Running and Eating

I know, I know. It's been a while since I last posted anything here. I didn't go anywhere, really, I just haven't had time to blog or snap photos. Here's why: reading, writing, class, tutoring, class, reading, writing, tutoring, class, some more of the same and running when I can fit it in. Well, I'm back to write and post a few photos.

If you look above this blog you'll see a slide show of the 18 mile training run in San Francisco on Sept. 12th. This was a run to remember because there was rain, thunder, lightning and in some parts hail! The rain washed away some of the chalk marking showing up where to run in Golden Gate Park but my group and I managed to find a way out back down the Great Highway and around Lake Merced.

The team ran 20 miles this pass weekend along the beautiful Monterrey coast. Was I there? Nooo. I was a good girl and attended my Mainstreaming (Special Education) class from 9 am to 4 pm that day. I did run 20 miles yesterday, though. Captain Mike Z. lead the make-up run for four TNTers along the Los Gatos Creek Trail starting from Campbell Park. When I arrived at the park at 6:15 am a small TNT cheer team showed up. Coach Tim, Captain Steve S., and mentor Ilya showed up to send us off. Coach Tim ran with Monica, Latoya, and Lindsay part of the way, too! How awesome is that?! And Captain Rich H. was there to run us in at the end while Cap. Mike rode his bike up and down the trail supplying us with water. What a great team! Thanks for all your support guys!

The run was lonely at first but once I broke up the run into four parts and got into the rhythm and pace I did well. I find that breaking up a long run into manageable portions make the run go by faster and doesn't wear me out mentally. But lets get down to a very important aspect of running, something Mentor Jen loves, eating. Everyone runner knows the sooner you're done with a long training run the sooner you can eat, you know, for recovery purposes, and eat I did.

My husband has had a hankering for dim sum lately and his cravings were finally satisfied after my run.

From the top left hand corner going clockwise are the first items we chose off the dim sum carts. Tender marinated chicken feet, so delicious; bean curd, a.k.a tofu, stuffed with vegetables; tripe marinated in ginger, garlic, and dressed with jalapenos, has a great snap to it and a tremendous flavor; steamed pork dumplings; steamed BBQ pork buns; and shrimp stuffed eggplants. But wait, there's more.

Okay, not that much more but two extra dishes. A plate of Chinese broccoli with oyster sauce and a large bowl of rice porridge with 1,000 year old eggs, a fermented black egg. It was all washed down with hot Jasmine Tea and as Alton Brown would say, it's good eats. Now I regret not ordering honey walnut prawns and a sweet beans for dessert.

As every long distance runner knows, your stomach is like an endless pit after a training run. I hate to admit this but I actually ate two Taco Bell tacos two hours later and ate a bowl of seafood pasta from Frankie, Johnnies, and Luigi's for dinner. Not including the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, oranges, and banana I ate directly after the run. Or the bowl of oatmeal and banana I ate before the run, and the great deal of water and other fruits I consumed throughout the remainder of the day. I feel gross just thinking about the amount I ate but it was so worth it.

Now back to reading and homework.

A Healthy Labor Day Dinner

Today, of all days, I didn't feel like eating a traditional Labor Day meal. I said no to hamburgers and hot dogs, no to potato salad, no to carne asada, no to grilled chicken, and a big fat no to anything laden with overly sweet barbecue sauce. No to soda, no to salty chips, no beer, and no to manufactured processed boxed foods; basically no to anything artificial fat filled and artery clogging. To be honest with you, it's not that satisfying.

For years my husband and I would go to friends homes or my families places and eat all of the above. Of course my family will add extras like hot links, refried beans, Spanish rice, at least three different kinds of salsa and guacamole, grilled green onions and corn, and plenty of corn tortillas to go around, which isn't bad at all-in fact I really love my family's take on it-but it does becoming a little boring and passe. Especially when it's a lot of the same food for most family gatherings. So this year my husband and I decided to do Labor Day the way we like to eat, fresh and healthy.

Our meal began with sliced organic orange tomatoes with a slice of mozzarella cheese with a hint of salt and balsamic vinegar. The tomatoes are so sweet that I ate an entire tomato by itself! This is a great dinner in itself with a great piece of toasted or grilled bread topped with basil or an organic baby green salad.

Yummy grilled zucchini and yellow squash marinated in olive oil and salt. I can never get enough of this summer squash. Also great in a sandwich. Grilled eggplant is a great substitute too paired with marinated grilled red bell peppers.

The always delicious salmon powdered with lemon pepper and olive oil. Add a little lemon and I'm in salmon heaven.

I cannot deny my Mexican roots and not eat grilled corn whenever the grill is out during the summer. I bought white corn on the cob and husked it all.

I don't grill corn with the husk on. I like my corn grilled, I think you can taste the sweetness more this way than boiling it or steaming it in it's husks. This way you don't need to add any butter. Mmm, I can still smell the sweet corm on my table.

We did eat our meal with white rice, not the best carbs out there but it's what we have on hand and my husbands favorite. I'm sure you won't be disappointed with the fact that I forgot to snap a picture of freshly steamed rice. I'll take one the next time if you really interested, though.

All in all with our portions weighed out and using FitDay.com to calculate our caloric intake, this meal was under 700 calories. Not a lot and not a heavy meal for a really tasty and nutritious meal.

I hope your Labor Day was great tasting too! Now get back to work, or school. :-)

New Shoes!!!

It's time I retired my running shoes. They're filthy, starting to tatter, blood stained, the insoles giving up their support, plus the tread is wearing out having over 317 miles on them, I'm shocked I waited this long.

So, I went to Runners Revolution and picked up my new Brooks Adrenaline GTS! There I happened to run into Jen. It was great catching up with one of my running mates and didn't realize how much I missed her and the rest of the Team. I don't have class or tutoring this upcoming Thursday and I hope to make it to the Buddy Run at 6 am. So peeps, bug me!

As you can see my new shoes are pristine and gleaming. My old ones looked like that once, before Rancho San Antonio, and other dusty parks. I won't be long before my new ones look like the pair they're replacing. With this comparison looking at me whenever I walk into my apartment, I'll make sure to wash my shoes after a dusty run in the future.

Now to break in my new shoes! With my Achilles chafed skin wound healing nicely, and not wanting to aggravate it more, I put on the thickest running socks I own to cushion it- my Team In Training socks!

Ahh! That should do it, and it did! I ran eight miles at Campbell Park with little pain. The first few steps did hurt but quickly dissipated. Soon enough the plantar fasciitis acted up and my foot went a little numb. After several more minutes of stretching and loosing up my laces my little aches went away. Or my pain tolerance has gone up. Either way I know that I must roll my foot more often now that my runs have reached double digits.

Next weekend 18 miles at Lake Merced! Whoo-hoo!

Autumn

Welcome to Theme Thursday! Today's theme is beginning. I hope you like where my interpretation goes.

Autumn has many ways of indicating it's here. The air turns crisp, the days grow shorter, the leaves turns to brilliant colors in many places around our country, unfortunately the Bay Area doesn't see much of it. Empty classrooms are filled once again with students excited to see their friends to show off their new clothes and gear. The college bound, like myself, are a little nervous about the curriculum.

According to science, the beginning of autumn is Sept. 22, 2009; 5:18 P.M. EDT. For me, the beginning autumn is not signified by the start of school, the turning of the leaves, nor the cooler weather. No, autumn begins when Starbucks starts offering their fall special, and my all time favorite flavored coffee, the Pumpkin Spiced Latte! Yummy!

Nothing makes me happier than sipping on hot coffee while reading or surfacing the net. Oh, but the joy of sipping a hot pumpkin flavored coffee makes me happier. No matter how disorganized my Multicultural Foundations class is, or how many times the course syllabus contradicts itself (I found five so far), and the daunting number of pages that must be read over the course for this class alone, Starbucks' Pumpkin Spiced always melts the stress away.

Now I'm sitting here at the library with my class readers out, ready to read 75 pages of racism, social injustice, poverty, and activism in the classroom and I'm so glad I have my coffee.

Yes, 75 pages of double pages! Now that's a lot. Now if I put my camera away and finish my readings.

If you haven't clued in yet, I love pumpkin. With that said, autumn also begins with pumpkin pies are being sold in the supermarkets. And as a mid-afternoon snack I cave in and have a slice of pumpkin pie. I did not pair it with the PSL. :-)