve learned how to prep for them. Have fun, I can’t wait to read all about it!!
We’re having the same temperatures as you last week and coming up at the end of this week and I don’t like it at all! Summer is my less favorite season because I can’t stand the heat that well. Luckily these temperatures are an exception and not regular.
We use kilometres in Europe instead of miles. As 10K is 6.2 miles I’m in the double digits before you do. But I remember running my first 10K training. I was damn proud of myself, did a happy dance when I finished it in the middle of the street.
Great mileage results!
Good luck on double digits tomorrow! I remember my first time because it was just this year : ) It felt like an awesome accomplishment.
I’m totally the person that complains about the cold in the winter and then the heat in the summer – darn I need to stop that haha. Heat is awesome when you’re not running. Cold is awesome when you are. Can’t win I guess ; )
good luck hon! u can do it. u will do great.
i am doing 9 today and im scared bc of the heat, buti keep hydrating and hydrating.
so u make sure u do that too!
good luck!
woohoo! Hitting the double digits. Something I have yet to do but maybe someday. you are doing so awesome at running!
I want to try to make one of your yummy green monsters some day. Do they keep you full for long? My problem is I’m always starving like 2 hours after I eat breakfast!
that looks yummy! and i don’t even like cranberries.
way to go w/the double digits…can’t remember hitting the milestone, but the marathon is something you’ll never forget!
That is genius! I love how you used the cranberries! I’m inspired!
Hmmm, I’m racking my brain and I can’t remember when or where my first double digit run was. That’s pretty sad. But I know that once I got over about 8 miles I started to feel invincible. Hope your first double-digit run goes well.
We’re getting the same heat wave here. I’d enjoy it so much more if I wasn’t sick. 😦
The smoothie looks really yummy!
I did my first 10 miler on a treadmill. Yes, nearly 2 hours on a treadmill in the gym. But it was January and I did not have proper cold weather gear yet! I remember feeling tired, but energized and accomplished 🙂 I was also extremely sweaty and covered in salt at the end of my run!
what an interesting smoothie idea
Okay, its official. I am the last food blogger on the planet who hasn’t tried a green monster!
Woot on double digit running! Can’t wait for the recap.
Sounds super yummy, but I’m not a huge cranberry fan…but I *do* have a lot of ginger root left over from my recipe tonight that I will need to use…hmm. Might have to scour the intarwebs for a smoothie to use it with.
Check my smoothie tab, there are a few smoothies I have listed with ginger involved. It’s one of my favorite add-ins! 🙂