Guest Blog #4! Up and up and up!

I've been on a bit of a hiatus from running.  That's partially due to being busy with work/school (dissertation deadline is looming) and partially due to having an incredibly incompetent immune system (yet another thing Briana and I have in common!).  But despite the lack of running, I have at least been keeping up with my favorite form of strength training: rock climbing!

I've been climbing at an indoor rock gym for on and off for about 2.5 years, usually 3x a week during the "on" phases.  Most of the time I go with a friend, which makes it a lot harder to be lazy and skip a day.  Having a partner also keeps me accountable to try new and harder things, which has really been paying off lately.  I think part of the difficulty to exercising regularly is that you make slow progress but it's easy to forget where you started... so I will celebrate the fact that I can do 5 pull-ups in a row now! 

My climbing partners talked me into competing in a recent bouldering competition hosted by a local climbing gym that is designed with both elite and amateur climbers in mind.  Bouldering is where you climb a wall without ropes, up to about 10-12 feet off the ground.  Routes are marked with different color tape and assigned point values based on how difficult they are (5 points for something like a ladder, up to 1200 points for something completely insane). I find bouldering a bit more challenging than climbing a tall wall on a rope, mostly because the well-padded ground is the only thing to catch you if you fall :-)  The mental aspect of climbing is hugely important... I've been working hard to drown my inner pessimist and just try my best.

For the competition you had 3 hours to climb as many routes as you wanted, then you tallied up the points from the hardest 5 climbs you completed to make up your final score.  My friends and I had a blast trying a bunch of routes, and I ended up placing squarely in the middle of the 20-something females bracket, which I was super proud of.

The coolest thing though was how cooperative and friendly all of the other climbers were.  I was working on some easier climbs right next to some really ridiculously hard routes, and the elite climbers took time out to cheer me on.  When I got stuck, lots of people would offer advice or show me how they got past a tricky spot.  Everyone clapped for the kids who were competing (and in many cases climbing way better than the adults).  It was really fun to be part of an event where everyone was competing against themselves more so than each other.  I think that happens pretty frequently in running too, and I'm excited to experience that in the coming year!

I did finally get out for a run this week (right before we had our first 100+ degree day!) and did way better than anticipated.  My husband went with me, which no doubt encouraged me to go faster than I would have otherwise, but we managed 2 miles at an average pace just under 10 min/mile (with a nice leisurely walk between the miles so I could catch my wind).  There is no way I could have done that all those months ago when I first got started with this crazy adventure.

So, 2 miles down, only 11.1 to go.  Easy peasy.  Well, at least if it wasn't

101 degrees outside right now...

Derailed!

Oh perhaps the better term would be... denailed?
At the risk of TMI, long story short I had both sides of my big toenail surgically removed. Gross right? It's not a huge big deal but I can't shove my foot in my running shoes until it heals a bit more, which could be a couple weeks. Never fear friends! This isn't a "poor me" post I promise. In light of not being able to gamble about like a bunny on the treadmill, I've switched back to barefooting it on the elliptical! Not the safest or most comfortable way to do it but it's still working out! And whoa did I forget how many muscles the elliptical uses! I think I need to get that baby into my circuit training more often.

And if that wasn't cool enough, I've also gotten up 2 WEEK DAYS IN A ROW EARLY (!!!) to get my runs/elliptical time in before work. Get your Bibles out people, this must be a sign of the end of the world. For those of you who don't know me, to say I am so not a morning person is a comically massive understatement. I am quite possibly the least morning person you have ever met. I can get me, my husband and baby out the door in 30 minutes, a feat I have perfected so I can sleep to the absolute last second. Getting out of bed before I absolutely have to is a big, big accomplishment for me. I'm not in love with the idea yet. I would still much rather be in bed but the brisk workout wakes me up a bit and it's really nice to get it done and over with early in the day so I'm not missing out on MB time at night. I'm planning to keep this routine up for the foreseeable future, keep your fingers crossed for me.

So that's my pretty boring life as of right now. I did realize that I don't have one single dessert recipe on this site and that makes me extremely sad so look for one of those in the coming weeks! Until then, stay classy!

Notes on Boston- I have been thinking about the horrific events that took place in Boston a week ago. While I could write a whole post on those I just want to say a few things. Seeing the selfless kindness displayed by so many in the days following such a cowardess act of terror truly made me proud to be an American. The number of stories of stranger helping stranger, people taking runners off the streets into their homes to help them rest and instances of everyday heroes far outnumbered the bad ones and showed the world how the US deals with tragedy.
Long distance runners are truly a family, strangers from all over the world forever bonded together by the pursuit of endurance. With only other runners able to understand what you are going through, that bond becomes unbreakable. Having just recently joined this family I can say I have never met a group of people more welcoming, supportive or encouraging people than runners. So as a family , we stand firmly together, grieving the losses, supporting the wounded and vowing to run on.

And the adventure continues!

Both delicious and crazy!

First, the delicious: So there are two things in the kitchen (currently) that cause me some serious fuss. Anything that requires yeast, for serious this stuff stresses me out, and risotto. I have essentially given up on anything yeast based because I have neither the patience nor climate for things to properly proof and it just really is not worth the stress to me. But risotto seemed so easy, yet every time I've attempted, I've used up all my liquid and the rice has been hard, like hurt your teeth hard. Yum right? To quote Alton Brown, "Not good eats". So I had given that up too, then I came across this little gem. Tomato and Sausage Risotto

*Disclaimer- I'm absolutely in love with smitten kitchen. Deb is the most wonderful cook, blogger, photographer you name it. I would give most anything to be her bbf in New York so she can teach me her secrets. Smitten kitchen has become my go-to site for any recipe I need EVER! Everything I have made from both her blog or her cookbook is divine. My person favorites are Key Lime coconut cake and Brownie Roll-out cookies. But seriously if you need a recipe for anything, ever go here! Think I'm obsessed much?

So anyway when I saw this, I knew I had to give it a try, I mean it's smitten kitchen approved so it's got to be good! It's also cheaper than regular risotto. Just a can a diced tomatos and some water, BOOM instant risotto liquid, forget all the expensive stock/broth.The base process for risotto is really easy. First saute meat and onions, add arborrio rice and then slowly add hot liquid, stirring the whole time to develop the starches in the rice.

 

Wait for it.......

YAY!!! The result was a tomato-y, sausage-y, spinach-y creamy bowl of hearty goodness. So very much worth the 40-ish minutes it takes to make this creamy and delicious. You may note that the pot looks almost empty.... because it is. It was so yummy I forgot to take a picture of the finished product until we had almost eaten half the pot.This is a must make. Perfect for some seriously chilly, rainy days were have been having here in the Great Lakes. You know, instead of the warmer, sunnier, lovelier days of Spring.  Not cool Mother Nature, not cool.

So now on to the crazy part!
Don't worry, I'm not quitting or anything, quite the contrary. I'm considering adding another 13.1 miles to my repertoire.I realized that the source of a lot of my anxiety is according to my original plan, the first time I was going to "race" the half distance was at the Princess half, with a time limit and that might not be the best plan for a beginner. *WHEEZE* So I looked into the Grand Rapids Marathon since they have a half race as well. From the FAQ section:

Cutoff Times? Do you have cutoff times for either race?
YES! We’d really like it if you finish on some day ending in a “Y” Stay perpendicular and cross the FINISH LINE. We’ll save you a beer.  HOWEVER—Treat this like a race, a personal challenge, or whatever, but don’t be stopping to have a picnic or whatever.

YAY! So I'm very much considering for this Half in October in preparation for the Princess in February. That way I'll know I can do the distance and will have 3.5 months to work on my time. What are your thoughts? Good? Bad? Crazy? I welcome any and all feedback! So here's to risotto, Spring coming and new plans! Oh, and compression running pants are amazing. Thanks to all my FB friends who suggested them! 

And the journey continues! (Recipe below)

Tomato and Sausage Risotto
Note: I used turkey italian sausage and only 1 container of spinach (5oz) and that was more than enough for me.

Adapted from Martha Stewart Everyday Food
Serves (a big) 4
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes in juice
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, casings removed
1 small onion, finely chopped
Coarse salt and ground pepper
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup dry white wine
1 bunch flat-leaf spinach (10 to 14 ounces), washed well, tough stems removed, chopped (about 7 cups)
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving (optional)
2 tablespoons butter

1. In a small saucepan, combine tomatoes (with their juice) and 3 cups water. Bring just to a simmer; keep warm over low heat.
2. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add sausage and onion; season with salt and pepper. Cook, breaking up sausage with a spoon, until sausage is opaque and onion has softened, 3 to 5 minutes.
3. Add rice; cook, stirring until well coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Add wine; cook, stirring until absorbed, about 1 minute.
4. Add about 2 cups hot tomato mixture to rice; simmer over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until absorbed, 4 to 5 minutes. Continue adding tomato mixture, 1 cup at a time, waiting for one cup to be absorbed before adding the next, stirring occasionally, until rice is creamy and just tender, about 25 minutes total (you may not have to use all the liquid).
5. Remove pan from heat. Stir in spinach, Parmesan, and butter; season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately (risotto will thicken as it cools), and sprinkle with additional Parmesan, if desired.

You win some...

I promised to share my success and not so much successes with you all because real people training to do a hard thing don't have a great go of it 100% of the time. So here's one of those no so successes.

I've been told that when you are training and learning how to run correctly you have good days and bad days and man, this has been a bad week! I've had almost no motivation and when I have dragged myself into the basement to do my workout, its not been good. Knee pain, ankle pain, just general sluggishness. Boo. My logical head knows that this is just part of teaching your body to do something it's totally not used to doing but it here isn't fun. In fact it's quite unmotivational... I don't think that's a word...... Oh well you get the point. So I took the night off and worked on a bunch of house changes that are in process, which made me happy.

Weight Watchers is going OK, I'm still trying to put together a good list of things that taste yummy but aren't 1000 points but we're getting there. I think that with grilling season (HOPEFULLY) coming soon it will help. Give me grilled pineapple for a dessert any day and I'm a happy girl! I know a lot of people that have had great success with WW so I'm hoping that I will be one of those people that will if I stick with it!

So I think I'm done with my most recent pity party. It was nice while it lasted but I'm ready to move on :) Even though my lovely MB might have shared her daycare cold with me. Wasn't that just wonderful of her? It's a good thing she's cute, that's all I'm saying. The plan to rectify this latest slight setback is to just redo this week in training, get myself back up to speed and move on. I/we can do this people! 13.1 miles isn't that long.....right? RIGHT!

And the journey continues!