The Art of Running in the Rain

Before I even opened my eyes on Saturday morning, I could hear it raining.  Usually I depend on the sound of tires on wet pavement, but not this day.  Before I even made my coffee, I put on my running gear.  That seems to be the simplest trick for getting motivated.  Once you're dressed and have your shoes on, you might as well go out and try.  Knowing that rain was likely, I'd gotten everything ready the night before.  No excuses! 

Still.  I stood on the porch, arms clasped tight around me, and watched the rain come down.  NO desire to go out in that mess.  It was chilly, it was wet, my friends had bailed.  Inside there was coffee, breakfast, more sleep.  Oh man, did I NOT want to go for a run.  Then I said to myself, “you're an endurance runner.  Endure.”  And off I went.

I ran the first mile as quickly as I could manage, to warm myself up.  It's been so hot for so long that I'd forgotten what it was like for the breeze to be cool.  Running in chilly rain is an excellent way to convince yourself to keep running.  Walk breaks are seriously uncomfortable in that kind of weather.  Almost no one was out on the greenways.  I ran at least 2 miles before I saw another person, and nearly 5 before I saw another woman.  (Probably all the women were at the gym doing Crossfit.  Tough ladies, those crossfitters.)  It was so early that my brain refused to focus on anything in particular, not even my long-run mantra. (When I run for hours by myself without music, I find a mantra helps to keep me rolling.)  No breakfast before long runs, so the churning river reminded me distinctly of chocolate milk.  That kept me distracted for a couple of miles.  I tried to compose this blog post, but couldn't keep the ideas in line.  Not that that is particularly unusual in my writing anyway.  (Yay, tangents!)  I imagined what it would feel like to be in the kind of shape that the other women runners appeared to be in.  Tried to figure out if the white shapes on the opposite bank of the river were birds or plastic bags. (Then realized that I was using that as an excuse to slow down.  Not okay, too chilly for that.) 

My running guru once told me that you could switch over to burning body fat as fuel for running within an hour or so.  Mark Sisson claims that exercising in a fasted state will help train your body to do that even quicker.  I'm not convinced.  I suspect that it takes at least two solid hours before my body starts working on its stored fuel.  Ugh.  My mental IQ is pretty decent, but my body IQ probably needs to ride on the short bus.

All in all, it was a damned good run.  Soaked to the skin by the halfway point, I felt stronger than I have since the marathon training days, and I kept up a decent pace from start to finish.  I'm not where I'd like to be as a runner, but I'm much closer than I was a couple of weeks ago.

Marathon Woman

I did it!

I actually ran an actual marathon!  More than a marathon—I ran 26.46 miles because it was a trail race and they tend to be less exact.  I still can't quite believe that I really did it.  There are pictures on Facebook, though, so it must be real. 

During my training, I covered each of the trails on the course at least twice, so I was able to put together a plan for running and hiking on race day.  The week before the race, I practiced getting up at 5 am so I wouldn't be as dopey on the big morning.  It didn't help my attitude during the week—I am definitely NOT a morning person.  But race day dawned slightly overcast (perfect for running) and I was up and making coffee by 4:45 am.  Out the door by 5:45, but my car started overheating when I was almost there.  I turned the fan up and kept rolling.  I figured if the car died, I wanted to get as close as possible before starting to walk (or trying to hitch a ride).  The car made it to the parking area at the resort (whew!) and I found someone to take my “before” picture.

A little stressed but starting to refocus

 While I was engaging in the traditional “standing in line for the porta-potty” ritual, I got a fist-bump from someone else who had run this particular race as his first marathon a couple of years previously.  My timing continued to be lucky as I only had to stand at the start line for a minute or two before the gun went off. 

Here's a link to the map of the course, if you want to see it.  The initial trail through the resort was fairly narrow and the resulting bottleneck slowed us down, but we were out on a paved road pretty quickly.  We had a little over a mile to find our pace, then we hit the park and the dirt trails.  My race plan included walking the first trail (The Trough), since it goes right up the side of the ridge, but I did run some parts of it.  What goes up must come down, so we went down Buck and Hotel, both fairly tricky trails—steep with lots of rocks, roots, twists, and turns.  I caught up with a woman who was going just a bit slower than I felt like running, so I stayed with her on Hotel and Four Gorge.  My usual technique is to try to run the first half of a race with someone who is going a little slower than me, which keeps me from wearing myself out too early.  She would get ahead of me on the uphill parts and I would catch her on the downhills.  Once we got to the flatter parts (Tuck-a-way and Enchanted Forest), I got ahead of her and stayed ahead.  I ran Little Bell and Schoolhouse without seeing anyone except a couple of guys fishing in a boat on the cove.

A mile or so after the halfway point (on Arrowhead), I caught up to an older gentleman.  He was going to let me pass him, but I wasn't going quite fast enough.  He was less chatty than my previous race buddy, so I concentrated on running.  Sometimes he got ahead for a while but I would always catch him.  I was certain that my earlier running buddy would catch me on the long uphill (Brushy Mountain—2.5 miles of up up up starting at mile 19—yuck), but she didn't appear.  I met a college student who was running her first marathon and a woman who had come from Virginia Beach to run the race.  Eventually, I caught up with the gentleman and passed him when we started heading downhill again. I had tried a new technique going up the long hill (yes, I know you're not supposed to do that during a race, but after hiking that hill a couple of times I discovered that my muscles would shorten up during the hike so I wasn't able to run once the terrain changed).  The long uphill was a fire road, so there was plenty of room.  I occasionally turned around and hiked backward, then ran a few steps before dropping back into my steady hiking pace.  When we got to the downhill part, I was much better able to run than I had been on my training runs.  The long downhill trail (The Gauntlet) was narrow and rocky, but I ran it better than I expected.  At mile 23, I was getting really tired and a little whiney, but I pictured my running buddy's grin which always helps to keep me going forward.

I Run 4 Joshua cuz he's awesome!

Just a couple of miles of slow and steady uphill (Horsepen), one last water stop, some paved road, and some slightly confusing trails through the resort property and I was done. Twenty minutes faster than I had expected and only 10 minutes slower than my dream goal!  Though honestly, I had to pee so badly by the time I hit the finish line (no porta-potties on trail race courses!), that I look grumpy in my finish line picture and the lady who hung my medal on me told me to smile.  I flashed her a grin, then found my way to the porta-potty at last.  My regular running buddies were supposed to be at the end, but I didn't see anyone.  I grabbed some food and found the college student and my first race buddy and congratulated them. I was starting to wonder if they had closed the resort property so my friends couldn't get in, so I hiked back toward my car to find my phone.  I ran into a couple of my friends on the way.  I had finished so much earlier than expected, they were still getting into place!  We hung out at the finish line and cheered for the last couple of runners, and my buddies gave me a couple of cool gifts, including this magnet:

My friends are the coolest!

 

For the next couple of days, all I did was eat and rest and admire the slogans and drawings on my car (The Cove = Conquered).  It would have taken a serious emergency to get me to run.  It's been over a week now, so I'm hoping I can run a little this week and get back to my usual routine next week.  But holy cow, I'm a marathoner now—can you believe it?!?!

Heavy medal ;-)

Snow Falling On Runners

I was surprised by the number of people who were out running in the crazy cold yesterday morning.  I saw quite a few within a mile of the parking lot but by the time I was a couple of miles into the woods, I seemed to have the trails to myself.  I stopped to stretch my calves and took a moment to look around.  Snow was sifting softly through the trees and I smiled to myself and thought “man, I sure do hate snow.”  Running when it’s snowing is like running through cobwebs that never stop sticking to your face.  Ick. 

C’mon Spring!  I. Am. Ready!!

Drool-worthy?

Chocolate class is moving right along.  I conducted a chocolate tasting at our last Zombie Squad meeting and got my paper written in plenty of time.  Now I’m trying to find sources for my chocolate.  So far, this has been much harder than it sounds.  The companies who sell to businesses do not particularly want to be found by random consumers such as myself.  Lori at Beanermunky Chocolates has been a lot of help to me (and her chocolates look really yummy—go here and order some and tell me what you think!), so hopefully my next round of inquiries will go more smoothly. 

For another assignment, we have to create some signature recipes.  There are a bunch of rules about the process we have to follow and I won’t go into those here, but I thought I’d give you the descriptions of the chocolates I’m going to make:  

Almond Love:  Lightly sweet marzipan studded with tangy dried cherry pieces, hand-dipped in Felchlin's Maracaibo Clasificado Grand Cru dark chocolate

Panama City Beach Caramels:  Crunchy chopped almonds and fresh orange zest smothered in rich rum caramel, layered with Cacao Barry’s Lactée Superieure milk chocolate

Paper Fan:  Smooth white chocolate ganache truffle infused with green tea and sweet lychee fruit, hand-dipped in Cacao Barry’s Guayaquile dark chocolate    If you’re wondering why this sounds familiar, it’s because I made these at Christmas time.  If it ain’t broke, why fix it?!

Bahama:  Dense dark chocolate truffle flavored with spiced rum, with black salt and turbinado sugar crystals added for a sweet-and-salty crunch, hand-dipped in Chocovic’s Ocumare

Bright Spring Crème:  Creamy-sweet with lip-smacking strawberry and vibrant lime filling within a dome of Vintage Plantations’ Fair Trade semisweet chocolate

What do you think?  Which one would you eat first?  Or are you the sort of person who saves the best for last?

Tropical Dreams

I created this dessert when I started following the Primal Blueprint guidelines, after realizing that I could no longer make my favorite banana bread.  It wasn’t something I made often, but I missed the flavor combination.  So far, I’m not a fan of the primal/paleo baked goods substitutes.  I find it easier to stick with the principles if I don’t make “primalized” versions of the food I shouldn’t have been eating in the first place.  And don’t start thinking I’m all virtuous and stuff—I eat chocolate daily and fried potatoes at least once or twice a week.  (And no, I don’t much care what oil those potatoes are fried in, but lard definitely tastes the best.)

The recipe is a combination of the flavors of the banana bread and the basics of a tropical fruit dessert without the sugar.  My mom tested this recipe and added some variations for people who plan ahead and/or who use microwaves regularly.  Being the generous soul that she is, she made it a couple of times and shared it with her friends, which was reassuring since they ate it all up.  Thanks, mom!

Cardamom Baked Bananas

2/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup rum (dark is best)

Butter or coconut oil

3 ripe bananas, peeled, sliced into rounds

1-2 tsp cardamom

¼ - ½ tsp clove

1-2 tsp citrus juice (orange, lemon, or lime)

2 Tbsp salted butter, softened

½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

½ cup shredded or flaked unsweetened coconut

Maple syrup (optional)

Combine raisins and rum in a small saucepan.  Cook over medium heat until simmering.  Remove from heat and set aside.  Or combine raisins and rum in a bowl, cover, and allow to soak for 24-36 hours.  Microwave for a minute before adding the raisins to the recipe. The raisins taste more strongly of rum if you do this, since the alcohol doesn’t get cooked off.

Preheat oven to 375F.  Grease 1 ½ quart casserole dish with butter or coconut oil. 

Cream together cardamom, clove, citrus juice, and butter.  Or melt the butter in the microwave and stir in the spices and citrus juice.  Toss the banana slices in the casserole dish and dot with the butter mixture or drizzle the butter mixture over the banana slices if you microwaved it.  If the bananas are not very ripe (or you just want it to be really sweet), drizzle with a little maple syrup.  Sprinkle with the rum-soaked raisins, and top with walnuts and coconut.

Bake until bubbly (about 10 minutes).  Serve warm.  Eat happily!

This dessert reminds me of summer and warmer climates, which is a nice side effect this time of year.  I keep thinking that I should add some sort of chocolate to it, but it’s pretty decadent as it stands.  Then again, I’m a little obsessed with chocolate at the moment, since I am in the middle of the chocolate course.  I am now working on finding a good source of the chocolate I want to use in my shop, and learning to develop recipes.  Any suggestions?!?!