26.2 or Bust

After 9 months of training, I finally did it. I ran my first marathon. I had no idea of what to expect. The internet had lots of "what to expect" and gave me a little insight. This race went nothing like I imagined it would.

The last month, I went back and forth on whether or not I would actually be able to run. I was told I had mono the beginning of September. At the same time, I came down with a bad cold virus. My bed became my best friend. I slept as much as I could and eventually began to feel better. Then last Saturday I had to go into insta care.  I had come down with a sinus infection and the start of an ear infection.  

With all of this, I decided I still wanted to run and I felt well enough to run.

Here is the run down of my BIG race day:

Got up at 3:30 am

Sat on the bus to avoid the rain till race time

Ran a lot 

RAIN

COLD

Bitten by millions of MOSQUITOES

More running, rain, and mosquitoes

Felt like death, but kept running

Teamed up with other runner to run/walk last 4 miles...in the rain

Finished in 5:48 

Honestly, it was the worst running experience of my life. 

Am I glad I stuck it out? Yes.

Did I meet my goal? Yes. It was just to finish.

Will I run another marathon? Yes, just never again in the rain and cold. 

Peach Pie and Training

Last Monday, I completed my 20 mile run! Holy crap, the last mile was tough, but I did it. It's a little scary to think that I will be running 26.2 miles on September 27th...hopefully.

Why hopefully you ask? Well, I've been super tired lately and finally went to the doctor about it. The blood tests came back positive for mono. I thought mono was the kissing disease that teenagers and young adults get. I wish I got it from kissing some hot man, but that is sadly not the case. I have no freaking idea where I got it. I am still determined to run on the 27th. I think it will be possible with a lot of rest the next couple of weeks.

Today, after sleeping most of the day I had enough energy to bake a peach pie. I'm so glad I did because it was delicious. It also made a great dinner.

I found the peach pie recipe while searching on Pinterest. I LOVE Pinterest!!! I find all sorts of fun recipes to try. I adapted the peach pie filling from www.grandbaby-cakes.com. It was just what I was looking for. 

Every pie needs a great crust. I was lucky enough to find one a few months ago on The Pioneer Woman website. Did I mention how much I love this crust? 

Let's start with the crust.

 Here's what you need:

• 1-½ cup Crisco (vegetable Shortening)

• 3 cups All-purpose Flour

• 1 whole Egg

• 5 Tablespoons Cold Water

• 1 Tablespoon White Vinegar

• 1 teaspoon Salt

In a large bowl, add flour and shortening. Use a pastry cutter to cut in the shortening until it looks like coarse meal. In a small bowl, beat the egg. Add egg to the flour mixture. Add water, vinegar, and salt. Mix together gently until ingredients are all mixed together. 

Separate the dough into two parts. Place each part on plastic wrap and gently flatten. Finish wrapping it up and place in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes. You'll be thankful you did.

When you are ready, roll out one part of the crust on a floured space. Make sure you roll it out to fit your pie plate with an half an inch to spare. Fold in half and lift into pie plate.

Now the filling:

What you'll need:

6 cups peeled and sliced fresh peaches
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4-1/2 cup granulated sugar (adjust this based on sweetness of peaches)
sprinkle of salt
sprinkle of nutmeg
sprinkle of cinnamon
4 tablespoons all-purpose flour (go up to 5 if peaches are really watery)

1 tablespoon cornstarch

In a large bowl, add peaches, lemon juice, sugars, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, flour, and cornstarch. Toss together until peaches are well coated. 

Assembly

What you'll need:

1/4 cup butter, in small slices
1 egg, with 1 teaspoon of water beaten
Granulated sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Pour peach filling into pie plate.

Dot top of peach filling with butter.

Roll out remaining dough and add to the top of the peach filling in a full sheet, in a lattice design or in another decorative design of your choosing. I choose to try the lattice design for the first time. I did a search for it on Pinterest. It was so much easier than I thought it would be. 

Brush top of pie crush with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for 35-50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and inside peach filling is bubbling.

I have that you should error on the side of cooking it longer in hopes that it won't be as runny. 

The finished product

I should have let it back and cool a little longer. I was just in a hurry to eat it. 

Do you have any tricks to help fruit pies not be so runny? I really want to learn to make them, so they'll set up nice. 

Blackberry Pie Bars

These Blackberry Pie Bars are absolutely amazing! Plus they were easy breezy to make. What could be better? If you like blackberries, you're guaranteed to love these. Just look at them!

I found this recipe while searching on Pinterest. My blackberry bushes are exploding with blackberries, so I was specifically looking for blackberry dessert recipes. I found a winner on Tracey's Culinary Adventure. Her blackberry pie bars looked amazing. I just had to try them and I'm so glad I did. You should be glad too. 

Crust
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 Cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups cold butter, cut into small cubes

Filling
2 large eggs
1 cups sugar
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
pinch of salt
zest of 1/2 lemon (I didn't have a lemon to zest, so I added a few drops of lemon juice)
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (You can use vanilla if you don't like almond)
16 oz fresh blackberries

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with nonstick cooking spray. (I was tempted to use line the pan with parchment paper, but didn't. It was fine using the spray.)

Add the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Add the butter and continue pulsing until the pieces of butter are very small and the mixture is crumbly. Put aside 3/4 cup of this mixture. It will be used as the topping. Dump the remainder of the mixture into the pan and press into an even layer to form the crust.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden and brown. Remove pan and place on a wire rack. Cool for 10 minutes. 

It still amazes me that I can use a food processor to cut in the butter. It works so well. 

After the crust is out of the oven and cooling, begin to make the filling. 

Filling:

In a mixing bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, sour cream, flour, salt, lemon zest, and almond extract. Make sure it is well combined. Use a spatula to fold in the blackberries. Spread the filling mixture over the crust. Make sure the blackberries are spread out evenly. Crumble the reserved crust mixture over the blackberry mixture. 

Bake for 40-50 minutes, or until the bars are set. The topping won't really get golden brown, so no worries. When they are done, let the pan cool on a wire rack and cool completely. To make the bars easier to cut, put the pan in the refrigerator for a while.

Here's a picture of these delicious bars again. You know, just in case you forgot how good they look.  

Chocolate Pudding Cake

It's been a while since I posted something. I have a good reason...I was on vacation in the beautiful Montana. If you haven't been to northwest Montana you're missing out. I go every summer for a family reunion at the lake.








I needed to continue to train for my marathon while in Montana. The first couple of days, it was super smokey outside. This asthma girl can't run in the smoke. I did yoga inside instead. I made welcomed my family to join. I think they had tons of fun, even my little niece tried some poses.


The beginning.

The end.


After the reunion, I chilled at my grandma's house for a few days. I also did some much needed clothes shopping. Montana has no sales tax which makes shopping even better!

Did I mention that I went Huckleberry picking...twice. Huckleberries are the most delicious berry out there. I am so making a Huckleberry pie soon and other goodies. Don't worry, I'll share, well the recipes at least. :)

 Picking Huckleberries.

It takes a while to clean pick them, but it is so worth it.

My niece is helping pick berries. Her "real" job was to watch for bears. She did a great job and even crawled like a bear to keep them away. Thanks to her hard work, we didn't come across any.

 Look at all these berries!

Now to the   Chocolate Pudding Cake

My mom has been making this since before I can even remember. I believe that my grandma made it for her as a kid. Now I'm sharing this secret family recipe with you. 

Batter:

1 c. flour

3/4 c. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1 t. vanilla

2 t. baking powder

3 T. baking cocoa

3/4 c. milk

Topping:

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. brown sugar

3 T. baking cocoa

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix batter ingredients together and pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle the topping mixture over the batter. 

Pour 2 cups HOT water over the entire thing. 

Now for the secret. (Recite an appropriate chant, if any are known, otherwise say Better Crocker backwards three times.)

Bake for 30 minutes.

Serves 12

This recipe works great cut in half or doubled. 

Try it out and tell me what you think!

Cold Chocolate Heaven

Last night, I went on a  5 mile run up the canyon with a friend. We started just after 8:30. Guess how hot it was? Over 90 degrees! I was drenched in sweat after. I kept thinking to myself that it was good training and sucked it up.

I am in love with Starbucks  frappuccinos. I don't drink coffee, so I always get the blended creme versions. Yesterday, it was so very hot and all I wanted was a double chocolate chocolate chip frappuccino. I broke down and bought one. I couldn't help it. After I was finished indulging in the cold goodness, I thought that there must be an easier and less expensive way to meet my addiction.

I found it! And it was super easy too.

 Doesn't this look amazing? Let me tell you, it was great. I just finished drinking it.


If you would like to make this cold drink from heaven, this is what you need:
1 cup milk
1 tbs sugar
3 tbs chocolate syrup (I used Hershey's)
1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
2 cups ice
optional- Redi Whip for the top

Place all ingredients in a blender. Blend until smooth.

I put Redi Whip on top and then drizzled some chocolate syrup.


I can honestly say that it didn't taste the same as Starbucks, but I still thought it was amazing. I know the Starbucks uses special expensive syrup in theirs and I'm just too cheap.

I will definitely make this again and again. By making this drink at home, hopefully I'll be saving some money and some driving time.

You should try this at home then let me know what you think!

Zucchini Noodles

Last year I purchased a julienne peeler from a Pampered Chef party. I had seen people make zucchini noodles with it and I wanted to try it out. You know, in an effort to eat better. Well, a year has gone by and I finally got around to to trying it. Why did I wait so long?

 I used my julienne peeler and peeled two zucchini down to the seeds. Amazing how the peeler made noodles. I still can't wrap my mind it.

Next, I boiled water and put a dash or two of salt in it.

As the water was boiling, I made the pesto sauce by following the directions on the back of the package.. I really like the Knorr pesto packet. Easy to make and tastes good.

When the pesto sauce was done and the water was boiling, I added the zucchini noodles. Let cook for 30-60 seconds. You'll have to try a noodle or two to make sure they are cooked. If you don't cook them long enough they'll be hard and if you cook them too long, they'll be mushy. I cooked mine just right.

Drain. and mix in sauce.                          
I served my noodles with chicken.

I'm glad I finally made these zucchini noodles. I wouldn't say I loved them over pasta, but I enjoyed eating them. The key is to not compare them to pasta. If you do, you'll be disappointed. I had to think of them as just what they are, delicious zucchini noodles.

Will I make zucchini noodles again? You bet.

How do you prepare your zucchini noodles? Any sauces that you like?

Motivation

I've been lacking in motivation lately. After Saturday's run, my knee was slightly swollen. I took Monday and Tuesday off from running. I couldn't help myself though and did the 30 Day Shred both days. Don't worry, I wore my knee brace. It is a little know fact about myself that when I take a day or two off running, it is difficult to start again.

Yesterday, I text a friend that I needed motivation to go running. She responded with the best motivation ever. What was it you ask? "You can do it! Running is fun! You don't want to have to buy new clothes this fall!" That was all the motivation that I needed and within 30 minutes I was out the door. (I had to wait for the thunderstorm and rain to stop.)

At mile 4 it began to downpour. It was the best! Running in the rain is the best...when it is hot outside. Do you like running in the rain? 

Here is a list of my favorite motivation tips. They help me get up and going when I need a little extra push.

• Text a friend for help.
• Have an accountability partner that you check in with.
• Have a partner in crime.
• Set aside your running/workout clothes the nigh before.
• If you have trouble waking up, put your alarm clock across the room.
• Schedule your workout.
• Create a motivation wall that you look at everyday.
• Search running/workout motivation on Pinterest (not during workout time).
• Create a mantra that you say over and over to yourself.
• Take pictures of yourself along your fitness journey. This way you can see how far you've already gone.
• Set aside a special healthy treat for after your run/workout.
• Put a $1 in a jar each time you run/workout. Use the $ to buy new clothes when you reach your goal.
• Create a reward system. List reward items and what you need to earn them.
• Remembering how good it feels. 

What motivates you to run/workout when you really don't want to?  

JUST REMEMBER, DON'T GIVE UP.