Laundry Fail

My reign as laundry queen is over. I messed up today. Our dark red napkins got mixed in with the colored clothes and have stained a bunch of our good shirts (and possibly a couple of my favorite shorts). Suck. Fail. They haven't been through the dryer, so I'm hoping to save some of them, but there is little hope. We may have to go shopping this weekend. At least it is not the whites??

Maybe pics later, but right now the possibly ruined clothes are soaking.

Muse Tix Today?

We should be getting our MUSE/U2 tickets very soon. Time for a music change.

This is the first MUSE song that I discovered. Shame I didn't know about them before. I don't know why I tend to gravitate towards dark songs and subject matter when it comes to my favorite bands. I did go to HS in the early 90s during the whole grunge time. It definitely had an influence on the music that I like.

Supposedly this is what the songwriter (Matt Bellamy) said about this song - "It's just about feeling that the last moments of your life are running out and... it's more about the emotion itself: being suffocated, feeling that your last chance is being taken away from you by something that's outside of your own power, and you can apply that to society, a relationship, your religion or whatever"

Time is Running Out

I think I'm drowning
Asphyxiated
I wanna break this spell
That you've created

You're something beautiful
A contradiction
I wanna play the game
I want the friction

You will be the death of me
Yeah, you will be the death of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

Our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out

I wanted freedom
Bound and restricted
I tried to give you up
But I'm addicted

Now that you know I'm trapped
Sense of elation
You'd never dream of
Breaking this fixation

You will squeeze the life out of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

And our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out
How did it come to this?
Oooooh

You will suck the life out of me

Bury it
I won't let you bury it
I won't let you smother it
I won't let you murder it

And our time is running out
Our time is running out
You can't push it underground
You can't stop it screaming out
How did it come to this?
Ooooohh

Canon EOS Rebel Xt - New toy to try!

After announcing my interest in getting a better camera sometime later this year, Mike volunteered to share his Canon EOS Digital Rebel with me to let me practice using a better camera than my point-and-shoot. The Rebel is a Digital SLR, which is what I'm 'supposed' to get, no matter what price point I go with, so I'm ever so thankful to have a camera to try out for a while.

I have had it for less than 24 hours and I've been shooting up a storm, literally and figuratively. I definitely am going to have to spend some time with the Rebel, getting used to the settings (both auto and manual). There is something to be said for having a camera that you are used to and know the features of. I know it has only been a day with the fancy camera, but I am sure appreciative of how lovely my point-and-shoot Sony is as well. I have had my Sony for several years and use it regularly at all of the different settings (not just auto-program), so until I get used to using the settings on the Rebel, I'm probably not going to see much difference. Here are some examples of what I have shot lately with each camera (click to enlarge on any of them to see a full size version). I'm putting the rest of my favorites on Flickr.

Sony Cybershot DSC W-55

Can you believe Miko let me get so close? I'm literally a couple of inches away from her face with the camera and she doesn't budge. I have about fifteen shots up close and personal with her.

Canon EOS Digital Rebel

Look how cute my hubby is on the floor watching Deadliest Catch :)

Hamstring cries Uncle!

My hamstring is pissed off. Some of you know that this weekend's long run did not go as planned and my hamstring flared at about mile 12. What I thought was a good sign, that I was able to easy jog to the finish without pain (only tightness), turned out to be wrong.

I got my airrosti treatment on Monday and the doctor brought me to tears on the table with the amount of pain the treatment caused. It felt like he was ripping the flesh right off the back of my leg. Even just lightly touching my skin to put more massage cream on it burned like nobody's business. I knew there would be bruising.

Remember, I'm supposed to be running. Doctor says to run. So, Tuesday's run started off just fine. I felt sluggish going uphill, good on the flats and downhills. No pain at all until about mile 7 out of 9. Then, the hamstring started to flare again. I tried to just run easy, but could tell that this week my hamstring is not going to be pain-free.

This morning, I couldn't run 4 miles without walking. It hurts. Bad. I iced twice yesterday, did the roller like I'm supposed to, and have subjected myself to a three-bag ice bath this morning. I'm not going to run tomorrow or Friday and will probably just do some easy mileage on my own on Saturday away from the group. I don't want to be in pain and feel pressure to do more miles with the group.

Oh, and after removing the tape from the back of my legs, there is bruising all along my calf and hamstring. I knew it was hurting pretty bad. I couldn't even sleep well the past couple of nights without taking an Advil to dull the ache.

Ugh. Guess I'm going to have to re-think my Portland goals (if my body will even let me run Portland).

Big Items for Birthday/Christmas

I know, we're supposed to be in a recession that we may or may not be recovering from. It may sound greedy to already be talking about what I want for my birthday or Christmas this year. I'm just sayin' that there are some things out there that I have my eye on and am ready to put it out there into the world.

I don't expect anyone to get these for me...these are just things that I know that I am ready to spend some money on. I have put thought into these items and they are not just things that I want to have because it is stuff I'm supposed to like...they will actually get used. If you knew me, you would know that I am not 'greedy'. Sure, I don't mind spending money for quality things and we definitely have things that we need and want in our house, but greedy I am not.

I drive a nine year old car. The few items in my closet that are 'expensive' were likely purchased on sale and have been worn lots of times. I don't have expensive purses or accessories. I don't color my hair. We shop at Costco. We pay our credit cards off every month. We put money into savings. The things that I do spend money on tend to be quality items that have had considerable thought put into before purchasing. Can you tell I feel a little guilty even blogging about wanting something??

Anyhoo...For the past couple of years I have been lusting after a few things that I am ready to plunk down some money for. There is still some research to do, but here is my short list. -

A Cruiser Bike - Why? Though I would secretly love to live in Europe cruising around small villages, drinking wine and preparing fancy meals every evening (I love the paragraph on white women's bikes), that is not why I want a European-styled cruiser bike. Really, it is because I would like to ride a bike for leisure and not be afraid of it. I am afraid of the road bike I currently own. I would like a bike that will let me put my feet down without having to completely dismount the bike. I'm pretty sure the brand that I want is either Electra or a Trek and I'm pretty sure I want it to have a fender and some sort of basket/shelf. Not exactly like the one below, but you get the idea.

A removable-lens high quality digital camera - Still need to do my research here. The price range can be so great on these types of cameras, but I do know that I enjoy taking pictures with my Sony Powershot, and I have gotten compliments on some of the pics that I have taken with it. The inner seventh grade yearbook photographer (yes, I was one of the three chosen) in me would love to take better pics with better lenses and actually take a class to improve my skills. I don't know if I'm a Nikon girl or a Canon girl or a Sony girl or whatever...I just know that I would like a good removable lens digital camera to work with. That and maybe an extra lens and some filters and a tripod :). If you have one that you don't use, can I try it out??

That is the short list. I don't really want anything else specific.

Do you have any special items you are thinking about purchasing this year?

U2 - MUSE!!!!!!!

Happy Early Birthday to MEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!

The U2 360 tour is coming to Houston on October 14, and Chad bought me tickets for my birthday (October 27)!! Hooray!!

Besides U2, MUSE is playing!!!!!! I'm so so so excited if you can't tell!

Prepare yourself for lots of MUSE songs to play on my blog between now and October.

First to be played here on the blog? Supermassive Black Hole - In honor of our Netflix movie last weekend - Twilight. If you've seen it (or read the book) this is the song that comes on when they are playing baseball. I read somewhere that Stephanie Meyer is a fan of Muse. Not my favorite MUSE song, but with all of the Twilight hype generating interest in the band, I thought it would be a good one to start with. Seems like all the kids are starting with this one :).

Ooh baby, don't you know I suffer

Ooh baby, can't you hear me moan?
You caught me under false pretenses
How long before you let me go

Ooh, you set my soul alight
Ooh, you set my soul alight

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the supermassive
(Ooh, you set my soul alight)
Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the...
(Ooh, you set my soul...)
Into the supermassive

I thought I was a fool for no one
Ooh baby, I'm a fool for you
You're the queen of the superficial
How long before you tell the truth

Ooh, you set my soul alight
Ooh, you set my soul alight

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the supermassive
(Ooh, you set my soul alight)
Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the...
(Ooh, you set my soul)
Into the supermassive

Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the supermassive
Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstar's sucked into the supermassive

Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstars sucked into the supermassive
(Ooh, you set my soul alight)
Glaciers melting in the dead of night
And the superstars sucked into the
(Ooh, you set my soul...)
Into the supermassive

Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole
Supermassive black hole

A Purpose?

Ever since we saw the Julie & Julia screening, I've been thinking about the purpose of this blog. Julie had a purpose...a year to cook her way through Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Obviously, this was first and foremost a running blog with the long detailed descriptions of workouts and races, and the small following of runner friends and family who read this on a regular basis. Running blogs are so boring, though. Really, who wants to sit and read about splits and mileage and how things are going when they are going well? Pepper in a few posts on injuries, toenail loss (which happens to generate a lot of traffic), peeing in public, and it can be somewhat more entertaining, but does it ultimately have a purpose? Is there an end? Is this just simply a journal that I put out into the world that continues to be self-absorbed and lacking focus?

The evolution of this blog has improved its 'entertainment value' somewhat since the early days in 2005. Adding pictures, throwing in some shorter posts, posting about food, movies, family, vacations, and other fun non-running tidbits of my life has made it much more bearable than simply split after split after mile after mile after total weekly mileage after mileage after race.... But does this blog ultimately have a purpose? Is this going anywhere?

Anyhow...I feel like I need something specific to blog about that I like, that I feel passionate about, that might actually be a cohesive group of posts when it is all put together. I like running. I like cooking and eating. I like cats. I like taking pictures. I like living in Austin. At some point I might create a 'real' blog solely devoted to one subject, though I have yet to figure out what that should be. Until I discover my purpose, I guess you guys are stuck with my everyday musings.

Cooking with Beans

Beans came in to help cook and beg for food. He is meowing at me in
this pic, and has turned around to pose for you guys. See my cute
apron that Chad's mom got me for Christmas? (Yes, I am wearing shorts
under it) It is super girly and I love wearing it. I'm making the
salmon en papillote from our Bastille day menu again tonight.

Babycakes Banana Bread

Hot out of the oven. Mmmm! Can't wait to try 'em!

And look...even Beans thinks they smell great!

WTF? Related Ad Content Fail

WTF?? I hate you blogspot!!! I hate you Google! (really I don't hate Google, but I hate that they have anything to do with this)

After I hit 'Publish Post' on that last post, this is the ad that popped up:

Heavy Menstrual Bleeding

Heavy, painful period? Try NovaSure Request a brochure to learn more.

www.NovaSure.com

Really, I can do without all of this technology that is 'smart' and can figure out what I might be interested in!! Stop 'reading' my f-ing posts and giving me related ad content. I hate them. Is there a way to get those ads to stop coming up? I might have to switch hosts. Google...you handle Blogspot/Blogger. You should be reading this. It sucks what you are doing!

Novasure is not related to what I need or want! I can only imagine who else this is popping up for.

At Long Last, Real Confirmation - not Pregnant

This is a post for the ladies. Guys, if you read further, you are subjecting yourself to TMI and girly talk.

So, after Wednesday's Post, I was pretty sure that I could state strongly that I was not pregnant, but still left asking some questions - What if my temp goes up again? What if the spotting stops again? What if my nausea continues?

• My spotting did stop for a day and no true bleeding was happening. Really...that is just not nice.
• My temp barely decreased at first - 97.7 Wed, 97.6 Thurs, then 97.1 Friday and 97.0 today. I'm used to being in the 96.7-96.4 range at the start of a new cycle.
• After Thursday's high temp and the lack of a period, I took the second pregnancy test in the morning...of course it would say negative.
• The nausea has continued all the way until today. Every single day I felt like I wanted to hurl multiple times a day. Can a girl get a break?

At some point, the mind gets frustrated and upset waiting for the body to send the right signals. I was trying to get the heat, straight down the center (agh, a horribly inappropriate 'that's what she said', especially considering the subject matter, sorry), and my body kept throwing me curve balls. Sneaking in some sports talk in case there is still a make reader with us ladies at this point.

Finally today I get some relief from the confusion. I find it totally ironic that relief comes in the form of painful abdominal cramping, bleeding, and hormone hot flashes. And just to be clear, this isn't relief from being pregnant...I have stated before that it would be wonderful if I was pregnant. I'm talking about relief from having to continue to endure all of this...confusion and surprise of a late period, high bbt and nausea, the failed hopes and possibilities when all of the tests say no, the continuing miscues of a body that still washes waves of nausea and waves of spotting just light enough to tease me into keeping the hope. Finally, real bleeding. Finally. Six days late.

A woman's body truly is a magical thing, but sometimes I wish it were nicer to us. What I have been through this past week is nothing compared to what other women go through all the time with their own bodies. So, a big hug to all of you ladies who are reading this. Love your beautiful body, even when it does you wrong. If there is still a man reading this, please hug your favorite woman (or favorite women) sometime very soon and make sure she knows how lovely and special she is to you.

Lemon-Poppy Teacakes - Babycakes - Attempt 1

A close up of the Lemon-Poppy Teacake would have been nice, I know, but I have been so quick to devour these babies that a quick shot of half of a muffin will have to suffice. The other half disappeared before I was able to add the sugar (cane juice crystals, actually) to my tea. As a first attempt at this Babycakes recipe, there wasn't much deviation. I only had unsweetened coconut milk instead of rice milk, so that is deviation one. Deviation two was the extra couple of teaspoons of poppy seeds that were left over after I measured the proper amount. I couldn't stand to see the poppy seeds left with so much room in the container, so I just scooped them right into the mix. The final deviation was using muffin tins and mini-loaf pans instead of a regular loaf pan. I was in the mood for small bites, what else can I say?

The recipe is lovely. The flavor has just the right balance of lemon tart, agave sweet, and nuttiness of poppy seeds. Texture-wise, the teacakes had a bit more spring to them, sort of like a sponge cake, which was surprising. I was expecting more of a crumble. After two tries now with the recommended coating of oil in the pan for the recipes in this Babycakes cookbook, I'm not so sure it is needed. It seems like the end result leaves the edges of the cake a little mushy. Seems that the recipe has enough oil in it already that I don't need as much (or any) oil in the pans that I am using.

Overall, I totally dig these muffins. They work easily as breakfast, dessert, or just as they are intended...with tea.

TDF - My Favorite Cyclists

My Favorite non-American Cyclist - Andy Schleck

I heart him. He is very talented and young. I'm looking forward to following him for many years to come.

Here he is with his older brother Frank.

But no matter how much I heart Andy Schleck, big George Hincapie will always be 'my man' to cheer for. He is my favorite American cyclist far and away.

Couldn't resist this one...very nice, George.

Julie & Julia - Advance Screening

The Blog (click link):

Written by Julie Powell starting in 2002. The project of all projects. Tackle Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child. 524 recipes attempted in a deadline of 1 year (because she needs a deadline).

The Books:

Julie and Julia: 365 Days, 524 recipes, 1 Tiny Apartment Kitchen by Julie Powell

My Life in France, by Julia Child with Alex Prud'homme

The Movie:

Julie and Julia. Opening everywhere August 7, but thanks to Twitter (and via Facebook), a well-timed free pass to the first Austin screening sponsored by Whole Foods, Sony Pictures and Alamo Drafthouse. With an audience full of foodies, most likely huge Julia Child fans (and one cross-dressing Julia Child impersonator), the theater eagerly ordered from the Alamo Menu, sipping beer, drinking wine, and waiting for goddess Meryl Streep to appear on screen. We don't have to wait long to hear the trademark 'bon apetit!' in the lilted, familiar voice. Meryl Streep's performance is enough for me to recommend this movie to anyone. She truly becomes Julia Child and you feel like you are right with her in 1950s Paris discovering fine food, the sole woman in her class at Le Cordon Bleu, the delightful vibrant woman that Julia was.

Aside from the stellar performance of Meryl Streep, all of the other characters are well acted as well. Amy Adams as Julie Powell, Stanley Tucci as Paul Child, and several other strong supporting characters fill out a terrific ensemble of actors that take you through the journey of the creation of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia in the 1950s and the cooking of all of the recipes of the same book by Julie in 2002. The stories parallel beautifully and after a while, the movie transitions to a bit of a voyeuristic adventure as we see the heart of each woman and see the tremendous passion each has for both the love of food and the love of their husband.

Read the blog. Read the books. See the movie. In any order you choose, you will be thoroughly entertained.

Confirmation? (BBTs, panic, hope, nausea)

I've been thinking about how to put this in words. The past few days have put me into panic mode. I've been googling, reading pregnancy websites, looking at BBT charts of women who became pregnant, and I had everything I needed as confirmation except the official pregnancy test from the drugstore.

Above is my BBT (basal body temperature) data for the last month. For you guys who read my blog, you are visual creatures who understand numbers. The chart is what I use as first evidence that my body is working properly or not.

Let me tell you that up through day 27 everything looked like a regular old month. Every month for the past 8 months have looked like this. I drew a vertical yellow line after day 27 to show all of you where things started to deviate. The pink dots at the top of the graph were my actual temp readings for days 28, 29, and 30. The hand drawn part of the graph sloping downwards is what a typical month would have looked like. Let me rephrase...Day 27 should have been it. I have never had a late period in 22 years of my 'womanhood'. Never in 22 years. As of yesterday morning (day 30), I was three days late and the typical sign that the monthly cycle is starting over based on a shift in hormones had not occurred. My temp was not dropping. WTF?

As you can see on day 28, my temp spiked back up to 98.9. I somewhat shrugged it off, thinking it was just an anomaly, but my typical two days of spotting disappeared and I no longer had any sort of bleeding at all. Again, WTF? This has never ever ever happened before. Hmmm. Day 29 high temp started made me really pay attention. I had been feeling queasy for a few days, but did not consider it anything more than indigestion. Still no period. Day 30...high temp, crazy nausea, full on panic. I had been doing some browsing online and read about the 'implantation dip' and was convinced that since my temp had risen back up to the high temps that there was a legitimate chance the nausea and tiredness weren't from something I ate.

Chad knew what was going on. He wasn't panicked at all. Cool as a cucumber, in fact. Yesterday morning, in the midst of all of the nausea, three-days-late, high-temp, panic-driven insanity, I mentioned to a couple of my guy running friends (only because I know they won't tell anyone) about my situation. The last thing guys do is share pregnancy news...it is just not in their DNA. Sharing my panic made me feel better and made me buy a 2-pack pregnancy test on the way home from workout.

The test was negative. I know some of you out there will say...you can have a negative pregnancy test and still be pregnant. I read up on that too. My plan of action (as recommended by the pregnancy test leaflet and everything that I have read) was to wait a couple of days and test again. I shared the results of the test with Chad, who still reacted in a calm way that seemed to ease my nerves.

Want more confirmation that I'm not pregnant? I started spotting again late yesterday afternoon. I was relieved and disappointed. I guess talking to other people about pregnancy suspicions jinxed me a little (sort of like being a teenage girl and wearing light colored shorts at the wrong time of the month...as soon as you wear them, it is a guarantee you will start your period...and yes, I wore cute light-colored shorts yesterday)

I still can't believe that my BBT chart looks the way it does and I'm not pregnant. My temp this morning is only slightly down to 97.7, enough to tell me that I'm likely going to be starting a new cycle today or tomorrow, but not low enough for me to be fully convinced. What if my temp goes up again? What if the spotting stops again? What if my nausea continues? I understand the doubt, hope, anxiety, confusion, certainty, uncertainty that some women go through when potentially being pregnant. It is all a matter of being patient, but how in the hell can you be patient when it is such a monumental life-changing thing you are waiting on??

At some point through all of the panic yesterday morning, Keith said something and reminded me that it "is a good thing, right?". Yes, it is a great thing. A pregnancy right now isn't really the best timing, but it would be a wonderful thing. Chad and I were intending to start trying in October after the marathon and even still are prepared for it to take a while. I had gone through all of the thoughts of running, not running, how to tell family, not telling family, cleaning the room we intend to someday use as the baby's room, shopping for baby clothes, colors, names...yeah, I would say that I was excited at the possibility as much as I panicked.

So this morning, I'm a little depressed. Chad admitted yesterday evening that he is a little sad that I'm not pregnant as well. He must have had some of the same thoughts as me (sitting in jury duty all day) about the way our lives might be changing. It tugged at my heart to hear his disappointment and makes me all the more hopeful for when we officially start trying later this year.

No need to comment. I am just putting into words what I have been bottling up for the last four days. I also have a few friends that need to hear most of the details. In the hopes that it makes

one person out there more aware or comforted or empathetic or whatever you want to call it, I thought it would be better to put all of this into the world to release it from my heart.

Afternoon Tea with Babycakes

This weekend (in Costco of all places) I encountered the new Babycakes cookbook, an all-vegan, gluten-free (though 25% of the recipes are only wheat-free, not truly gluten-free) cookbook from the folks that own the Babycakes bakery in NYC. You might have seen them on Oprah a while back.

Gluten free sweets?? Can you say Sadie-heaven??? First, a quick review of the cookbook after reading it cover to cover - Pictures spectacular, great writing for everyday bakers to understand, good explanation of ingredients used and why, disappointed at how many recipes contain spelt (not gluten-free), but overall appears to be a great cookbook for me to try.

In the picture above is my first attempt at any of the recipes in the book - cornbread. I tried to follow the recipe exactly as written, but realized that I didn't have corn flour. I had cornstarch, which in the UK is the same as 'cornflour', but here in the US is not the same as 'corn flour' as intended in the recipe...argh! Well, pretending to be a confused Brit, I made it anyway with cornstarch instead of corn flour, which I thought might create an inedible disaster. The cake tastes just fine to me (if a little on the sweet side). In general, I like my cornbread sweet, but after trying this recipe one more time with the right corn flour, I might opt to tinker around with the sweetness level. It turned out a bit more crumby that I expect cornbread to be, so I might increase the xanthan gum next time if after it cools I still have the same problem.

Cornbread is listed in the 'teacakes' section of the book (along with lemon poppyseed cake which is next on the list to try), so I decided to have an afternoon tea break to test it out with a cup of freshly brewed tea. Pictured with my cornbread slice is a cup of 'Golden Langur Blend' (click link for description on menu) tea from The Steeping Room steeping away in my cup with a copy of the Babycakes cookbook.

If you are reading this at work, stop and take a tea break of your own.

Hot Pink Hot!

Lookin' super hot in hot pink this week. I'll likely be coordinating
my running clothes this week as well.

A Compliment

I had a great week getting back into the normal swing of things after my hamstring strain. After only managing 8 miles last week, getting in 49 miles for the week sure felt great. The confidence boosting Thursday run with two miles in the lower 7:00 range helped as well as Saturday's long run of 16 miles. I cruised pretty much the whole way on Saturday with my headphones and felt good when we got back to finish at Rogue.

During the run, a comment from Panther somewhat made my weekend. I think Panther recognizes me from many years ago when I first trained in Gundi's group for Austin 2005. I have never been in his group, but I think my face has been around Rogue enough for him to recognize me. We don't really know each other, though, so his comment is especially nice.

Panther came up behind me on North Loop and caught me at the Grover water stop. He said 'You've gotten a lot faster over the last few years." Umm...wow. Someone who doesn't run with me on a regular basis noticed that my pace has gotten faster and took the time to tell me. Considering I was fast enough to qualify for Boston several years ago, I took it as a really nice compliment. He is right about what he said, but coming from him definitely caught me off guard. If someone who doesn't really know me notices the work that I have put in over the last few years, I'm going to file it away as another boost to my confidence going into Portland. It was really nice of him to say and made my day.

Feelin' Good Again

All of the running this week has been great so far. I finally made it back to the group workout this morning and got to try running a bit faster for a couple of miles. I was trying to run somewhere around 7:30 pace, but it has been several months since I've had to think about pace. The rest of the group was doing a four mile warmup with 2 x 2 miles at half marathon goal pace followed by cooldown if needed, but I just did a six mile warmup, 1 x 2 miles at hmgp, and 1.5 miles cooldown.

My two hmgp miles were 7:05 and 7:26. I felt really good on the 7:05 mile (though while I was running, I swear it said 7:07) and freaked out that it was so fast. The second mile was much more relaxed, but still fast. The hamstring feels good and this week's blue tape was taken off after the run (72 hours after my appoinment was suggested as a good time to leave it on).

I was all smiles at the end :)

Gluten-Free Banana Muffins

I have been experimenting with some gluten-free baking. I miss eating 'real bread' so much that I have caved and had the evil stuff recently (croissants, pastry tart, breading on fish). Usually when I follow a GF recipe, the result is either too dry or too icky tasting. It seems like GF baked goods just don't taste as good when you are used to the 'real' stuff.

The main recipe that I have been working on is GF Banana Muffins with a texture similar to regular old banana bread. My goal has been to get it as close as I can remember the traditional recipe to taste. Yesterday evening I lucked into this recipe because I just happened to have some items in the kitchen that I needed to use up (simple syrup and apple topping. My recipe very loosely follows the 'Lower Fat Banana Bread' recipe out of Veganomicon, but as you can see below it is very loose. I also am pleased that my recipe is a small batch and only uses 6 muffin cups, perfect for that last single mushy banana that always ends up left over in our house.

I realize that not everyone wants to commit to having all of the gluten free flours in their house unless they love to bake and require a gluten-free diet The mix below has produced the best results for this particular muffin. If you try it, please let me know what you think!

Oven at 375

Wet ingredients

One mushy banana, smashed to complete mush with a fork

2 Tbsp vegetable oil

2 Large Tbsp chunky applesauce (I had some overly sweet homemade cinnamon 'applesauce' that could easily have doubled for ice cream topping or pie filling left over in the fridge. It was very very chunky.)

2-3 oz simple syrup (again, one of those things I happened to have in the fridge)

1 tsp molasses (iffy for celiacs - be sure it is truly gluten free or just omit)

Dry ingredients

1/4 cup white rice flour (Arrowhead Mills)

1/4 cup sweet sorghum flour (Bob's Red Mill)

1/4 cup garbanzo flour (Bob's Red Mill)

1/4 cup garbanzo & fava flour (Bob's Red Mill)

3/8 tsp baking soda

3/8 tsp xanthan gum (got it in the baking aisle at Whole Foods)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (or just sprinkle a good dusting over the top of the flour mix)

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg (or just sprinkle a good dusting over the top of the flour mix)

1/4 tsp salt (or just a pinch or two)

In a medium to large bowl, mash the banana and mix the wet ingredients together very well. If your applesauce is very chunky like mine, it is okay. Sift all of the dry ingredients together on top of the wet mixture and mix gently with a wooden spoon just until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Do not overmix. Divide evenly into 6 muffin cups and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes or until top does not yield to your finger pressure and your kitchen smells delicious. I used a silicon pan, so adjust your time as needed depending on your oven heat and the pan you choose.

Remove from oven and let cool on a rack in the muffin tin for 20 minutes, then remove muffins to continue cooling beyond that time. Enjoy!

Portland - Course Familiarity

I have been looking at the Portland Marathon Course on Google Earth (via the link on the course page on the Portland marathon site). I'm 99 percent sure that I have run some of the course between miles 8 and 11 and the section of the course between 14.5 and 17 during my leg of the Hood to Coast relay in 2005. Familiarity is only going to help, because that is probably the 'worst' section of the entire race in terms of scenery and course support. I'm going to be in a great frame of mind during those sections for sure.

Bastille Day Dinner and Fantasy French Cycling

To further celebrate Bastille Day, Chad and I invited Kate and Ken to join us for a 'French' dinner and to watch the Tour. They follow the Tour de France as much as we do (if not more). One of the things I have been working on is cooking...trying new recipes, learning about techniques that I've never tried before, and just general knowledge about where food is from and local preparations. I knew Kate and Ken would be forgiving if I botched dinner, so I tried three completely new recipes out on them. The menu is in the picture (click on it to enlarge).

Since French food typically brings to mind butter, foie gras, lamb, and other rich and fatty delights, my goal was to maintain a healthy balance of healthy ingredients while incorporating French ingredients as much as possible. The salad contained mache (lamb's lettuce) in its blend of baby lettuces and I used the French sheep's milk cheese Petit Agour to go along with the dried sour cherries and honey vinaigrette. I didn't get a picture of the salad, but it was pretty and delicious.

Here are some pics and an explanation of the rest of the food.

Cooking the Tarte Tatin - Traditionally French! I prepared this before anything because it was the most labor intensive item on the menu and required advance cooking time.

Peeled, cored and evenly sliced apples in concentric circles, butter and sugar coating the pan.

Baking in the oven with a puff pastry topping...whoa, I didn't realize it would 'puff' that much!

I expected better caramelization of the apples, but it was still very yummy. Next time I know to cook longer on the stove top, then longer in the oven before adding the pastry. Also, the puff pastry settled nicely and when I flipped the tart, it came out easily and in the right size to fit the pastry bottom.

We had real French Champagne (from Reims, where we went for a day trip on our honeymoon). Also, the stage tour finished in Issoudun, just on the southern edge of the Loire wine region (see map below and look in the lower right portion for the green blob Reuilly). Our wine with our main course was from Reuilly (Sauvignon Blanc) and was lovely. Reuilly is just 16km north of the Tour's stage finish town of Issoudun.

The main course was Salmon en Papillote (balloon) which is the technique of packaging your food in parchment paper and baking. With the heat added during the cooking process, the food's natural juices are released as steam and puff the parchment into the 'balloon' and marries all of the flavors together into a delicious, quick meal. Our papillote contained thinly sliced red potatoes on the bottom layer, haricot verts (oui, French), salmon, thinly sliced green onions (white and green parts), flat parsley, and lemons. Ken helped me fold and seal each packet tightly and it baked for 10-12 minutes in a 400 degree oven. Quick and easy.

I forgot to take a picture of the papillote during the assembly process or coming out of the oven...boo! The packets are served sealed and cut open at the table to allow the fragrant steam to become part of the experience of each diner. It was yummy...light and flavorful and perfect with the wine. Here's a shot of a half-eaten papillote. It was much prettier when initially cut open.

Mmmm....there is parsley in my teeth :)

After dinner, we gathered around the TV to watch the tour. We played 'Fantasy French Cycling' in honor of Bastille Day, a day where French cyclists traditionally try the breakaway and hope to survive for a French win. On Monday afternoon, we selected one of four randomly-selected teams of all of the French cyclists on the tour to be our 'Fantasy French Cycling Team'. Throughout the stage our riders could earn points at the intermediate sprints and category climbs (giving points advantage to the breakaway riders) and then more points for overall finish place based on the top 100 riders. The point system for the top 100 finishers was made up, but is similar to how the Green Jersey competition is scored during the Tour. Click on the picture of the score sheet to see how it all worked.

The prize (definitely cycling related)- You can see barely on our coffee table...the 'Fantasy French Cycling Cup' was a Mellow Johnny's Pint Glass with a Mellow Johnny's magnet and a $10 gift card to Mellow Johnny's...intended for a treat at the Juan Pelota cafe there at the store.

Here we are competing.

Here is my sheet below (click to enlarge)...Kate, Chad and I all had riders from our team in the breakaway, so we had fun watching the intermediate sprints and climbs...our riders scored us lots of points. Poor Ken didn't have a rider in the breakaway:(. Chad had the lead going into the finish. Ken came from behind with two riders in the top 10 overall stage finishers to overtake me for the lead, despite me having the highest placing French rider on my team. I'm glad Ken won because he didn't get to enjoy the intermediate sprints and climbing points as much as the rest of us did. Now after a long run one of these Saturdays, Kate and Ken can enjoy some Juan Pelota goodies to refuel.

All in all, a successful, fun evening shared with friends. Vive le France! Vive le Tour! Vive le Lance! I can't wait to do this again next year...

Bastille Day Breakfast

Happy Bastille Day everyone! Ever since our honeymoon in France, I've had a craving for French pastries for breakfast. Our typical honeymoon morning involved a visit to the local boulangerie/patisserie for some pastries and juice. So, with the intention of re-living honeymoon mornings here at home, I asked for Williams Sonoma Croissants as one of the items on my Christmas list. I know the price looks excessive, but considering the individual cost of 15 croissants in France and the benefit of getting to cook a few at a time, filling your whole house with the buttery scent of fresh pastry and getting to enjoy them hot...really the price is close to fair. (They say to bake them within three months, but since they have been in the freezer wrapped very well, they still come out delicious!)

Today I'm putting up with the side effects of eating wheat for eating French food in celebration of Bastille Day. Here are the croissants we enjoyed for breakfast Bonne Maman strawberry preserves, sliced bananas, eggs and orange juice. I also made some tea using loose leaf tea from The Steeping Room and the drop-in hat tea infuser, which I rarely use these days because I have been purchasing my favorite tea in bags. Today's tea was divine. There are four croissants remaining in the kitchen. If you are going to be in the neighborhood after 8:45am, drop in and they are yours (though if you have my email or phone number, let me know you are coming first :))

keyword searches that lead to this blog

with google analytics, it is possible to see the keywords that people searched before visiting your blog. this month i had a few funny ones.

the regulars -

elliptical playlist

dermatologist mole check

toenail separated

ds-trainier elixir

sore legs after a marathon

sadie barrs

the good ones this month -

"no tan lines" hashing virginia (nudist? from Fredricksburg, Virginia - visited 2 pages and spent 1:30 reading)

butt cheek chafing (this one actually occurs every month)

dermatologist see boobs during mole check (modest? yes, that's perfectly normal - from Birmingham, Michigan - visited 3 pages and spent 12 minutes reading)

groovy run short review (yeah, I'd like to find some groovy run shorts, too)

how can I catch up on sleep? (umm...turn off the computer and take a nap???)

male bra shopping (hilarious that these search terms somehow lead to my blog)

The Comeback

I have permission from the doctor and am encouraged to run what I normally run this week. I'm supposed to run the same distances that I would normally run, paying attention to good stretching afterwards, ice therapy regularly, and extra foam rolling. Next Monday I go back for another Airrosti treatment, but it is likely that I won't have to go for a third (woohoo). This sort of treatment works fast, and it appears that my body is responding well to massage and the manipulation of the fascia. It does hurt, but he said that I have good pain tolerance...yeeeaaahhh! I always thought I was a little wimpy on the massage table, but I guess not :).

So, I'll be making my comeback to normal mileage after the measly 8 mile week that I had last week. Here's the plan -

Monday - 4 miles with Katie (yay!) - done, and I'm not doing any more this afternoon

Tuesday - not with the Team - 7-8 miles on own in late morning

Wednesday - 5-8 miles

Thursday - 7-10 miles with the Team(possibly trying to do one of the stretches of HMGP that the group is doing)

Friday - off

Saturday - 14-16 miles

Sunday - 4 miles

That totals 41-50 miles, then if I'm still feeling good, I have set myself up for a good 70 mile week the next week, finishing with 'Race Prep 1' long run (soul buster? soul buster lite?). Yay! Running, I've missed you dearly.

I got blue!

Lookin super hot in my kinesiotape!

And I ran...

Three miles to be exact. Met Tara at the rock at 7am and we had a nice leisurely run around the 3-mile loop. It was completely pain free for me, though I could feel the bruised part of my leg skin from the massage bouncing up and down. I cannot tell you how glad I am that I can run three miles without pain. After the trail, we went to Deep Eddy and aquajogged for 30 minutes just to continue the blood flow to the legs. Aquajogging is weird and very easy, but if it helps me get blood to my muscle without having to go to the gym or risk re-injuring with more land running, I'll gladly do it. It was also great to get the missed talk time with Tara in the pool.

Seen and heard at Deep Eddy -

Lots of aggressive swimmers positioning themselves for good lanes.

Lifeguard training

Artists (5-6) set up and painting

A particular older swimmer scolding his lane partner and unpolitely schooling her on 'passing etiquitte'

A lady doing the backstroke with her glasses on

Friendly lifeguards

So, the plan for me to get back running? Tara and I are going to run again tomorrow...hopefully trying four miles and doing more aqua jogging. Monday, I will run easy 3-4 in the morning, go for my airrosti treatment, and likely finish the day with more aquajogging. If I can continue to run pain free through Wednesday, I'm hoping to run seven miles Thursday (with the group, but not with any steadystate speed as the workout is planned) and hopefully back to 14 on Saturday. All of it is pending the pain-free running and what the doctor says after my treatment Monday. I plan to continue the aquajogging as a supplement to any miles on the road I am able to do.

Prepare yourselves...

kinesiotape pics coming on Monday. This one's gonna hurt.

I also get to try running backwards for short distances. Don't they know I'm not coordinated like that? I might also be posting pics of my busted face after I fall.

Post-massage Gym Test #1

20 minutes on the elliptical pain-free
Since things felt good, I had permission to run on the treadmill easy to test my hamstrings.
10 minutes super easy on the treadmill pain-free.

Ready to run again, but will continue to be patient. Have doctors appointment today and will follow directions given. Will likely try to run 3 miles as soon as it is suggested to be okay. Renee also graciously offered her aquajogger belt, so I now have pool running as another option to the elliptical if the roads are not friendly to me. Even if I can run next week, I'll likely be doing low mileage on the road and filling in some of the gaps in the pool with the aquajogger.

I'm more optimistic after the gym today. Really. Pain free with the easy exercises. Running 70 miles a week is not easy, so I have some time to get back to where I was.

Massage report

Icing - check
Stretching - check
Walking instead of running - check
Pre-Lisa Chad hammie massage - check

Today was my Lisa massage - check! - Here's what we found: I surprised her. She expected to find one type of issue, but my hamstring was all crazy and different than it was supposed to be. I had lots of adhesions and sticky spots that she had to work out before finding the 'main culprit' spot. She kept saying how strange it was. The massage was painful, but honestly not as bad as I thought it was going to be.

The current plan is to use the elliptical machine tomorrow morning to give the massage time to set in and let the muscle stay in its post-massage happy place. The elliptical is going to give the hamstring a chance to be active in the right alignment and get blood flowing into the muscle without over stressing it. If all goes peachy on the elliptical, I'm allowed to try to run on the treadmill.

Tomorrow I have my appointment with TX Sports and Family medicine where it has been suggested that I might be given the 'magic tape' kinesio tape treatment, which would be fine with me. There will be pictures shared if I get it. I've had kinesio tape on my hip/pelvis when I had SI issues a couple of years ago and I definitely think it helped things stay supported, kept things in line, and made me more aware of my positioning of my pelvis. Whatever...they can do anything as long as it gets me running again.

Lisa seems to thing that I should be able to run easy by Monday. I'm crossing my fingers that she is correct.

I'm hurt...for now

My hamstring is not responding well to the rest, stretching, rolling and ice. I see Lisa tomorrow so that she can manipulate it and see how bad it is. I also have an appointment at TX Sports and Family Medicine (my normal doctors) to see what kind of treatments they can offer to help speed recovery. So sad. I miss running. And I feel pudgy already from not running 10 miles every day. Good thing I'm altering my nutrition to match my energy output.

Hopefully after Friday, I'll know about how long this will take to recover from. Maybe 2 weeks, maybe 3 weeks, maybe more. We'll have to see what the professionals say.

Wahhh!

This sucks

As some of you know, I didn't make my mileage last week. Why? Because my freaking hamstring completely seized up on Saturday. I attribute it to the lawnmowing that I did on Friday morning. I pushed our (non-self-propelled) lawnmower up our large sloping lawn over and over and think that is the cause of the hamstring strain. I got about 15 miles into my run on Saturday before it 'charlie horsed' and had to stop immediately.

I iced, elevated, then rested on Saturday. It feels okay walking around (thank goodness). However, this morning when I went out to run, I couldn't get past the second driveway without feeling pain in my hamstring. GRRRRRRRRRRRR! I don't want to join the hurt hamstring club! WAAAAHHHH!!! Sucks Sucks Sucks Sucks Sucks Sucks!!!!!!!!

I'm hoping to get in to see Lisa. I'm going to keep doing all of the things that you are supposed to do with a hamstring injury, including the strengthening exercises that are supposed to help heal after 72 hours. For those of you who think that I'm probably going to keep running this week on it, get real. If I can't make it past two driveways today, I'm not going to be doing a lot of running this week. Hopefully I can find something else to do while it heals.

At least this is a down week for me anyway. GRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!

Please touch the art

We went to The Modern this morning in Fort Worth. During our tour,
one of the pieces was this gigantic spread of green candies (artist in
the picture of the wall card). Part of the observer's experience of
this piece is to be able to take a piece with them. Choosing a piece
and removing it is just as much a part of the work as the artist's
choice of candy color, as the shape and size is never specified as
part if its installation. This wasn't my favorite of the day, but I
thought it was a neat concept. Chad jokingly thinks it is a scam :).

Boom boom boom boom!

Let's Go Rangers!

All-American 4th of July. At the ballpark.

Maxxing out

This is the highest mileage week in my build. I'm feeling tired physically, but otherwise okay. I got a 30 minute flush massage today just to clean out the muscles and to identify any problems that might be creeping up with muscles and joints, and I got rave reviews from Lisa. Everything was great...completely pain free IT bands, quads, hamstrings, shins...minimal soreness in calf muscles and glutes (much less than normal for me). I must be doing something right.

So here is where I am -
In the past 7 days I have run 75 miles (Fri-Thurs)
Tomorrow (Sat-Fri) will be 79 miles in 7 days
Saturday (Sun-Sat) will be 82 miles in 7 days
At this point, the body really feels the maxxing out mileage, but doesn't feel like it has been pounded too badly. I finally got a new pair of shoes yesterday, so my feet and lower legs are much happier.

I'm excited about maxxing out and about resting next week (56 miles planned). Normally, we are supposed to do two weeks at max mileage, but I'm doing my own thing. My body says not to do another high week, so I'm going to listen. At some point soon, I plan to get into a rotation of 80-80-56 for my weekly mileage throughout the season. If it turns into 70-70-50 because my body can't handle the load, so be it. I'm looking forward to synching with coach's plan until Portland.

Hooray! Entourage Season 5

Entourage season 5 was released on DVD on Tuesday. Just in time, I rearranged our Netfix queue so that disc one was in the #1 slot. It has said 'short wait' as its availability since Tuesday, but I just got the email confirming it has been shipped and will arrive tomorrow!!!

Yay Yay Yay Yay! We don't get HBO, so we have to wait and watch it when it comes out on DVD...the wait ends tomorrow! Gaaaaahhh! So excited!