Falmouth Road Race, 1,596 words and 4 pictures

From the looks of things the past several week must have been my annual blog slump.
I was super busy, SUPER BUSY and therefore vanished.

In the Spring I was exited to gain entry to the New Balance Falmouth Road Race via the ever fickle lottery system. Based solely on the less than stellar luck of my compatriots, this particular lottery is extra fickle (or- more likely, overburdened with a gazzilion hopefuls!) What I am saying is that I got lucky....
One of my friends (we will call her Other Sarah) got a code to get a bib somewhat after the fact. I would like to thank cool internet friends for this- it was a fun situation where you actually really appreciate people who you have never met. (such a nice gesture from Capecod Runner!!!) So I had a buddy to meet up with down there which made everything seem like a good idea.

There were a few bumps in the road on the way to the start line.
-Life in general threatened to get in the way and keep me home but I quickly figured that out.
-The cost to stay on the Cape during August is astronomical- Other Sarah and I had some lengthy conversations about what on earth to do about this. After much debate she and her family bravely went camping and I, being of a very fragile and delicate nature stayed with my wonderful cousins an hour away. (We had a blast, ate pizza, watched Up and fell asleep early- I LOVE them!)
-The week leading up to the race was absolutely insane. I had my busiest work week of the year. My sister graduated College with her Nursing Degree (smart cookie) Eric was headed to Canada to support his brother at his Ironman (crazy) so we had some rendezvousing to do. There was other stuff that I luckily can not remember but you get it- life was busy!

So honestly, on Saurday AM I was like, PHEW, I get to drive 5 hours each way and run in 95 degree heat and IT FEELS LIKE A FRIGGIN VACATION. (I was like that. For real.)

Oh yeah. 95 degree heat was happening. GAH SO HOT.

I drove to the Cape along with everyone else in the world to pick up my bib, my sweet mug and my poster (I love mugs and posters. My two favorite things to get as race swag!)
While it was a bit of a hassle to drive the extra miles to the Cape to pick up all my crap it was worth it in the long run. With 12,000 runners attending Other Sarah and I were not confident in our success rate of meeting up on race morning. (In retrospect this was NOT a problem, we met up with ease. But who could have known?)
I got to my cousins house just as a million huge thunderstorms were rolling in.
I also arrived to find a HUGE basket of flowers sent from my lovely husband since it was our anniversary, awwwwwwww!

Flowers are always the right answer.

We hunkered down with all the things one needs to survive several huge storms (as previously mentioned, pizza, TV, comfy couches and some wine) and had a lovely evening. I slept well and was terribly offended when my alarm came screaming to life at 4:30 AM.
UGH WHY WHY WHY?????

Sunday morning dawned humid as shit and hot as balls. There is no nice way to put that so there it is.

I arrived at the designated middle school parking lot nice and early- and a good thing since the lot was already almost jam packed.
I was feeling a little off with a slightly grumpy stomach but a couple trips to the (clean) porta potties set me straight.
Despite the remarkably large crowds Other Sarah and I were able to find each other easily and hop on a (hot) bus to the start.
Thus far, Falmouth Road race was winning in my book. Decent parking, clean porta potties, extra fast bus lines. All very nice.

The two of us made it to the start with ACTUAL HOURS to kill.

With hours to kill why did we not take more pics? WHY???

Naturally, we did what any self respecting mid pack runner/s would do.
We sat on a step and watched boats.
We talked about running/runners/training plans/being stupid/clothing companies.
I patted a duck.
We found more clean potties.
We gossiped a little tiny bit.
We talked about FEELINGS (nope)
We only took one picture. 

We looked at some boats.

Then, we got up and ran a race.
Or more like jogged a bit because not only was it literally the hottest day in the history of the world but it was also the most crowded race ever.
Pretty much right off, there were nice views, an odd number of hills, lots of sweat and body odor and two Sara/h's glad to be running instead of waiting to run, haha.

We had a nice couple of miles together before getting separated at an aid station.

It wasn't exactly a perfect day for fast running so I did not run fast, I looked at the views, walked thru 4 aid stations and took in the large crowds. I really enjoyed my race- far more than I expected to actually!
After the little rolling hills early on, the course was basically pancake flat. There was a long stretch of ocean/beachside running and it was absolutely lovely. And HOT.
In the last half mile or so of the race there is one big hill- very rude, but it leads to a nice downhill finish.
I finished in 58:17 which I was completely happy with given the nature of the weather and my lack of speed preparedness. BTW, this is a 7 mile race which is totally random and led to an automatic PR. WINNING.

The finish area was super organized and I was able to quickly get all of life's important things like ice cream.

Such a good idea!!!!

The one less great moment was discovering that the only way back to my car was to walk (or run) the two miles. Luckily I was feeling good so this was not a serious issue.

I can honestly say that I had a much better time at this race than I expected. I loved the scenery, I enjoyed the course and crowd support, I appreciated the management of a HUGE number of people (and maybe I got lucky-but I got everything I needed and got it quickly!)
I think that I would have really enjoyed the post race amenities more if I had not felt the pressure to get off the Cape before everyone else did.
I did actually RUN back to my car, LEAP into it and drive like hell! Due to my frantic nature I made it back to Maine quickly and easily.

I'm tired just from writing this. If you made it all the way through you are a superhero and can come to the special runners camp that Other Sarah, my new pet duck and I are planning for next year. Phew.

So anyway, in closing. Fun, hot, 650 miles of driving but I have a mug to reward me for my troubles. Overall, another good day in the world of running!

Week 8: Cooking my way through the Runner's World Cookbook

At the rate I am going I will still be working my way through this cookbook this time next year!

I have to admit that last week we ate quite well, lots of good meals which generated some nice leftovers.

I got some verbal requests for upcoming recipes as well as the one in the comments (I think the long run chocolate PB cake looks great too- I plan to make that in the next couple weeks!)

So what did I manage to cook last week?

Soba noodles with chicken and peanut sauce

Sometimes you make food after a long day and it is so good that you just shove it in your face, never bothering to come up for air until it is gone. 
For me (and my sister) this was one of those meals. I grilled a couple chicken breasts and shredded them (leaving Eric's chicken free- making some marinated tofu for this would work GREAT.)
Since I grilled the chicken this certainly took longer than the 20 minutes of projected time- I don't know how you might magic cooked shredded chicken out of thin air! If you can, good for you. If not this is going to take you 40 minutes (but totally worth it!!) Kate and I gave it an 8.5 and Eric a 7 (which basically means a 10 in Eric language!)

Rigatoni with chicken (or tofu) sausage

I made one major alteration to this recipe- I used fresh vegetables instead of frozen. I'm simply not a huge fan of frozen veg so I made the rebellious choice to sautee some broccoli and red peppers.
Crazy, I know.
Despite my shenanigans this was fast- only about 30 minutes and stupid easy.
Sometimes stupid easy means kind of basic and this was one of those time.
This was a pleasant Wednesday night dinner but nothing special or worth repeating.
I gave it a 6.5, and Eric a 7. (Eric thought it was pretty fabulous! So maybe a VERY good veggie friendly dinner?)

Red beans and rice with turkey (or tofu) sausage.

For some reason I could not get even a reasonable pic of this monstrosity.
I LOVE traditional red beans and rice- throw a damn kielbasa in it and I'm good to go (for a heart attack...)
This combated that common problem by being rater dire and boring. All of us who ate it thought it needed something major- the ideas were a jar of salsa, a can of tomatoes, a shaker of salt and fewer peppers.
This recipe made an absolutely enormous quantity which we never ended up eating- which says something.
I gave it a 5.5, Eric a 6.5 and Eric's nephew a 7 but I think he was either just being nice or possibly starving. 

Kale-Almond pesto

I picked the kale fresh from my Dad's garden and ran home with it, preparing to tap this out in 15 minutes flat. Why? Because pesto is stupid stupid easy (like your mom...)
Anywhoo. If your kale is filled with caterpillars and you need to remove them this takes absolutely for-frickin-ever. However, if you do not have that horrible problem this would be pretty easy. I assume that anyway, I really do not know since I spent about a million hours picking away at the worms. Jesussssssssssss.
After all the trouble I was pretty psyched- this stuff was great. I dumped it unceremoniously on some pasta and woofed it down. De bugging kale makes a girl hungry.
I gave it an 8 because it tasted exactly as kale pesto should. Eric gave it a 6 because he prefers basil pesto....

Chocolate Berry Crisp

We had my whole (immediate) family over for my Mom's B-day last week.
First, I made her the salmon with lentil tabbouleh (a huge hit!) And as a side note- my Mom is as picky as the come. she said in her non-lying voice that she thought that the salmon was "Good!!!" When she doesn't like something but wants to be nice she says it is "good.....???" Take it from me, you can make this for your fussy Mah and she will really like it in her non lying voice!

Anyway. We finished off the evening with this amazing berry crisp. I used berries from my Dad's famous garden- a mix of raspberries and blueberries which were quite tasty.
The topping was fabulous- not too sweet and nice and crunchy. We LOVED it! Make this shit. Eat it. Throw some ice cream on it, or don't. Eat it for breakfast, I did. Whole pan goneeeeeeee.
Kate and I gave it an 8.5, and Eric gave it a 7.5.

That's it for this week! Being that we just wrapped up July things on the running front aren't all that exciting but they will be picking up. Eventually..