Gourmet Runner

Hold your horses. I know you just clicked on the link because you want free stuff, but I would like to use this time to make you read my drivel. Please and thank you. I went to World Market a few days ago after hearing about it from a friend and I am so impressed. If you don't have one near you, it's basically a chain store that has furniture, handcrafts, foods, wines, etc. from around the world. I don't think it should come as much of a surprise that I spent half my time in the candy section. Here's the loot from the purchase: Anyone remember that Sesame Street song "One of these things is not like the other, one of these things just doesn't belong?" Yeah, me either. That sounds totally lame. Honestly though - can you spot the one thing in this purchase that's out of place? We have: Pepero chocolate cookies from Korea, Dutch Licorice, Aero chocolate from the UK, German Bueno chocolates, HI-CHEW candy from China (or Japan? Anyone?) meringues, p...

I'm just kidding. Your weekend was probably super awesome too. But I needed a good title to distinguish my long Memorial Day weekend from the 72 gazillion other blog posts recapping the exact same thing today. The fun times started on Friday night when I got to "work" in Starbucks. I still don't understand how people claim to work full time in a coffee shop. I have the perfect job for that - working on my laptop and writing- but there is still no way I can be productive for more than an hour or two in that place. Post Starbucks, um, "work" I went to a local pizza place called Lupi's . We went there once before and had incredible food, so I wanted to try it again and this time sample their gluten free crust because of my newly diagnosed wheat allergy . Guess what? It was bad. Tim tried to be nice and tell me it was pretty good, but it wasn't. I was drooling over the other pies in the restaurant. Gluten-Free Pizza with fresh mozzarella, baby sp...

If you've read a running blog well, ever, then you've probably heard of nuun . Some people love it (me) and some people don't. Some people can't run without it if the temperature goes over 60 degrees (again, moi) and some people claim it gives them the runs. Isn't the world of running fuel fun?! If you are one of the few people who hasn't heard of nuun , crawl out from under that rock and join the rest of us. It's nice out here, I promise. Anyway, nuun was kind enough to send me a box of goodies after making the Hood to Coast Relay Team After-nuun Delight. It turns out that they have more than the one single flavor I've been drinking for the last 18 months. I have GOT to get out more . I always drink this flavor - lemon lime: But my new favorite has got to be strawberry lemonade. I will admit I only opened it because the tube was pink and I am influenced by stupid stuff like that, but in actuality it's also pretty tasty. Since ...

I hate to brag, but I was kind of a pro when it came to playing Oregon Trail back in the day. I forded rivers with the best of them, was pretty amazing at the mini-hunting game and went at a nice and easy pace so no one in my wagon died along the way. In my mind dysentery is something associated with pioneers who go at a grueling pace and forget to caulk their boats when fording rivers. So I was in for a little surprise today when I found out that I, uh...kind of have dysentery. Source No, really. I think I have mentioned on this blog roughly 94 gazillion times that I have stomach drama. I tend to get a little crazy on Web MD and self diagnose myself, but eventually I let someone with an actual MD do the diagnosing. A couple of weeks ago I found out that I had occult fecal blood as well as low iron - the blood I was losing was causing the low iron. Well, gee. That's fun, right? I had no idea what was causing all of it until today, when I learned that parasites had invaded ...

I've made a couple of particularly delicious foods in the last week that I wanted to share, but there is absolutely no connection between the two. Believe me, I tried to find a tenuous link. One is a light, airy and sweet confection....and the other is pig's butt. Yeah. The delicious dessert were classic meringues. Nothing over the top or amazing about them, but they never fail to impress me. Just powdered sugar and egg whites. What else tastes so incredible and involves only two ingredients? Oh, right. Nutella and spoon. That one's a classic too. Since this was post-race on Saturday, I recruited Tim for a lot of the mixing: I, however, remained firmly in charge of dictating every step of the process, getting giddy about how amazing they were going to taste and claiming credit for the final product. So it was a team effort.  If you want to make them yourself, I used this recipe . It's a labor of love to make these. It takes a good 30 minutes to whip t...

Yesterday was the first time I've ever had the chance to run a race for the second time. Last year I ran the half in 2:18 and was pretty dang proud of my time. At the time I was in pretty good running shape, but I didn't have any experience doing long runs on trails. This time around, I was in worse shape but felt a lot more comfortable on the rough terrain. It was also HOT for the race this year - luckily almost the entire course was shaded so I never felt bad. The one photo of me on the trails and I'm walking. Awesome.   The Course: It's amazing. Some parts of the course are pretty technical (rock formations you have to step around, narrow track and even a couple of small water crossings) but for the most part it is rolling up and down hills. A lot of the downhills were so fast that you could really make up time. Of course, that also meant there were plenty of uphills where running wasn't really an option. It was hiking time! The views are incredible and ...

The title is self explanatory. I should be embarrassed. I really should. Yet there is no shame... 1.  I Watch SoapNet. Daily. Most days I work out somewhere between 5pm and 7pm.  Lately, Soapnet has been airing episodes of Veronica Mars between 5 and 7. Do you see where I'm going with this? Sometimes that is my only motivation to work out. Love that show, don't love that all the ads on it are for Days of Our Lives. Source 2. My Blogger Fail Last night I left the house, went to a newly opened restaurant and ordered a dish I'd never tried before - all prime blogging fodder. I also left my camera at home. Such a bummer because I actually ate something amazing - Cocktail de Cameron. I'd never heard of it last night but it's somewhere in between gazpacho and ceviche and is full of shrimp. Here's a replica shot: Source 3. I Never Use My Cat's Actual Name Tim and I named our new little kitten Pumpkin because I call everything cute pumpkin any...

I found the most incredible restaurant yesterday. It's kind of an out of way location, and requires a little driving. Once you get there, parking isn't cheap. We paid $5 just to park for an hour or two. It's also BYOB, so Tim and I carried along some water bottles. On the plus side, the food was incredible and CHEAP. Where else can a couple eat in a private dining room with incredible views for $5? The only problem? You have to hike the food in yourself. Last night we decided a mini adventure was in order so we picked up a Little Caesar's $5 cheese pizza and headed to Fort Mountain State Park. The views up there are incredible and there is a little viewing area where you can look over the whole region. I know some people hike with hydration packs and backpacks, but the pizza on the head routine works pretty well too. We got there and the place was deserted, unsurprising for 7:30 on a Monday night. We dug straight into the pizza and enjoyed the silence up t...

To censor comments or not to censor comments....when it comes to blogging, THAT just might be the question. Have you ever left a comment on someone's blog, only to find it gone the next day? Or read through a controversial post with hundreds of comments and find that everyone is on the same side? Having a blog ABSOLUTELY gives you the right to discuss whatever you want. If you want to devote your blog to the intricacies of sewing small pillows...cool. You do that. I will not read it. If you want to write in bold print about how YOU. ARE. THE. BEST. RUNNER. EVER...I probably won't read that either. But if I do, will you keep my comment politely asking how you compare to say, world class athletes? In full disclosure...I delete some comments. Say what? Yeah, I do. Not often, but I do. Sometimes they are spam, like this: i am liking blog. also follow? ab workouts here for bicycle rental in London How I feel about blog spam!  Now, I'm no computer whiz, but even ...

I had some grand plans this weekend. Most of them didn't happen, but I still couldn't be happier. There was a definite theme to the weekend - pressing pause. Or stop. Maybe rewind? I don't know, just some kind of metaphor or analogy that makes this post deep and clever. Take my plans for a Saturday 12 mile run, for example. Trying to keep my heart rate low enough was really tough and I stopped for walk breaks a lot. In the end, I called it quits after 10 miles and what I can only assume was roughly 14 pounds of water weight loss. Seriously, it was nasty: Or consider my plans to see The Avengers on Friday night and then go out for dinner. Tim and I made it as far as the driveway to check the mailbox on the way out and found this: In one second, the plan to head into town for dinner and a movie turned into snacks on the couch and Downton Abbey. We headed to the gas station to pick up the "essentials". True story: you can't watch British drama without...

I don't really know how to describe the workouts I've completed over the past week. Is there a word for "short, easy and yet somehow exhausting?" No, not Snooki . I'm looking for something else. Anyway, because I am supposed to keep workouts to a minimum and keep my heart rate low (just until my iron levels head back up!) I have been running very little, walking a little more and taking plenty of rest days. I can't say I mind it, but it makes blogging less than fantastic. Anyway, since my life involves an atypical amount of naps at the moment, I figured I would quickly talk about something I get a lot of questions about - where the heck am I from? This is the abridged version, since I'm guessing you guys have somewhere to be. No? Just as bored and sad as me? Cool. I was born in South Africa . My parents had a cabbage farm of some kind. It was weird. It was my first experience being the privileged white girl - relative, of course, to the people who live...