Half Bound...Again!

I'm back!  And I'm once again training for the Zooma Texas Half Marathon.

Date:  March 23, 2013
Location:  Hyatt Lost Pines Resort, Bastrop, TX

The hubster has agreed to run it "with" me this time.  Actually, he'll probably finish an hour or so before I will, but that's okay.  We ran "together" last weekend, and will do so again tomorrow.  I expect we'll run "together" a lot before the half in March.

There was a time when I wouldn't even work out if he was in the vicinity and could see me.  And now I'll run with him.  Yes, I'm being sarcastic when I say we run "together."  His legs are a lot longer than mine, and he's been running a lot longer.  So he always ends up leaving me in the dust.  But he's always supportive, and I really appreciate that. 

I ran the Zooma half in just over 3 hours last time.  This time I'm shooting for a time goal of 2:30-3:00.  The training calendar is set up in Google Calendar, and I think I still have it set up to send me reminders.  I'd better go check on that.  I'm starting my training a little later this time, and I'm using a different training schedule, but I should be okay.  Tomorrow's run is set for 5-7 miles.  Monday actually starts my official training.

And yes, I will be taking pictures on my LSD training runs again.  I'm sure I'll see some of the same things as last time, but it's a different year!  Come along and enjoy the journey!

Food Porn!

Dinner tonight.  Yum!

By the way...the Half Bound blogs will be returning soon.

Dinner is served!

I found this recipe by googling a couple of ingredients and tweaked it to my liking.  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Chicken-and-Zucchini-2/Detail.aspx

Here is my recipe:

  Not a picture of my recipe.  This picture is from the comparable recipe, Baked Chicken and Zucchini, located at the link above.

Baked Chicken and Zucchini

Ingredients:

1 egg

1 T. water

Kroger Zesty Table Blend Salt-Free Seasoning, to taste

1 C. panko bread crumbs + a little extra (set aside)

1-2 T. Olive Oil, or the amount needed to brown your chicken

2 thin-cut boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut in half or thirds (I used Tyson IQF thin cut, about 5 oz. each)

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 zucchini, thin slice (mandoline)

2 tomatoes, medium slice (mandoline)

Onion (1/2), finely diced

1 T. fresh basil, minced

1 T. dried parsley

Fresh ground pepper

Parmesan cheese, either shredded or grated (I used grated for this recipe)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400.  Spray a 9x13 inch pan lightly with cooking spray, making sure to spread well on the bottom and sides of the pan.

Mix the zucchini, onion, garlic, basil, parsley, and pepper together in a bowl.  Spread in prepared pan.  Top with sliced tomatoes.  Sprinkle 1-2 T. additional panko bread crumbs on top.  Sprinkle with Parmesan.  Cover and cook in oven for 20 minutes.

Mix egg, water, and salt-free seasoning and pour into shallow bowl.  Dip chicken into egg mixture and cover with bread crumbs.  Pan fry in olive oil 2-3 minutes per side until golden brown.  Place on top of vegetable mixture and sprinkle with extra Parmesan.  Bake, uncovered, for an additional 5-10 minutes.

I served this with al dente whole wheat penne pasta(4 oz. dry) that was mixed with about 1 T. fresh minced basil, about 1 T. dried parsley, some garlic powder, and some fresh ground black pepper, and about 2-3 T. of zesty Italian dressing (Kraft).

This recipe served 2 with one serving left over for my lunch tomorrow.  Score!

If you decide to try this, let me know how you liked it.  My husband put some green Tabasco on top of his chicken and said it was just perfect.  He even suggested grilling the chicken (without the breading) and grilling some jalapenos with it, too.  Sounds like that might be a good variation.  If we decide to do that, I'll probably marinate the chicken in some zesty Italian dressing before grilling.

Bon Appetit!

 

R.I.P.

I lost my buddy, George, yesterday.  He had been in our lives for many years; 14 in fact.  We will miss him.

We are sad but very thankful that George graced us with his presence for so many years.  Rest in peace, my friend.  We'll meet again one day.

The End of an Era

I have lived in Katy, TX since the end of September 1999.  Beginning in October 1999 I started doing the bulk of my grocery shopping at a Kroger that was within 2 miles from my house.  I have seen employees come and go, and even built decent relationships with some of them.  I got comfortable enough with the pharmacy staff that I could ask questions and get straight answers.  Sometimes they'd even volunteer information that I might need to know.  That doesn't always happen with pharmacies these days, even though it should.

I am sad to say that as of May 3, 2012, my Kroger store has closed.  I drove by there the other day, and it was all boarded up.

I'm actually kind of heart broken over the whole thing; even though there are other Kroger stores I can shop at that are close to home.  There's even one about the same distance from my house in the other direction!  But I don't know the layout of that store, so it takes longer to do my shopping at that location.  Mind you, I don't shop weekly anymore, but I do still spend some time at the grocery store.

Is it wrong to be upset about this?  Yeah, probably...but I am, and I know I'll get over it.  It's hard to let go of almost 13 years of history, though.  One bright spot in this is that some of the employees from "my" store have transferred over to the other store by my house.  I am glad that the Kroger company didn't just jettison the employees from the closing store.

Sorry for the maudlin post.  I hope everyone had a good Mother's Day.

Bye for now!

Vacation - Part 2

Yesterday I posted that we haven't had a real vacation in a couple of years.  That's not completely accurate.  The hubster and I haven't had a real vacation together in a couple of years, however, last year I went to DC with him.  It was a vacation for me, but he had to work.  Although he was able to take one day off while we were there and sightsee with me.

On to the second half of our vacation!  We drove down to Fort Lewis to spend a few days relaxing (more or less) before coming home.  We didn't do a whole lot while we were there, but we did go to the Port Defiance Zoo.

Look at the size of this guy!

The hubster!  He was sick this day.

Giant Porcupine

Baby leopard - they had two of them.  So cute!

What are you looking at?

The one thing I remember seeing as a young child in DC was the peacocks.  But when I was there last year I never saw any.  Imagine my surprise when I saw this guy as we were leaving the zoo!

One final treat...the one sight that people in Washington really enjoy but don't always get to see...The Lady Herself

Vacation - Part 1

We went on vacation in April to visit our oldest son and his family.  I have to say that this was the best vacation we've had in a while.  Heck, it's the first real vacation we've had in a couple of years.

Our son lives in Fort Lewis, WA.  Yes, he's serving our country in the Army.  Just like his father and both of his grandfathers did.  We are so proud of him!

Anyway, we spent the first half of the vacation in Seattle and the last half at Fort Lewis.  The kids joined us in Seattle.  It was good to be back in my old stomping grounds again.  I lived in Seattle when I was in elementary school.  I would have liked to go to the old neighborhood, but when you have limited time you only really hit the high points.  And there are a lot of high points in the downtown area!

Alaskan Way Viaduct (State Route 99)

Seattle Museum of Art (we didn't go into the museum, but I thought the statue was cool.  It moves.)

Pike Place Market

Sunset on Elliott Bay

One view from the Space Needle

I can't believe I didn't take any pictures of the Needle itself!

Glass Exhibit being put together at the Seattle Center (next to the Space Needle)

Exhibit was still being constructed while we were there so I had to take this picture through the fencing.

The highlight of our time in Seattle was the baseball game on Saturday, April 21st.  For those of you who are baseball fans, you know that the 21st perfect game was pitched that day.  And we were there!

 My son and his youngest

 

Just a couple more pictures from the Seattle leg of our vacation...

These are glass tiles in the sidewalks in the downtown/Pioneer Square area.   The hubster and I took the underground tour and found out that these tiles aren't there for decoration.  They are...

skylights!  The original city was built below the current street level.  When they started building up the city they kept the original businesses and such where they were and built what became the tunnels.  

These were all taken at the Seattle Aquarium, which we visited before we went to the ball game.

Baby salmon viewed from below.

My granddaughters

I even went for a run with my son while we were in Seattle.  He runs faster than I do, but he matched his pace to mine.  It was a good time!

 Interesting building

City Hall steps...we ran up these

City Hall is almost at the top of the hill; about a block from I-5.  When you turn around and look down the hill, this is what you see...

This is really steep!  It's kind of hard to tell from the picture, though.  But Josh and I ran up the hill (well, ran AND walked), and then ran back down it.

That's all for this pictoral blog.  Part Two to follow...

Amazing Dinner!

I actually cooked tonight...and it was amazing!

Salmon fillet sprinkled with lime juice & cajun seasoning, baked on top of yellow squash and asparagus.  The veggies were sprinkled with garlic & pepper.

The other side is a barley salad.  I can't take any credit for this as I got the idea from an online friend.
Cook barley as directed on package.  I used quick cooking barley.  Sweat some chopped onion in a little olive oil over low to medium heat.  Add minced garlic and fresh oregano, and saute a little more.  Add some chopped tomato and allow to cook for a couple of minutes to release the juice from the tomatoes.  Add the barley to the tomato mixture and heat for a couple of minutes.  Add the juice from a lemon and greens of your choice.  My friend used spinach, but since I didn't have any I used torn up romaine lettuce.  Sprinkle with shredded Parmesan cheese before serving.

Nom nom nom nom!  So good!  I wish I could say that the hubster enjoyed it as well, but, alas, he wasn't home for dinner tonight (he's not a big fish fan, anyway).

Race Report

Here it is, the long awaited race report...

I am pleased to announce that I am now a half marathoner!  I guess I wasn't half baked after all.  I have to say that I had a lot of fun on this journey, even when I doubted whether I could reach this goal.

The hubster and I went up to the resort where the race was held the night before the race.  Actually, we made a weekend of it and had a great time!  Although I had to work that Friday, it was only a half day, so we got up to the resort before the expo was over.  I picked up a couple of new t-shirts and a picture frame for my race photo.  And we registered DH for the 5K!  It was spur of the moment, and he was planning on running that day anyway, so we killed two birds with one stone.  Yay!

The half started at 7:30, and the 5K started 5 minutes later.  I was a little nervous about the whole thing, but it sure didn't keep me from sleeping on Friday night.  Of course, there isn't much that keeps me from sleeping.  I had a cup or two of coffee but didn't eat anything until right before we left the room for the race.  Tummy was a little rumbly...

This was shortly before the race started.

And they're off!  Over the hills, and through the woods, to the finish line we go!


We left the resort property when we started the race and ran on a county road up to the state highway.  We then ran along the highway for a few hundred yards and re-entered the resort property through the front entrance.  I tried to get a picture of the sign at the entrance, but you can't see it because of where the sun was located.  But the picture has a cool effect, so I include it here for you.  The picture right below it is also of the resort entrance.

 

The entrance road to the resort is very hilly.  There are two schools of thought on hills; you either run up them or you walk up them.  I did a little of both.  I ran the downhills, letting gravity carry me along (but always controlled), which allowed me to run most or all the way up the next hill.  We ran a couple of miles on the entrance road and then cut back over to the county road to cover miles 6-10.

It's Bluebonnet season in our part of Texas.  If you're not from here, trust me, it's a really big deal here!  The blue flowers are the bluebonnets; the orange ones in the background are Indian Paintbrush.  You almost always see the two flowers together.  I had to stop and take a picture, of course.

We have other wildflowers in bloom, too.  I'm don't know the names of the others though, except for the lantana.  Below is a picture of a whole field of yellow lantana.  Sorry the color didn't come through too well.  Cell phone picture...and by the time I took this the sun had burned off most of the clouds so it washes out most of the color.

On the home stretch!

As you can see, I'm not the only one who stopped to take a picture of this mile marker!

At mile 10, we  again re-entered the resort property.  Miles 10-12 were routed past the hotel and through the golf course.  Have you ever been on a golf course?  I hadn't until that day.  I didn't realize that golf course paths are full of small inclines and declines.  It was harder to run that than the bigger hills!  Yeesh!

After leaving the golf course paths, we ran past the hotel again towards the finish line.  DH was sitting on our little patio watching the race and was able to get a picture of me as I passed.

He tried to make it over to the finish line before me so he could take another picture, but I was running faster than he thought.  So he missed me...oh well, I got the official finish picture.

Official photos:
During the half

Finish line photo!

Instead of the traditional bling/medal, we received custom jewelry from Satya Jewelry.  Really pretty!

 

My official stats:

Time - 3:01:59

Overall - 981/1,098

Females - 921/1,036

Female Masters - 320/378

F45-49 - 67/86

I met up with the hubster within about 10-15 minutes after I had finished.  This is just a sample of the festivities.  There were other areas as well that I didn't take pictures of.

I had a great time doing this event.  We're even talking about doing it again next year, and DH might even do the half with me next time.  We might even talk a couple of my girlfriends into doing it as well!  WooHoo!



Before I leave you this evening, I wanted to share some other images I captured over the weekend.  The first few are from mile 8 of the race.

I thought this farm was really pretty.  Loved the decoration on the side of the stable.  Then I found out what the farm was... 

The rest of these are from the resort.  The Colorado River flows behind the hotel.

The hillside across from our room...covered in bluebonnets.

I hope you've enjoyed my journey.  It's been fun having your company!