Super Sunday 5M!

Hi guys!
Yesterday was the day of the Super Sunday 5 Mile Race!

I was really excited for this race (even though I only signed up for it on Friday).  I woke up pretty early feeling like a kid on Christmas morning.  I ate a bagel and had some OJ and coffee for my breakfast.

I got to Cambridge a little after nine, and met up with my friends, Tracy and Miriam.  We were all pretty excited/nervous/scared of the cold!

At a little after 9:30, we walked down to the start to pick up the bibs.  The race didn't start til 10:30, so we did a lot of standing around trying to stay warm!  It was about 27 degrees when the race started.  Luckily it was pretty sunny, so I tried to absorb as much warmth from the sun as I could.

At 10:20, we walked over to the starting line.  Someone sang the National Anthem, fired the gun, and we were off!

I was not warmed up at all, so the beginning of the race was really difficult.  Actually, the entire race was difficult for me.  It was just so cold!

In the first mile, my feet and three of my fingers went completely numb.  I felt like my feet were solids blocks of ice clunking down the street.  I kept telling myself  "it will get better when I warm up."

At mile 2, I was still pretty frozen.  I felt like we were moving at a pretty good pace, but I had no idea how fast or slow we were going.  My Nike plus band only tells me how far I have gone, but not my pace.

At Mile 3, we could see the finish line for the 5k.  There was an option in this race to "bailout" and stop at a 5k.  It was so tempting, but I just told myself to keep going.  I started to run out of steam at this point.  I even started to slowly drop back from Tracy and Miriam  I wanted to keep up with them, but I was really struggling.

More and more people started passing me and I felt like I was running really slow.  Originally, I had wanted to finish the race in 48 minutes.  I had no idea how fast I was going so I tried to tell myself that my time didn't matter so much.  The only thing that matters is crossing the finish line!

In the last mile, I continued to feel sluggish and slow.  Once I turned a corner and saw the finish line I really tried to dig deep and run as fast as I could.  When the clock came into sight, I was completely shocked.  It said 43 minutes and 59 seconds.  I was not expecting my time to be that good.  I thought there must have been a mistake, but there wasn't.  I ran the race at an average pace of 8: 45!

I was so proud of myself! This race was extremely challenging for me, and to see that I did better than expected was so rewarding.

My official time was 43:59 for the five miles.  They also recorded your 5k time.  My 5k time was 26:48; a huge improvement from my first 5k (which took me 31:04).

Likes & Dislikes of this race:

Likes:

• Mostly flat course
•  Started on time
• Organized well
• Announced each persons name as they crossed the finish line (sooo nice!)
• Chicken wings, beer, and live music after race!!!
• Lots of free loot (coconut water, popchips, pretzel crisps...)

Dislikes:

• Not all roads on course were closed
• No medals! :(
• Very cold weather

Here are my splits:

Determination! haha

Superbowl Recipe: Buffalo Chicken Dip

Hi everyone!  Remember when I said I'm not really into football, and I'm only watching the Superbowl for the commercials and the halftime show?  Well, I forgot to mention that I'm also looking forward to the food!

My friend, Sarah, sent me this recipe and I decided to try it out for the Superbowl party I'm going to.

Not the most healthy recipe, but certainly a good one!

Buffalo Chicken Dip
　
3 or 4 Chicken breasts
2 blocks of 8oz cream cheese
16 oz Ranch dressing (1 large bottle)
12 oz Franks Red Hot Original (buffalo) sauce (1 bottle)
1 pkg. shredded cheddar cheese (we used some mozzarella cheese too)
　
Boil chicken breasts and let cool
Once cooled, shred chicken into very fine strings.  This can be done using two forks and pulling apart the chicken.
Mix shredded chicken with 12oz (1 bottle) of Franks Red Hot Sauce
In a medium pan, heat ranch dressing and cream cheese until melted
Mix the chicken mixture with the dressing/cheese mixture
Pour into casserole dish
Cook at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes or until hot through, then spread cheddar cheese on top　
Cook for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted
Let cool (a little) before serving
　

 Serve with tortilla chips or crackers and celery.

Go Pat's!

Pickles, Pretzels, and Cheese!

Happy Friday,  folks!
I'm really excited for this weekend, and not just because of the Superbowl.
I'm not a football person, I didn't even know who the Pat's were playing against until this morning.
It's just not my thing.

I watch the Superbowl for two reasons:
1. The commercials
2. The halftime show

The real reason I'm excited for this weekend is because I'm running a race on Sunday!
I had been debating about signing up for it for a few weeks, then a friend of mine sent me a coupon code to get $10 off the registration fee and I just signed up!

It's the Super Sunday 5 Miler, and it starts right near my office in Kendall Sq.  It looks like a pretty good course.  There's even an option to do a 5k instead of a whole 5 miles.  I wanted to do the five miles because I figured it would be really good practice for my ten mile race (which is only a month away!).

Here's my training plan for the week:

Sunday- 3 miles(check)
Monday- 3 miles(check)
Tuesday-Off
Wednesday- 4.26 miles (I ran outside because it was 50 degrees! yay! )
Thursday- Off
Friday: 4 miles
Saturday: I'm going to attempt to go to Body Pump
Sunday:  Super Sunday 5 Miler!!!

Can we talk about my Wednesday night run? I really need to share.
So I headed out to run at about 6 pm.  It was pretty dark, but I had a little blinkie light attached to me so people could see me, and my track jacket and sneakers were reflective.  Towards the end of my run, I turned off the main road and ran into this little neighborhood close to my house.  The streets were really dark, and I couldn't see much.  I ended up tripping in a pot hole in the road and almost falling. This started me quite a bit, but when I looked up I saw something in the road a few feet ahead of me.  I couldn't really tell what it was, but as I got closer I saw it was a dog just lurking in the darkness staring at me!  I was afraid to run past him because I didn't want him to chase after me.  I just said "hey pup" and kept walking until he was out of sight!
Phew! It was scary!  I'm not afraid of dogs, but this one was really creepy!

On Thursday, I went out to dinner with two of my very lovely friends.  We met up at the commons and went to Stoddard's for some appetizers and beers.
I ordered the Rapscallion Honey Ale to drink.

We ended up ordering four appetizers to share:  The pot of pickles, the cheese plate, pretzels, and fries.

It really hit the spot! :)  The pot of pickles was my favorite.  It had an array of pickled vegetables like cauliflower, mushrooms, green beans, and some actual cucumber pickles.  The cheese plate was really good as well (even though I couldn't identify some of the cheeses). 
I really liked this place and would love to go back again!

Growing up is hard to do..

Soooo…remember when I made a bunch of life and fitness goals for 2012?  Well, I need to retract one of them.

I had originally planned to move out of the nest this year, but I recently had a change of heart.   I realized that I should live at home a little longer.  I have been saving and calculating for months, and I figured I could afford to move out by May.  I even told my friend that I would be able to move in with her when her lease ended.  

One night,  after a chat with my dad, I totally had a change of heart/epiphany/ whatever you want to call it.  I realized that just because I could move out, didn’t mean that I should.  I knew  I could afford it, but I would literally be spending every penny that I made.   My entire paycheck would be going to rent, student loans, food, and utilities.  That didn’t leave much money for fun, and I like fun.

I had to weight my options; Living on my own and scraping by, or living at home comfortably, but with less freedom.

In the end, I decided to stay at home for at least another year.  I was sick about my decision and really scared to tell my friend.  I didn’t want to let her down, but I knew I had to make the right decision for myself.

So, as a way of coping with living at home, I’ve decided to put together a list of perks.  I’m trying to look on the bright side!

1.        Dinner is usually waiting for me when I get home from work.  This is a big perk for someone who doesn’t really know how to cook dinner.  Breakfast and lunch I can handle, but dinner is a whole other ball game.

2.       In-house Laundry (sans rain boots) - When I lived in an apartment during college, we did have our own laundry in the basement, but the problem was that our basement flooded….alot!  9 times out of 10, you had to wear your rain boots while doing laundry.  That’s really not fun, especially if you drop a clean sock in a puddle…

3.       Not paying utilities!  While living in that apartment, we  had to pay for our heating, which was really expensive in the cold Vermont winter.  We would put the heat down really low, and sit on the couch in sleeping bags to keep warm while watching TV.  I really don’t miss that!

4.       A fully stocked fridge (most of the time) .  Food shopping is not fun!  I really need to appreciate this time in my life where food shopping is not part of my weekly errands.

And there you have it!  If anyone reading this is in the same boat, I hope this helps.  Like I said, I wrote this as a way to cope with staying at home for another year.  It does suck sometimes, but I really think it’s the smart thing for me to do right now.  Now I'll just appreciate it more when I do get to move out.

This post was inspired by the pork roast, baked potato, and green beans waiting for me after work today. :)

Banana Oat Walnut Bread

Happy Monday!

Here's an easy/kinda healthy/yummy recipe for you!

Adapted from Joy the Baker:

I haven’t baked anything in so long! I was having withdrawals.

I only like to cook/bake if I have the kitchen to myself.  Otherwise, I have to deal with my parents looking over my shoulder, commenting on what I’m making, and repeatedly asking if I’m “going to clean up whatever mess I make, right???”

Since the ‘rents were away, I decided to seize the empty kitchen and make use of the over-ripe bananas sitting in our fruit bowl.


Makes 1 loaf  of  10 slices

- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp  salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 3 tsp olive oil
- 1 large egg, beaten
- 2 medium egg whites, beaten
- 3 large bananas, ripe
- 3/4 cup uncooked old fashioned oat
-1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
-1/2 tbsp honey


First, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 

Gather all the ingredients.

 

Combine dry ingredients

 

 In a separate bowl, peel and mash bananas and add oil and one whole egg, then add dry ingredients to wet.

In a separate bowl, whip the egg whites until they are medium stiff peaks.

 Then fold in the egg whites in three sections into the mixture.

Pour into greased bread pan.

 Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Enjoy!

Flatbread, The Muddy Moose, and The Stairway Cafe

Aw Man, the weekend’s over!

Yesterday after breakfast we headed into downtown North Conway to check out the little shops.  

Dork.

 When we got hungry, we stopped into Flatbread to get a pizza.  There is a Flatbread in Burlington, Vt (where I went to school), so I’ve been a bunch of times.   We also visited this Flatbread the last time we were in North Conway.  They bake their flatbreads in a big fire brick oven, and they use lots of local and organic ingredients.

 

We ordered the vegetarian flatbread, which was CJ’s idea!  I can’t believe he chose it over the cheeseburger pizza which is topped with hamburger, cheese, pickles, mustard and ketchup!  The vegetarian pizza had artichoke hearts, sun dried tomatoes, and  yellow bell peppers.  I ordered a Switchback (which is brewed in Burlington, VT!)  and CJ got a lemonade.  He’s lame.

As we ate, we watched a guy roasting red peppers over a fire.  I’ve never seen this done before so we stopped by to talk to him about it once we finished eating.  He said all you have to do it burn them until the skin is burned off and turned black.  Then you wash off the burnt skin in a big bucket of water.  The end result is the smooth red peppers that you can buy in a jar.  It was pretty cool to see it done by hand.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around, snapping pics, and doing some shopping.  We even stopped by the Cupcakery and picked up three cupcakes.  I picked the Red Velvet one, and CJ chose the Maple Bacon Cupcake.  We also got one of the Chocolate mint mountain, which no one has eaten yet.

Later that night we headed to the Muddy Moose restaurant for dinner.  I ordered the Muddy Blues cocktail and CJ got a Black and Blue (Blue moon and Guinness).  CJ convinced me to get an appetizer at this place too, we ordered the spinach ravioli.  The order came out with two HUGE raviolis topped with mushrooms and placed on some marinara sauce.  I didn’t finish all of mine because I was trying to save room for my dinner!  You know how I feel about appetizers…

For the entrée, I ordered the Muddy Moose burger with sweet potato fries, and CJ got the perfect storm, which was a plate of mussels and shrimp, with fettucini and sauce.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel, pet the dogs, enjoyed some red wine, and relaxed.

The Inn leaves out a bottle of wine each night for guests.

Cookie and Jack

 This morning when we woke up, we headed down to the dining room for breakfast, but the lights were off in the dining hall.  The owner’s wife came out an apologized and told us that unfortunately there had been an incident the night before and the owner wasn’t there to make us Breakfast.  She apologized and suggested some places that we might like to try for breakfast.  We were disappointed, but what can you do?  I just hope everything turns out ok for them!

 We decided to try the Stairway Café for breakfast.  I had originally wanted to eat at Peach’s but it was super busy.  We were seated right way in the Stairway Café, and the menu looked awesome.  I ordered the simply scrumptious omelet (ham, bacon, green peppers, onions, tomato, mushrooms, cheddar cheese) with a side of homemade apple sauce.  CJ ordered the Oscar Benedict, which was egg’s Benedict made with crab cakes and a side of asparagus and home fries.  It was really delicious.  

I ate so much delicious food this weekend!  Calories don’t count when you’re on vacation, right?

May Kelly's Irish Cottage and the first breakfast at Red Elephant

Hello Friends!

We arrived at the Red Elephant Inn yesterday afternoon.  We went inside to check in and met the Owner, Rob, his daughter, and their two adorable dogs.  One was a big old Golden retriever named Jack and the other was a teeny tiny Chihuahua named Cookie.  The owner was very welcoming and showed us the snack bar, which is stocked with a bottle of wine every evening and always has tea, popcorn, and apples.   Next he showed us the dining room, where we would have breakfast, and the common room which was a cozy little library.  

After seeing our room, we brought up our stuff and got settled.  Then we spent some time picking out where to go for dinner.  We decided on May Kelley’s Irish Cottage.  We went kind of early so it wasn’t busy at all.  We were seated right away and soon ordered our drinks.  I got a Blue Moon, and CJ got a Smithwicks.  

For our appetizer we ordered the Bruschetta.   I’m not usually a big fan of appetizers because they fill me up, but I couldn’t pass up the bruschetta.  Before we got the appetizer they brought us out some brown bread, which was warm and delicious.  The crust was a little bit burnt/crispy, but it was perfect that way.  When our bruschetta arrived, I was surprised to see that it was covered in melted cheese.  Usually I just see it with chucks of tomatoes on top, but this one was like a little pizza.  It was really good and I was happy we ordered it.

This place was a pretty authentic Irish place, they even had black pudding on the menu!  CJ ordered the Shepard’s pie which is made with Lamb, and I got the sirloin steak salad, with cranberries, grilled Portobello, and gorgonzola cheese.  It was really good, and we both enjoyed our meals a lot.

This morning we woke up and headed downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.  They offered us Coffee or tea to start. I chose coffee, and CJ chose the Irish breakfast tea.  Our first course (out of three) was the Zeppole with a raspberry jam served in a martini glass.  It was so yummy!  I had never heard of them/had them before, but I loved it.

The second course was a fruit dish.  It was sliced banana covered in a sauce made with peanut butter and yogurt and covered in brown sugar.  This was so good!  It want to try to make it at home.

We had a choice for our third course.  We could choose egg’s Benedict or a waffle.  We both chose the egg’s Benedict.  It was so tasty.  It came with a side of potatoes roasted with thyme.   I could barely finish my plate because I’m not used to having three course breakfasts!   I seriously can’t wait to see what’s for breakfast tomorrow.