Why do you run?

Workout-14.5mile ride (55min) I'm back on my bike and it feels so right. 

I love riding.  I definitely have some work to do to get back into riding shape.
I didn't manage to get much riding in while training for the marathon.  I now have to figure out how to train to run a marathon after a 112mile ride and a 2.4mile swim.  
Sometimes that really freaks me out.

Anyways......
It seem that people are very interested in why a person runs.  You see the question pop everywhere, twitter, facebook, running magazines, clothing companies, running stores, etc.
Why do you run?
I run for so many reasons I could write a book.

The other day Cambrie asked to take my LA Marathon metal to show and tell.  Yeah, the one from the craptastic race two weeks ago.
I cringed a little.  
I of course was still very proud that she wanted to show off my metal, no matter how bad the race.
She asked "can I tell them you won the race?"
"No" I said "I didn't win."
"Can I tell them that you worked real hard to get this metal and accomplish a big goal?"
"Yes, yes you can!"

She get's it!  
At five years old she is understanding that you have to work hard to accomplish a goal.  She sees how rewarding it is to finish something you set out to do, even if you don't win.
To me that is reason number 4,543.

I hope they all learn to love the run.  If they don't, that's ok.  
I pray that they find what it is they love and go for it. 
Dream big little ones.


Why do you run?

Nut Crusted Salmon with Spinach

Workout- I'm so sore today.  I can barely get my butt out of a chair so I didn't workout.  I love what weights do for my butt and gut but man, oh man, it hurts sometimes.  
Maybe I should just size up on the jeans.

 Or stop with the sweets.  
Nah. 
Bigger jeans it is. :-)

Cambrie has been casting and casting, fishing and fishing. 
You should eat fish two times a week.  It's good for you.  
It will probably keep ya in those skinny jeans; that's not been proven by the FDA or whoever is authority on such matters. 

Plankton?  
My family loves fish but I'm not sure we could eat plankton and clearly he won't feed the whole family.
Luckily, I picked up some salmon at the store.  
I'm always looking for new ways to make salmon.  
This recipe was a keeper.  

A nut crusted salmon baked on a bed of spinach is a genius idea.

The added drizzle of a honey mustard sauce really kicks it up and makes it a delicious meal.

To bad no one really liked it. :-)
I hope your family enjoys it as much as mine did.


Nut Crusted Salmon with Spinach
From Healthy Cooking

• 2 packages (6 ounces each) fresh baby spinach
• 1 salmon fillet (1-1/2 pounds)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup cornflakes
• 2 tablespoons sliced almonds
• 2 tablespoons chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup fat-free mayonnaise

• Place spinach in a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray; top with salmon. Drizzle oil over spinach.
• Combine honey and mustard. Remove 2 tablespoons mixture; brush over salmon. Place the cornflakes, almonds and pecans in a small food processor; cover and process until ground. Press onto salmon. Stir mayonnaise into remaining honey mixture; refrigerate until serving.
• Bake, uncovered, at 450° for 18-22 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Drizzle with reserved sauce. Serve with couscous if desired. 

Missy's Notes
I didn't use as much spinach as called for because a few of the kids aren't fans.  But I wished after I had made it, I would have used both bags because it was really good. :-)
I also wish I had removed the skin of the salmon before cooking.  The spinach really stuck to it.
Enjoy!

Weirdness Wednesday

Workout- swim (1300yds) Swimming is difficult when you don't stay consistent.  My arms felt a little tired after the first 400.  
Weight/Circuit Training (1hr, 15min)  Yikes, that was tough.  I haven't been hitting the weights and it shows.  I was shaking after 30min.  I will probably need a fork lift to get out of bed in the morning.


Weirdness Wednesday!!
"Mom, can we draw a butterfly on my cheek?"
"Sure, just use washable markers," I say.

Um, what type of butterfly is that exactly?

Green light! Go!

Workout-Not today Tomorrow I hit the pool and back to the weights.  Ouch, that's gonna hurt.

Who's dying to know my MRI results?  Anyone?  
Ok mom, you can put your hand down.  I'm gonna tell ya.
It was clear!!! My knee is in great shape!  I got the green light to do whatever. 
Now the hard question.

Which one of these babies am I gonna ride first?  ***Butterflies in my stomach***
I've missed riding.
I do still have some tightness on the outside of my knee still, so I will be taking it easy.  I did just do a marathon 9days ago.  Recovery is my friend.
I also have a date with a Physical Therapist to stretch and strengthen that leg and make sure it is ready to go.  I want to go into Ironman training at a 100%, so this is just a precaution.  I love my Doctor.  He knows what my goals are so he is being very proactive in getting me there.  Normally it is a wait and see how you feel.  Since my knee is good to go he wants to make sure we get off on the right foot.  Love that.

I'm so glad my knee is healthy and my bike is ready to ride cause my car is in the shop.
Hope they work for cookies.

Do I even cook anymore?

Workout- Swim (1300yd) Heck ya, I worked out!  
I was a little outta sorts when the alarm went off.  Whoa, is that for me?  Holy cow, I get up this early?  Yikes.  Yawn. 
I worked mostly on drills this morning.  When I haven't been in the pool for awhile I find it best to do drills.  It helps your mind and body remember what it is suppose to be doing.  
It feels good to be working out.  Tomorrow I get the results of my MRI.  Let's hope all is well with the knee and I can start running soon.  I really think it is gonna be fine.  My knee feels good.


Do you realized I have only posted one recipe this month.  ONE!   
It seems that my baking and cooking skills have been resting too.  Wonder if the MRI can me tell why? 

Well, actually I may know why.  He is about 2 feet tall and blonde. :-) 
Now, I'm not saying it is his fault but I'm not saying he is innocent either.
We seem to be at the age where we want to "help mom" with her baking, cooking, well, everything actually.

Today he "helped" me make finger drawings in flour bread. (yep, that's flour on the floor and my rug is upside down, I get lots of help round here) 
I really love baking with my kids, I do.  It's just that right now we are at a difficult age.  

If we aren't helping momma with the baking, we occupy ourselves in other ways.  He managed to reconfigure the couch cushions while I was cleaning up the flour.  Yes, that is my cookie scoop on the ottoman and no, we didn't make cookies today.  I'm sure it's in the sandbox by now. 

It's a good thing he is so stinking cute.  I know this is just a phase and it will pass.   Before I know it I will miss his sweet toddler slang, his sloppy kisses and the way he does the opposite of everything I ask.  Ok, the last one was just pure sarcasm.  Sorry.

Don't get me wrong.  I've been in the kitchen.  Today's bread made it out of the oven successfully.

I ate half the loaf a few pieces trying to decide if I loved it. Then the other half of the loaf one more piece to figure out how and if I wanted to change it.

I butterflied a chicken, by myself.  It grilled up wonderfully with some olive oil, garlic and rosemary. 

I whipped up a batch of banana nut pancakes one Sunday morning.  The family thought they were tasty.

Chocolate chip and coconut Blondies?  Good idea.  They made a great afternoon snack.

We have many glorious meals this month and I'm sorry I haven't shared them with you.
With my little guy being such a "helper" lately I'm not getting the recipes recorded.  I may have a copy of the recipe but I usually tweak or adjust it when I make it.  If I don't write it down as I do it, I won't remember it by the time dinner is over.
I think I need to be taking Ginko biloba. 

I have also been using this book, 

and this book to help me learn the basics of cooking from scratch with what you have.
Everyone thinks I'm a good cook but actually I'm just good at following directions. 
I want to create my own recipes and I want to be able to know the ratio to make bread on the fly.  
The pancakes and the Blondies were experiments and they were good.  I need to change a few things to make them great and then I will share the recipes with you.
Stay tuned.  There will be more recipes coming.  Promise.
I'm ordering Ginko right now. :-D

Training my sweet tooth

Workout- I use to workout, right?  It has been so long I don't really remember.  
Tomorrow I'm hittin the pool.  Let's pray I don't drown.


I am still training to become the most sugar coated athlete in the USA.  
I have to say my training is going very well.  I feel like all my hard work is adding inches to my thighs paying off.
Here are a few of my latest efforts.

Au Petit Four  I love having choices but it was very difficult to choose.  

I had the Black Forest(top shelf, 3rd one in) and the Royal(second one in from the right, bottom shelf).
They both were good.  My favorite was the Royal, dark chocolate mouse on crispy hazelnuts.  Rich chocolate flavor with a crust of hazelnuts on a wafer of some kind.  I loved the crunchy texture.  

Today we had planned to play some Frisbee Golf but the wind was too strong.  It was like throwing a boomerang.  The frisbee would just come right back at ya.
So we went for some Paletas.  They are basically a Popsicle.  Not a sugar laden, fake colored treat we are used to but a fresh, real, preservative free treat.
She makes everything is small batches with fresh local ingredients so her selection changes daily.  Love that.

These were AMAZING!  We got the strawberries and cream, the bananas foster with caramel, the Mexican hot chocolate, the pineapple and the key lime.

I tried to get a good picture of the chunks of fruit in the paletas but no luck.  You can see a little piece of a pineapple eye stuck in there.  That's fresh baby.

You can see the strawberries though.  You just got to be fast cause that girl is an eater.  She'll swipe a bite of yours too if you aren't looking.

The Mexican hot chocolate is chocolaty and spiced just right. You can tell she grinds her own spices and uses the tasty Mexican cinnamon called Canela.  It has a more distinct flavor and pairs wonderfully with the chocolate.
It's the only way to have a hot chocolate in the desert.

The key lime was just perfect, despite the bad photo.  Sweet, tart, and creamy with a thin layer of graham cracker crust.  It was extraordinary. My mouth is watering as I type this.
I would say it was my favorite
 and definitely my husbands.  He had a hard time sharing and he doesn't have a sweet tooth.

I love this place and I'm so glad I heard about it.  If you are ever in Chandler or Tempe Az, you gotta swing into Paletas Betty and check it out.
Please bring me a key lime, and a hot chocolate and I want to try the watermelon, and...... I'll take whatever you'l bring me.


Hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!

LA Marathon Part 3, really

Seriously? Do I really do have more to say about LA.
You bet your sweet treats I do!


Let's clear a few things up first.
I think I need to add a little note about racing with friends.  
Go into the race with clear expectations.  If this would have been a normal race, the gun would have went off and I wouldn't have seen Stephanie again.  She is a 3:50 marathoner with guts, she goes out hard and stays strong.
I am not.  I am all about self preservation.  I finish most races wondering if I could have pushed harder. (working on that)
We clearly have different racing styles.  
So going into a race make it clear if you plan to stick together.  That way there is no hard feelings and it is easy to make decisions in the race because you know the expectations of everyone.  
If you don't plan to stick together; may the best man win. :-)
I think that is race tip number: 345,454,665

My happy place.

I know that Steph and I signing up to do a marathon "for fun" is insane.  We get that a lot.  
If there was timing chips, water stations, and metals in line dancing; we would be all over it. 
We all know the race was a bust but the weekend was a success!!!
This is what "for fun" really looks like:

Bakery boxes and Starbucks.

Stealing a lick or two of frosting while our husbands check into the hotel.

Elizabethan Desserts I love you!!!   Insanely delicious.

Dinners out with friends.  No cooking, cleaning, or cutting up someone else's food is fun.

Finishing a race at the ocean is awesome, no matter how bad the race.  

Walking down 4,000 flights of stairs after you have run a marathon is super fun atrocious.  I might be the most proud of this accomplishment.

I started up there.  Yep, I'm proud.

Wearing compression to lunch?  Now that is fun, or sexy; probably both.

Sharing appetizers is fun.

Sharing pizza's and beer is funner. (how did that get by spell check? is it a really word?)

Exploring a new city?  FUN.

Chilling in your hotel is pleasurable.

Ordering take out from a yummy Japanese restaurant and eating dinner in bed.....

with your racing buddy is delightful.

Leaving Cali (aka, my happy place) is never fun.  
The amazing scenery we saw while driving home made it bearable.

Stopping by the outlets for some retail therapy and a milkshake with my amazing husband is most definitely a fun finale to my awesome weekend!!


We didn't get a PR but we didn't end up in the ER and we had a fabulous time with friends.
I call that winning.
(I'm aware that for me fun almost always=food and racing or racing and food; peas and carrots dear friends)