Country Music Half Marathon 2013

Last summer my little neighborhood decided to put together a running group. We all got together several times to run but as many things go time and life sometimes get in the way. I posted in October or so on our facebook group asking if anyone was interested in running the Country Music Half Marathon. I got a few responses but nothing really happened. Fast forward to January. A lady in our neighborhood who had put together training schedules for other runs in the past, and competes in triathlons, put together a training schedule and set a meeting at our local coffee shop. A plan was formed, payments were made, and training commenced. We started with 4 mile runs and tried to do long runs together on Saturdays. Of course, when you have kids playing basketball on Saturday mornings you don't always get to run with the group. 

One thing I did not anticipate in training was injury. In my head I am still 20 and can bounce back quickly from whatever I am doing. I had some severe sciatica that started right before our 7 mile long run. I went to the chiropractor who adjusted me several times and told me not to do the long run that weekend. So, I rested. I went back for the 8 mile run and ran when I could and walked most of it. I ended up with some horrible blisters on the bottom of my feet that weekend.   

Nashville has a pretty extensive greenway system to run on, which is fantastic! However, most of us were getting a little burned out running the same roads so we decided for our 9 mile run to stick close to home. We were able to do a 9 mile route that included seeing the dam, the lake, horses, bald eagles, deer, and a runaway puppy. It had a couple of hills but was pretty flat for the most part.  I wrapped my feet in camouflage duct tape and was happy to see that I did not have blisters by the end of the run. 

We did our 10 mile run at a lake where we ran in circles for two and half hours. I was tired and sore but didn't injure myself. All of us skipped the 11 mile run due to all kinds of commitments. Then came the week of the 12 mile run. By mile 7 of that run the side and bottom of my right foot were killing me. I have had a stress fracture in my foot before and that is what this felt like. I made it to 10 and a half miles before Bobby came to pick me up. No, not because I couldn't have finished the 12 miles but because we had to take Munchkin to the doctor. She had strep the week before and had come home from school on Friday with a fever of 104. We were getting her checked out to see if she had a strep relapse. The nurse saw me limping and said I should rest. So I did not run anymore until the day of the race.

Two days before the race I went down to the convention center and picked up my race packet. If you have never been to an expo like this, be warned, it gets busy! We were there early though and were able to get through most of the exhibits fairly quickly. I won a bag of runner shaped pasta at one of the booths. 

Not only did I get to pick everything up, I also got to have lunch with my hubs at Satco. Delish!

The evening before the race our little group (which was down to 5 at that point) had our carbo load dinner at our fearless leaders house. It was sweet of her to have us all over for dinner. We had whole wheat pasta, garlic bread, and orange chocolate chip cookies. I whipped those up earlier in the day to take with me.

The day of the Country Music Marathon and Half Marathon finally arrived along with rain....a lot of rain. Our little group met up at 5:30 to ride together downtown. Unfortunately, our fearless leader was suffering from and injury and didn't get to run with us. She still graciously drove all of us down and gave us great tips on dealing with the rain. Each of is had a garbage bag to cover us for most of the race. 

Having never run a half marathon before I didn't know how long it would take me to run it. So, when I signed up I put in 4 hours. This put me in corral number 29....3 from the end. By the end of training I was really hoping to run the race in 3 hours. I did it in 3 hours and 20 minutes. My first few miles were pretty good and I ran quite a bit. I had a few favorite aspects of the race. One was my sweet family came to see me. They found a way to several spots along the way where they could cheer me on take some pictures. For them to come out in the pouring rain was really special. I really liked running down Broadway and in the Gulch. The main things I did not like about this race were the hills (I didn't train on enough hills), the rain (during training I only ran in the rain once), and the leg cramps. In all of the months of training I did not have any kind of cramps in my calves.  During the race though, about mile 7, my calves started cramping in crazy ways! I had to stop and stretch several times to work them out. A few days after the race I saw an interview with a guy who runs all the time. He talked about cramping as well. It sounded like it had to do with how cold it was from being soaking wet. It made me feel a little bit better about my time when he said that he was much slower than he normally could have been.

I love that my kids have umbrellas in this picture because it didn't matter. They were both completely soaked as well.

By the time we got to Bicentennial Mall I was ready to be done. I knew I only had a couple of miles left though and ran a little bit through the mall. I got to see my kiddos and hubs again at the end of the mall. One of the ladies walking near me said it was so sweet that they were out there to see me in the rain. Mile 13 was really, really hard for me. My legs did not want to go much more but when I saw how close I was to the finish I got another spurt of energy and ran to the finish line!

My final time was 3 hours and 19 minutes. It was a little longer than I hoped for but I finished and that was what was important. You would think that after running a half marathon I would just go home and crash but that was not on the agenda for the day. We walked/limped  about halfway to where the car was and Bobby left me and Munchkin at a hotel to wait while he and Little Man went to get the car. Munchkin and I both had dry clothes to change into but forgot towels. We found an empty clean bathroom to change in and used paper towels to dry off with. I wish I had thought to bring a jacket and a change of clothes for Little Man and Bobby.

Once we were sufficiently dried and changed we headed out to the Solo and Ensemble Festival. Our plan was to go get lunch and then go to the festival but getting back to the car and changing our clothes took longer than we thought.

Munchkin did a great job at the festival. She ended up with a superior rating for playing part of  The Good Life on her French Horn. 5th graders were not required to play at the festival but she and several of her friends did anyway. The adjudicator gave her some very helpful tips and good constructive criticism after she played. We thought we would wait for scores but according to other parents it was taking a long time to get them. That was OK though as we were all hungry and it was a perfect opportunity to head over to Burger Republic and replace all of the calories I burned off during the half marathon. We were able to pop back over to the festival just long enough to see Munchkin's score and then we headed for home. Some ibuprofen and an Epsom salt bath later and I was a happy camper.

Overall, the race was a good experience. I would like to do a full marathon and complete a goal I set for myself back when I was working on my Master's degree. Next race on the docket though is the Color Run in October! Munchkin, Little Man, Bobby and I are all going to do it this time! I am sure it will be fun. :)

{FFWD} Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs

Are you someone who struggles with tastes or textures? Do you cringe if your food touches? If so you might not like this dish. However, if you are willing to try new things, even if it makes your tum a little jittery, you might find that this quick little dish an enticing treat. 

This was a dish that Dorie whipped up before some guests arrived one time. She only had white mushrooms at the time but said that it would be delicious with a variety of types. Since I glanced at the recipe before leaving for the grocery store I only purchased Baby Bellas. Since mushrooms are one of the 4 foods I do not usually choose to consume (the others are black olives, tuna, and cottage cheese)  it didn't really matter to me what kind went into this dish. 

A fun new venture in this recipe was poaching eggs (Ruffly Poached Eggs to be exact). I ate a poached egg in Eggs Benedict once on a cruise but had never before attempted to make them myself. What do you do when you only have press and seal saran wrap and your crafty children have absconded with your kitchen twine? You wrap the top of a snack size zip lock bag with camouflage duct tape of course! I think I have lived in the south too long...feeling a little rednecky...or is that McGyver-y? 

This came together pretty quickly. First I started the water for the eggs. Once the water was almost boiling I tossed the eggs into the water. When you look at the pics you might notice no runny yolks make an appearance. I let them go a little long on purpose so they were really more like a soft boiled egg rather than poached. I do not have a family that is fond of runny yolks. Once the eggs were in the water I started the garlic and shallots in butter and olive oil.  (The recipe did not call for garlic but I added it anyway...shh!) The mushrooms were added next and I was amazed by how much they shrank. I added the heavy cream (a little extra so the sauce would be extra saucy) and let it boil. I convinced Munchkin to make some toast for me as the base. She did great with the first two pieces but the second two were too light. I toasted them again and burned them. The dog was happy. At the end I added in some rosemary..it was supposed to be fresh but I didn't buy any so dried had to suffice.

I do have to admit I almost committed an act of thievery in preparing this dish. The recipe called for fresh mint and my next door neighbor just showed me her chocolate mint plant yesterday! But alas, I just left the mint out and thought maybe I should ask before pillaging my sweet neighbor's garden.

My hubs and I stood in the kitchen as we ate this. His aversion was the slightly wobbly egg and mine was the plethora of mushrooms. Part of the reason for standing in the kitchen was so that our kiddos could not see our reaction to our first bite of Creamy Mushrooms and Eggs. I have to admit I was completely surprised by this. There was, of course, a very strong mushroom taste to it but the rosemary and garlic made it quite tasty. My hubs said that it actually tasted really good it was just getting over the texture. From the other room Munchkin said "Can you make this again tomorrow, only without the bread"? Little Man also did not like the bread. He did eat some of the mushrooms and a couple of bites of egg. I made him eat a banana though since not much made it past his lips.

All and all a win in our house! Make sure to check out the other cooks around the world and how they did with this recipe this week.

{FFWD} Financiers and Cod and Spinach Roulades

Welcome back to another edition of French Fridays with Dorie. Surprise, surprise, I am running late on posting. Last week's recipe was Financiers which sounds like they should be in a bank. Dorie even describes them as little golden nuggets. I baked mine in a mini bundt pan though so they were bigger than a golden nugget...at least bigger than any golden nugget I have ever seen. :)

The Financiers got favorable reviews from my family. No surprise there since to me they tasted quite a bit like Swedish Visiting Cake. My kiddos were thrilled to take these tender little cakes in their lunches for the next couple of days. Many bakers added a little treat like fresh fruit inside and I think I will do the same if I make them again. Bobby said a drizzle of chocolate on top would be good too. I am inclined to agree. :)

This week's recipes was Cod and Spinach Roulades. A roulade is:

A dish cooked or served in the form of a roll, typically made from a flat piece of meat, fish, or sponge cake, spread with a soft...
A florid passage of runs in classical music for a solo virtuoso, esp. one sung to one syllable. (dictionary.com)

Obviously this dish falls under the first category. One of the items needed for this was preserved lemons. I could have made them myself but it would have taken several weeks. So off I went on another journey to find an ingredient. There is a high end area in Middle Tennessee called Green Hills. I have a love hate relationship with that hoity toity area. I love the stores: Trader Joes, Whole Foods, Pei Wei, Godiva. I despise the traffic. If I am going down there I have to make sure I have other things to do so I only have to go once in awhile. Thankfully all of the stores I wanted to check were fairly close together. I checked Whole Foods and Trader Joes with no luck. I went into the mall to pick up my free monthly piece of chocolate from Godiva (oh yes you must go sign up right now) and then remembered Williams Sonoma was in the mall as well. As luck would have it I was able to find the lemons there! All in all it took me an hour to find preserved lemons, unlike the week and half I spent looking for rose extract. :)

I came home and started to put this recipe together. There are three parts: the optional sauce, the filling, and the fish. You can make the roulades up to 4 hours ahead of time and the sauce a day ahead of time. Once I got everything together I realized our school had a spirit night that included karaoke at a yogurt shop. So, my roulades spent the night in the fridge. I don't know if that was the problem with these or it I didn't process them long enough but my husband said it was a little like fish grits. All of us liked the sauce, my daughter really liked the fish and my little guy barely touched it. We all thought the roulades tasted good but the consistency left a lot to be desired. So, I am glad I made these (I got to use my awesome new steamer basket again) but they will probably not make another appearance. The sauce might. Now off I go to find some recipes that include preserved lemon. :) Don't forget to check out the LYL to see how other cooks liked this recipe.

{FFWD} Pierre Hermes Olive Sables

My husband and I have been married for 15 years and we have known each other for 19. That is over half my life. Last year he discovered that I don't like olives. I am not sure why he didn't know before. It probably has something to do with ordering pizza with black olives on it for the last 19 years. I just pick them off. Why don't I insist on the kind of pizza I want? I do on occasion but it doesn't matter that much to me. Pizza gives me horrible heartburn so I usually only eat one slice anyway. This just goes to show though that there is always something new to learn about your spouse, even after ordering pizza together for 19 years....18 years we were just friends the first year we knew each other and didn't really hang out outside of class.

Usually my posts include me stating that my hubs doesn't really like something that went into a recipe and then is usually pleasantly surprised. Well, the tables have turned. Since I despise black olives I was hesitant to try these. However, I popped one of these tender little cookies in my mouth and I was pleasantly surprised! :) My girl said they tasted like sugar cookies and my little man just kept eating them. I did think they needed more salt; I thought the olives would make them saltier. I also kept wondering how these would taste with dried blueberries instead of the olives...hm I see another post in my future.

One of the required ingredients was the yolk of a hard boiled egg. Lucky for me, Easter was Sunday so I had plenty of hard boiled eggs to work with. You had to grate the yolk to be added into the mix later. That was rather messy but done easily enough. I threw the wrapped logs in the freezer and baked them later yesterday afternoon.

This morning I took a bag of these down to our local coffee shop to hand out as samples. Later this afternoon a friend of mine that works there said they were delicious and people would taste one and take another. I don't think they will last long. :) Make sure to check out the LYL to see how other French Fridays with Dorie cooks liked this recipe. You can find the recipe in Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

Easter 2012

 I realize this post is a year late, but better late than never right? Last year the egg hunt was right around the time the Hunger Games came out. I was up high while the kids went to hunt. I got a text from my hubs that said "May the odds be ever in your favor!"  Both kids ended up with quite a haul.

 Our annual pics by our tree turned out really cute and it was a nice day for a quick shoot before church. We went with Bobby down to the church where he plays guitar.

Egg decorating is always a fun activity. :) We seem to end up with a different kit every year. :) Coming up...2013. :)

{FFWD} Lemon Steamed Spinach

Way back in 1929 there was a comic strip that introduced Popeye to the world. He gained popularity when  he hit the silver screen and the popularity continued to grow. I remember watching Popeye as a kid and I am sure that has to do with the cartoon that came out in 1978. Popeye.com has all the history you could want to know about this iconic figure! One thing I remember about the cartoon was Popeye popping those cans of spinach open and downing that yucky looking vegetable to make him strong. To be honest, even with that example, I had zero desire to eat canned spinach, or any spinach for that matter. To be even more honest I don't think I had ever actually bought spinach before this recipe called for it...unless I needed it for another recipe.

At the beginning of February I saw a post about Cook the Books: Asian Dumplings. I got the book at the library and had grand intentions of making several recipes and jumping in on the Cook the Books challenge. I even went to Bed, Bath, and Beyond and bought this nifty bamboo steamer basket with some of my Christmas money.

Time got away from me, I had to return the cookbook, and I still hadn't steamed anything. Luckily for me I had a recipe for French Fridays with Dorie that included only 3 ingredients: spinach, lemon zest, and olive oil.

I cannot tell you how excited I was to used this new contraption in my kitchen! I was a little confused because it did not come with directions but I was able to find several places online that gave some specifics. One person instructed to line the basket with lettuce leaves to prevent sticking. I figured since I was making spinach that I didn't need to line the basket.

I tossed the spinach and arugula mix into a bowl, zested the lemon, added the olive oil and a little salt and pepper. Before steaming, Munchkin and I kept snagging bites. Delicious! Just the zest and oil alone made this tasty.  The steaming part was incredibly easy in my bamboo steamer basket and it steamed the spinach perfectly.

Once this was steamed I asked for reviews from my 3 food critics. Munchkin loved it, my hubster said "it was much better than he expected it to be", and Little Man said "Why does spinach taste like leaves"?  I really liked this a lot and it think that it will make another appearance in the future. Gone are the days of thinking spinach is just slimy and from a can! Check out the LYL to see how other chefs around the world liked this recipe!

Cookies with Brother

I know I mentioned it is spring break around here but that is for the kiddos, not me. I still had to go teach a class. It was a fun class but it still meant I was away from my kiddos. My hubster was able to bring some work home and work on it on our limping along home computer. While he was working Munchkin and Little Man baked several dozen extra rich double chocolate cookies. I am sure that was not the actual title of the cookies but they were delicious! Did I mention my kiddos are 8 and 10? They rock! :) If they keep this up they will be food blogging before too long!