For the Love of Running

The story of how me and Lisa met is remarkable and, even still, a little unbelievable.  We’ve known each other now for nearly two years and I’ve been living in Oregon now for 8 months and both of us still have moments of “How in the world did this happen?”.  It all started with a simple question of advice,she asked how to transition from a 100% indoor, treadmill runner to running outside.  This led to several days of talking about future races and training plans and then when she told me she was running the Tinkerbell and we’re both Disney nuts, the conversation turned to other topics a shocking number of which we had in common.  Food, beer, wine, travel, Disney, humor, movies, books etc one right after the other rang bells with both of us.  As Lisa so eloquently puts it “We started talking and just never stopped”.

This past Saturday was a big day for both sides of the coin, Love and Running.  First the running.

Foot Traffic was hosting an “Event Expo” on Saturday morning.  Like a race expo where vendors get together to sell their wares to the race crowd, this expo was a group of event managers who were plugging their events.  We had several races we were going to register for anyway and the expo advertised discounts we were sold. The three races we were going to sign up for were:

Oregon Spring Half – May 3, 2013 (Canby, Oregon)
Vancouver USA Half – June 15, 2013 (Vancouver, Washington)
Foot Traffic Flat Half – July 4, 2013 (Portland, Oregon)

We got discounts of 10-15$ off each race and saved almost 50$ on registrations. One of the tables had a prize wheel you could spin for various prizes, most were trinkets like a water bottle, a pack of Gu, a beanie (which is what I won) but one was a free entry.  It was a tiny slice sandwiched between the Water Bottle slice which was split in two.  Lo and behold, Lisa landed on free entry.  This continues her string of prize luck after she won a free entry to the New Years 5K while we were at the Holiday Half.  The event she choice to use her free registration on is the Columbia River Gorge half in October of this year.  If I join her for that one (and I surely will) that will be 4 half marathons this year which will be most in a year for both of us, and the possibility of a 5th if repeat the Holiday Half (which we would like to).   This also presents me with an interesting scenario since there were a few races I had looked at in August and September and that would present the opportunity to complete 6 in 6 months.  This would “moon me up” to the next level of the Half Fanatics and earn my second moon.  Lisa may or may not be able to complete those with me depending on her fall class schedule, but her 3 in 90 days (May, June, July) will qualify her for the Fanatics at the first moon level.

To finish the day a new chapter was opened up on the Love side of the coin.  I surprised Lisa with a trip to McMenamins Edgefield property out in Troutdale where I had made us reservations at the pretty swanky Black Rabbit Restaurant.  This isn’t your normal beer and burger McMenamins, here they serve steak and fish and wild boar and fancy salads and all the usual Five Star items.  We walked around the property and visited all the outlying bars and got our stamps for our Passports and then headed downstairs to the Winery to do a tasting flight.  All of the wines we tasted were fantastic! Then, right before dinner, when the opportunity presented itself and we were alone, I pulled out her Grandmother’s engagement ring which I had secretly obtained from her family, dropped to a knee and asked her to marry me.  She said yes (well.. nodded and cried, but that’s universal right?) and we hugged for a while and then headed down to dinner.  For me the nerves were over and I was relaxed, for her it was time for butterflies and nerves and head spinning.  Dinner was impeccable and it was an enchanted evening.

From a simple email about running styles to being engaged to be running partners for life.  It’s amazing what a run can do for you.

I don’t know how this happened.. and I’m not sure I ever will.. but I am so thankful it did.  I didn’t realize it two years ago, but I know now I am well and truly blessed.

Homemade Egg Salad

It’s been a while since I’ve made one of my homemade creations and this one was based in necessity.  I had forgotten to pull anything out to thaw for dinner and I didn’t know what I was going to make, but I realized I had eggs, mayo, mustard and pickles so therefore I could make egg salad!

First I had to do a little research, I had to refresh myself on how to hard boil eggs, something I’m not sure I’ve ever done before to be honest, and then to find a simple recipe that I could adapt to what I had on hand.

Here is the recipe I used as my springboard – Chow Egg Salad and then made the following changes:

• No celery – I don’t like it and I didn’t have any anyway.
• Yellow mustard since I didn’t have any whole grain (and I’ve always had it with yellow anyway)
• Chopped up dill pickles instead of relish
• Salt, pepper and garlic powder to season

I only had 5 eggs instead of 6, but I figured it would still turn out mostly the same.  So first things first, I hard boiled the eggs.

 

(Funny how the bright red coil looks purple in the picure).

I pulled the eggs out to cool when they were done and whipped up the sauce to go with it.  Pretty simple, just chopped up the pickles and then tossed in the mayo, mustard, salt, pepper and garlic powder.  I meant to add paprika and forgot, but may add that to the leftovers.

After the eggs had cooled for a while I set about peeling them, which didn’t go exact smoothly but I got it done.  Not sure it if was the eggs or maybe I cooked them wrong.  They were a little soft when I cut them up, so possible didn’t cook them long enough or let them cool long enough, but I was hungry man! Coming home from the gym is not the time to try to make something time intensive. Chopped up the eggs and tossed them in the sauce and TADA!

 

Based on how much I used to make my first sandwich this will end up being about 3 servings worth.

According to MyFitnessPal this recipe is about 300 calories per serving.  Of course all of the calories are from the eggs and mayo.  The yellow mustard has like 5 calories and the pickles have none. Here’s the layout.

293 Cals – 1 gm carb – 27 gm fat (only 6 grams saturated fat) – 12 gm Protein – 440 mg Sodium

High fat as you would expect, but a lot of it is “good” fat.  You can cut a lot of sodium by leaving out the pickles, but I really like them.

Verdict: This turned out well, the sauce was thin and messy because I didn’t let it sit in the fridge before I served it.  The eggs may have been ever so slightly undercooked but still turned out well. Had good flavor, but of course if you like things like onions and celery those are good additions.

Doesn’t this look good?

New running shoes?

It seems like I am going to need new running shoes soon, especially before taking on a three half marathon summer that is planned.  Although based on time and mileage, I shouldn’t NEED new shoes yet, but I think I do, which is why I’m opening this up to suggestions from other people.  What do you wear? What do you like? What would you recommend?

My first pair of fitted running shoes were a pair of Brooks GTS Adrenaline 12’s. (My first pair of running shoes were an off the shelf pair of Saucony’s).  These shoes were awesome, as if they were made just for me.  I felt great running in them and (until Disney) didn’t have any knee problems or injuries.  I put over 500 miles on those shoes including 3 half marathons.  When they were ready to be replaced I went back and got the exact same style, just the newer model, the GTS Adrenaline 13.  At first they were great, but pretty quickly I started to notice things such as them not fitting as well, not feeling as good and a spot on my right foot that’s been rubbed to a massive blister during my last two long races.  I’ve put less than 300 miles on them and the right toe is split open and coming apart, my last couple long runs/races I’ve been plagued by cramps, soreness and knee pain, not all of which can be blamed on/attributed to the shoes, but that’s never a good sign.  I don’t think these shoes are going to last much longer and certainly not for another 150 miles of training and three races.

Lisa is also running in a pair of Brooks that she likes but doesn’t love.  She’s thinking about switching back to her Asics that she was wearing before, or maybe even try something different altogether.  I love Brooks as a company, they do a lot of good things with health awareness, race sponsorship, charity work etc but maybe the shoes just aren’t for us.

I loved my first pair of Saucony’s but I don’t believe they make a support shoe that fits me.  So what would you guys recommend?

Here’s the caveat – I wear a 13 Wide.  Not all shoes come in 13, not all shoes come in wide.  I have flat feet and therefore have a huge pronation.  I need support shoes.  I ran in neutral’s before I knew what I really needed and thankfully did not cause any damage/injury.

Thanks in advance for the suggestions!