Dear Stomach

Please accept my deepest apologies for the barrage of crap I made you digest today. I promise to behave better at the next Halloween party.

Sincerely, Betty.

P.S. Thanks again for waiting until AFTER our 4-mile run to remind me of the torture I subjected you to earlier today...

The one about the poop soup

Yes, you read that correctly. Tonight's post is all about the Camp Pendleton Mud Run.

A and I woke up bright and early Saturday morning (5:45AM to be exact...) to head down to Camp Pendleton. Along the way, we stopped off for a much needed pre-race pit stop, which just so happened to be at the Starbucks across the street from Mission San Juan Capistrano.

Pretty, no?

We finally made it to the base (t-minus 1.5 hours to race time) and drove around a huge circle for what seemed like WAY too long. When we finally found the race parking (t-minus 45 minutes to race time) A dropped me off about a mile from the starting line, and I got my warm-up jog in by running up to the starting line. (Note to the US Armed Services - a little signage is not going to threaten our National security - I'm just saying...)

My Firm was one of the race sponsors, and so we had a nice little booth set up near the starting line. My awesome teammates had my race number and official race t-shirt. Unfortunately, since A was still navigating the parking nightmare, no pre-race photos, but he did manage to snap a shot of all the runners en masse:

After avoiding the spray from the fire hoses during the first mile, another mile in loose sand, and a 2-mile uphill trail run, we arrived at the poop soup, lovingly nicknamed for its putrid scent and texture. Sadly, the marines standing guard on the sidelines forced 'encouraged' us to, "GET IN THE MUD PIT". Lovely.

Next came a a quick jog across the "lake" which, thanks to this lovely drought Southern CA has been suffering, was completely dry. Except for the goopy mud at the edges, courtesy of another fire hose.

Next up, another mud pit (complete with 5-foot wall to be scaled) a 30-foot tunnel crawl. Then we scaled the hill of mud. Thankfully, my teammates gave me a literal push up the hill, and the Marine standing guard at the top of the hill took mercy on me, and didn't try to wash me back down the hill with his fire hose.

After a steep down hill quarter-mile, with the finish line in our sights...

(see how happy we looked?!?)

...we arrived at the last obstacle:Poop Soup - part 2. I'm not gonna lie - I couldn't stomach getting face down in this goo. Luckily, the Marines had let down their guard by this point.

Once we'd all made it out of the pit, my teammates and I linked arms and sprinted through the finish line.


I'm so proud of my teammates. We stuck together for the whole race, and still managed to come in first of all the teams from our office.

All in all, an excellent way to spend a Saturday morning. It would've been nice if it were a little cooler than 85 sweltering degrees and two days later, my quads are still SORE (which may be, in part, attributable to the 2 hour bike ride we went on yesterday...) but, I'm still really glad I got to participate in the mud run with all these awesome folks:

One down, fifty one to go...

Week one was a success!

Despite a gluttonous weekend in wine country, I ran every day. I even managed to fit in a beautiful 4 mile run through downtown Morro Bay on Sunday morning. I ran from our cute hotel:



To the Morro rock:


(It was really cold - I was very thankful for the fireplace in our room when I got back!)

Tomorrow morning, I am heading to Camp Pendleton to participate in the YMCA Mud Run.

Next time you see me, I will look something like this:

(What was I thinking!?!)

Day 1

I have big news today.

One year from today, on 10/9/10, Albert and I will be getting married here.

Previously, I mentioned that back in June I had run every day for a month. Initially, when I completed that first month, I had wanted to extend it to a full year, but for many reasons, the timing just wasn't right.

So, today dear readers, the time is right.

Starting today, I will be running every day, for the next year, culminating in our wedding day.

A couple ground rules:
1. "Running" constitutes a minumum of 15 minutes, either on the treadmill or outdoors.
2. "Every day" does not include days that I am sick (as judged by whether or not I'd call in sick to work.)

This was my run this morning:

It was great. This is going to be an amazing year.

To mark the midpoint, I registered for the Pacific Half Marathon, on March 27, 2010.

And to the naysayers, who say it's, "not healthy to run every day, you need time off to recover" I'd refer you to rule 1 above. 15 minutes on my rest days is not going to derail my recovery. So, if you don't have anything nice to say...well, you know how this one ends.

I'll be doing lots of gmap-pedometer tracking of my longer runs, and I'll post those here along with photos (courtesy of my new iPhone, which will be accompanying me on all my long runs!)

Now, all I need is a partner in crime. Any takers for the half-marathon?

Earthy-crunchy

Who am I? What have I become? I'm afraid I'm turning into one of those hippy-dippy's that we make fun of because for the second time now, I've made my own homemade granola. And its GOOD.

The first batch turned out just okay...not sweet enough, a little burnt, but still added a nice guilt-free crunch to pumpkin pie yogurt.

I made some modifications to the second batch and it turned out SO DELICIOUS that it's almost gone (and I just made it yesterday.) Even A is inhaling will eat it.

Try it, you will probably scarf down all 9 servings in less than 48 hours like it:

Pumpkin spice granola

2 C old fashioned oats
1/2 C pumpkin puree
3/4 C water
1 T (sugar free) maple syrup
1/2 C Splenda
2 t cinnamon
2 t vanilla
1 T Torani sugar free pumpkin pie syrup (optional - you can find this at Cost Plus on sale right now!)
1/2 t sea salt
1/4 C raw pepitas
Non-stick cooking spray

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a small food processor, blend pumpkin, water, maple syrup, Splenda, cinnamon, vanilla, Torani, syrup and sea salt until smooth.
3. In a large bowl, toss the wet ingredients with the oats and pepitas.
4. Lay out the mixture in a thin, single layer on a baking tray, lined with parchment paper. Spray lightly with non-stick cooking spray. (This aids the browning process, but is completely optional.)
5. Bake for 45-50 minutes until oats are starting to brown. Check granola every ten minutes. (I “flip” mine after the first ten minutes and spray the bottom with non-stick cooking spray. After 20 minutes and 30 minutes I use 2 large knives to break the clumps down into smaller bits. This speeds the drying process too.)
6. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet.
7. Crunch away!

Makes about 2 1/4 C

Nutrition Facts per 1/4 C serving (approximate): Calories – 93.2, Fat – 2.9, Protein – 3.3, Carbohydrate – 13.9, Fiber – 2.5

Well-deserved

I bought one of these this afternoon to motivate me to follow-through with my planned long run tonight:

It worked. I headed out around 6, intending to run for about an hour and a half while A had his weekly Sunday night bro-mance.

1:46:18 later, I finished my first 10-miler!

1:47:48 later, I drank my mango peach coconut water. From an iced glass.

So, so happy :)

Resolutions - Week (I don't know)

After a brief hiatus, I'm back with the resolutions this week!

Tomorrow I kick off two really big, really stressful, really simultaneous work projects. Man am I not looking forward to this. I also have some exciting plans in the works, more info to be revealed on that later. So, to help me keep some sanity and health in my life over the next 2 months or so, here are my resolutions for at least the next week (if not longer):

1. Run, bike/spin or go to Pilates every day
2. Foam roll 3x
3. Read a chapter every night

Attainable. Not easy, but even with the increasingly hectic schedule, at a minimum, I should be able to keep up with these resolutions.

I discovered a great new running blog (No Meat Athlete) and a great new workout. Much like the claims, the first session was increadibly painful (read, lots of rolling around on the floor, wincing and yelping in pain, while A sat on the couch alternately watching football and laughing at me in my misery). But, after a half-hour of rolling, I have to admit, my lower body feels much more relaxed and ready to tackle a nice long run tonight.

I've also noticed that I have a tough time falling asleep when I spend my evenings in front of a computer or TV screen. So, I'd like to start developing a better evening routine, including some leisure-reading. I'm reading a fantastic new book - Three Cups of Tea - and have a healthy stack of reading waiting in on my nighttable, so I need to get reading!

Here's to a great new week!