Gourmet Runner

First up: I'm not a one night stand kind of girl. I'm not getting into bed with someone right after I meet them. I prefer to spend two nights with them, and introduce myself AFTER the first night.  Kind of. I'm married, remember? To this cutie: But I have a funny story and it needed an intro. Ah, the old bait and switch. Ahem, now that I have your attention, let me set the scene.  It's 12:45 at night, and I'm a little drunk. Nothing crazy, but some wine and a dehydrating plane ride can give you that light-headed feeling. I'm pretty nervous to be doing this, something I've never done before, but I put the hotel key into the room's door and try to imagine what will be on the other side. The room is pitch black, and I can't even tell if anyone's inside. I turn the bathroom light on and slip into something more comfortable (butterfly pajamas and a tank top, for you fashion forward ladies) before tiptoeing to the beds. One bed was full a...

Did anyone else have a parent that would say things like, "If everyone else jumped off a bridge, would you do it?" Because I did. That was the response if I wanted a cell phone, brand name clothing or anything that everyone else in the class TOTALLY had. I thought I had outgrown this peer pressure, but clearly I have not. Ready? I have a Twitter account. Let me explain. I swore I wouldn't delve into yet another form of social media. Facebook and blogging are consuming enough for me. And then Hood to Coast happened. We communicated with our other van through Twitter, learned about course changes and saw funny pictures from teammates. When I say, "we", I meant my other vanmates did and I looked over their shoulder every .12 seconds saying, "Huh? What? Who?" Even our van decorations revolved around Twitter: Everyone else had their name and hashtag on the van. I had this: "Vanessa- Twitter?" I think it's fair to say I'm a litt...

So...Hood to Coast. I don't even know where to start. If you're just tuning in - what took you so long? Also, Hood to Coast is a 200 mile relay that starts at Mount Hood and ends up in Seaside, Oregon. 12 runners take turns running portions of the relay, and spend their off time cramped into a sweaty van eating trail mix. In short, it's freaking awesome. At the start - Mount Hood! I was lucky enough to be part of one of nuun's three teams, After-nuun Delight. I loved that name. Like, loved it. Just scandalous enough to get laughs, but looked seriously tame next to vans with team names like "My Third Leg is Hard." I don't want to get sappy here, guys, but if you look past the erection jokes (COME ON. You KNEW I meant that third leg) you'll see that I truly had the experience of a lifetime. I have the tendency to be a cynic at times. I kept waiting for the other shoe to drop with this whole event. Eventually, I was going to be forced to talk ...

Since finding out that I can't eat wheat or soy, life has been hard. Yes, I can find things to eat. No, I'm not starving. But dear baby Jesus, it is so incredibly hard to resist baked goods. Things that I didn't even really like before - donuts and cakes - I want all of a sudden. So I have been trying to focus on the things that I CAN have. A couple of weeks ago we had friends over for dinner, and the woman made an incredibly gorgeous baklava. She's Turkish, so she followed all the rules, made it with 40 layers and filled it with honey. Although I drooled over it, it was wheat city and was a no-go. Thankfully, my mother-in-law was kind enough to make something equally delicious. Baklava! Macaroons, baklava and lemon cake She made a batch of surprisingly simple to make macaroons, or almond cookies. These didn't have coconut in them, which I was expecting. Instead, they had three basic ingredients - almond meal, sugar and egg whites. You can't get m...

I really tried to hold back on this topic. I haven't mentioned it at all since finding out I that I snagged a spot on Nuun's team, but the time has come to bombard you all with information that 40 other bloggers will also write about at the exact same time. Yes, the time for Hood to Coast 2012 is upon us. I can't lie...last year I LOVED reading the recaps and updates from the various bloggers who participated in this epic race (a 197 mile 12 person relay that starts at Mount Hood and ends at the beach in Oregon). Even I, however, started tuning out after the 45th blog post. So, yes...I'm probably going to dwell on this more than I should, and you'll probably be ready to virtually smack me by this time next week. But you guys.... I'm running in Hood to Coast! #nuun #hydration #running #HTC #lemon lime flavor #low calorie beverage #blog post recap 4,256 #this is why I don't have twitter source Is that too many hashtags? I actually don't have ...

The last few days I spent in Asheville, North Carolina with Tim and his mother. It was a quick two night trip, but it was wonderful to get a chance to explore a new place that I'd never been before. Plus, it's less then four hours from home and makes for a perfect little weekend getaway. Or, um...Sunday-Tuesday getaway. Details. Anyway, the thing I was most excited about was the food. We really do live in the middle of nowhere out here in Georgia, and the nearest restaurants are more often than not chains or fast food. Of particular interest to me was a restaurant called Posano - a completely gluten-free restaurant. It was so wonderful to eat out and not have to be that annoying person who asks what ingredients are in every sauce and then just has the damn plain salad anyway. I still had to steer clear of soy, but I ended up with an incredible burger and fries: Sure, the bun was kind of sweet and clearly not made from wheat, but the burger patty itself was flavorsome an...

On Tuesday night, I spent the evening doing what I do best - drinking champagne. Tim’s mom brought some Veuve Clicquot in duty free on the flight over, so we got to live it up and pretend like bubbly is a normal part of our weeknight routine. Life was good.  .  Fast-forward to Wednesday, and you might be able to imagine how I was feeling. Just a little dehydrated, grumpy, irritable and annoyed at the world. By the time lunch rolled around, I was happy to sit on the couch, eat candy and call in sick to work. AKA avoid checking emails and refuse to open my computer. After an hour of reality television (ahem, Million Dollar Listing LA) I realized that eating sugar and watching TV wasn’t going to cut it. I hopped onto the treadmill and told myself just to run until I felt better.  13.1 miles later, I felt better. Much, much better. In some weird twisted scenario, the grumpy, bitter Vanessa with a stomachache and a little bit of a hangover managed to ...

Random Shot. That's what my title means, little brother who should probably not be reading this blog but is so dang cute he gets away with everything. Moving on. Coherence is a virtue I have not always been gifted with. Today I've been writing work-related nonsense for a solid 11 hours already, and my mind is fried. Ergo, you get random, um, "shot". I hate my hair. Once a month the moon is in the right stage and the humidity is perfect and it works, but the rest of the time I pile it on top of my head and hide it from the world. As much as I hate it now, I have to remember that at one point I had an orange afro. In comparison, I now look freaking awesome all of the time. Orange afro. Never again. My mother-in-law is visiting for two weeks. I know, I know - insert mother-in-law jokes here. But actually, it's kind of nice to do all the touristy stuff that we would never do ourselves. Yesterday that meant going to the Hunter Museum of American Art in Chatt...

If this blog were a newspaper (HAHA! Blogging ≠ Journalism) then this title would be completely appropriate as a headline. This week I hit a record in my running career. No, not nuun tabs consumed during my run (advertising-check), not towels soaked in sweat due to high summer temps and not Olympic events watched on the treadmill. I ran 50 miles this week. And 68 miles in the past 8 days. I want to have a party, but instead I'll write a blog post and maybe have a rest day. (Actually, not maybe. I will have a rest day. Tomorrow.) This week's mileage, courtesy of Daily Mile I know that some of you (ahem, ultra runners!) can do that in your sleep, backwards and without body glide. But for me, it was a huge accomplishment. Perhaps the best part is that I actually feel good, and have no aches or pains or even soreness at all. Here's the week's recap: Monday: Ran 5 Miles, 45 minutes of yoga Tuesday: Ran 8 Miles Wednesday: Ran 7 Miles Thursday: Ran 9 Miles Fri...

So...here's the thing. I've been watching plenty of the Olympics coverage, but I cheat. I randomly look up updates during the day, and then just watch whatever happens to be on at night for a few minutes. I figure if someone sets some incredible world record or China begins world domination via athletic events, someone will tell me about it. But starting August 3rd....well, suddenly I'm more interested. Source The Track and Field/Athletics events start on Friday, August 3rd and run until August 12th. For most of us, it's not enough to just put on the television randomly and hope someone happens to be running really fast during that time. And, for me at least, I'm willing to wake up a little early to watch the really good stuff go down. To clarify - this is not, by any means, a conclusive guide to the track and field events during the Olympics. But I've been scrolling around online this afternoon looking for events I WANTED to watch, so I figured I'...