Marathon Mom

Okay 62.5 miles to be exact. I can't remember the last time I broke 60 mpw, I know it's been since before I was pregnant. It has helped that Ophelia has been taking great morning naps allowing me plenty of time to run, this combined with a long 5 day weekend off work helped me to get the miles in. The even better thing was I felt great all week during my runs, the bad thing is I've spent too much time running on the treadmill lately. Today I had planned to do my long run outside but the fresh coat of snow from Saturday on the paths scared me. The last thing I need is to fall again on an already broken arm. Even with this great week I've decided that I'm running Boston easy and just as a training run for Minneapolis where I hope to run a sub3:30. Week in review Monday: Temp Run 8.6 in 1:05:00 Tuesday: SDO Wednesday: Interval 10.6 in 1:20:00 Thursday: Hills 9.25 in 1:10:00 Friday: Easy 10 in 1:15:30 Saturday: Easy 5.75 in 45:20 Sunday: Long Run 18.25 in 2:21:...

Since the majority of my running lately has been on the treadmill to accomodate naps I've gotten in the routine of watching cooking shows and letting my mind wander to pass the time. Lucky for me Ophelia's naps coincide nicely with the 2 hour time window that our local public television channel has cooking on. Today I was watching Simply Ming  whose show is wonderful; I can't wait to go to Blue Ginger when we're in Boston. I lost interest when he moved from the tempeh to roasted chicken stew and started thinking about the left over pumpkin puree I had sitting in the fridge. Bars, I can make pumpkin date bars like the  Banana Bars  I made last week. 9.25 miles and 1 hour 10 minutes later I had it all figured out. Now if only my treadmill thinking would solve real issues like figuring out a thesis topic! Pumpkin Date Bars 1 cup plain almonds 1 cup pitted dates 1 cup pumpkin puree 2 Tbsp agave nectar or honey 1/4 cup molasses (about that, I just emptied the jar) 1 ...

I love pizza, especially homemade pizza but since eating GF I haven't found much for decent pizza crust. Today I saw this post from Gluten Free Goddess for pizza crust that I will need to try next time. Until then I have tonight's leftovers to deal with. They will get eaten, but I might do a little complaining while it happens. Tonight was the 2nd attempt with Bob's Red Mill and it still isn't impressive. This dough was leftover dough that I had frozen from last time when I swore I'd never touch it again. The dough was so sticky and gooey, even after adding an extra cup of rice flour. I think I lost half the dough stuck to my hands, ridiculous! No cooking should be this difficult. I even contacted the company and their response "the dough will be sticky and hard to deal with. Unfortunately that is a part of gluten free baking. The dough can be smoothes out for use fairly easy by using wet hands. It the dough is still sticking to your hands, then use even wett...

No, I am not needing to lose 1 pound, this is the answer I received from the orthopedist on Thursday. A 1 pound lifting restriction with my right arm. Yikes, what actually weighs 1 pound? Honestly not much! Maybe a can of soda or soup, but how do you actually function with this limitation. Don't get me wrong I am happy that the splint is off and I am only needing to use the sling when I will be up moving a lot for comfort. He actually encouraged range of motion in my elbow, but no lifting "anything more then a pen" then he changed to 1 pound. This will be the case for another 2 weeks until my follow up when I'll have more films to make sure it is healing well. I guess for a fracture I can't complain: 10 days in a splint and another 2 weeks in a sling as needed with very limited lifted. When I mentioned my 12 month daughter he just hung his head and replied "things just get more interesting with you." I don't think he will ever forget the girl with th...

Okay so I'm a little late, but we didn't actually celebrate on Monday I mean who really needs Hallmark to tell you what day to celebrate when you've been together as long as we have?! We celebrated with a great dinner at home on Sunday and a dinner out on Tuesday. Personally I celebrated Valentine's Day by returning to running and getting in a nice 9 miles after a week off. Sunday night we had steamed lobster tails, asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes. I'm so glad I found a use for the food steamer I insisted on getting when I was pregnant to use for making baby food. Up until 2 months ago it hadn't even been out of the box when we decided to give steamed lobster a try with great success. Yes, I still made all the baby food it just seemed much easier to use the old fashioned steamer basket in a pot and now that I have the hang of the steamer we are way beyond anything that resembles baby food. Tuesday night we took advantage of the 1/2 price wine special a...

Breaking your arm is never a fun thing, but I've learned it is really a bad idea when you have a 12 month old at home. Then to make things even harder my mom, who is our daily babysitter has been sick. First she found out on Tuesday that she had strep and an ear infection, then became dehydrated due to vomiting from the antibiotics and dizziness the ear was causing. Thursday she ended up in urgent care on IV fluids and a new round of antibiotics. This meant I was home all day both Thursday and Friday with a toddler who decided naps weren't fun! Mom wasn't having fun either! The worst part of this all for me was that running is what helps me through these stressful days and I wasn't even able to do that. I did make sure to have a couple glasses of Zin that evening :-) Oh and top this all off I have a paper due tomorrow, typing has been a slow painful process. It has been amazing the things that have become so difficult: eating (planned meals that are simple ...

I never dreamed of a running injury like this, but as I mentioned in my last posted I took a fall on the ice yesterday during a 5 mile run, luckily with only 1/2 mile to go. I was in pain immediately but figured that was just the initial trauma and things would be fine. I spent the next 24 hours denying that swelling, pain, and inability to move my right arm at the elbow didn't exist and would go away. After being told by coworkers that it didn't look good I decided to run over to the walk-in ortho clinic at lunch. I've got to say this is a great concept and speedy care. I was in and out and back to work in under 1 hour splint in place. I can honestly say I never thought I'd have a broken arm from running! I have a radial head fracture in my right arm, yes I am right handed, and splinted from hand to nearly my shoulder. It is looking non-surgical, but a CT was done to get a better look at displacement. The bad news: no running for 1 week and this was a compromise. I...

A couple years ago Matt and I routinely ran long runs outside most weekends and I survived, but this year I think I have forgotten how to run int he Winter. In 2007 I ran RnR Arizona and it was 28F at the start, that day I wore shorts, a long sleeved shirt, light jacket and throw away gloves and was comfortable. So far this Winter I have ran three times outside and each time looked like an overdressed child waiting at the bus stop. My Winter running outfit now includes tights, wind pants, short sleeved base layer, mock turtle neck, heavy running jacket, hat, and mittens. Last weekend I even had hand warmers in my gloves and it was in the low 20s. I know my body needs to adapt again, but this is ridiculous, it takes forever to get dressed! And on top of all this frozen energy chews (this weekend Power Bar Chews) are hard to eat. Where is Spring and the sun for that matter?! This weekend's 17 miler was much better then last weekend's 17 miles. I have spent way to much time on t...

In honor of Superbowl Sunday and Winter we decided that slow cooker chili and corn muffins were a perfect meal. After many failed attempts at GF corn muffins I think I have finally succeeded, everyone was impressed and the muffins lacked the density that my previous failed attempts had.  4 Bean Slow cooker Chili 1 can each: black beans, dark/light kidney beans, white beans 4 cans tomato sauce (equal amount to beans) 1 onion diced 4 cloves minced garlic 1 Roasted red pepper diced 4 Tbsp chili powder 2 tsp cayenne pepper 2 tsp cumin 1 package soy chorizo (or leave out) 1/2 cup quinoa Directions: Saute onions, garlic, pepper until soft. Add all ingredients to slow cooker and cook on high 4 hours. Add quinoa and cook another 30 minutes. Adjust seasonings as needed. Serve topped with cheese. This recipe is easily changed, we’ve done various beans, soy crumbles, chicken for non-vegetarian, different peppers, and added veggies such as corn or tomatoes. Corn Muffins adapt...