Like a Box of Chocolates.

Rainy Days & Rhubarb Pie.

I could have written a country song about Monday. I woke up late, couldn’t find stuff, told my boss I’d be late, wasn’t ready to deal with Captain America traffic in the pouring rain, and then got a flat tire. I’ve never seen a tire so flat in all my life. Sitting in my car in my heels and sundress I was ready to give up. I took a personal day and tried to figure out if I had a spare or not. Called Triple A and everything was fixed by about lunchtime. Since I felt like all of my bad luck had been used up that day, I decided to make a pie.

I had never made a pie before but I had watched my mom make a few. She makes it look a lot easy than it is. I had rhubarb from the CSA we’re doing this summer and the number one thing anyone should do with rhubarb is put it in a pie. For our cabin weekend a couple weekends ago, I made a rhubarb crisp. It was good, but too sweet. I love rhubarb for it’s tartness. I basically followed this recipe from Saveur with some of my own additions and subtractions. I had to roll out the top crust four times. I still had to patch a crack on my last try but at some point you say to yourself, good enough. I didn’t put butter and sugar on top and I’m still not sure if I should have or not.

It’s hard to tell, but I cut a little heart into the center!

There was a lot of fake pressure to produce a glorious pie. The first time my partner-in-crime had a bite of a rhubarb pie my mom made, he said “I’ll marry you if you can make a pie like this.” Was he joking? Absolutely. Did I still have an urge to back a badass for him? Yup. After the pie was done but still warm, we dished up a couple slices. I couldn’t help myself and asked, “waht do you think?” His response? “It’s good for your first one.” I was not thrilled with his response but he was right. It was too sweet and not tangy enough. The pinched crust was too thick. The good news is, we had another couple slices last night but cold and it was WAY better, like, almost how my mom’s tastes, better.

A Joke.

I hope I grow up to be like my Gram. She’s full of surprises. I was talking to her on Monday and we have yet to get together for my birthday that was almost a month ago now. (Where does time go?) She made the comment, “I could always mail it” and then added, “but I probably shouldn’t since the west side has dogs sniffing packages.” Wait, was that just a Chris Perez joke? From my Gram? Oh, heck yes.

This Ride.

If I could describe my training and weight loss in a picture, it would look like this:

Two weeks ago I saw a number on the scale I had never seen before. I started getting back in shape, saw some improvements, and then I threw all of my hard work away in just two party weekends. I also had the opportunity to see yet another number on the scale I hadn’t seen before. I’m surprised I didn’t cry. I’m back on the wagon and seeing slight improvement and I’m trying not to be too hard on myself and it’s going well. I’ve got a plan. I know, I had a plan before, but I didn’t flush that down the toilet too. In addition to keeping track of my workouts and runs, I’m also now keeping track of what I stuff my face with on a daily basis and I’m back in cahoots with my accountability partner. Don’t worry though, I’m not going to walk through every morsel I’ve had. I’m not there yet. I’m also just really bad at taking pictures.

Side bar: I lost my camera (somewhere in my place) but need a new one anyways. Any recommendations? Nothing too fancy shmancy? Should I just be using my phone?

So here’s the half marathon training plan so far:

Not a lot to talk about here folks. Last week was crazy at work and I missed my Wednesday and Thursday runs but did a great job of resting on Friday and Monday. I didn’t get my 7m long run in on Saturday at Middlebass, but I did play volleyball for four or five hours, that counts for something, right? I may need to move cross-training to Mondays permanently. Yesterday, I remembered everything I needed to work out and I ran 3.5 miles outside.

As I suspected, I am much slower when I run outside versus on a treadmill. Without a belt demanding I go a certain pace, I tend to not go fast. I would hear the milesplit yesterday “10:30” and think, crap! I’m faster than that! Then I would pick up the pace and I really do feel comfortable at a 9:50-10 minute pace, then, my mind wanders. I’m thinking about bachelorette parties, happy hours, food, jewelry organizers, and before I know it, I hear the next milesplit announced, “10:40”.

I was hoping to run the Ohio City 5k this weekend but I’m going to run the seven miles I missed last Saturday instead. As much as I love that race, I know that would mean going wild & out afterward and I’m really hoping for a productive, quiet weekend.