Event Update

If you chose not to GOYB this weekend, here's what you missed at Goodwin Wildlife Management Area!

 A really pale red shouldered hawk.

 A herd of roseate spoonbills.

A herd of wood storks. These were very cool. Both Heather and I noticed that there was something about the lighting today that made them appear really really white where they were white, and really really black where they were black. They reminded me of the saddle shoes I wore when I was a kid.

Me and Heather being goofy.












Hope to see you on the next event!

This week's race results

I did my 6th race today. My time is a little longer than the last 5k as it was a 3.5 mile race (as opposed to a 5k.) Statistically, it wasn't my best time ever, but my foot really hurt at the start of the race and it took me about a mile to hit my stride, so overall I was ok with my time. Here are the results of the last 6 races:

• November 20, 2010 (1:02:36.7, 17:53/m)
• November 13, 2010 (53:45.2, 17:20/m)
  
• October 2, 2010 (51:57) (Note -- this race doesn't count. After the race all participants received a message stating that the race organizers messed up the course and it in fact was not a full 5k, which explains the really good time.)
  
• September 12, 2010 (57:44 18:37/m)
• July 3, 2010 (56:25:35 18:12/m)
• June 5, 2010 (1:03:20 20:26/m)

As usual, my cheerleader and photographer was there to document it all for posterity. Click to enlarge any picture:

Today's race was a benefit for the Visiting Nurse Association and Hospice. I was thinking of Aunt Cathy and Hiawassee Mom when I signed up for the race. I can't imagine a harder job and deeply admire them both for being able to do that.

The race started WAY too early for my taste. Here I am yawning before it started.

My usual goofy start to the race. My foot was hurting pretty bad at the start of the race and I was thinking that I would not make it through the race and was contemplating just bagging before I had even barely started. Then, about 1/4 mile in, the song "Idiot Heart" by Sunset Rubdown came up on the iPod. The line, "I was never much of a dancer but I know enough to know you gotta move your idiot body around" just made me smile. When it got to the line in the song, "So just move around, move around, move around, move around." I was finally starting to hit my stride and decided to put the song on auto repeat.

The last line of the song is, "I hope that you die in a decent pair of shoes, You got a lot more walking to do where you're going to." I kept the song on auto repeat for about 2 miles. It carried me past the pain, and by the time I finally took it off auto repeat, I was booking it, feeling no pain and felt really really good. I don't know anything about the band, but I think I need to write them a fan letter. This is the first race that I was seriously thinking of bagging, and this song just breathed new life into my tired old bones.

This is me approaching the finish line.
I have decided the Gogol Bordello's "Wanderlust King" is one of the greatest race songs ever. I had a really strong finish, and this song had a lot to do with that. I put on auto repeat about a mile from the end of the race, and I think I would have had a better time if I had started it sooner. "Idiot Heart" is awesome for motivation, but has a slower beat. "Wanderlust King" is a faster, get your blood going song.

 Crossing the finish line.

My cheerleader, photographer and most importantly, my sweetheart, in Starbucks for the post-race celebratory coffee.

Today's freakish it-could-only-happen-to-the-truly-fat injury was that the upper, under side of my arm was stinging really bad. It took me a while to figure out why, but then I remembered that last week when I was making the chicken stew, when I was stirring the crock pot, I accidentally flung a spoonful of really really hot stew on myself, so I had a burn there (as well as other places on my arm). Combined with a wardrobe malfunction, things were just rubbing in all the wrong places and the burn got really irritated. I really, seriously, need to replace Sporti before the next race. 

A Taste of Tuesday

 This is pretty similar to last week's recipe. I got creative with the base. I wanted something to counter the fact that I wasn't wearing my glasses when I dumped the Cayenne into the pepper. So I added some splenda brown sugar and cinnamon. It came out really tasty.

Chicken Stew

==========

Ingredients:

• Carrots
• Turnip or Rutabaga
• Onion (a vidalia if you can get it!)
• Boneless, skinless chicken (I used thighs, I think they cook nicer in a crock pot)
• 1 can chicken broth
• Brown sugar (I used the Splenda brown sugar blend)
• Flour
• Spices for browning chicken (I used black, white, and red pepper but you can use whatever you like)
• Spices for adding to base

1. Chop the chicken up into chunks.
2. Mix about 1/2 to 1 cup flour and the chicken browning spices in a flat dish. 
3. Roll the chicken in the flour mixture, then stir fry till browned.
4. Place the chicken into a crock pot. 
5. Chop up the carrots, turnip/rutabaga and onion, and put into the crock pot.
6. Pour in the chicken broth. 
7. Turn on crock pot and cook for 4-5 hours. Cooking time and temp depends on your crock pot. I cooked it on high for about 5 hours. Once the veggies cook down a bit, stir up the chicken from the bottom so everything gets a chance at being in the warm cozy bottom of the pot. Do this a few times during cooking.
   
8. About 1/2 hour before you want to eat, mix some water, corn starch, brown sugar, and cinnamon in either a gravy shaker or a blender till smooth.  I have no idea how much stuff I used, you will have to experiment.
9. Pour the flour/corn starch/brown sugar mixture to crock put and stir until it thickens.
   

If you aren't dieting, serve with really good bread. If you are dieting, serve with really good bread and run a few extra miles.

More About Streching

I had David take some pictures of the stretches I do before races or just working out in general.

This is a ham string stretcher. My physical therapist was selling these for $25. I picked this one up at Play it Again Sports for $4. You can also get them at Amazon, but check Play it Again or even Craig's List first. Either way, they are well worth the investment. This is by far my favorite stretch. You place your foot in it, and stretch your heel down. Note also in this picture the brace on my foot. This has a strap that goes under the arch and really helps the plantar faciitis. I got this one from my doctor, but you can also find them at Walgreens.

This stretch is deceptively simple. Start with your feet on the ground and lift your toes. Do it a bunch of times. It is really great for preventing shin splints.

   

Another one for plantar faciitis is to start on a curb or bottom step, with the balls of your feet on the edge. Drop your heels to stretch for a stretch downward, then go up on your toes.


I also wear a night time brace for plantar faciitis. This is the one I have, which has the advantage of being cheap and readily available at Walgreens. The disadvantage is that it wasn't made for someone with really fat shins, so I have to wear an ace bandage over it to keep it from moving around or coming undone over night.

The Tortoise Must DIE

I did my 5th 5k today.   My time wasn't great, but when I came home and was going through prior times, I realized that  it was actually 3 minutes off of my best time, since the Walk for Air was not a full 5k.

Here are the results of the last 5 races:

• November 13, 2010 (53:45.2, 17:20/m)
  
• October 2, 2010 (51:57) (Note -- this race doesn't count. After the race all participants received a message stating that the race organizers messed up the course and it in fact was not a full 5k, which explains the really good time.)
  
• September 12, 2010 (57:44)
• July 3, 2010 (56:25:35)
• June 5, 2010 (1:03:20)

I was, as usual grateful to have my cheerleader and photographer along. It especially meant a lot to me today since he had to work today and could have chose to sleep in instead of schlepping out of bed at 5:30 to cheer me on before going to work. Without further ado, I give you the pictures. You can click on them to make them bigger:

It was a beautiful sunrise.

This is the statue of the guy whose name I can't recall with his pet pelican in Riverside Park in Sebastian where we started.

This is me, being goofy at the start of the race. I jogged part way, but quickly came to the horrifying realization that I would be finishing the race with black eyes and bruised knees if I kept jogging instead of walking. It is seriously time for a new sports bra. I need to hit Junonia before the next race.

This is a bird that flew over while David waited patiently for me to return. I also saw a pretty big herd of Sandhill Cranes fly over the race. Not sure where they were going or coming from. Perhaps they were just pointing and laughing at me!

This is me, nearing the finish line.

Me, crossing the finish line.  I'm always so grumpy at this part of the race. The little boy from Runner's Depot who is always so nice to me in the store was at the finish line cheering, and for no discernible reason I just wanted to smack him one. I think maybe they should start passing out pastries instead of water at the finish line, I think I'd have a sweeter disposition.

Overall, I was pretty disappointed with my time. About midway through the race I realized I wasn't going to break into the 40's and was cursing the stupid tortoise; slow and steady does not win the race, FAST and steady wins, the tortoise only won cause the hare was an idiot (sadly, this is really what I was thinking about during the second half of the race.)  But then, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that the only thing that would have sucked more than having a bad finish time would have been to not have tried at all.

A Taste of Tuesday

So, I was horrified on Saturday to find that my life has been a lie, and nothing is as it seems!

Growing up, my mom made insanely tasty beef stew with lots of turnip in it. I think it was the cold weather, but I had a hankering for beef stew and ran down to the fresh market with the intention of getting me some turnip! David said he didn't think he'd ever had turnip before, so I explained to him that it's basically a bowling ball covered with wax, but once you cut it and peel it, if you can avoid slicing off any appendages, it is very very yummy.

So, I'm walking around Fresh Market, and have these little wimpy whitish-purple thingies that they have labeled as "Turnip". I said to the produce boy, "Those aren't turnip, I'm looking for wax-covered bowling balls." And the little boy said to me, "Those ARE turnips, you are looking for RUTABAGAS, which we don't sell."

I said "No! I'm from up north, they are turnips and they..." but it was a lost cause, he insisted that the little whitish-purple thingies were turnip. So, I bought them. They were NOT the turnip that I had up north. I guess they had their positives:

• They were WAY easier to peel than the wax-covered bowling balls
• They starred in Gone With The Wind. To my knowledge, Rutabagas have never had a starring role in a movie. 

But on the negative side, they have a much mellower flavor, I prefer the more pungent taste of the wax-covered bowling balls.  But I digress. I did make the beef stew, and although it's not my mom's recipe, it came out really good. So without further ado, I give you:

Beef Stew

=======

Ingredients:

• Carrots
• Turnip or Rutabaga
• Onion (a vidalia if you can get it!)
• Stew Beef (I used 2 packages to up the protein amount)
• 1 can beef broth
• Ketchup (I used the organic stuff with no HFCS)
• Flour
• Spices (I used black, white, and red pepper but you can use whatever you like)

1) Mix about 1/2 to 1 cup flour and the spices in a flat dish. 

2) Roll the stew beef in the flour mixture, then stir fry till browned.

3)  Place the beef into a crock pot. 

4) Chop up the carrots, turnip/rutabega and onion, and put into the crock pot.

5) Pour in the beef broth. 

6) Turn on crock pot and cook for 6-8 hours. Cooking time and temp depends on your crock pot. I had mine on low for the first few hours, then turned it up to high for the last few.  Once the veggies cook down a bit, stir up the beef from the bottom so everything gets a chance at being in the warm cozy bottom of the pot. Do this a few times during cooking.

7) About 1/2 hour before you want to eat, mix some water, some flour or corn starch and some ketchup in either a gravy shaker or a blender till smooth.  I have no idea how much flour and ketchup I used, you will have to experiment. I used ketchup to taste, probably about 1/2-3/4 cup.

8) Pour the flour/ketchup/water mixture to crock put and stir until it thickens.

If you aren't dieting, serve with really good bread. If you are dieting, serve with really good bread and run a few extra miles.

Grace... I have none!

Someone at work sent around this amazing video today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp_RHnQ-jgU

And I'm thinking to myself, Bah! Anyone can do that. Then I remembered last week when the trainer showed me how to do a very simple exercise where you pull a cable forward with one arm and swing the opposite arm back. And how when I tried to do it on my own I got all tangled up and spazzy and couldn't remember how to move my arms at all, let alone how to move them in the manner in which she taught me 1 day prior to me trying it on my own.

Sigh. I guess ballerina is one more on the list of things I'm never gonna be when I grow up.