Baystate Marathon Bib Pickup 2012

Last year, it was pouring rain when we went to pick up my packet. This year, same thing. I had a quick 4 miler this morning in some serious humidity. It felt like August. My lungs weren’t happy. Tomorrow is supposed to be dry and 48 at the start. This up and down weather is making me jumpy!

 

I’ll talk to you guys after the race!

#WIAW (and running report)

Technically I’m posting this on Thursday. Yesterday, I ran 6 miles with 3x1600m @7:03/mile, and 800m recoveries. I went through the last cool down too fast because I had an 8am meeting and I needed to go get ready. I felt fine. My nose seems to be ok when I’m running. I just fall apart when I stop. Today, I ran an easy 3 at 8:35/mile pace.

I actually forgot it was Wednesday, so I drank my green monster smoothie without taking a pic. Whoopsie!

Lunch was 2 hard boiled eggs, and a few almonds, along with the rest of the giambotta. That was delicious! I loved that it had cabbage in it. For some reason, it was extra happy.

Of course, I had an apple. I think we pretty much only have apples from our CSA, so I will be eating them for a good long while.

Snack before CSA pickup: greek yogurt, 1/2 an apple, about 1/4 cup rice chex for extra crunch, and a bit of Sunbutter.

For dinner, we had just bought a pack of chicken breasts, so I made my chicken baked and for Michael, I made his cutlet style with breadcrumbs. I steamed green beans and I made mashed potatoes for him (and then I stole a nice spoonful!). I had the rest of the tomato in the fridge, and about an ounce (maybe less, I didn’t weigh it), of mozzarella, leftover from last week’s gluten free pizza I made. I am like a fridge hoover. I will pretty much eat anything together.

Things I ate not pictured: a gluten free “oreo” for dessert. I don’t know if it counts but Polar Seltzer water now has a Boston Creme Pie flavor (it’s zero cals, for the record). I totally bought it. It’s kind of disgusting, just a warning.

Sick Day

So I started making this, and then I realized I kind of hate it. I couldn’t get the gauge right. The yarn was all wrong.

So I made this right glove instead, and am currently working on the left.

It’s the Commuter Mitts pattern from Knitty, and it’s free. 🙂 I am going to take another shot at the above mitts, except with a different yarn. It just wasn’t happening for me. It was the third yarn I tried too. So I quit. I also have skinny weird hands so I usually scale down patterns anyway.

Then, because I’d wrecked my nails by washing my hands a million times, I redid them. Nicole by OPI in Mer-maid for each other.

I need to get better ASAP because I am driving myself crazy. Also I can’t sleep. I am whiny. Poop. I didn’t run today, and I am sure Michael will be relieved when I run again.

Take 2 and call me in the morning.

When I’m getting sick, I go through several phases. The first is denial. I cannot POSSIBLY be sick. I have so much to do. I have a race coming. This is not happening.

The next phase is panic. OMG I AM GETTING SICK AND I AM FREAKING OUT. Quick, let’s throw everything we have at it. So I took: EmergenC, oil of oregano, Advil, my vitamins, a metric ton of tea, then hot water with lemon, then hot water with lemon and honey. Also, drank enough water to fill a child’s swimming pool. Yes, I might just float away.

The final phase is acceptance and pity party. So I slept 9 hours (?!), ran 8 miles (can I sweat it out?), bought Tylenol Cold & Sinus, and made some food. I washed my hands about 231 times and wrecked my manicure in the process. There are worse things.

I decided to use up lots of things in my fridge. Starting with the pumpkin. I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies. They are really good and fluffy, and I had 2 while they were still hot. With tea. What else is new?

And I made this huge giambotta, which will give me a few lunches for the week. I had it for dinner tonight, too.

Recipes are listed below. 🙂

I saw this recipe on The Wannabe Chef. I got 20 cookies out of mine though, and not 14. No matter.

• 1.5 cups gluten free flour (I’m still using Pamela’s)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tbsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 4 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 5 tbsp canned pumpkin
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*. Mix dry ingredient in one bowl. In a second bowl, combine wet ingredients. Then, mix the two together. Very fancy, I know. Stir in the chocolate chips. Plunk down the cookies, bake for 12 minutes.

Giambotta is a southern Italian stew that my family made a lot, when I was growing up. We pronounced it like all good immigrants do: “jahm-BOT”. It’s the thing you make when you have a bunch of vegetables and you don’t know what to do with them. If you have tomatoes, eggplant and potatoes (yay, nightshades!), you are on your way to a giambotta. But really, there are no rules. So if you like it, throw it in. It all goes down easy.

Good Italians will tell you that this is a dish that will keep you skinny. It’s just vegetables, I heard an older man tell me recently. “You have to make it all the time”. Good idea, buddy.

This version has cabbage. It’s a CSA bonanza.

Into the pot:

• a small onion
• 4 scallions
• 1 small eggplant
• 1 summer squash
• 1 zucchini
• a bunch of green and yellow beans (2 cups?)
• 3 small red potatoes
• 1/2 a head of cabbage, cut into thin strips
• about 2 cups of spinach
• 1 large can of diced tomatoes
• salt, pepper, oregano, parsley

Chop all your veggies into pieces that are what you’d want to eat (I like them kind of the same size). After sautéing, add tomatoes. Add your spices, bring it to a simmer and cover. Let it cook about 30 minutes, until the potatoes are soft. You can add cheese (pecorino romano gets my vote, if you want to) or not. I opted to skip cheese this time. I simply adore cabbage with potatoes. I am really loving this combination of veggies.

Taper, Nerves & Motivational Stuff

Next Friday, I pick up my bib! AHH! I will tell you what this moment always reminds me of: you know when you were in college, writing a paper, and you’d just have the conclusion section left to write? I almost never wanted to write it. I wanted it to just BE. And have no ending. This was mainly because I loved the process of writing a paper so much, I didn’t want to finish it.

Yes, I also have been known to leave the last 10 pages of a book I’m reading for like….two days. Just to drag out the ending. It’s weird.

So here I spend all this time with my training schedule, which I absolutely adore. I really do. And then it’s a week to go and it’s all over. I guess I could learn a few things from the Tibetan monks about letting go, right?

However! I am bouncing off the walls. Tapering makes me jumpy. I am less cranky than I was last time I raced. It’s a mix of anxiety and energy and having no place to put it. I remind myself that I need to save this energy for the course!

My sweet girlfriend Allison is running her first marathon next Sunday. Exciting! She is also feeling a bit nervous. So for her, I present the things I think about, and remind myself of when I’m running. My mind turns off for the most part, but when it’s feeling unsettled, I remind myself of the following:

Do you have anything you repeat to yourself? Anything that soothes you when you’re feeling anxious? 🙂

Miles for Mokie

My fellow runners and non-runners alike: I want to direct your attention to a blog post written by Monika at Monika with a “K”. She is a sweet marathon runner who has been recently diagnosed with a brain tumor. She had surgery on October 8th. She won’t be able to run for 6-8 weeks. She was scheduled to run the Marine Corps Marathon, too. My heart breaks for her for so many reasons.

So what can we do? Send all your good energy and miles her way! Run and dedicate your miles to her. Post them with a note on the Facebook support page.

We are running for Mokie from October 8-28. You can add up all your miles and just dedicate them to her. Not too hard, right? Let’s see how many we can run and give.

This morning, I learned how difficult it is to run and take a pic:

But there you go, Mokie! A little tempo run for you. 🙂 I am wishing you the best and a speedy recovery.

#WIAW (It’s a super apple-y day.)

 

First things first: got up, ran in my new Injinji socks and new Brooks Pure Flow (OMG I KNOW!), and it was fine. I am tapering so I am bouncing off the walls a little. 4 miles, 8:29 pace. Then I jumped on the ARC trainer for 15 minutes, mainly because I was bored. Scivation Xtend BCAAs in Orange Dream.

At work, I grabbed a coffee, because I was feeling like it. Greek yogurt, apples, pie spice, a few raisins and a pinch of unsweetened coconut. Snack was another apple.

Lunch was egg whites with spaghetti squash, asparagus and mushrooms. I made a little torte with all of the leftover veggies. I had the rest of cucumbers and tomatoes in the fridge, with a little salt. Had some jasmine tea, too.

Wednesday is our CSA pickup and grocery shopping day. So dinner is always a little thrown together. I prefer buying groceries on the same day as CSA, just since we’re out getting things anyway. After CSA ends, I think we’ll go back to our old Thursday or Friday shopping. I can go any day except Saturday or Sunday. It makes me crazy!

I have been really going back and forth with the carb things. I don’t know, I think it helps with me not hitting the wall. So, I had a little mug of rice chex, the rest of a cut up apple in the fridge.

We got take out for dinner! Indian. I had Baingan Bhartha. It was way too spicy. Sad.

The not pictured things I ate: some organic peppermint dark chocolate, and a bite of last night’s coffee cake. I sent Michael to work with all but the smallest of pieces. We had to get it out of the house! 🙂

Want to see my new socks?

To all the shoes I’ve loved before. (Oh, and coffee cake.)

I killed all of these, in this order, during training.

Brooks Defyance, Brooks Launch, Brooks Cadence, Brooks Pure Flow. In case you didn’t know, I adore the heck out of Brooks. I have nearly killed a 2nd pair of Flows, so I bought a replacement. I now have 3 pairs in my house. YAY! Or, ACK, if you are Michael.

And then I made coffee cake. I feel like it’s coffee cake weather. We had sour cream in the fridge and I was on a use-it-up challenge. It’s delicious and terrible for you. Best to share it with others, I think. Share the fat.

I used this recipe from 10th Kitchen. I swapped the flour for Pamela’s Gluten Free Pancake and Baking Mix. I reduced the sour cream to just over a cup.

Ready or not, here it comes.

 

So this is happening right now. Recognize any of these issues?

I was convinced my right ITB was pulled. Last night I stretched it out. I rolled it out. I walked around gingerly on it. Woke up and no pain.

As usual, I’m already having race nightmares. I get there and forget to start running, I don’t have sneakers with me, I forget my Gu and no one has any I can borrow, my watch doesn’t work.

I like the term “Maranoia”. It’s marathon induced paranoia. I definitely have this!

Yesterday before my 12 miler, I laced my shoes up, and then tied and retied them and when I got to mile 4, my feet started to fall asleep because I’d tied them too tight. So things like this are happening!

One thing the marathon reminds me of: how alive I am. It’s this adrenaline rush that I’m addicted to chasing. I wouldn’t give it up for anything and I will do this for as long as I can.

How do you deal with tapering and nerves? 🙂

It’s WIAW (What I Ate Wednesday)

I woke up this morning feeling a little “off”. Kind of nauseous? I went and ran anyway. I got glutened the day before and maybe wasn’t feeling ok yet. As it turns out, when something says “may contain wheat”, traces of wheat may actually be present! So I need to stay away. I was covered in a gluten rash. Bummer. I took a chance and lost.

Ran 6 miles at a 7:35 tempo pace. Went to work and continued to feel blah. I felt kind of glycogen deprived. Who even knows? So I fueled it up. Here’s what it looked like:

 

I made a pumpkin cacao smoothie for breakfast. I had some strawberries and a banana (not pictured). For lunch, I had a kale salad (massaged with tahini and extra turmeric, fluffed with water), tomatoes, carrots and eggs, with gluten free tortilla chips and an apple. That’s my reusable baggie. I love it!

We picked up the CSA and got groceries tonight. Went to Whole Foods – my favorite! While I was putting away the groceries, I had to break into my much needed marathon fuel – Udi’s gluten free bread with a smear of peanut butter. It was so delicious. And then I sat down to this giant salad from the Whole Foods salad bar. It was incredible and I ate every last bite.

And now we are sitting here, watching the first season of Homeland. Have you seen it? This is incredible! We are catching up so we can start Season 2 with everyone else. I think we have 7 more episodes left in this season.

8 miles in the morning. Whoo hoo taper!