mud, mud and more mud...any excuse to get dirty!

Bright dry days and as many dogs as I can cram into my jeep makes me a happy woman. I had a great run this morning, hard and ankle not as strong as I'd hoped, but wonderful nonetheless. Diet not great this week and missing my 'raw energy' from the previous week. Think a cleanse is imminent!

The energy of the pack this morning was amazing, even with 3 bitches out of 6, it worked! Males are much easier (did I really just say that?) I have recently found that no longer listening to music whilst running allows me to connect better with the pack and perhaps have better control of them, instead of me being in a parallel universe of melody completely out of context to my surroundings.

Instead, the sound of my own breath, the dogs panting, the percussion of my feet and their paws on the earth is a symphony of its own and perhaps Spirit the conductor. Just in case you're thinking I've been sampling the mushrooms in the forest and chatting to fairies on the way, this is not the case. However, it is truly magical at moments and sometimes feel incredibly lucky to be part of it. I may be DOing, but am certainly BEing in my DOing or DOing less in my DOing which allows me to BE. Confused yet?

4 of the 6... the other 2 decided posing was not on their agenda

my two gorgeous boys Masai(left) and Zulu(right)

Masai: Is that a treat in her hand or she going to blind us again?

Zulu: Just smile and look obedient!

Not sure about all this running!

Running in the Pack: Back out there...

Running in the Pack: Back out there...: "Today was the first time in 10 days, after a sprained ankle, that I was able to run with the pack. The skies were blue, a fabulous Autumnal ..."

Back out there...

Today was the first time in 10 days, after a sprained ankle, that I was able to run with the pack. The skies were blue, a fabulous Autumnal day, and the ground albeit wet was not too muddy. We were joined by a new pack member, who initially wasn't sure about the running element to his walk, but soon got the idea and we were able to enjoy a gentle 5km run across the countryside, finished by a ball chuck.

This little guy to the left is a rescue and not quite in his 'power' as a well adjusted dog, but Zulu (middle) looked after him during the run and encouraged him to be part of the pack and come when recall was necessary.  Masai (right) is in 'heel-run training' with me preparing for our Mudman race in December, which he wasn't that happy about, but released him every few minutes and brought him to heel so he could get some play time out of the run. It was a harder run than in the past month as I seem to have lost a lot of fitness over the past 10 days but my body, mind and soul were happy to be out there again.  

A great start to the week... gorgeous doggy and earth energy, beautiful weather - so grounding and connecting!

A little something to share from a very wet, muddy Saturday walk...

Sending Autumnal Love to you all.

RAW lunch - 10 minutes!

Salad dressing: 1 tomato, half pepper, half avo, cayenne, Himalayan salt

Salad: pea shoots (the most gorgeous delicate greens you'll ever discover), rocket, pak choy

Raw veg burger topped with Hijiki (seaweed)

Cabbage leaves to replace bread

To save time, plate up two plates and you have one ready for dinner later.

Running in the Pack: Rocking on RAW!

Running in the Pack: Rocking on RAW!: "Day 3 on RAW and the prepping over the weekend is paying off! Feeling great and needing to eat half of what I usually do as all meals are nu..."

Rocking on RAW!

Day 3 on RAW and the prepping over the weekend is paying off! Feeling great and needing to eat half of what I usually do as all meals are nutrient dense and 'living'. Lots of fresh greens, sprouts and hijiki (seaweed - high in calcium and minerals) to compliment my delicious raw burgers.

The worry of it being too cold and doing long hours at my desk are no longer, as it takes literally minutes to plate up and appetizing meal. Its all in the presentation as well as the taste.

A quick warming salad dressing is a tomato, half yellow pepper and a pinch of Himalayan salt and a generous sprinkle of cayenne pepper all thrown into a mini blender, then tossed into a pak choy and rocket salad. Very warming and will blow your head off if you're too liberal with the cayenne.

Off in an hour to walk the pack as I sprained my ankle last week and giving the time to healing under supervision of a sports masseur and the liberal use of Young Living's Pan Away. Desperate to run with the pack as Mudman race is just over a month away, but this time off will pay dividends in my recovery and strength for the race. I am doing the race with Masai, my very athletic lab, so can't let him down.

Running in the Pack: Raw challenge

Running in the Pack: Raw challenge: "I have set myself a challenge for the week ahead, which is a totally 100% RAW WEEK ending with a real treat on Friday night at saf london, w..."

Raw challenge

I have set myself a challenge for the week ahead, which is a totally 100% RAW WEEK ending with a real treat on Friday night at saf london, where I'll be sharing a raw experience with friends at a top raw food restaurant in london - can't wait!

In preparing for the week ahead, I have decided to make life a little easier and more interesting than just salads and raw soups in making the time now over the weekend to prepare raw burgers and sundried tomato biscuits to compliment raw recipes of the week. As the week is going to be a busy one with long work hours, dogs and training for mudman, I thought it best to do as much prep ahead of time, which means I am less likely to break the 100% raw.

My only concern for the 100% raw week is that the weather has turned cold and eating only raw, cold food is going to be a challenge. In creating a meal plan for each day, it will help with preparation and shopping and I have picked up some tips from various raw websites to help with the challenge. Some tips are to take food out of the fridge ahead of time so it is room temperature and easier on the digestion. When making raw soups to put the soup in a glass bowl, then place that bowl into a bowl of hot water to further take the chill out of the soup and gently warm it. Hot teas and chicory are allowed and will rely on these in case the raw becomes too yin.

I have allowed myself the option of a living food porridge after training if needed, which is quinoa and millet porridge flakes in a flask overnight, which means the porridge is still 'alive' and cooked slowly over the 12 hours. That with grated pear and a sprinkle of grounds seeds is going to be a treat. (seeds should be ground to aid degestion)

My previous Raw burger recipe wasn't a success and apologies to those whom I inflicted the tasting upon.
This time around I am happy to share the recipe as they've come out really well and very tasty and not too dry.

The recipe is very much by feel to get the right texture to put them into a patty shape.
From previous experience I have learnt not to blend everything too much, so the patty still has some texture.
I grated 2 courgettes on the mandolin, along with 2 carrots, fresh thyme, sprinkle of cayenne pepper, ground almonds, srinkle of himalayan salt, pureed a yellow pepper and red pepper and mixed the lot together. Once they were in their moulds I sprinkled them with sesame seeds and layed them out on the trays and set the dehydrator for 7 hours at 50 degrees. If you don't have a dehydrator, then you can easily dry them out in the oven but make sure it is set to no more than 40 degrees as you don't want to cook them.

Mix your ingredients all together maintaining some texture.



Found this to make the patty shape. Push down with spoon and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Put in the dehydrator or oven - check them every hours as you don't want them too hard.

a-la raw burgers...