Paine 2 Pain, Delaney Fit Camelbak, and Apples with Delaney and DHedd!

Today we ran 12.3 miles on trails. A loop. From Thomas Paine cottage to Pain College in New Rochell. And we did it in 2 hours and 2 minutes. Up and down, through the woods, over slippery foot bridges, around and over rocks, through mud, through more mud, through insane mud... But we did it!

Path: Leatherstocking Trail to Saxon Woods, to Hutchinson River Trail. Follow the blue stars! And yay for the yellow flags, as the true Paine 2 Pain Half Marathon was run earlier in the morning, so we had a gingerbread trail to follow. Nature was beautiful with chipmunks, waterfalls, babbling brooks, bogs, fall foliage, and reservoirs to name a few highlights.

New Balance Minimus Trail 20, thank you.

Camelbak belt with water bottle and large pocket for my cell phone (in case we got lost, which we did, a lot!), gu, and energy jelly beans. Chocolate Raspberry Roctane 2x caffeine gu was very tasty. Watermelon beans were hard to chew mid run, definitely a pre-run snack. Water was lovely.

Yesterday we were up in Altamont (by Albany) picking Empire and Kendall apples off trees with Danielle and Eileen and Eileen's roommate at Indian Ladder. We had a lovely turkey, apple, cranberry-mayo and swiss sandwich inside, some delectable apple-cinnamon doughnuts, both cold and hot apple cider, and apple tea. Today, again I found myself fueling with fresh picked apples, and soon, if you're lucky, I will share a killer apple pie recipe that I plan on making again later this week. For now, time to put my feet up and make sure all my bones are still connected. Go Giants!

Tombolino's Lunch Special

11.95 gets you: Eggplant Rollatini, Soup or Salad (neither is even close to skimpy, the soup is a meal on its own), dessert and coffee or espresso. Even on Saturdays. (Other entrees were 2-3 dollars more, unless you want steak which will run you around $22.) So is it good?

You bet your socks! The kind of socks that you need because you're suffering from severe blisters. So bet 'em.

First, the white bean escarole soup on display in the picture was hearty, and not overly-beany which I despise. Plus, the taste was fantastic. I wanted a whole jug of it to save for the upcoming winter months. Unfortunately, the soup by itself is $8.00 Boo. But I loved it. Adored it. Yet another reason why I need a food processor. Though, I probably don't for that type of soup. Tomatoes, onions, white beans, and escarole in a tomato-esque, chicken (I think) broth.

The eggplant rollatini portion size was small by appearance, but I was so stuffed from the soup and Addeo bread (best bread in the BX, maybe the country) that it was fine. Tasty morsel, with delicious broccoli (yes, delicious) and a giant tater tot creation that probably has a fancy French name I can't spell on the side. I took most of it home, and can't wait to eat it for lunch one of these days.

I opted for the espresso and the Italian vanilla ice cream sprinkled with almonds and topped with a maraschino cherry over the Italian cheesecake. I'm not a huge cheesecake fan in general, and the Italian version is a bit too cakey for my taste. Lovely, and the perfect topper to a great lunch.

But better than that was the company, my amazingly awesome 90 year old grandfather, who kept me entertained with stories the entire time. Lunch special was great, company was great, price was great. Can't go wrong!

Turkey Thursdays and Pumpkin Brownies

So today I found a bargain that nobody could turn down. A 7 lb turkey for 99 cents a pound. So seven bucks and I had myself a turkey!

I put oven at 350, poured half a container of Chicken broth, tossed some Herbs de Provence, and put a little butter in the cavity. I covered it in tinfoil and left it in for an hour. Checked it, cranked it up to 400, removed the tinfoil, and left it in for another 30-40 minutes. When it said 165 on the thermometer, I took it out and let it cook itself to 180 degrees. Delicious.

Then, I made a dark chocolate brownie mix adding nothing but a can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix). No eggs, no oil, no water. Baked at 350 for 35 minutes in an 8x8 glass dish. Fudgey amazingness.

New Balance Minimus 20 Trail Running Sneakers & Gu

Wowzers.

A. I ran 10 miles.
B. I did it in the new "barefoot" style trail shoe by New Balance.
C. I'm living to tell about it.

So, first of all, Brad and I signed ourselves up for the Manasquan Reservoir 5 Miler. We figured that we had to run 10 anyway, so why not run 5 with some other people, and then just loop around again? Trails are nice, there are gentle rolling hills, and we get a t-shirt and donate some money to the foundation that keeps the park clean and preserved. Win-Win-Win.

People were insanely friendly, the race was meticulously organized, and the t-shirt was pretty cool, with no sponsors on the back (all the proceeds go to the park), and a different, off-white color. (Sorry fashionistas, not sure if it's ivory, beige, or what. But it's cool.)

I promised I wouldn't race the 5 miles, and I didn't. In fact, I have some weird pacing monitor in my brain that I really can't explain. My goal was 10 minute miles, and when we looped around the first time, we clocked in at 48 minutes. Only 2 minutes FASTER than "ideal" pace. So I was stoked. My feet felt good, they announced our names and where we live over the loudspeaker when we crossed the line, and they handed me a water bottle. I casually threw a, "Thanks" over my shoulder, wearing a big grin, and we continued right around again. Some guy in a Rutgers hat pulled a Jamie and said, "Going again for good measure." Brad thinks he was proud of us. I know we were proud of us.

So, now let me interject with a quick review of the NB MT20. Awesome shoe. Supposed to fit tight, like a glove, and mine definitely do. There's a strange bottom with circles for traction, and while, unfortunately, some girl behind us WIPED out, we felt traction-y and safe the entire time. You can definitely feel the rocks a little more, with the thin Vibram sole, but it's not painful. Plus, the shoe only weighs 7.5 ounces. Insane. I bought the men's version, as did Brad. I can't get over how light weight they are, and they're pretty stylin' and profilin' on top of it. Now, the shoe does come with warnings about using it as only 10% of your running at first, because the minimalist style will force you to run more on your midfoot, which could make your calves burn and other such running injuries. However, I am no woman of caution, and I already have a mid-foot strike, so I charged right ahead. Brad opted to do the same. Both of us were fine after 10 miles, granted, fine as in that's the longest we have ever run in our lives and we were both still standing. My calves burned for two days after, and getting out of bed in the morning was more like the creation of Frankenstein's monster, but alas, that probably would have happened with my Asics as well.

So, around mile 7, we decided to Gu it up. Previous to the race, we consumed those new-fangled jelly beans that you can find at check-out counters at sports stores. They tasted pretty gnarly, but neither of us had breakfast before the race, and we felt pretty energized, so I think the beans did the trick. I had the fruit punch flavor, and while they tasted more like vitamins than anything else, they weren't completely awful. So, we saved the gu for down the stretch. The reason we brought gu is because after an hour and ten minutes of running, you're supposed to consume some semblance of calories. I went for chocolate, and Brad went for the Pineapple Roctane version. Mine had caffeine and his did not. Anyways, mid-race, this stuff tasted like brownie dough magic. It was insanely frustrating trying to rip open the stupid package with my teeth while running, but once I made a hole large enough to squeeze some of the Gu out, I was in heaven. Delicious heaven.

About 15 minutes later, Gu kicked in and I felt like I could go for miles.

Not long after that, a long hill stretch came and put me back in my place.

Anyway, with the half marathon only 2 weeks away, I'm feeling pretty confident. I know I can finish it, I know Brad can finish it, and I'm excited for the medal so I can hang it on my wall and scream "HOLLLLAAAAAAA."

Oh, and we finished in 1 hour and 39 minutes with the stop at the end of the 5 mile race included. Almost perfectly on track for pacing.

WOWZERS!

Baked Apples

It's apple picking season! So here's the best, easy apple dessert/snack that's mostly healthy... Got this from Martha Stewart. I normally leave out the gingersnaps and definitely use a lot less butter... But surprisingly the sour cream and maple syrup concoction is fantastical! And love those dried cherries.

Ingredients

4 Gala or Rome Beauty apples
1/3 cup dried cherries, or golden raisins
1/3 cup walnut pieces
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons reduced-fat sour cream
3 tablespoons crushed gingersnaps
Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Core apples with a melon baller, making a 3/4-inch-wide cavity, stopping 1/2 inch from the bottom. Peel top inch of apples; fill with cherries and walnuts. Arrange in an 8-inch square baking dish.
Drizzle maple syrup over apples; top each with 1/2 tablespoon butter. Bake, brushing occasionally with accumulated juices, until apples are tender, 45 to 60 minutes.
Transfer apples to a plate. Pour liquid from dish into a bowl; whisk in sour cream. Drizzle over apples; sprinkle with gingersnaps.

Blenders and Broccoli Soup

Picture does not do this amazingness justice.

I need a blender. But, even without one, we had a delectable, creamy, healthy broccoli soup. And the best part? Sans cream.

I took a recipe from wholeliving.com and changed it just a little bit. But, in general...

In a pan, saute 1 chopped yellow onion with 2 minced garlic cloves and 2 tbsp olive oil until translucent.

Then, add 1 15 oz can of cannelloni beans and 2 1/2 cups of chicken broth. The recipe actually calls for chicken stock, but Stew Leonards had organic chicken broth on sale... So broth it is.

A little salt and pepper and bring to a simmer.

Steam one package of broccoli florets. Add to soup after it's simmering, remove from heat, and puree in something that works better than the sad excuse for a blender I own until Monday morning garbage takes it away. Even not pureed, it's still delicious though! The beans add a nice texture. And it's healthy! I recommend serving with one slice of sourdough bread. Yum.

Woodlawn Run For A Cause 2011

Brad and I totally broke our PR record by almost 2 full minutes! We finished the 5k (according to my time, which I pushed after we crossed the line) in 23:57. According to the "official" clock, which started for everyone at the same time, we did it in 24 minutes. And that was good enough to earn me third place in my age group! Insane. So I got a Woodlawn pint glass and a $25 gift certificate to New Balance. Plus, my picture was taken for years to come. Awesomeness! Just had to share. Time for pizza. Ciao Ciao!