Booted!

So, I went to see the doctor today for my foot pain after the Air Force Marathon and I've been booted!

He said he can't see a stress fracture, but he's going to treat it like one just in case they're missing something. It's like the cone of shame for runners.

So I'm hanging out on the stationary bike right now so that I don't feel completely useless. Bummer!

Air Force Marathon recap

Well I survived the Air Force Marathon last Saturday! Not only that, but my training paid off and i PR'd by 4 minutes with a 4:45:07. I'm pretty happy about that.

The official time says 07 seconds and were gonna go with that, thank you

The race was amazing. They had great support from Wright-Patterson Air Force Base with the start and finish at the Air Force Museum and service members throughout the course pulling security, manning aide stations, and cheering us on. The other volunteers were great, too. Lots of support all along the course and frequent Gatorade and snack points. That's my kinda race!

At the end, you ran under the wings of different Air Force aircraft and then got your medal presented by a high ranking officer (2-star general!). It was a very cool experience.

Overall, I would recommend this race to anyone. Even the people if the local town come out and cheer you on as you run down main street. There's a couple hills, 2 or 3 within the last 5 miles, but apparently not enough to keep me from PR'ing, so i won't complain. Maybe all that training is starting to pay off? Who would have thought! Maybe there's a 4:30 somewhere in my future...

Me and the momma in our swag 

Now that I've praised it, let me voice my ONE complaint. First, a compliment - plenty of parking and more volunteers out there guiding us in. BUT if parking is going to be more than a mile from the start line (1.27 to be exact) please, PLEASE, put some porta potties out there! Runners, you can understand what it's like before a race. When you gotta go, you gotta go, and we had to high tail it that far before getting to the first set of porta johns at the start line. It would have been nice to have a couple out in the parking field. Once that emergency was avoided though, everything else was great!

Now, I need to come clean about my eating habits leading up to the race. We ate and ate and ate and enjoyed every bite. We were definitely fueled for the race, but I'm currently trying to burn off the extra pounds (multiple) I packed on in the process. Totally worth it though.

The race was in Ohio, but I spent some time with my family in St Louis prior. St Louis happens to be home of Jilly's Cupcakes, 2 time winner of cupcake wars, and they also just started making ice cream that has chunks of cupcake in it. That morning, we went to Original Pancake House, best pancakes I've ever had, then attacked Jilly's. I'm telling you, we went all out. Lunch was a tame shared bowl of mac n cheese and veggie quesadilla, but then the four of us devoured a pint of their Island in the Sun ice cream. Then we split four cupcakes so we could each try a little of four different flavors. Now these aren't your typical cupcakes. These are fully loaded, topped, crammed, sprinkled, full of goodies. Seriously, if you find yourself in St Louis, do yourself a favor and go there.

After the expo, me and the momma went to First Watch and split a veggie burger and quinoa salad with butternut squash, goat cheese, walnuts and balsamic vinaigrette. Sadly, I think the quinoa was cooked in chicken broth so our tummies were upset later, but it was so tasty that I'd do it again!

The last meal I need to tell you about is our carbo loading finale - a bread salad. BREAD SALAD - warm bread, olives, peppers, tomatoes, mozzarella cheese and more balsamic. It was amazing. It was warm and the bread soaked up the balsamic... *drool*... Then we split a bowl of gnocci with a mushroom sauce.

Everything was so amazing. For a moment there I thought about giving up weight watchers and eating like this forever! Then I got on the scale, had a little panic attack and I'm back on the wagon.

Now I have the Marine Corps Marathon at the end of October, but I think I may have done some damage to my foot. I've been in pain since mile 25 last Saturday, so I'm going to the doctor tomorrow. Fingers crossed that I didn't do any real damage!

Tofu tacos

This is another recipe that I got from Buzzfeed (like the butternut squash mac n cheese) in an article about The Vegan Stoner that has easy, few ingredient, meatless recipes. I was intrigued.

Needed:
-firm tofu
-Soy sauce
-bread crumbs
-taco shells
-tomato and onions (or whatever you want for your inside fixin's)
-sour cream

1. Slice up the tofu so that it's slender enough to fit in the taco shell. I was able to get 8 slices out of a 12 ounce pack of tofu.

2. Cut up the tomato and onion and get those sautéing in the pan with a little oil.

3. While those cook, take your sliced tofu and dip it in soy sauce on both sides.

4. Then cover it in bread crumbs all over.

5. Push the veggies to the side if the pan and add the tofu.

6. Cook it for a couple minutes on each side, then put it in a taco shell along with a scoop of veggies and some sour cream.

So easy a stoner could make them!

They were delish. The tofu is so creamy and balances nice with the crunchy shell and sautéed veggies. I had them for dinner two nights in a row while the hubs was away at training and I know I'll be making them again. Very filling.

For now, I'm in St. Louis hanging out with the family till we mosey on toward Ohio for the Air Force Marathon, which is only 5 days away! In case you don't hear from me again, wish me luck.

And just for your viewing pleasure, here's some pics of me and the fam goofing off:

Falling for butternut squash mac n cheese

Falling, get it? Get it? For Fall. Haha! Anyways...

So I found this recipe from Buzzfeed (one of my favorite ways to pass time). They linked to a blog, that had made changes from an original recipe, and I have made changes to theirs. So, does that make this my own recipe? Here's where I got the idea.

Needed:
-butternut squash
-2 cups milk
-bag of shredded cheddar
-pasta

1. I cooked the squash before I cut it up, primarily because it was hard to cut. So, cut it in half, scoop out the seeds and toss them and lay it on a pan in shallow water and cook it over medium heat until tender, about 20 minutes.

2. Once my squash was tender, I used a spoon and scooped out the insides and put it in a pot.

3. Add 1 and 1/2 cup milk and let it cook over medium heat until the squash is so soft, it's practically liquid. Give it a stir every so often.

4. About this time, I started making my noodles, just as directed. Once they were done, I added a little butter and set them aside for the sauce.

5. Once you squash has made it to the next property state (get it? Solid to liquid? Nothing? Okay), slowly mix in 1/4 cup of flour and 1/4 cup milk. This will thicken it up.

6. Let it cook a couple more minutes, give it a stir and remove it from the heat. Stir in an 8oz bag of shredded cheddar and keep stirring till completely melted and fused together into a creamy, yummy sauce.

7. Pour those noodles into the mixture and stir it all up.

Oh my goodness. It's creamy, savory, with just a little touch of sweet from the squash. Good thing it's tasty because it made a huge batch so it looks like I'll be eating on it for a couple days.

She continued on to bake hers in the oven and add bacon to it, but I'm happy with leaving it straight out of the pot.

I had my dinner with a salad where the lettuce and basil were picked straight out of our own garden. How wonderful is this meal!

Oh, yea, one week till the Air Force Marathon! Start carbo loading like you just don't care what the scale says, woohoo!

"Caprese" Fish

I put Caprese in quotation marks because the original recipe had the traditional ingredients for caprese, but of course, I used what I had on hand and it wasn't actually caprese after that.

The original recipe also used chicken, so this is obviously a loosely based adaptation, but still so tasty! I will DEFINITELY be making this again.

Needed:
-2 tilapia fillets
-salt and pepper
-Olive oil
-1 large tomato, diced up
-green onions (or basil if you have it on hand)
-fresh mozzarella

1. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on each side of the fillets.

2. Heat up a little oil in a pan over medium heat and add the fish to the pan. Let it cook about 10 minutes on each side, or until completely cooked.

3. While the fish is cooking, heat up some more olive oil in another pan and sautee the diced up tomato with whatever other goodies you decide to throw in - green onions, garlic. If you have basil, wait till the end to add it, otherwise it'll get really soggy.

4. Once the fish is done, put it on a plate and pour the tomato mixture over the top. Add a couple slices of mozzarella and enjoy!

We had ours with some asparagus

Oh my goodness, tasty! This was the first time I had cooked fish in a pan myself and I like how it makes it crispy on the outside, but still juicy on the inside. And really, anything with mozzarella cheese is going to be good. Mouth watering!

Hot tamale!

My mom has been making tamales for a year or two now and gave me the recipe. I haven't had the need to make them yet though because when she came to visit, she made a big batch and put them in my freezer. Well the other day I decided to attempt making them myself and I have a disclaimer - you need to have time dedicated to this process and you need to have a lot of patience. I do not have a lot of patience. I got very angry at my tamales.

The original recipe is here. The only thing I really changed was what goes inside. It's really whatever veggies you have on hand.

Need:

-1 package Corn Husks

FOR THE DOUGH:

-2 cups Masa
-1 teaspoon Baking Powder
-¾ teaspoons Salt
-2 teaspoons Cumin
-2 teaspoons Chili Powder
-2-¼ cups Veggie Broth
-1/2 cup butter

FOR THE FILLING: (this is what I used. Look at the original post to see what she used, or just mix a bunch of veggies together and call it a day.)

-1 frozen bag of tomatoes and onions
-1 frozen bag of peas and carrots
-1 small can of corn

My mom found corn husks at Walmart, but I had to go to a specialty grocery store to find mine. You may have to do a little research to get them

1. Start off by soaking your corn husks in water for at least 30 minutes.

2. Grab a bowl and add in the masa, baking powder, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt, and 1 teaspoon of both the cumin, and chili powder.

3. Now add 2 cups of the veggie broth to your mixture and form a dough.

4.Whip up the butter and add the masa dough in and mix it up well again. Set your finished dough aside and make the filling.

5. Add a little oil to a pan and sautee up those veggies. Add the last 1/4 cup of veggie broth and any additional spices you'd like.

My husband has a really weird habit of buying random frozen veggies, then never using them. So, I always seem to have a stockpile of mixed veggies in the freezer

6. Now, it's time to make the tamales. This is where I had issues - Grab one of your soaked corn husks and smooth some of your Masa mixture on it. Don't get too close to the edge because you'll have the dough spilling out when you wrap them.

7. Now, take a spoonful of your veggie filling and place it down the middle third of your tamale. Again, make sure to leave a bit of space at the ends.

8. This is the second place I had issues, wrapping them. The original post says, "Wrap it up like you would a burrito and tie off the husk. I used another corn husk to tie it up." This was not as easy as she says. I had dough everywhere.

9. Grab a steamer pot, add about 2 quarts of water and steam the for about 90 minutes on medium high heat then check them. They may need some more time. The dough should be firm. If you don't have a steamer pot, you can do like the original post and I use a large stock pot and place a noodle strainer inside of it with the pot cover over the top. Make sure that your tamales aren’t touching the water. Periodically check your water level to ensure you don't boil it away and burn your pot.

Once they're done you have a couple options - 1. Throw some lettuce on a plate, unwrap a couple tamales, throw on some hot sauce and sour cream and dig in! 2. Let them cool and then freeze them. When you're ready to eat them, just steam them again till they're cooked. I ate on mine for a week.

An apple a day!

I recently made some apple chips from some apples that were about to go bad. They turned out pretty tasty, but they could be dangerous because I easily ate two apples worth without realizing it.

Need:
-As many apples as you'd like
-lemon juice
-parchment paper

1. Slice the apples as thin as you can. The thinner they are, the less time they take to cook.

2. Soak the apples in water with half a cup of lemon juice for half an hour. The lemon juice is to keep them from turning brown. I didn't have any, so I just soaked them in plain water. I don't know if I could have just skipped this step.

3. Preheat the oven to 200°. Pat the apples as dry as possible and lay them out on parchment paper lined baking sheets.

4. Cook them for 1 hour, flip the apples, then cook them for another 1-2 hours based on how crispy you want them. Let them cool for another hour in the oven - turn it off and crack the oven door.

Watch out. They're addictive!

Now on the running front, I logged a 25-miler last Friday. Time to taper! It was hard. I had to take walk breaks, but I was actually very happy with my performance overall. Aaaand I wasn't even sore the next day! I think my body is ready for the Air Force Marathon!

I think this Zero Degrees Bengay has a lot to do with how good I felt the day after. I had the hubs apply this to my legs and back and it was amazing. You keep it in the freezer, so be ready for an extreme chill!

Obviously, after this run, I needed a really good meal and I got it from Pawley's Front Porch in Columbia, SC. We went there because we saw it on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and it was fantastic. We had fried green tomatoes for an appetizer, but it wasn't just fried green tomatoes. Oh, it was a tower, layered with crab and cheese and sweet chipotle mayo on top. Mind blown. We devoured that thing in about a minute flat. Then moved on to burgers. The best part about this place is that they'll do any of their burger toppings with their veggie patty, and it was one of the best veggie burgers I've ever had. It was so hearty and filling, my mind thought it was eating an actual burger. I was sold on the patty alone, then came the toppings - grilled pineapple, guacamole, citrus jalapeño mayo, and pepper jack cheese all on a pretzel bun. This is why I run 25 miles.

This week, I have a 10- and 15-miler scheduled, which seems like nothing after a 25-miler. And, to top it all off, registration for the St. Louis Marathon should be opening soon. Woohoo!