Mill Race Half-Marathon Recap

All things considered, I did OK yesterday and I must have run pretty hard because I'm sore today.

I spent Friday night plugging my recent 5K time in different race prediction calculators. The one I like most is HERE at www.runningforfitness.org. I put in 24:08 as my 5K time and it spit out 4 different times, ranging from 1:47:24 to 1:51:02. Basically, if I ran under 8:23 pace, I would break 1:50. This predictor spit out marathon times between 3:48:55 and 3:55:32. As with all race predictors, the longer your distance, the closer the predictor is going to be. If I put in my last half-marathon time of 1:55:45, it spit out marathon times between 3:59:16 and 4:06:43.

Anyway, I convinced myself I could try running an 8:30 pace in the morning.

It was perfect running weather in the morning. Cold enough that I needed my throw away jacket but once I started running, the temperature was perfect. The course was flat and there was shade for about 75% of the run. I would definitely run this race again.

The start though, was a cluster! There were no corrals. At the Expo, we were told there would be pace markers so people would know where to line up. Umm... so no pace markers to be found. I lined up about 100 yards behind the starting line because I thought that's where I should be. They started both the half-marathon and marathon runners at the same time. So now you have over 2800 runners who are suppose to use their judgment on where to stand behind the starting line on a street that's one lane each way.

I spent the first mile running around people walking and running at a much slower pace in front of me. I was pretty frustrated. There was even a tight turn about half mile from the start where it was so congested I had to slow to a walk. Then, my shoe came untied. I have run with my car key tied up in my shoe since I was in high school. The key is laced up behind the first lace hole so there's no chance of me losing the key unless I lose my entire shoe. My shoe has never become untied on ANY run before. I felt it was untied because I started feeling my key flopping around. I had finally cleared most of the slower people in front of me but I had to stop on the side to re-tie my shoe and then start passing everyone all over again.

All told though, the first half went pretty well except that in classic HaeWon fashion I went out too fast...

Mile 1 - 8:23
Mile 2 - 8:24
Mile 3 - 8:18, whoops, way too fast
Mile 4 - 8:31
Mile 5 - 8:25
Mile 6 - 8:21

At this point, I'm feeling really good and thought I might actually break 1:50. Then I got tired...

Mile 7 - 8:40, includes stopping to fumble with my gel and get it and some water down
Mile 8 - 8:34
Mile 9 - 8:44, I could really feel myself slowing down at this point
Mile 10 - 8:43
Mile 11 - 8:55, I was really starting to struggle to hold it together
Mile 12 - 8:51
Mile 13 - 8:43
last 0.1 - 1:29

Official finish time - 1:53:00
Average mile pace - 8:37
Overall place - 384 out of 2302
Overall female place - 82 out of 1172
40-44 female age group - 12 out of 163

My Garmin says I ran 13.18 miles. That's probably due to all the people I had to weave around during that first mile. Plus, my shoe came untied a second time during the race and I had to stop to retie it again.

Plugging this time into the race predictor I get a marathon time of between 3:53:47 and 4:00:51. So really close to my goal of 3:55 but not quite there. I have about 2 more weeks of hard training time before I start to taper. I am telling myself that people try for years to qualify for Boston so I shouldn't be disappointed if I miss in my first attempt, especially since I just decided in May to do this.

After I got done, I wanted to see the winner of the marathon finish. I found a great spot on the second floor of the parking garage where I could sit on top of a fence and look down on the finish line. I figured the winner was going to cross between 2:15 and 2:20. There were several elite runners who had come into town for the race and had PRs between 2:09 and 2:23 according to our info packets. So I waited... and waited...and waited.

Finally, over 2:30 into the race they announced that the marathon winner was coming down the street. I looked and recognized Danny Fisher in his "Quaff On" singlet. He is a local runner that runs for Quaff On Racing, a team sponsored by Big Woods Brewing Company out of Nashville, IN. I thought, "That's great! A local guy won the inaugural marathon race." I figured the Kenyan and Ethiopian elites that had come in for the race had all run the half-marathon and were already done. I then got in my car and left.

Turns out, the elites DID run the marathon. I'm assuming the three of them in this article HERE were running together as a lead pack; they got "lost" for a few miles. The bicyclist that was suppose to be leading the lead pack went the wrong way! Since Danny Fisher is a local guy, he knew the course and went the right way. Talk about controversy! I will have to say, the course was complicated. It had a bazillion turns through the whole city. I did not know the course but I always had someone to follow.

All in all, the race was great. The whole downtown area was closed off for a big "block party" afterwards that included a zip line, bungee jump, and climbing wall. All the restaurants downtown had outdoor seating and there were all kinds of other booths set up. I didn't get to stay because I had to get my daughter to "Nutcracker" rehearsal. I would definitely do this again next year. Things I would do differently...

1. Start about 10 feet behind the starting line rather than 100 yards
2. Get a "small" T-shirt rather than a "medium"
3. Have the whole day to enjoy the post-race festivities

Come join me next year!

Train Wreck

Train wreck. That pretty much sums me up right now... me, my week, my training, my state of mind. My mileage is in the gutter, my sleep is all messed up, my body feels slow and bloated, and.. oh... I have a half marathon to run in the morning. Ack!!!!

So I had a 20 miler planned for Sunday morning. I got up at 5 am so I could be ready to run by 6 am. Then, I decided it wasn't really going to be that hot in the morning and I really didn't want to run with a headlamp again so maybe I'd just wait until it was light out. I dozed on the couch some more. It got light a little after 7. I got in my car and drove to park it, got out, then decided I really didn't feel like running. I was just too tired. My bed was still calling my name. I drove back home and went to bed.

My heels have really been hurting. I ran with the group last Thursday then took Friday and Saturday off. They were still painful on Sunday morning though and I think I kinda psyched myself out on running on them.

So... Sunday. Nada. Got up early. Wasted about 2.5 hours of quality sleep time then got nothing done.

Monday. Still tired. I cleaned up stuff around the house all day then finally decided to run in the evening. I was feeling much better and decided that if I could run 10 on Monday night and 20 on Tuesday, I would be back on track on my training schedule this week. I got 9 miles in and felt great. It got too dark to safely get that last mile in since I was wearing black shorts and a navy T-shirt and the road I was on was pitch dark with curves and no shoulder.

Tuesday. Got up at 5 again to run at 6. At 5:30 am it occurred to me that, again, it wasn't that hot out and I could easily run later in the day. Duh! Other thing was that I was suppose to work night shift that night so, really, I should be sleeping in. Went back to sleep (actually hid in the basement since the rest of the family thought I was running!) and snoozed til 10. Finally got out on the road at 11 am. I got a little over 12 miles in, then decided I was just too tired to continue. Nothing hurt any more than usual but I was just tired. I was also back at my house at this point so I threw in the towel and stopped and had my husband drive me back to my car.

Came back home and went back to bed again until the kids came home. Then, it was make dinner, run kids to their activities, and be at work by 7 pm.

Work was crazy. I am a total shit magnet. At one point, I had every police agency in the area - city, county, and state, as well as ambulance services from two different counties dropping patients off. Only good thing is that time went fast and I was still awake at 7 am.

Wednesday. Finally got home, drove my daughter to school, and went to bed. Woke up at 1 pm. What do you eat when you wake up at 1 pm? Breakfast? Lunch? Ice cream?

I had planned on getting 5-6 miles in before going back to work in the evening but that just didn't happen. I only got 5 hours of sleep, kids got out of school early, and I had to do dinner and run kids to their activities again before going back to work by 7 pm.

Wednesday night wasn't near as crazy as Tuesday night so I had hopes of trying to get my sleep and running back on track on Thursday. Nope. I ended up sleeping until noon then didn't get a run in. I figured I'd at least go to bed at a decent hour and try to get my sleep somewhat straightened out. That didn't happen either. Seems my younger daughter had a hard day at school and passed out on the couch when she came home. I couldn't even wake her up for dinner. She finally woke up at 8 pm in a panic because she had a large amount of homework. One of the things she had to do was find 8 vocabulary words in a book she was reading. The words were suppose to be somewhere in the first 8 chapters. She read those 8 chapters 3 times and still could not find 2 of the words. She was in total melt down mode by then and still had more homework to do since she had gotten hung up on finding those words. I finally couldn't take her melt down anymore and told her to move on while I found the words. I read those $%#&! chapters two times and still couldn't find one of the words. By then it was 1:15 AM so I decided we were both going to bed. 2 am - yup - I'm still awake staring at the ceiling. I finally took a sleeping pill to knock myself out.

Today. I let my daughter sleep in and drove her to school. Even went through Starbucks so she could have a Pumpkin Spice Latte for Café Friday. Came home and thought I'd be productive but wanted to lay down for a minute. Next thing I know, I'm looking at the clock and it says 9:45 am. There is something warm next to me that I thought was my daughter. I panicked and thought we had both overslept and she was late for school. I jumped up and shook the warm thing next to me, telling it to "get up so we can get to school." Then I really woke up and realized that that warm thing was actually the dog and remembered that I had already taken my daughter to school!

OK. Time to try and get my head together and prep for my race tomorrow. The weather is warming up and it's suppose to be 53 degrees between 6-8 am tomorrow morning and 64 degrees by 10 am (race starts at 8 am). Nevertheless, I headed out to Goodwill and picked up a throw away jacket.

I drove down to Columbus to pick up my race packet and scope out the parking and port-a-potties. I got a parking pass for the parking garage next to the start/finish line but it looks like I might need to be there close to 6 am to get a space.

I went to the grocery store to pick up more supplies...

I think gels in general are awful. However, after over an hour of running, things get a lot more palatable - especially when I start to feel hungry. I usually use vanilla flavored gels because they are the least offensive, however the vanilla flavored ones don't have caffeine. I want caffeine! The tangerine flavor really isn't too bad. I started drinking the Gatorade Recovery drinks because they contain 20 grams of protein per bottle. It's much easier for me to drink my protein than try to choke down food within an hour after my run.

I'll drive down to my in-laws in Columbus later this evening and spend the night there. I have no idea how this race is going to go tomorrow. I am really running it as a well supported tempo run to see how prepared I am for my marathon in November. I have put in a lot more mileage lately than I did for my half in May but I'm not too sure about the quality of that mileage. Part of my brain tells me I can probably run this at least as fast or faster than I did in May. Another part says to not push it too much but just get a good run in. Well, what exactly is a "good" run? 9 minute pace? 8:45? Is 8:30 pushing it? I have no idea. This has not been a good confidence building week for me. I feel like if I really push the pace and fail, it will really hurt me mentally. On the flip side, a good run will really be a boost.

I've found that so much of distance running is just mental. Somedays I'm sure I slow my pace or cut my runs short because I simply get "bored" in some sense. My body isn't hurting too bad and I'm not absolutely gasping for air or anything, but I just don't want to continue. I am really hoping I can just hold everything together for 13.1 miles tomorrow.

Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Salad

Ever have a craving for something that just won't go away until it's satisfied? Well, I had a craving for beets the other day (...and NO, I am NOT pregnant!) I wanted a beet salad like you can get at a fancy schmancy restaurant. You know, those restaurants that charge you $7 for a wedge of lettuce. It also might have been that Meijer had their goat cheese crumbles on sale and I wanted to eat those too. Anyways, this is what I came up with...

ROASTED BEET AND GOAT CHEESE SALAD

1 lb beets (they are 0.99/lb at Meijer)

spinach or greens of your choice

goat cheese crumbles

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

First, give your beets and good scrubbing, then put a little oil on them and wrap them in foil.

All wrapped up and ready to go. Put the wrapped beets in a 400 degree oven and roast for 45 minutes to an hour.

Once beets are cooked, the skins will peel or rub right off. Wear gloves though if you do not want pink fingers.

Chop up your peeled beets. Throw some greens in a bowl, top with beets and goat cheese in generous amounts, then sprinkle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar on top to taste. Voila! You have a fancy schmancy roasted beet and goat cheese salad.

I made the first plate of salad on a salad plate. My daughter inhaled it in less than a minute. I had to go to a big salad bowl for the next serving so I could enjoy some too!

Have a great weekend. Gotta go to work now :(









Hump Day

I seriously need someone to push my rump over the hump today.

Lately, it seems like I have a good training week, then a bad one. I am just plain tired today. Yesterday I got up at 4 am to run with the group from the fitness center. I haven't raced in almost a month and I haven't run with the group in about as long so I haven't done ANY speedwork. I am getting worried that I am building distance but losing speed. So anyway, I got up at 4 am yesterday to play follow the leader in the dark. I did OK running while half asleep. I thought we ran faster than usual...

Mile 1 - 8:22
Mile 2 - 7:38
Mile 3 - 8:21
Mile 4 - 8:56
Mile 5 - 8:53
Mile 6 - 9:02

We always stop after 3 miles to let the rest of the group catch up. I still haven't figured out the route for the first 3 miles of our run but I know the last 3 now. I keep thinking that one day I'll try running it in the daylight and figure it out!

I felt better after seeing my times from yesterday. Today is another story. I SO wanted to sleep in this morning except I had to drive my older daughter to school because she had a poster board to bring in, then I had a conference call for work from 7:30 am  to 9 am. I was supposed to run 12 miles after that. I could NOT get my butt out the door. All I wanted to do was curl up in a big ball and go to sleep. I ended up procrastinating until noon. When I finally got out, it started out overcast and I thought it was going to sprinkle rain - which would have been great. Instead, the sun came out. I plodded along and felt like this was completely a junk run. I ended it after my first 6 mile loop.

Going to start over again tomorrow. I have to get my PALS (Pediatric Advanced Life Support) recertification tomorrow. Class starts at 9 am. I am planning to get up at 4 am to get 6 miles in with the group again, then run another 6 miles on my own after my recert class is over in the afternoon.

I think part of my reluctance to get out the door these days is that my heels are killing me. I am getting paranoid that I might have stress fractures. They hurt so bad I can barely put weight on them when I first stand up but then I get used to it. I hobble through my first mile or so, but then the pain generally either goes away or there are other things - like my left hamstring and butt cheek - that hurt worse so I don't notice it. As soon as I get done running though, the pain is there again - especially if I am walking around in my bare feet with nothing to pad my heels. I don't think I'm going to get it looked at though since the obvious "fix" to my problem would be to rest my feet. I'm hoping to hold out until November 2nd, then rest my feet after that!

Progress

I am enjoying a day of rest today! I had a huge day yesterday that topped off my already busy week. I actually ended up all alone last night - no hubby and no kids - and what did I do? I dropped over at 10 pm and slept!

So here is how Week 11 of my training went...

Sunday - 5 miles
Monday - exercise bike X 30 minutes and weights after seeing the chiropractor
Tuesday - 10 miles
Wednesday - 5 miles
Thursday - rest
Friday - 10 miles
Saturday - 20 miles

Total of 50 miles for the week. I did it! Made all my mileage for the week. I got up at 4 am yesterday so I could eat and be awake and ready to run by 5 am. I ended up wearing a headlamp. I felt like a dork but it was pitch black out and I didn't want to get run over either. I got 13.5 miles in before the sun came up but, overall, it was a beautiful morning for a long run. 45 degrees when I started and 54 degrees when I finished 3:36 later. I was nervous about how long it was taking me but I kept reminding myself that I had run 10 the day before and that this was suppose to be my "slow" run. I have two more 20 milers on my training schedule so I'll see if there's any improvement in my time.

Got my run in, treated myself to a bacon, egg, and spinach Panini at Einsteins, showered and went to my daughter's football game. My husband hijacked the family after the game and made us run errands with him before coming home. Then, it was off to Carmel with my younger daughter to see what she had been cast as in the "Nutcracker."

My daughter is a mouse, a child of the kingdom, AND  Klara's understudy!! This is a huge deal for her since Klara and Sugarplum are the leads in the dance. She's not the lead but she's incredibly excited to be the understudy. Also looks like we will be in Carmel EVERY Saturday and Sunday until December for rehearsal.

After the casting call, we swung by the mall and my parents' house, then drove an hour back home. It was 7 pm by then. My younger daughter went to a friend's house, my older daughter went to a friend's house, and my husband had already left town AGAIN. So it was just me... and I dropped over!

So here's the work I did on my basement this week...

BEFORE

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER

I'm still working on the dining room but hope to have it done in the next day or two. I've got a couple more carloads of stuff to haul out of the house but I am resting today. I made a grocery run this morning so I might make a pie - recipe here soon if I do.

Cafe Fridays and Plink

Ahhhh, to be a fifth grader again...

My younger daughter's teacher has started a thing called "Café Fridays." Basically every Friday morning the kids get to lounge with their favorite book while eating a cinnamon roll or other breakfast snack and sip a drink. Sounds like a great way to start a Friday morning. Can I join?

Of course my daughter HAD to have some new books for Café Friday. Actually, she wanted some books that she had checked out of the library so many times that we might as well owned them. Luckily her deal seeking mom had a solution. I belong to Plink. Plink is a rewards site that gives you points for purchases at select retailers. You have to register one credit card, then, every time you use your registered credit card at the selected retailer, you are awarded points. You can then redeem points for gift cards. Generally 500 points equals a $5 gift card, 1000 points equals a $10 gift card, and so on. I like it because I can double dip on rewards this way.

I am a firm believer in getting the most out of your money. If I am spending money, I want something back for it.  I have a rewards credit card that I buy EVERYTHING with. Doesn't matter if it's fifty cents, it goes on the card. The card gets paid off every month so I never carry a balance or pay any fees but I rack up a boat-load of rewards points this way. By registering the same card with Plink, I am now getting Plink points and credit card reward points on the same purchase. Sometimes you can even pull off a triple dip this way. For example, Outback Steakhouse is one of the retailers you can choose on Plink. Outback also had it's own rewards program (that of course I belonged to). So, buy a meal at Outback with your registered card, get rewards credit card points, Plink points, AND Outback rewards points. A triple dip; get credit for three different rewards programs with the same dollar you are spending. Unfortunately Outback stopped it's rewards program over the summer so I can't do the triple dip anymore.

So, back to Café Fridays. One of the available rewards on Plink is a Barnes and Noble gift card. I cashed in some Plink points for a gift card.

We got two books and everyone was happy! If you have a Kindle, there are Amazon gift cards on Plink too. I think I'm going to start having my own Café Fridays after the kids go to school. This is what I'm reading now...

"A Life Without Limits" by 3-time Ironman World Champion Chrissie Wellington. I highly recommend it. It's not just about triathlon, but more about her journey in life and it is SO good.

Read any good books lately?

If you want to join PLINK, click HERE for my referral link. We will both get 100 points.

Goodbye Little Chair...

Goodbye little table and chairs...

Goodbye little rocking chair...

I hope someone loves and enjoys these as much as we did. We had some dear friends (Bill and Sue) in Michigan who bought these at an Amish furniture store in the Shipshewana, IN area. They have two girls that are several years older than my older daughter and a son that was born the same summer as my older daughter. We used to have get togethers at their house all the time and their little girls would sit at the little table and chairs to eat while the grown-ups sat in our grown up chairs.

When their girls out grew the little table and chairs, Sue gave them to me. She also gave me this little rocking chair. Both my girls sat at the little table and chairs and rocked in the rocking chair too. But now they are grown and the furniture has been in my basement for years. They have some sentimental value and I wanted to pass them along to someone too... I just couldn't find the right someone.

This weekend, I was flipping through the Center Grove magazine when I came across an article about Storehouse Ministries in Whiteland, IN. They provide free furniture to people in need. The article just struck a cord when it said "Items are given to a client at no cost and are gifts from the Lord; therefore, they are never to be sold." I decided this is where the furniture needed to go. It was given to me and I wanted to give it to someone else. So, last night, my younger daughter and I packed it all in my SUV, drove it over, and said goodbye.

Remember when I said I was purging my house this week? Well this is what I'm facing...

Basement bar area

Another basement view

Doesn't everyone have a ballet barre in their dining room?

So my Big Kid (aka my husband) is gone all week and he may be my biggest slob of all (shhh... don't tell him I said that!) My goal is to clean all this up while he is gone.

Rich and Paula from Storehouse Ministries came to my house with a truck today. They picked up...

...this bookcase/TV stand that I bought (from a garage sale) when I was a senior in college. Yes, I get attached to my stuff but I finally decided it needed to go.





...this table that I got from Goodwill several years ago, right before fair week. I didn't own my bun rack yet and was in serious need of some more flat surfaces that I could put stuff down on in my kitchen. This table fit the bill perfectly... then, it somehow could never leave my house - until today.

They also got my crib and changing table - not pictured because it was disassembled. My youngest child will be 11 next month. The Big Kid will be thrilled to find out I finally got it out of our basement.

Hopefully, I will have some "after" pictures in a day or so. I got a workout hauling all the furniture up from the basement and into our garage so it could get picked up. I also got 5 miles in this morning before it got ridiculously hot. All I have to do now is go to work until 7 am tomorrow.

See you all on the other side!

Being a Mom

Mommy duties have really kept me busy lately and have altered some of my running plans. Actually, my husband being out of town is altering my plans too!

Last weeks training started out OK. I made it to hump day on track...

Sunday - 4 miles
Monday - 9 miles
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 19 miles

Then it went downhill from there...

Thursday - blew off cross-training
Friday - too tired to run after work
Saturday - planned on running a 5K but ended up not running at all

So Week 10 ended up with 32 of my planned 45 miles.

My husband was out of town last weekend and I hadn't been to any of my daughter's football games where she is cheering yet. My 5K was in Brownstown which is about 2 hours away. I was tied for first place in the 40-44 women's age group points standings in the Crossroads of Indiana Road Racing Series.  My in-laws offered to get my daughter to and from the school but it was an away game and the kids can leave with their parents if their parents go to the game. The last time she went to an away game, I was running the Sprint with the Spirit 5K so she ended up being the only kid on the bus going home. She was going to be the only kid on the bus again if I didn't go to the game. I went to the game. The woman that I was tied with is a faster runner than me. She ended up third overall. Looking at the times, I think I would have finished fourth or fifth. Oh well, there will be more races this fall. I intended to go running after I got home from the football game but sitting outside in the sun all morning had me zapped so I ended up napping instead.

So my husband is out of town AGAIN this week. I was going to run with the group at the fitness center at 5 am this morning for part of my run, as I had 10 miles on the schedule. Well... last night, my older daughter had a breakdown over her Honors Biology test this morning. Seems she missed class a couple times on account of being sick one day and going to the orthodontist another day and didn't know what was going on. I had to help her learn all about ionic and covalent bonds and carbohydrate and sugar structures. Ummm...yeah.... I was clueless. I had to get online and refresh my own memory. Not like I have a Honors BS in Biochemistry or anything. That is ancient history. I couldn't even remember the definition of an atomic number.

We were up til midnight so nevermind getting up at 4 am to go running! I ended up going to the fitness center and running 10 miles indoors after the kids got to school. I ran 5 miles outside on Sunday and just melted. I was going to run in the evening but decided at 2 pm to get it done. It had just sprinkled some rain. Instead of making it cooler, it was a sauna outside. I didn't realize this until I started running. I got so overheated I had to walk about a 100 yards after 3.5 miles of running, then slogged it on home. I've decided I'm tired of summer. Definitely ready for some crisper weather!

I am purging the house this week. I took used soccer stuff to Play It Again Sports yesterday as well as 4 bags of stuff to Goodwill. I've got more things in the Goodwill pile as well as stuff for Once Upon a Child, Half Price Books, and a church in Whiteland that is taking used furniture.

What are you doing this week?

Insalata Caprese

Insalata Caprese is one of my favorite salads. Simple but simply delicious! It was a perfect way to use my

DEAL OF THE DAY

$1.29 each after coupon!

Kroger has the Galbani Mozzarella Fresca 8 oz balls on sale for $2.79. They are normally $5.89 each. There is a printable coupon for $3 off any 2 Galbani Mozzarella Fresca items at the Galbani website HERE. You have to give them your email address to print the coupon. So, buy 2 at the sale price, use the coupon, pay $2.58 for two balls of fresh mozzarella which is a savings of $9.20 off the regular price.

Insalata Caprese

8 oz  fresh mozzarella

Large tomato or few smaller tomatoes

Balsamic vinegar

Olive oil

Fresh basil

Slice your mozzarella into rounds. Slice your tomatoes the same. Layer them on a plate. Drizzle with balsamic vinegar and olive oil as desired (I just use balsamic vinegar). Top with fresh chopped basil.

Fresh and simple. It's the easiest thing I've done all day.

I am adjusting to life after doubles - as in double coupons. No more doubles anywhere so I am finding high value coupons and combining them with the weekly deals. Kroger is having a Mega Sale this week and next. Buy 5 items on the Mega Sale list, get $5 off automatically at checkout. They also have the lowest price on milk this week at $1.88 a gallon.

Here was the rest of my Kroger shopping trip:

18 eggs $1.89 after Mega discount

Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal $0.88 after Mega discount and $1 coupon HERE

Honey Nut Cheerios cereal $0.88 after Mega discount and $1 coupon HERE

2 Edy's ice cream $2.49 each after Mega discount and $1 off 2 coupon

Milk $1.88

Gatorade Recover Protein Shake FREE after Kroger eCoupon

$13.09 total

I mainly just picked up the family essentials - milk, eggs, and ice cream!









Find any good deals lately?

Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins

First off, let me tell everyone I am officially ACLS (Advanced Cardiovascular Life Support) certified by the American Heart Association for the next two years. Our hospital has a somewhat ridiculous staff requirement that all the staff physicians have to have this certification. This is a certification that any lay person can get if they take the class and pass the test. It basically means I know how to do CPR, bag a person (since mouth-to-mouth is ancient history), operate an AED (there are directions printed on the machine), and know what basic medication to give to try and resuscitate a person. It's a ridiculous requirement for us Emergency Medicine peeps since this is what we do for a living and we all have a Specialty Board Certification in Emergency Medicine. It's like telling the surgeons they need to take a class on how to stitch every two years. Anyway, I got to spend the day taking my recertification class.

The day started off gloriously. My older daughter slept through her alarm. Totally missed the bus. Couldn't get ready in time at ALL! (Can you tell that I'm yelling?) I drove her to school and she was still tardy. All that yelling at her to hurry made it so I was now running behind so I had no time for breakfast or coffee. Can't sit in class all day with no food or coffee. My solution was to drive through McDonald's for breakfast but their coffee is totally undrinkable. Luckily, Starbucks was next door. I decided I deserved a splurge. So, I pull up to order my latte and I see that they have their fall pumpkin themed specials advertised - including their pumpkin cream cheese muffins. I love these muffins! Not for almost $3.00 a muffin though. I'm cheap and I already had McDonald's so it was an easy pass this morning (not to say I haven't passed before).

So class started this morning with an hour long video in a darkened room. I was going cross-eyed with the head nod going too. My mind drifted back to pumpkin muffins... Then I remembered that I had just received the latest King Arthur Flour catalog.

The back page had pumpkin cream cheese muffins pictured with a note that the recipe was on their website.

Digressing again... King Arthur Flour... the most expensive contest I ever won. 2008. King Arthur Flour was a new sponsor at the Indiana State Fair. I had never even heard of them. Their contest that year was a coffee cake made in a Bundt cake pan. Everyone had to make the same recipe. I made the coffee cake while watching Michael Phelps swim in the Beijing Olympics. The recipe said to bake the coffee cake for 60 minutes. I pulled it out after 45 minutes and it looked absolutely burnt. It was so dark I considered not entering it at all. I brought it to the Fair the next day anyway. And I won! I was totally shocked. There was no way! I guess the judge liked really brown things. First place was a $75 gift card to the King Arthur Flour website. I went to their website and got completely hooked, hook, line, and sinker. I love their products. I love their blog. I love their recipes. Their marketing person is a genius. They gave me $75. I have given them hundreds!

Inside-Out Pumpkin Muffins

link to original recipe is HERE

8 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup sugar

few drops Fiori di Sicilia flavoring (optional) or vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin puree

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown sugar

3 tablespoons vegetable oil

1/4 cup boiled cider OR dark corn syrup

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup milk

1 1/2 cups flour

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin or line with papers. FYI, I ended up with 15 muffins with this recipe.

Place cream cheese in an oven safe bowl and heat for 30-40 seconds. Mix in sugar and flavoring. Set aside.

Put everything else but the flour in a mixing bowl and whisk together. Stir in your flour. Spoon about a tablespoon of batter in the bottom of each muffin cup. Put a scoop of cream cheese filling on top.

NOTE: I love cream cheese. I seriously thought I was putting a small cheesecake inside each muffin. There is a LOT of filling. You could easily cut the amount of filling in half and be OK.

Cover cream cheese with more batter so cups are about 3/4 full. Bake for 18-20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Proof that I might be an addict. I already had all their products I needed for this recipe!





Mushroom Risotto

Funny how the month changes and the weather suddenly changes with it. I am really enjoying this crisp turn in the weather. It also made me have a craving for some warm comfort food. I was trying to organize my cupboards and realized I had some Arborio rice. Perfect. Risotto it is!

I had just enough to make this!

The original recipe was from Simply Recipes, found here. I made some wee little adjustments (like why use 3/4 cup cream when I buy it in an 8 oz container?) Also, looks like the website updated the recipe in 2004. Mine is the pre-update recipe!

4 tablespoons butter
2 cups mushrooms
2/3 cup white wine (I use chardonnay)
1 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/3 cup chopped onions
1 3/4 cup Arborio rice
7 cups chicken stock
Parmesan cheese
pepper to taste
green onions, chives, or parsley to top

You will need two saucepans. Use the smaller one first.

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter and sauté mushrooms for 5 minutes.

Add white wine and simmer until liquid is reduced in half.

Add heavy cream and simmer for 5 more minutes, then remove from heat.

In your larger saucepan, melt the remaining butter with the olive oil and sauté the chopped onions until clear, about 3-5 minutes. Add rice and stir to coat.

Next, you are going to slowly add hot chicken stock, a half cup at a time, until all of it gets absorbed and the rice gets all thick and creamy. Simply Recipes tells you to simmer all the stock in another pot and scoop it out from there. That's too many pots on my stovetop for me! I pour my stock in a big measuring cup, 2 cups at a time, and microwave it for 1-2 minutes. That way it's nice and hot and I can just pour it from the measuring cup.

Hot Chicken Stock

Rice after 2 cups of stock

After all the stock has been absorbed, stir in the mushroom cream sauce. Add pepper to taste. Top it with all the Parmesan cheese and green stuff you want and enjoy.

 

All done!



Creamy Cheesy Mushroomy Warm Goodness!

Needless to say, this is not a low-calorie dish. That's why I'm in the Run-to-Eat Club! The cooler weather allowed me to sleep in this morning and put my long run off until about 10:30 am. I got 19 miles in without having a heat stroke. I think my face is going to be a little red tomorrow though. My leg still hurts too so I hope I can walk tomorrow!

What's your favorite comfort food?