Jungle Jog 5k Challenge

We had a crazy ammount of RSSTers there, everyone who ran it last year improved their times by MINUTES! Ryan, Tom and me were running together for the first mile, then I dropped back a little but kept them in sight. Then I cought Ryan on the downhill, he was hurting. He wants to beat me next time, but we KNOW that wont happen ;P. I didnt get my sub 20, I lost time on the hills, but I did get 20:40 which was good enough for 3rd FEMALE OVERALL!! I was also running with the 2 women who got 1st and 2nd for about 2 miles but didnt realize we were all top 3 untill some people on the side were shouting " GO TOP 3 WOMEN!!" They had these swesome blue popsicles at the end, I had 3. Dont tell Jim.


Lizzie and me.


Me 3rd overall female, Ryan 3rd in age group, Jerry 1st in his, Tim 3rd in his.


...What popsicle?!


What was happening in this picture?!

Pancake Review #4

I never usually have pancakes 3 times in a 48 hour period, but these just looked so good!

Post Workout Pancakes

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3/4 cup fresh blueberries

PREPARATION:
Preheat griddle over medium heat.
Stir together the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and sugar, set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the egg, yogurt, milk and oil.
Gradually stir in the flour mixture, then fold in the blueberries.

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Equipment Used:
Cast iron skillet, big plastic flipper, meduim red mixing bowl, metal mixing bowl, measuring cups, and a whisk.

Strengths:
AMAZING food for post workout (they way I made it anyway...see notes) ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS too!! Same perfect texture as the last ones. The nutmeg and cinnamon really made them fantastical.

Weaknesses:
The blueberries again. This time I used fresh ones but they werent wild, which always ALWAYS takes away from the flavor. Darn blueberries...actually I think this recipe would be better without the blueberries.

Notes:
I had just gotten back from a tough workout when I was looking at this recipe so I decided to add some whey protein. Also instead of regular plain yogurt I used Kifur which is absolutely disgusting on its own, on granola, or even in a smoothie. It even smells bad. I cant even begin to say how incredibly repugnant, displeasureable, and disagreeable to the senses it is.
So I decided since I didnt want to waste it and it IS good for you, to cook it. I have no idea if the live bacteria in yogurt can survive cooking, but then again, they die in your stomach anyway! HAHA! I wasnt sure if the amount of cinnamon and nutmeg were substantial enough to cover the atrocious taste of the whey and Kifur, so I doubled the amount and it turned out amazing.

Bottom Line:
They made me want to open my own pancake house.

Here they are in their healthy deliciousness

Pancake Review #3

Alien Pancakes!!!

INGREDIENTS:
2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
3/4 teasooon salt
1 cup milk
3 tablespoons butter, melted
1 cup fresh or frozen thawed blueberries, rinsed

PREPARATION:
In a small bowl, beat egg whites until stiff; set aside.
In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Beat egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl; add milk and melted butter.

Stir egg mixture into dry ingredients; mix until batter is smooth and stir in blueberries. Fold in beaten egg whites.
Makes 12 pancakes.

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Equipment Used:
Cast iron skillet, big plastic flipper, meduim red mixing bowl, small red mixing bowl, bowl, measuring cups, and a whisk.

Strengths:
PERFECT texture, good post run food, AWESOME taste!!

Weaknesses:
Only 2 things with these pancakes, which can easily be fixed. The first thing is when I followed the recipe, the batter was WAYYY to watery. Second thing is im still using thoes oversized frozen excuses for blueberries.

Notes:
Use about 1/8 cup more flour to fix the watery problem. USE WILD ORGANIC BLUEBERRIES! Unless you like thoes fake store versions...if thats how you roll then go for it. These were just called blueberry pancakes, but after cooking them, they turned green and kind of looked like little plops that fell from the sky. :P

Bottom Line:
BEST PANCAKES MADE TO DATE!!!! Try them. They want you to eat them.


Arent they funky looking?

Scary Runners

I was told I should blog about this, so I will. You know, its actually an important topic I think. Ive been thinking I should get a job lately, but I hate supermarkets and ice cream shops mostly because of some of the customers that go to thoes places. Then I thought a bike shop would be nice, I love cycling and most cyclists are nice people. Then again I dont know anything about bikes, im new to this. So I was thinking a running store would be perfect, im a seasoned runner and for the most part I know what im talking about, and runners are good people too.
So here it is. The ONE THING that is keeping me from the running stores (and some bike shops) are the EMPLOYEES! I couldnt even ask them for help as a customer let alone WORK with them. Theyre just so darn scary!
Ture story. I walk into Medveds one day looking around wondering what to spend my gift certificate on. The whole time im there the 3 guys working watch me and they arent talking to eachother or doing anything. Just staring. Eventually I go up to the counter and ask for some quarter inch spikes and he gives them to me, but then gives me this look like "who are you and what are you doing here". Thats not all. They allways wear either a running hat or these funky biker sunglasses, they are allways clear or yellow so it makes their faces look more intense. With that they will wear technical running shirts and cargo shorts. Im not saying there is anythig wrong with this look, but when I walk in there and see a bunch of intense scary looking mountain biker looking perople I want to run back out. Dont get me wrong, I love that look, if I had any money I get some cool clothes like that too. But they are just NOT approachable in a store, im sure they are all nice people on the trails though. I would definatly go for a run with them.
Ha, I seem to be the only one with this problem, maybe im just paranoid!

Competition

Where would I be without it? Wether it be the last sprint of a 10k or the last lap of a 1000m its what keeps me going. Next weekend during the Jungle Jog 5k Cathy and me have decided to make a "Jungle Jog Challenge". We will have a few groups of similar-speed runners work together to try to get under a certain time. It started when I said I could kick Ryans butt and people started taking bets :P. The goal for my group of 3 or 4 will be to break 20 minutes. Leslie said if I manage to break 19 minutes this summer he will give me a jar of Recoverite, and I cant resist free food/supliments, so this might be my new goal for this year! Of course, the ULTIMATE goal for this year is to make all this running go towards me finally beating Bizz Burns in the 3000m at North Americans!! (Yes, she totally killed me last year...my 5:57 to her 5:45!)

"Where You Come To Party and A Race Breaks Out!"

There we have it, RSST ran the Boilermaker, the biggest 15k in th USA! There were about 9 of us and most of us carpooled which is ALWAYS fun. Even at 4:30 in the morning. First of all, when we got there going to the bathroom was difficult. There were about 40 porta potties, but out of 10,882 runners, about 8,000 and their mothers were waiting in line to use them. Normally this is where I go in the woods...but that was too crowded too. The start was crazy! It took us about 5 minutes to reach the start line after they blew the horn!
There were people running in costumes and people on the side giving us popsicles and hosing us down. There must have been about 30 water stops! There were live bands and radio stations on every block too.
As I was kicking it in the last mile, it got louder and more crowded on the sidelines and it was impossible to hear anythig but undecipherable cheering and screaming, but I heard Cathy loud and clear screaming my name! That made me feel better as I was in run-or-die mode, you know, where you forget your name, what your doing, and just want to rip your legs off because they hurt so bad. Cmon, we all know ripping your legs off will make you feel better, off of body off of mind, right?

Official Race Times:

5K - 1459 runners
Cathy M 29:05

15K - 10882 runners
John B 1:01:56
Liz L 1:10:20
Tim B 1:13:09
Michael S 1:16:01
Tim D 1:17:24
Jerry R 1:18:54
Karen V 1:33:09
Brian K 1:34:11

Pancake Review #2

Blueberry Flaxseed Pancakes

Ingredients
1- 1/4c whole wheat flour
3/4c ground flaxseed
1tbsp ground cinnamon
1tbsp granulated sugar
1tbsp baking powder
1 -3/4c skim milk
1 egg
1tsp vanilla extract
3/4c fresh or frozen blueberries

Preparation
Mix whole wheat flour with ground flaxseed, cinnamon, sugar, and the baking powder in a large bowl. Set aside. Whisk skim milk with egg and vanilla in a medium bowl.

Pour milk mixture into the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Stir in the blueberries.

Heat a large non-stick pan over medium-high heat. Lightly spray with canola oil. Drop spoonfuls of the batter into the heated pan and cook until tiny bubbles appear on the top of each pancake, from 2 to 3 minutes.

Makes 12 pancakes or 4 servings.

Nutritional information
Per serving: 383 cal, 13 g fat, 54 g carb, 17 g protein, 11 g fibre, 280 mg sodium. Excellent source niacin, folate, calcium, iron. Good source thiamin, riboflavin.

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Equipment used:
Cast iron skillet, big plastic flipper, Large red mixing bowl, meduim red mixing bowl, measuring cups, and a whisk.

Strengths:
These are BY FAR the best smelling pancakes you will ever make!! These are MUCH healthier than other pancakes because of the flaxseeds, whole wheat flour and blueberries. (I also used an omega-3 egg)

Weaknesses:
Well, despite the awesome smell and health benefits, they dissapointed me. Im just not that big a fan of whole wheat flour.

Notes:
Ok. I have the flour bug situation under control. I went out and purchased some nifty air tight containers for the flour, which are working nicely. So no bugs in the pancakes this time. Instead of ground flaxseed I had to use whole flaxseeds because thats what I had and didnt know how/was too lazy to ground them myself. If you try these pancakes, you will want to ground them or you will be spitting flaxseeds for the rest of the day. Personally, I like wild blueberries better than store bought ones or even ones you get at a local farm market. They just taste better when youve climbed a mountain to get them!

Bottom Line:
I wouldnt make them again.

Heres the finished product:

Skeleton Dryland?

Ever wonder what the skeleton sliders do in the summer? Im pretty sure sliding down parking garages on skateboards isnt it, but MAN does it look FUN!!! Im sure we could work this into our speedskating dryland schedule, it would help our.....coordination?

(might want to press the pause button on the mypod to hear the video :P)

2014 Winter Olympics

And the winner is.......SOCHI RUSSIA!!! I looked at some pictures online and its very pretty there. Of course...I didnt see any pictures of winter, it was all beaches and ocean...and palm trees....do they have the right olympics?? I cant immagine snow covered mountains and a warm tropical breeze.
But I think its awesome that they are having it in Russia, this is historic! The first time Russia has held the Olympics since 1980 when the US boycotted. Ive allways wanted to go to Russia, its on my list of things to do before I die. You know what else is on there? Competing in the Olympics. This is perfect, now all I have to do is skate fast and I can kill to birds with one stone!!!

Here is the site they have up.
I really like the snow flake symbol!

This Is Why We're HOT

Some awesome short track videos!!!

These guys do cool tricks and break dance to ghostbusters!! (Marty- your head pivots are WAYYY better!!)


Haha...I like the "shake your booty" part when they go arround the corners!


This is...SHORT TRACK

Harborfest 10k/Long run

We had a bunch of RSSTers run the Harborfest 10k last Sunday, this race had the most RIDICULOUS finish ive ever seen. The last 1-200 meters were on the beach, its REALLY hard to run in deep sand!! It was fun though, my first 10k! I got 1st in the 17 & under group with a time of 46:04. I think I like 10ks better than 5ks.

After the race Cathy gave me a ride home in the RSST-mobile!! I was thinking it would have been a very cosy van to go to nationals in. Its got a couch, a kitchen, and a tv!!

I needed to go on a long run Sunday so I went out with Rachel (fellow XCer) her uncle and her dad and we ran probably the best route Ive ever run. It started at the U of R parking lot near the track, then we turned on the road accrosed from the GV rink, cut through on a trail to this neighborhood, then on this path with a nice view of the city, then over a bridge, then through Mt. Hope Cemetery (which is VERY pretty and an awesome place to run) then another bridge, looped through the neighborhood again and cut through to another bridge and did the last 2 miles on the track. It turned out to be 9 miles. Im getting sick of running in Mendon Ponds and Powdermill so Ill start running more in the city.

Ill try to make a map of it, theres this really cool site Rachel told me about,Map My Run, where you can search for routes or make your own. Its addicing!


I won a free Abbotts sundae and a beach towel!!