My Daily Marathon

This post was created in partnership with Stonyfield. All opinions are my own.

When Stonyfield invited me to write about my “daily marathon,” I happily accepted, as my life has indeed felt like a marathon of late.

Stonyfield was the official yogurt sponsor of the 2014 Boston Marathon, handing out hundreds of thousands of cups of organic yogurt on race day to runners, their families, and volunteers, so they know a little bit about marathons.

You know how the runners look when they cross the finish line? No, not that jubilant “Yea! I did this.” I’m talking about those people who collapse on the ground in a heap, unmoving and moaning.

Yup, that’s been me.

I haven’t been sleeping enough (and I have the dark circles under my eyes to show for it), I haven’t been exercising (and my pants confirm this), and I haven’t been eating well (Reese’s Pieces, anyone?). As a result, I’ve not felt really great and I haven’t been handling my stress well.

Which makes everything harder.

If only I managed my time better, I said to my husband one night a few weeks ago, as the clock crept closer to midnight and I ran around making lunches, doing laundry, cleaning up the dinner dishes, filling our school paperwork, answering work email, and falling way behind on everything else.

What I really should have said was that I needed to take better care of myself.

So when Stonyfield invited me to try their Greek Yogurt as the “fuel” of my daily marathon, I sensed an opportunity. It was a chance to reset my bad habits.

To sprint to my very own finish line (you know, the end of the day), for 10 days, I committed to eating a Greek Yogurt for a snack or breakfast (ok, maybe for dessert, too).

And, you know what?

Life’s better when you set a good foundation.

And, my good foundation started with healthy eating.

Stonyfield’s plain Greek Yogurt (only 80 calories!) is my favorite. I like eating it as is, or with “fixins,” such as unsweetened shredded coconut, silvered almonds, chia seeds, or no sugar added applesauce. I also tried the chocolate, which is “yum” and has become my healthy dessert choice when I really need some chocolate (which is, essentially, always).

One unexpected challenge was that my son got into my Greek Yogurt stash, eating up the strawberry (“Mommy, can you get more of this?”) and making a play for the chocolate (so it’s now hiding on the very top shelf of the refrigerator in the back behind the pickles).

Since that’s a good problem to have, I’m stocking up on more yogurt–for all of us.

Disclosure: Stonyfield provided me a sampling of their Stonyfield Greek Yogurt to test. All opinions in this post are my very own.