Black Cat Road Race

Today was the big day.  The day that I've been training for (and freaking out about) since December.  It was the Black Cat Road Race!

Last night my friend Stacey came over and we had a little pasta party to get ready for the race. 

We made whole wheat pasta with homemade sauce, and roasted eggplant.  Yum!

The race started at 8 am in Salem, which is about half an hour from my house.  We woke up really early and left my house a little after 6:30 am.  My brother's gf was running the race too, so we decided to carpool, and my brother and CJ came along for moral support.  

For my pre-race breakfast I had a glass of OJ, a bagel with cream cheese, and a cup of coffee.

When we arrived at the race, we picked up our bibs and tech shirts.  I was pretty happy that the tech shirts were long sleeves! I also got a pair of gloves, which I wore during the race since it was pretty cold this morning.

check out the dork in the neon pink headband

At a few minutes after 8, we were off! 

Yulia ran ahead since she's a speed demon.  Stacey and I decided to run together since we both wanted to run at a 9 min/mile pace.  The course started off mostly flat with a few hills.  I felt like the majority of the first half was downhill, with one major uphill.  The first 3 miles flew by, and I was feeling pretty good. There were lots of gatorade and water stations, which is helpful.  I still haven't mastered drinking out of a cup while running thing, but I figured out a new technique this time, and it was better than spilling water all over myself. I pinched the top of the cup so that it was narrower and easier to control.  It seemed to work out.

At mile 4.5, there was a bathroom stop, which I didn't take advantage of and I definitely should have.  Mile 4.5 was also the turnaround, and the course went back the same way.  This was ok, but I felt like there were alot more uphills on the way back.  At mile 6, I took my energy gel.  This is also where I lost my gloves.  I tried to take them off and dropped one.  There was no way I was going to go back for a measly glove!

At around mile 7, I started to fall back from Stacey.  This made me feel disappointed in myself, but I just knew I couldn't keep up, so I started to slow down.  For the remainder of the race I tried to keep my pace at about 9:30- 9:45 min/miles.  The last 3 miles of this race were a huge struggle for me.  I was trying to push myself, but I was running out of steam and my feet were getting pretty sore.  This was my first time running 10 miles so I just wanted to finish it.

The best feeling was seeing the finish line.  Right when I crossed it, the song "Halleluah" by Paramore came on my iPod and I couldn't have picked a better song for how I was feeling.  I was just so happy to finish!

My time was 1 hour 34 minutes and  15 seconds. 

The finishers medal makes it all worth it!

The Pea's Knees 1.2

1. The blog world has gone bananas for St. Patty's day. I've yet to get on board. But I will share this(cool), and this(holy yum), and this(a little overboard).



2. My Joy the Baker Cookbook is finally here!!!  Wahooo!! Can't wait to read it cover to cover! She is such an inspiration to me.





3.  I think this is pretty cool  Weird how some people don't change at all.




4.  My boss told me about this website, and I've since discovered tons of internet gold. Like this and this.



5. So far this year I've been doing pretty good reaching my 2012 fitness and life goals:

a. I sort of ran a 5k in under 29 minutes (I ran a 5 mile race, with a 5k marker, that I reached in 26 min and 48 seconds)
b. I signed up for (and am about to) run a 10 mile race. Black Cat race this Sunday!!
c. Go on a trip: Been on 2 weekend getaways this year!
d. Continue to blog my little heart out: Continuing!

Things left to do:

• Learn to juggle
• Master the crane pose
• Learn to eat at a slower pace
• Move out (Will I ever leave the nest? Stay Tuned)

 6.  My friend Anthony told me he had some pictures of me from the ICycle event.  I just hoped they would be a little more flattering than these, but I'll share them with you anyway:

 Peas out.

Turning into an Icicle at ICycle

Happy Leap Year! Day!

Today was my ICycle Homestart Fundraiser (again I just want to thank everyone who donated to me!  I exceeded my goal and raised $280!).  I worked a half day at the office and then headed over to the event.  It started to snow right when I was leaving work.

I arrived a little early so I chatted with my friend Anthony, who actually works for the organization, Homestart.  He told me I could use the gym Fitness International to get changed.  Since I had time to kill I went up to check it out.
This is when I discovered something horrifying.
I forgot to pack my running tights and grabbed a black tank top instead!  Gah!  Luckily I did pack shorts that I was planning on wearing over the tights (Is it just me or anyone else feel awkward wearing just leggings and nothing else over your butt?).

This was obviously not ideal, but what could I do?  I doubt this nice gym has a closet full of spare pants.

So I did what I had to do, I did the spinning class outside, in shorts, in the snow!

I felt a little silly because:
a.  My legs are extremely pale
b.  Lots of people kept asking me if my legs were cold, and I had to keep saying, "Yes, but I didn't mean to wear shorts, I just forgot to pack my pants!"

Exibit a: pale legs.

While I was a little chilly, I warmed up pretty fast, and I didn't turn into an icicle!

After the event, I headed over to the RaceMenu Office to pick up a medal they had for me.
As you may know, one of my main motivations for doing races is the medals! I love them!  The folks over at RaceMenu were awesome, we ended up chatting for a little while, and they even gave me a free T-shirt as well!
RaceMenu T-shirt + Medal= Success!

Overall a great day!  Now it's time for some quality time with my space heater.

I Lovermont Weekends

Is there anything better than playing in the snow like you did when you were a kid? (Especially when wearing your mom's snow suit from the 80's?)

Is there any better exercise than sledding?  (Especially when you have to walk back up a giant hill.)

 This weekend was a wonderful change of pace and scenery for me.

The fresh air, the powdery snow, the good company, and the yummy food... it was good for the soul.

hand cut fries

juicy lucy's stuffed with Munster and bacon

a wood stove to keep us cozy

I spent a lot of time preparing for this weekend, and it was all worth it. I food shopped, prepped, and packed. I also had to squeeze a 9 mile run into the work week since I wouldn't be able to run while in Vermont. I can't believe the 10 mile race is this Sunday! Time is flying!

 Here's my nike report from the run, can you tell where I ran out of energy? 

This Wednesday is the ICycle Homestart Event. I reached my fundraising goal (a big thanks to everyone who donated!) The weather report doesn't look too promising (snow??) but that's part of the point of the event. While I'm cycling outside for one hour in the cold, I'm going to imagine not having a home, and having to be out in the elements all day and night. It's a good thing I've become quite familiar with exercising in the cold this winter. This will be my third outdoor event this year! Remember when I said I wasn't going to do anymore outdoor events/races? So much for that..but after my very snowy weekend I should be able to handle it.


All photo's by CJ!

My Lousy Vocabulary and a Delicious Snack

The other day I forgot the word "apostrophe."
I was trying to spell a word and I was like, "what are those things called? You know, they're like commas in the air?"
Things like this happen quite frequently.
CJ is used to it by now, he just laughs and shakes his head.

Sometimes I forget a word can have more than one meaning.
Like the time my brother said he was doing research for one of his law professors.
I was like, "research? How do you do research for Law?"
At this time I was working at a clinical research center and I forgot that other types of research existed.

Sometimes I mispronounce/make up words.
Like the time when I was talking about a person I found annoying and I told CJ, "I wish I could exo-communicate them"
CJ was like "Huh?"
And I was like, "you know that word! It means to be kicked out of the church or something"
"I think you mean EX-communicate" he said.
 "....oh...."

While my vocabulary might not be the best, I certainly excel at other things, such as snack-making!

Here is one of my current snack obsessions:

Bananas with a peanut butter and yogurt sauce topped with walnuts
(I copied this recipe based on the dish served at Red Elephant Inn)

What you need:

1 banana

2 tbsp greek yogurt, plain or vanilla

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 sprinkle of brown sugar

Optional chopped walnuts

How to make:

Peel & slice up the banana

Mix the yogurt and peanut butter together until you have a nice creamy consistency.

Sprinkle in the brown sugar, however much you want.

Pour over the sliced bananas, and top with chopped walnuts!

That’s it!

 Quick, easy, tasty, and healthy!  Just the way I like my snacks!

ICycle Homestart Fundraiser Event

Hi Guys,
I need your help!
I'm doing a charity event for an organization called Homestart, Inc.

"HomeStart’s solution to homelessness is simple: Housing First.

At HomeStart, “Housing First” means that our first priority for every person is a stable housing situation. We then work with each person’s individual needs to provide services and support to make sure they are able to remain housed.
Since 1994, HomeStart has helped more than 4,000 homeless people move to their own homes.
Ending Homelessness. Changing Lives. HomeStart."

The event is called ICycle.
It's a outdoor spin-a-thon that goes on for 12 hours. 
In order to participate, I need to raise $250 by next Wednesday. 
Please, donate to me and help me reach my goal!
My Fundraising page:
http://www.crowdrise.com/icycle/fundraiser/amysinclair1
You can donate through your amazon account, or directly to me!


From the Homestart page: HomeStart ends and prevents homelessness. 
If you're homeless, HomeStart is your realtor.  Much like a real estate agency, HomeStart helps you find permanent housing by assessing your background, financial ability, and a variety of other factors.  But once HomeStart puts you in a home, they make sure you stay there.  HomeStart provides stabalization services like money management, life skills training, etc. to make sure that you re-integrate into the community and never become homeless again.  

That's how HomeStart ends current homelessness, but HomeStart also prevents it before it starts.  If you're on the verge of losing your home, HomeStart offers emergency assistance that helps you stay in the home and avoid costly taxpayer shelters.  Usually HomeStart can keep a family in a home for $700, while moving that family into a shelter, could cost taxpayers upwards of $40,000 (nevermind the moral cost.) 
So you ready to help HomeStart end homelessness?  Then sign up, raise at least $250, and let's see if you're as tough as some of our clients.  Also while you're riding, just think, you're only outside for an hour, imagine if you were homeless.  

"I hate the cold and I really hate the breeze.  When you're homeless, you can't even feel yourself you're so cold.  It's all you can think about.  And when the wind blows, you want to be anywhere else but outside"  

"I was talking to a client the other day and he told me how grateful he was for HomeStart. HomeStart helped him get his first place, manage his money, go to school, but he was the most grateful to HomeStart for getting him out of the cold."

My First Loaf!

I have been dying to make bread for a few weeks now.  I don’t know exactly why I felt such a strong desire to make bread from scratch, but I knew I had to try it.  And now, 22.5 hours later, I have successfully made my first loaf of bread.  I feel like a domestic goddess.

I used a cookbook my mom had called “My Bread- The Revolutionary no-work, no-knead Method” written by Jim Lahey.  He developed the no-knead Bread-in-pot technique.   It’s really simple, all you need it water, flour, yeast, salt, and time. 

The instructions call for a cast iron pot, which I didn’t have, so I went out and bought one yesterday.   I found one for fifty bucks at Homegoods.  It’s  porcelain enamel coated cast iron, so it’s really heavy!  In an ideal world I’d have a Le Crueset dutch oven, but this will do for now. 

Making the Dough:

First, I gathered all the ingredients.

3 cups bread flour

1 ¼ teaspoons salt

¼ teaspoon yeast

1 1/3 cups cool (55-65 degrees F) water

Corn meal (for dusting)

In a medium bowl, I mixed the flour, salt and yeast.  I then added the water and stirred with a wooden spoon until it was a wet sticky dough.  I had to add another tablespoon of water to get it to be sticky to the touch.

I covered the bowl with saran wrap and let it sit for the fermentation period.  This can take anywhere from 12 to 24 hours.  I let my dough rise for 18 hours.  

The book says to pay attention to the “visual keys” of a successful rise, such as a bubbly surface with a darkened appearance.

Once the dough has risen, I took it out of the bowl, and laid it on a floured cutting board. 

I folded it and shaped it to be more round, and placed it seam side down on a tea towel dusted with corn meal.  I loosely wrapped the tea towel over the dough.  This is when the second rise begins.  I let it rise for a little less than two hours. 

note the indentation, bottom left

The dough is ready to be baked when it passes the “poke test.”  Gently poke the dough with your finger to make an indentation ¼ inch deep.  If it holds the indentation, it’s good to go!

While the dough is in the second rise, I pre-heated  the oven and the pot.  Once the oven was up to 475 degrees,  I placed  the dough in the pot and dusted it a little more with corn meal.

I baked the dough for 30 minutes with the lid, and then another 15 minutes without the lid.  

And it is so beautiful!

I think I did everything right. As soon as I took the loaf out it was making some cracking sounds, called “singing.”  The “singing” occurs when the bread starts to cool, and the crust is shrinking and cooling, and the steam is escaping through the cracks.  

The bread must cool for at least an hour before slicing.  Once cool, I sliced it and had a photo shoot... then I had a serious bread binge. 

Why You Should Drink Chocolate Milk After a Tough Workout

Hey!

I’ve been pretty productive today.  My biggest accomplishment so far has been running nine miles.  My training plan suggested running 8 miles, but since I was feeling pretty good and the race is in two weeks, I decided to do nine.  It took me 1 hour and 29 minutes (9:58 pace).

 

At mile 6, I took an energy gel since I was starting to lose steam.  I think it helped.  It did make me really thirsty since it’s so sweet, but that was the only negative thing I noticed.  At nine miles, I started my cool down.  I walked a little bit, then stretched my legs.  Afterwards, I iced my knees because they were a little stiff.  And by ice, I mean frozen corn and peas. :)

Did you notice that my Nike plus report is green now?  That's because I made it to the green level! That means I have ran 162 miles with Nike Plus, and 104 of them I ran in 2012.  That seems like pretty big news to me!

To refuel after the run, I made a turkey and cheese sandwich with carrot sticks and a side of cottage cheese.   

I love toasted bread!

I mixed up a big glass of chocolate milk to drink.  When I was in college, I took a sports nutrition class and I remember learning that chocolate milk is the perfect thing to drink after a workout.  The ratio of carbs, protein, and fat, is just what your body needs to start recovery.

Fitness magazine says, “Compared to plain milk, water, or most sports drinks, [chocolate milk] has double the carbohydrate and protein content, perfect for replenishing tired muscles. Its high water content replaces fluids lost as sweat, preventing dehydration. Plus it packs a nutritional bonus of calcium, and includes just a little sodium and sugar -- additives that help recovering athletes retain water and regain energy." Source

As an added bonus, it’s delicious, and it really brings me back to my childhood when I used to chug chocolate milk like it was nobody’s business.

In unrelated news, I just bought myself a 5 quart cast iron pot and I plan on making some bread in it.  I just made the dough and now it needs to rise for 18 hours since I’m trying out a “no

knead” method.  I’ll post about that tomorrow!