Getting Ready for Greece

So to clarify for anyone who cares - my racing schedule over the next couple of weekends is...

Sunday November 6th - Road 2 Hope half

Monday - leave for Greece

Sunday November 13th - Athens Classic Marathon full

When I first mentioned these plans to people the usual reactions I got was "Wow - you're crazy"  or "You're insane".  I believe I was even called an animal...  I'm sure he was referring to this image

This is, by the way, my race face.

I really didn't think twice about leaving for a foreign country the day after running a half marathon let alone following it up the weekend after with a full.  I though of the back to back races as a challenge and I decided would just roll with it.  Several times throughout this training program I have questioned my sanity, but I persevered thanks to the help of my family and friends.

Tonight I have finally cleared off my work to do list.  If I've missed anything - oops.

My vacation to-do list looks like this

Not too bad.  My clothes are all picked out and neatly folded and ready to pack.  My goal is to have everything ready to by tomorrow.  I am considering Sunday the start of my vacation.

Speaking of vacations - we needed to buy a new suitcase.  This is the lock it came with

Who is this supposed to stop?  We did replace it with a much brighter lock that looks a little more resilient.

This lock is going to be like my racing mentality on Sunday. Tough and green?  Maybe not.

Pre-Race - nothingness

I ran 6k last night.  It was my first run in 6 days.  I felt pretty good, my back only had a few twinges.  I wasn't as fast as I would have liked to have been, but I finished strong.  I'll run another 5k tonight and then rest until the race on Sunday.

At my half marathon clinic last night, we had a talk about prepping for the race - packing your bag, having your departure time figured out, arranging for kit pick up - stuff like that.  This race hadn't made me really nervous until the talk - suddenly I major jitters.  I think it was because I realized how unprepared mentally I was for everything I am about to do.  Oh - and I also thought the race was at 9 am, but its at 8:30.  At least I found out now.

After my run I met up with my lifelong friend Marie for and we talked about the upcoming race and my trip and what an adventure everything was going to be over the next couple of weeks.  I realized again how silly my pre-race nerves are.  SO I've decided to feel nothing about the race.

When I got home, I packed my race day bag and picked up my running outfit and put the thought of the preparing part of the race out of my head.... until I went to sleep.  Last night I dreamed I ran the race, but it started in the middle of nowhere.  AND I was an hour late.  When I got to the start line though it didn't matter, because the clocks had gone back so I was actually on time.  They were even serving coffee at the start line so I had one.  Then the race went great and I finished in my goal time.  Weird or a good omen?

Halloween Leftover Cookies

I've been dealing with the mountain of candy from my kids trick or treating escapades on Monday night.  After our initial pig out, I sorted through it and let the girls keep their favourite treats and brought the rest into work.  My co-workers were happy and I was glad to not have the temptation of looking at the candy at home.  There still does seem to be a lot sitting on my counter though.

I also took yesterday off from running or working out as another complete rest day.  This forced rest has been difficult for me to accept.  I haven't missed this many days running in a very long time and I miss it.  I keep telling myself really its only been two runs on my training schedule and I'm actually ahead in my mileage.  But this training schedule was perfectly executed until now.  I know in the long run - an extra rest should be better for me and I don't want to risk injuring my back again.  I'll be going out tonight and play it by ear.

So what to do when you have extra energy from not displacing it with exercise and a giant bowl full of candy sitting on your kitchen counter.... what any normal person would do... bake.  My five year old and I made what I have decided to call Halloween Leftover cookies.  Using diary milk chocolate bars and plain M&Ms in place of chocolate chips in a cookie.  To increase the "nutritional" value of these cookies I did use a pumpkin and oatmeal cookie rather than the straight up chocolate chip, but really I'm not fooling anyone - there is a ton of sugar in these cookies... don't think... just eat preferably warm from the oven.

  Leftover Halloween Cookies

Ingredients 


1 cup  butter or margarine
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/3 cups quick cooking oatmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup of Halloween candy (if using chocolate bars chop them into small pieces)

Directions

Cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add egg, vanilla and pumpkin beating until smooth.  Combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon and whisk together.  Add dry mixture to butter mixture stirring until well combined.  Stir in candy.

Bake in 350 degree oven and bake for 13 minutes on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Allow to cool completely and store on in a single layer separated by parchment or waxed paper as these cookies have a tendency to stick together. 

Halloween Hangover

If you're like most families with young kids this was probably the scene at your kitchen table last night..

 And maybe today you're not feeling so hot because you helped your kids get rid of some of that candy.  Or maybe I'm just lacking will power and its just me.  I really should be making sure I don't have anymore treats before the race... but those peanut M&M's are calling my name.  They can't be that bad... peanuts are nuts and nuts are good for you - right? 

Speaking of my training - I did have a bit of a scare over the weekend.  On Saturday night I woke up with major back pain and spasms.  All is well now, nothing a massage and ice - heat therapy can't take care of, but I have missed two runs in an otherwise perfectly executed training schedule.  I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that the extra time off allows me to be fully rested before my half in Hamilton this weekend and my marathon in Athens the following weekend.  I do hate missing my runs though. I just keep reminding myself that I'm actually ahead in my total mileage and there is nothing I can do now that will improve my ability to run next Sunday.  And in fact I could end up hurting myself more if I push it at this point. But man - it says to run 5k today.

Before my back started acting up I did go to the Twilight Zoo in Elora.  I ended up not going at night which would have been really cool as the figures are lit up, but it still looks amazing during the day.

Here are some pictures.

Dancing Devils... I think?

A witch caught in a spider web

Another spider

Guitar playing skeleton

 

A shark eating my oldest child

Tim Murton has worked really hard to put together an amazing display at the Elora Centre for the Arts.  There are also some of these characters in some stores throughout Elora. Its a lot of fun to just walk through the school yard and enjoy late fall sunshine with the kids.

Happy Halloween - a bit early

So tonight was the group Halloween run at Grand River Running.  I'm not sure what it is about running, but it has brought out some pretty weird stuff in me.... anxiety I never knew existed, an inner warrior that feels the need to race EVERYBODY (even when they don't know I'm racing them) and dressing up.

Since joining the running group I have dressed up as a man - well a combination of three, a beauty pageant contestant - First Runner Up, a Hawaiian girl, a wicked witch and now this....

May I present... a Greek goddess!  I picked this costume to get myself geared up for Athens.  No I will not be running the marathon in this outfit.  The thought did enter my mind, but that wig got hot after a while despite that fact that it was 2 degrees during my run.

Not many people in the group dressed up sadly.  In fact when I walked in the room I was the only person wearing a costume and I was hoping nobody would recognize me with my blond wig.  (FYI - It didn't work).  Thankfully a few more people came dressed up including a Greek god - AKA Bob Reidy.  I did not get a picture of him unfortunately but we made a great couple for the run.  Anyway, my Halloween dress up time is over and its the kids turn. 

It will be a weekend of Halloween fun in our house with a few costume changes. Thankfully we have a house full of dress up clothes so the girls can change their minds at the last minute.  Witch to tooth fairy - no problem. Gee - I wonder who my kids get there urge to dress up from?

We will be bundling up and heading out to the Twilight Zoo this weekend.  If the pictures turn out, I'll post some. Have an awesome weekend!

Could a backbend fix the world... or maybe make it a little happier?

This was me reliving my yoga class from last night

I was having one of those days yesterday.  I wasn't overly grumpy, but I wasn't feeling like myself.  I hadn't ran it two days; so I went out at lunch and ran a super fast 7k.  I felt a bit better, but not quite back to normal. 

I can think of a few sources for the extra tension I'm feeling.  Work has been busier than usual and I've been trying to wrap things up before I leave for Greece.  I have a bit of guilt for going away for so long without my children.  And I keep thinking am I crazy for taking an 8 hour flight the day after I run a half marathon?  But really everything I'm worried about just needs to be put in perspective.... like looking at it upside down.

After a particularly crazy feeling day and evening, I went to my yoga class (which I had thought about skipping).  My instructor decided we were going to "play" instead of a formal class.  We went through a series of challenging poses but mostly ones I love when I'm able to sink into like crane pose and pigeon pose.  And the one shown above.  I really like doing back bends - we even did them walking ourselves down a wall.  I think its getting past that feeling of - "Holy crap I'm going to smash my head off the floor".  To "Hey I'm actually not going to smash my head and holy crap I'm holding myself off the ground with my arms". 

After this class I felt back to normal.  In yoga I've often heard instructors say that upside down poses such as a back bend and shoulder stand reverse the flow of blood and are "cleansing".  I'm not sure about the cleansing part, but I certainly did enjoy the "play" in my yoga class.  Maybe I'll try to do a few back bends whenever I feel out of sorts. That won't be weird at work will it?

Crazy Sunday Cooking

I am wrapping up one of the best weekends I have had in a long time.  It was one of those great weekends that starts off with a bunch of really junky bad for your food that is in the "sometimes" category from your kids introductory health class - aka the perfect chocolate milk shake.  Thank you Dan for reading my mind.  The bad for you meal was followed up with a shopping trip where the entire family got their Halloween costumes (myself included - pictures will follow this week).

The awesomeness (yes - I just made up that word) continued with a killer 16k run on Saturday morning that I did not wimp out on.  I did this run pretty much at my race pace - maybe a touch slower.  I know conventional runner wisdom says to have bursts of your race pace mixed in with a slower pace during your long runs in order to recover properly but... that don't make no sense to me.  I cannot get my head around the fact that if I can't maintain a certain pace during a training run that something will change on race day.  Maybe I'm missing some big picture but if I can't run a set pace in training; it won't miraculously be there on race day.  All that being said, I am happy with how I ran on Saturday.

To finish off the weekend - first of all it was sunny today - we saw the sun for the first time in 5 days!  I finished off all of my yard work for the year.  The flower beds are cleaned up, the garage is tidy and the shed has been locked up for the winter.  Then I went a little crazy in the kitchen....

I love cooking.  Its where I can express myself creatively.  I know that sounds weird, when I think of creativity I think painting, writing or dancing.  But sometimes with food magic can happen in my kitchen. 

So first I made these..

These are quiona cakes that I found the recipe for on this blog 101 cookbooks

I also made green tomato gratin, baked squash, carrot apple bread, chicken Parmesan for Dan and the girls.... and these....

Buttery Garlic Knots

Dough

1 &1/2 cups warm water

1 & 1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp sugar

4 cups flour (I used 2 cups whole wheat spelt and 2 cups white)

1 & 1/2 tsp yeast

Garlic Butter

2 cloves garlic minced

2 tbsp butter

Put all ingredients in your bread maker on the dough setting.  Once done, let dough sit for  10-15 minutes.  On floured surface, divide dough into 18 equal pieces.  Roll into about 10 inch "rope".  Tie in a knot and place on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Cover and let rise for 30 minutes. 

Meanwhile

Melt butter and saute garlic.  Brush knots with garlic butter.  Bake in 350 oven for 20-25 minutes or until the bread sounds hollow when tapped.