Haitus

I'm taking a little break from running - but I WILL be back as soon as the training resumes.

Thanks for visiting!

Several Newsworthy Items!!

A clip of Jill in the New York City Marathon! She's famous!!!!
Catch her almost at the end, wearing the poppy! You look great Jill!



In other exciting news, Steve created the first ever 10km TOY RUN to celebrate the end of the 10 k clinic he was teaching. The runners brought gifts for the VOCM Happy Tree instead of a registration fee. I was very sad to have to miss this event due to work travel commitments, however, I am really looking forward to being involved in dropping off the gifts at the Happy Tree!

Here's the link to a short news story about Steve's race on VOCM news.

Here's the photo of the racers and volunteers. Congratulations to everyone!

New York City Marathon

Today was the 2010 New York City Marathon.
While I didn't make it in the lottery for this year, I will be submitting my application tomorrow for the 2011 lottery (even though I know I won't be able to run it in 2011) - it's one step closer to my guaranteed entry by 2013!

Sometimes it's hard having a goal that could be so far-off, but I'm feeling re-motivated by the fact that my fabulous friend Jill ran the marathon today! A BIG CONGRATS TO JILL! As we were chatting about it the other night I got a new sense of the energy that the marathon brings.

Juat take a look at these fans and choir along the marathon route.



Isn't that amazing? How could you not keep running with that kind of support?

Can't wait until I experience it myself.

There are many reasons why we choose to run - this could be one!

Recreating Italy - Homemade Pasta

It's been quite a while since I last posted. Life seems to be getting in the way.

Yesterday we re-created our Italian experience by making homemade pasta - in 2 courses. It was delicious!

We started off with some Italian bread drizzled with olive oil and a pinch of sea salt. Brought us right back to Tuscany.

Everything prepped for pasta making. Since we did all of our prep right on the kitchen table, we used a disposable plastic table cloth. Makes the clean-up really easy!

Making pasta is really easy. Using flour, create a little well for an egg and then slowly mix together with a fork. Then knead the "dough" until you get a good consistency.

Use pasta press to roll out pasta. mmm mmm. Use a round cutter or glass to cut circles for ravioli. Or, for linguine, simply run pressed pasta through the cutter on the other side. Voila!

Fill pasta circles with spinach & ricotta filling, fold, and seal with a fork.

Finished ravioli and linguine. Waiting to be cooked.

Primi: Linguine with bolognese sauce.

Secondi: Ravioli sauteed in a little butter, covered in freshly grated parmesan.

So Proud

I'm so proud of my wonderful husband and his team (3 guys and a girl runnin' the huffin' puffin) who came SECOND in the first ever Provincial Marathon Relay yesterday!!! Congratulations to Clark, Steve, Gord (G2) and April!!

Also, big congratulations to some of our other running friends, Mary, Jody, Gord and Colleen who's team (running with the big dogs) came in THIRD in the marathon relay!

Here's a picture of the whole group!

What a great bunch of people I am privileged to run with!! See the full Marathon, Half-Marathon and Relay results here!

As my return flight landed at noon, I rushed home to shower and go with the group to attend the FABULOUS race reception at the Bowering Park Bungalow. BBQ hamburgers have never been so tastefully presented.

I would like to try to run in the marathon relay next year.....who's in??

A great rainy day meal

Last night, during the beginnings of Hurricane Igor, we went for a run with the 10 km clinic.

It was raining HEAVILY and we were all soaked through by the time we got back to the running room in the dark. It was a lucky coincidence that we had supper ready and waiting for us in the slow cooker for us when we got home.

It was a new recipe, so I had been hoping it would turn out OK. Turns out, it's probably my favourite slow cooker recipe so far!

Slow Cooker Provencal Beef Stew

Here's the Recipe (source: Kraft Canada)

1 lb. (450 g) boneless stewing beef, cubed

3 Tbsp. Flour

1 lb. (450 g) sweet potatoes (2 large), peeled, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 can (28 fl oz/796 mL) no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained

1 Zucchini, cut into 1-inch-thick slices

1 Onion, chopped

4 cloves Garlic, minced

1/2 cup 25%-less-sodium beef broth

1/4 cup Kraft Calorie-Wise Sun-Dried Tomato & Oregano Dressing

1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Toss beef with flour in slow cooker. Add remaining ingredients except basil. Cover with lid. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Stir in Basil just before serving.

I was pleasantly surprised at how much flavour this had!

The slow cooker is one of our best friends on running nights - no worrying about what to eat when you get home late!