Saturday

Today has been a rough day.

I bailed on the 10k and dropped down to the 5k. It was a small race, only about 30 or so running the 10k and I was in dead last. The pacer in the car was on my tail and it was making me anxious. The fact that I’m slow usually doesn’t bother me, but when it starts affecting other people, it does. This is the main reason I don’t like to run with others.

I really need to focus on this quote from a book I read recently, Run! by Dean Karnazes: “As in life, you must be able to adapt your mind when your run is not going as planned… It’s at moments like these that you need to dig deep, stay focused and remind yourself to concentrate on the small goals, not letting the enormity of the miles still ahead consume your mind with negative thoughts. Just focus on what your can control right now, and that was the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.” Mental toughness is always going to be a battle for me. More on that later.

I was not so happy after the race, so I decided to go swim for a bit. Just to clear my head. I ended up swimming for about 30 minutes. When I got home, I heard the devastating news from Afghanistan. And I was force fed a big dose of perspective. As I sit here and read article after article about the massive hit our military took last night, I have no words. All I can ask is that you pray for our country.

Anyway. Enough of that sadness.

If you haven’t seen the Google homepage yet, go take a look. Today would have been Lucille Ball’s 100th birthday and they changed the logo to play a bunch of “I Love Lucy” clips. That TV show holds a special place in my heart, as I sort of grew up on it. My sister and I would beg to sleep downstairs in the living room, where the TV was, so we could watch late night re-runs of I Love Lucy. I’ve watched a couple episodes today, and I laughed just as much as I did ten years ago. I really do love Lucy.

I’m super excited for breakfast tomorrow, and as luck would have it, I’m going to share it with all of you!

Favorite Friday

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Color Splash. I am ob.sess.ed. with this new app. It takes your pictures, turns them to black and white, and then you “color” back in certain aspects of the picture. A little taste of ~~how much time I’ve wasted~~ what I’ve done so far:

Dishes at Anthropologie.. or really anything at Anthro. Thank the LORD there is not an Anthropologie in Greenville. I would surely be broke if that were the case.

StumbleUpon. Sort of. Stumble e-mails me some.. strange recommendations sometimes.

Drugs and cats? Um?

Okay, getting closer but I’m still iffy on the dogs…

Ah. Perfection.

10k’s. I’m running my second one tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Whole Wheat Gnocchi

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Everything is better homemade, right?

Think about it. Your mom’s recipes taste just that much better when she makes them, rather than you trying to re-create. Dishes at a restaurant can taste divine, but they taste just that much better when you can make it at home. Christmas gifts, birthday cards, cake, cookies, pie, donuts.. all better homemade?

At least that’s what I’m telling myself so I don’t go nuts.

Making gnocchi can be a nightmare. Especially without a potato ricer. This is the second time I’ve attempted the complicated little pillows, and it wasn’t terrible so much as time consuming. I had some time to kill the weekend my BFF, her hubby and adorable baby came up so I decided to try my hand at gnocchi. Again.

Whole Wheat Gnocchi (inspired by madness and adapted from the Italian Vegetarian)

Need:
1 pound russet (baking) potatoes
1/3 c whole wheat flour
1/3 c all purpose flour
salt

Do:

First, you basically make mashed potatoes. Cook the potatoes (roast, boil, whatever.. I boiled) until they’re mushy and then put them through a ricer. If you don’t have a ricer (like me), you can just mash them but you will end up with some chunks in the gnocchi.
Let the potatoes cool to room temperature before you sprinkle the flour over them. Work the mixture into a dough. If the dough is sticky, add flour as needed, up to 1/4 cup more.
Shape the dough by rolling out long “snakes” of dough, then cutting into little pieces. Shape the little pieces by pressing it up against a fork and flicking it off. I still have not mastered this skill so don’t fret if it seems impossible; it basically is.
When all the gnocchi is shaped, drop about 20 gnocchi into a large pot of boiling, salted water. When the gnocchi float to the top, they’re done so scoop them out and set them aside. Repeat until all the gnocchi has been cooked.
I like to finish off my gnocchi by pan-frying in a bit of butter or olive oil. Totally optional but it makes the exterior crispy while the inside remains pillow-like.

Once I got over the fact that my kitchen was now 302 degrees and I had just spent over an hour cooking potatoes, molding them into dough and then cooking them again, I mixed the gnocchi with goat cheese, basil and cherry tomatoes a la Eat, Live, Run.
Totally worth it. Totally homemade.

Doubt & Fear

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Sometimes we all just have to tell our inner voice to Shut. the. hell. UP.

The other day I was in the weight room, about to do step-ups like my NROWL plan tells me to. I look around for something to step up on and all I see are these purple stackers leaning against a wall. I do the normal thing and ask the employee on duty if they are for stepping up on. He gives me a reluctant yes and tells me some people use them for step ups. This guy’s tone of voice is completely unconvincing, so I hesitantly wander over to said purple things. I try to step up on the edge of them and it’s not working. I eventually figure out that I need the long flat piece that was originally concealed behind a mat. The long flat piece goes on top of the purple stackers. I put a few in the middle and start stepping away. Ten reps in and suddenly I’m on the ground. Putting the purple things in the middle was a terrible idea because it left the whole thing completely unbalanced. It had toppled over while I was stepping. Non-helpful guy comes over and asks if I’m okay. “Does it look like I’m okay, sir? You were no help in assisting me with this step up contraption and now I’m on the floor. Thanks. Thank you.” Those were my thoughts but I just told him I was fine, fixed the stepper so it was more balanced and continued on my merry way. It wasn’t so much embarrasing as it was painful because I had huge welts both on my knees and forearms. They are now a lovely shade of purple/yellow.

Because of this incident, and because I am sometimes anxious in social situations, when I walked into the weight room the other day and saw approximately 302 beefy guys, I instinctively turned right around and walked out. I started toward the exit but stopped myself halfway there. What was I doing? I want to get my strength training in and I’m going to let a bunch of guys intimidate me out of that!? My inner voice was being ridiculous, so I told it to shut up and I got in a very nice strength session. Besides, no one really cares what I’m doing in the gym. They’re focused on themselves and their beefiness.

And then there’s this whole running thing. I know I can run 5 miles without stopping. I did it the other day. But sometimes doubt and fear bubble up and sabotage my workouts. They convince me I’m not good enough and there’s no point in going further because I’m so slow and it hurts and walking would just be easier. And you know what? I am slow. But I’m out there and I’m running. I don’t care that I’m slow. If I keep running, I’ll get faster. The point is that I got up, I got outside and I ran, which is more than the people on the couch can say they did.

So you know what, doubt and fear? I’ve had enough of you. I don’t need you to tell me that marathon training is hard and it hurt sometimes. I don’t need you to tell me that strength training is not easy and intimidating sometimes. I know this. All the more reason to do it. One day I will be able to say, “Look. I did something totally badass.”

I will not let fear and doubt control me.

Gouda Pizza

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Stop the presses.

There are no words in the english language that convey how much delicious this pizza holds. Sweet barbecue sauce, caramelized onions, nutty goat gouda and chickpeas come together to create one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. Yes, it’s seriously that good.

I followed Jenna’s recipe exactly, down to the whole “make your own pizza dough” thing, and it was so, so worth it.

This. This right here is why I love cooking.

Marathon Madness

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I’m pretty sure it’s safe to say I’ve developed marathon mania.

After we made the decision to run the 2012 Walt Disney World Marathon, I completely immersed myself. Watching videos, researching training plans, looking up hotels, flights, etc. My BFF and I are going to be fundraising for an amazing cause too. More details to come.

I recently watched Spirit of the Marathon, which is super inspirational. The movie chronicles five runners training to run the Chicago Marathon: two elites and three regular ol’ Joes. One is an old man who was so adorable! He gives me hope that I’ll at least be able to finish the marathon alive.

Obviously a new goal calls for a new training plan. I’ve basically ditched my old running plan and am now using Hal Higdon’s marathon 3 training plan as a guide. With just about 23 weeks until I run 26.2, I’m doing a plan that will (hopefully) kick my butt into gear. And yes, I’m still strength training. I think it’s important that my life not become solely running. I’ve read a lot of articles that state cross-training is imperative to successful training, so I will still be strength training, with biking and swimming thrown in there too.

	Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thur	Fri	Sat	Sun
7/25-7/31	1	Rest	3 m run	Bike: 30 min	3 m pace	Rest	6 m run	Cross 60 min
8/1-8/7	2	Rest	4 m run	Bike: 30 min	3 m tempo	Rest	*10-K Race*	Cross 60 min
8/8-8/14	3	Rest	3 m run	Bike: 30 min	3 m run	Rest	5 m run	Cross 60 min
8/15-8/21	4	Rest	5 m run	Bike: 35 min	3 m pace	Rest	9 m run	Cross 65 min
8/22-8/28	5	Rest	5 m run	Bike: 35 min	3 m tempo	Rest	10 m run	Cross 65 min
8/29-9/4	6	Rest	4 m run	Bike: 35 min	4 m run	Rest	8 m run	Cross 65 min
9/5-9/11	7	Rest	6 m run	Bike: 40 min	4 m pace	Rest	12 m run	Cross 70 min
9/12-9/18	8	Rest	7 m run	Bike: 40 min	4 m tempo	Rest	13 m run	Cross 70 min
9/19-9/25	9	Rest	5 m run	Bike: 40 min	5 m run	Rest	*5-K Race*	Rest
9/26-10/2	10	Rest	7 m run	Bike: 45 min	4 m pace	Rest	15 m run	Cross 75 min
10/3-10/9	11	Rest	8 m run	Bike: 45 min	4 m tempo	Rest	16 m run	Cross 75 min
10/10-10/16	12	Rest	6 m run	Bike: 45 min	6 m run	Rest	*10-K Race*	Rest
10/17-10/23	13	Rest	8 m run	Bike: 50 min	5 m pace	Rest	17 m run	Cross 80 min
10/24-10/30	16	Rest	9 m run	Bike: 55 min	6 m pace	Rest	*Half Marathon*	Rest
10/31 – 11/6	15	Rest	6 m run	Bike: 50 min	6 m run	Rest	13 m run	Cross 80 min
11/7-11/13	14	Rest	9 m run	Bike: 50 min	5 m tempo	Rest	18 m run	Cross 80 min
11/14-11/20	17	Rest	10 m run	Bike: 55 min	6 m tempo	Rest	20 m run	Cross 85 min
11/21-11/27	18	Rest	7 m run	Bike: 55 min	7 m run	Rest	14 m run	Cross 85 min
11/28-12/4	19	Rest	10 m run	Bike: 60 min	7 m pace	Rest	20 m run	Cross 85 min
12/5-12/11	20	Rest	8 m run	Bike: 60 min	8 m run	Rest	*10-K Race*	Rest
12/12-12/18	21	Rest	10 m run	Bike: 60 min	7 m tempo	Rest	20 m run	Cross 90 min
12/19-12/25	22	Rest	6 m run	Bike: 50 min	6 m run	Rest	12 m run	Cross 75 min
12/26-1/1	23	Rest	4 m run	Bike: 40 min	4 m run	Rest	8 m run	Cross 60 min
1/2-1/8	24	Rest	2 m run	Bike: 30 min	Rest	Rest	1- 2 m run	*Marathon*

I also decided today that I’m going to follow along with Jenna’s 21 days of yoga. I mean, why not? If anything, I’ll sneak in 5 minutes of yoga a day, which was still more than I was doing previously. I had a serious craving for hot yoga today. My calves are a bit tight, and I wanted to be in downward dog in a 105 degree room. Instead of paying $15 dollars to do so, I just went outside and did yoga on my baloncy. Problem solved.

I want to incorporate fitness into my life. I want it to become a part of who I am, not just something I have to do because I signed up for a race and my training plan dictates I must.

I want to be fluent in yoga, swimming, biking, running, weight lifting. Does this mean I have to be the best at each? Of course not. It just means I need to work on each with dedication and patience.

And you know what? I’m never going to improve if I stay in my comfort zone. It’s pretty safe to say that agreeing to run 26.2 miles is very much outside my comfort zone.

My only hope is that we don’t end up at the finish line like these two ladies:

Sunday Morning

Baingan Bharta

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Mmm. Indian food.

When I saw Jenna’s recipe for baingan bharta, I knew I had to make room for it in my menu. I subbed the jalapeno for some ground cayenne pepper, real ginger for powdered ginger and cumin seeds for ground cumin, even though it explicitly says not to do that.

The food gods were shining down upon me though, because it worked out.

I bought some turmeric awhile back from a cute little shop in Asheville, The Spice and Tea Exchange. There were dozens and dozens of different spices in this shop, and if you’re in the area, I encourage you to go. I wish I could have brought the whole store with me, but alas, I only walked out with a little baggie of bright yellow gold.

Saute some onion, throw all the seasoning on top while the eggplant roasts away in the oven.

Blend everything up in the food processor or blender (not like you’re trying to make butternut squash soup) and you’re left with creamy, spicy deliciousness.

I seriously can’t believe how creamy this is for a vegan dish. The eggplant gives it an amazingly thick, rich consistency that absolutely melts in your mouth. I enjoyed this dip with local pita bread but I imagine it would be delicious on lentils, rice and definitely garlic naan!

This batch went way too fast (two days, anyone?) and I’m thinking I might need someone to hook me up to an IV of this stuff.

Spicy, creamy, delicious. What more do you need?

Bitchin’

What the..?

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So on Monday I ran 5 miles. Without stopping. At a 10:20 pace.

This is a huge deal for me. I have never run more than 3 miles without stopping to walk at least once and I’ve sure as hell never held under an 11 minute pace.

I’m trying not to jump for joy at this accomplishment because it was on a treadmill and I know treadmills sometimes lie.

But seriously? 5 miles? 10:20 pace? I felt awesome before, during and after the run. Is this what running is supposed to be like? I’m not supposed to feel like I’m dying with every step?

Maybe this half marathon won’t be as terrible as I’ve anticipated.

June 2013
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