Active day - I am tired!

It was bad enough that I returned to a full-time job.  Then it started getting dark earlier.  That means that I basically come home every night and just sit around on the couch.  It is one thing to be too lazy to exercise but seriously, too lazy to blog?  That is really lazy!

Actually the main reason I haven't posted is that I have three main topics on this blog.  First, exercise.  I already commented about how I can't seem to figure out how to work and exercise all in the same day.  Second, food.  I now work until 5:00 which means my husband does all the cooking during the week which means I'm never in the kitchen.  Third, happiness.  Back to the working thing again.  I feel like I don't have time to think about things that make me happy because I spend all my time working or staring blankly at the TV.

But that all changed today because it was parent/teacher conferences.  I took the day off since Kayleigh was off and it was fantastic.  First of all, the weather was beautiful.  It started out around 50 and got up to almost 80 but it was sunny all day.

Kayleigh had cross country practice at 9:00 this morning so I dropped her off and then went to the park for a run.  I was a little worried because I haven't worked out the last couple weeks and I can't even remember the last time I went for a run.  I have been running around a lot at her meets but that isn't the same thing.  So I decided to start off slow and see how it went.  I ended up running 3 miles in about 35 or 36 minute which isn't too bad.  I then walked for about 5 minutes then ran a cool down of 1 more mile.  It took a total of about 50 minutes.  I felt like I could have gone even longer just because it was so nice to be outside running.
Then we went out to lunch with a friend of mine who Kayleigh has seen in years.  After that we had to go to the conferences which was actually really fast.  The only teacher I wanted to talk to wasn't there so we grabbed her report card, talked to her coach for a minute, then headed out.

Kayleigh's cross country team has sectionals next Tuesday.  This is the first year she is in varsity so her first time competing.  Her coach gave us a map of the course because it is different from last year.  We decided to head over to the park and check out the new route.  We ended up getting really confused in the woods so hopefully they mark it well.  We walked about 2 miles probably and raced up and down the hill.

It felt so good be outside today and moving around instead of sitting at a desk.  But, after all that activity, I am exhausted!  Think I'll head back to the couch - but with less guilt today than usual.

Since I haven't been blogging the last two months I should add that Kayleigh is having a fantastic season.  She has knocked about 4-5 minutes off her 5K time which is amazing.  Here she is in action.  That is her in purple.  This meet finishes on the track which is fun to watch.

Here is her team after that same meet.  It was an Invite with about 20 teams and they got 3rd place.  Kayleigh is #648.

We are very proud of her and I love to see her new-found confidence in her running.

Vegan Pesto

My daughter's cross country season started this past Saturday.  Her training has been going really well this summer so we were all very optimistic.  In practice, she has managed to take about 4 minutes off her best time from last year.

Then we got to the meet.  It rained off and on all morning (even though it wasn't predicted) which made a terrible course even worse.  The school is under construction and at one point right at  the beginning and end of the race, there was an absolute mud pit.  I can't believe they didn't either re-route the race or at least put straw or something down.  You sunk straight into it.  I realize this is cross country and it gets muddy but this was ridiculous.  The meet was at my husband's old school and he was throwing a fit.

The aborted warm up

Before the races, everyone started their warm ups and as quickly as they could moved away from the course.  Shoes were at best weighted down with mud and at worst stuck in the mud completely.  One of her teammates actually lost a shoe and had to go back for it during her race.  So obviously all this slowed them down.  Still I thought Kayleigh's stride looked really good  each time she went past me and her times seemed strong.  I wanted to make sure I caught her final sprint so when she got to the 3K mark, I headed to the finish line.  As soon a she turned and started her final sprint, I noticed that she was crying.  By the time she finished and got over to me, she was basically hysterical.  Her time was 26:21 (which is her new PR, by the way) but she had it in her head she was going to get under 24 minutes.  I kept telling her that on that mess of a course, that was a really good time but it didn't make her feel any better.  About a minute later, here came a teammate, crying as well!  I guess it shows that they were really trying but I wish they could have been happier with their runs.  They have new coaches this year and they did a great job trying to perk them up after the race.

Kayleigh after about 1 mile

Unfortunately, most of the team is now sick from hanging out in the rain for a few hours.  And their second meet is tomorrow.  Thank goodness today is Labor Day because Kayleigh has basically slept the whole day.  I'm not sure how she will make it through school and then a meet tomorrow.  Those are long days when you feel well.  I wish her season could have started off better.

A sad and muddy team

About a week ago, she asked for pasta tonight to get ready for her race so, even though she didn't really feel like eating, I went ahead and made pasta.  Jacqueline over at tinnedtomatoes.com posted a pizza recipe with pesto which has had me dreaming of pesto for a day now!  So I headed into the backyard for a big bunch of basil and made some to go with the pasta tonight.   I love adding pesto to just about everything.  At the end of the summer, I usually cut all the remaining basil and freeze as much pesto as I can to get me through the winter since everything is the store contains cheese.

Pesto

3 cups basil

2 cloves garlic

1/4 cup nutritional yeast

1/4 cup pine nuts

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup olive oil

Put all ingredients except the olive oil in a food processor.  Pulse until everything is finely chopped.  With the processor running, drizzle in the oil until the desired consistency is reached.

Hummus

During the winter, roasted vegetable and hummus pitas are a staple in our house.  It is pretty easy since you can use whatever vegetables you have on hand.  Most of the time is spent waiting for the vegetables to roast so there is plenty of time to make hummus from scratch.

Before roasting

Last week we had a luncheon at work.  I came home with the leftover raw veggie platter that had cherry tomatoes, baby carrots, broccoli and cauliflower.  I was also given the leftover, store-bought hummus.  I added onion,  potato and garlic to the vegetables, sprinkled them with oil, salt, pepper and the juice of half a lemon.  They roasted at 450 degrees for about an hour.  Since we were given hummus, we used that.  Both Bill and Kayleigh took one bite and said that they liked my hummus better.  While I'm happy for the compliment, free hummus is free hummus and I'm not letting it go to waste!  I'll make plenty of the homemade kind this winter.

After roasting

Since it seems to be so popular, though, I thought I'd post the recipe.  The store bought is much thinner than this recipe and that seemed to be the main complaint.  Plus, it doesn't have that touch of honey.  If you don't eat honey (I know that is a hot topic!), agave nectar can be used.  I've used it in the past with good results.

The container that caused disappointment!

Hummus

1/4 cup tahini (see note below if you want to use sesame seeds instead)
15 oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime juice
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 1/2 tablespoons honey (or agave, or leave it out if you don't want the touch of sweetness)
Paprika and olive oil as garnish

Add all ingredients to a food processor and pulse until everything is combined and just slightly chunky.

Transfer to a bowl and drizzle with olive oil and paprika.

Makes 2 cups.

NOTE:  I used to be very much against buying tahini because I only used it in hummus and we didn't make it very often.  Once we started eating more hummus and finding new things to put tahini in, I started buying it.  Before that, I used 1/2 cup sesame seeds and 4 tablespoons olive oil.  I would toast the sesame seeds in a dry pan until toasted, stirring constantly.  Then I'd put them in the food processor with the oil and pulsed until the seeds were coarsely chopped.  I added the rest of the ingredients and pureed further.  Sometimes I still do this because it is a little bit different and nice for a change.

Two Funny Drinks

The first one I actually drank myself.  The second one I did not.

First we'll start with Kombucha.  I have heard about this several times.  It's funny how certain products seem to become very popular and you start seeing them everywhere.  I usually avoid these on purpose.  Somehow Kombucha caught me at a weak moment though and I bought it.  My husband and I both caught some kind of stomach bug last week.  It didn't make us very sick but we definitely weren't feeling right.  In general I have issues with digestion and since Kombucha contains a good dose of probiotics, I decided to give it a try.  It also has a decent about of vitamin B12 which is always a nice bonus when you don't eat animal products.

My health food store had many brands but I went for Synergy mainly because it seemed somewhat familiar.  I bought the mango flavor because I really like mango in general.  I also grabbed the strawberry flavor because it was half off.  I hesitated for a minute because I thought maybe it wasn't a very popular flavor and they were just trying to get rid of it but how can strawberry taste bad?

I drank some of the mango as soon as we got in the car.  My daughter was disgusted by it and wouldn't even give it a try.  I thought it tasted mostly like regular mango juice but with a bit of fizziness to it.  In general I don't like fizzy drinks but it wasn't so much that it bothered me much.  Overall, I thought it was pretty good.  Then I tried it again later in the day and didn't enjoy it quite as much.  Maybe I was just thirsty the first time because each time I try it, it tastes a little worse.

I was ready to give up on them completely but I thought I should at least try the strawberry one.  I was worried immediately because when I opened the bottle, it was really fizzy.

And while the mango tasted good to start with, this one was funny.  BUT after a few more sips, I actually found that I prefer the strawberry one (which tastes nothing like strawberry, by the way).  It is really fizzy though.  I do feel better now but I'm not sure if that is because of the Kombucha or just because of time.

And, speaking of strawberry...

The second drink, or at least the empty can, was discovered by my husband.  His job requires him to spend a lot of time walking through fields.  Usually he picks up any cans he finds and brings them home to put with our recycling.  It is amazing how many people must hang out in fields, drinking beer, and littering!  This week he found this margarita in a can.  Does that actually sound good to anyone?  Yuck!  We had never heard of this before and we will not be trying it anytime soon!

Back to Chesterton's European Market

A whole table of tomatoes

We went to this market early in the season and have been wanting to go back all summer.  Unfortunately it is on Saturday morning and that really doesn't work well for us.  Finally, today we didn't have anything going on so Kayleigh and I headed out not so early this morning.  I wanted to leave sooner but it is the last weekend before school started so I waited until 9 to wake her up.

Some of the available fruit.

This market is huge and so much more vibrant and alive than the Munster market.  The only drawbacks are that it is on Saturday morning and there is no vegan food truck.  The produce selection was unbelievable.  I was able to get everything we needed for the week whereas last week at Munster, I struggled to find a couple zucchini.  We bought all our produce at one stand but there were several others to choose from.  We ended up buying yellow squash, kale, beets, tomatoes, plums, green beans, cabbage, okra, onions, green beans and purple bell peppers.  I wasn't too thrilled with the greens attached to the beets but other than that, everything was good quality. 

From another stand we bought maple syrup and maple sugar.  Kayleigh found a stand that was mostly selling cupcakes but that had a few macarons which she grabbed!  She tried the strawberry and the cacao nib and loved both of them.  We were going to get pretzels again but the line was too long so we passed.  

The macarons and Kayleigh's reaction to the first bite.

In general this is a really fun, enjoyable market, even if you don't buy anything.  It has an upbeat feel to it, everyone is very friendly, there are tons of stands selling all kinds of things, and various musicians play throughout the market.  Today there was someone playing an accordion, a fiddle, a guitar and then a singer.  They also had someone drawing caricatures.  We had a great time.  We took some videos as we walked around which Kayleigh is trying to edit into something watchable so I may post that in a few days.  She has new editing software so we'll see how that works!

More produce.

Kayleigh's cross country meets are about to start but we are hoping there will be one more Saturday this year when we can return.  I've been waiting all year for this much fresh produce!

Rotary Ramble

I should begin by saying I didn't start running until I was in my 40's and before today I had never participated in any kind of sporting or athletic event.  That is why I really can't believe that I ran in a 5K today, didn't have to walk any of it, and finished in 33 minutes and 40 seconds. That time is so shocking to me, I had to keep looking at my watch when people asked because it just didn't seem possible!  Everyone (online and in person) kept telling me I could do it and that it would be fun.  And guess what?  I did it and it was fun!

I'm now going to go into a lot of details about my day.  Feel free to just look at the pictures (that my husband was so nice to take)!

Look how relaxed I am!

We were up at 5 this morning so that we could be out the door shortly after 6.  I was very surprised to not feel nervous at all and had no problem eating breakfast.  Yesterday my stomach was full of butterflies but they disappeared sometime during the night.  I wasn't about to question it!  Unfortunately, I have problems with motion sickness and this race was about an hour away so half way there I started not to feel well.  It didn't get too bad though and before I knew it, we were out of the car and I was fine again.

Registration was a bit of a mess.  I got my stuff fine but just as we walked into the gym, someone came up to my daughter and her teammate (after seeing their shirts) and said that their coach had already picked up their bags so they only needed to get their numbers.  Kayleigh got her number and told them she didn't need a bag.  Angelic on the other hand, didn't get anything.  We were confused about why the coach would get one number and not the other and had a feeling he didn't have Kayleigh on his list but we went with what they told us at registration.

The three of us went down the finish straight-away to check it out since it was Angelic's first year.  I ran back for my warm up and immediately decided that it was not as cool as they predicted and changed into shorts.  A text message came through from other teammates so they headed off to find them and Bill and I just walked around.

Kayleigh and Angelic before the race.

There were two stressful things that happened minutes before start time.  First, the expressway was closed down and they were re-routing traffic through this little town and right through the start line.  They said they could hold off the race a few minutes but then the traffic would just have to wait.  Unfortunately, the closure caused a lot of runners to get there late so they came in and basically went straight to the start line.  I was very happy we left so early!  The other thing was that Kayleigh's coach did not have her bag so she had to rush in, get it from registration and then run out to our car and still get a warm up in.  It was more confusion than she would have liked but it all worked out in the end.

Kayleigh and Angelic are off!

I got in line way in the back with the other 11 minute/mile runners.  I was trying to look around for someone who looked like a good person to pace off of.  There were a couple people right by me and based on the parts of their conversation I could overhear, I thought they'd be a good option.

And here I come.  Why do I look like a giant?

The race started really abruptly because we were so far back, we didn't realize they were even giving instructions.  All of a sudden everyone just started running.  The second I started moving, I felt pretty good.  It wasn't very far down the road before you come to the first turn and by that point, we had all slotted into a decent position.  I've never run in a huge group like that so it was a little unnerving to try and weave through people.  It probably helped in the long run though because it kept me from starting off too fast.

Kayleigh (with Angelic hiding behind her) right before the 1 mile point.

I reached the 1 mile mark without too much trouble but still I was surprised to see that my time was 10:36 even with the slow start.  I tried to slow down a little and fell in next to someone who I then stuck with through most of the race.  The first part of the race is a really long straight road so I was happy once we turned.  Plus this road was shaded so that was extra nice.  My cousins used to live at the end of the road so from this point, I was very familiar with the route.  I was very shocked with how fast we got to the next turn. The road seemed so much longer when we were kids!

A few minutes later, here I come.  Still smiling and you can tell I'm running because my hair is swinging!

Right after the turn we hit the two mile mark and my husband seemed to pop out of nowhere with the camera.  I was shocked to see him because there isn't really any short cuts through this route so I couldn't figure out how he got there when I had passed him earlier on the other end of the route (turns out he just ran really fast!).  I did my second mile in 11:02  which is still pretty fast for me.  At this point, the person I had been running with fell off but I still felt OK.  Every time I saw someone stop to walk it just motivated me to keep going.

The girls are starting to look tired and Kayleigh's hair has broke free from it's bun!

Not sure why I'm still smiling.  Maybe by this point I'm delirious.

After a couple more turns, I was on the same road as the finish line.  Unfortunately there are a couple hills to get through before you are done.  Now I was starting to hurt and I was really tired.  The 3 mile marker seemed to be so far away but I finally reached it in 11:02 (again!).  At this point I wanted to stop so bad but I could see the finish line and, even worse, I could hear cheering.  There was no way I could stop!

Ok, now I'm getting tired.

Apparently Kayleigh and Angelic came down the road after they finished to find me.  Kayleigh said she was running next to me on the side of the road but I didn't even see her until Angelic said "Good job Mom"!  Nice that I'm spotting Angelic but not my own daughter!  I was obviously reaching my limit at this point.

Seriously - where is that finish line?

I wanted so badly to sprint at the end but my legs just wouldn't cooperate.  I was never so happy as the moment I stepped across that finish line.  Bill, Kayleigh and Angelic quickly found me and told me that both of them had got their best times as well.  Kayleigh said she had a really good final sprint and I was a little upset I couldn't see it.

My attempt at a sprint.

Thank goodness!  Stopping my watch and staring in shock at the time.

I quickly found somewhere to sit since I was starting to feel like my legs were going to buckle.  I was out of breath, too, but after a few minutes, I was feeling almost normal again.  I really couldn't believe it was over and I had done it!  Some of Kayleigh's other teammates came over at that point and they tried to convince me to do a cool down run with them.  I told them "That run across the finish line was my last running step for today"!

Bill went over to check the final rankings.  Turns out I was 8th place in the 40-44 age group.  What?!  Granted we don't know at this point how many people were in this group but since there were about 750 runners total, I'm hoping it was more than 10!  One of Kayleigh's teammates got 3rd in her age group and her coach's son (who is about 11 years old) got 2nd in his.

Bill road his bike home so I had to drive but felt pretty good.  Until around 2 this afternoon, that is, when I fell asleep on the couch!  I didn't feel too bad though.  Kayleigh has done this a lot more than me but shortly after getting home, we found her asleep while holding the tablet in her hands and a video still playing!  I guess she was a little tired!

So in closing I would say that if anyone is questioning whether they should sign up for a 5K, I'm going to say YES YOU SHOULD! (But you may not want to plan anything for the rest of the day!)

Getting ready for my 5K

Overall I've been happy with my running even though my exercising in general has decreased dramatically since I returned to work.  The first week, the only thing I wanted to do when I got home was sit on the couch and watch TV but now I can actually continue to function for a couple more hours.  Still I'm glad I reached my goal of running 3 miles before I returned to work. I needed that confidence boost.

This Saturday is my 5K run.  I'm not sure if I'm more nervous about running or the fact that I have to get up, drive about an hour and then run in a huge group of people with tons of spectators!  I'm trying not to think about it too much.

To get ready for this weekend, I decided that tonight would be my last run.  I planned on running nice and slow just to stretch my legs.  When I got to the park, though, I felt so good I just had to go.  On the first lap (2/3 mile) I beat my best time by one minute.  I still felt good but decided I really should slow down.  I ended up doing 2 miles in 21:35 which is still pretty fast considering my mile times are usually 11 to 11:30.  Overall, this gave me a big confidence boost for the weekend.

Tomorrow night I'm planning to do some strength training and then Friday night some yoga so I'm nice and relaxed (yeah, right!) for Saturday morning.

Kayleigh has morning training now so she didn't run with me but she did go to the park and took some pictures.


I don't look quite a miserable as I used to!

These clouds created a beautiful picture but they are also bringing with them beautiful cool weather for the weekend with low humidity.  I was scared to death we'd have miserable weather with it being August.  This has to be a good sign!