Foodie Penpals July Reveal...

For July I got to send a box to Darylnn at Little Blog Dress. An example of how small the world is Darylnn used to date a member of the band the Nixons and has been to Norman, Oklahoma. Does anyone remember their song Sister? Loved it.

Anyway. My Foodie Penpal this month was Jennie at The Messy Baker Blog. Her blog is so cute. I must make her Chocolate Banana Cake Batter Shakes. I just love the day when my box comes in the mail. It was like Christmas in July.

this box was full of goodies from Trader Joes. It makes me sad that we are so lacking in good grocery store options here in Oklahoma.

I can't wait to make the Bismati Rice Medley. It's only been about a million degrees here so cooking is not so much fun. I keep thinking that it's gonna cool off soon. It can't stay this hot forever.

The coconut bonbons were dark chocolate and very yummy. Carson liked that they were dark chocolate. Then there was the Cookie Butter. This might be my new favorite thing. The fact that I can't get it here in Oklahoma makes me very sad. We just like it by the spoonful, it said to eat it on pancakes so Camy has it on her waffle and said it was awesome.

Two kinds of salsa were in the box too. The double roasted salsa is already gone.

Salsa in a breakfast burrito with two egg whites, fake sausage, blue potatoes and Laughing Cow Cheese. The perfect breakfast on the go. I even managed to not spill any on me on the way to work.

The last bit of yummy goodness was three Larabars. I had the apple pie flavored one the other day and I was surprised that it had only real food in it. Nothing I had never heard of. I usually stick to my Luna Bars but I'm gonna have to pick some more of these up.

Again it was a very good month and I can't wait to see what comes next month.

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Injury Update...

It's been almost two weeks since I was not able to stay on my feet and ended up sprawled on the road less than a mile into my morning run. Even after two weeks the injuries from the fall are still visible.

Here are pics from the end of last week.

The remains of the scabs are gone now. I discovered my knee is still pretty tender when I did a child's pose at yoga tonight.

My hands are almost back to normal now I only have one scab left on my left hand. I think that one is going to be a scar for a while.

Two weeks later and I am getting back to normal. We did have a scare on Monday when Abby took a spill on the same road. She got back up and we went on to do 10 x 20 seconds sprint with 40 seconds recovery. It was pretty brutal.

I just hope there is no more falls in the near future.

 

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WIAW #11...

I tried out a new recipe tonight that I'm using for my WIAW post this week.

I got home tonight, straightened up a bit and hit the iPad for some dinner inspiration. I came across a recipe for Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls.

I followed parts of the recipe and changes it a little bit. In the end I had a bowl with quinoa, black beans, corn, cheddar cheese and salsa. It was yummy.

Quinoa made with veggie stock. I believe you need to add as much flavor as possible and veggie stock is way better than plain water.

Black beans, one of my favorites. With a little onion, garlic, veggie stock, chili powder, coriander and ground red pepper. Next time I might have to add a jalapeño to add a little kick.

The finished dish. I know my mad photography skills are probably making you super envious. Just know that this dish was about a thousand times better than this photograph. It's always nice when a new recipe turns out well the first time around.

Some other highlights from the week...

Layered veggie enchiladas from the Whole Foods website. You can find the recipe here. Make this tonight.

Lunch wrap filled with hummus, carrots, broccoli slaw and kale served with a side of pretzel crisps. Have you tried Pretzel Crisps? Don't leave the grocery store without them. You won't be disappointed.

It was a very tasty week, maybe a little too much eating out, it's been too hot to cook. Now I feel inspired, we'll see if it lasts next week could be a post full of sandwiches and granola bars.

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Running in June...

I thought I should recap my running from June. I started running again after I got released by my doctor post-injury. On one hand I was quite nervous about running again, on the other I was so sick of not running and was ready to get back out there.

Here's how the month ended up.

Total miles for the month were 38, that's the smallest total for the months I was able to run in the last twelve months. I'll take it though. I am feeling stronger every week and I have big plans for the months ahead that don't just involve running.

Will I make it to my goal of a thousand miles in 2012? Right now I would say probably not, but no matter what happens I am looking forward to the journey.

Running is hard, not running is harder. I'm glad I'm back out there pounding the pavement. I would like to not pound the pavement with my entire body, I'm working on staying on my feet now.

Run happy.

 

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Norman Conquest 2012...

Last weekend we instead of going for a long run in the brutal heat we decided to get out our bikes and get in a ride. Rochelle and I took pictures while we waited for Patti to get to our meeting spot.

How cute is her Arizona top?

I, of course ride in a running shirt. I do have the shorts though. We rode about 28 miles, some of them pretty darn hilly to get ready for this weekend.

 

Saturday was the Norman Conquest bike ride. Kendra and I rode it last year, this year Rochelle and Patti and I signed up to do the 22 mile hilly route. {The longer the ride the more hilly it is, the 22 mile was hard bit not like we were gonna die.}

Of course there were pre-ride pictures.

And rest stop pictures.

I stole this picture from the OK Runner Facebook page, Patti took them. This was about five miles into the ride. Craig was seriously in the weeds when we got there.

The best part about bike events? They are so laid back, no timing chips, no timing period. Everyone stops at the rest stops, and they have fruit and cookies and even pickles.

Patti got some action shots when she was waiting for us to catch up to her. We weren't being slackers, we just weren't being speedy like Patti was.

Action shot number two. You can't tell, but we were kinda dying here. It was hilly out there.

The second best part of the bike event? After you finish and they don't give you your time they feed you. Burgers, {even veggie burgers}, hot dogs, potato salad, cole slaw, baked beans and even cookies.

Ross did the ten mile town ride with Austin, and he went and picked up Avery so they could eat with us.

Austin was a junior police officer that day.



Avery took this picture on my phone. She also took this one...

Such a funny girl. Later in the afternoon we all went swimming and Avery wanted to see behind my sunglasses, she said she knew it was me, she just wanted to make sure.

It was a fun day, and I am loving being on my bike. Can't wait for the next ride.

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July 4th...11 Days Later...

The girls were in Virginia for July 4th and from what they say there was a bush and a small fire. I haven't confirmed this. Our holiday was much less exciting.

We saw fireworks at The Trails on Tuesday night. We meet up with Abby, Brian, Ross, Rochelle, Austin and Avery at The Garage for some pre-fireworks fueling.

Avery sat by me. She is such a funny kid.

After we ate we headed out to check out the festivities before the show.

There were club specials for the grown-ups and snow cones for the little people.

How about those boots?

As the sun went down we picked a spot and then watched the fireworks.

The moon was crazy bright, too bad the picture is crazy awful.

I got up on the 4th and headed out to meet Abby, Rochelle, Patti and Cliff for a run at 7:30. It was horrible. It was hot and it was 5 pretty horrible miles. I have had some much better runs since then, which is good because I wanted to quit forever at that point.

We did dinner at the Brown's that night. I should have taken a picture of the amazing black bean burger Ro made just for me, but it vanished too quickly. Take my word for it, it was wonderful.

It was a nice holiday, too bad it had to fall on a Wednesday.

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Running is Dangerous...

I got up to meet my friend Ro for a run this morning. It was just the two of us and we decided to sleep in and meet at 5:30 at the Y.

The most important part of our story has to be the construction going on in Norman. Robinson is open but Flood is closed south of the Y, so there was more traffic on the route we run from the Y to get to Robinson.

Because of this we had to run on the left side of the street {the right side}, instead of the right side {the wrong side} where we usually run. When we were almost to Robinson we crossed the street to turn right. It was here that there was a small bump in the road that I couldn't manage to pick my foot up enough to get over.

I fell flat on the pavement, in true baseball style. You might remember the spill I took last August, this was much worse. I laid there on the mildly gravely road for a moment and assessed that I hadn't broken anything and then Ro helped me get back up.

The hardest part was that we headed back to our cars. Going on just didn't seem a wise decision. We had only gone .80 mile and when we got back to the parking lot to our usual stopping point we had gone a whopping 1.5 miles in about 22 minutes. I have said before that if you are gonna run any less than a 5k it's not worth getting your clothes dirty. I was a little disappointed in the painful turn of events.

Here's my left hand.

And my right.

A little road rash on my left arm.

And my left knee. The site of my most recent knee surgery, but thankfully not the same leg as my stress fracture.

My left knee isn't scratched up as horribly as it could be, but it is quite swollen. I don't think there is any internal damage, I can hear Josh saying "It's just a flesh wound".

 

In response to the pictures I posted on Facebook, I got this text from my brother.

It's funny that I am so afraid of falling on my bike and I have only done that once but I haven fallen while running twice in the last year.

 

True friends will pick you up when you fall down and either run on with you, or walk you back to the car.

 

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