Strength in numbers

When you are training for a marathon, you do crazy things. I suppose some would say running a marathon is crazy in itself, huh?

So guess what I did on my one and only day to sleep in this weekend [curses to working on Sunday]. I got up at 6:30 a.m., drove down to the lake front amidst a fear-inducing highway detour [yes, of course I got lost. Would you expect otherwise?], and went for a twelve mile run.

You see my running partner had to golf all day long which meant I would be left to my own devices for The Long Run. A local running club hosts build up runs each Saturday before the marathon. The problem is the runs start at 8 a.m. and I get uncharacteristically shy around hoards of runners. What if I'm the slowest one out there? What if I have a bad run and make a fool out of myself? What if I poop my pants? What if someone wants to run with me and actually converse during the run? Nate and I don't talk when we run together, we jam out to music and get lost in our own little worlds. Does that make us weird?

After stewing over this potentially scary group of fellow runners, I decided that I just needed to suck it up and go. After all, there would be water stations and food waiting for me which would be a luxury compared to our typical runs. I showed up with no time to spare, thanks to the stupid detour, and walked up to a group of at least 60. Yikes!

I didn't exactly reach out and befriend anyone during the run and therefore mostly ran by myself again. But there were always runners in front and behind me which helped me keep a good pace and provided for some fun people watching time. I may or may not have eaves dropped on a few conversations, too, which is always entertaining. The 'hardest core award' goes to the sixty year old dude with "26.6" tattooed on his arm---I made sure to hold my breath when I passed him, for fear that he'd trip me and scream "nobody passes me, biyatch!" Which totally didn't happen, obviously.

Since I wore our pimptastic Garmin I noticed that I was running faster than normal throughout the entire run, and yet I didn't feel tired somehow. So I went with the flow and plugged away at the course. It was only set up for ten miles but my training schedule calls for twelve, so I took the liberty to add two more miles onto the end. Which made the gods angry, apparently, because it started to pour on me. When I say 'pour' I mean cats and dogs adhered themselves to my slick body. I could barely see two feet in front of me but I was determined to finish my run---I guess running with a group is truly inspirational, huh?

I finished my 12 miles in 1:52:00 which is a heck of a lot faster than our 10 minute mile average. Come to think of it, a lot of our runs have averaged closer to 9 minute miles, which seems like a freaking sprint to my slow legs. When I finished I was so proud of myself that I even managed to talk to a few runners. Made conversation. Found that they really weren't scary at all and were actually quite nice. We stood around in the pouring rain, with our cute running clothes plastered to our bodies, and slammed water/Gatorade/and orange slices---and it felt great to be a part of a group.

So I might drag my running partner to these runs on Saturdays because let's face it: running for absurd amounts of time is a whole lot better when you are doing it as a group. I don't know why I didn't realize this sooner. And I'm so glad I didn't poop my pants.

Quenched

This time of year calls for refreshing drinks, and I have two suggestions for you:

1. Raspberry-Apricot Sangria:

• 1 package of frozen raspberries, thawed
• 2 cups of apricot nectar
• 1 bottle of white wine
• 1/4 cup of apricot brandy [we use regular brandy]
• 2 cans of lemon-lime carbonated soda
  
• 1 cup of fresh raspberries for garnish
• 1 orange sliced for garnish
  

We made this last year when Hannah and Michael came to visit and it was the bomb. So Nate and I decided to make it again the other night and WOWZA. I love it.

You put the thawed raspberries in your blender, then puree them. Then you add the puree to a pitcher [make sure it's big!! You'll see why later]. Mix the nectar, wine, and brandy in with it. Just before serving add the 2 cans of soda, add garnish and voila! Our problem was the pitcher: although very cute it was too small and we ran out of room for our soda. So Nate had to do some scooping:
The end result was glorious. My in-laws got to partake in the fabulosity.
It's kind of thick and fizzy at first but then it settles down nicely. You are technically supposed to strain out the raspberry seeds but I'm way too lazy for that.


2. Fruit smoothies:

We've been making a ton of smoothies since we started training. It's the perfect summer snack packed full of healthy fruit---what's not to like? The difficulty lies in finding the perfect combination of fruits plus 'other' ingredients. I think I've found the master recipe my friends!

Always start your base with ice cubes and orange juice. Then my new favorite combo is:

~apricot nectar [left over from sangrias!]. Only a little bit
~Vanilla soy ice cream [no more dairy for us....for the most part]
~blueberries
~banana [this is a must for yumminess]
~strawberries [another must for me]

Definitely the bomb! I've added cantaloupe, grapes, pineapple, and watermelon to our smoothies, too. But the above is my absolute favorite.

Enjoy! And drink up:)

Toot Toot

I'm tooting my own horn here, don't mind me. 

The girls over at Elizabeth Anne Designs named this the blog of the week! I got a little shout out on a post and I'm even on their left hand column....and I'm not even a wedding blog [maybe I blur the line a bit, but I'm conquering my wedding addiction quite well lately.]

The only other virtual award I ever received was when Wedding Bee named my two bios as Knottie Bios of the Week. Which reminds me....anyone want to fix my bios for me? I don't even remember how to log on over on The Knot to do that, nor do I want to remember. I seriously think they expired.