Bill’s 5k Race Recap

There is something deeply satisfying in setting off on a new adventure and having it work out. That’s how this running thing has been for me over the past several months. I’m actually a little perplexed at how much I’ve enjoyed running and racing. It just never seemed like something that I could do.

I would not consider myself a natural athlete. I like activity – hiking, exploring, and walking, but I’ve never particularly enjoyed “working out”. Working out was done to balance indulgence, rather than for the sake of exercise and feeling good. Because I’m not naturally good at running – as opposed to say, long distance walking – I can walk 10-12 miles, no sweat – it always fell into the category of “working out”, and therefore, I didn’t really like doing it.

But every so often I’d pick it up again, thinking that it’d be better, more exciting, more do-able. Making no real changes, it never was. But this time something was different. I signed up for races, my CrossFit goals brought me to a new level of fitness, and I had started from the beginning by running outside instead of on a dreadmill and loved running in fall weather – in short, I had better reasons to run. Once running was re-framed, it became a fun thing to do, something that I really wanted to do.

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And that’s how we got here. So how about this race recap? On Sunday I ran the Bill’s 5K Road Race for the Travis Roy Foundation, on one of the most beautiful fall mornings we’ve had this year. It was nippy and grey, but the leaves were absolutely gorgeous, and it couldn’t have been better weather for a run.

I woke up early to make myself a cup of coffee. This was my first race that I was heading to on my own, so I had to think of logistics. My plan was to drive over, lock up my stuff in my car, and hold my key while running. I contemplated the “key in the gas-cap” but thought better of it. I held the key. It worked out fine.

I made it just in time to see the kids starting off their spooky run in costumes. How fun is that? I wandered around to keep myself warm and get my blood pumping. I didn’t see any of my gym-mates, but did see these fabulous cars, and set about busying myself until the race started.

Of course I took the requisite picture of my trusty Mizunos. At some point I’ll have to give these ones up, but they are by far and away my favorite of all my sneakers, and still quite comfortable. (I was crossing my fingers to win a new pair from the Mezamashii run project, but alas, no luck yet.)

By 8:45, everyone started lining up for the race. After three slow-ish starts, I decided to situate myself close to the front. It was at this point that I paused to appreciate my unique quantities of brown adipose tissue. Nope, not the white stuff, but the special mostly-seen-in-babies-and-seals stuff, that I happen to possess a lot of. So much of, in fact, that I shocked the scientist whose study I was participating in, and managed to actually heat up the water in a 55 degree cooling vest when I wore it for two hours. That’s a story for another day. Science! While most folks stood around me shivering, my body kicked in to warm me up while I waited, even standing around in 50 degrees in a t-shirt.

And we were off! Here’s my race on Runkeeper:

Mile One: 9:34/mile. I went out a little too fast as the race started, and had to consciously slow myself down as the first two minutes of my race were well under a nine minute mile. The first mile of the race took us around Crystal lake, which I only managed a glace at as I was distracted by the crowd of runners around me. I opted to take a really short walk at the half mile, just to make sure I didn’t blow it. I took a second one right at the end of the mile for good measure.

Mile Two: 10:04/mile. After the first mile, I was already tired, and feeling a little bit unwell. I’ve been warding off a cold for the past few days, but my throat was starting to get to me. The water break was at the halfway point, so I slowed to get a quick drink. I will get the hang of this one day!

Mile Three: 10:14/mile. The last mile was the slowest because I had to take two longer walk breaks. I was feeling my cold, but managed to pick it up for the last part of the mile, running between a 9:00 and 9:30.

The .2: 8:48. I tried to push it through the finish, but didn’t have much energy left, so I didn’t end up sprinting through.

At this point, I stopped my watch, and it said 31:10 or something like that, and then stopped the Runkeeper at 31:13. My secret goal had been to finish sub-30 (which I didn’t make), but I was tired and confused, and assumed that I hadn’t beat my previous time either. I walked off slowly trying to process things. It was at this moment that I grabbed the banana and thought, “Hmm… I should eat something…”

I actually had to look up my time on my website to see what my previous race time was. (31:58). I still didn’t quite get that I had beat my time. I was impressed though with how quickly they had the race results printed and put up on the van at the finish line. I walked up and saw this:

Finish: 31.07.9 – 508th place, 41st in my age group (F 20-29), 10:00/M pace. It was at this point I realized that hold on a second – if my pace was 10:00 minutes per mile, this WAS IN FACT A PR. By nearly a full minute!!

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After the race, I hung around for a free massage at the Marathon Physical Therapy tent, and took a photo for these happy costume wearers. The gentleman in the photo was Tom Hanks’ character from Cast Away, and spent a good amount of time wandering around yelling out Wilson! and putting on a good show.

And then they handed me the hat.

Requisite shot of me terrified and concerned!

So that’s that! As for what’s next, I haven’t signed up for my next race, but I’m looking for a good one. Maybe a Turkey Trot? Any Boston area folks signed up for a fun one?

Culinary Intelligence

Usually my reading pace is a book (or two or three) a week, but I’ve been starting too many lately and putting them down before I can make headway. I picked up nearly a dozen like this, until I finally found myself with food writer Peter Kaminsky‘s Culinary Intelligence: The Art of Eating Healthy (and Really Well) and I felt compelled to read it straight through. It wasn’t until I got half way through that I realized that it might be considered a “diet book”– I hadn’t actually read the subtitle – but this isn’t what I’d call it. I’d shelve it next to my copy of say, Tamar Adler’s An Everlasting Meal, or Deborah Madison and Patrick McFarlin’s What We Eat When We Eat Alone. It’s a book about eating style. 

Kaminsky’s sell is “FPC” or “flavor per calorie” emphasizing that when food tastes great – and isn’t made of white flour or sugar, or processed – you will enjoy it more and eat less. He re-iterates simplicity. He suggests varying your meals, and planning. For convenience, he proposes an 11-day week of at-home meals supplemented by lots of vegetables: meat one night, poultry another, fish, pasta, whole-grain risotto, beans made with vegetables, sausage or bacon, salad, an omelet or fritatta, soup, or leftovers (touched-up). These are not groundbreaking ideas, but I found the book to be a nice reminder. I also quite enjoyed the moments of memoir – hobnobbing with Francis Mallmann (with whom he co-wrote Seven Fires), or being served fish by Laurent Gras. (The recipe is in the book.)

I really enjoy reading about how people eat on a regular basis, particularly those who work in the industry in some way. When your life revolves around food, it’s all too easy to talk about the grand meals, rather than the small ones that sustain us. Maybe I just like reading about little habits that justify my own odd ones– such as my bi-weekly sardine fixes.

This morning we both woke up a little bit under the weather. (Devon had it bad, I was just sleep deprived.) So I set about doing what I know works to ward off the sickness:

1. Nutrient dense foods. It helps that this might be one of my favorite foods on the planet: a roasted lamb’s liver with roasted parsnip, topped with a parsley sherry vinaigrette.

2. Tea. When I’m not feeling well, I usually drink plain hot water, or use one tea bag and re-steep it all day long until it’s hot water that tastes a little bit like something. This was one of my special bags of Turkish black tea that I’m very fond of. The brand is called Çaykur, and the tea is labeled “Altın Süzen Poşet Çay” the gold variety of black tea.

3. Stock. Two days ago I made chicken stock after roasting a plump bird. Today, it’s some beef stock with marrow bones. I added in some vinegar, salt, bay leaves and the top of a parsnip for good measure.

In the early evening, I headed to the gym for some non-cardio-based exercise, which always seems more prudent when I’m worried that I’m coming down with something but still want to get a workout in. Unlike my normal routine, I swung by the local Y to check it out during their open house week. The weight room, to my disappointment was crawling with teenage boys. This became much more entertaining when I started warming up with heavier weights than they were working towards. Snicker.

Afterwards, I headed downtown to meet a friend at Trident. Iced tea!

While at Trident, I found myself at the Back Bay Trader Joe’s for the first time ever. It’s a hidden Trader Joe’s down an escalator! I picked up a few necessities (Devon requested orange juice) and headed home.

Yesterday I roasted this chicken with lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper and thyme :

And today I used some of the meat to make my dinner.

I’m a big fan of these pre-cooked beets. They taste much better than canned beets, but provide significant convenience if you are the only beet eater in the house and want to put together a quick meal.

I popped the beets in a bowl and dressed them with cumin, salt, some sherry vinegar and chile powder. Then I tossed in some chopped chicken breast. And topped it all with salsa and guacamole. This makes total sense in my mind, but looking back, it may be one of the odder combinations you’ve seen here.

Wellesley Weekend

(Wellesley, 1931 via the Wellesley Archives.)

Hello! It’s been a long, fabulous, drawn out week, but I’m happy to be back. The bulk of my weekend was spent at Wellesley, participating in the Alumnae Leadership Council. I went to the beautiful campus to convene with hundreds of fellow graduates, all smart, sophisticated and accomplished women who have achieved so much good in the world. It was just what I needed. Wellesley is a very special place.

When I struggle or feel nervous about my future, I think of all the brilliant role models I have. Women with incredibly varied life experiences. Women who make a tangible difference. Hillary Clinton, Madeleine Albright, the late Nora Ephron are just a few of them. Women whose will and spirit I aspire to emulate. One of the highlights of this weekend was listening to a panel of current students discussing their experiences at the college. These were four incredibly eloquent and accomplished young women, who I couldn’t have been more impressed with. If these women represent our future, it will be a bright one.

The best part of the weekend was getting to spend time with Lizzy – one of my dearest friends, a Minnesotan, Data Scientist, Kiteboarder, Dog Lover (her family breeds and shows Bernese Mountain Dogs) and the super human being who accidentally introduced me to Devon more than half a decade ago.

Here’s a week-long catch-up:

Wednesday: Acquired Lizzy from the airport. Went for a long walk through the city, grabbed lunch at Felipe’s in Harvard Square. Visited the Honey Store. Walked through Kendall. Headed down to the water. Cooked up dinner – chicken thighs with brussels sprouts and bacon.

And… a Pinkberry run. Did you know you can just get fresh fruit and toppings? Well, you can!

Thursday: Headed to CrossFit to complete my challenge of the week – 100 overhead squats for time. 5 burpees everytime you drop the bar. There was a 20 minute cap, and I made it to 75 with a light 35# bar, having dropped the bar one too many times and dying on the burpees. (I was not pleased with my results.) Lunch was a hugely underwhelming bowl from Boloco. In the early evening, we met up with a friend at Barbara Lynch’s Drink, and I ate an entire bowl of delicious warm olives, and a single taste of each of the night’s cocktails: Old Fashioned, a ChampsÉlysées, and a Ramos Gin Fizz. Next time I head over, I’ll be having a Ramos Gin Fizz of my own! I happily partook in the steak tartare, minus the toasts! For dinner we got Anna’s to compensate for our lackluster lunch experience. Burrito bowls have been my go-to when ordering out, and I never tire of them.

Here’s the inside of Drink:

Friday: We went for long walks and headed over to the North End. Lizzy got her cannolo at Modern, and I made do with an espresso, standing up at the bar at Caffe dello Sport. For lunch we picked up some food from Whole Foods – roasted brussels sprouts and beef stew. Dinner was spaghetti squash with Rao’s marinara and Trader Joe’s Italian sausage.

Isn’t this the most fabulous photo of Lizzy? Those cheekbones! That delightful ricotta filled snack! The powdered sugar explosion! I digress.

Saturday: Leadership council! We snuck onto campus early to have brunch at Tower Court. Eggs, bacon, a little bit of chicken, grapefruit, and pumpkin coffee. (Although I rarely ate in dining hall – despite being forced to stay on the meal plan – brunch was one of the best parts of my college experience.)

I smartly loaded up, fearing the worst with my dietary needs and the impending catered meals. While I would have just brought my own food or been flexible, I had decided to make advanced plans with all the caterers giving proper notice of my gluten and dairy free requirements. Multiple caterers were being uses, all in the running for reunion events, and as I’ve volunteered as dinner chair, I thought this could be a good test. Lunch was salad and a chicken breast, and I had to argue with a server who was going to take away my chocolate mousse because I had requested “no dairy” and they “needed it for someone else”. This, for the record, was ludicrous as they had plenty of extras (including one at an empty seat at our table). I was looking forward not to the mousse – which wasn’t challenge friendly- but the raspberries on top. After clarifying that I was not allergic to dairy, and getting snapped at, I had to scowl to keep my three beautiful raspberries. Dinner was not much better. Steak, two pieces of broccoli and purple potatoes. I had to clarify that dairy free meant I couldn’t have the mashed potatoes made with butter, which the server brought back a second time insisting it was rice. My final plate consisted of a 4 ounce piece of steak and about three spears of broccolini. The food, despite the mishaps was all actually quite good.

After a day of not eating nearly enough, I found myself starving, and regret to say that I cheated on my challenge. Considering the majority of folks have cheated since week one, I only felt a tiny bit bad. The worst part is that it wasn’t even food I’d crave normally: my downfall was roasted marshmallow on graham cracker at the Wellesley fire pit. C’est la vie.


Sunday: Leadership council day two! Yet another morning breaking into doing hall for brunch. This time I grabbed a few extra eggs and a banana to go as hunger insurance. For lunch, most people got butternut squash ravioli, but the gluten free meal was a portobello mozzarella stack with a tomato vegetable sauce. Which I had without cheese. Which means my entire meal was a mushroom. Sigh. After the conference, Lizzy, Devon and I headed to Basho for a meal, and by meal, I mean, for $70 we ended up with enough food to qualify as “appetizer”. Basho has a really nice atmosphere, but the food for the price just doesn’t cut it. I should note though that they were particularly accommodating for my needs. I ended up with three very small rice-less hand rolls, but they were kind and flexible. We were so hungry after dropping off Lizzy that we went to the store and picked up some food. I went with kielbasa and salad.

Monday: Back to reality. Met up with a friend for a long walk/run. 4.5 miles in the crisp early evening air. Food: I ate it. Mostly leftovers – cabbage and kielbasa, tomato braised cod with olives and artichokes. Dessert was a shake – blended a frozen banana with 2 Tbs. of cocoa and some light coconut milk. Highly recommended.

Tuesday: Crossfit! A fairly strenuous workout. The workout of the day was called “Ace + Gary”. There were two rounds: the first was 15 minutes long, alternating a 400 m. run with as many unbroken pull-ups as you could do. You scored based on total pull-ups, which for me was… 13. Then a 7 minute rest, and round two: alternating between a 500m row an as many handstand pushups as you can do before toppling over or tiring out. Over my four rounds, I made it to 30 – although scaled by getting into a headstand and pushing up. (My cartwheeling into the wall still needs practice, so this made it easier to actually get in pushups for the workout.) For dinner, I roasted a chicken, and served it with salad.

Wednesday: Rest day! Breakfast was a banana and egg “pancake”, with nut butter and a little maple syrup. For lunch I made do with Trader Joe’s Gazpacho, a handful of black olives, and some canned sardines with mustard. In the late afternoon I picked up some decaf coffee at Formaggio. (Note to self, just don’t do decaf. It’s never as good.) For dinner, a low point of the week, I crumbled up some ground beef with spices, and served it with roasted delicata squash, nothing else. Devon got his with mashed potatoes.

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Before I go, I want to give you a few shots of breakfast over the past week. There is nothing like waking up in the morning and walking into the kitchen when someone else has made coffee for you.

Banana and egg “pancake”.

The Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Coffee we blew through… fantastic until we went back to TJ’s and were informed that they wouldn’t have any more due to a production snafu. Grumble.

Lizzy’s cocoa oats.

Apples and nut butter.

Back to the grind – and regularly scheduled postings. I’m looking forward to it.

Igloo Sous Vide

I’m going a little bit blind guys. Actually, I’ve been quite blind for most of my life, but pretty much every one of the hundreds of photos I took were blurry yesterday. Forgive me.

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The morning started like nearly every morning around here, with a nice dose of caffeine. This time I headed out for my daily treat, to get some George Howell from Formaggio, dark roast. Black, even though I’d much prefer it with cream. I also miss dipping those little turbinado sugar cubes in the warm coffee until they soak through, and pop them into my mouth. I’m probably better off having kicked that habit.

For lunch, I came home and decided to dose myself with greens. I sauteed large strips of kale until the stems were tender.

I then topped them with leftover chili, which, as promised had become even better after a night in the fridge.

After lunch, I treated myself to dessert – a cappuccino LÄRABAR. I can’t say that this was my favorite flavor, something about the whole coffee bean flecks seemed off and a little bitter.

Before dinner, I took a 45 minute walk around the neighborhood, and treated myself to some squash topped with sunshine sauce.

I then set to work on our dinner: Sous Vide Pork Chops. I seasoned the pork chops with salt, pepper, and mushroom powder.

And then vacuum sealed them with my Foodsaver. I just have a regular one, but if you were in the market for a hunting themed vacuum sealer, they make this horrific and amazing version called the GameSaver in “Mossy Oak“. (You should really click the link.)

While I certainly envy those with a Sous Vide Supreme, I’ve been making do with the next best thing – an Igloo Cooler filled with hot water. My cooler drops only 5-10 degrees over 2 hours, so it does the trick at keeping the meat at a fairly stable temperature.

I filled it with water around 140 degrees, and dunked the pork chops in the bath for two hours, making sure to check that the temperature was between 135 and 140.

After two hours the pork chops were perfectly cooked, but had a pallid unappealing color.

So I heated up some lard and seared off the pork chops for about a minute on each side as I finished up our side dish: red cabbage with prosciutto and cider vinegar.

Mmm…. beautiful!

I served my plate with the small chop, the bone off of Devon’s larger chop, and a side of guacamole.

Lifting heavy things + Mel’s Chocolate Chili

A few weeks ago I went into the gym with a cold, a red face, and a killer sinus headache and nearly had a panic attack when I saw Evan in the gym with his camera. For those of us who live behind a camera, being in front of one is not something we are accustomed to. In fact, I may have rudely let Evan know that in no uncertain terms was he to take a photo of me. I was a total jerk about it – I blame the headache!

Well, he managed to sneak one. And I think it’s awesome.

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10.15.12

Coffee this morning was a little fancy. Although I grew up in a house where my mother drank her coffee black, I much prefer mine with a heavy dose of cream. Having kicked the cream for this challenge, I’ve been doing quite well with black, but I decided to doctor my mug with a little bit of coconut oil to add back a little bit of that creamy texture. I won’t do this everyday, but it certainly was a treat!

There was no breakfast. I wasn’t hungry, and had to go out and about on a few errands. I’ve been really struggling to get in a good breakfast. Part of my problem is that I much prefer to eat a big lunch, a good size snack, and a big dinner. I’m on the fence about whether or not to actively change this habit as long as I’m getting in proper amounts of nutrient dense foods…

For lunch, I had a very specific craving for Tortilla Espanola– a Spanish frittata with eggs, onion, and potato and lots of olive oil. Seeking similar textural consistency, I made myself a big frittata with leftover roasted cauliflower, over a spinach salad with a bright mustard vinaigrette. I let the eggs cool down to room temperature before eating, which is really the best way to eat frittata.

In the late afternoon I went for a walk and grabbed a gala apple and some Justin’s Maple Almond Butter as I walked out the door. Portable snacks!

When I got home, I set to work making dinner: Mel’s Chocolate Chili from Well Fed. I can’t recommend this book enough. I don’t often actually cook with cookbooks (I usually just read them for inspiration), but I’ve actually gone about and cooked several of the recipes in here to the letter, and they’ve been marvelous.

I have a few tried and true chili recipes, and make a similar version, but I thought I’d stick to as close to the book as possible for the sake of an honest opinion.

I made just a few small adjustments to the recipe: halving it because I didn’t have enough beef, using the ultimate cheater move onions, shallots and garlic pre-chopped from Trader Joes, and omitting beef broth because I had a limited supply of tasty bone broth and needed to re-stock. (I just used the whole can of tomatoes instead of halving it, and added a little bit more water.)

The chili takes literally 10 minutes to put together, and then you just let it simmer away on the stove top for a couple of hours. Your house will smell fantastic.

I served it with a dollop of guacamole, and ate two bowls full.

My biggest mistake? Not *doubling* the recipe. This one is definitely a winner.