We run, we blog, we Tweet...now we meet!

I had a lovely weekend, y'all.  How about you?

Following my 5 miler on Saturday, I met up with 3 of my favorite girls for lunch. 

The funny thing is that although Melissa,  Lauren, and I are friends "in real life" and see each other as our lives permit, none of us had ever met That Pink Girl (TPG) "in real life" before Saturday and yet we consider her to be a dear friend.

TPG came into town to run the Houston Chevron Marathon.  This was our opportunity to *finally* meet her.  Since both TPG and Lauren are vegetarians and I'm currently following Phase 1 of South Beach, it made picking a restaurant interesting, to say the least.  I googled "vegetarian friendly restaurants in Houston" and chose a link which named 5 restaurants.  Of the 5, I narrowed our choices to 3 - The Hobbit Cafe, Baba Yega, and Ruggles Cafe and Bakery.  I ended up deciding on The Hobbit Cafe since both Baba Yega and Ruggles Cafe had shrimp dishes that were antagonizing me since I can't eat shrimp until after my thyroid uptake test ends tomorrow. 

We loved it!  Such a cute concept for a restaurant!  So many wonderful food options!  I ordered the protein platter - a HUGE scoop of egg salad and a HUGE scoop of curry chicken salad (picked out the grapes since I'm not eating fruit right now) on a bed of green leaf lettuce with tomatoes.  Then I added avocado cuz...um...why not?!  I also loved that they had their iced tea of the day flavor.  I don't remember exactly what it was, but it was delicious - something like black currant cherry...  OH...and the service was amazing!  We were tucked back into a corner and had a nice 3 hour lunch discussing everything from running, blogging, and Tweeting, to our families, friends, and food.

After we ate, we had to take pictures for our respective blogs, don't ya know?! The one up top is of all 4 of us together - a kind Hobbit server was our camera man.  Below is yours truly and TPG.

I can't wait to hang out with TPG again when I travel to her neck of the woods for my Dallas Rock 'n' Roll half at the end of March.  =)  I only hope Dallas serves up some better weather than Houston!  =/

5 miles - we meet again.

I have been in such a bad place this month.  I have a tendency to get the January blues.  Combine that with some other stuff and...well...it just hasn't been pretty.  Just about everything has been suffering...well except for my food.  I have that under control, thankfully. 

Running has been harder than I had hoped.  I know I had my grand idea of going all fast forward through the C25K, but when I really started diving into it...well...it sounded like a better idea than the actuality of it.  I just can't do a 60-sec run followed by a 90-sec walk.  I mean I can do it, but it's too basic for me at this point in the game.  What the whole grand idea taught me, however, is that I need to go back to my intervals.  I had to swallow my pride for this.  It sounds stupid, but it truly was...no...is a struggle for me.  Endurance versus speed.  Is it better to be able to go longer without stopping/walking or is it better to be faster?  Post injury, however, it's been kind of a moot point.  I no longer have my endurance.  I did 3 runs at 2 miles a run and after each run I felt like I had hit my capacity.  Then I stopped running (for 2 1/2 weeks) out of frustration and depression.  That will teach me. 

I told myself that I had to do 5 miles on Saturday.  If I did not, I would be so far behind my half marathon training with no hopes of catching up.  I sucked it up and set my Garmin to 5/1 intervals.  I decided to run in my subdivision and I headed out with my tunes, my gum, and a Powerade Zero in the mailbox.  My first 2 miles were sub-13.  That was amazing for me.  It's been A REALLY LONG time since I've seen that.  I swung by my mailbox at 2.2 miles for a drink.  I continued along, trying really hard to maintain that sub-13, but my pace started slowing.  I swung back around to my mailbox at 3.7 miles for another drink.  I thought about only doing 4 miles and then I got mad at myself.  I headed out to do 5 and I was going to do 5!  I set off to finish out the remaining 1.3 miles knowing just the right path to finish it off.  I completed my run feeling accomplished.  I haven't felt like that in A REALLY LONG time.  In fact, the last time I ran at least 5 miles was back on October 30th when I ran an injured 7 miles before I found out about my stress fracture.  That was 3 months ago!!! 

On my last 2 mile run - 2 1/2 weeks ago (boo on me) - I averaged 13.28 min/mile pace.

On this 5 mile run, I averaged a 13.30 min/mile pace.

Looks like my 5/1 intervals allowed me to do the distance while maintaining my speed.  I honestly can say had I tried running the 5 miles without the intervals, I either never would have made it the entire distance and/or my average pace would have been around a 14 min/mile.

Since this post is mostly about running, I thought I would add that my friends Meliska, Lauren, Rachel, and I are all doing the Chick-fil-A 5K on February 19th.  This will be my first 5K for the year.  My PR is a 39.40.  That's a 12:47 pace.  I don't have any high hopes of PRing this race, but...well it would be really great to have a race I can be proud of.  The only way to make that happen is to run.  Practice makes perfect.  I have a recommitment to my "craft", if you will. 

My mileage for January is pathetic.  It's not even a drop in the bucket to get me to my goal of 600 miles for the year.  February, here I come!

a little venting is good for the soul

Some chick calls me from the hospital where I had that fateful bone scan that pronounced my pelvis to be unfit for running.  Well...correction...she apparently called my mom and dad's house and left a message.  My mother mistakenly thought she was calling for my father and gave my father the number to call the chickadee back.  After waiting for 100 years, he finally spoke to her just to find out she wasn't calling for him, but rather me.  Oh yeah...they had my parent's number on file for me.  nice.  I haven't lived with my parents since a brief 2 month stint between graduating college and getting my own apartment.  They had this particular number for me, however, as a result of my two knee surgeries that were performed on their premises some 16 and 11 years ago, respectively.

She informed me that I owe the hospital $237.38 and wants to know how I would like to pay that.  WHAT?  Wait just a minute.  Why do I owe money?  She explains that I only paid some of the cost of what I owed.  Um...I paid what you people told me I owed at the time of the procedure.  If it was more than that, you should have said so.  I don't really understand.  Furthermore, I feel like I'm under attack by some Guido.  Dude - send a bill like a normal person so I have a chance to look it over and figure out what's going on.  Don't expect me to blindly pay you to get you off my back. 

I'm still confused as to how they came up with the random dollar figure I paid at the time of the procedure - $639.08.  I know we have some weird deductible thing going on at my work, but still.  Anyway, I'm in the process of straightening the whole thing out.  Here's what I do know...if I do owe any additional money, it's no more than $110.91.  It's possible I don't owe anything at all or that I'm owed some money back, too.  Confusing?  You betcha! 

Anyway...don't treat me like I'm some slouch who doesn't pay her bills and make sure you have my information correct in the system.  How is it possible that you spent 15 minutes with me having me fill out paperwork before my procedure, that you accepted payment from me, performed a procedure on me, and  accessed my insurance information, yet you don't have my correct/current address and phone number?  I bet they did send a paper bill TO MY PARENT'S OLD ADDRESS - the house I grew up in.  lame.

Okay, done venting.

Reubenesque Pork: South Beach Style

We all know what a Reuben sandwich is, now don't we?  It's a delightful number - corned beef, sauerkraut, Russian dressing, and swiss cheese all stuffed with love between two slices of rye bread.  It's magic in sandwich form, I'd say.  It's also a great big giant fattening mess! 

I have been toying with some new recipe ideas - shocking, I know - and I wanted to incorporate the flavors of a Reuben, but sans the bread and a lot of the fat.  Hence - REUBENESQUE PORK  (yes, yes...I know it's supposed to be rUbenesque, but bear with me here).  Please note that I'm purposely not using corned beef to reduce the fat and sodium content. 

Here's what you need:

Boneless pork chops
Sauerkraut
Lite thousand island dressing (according to Wikipedia, it's a "variant of Russian dressing")
2% swiss cheese

Here's what you do:

Spray the bottom of a casserole dish with Pam or something like it.  Trim the fat off of your pork chops - I find those kitchen shears to work wonders.  Lay them down in the dish.  I actually did use put a wee bit of the dressing in the bottom of the dish, before laying down my pork chops, and used a spatula to spread it out.

 

Season them if you like, but since sauerkraut is so flavorful, I didn't find it necessary.  Layer a bit of the sauerkraut upon the chops.  How much?  Well that's up to you.  How much do you like the kraut?  I'm a big fan, so I used a lot (just shy of 2 cans for my 8 pork chops). 

Next, liberally drizzle your dressing over the sauerkrauted chops. 

Finally, top them all off with a slice of swiss.  I used the slices instead of shredded because I have yet to find 2% shredded SWISS cheese.  I think it's also a good way to make sure you are really only having THAT serving size.  There were 9 slices to the pack and 8 pieces of pork, so ... hmmm...wonder what happened to that 9th slice...  I also sprinkled some parsley flakes and I grinded a bit of rock salt and garlic over the top for good measure.

Bake it in the oven - 375 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes.  I think it's best to let it sit for a few minutes so the sauce has a bit of time to thicken.  Serve with a side of veggies if you are like me and nixing those bread carbs for the time being. 

I have thought about how I would make this again when I am not nixing the bread carbs and I think I would incorporate rye bread into the mix.  I once made this Macaroni and Cheese with Cauliflower dish from Carrots 'n' Cake.  In the recipe, you make a bread crumb mixture using multi grain bread, olive oil, salt, and parsley.  I was thinking I could use the same concept, but with rye bread and add this in as a layer before the dressing.  South Beachers are allowed rye bread, don't ya know!

So there you have it...yet another Kim creation - Reubenesque Pork.  It's a yummy dish and I hope you give it a whirl.  Oh, by the way...since I'm not a "food blogger", my pictures are sub-par.  I apologize for that!

Peace out!

whack-a-doodle doo

I had a whackadoo idea when I woke up this morning.  shocker.  I know so many people who are venturing into the C25K land with this new year and/or who started it last year.  Somehow/someway when I started my so called running thing last January, I had never heard of such a thing.  By the time my Meliska bamboozled  me into running my first 5K later that month, well I guess it just seemed silly to "backtrack" by doing a program designed to get me prepared for my first 5K that I had already run.

I also started thinking about how I went from doing my 3/1 interval method (February to April) to my 4/1 intervals (April to August) and then to straight-out running (September to current).  I'm kind of all or nothing like that, I suppose.  There was no other gradual progression put into place.  It was like BAM! take that body!  Now I seem to just be struggling to get back into the groove post injury.  I think it's because I want to be able to resume where I left off - not in distance, per say, but in my ability to rock the mileage outright (sans intervals).  I'm not so certain I'm being fair to my body.  In a lot of ways I'm starting over from scratch here.

My Rock 'n' Roll Dallas Half Marathon is in a little over 9 weeks.  My Orange County Half Marathon is in a little over 14 weeks.  I'm not concerned with finishing either of these races in their time limits (4 hours and 3 1/2 hours, respectively), but what I am concerned with is finishing them with my head held high knowing I put forth my best effort.  I don't feel like I've been giving running my best effort in the past week.  I feel like I've been discouraged and so I've just not run.

Well, my friends...there's a new attitude in town - she just arrived today (oh dear - I hope it's a new attitude and not another personality indicative of some kind of personality disorder).  So this leads me to my whackadoo idea.  I'm going to do the C25K, but in fast forward.  This means instead of doing 3 workouts a week for 9 weeks to complete the program, I'm going to do 5 to 6 workouts a week to complete the program in 5 to 6 weeks.  This will be in addition to my long Saturday or Sunday run. 

Now don't be getting any crazy ideas that I will be overworking my pelvis.  I will still be cross-training one day a week with a 24-Hour Fitness class and keep in mind this C25K program incorporates a lot of walking intermixed with the running.  If I feel any pain at any given moment - everything comes to a SCREECHING HALT! 

Oh...I'm also wondering if this C25K program will help increase my speed.  I know I've mentioned it before (perhaps on SEVERAL occasions) that I was faster when I incorporated intervals into the mix than when I nixed them.  Perhaps by taking it back a bit and working through the transitions of intervals to straight running, I will learn how to maintain my speed.  By the way, I do use the term speed very lightly since we all know I'm a special kind of turtle!  =D

So, what do you think?  Whackadoo?  I'm starting tomorrow morning!

In case you are wondering - here is the program in a written out format.  I know I can get an application for my phone, but I don't want to carry my phone with me, so I'm going to set my Garmin for each workout to keep me on program.

Gumbo: South Beach Style

Younger sister Linda called me the other day asking if I had a gumbo recipe.  She had called our mother first.  I don't recall why my mother couldn't help and/or what lead Linda to me, but I didn't happen to have a recipe for gumbo off the top of my head or in my back pocket (shocker).  This meant I went to old faithful - allrecipes.com to find her one so that she could buy the ingredients on her way home from work (such a good sister). 

Linda knew she wanted to make it with brown rice which happened to be perfect because the recipe that initially caught my eye included brown rice.  She said it turned out really yummy!  I decided to make it myself for this week's meal.

Here is the original recipe:  Sunday Gumbo

Since I'm still doing the Phase 1 thing, I decided to nix the brown rice and to add in red beans - that way I'm still going all Cajun-like. 

Other modifications I made include:   nixing the sweet red pepper because I don't do cooked peppers (don't hate), using minced garlic in lieu of garlic powder, using olive oil in lieu of vegetable oil, using turkey Italian sausage links in lieu of Italian sausage links, doubling the celery, doubling the cayenne cuz I'm no wussy, increasing the okra cuz really...what am I gonna do with leftover okra?! and adding Cholula hot sauce.  Unfortunately, I also had to nix the shrimp even though I had already bought it and started writing this blog (pout).  Read here to see why. 






So here is my list of ingredients:

1 lb. turkey Italian Sausage, sliced
1 lb. skinless, boneless chicken breasts, cubed
3 TBSP olive oil
1 medium white onion, chipped
6 celery ribs, chopped
1TBSP minced garlic (I like lots of garlic - probably why I don't have a boyfriend)
1 tsp dried marjoram
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp cayenne powder
3 (14.5 oz) cans chicken broth
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes, undrained (I used fire roasted)
1 can red beans, undrained
1 lb uncooked medium shrimp, peeled and deveined (missing in action - travesty)
1 bag frozen okra, sliced
Cholula hot sauce to taste

Directions:

In a large pot, brown sausage and chicken in the oil.  Remove with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings.  Saute the onion, minced garlic, and celery until tender.  Add in the seasonings and cook for another 5 minutes.  *Stir in the broth, beans, chicken, and sausage bringing the whole mixture to a boil.  Reduce the heat, cover, and simmer for 25 minutes.

*Note: If you are making this dish with rice, you will add in 2/3 cup UNCOOKED brown rice when you stir in the broth above.

Stir in the tomatoes, shrimp (tears), and okra.  Cook for another 10 minutes or until the shrimp (le sad) is pink, stirring occasionally.  Buen provecho!

no shrimp for me and other woes

My thyroid has been out of whack for a couple of years now.  I'm on Levoxyl.  I take a little pill every morning and then wait 30 minutes before eating.  I guess my doctor had some concerns about my age and the need to "fix" my thyroid.  She took that into consideration along with the fact that after a year of medication, it was still slightly out of whack and decided she wanted me to have an ultrasound done on my thyroid.  Well given the fact that my deductible was all paid for after that fateful bone scan, I thought it best to do it before the new year, so I did it on 12/28.

It was no big deal, really.  I went in a half hour before my appointment to "check in".  They had previously given me some forms to fill out - homework, if you will.  The technician came out to get me and had me lay down on the table.  She moved the collar of my clothing out of the way.  She then used the ultrasound on my throat in search of my thyroid and took several pictures.  It was a very fast process.  I asked her how long before I would hear anything.  She told me 3 to 4 business days unless they found something wrong - then I would hear something back much sooner.

I didn't hear anything back.  I assumed that meant all was well.  I actually kinda forgot about it.  On Wednesday night, 1/12, I went for a run and grabbed my mail on the way back in.  I saw a letter from my doctor's office.  I assumed it was the obligatory letter letting me know all was well.  I meant to open it, but since we all know I have A.D.D., well...  On Thursday night, I was cleaning up the kitchen after eating dinner and remembered the letter.  I opened it and didn't quite understand what I was looking at.  Basically, the letter included an imaging order for a "Thyroid with Uptake" and the letter said something along the lines that they had discovered a thyroid nodule and needed a scan of my thyroid for further information.

I was very upset by this.  I figured since I hadn't received a phone call, all was well.  Also, this was all Greek to me. I literally had to look up some of the terminology on the Internet to figure out what was going on.  When I do see my doctor next, she will hear about this.  I am certain that protocol was for me to receive a phone call.  I am certain that there was a break in the system. 

Okay, so I went to try to schedule this on Friday morning.  Apparently everyone was too busy in Imaging to take the call, so I got voicemail.  It said someone would return my call within 24 business hours.  I waited until Monday afternoon when I hadn't heard back and tried again.  This time I was able to get a hold of someone.  I found out they want me off my thyroid meds for 14 days (crazy considering everything I read on-line said 5-7 days) before I do the test.  They also want me to avoid consuming iodine.  She specified not to eat shellfish.  I was getting ready to make gumbo tonight with chicken, sausage, and shrimp.  I just bought the shrimp at lunch today, too.  I know I can make it without the shrimp, but it makes me sad.

I have to go in on Monday, 1/31, and get the iodine injection? (it's either a pill or a shot - not sure which).  I return 4 hours later for them to take a reading.  I then return on Tuesday, 2/1, 20 hours later for another reading.  I guess ultimately they are trying to discover the nature of the nodule - to make sure it is not cancerous.  The chances of it being so are slim to none, but still...

So, there's that going on right now.

No shrimp for me.  Bubba Gump wouldn't be too happy about this.