snow shoeing and a little bit of kale salad

Girls weekends are the best.

Let me say that again.  The best.

There's nothing that can rev you up like a weekend of laughter, movement, eating, and yes, a little more laughter. I'm pretty sure that all the merriment counted as an ab workout.  The four miles in the snow didn't hurt either.

My waistline suffered, however.

'Cause where ever there's a girls weekend going on, you can be darn sure there is chocolate, bread and wine. In large quantities.  Pure heaven.  But now getting back on the healthy bandwagon is proving to be more challenging than I thought it would be.

One high point for health though came with the salad I made for Saturday night's dinner. I'll admit I was nervous to be putting together a salad made only with kale (and we already learned how good kale is for us). Heck, a lot of people don't even really know what that is. But I went ahead and made it - and everyone loved it. So I'm pretty sure that you'll love it too.

2 bunches kale (about 4 heaping cups, chopped) - I used a red kale; the flavor seems a bit mellower
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (or any kind of oil you enjoy)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
1/4 red onion, finely chopped
2 - 3 oranges, chopped
pumpkin seeds
juice of 1 lime and 1 lemon

Put the chopped kale into a bowl. Drizzle with oil, and gently massage the oil into the leaves. Sprinkle with sea salt, massage again, and set aside to marinate for 15 minutes.

Add the onion, orange, and pumpkin seeds and toss. Squeeze lemon and lime juice over the salad, and gently mix together.

You can also make this salad substituting avocado, red bell pepper, carrot and sunflower seeds for the oranges & pumpkin seeds.

This fabulous recipe comes from the book Clean Start by Terry Williams. If you are looking for fresh, whole foods cooking based on the seasons, this is a great one to turn to. This is a vegan/vegetarian cookbook.

Of course, I'm going to be eating only kale for the next month just to get myself to where I was before I left for the weekend :)

a guest post from my daughter

                                          Fruity Surprise

I love smoothies. I like them with strawberries, plain yogurt, spinach, banana, and a little milk. You put in half the banana, half the yogurt, a handful of spinach, and just a tad of milk. Mix it up, yum. You barely taste the spinach, of course if you blender works good. Go ahead try it! I ♥ smoothies!

friday confessional

I have no idea how it is already Friday, but whatever. Senility can do that to a person. Time for confessions!

1. I grew up on a river. During the summer, the eels would die off after spawning and land on the shore. My brother and I would get in to "eel fights" - which involved flinging stinky, rotting dead eels at each others with sticks. Fun times at our house.

2. I was completely freaked out by the idea of public blogging until just two years ago.

3. I studied French for eleven years, and I have yet to speak French with a native speaker. Also, the word "French" looks really odd to me right now.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend full of happy runs, good times, and sweet dreams.

making plans

My birthday is coming. That number isn't getting any smaller. So to celebrate, I'm going to do something I've wanted to do for a long time - run the entire Wildwood Trail.

This idea has been kicking around for almost a year, but it wasn't until I told an energetic friend (@dorthybitestoto) that I wanted to do it that the plan fell in to motion. I would have probably let the idea slide away like so many other things without her reminding me that we were, in fact, doing this run for my birthday. So if you have something you want to do, tell a friend - your odds of getting it done will go up exponentially.

Incredibly, we've got some more ladies who want to join us. It's helpful to be involved with a group of ultrarunners - they think these kind of adventures are tons of fun and great training. I've been studying the maps, figuring out support points, and trying to estimate our arrival times along the way so that others can join us on the adventure. Good maps really help out with this kind of planning. The best Wildwood maps can be found on the Art of Geography.

Right now, we're planning on 13 - 14 minutes miles, which includes stopping time for photos, food and other trail adjustments. Wildwood has been pretty muddy this year, so we know that it will be slower going than it would be during the summer. We are also all in training, so none of us want to fry our legs before upcoming races. It's amazing how much more ground you can cover when you take it slowly.

Aid wise, I am planning to carry a backpack with Honey Stinger chews, peanut butter sandwiches, water, S-Caps and maybe some Ruffles. I am still trying to work out my best fueling options. Last long run, I had no desire for candy or bananas, so I need to figure out what I do crave.  I definitely will bring some coca-cola this time, especially if we have people meeting us with aid.

This should be good practice for planning future adventures. There are many great trails in Oregon and Southwest Washington that I am excited to explore, and I am hoping this first adventure will give me the confidence to put more together.

three live crew

Do you remember that nasty rap group from the early 90s, two live crew? That's not what I'm talking about.

I'm super stoked because I was just asked to be on a crew and pace team for a friend's first 100 miler.

Now I've wanted to do this for quite some time. Having aspirations to someday cover the distance, I think it might be a good idea to get a real understanding of just how rough it is.  What better way to stumble through the dark of some part of the last 50 miles of a 100 mile race?

From what I understand, our job as her crew will be to make sure she's eating, drinking, getting her things she needs, helping her change her shoes or clothes, lifting her spirits, calming her down, singing when she needs it, being quiet when she doesn't, helping her achieve her goal, stopping her if it has become dangerous...

I'll keep you posted about the experience.

book review: run | the mind-body method of running by feel

One of the things I struggled with in 2010 was confidence in my running. While I was putting in solid mileage most of the time, I didn't feel like those miles were all that good. In my ramp-up to Rock n Roll Seattle, I managed to get really sick once again, and I missed my key long runs. By the time I reached the start line, I didn't believe I really had a good marathon in me. The night before I said "forget it" (or something to that effect) and ate too much pizza and drank too much beer - I had given up before I even started.

That bad marathon unleashed a spiral for me, and I have spent the last six months doubting my ability to run fast or well. My infrequent races have backed up my lack of confidence.

I haven't wanted to race well.  I've been afraid of pushing in my training. The fire seemed to be out.

Seemed to be.

I've had a lot of time to reflect on what happened last year. Intuitively, I know that it's more complicated than just a decline in my running. I could "fix" my training like crazy, but I don't think that would touch the issue. The issue is my confidence.  To run well, to endure, to be able to take the pain that comes with running fast.

But can you train your confidence?

Coach and author Matt Fitzgerald says yes.  His most recent book, "Run | The Mind-Body Method of Running by Feel" lays out his theory that we instinctively know the best way to train for our own bodies. The problem with most training plans, he posits, is that they don't reflect what is going on in our bodies and minds at any given time. Blind adherence to the plan can result in injury or burnout. We have to work with our plan, not as a slave to it.

But for me, the single most important insight was this:

"Make it your primary objective in training to develop confidence in your ability to achieve your specific race goals."

He tells us to think about what training experiences we believe will give us the most confidence to achieve our goals, and then to go and do those things. For the 50k, I believe that if I can do a back to back training block of 30 miles as well as our one day, slow 31 mile training run, I will be more than ready to tackle the race. I like to go in feeling confident about the distance - to have come at least close to covering it all in regular training. This runs contrary to many training plans that say to not go that far for risk of injury - but when I run that way, I fall apart in races.  You've just got to learn what works best for you.

Another key to good running, Fitzgerald says, is to run happy. Seems that Brooks Running is on to something, because the best runners find their workouts to be fun and joyful. Another great piece of advice from the book:

"Do more of what you enjoy most and less of what you enjoy least in training. The feeling of enjoyment is your body's way of telling you that your training is working."

I'm still absorbing the insights from this fascinating book, and I plan to share more of them with you. I do think that the book is more meaningful when you've got a couple of years of training under your belt, especially if you've been struggling with your confidence or not meeting your potential.

Until next time, run happy!

"If you care about something you have to protect it – If you’re lucky enough to find a way of life you love, you have to find the courage to live it."
 — John Irving (A Prayer for Owen Meany)