no wrinkles for me, please

"Wear a smile and have friends; wear a scowl and have wrinkles."

George Eliot

second 5k race recap

Saturday was my second 5k.  I'm sure none of you want to hear my race recap, but I'm going to tell you anyway.

Ran the Run for Hope 5k with hubby, who obviously ran much faster than me.  He may be a little rusty (according to him), but his years and years of soccer training tend to make an appearance as soon as he kicks it into serious gear.  He's able to run much faster than me with much less advance training.

I had mixed feelings about this one.  I was not at all prepared for the number of hills on the course.  Seriously, I didn't even know you could fit that many small-to-medium hills into a 5k course.  It was super painful, since I wasn't prepared.  I was extra winded, couldn't keep a steady time, and got the most painful stitch in my side of my life.

All that said, I did somehow (miracle of miracles!) manage to beat my previous time. Must have been doing something right.  Made it in 31:39. 

Yes, I know I'm still slow, but I'm pretty proud of that number.  I could have beat it by MUCH more if the course/hills hadn't half-defeated me and if I hadn't been almost doubled over in pain halfway through from the awful stitch in my side. Oh well.  I beat the girl in the neon top with perfectly fixed hair, who provided excellent motivation for the last half mile or so. (Who still has perfectly curled hair at the END of a race?! Not me. That's for sure.)

Next up, I want to try a 10k!

Happy Monday!

wimp?

 "Running is a big question mark that's there each and every day. It asks you, 'Are you going to be a wimp, or are you going to be strong today?'"

--Peter Maher, two-time Olympic marathoner from Canada

Running my second 5k tomorrow. Wish me luck!

Boston

You know, when everyone was writing blog posts and news articles and personal reflections about the bombing of the Boston Marathon, I did not.  I didn't know what to write.  Was I qualified to say anything?  I've spent time in Boston and tried to get to know the city, but, though I went to college in Massachusetts, I was almost two hours from the capital city of the Commonwealth. Was I allowed to weigh in?

I had also just started running again, but I'm no where near qualified to write about runners and the pains of marathon runners suddenly caught off guard.  I've never run anything longer than a 5k.  I can't even imagine what the finish line to a marathon would even be like, let alone one so completely changed.

Lucky for me, staying quiet paid off.  A friend of mine put into words what I was hoping someone would: that this is not the way I remember Boston.  I will never ever remember Boston as The City Where That Guy Bombed the Marathon Once.  That's not Boston.

This is Boston.

Enjoy.

carrot fail

Guess carrots aren't my forte. Might need to try again.  They did mature fully and they're a good color, but clearly there's something lacking....

Perhaps I'll try again. Fewer seeds.  And I'll need to do more research (my specialty) to figure out what happened.

tolerable

“What is the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?"

- Henry David Thoreau

passion tea lemonade in a new cup

While on pinterest (a favorite recreational activity of mine), I stumbled across a pin linked to this blog post.  After a quick glance, I realized I had to try to make Passion Tea Lemonade.  Can you imagine a better drink to start summer?  (Well, maybe sweet tea....but this is still pretty high up there.)

I modified her technique a bit.  I used three teabags in the pitcher instead of the whole box, and I left the tea bags in my pitcher while it cooled in the fridge. More time to steep!  My tea was a bit weaker, but still tasty.

When I added the ingredients, I mostly eyeballed it. Ice, two thirds passion tea, one third lemonade.

Boy! was it good!

I'm sure you're all wondering (not really), but that's a new cup!  Hubby and I have been to a few baseball games already this year, and last week they happened to be having a sale on this particular cup.  I'm sure you can all guess how much I love things that are on sale. I had to have it.

It's the perfect size for a tasty summer drink!