Hi! I’m Erin and I am a runner who loves food, specifically desserts!
Cookies, cupcakes and pie, oh my! Is there anything more lovely than freshly baked tasty treats? I think not. 🙂 Good thing I married a chef, because I can’t even boil water without drama.

While running a half marathon a few years ago, I was really struggling. I looked up and saw the mile 11 marker and told myself, “Eleven miles, two miles to go, you can do this! Two miles is cake. Ooh! Cake. Cupcakes! I would love a cupcake about now. Lemon. Must be a lemon cupcake. Maybe a few blueberries on top!” Only when I saw people eyeing me suspiciously did I realize I said all of that… OUT LOUD… Yep, ever since then, my son has renamed mile 11 “The Cupcake Mile.”

Fast rewind back to 2011.  I was a significantly overweight hockey mom who lived through her active son.  My life revolved around driving him to practice and games, eating out with the team and general shenanigans.  I was married to his significantly overweight hockey dad that did the same thing.  We were up before 5 am on the weekends only to find the nearest coffee shop to grab our

At the Messina Hof Winery 5K in Bryan/College Station, TX

750 calorie sugar laden caffeinated calorie bomb to wash down the bag full of donuts we ate on the way to the rink.  We usually didn’t get back home til well after dark.  We spent our lives sitting in the stands of life as it passed us by with a whoosh.  I am so very thankful for my son’s team all those years ago.  The team was so bad and the parents so toxic, that the thought of sitting near them during practice on Wednesday nights for three and a half hours was literally unbearable.  I went on a walk for three miles that night.  It was quiet and I could decompress.  That led to asking hubby to help me fix a dinner before practice that could be taken to go and I would eat at the rink (as usual) but it would be more calorie friendly.  Walking turned to faster walking and eventually became short bursts of running (don’t laugh, it was still probably slower than most people walked).  Hockey dad saw that I was a happier person and started to see results, so he asked what the path was and he started walking on the days he went to hockey practice.  Now back to the present and sixty pounds lighter on me and 105 pounds fewer on hockey dad, we are a family that was saved by movement!

On our way back from the OKC Marathon in April 2014

Sean, my husband, has come such a long way in his weight loss and fitness journey.  He is a classically French-trained chef (aka, every recipe starts with a pound of butter…) and has done amazing things to lighten up every recipe we eat (most meals are under 450 calories unless you want a second helping) as well as making meals for private clients that help them in their weight loss journey.  He runs daily and is my biggest cheerleader when I get derailed.

My son, Alex, spent his high school years continuing to play hockey for his high school team, but discovered running as well and worked his way into becoming a pretty fast runner! He ultimately chose to not run for a college team because he wanted to play in the band and major in music, so cross country season was out for him. But he did join the triathlon team and completed his first half Ironman in late 2017. He continues to put in the work in hopes of a 2020 or 2024 Olympic Marathon trials-qualifying half marathon race very soon!

Emma Grace and me at the 2014 Disney Princess Royal 5K

And finally, my daughter, the princess.  She is my skirt sister.  She started running when my babysitting fell through one evening for our Tuesday run.  Not wanting to be stuck at home while the boys went running, I decided to go to the lake and at least walk.  She put her foot down and said she wouldn’t ride in the jogging stroller, so we set out.  By the time we finished, we covered three miles.  When she overheard me bragging about how far she went and someone commented that “a 5K was an amazing distance for a four year old,” she asked if she could do a race “like bubba.”  Knowing she would likely be motivated by a finishers medal , I found a 5K that offered one (tough to find in Dallas!) and we signed up!  She did a mix of running and walking and Sean and I both ran with her that morning.  She insisted that she have a skirt, just like mine, and a pair of sunglasses.  Thank goodness Skirt Sports sold girls sizes.  She has since completed many races and even managed to snag a few age-group awards, and is eyeing the adult sizes now!