Love...

We bought a new car!! 

That's us at the Subaru dealership getting our new car!

A Subaru Forester! Dark Gray Metallic, AWD with a huge panoramic sunroof and bluetooth. 

(Plus lots of other stuff that is cool, but those are the details I appreciate the most!)

This is my very first NEW car to own. Up until now my cars have been hand-me-downs (think Mazda 323) or new to me cars (not that I didn't love my old cars, especially my Mazda Protege - thanks Mom).

I LOVE MY NEW CAR!

I think the Subaru logo is so pretty. You're probably rolling your eyes the same way Will does as he reminds me that the logo design of a car is hardly the most important feature ;)

In case you are wondering - this is the view from the enormous sunroof!

Dual exhaust...nice! And a trailer hitch (for my soon to come bike rack!)

Tough and rugged!

New Recipe: Week 3

For this week's new recipe I decided to try Indian food since the last two weeks I tried Mexican food recipes. I found the recipe for chicken tikka masala online and it seemed simple and without complicated ingredients (as I had previously thought). The sauce was delicious and flavorful and when paired with rice and chicken was both filling and healthy. I felt like it could have been a bit more spicy and next time will add more spice to kick up the flavor but was overall very excited about my first try at Indian cuisine. We both enjoyed the meal and it was easy and quick to make so I know I will make it again and I look forward to trying more adventurous Indian recipes!

New Bike

I got a new bike! And I LOVE it!

I know very little about biking, but I'm learning and loving it! Thankfully I have a good coach (who is also my running partner) to ride with who is teaching me the basics. I love how strong I feel after riding and I know it's going to improve my running, not to mention that it's really fun! And it gets me out of the house more often while keeping my body healthy and not overworked from too much running. I'm so looking forward to this summer and riding often. I'm hoping to start riding more, gain more confidence and strength and then be able to go on some longer rides. I think it will be so fun to ride to a decently far away small town and finish the ride with a yummy breakfast (and a ride home from Will).

Hopefully soon I will be able to make some adjustments and improvements to my bike. I need to fix the handlebar tape and I want to add clip-in pedals (meaning I will need to get shoes as well). I am also looking out for a bike rack to make transportation easier. 

It's going to be a FUN summer!

New Recipe Report: Week 2

This week I once again turned to Cooking Light for my new recipe for the week. I chose another Mexican style meal, but this week it was something much more outside of my comfort zone than last week. I made pork, plantain and black bean enchiladas with tomatillo puree and they were amazing! The recipe was fairly complicated and the meal itself took a good hour+ to put together with many different things to focus on but I was able to make it all come together.

First, I seasoned and browned the pork in a pan then transferred to the oven. Next, cooked the tomatillos with seasonings and chicken stock on the stove to soften and also cooked the black beans on the stove. Once the tomatillos had cooked and cooled I added some additional ingredients and blended. The beans were blended as well but left thicker. I chopped up the plantain, tossed with brown sugar and red pepper and then cooked on the stove. I had never cooked or even bought a plantain before and was pleasantly surprised to find them at my grocery store. I think mine was possibly a little under-ripe but having never worked with a plantain before I wasn't for sure.

I chopped the plantain smaller, cut up the pork and put that along with the beans into 8" whole wheat tortillas, added cheese and covered with the tomatillo purree. They were amazing and tasted both delicious and healthy at the same time, meaning I didn't feel guilty indulging in these. They made great leftovers for lunch the next day!

A few Boston tidbits

Sunday I ran a Marathon

Yup. 13 days after the Boston Marathon, I ran another marathon. I wouldn't recommend it as a smart choice if you haven't run a lot of marathons. It was definitely hard but I went into the race planning to have a relaxed run with no ideas of time in my head. I probably started out too fast, especially considering it was insanely humid (about 99% humidity) and pretty warm when we started. Thank goodness the rain finally arrived around mile 12 so we could cool down a bit and the wind held off which was a huge relief coming up Classen for the last 6 miles, but it was still incredibly hard to run a marathon with such a short amount of rest, not to mention the humid and warm conditions! My legs were definitely not under me. It was an interesting experience and I definitely learned a lot about myself as a runner on Sunday. I know that my training and fitness level are higher than the time I ran today, but my legs were not recovered because I went up and down. There were stretches of miles where I felt great and hit my groove and fell into my pace. My body reverted to what it is capable of but then the fatigue would hit me and I would need to slow down. It was both encouraging and frustrating, but I wasn't looking for a fast time so I was happy with the day! My official time was 3:51:48 which was just a few seconds FASTER than my time from the Boston Marathon (3:52:06). Crazy! I know my training worked and I'm running well and I've really improved. It wasn't too long ago I struggled to break 4 hours, in fact, I checked my time from 2010, when I ran a PR of 3:51. I can't believe how far I've come and it shows me I shouldn't ever settle for goals that I think are possible. Anything's possible! 

I was able to see lot of friends and I love the Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon since it's my hometown marathon and I'm running through my city. It was great to share the day with my husband Will, brother Brian and all my fellow Landrunners and running friends including my training partners Brooke and Mary. It's a tough course and a lot of people had tough days, but the purpose behind the race always changes my outlook on any bad day or bad race. 17 years ago, 168 people were taken from us in an unthinkable act of violence and every year OKC turns out to remember those 168 by running through the streets of Oklahoma City. I can't help but feel uplifted as I'm running along and looking at the banners with names of those who passed away and I am reminded of how lucky I am for all that I have!

I wasn't able to take ANY photos today at the race (a total bummer) which is so out of character for me and a little bit sad. Will and I didn't get our traditional post-race photo which is especially sad since it was the first year we BOTH finished the full marathon. I did get a couple photos of our post-race food, but otherwise nothing. (Special thanks to our friend Biju for the great photos of me and Will finishing!)

Will ran 3:35 so despite the fact that his photo is last here, he was done quite awhile before I was.

After the race Will, Brian, Brooke and I stuffed our faces with burgers and fries from Irma's. After some Starbucks (always important when you wake up at 4am!) and some relaxing and socializing, I made a delicious dessert recipe I'd been meaning to try and thought post-marathon was an ideal time to try a hot fudge pudding cake. (It tastes even better than it sounds!) You would think we'd be full after all that but that evening we thought a pizza sounded amazing. The best thing about finishing a marathon is the guilt free eating that happens after. When you burn 2600+ calories you can eat WHATEVER you want! Overall, the day was great and I'm already looking forward to my next marathon, which thankfully is several months away!

Chicken pasta the night before

Avocado, bacon and swiss burger at Irma's

 Fries

Hot fudge pudding cake

Supreme pizza from Sicilian Pizza Cafe

Awesome blister. It hurt.

My two favorite marathons of all time!