Kitchissippi Half Marathon Recap and Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Waffles

Sunday was my third half-marathon race of the year. They moved it up by several weeks this year, which was fantastic for me since I prefer the warmer weather (I still had to wear my mitts though!).

I totally forgot how many hills there were for this race. Sure, I remembered that it was through the forest and was mostly gravel, but I didn’t remember that most of it was up and down. Maybe there was a reason that I forgot!

I placed first for females and actually beat my time of last year by 45 seconds. This totally surprised me for several reasons.
1) I haven’t done a long run in 6 weeks
2) I haven’t touched a hill in 6 weeks
3) I only started back doing speed runs the week before the race
4) I wasn’t as prepared as I needed to be (I totally forgot to pack any fuel!)

Now, that I did so well on a slow course, I’m thinking about trying one more half this year to see how I would do on a road, and on a flat surface.

I don’t have any pictures to post because usually I look like death when I run, and this race was no exception.

After the race, my daughter and I had peanut butter waffles. There is not only peanut butter in the waffles, but I top them with peanut butter too. Eating my waffles with peanut butter something that I’ve been doing since I was a kid. The only difference now is that the waffle batter isn’t a mix and that I add a bit of nut butter into the batter to replace most of the oil.

MAKES 4 LARGE WAFFLES

INGREDIENTS
– 1.5 cups whole wheat flour
– 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
– 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
– 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
– 1/4 cup coconut sugar
– 2 teaspoons cinnamon
– 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed

– 1.5 cups unsweetened non-dairy milk (I used almond milk)
– 3 tablespoons peanut butter
– 1 tablespoon coconut oil, melted
– 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
– 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat your waffle iron.
2. Combine all dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Mix well.
3. Combine all of the wet ingredients into a medium bowl.  Mix well.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients. Mix only until combined. Do not overmix.
5. Spray your iron with cooking spray and then pour the batter into your waffle maker and cook according to the suggested time for your machine.
6. Serve topped with peanut butter and/or maple syrup (a combo is delicious!).