On one of our morning group long runs about two years ago, we saw this strong, petite, dark-haired girl running in front of us and she was speedy. We had never seen her before today and wondered who she was. We attempted to catch up to her but then we told eachother, “It’s okay. She’s just running a mile or two. That’s why she’s so fast”. I ended up meeting that girl several months later at our local 5K and no, she was not a 2-3 mile a day girl-she was a serious marathon runner.
People start running for a variety of reasons: to lose weight, improve health, improve self-esteem, meet new people, and we all know there are many more reasons. At 5’1’’, Ami Roach weighed 254 lbs nearly 5 years ago. She had struggled with her weight her entire life and experimented with a large range of diets that ultimately failed. Her life changed for the better when she 1)started cooking healthy food and 2)started running.
To date, Ami has lost 125 lbs, run 38 half marathons, 14 marathons, 1 ultra, and is running her 15th marathon at the Chickamauga Marathon this Saturday. She finishes marathons in the low 4 hour range. Ami is very modest about her amazing successes, but she has allowed me to blog about her and share this wonderful recipe that she “threw together” one night. I hope that you enjoy this soup as much as I did.
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| Ami before |
Ami's Quick and Tasty Soup
1 thinly sliced onion
3-4 cloves of chopped garlic
2 boxes of low sodium chicken stock
1-1/2 bags of spinach leaves (or a box of frozen spinach)
6-8 thinly sliced (quarter thin) spinach and fontina cheese chicken sausage (Costco)
salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
parmagian or pecorino romano grated cheese (optional)
box of small pasta, your choice. Ami uses ditalini
Extra water, as needed
Saute onions and garlic for 5-7 minutes on medium-low in a large pot. When soft, add sliced sausage. Continue to saute for about 5 more minutes. Add 2 boxes of chicken stock and bring to a boil. Turn the stove back closer to simmer and add pasta, and spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste. Be careful not to add too much salt. Add more water if desired, depending on how much liquid you would like in your soup. When pasta is al dente, the soup is ready to be served. Serve with cheese on top, if desired. Crusty bread or garlic bread is an excellent choice to serve with this soup.
I hope you enjoy Ami's story and the soup!
*This story was written one year ago, Since then, Ami has qualified for the prestigious
Boston Marathon with a time of 3:44. Her next goal is to run a sub3:40 marathon. I have no
doubt that she can do it because she is officially a faster runner than myself.
**I've got to update this again! Ami has lost even more weight and gotten so fast. She's down to a 3:21 in the marathon. YEP! It's December 2012 and she is just incredible and inspiring. She won a large Atlanta 10K with a 42 minute finish time. How much lower is her marathon time going to go??
