Post-run Strawberry Smoothie

A week ago I ran 5.7km as part of the Melbourne Marathon. I'd never taken part in any kind of running event before and to watch the marathoners running onto the hallowed ground of the MCG was nothing short of inspiring. As I crossed the finish line I vowed to start running more. Today, between Melbourne's springtime showers, we headed down to the promenade that wraps around Port Phillip Bay in an attempt to reinspire the runner within.

Starting at Elwood we headed east and tried to pry smiles from the folk in puffer jackets walking their cavoodles...to no avail. We took in the renovations of Brighton Yacht Club, watched tourists brave the elements to take selfies with the colourful beach huts and gave nods of appreciation to the many locals we saw out on the sand filling bags with rubbish...a never ending job. At the 4km mark we turned around and were greeted with a slight downhill, views of the city and the sun peeking between the clouds. This running business was starting to feel very appealing. After another 4km we reached our starting point but did not stop. Knowing I was but 2km from the pivotal 10km mark I had often dreamed of achieving we pushed on, thankful for the tailwind but knowing all the while that in 1km that blessed tailwind would make the final kilometre a tough one. We did it though. I did it. My first 10k and gosh it felt good. I'm thinking that the flat path and salty sea air of the bay may agree with this Northern NSW girl. Bring on 11km.

I had planned to come home and whip up a Women's Day smoothie I'd been busting to try. However, the lack of mixed berries at the supermarket meant that would need to go on hold. Instead I decided to make a super strawberry smoothie and bulk it out with the protein and fibre I figured I'd earned after my run. Once that decision had been made I stood in the yoghurt section of the supermarket for what some might say was too long. The Women's Day recipe called for a berry yoghurt. It's been a really long time since I've eaten anything but natural or Greek yoghurt. I know flavoured yoghurts are full of sugar. I know they're probably full of other crap too. I hummed and harred about whether I should really be eating sugar, if the 'no added sugar' tag was a trick and they had replaced it with other junk...then I stopped. I thought of some wise words my mum had recently given me. Nanna Mac ate regular food and lived to 102. It's about moderation. I bought the yoghurt and didn't feel the slightest bit of guilt.

Ingredients

2 cups almond milk

1 cup frozen strawberries

2/3 cup strawberry yoghurt

40g strawberry protein powder

2 weet-bix, crushed

Method

Add ingredients to a blender in the order listed. Blend until smooth.

Serves 2.