Drove from Durango, to Gunnison CO. this weekend for the Sage Burner 50K trail run. Passed Silverton, Ouray, and Montrose on the way. If there is a more spectacular drive in the country I would be astounded! The jagged cliffs driving from Silverton to Ouray are truly majestic.
Also Ridgeway, CO has a restaurant that should not be missed called Thai paradise. My boyfriend recently returned from Thailand and said that the food at Thai Paradise was better than or as good as anything he had in Thailand! Try it out - 146 North Cora Street Ridgway, CO 81432.
OK now to the Sage Burner 50K - Started at 7:3o a.m. with about 250 other runners. It was already sleeveless weather before the race which was great because I didn't need to carry any base layers and tie them on later in the race. The overall mood was upbeat and it was fun to look at all of the new minimalist shoes people are wearing. Some had old Adidas flats with just a bit of tape on their ankle instead of socks, some had Vibram Five Fingers, and than there were the Keens which look like the most comfortable option.
I was a bit concerned about my footwear considering I hadn't run in my shoes a single time before the race. My old shoes started to give me shin splints right before race day so I had to make a tough decision between some painful shin splints for 31 miles or possibly debilitating blisters. I sided with the potential blisters and ended up being graced with unscathed tootsies in the end yay running gods!
The course is a bear! The first 3 miles are a steep and somewhat technical singletrack which is fun when you are doing 6 miles and easily will kill your race if your not cautious when running more than 20.
By mile 7 I could feel the lactic acid from the steep ups and downs in my thighs and had a really hard time trying to overcome the fear that I would be running for another 5-7 hours and another 24 miles.
Luckily the exhaustion set in a little and made me relax into a good pace where my mind could wonder and my breathing was steady.
By mile 17 (half way) I started to feel pretty challenged again and decided to change my i-pod from Radio Lab http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab/to the Gotan Project www.gotanproject.com/ to give me a little boost. It worked!
Mile 17 - 24 was a test of not letting my mind go to when I would be finished but rather sink into believing that I would just continue running for days. The thought of a finish line at that point was just to far out and when I let my mind go there it was easy to really start to freak out and believe there is no way.
Finally with 2 miles to go I let myself start thinking about the end. I still had a little juice left and decided to kick it up a notch. I ran hard the last 2 miles and came in at 6 hours 19 minutes, 3rd place in my age and 8th for women.
I have to say, although it was a really tough race and there were certainly times I felt like I wanted to kick the race directors in the shins for making the terrain so hilly, I love ultra running! The feeling that you can really manage your thoughts and get over "the wall" again and again and again, and again is an awesome thing to know and have in your mind.
Running is such an amazing tool to give you perspective. To let you know how very capable you really are. To fill your soul!
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Fall Carmel Apple Pie
This weekend, being the last weekend of summer (not literally, but in my mind September really is Fall), I made a delicious apple pie from some apples I picked from a wild apple tree after I ran at Eldorado Springs.
Here is the Recipe:
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Crust:
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups king arthur organic white flour
1/8 cup sugar
1 dash salt
ice cold water
Mix all ingredients except water in a cuisinart. After ingredients are mixed continue blending while very slowly pouring ice cold water into the dough. Once the batter pulls away from the sides of the cuisinart bowl stop pouring. It is better a little dry than too wet. Roll the dough into a 1 inch thick disc shape and store it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Now make the filling.
Filling:
2 lbs. crunchy apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 dash salt
1 stick butter
Peel and slice very crunchy apples into 1/2 thick slices. Warm a medium size sauce pan on the stove over medium low heat. Add the butter and melt. Stir the brown and white sugar as well as the salt into the butter until the sugar is no longer grainy. The sauce will start to thicken and smell like carmel. Take the sauce off of the heat and let it sit a cool a bit.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into two discs. One should be about 3/4 of the dough and 1/4 of the dough. Place the larger disc into a round pie pan and cut the sides or fold the sides for decoration. brush a little bit of egg white over the dough in the pan and place parchment paper over the top, than place weights on the parchment paper. Bake the bottom crust for about 10 minutes. As the bottom crust bakes roll the extra strips of dough into the top crust. Remove the bottom crust from the oven, remove the parchment and weights from the crust as well. Place the sliced apples into the pan evenly. Pour the carmel over the apples. Place the top crust over the apples and brush with egg whites. Bake the pie for about 25 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown at 375 degrees. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before eating with ice cream.
Here is the Recipe:
Heat oven to 375 degrees
Crust:
1 stick of butter
1 1/2 cups king arthur organic white flour
1/8 cup sugar
1 dash salt
ice cold water
Mix all ingredients except water in a cuisinart. After ingredients are mixed continue blending while very slowly pouring ice cold water into the dough. Once the batter pulls away from the sides of the cuisinart bowl stop pouring. It is better a little dry than too wet. Roll the dough into a 1 inch thick disc shape and store it in the fridge for 20-30 minutes. Now make the filling.
Filling:
2 lbs. crunchy apples
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 dash salt
1 stick butter
Peel and slice very crunchy apples into 1/2 thick slices. Warm a medium size sauce pan on the stove over medium low heat. Add the butter and melt. Stir the brown and white sugar as well as the salt into the butter until the sugar is no longer grainy. The sauce will start to thicken and smell like carmel. Take the sauce off of the heat and let it sit a cool a bit.
Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into two discs. One should be about 3/4 of the dough and 1/4 of the dough. Place the larger disc into a round pie pan and cut the sides or fold the sides for decoration. brush a little bit of egg white over the dough in the pan and place parchment paper over the top, than place weights on the parchment paper. Bake the bottom crust for about 10 minutes. As the bottom crust bakes roll the extra strips of dough into the top crust. Remove the bottom crust from the oven, remove the parchment and weights from the crust as well. Place the sliced apples into the pan evenly. Pour the carmel over the apples. Place the top crust over the apples and brush with egg whites. Bake the pie for about 25 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown at 375 degrees. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for 15 minutes before eating with ice cream.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Tilapia with yellow and red lime tomato salsa and basmati. No run today.
Today I did not run, I have a big race called the Pikes Peak Ascent on Saturday, so even though I am as always several days before a race practically pacing back and forth with nerves about it, I am also loving indulging in pasta and breads and cinnamon rolls and whatever else I want for the week:)
Tonight, as I had no company to enjoy dinner with, I made a delicious suprisingly really easy meal. After a small appetizer of sharp cheese with mangos and a glass of cheap malbec wine, I found I was quite hungry and didn't want to take a long time to cook. So I stood in front of the fridge, than the freezer, than the fridge surveying the possibilities for about 5 minutes (enjoying the cool air I must say).
I settled on frozen fish from the freezer. In this case really inexpensive Tilapia a white very light versatile fish. I let the fish thaw while I threw some basmati rice on the stove. Basmati is easy to cook because it needs alot of water so you don't really need to measure your rice or water, its just approximately 6 parts water to 1 part rice. Than I roughly chopped some yellow tomato, red tomato I had left over, 1/2 a very small red onion (make sure the onion is really fresh preferably from the farmers market), fresh cilantro, and 2 cloves minced fresh garlic together. Stir these ingredients in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, balsamic, salt, and jalapenos. I than sauteed the fish in medium high heat olive oil with salt, pepper and fresh lime juice. Scoop the rice on the plate with the fish and than spoon the salsa on top of both with a few fresh slices of avocado and than a squeeze of the lime wedge.
It was really colorful, took me about 20 minutes at most, cost me about $4.00 and also made me feel good.
Tonight, as I had no company to enjoy dinner with, I made a delicious suprisingly really easy meal. After a small appetizer of sharp cheese with mangos and a glass of cheap malbec wine, I found I was quite hungry and didn't want to take a long time to cook. So I stood in front of the fridge, than the freezer, than the fridge surveying the possibilities for about 5 minutes (enjoying the cool air I must say).
I settled on frozen fish from the freezer. In this case really inexpensive Tilapia a white very light versatile fish. I let the fish thaw while I threw some basmati rice on the stove. Basmati is easy to cook because it needs alot of water so you don't really need to measure your rice or water, its just approximately 6 parts water to 1 part rice. Than I roughly chopped some yellow tomato, red tomato I had left over, 1/2 a very small red onion (make sure the onion is really fresh preferably from the farmers market), fresh cilantro, and 2 cloves minced fresh garlic together. Stir these ingredients in a bowl with a bit of olive oil, balsamic, salt, and jalapenos. I than sauteed the fish in medium high heat olive oil with salt, pepper and fresh lime juice. Scoop the rice on the plate with the fish and than spoon the salsa on top of both with a few fresh slices of avocado and than a squeeze of the lime wedge.
It was really colorful, took me about 20 minutes at most, cost me about $4.00 and also made me feel good.
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