Countdown!

72 days people. 72 DAYS before I get on a plane with the idea to run 13.1 miles in the most magical place on earth. 15 days before I can online Check- In to my hotel. Man, time flies! Remember when we were discussing how exciting it was because we were exactly a year away? Yea, that was forever ago. Excuse my why I go into my Anxiety corner and have a hyperventilating panic attack....

With the approaching deadline, the hubs and I thought that we should try to fit in a couple actual races to get a good gauge of our time. I mentioned this to Cindy and she suggested a Turkey Trot* and sure enough there was one sponsored by GRPS in downtown Grand Rapids. We signed up and were all excited. Myself more so that Kyle because it was my first official "Race" since the epic disaster that was the 2008 Metro Health Marathon Relay. (See 2009 ankle surgery for details) The week before had turned out to be unseasonably cold even for Michigan with lows in the teens and highs in the 20's. We grumbled/laughed about it but didn't cancel. We just bought some cold weather running gear at Target and made plans for Grandma and Grandpa to watch MB in morning. Well, Ol' Mother Nature decided it would be HILARIOUS to send the first real snow storm of the year the night before and morning of the race. Like winter weather advisory and everything! About 3-4 inches of snow fell between midnight and 6am. Still, we didn't back out, we were going to do this!

Ready to go!

Sleepy but kinda ready to go

The snow had mostly stopped by the time the race started but boy was it cold. TMI ALERT! I get really sweaty when I run so I was just in compression tights, shorts and a long sleeve shirt, with a hat and gloves. I was initially freezing my nubin's off but knew I would warm up quickly. The streets where we started weren't THAT bad. The asphalt had enough traction that you could generally get a good grip on the road. Grand Rapids also does it's best to heat the street and sidewalks with steam so they were about 40% clear of snow. Feeling pretty good, we kept up our run/walk/run pace up through the first mile. Then the problems started. With Grand Rapids being a pretty old city, there are a lot of brick roads. They don't really plow the narrow, old brick roads. And brick is slippery. Very slippery. And after the ridiculously slippery brick, there was treacherously slippery smooth concrete followed by some more slippery concrete. After almost causing ourselves and each other serious bodily harm several times, we decided that for safety reasons we needed to walk. We walked the next two miles, running when we felt we safely could which wasn't much. When we rounded the last bend to the finish line, we were back on asphalt and started running again. In the end it was kind of a bust but I ended up having a really good time. I got to spend the morning with my incredible hubs, laughing and trying to not fall flat on our backs and we got a T-shirt. After the race we stopped and got Starbucks and had the rest of the day to spend with our wonderful family. So I'm going to give this race a D- for conditions and a A+ for experience. It was fun and I plan on doing it next year again!

I finished my first "real" race!

As for regular runs, now that I'm done with the class I was taking (THANK GOODNESS) I'm going to start pushing my mileage up and get this thing done! Oh, and maybe get new shoes.
The countdown is on friends, We can do this!!!

Awww Aren't we adorbs

* For those of you who don't know, a Turkey Trot is a 5K on Thanksgiving morning.

Carrot Soup!

I'm working on my next post about how everything is going but this one is going to just be about food! So yay! Please forgive some of the formatting in the recipe area. Blogger was being a jerk....

Everybody raves about Spring and all the fresh veggies, which are great but they aren't my true love. Don't get me wrong, I adore the summer and all it's plentiful, tasty bounty. I even joined a CSA this year and it was an amazing experience but my most favorite food season, hands down has to be Fall. I'm a flip flop kind of girl all the way but it is kind of wonderful switching to boots, scarves and long sleeve shirts. After a the long, hot days of summer I welcome the cool, crisp mornings of Fall. It doesn't hurt that Michigan erupts into a beautiful bouquet of Autumn foliage either. Fall is also my favorite time to visit our local farmers market. There is something almost magical about it. Fewer people in the crisp weather, the colorful bounty of the Fall harvest, snuggling MB up against me in her baby carrier.... But I digress, I think you can tell, I Love Fall and it's food.

 The hubs is a major soup/stew fan and I tend to limit those in the summer because, Hello. Who wants to have soup when it's 90 Degrees out and who wants to have the stove/oven on for 5+ hours in the 90 Degree heat? Yeah. No One. So once it gets a bit nippy, I like to breakout my trusty 3-4 soup recipes and start putting them on repeat until it gets hot again. Now hubby likes that but I get pretty bored by oh, November. To solve said boredom, I turned to trusty (In a slight stalker-ish kind of way) food blog obsession! Of course, Miss Deb never, ever disappoints. In the October edition of Parade magazine I came upon her recipe for Carrot Soup with Turkey Meatballs and spinach. How perfectly Fall does that sound? The correct answer is VERY! And having just received a poop-load of carrots from my CSA, the timing couldn't have been better. The result was an orange splattered kitchen plus a heaping helping a Fall deliciousness (Don't judge, I'm still learning to use my immersion blender) The carrots were a perfectly sweet back drop to the super tender, cheesy meatballs and the spinach just seemed to round out the whole thing. Add the yummy taste on top of the fact that you have a really healthy meal filled with veggies, greens and lean protein and you've definitely got a winner! Also, it's just a really easy one pot wonder!

So here's to Fall and the calm before the storm that is the Holidays. I hope you will embrace the cool weather and make this ridiculously delicious soup! Tune in next week for a running update, I can't believe we are 106 days away from checking into our flights! Time flies when you are having fun!

Carrot Soup with Turkey Meatballs and Spinach
Origianally in Parade Magazine, October 2013
By Deb Perelman
*Notes- You most certainly do NOT need an immersion blender to make this. A regular blender works perfectly, just be careful with blending hot things in general. I added a few splashes of chicken stock at the end just to loosen up the consistency for my own person tastes. Enjoy!

Soup:

2 Tbsp olive oil

2 lb carrots, chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves garlic, smashed

Kosher salt

1 pinch red pepper flakes (optional)

4 cups chicken, turkey, or vegetable broth (homemade or reduced-sodium canned)

2 cups baby spinach leaves, sliced

Meatballs: 

½ lb ground turkey

¼ cup grated ­Parmesan or pecorino cheese

¼ cup bread crumbs

2 Tbsp milk (or water)

1 clove garlic, minced

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

For Soup:

Heat a large pot over medium heat. Add oil, carrots, onion, garlic, 1/2tsp salt and red pepper flakes. Saute' and stir until the veggies start to brown, about 15 minutes. Add the broth, scraping up any bits from the bottom of the pan. Cover and simmer until the carrots are tender, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
For Meatballs:
While the carrots are cooking, in a medium bowl mix together all the meatball ingredients, seasoning with salt and pepper and rolling into 1" balls. Reserve on platter.
Finishing Soup:
Using an immersion blender or a conventional blender, puree' until smooth. If using a regular blender, return soup to put. Bring to a simmer and all meatballs. Let simmer until meatballs are cooked through, about 10 minutes. Add spinach and simmer until wilted. Thin out with broth with desired. Serve and enjoy!

Guest Post! Having a Baby Changes Everything

Thank goodness Cindy is here for you guys because I've been seriously slacking. Look forward to a yummy carrot soup recipe next week and enjoy the latest from my partner in crime!


I used to laugh when grad students called their dissertations their "baby", but around February of this year, I suddenly completely understood the sentiment.  I started to get very protective of my research projects, got upset when when my adviser suggested changes or "improvements", and I felt a huge ball of anxiety settle in my belly as the "due date" approached.

In the end, after a five year gestation period and a hard two months of labor, my precious baby entered the world.  May I present:  "Intracortical Microstimulation of Somatosensory Cortex: Functional Encoding and Localization of Neuronal Recruitment" Much like I've heard a real human infant does, this baby of mine has completely changed my life in innumerable ways:

1) I can now officially make people call me "Dr. O."
2) I can make people completely flabbergasted by telling them basic facts about myself.  (This is particularly effective in person when they can see that I am a small, youngish female "Wait... you have a PhD... in engineering?!?!?")
3) My relationship with my adviser has almost completely swung from mentee to friend.  He's a cool guy, so this is a very good thing.
4) I got a real, big girl engineering job.  It pays me money and everything!
5) Said big girl job required moving from Phoenix to San Diego, where I know maybe 3 people. 
6) The move means that I am living apart from my husband, who has to stay in Phoenix for the time being.

Needless to say, these big life changes have made me put my running and exercise habits on the back burner for a bit.  I'm working on making new friends and slowly figuring out how to do this long-distance relationship thing again.  But as Briana keeps reminding me, the half marathon is rapidly approaching!  


So I got started running again this week.  It's strange... there are hills and humidity here!  My strategy so far has been to run a mile, then repeat walking 2/10 mi. and running 8/10 mi up to 3 miles.  I seem to be able to finish that consistently within about 35 minutes.  This weekend I'm planning to find a place to run along the coast (did I mention that I live 5 minutes from the ocean?) and hopefully try out 5 miles for the first time!

DisneyWorld, here we come!

What the heck happened??

Oh friends, what the heck happened that last month? To say that our family life has been crazy and stressful is a laughable understate. Our life in the past month made bringing home a newborn look like a piece of cake. Life has left me so exhausted that the end of the day that all I have had the energy to do is plop into bed and try to turn off my brain so I can sleep. I think it you all know where I'm headed with this. My running has suffered tremendously from this. And I know, I know everybody is going to say that working out when I don't want to is the best thing for me. But kids, I only have so much energy to use throughout the day and right now 70% is going towards stress and 30% is going to wrangling a toddler.

I could go on and on and fill this post with whining and excuses but that's not going to get me anywhere.  I really feel like any and all progress that I made is gone. I'm sure that's not entirely true but I know that my body is not were it needs to be to tackle a 9.5 mile run. The plan is to just get back up and keep going. I'm going to start back at 5 miles and just work forward again to get where I need to be. I'm just thankful that this happened with 4 months to the race and not 1 month to the race.

I promised from the beginning that I would be 100% honest through this process and honestly, having come as far as 8 miles and then just stopping is so shameful. It took me 3 days to even write this post because I was so ashamed to share it. Send me your good thoughts and motivation, friends. We can do this.

Shoo Shoes

*Note on the title: It's what MB calls Shoes*

Well howdy! Bet you thought I had abandoned you. Ha! Well no such luck for you, I'm still here and still kicking. There just isn't much going on right now on the training front. I'll admit, I have been slacking a little bit. (Please, Scold away!) Life has just gotten in the way of everything else. Baby colds, hubby colds, work drama, you name it, we've had it! Things seem to be getting back on track and this weekend I'm attempting my longest distance to date. 9.5 miles. Wow, that seems scary just typing it but I'm confident that I can get it done. Like I've said before, I have to get it done. I'm too cheap to back out now, especially now that I have my fantastic hotel booked! Still waiting on those plane ticket prices to go down....

Anyway, I wanted to discuss something today. Something I am trying to convince the hubs is super important. Something he is not seeing my point on. And that something is Running Shoes! One of the things that I love about running is it really takes no special equipment. Yes there are things that make it easier, better, more enjoyable but to "become a runner" you need shoes, shorts/pants, a t-shirt and the great outdoors. (This coming from the girl who is in love with her trusty 20 year old treadmill)

Quick Overview: When I started this venture, I had NO intentions of buying running shoes. None, zip, zilch. They were for "runners" and I was just a runner. And hello, those things are expensive and I don't have to tell you that I'm just a little bit cheap. When I started, my feet and ankle hurt after every short training run, like bad. Real bad. I just attributed that to my lack of training, ankle surgery and general out of shapeness. My friend (and person who cuts my hair) runs all the time kept pestering me to just try them. Hi Marcy!! :) I blogged about the experience way back when so you all know how much I love Gazelle Sports and how much I love my shoes.

If you are still with me at this point 1) Sorry for the long winded babbling. 2) The moral of the story is, if are starting to run yourself and can do one thing to help get started, Go to a local sports store with real people and invest in a pair of good running shoes. Please understand that I'm not telling you to go out and buy the most expensive running shoes you can find. Expensive running shoes will not a good runner make. I'm simply imploring you to take a chance and spend a little bit more for some good quality shoes, fitted to your specific needs that are going to help you reach your goal . Example: I have ridiculously flat feet. Finding a shoe that would support me without forcing my foot into an unnatural position has made my running life so very much better.

So there you have it. Kyle, Go buy some running shoes! What are do you guys think about running shoes? Am I off my rocker? Totally not worth the price? 155 days people!

Happy Blogiversary!!

Happy Blog-iverasary to me! Ok, Ok I'm one day early but you get the point. One year ago I started down the path of getting myself healthy. One year ago I stopped making excuses for my bad habits and started training for something I had only daydreamed about accomplishing. One year ago I stopped playing the victim and decided to take my health into my own two hands.... and feet.

Where are we now? I'm certainly not at my goal weight but I am down two pants sizes ( sometimes 3 depending on the brand) and wore a bathing suit this summer without freaking out. I am still working on my relationship with food but am coming into my own understanding of what a healthy balance is in my life. And let's talk about the running! One year ago I almost died trying (not completing) to barely jog a mile. Last weekend I kept my body in an upright forward motion for 8 miles! If that isn't progress then I'm not sure what is. We've also had a chance to babble about the ups and downs of forcing your body to do things it never thought it could. All the while sharing some yummy recipes at the same time. Overall my friends, life is good.

This one year mark is a momentous occasion for me. I have never, I mean never stuck with any type of routine for this long. I have a tendency to get really excited about something then the excitement fizzles and I quit. But not this time. We are at the one year mark and I am just as motivated as ever to keep going. I attribute that to two things. 1) The support of my wonderful family and friends. Especially my magnificent, loving, strong, caring husband who has to put up with all my ups and downs and loves me just the way I am, flaws and all.(Even though I'll never understand why) And of course, let's not forget my amazing friend, and fabulous guest blogger, Cindy who is running with me and my sister and her crew who are both running and there for support. 2) All you guys!!! I know some of your may be included in #1 but the support and kinds comments I get from all you readers is invaluable. I never would have kept this going with put your words of encouragement and gentle nudges to keep my behind moving.

So where do we stand at this moment? I'm getting ready to retire my first pair of running shoes I've ever owned in favor of a new model. I'm excited for cooler temperatures so we can use our new to us jogging stroller.  The hotel for the WDW Princess half marathon is booked. I'm not- so silently cursing Delta's high prices on flights only to realize every airline is that expensive and I'm gearing up for a 9.5 mile training run in the next couple of weeks. My, how one year changes things. 175 days until we leave for Florida, 177 days until the race, LET'S DO THIS!!!!

UPDATED: Stalled

UPDATE: I did it!! Saturday night I finished my 8 mile training run! At about 12:14am so I guess we can call that Sunday morning. Who cares, I did it! And no, it was not fun, it was not enjoyable, there was no runners high just pain and feet throbbing. But I did it, it's done and now we can go on. :) This week is just a short three mile training run. How funny is it to call three miles short? Six months ago three miles would have killed me but I digress.  Then on to nine and a half, my next challenge. Any suggestions on how to fuel myself on long runs? I still need to get the hang of that. I had absolutely nothing left that last mile. 

We're back on track friends. Can I get a HECK YEA?!?!

P.S. I still highly recommend the peach tart below, easy yummy and oh so summery :)





 

Ever feel like the Universe just really, really doesn't want you to do something? I'll tell ya friends, I am just about at my wits end with this whole eight miles thing. Right as I was finally getting better from the last cold I whined to you about, I was hit with the dreaded Daycare Plague. For those of you who don't know, Daycare Plague is the terrible cold/sickness/disease you get brought home to you from daycare via your precious gift from above. Classic Daycare Plague involves your child having a runny nose and coughing a little bit from a mild- moderate cold which then transforms into all encompassing viral death for the parent. Oh the joys of parenthood... So while MB had a runny nose and a bit of a cough for about 3 days, I was on my behind struggling to breathe and not die for over a week! We're on day 9 of this and I still sound like a 50 year old smoker in the morning.

So I did the only thing that would make me feel better: Bake. (Cold Meds were backfiring and making me feel worse) I lamented a while back that there were no dessert recipes on here and planned to rectify that immediately and then never did. Which was sad, I'm quite the dessert person. Baking makes me happy and I (usually) share the results with other people which also makes me happy. So here I am, righting the sad wrong of no desserts on here.

I really love fresh peaches. Peach season each summer is my greatest love, even more so than strawberry season I think. There is a local orchard, Well's Orchard, that grows some of the most sublime peaches I have ever eaten. I mean seriously I would knock down old ladies* to get these peaches. I generally get one box/quart each week at the market which is 5-7 peaches depending on the size. I love to eat them just straight up but every now and then they all ripen at the same time. While I'm capable of eating 5 peaches in a setting, it does get old.

 I can hardly call this a recipe. It was more I have 5 ripe peaches, a store bought pie crust** in the fridge that isn't going to make it much longer and am in desperate need of something sweet. Hence, the rustic peach tart! Thrown together quickly, baked for 45-50 minutes and voila. If you are wanting the yumminess of a pie without all the fuss this is your dessert!

Even with this being the busiest week of the summer I swear, I'm still plugging along on my maintenance runs during the week. That eight mile training run, however is just staring at me on my training calendar. I cross off every one that I do and am seriously looking forward to being able to cross that b*&$@ off, pardon my language. So check back early next week for an update because I AM getting this distance done with weekend, even if it kills me.... which I hope it doesn't. Send your encouragements, friends. I need them! 190 days!!

Rustic Peach Tart
Adapted from Better Homes and Gardens
To be honest there are things I would change about this. I baked it on foil to avoid stick-age but without the direct contact to the cookie sheet it just didn't get as brown as I would have liked.  I also might omit the almonds. I had them in the cupboard so I tossed them on but they really didn't add anything to the finished product in my opinion. The cinnamon is optional but I firmly believe that peaches (and blueberries) are so much better with just a smidgen of cinnamon.

1 Refrigerated Pie crust ( or 1 recipe for a single crust pie)
4-5 Ripe peaches, sliced and peeled (or 3 cups frozen peaches, thawed)
1/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons flour (more if you feel your peaches are super juicy)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/4 cups sliced or slivered almonds
milk(optional)
raw sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 375 degree F. Lightly flour surface and roll out pie crust to a 13" circle. Transfer to a baking sheet that has been greased or lined with foil.
In  a bowl, gently stir together peaches, sugar, flour and cinnamon until the peaches are well coated. Mound the fruit in the middle of the crust, leaving a two inch border. Gently fold crust over fruit. This is supposed to be rustic so don't worry about imperfections. See photos above for reference. Sprinkle on almonds if using. Lightly brush the crust with milk and sprinkle with raw sugar before baking (optional)
Bake for 40-50 minutes or until the outside and bottom crust has browned and the filling is bubbling. Cover edges with foil to prevent over browning if necessary. Cool on sheet 30 minutes before serving to allow the filling to set. Serve with whip cream or ice cream and enjoy!


* Sorry old lady I swatted with MB in the baby carrier last weekend at the farmer's market in the quest for peaches, I swear it was an accident!

 ** I don't normally use/buy these. There is absolutely nothing wrong with them, Homemade is just so easy that I prefer that. If you would rather not go through the fuss of homemade, by all means grab a store bought with no shame!

Not quite there...

My previous request for good wishes may have been premature. I had every intention of doing the 8 mile training run last week, up to the point of having my running stuff on. When I start hacking my lungs out while tying my shoes, the hubs gently suggested that I get over whatever plaugue MB infected me with before attempting to run. You know, since breathing was difficult that point.

This Sunday morning I got up all excited to do my long run. Ok, ok, maybe "excited" isn't quite the word I would use, more like dragged my tired butt out of bed to get it done. I was, however determined to beat this. 8 miles would be the furthest I've ever gone. I don't like running in the morning, I never have. I feel sluggish, tired and not at my best. (Something I should work on since the 1/2 starts at 5:30am but whatever) This run was no exception. It felt like a chore just to keep my legs moving but I got in a groove and kept moving forward. About 3.5 miles in I noticed a bit of pain in my surgery-ed ankle but just took a quick second to stretch it and kept going. Having never had a problem with that foot since I start this whole thing, I didn't think much of it and kept going. Well the pain got worse and worse. I kept going, hoping that I could power through but my better judgment took over and I called it quits at 5 miles. I know better than to push that foot to hard so I limped upstairs for ice and rest. I also baked, took a bath and watched a movie. I know, I have a hard life.

Needless to say I was VERY disappointed. I have never not been able to do a training distance ever. It was not a good feeling. It even made me question whether 13.1 is possible. Thankfully that moment of despair didn't last long.  I still have concerns about whether or not my ankle* can handle these kind of distances but I'm determined and have a really good physical therapist if it comes to that.

So there you have it, I promised to share the successes and the failures. I'm trying that dreadful 8 miles again on Tuesday so send good thoughts again!!

*Recap- Ankle surgery in 2009 after a (ironically enough) running injury in 2008. Scar tissue removed from the whole joint and a sizable chunk of tendon removed due to calcification.

Farm Fresh

3 Miler maintenance run this week, did it, it was fine, not much to report on that front....

Hard to read, bad picture. Our CSA* haul for the week

I have always loved fresh food. Packaged food is convenient yes but it rarely if ever fills you up, is nutritionally abysmal and just doesn't taste as good. I also love to cook and try new things so a CSA* seemed like a perfect fit for my family.
For some back ground, Cindy took me with her to pick up her parents CSA share once when we were hanging out while she was on summer vacation, though she swears she has no idea what I'm talking about. I was immediately kind of obsessed with it. The veggies looked divine and it was a lot of fun tromping through a farm field picking beans. I harassed her for the info and she sent it to me. The shares for that year had already been sold so I bookmarked the website, promising to remember to sign up in the fall and promptly forgot about it for about two years. Towards the end of that two years I discovered the Fulton Street Farmers Market. Holy crap, I was in heaven. This place had/has stall after stall of fresh veggies, fruits, breads, cupcakes, etc with the nicest people ever! .....Save for a rather awkward encounter with a free-range chicken farmer but we'll save that for another day. Two years later, I still drag my tired butt out of bed every Saturday morning at 6:45am (MB is awake anyway) to get my little family up and ready to be at the market by 8 to avoid the worst of the crowds in rain, shine or snow to get our produce for the week. Yes I said snow, I'm that into it.

To swing this rambling story around, one week at FFM, I saw the Trillium Haven Farm stall and remembered it was the farm I had visited with Cindy. OF COURSE their shares were sold out for the year already but I was determined to get one next year. Well, next year they opened a restaurant and halted the CSA program for a year ARG! So this year, Finally!! My mom and I went in on a half share and it has been great! I've started eating things like Kohlrabi, garlic scapes and green garlic, three things I had never even heard of a year ago let alone eaten.

While not the greatest picture, you can see the over abundance of veggies we get every other week.  (Sorry. Bad lighting, trying to do it fast with a niece and nephew grabbing on to me) My market bag was overflowing with yumminess. Seriously, like overflowing. It had to weight 20 lbs and stuff kept falling out while I walked to the car. Beets, kohlrabi, two kinds of cabbage, carrots, turnips, radishes, lettuce, spicy greens, broccoli, kale, Swiss chard and I'm sure some other veggies I'm forgetting.  This is a typical haul for the week. The value in this program is phenomenal. If I were to buy each of these items at the FM individually it would easily be about as much as I paid for the whole season through Trillium. Not because it's expensive because there's so much of it!

So long, weird story aside, I encourage everyone to try to buy and eat local! Almost every city has a farmers market somewhere these days. Our immediate area has 4 that I can think of off the the top of my head. Buying straight from the farmers is the way to go. Everything tastes a whole heck of a lot better then any of that "produce" you get from Walmart . I swear farm fresh lettuce changed my life. And it's just fun! I love that my daughter gets to see where her food is coming from at an early age. It's a great thing to do as a family after a long week of work and daycare. We started small, getting a couple things here and there the first couple years and have slowly increased our market hauls. Try it, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Send your spare good thoughts to me this weekend, this week I'm tackling an 8 miler! I'll share how that went next week. Keep cool and eat local my friends! :) 

*What's a CSA you ask? It is Community Supported Agriculture. A lot of farms around this area (and I'm assuming nationwide) have them. You pay for a half or full "Share" of the farm and in return get a predetermined amount a produce. In my case it's every other week plus you-pick-it on the farm.

Half way!

Well hello again! I promise my less than regular attendance on here has nothing to do with my progress on the current venture. It has more to do with the insane pace our life has been on this summer as is evident by the utter lack of food in my fridge/cabinets and the 4 diapers I currently have in my house.... I should probably figure out a time to go shopping......

Anyway! I have officially completed over half of the required distance! 7 miles to be exact! That in itself is mind- boggling to me. If you would have told me six months ago I would be able to keep my body in a continuous forward motion for 7 miles I would have LOL-ed at you while sitting on my duff watching TV. Not to say I still don't have my duff sitting- TV watching moments but much more of my time is now put into training, which I'm going to take as a good sign! Building on that success, I'm now more determined to run the Grand Rapids 1/2 in October to get an accurate measure of the time it's going to take to actually go 13.1 miles. That way if I'm ridiculously slow, I have 3 months to either bust my butt and get my time where it needs to be or just maintain. I have until August 15th to decide on the GR 1/2, after that the price goes up and I'm cheap. Someone talk some sense into me! (Or just kick my butt into signing up now, I'm good with both options)

So that's where we are at now! I'm fairly happy with the progress I'm making and I'm hoping to keep it up! I'm working on a couple posts dedicated to my recent introduction to farm-fresh food from the CSA program I joined this year and my ongoing obsession with our local farmer's market. Preview: Farm fresh lettuce kind of blew my mind with it's awesomeness.

Counting down 226 days to race day, we can do this!

For Reaz...

"Dear Briana,
Congratulations! You are now registered for 2014 Disney Princess Half Marathon Weekend. Please check the event's official website for updates: http://www.runDisney.com"

Well kids, it's official! I encouraged everyone else running with me to register for the race since it had been open a grand total of 72 hours and was already 60% full. And they all did..... so it got kind of awkward when I hadn't, since it was my idea and all. So with much panicky wheezing I plopped down a sizable chunk of change to dear ol' Mickey Mouse and got me and the hubs signed up to run! It's surreal to me that in 8 months I will be running at WDW. Back when we started our semi-weekly chats (In August 2012, wow!) I had serious doubts whether this would be even possible so to have actually registered for the race is a tribute to how far I've come. It is also a tribute to all those wonderful people who are supporting. Specifically, The hubs: who is my rock in everything and just one pretty awesome dude, Cindy: one of the best friends a girl could ask for, and my sister and her boyfriend who are coming along to cheer and run with us. Having a great group behind me is the driving force that keeps me going. And thanks to all the readers! Your support is why I keep barfing my thoughts onto this blog week after week! :)

In running news, last week Kyle and I participated in an area Relay for Life through the American Cancer Society. We took the opportunity to do that weeks 3 mile training run on the high school track the event was taking place on. Why not kill two birds with one stone? We also wanted to get an accurate assessment of our progress thus far. I love my trusty 15 year old treadmill but I just wasn't buying the fact that it said I could barely do a mile in 17:30.  So we popped on our trusty MapMyRun android app on my phone and away we went. Lo and behold our average pace was 13:06min/mile, with walk breaks! This makes me VERY happy because the minimum race pace is 16min/mile and I was convinced I was waaaaaaay slower than that so yay! :)

It's been a happy week full of good things and I hope that trend continues. We're on our way friends, on to the biggest personal goal I have ever set my mind too. It won't be without doubts and downer moments but I'm fairly certain that this is really going to happen :)

And the adventure continues...

Delicious Concerns

Two food posts in a row! Aren't you lucky? Anyway, this recipe has been staring at me every since it was posted. I don't know why but it was just calling out to me, which is funny because 1) I'm not really a huge kale fan, raw or cooked and 2) I think raw cabbage smells like feet. But I just couldn't resist so I made these little babies. OMG Yum.

Crunchy, yummy veggies mixed with just the lightest batter of eggs and flour. They were seriously like the perfect lunch.  I was so very pleasantly surprised that the cabbage feet smell went away even with the little bit of cooking you do. The veggies stay crunchy and the recipe calls for a homemade ketchup of sorts that is tangy and wonderful and the perfect compliment to these yummies.

 Throw a fried egg on top, drizzle with some of the sauce, Ladies and Gentlemen, Welcome to Heaven. It took me way to long to make these and I can assure you I will not be waiting that long to make them again. These are so simple, there really isn't much to say about them. They are a great way to get your veggies in and just taste kinda wonderful so make them! Recipe Below

Delicious Japanese vegetable pancakes aside, this weekend was not super motivating. I did my 5 mile training run but it took a long time, like a really long time. It's hard to be excited about this when I'm still not even sure I can get my time fast enough to not be taken off the course (The race has a pace requirement of 16min/mile). Which would prolly be the most devastatingly embarrassing thing to happen to me in like ever. I'm not giving up but I'm sure worried about this working at all. My wonderful hubby has decided (Read: pushed by his doctor to be more active) to run with me. So now I've got at least 3 people who have decided to do this craziness because of me and I'm not even sure if it's possible to make my body do that! Sigh. I'm not giving up but there are a lot of concerns in my mind right now, not to mention some seriously sore hips from yesterday's run. This weekend I'm doing a couple hours for the local American Cancer Society Relay for Life, which is on a track so I figure I might as well do my 3 miles then. It will be my first time not on a treadmill in front of people so wish me luck! Also, here's my shameless plug for ACS donations. Please go Here and consider donating $10 to my walk! Cancer has effected almost everyone in some way shape or form and together we can end it!

And the adventure continues!

Japanese Vegetable Pancakes [Okonomiyaki] with Cabbage, Kale and Carrots
Smitten Kitchen, Adapted, just a little, from Josher Walker of Xiao Bao Biscuit, in Charleston, SC via Tasting Table
Okonomiyaki are traditional served squeeze with a generous criss-cross of Japanese mayonnaise and a okonomiyaki sauce, tangy-sweet-salty mixture I’d liken to Japanese barbecue sauce, which is sold in bottles but I attempted to cobble together a version from recipes I found online, below. Please forgive me if the flavor isn’t perfect; I am new to it, but we loved it, just the same. Pancakes are then sprinkled with bonito flakes, seaweed flakes or even pickled ginger, but we enjoyed ours with a finely slivered scallion and toasted sesame seeds. I imagine they’d also be good with bites dipped in a simpler dumpling dipping sauce.
Yield: 4 large pancakes or I am really sorry, but I forgot to count, but I’d say at least 12, probably 14, smaller ones
Pancakes
1/2 small head cabbage, very thinly sliced (1 pound or 5 to 6 cups shreds) which will be easiest on a mandoline if you have one
4 medium carrots, peeled into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
5 lacinato kale leaves, ribs removed, leaves cut into thin ribbons
4 scallions, thinly sliced on an angle
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
6 large eggs, lightly beaten
Canola, safflower or peanut oil for frying
Tangy Sauce
1/4 cup ketchup
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce (note: this is not vegetarian)
1/4 teaspoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon rice cooking wine or sake
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon honey (use 2 if you like a sweeter sauce)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
Make the pancakes: Toss cabbage, carrot, kale, scallions and salt together in a large bowl. Toss mixture with flour so it coats all of the vegetables. Stir in the eggs. Heat a large heavy skillet on medium-high heat. Coat the bottom with oil and heat that too.
To make a large pancake, add 1/4 of the vegetable mixture to the skillet, pressing it out into a 1/2- to 3/4-inch pancake. Gently press the pancake down flat. Cook until the edges beging to brown, about 3 minutes. 30 seconds to 1 minute later, flip the pancake with a large spatula. (If this is terrifying, you can first slide the pancake onto a plate, and, using potholders, reverse it back into the hot skillet.) Cook on the other side until the edges brown, and then again up to a minute more (you can peek to make sure the color is right underneath).
To make small pancakes, you can use tongs but I seriously find using my fingers and grabbing little piles, letting a little batter drip back into the bowl, and depositing them in piles on the skillet easier, to form 3 to 4 pancakes. Press down gently with a spatula to they flatten slightly, but no need to spread them much. Cook for 3 minutes, or until the edges brown. Flip the pancakes and cook them again until brown underneath.
Regardless of pancake size, you can keep them warm on a tray in the oven at 200 to 250 degrees until needed.
If desired, make okonomiyaki sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients in a small saucepan and let simmer for 3 to 5 minutes, until smooth and thick.
Serve pancakes with sauce and any of the other fixings listed above, from Japanese mayo to scallions and toasted sesame seeds.
Do ahead: Extra pancakes will keep in the fridge for a couple days, or can be spread on a tray in the freezer until frozen, then combined in a freezer bag to be stored until needed. Reheat on a baking sheet in a hot oven until crisp again.