Well, I hope that period is at an end, no more Sahara desert of unwritten words, where random thoughts just careen past like filmy clouds.

It was sheeting rain when I left work today, so I decided to go in search of my “spot outside of home”, a quiet nook of a shop where I can be comfy, enjoy a beverage, and type. My search was semi-successful.

I checked out Cafe Aroma first. It’s locally-owned, which is good, yet I was surprised that they did not have WiFi. Perhaps they were afraid that mobs of internet crazed college zombies would flood their establishment, taking over all their tables, surfing Facebook while they pretend to study. But wait, that’s Barnes and Noble. And yes, it bites when I see college students leave a pile of mauled books and magazines behind in the cafe…or claim TWO tables so they can lay out all the books they are plotting to destroy. Sad…
Anyhow, I ordered a slice of pizza at Cafe Aroma. It was decidedly tasty, but strike two happened mid-way through dinner. They pumped the music really loud. So no WiFi AND I couldn’t hear myself think. This wasn’t for me.

Westside Stories was kind enough to share their WiFi, and there’s a decent table with chairs in the back. The beverage end would be “bring your own”, but I don’t mind. Bookshelves, alphabetized by author and arranged by genre, fill the space, and that’s definitely a plus. The drawback is the early hour of close. I can’t blame them, but it does leave me looking for an after 6pm haunt.

So here I sit at the Elmwood Starbucks. I knew it would probably come to this, but thus far, it’s perfect. How ironic that my muse would reside here. Now if only I could paint here too.

Love it!

Don’t wait until later!

12 weeks

12 challenges

12 inspiring, encouraging, and motivating opportunities to start the year off right. 

http://dolife.hoop.la/displayForumTopic/content/258557338618653007

I’m in…are you?  You have until this Friday to decide.

At the end of last summer, my laptop went fubar.  It became very difficult to post on tumblr, work with jpgs, transfer files, anything…so I set those tasks aside in an effort to save my sanity.

One new HP laptop later, I’m ready to start again, and not just on the tumblr posts.  My training continued during the interim, and I’ve been making slow but steady progress.  November saw me running my first marathon in five or more years, and my time for the half marathon has dropped a bit.

My running goals for 2012:

-a sub 5:10 marathon (sub 5 would see me as ecstatic)

-a sub 2:15 half

-a sub 3:30 30k

-a sub 30 5k

This means that I’m going to have to hunker down and make some changes.  Bear with me….

There’s nothing better than a good run with friends.  Yeah, when you run solo, you can allow yourself to zone, solve problems, get inside of your head, and run your own pace.  Yet there are a lot of perks to tying on a pair of running shoes and heading out for a few miles with your peeps.

• Friends help “push” you.  I find that I run my fastest when I’m with somebody, and although there are times when I am puffing struggling, it’s still easier than a run on my lonesome.  My Garmin, even the “Demon Garmin” who has battery issues, reports that I speed up when chatting along with a running pal.  Many is the time when we realize that our “nice easy run” has turned into speedwork.  “Okay, let’s pull it back a bit”…and we do, only to find that we’ve sped up again five minutes later.  The more exciting the topic of chat, the quicker our pace.
• Friends keep your mind off of the “pain” of running.  True, it isn’t really pain (usually), and if it is excrutiating there’s generally something wrong, but it can be uncomfortable.  The banter as you head on down the running path gives you a chance to catch up on each other’s week, trade recipe ideas, work out arrangements for car-pooling to a race, and yes, even plan out where to meet up to run on another day.
• Friends understand when you just “need to run” without having to talk.  Who else would pace silently beside you, sharing in the same world of sights and sounds, thankful for the simple joy of running with a buddy?
• Friends help keep you safe while you run.  Of course, the hands-down way to stay safe is to run as a pack, but if one of you happens to work ahead by running faster or longer, somebody knows that you’re out there.  And yes, we will come back looking for you!
• Friends give you a reason to stay for the post-race party.  I’ve been to races where I knew nobody, yes, not a soul.  I ran, I finished, got a bagel and some juice, and left.  But the best races are those that you run with friends, no matter what their speed.  Fast or slow, you know that you will all meet up afterwards to eat, chat, and trade “war stories” from along the course.

Running may be something you do to stay fit, but friends make it fun.  So, have you run with your buddy this week?

I recently visited a friend who gave me a lovely zucchini from her garden, along with a large bag of fresh blueberries.  When I got these goodies home, it seemed like kismet to find an email with a recipe for Blueberry Zucchini bread inside.  But the fat and sugar contents were so high.  I decided to play “kitchen diva”, and came up with this healthier version.  I swapped out oil for applesauce, white flour for white whole wheat flour, and cut the sugar by more than half.  Viola!

Ingredients

• 3 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup all-natural applesauce (no added sugar)
• 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 3 cups white whole-wheat flour (King Arthur brand)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1 pint fresh blueberries

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease 4 mini-loaf pans.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Fold in the zucchini. Beat in the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. Gently fold in the blueberries. Transfer to the prepared mini-loaf pans.
3. Bake 50 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a knife inserted in the center of a loaf comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes in pans, then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

momrunnerwife:

If it doesn’t come easily

If sometimes you wanna quit and never run again

If sometimes you don’t want to get up and go

If sometimes you want to walk

If sometimes it hurts

If it requires you to rearrange your life to do it

Reblog if running is a part of your life regardless of all of the above. I want to follow more runners!

Okay, this is it.  This is war!!  I want/need/must get rid of some of this spare tire in order to run better.  It’s on!!