A pinteresting week

Warning: This has absolutely nothing to do with running.

This week has been full of projects that I decided to do.  Couldn't tell you why this week became the craft week, but here we are.  Monday night I decided to try a new recipe I found on Pinterest two years ago....the person who wrote it called it armadillo eggs. I call them reverse stuffed peppers.  Anyways, the basic concept/way to make it is this.  Get some peppers, chili are recommended, by since RyGuy doesn't love spicy, I also used some regular small assorted peppers. You'll also need some cheese and some ground beef.  For cheese, I used a block of Cabot Vermont Cheddar, but you can switch that up to your liking.  Cut the top off the pepper, scrape out the seeds, and stuff in some cubes of cheese.  Then, take your ground beef, which should probably be mixed up like you're making meatloaf or meatballs.  (Eggs and bread crumbs recommended, but I never use that stuff in my regular meatballs, so I skipped it here too.) Wrap your pepper so that it covered in ground beef, like a giant pepper meatball, and stick it in a pan.  I made nine of them, using a little more than a pound of beef.  Bake at 300 degrees for 45 - 60 minutes.  The end product, while a little hard to eat as one, is delicious.  Totally worth it.

These are the after they came out of the oven.  Be warned, there is a lot of grease, but some of that is cheese mixing in.

Tuesday, I found a delicious dessert that I also wanted to try, so that was my next project.  This is called the blooming baked apple, but I feel like that name is also kind of ridiculous, so I'm going with just plain old baked caramel apple.  This one is also super easy, all you need is an apple, some caramels, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.  (But I use apple pie spice in place of the cinnamon.) As far as apple variety goes, I don't think it matters what kind you use, it depends on your preference.  Generally I love Granny Smith apples, but since the original post called for honeycrisp, I went for something more similar to that.  So I've been using Gala apples, because I like to do things my own way.  To make, cut the top 1/3 off the apple.  Find a way to scoop out the core, if you don't have a corer.  I use a paring knife and a spoon, because I definitely do not have a corer.  Once the core is out,  take your paring knife and cut two circles around the inside of the apple.  That is actually not as easy as it sounds, because without the core, the inside gets a lot smaller.  Basically though, you just want to slice down and around, like you're carving the top off a pumpkin.  Then flip the apple over and make narrow slices around the outside of the apple.  I didn't take pictures of all this, so if you want to see the steps, you'll have to find the original recipe.  (SORRY!) Once you have everything cut, stuff two unwrapped caramels into the center of the apple.  Melt 1 tbsp of butter with 1.5 tbsp of brown sugar in the microwave for 30 seconds.  Stir, and then microwave for another 30 seconds.  Once that's done, add in one tbsp of flour, and as much apple pie spice, or cinnamon, as you want. Pour that little mixture over the top of the apple, put the apple in a pan and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 25 - 30 minutes.  

Note: I've been making them one at a time, so all the ingredients that you need to mix to make the sauce are halved.  You need to double it if you're going to be making two. 

If you look at the picture, you might be able to get an idea of how your cuts are supposed to be made.

This is pre-bake, after everything is ready.  It was too delicious to take a post-bake picture.  But definitely add vanilla ice cream to the side.  

Finally, today, I decided to try out our pizza stone, which worked great.  I also made a costume for school tomorrow, because I didn't want to be the buzzkill that didn't dress up for Halloween.  Even though I have no face make-up, I think the costume came out fairly well for a last minute effort.  All in all it took me about two hours.  In hindsight, I probably could have used fabric paint instead of regular acrylic paint, but too late.  So I made a skeleton costume using an old pair of black running pants, a black short sleeve t-shirt, black gloves, and black nylons that I cut up into arm sleeves.  Not bad overall. 

It kind of bugs me that everything looks super wide, but I think it's just the camera.  Plus the shirt is crooked.  On the plus side, it's covered in glow in the dark paint, so that's exciting!

I still have one more project that I started this week.  It's about half way done, but it's going to be a gift for someone, so I don't want to put out any details until after it's been finished, packed up, and sent off.  So don't worry, next time I write, it's back to running!

An Ode to Shoes

My trusted and battle worn Adidas, I will miss you so.  Together we've run two marathons, 7 half marathons, and countless other short races along the way.We have logged well over 100 miles, you and I. You were the shoe I wore for my first half and my first full marathon.  We went through mud, water, sand, snow, and unbeknownst to me, other types of trash and dirt I'm sure.  From the highest hill to the lowest valley, together we conquered running.  You never gave up, not when you were water logged from 20 miles in the rain, or when it was so cold your laces were frozen together.
Shoes, you took me to new places and learned new routes, but you also joined me on the old home roads.  We went to Philly and D.C., Gloucester and Salem, Milwaukee and Waco, and yes, even a treadmill here or there. But you weren't just for running. Sometimes you got laced up for a dog walk, just because you could.  Your main calling though, your whole reason for being, your shoe-ness, if you will, was to run, and run fast.  And now, as your life as a running shoe takes it's final breath, know that you have fulfilled your purpose. You gave me the miles I needed, the support my knees deserved, and the style my vain side loved. Never again will a shoe as meaningful as you grace my feet.  So, with this, my final goodbye, I retire you, my blue Adidas marathon shoes, to the closet of dog walking shoes.  Know you go in good faith, with the love of my feet behind you, and the world of walking open to you.  Enjoy life in retirement.

Suiting up for my first half with my brand new shoes

Suiting up for my first FULL with my still new shoes

Will Run for Beer Series Finale: Summer Shoes

Wicked Half 2013: Fall shoes

Running with Stella: Dog shoes

Finish at Philly: November shoes

Today, the last day of their running career. 

Goodbye old friends.

Run Like Hell: Devil's Chase 6.66

This was a wicked busy weekend so I didn't get time to update until now. We went to visit some friends in Vermont which was lovely.  Except for when we waited two hours for brunch. That part I could have done without.  Live and learn.
As far as running goes though, I feel like I got a lot done.  Friday before boxing I ran a quick 3 miles.  Saturday was the big day though.  B and S puts on a lot of races around here, most notably, the Wicked Half that I did last month.  This month they did the Devil's Chase 6.66 miler through Salem.  I love running in Salem, but I hate driving there in October.  I do my best to avoid the city at peak hours the entire month.  Occasionally I'll go through around 2:30 on a Wednesday, but even that's stretching it.  Plus, all the parking is resident only, which is a struggle unless you want to pay $20.  No thanks. Anyways, this race started at 8:00 a.m. and there was plenty of free parking (woo woo). Of course I took my Tailwind along, because at this point, I'm committed.  Even though it was a chilly start and I was alone, I had fun.  The race started and ended at the Willows, which is a little strip mall arcade place.  Of course everything is closed now that the season is over, but it still makes for nice running.  We ran out through Salem commons, down the pedestrian mall, back by the Wharf, around Winter Island, and back through the Willows.  It really was nice.  Since the road we started on bottle-necked pretty bad for the Wicked Half, I made a conscious effort to get up to the front for the start.  That worked out well and I was able to get out as soon as the race started.  I know I should have started slower than I did, but I really enjoyed the fact that I was so close to the start that I could see the police car leading the first place runner out in front of me.  In the end, I ran my first mile at 7:44 and then dropped down to the 8;10 range for the next 5.66.  Which is still really good.  I came in 90th overall, and 8th in my age group.  8th. Out of 200! I was excited about that, but also a little disappointed.  I just keep thinking if I had done my first mile just a little bit slower, I could have done my other 5 a little bit faster, and maybe not had two other female runners pass me on the last little stretch.  Aside from that though, the medal they gave out was awesome, and I got some fun pictures.  Plus I got my fastest 10K. So overall, it was a good run.

Mile 5-ish. Obviously I was having a good time.

Final stretch.  I was celebrating and yelling "Woo!" to Mr. Mike Fitzgerald, who takes the pictures at Lynn Woods during the summer, and races like this, clearly.

Finishing. Yea!!!!!

I liked my number too.  If you can't be 666, might as well be close.

Sweet medal yo.

And here's my run

Dread the tread

The weather today has not been great by any means.  Apparently this is some sort of Nor'easter.  It's a little early for that, if you ask me, but I'm not mother nature, so what do I know.  Anyways, it's been raining and windy all day.  Not a terrible, frost bitingly cold rain, but not a nice warm rain either.  Just the kind of miserable rain that makes you not want to do anything except eat.  Alas, it's Wednesday, and since I took Monday off and ate a ton of bad food over the past few days, I had to do something. Sunday and Tuesday this week I did some speed work to make up for the weeks I missed.  So today had to be some actual running. Most of the time my speed doesn't go past the 2 mile mark. After looking at the weather, I decided it was best to just suck it up and run on the treadmill at Title. Every now and again I get the idea that maybe the treadmill won't be so bad.  After all, I only wanted to do 4 miles.  Immediately after getting on the stupid thing, I realized it was a terrible idea.  First, I tried reading a book.  Unfortunately the only book available was a Paleo Cookbook.  Definitely not ideal running reading material.  I read the introduction, learned a little bit about Paleo, decided that it seemed a little to far-fetched for me, and gave that up.  That took me to about 1.3 miles.  Then I toughed out the last .7 on the treadmill, gave up totally, and went outside for the last 2 miles. Rain and wind definitely beat that damn machine.  Seriously, those two treadmill miles were two of the most boring miles of my life. At least outside I felt like I was getting somewhere.  Plus, it seemed faster and somehow, a lot shorter. In the end, I got my 4 miles in, but I am 100% over treadmills.  I will never be able to understand how people can run long distances on those things. Give me a regular old road any day of the week.
Back to the Paleo thing for a minute now. In regards to the author of the cookbook, whose name I didn't bother to check, you are a crazy person.  Of course I have no idea if this is the Paleo way, or just the authors view, but it seems a little too out there.  I get the idea of going back to caveman roots and I'm sure that much of that food is better for you.  But I just couldn't get past the no legumes part of the diet.  Listen, I'm not a huge bean lover. I don't eat them on the reg, and I certainly don't go out of my way to add them into my diet. However, if I'm eating at a Mexican (or Mexican inspired) place, and they offer me beans, I say, load 'em up.  Nothing goes better with a burrito than a giant spoonful of frijoles negros.  It's not so much that the legume family isn't allowed in Paleo, or at least in this Paleo cookbook, it's that the author made it sound like beans were not around in caveman days.  As if some regular Joe one day mechanically engineered a plant and it turned into a bean. Surprise! Legumes all around.  Alright, let's be honest, I don't know the history of beans, but I am fairly certain that this is a naturally occurring plant. And isn't the whole point of Paleo to eat things that occur naturally in this world? Seems to me that whoever created this diet just really had a vendetta against beans.  All I picture is some little kid sitting at his dinner table, going all Pinky and the Brain over taking over the world by eliminating legumes. Clearly someone did this person harm with a bad bean over the course of his/her life, and now it's being taken out on legumes across the world.
Then again, I'm not going Paleo, so it doesn't matter one lick what I think about this diet. You want to give up beans? You go ahead and do it.  Enjoy your legume free diet.

By the way; I'm all about those hills, 'bout those hills, no flats.

The one where I meet my favorite Patriot

This has absolutely nothing to do with running, but I'm just so excited that it has to go out.  Tonight I got to meet my favorite NFL running back, the one and only, Mr. Shane Vereen.  Last year I picked him up as a rookie for my fantasy team, held onto him through his broken wrist, and watched him grow. I picked him up again this year because I really liked what he did last year. So I was beyond excited to be able to meet him tonight. I wasn't sure it was going to happen, because he was filming a sports show at the Hard Rock and there was a good amount of people around.  Most of them were waiting for Gronkowski, but I came for Shane and there was no way I was letting that get away without at least a far away picture.  Luckily he was super polite and friendly.  I told him he was my favorite and we took a picture together.  Then he signed the only thing I had on hand, a napkin from the table.  But hey, at least it was clean! So, there you go.  Barely 8 hours left until my 30th birthday and that's what I got from it.  Not bad! Speaking of Gronk, he was an hour late, did his quick tv interview, and the walked out without signing or photos with anyone, because he was late for another appearance.  There were a lot of disappointed folk in the place, but not me.  I got exactly what I came for.  Here's our picture.  I think you can tell I was little excited.

Love it!

This is the closest we could get to Gronk. That's a full zoom.

13 weeks out

Apparently there's only 13 more weeks until the marathon.  It seems so short when you write it in weeks.  So, I've been following a marathon training plan, but I started a little earlier than necessary.  I just noticed that I had a 20 miler scheduled for the end of November. However, I think it's probably better if I push that back into December.  Otherwise I'll be tapering long before I need too.  Speaking of tapering, I really have no idea what the appropriate amount of taper time is.  I'm giving myself 2 - 3 weeks, so that should be fine, I think.  This weekend I ran 5 miles and did some speed work.  I have a little bit of a chest cold, so the run was a bit of a struggle, but I made it through the 5 miles in 43 minutes. I just keep thinking that if I can run at this pace when I'm sick, through hills, and in the hotter weather, imagine how fast I'll be able to go in January on a flat course. I also feel like I shouldn't think like that, because you never know what the course/weather will actually be like in January.  Plus, I shouldn't be trying to be fast, just faster than I was last time around.
Besides the running, in just 2 more days I'm going to hit the big 3-0. Mostly I'm ok with it, I guess.  I mean, I'd rather be 30 than dead, so there's that.  We went out in Boston on Friday to celebrate, which was a wonderful evening.  Ryan and I ate at Top of the Hub, but neither of us were overly impressed with the food.  Now we need to find a new restaurant to try out! Then on Saturday night we went to Border Cafe with friends.  I do love the Border food, but the service was not the best.  First, they don't take reservations, which is a struggle when you have a group of 14.  So, to be nice, we called ahead and were told it was no problem.  Plus, Ryan and I got there early to ensure that there would be no problems.  An hour and a half later though, we were still waiting for a table. On top of that, the manager was not the friendliest.  Instead of admitting that they made a mistake, he kept arguing with us about how long we'd been waiting, and why. My favorite part of the whole thing was that when we said we had called earlier to give the heads up, he told us that he knew, because he took the call.  Unfortunately for him, the person we actually talked to, was a female. So, needless to say, I was not happy about that part.  I wouldn't have stayed there if everyone wasn't already starving. Plus, it was getting late, so we decided to just stay put.  But I do think I'll stay away from there for a while now.  Good food does not outweigh bad service.  
Aside from that, everything's going well.  I did notice that my boxing wraps are giving me a blister on my hands. I'm not sure how to fix that problem.  Could be that the wraps are too tight, or not tight enough, or anything in between.  Short of buying the MMA hand gloves to replace the wraps though, I think I'm stuck.  It's not usually a problem, but today I noticed that it caused a little blister on my right hand, which is new.  Generally if I get one, it's on my left hand near my rings.

And now some birthday weekend pictures.

Selfie pre-going out

After-dinner drinks

View from the hotel window.  Google automatically put this filter on, and I like it, so I'm leaving it!

I almost did notice, all the roses, and a the note that said......

The un-filtered view

Good morning Boston

Clouds rolling in

Nala, the lion of the marsh

and the happiest Stella you've ever seen

Running in the rain

Today was the perfect day to get out and push myself past the little voice inside my head that has been holding me back all week.  I've been frustrated with not making it past 4 miles because I know it's only myself that's holding me back. If it was an injury or something similar, maybe it wouldn't be bugging me so much, but knowing that the problem is all mental was driving me crazy.  Mostly, by making me mad at myself that I couldn't get past my own influence. So, today, during the beautiful October rainstorm, I made the absolute choice to get out and do 14 miles.  No excuses, no reasons for turning around. So, I took my little self out and hit the roads of Danvers/Topsfield.  As much as I love running the beach routes, I wanted to try something different, something where I wouldn't know where I was going, so I was able to keep going until I hit 7, then I could just turn around and take the other 7 back. Overall it was a great choice.  I really had a lovely time on the run and I had no problem pushing myself past the 4 mile mark without wanting to give up. However, I did not love the route.  It was basically down old RT 1, which is not actually ideal for running.  The lanes are narrow and there's clearly no sidewalks, so it left me no choice but to run on the road. Actually I like running on the roads more than the sidewalks, but I don't like running so close to oncoming cars. Aside from the poor road choice, I had a great time though.  Best run I've had in the past couple of weeks, rain and all. Ok, let's be honest, the rain is what made it great in the first place.  So, here's my lovely run for the day.  This means I have tomorrow free to just box and then enjoy the Mansfield wedding!


Now I do have to attribute part of my attitude adjustment to a post I saw from the Louisiana Marathon this morning. I already love this quote and I think I need to turn it into a poster for the class. It said, "The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare." It really sparked my own will, basically giving me the push that I needed.  I've been spending all week being frustrated, stressed, and irritated at myself, which has been putting a damper on my own will to push myself. Let's be honest, if I don't believe in myself, who else will? And after today's run, I do believe I've conquered that terrible little voice.  In the end, if this was to be my marathon pace, I definitely wouldn't be mad.

4 more miles

Things have still been a little off, so I decided to take Tuesday as a full on off day.  Skipped running and boxing.  I know, that's unheard of, but sometimes you just have to I guess. Today I did another 4 to go with my 4 from Sunday.  Tomorrow I'm going to attempt a longer run, maybe 7 or 8.  Lately I keep getting terrible cramps half way through mile 1 and it really slows me down.  Don't get me wrong, I'm still up at an average pace of at least 8:40, but still, I want to be faster. I figure I'll aim for a longer run tomorrow and then do speed and boxing on Friday.  Then I can take off Saturday and do my 14 on Sunday just like normal.  Would it be completely absurd to try for 14 and 12 rounds of boxing? Maybe. Will I probably try it? Yes. Anyways, nothing else going on in the running ground, just passing on my mileage so far.

Sunday Funday

I've decided to make Saturday a rest day from now on, but I sort of already don't like it.  Today I ran 4 miles before boxing and it just didn't feel right.  It might have been the breakfast I ate, I'm willing to admit it wasn't a good choice. Whatever it was, the run this morning was just kind of a struggle.  The weather was fine, and I just did a straight out and back, which felt like it was shorter than it was.  However, while I was running, my legs just felt off.  They didn't seem to want to move like they usually do.  Not that I was going much slower, but it sure felt like it.  I went from an 8:03 down to an 8:53 by the last mile.  Which is still pretty impressive, if you really think about it.  Because last year for MCM my fast pace was around the 8:45 - 9:00 minute range.  Now I can say with fairly good certainty that my fast pace is around 7:55 - 8:10. I know that should be enough for me and I know every run can't be that great, but I get bummed out when my runs seem to go poorly.  I've also started to notice that it always seems like I'm going slower than I actually am.  Take this morning for example.  I was sure I wasn't moving very fast, I really thought I was down in the 9s.  By the time I got to the .9 mile mark, I looked at my watch, only to see that I was at 7:11 or something in that area. It really surprised me because it felt so much slower than that.  I don't know if that's a good thing or not though.  After my run I did the ever so much fun Sunday 12 rounds boxing class.  Mostly I like it because it's fairly empty and I hate it when the club is crowded. Usually I can get my favorite bag and not have people on all sides of me, which is something that kind of drives me crazy.  I always feel like I'm going to hit someone else when there are people surrounding me. I made it through those 12 rounds okay too, but I'm telling you, something was off.  I just wish I knew what it was!

Ok I've got nothing else, so here are two Halloween themed pictures I drew.

Random Thursday Run

Usually I make Thursday an off day. Don't ask me why, it just seems to fit nicely in after four days of running. Saturday is my other off day, which doesn't feel quite as nice, but Thursday is there, nestled in between days of running and the last day of work. It just fits. Since my running schedule has been off this week though, I decided to take it on the chin and go for a run today, in between regular school and night parent/teacher team school.  It's been rainy and a little chilly these past two days, which is perfect weather for October and for running.  Except that yesterday my regular short distance running shoes got soaked. Nala and I might have gotten a little too splash happy in all the puddles....So today I decided to wear my North Face Trail running shoes.  These are nice shoes, but they are supposedly meant for trail running, so I don't generally wear them on regular pavement runs. I figured they were built more for this type of weather than my Hoka's though, so I wore them for the run along the beach. Now, usually I like to attribute my successful runs to lots of factors outside of my control. Good shoes, Tailwind Nutrition, great weather, I can always find something other than myself that made my run the best run yet. Today however, I have to accept that as much as that stuff helps, a lot of it is just me and my training.  I ran 4 miles in 31:50, with hills.  My first two miles were in the 7s! That has NEVER happened to me, at least, not since high school track. The last two miles were in the 8s and as you might guess,that's where the hills came in.  Now, there was a bit of an ACTUAL tailwind on my first two miles, but then I also had to turn around and run back in the same direction, which meant there was also a headwind.  Basically, I rocked today's run on my own! Best run yet!
I'd love to insert the run here, but I don't think it works properly.  But, I'm going to hope it does and then later edit it if necessary.  In case it doesn't, here's a picture of me and Nala after our rainy run yesterday.