Yesterday I did a step-back run of 14.5 miles, and I don't really remember how it was going or really anything about it because at mile 11 my friend Miriam called to tell me that she had had her beautiful baby girl, River.
I laughed and cried and stumbled along the trail talking to Mirm on the phone and hearing the happy gurgles of her baby nursing in the background, and my heart was so full of joy I wanted to hug random passers-by. I am truly grateful that I carry a phone with me when I run for safety reasons, because it let me be available and connected even in the middle of a long run, three miles from home.
Running is a wonderful escape, a great way to meditate, to get away from things, and to focus on yourself for a few hours. But I'm glad I was reminded that I don't want to run so far away that I lose sight of the people waiting for me when I return, and that it's good to be able to reach out to them or be reached by them when we need each other. It is a blessing.
It's been a rough few weeks for me, and running has helped a lot, but the thing that has really gotten me through is the support of my loved ones and my ability to share in the joy of their lives. The sudden and miraculous existence of a tiny little person 200 miles away, a person who doesn't even know what her own hands are or how to sit up, was a thing that transformed me. After Mirm hung up to finish feeding her new daughter and I wiped the tears from my eyes, I ran home like I had wings on my feet and the whole world was sparkling.
Welcome to the world, River.
Meal plan
This week we are having:
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
Chicken Burgers with Green Apples and Brie
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Teriyaki Salmon with Brown Rice
Lemony Spaghetti with Shrimp
I am also making my usual pasta salad with feta for a BBQ tomorrow after my long run.
Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos
Chicken Burgers with Green Apples and Brie
Strawberry Spinach Salad
Teriyaki Salmon with Brown Rice
Lemony Spaghetti with Shrimp
I am also making my usual pasta salad with feta for a BBQ tomorrow after my long run.
Spring Rolls!
I have made these once or twice before, but it had been a long time, so it took a while to get the hang of it again. But once I did, I was glad, because they are so fun and so yummy. The ingredients are easy to find; I only had to go to the Asian market for the rice papers. Everything else came from the big box grocery.
Spring Rolls:
Nouns-
1 package rice papers
1 package Mai Fun rice sticks
2 carrots, julienned
1 bunch cilantro, washed and stemmed
20 Basil Leaves
8 sprigs of mint, washed and stemmed
1 pound protein (cooked shrimp, cooked chicken, cooked tofu, whatever you prefer)
Butter lettuce, washed and torn into small pieces
Mung Bean Sprouts (optional)
Verbs-
Prepare the Mai Fun by soaking them in warm water for 10 minutes, draining thoroughly, and then dropping them into boiling water for one minute. Drain, rinse, and chill the noodles. Then, prepare an assembly line where you have a flat space to work, like a cutting board. On one side of the board you need a large flat dish with an inch or so of warm water and your packet of rice papers. On the other side should be all your stuffing ingredients. Be sure the protein is cut into strips or small pieces.
Take one rice paper and immerse it in the warm water for 5-10 seconds, holding it so the ends don't curl up out of the water. Lay the paper on your board and add the filling in whatever combination sounds yummy. I usually do a few leaves of mint and basil, about 10 of the thin julienned carrot strips, about a half cup of noodles, stretched along the length of the rice paper to within an inch and a half of each side, a small pile of cilantro and sprouts, enough of my protein to lay across the noodles. Then, I pull the far edge of the paper over the ingredients and tuck it in under them, followed by folding in the sides of the rice paper like a burrito. Then I roll it towards me, as tightly as I can, until the edge of the rice paper sticks to the roll. Ta-da! Spring roll.
Repeat with new rice papers until all your filling ingredients are used up.
Easy Dipping Sauce
Nouns-
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
Verbs-
Whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl. Garnish with cilantro and lime if you feel like it.
Spring Rolls:
Nouns-
1 package rice papers
1 package Mai Fun rice sticks
2 carrots, julienned
1 bunch cilantro, washed and stemmed
20 Basil Leaves
8 sprigs of mint, washed and stemmed
1 pound protein (cooked shrimp, cooked chicken, cooked tofu, whatever you prefer)
Butter lettuce, washed and torn into small pieces
Mung Bean Sprouts (optional)
Verbs-
Prepare the Mai Fun by soaking them in warm water for 10 minutes, draining thoroughly, and then dropping them into boiling water for one minute. Drain, rinse, and chill the noodles. Then, prepare an assembly line where you have a flat space to work, like a cutting board. On one side of the board you need a large flat dish with an inch or so of warm water and your packet of rice papers. On the other side should be all your stuffing ingredients. Be sure the protein is cut into strips or small pieces.
Take one rice paper and immerse it in the warm water for 5-10 seconds, holding it so the ends don't curl up out of the water. Lay the paper on your board and add the filling in whatever combination sounds yummy. I usually do a few leaves of mint and basil, about 10 of the thin julienned carrot strips, about a half cup of noodles, stretched along the length of the rice paper to within an inch and a half of each side, a small pile of cilantro and sprouts, enough of my protein to lay across the noodles. Then, I pull the far edge of the paper over the ingredients and tuck it in under them, followed by folding in the sides of the rice paper like a burrito. Then I roll it towards me, as tightly as I can, until the edge of the rice paper sticks to the roll. Ta-da! Spring roll.
Repeat with new rice papers until all your filling ingredients are used up.
Easy Dipping Sauce
Nouns-
2-3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp chili garlic sauce
Verbs-
Whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl. Garnish with cilantro and lime if you feel like it.
Meal Plan
This week, we are having:
Chicken Fried Rice
Chorizo Lentil Soup (leftover from last week's plan)
Tilapia with Broccoli and Quinoa Pilaf
Fresh Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Black Bean Burritos
Chicken Fried Rice
Chorizo Lentil Soup (leftover from last week's plan)
Tilapia with Broccoli and Quinoa Pilaf
Fresh Spring Rolls with Sweet and Sour Sauce
Black Bean Burritos
Marathon Training
This morning, after getting very little sleep because of the heat, I got up at 6:45 to get ready for my long run. I wanted to hit the trail by 7:30 in the hopes that I'd be home before it got unbearably hot out. I dragged my butt out of bed, choked down half a banana and a Larabar, and geared up. Yes, gear. Running long distances requires a lot of gear, at least for me, and I find that I look at other runners differently now based on what they pack along; I try to guess how far and how fast they are planning to go based on what they are wearing and carrying.
Anyway, my essential long run gear includes the basics: shoes, dry-fit socks, running skirt, industrial strength sports bra, tech fabric tank top. It also includes the extras: shoe wallet with keys and ID, running belt with water bottle, electrolyte packets, Larabar and cell phone, Ipod, running hat, sunglasses.
Once I was all geared up, I hit the road a little bit late at 7:40. My long run route now is basically two loops. I do a loop from my house to the south end of the Fanno Creek Trail in Tualatin, then pass my house and do another loop out to the north end of the trail in Beaverton. The south loop is usually much shorter, but today I had to add two miles to it so that my total route would be twenty miles. That meant that by the time I hit the trailhead on my 12-mile Tigard-Beaverton loop, I'd already been running for an hour and half. And I could feel it.
I have run that north loop so many times that it's built into my muscle memory. I know exactly how far I've come and how far there is to go at any point on that trail. Hitting that north loop trailhead having already run 8 miles was hard. My body knew exactly how far it had yet to go and how tired it already was. Also, by then, it was starting to get hot, and I had to be really conscientious about water. There are a lot more opportunities to hydrate on the south loop than the north. There's only one drinking fountain on the whole north loop, and it's two miles in. So I had tried to drink and refill my water supply at least once on the south loop, and then drink and refill it again at the beginning of the north one. But that fill-up had to last 8 miles, so I was rationing it out.
I started to worry about water around mile 15, with three miles left before I could refill, no water left in my bottle and the sun high enough that the normally shady trail was bright, hot and sunny. I stuck to the shade as much as possible and slowed my pace down so I wasn't working so hard, but I was warm and tired and thirsty and slowing down made me feel almost... dizzy. It was a pretty rough couple of miles.
Finally, I got to water and stopped to soak my hat and my shirt, to refill my water bottle and to drink as much as I could. I had only two miles left and a full water supply, but I was still tired, still hot, and then my ipod died and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of how far I'd come. I knew (knew, in my bones) that I had just run 18 miles, and it was an oppressively exhausting knowledge. I almost, almost gave up.
But there was this family, a dad and mom running and two kids on bikes, that had passed me a few miles previously and then hit a turnaround and started back the other way. I ran into them as I was trudging a minute or so after my water refill, and I got a thumbs-up from the dad and mom, and the kids said "Good Job, lady!" They were so cute and so encouraging to a random stranger sweatily walking along that it made me feel like I was not alone and that, having come 18 miles, I could surely run a measly 2 more. So I ran. I shifted somehow from shuffle to jog and made it my last two miles with no music, just the sound of my breath and my own gasping promises to myself: "If you can just make it another 3/4 of a mile, then you get to stop running. Soon, soon, you will get to stop."
20 miles. It wasn't easy, but I made it.
Anyway, my essential long run gear includes the basics: shoes, dry-fit socks, running skirt, industrial strength sports bra, tech fabric tank top. It also includes the extras: shoe wallet with keys and ID, running belt with water bottle, electrolyte packets, Larabar and cell phone, Ipod, running hat, sunglasses.
Once I was all geared up, I hit the road a little bit late at 7:40. My long run route now is basically two loops. I do a loop from my house to the south end of the Fanno Creek Trail in Tualatin, then pass my house and do another loop out to the north end of the trail in Beaverton. The south loop is usually much shorter, but today I had to add two miles to it so that my total route would be twenty miles. That meant that by the time I hit the trailhead on my 12-mile Tigard-Beaverton loop, I'd already been running for an hour and half. And I could feel it.
I have run that north loop so many times that it's built into my muscle memory. I know exactly how far I've come and how far there is to go at any point on that trail. Hitting that north loop trailhead having already run 8 miles was hard. My body knew exactly how far it had yet to go and how tired it already was. Also, by then, it was starting to get hot, and I had to be really conscientious about water. There are a lot more opportunities to hydrate on the south loop than the north. There's only one drinking fountain on the whole north loop, and it's two miles in. So I had tried to drink and refill my water supply at least once on the south loop, and then drink and refill it again at the beginning of the north one. But that fill-up had to last 8 miles, so I was rationing it out.
I started to worry about water around mile 15, with three miles left before I could refill, no water left in my bottle and the sun high enough that the normally shady trail was bright, hot and sunny. I stuck to the shade as much as possible and slowed my pace down so I wasn't working so hard, but I was warm and tired and thirsty and slowing down made me feel almost... dizzy. It was a pretty rough couple of miles.
Finally, I got to water and stopped to soak my hat and my shirt, to refill my water bottle and to drink as much as I could. I had only two miles left and a full water supply, but I was still tired, still hot, and then my ipod died and I was overwhelmed with the feeling of how far I'd come. I knew (knew, in my bones) that I had just run 18 miles, and it was an oppressively exhausting knowledge. I almost, almost gave up.
But there was this family, a dad and mom running and two kids on bikes, that had passed me a few miles previously and then hit a turnaround and started back the other way. I ran into them as I was trudging a minute or so after my water refill, and I got a thumbs-up from the dad and mom, and the kids said "Good Job, lady!" They were so cute and so encouraging to a random stranger sweatily walking along that it made me feel like I was not alone and that, having come 18 miles, I could surely run a measly 2 more. So I ran. I shifted somehow from shuffle to jog and made it my last two miles with no music, just the sound of my breath and my own gasping promises to myself: "If you can just make it another 3/4 of a mile, then you get to stop running. Soon, soon, you will get to stop."
20 miles. It wasn't easy, but I made it.
Sweet Corn and Lime Orzo Summer Salad
Made this yesterday and it turned out pretty well.
Orzo Summer Salad
Nouns-
2-3 cups dried orzo, prepared
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 small summer squash, sliced in half-coins
1-2 cups sweet corn kernels
1 sweet onion, sliced thinly
2 limes, juiced and zested
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
fresh black pepper
salt
cilantro, for garnish
Verbs-
Broil the squash in the toaster oven until browned if you'd like it cooked. Rinse the orzo in cold water and drain. Mix the orzo, peppers, squash, onions, and corn together in a large bowl. Then, whisk the lime juice, zest, oil, cumin and chili powder together in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the pasta mixture and season with pepper and salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro. Yummm!
Orzo Summer Salad
Nouns-
2-3 cups dried orzo, prepared
1 red pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 small summer squash, sliced in half-coins
1-2 cups sweet corn kernels
1 sweet onion, sliced thinly
2 limes, juiced and zested
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp chili powder
fresh black pepper
salt
cilantro, for garnish
Verbs-
Broil the squash in the toaster oven until browned if you'd like it cooked. Rinse the orzo in cold water and drain. Mix the orzo, peppers, squash, onions, and corn together in a large bowl. Then, whisk the lime juice, zest, oil, cumin and chili powder together in a small bowl. Pour the dressing over the pasta mixture and season with pepper and salt to taste. Garnish with cilantro. Yummm!
Molasses cookies
Quick and Easy No-Chill Molasses Cookies
Nouns-
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Fresh grated ginger--or more!
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
Verbs-
This recipe take less than 30 minutes start to finish. Yay! No chilling the dough in the fridge, no waiting for butter to come to room temperature, just cookies on demand. Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the sugars and oil until combined. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Add the spices and baking soda and mix again. Add the flour and mix until thick enough to roll into balls. Note- add a few teaspoons more flour if the mixture isn't thick enough. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place at least 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake if you want them chewy! Hint- if you like, roll the dough balls in sugar before baking.
Nouns-
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp ground clove
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Fresh grated ginger--or more!
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
Verbs-
This recipe take less than 30 minutes start to finish. Yay! No chilling the dough in the fridge, no waiting for butter to come to room temperature, just cookies on demand. Preheat oven to 375. Mix together the sugars and oil until combined. Add the egg and molasses and mix well. Add the spices and baking soda and mix again. Add the flour and mix until thick enough to roll into balls. Note- add a few teaspoons more flour if the mixture isn't thick enough. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and place at least 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake if you want them chewy! Hint- if you like, roll the dough balls in sugar before baking.
Fuel
Though I blog about food and I blog about running, I haven't really blogged about what I eat to prepare for and recover from my runs. I have to say that as my runs have gotten longer, I have had to be waaaay more conscientious about proper fueling and hydration, and I've tried to educate myself about how best to do that.
HOWEVER, proper running nutrition and hydration is a subject that is incredibly contentious among runners and I have been scolded by other runners for eating/drinking the wrong things, so I know that people can get really judgey about this. If someone gets in your face about not using goo or not getting the right kind of sugars or not balancing your protein/carbs ratio, they need to get a life. Yes, doing those things might improve performance, but unless you are considerably faster than I am, not enough to really matter. Doing those things might also improve recovery and make your life more comfortable while you're training, but really, whose business is that but yours? My take is this: don't be an idiot, and listen to your body.
Don't be an idiot: if you are running more than 4-5 miles, in any weather, it is critical to carry water unless it is easily accessible on your route. If you are running more than a mile or two in summer weather or direct sunlight, the same applies. If you are running more than 6-8 miles, especially in the summer, put some electrolytes in your water. I was a convert to this after I finally started doing it on my long runs this summer, and wow! I didn't feel dead afterward. Yay. Along the same lines, if you are doing a long run, eat something first, and if it is really long, eat during. Don't eat things that will make you puke. (Kali, I'm looking at you and your vegetarian jerky) If you have just run off 2000 calories, and all you ate for breakfast was a banana, eat something. Duh.
Listen to your body: If you are thirsty or you are hungry or you are feeling really dead after your long runs or like your muscles aren't rebuilding very well, then you need think about making some fuel changes, and they should be things that actually work for you and your training style.
Anyway, here's what I do:
On long run days, I wake up and eat a Larabar and two bananas if I can choke them both down. Sometimes I put agave nectar on my bananas. I drink a few glasses of water. I hate eating first thing, but I make myself do it. Then I wait 45 minutes or so before I go out, so I can digest and because I can't get my butt in gear to get out the door most weekend days. On my run, I pack another Larabar and sometimes some dried blueberries. I eat those at the halfway or when I first start to feel hungry, whichever is sooner. I drink water with electrolytes. For electrolytes, I use packets of Emergen-C. They are cheap in bulk at Trader Joe's and we had a big box in the house from when The Husband was travelling a lot. I add one to my water bottle and pack a few more on hot days. On hot days, I refill my water bottle approximately every five miles, or at least three times per long run. I drink it all, and then more as soon as I get home.
Also, when I get home, I immediately drink a smoothie. I cannot tell you how critical this is. I used to wait a while to eat so I could stretch and also lay around moaning about how far I'd run. Then I'd feel like crap all day and not be able to do anything but shovel pasta in my face and flob on the couch for hours wishing my muscles worked. My smoothie is a compromise between ideal nutrition and speediness/ease of keeping all the ingredients on hand. It consists of:
2 bananas (why yes, I do go through a lot of bananas!)
1 cup blueberries (maybe less, I don't measure, I just dump things in a blender)
3 tbsp soy protein
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 whole lemon
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
According to my research, this concoction has something close to the right balance of carbs to protein, a variety of sugars that will be processed at various speeds to help something something with glycogen blah blah, some acids and enzymes that will somewhat counter-intuitively reduce the acid levels in my muscles, protein for rebuilding muscles, lots of anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients, and it tastes good. I don't include dairy or juice, which I think is good. I also don't include any greens, which is probably bad, but oh wells. I just can't stomach the look of the thing when you put alfalfa in it. Blech.
Anyway, the smoothie has probably (pause for mental math) 500-700 calories in it, which is great for after a run, but wouldn't be so awesome for breakfast. I am a bit of a cheater for using processed protein powder, and I wish I didn't, but the convenience really can't be beat.
I have had great luck with this fueling and hydration plan, and it works for me. But, if you like those nasty gu thingies, by all means, use those instead. They have invested in some real science, I imagine, and you won't have to pick flax seeds out of your teeth.
HOWEVER, proper running nutrition and hydration is a subject that is incredibly contentious among runners and I have been scolded by other runners for eating/drinking the wrong things, so I know that people can get really judgey about this. If someone gets in your face about not using goo or not getting the right kind of sugars or not balancing your protein/carbs ratio, they need to get a life. Yes, doing those things might improve performance, but unless you are considerably faster than I am, not enough to really matter. Doing those things might also improve recovery and make your life more comfortable while you're training, but really, whose business is that but yours? My take is this: don't be an idiot, and listen to your body.
Don't be an idiot: if you are running more than 4-5 miles, in any weather, it is critical to carry water unless it is easily accessible on your route. If you are running more than a mile or two in summer weather or direct sunlight, the same applies. If you are running more than 6-8 miles, especially in the summer, put some electrolytes in your water. I was a convert to this after I finally started doing it on my long runs this summer, and wow! I didn't feel dead afterward. Yay. Along the same lines, if you are doing a long run, eat something first, and if it is really long, eat during. Don't eat things that will make you puke. (Kali, I'm looking at you and your vegetarian jerky) If you have just run off 2000 calories, and all you ate for breakfast was a banana, eat something. Duh.
Listen to your body: If you are thirsty or you are hungry or you are feeling really dead after your long runs or like your muscles aren't rebuilding very well, then you need think about making some fuel changes, and they should be things that actually work for you and your training style.
Anyway, here's what I do:
On long run days, I wake up and eat a Larabar and two bananas if I can choke them both down. Sometimes I put agave nectar on my bananas. I drink a few glasses of water. I hate eating first thing, but I make myself do it. Then I wait 45 minutes or so before I go out, so I can digest and because I can't get my butt in gear to get out the door most weekend days. On my run, I pack another Larabar and sometimes some dried blueberries. I eat those at the halfway or when I first start to feel hungry, whichever is sooner. I drink water with electrolytes. For electrolytes, I use packets of Emergen-C. They are cheap in bulk at Trader Joe's and we had a big box in the house from when The Husband was travelling a lot. I add one to my water bottle and pack a few more on hot days. On hot days, I refill my water bottle approximately every five miles, or at least three times per long run. I drink it all, and then more as soon as I get home.
Also, when I get home, I immediately drink a smoothie. I cannot tell you how critical this is. I used to wait a while to eat so I could stretch and also lay around moaning about how far I'd run. Then I'd feel like crap all day and not be able to do anything but shovel pasta in my face and flob on the couch for hours wishing my muscles worked. My smoothie is a compromise between ideal nutrition and speediness/ease of keeping all the ingredients on hand. It consists of:
2 bananas (why yes, I do go through a lot of bananas!)
1 cup blueberries (maybe less, I don't measure, I just dump things in a blender)
3 tbsp soy protein
2 tbsp flax seeds
1 tbsp agave nectar
1 whole lemon
1 cup unsweetened almond milk
According to my research, this concoction has something close to the right balance of carbs to protein, a variety of sugars that will be processed at various speeds to help something something with glycogen blah blah, some acids and enzymes that will somewhat counter-intuitively reduce the acid levels in my muscles, protein for rebuilding muscles, lots of anti-oxidants, vitamins, minerals and other important nutrients, and it tastes good. I don't include dairy or juice, which I think is good. I also don't include any greens, which is probably bad, but oh wells. I just can't stomach the look of the thing when you put alfalfa in it. Blech.
Anyway, the smoothie has probably (pause for mental math) 500-700 calories in it, which is great for after a run, but wouldn't be so awesome for breakfast. I am a bit of a cheater for using processed protein powder, and I wish I didn't, but the convenience really can't be beat.
I have had great luck with this fueling and hydration plan, and it works for me. But, if you like those nasty gu thingies, by all means, use those instead. They have invested in some real science, I imagine, and you won't have to pick flax seeds out of your teeth.
Apropos of Nothing...
Ever wondered how to weigh a baby giraffe?
Apparently, you do it like this:
I really love the giraffe's expression, like this is so blase, you know.
In contrast, this is how you weigh the world's saddest baby cheetah. Why so sad, baby cheetah?
Apparently, you do it like this:
In contrast, this is how you weigh the world's saddest baby cheetah. Why so sad, baby cheetah?
Grilled Pizza Dough
We made pizza on the grill tonight for the first time, and it was sooooo good. It's a bit hard to get the hang of, because once the dough goes on the grill then everything moves really really fast and you have to be ready with the sauce and toppings and oil and whatnot in a well-choreographed little dance, BUT it is pretty easy once you master it and totally worth one or two screw-ups to get right. I modified Alton Brown's dough recipe a little and came up with this, which was so so so good. (If I do say so myself)
Grilled Pizza Dough
Nouns-
16 ounces all purpose flour
1 ounce gluten flour
10 ounces warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing on the dough later
1 tbsp molasses
Verbs-
Add the flour and yeast to the bowl of your mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix the flour and yeast, then add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Then, turn the mixer up to medium speed and knead for fifteen minutes. If your dough is too stringy or sticky, add a little more gluten flour and knead a few more minutes. If you can pinch off a piece of dough and stretch it thin between your fingers until it becomes translucent, then it's ready.
Scoop the dough out of the mixer and put it a bowl coated with olive oil, turning the dough a few times to coat it. Let it sit, covered, at room temperature for about an hour, or until doubled in size. Then, cut the dough into three equal pieces. Take each piece and pat it into a ball. Alton Brown says to form a disc, then roll into a ball and then roll it around on the counter for a while until it forms a "round". I'm not really sure what all that's about, but I did roll mine around on the counter for a bit before patting them into a rounds and putting on a tray and covering them with a tea towel for another forty-five minutes. That seemed to go pretty well. Or, if you are not using the dough right away, then put wrap your dough ball sin plastic wrap and stash them n the fridge for use for up to a week. Be sure to give them time to come to room temp after you take them back out, though.
If you are using the dough right away, now is a good time to start your grill or get your charcoal going. It is lame to have the dough all ready and no fire. If you have fire, then take one of your dough balls and roll it out to about 14 inches in diameter, turning and stretching the dough between each roll. Then, put the rolled-out dough on a lightly floured pizza peel or if you are fancy like me, the back of a cookie sheet. Oil the top side of the dough really well with olive oil. Oil your grill really well, too, with a clean kitchen rag covered in olive oil and held safely with grill tongs, and not with some undeniably macho but unfortunately burn-y hands-on method. Then flip the dough, oils-side down onto the grill. On a hot grill, it will be only a minute or two before the dough is ready to be flipped. In that minute or two, you need to oil the top side of the dough, again, carefully and using a basting brush held in your grill tongs, and not using your hands. When you flip the dough, be speedy on the spot with your sauce, toppings and cheese of choice. Then, close the lid on your grill for another minute or two, which should be enough to melt the cheese. (Note- if your toppings need more than that long to cook, precook them a bit, then put them on)
After a minute or two, your pizza should be ready, and you should be very very happy, because your pizza is going to be delicious.
Grilled Pizza Dough
Nouns-
16 ounces all purpose flour
1 ounce gluten flour
10 ounces warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp olive oil, plus more for brushing on the dough later
1 tbsp molasses
Verbs-
Add the flour and yeast to the bowl of your mixer. Using the dough hook attachment, mix the flour and yeast, then add the remaining ingredients and mix on low speed until combined. Then, turn the mixer up to medium speed and knead for fifteen minutes. If your dough is too stringy or sticky, add a little more gluten flour and knead a few more minutes. If you can pinch off a piece of dough and stretch it thin between your fingers until it becomes translucent, then it's ready.
Scoop the dough out of the mixer and put it a bowl coated with olive oil, turning the dough a few times to coat it. Let it sit, covered, at room temperature for about an hour, or until doubled in size. Then, cut the dough into three equal pieces. Take each piece and pat it into a ball. Alton Brown says to form a disc, then roll into a ball and then roll it around on the counter for a while until it forms a "round". I'm not really sure what all that's about, but I did roll mine around on the counter for a bit before patting them into a rounds and putting on a tray and covering them with a tea towel for another forty-five minutes. That seemed to go pretty well. Or, if you are not using the dough right away, then put wrap your dough ball sin plastic wrap and stash them n the fridge for use for up to a week. Be sure to give them time to come to room temp after you take them back out, though.
If you are using the dough right away, now is a good time to start your grill or get your charcoal going. It is lame to have the dough all ready and no fire. If you have fire, then take one of your dough balls and roll it out to about 14 inches in diameter, turning and stretching the dough between each roll. Then, put the rolled-out dough on a lightly floured pizza peel or if you are fancy like me, the back of a cookie sheet. Oil the top side of the dough really well with olive oil. Oil your grill really well, too, with a clean kitchen rag covered in olive oil and held safely with grill tongs, and not with some undeniably macho but unfortunately burn-y hands-on method. Then flip the dough, oils-side down onto the grill. On a hot grill, it will be only a minute or two before the dough is ready to be flipped. In that minute or two, you need to oil the top side of the dough, again, carefully and using a basting brush held in your grill tongs, and not using your hands. When you flip the dough, be speedy on the spot with your sauce, toppings and cheese of choice. Then, close the lid on your grill for another minute or two, which should be enough to melt the cheese. (Note- if your toppings need more than that long to cook, precook them a bit, then put them on)
After a minute or two, your pizza should be ready, and you should be very very happy, because your pizza is going to be delicious.
Marathon Training
I have plotted out the next few weeks of training and figured out where my long runs will fall and where I'll take a step-back. I plan to do a step back every other week for the last bit of training here, because running 20 miles every weekend is nutso, and even I know that.
So this morning I ran 14 miles as a step-back, and then next weekend will be the big 20. Whee! 20 miles! I'm going to be very conscientious about my stretching and my short runs this week, because 20 miles is way far, and because my let shin is a little unhappy these days. Important note: MUST NOT GET SHIN SPLINTS RIGHT BEFORE MARATHON.
After my 20, I'll step back to 16 the next week, then do another 20, step back to 16, and then I will run 22 miles as my last long run before the marathon. Because I am a BAMF. (Grandma, if you're reading this, don't google BAMF. Just assume that it means I am a well-behaved young lady) And then I will taper off for two weeks, including the week I am at altitude for my sister's wedding. Yeah, I am not running more than 10 miles at altitude, because I am not that much of a BAMF. My sister lives at 5500 feet above sea level, and I live.. at sea level, more or less. So I am going to be hurting just walking around, and there is no oxygen up there! How did I live for 18 years with no oxygen? It's a mystery.
7 weeks to go! It's going to be awesome.
So this morning I ran 14 miles as a step-back, and then next weekend will be the big 20. Whee! 20 miles! I'm going to be very conscientious about my stretching and my short runs this week, because 20 miles is way far, and because my let shin is a little unhappy these days. Important note: MUST NOT GET SHIN SPLINTS RIGHT BEFORE MARATHON.
After my 20, I'll step back to 16 the next week, then do another 20, step back to 16, and then I will run 22 miles as my last long run before the marathon. Because I am a BAMF. (Grandma, if you're reading this, don't google BAMF. Just assume that it means I am a well-behaved young lady) And then I will taper off for two weeks, including the week I am at altitude for my sister's wedding. Yeah, I am not running more than 10 miles at altitude, because I am not that much of a BAMF. My sister lives at 5500 feet above sea level, and I live.. at sea level, more or less. So I am going to be hurting just walking around, and there is no oxygen up there! How did I live for 18 years with no oxygen? It's a mystery.
7 weeks to go! It's going to be awesome.
Skipping a Run
I woke up this morning with really really achy legs. I ran yesterday, but not very far or very hard, so I am not sure why they were bothering me, unless I just didn't stretch enough or I slept funny last night. Anyway, all day my knees have been creaky and my muscles sore, so I'm skipping my run today in the hopes that I'll be in tip top shape for my long run tomorrow. I've been skimping on the shorts runs for the last few weeks, but my long runs have been going fine anyway, so I am pretty confident that this is a good choice. It's important in this process to listen to my body and not push too hard, but to push just hard enough.
Also, it's been a really nice lazy day and I'm feeling really.. nice and lazy. Tomorrow will be a long run and then we're having some friends over, so I'll be plenty busy then. For now, I'm parked on the couch and happy about it.
Also, it's been a really nice lazy day and I'm feeling really.. nice and lazy. Tomorrow will be a long run and then we're having some friends over, so I'll be plenty busy then. For now, I'm parked on the couch and happy about it.
Long Day
Today was a hard day at work. I spent hours trying to figure out how to best address a complex and sticky issue that has come up in several of my cases, but it's a confusing analysis with lots of moving parts, a tight timeline, and few definitive answers. I ended up bothering my various bosses (I have five, but I only bothered two of them... so that's... good?) many many many times trying to figure things out, and I felt like a pest and also like I should have been able to slog through this issue on my own. I was a little embarrassed and very very frustrated by the whole process, and I think that showed.
I was beating myself up about it until my boss told me not to be so hard on myself. And I realized that I was being hard on myself. I've gotten this same feedback a lot recently, that I don't give myself enough credit, that I judge myself too harshly, that I set unrealistic standards for myself. And generally, I brush off that feedback, because it's important to me to do well and because I thought that I was setting reasonable standards for myself. But perhaps I'm not. So perhaps I am being a little hard on myself. Perhaps it's okay that I don't have all the answers. Perhaps it's okay if I need help sometimes.
I was beating myself up about it until my boss told me not to be so hard on myself. And I realized that I was being hard on myself. I've gotten this same feedback a lot recently, that I don't give myself enough credit, that I judge myself too harshly, that I set unrealistic standards for myself. And generally, I brush off that feedback, because it's important to me to do well and because I thought that I was setting reasonable standards for myself. But perhaps I'm not. So perhaps I am being a little hard on myself. Perhaps it's okay that I don't have all the answers. Perhaps it's okay if I need help sometimes.
Hurray! We have a car!
After much travail and torment, at last we have a car. It is blue. It runs. It is ours. There was much rejoicing.
The Husband deserves most of the credit because he devoted his staycation to driving from Hillsboro to Gresham to Forest Grove and other faraway places to test drive a relatively endless stream of Hyundais, and he dealt with the logistics and financing and price negotiations while I was down in Salem doing that thing that is my job.
I hesitate to say so, because I don't want to jinx anything, but I really really like this car. I really do. And I hope it will last a long time and not strand us on the side of I-5. It is pretty cute, too. Yay! Car! Special Thanks to Jared, emergency transportation provider extraordinaire, for lending us his truck while we were carless. Jared is awesome. Also, I felt pretty cool driving a truck with a skull and crossbones air freshener.
The Husband deserves most of the credit because he devoted his staycation to driving from Hillsboro to Gresham to Forest Grove and other faraway places to test drive a relatively endless stream of Hyundais, and he dealt with the logistics and financing and price negotiations while I was down in Salem doing that thing that is my job.
I hesitate to say so, because I don't want to jinx anything, but I really really like this car. I really do. And I hope it will last a long time and not strand us on the side of I-5. It is pretty cute, too. Yay! Car! Special Thanks to Jared, emergency transportation provider extraordinaire, for lending us his truck while we were carless. Jared is awesome. Also, I felt pretty cool driving a truck with a skull and crossbones air freshener.
Home
Recently, a friend was going through a really hard time and, at a loss of what else to do, I sang him lullabies to comfort him. I never sing for people any more, and I barely sing for myself. I used to sing every day, almost every minute of every day, and looking back I'm not sure how or why or when I stopped. But my friend needed some comfort, and in that moment, a song was what I had to give. Lullabies and love. And that got me thinking about a time when someone did the same for me. Many years ago, in college, when I was having a really hard time, my roommate, Kaitie, sang me to sleep for more nights than I care to admit. She was tender and patient and giving with me, and despite the sadness of that time, that is one of my favorite memories of college.
Kaitie is incredibly gifted and has a beautiful voice, and she practically explodes with creative energy. The last time I publicly sang for people, (while sober and not doing karaoke) it was because Kaitie and her boyfriend wrote a show and badgered me and a bunch of our friends into being in it. Thinking about all that reminded me of one of the songs from that show, a song about loss; about death, about mourning the end of a relationship, about losing a part of yourself and finding some peace in saying goodbye.
I am sharing the song almost as a lullaby to myself, I think. A song from the past me to the present one, to lull me to sleep and comfort me.
(note, the first verse is all Kaitie, then we sing a duet for a verse, then our friend Emma joins in for the last verse. Also, this is a pretty amateur recording accomplished on dorm room recording equipment in 2007)
Thank you!
Cancer sucks, but you guys are awesome.
I am halfway to my fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society as a charity marathon runner. I am incredibly grateful for all the donations and all the support and encouragement I've been getting. I will continue to work hard and I will continue to need your support. I have every confidence that with you all behind me I can finish every inch of 26.2miles and raise every cent of my charity goal.
Thank you so much.
I am halfway to my fundraising goal for the American Cancer Society as a charity marathon runner. I am incredibly grateful for all the donations and all the support and encouragement I've been getting. I will continue to work hard and I will continue to need your support. I have every confidence that with you all behind me I can finish every inch of 26.2miles and raise every cent of my charity goal.
Thank you so much.
Peanut Noodle Salad
I realize I haven't been blogging much food on my food blog. Sorry. Running has taken over my life. Here's a thing I ate today that was delicious!
This recipe was born out of having leftover peanut sauce when I make my peanut sauce chicken. If I have leftover sauce, I dilute it with rice vinegar until it reaches salad dressing consistency and then stir it into some cold noodles and veggies.
However, the resulting salad is yummy I wanted to make it one day without making peanut sauce first. This is it:
Peanut Noodle Salad
Nouns:
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti, cooked
1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper, sliced thinly
6-8 scallions, chopped
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
Optional Garnish: sesame seeds or chopped peanuts
Verbs:
Stir together all the ingredients but the noodles, peppers and scallions. The dressing should come together into a thick, but liquidy mixture. Add more rice vinegar if necessary, or to taste. In a large bowl, toss the chilled pasta, veggies and dressing until everything is coated. Garnish and serve cold. Yummm!
This recipe was born out of having leftover peanut sauce when I make my peanut sauce chicken. If I have leftover sauce, I dilute it with rice vinegar until it reaches salad dressing consistency and then stir it into some cold noodles and veggies.
However, the resulting salad is yummy I wanted to make it one day without making peanut sauce first. This is it:
Peanut Noodle Salad
Nouns:
1/2 pound whole wheat spaghetti, cooked
1/2 red pepper, sliced thinly
1/2 green pepper, sliced thinly
6-8 scallions, chopped
1/3 cup peanut butter
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp chili garlic sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
Optional Garnish: sesame seeds or chopped peanuts
Verbs:
Stir together all the ingredients but the noodles, peppers and scallions. The dressing should come together into a thick, but liquidy mixture. Add more rice vinegar if necessary, or to taste. In a large bowl, toss the chilled pasta, veggies and dressing until everything is coated. Garnish and serve cold. Yummm!
Meal Plan
This week The Husband is taking a staycation, so he'll be doing the cooking. He is going to make me some yummies:
Fake Stroganoff
Spicy Orange Tilapia, asparagus
Sweet and Sour Chicken- My Mother-In-Law's Recipe
Falafel Wraps
Quinoa Salad with cucumber and feta
Chicken Fajitas
Fake Stroganoff
Spicy Orange Tilapia, asparagus
Sweet and Sour Chicken- My Mother-In-Law's Recipe
Falafel Wraps
Quinoa Salad with cucumber and feta
Chicken Fajitas
Marathon Training
I ran 18 miles today.
Wow.
For some reason, that distance seems ludicrously long in a way that all the previous ones didn't. I ran very nearly that far last week, but this seems like it ought to be on a different scale, somehow.
It was a good run, but a hard one. I was talking to a good friend of mine this morning who attempted an 18-miler yesterday in a group, but her group leader set waaaaaay too fast of a pace and so she did 16 miles and felt too shredded to do the last two miles. Her story made me feel really lucky, because I haven't had a bad long run in a while, and a bad long run is just a terrible thing to try to recover from. It is awful to be physically exhausted, emotionally tapped and mentally shaken by a really grueling run. So, yes, this wasn't a magical run like my last few have been. I didn't hit a pace where I felt I could run forever, I didn't get a rush from pushing my pace up and up and up the last three miles, I didn't soar. But it wasn't a bad run, either. I just ran, and ran, and ran. For three and half hours. I had to tell my legs to take each step, and I was counting down the miles a little desperately toward the end, but it was doable.
Though I'd rather have that I-can-run-forever feeling, I was glad to have a run like this, because if race day doesn't come with a magical runner's high, I need to be able to push through and just run and run and run, to take each step deliberately and with the knowledge of how many came before it and how many will have to come after. I have to be able to look down the barrel of 26.2 miles and just get it done, if it comes to that.
Wow.
For some reason, that distance seems ludicrously long in a way that all the previous ones didn't. I ran very nearly that far last week, but this seems like it ought to be on a different scale, somehow.
It was a good run, but a hard one. I was talking to a good friend of mine this morning who attempted an 18-miler yesterday in a group, but her group leader set waaaaaay too fast of a pace and so she did 16 miles and felt too shredded to do the last two miles. Her story made me feel really lucky, because I haven't had a bad long run in a while, and a bad long run is just a terrible thing to try to recover from. It is awful to be physically exhausted, emotionally tapped and mentally shaken by a really grueling run. So, yes, this wasn't a magical run like my last few have been. I didn't hit a pace where I felt I could run forever, I didn't get a rush from pushing my pace up and up and up the last three miles, I didn't soar. But it wasn't a bad run, either. I just ran, and ran, and ran. For three and half hours. I had to tell my legs to take each step, and I was counting down the miles a little desperately toward the end, but it was doable.
Though I'd rather have that I-can-run-forever feeling, I was glad to have a run like this, because if race day doesn't come with a magical runner's high, I need to be able to push through and just run and run and run, to take each step deliberately and with the knowledge of how many came before it and how many will have to come after. I have to be able to look down the barrel of 26.2 miles and just get it done, if it comes to that.
The Big C
Cancer fucking sucks.
I haven't written much about it here to preserve some shred of internet privacy (ha ha!), but I have a family member currently battling cancer and several others have endured or succumbed to the disease. It's a nightmare, the treatment, the hope and disappointment, the pain and grief, the fear... but the worst, I think, is the feeling of helplessness. I am not good at standing idly by. I'm a problem solver, a solutions person, and it is a terrible thing to be simply unable to make a difference. I can't keep tumors from growing. I can't keep organs functioning. I can't make the disease go away. And because of distance, in this case, I can't even make casseroles.
I really need to make casseroles. (remind me some other time to write about how I express love by feeding people and how good it is that my husband has such an impressive metabolism.)
Anyway, so, because I can't cure cancer by myself, and because I can't even make casseroles, I am doing what I always do to keep on an even keel: I'm running.
I'm running a marathon. 26.2 miles. And I hope that those miles can be something more than the achievement of a personal goal. I hope they can be some small contribution toward making cancer less of a nightmare. The American Cancer Society does amazing things for people living with cancer, for cancer research and for cancer survivors. I am so grateful that ACS exists, and that they do the work they do. I hope you'll all help me make a difference, help me find a way to do something, because cancer just fucking sucks.
Here's what you can do:
Go here to donate-
http://www.active.com/donate/acs2011/aliceforacure
Go here to post support and encouragement for my training runs-
http://www.dailymile.com/people/Alice17
Go here to learn about prevention, risk factors and screening for common cancers-
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/index
Thank you.
I haven't written much about it here to preserve some shred of internet privacy (ha ha!), but I have a family member currently battling cancer and several others have endured or succumbed to the disease. It's a nightmare, the treatment, the hope and disappointment, the pain and grief, the fear... but the worst, I think, is the feeling of helplessness. I am not good at standing idly by. I'm a problem solver, a solutions person, and it is a terrible thing to be simply unable to make a difference. I can't keep tumors from growing. I can't keep organs functioning. I can't make the disease go away. And because of distance, in this case, I can't even make casseroles.
I really need to make casseroles. (remind me some other time to write about how I express love by feeding people and how good it is that my husband has such an impressive metabolism.)
Anyway, so, because I can't cure cancer by myself, and because I can't even make casseroles, I am doing what I always do to keep on an even keel: I'm running.
I'm running a marathon. 26.2 miles. And I hope that those miles can be something more than the achievement of a personal goal. I hope they can be some small contribution toward making cancer less of a nightmare. The American Cancer Society does amazing things for people living with cancer, for cancer research and for cancer survivors. I am so grateful that ACS exists, and that they do the work they do. I hope you'll all help me make a difference, help me find a way to do something, because cancer just fucking sucks.
Here's what you can do:
Go here to donate-
http://www.active.com/donate/acs2011/aliceforacure
Go here to post support and encouragement for my training runs-
http://www.dailymile.com/people/Alice17
Go here to learn about prevention, risk factors and screening for common cancers-
http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/index
Thank you.
Bike!
Tomorrow is going to be a grand experiment for me.
Last week, while The Husband was in San Diego for Comic Con, I realized that having unfettered access to my own car was a profoundly liberating experience, and that I had been unconsciously but constantly stressed by the logistics of being a one-car family. We made the choice to just have one car when we moved here, and for the most part, it works, but when I really saw how much time I have when don't have to wait for the car, and how much easier it is to plan things when I know that I have wheels, I just couldn't stand it anymore. We need a second car.
Of course, then the first car blew up. So now we have zero cars. The second car dream is going to have to wait quite a while, and right now we are focusing on getting a reliable first car. Bleh. So, as an experiment, I am going to try ... biking!
How very Portland of me.
I've never been much a cyclist. I am clumsy and until recently, not very athletic. But now I want to see if my bike can help bridge the car gap for a while and reduce my daily waiting-to-go-places time. So tomorrow morning I am going to bike to the park and ride to meet my carpool. It's a little scary, because Tigard is not really the Land of Bike Paths, and because I'm... well, a little rusty at riding a bike. I haven't ridden in... a long time. LONG. Don't tell any of the real Portlanders I said that.
So, wish me luck! And, watch out for cyclists!
Last week, while The Husband was in San Diego for Comic Con, I realized that having unfettered access to my own car was a profoundly liberating experience, and that I had been unconsciously but constantly stressed by the logistics of being a one-car family. We made the choice to just have one car when we moved here, and for the most part, it works, but when I really saw how much time I have when don't have to wait for the car, and how much easier it is to plan things when I know that I have wheels, I just couldn't stand it anymore. We need a second car.
Of course, then the first car blew up. So now we have zero cars. The second car dream is going to have to wait quite a while, and right now we are focusing on getting a reliable first car. Bleh. So, as an experiment, I am going to try ... biking!
How very Portland of me.
I've never been much a cyclist. I am clumsy and until recently, not very athletic. But now I want to see if my bike can help bridge the car gap for a while and reduce my daily waiting-to-go-places time. So tomorrow morning I am going to bike to the park and ride to meet my carpool. It's a little scary, because Tigard is not really the Land of Bike Paths, and because I'm... well, a little rusty at riding a bike. I haven't ridden in... a long time. LONG. Don't tell any of the real Portlanders I said that.
So, wish me luck! And, watch out for cyclists!
Work
Today was my first argument in the Court of Appeals. It's been a really stressful week for me, and this argument was a big factor in my stress, but it was also a big factor in my stress relief. Though preparing for argument is intense and I was very very nervous before the argument actually happened, I am deeply appreciative of the whole process.
First, there was a wonderful moment of falling in love with my job again. I do love my job, and I enjoy it every day, but it's still nice to have those moments of pure and unadulterated ... belonging? completeness? A sense that this.. this ... is what I"m supposed to be doing. There are days when writing a brief or researching a point of law or corresponding with clients is difficult, when I'm not excited or not engaged and it feels like a slog, but this was a reaffirmation that despite those days, I love my work and I am good at it.
Arguing before the court is a fabulous mix of what it feels like to be on stage and what it feels like to take an exam. (I know it's weird that I love exams, but I kind of do!) It's an adrenaline rush and also a demanding precision exercise that requires quick thinking, deep thinking, and confidence. It's hard, and the difficulty is what makes it fun. So much fun.
I really needed a boost today, and I got it.
Special thanks to my Betsy, for stopping by for my celebratory lunch, to Sara, for arranging for a ride for me to get to work early and prep, to Dan, for making me brownies and driving me home, and to Jonah and Kali for coming to watch. Also many thanks to Ryan for helping me prep and talking me through this process. Finally, many thanks to Spencer for his support, encouragement and love. It's a good day.
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