Family Trip to NYC, February 2016

Two years ago (2014), we stayed home as usual for February break. It turned out to be a recipe for cabin fever, stir craziness, and frowns that lasted for weeks afterward. So last year (2015) we escaped New England to stay in Manhattan for 2 nights, taking in the Central Park Zoo and the American Museum of Natural History. It successfully distracted us from an endless Vermont vacation, so we did it again this year—staying 3 nights this time.

Sights Seen

 

At Rockefeller Center I was amazed to see people turning their backs on the scene... so they could take a selfie that included their big smiling head along with the fountain.

 

Outside Rockefeller Center. I failed to get a photo of the Radio City marquee showing New Order (playing there March 10!!).

A big gorgeous tree in Washington Square park

Things Accomplished

We attended a classic movie at the Film Forum (Jean Cocteau's Beauty & the Beast, 1946, black-and-white, in French with subtitles). We visited 4 different parks: Central, Bryant, Washington Square, and Union Square. Collectively we visited three mega-groceries/markets: Westerly Natural Market (several times), Whole Foods, and Eataly. Collectively we visited 9 restaurants/bars (lunch, dinner, breakfast, lunch, dinner, lunch, drinks, other drinks, dinner). We saw about 30 canines, most of whom wore sweaters or jackets and sometimes shoes.

 

We went to the Lego store in Rockefeller Center.

 

We went to the Central Park Zoo where a bevy of tropical birds bedazzle the moist, warm "Tropic Zone" building. The birds here are crowned pigeons; we later saw them sauntering around the walkways amongst the onlookers.

 

We have a big penguin-lover in the family so made a point to see the Central Park Zoo penguins at feeding time. There are King, Gentoo, and Chinstrap penguins. After a lovely, leisurely morning at the main part of the zoo, we also took in the small, charming Tisch Children's Zoo next door.

 

Grand Central Terminal, home of a Shake Shack and much more (read Mommy Poppinsc for family friendly tips)

Food Consumed (my favorite!!!)

 

Meat & cheese plate with pickled vegetables (and rosé) catching up with two of my Main Peeps at Eataly

 

Tonkatsu Ramen at Ramen Thukpa on 7th avenue (near the Film Forum). This tiny spot was a super-savory and reasonably priced relief after a lot of tourist-trappy options.

 

3 eggs with grilled bacon and homefries at the Carnegie Deli. Across from our hotel, we kept seeing a line outside this place at all times of day. At 8:30 one morning we noticed there was no line so we ran in to get the total deli experience.

The Carnegie deli has a ton of signed headshots on the walls. Check out Brooke Shields at the bottom of the back corner.

 

John's Pizzeria in the village, famous for its carved graffiti booths

I thought it was hilarious that John's wine offerings are "red or white." I picked red--see half-full glass. We had a pepperoni pizza with chopped garlic added to half.

 

John's also has famous people up on the walls--I have no idea who is flanking Al Pacino. Do you?

On another day we went to Angelo's Pizzeria on 57th street (near our hotel) and had another pepperoni pie. I actually liked this one better than John's. It was SO good. We also got an order of Linguine alla Vongole (clams & white wine sauce) and a salad--great meal for a family of 4.

Day 1 lunch we visited Schnippers Quality Kitchen for comfort food—burgers, fries, chicken tenders, hot dog, Coke. Their Classic burger was really good! On another day we got burgers at Shake Shack in Grand Central Terminal, because our smallest member is a huge fan. Do add a chocolate malted shake to your Shake Shack burger order, don't bother getting fries.

 

We found a delicious Indian dinner at Benares on our first night there. They were super accommodating to our party that included CHILDREN, and seemed totally charmed by us by the end. We ordered Chicken Dansak (chicken morsels with vegetables and sauce with an amazingly tasty slow burn), Lamb Vindaloo, and Dal Makhani, plus a Basmati rice and a ton of naan.

Trends Noted

A lot of Canada Goose brand parkas and jackets (thanks, Drake!).

Bars and restaurants have covered entryways that jut out onto the sidewalk and include doors. One never just opens a door from outside to inside, but opens an outer door into a middle zone. This is a new development since I last lived in a city about 20 years ago.

The usefulness of Yelp: how would I ever know where to eat or what to do without the Yelp app on my smartphone? I can either choose the kind of food I want and do a search in my area, or just search an area and even move the area around to change the search geography. It's thanks to Yelp that we discovered Benares, Ramen Thukpa as well as Angelo's Pizzeria on 57th street.

People walking briskly while appearing to talk to themselves (but are actually talking into the small mic attached to their earbuds).

 

We stayed at the Wellington Hotel on 7th avenue just south of Central Park & Carnegie Hall. Modest, clean, efficient, centrally located--if you have AAA membership try booking through that site or check the hotel site for deals. This time our double bed was a full rather than a luxurious king like last time, but it'll do.

How is your February going?

Valentine's Day 2016

Whether you like Valentine's, Palentine's, Galentine's, Zalentine's, or nothing at all, hope you had a lovely February Sunday today. We got into the Valentine's side of things with a mellow family day.

I decided to break with tradition and make an EXTRA pie in 2016, as a special Valentine's gift to a certain someone who only likes one kind of pie. (APPLE!) Most years I only bake a rhubarb pie in the spring and an apple pie in the fall, so I am already way ahead of myself.

Dietary Quality in 2016

Hold on. Put down those buttery-rich crackers! Wait a sec on that savory mac & cheese! Look away from the triple layer cake! Before you taste any of those things, eat some broccoli, some whole wheat toast, some whole milk yogurt, some berries, some clementines, some soup with baby kale and lentils. Good. Now, are you still hungry? The cake is all yours.. IF YOU CAN FIT IT IN!

I'm practicing this basic method of "crowding out," a term I learned from an herbalist that means I'm consuming so many healthy things that I really don't have time or room for other stuff. Except I always manage to fit in wine somehow.

In my last post, about plans for 2016, I mentioned wanting to work on my nutrition because it was kind of crap. I've done a lot of "healthy" diet programs over the years, including vegetarian, macrobiotic, gluten free, and paleo. Recently I started reading a new book: "Racing Weight: How to Get Lean for Peak Performance," by Matt Fitzgerald, and I'm completely taken with his explanation of eating for dietary quality. The whole idea, and I've heard this elsewhere, is to choose nutrient-dense foods whenever possible. I even found an app ($1.99) that I use to track my "Dietary Quality Score" every day. I love it! Rather than depriving myself of anything, or NEVER eating certain foods, I can choose to eat whatever I want--knowing that some foods will add to my score and some foods will subtract from it.

Examples:

• Eating vegetables will add to the DQS for the first 4 servings. Then they count for 0 (but don't reduce points). Fruits are similar.
• Nuts & seeds add to your score up to a point, then you start losing points with subsequent servings. Same goes for whole grains, dairy (preferably whole), and high-quality meat and seafood.
• In terms of alcohol, you get one point for the first drink, then lose 2 points for every drink thereafter.
• Foods that will always lose points: refined grains, sweets, processed meats, fried foods.

For more info, please read the book! I have been tracking my DQS for about 6 weeks. First I did 4 weeks of trying to eat pretty well but not really having a goal other than trying it on. The last two weeks I've been trying to hit a certain score, so being a little stricter.

So how's it working? I've noticed a few effects:

• I love vegetables! On many days I'll eat enough vegetables to scoop up all the possible points, then go on into zero-point territory. Making vegetables "pay" in terms of points is all I need to go veggie-heavy.
• Fruits are harder. I make myself eat one piece of fruit a day, but it's not really my thing. Too fruity.
• Whole grains and dairy are fairly easy. Matt Fitzgerald says there are so many whole grain versions of things available there is really no excuse for eating refined versions. And it's true! Did you know one can get whole wheat BREAD? And also PASTA that's whole wheat? Plus brown rice, whole wheat pitas, whole wheat English muffins, sprouted wraps, quinoa--it's really incredible what one can do with whole grains these days.
• Meat & seafood is also a bit hard for me. I probably get most of my protein from beans or other plant-sources, as I've taught myself to work around meat or to treat it like a side dish and only have a little.
• Best side effect so far—I've lost that gnawing incomplete feeling that I used to get, whether or not I'd just eaten something. Now that it's gone I theorize that deep down, my body has been starving for more nourishing foods. Even though I tried to fill that void with cheese and crackers and beer, those choices were not really feeding my body. I feel better now, more solidly fed, more solid in general.

Here are some favorite foods from this experiment so far:

Amy's Soup for lunch, which I doctor up with at least two servings of veggies (baby kale, chopped green beans, sliced carrots, sliced zucchini, sliced mushrooms, frozen carrot-corn-peas, canned beans) and sometimes some leftover brown rice or pieces of chicken. I never knew that an inspid watery can of soup could become a thick, rich, stew-ish medley that makes my tummy truly full and happy. Sorry about the "watery" thing Amy's--I do love your soups.

Pizza made with Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain wrap, tomato sauce, cheese, spinach, kalamata olives, feta

Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted English muffins toasted and topped with 2 scrambled eggs and a dab of butter

At a restaurant: grilled wild salmon over mixed salad--this is at least 6 points on one plate. (Try to ignore my partner's fried clams & tartar sauce.)

Whole grain rice cake with peanut butter or almond butter

Whole milk yogurt with mixed berries

Hummus with carrots and celery

POPCORN

Smoothie with frozen berry/kale mix, whey powder, whole milk yogurt, whole milk, and fresh ginger

Whole wheat pita with Moroccan spiced hummus, sweet potato, sprouts, tomato

Quinoa bowl with baked chicken breast, steamed broccoli, toasted pumpkin seeds, pomegranate, and candied pecans (Christmas gift--deduct for "sweets")

VT Dinners frozen meals include chicken enchilada (with corn tortilla), vegetable curry (with brown rice), and shepherd's pie (beef, potato, corn, vegetables)

Matt Fitzgerald also has co-authored the Racing Weight Cookbook, with a nice recipe for Thai Green Curry with Shrimp. Here are some of the ingredients:

A few days later I used the curry leftovers to bulk up a can of Amy's Thai Coconut soup, so good.

Grocery shopping is a fresh experience, as I embrace the produce section rather than avoiding it:

Even my birthday dinner, consisting of tenderloin, rapini, and a cauliflower gratin, was bursting with QUALITY.

How is your 2016 going so far? Did you know this about adding stuff to a regular can of soup?

Running Recap 2015, Goals 2016

Yesterday I went for my last run of 2015. Today I went for my first run of 2016. Just a mile each, but I love the successive feelings of culmination and new beginnings. Happy New Year!

For my own reference if nothing else, here's a recap of running in 2015 and plans for the coming year. I wrote the goals below a year ago--updates added in bold.

2015 Goals (with comments!):

Continue with usual shorter races (four 5ks and two holiday runs) I only did one 5k and one holiday run, but for good reasons--more below
Try a new distance: 10k? 50k? Yes! I managed to run 50k during a 6-hour race
More snowshoeing in the winter months FAILED. I forgive myself though.
More fun runs in summer months YES! I also switched to the trail option and love it
Half Marathon (probably the same one in May) YES! Slower this year but that's OK.
Streak from Memorial Day-July 4  Made it. I streaked 10 more days after that, meaning daily runs of at least a mile from 5/24-7/14
November Pile on the Miles So-so. I got up to 69 miles but had foot issues after a 6-hour race. Did not make 101 mile goal.
Get a couple of 100+ mile months  I got in 3: March, April, and June. High five!
Learn more about using heart monitor FAILED, due to both my heart monitors not working
Try some trail running, get more confident on hills YES! I had a great year for hills and transitioned to mostly trails during the summer
change hydration system (handheld? I still hate my waistpack) YES! I like my UD handheld and rigged up another water bottle with duct tape that's almost as good. My back and pelvis thank me.
pay more attention to nutrition, both while running and with everyday food  FAILED. This will be big on my list for 2016. I feel like my nutrition in 2015 was pretty poor, mostly just being uninspired and/or waiting until I was too hungry and then making poor decisions


How about some data!?

 
Distance chart—besides three 100+ mile months there were a total of 7 months where I ran over 75 miles. That seems like a comfortable active baseline to maintain this coming year.




Total data collected by my Garmin for 2015: I covered 905 miles in over 179 hours (over a solid week of running), with elevation gain of almost 75,000 feet.



For comparison, here's the same set of data for 2014. I ran almost as far (875 miles), but with much less elevation. I was also faster (I put the difference down mainly to running flat roads instead of hilly trails).


Next, here's my race data (I'm also adding to my Running List page):

Mother's day half marathon 2:01  (about 5 minutes slower than last year)
Bill Power Memorial Firecracker 4-miler 30:56 (ONE SECOND slower than last year)
6 hours in Paradise: 24 miles in 5:33 
Maple 5k 23:25 (45 seconds FASTER than last year)
Hamsterwheel 6-hour race: 31.2 miles in 5:54 (11:17 average pace)

I'm seeing two main things happening here--fewer 5ks, and a NEW kind of race, the 6-hour/ultra. I've written about my fascination with ultrarunning already. I think that... I find running longer, slower, trail-based distances more enjoyable than running 23 minutes all out. 5ks are acutely uncomfortable. It's possible that I prefer the long game of hanging in for an effort of 6-ish hours, something that is more chronically uncomfortable. A long race is more chess-like, with more feeling of community (because you get to know people over all that time), more zen, and much more feeling of accomplishment.

About that lost holiday race, I'm pleased to say I didn't run it because I was busy co-directing it! A runner-mom friend and I took over the classic Brattleboro 3-mile Thanksgiving Turkey Trot from the long-standing directors about 7 weeks before the race. It seemed like short notice but we pulled it off and even managed to add a food donation aspect. I'm already excited for next year!

2016 Goals:

CALENDAR:
Jan-Feb: build up mileage again, slowly. Aim for at least 20 miles a week by end of February
Mar-Apr-May: Follow same half-marathon training plan as last year
May 9, Mother's day: HALF MARATHON!
May-June: Switch to trails/hills and increase mileage a reasonable amount. Start fun run season. And streak!
June 18, 2016: Vegan Power 50k in Pittsfield, MA (registered!)
June-July: As much trail-running as possible, maintain higher mileage & hills
July 4, 2016: Bill Powers Memorial Firecracker 4-miler
August 6, 2016: Moosalamoo 36-miler? or 14-miler? (not yet registered)
August-Sep: Keep it up! Fun runs end around late August
Late Sept: Pisgah 50k? (not yet registered)
Late Sept: Maple 5k
Fall 2016: Something else? I'd love to do another 6-hour race at some point.
November 2016: Co-direct the Thanksgiving Morning Turkey Trot--year 2!

NUTRITION: A main goal for 2016 is to dial in my healthy eating. I tend to let this go and it's just silly. A stupid part of me thinks it's selfish to eat healthy food—the expensive raspberries go to my children, and I just eat fries or crackers. This year I want that to STOP. I have been reading Matt Fitzgerald and started experimenting with his Dietary Quality Score system. I'll post more as I figure it out!

JOURNALING: I used my Believe Training Journal by Lauren Fleshman and Roisin McGettigan-Dumas to record runs, thoughts, events, and dinners every single week. I want to continue this year. It's a great tool for tracking both physical performance and mental space & aspirations. I highly recommend it for runners. It's not just a weekly diary to fill in, there are also short articles, training suggestions, check-in pages, goal-setting tools, race-planning calendars... It's awesome.

OTHER: Other running "goals" are more of a gear wish list—it would be great to get some sunglasses for running, a heart rate monitor that works, a reflective vest that fits, maybe a hydration pack.

Last year's Believe journal is full—ready to crack open the Lavender edition for 2016!

December is for Takeout

Somewhere along the way, the month of December started to really stress me out. More than one Christmas has involved crying on my part because it was just SO NOT FUN, in frustrating contrast to my hopes for the day. Last year I made some progress with having a more enjoyable and mellow Christmas, mainly by concentrating on gifts for kids and donating all other gift money to the Vermont Food Bank. (With a matching donation from my employer, our gift became 600 meals for Vermonters in need!)

This year I've made another discovery in getting through December in one less-stressed piece: minimize cooking! Some quick tips to share:

Get takeout! In addition to Chinese and Japanese food from Panda North, we also got pulled pork dinner from Hazel this month. (It's huge and comes with two sides, try collards and mac & cheese.)

Trust in TJ's! Tamales from Trader Joe's are both delicious and Christmasy. We had them on Frank Sinatra's 100th birthday this year, also known as December 12th. Tonight we had Trader Joe's pork gyoza, the savory dumplings that are excellent dipped in homemade Sichuan Chili Oil mixed with soy sauce.

Go local! I recently discovered VT Dinners, Brattleboro-area maker of frozen dinners with emphasis on locally sourced ingredients. I tried their Fill the Freezer offer (it's still going until December 31st if you're in the area!) and am now STOCKED with yummy meals.

Soup it Up! Soup can be dinner, add toast if you want to fill in the corners. We always keep cans of clam chowder and Progresso Chickarina for those just-in-case evenings when I don't know what's for dinner.

PIZZA! Of course.


Photo gallery:

 

Hearty, savory, and a little spicy—this is the VT Dinners Shepherd's Pie.

VT Dinners is running a "Fill the Freezer" holiday deal (20% off 12 dinners or 6 family packs, use code "freezer" at checkout, expires 12/31/15). I went for it and am inordinately excited to have a freezer-full of double serving meals at my fingertips. I'm also very enthusiastic about VT Dinners in general, it sounds so much like my CSA Gourmet Business Plan come to life! VT Dinners, let me know if you're hiring, haha!

 

One more VT Dinners photo—I've gotten very strong recommendations to try the mouthwatering Chicken Pot Pie. Next on my list. (By the way, I get no compensation for mentioning anything in this post, this is just what I'm loving right now.)

Trader Joe's is 45 minutes away, near Amherst Massachusetts. Whenever we go anywhere near Amherst we take a cooler along so we can hit Trader Joe's and not have things melt on the way home. Just like soup in the cabinet, we try to have some Trader Joe's always in the freezer.

What are your favorite easy dinners? Do you find the holidays stressful sometimes? I hope yours are very merry and bright!!

Best Holiday Cookies! Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip

Today, at last, I'd like to share the recipe for my famous Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip cookies. They make for a great cookie-tin gift for the holidays. They also happen to be So Delicious.

First, let me walk you through the steps. Then, the recipe!

First thing to add is rolled oats. These cookies are healthy! Kinda.

Add flour and sugar.

Add chocolate chips. The trick here is to add a normal amount of chips, and then add some more.

Next comes brown sugar.

And then, the pièce de resistance, coconut. Find just regular dried coconut, not sweetened flakes. Other dry ingredients include baking soda and salt.

Melt one stick of unsalted butter.

Beat together 1 egg and some vanilla.

Add wet ingredients to dry. The key here is persistence over doubt. IT WILL SEEM that the egg and butter are not enough to moisten all of the other ingredients. Put these concerns aside. Mix things together by hand with confidence and character. They WILL start to stick together, even just a tiny bit. That is enough.

Squeeze walnut-sized balls of batter together and place on parchment-covered baking sheet. Bits will fall off—that's OK. Press them back in to random cookie balls.

Because these cookies are so ingredient heavy they will not really spread out by themselves. They will need a little "spank" with a metal turner/spatula halfway through baking. Open the oven, and with your favorite tool, gently push down on each cookie to make it flatter.

Cool finished cookies a bit.

Then transfer to rack for further cooling.

Here's the formal recipe:

1 1/4 c. oatmeal (rolled oats)
1 c. flour
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. flake coconut
1 c. chocolate chips
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1 stick butter, melted (1/2 c)
1 t. vanilla
1 egg

• Preheat oven to 325˚ F
• Combine dry ingredients.
• Mix in butter, vanilla, egg
• Drop on parchment-covered cookie sheet
• Bale 7 minutes, then "spank" with metal turner
• Bake 5 more minutes.
• Let cool slightly, then move to rack to cool

Makes about 35 cookies.

Enjoy! Merry Merry!

Other gift ideas from this blog: Holiday Crafts including personalized mugs & home brew

Bun Thit Nuong, Vermont-Style

On a recent vacation morning, say for example the morning after a national holiday during which I'd eaten a lot of turkey and had some lovely wine, I woke up craving something extremely specific. I wanted a #37 from the Saigon Palace in Toronto, Ontario. We often used to go to the Saigon Palace--on Spadina Avenue just steps away from the University of Toronto's St. George Campus--for all manner of Vietnamese food while I was at U of T. And #37 was my favorite. It was a big bowlful of noodles and stuff--I could try to describe all the stuff, but since it was Vietnamese I didn't know exactly what it was.

In the course of Googling, I reminisced about "The Saigon," as we called it. The Saigon Palace was a diner-like establishment with formica tables and late 80s decor such as pinkish wallpaper and framed Asian-ish prints. It also had a pages-long laminated menu. They served Vietnamese coffee and a million other kinds of drinks, mostly coming in tall parfait-type soda fountain glasses where you could see grass noodles or thick descending drips of sweetened condensed milk through the sides of the glass. Everything seemed a little exotic. Once I ordered what I thought was just hot coffee, and when it came and I gave it a stir, an intact egg yolk came swirling up to the surface to greet me.

A huge bowl of food was super-cheap, maybe about $5 CDN. You could smoke in the back room, which was a big deal to college kids. The back room of the Saigon Palace was the first venue of my eating something on a dare, in this case some kind of small chile pepper that seared my mouth but earned me folding money and a little extra respect. (At least I hoped it was respect, haha!)

Anyway, I learned two things from Google. One is that the Saigon Palace now seems to be closed. The other is that #37 is probably something called Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio, which basically means rice noodles with grilled pork and spring rolls. Yes!

My mission now had focus. My post-Thanksgiving goal would be to replicate Bun Thit Nuong Cha Gio as soon as possible and without traveling anywhere. I figured the blogger "Wandering Chopsticks" would know what to do, and sure enough I found some good information on her page for Bun Thit Heo Nuong, Tom, Cha Gio. I also found a second good source at Hapa Nom Nom.

Next came the adapting. Most of the sources I looked at showed a wheat-type wrapping for the spring rolls, but the Saigon Palace always used rice-paper wrapping. It forms a pale, blistery skin on the spring roll that is shatteringly crisp and delicious. While I can actually buy these at the local farmer's market, I didn't have time to do so. So that eliminates the authentic Cha Gio.

But I can narrow my goal and still try for Bun Thit Nuong. As Wandering Chopsticks puts it, this is more an assembly of items than a single recipe. Here's what I put together.

Clockwise from upper right:

• sliced cucumber, fresh cilantro, fresh mint, bean sprouts
• crushed peanuts (I put roasted unsalted peanuts in a plastic bag and pounded with a mallet)
• Rice sticks (called "Vermicelli" as well, by Ka•me)
• Pickled carrot & purple daikon (Do chua from Wandering Chopsticks)
• Fish Dipping sauce (Nuoc mam from Wandering Chopsticks)
• Marinating pork from Hapa Nom Nom (see below)
• NOT SHOWN: greens—I used tender lettuce leaves and baby kale

While most ingredients are raw and cold, there is a little cooking involved. You need to cook the rice sticks (vermicelli) according to instructions and then rinse in cold water. And after marinating 2+ hours, the pork will be ready to cook. For this part, I used an inexpensive pork chop of some kind—the cheapest pork per pound that I sliced into long thin strips and marinated according to Hapa Nom Nom's recipe. Except... I didn't have molasses, so I made it Vermont-style by using maple syrup instead. I stir-fried the sugar-laden pork for about 10-15 minutes until it was very browned and caramelized. It smelled amazing. I know frying is not grilling, but Wandering Chopsticks says it's OK so I went for it.

Assembly time!

Place lettuce/greens in bottom of bowl. At the Saigon Palace this would be a proper large bowl with pink and blue and yellow designs all over it.

Next, add a generous portion of cold rice noodles.

Garnish around the sides with mint, cilantro, cucumber, pickled vegetables, and still-warm pork.

 

Top with a sprinkling of peanuts and a generous slosh of fish dipping sauce over all. 

The finishing touch at the Saigon Palace was always a generous squeeze of hot sauce--I used Sriracha.

Notes: This was delightfully close to the rice bowl of memory, I think the Sriracha squeeze and peanuts put it over the top. My fellow eater also really liked it, and he's never been to the Saigon Palace. I would love to include:

eggy steamed meatloaf: This would sometimes turn up in #37 and sometimes not. Wandering Chopsticks has a recipe for this simple Vietnamese classic, also known as Cha Trung Hap

crispy shallots: I ALMOST pulled these off as well, but then I burned the shallots to a char in hot oil. Oops :(

Cha Gio: obviously this would be so much more "#37" if it came with the rice-paper spring rolls

Giant iced Vietnamese coffee: because of course!

Do you have a Vietnamese comfort food? Have you been to the Saigon Palace in Toronto? Do you ever have elaborate cravings that you feel compelled to follow up on?

Race Report: Hamsterwheel 6-Hour, New Hampshire

They called me "Chicago."

The nickname started around lap 5. The race director and his wife were both so super nice, always asking what they could get me when I stopped between laps. The race director's wife, Darby, seemed like my personal cheerleader (and to many others, too!). With her kind words, I knew she was genuinely interested and supportive about how I was doing. She even sent me off on my last lap by saying, "You can do it, and I'll be waiting for you! Go Chicago!" Inspiring words!

I earned the "Chicago" moniker by stripping down to my Chicago Half-Marathon 2013 technical long-sleeved tee a little way into my second ever 6-hour race. The race was aptly called The Hamsterwheel, and took place in the adorable town of New Boston, New Hampshire. I had a feeling when I picked out gear that the Chicago shirt would be easy to turn into a name for me—and when it happened I thought it was great. I worked hard for that "Chicago" back in 2013, and here I was working even harder, for another bigger goal.

I also sported my new Green Mountain State buff, since a New Hampshire race needed to know the presence of its intrepid western neighbor.

But back to the beginning.

After my 6-hour race in August I immediately signed up for another one. I love the idea of putting in whatever miles and pace you want, with time being the limit--not distance. New Boston, NH is about 90 minutes from where I live in Brattleboro, Vermont, so an early morning drive there would do the trick, and I'd be done racing by 2pm, ready to drive home. Perfect!

Of course an August race is very different than a November one. When I signed up on a sunny day, I had no idea if it would be snowing, freezing, blizzarding, or what. Fortunately the weather was mild--around zero degrees (32F) early on and then it warmed up a tiny bit. It had rained the day before but cleared up by Saturday November 14. Up and driving before dawn, I saw the pink clouds of sunrise as I drove through New Hampshire countryside. I was at the race site and checking in before 7:30.

My November course was also very different in character than the August one. August was a 2.2 mile loop of mostly dirt with a lot of elevation changes. The Hamsterwheel is on 4-ish miles of out-&-back rail-trail, meaning it was pretty uniformly flat and... same-ish. The rail trail surface also happened to be compacted creosote or crushed stone (a fellow participant aptly captioned a photo with "Damn you crushed stone!") or concrete in sparkly hellish disguise or similar. Whatever it was, it was a brutally hard surface for me after months of mostly running on dirt.

Ultra runners are very cool and supportive. An out and back course meant I saw everybody many times. Many would exchange a glance, a comment, a thumbs up, a nod, a small wave. The lead runner, a Canadian woman I'd love to hang out with, gave everyone a quick but friendly "Good job!" every time she passed someone. Classy!

What I like a lot about ultras is how the physical challenge combines with the mental game. Ultras are GREAT for people who are very stubborn and have interesting relationships with pain and discomfort. So far, for me a 6 hour race feels a little like a fight between the mind and the brain. I don't know what the difference is, but there are two voices and they both seem cerebral. One is saying, this is ridiculous. You should stop doing this. The other is saying, hey... there's a reason we're doing this. The feeling is only temporary. Think about something else, because your whining is not relevant. We are more than that.

I don't know where the body factors into this! Between the mind and the brain, the body is like the workhorse that keeps going while its two drivers are arguing about whether to stop at the next tavern or go on and get the job done. Thank goodness that my body just chugs along. Every now and then I try to appreciate just that and shut those drivers down.

Running for so long gets a little delirious and jumbled, so just for the record here are some of my post-race notes. It really was an awesome day.

After 2 laps I took off layers, but after two more I put on gloves and a hat when I realized that conserving energy would help me keep running.

Nutrition was GU Roctane drink and fruit balls. I got sick of the fruit balls within 4 hours. I watered down the roctane after a few laps as I'd done before to avoid being overcaffeinated, but it didn't sit well when it was diluted. My body wanted pure roctane and I went back to that for later laps to good effect. It really is amazing stuff.

As noted, the Hamsterwheel was not a looped course but an out and back with small lollipop/loop at the start/finish. The lollipop was also the only elevation, so I quickly dubbed it my favorite part of the race since I got some variety to look forward to. The hilly bit was nice soft dirt, and I knew it was near the lovely start/finish where I could rest briefly.

I tried not to stop for long. The longest was about 5 minutes once I'd started to realize the particulars of the course. I had some ramen and did some stretching to assuage my aching pelvis.

Laps 1-3 were super easy and felt great. Lap 4 I realized the challenges of the surface. I also realized that if I kept going I could reach my 50k A goal. That was unplanned for, but very welcome. To be clear, my C goal was 6 laps (24 miles); my B goal was 7 laps aka over marathon distance (28 miles) and my A goal was 8 laps or a 50k. The course was so flat that I managed to put in a lot of comfortable mileage at a good pace, and then I just had to gut out the rest of it to make my 50k.

The 50k was a birthday present to myself. Back in January I said to my husband with a note of fear and awe, "I think I want to run a 50k this year!" At that point my farthest distance had been a half marathon, ~20k. By November of this same year I really doubted a 50k could happen and had already set a new goal of running 50k by June 2016. But then... it worked out! I was SO HAPPY. I sang "Happy Birthday" to myself on my last lap and felt teary. And during the course of the race I also necessarily ran my first marathon distance. I celebrated that 26.2 milestone as well, believe me!

In the second half of a 6-hour race I like to trick my brain by subtracting a lap. For instance, when I'm on the 4th to last lap I will say, "Hey brain, only 3 laps after this! Just 3!" I know I'm doing it to myself, but it still works every time. This time on the 2nd to last lap I bid a preliminary goodbye to landmarks. Only one more time to see that fuzzy tree! One more time I'll see the old birch! One more time past the mile marker that isn't a mile marker! One more time until I'll never see the plastic fencing! It didn't matter that I never noticed these things on my last lap to say goodbye that LAST time. The only point was to keep my brain occupied and chomping on its fodder so my mind could do its job.

The 8th and last lap was a lot more bearable than laps 5-7, precisely because I was going to be done. On those middle laps I kept telling myself that periods of feeling bad are followed by feeling good, and I'd get there at some point. And I did.

For whatever they're worth, here are my splits, a lot faster than the 13:30 mile average that I allow myself for "normal" trail running. Note how there is a consistent lag every 4 miles, which means I got to the start/finish station and took a little break.

When I came back in after that last lap, where Darby said she'd be waiting for me, I rounded the last turn and I heard her yell, "Is that Chicago??!"  I raised my arms in victory and ran across the finish line, and she gave me a big hug. So did the 6-hour race winner who was already done, the Canadian woman whose energy and consistency was incredibly inspiring. The small crowd was cheering and it felt just... incredible.

I kind of love that the home-made finisher's medal is missing the final "L"--it's truly the HamsterWHEE!












Before the race I snapped a pic of the first place prizes--golden hamsterwheels!

Like I said, the race director, organizers, and volunteers were super nice and organized. When I ended the 6-hour race and needed solace, they had a fire going, a table of soda that included Coke, and tons of food including three kinds of pizza. I hung out by the fire and rolled my muscles (meaning I massaged them with a water bottle), and we continued to cheer people coming in AND those people continuing on for the 12-hour and 24-hour races. Some people I know think 6 hours is a little crazy... for me I can't imagine running 12 hours or 24 hours. Yet this race had that too, and there were souls that actually did it, running until 8am the following morning. Wow!

Thank you Just Keep Running for all that you do!

Gnarly Roots: Celeriac soup

Celeriac is the next cauliflower in terms of trendy foods. (I have decided. You're welcome!) It makes a delicious and filling soup--like cream of potato but with a smidge more personality. But look at this root! It is hairy and bumpy and gnarled, with a crop-top from where the celery was harvested earlier in the season. Who would think to eat such a thing!? Fortunately, a few trims with a big knife shears off the knobbly bits, and then it can be cubed and ready for soup.

My celeriac comes from the farmer's market, and I followed a Celeriac and Roasted Garlic soup recipe by Simply Delicious. Celeriac has a distinctive celery taste, but is more subtle than celery's bright green zing. The Simply Delicious recipe recommends using roasted garlic rather than raw, to keep that on the mild side too.

 Here are my two roots, one roasted and one not, ready to soupify.

A quantity of potatoes add body to the soup; onion is also in the mix. After sautéeing I added prepared chicken stock for a homey vibe, though any stock will do.

Cook until soft, purée, and serve with a swirl of cream or half and half. This provided a great work lunch for three days running!

Have you tried celeriac? Do you "soupify" it or do something else?