Training June 4-June 10

Monday, June 4 - 16:01 ~1.5 miles  6:00 pm
Found a new place to run from the house...an ATV trail along the Wind River.  Through sage brush over mine and C's heads.  Ran the entire way.


Tuesday, June 5 - 21:00 ~2 miles 5:30 pm
Hot.  Horribly stifling.  85 degrees, I think.  Ominous clouds to the west.  Went along the Wind River again...found out that the trail ends in big rocks across the road at about a mile out, so may have to look into making a "loop" of doing the bit along the river, then hiking up into the badlands.  Ran the first 10 minutes, then ran a few minutes, walked 30 seconds...it was really warm and legs were tired.

Wednesday, June 6 - 22:56 ~2 miles  6:00 pm
Warm again.  Ran along the river with C.  Legs felt pretty good.  Ran a little bit beyond the boulders that close the path...just ends in an alfalfa field...Still a really nice little jaunt...training potential.  Walked a bit towards the end.

Thursday, June 7 - 22:08 ~2 miles 6:00 am
Woke up early to go for run today...have a program at the museum tonight.  Ran to the boulders and back.  Nice run...forgot how much I enjoy running early in the morning...you get the run out of the way, so that you don't lose motivation as the day progresses, and you start the day feeling refreshed and tired all at the same time, but yet with more energy.  For me anyways, for only 2 miles.  Oh, and the best part?  No wind.

Friday, June 8 - Rest

Saturday, June 9 - 20:42 ~ 2 miles 7:00 pm
Waiting for C to get back from his run...things ran a little late.  After prepping supper ( have a new method I'm testing for cooking tofu), decided to head out without him.  He got home right as I got to the bottom of the driveway.  Nice run out.  Legs felt pretty fresh after a day's rest.  The run back was into the damn wind...and I almost gave up and walked a couple times, but didn't.  Ran the entire way to the boulders and back.  


Sunday, June 10 - 21:22  ~2 miles  4:15 pm
Windy.  Very, very windy.  Out of the North.  So, I had the wind to my back out to the boulders, and then ran into it the whole way back.  Stomach was not cooperating for the run either.  The 101s are performing well.  Legs felt pretty decent.


Overall, a very positive and solid week.  Next week looking to start working in some 3 mile runs.  Next Saturday is the High Country Challenge.  Looks like I am going to be signing up for the 5k, even though I really had asperations of doing the 15k or 10k.  My body just is not getting back into running as quickly as I would like.  However, consistency will pay off.  The real goal is being able to run half-marathon distance by August 18th.

Training May 28-June 3

Monday, May 28 - Rest

Tuesday, May 29 - 16:18 ~1.5 miles 3:45 pm
Warm, windy.  Run 5, walk 1, Run 5, walk 1, Run.  Ick.  Not feeling the best, and lacking in motivation.  Went with C through the park.

Wednesday, May 30 - 15:14 ~1.5 miles  5:30 pm
Warm, breezy.  Run 5, walk :30, etc.  Feeling a bit better than yesterday.  With C through park.


Thursday, May 31 - 16:00 ~1.5 miles  4:40 pm
Deceptively warm.  Run 10, walk :30, run through end.  Improvement.  Through park with C.

Friday, June 1 - Rest (Travel to Utah.)

Saturday, June 2 - Rest.

Sunday, June 3 - 17:09 ~1.75 miles 6:00 am
Run from house into waterfowl preserve.  Bugs.  Cool but humid.  Made me miss Nebraska.  Ran the entire run...no walking!

Totals:  6.25 miles 

Overall, rocky week of starting training, but will strive for more consistency with the next week.

Bountiful Basket: Dill Soup

If you haven't heard about the Bountiful Basket, you can learn more about it here.  C and I have been participating since early February.  I enjoy unpacking our basket, and finding what my ingredients can create for the next week.  This week the gods smiled upon me by including fresh dill in the basket.  Dill Soup!  What a treat!

I associate dill soup with my childhood growing up in northeastern Nebraska.  It is a late spring/early summer dish that graced the table shortly after the garden started producing its first vegetables.  Tender chopped dill is combined with fresh green beans, new potatoes and boiled eggs, then folded into a tart/savory mixture of sour cream and vinegar.  All of these ingredients were abundant on the Czech farmstead, and was considered a treat that heralded in summer.

The potatoes, green beans, onion and dill all originated from the Bountiful Basket, and my parents' visit this past Memorial Day weekend plus the chilly mountain spring weather generated the perfect opportunity to haul out my enameled cast iron pot (an early wedding gift!), and introduce C to a Czech tradition.  Paired with sourdough bread, it was the perfect Memorial Day celebration.

Koprova [Dill Soup]
Adapted from the 1987 Verdigre Centennial Cookbook

3 medium-sized potatoes, cubed (or new potatoes, sliced in half)
2 Tbsp. chopped onions (I used 1/2 onion)
3 cups water
1 tsp. salt
2 cups fresh or canned green beans, optional (I would recommend not skipping this step...especially for fresh!)
1 cup sour cream
2 1/2 Tbsp. flour
3 eggs (or more...I use boiled eggs, and drop the peeled eggs into the soup in the last five minutes, 2 eggs
            per serving)
fresh dill (1-3 Tbsp.  I use up to 1 cup chopped...we like fresh dill!)
vinegar (1-2 or more tsp vinegar mixed into the soup adds zest)

Boil the potatoes and onions in the 3 cusps water with 1 tsp. salt until the potatoes are almost done.  Add the green beans, if desired.  Meanwhile, boil the eggs.  Remove the shell and set aside.  Mix the flour in the sour cream and slowly stir into the potato mixture.  When the soup comes to a boil, add the dill according to taste.  Add the eggs to the simmering soup.  Add the vinegar, if desired.  Continue to cook over low heat for another 5-10 minutes.  Serve piping hot.

Serves 4

Yellowstone, Spring!

I haven't been to Yellowstone in years, even though I've always lived within 100 miles...I guess I just didn't make time.  C and I went this weekend...a brief respite before the busy summer really kicks into gear.  Wildlife count (which you always must keep when you visit either of the parks):  1 sow and 3 black bear cubs (although all we really saw was a cub, but apparently this is the group we saw); a few elk; a few bison; a coyote; some very entertaining Canadian geese; blue herons; a very angry bird; and plenty of silly humans.  Note to self, never let a child hold items that can be tossed/lost over the edge of the railing at the waterfalls.

In other news....

Who knew that moving to Wyoming again would prove to be so life changing for me?  Wedding plans are now dominating my life, and each day is occupied by thoughts of invitations, decorations, and organization (what are we doing to eat, party favors?!).  Fortunately, I get a kick out of event planning, and have done lots of it before.  I think the difference, this time, for me, is that it is all very, very personal.  I'm putting a lot of myself & C out there for people to look at, think about, comment on, etc.  Somewhat unnerving.  But, the best part, is I'm getting to spend the rest of my life with someone who makes me laugh, shares my same values, and pretty much makes me all around happy.  What a lucky gal I am!

Thoughts during a Snow Storm

When I lived in Bozeman, MT, I did most of my running during the winter time.  As a city employee, I had a significant discount on a membership to a local gym.  The gym had a giant room with row upon row upon row of treadmills, stationary bikes, and eliptical machines.  The East-facing wall was a giant bank of windows with a view of the Bridger Mountains.  I primarily used my gym membership to attend yoga classes early in the morning during the spring and summer seasons.  My route to the studio involved passing this room, where fanatical suburbia moms and dads and college 20-somethings chugged away on the machines, plugged into their iPods, running towards the view of the mountains.  I found it infinitely depressing.  The few times I was in the gym during the winter, practically every machine propelled a sweating human.  Several of these individuals would, later in the day, find themselves on the lifts at either Big Sky or Bridger Bowl, standing in line to take a lift for their ski run down the mountain.  So, clearly, they were not afraid of the cold.  Why, then, toil on a machine when Bozeman had impeccable trails that made winter running exceedingly enjoyable? 

Frankly, I didn't, and still don't, really care.  Their presence in the gym meant that the trails were blissfully absent of humans.  I enjoy running in the winter.  This evening, while I trotted through a easterly snow storm, I was reminded of why I found it strangely satisfying to complete a run in the dawn or dusk of a winter day.  Part of it is the sense of accomplishment over such clear adversity that I feel after completeing my run.  Propelling myself to go for a run is hard enough, to do it when the wind is blowing the snow sideways adds a clear example of how significant it is that I went for a run that day.  Another part is the winter landscape.  Snow always muffles sounds, so I feel even more privacy as I squeak across the snow.  The dark contributes to the sense of solitude.  This evening, the a herd of approximately thirty elk were in the horse pasture below my cabin escaping the snow storm higher in the mountains.  The shadowy outlines moving in the darkness kept me company, reminding me that I am not the only thing relishing the camoflague lack of light provides.  Oddly enough, I also just like the cold.  The icy air rushing into my lungs and rasping in my throat tells me I am breathing.  The tingle of my numb skin as I warm up in the cabin is invigorating.  Best of all is the warm shower bringing life back to my limbs.  All of this makes running in the winter one of my favorite activities.  Now, to just remember this when I'm laying under my feather comforter trying to convince myself that a run is exactly what I need.

Wyoming...again.

Back in Wyoming.  I've been living here for a little over a year.  From a hike this fall...oh, and I have a dog now too.  Best mountain dog there is; his name is Moose.  Now that I've settled down a bit, will try blogging again.  Maybe.  I'm averaging one post a year, so what do I have to lose?