Crushing it!

Okay, so first the bad news: we didn't run an entire 5K because the roads of Portsmouth can be very confusing and my calves were sore and my arches were feeling it hardcore after my run the other night. (Been a while since an update!) Good news: we were crushing it! Seriously, we put two miles down in fifteen minutes. That is by far the best time we've ever run. Ever! A friend at work suggested that my quickened pace was the result of a placebo effect stemming from the new "shoes" and while I am inclinced to agree, I would argue that a shortened stride and better, more natural form were the major contributors. And the cherry on top of the whole experience: I could have quite going. It was sweet. Now of course, I must consider the effects of this super-run on my calves which are straining to re-learn how to run altogether. I blocked out yesterday and today to allow for rest and stretching. I should be up for a short jog either tomorrow or a longer, three to five mile trip on Sunday. We'll see!

To remain on the topic of triathlons and requiste training, I have begun research into joining the local YMCA for the winter season. Funds are of course, a limiting factor but with small sacrifices here and there, I think I'll be able to pull it off.

So more bad news: we tore it up the night of the run. And my tore it up, I mean went to a Scotch and Pizza party hosted by a co-worker in Dover. From there, we hiked down to a local barroom to see the jazz man rip on some funk well into the night. Got home by roughly midnight but not before drawing myself the total hypocrite, and succumbing to the craving of:

Chocolate Fudge Brownie ice cream from Ben and Jerry's. A terrible failure that had me questioning if I would ever wake up from my food coma. As it turned out, I would rather toil in and out of consciousness than endure the day at work that followed the next morning.

Perhaps it was the full moon, but just the weirdest stuff happened at work. I will omit all the details in the interest of retaining a dwindling interest in this very blog, but it was thoroughly exhausting and stressful. But as they always do, the day promised to be a good one. I haven't got a photo but I enjoyed a bowl of oatmeal with bananas and cinnamon for breakfast. B-May has got me hooked on oatmeal for breakfast. I'm all for it! Lunch was leftover "mexican" - our concoction of turkey meat, spices and veggies. Finished with some Yorks and found it difficult to swallow as I got into my newest read: Under the Banner of Heaven. Written by Jon Krakauer, it's a story about Mormonism and the schismatic sects that split from the core church and their adherence to the long-deposed tenet of polygamy. It's gut-wrenching at times, particularly when relating the main storyline of a vicious murder committed to fulfill a spiritual vision. Anyways,

B-May and I hosted a college buddy for the night and we headed down Route 1 to Wings Your Way where, we ingested a pitcher of beer and perfect recipe for another food coma. I had an enormous chicken tender/ranch dressing wrap with onion rings and did more than my share of finishing 20 wings. As it turned out, we were home by 830 and from the combination of grease, beer, and weirdness that defined the day, I was asleep by 930.

Today so far has been wonderful. B-May cooked up a special helping of oatmeal with vanilla, bananas, pecans, and peanut butter for a perfect breakfast - it was just missing milk. So, within thirty minutes of cleaning the dishes, I was off to get groceries. I realized that I failed on this trip on two fronts: fruits and vegetables. The very basis of Taming the Craving and I haven't got the slightest clue about what to buy, or if depending on price and ripeness or seasonal availability. One of my goals is to develop a stronger sense of autonomy concerning this aisle of the grocery store especially and I totally dropped the ball today. Oh well, there's plenty of time for education and with fall around the corner, I'm confident a love for apples and cider donuts will make it a null point!

Apologies for so much text and lack of pictures. But let's be serious, the only one that mattered and that would remembed is already posted. (Thank you vermont!) So I'm mulling over what to make for lunch...

Later!

Picnics and Perishables

Did you see yesterday?! It was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful day and a killer one to spend outside. B-May and I made the most of it but spent a considerable amount of time in the car. It was alright because we did some pretty cool stuff. But even before we set out for a journey for the day, check this out:

We had a couple peaches leftover from our picking on Sunday and decided it was do or die for the remaining fruits. B-May mashed them up into a pancake/waffle batter and added some pecans! Brilliant! Delicious homemade waffles with a little bit of a crunch and sweet, fruity aftertaste. Totally recommended that you steal that idea.

Just remembered we stopped in town to take care of a few errands and picked up a Costa Rican La Minita coffee at Breaking New Grounds. Not bad at all!

Our adventure took us to the SEE Science Center in Manchester. We are considerable fans of the Museum of Science in Boston and looked forward to what our new state, New Hampshire had to offer. Upon arrival, we saw kids running around, kids crying and kids playing with the mostly "hands-on" exhibits at the Science Center. For reasons below, we coughed up the admission fee and sauntered in. Here's a quick review of the fun stuff we found:

First: build an arch. I've never done this before. It was totally awesome to see opposing forces hold together this ancient staple of architecture. As I said to B-May, I don't know science, but what I do know, I love it! The Science Center presented its guests with a number of these puzzles like the arch from before. The challenge here was to stack 14 bolts on the singular red one. We cheated after an embarrassingly short time and were quite impressed with the solution that called for this peculiar construction.

And here is a photo of B-May levitating a ball! It was under a scientific leaf blower and challenged us to float two balls at once. That didn't happen. We're such amateurs.

Then there were these two chairs that reduced one's body weight to either a fifth or a seventh. B-May is seen above pulling her own weight up. It was rather simple. Yet, when she tried to pull me up the same chair but at a different angle than where I was sitting, this resulted:

...she fell down. It was cute though. So from my vantage at the top of the pulleys, I could see the exhibit we really came to the Science Center for. A re-creation of the old mills in Manchester made entirely out of...LEGOs!!!

As a lifelong enthusiast of LEGOs courtesy of an enabling grandmother, I was truly taken back by the sheer scale and size of this project. I won't ramble on about it, but I cannot recommend it highly enough. Seriously, incredible.

So the plan was to find a place to have a picnic lunch in the city and then go explore some of Manchester. Perhaps we did something wrong but...nothing did look worthy of exploring and the parks were less than appealing. Maybe we're just close-minded, or spoiled by our home in Portsmouth but we split town soon after. Driving back on 101 we exited towards Epping, hoping for another quiet town to enjoy a picnic in a park or something. Remember how beautiful it was? We just wanted to get outside. But alas, we drove through Epping in too short a while and through a series of backroads, ended up in Exeter again which proved a fine backdrop to the day and a nice place for lunch on a blanket.

Before we got to this parkway (I guess that's what it technically is), we stopped at a sandwich shop which is sure to make a bigger appearance in this blog soon enough - I forget the name for now. Picked up some chips and a soda to complement my chicken, mushroom, tomato, zucchini, and spinach sandwich, served up on a deliciously crumbly Arnold Multi-Grain Sandiwch Thin.

So yea, there's a Coke in the picture but I rarely have them and damn their marketing - it seemed like a cool refreshing summer drink. Anyways, we hightailed it back to town and stopped at a bakery to find that their pastries were running two for the price of one so late in the afternoon. Well of course we'll take two! They are pictured a little further down.

After we got back, we decided the day was still too wonderful to sit inside and so we walked down to Four Tree Island where I started reading Born to Run in order to do a little reading of our own. We left when our toes got too cold for comfort. Came back and threw together the main ingredient B-May was concerned was going to go bad: turkey meat. She had been thawing it for some time and we fried it with some leftover rice from the stuffed eggplant and a slew of veggies from corn to black beans and a hint of salsa with all sorts of wonderful spices to end up with this!

We love eating out of bowls and so we rightly filled up on this Mexican-inspired solution to thawing meat. I decided it was the kind of hearty meal that called for more carbohydrates and had a Tuckerman Ravine Pale Ale. An excellent combination but I left room for the pastries from that afternoon:

We're looking at a raspberry turnover and an apple/raisin/raspberry strudel. Washed it down with some decaffeinated green tea and enjoyed a quiet evening of research on weekend activities while watching the Red Sox.

And for today, I had one and a half of the remaining peach and pecan waffles with some milk. Spent the day working with my parents on my Gram's house in South Portland, Maine where we enjoyed Amato's for lunch. I haven't got a photo but I wolfed down a foccacia (sp?) turkey sandwich loaded with veggies. Gram also had some un-salted potato chips so I had a couple of those too.

After leaving, we stopped at The Maine Running Company where I picked up my newest toy: Vibram Five Fingers. I won't elaborate until after my run this afternoon but I anticipate some wonderful and wonderfully weird things to happen!

Running!

Holy crap! B-May and I just went for a killer run. Well, it's of course all relative what makes a run killer but I have never successfully run 50 minutes. Which I totally did today! Not only that, but I felt really really good. Seriously, no labored breathing, no aching feet, legs, etc. No heaving chest or cramps of any kind. And I wore Chuck Taylors! Incredible. Maybe there is something to this ancient practice of running...B-May took me to Newcastle (Island?) just before dark. Perhaps it was a bit longer than we should have struck out for given the receding daylight but it was cool and a welcome breeze was coming off the bay always at the right moments. In the end, the longest run of my short running career was my by far my favorite.

For the record, B-May and I started running last summer as the remedy for a summer of lethargy and recooperation from the rigors of college - tests and tequila. We signed up for a 5K in Somerville, MA and started training just about a year ago today. We ran intervals, juggling walking and running. Throughout the fall and some of the winter, we ran a monthly event usually somewhere in Boston. Well, now another season begins and we are 100% stronger than last year and hoping to really kill it. Should. be. awesome.

So today I tried to have a green tea with my breakfast of Eggo's. (Ooops.) Instead, I was running a little later than I thought so I gave it to B-May. At work, I snacked briefly on cereal and a sizeable Gatorade that I got yesterday to remedy the festivities from two nights ago.

Cold and refreshing. Apparently these things are really not that good for you but I like the purple ones regardless. Lunch was pizza leftovers and the standard granola bar with two Yorks. I'm pretty sure I'm out of bars and running low on the Yorks. Add it to the list!

Rode my bike home and soon after headed out with B-May for the run above and prepared a unique dinner (for me, at least).

Stuffed eggplants. Never thought I'd be that guy eating stuffed eggplants. Let alone actually liking it! She chiseled out two eggplants and added the guts to a bed of vegetables in a stir-fry with a healthy dose of garlic. It was baked for twenty minutes with some cheese drizzled on top just before taking it out. Really, I must admit, it was quite good. "Clean plate club" to quote everyone's youth. We have two other "boats" for leftovers and I'm looking forward to it for tomorrow's dinner. To satisfy my sweet tooth, I pulled out a couple Ghiradelli Milk Chocolates (four makes a serving!) with some cold skim milk and I believed that successfully tamed the craving.

And just because I miss my dog, Kasey, so much, here's a photo!

A Few Steps Backwards...

In the time since my last post, I have acquired a coach for my triathlons. He has bestowed on me that I need to buy and wear and train in a Speedo. It's "where we separate the men from the boys" he says. He told me more importantly though, that I need to get serious.

And I will, I promise. But with the training and the fact I'm by no means a couch potato (except for Saturday morning ), I can allow myself some...cookies...for example! So on Friday, I had an extremely productive morning cleaning and preping the apartment for visitors on Saturday (see below) and went for a quick two mile run. Not trying to break any records but with a new gait and reverting to simple shoes, I'm working different muscle groups than ever before. I actually caught the name of them, one being the solius. The other - I forget. Bottom line, I felt amazing! I gave high-fives to little children and just kept running! My breathing was light and I finished not from exhaustion but rather erring on the side of caution and not running myself too thin too quickly. How good of me! Then with time to spare, I walked to work! It was wonderful not rushing to the whims of traffic, be it on a bike or a car. I munched on this very plain sandwich and a can of Arizona Iced Tea during my trip.

Boring but it was satisfying and filling. Three hours later, I took my break at work and munched on this:

Cheeseburger casserole with a seltzer water. Quite good and also very filling. I'll post the recipe later when I find it. B-May has a voluminous collection of recipes so it may take me a while to dig it all up. So after this meal I'm feeling pretty serious about healthy eating and enjoying the feeling of having exercised and accepting a ride home from a co-worker in another effort of going green. Then when I got home, B-May and decided on these: Peanut butter oatmeal cookies! Amazing. Found the recipe online and cut out the shortening to make them a little lighter than they were intended to be. Correction: B-May says we didn't use shortening because we don't have it. She's reading over my shoulder. It's. awkward.

Got to bed at a reasonable hour looking forward to another bright and healthy day. Alas, it was not to be.

Well, here's a little bit of a tease. Oats and honey cereal (dry, naturally) with a couple slices of toast and for the first time ever, a half of grapefruit. After a blunderous attempt, how the hell do you eat these things? It's all grounded up into a pulp and juice got all collected at the bottom and it would have been a terrible mess had it not been for a spoon. So then, in my defense it was a terribly rainy day (I haven't ridden my bike to work since Thursday) and I planted myself in front of the PS2 for the morning. While blasting away stormtroopers I sipped a freshly grounded El Salvador Matalapas from Portsmouth's trendiest coffeeshop Breaking New Grounds. Fantastic. Then...

I spent too much time potato-ing on the couch and was nearly late for work. Had to eat lunch though, so, dammit.

I won't show the gory details, but yup. Fast food. It totally sucked! I was craving mushrooms or something but it seemed like a good idea at the time. And it always does. Stupid move that I paid for the rest of the night. With a complete lack of appetite I only put down a couple Combos and some more peanut butter oatmeal cookies.

Got home from work and found two good friends sitting around the table drinking beers! (And wine too for one). B-May and I commenced a night of revelry that brought us from the apartment to the brewery to two closed bars and then back to the apartment for the remainder of the cookies (and there were a lot) which I pretty much singlehandedly finished. Cheez-its, cookies, bread - they all fell victim to the festivities.

Breakfast today was out at Popovers for the nominal popover and a breakfast sandwich I would have enjoyed more if I couldn't taste beer in every unwanted burp. At work, finally finished up the salmon and pasta with all sorts of veggies and granola bar. It's pretty much a staple but it's not the step backwards I've been wrestling with this weekend.

Good stuff, again would have enjoyed it more if I didn't have residue of Tums on my teeth. Got home and B-May and I made this return to the wonderful!All's well that ends well! From L-R: Veggie Pizza with onions, zucchini, tomato sauce, and mushrooms. To the right, BBQ Chicken pizza with red onions and Sweet Baby Rays sauce. I have to get better about writing daily because it's no fun for anyone to read a litany of food accounting. Right now, B-May is pushing me to try a cookie. Taming the craving be damned when a beautiful woman asks you to try a scrumptuous cookie! Thankfully though, for the integrity of this blog, she rarely plays the role of the temptress.

Later!