Gourmet Runner

Another thrilling Friday! And again, I wish I had some kind of sarcasm font. Italics just doesn’t get across self-deprecating wit like I wish it would. On Fridays Tim always works up in Chattanooga, so lately I have been tagging along. Ostensibly I go to “work” in Starbucks, but really it’s an opportunity to leave my house. I think it’s important that once in a while that I leave the house, put on a bra and see real people. Post-Starbucks it’s our Friday night date night, which in our circles means grocery shopping. I found this pig in the store and that set the tone for the evening. I needed meat. ( I won’t say TWSS. I just can’t. Is that over yet?) Tim and I aren’t big people people. I mean, we like people...but in small doses. Waiting 45 minutes for a seat in a crowded restaurant on a Friday night is typically not my idea of a good time. But tonight, it worked. We went to Chili’s and split ribs and a steak. Amen. l ordered the sirloin steak and it came with loaded mashed potat...

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 ...