Bad Blogger

I have been a bad blogger, it's been so long since I have posted AND I haven't been reading other people's blogs either.I have been working, training, eating and sleeping...and that is it. We are down seven people at work so everyone has been working like crazy. We are getting ready to hire for our open positions but I am committed to being more balanced because working 60+ hour weeks and having no me time is draining me. So to jump back into posting I will start with something easy and fun....the ABCs!

A~Age: 30

B~ Bed Size: Queen

C~Chore you hate: Dishes

D~Dogs: three! Daisy-Chihuahua, Winston-Pug, Bailey-Boxer
*the Golden Retriever is Colby my brother's very sweet dog

E~Essential Start your Day Item: COFFEE!

F~Favorite Color: hard to choose but green, purple and yellow are top picks

G~Gold or Silver: lately it's been rose gold

H~Height: 5'7.5"

I~Instruments you play: None now but I used to play the piano and the flute

J~Job Title: Manager of Youth and Teacher Programs

K~Kids: Not sure yet, check back in a few years...clock is ticking

L~Live: Colorado

M~Mom’s Name: Cathy

N~Nicknames: Bethy

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: Never, I am very lucky.

P~Pet Peeve: Rude people

Q~Quote from a Movie: Hey, I'll tell you what. You can get a good look at a butcher's ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn't you rather to take his word for it? Tommy Boy

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: Older brother, Erik

T~Time you wake up: 4:10 on weekdays, 6-7am (no alarm) on weekends

U~Underwear: Important but should not be visible.

V~Vegetable you Dislike: Cauliflower, it smells like farts to me

W~What Makes You Late: Other people mainly I HATE being late.

X~X-rays You’ve had Done: Too many to count, my doctos joke that I will glow in the dark.

Y~Yummy Food you Make: Cupcakes.

Z~Zoo Animal Favorite: So hard to pick, I work in a zoo and love all animals. It is my life's passion to work on conservation projects and educate people about conserving our environment and the animals that share the world with us. I am so lucky that my job allows me to do this. This is a long winded answer so I will end by saying I have a soft spot for African Lions.

Stomach Cramps

For the last few evenings I have had stomach cramps, I talked it over with Cory and we ruled out lady issues, food related discomfort and exercise related soreness. Last night Cory suggested that a lack of electrolytes might be causing my discomfort so we stopped and picked up some gatorade. After drinking half a bottle I was feeling much better and within a half and hour my cramps were completely gone. I didn't think I had been working out that hard this week so I was relying on just water and not taking in any nutrition with electrolytes. But on reflection all of my workouts have been at least 90 minutes in a warm gym. Lesson learned, I need to be taking in electrolytes even during the week for my short workouts.

Have you ever had these issues? I have heard of people taking salt tabs but I don't know much about it, I have relied on gatorade so far. Today I am branching out and trying nuun on my 50 mile bike ride.

nuun ready to goWinston wants to try it too
I will let you know how I like it. Happy Saturday =)

Bloggy Recipes

Last week Aimee from I Tri To Be Me posted a yummy looking recipe for Vegetarian Korma. My hubby loves Indian food so I decided to give it a try, to see the recipe check out her post here. It turned out great, we both loved it and will definitively add it to our regular rotation. I made mine with sweet potatoes and quinoa, we both agreed it would be better with rice. Cory also made fresh naan, which was really good.To continue the trend I want to share Cory's recipe for whole wheat pizza with fig, blue cheese and balsamic vinaigrette reduction.
You can putt any topping you want on the crust but this is a fun new one for us. You do need a sourdough starter to make this crust

Crust Ingredients

• 230 g (1 Cup) sourdough starter
• 100 g (~1 Cup) whole wheat flour
• 12 g (1 tbls) vital wheat gluten
• 2 Tbls purified water
• 1 Tbls olive oil
• 1/2 Tsp salt
• 1 Tbls dried oregano
• 5 Cloves or garlic minced coarsely
  

Crust Directions

1. Feed starter and set out on counter the night before.
2. Mix together all the ingredients and knead for about ten minutes.
3. Spray a medium sized bowl with oil and flour and allow dough to double in size, about two hours.
4. When dough has risen, preheat oven to its hottest temperature. While the oven is heating, roll out dough on floured counter. Place desired toppings on pizza.
5. Once oven is hot, use a pizza peel to place the pizza on hot stone and cook until crust is cooked completely and cheese is melted, about ten minutes.

Reduction Ingredients

• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
  
• 1/4 cup dried figs

Reduction Directions

1. In heavy non-reactive (stainless steal or enameled cast iron) sauce pan over low heat cook figs and vinegar until liquid is halved. making sure to ventilate well. Stir frequently and make sure to not let the liquid boil.
   
2. Carefully puree figs and vinegar with immersion mixer.
3. Allow to cool.

** For toppings we used the Reduction as sauce and added about a 1/4 cup of blue cheese and walnuts.

Snowman Stampede Race Report

Yesterday I ran the Snowman Stampede 10 mile race in Littleton Colorado. This was the third part of the Winter Distance Series, that consisted of three races one in December, January and February. For each race you can choose between two different lengths. The December race has a 5k and 10k, January has a 5mi and 10mi and February has a 5mi and 10mi option as well.

I like this series, it keeps me racing during the "off" months and a lengths I don't race a lot. You can run the races individually (last year I only ran Snowman Stampede) or save money by singing up for all three. If you sign up for the series you can choose from the short (5k, 5mi,5mi) mid (5k, 5mi, 10mi) or long lengths (10k, 10mi, 10mi). I ran the mid distance because I liked that the length changed each time. The races all run along the Platte River Trail south of Denver, for the shorter races this was fine because they started early and weren't on the trail for very long. For the 10 mile race it became an issue. Because the races didn't start until 10am and were on the trail for much longer cyclist and other trail users were on the trail as well. This became a problem when poor cyclist were trying to pass the hundreds of runners and calling to pass on the left but the runners either couldn't hear because of their headphones or just wouldn't move over. I think one of the most popular bike paths in Denver might not be the best choice for a race especially on a warm, sunny day in February.

It was a beautiful day and I had a good(ish) race. My legs were not completely fresh still after our 16 miler on Monday and the last few milers were definitely slowed by the quarter sized blister on the bottom of my foot (want to see pictures, I seriously took some). I am ok with my time of 1:35:56 with an average of 9:35 minute miles. Cory did GREAT with a time of 1:14:something and a 7:24 minute mile (how did he get SO fast)

Even though I am not super happy about my time I did go back to see what I ran the 5 mile portion of this race in last year and found that my pace this year for a 10 mile was faster than last years 5 mile pace (9:42 mm) so I am getting faster and I am happy about that.

The swag for these races isn't spectacular, for the first two races we received cotton t-shirts but for the last one we got a cute tech shirt. Overall I think these races are well ran and nice to do in the winter months.

Pure Bliss

I have today off from work and it is pure bliss! Monday is a work holiday but I will be working so I am taking today off instead and it is so nice. I plan on catching up on some blogs that I love and haven't had time for, doing some laundry and continuing to listen to Born To Run (I downloaded it from the public library, yay for free audio books!)
I am really enjoying this book, in graduate school I took a human evolution class, and while we didn't learn about the evolution of running I can see the argument that we are meant to be running people. Have you read this book? If not I highly recommend it, be aware that it does delve into human evolution and I know that is a controversial issue.

Have you ever heard of eating chia seeds, (you know, like cha-cha-cha-Chia!)** consuming Britney Chia is not recommended.

Eating Chia seeds was mentioned in the book and I am now really interested in them as a nutrition source. I haven't heard of anyone consuming them but I hope to get some this weekend and do some research on how to prepare them, maybe in a green monster?

I have a 10 mile race tomorrow so no structured workout today other than a walk with my dogs when my hubby gets home from work.

Happy blissful Friday everyone!

Boston Changes

I read a lot of blogs of fast runners, of runners who have or will qualify for the Boston Marathon (EMZ, Shut Up and Run, Skinny Runner, Run With Jill, Hungry Runnner Girl, Amanda from Runninghood, Etc.). I am a slow runner, I don’t think I will ever be fast although I am getting faster. I am running my first marathon this May and my main goal is to finish in less than 5 hours (my not so super secret goal is to finish around 4:20, I have been running my long runs at an average of 10:40 ish) So when I saw this article saying that Boston was lowering their qualifying times I was only slightly interested. Sure I would like to qualify for Boston one day but it’s just not on my radar. I did look up my qualifying time 3:35 ( that means around 8:12 mm), I could pull that off for a 5k but not a marathon. Bottom line is that for me 5 minutes isn’t going to stop me from qualifying, more like an hour will. But for those who it does effect, what do you think? Did you think BQing was too easy, or are your chances now shot?

How Do you Choose Your Races?

How do you choose your races you want to enter? Do you like big races with a lot of support or quieter races without tons of people, do you prefer a city race or on that's out in the country?

I prefer smaller races that are not in the city, the ideal is a small trail race, the draw back is that these races don't tend to be well supported. I really don't like big races that run through the city, which is funny because I chose to live IN Denver (when I retire I want to have goats, pigs and live on the Oregon coast. Thank you all for your input on doing an ironman this year. I am still debating about a fall 2011 ironman, I am heavily leaning towards doing it this summer, now I just need to choose a race and convince my husband!

It's too late to sign up for a fall Ford Ironman, so I will have to choose from unincorporated races. I am trying to choose between Rev 3 cedar point, Grand Columbian and Redman.

Have you done any of these races, which one is the most rural and scenic?