Rock and Roll Marathon

This weekend marked a big achievement for me:  I finally ran a half-marathon!!!  I've been thinking about signing up for one for a few years now, ever since I started getting into running really.  However, I'd been too chicken to sign up for one.  I didn't think it was possible for me to get to the point where I could actually run 13.1 miles.  Last year, my sister-in-law Erin decided to run one, and I seriously considered signing up for it with her.  I started training, and actually got to the point where I was running 6-8 miles consistently every weekend.  Then I started a new job in June, and I basically stopped doing anything even remotely physical aside from playing soccer once a week.  I gained 20 pounds, felt miserable, and just couldn't seem to find it in myself to get up off my freaking butt and start moving again.

Slowly but surely, I started to want to be in better shape for soccer, started running with some gals from work a couple of days a week.  Just little 2-3 milers, but it reminded me how much I love running.  I signed myself up for the Rock and Roll Marathon, because quite a number of my friends have done it and it seemed like a good first time race.  I got a gym membership, started working out 3-4 days week, plus playing soccer.  I've lost 25 pounds since March!  Huzzah!  20 more to go to get to a healthy weight for my height!  Having this race to train for was awesome motivation to keep going back to the gym!

Getting ready to start, my nerves were going crazy!

I was so nervous! I had gotten up to 11 miles on my training runs, but shirked my 12 mile run and was scared that I was not going to be able to pull through on the whole 13.1.  But I put on my happy face, and just kept reminding myself that I wasn't competing with anyone, I just needed to get the miles under my feet no matter how long it ended up taking me.

I had signed myself up for a finish time of 2 hours 45 minutes, but was really hoping that I would be closer to 2:30.  But my last couple long training runs, my average pace was around 12 minutes/mile, so by race day I had pretty much put that out of my mind and was just going to be happy with finishing with the 2:45.

I plugged in to listen to some Bullseye podcasts, and just let my body guide my speed.  The first 6 miles were great!  I felt totally awesome, and knew I was doing a 10 minute mile pace.  My running app that I use was being a little wonky, but I was able to make sense of it for the first half of the race.

The second half of the race, I definitely was feeling tired and creaky.  And my running app completely wigged out, so I had not idea how far I had gone or what my pace looked like.  By mile 10, my hips were aching, and it was HOT out by then!  It was only 10am, but I think it was already 70 degrees, and it felt it running along I-90!  But by that point, I could see the city, and knew I just needed to get through downtown and then it would be over!  Mile 11 was mostly on the viaduct, and I was slowing down even more, but determined not to walk.

Then mile 12 happened.  The first half was through the tunnel, and I was getting pretty cranky about the whole thing!  But I came out of the tunnel, and who should I see, but my loving husband with a huge grin waving me on and cheering for me!  It gave me an extra burst of adrenaline, especially when he yelled that I only had 5 minutes to go!!!  Woohoo!

I pushed harder, and then realized what crazy bastards planned this thing.  The last stretch of the race is the god awful Mercer Street hill that goes under Highway 99!  I ripped my earbuds out and yelled, "WHO PUTS A HILL AT THE END OF THE FREAKING RACE!?" It got some wary and commiserating chuckles from my fellow racers.  By the top of the hill, I was spent!  I saw the finish line, and lots of people started sprinting, so I did, too.  My sprint was pretty sad by then!  HA!  :)  But I crossed the finish line, jubilant!!!  I pulled out my phone to check my time, and was shocked and thrilled to find that not only had I finished, but I had smashed my goal time!  I finished in 2 hours, 24 minutes!!!  Holy moly!!!  I found Kevin, who had sprinted from his cheering point to the finish line, and just about threw up on him I was so tired and excited!  And pretty darn proud of myself!

Yeah, I'm a goober :)

I'm ready to sign up for another, it felt so awesome to be out on the road with so many people and to just be competing with myself.

Marché

Last night we went out with Kevin's parents and younger brother to belatedly celebrate his 30th birthday (yes he will be 31 next month!) and also see Susan and Mark before they leave for a month long adventure in South America!

This restaurant is run by the famed chef of Seattle's Canlis, so we knew we were in for a treat!

The menu selection is small, but with excellent variety, and the space is unique, making use of a narrow building without feeling cramped at all.

The meal began with complimentary salmon rillette on a chip; a delightfully fatty little morsel which set the tone for the evening.

We shared an appetizer of chicken liver pâté, which was a huge portion not easily finished by a group of 5! There were also hot bread buns that just melted in my mouth.

For the main course, the choice was easy for me: pork loin with a pork rillette raviolo, with grilled Brussels sprouts and tomatoes. Others struggled with their choices, but eventually we ended with 2 orders of the duck, and 2 orders of the Mediterranean mussels. Everything was cooked to perfection, and beautifully presented. The wait staff was made up of many familiar faces; a neighbor of the Shaffers, a neighbor of mine from childhood, and a man I was in theater with in high school, so we had a nice time catching up while we ate!

We finished off the meal with a pine nut tart with orange sorbet, and a flourless chocolate hazelnut torte. They were each amazing and delightful!

Overall, I would highly recommend checking this place out! There wasn't a single disappointing portion! Just watch out for the crazy dreams as a result of so many rich and delicious foods!

Gourmet Rhapsody by Muriel Barberry

Kevin and I took off for a wonderful 4 day weekend up in Bellingham to take care of Adam and Erin's dog and cat, and we had such a great time!  A much needed break from our life and work, and some awesome snow time to boot!  I picked up a copy of Muriel Barberry's second novel before taking off, remembering I read the first one on a similar trip to Bellingham!

This novel is very unique, in that there isn't really a driving plot so much, other than the main character, who is a renowned food critic, has learned he is dying from heart failure and has but 2 days to live.  He, being a gourmand, has a flavor that is haunting his memory, and takes us on a journey through his life to discover what this taste is before he is gone.  Interspersed throughout are vignettes of sorts from various people in his life; from his children who view him as a tyrant who never loved them; to his wife who never loved her children as much a she loved her husband and yearned for anytime with him; to the statue of Venus in his study and his cat and dog.  Each one with a slice of their view of him, not many of which are particularly nice views!

While it was difficult to wrap my head around at times as the style of writing doesn't immediately tell the reader who is narrating, the prose is singularly beautiful.  There are passages about tomatoes that I had to read out loud, several times, to different people because I couldn't get enough of how gorgeously Barberry captures the essence of eating a garden tomato.  Another passage reflects on the critic's summers with his grandparents, and eating grilled sardines and never getting enough of them, or trips with his mother to Morocco where the highlight was always the bread the family shared after a day of playing in the sunshine.  Each of the memories brings him a step closer to the mysterious flavor.

Admittedly, I was surprised greatly by the final chapter where he reveals his desire.  I won't spoil it, but it really wasn't what I was expecting, and was a slight disappointment.  However, it was a gorgeous book and I highly recommend it, especially foodies!

Broccoli Curry Udon

Mmmmmm, now that was a goooooooooood dinner! I have been slightly obsessed with udon noodles of late, and was excited to find this recipe, and that broccoli was on sale at Central Market! I did something I try not to do too often, which was to adapt the recipe the first time I made it, but I knew what I wanted tonight.

I adapted this from a recipe on Post Punk Kitchen. Mostly I just added more veggies and a lot more noodles since we wanted to eat this for a couple of days.  It makes 4-6 servings.

Broccoli Curry Udon:
32 oz fresh udon noodles
Olive or canola oil for sauteeing 
1 pound broccoli florettes (6 cups)
Medium red onion, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, cut into thin strips
4-6 mushrooms, sliced thickly
2 teaspoons fresh minced ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
Big pinch red pepper flakes
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth mixed with 3 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 cup light coconut milk


Bring 6 quarts water to boil in a large pot, add noodles and cook for 3-4 minutes, drained and rinse under cold water.  Set aside.


In a large skillet over medium heat, add a tablespoon of oil, add broccoli and a little water, cover, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes.  Remove lid, add bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms, and cook until veggies are tender but still crisp, about 3 more minutes.  Remove to a large bowl.


In the same skillet, add garlic and ginger to a small amount of oil, stirring until fragrant, about 1 minute.  Add red pepper flakes, then the broth and cornstarch mixture, curry powder, and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and stir until the sauce has thickened a little. Add coconut milk and heat through. 


Add the noodles back into the sauce, and stir until coated and the noodles are heated back through, then add the veggies back and stir until well combined.  Serve in large pasta bowls, top with sesame seeds and sambal.


Note, in the future I will make more sauce for this amount of noodles, but it was rather tasty as is! I just like a lot of sauce!  Yum yum!

Book Review: Brooklyn by Colm Toibin

This novel had been recommended to me a number of times by various friends, and I nabbed it at the library a couple weeks ago.  I hadn't had a lot of interest in it, as I erroneously assumed a lot about the plot without ever reading the synopsis.  My friend Sarah gave me the scoop at Book Group a couple weeks ago that I would love this book, and I pretty much never doubt a suggestion from her!

The story is about a young woman in Ireland in 1951 who moves to Brooklyn, a move that is orchestrated entirely by her older sister Rose, a woman who knows exactly what she wanted out of life, and tries to make those things happen for Eilis.  She moves into a boarding house with several other young Irish women, works at a clothing shop, and eventually meets a young Italian man named Tony who falls deeply in love with her.  She is living a successful life, and blossoming into a certain, sure-minded woman.  But when a tragedy at home forces her back to Ireland, she is faced with a desperate longing to stay in Ireland with the familiar, and that knowledge that she has an obligation to Tony to return.

Despite all the growth she seems to make throughout the novel, I was struck by the fact that she never really makes a decision about her life on her own. Others seem to arrange just about everything for her, while she silently internalizes how she would like to do things differently.  While I loved the style of Toibin's writing, a very plain narrative with little in the way of dialogue, I was ultimately dissatisfied with Eilis's journey. I never felt terribly attached to her, perhaps owing to the fact that she doesn't really ever open herself up. It's certainly not that I didn't like the novel, because in fact I couldn't put it down, but that I wanted more for Eilis. I think it almost read like a very long short story, where it felt like it could end at any moment and I wouldn't have felt any differently. I am the first to admit my disliking of short stories, and so this certainly influences how I read the book.  I am torn! I wanted to love this book as my friends seemed to, but I can't say that I did.

What I did really love was thinking about how I would have loved to have read this book when I was in college.  I wrote my senior thesis on Irish diaspora, and this book is just ripe with it! Finding your way as an Irish person in a different country, then the return to Ireland as someone who is now Americanized and other, oh my I would have delved into this novel so deeply!

I definitely would recommend this book to anyone, it was a sweet story, and I really loved the writing and look forward to reading more by Toibin. It is not gritty and deep, but rather a nice journey with Eilis as she comes of age and discovers herself, and is a great look into at least a slice of Irish life in the 1950's.

More Running!

I think one of the things that will keep me motivated to keep up on running and exercising is to post about my achievements. It feels good to say I went for a 3 mile run, or that I ran for a longer time than I had the week before. I've found my friends and coworkers see these updates, and they ask me about how the running is going, and it keeps me accountable to my goals. Hopefully it doesn't annoy anyone, but it is definitely helping me stay focused.

Yesterday was an absolutely stunning day, the weather warmed up to the low 60's, the sun was shining, and I had the whole day ahead of me to do whatever I wanted.  With Kevin studying for the Professional Engineering exam in April, I've found getting out of the house is a good way for me to now bug him!  So I figured I would push myself and see how long I could jog without taking a break.  Earlier this week I used an iPhone app to track my normal route's distance, and found that I was going almost 3 miles, at about 10 minutes a mile.  I am really glad I checked, as I thought I had been going a bit farther than that, and it also gives me a good baseline to track my progress from.

So I got going at a nice easy pace, and did my normal route in about 3 minutes less than I did on Thursday.  I was pretty excited about that, since I was still a little sore from my last jog! I wasn't that worn out, so I decided to do my route in reverse, and see how far I could go.  I managed to keep jogging for another 15 minutes, so my total jog time was 45 minutes!  I think that is the longest I have jogged without stopping since I was in high school!  I was really proud of myself for pushing through to a new distance, it's so easy to do the normal route and not really push. Then I did another 45 minute walk around the neighborhood from there, since the sun was shining I didn't want to go back right away.

Last night we went to friend's house for a Reuben sandwich party! Adam, the host, has been craving them and decided he might as well throw a party, because who doesn't love a Reuben?  Well, Kevin and I came to the conclusion that neither of us had ever actually had one before, and turns out, they are stupendously good!  I definitely took advantage of the fact that I'd run 4.5 miles that day to stuff my face silly with them! It got me thinking about what other kinds of funny parties we could have, since I am terrible about ever actually throwing parties! So in addition to running, I hereby declare 2012 to be the year of gatherings at our house!  

Book Review: Paper Towns by John Greene

Sweet, I finished 4 books in January!  Off to a good start, and I have thoroughly enjoyed all of them so far. Paper Towns is a young adult novel that has been on my list for quite some time, and came highly recommended by a number of coworkers.  As luck would have it, I found a copy hanging out at my library last week, and I nabbed it up along with about 5 other books I am excited to dive into!

This is a great coming of age novel about a senior high school boy who has always had a thing for his mysterious next door neighbor, who happens to rule the school.  Quentin, or "Q" as his friends call him, is a fringe player on the high school stage, he has friends but isn't popular, and is smart and quiet and ready to go to college and grow up.  Margo, meanwhile, is the most popular girl in school, with a propensity for disappearing for days at a time, leaving "clues" to her whereabout that her parents never were able to interpret.

One night, Margo shows up at Q's window, demanding that he come with her on a night of adventure and intrigue.  Though hesitant, Q can't resist the idea of a whole night with Margo, and ultimately has one of the best nights of his life.

Margo promptly disappears.  What follows is the story of Q and his friends trying to track her down by a series of clues she has left in her wake, and what happens when you stop thinking about someone for the way the project themselves to be, and really step in their shoes. Q has to stop putting Margo on a pedestal to find her, and has to challenge how he interacts with all the people in his life.

It is a good read, though I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more several years ago when I was closer in age to the characters.  I really liked how Greene lets his characters face very real problems and situations with candidness and realism, rather than anything terribly over the top and fraught.  It is very true to life.