Week 6 Runs

On Tuesday I got out of work on time and was determined to go for a run before the sun went down. I quickly got dressed, grabbed my ipod, forgot my Garmin Runner..., and was on my way. I think I was on an adrinalen high from trying to beat the sun that I felt like I was running at a pretty fast pace the whole time. Of course I would forget my Garmin during one of these better runs.. I ran around 2.25 miles.

Well I had the same problem this week as I did two weeks ago and had to stuck it up for an early morning Friday run. Wednesday was so nice out but my body didn't feel like running. Plus, I had to get the oil changed before our road trip this weekend. Thursday I had a friend's happy hour and I was not about to attempt running after beer and pizza. So Friday morning I made myself roll out of bed and hit the road. It was pretty chilly out and I'm pretty sure I was still asleep for the first mile of my run. I ran my 2.3 mile trail. I'm glad of course I ran and feel good that I was able to stick to my 2 short runs this week.

Jake and I will be heading on a ski trip with some of my girl friends from high school after work today! We are so excited! Pertaining to this running post, I doubt I will be able to do my long run since we will be skiing and drinking the majority of the time :) Oh well, I'll push this long run back a week.

Vanilla Bourban Bean Cupcakes

Jake finally removed the vanilla beans from his Vanilla Infused Bourbon. I saw this as a good opportunity to use the Bourbon soaked beans in testing a vanilla cupcake for Ashley's wedding. Not going to lie, my first try was a complete flop and the cupcakes were super dense and tasted eggy.. yuck. I found a new recipe pretty quickly in hopes that I would regain my baking confidence.

These cupcakes were super moist, light, and delicious. Per Jake's request, I made a vanilla cream cheese icing to top them.

Vanilla Bourbon Bean Cupcakes Recipe: (From http://www.chow.com/)

2 cups cake flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon fine salt

12 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), at room temperature

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, seeds reserved (or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)

2 large egg whites, at room temperature

2 large eggs, at room temperature

3/4 cup whole milk, at room temperature

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Line 2 (12-well) muffin pans with paper liners. Alternatively, coat the wells with butter; set aside.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps; set aside.

Place butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium-high speed until very light in color, about 3 minutes. Add sugar and vanilla seeds (if you’re using vanilla extract instead, you’ll add it later), and continue beating until the mixture is airy, about 3 minutes.

Scrape down the paddle and the sides of the bowl, turn the mixer to medium speed, and add the egg whites one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the milk (and vanilla extract, if you’re using it in place of seeds) and mix until combined (the mixture will look curdled, but it’s not). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Reduce the speed to low, add the reserved flour mixture, and mix until just combined, about 15 seconds.

Fill the muffin wells about halfway and bake until the cupcakes are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 18 minutes. Set the pans on a wire rack and let cool for 5 minutes. Remove the cupcakes from the pans and let cool completely before frosting.

 Vanilla Bourbon Bean Cream Cheese Icing Recipe:

8 oz cream cheese

4 tbs unsalted butter

4 cups powdered sugar

1/2 of the seeds in one vanilla bean

Beat all ingredients together with an electric mixer until smooth consistency.



Week 5 Runs

My new running strategy is to get in my runs between Monday - Sunday. As long as I get in 2 short runs and one long run I'm not going to beat myself up. This week was full of friend happy hours, work happy hours, and rain. On Tuesday I headed to the gym and hit the treadmill for a 2 mile run. Still hate the treadmill in case you were wondering. I was going to try to shoot for 2.5 but I was not liking the run at all and decided I would make it up in my next run which would hopefully be outside.

Distance: 2 miles

Time: 18:10

Time per mile: 9:05

I was bombarded with happy hours on the later part of the week which I needed to go to for work and wanted to go to for friends since I hadn't seen some of them in a while. I decided to try another early morning Friday run but I woke up to cold rain... ya that was definitely not happening. Saturday brought good weather and I hit the road for my late but better then never run. I didn't bring my Garmin but I know I jogged 2.5 - 2.75 miles.

Today was even more beautiful then Saturday. I woke up and immediately made myself some peanut butter toast and hit the road to tackle my 4 mile run I missed last week. It went surprisingly well and I enjoyed my run through some new neighborhoods I found. I also got semi lost about 2 miles in which was slightly nerve racking but made the time go by faster trying to get my bearings and trying new routes.

I'm excited I was able to make it through this run and can feel that I've made a lot of progress physically by sticking to my running plan (which isn't leading up to a race but whatever).

Pic of my post run Garmin runner :)

Time per mile: ~10:40

Balsamic Blue Cheese Chicken

So I feel like I have cheese love affairs sometimes. There are just certain cheeses I can't get enough of for a few months at a time and then once I've had my full, I'll move on to the next. Right now I'm in a Blue Cheese love affair. I've been eating it on salads, on toast with apple slices, etc. I think my low point came when we went to Taco Bell and I covered my taco salad with Blue Cheese.. I found out then that Blue Cheese doesn't belong on everything I eat...

Anyways, Jake is not a fan of this cheese and last week I wanted to make a healthy chicken dinner. I made an easy chicken parm for Jake and I made myself a balsamic chicken dish.

Recipe:

1 chicken breast

1 bag 1/3 full with balsamic vinegar

2 slices Blue Cheese

Olive oil

Rosemary

Parsley

Basil

Let chicken marinate in bag with balsamic vinegar for 2 hours. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle herbs on both sides of chicken and cook in pan until cooked through (about 5 minutes per side). Top with Blue Cheese.

I put my chicken on a bed of spinach, croutons, pecans and balsamic dressing. This was easy to make and definitely satisfied my Blue Cheese craving.

Luray Love

Jake and I get cabin fever pretty quickly during the winter months and last weekend was no exception. We had a three day weekend and were determined to head out of DC for a fun and cost efficient trip. We waited until Thursday night to make this a reality.. We looked at a map of VA and decided we both had never been to Luray. It was in easy driving distance, had a good amount of fun things to explore, and wouldn't be too expensive. Our hotel deal we found sealed the deal. We got 3 nights at the Mimslyn Inn for under $150 total for all 3 nights with a special winter promotion they had! This Inn was gorgeous and had so much small town, but elegant, charm.

We walked into a big lobby with a fire place and a large winding staircase. There was a formal dining room and a Speak Easy restaurant on the floor below. A working outdoor hot tub topped off everything pretty well.

Here's a picture of our cute room:

The morning after we arrived we explored the hotel and found a sun room on the top floor and an amazing balcony with a fire place that over looked the gardens below.

View 1:

View 2:

We will definitely do this again next winter! We went to the caverns, made it through a garden maze, walked through an automobile museum, explored the town, and went hiking during our time there.

The food on the other side wasn't much to speak of. The best meal we had was on our last day heading home. We came across the Apple House in Linden, VA which boasted fresh apple donuts on their sign... enough said, we were there for lunch.

We split a hot apple pastry before our lunch came..

Pretty fabulous. Then came our pork BBQ sandwiches...

Awesome BBQ. And of course some apple donuts for the road:

Some of the best southern food I've ever had. I'm considering making the drive out there right now after reminiscing that meal..

Week 4 Runs

On Tuesday of last week I was able to run after working semi late. One of the hardest things for me and running during the week is being flexible with my running time. I'm usually pretty good about running if I get off work on time, but if I even have to stay just 30 minutes late my running goes out the window. I know the spring will bring warmer temperatures and a later sun set which should help with this... Anyways, Jake and I live across from a high school track which is luckily lit pretty late into the evening. For safety reasons I like to stick to the track after sunset. I hit the track with my Garmin Runner and was able to run 2.5 miles at a 9:20 pace. The track helps me concentrate on my pace and work on some sprints as well since I know I'm running a set distance every lap. It's easy to get bored running in circles so sprinting half laps keeps things slightly more interesting.

Distance: 2.5
Time:  23:15
Time per mile: ~9:20

My next run that week proved to be more difficult. I was going to run on Thursday but my plans got derailed with working late and being pretty exhausted. Since Friday afternoon was the start of a long weekend and Jake and I were planning to head out to Luray, VA after work, I knew I would have to squeeze in a morning run on Friday. It was painful but I got out of bed and just did it. Not the most enjoyable early morning jog but I was glad I went through with it. I was still pretty sleepy so I forgot my Garmin run buddy..

Distance: 2 miles

Jake and I headed off to Luray that afternoon and I packed my running shoes hoping the trip wouldn't derail my long run goal for the week. However, we had so much planned I didn't get a chance to run. At first I was pretty distraught and felt like I had failed my running challenge but of course the big picture came to mind and I was ok with missing one of my runs. I was having a great time with Jake and the trip was giving us a chance to relax, spend time together, and explore Luray together. No sense in stressing over a run when we were having such a great time. Plus, we did get a good amount of exercise in by going on a 3 hour hike on Sunday in the Shenandoah mountains.