Barcelona: A Short Story

On our last full day in Barcelona, after an awesome Bikram Class, I went in search of delicious goodies to take with us on our next travel leg. Since it treated us so well last time, I originally planned to go to to the Boqueria, or Mercat St. Josep:

The Entrance to the Boqueria on La Rambla

One of the many awesome preserved meat vendors.

Fruits

Escargots (en Catalan) -- one of the examples of how Catalan sometimes makes more sense than Spanish to me.  I do *not* know the word for snail off the top of my head in Spanish, but I do in French, and it's pretty close to the Catalan.

So many delicious olives!

And while I love food markets in general, my real goal was to re-create the scene below, only with me doing the selection of meat instead of E.

Because we'd already seen the Boqueria, and there are so many markets in Barcelona, I decided to walk to one that was well-reviewed, less touristy, and closer to our hotel:  The Mercat de Sant Antoni.

It was a lovely walk.

Tortoise Sculpture Under Naked Children

Typical intersection -- love the trees, ironwork, architecture and pedestrian and bike-friendliness of this city.

Unfortunately, despite checking the website for hours and concluding I should be able to get there during operating hours, my plan had a flaw:

Not what I wanted to see...

Looks like a gorgeous market that will be even better when the reconstruction is finished.

Even with the disappointment, this story has a happy ending.  The supermarket near our hotel had several displays like the one below, plus aisles upon aisles of preserved awesomeness and a bakery and a butcher ready to slice anything and everything I might desire.  Did I mention I love this country?  

In keeping with tradition, we will have amazing sandwiches on our travel leg out of Spain.

The End.

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Last Week's Version of Success

I am just not that hard on myself.  It's true.  When I fall short of my goals, rather than beating myself up, I generally look at how far above zero I am while striving for 100% and call it success.

So, this is how we get last week.  I managed to clear a *ton* of work from my todo list.  The work list at the end of the week (before the weekend) was much smaller than the one at the beginning.  This almost never happens, so I was thrilled.  Also, E's sister and husband were coming in to town for a weekend of awesome debauchery in Napa and I knew I wouldn't be able to (or at least be motivated to) squeeze in any work, so it was very nice to go into the weekend without work stress looming in the horizon.

Napa was amazing and over the top. We started with a shared adorable house within walking distance of downtown Napa and added in visits to Morimoto, Oenotri, Elyse Winery, Outpost Estate Wines, RoccaWines, Elizabeth Spencer Wines, Oxbow Public Market, the Model Bakery, Ehlers Estate, an amazing tasting menu at Redd (Best meal of the trip!), and... on the way back home, in case we hadn't had enough, we finished it all off with a magnum from the tasting trip at House of Prime Rib.

So, it was a great work and social week.  And the running/fitness?  Well, I'm super proud of myself because I actually managed to do *most* of what was scheduled.

M: Bikram.  Took Cynthia's class, and while I made it through more poses than the week before, I did end up needing to leave for some cool air once we were on the ground.  I was not remotely mentally tough enough to stay in that heat for another 45 minutes.  Oh well.  I still had a great Bikram workout.

T: 51:22 minutes with 10 X (1 min fast/1 min slow) in the middle.  4.81 miles -- slow, but done.

W: Track day with the ladies, which I love and usually can't attend, so I was very happy.  Short intervals, so I pushed it and surprised myself with my relative speed (1.5 jog; 3X100 pickup; 100 walk; drills; 200/47; 2:00 RI; 200/47; 2:00 RI; 400/1:51; 2:00 RI; 600/3:01; 2:40 RI; 400/1:54; 2:00 RI; 200/45; 3:00 RI; 200/48; 2:48 RI; 100/20; 0:19 RI; 100/24; 0:30 RI; 100/21; 0:29 RI; 100/20; 400 walk recovery (3.6 miles total)

Th: The schedule said off or 40-60 minutes easy.  I settled for 20 minutes easy. 2.05 miles w/ 0.25 walk c/d.  Some might call this failure.  I call it compromise.

F:  The surprisingly great tempo run.

Sa: 82:30 alone and slow along the Napa Valley River.  Last 20:00 with E, slightly faster.  This run was all about time on my feet.  I'm up to 102 minutes.  I need to get in a couple of 130+ minute runs before SJRNR.  gmap-pedometer informs me I did 8.08 miles for a tortoise-like average pace of 11:28.  You might think I'd be disappointed at how slow this is.  But, no.  I'm just not that hard on myself.  I'm impressed that I did 102 minutes on a wine weekend after a big blowout pre-run night of food and sake at Morimoto.

Su: 0.5 mile jog to coffee.  0.4 mile jog to bathroom.  3.81 on the Napa Valley River trail in 41:22 for a blistering 10:50 average pace -- we'll call this the wine weekend post tasting menu PR pace.  Rewarded myself with more wine tasting and a big steak dinner with all the sides.

Total mileage: 27.99.  Average increase in weight over the week? Approximately 6 pounds.  Again, you might think I'd be hard on myself about this.  But you'd be wrong.  I had a fabulous week. 

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GPS-Free

It's been almost a month since my Garmin died.

And, in a way, it's been kind of nice.  I'd fallen into a bit of a running funk, and running solely for time without any distance or speed data has been an interesting way to mix things up.

Last week, I'd hoped to do the Summer Breeze 10K, but work had other plans.  By 9 PM on Friday night, I still had 2 contracts left to mark-up and *all* of my timesheets to finalize for the month.  I owed my bookkeeper timesheets so she could complete my books and invoices (ideally, I'm supposed to get them to her on the last day of the month, so I was already 2 days late).  I owed my clients the contract mark-ups, and both of them were supposed to be completed "by the end of the week".

Sigh.

So, Friday night, I accepted the reality, and bailed on the race.  Saturday AM, I got up, finished the two last contracts for the week, and headed out for a nice 3 mile loop with E.  Not quite the 10K I'd hoped for, but enjoyable in its own way.

And, bonus, I wasn't under water by the time my mom and her husband showed up for a late afternoon brunch.

We enjoyed a typical summer meal on our patio under our umbrella in the perfect weather.  Eating outside from the garden is such a pleasure.  I didn't take a picture of the food we ate that day, but here are some colorful examples of what we've been enjoying outside on weekends and evenings:

That evening, I finished my timesheets and promised myself that I'd take all of Sunday off from all work.  Instead, I started the day with a lazy medium long run.  I ran 40:55 out, and 39:45 back.  gmap-pedometer says it was 7.2 miles.  So, a slow effort, but a steady one, decreasing in pace.

Despite a complete lack of commitment to distance, thanks to the weekend's efforts plus many walks, a run on Monday with T, a medium solo effort on Tuesday, and track day with the ladies on Wednesday (very short intervals 200s and 100s -- I was sore for two days!) I managed to hit 27.97 miles.  Not bad for a GPS and discipline free week. 

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San Luis Obispo Marathon -- The Long Race Recap

Hills. So.  Many.  Hills.

My brilliant plan to drop out of the LA Marathon if the going got tough, and replace it with the SLO full was still brilliant.  But, unfortunately, as I realized on-course, the hills were definitely this plan's downfall.  I hadn't trained for hills at all, really.  Oops.

Even so, the totality of the race weekend was more than I could have asked for.  The lame finish time was more than worth it. 

Pre-race dinner with the aunts and uncle who live in town? Awesome.  We told stories, caught up, and reminisced while looking at pictures of my dad at age 19, my uncle at college graduation and with the red ford truck (every-wash-it-fades) my dad had given him in high school because "I've got to go to college and I can't make it work."  Aunt B and Uncle H's house is on the course around mile 17 or so, and they informed me, "Oh, we always end up waiting much longer than people estimate to meet up with them -- it's a slow course."

Okay.  I thought.  I can deal with that.  I'd dropped the PR goals in LA, so I'll just adjust.  Plus, I'd just learned that my mom and dad's first house was on the course!  Cool!

Then, they informed me that the race included what they'd deemed the "Wheeeeee Road" in their childhood.  Take a look at the elevation profile between mile 15 and mile 16.  Alright, I thought, I'll be prepared.

I had a great pre-race meal (opting out of the BBQ'd steaks and veggies and opting for take-out posole without eating any of the pork, plus 3 bottles of water).  After dinner, at the hotel, several cups of tea, and I was finally in bed.

I managed to finagle an early AM ride to the start with H (who's finally healed and ran the half!  Yay, for a return to workouts together!) as she'd conned J into driving not just her, but me too!  Score.

I found T at the start, behind the 5 hour pace group.  She informed me that she was emotional all weekend as the purpose for her and many of her friends was to celebrate and honor their friend G, a Cal Poly grad and local teacher who'd recently died of a blood cancer.  It was great to see her, and we started together in the dark, but after about 1/3 mile she dropped back and urged me on.  (In hindsight, I should have stuck with her).

I headed out at what I thought was a very conservative pace, and while being a bit surprised at how steep the early hills were (both up and down), I executed a PR 1:11 porta-poop stop in mile 4 (every PR Counts!), and met up with Auntie I at 4.2 miles near my gran's house.  She had gatorade, a kiss, and a huge sign encouraging me to run by my initials.  Priceless.  (In other news, apparently, my initials are quite common, and she received many thank yous from other folks who have my initials and enjoyed her sign.)

From there, I did my best to keep my original target pace, but around mile 6 or so it became apparent that the hills were going to get the best of me.  I saw KP running towards me on the out and back section trailing the 4 h pace group and she looked *very* strong.  I was excited for her.  I tried to keep it even, refused to walk, and promised myself that I'd run hard 'til I reached Aunt B & E around mile 17ish, and then, well, then, I'd just finish.

Why?  You ask?

Well, in case I missed the point from my family, the hills were crazy.  The wind was not remotely as bad as I'd feared, but that meant the tailwind wasn't very helpful whereas the headwind back in was lame and the hills were more than I'd bargained for.  On mile 15, there were actually cyclists cresting the hill just as I did, who screamed "Wheeee..." as they headed down -- the Whee Hill, indeed.  In my pace area, the majority of the folks I was keeping pace with were run-walking as early as mile 12.  Walking up the steep hills and then running down.  It's quite efficient, apparently, as most of them would get passed by me as I climbed and then pass me on the downhill.

Unfortunately for me, after climbing the entirety of the Whee Hill, I had to stop to tighten my laces on the descent, as my toes were slamming into the front of my shoes with each quad-burning step.  Also, my quads were beat up from the previous hills, so once my shoes were fixed, even though downhills are usually my strength, I was unable to fly with as much fun and vigor as I'd like.

Essentially, when I saw E & Auntie B, I was thrilled with relief.  Powerbar, gatorade, companionship.  I stopped and smiled and stretched.  If I was honest, in my mind, I was done with the pushing.  I walked and ate my power bar and talked with E as he pushed his bike along.  The 4:45 pace group passed us.  At some point in this process, I hit stop instead of lap, so I screwed up my Garmin.  By the time I figured it out, I'd lost 6 minutes (according to the chip time) and who knows how much distance.  Finally, I saw some ladies I'd been trading run-walk spots with and fell in with them for their run segment.  E pedaled on.

E met me again at mile 18, and took a picture of me at the mile marker, with the ancestral family ranch in the background. (I'd post it, but E's phone died and the photo was lost!  My Aunts and Uncles claim that I obviously have to run it again!)

While we were trying to get the photo, T ran by.  T!!!!   She was well ahead of the 5 hour group and trying to catch the 4:45 pace group.  I dropped in with her and tried to keep up but after a mile or so, I admitted that I just didn't have the drive.  I wished her well and let her go. 

I ran the rest of the race the best I could.  Into the nasty headwind that kept increasing with each minute.  Short walk breaks when I had to on the severe uphills.  Enjoying the last sighting of Auntie I and E at mile 23+ and then, running slowly, but without break, even on the pedestrian bridge over the railroad tracks, passing run-walkers to the finish. 

I crossed at chip time 4:52:22 and gun time 4:53:06.  In other words, despite what felt like a much harder effort, I was *much* slower than last year's monsoon dial-it in CIM performance.

Many lessons learned.  Starting with "Hills Matter -- Train For Them".  And ending with, "Go Out Slow!"  I hit mile 13 at around 2:14, says the Garmin.  So, even though I truly did my best to go out at a reasonable pace for my fitness, and I included a bathroom break in the first half total, I still underestimated the course and lost another 22 minutes on the back 13.2 (and most of it after mile 17, when I decided to just enjoy myself).  If only I'd stuck with T, who took it slow-and-steady-tortoise-wise and ended up finishing almost 5 minutes before me.  Hindsight... 

So, there you have it.  The end to the coach experiment resulted in a DNF on the target race and a great family weekend with a slow finish on the replacement race.  And lest you think I blame the coaches, I actually don't think I would have been able to finish this race without the training plan.  I don't think I would have been disciplined enough to have put in the mileage and would have likely just done the half.

Take home? I think I need to do some serious soul searching about the structure of my life and whether I *actually* have time to dedicate to what is necessary to run a pleasant marathon.  Thankfully, the next two races on the calendar are halfs.  And I feel like today's effort is a great strength building and endurance building workout that will pay dividends for those efforts.

Onward.

(Oh, and post-race lunch at the pub with E, both Aunts, and Uncle H was more than worth the bummer of a finishing time.  Family & NACHOS!!!!)
 

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Checking In -- Looking Good, If Tired

The majority of my friends post about the exhaustion of balancing lives with children. And, to be clear, while it seems rewarding, it also sounds exhausting.

Nights like tonight, I think to myself, "There are many ways to choose to have an exhausting life."

Note, I do not think, "There are many ways to choose to have a well-balanced life."

No. I do not think that.  Because. Well, because I do not actually think that.  If I thought that, no doubt, I'd actually be living one of those many well-balanced ways.  But I am not.

Instead, tonight, in an act of self-preservation after too many nightmares involving document editing, clients, negotiations, accounts receivables follow-ups, etc., I've cut myself off work. Clients are annoyed at this choice.

Instead, I finalized some details our contractor required for the remodel (which required that I make time to go to the hardware store during work hours to collect samples so E and I could discuss them in the evening, which meant I had to block out time from my work day, which is always difficult).  I also finished laundry, made dinner, and took the time to blog and hang out with E.

And yet, despite giving myself freedom from work, what I haven't yet done this evening is a Mandarin lesson, pack for our trip to SF for a night, prepare our China trip visa applications (because our flights were changed *yet again* and the old apps are now out of date), or respond to multiple emails from my brother's attorney. I'm helping him with some legal issues, and it requires daily effort on my part *after* I've finished all my daily work legal efforts. Tonight, these things are just not getting done.  I'm too exhausted.  Tomorrow, my friends.  Tomorrow.

What I did do, however, after addressing the necessary house remodel issues and deciding nothing related to work was getting done, is respond to my extended family and accept an invitation to dinner at my aunt and uncle's house before the SLO marathon. E is thrilled, because these are the same extended family who hosted my gran's family memorial dinner that was cooked on the BBQ my papa (grandfather) welded (after three prototypes):

Let's just say that E's pre-race meal will be more civilized than what he usually agrees to have out of solidarity.  I will be the outcast -- bringing my own noodle soup.  They will all feast on wine and red meat and other traditional family celebratory stuff that only a marathon the next day could keep me from enjoying.  Regardless, it will be a good time.

Did I mention that I will have family waiting at mile 4.5, 16.5, and 24 with sports drink and oranges?  My aunts and uncle have overwhelmed me with their support once I announced my intention of doing the full marathon where they live -- they have been adorable with questions and details and emailing daily detailed farm-level-detail weather updates.  Plus, E is planning to bike between the various family members and be there to support me as well.   And finally, watching the weather report move from storms with rain, to showers, to clouds with great cool temps (albeit with bad wind), makes me feel like once again my farmer family ancestors are pulling weather for me.


In short, I've never felt this well supported on a marathon before.  The generosity of my aunts and uncle have made me grateful that I dropped out of the LA Marathon and allowed myself the opportunity of doing a marathon in my dad's hometown, amongst the support of his siblings. 

Plus, today's short tempo was *awesome* and the REI member benefit allowed me to replenish my fuel stores with products of choice for free to ensure I don't repeat the mistakes I made at Coeur D'Alene.

I'm excited for Sunday!  No matter what, I will do my best to finish, and I will likely cry a little bit as I run in front of the family ranch.  Wish me luck!

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Whirlwind Week

Monday was a recovery day in LA.  Even though I didn't do the full marathon, I was very sore from the effort.  E and I did an easy 3 miles in Santa Monica on the beach path @ 10:23 pace and I walked another mile or so to get a pedicure.  I managed not to work at all, which was awesome, and very necessary.

Tuesday was the typical "now you pay for the day (and weekend) you took off from work" day.  D was visiting from NYC, so I stopped working when he arrived and we enjoyed a great meal and some wine to catch up.

Wednesday, the work chaos continued with an unscheduled on-site day at a client, additional client emergencies plus all the normal stuff, but I managed to fit in an easy 3 @ 10:19 pace, and afterwards, my legs finally started to feel normal.  S came over and we went out for Italian for dinner and then we stayed up late talking and catching up.

Thursday, F, D and I headed out for a weekly track day at Foothill College.  I'm very much enjoying this weekly work-out.  My legs were still a bit shot from the effort in LA, but I managed to partially complete the assigned ladder:


400 @ 1:49; 800 @ 4:03; 800 @ 4:11 (with 60 seconds walk/rest recovery -- the last 800 should have been a 1200, but I didn't have it in me).  3 minute walk/rest.  1000 @ 5:06; 800 @ 4:14; 400 @ 1:49. 1.1 slow jog cool down.  Not great, but not terrible, either.  I didn't want to push it too much given that I'd decided to incorporate the Oakland Running Festival into my long run on Sunday.

Thursday night, my mom came into town and we went out to Turkish food.

Friday, mom and I had a girls' day.  We walked to coffee and back, went to Santana Row, got massages, and had lunch.  After lunch, I worked a bit, then headed to the San Francisco Home and Garden show.  I must have been the only person there under the age of 50.  It was $10 to park and $15 for a half day ticket - quite pricey.  I thought it was cool to see all the entrants into the designed garden and back-yard competitions, and just generally loved walking around looking at all the plants, but I can't imagine most people would get $25 worth of enjoyment out of it.  I splurged on a huge rotating compost bin that will be delivered this week.  I'm super excited.

Saturday, I did an easy 2.5 with E @ 10:17.  I was exhausted and my legs were tired -- I was relieved when I remembered that I'd had an intense shiatsu massage the day before and the masseuse had done a great job of beating me up, so it made sense that my legs were without their usual pep.  I potted up about half of the tomatoes and I'm getting *very* excited for peak gardening season.  I met up with the Mandarin Ladies for brunch at F's, and then E and I headed over to some friends for dinner and to meet their 4 month old baby.  I got to bed a little later than planned, but we'd brought mediterranean food, so I'd eaten a decent healthy pre-race meal and E was happy to have the designated driver.
  
Sunday, I drove out to the Oakland Running Festival. My coach had told me to just repeat the last 3 weeks of the training schedule to prep for SLO, so I needed to do somewhere in the range of 14-18 miles this weekend. When Jen offered to register me at the expo, I was completely committed. I'd had a blast at this one last year so I was excited to return.

The weather prediction was a bit hot -- highs in the low 70s with clear bright sun.  The start for the half marathon is a double-edged sword of 9:15 AM.  It's late enough that I could sleep in and the finish is late enough that the beer tent actually seems like a reasonable idea.  But, it's also late enough that it could get quite hot on the course.  Sure enough, it did get hot.

Even so, my goals were pretty modest and I hit them, more or less.  I just wanted to get in a good few miles as a warm-up, do the first 10K at target race pace, and then run the remainder of the race at a good effort without stopping.  I did 2.5 around Lake Merrit, met up with Jen, ran to my car and ditched the long sleeve shirt and compression socks, pinned on my number, hit the porta-potties and got into the corral.

In the corral, Jen introduced me to many of her fellow running bloggers and friends.  It was fun to meet so many new people.  My watch was synched with the satellites from my warm-up and the others seemed to be having trouble getting signals, so I offered to be a pacer 'til their watches caught signals.  However, after we went through the start, I slipped to the left, where it was more open, and assumed they'd follow.  I looked back after about 1/10 mile and they were nowhere to be found... Oops.  Sorry ladies! 

The first mile is decent downhill and in the shade, so running by effort put me at an easy 8:42.  From there, I executed roughly according to plan and hit the 10K at a 9:11 average pace.  During the first few miles, K said hi, and we ran together for a few minutes.  She's doing the full marathon in SLO, so it'll be nice to have a friendly face there.  She was too speedy for me, though, so I let her go.  Then Jen caught up to me, but same story, she was taking a downhill at 8:27 pace and I was feeling lazy, so I let her go as well.

After the 10K, I tried to maintain a good effort and didn't let myself walk, except through the aid stations, where I dumped water on my head.  I drank my electrolyte drink from my water bottle and took 2 Gus.

I finished in 2:09:20, for an average pace of 9:52.  The Garmin claims it was 13.33 in 2:09:24 for an average pace of 9:43.  Either way, it surprised me a bit, as the "run at an even effort" miles were much slower than I expected.  But, the goal wasn't to race this one.  It was to get in a good training run, and I'm glad it was.  The heat kept climbing, and I think it would have been a difficult one to try to race, even if my legs weren't beat up from last week's effort in LA.  The best part was the lack of coughing compared to last week.

After the race, I met up with Jen and her SO.  We had our beers from the beer tent, congratulated her Running For a Better Oakland buddy on his finish, and went out to delicious (if delayed) Mexican food with two of their friends.  The post-race walk was about 1 mile or so, which felt great.  Total mileage for the long run according to the Garmin was 16.8 (including the walking ), which I'll take as a decent last long run before SLO.  Total weekly mileage was 32 and now it's time to taper!

After Oakland, I picked E up at the Caltrain station in SF and we went to visit yet another set of friends and their new baby and then we came home.  The planned dinner was leftovers, but our neighbor dropped off Korean food as a gift and it was *very* much appreciated.

In hindsight, this was a crazy week.  In addition to all the normal life stuff, we hosted 3 dinners with guests, I made four separate visits to friends' homes plus all the running and race-related socializing and travel from LA and Oakland.  I'm exhausted, and looking forward to a day of "just work" today.

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A Great Day

First thing in the AM -- I woke, dressed, had my coffee and headed out for the last hard run before the race.

The scheduled track workout looked, to me, like way too much to be attempting during the same week as a marathon. But, my coaches are the professionals.  So, I stopped questioning their knowledge and solicited friends.  They were nice enough to agree to join me and we headed to a local Junior College to do what was on schedule.

Wow!  This workout was *just* what the doctor ordered in terms of confidence building.

Wake and have coffee.  15-20 minutes warm-up easy run to the track (uphill).

4X1000 -- splits: 5:22; 5:17; 5:20; 5:14 (walked recovery of 200m per interval)

4X200 -- splits: 45; 45; 44; 43 (walked recovery of 200m per interval)

15 minutes easy run back (downhill).  Then another few minutes walking.

Why is this such a great workout?

Well, for starters, I could *talk* through the 1000's.  That's right.  Talking.  Easily.  Not breathing hard at all.  At paces that are 30-45 seconds/mile faster than target race pace.  Brilliant.  All of a sudden, the marathon pace looks and feels like a cakewalk.  I'll weigh in after the fact, of course, but much to my surprise, the workout that I was worried may be too tiring actually was quite easy and raised my confidence to a level that's never happened before a marathon.

And the 200m pick-ups?  Nothing like running at a sub 6 minute mile pace (even if only for 1/8 of a mile) to convince you that you are in better shape than you've been in quite some time.  In other news, I *sincerely* enjoyed telling F to hit 40s on her 200m intervals.  Sweet, fast F.  Yup.  She did it, no problem.  5:40 mile pace on all 4 intervals -- lady is *FAST*.  Should be interesting to see how training for a half while she's training for a full at SFM treats me. I expect my fitness will be challenged and pushed. And I look forward to it.

The great AM track workout alone would be enough for a great day.   But I also get to add that I made it home in time for a good yogurt, blackberry, milk, banana smoothie.  Oh, and I had several productive work calls, a great on-site visit with a client, and, E had agreed that I should have a steak dinner to get my iron stores up before the race. (I assure you, I had to twist his arm heavily to get him to go to Dittmer's while I toiled away on legal issues related to his Company.  Okay, not really.)

Upon arrival at home after the long work day, I followed the awesomely perfect recipe we've concocted over the years and made glorious filet mignons for me, E and D (425F, garlic clove embedded, butter layered, salt and pepper), plus a side salad and boiled miniature artichokes (6/$1 at the local farmer's market on Sunday!  Deal of the century!).

At first bite of the perfectly cooked filets, the boys declared me a genius. I, of course, politely agreed.

To prove the point, I took the steak/butter/garlic/salt/pepper drippings, added onions, and made millet with the leftover artichoke water.  We now have at least 2 pounds of delicious beefy-artichoky millet for side dishes. Like the title says, it was a great day.  And the millet will prove this going forward...

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2013 Goals Update

I never really got around to solidifying any of my goals for this year for some reason.

I recorded my running goals at the beginning of the year, but that's kind of cheating, as races and training take enough time to plan that most of that work and commitment was done long before the new year.

Last year, I hit 3 out of 5 of my resolutions, and along the way, I ran some great races (including the Fairbanks Equinox Marathon with Arvay -- such fun!), learned quite a bit of Mandarin, made new friends around Mandarin language and Chinese culture, and read some great books.  I feel that my goals treated me quite well last year.

This year, for the first month-plus, I checked out of any and all potential goals except running (and work, of course, constant work, the place where I always meet the goals/deadlines).

Things slowed down a bit this week and I realized, oh, crap, I need to formally record some goals for 2013.

So, in a very late gesture, I'm recording my 2013 goals/resolutions:

1.  Running:  I'm reaffirming my commitment to this year's running goals -- so long as I am healthy enough to run, I hope I set and keep at least one running goal each year.

2.  Health: I've been eating quite healthy, taking vitamins every day, and paying more attention to my stress levels .  I've also been doing *very* well on the sleep side of things, which I think is more important than I've realized.  So, I'd like to continue in this trend during the year, keep my red meat consumption relatively low, have lots of vegetarian meals, and do what I can to have low glycemic index meals.  I want to be sure to actually use all the classes on my current Bikram yoga card (8 to go by the first week in May).  And, oh, yes, of course I want to be sure to make time to have a great garden year -- all the effort required is good for my stress levels and health and all of the harvests result in good food!  

3.  Books: Given my current consumption, 12 audiobooks should be easy, so I'm just throwing it out there as something that I'll enjoy if I execute on it.  On the actual silent reading side of things, I'll set the goal at a pedestrian 24.  2 per month seems like something I should be able to manage even though I appear to prefer audiobooks over reading these days.

4. Language: Starting today, I'm committing to 1 mandarin lesson per day (Chinesepod, Pimsleur through Audible, whatever) 'til we depart.  This is the type of goal-setting that causes results.  I can control this one.  Actually, I've decided to try to complete 100 lessons between now and when we leave.  Yeah.  That's the A goal.  (Of course, Settling for the B goal of just one per day, would be totally consistent with my style. And while we're at it, let's admit that I'll most likely miss days in a row and then cram 5 lessons into one day once or twice a month to hit that B goal -- so it's not like I've got balance. Moving on...)

5. Travel: Planning and executing on the China Trip.  Historically, I wouldn't have considered this as a goal/resolution for which I deserved credit if it was actually accomplished.  My time is at a premium now (if anything ever functioned to remind you of your mortality it is this -- I used to think my time was free, valueless, without limit, and all of the economic logical requirements for a truly free resource.  And now, at the ripe old age of almost 40, I'm viscerally aware that this is not true.)  Something has changed, and I now want to give myself credit for taking all the time I need to plan this complex international travel and learning all I can about the culture and language.  I feel I should point to my travels as a goal I strive towards achieving, because, well, because I do.


6. Stay at home weekends: As I've mentioned, I have a goal of 26 weekends at home for 2013.  I'm on the fence about whether we count weekends where we stay in hotels in the bay area as travel or home.  So far we're at 4/8 completely at home and 1/8 with an overnight an hour away.

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Sparkling Water

In an effort to control as much market share as possible, Coke extended its aggressive marketing to especially poor or vulnerable areas of the U.S., like New Orleans — where people were drinking wice as much Coke as the national average — or Rome, Ga., where the per capita intake was nearly three Cokes a day. In Coke’s headquarters in Atlanta, the biggest consumers were referred to as “heavy sers.” “The other model we use was called ‘drinks and drinkers,’ ” Dunn said. “How many drinkers do I have? And how many drinks do they drink? If you lost one of those heavy users, if somebody just decided to stop drinking Coke, how many drinkers would you have to get, at low velocity, to make up for that heavy user? The answer is a lot. It’s more efficient to get my existing users to drink more.” (http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/24/magazine/the-extraordinary-science-of-junk-food.html?pagewanted=all)

That was me.

I easily drank 6-8 diet cokes a day while studying for the bar exam.

This was not that far off my normal consumption from age 13 - 30.  Maybe only 2 cans a day less than average.

Scary.

And, oddly, I have the country of Argentina and their commitment to sparkling water to thank for my easy replacement of diet coke with water and sparkling water.  It was there I learned I really only cared about the bubbles and the liquid.

Gracias!

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Sausage: The Gift That Keeps On Giving

My aunt and uncle gave us a gift certificate to (a small, local-to-my-dad's-childhood, purveyor of preserved meat products) Cattaneo Brothers as a Christmas present.

We opted into the Sausage Variety Pack.

And, it has been the holiday gift that has continued to give the most enjoyment of all the gifts we received.

We don't regularly cook with non-cheese animal protein other than what's in the fridge due to recent gifts or recipe purchases.  So, since the start of 2013, we haven't bought any eggs or animal/fish meat of any kind.  Instead, every time we've been craving protein in a home-cooked meal, we've dug into the sausage stash that showed up after we placed our order and composed a solution:

So far, this year we've had (and served guests):

1. Leftover cheesy tomato millet risotto, revived by quickly tossing with sauteed, steamed and sliced Cattaneo Brothers Italian Sausage (no guests, but wife of the week award on turning a "not my favorite vegetarian meal" into "you are the best", right here!)

2. Baked brussels sprouts, topped with slices of steamed/sauteed Cattaneo Brothers swiss sausage (plus all the goodness from deglazing the sausage cooking pan with white wine), and broiled to perfection. (Hit with the guest!)

3. Baked broccoli, onions, garlic, and 3 links of caballero sausage slices.  Regularly tossed during the cooking process, and eventually broiled prior to serving.

4. One link of caballero sausage, sliced and wok-sauteed with onions and garlic 'til cooked through, then tossed with sliced red swiss chard, leftovers of #3, and covered to steam for tonight's dinner.  Delicious!

And we still have one link of Caballero plus an entire package of Linguica to go.

In short -- small, local, artisanal preserved meat product producers can bring much joy when their products are given as gifts.

That is all.

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Happy Birthday Daddy!

Oh, how much I miss you, Dad.

This morning, on the 7th Birthday you should have experienced since you left us, I asked E if we could have a celebratory dinner for your birthday.  Of course, to honor you (and always enjoying celebrations in your style), he said "Hell, yes."

I asked what he thought you'd like us to do (and, by extension, what he would prefer to do):

1. go to Tied House, your favorite restaurant in our 'hood?
2. stick to our menu plan (cheesy mushroom risotto) but augment with a beer from your favorite brewery?
3. blow off the veggie risotto in favor of some meat?

E, predictably, opted for #2 and #3.  Just like you would have.  I, of course, insisted on a salad to go with the meat, as you would have complained about me doing, and then you would have eaten it first, just like E did.

Also, after stopping at 3 liquor stores who didn't carry Mendocino Brewing Company Ales, I sucked it up and went to BevMo to get the Red Tail to go along with the meal so we could toast you properly. You were right, it is *really* *special* stuff. It's hard to come by, even here. I got some pleasure knowing that you enjoyed my 3 failures and looks of confusion from each clerk before I went home, looked it up online, and actually went somewhere I knew would have it.

So, happy birthday Dad.  We miss you:

P.S.  If you get a minute, you should go peek in on the new incarnation of our local butcher where I got the fillets. I think you'd like their style.

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CIM week -3

In the homestretch and this was the best running week I've had in long time.  Possibly the best in the last year.

I had a great interval workout, a solid mid-length pseudo progression run, and yesterday, a *beautiful* run with Jen.

Yesterday's weather report predicted AM showers, but it was wrong.  I arrived at Cesar Chavez Park to crisp, beautiful blue skies and clear views of the bay, the Golden Gate bridge, the Bay Bridge and the various parks and trails along the way.  I ran around the park twice to try to pre-load my run and I managed 2.87 before I saw Jen.  Then, we were off and babbling at each other for just a little over 2 hours.  We knocked out a steady (but more important *enjoyable*) 12 miles.

Despite never having met in person, we had tons to talk about and the time just flew by.  I haven't met a blog friend in the meat world in a very long time (not since 2006).  This was definitely the highlight of my week.

We split up at the very end and I closed out the last little bit to get myself to the total 15.  All told, I averaged 10:53, with the earlier miles on the faster side and the later ones relaxing into a more mellow pace.  This 15 was *so* much easier than the 15 two weeks ago. Pysically, but also, emotionally and mentally. Solo long runs are often hard for me to do. Running is supposed to be the thing I do to rest and recover from the stresses in my life, but some parts of the solo long runs may be contrary to that goal.  I'm thrilled to have a new running buddy.

Last night was E's birthday.  C's in town, so she offered to be my sous-chef and we made 3 lasagnas and a gigantic bowl of steamed broccoli.  With 10 people (11 if you count babyG), it was the largest sit down dinner we've ever hosted outside of family thanksgivings.  We replaced the coffee table with the kitchen table and the folding table in an L shape.  We used sheets for table cloths and mixed our kitchen chairs with an office chair and folding chairs. It was a great time and so much fun and I very much appreciate all of the folks who made an effort to join us on a Saturday evening.  I was very happy to give E a birthday party I know he enjoyed as his birthday present.  Major wife points for me!

And then, to cap it off, this morning, I drove over to L's at 8 AM and we knocked out 3 miles while chatting at an average pace of 9:27.  The ease of this AM's run the day after 15 miles plus a party of heavy food and wine was a big help to my confidence, which is *exactly* why I mucked with my training plan for CIM.

41.74 miles total this week (most this year), 6 consecutive days of running, and I'm feeling much, much better about the race.

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Long Overdue Recipe Post

So, tonight, E & I agreed that I made an awesome meal.

Right?

I mean, roasted brussel sprouts in olive oil and balsamic vinegar?

And Orecchiette from A.G. Ferrari tossed with slow roasted garlic salt and pepper garden paste tomatoes (recipe to come), fresh garden tomatoes, garden basil, and nothing else? (Note to self:  the lunch of panini and subsequent splurge at AG Ferrari is like marital money in the bank -- E is a happy Man!)

It was amazingly delicious and even *VEGAN* for crying out loud.  And E was happy.  Despite the lack of bacon or cheese or any other type of food awesomeness that the Vegans give up in their interminable lent, we agreed it was one of the better home-cooked meals I've made this year.

So, if you're looking for super healthy delicious recipes, here are two:

1.  Roasted Balsamic Brussel Sprouts:

-pre-heat oven to 375F
-cut a bunch of brussel sprouts perpendicularly to the stem (e.g. visually, you end up with right and left brains, not top and bottom brains)
-place brussel sprout halves in baking dish
-drizzle with balsamic vinegar (such that it covers the bottom of the pan evenly, but not more than enough to see the film)
-repeat the drizzle with olive oil, same amount
-sprinkle with garlic salt and black pepper
-toss (see the vinegar and oil already soaked into the crenulations of the sprout halves)
-place in oven, cook 15 minutes, toss again, half of the liquid should be gone
-remove when tops appear crystalized, serve immediately and enjoy.


2. Orecchiete with slow-roasted tomatoes and fresh tomatoes and basil

-boil one box Orecchiette 'til al dente
-while pasta is boiling, chop 2 fresh tomatoes and 1 cup slow-roasted paste tomatoes seasoned with garlic salt and pepper and preserved in olive oil (bonus if the slow-roasted tomatoes came from your garden and were prepared according to your husband's family's recipe...)
-while pasta is boiling, julienne 1 cup fresh basil (garden bonus!)
-drain pasta
-toss pasta with fresh tomatoes, roasted tomatoes (and their residual olive oil) and basil


ENJOY!

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Grinning Goodbye To Summer

Summer always seems to bring us wonderful excesses of travel, barbeque, too much food, wine, and celebration.

After the fun has ended, E and I try to impose our own version of reasonable restraint/limited abstinence upon ourselves.

So far this week we've been successful.  We've avoided almost all social activity, have slept at least eight hours each night, and have successfully refrained from all processed grains, alcohol, meat (except fish, once), and tried to fit in more exercise including some good evening yoga.

In addition to garden salads and soups for dinner, I've been enjoying smoothies for lunch.  I love the treat of blended dark leafy greens, garden cucumbers, bananas, and berries.  Delicious, healthy, and light.

On Tuesday, after my liquid lunch, I went to the post office, the UPS store, and visited the bank teller in person.

On the drive back to the home office, I caught a glimpse of myself in the rear-view mirror and realized the *other* benefit of the smoothie lunch:

A widely speckled grin of berry skins and leafy green bits, for all to enjoy.

(Hey USPS, UPS, and bank teller, next time can I get a heads up please?)

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Tiny Pleasures

Our local grocery store hooked us up with a coupon for a free quart of Almond Breeze.

I'm scared of most modern so-called "foods." But when I imagined what almond milk might be, I thought it might actually be something I'd like.

In my coffee, for example.

Plus, it was free.

The nutrition info totally beat out the 1% milk that I typically put in my coffee:

-60 calories per cup vs. 140
-more calcium, potassium, zinc, iron, and all sorts of other nut-based nutrients that aren't included in milk
-same amount of vitamin D
-1/2 the fat

Did I mention it was free?

I tried it plain, suspicious, but it was everything I'd want a cold glass of milk to be, and more.  It had the consistency of low fat milk, but a light delicious nutty after-taste.  In my coffee this AM, it was heaven.  I'm a convert.  So there you go -- every once in a while the industrial food industry creates a new product that actually makes my life better.

In other news, E and I finally got around to watching Jiro Dreams of Sushi which had been recommended to me by no less than 3 people who know me well, but all are from very different areas of my life.  E had never heard of it.

It was slow at times, but we thoroughly enjoyed it.  Also, it made us both nostalgic for our trip to Japan.

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Southern Slowness

We went to Atlanta and North Georgia for a relaxing labor day holiday.  It took a few days, but the languid southern way eventually wormed its way into my soul.

The first evening, we went to dinner with Sarah at the institution that is the The Colonnade.

E's extended family lives in the South, and occasionally we'll have one or two southern dishes in a meal, or Barbeque for lunch, but very rarely do we indulge in a full traditional southern meal.  In fact, much to Sarah's surprise, neither E nor I had ever been to this famous and historic landmark.

I struggled for quite some time with the menu while stuffing delicious cornbread and butter rolls into my mouth.  So many choices. 

I finally settled on the fried oyster plate and their signature salad and almost clapped my hands with delight to learn I could have a side order of my choice as well.  Hello macaroni and cheese!

Sarah ordered the fried shrimp plate with the signature salad, and lima beans. and E ordered the "Vegetable plate" which allows you to combine any 4 sides of your choice into a meal.  He opted for chili ("full of meat" he was in formed), fried okra, mac and cheese, and in a rare display of restraint, avoided additional fried awesomeness in favor of a salad.

At the high point of the meal, our table was an impressively brown and yellow display of southern awesomeness.

Suffice it to say, we were incapacitated after the meal and went straight to bed.  It was a good introduction to the next few days with absolutely nothing on the agenda.

After driving to the lake, we slept at least 9 hours a day (3 naps in the hammock for me).  When I finally woke each morning, I'd sip on some coffee, head out for a run and then jump in the lake to cool off.  We lazed around on the screen porch and boat dock while reading and watching the babies and chatting with one another between the rainstorms.  We took a pontoon boat ride around the lake to enjoy the sunset.  And, of course, we ate and drank too much.

I came home more refreshed and relaxed than I'd been in months.

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Gazpacho

Every once in a while, I am reminded that I was very spoiled to have a mother with a degree in home economics who taught "foods" and "sewing" and various other skills that were not commonly acquired in a formal manner by American women my age.

I did 4-H as a kid (primarily because my father had done it his entire childhood until college).  Many years my mom would lead a 4-H group on a topic of her choosing that I had to participate in and many other young girls (always girls) joined.

I have strong memories of the bread group, the preserves group, and the international foods group, all led by mom.  (I also have strong memories of the unicycling and clowning group, the rabbit group, the stained glass group, and others, but those memories aren't centered around my mother.)

Last night, at the last summer barbeque of the season, I was reminded again of the blessing that is my mother's formal training in foods.

I had made gazpacho from garden tomatoes, garden cucumbers, garden hungarian carrot peppers, and grocery store onions and bell peppers (plus the required olive oil and spices).  I offered it to everyone who attended.

Gazpacho is E's favorite soup, and easily one of my top 3 favorite soups.  Early in our relationship, he made me ask his mother for her recipe and I was amused to find it almost identical to the recipe (if you can call it that) I know from my mother.  Given that his family is from NY and the South and I'm a west-coaster through and through, since we both considered it a staple, I guess I assumed gazpacho was ubiquitous in America.

But at last night's BBQ, at least 15% of the recipients (in this so-called land of the foodies) had *never* had it.  And many of the others were pleasantly surprised, saying things like, "I hope this doesn't offend you, but this is like the best salsa ever" or "Wow, this is amazing.  I've never liked gazpacho before."  This reminded me that when I made it once for my childhood best friend, she said, "Doesn't gazpacho have garbanzo beans?"  In other words, last night, I realized that almost everyone I know isn't as familiar with gazpacho as E and me.

Today, after giving it a bit more thought, I realized the reason I'm so comfortable with gazpacho is that my mother went out of her way to expose us kids to international foods. She went out of her way to educate us on foreign culture in areas where she had expertise.  And she did such a good job that I am occasionally shocked to learn that despite my rural upbringing, I was given a much  more worldly perspective in childhood than I ever realized.  When a group of professionals in Silicon Valley from all over the country and the world don't know the name of the food you are serving, you quickly realize that your food knowledge is more extensive and worldy than you thought. 

Also, there is nothing like getting a group of folks to agree that Californian grown gazpacho is delicious!

Thanks, Mom.

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The Blissful Filling of the Nothingness

This weekend, we didn't really have plans.

Sure, I'd tentatively decided to do a half marathon in the Santa Cruz mountains on Sunday AM, but I wasn't committed enough to register, so, by our standards, we had no plans.

Friday night, after a very long week of work and increased running mileage, I fell asleep by 9:45 PM, on the couch, book on chest, almost, but not quite to the end of The Crossing.  Sometime later, E woke me (grumpy), and somehow convinced me to go to bed.  I woke this AM, embarrased at how much I'd fought back.  He informed me, "It's actually not so bad when you wake up.  I can reason with you.  When I have to deal with sleepwalking BT, it's surreal."

Yup.  Friday night is a party at our house.  Sleeping by 9:45 and arguments about going to bed by 10.  Oh... did I mention I've been a bit busy and stressed and not sleeping well?

Thank goodness for marathon training, even if it's not going totally according to any published schedule.  There's still nothing like long runs and short hard speed intervals to fix the insomnia that comes from too much stress.  Sure, perhaps it fixes it too well, but, beggars can't be choosers.

Saturday AM, we slept in, relaxed (I finished my book!), took a nice 17 mile mountain bike ride followed by brunch at our local mexi-cali-diner, and then we hunkered down and tended to the general life stuff that everyone must handle and that we've been ignoring (who doesn't?) before heading out.

Then we headed over the hill to Santa Cruz, to spend the evening with E2 & P.  Actually, we tried to head over Highway 17, but Google Traffic informed us there was a vehicle fire at the summit, so we opted for Highway 9 to Highway 35 until we finally got back on the 17 after the traffic had cleared but before they'd towed the shocking smoking shell of a burnt-out van away (as in, no tires!).  It was great to catch up while driving the gorgeous twisting-turning back-roads through the redwoods, eucalyptus, and Christmas tree farms.  Upon arrival, hungry and late, our awesome hosts welcomed us despite our tardiness with open wine and ceviche made of fresh-caught tuna.  (HOLY HAPPINESS, IT'S GOOD TO KNOW PEOPLE WHO ARE AWESOME HOSTS!)

This AM, E2 opted into an AM of pilates and woke early to take me to the start of a very elevation-heavy half marathon in the Santa Cruz mountains as part of my training for the Equinox, and while I was slow, I was pleased to do the elevation, even if half of the race was an obstacle course and people yelled at me when I opted to tip-toe my way across the rocks rather than just run across the creek.

We followed up the race with brunch with E2 and P and E in a delicious visit to their local Crepe Awesomeness.  My salsa crepe had at least an entire avocado in it.  Life was good.

In short,the true list of what we actually did this weekend involves gardening and laundry and thank you notes and dry cleaning and other long and boring chores and errands not worth reading at all.  But thanks to making the most of our gifts of friends and the beautiful location where we live, we both feel like we accomplished a ton, and we also had a relaxing treat of a weekend. So we're less stressed, more alive, calmer and just generally happy.  In fact, we found ourselves saying, we should have more weekends like this one.

Here's to goals!

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California Nachos

At 5 PM last night, my phone rang. A good friend from NYC and his partner were in town and had time to go to dinner near SFO if we could fit it in.

I offered two options:

1. El Super Burrito -- a classic California taqueria that's been around since 1977, complete with orange booths, Mexican tile tables, pinatas hanging from the roof and a swiss-style roof.

2. Shanghai Dumpling Shop -- Xiao Long Bao. Need I say more?

Good California-style Mexican is hard to come by in NYC for some completely inexplicable reason. So, they opted for El Super Burrito.

Mmmm.... I love me some Mexican food. In a show of strength and discipline by me, this would be only my 3rd Mexican meal of the week.

While standing in line, we saw that they had a special titled, "California Nachos."

I *love* nachos. I order nachos for lunch from my favorite taqueria entirely too often. My version of nachos has no sour cream, no meat, just cheese, black beans, salsa, guac, and lots of jalapenos and salsa. I think this sounds fairly Californian -- vegetarian, with an avocado component, that's what Californian food, is, right?

After a brief discussion, we decided we needed to order California Nachos for the table. I tossed out the idea of avoiding the refried beans but was shot down. I didn't even bring up the sour cream or the carne asada.

We ordered and sat, enjoying the time to catch up.

When our order was ready, I laughed hysterically.

At El Super Burrito, California Nachos means carne asada, cheese, sour cream, refried beans, salsa, and guac, all over... wait for it... some of the greasiest french fries I've ever seen instead of chips.

It was delicious.

And painful about 15 minutes later.

I think I may have cured my insatiable need for nachos.

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Hippy-Dippy

Arvay, I see your tofu eggplant stir-fry over rice with random green bits and raise you last night's left over Saag Paneer over rice with tonight's shiitake mushroom brown lentils.



Like Arvay, food like this is *not* part of my heritage. And yet, here we are.

The Berkeley. She is strong.

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