Capital City Classic

This past weekend, I ran the Capital City Classic 10 mile race with Lauren, my sister Marissa, and her friend Heather. Let me just say- 10 miles is SO much easier than 13. Fainting at the end of my last half marathon made me afraid to run this race. I was scared to feel the fatigue and lack of energy I experienced before, but I kept reminding myself that this race was over 3 miles shorter. And boy did those 3 miles make a difference.

I kept telling myself that I was going to start running and training again once my knee felt better after my fall. The pain did completely subside about two weeks later; I just never started running again. Oops. A week before this race though, I knew I needed to run a little bit so my knees wouldn’t be so achy after 10 miles. So the Monday before the race I ran a 5k, and I ran another one the following day. That Thursday I ran 4 miles, and stopped my training there. I should have started running again weeks ago, I know. My bad. 

At the Shamrock’n half, I noticed a lot of people going through energy gels throughout the race. I figured it couldn’t hurt to give them a try. So this time I bought two different brands: PowerBar Gel and Gu Energy Gel, and carried one of them in my iPhone armband throughout the entire race, just in case I needed a pick-me-up. I thought I would end up using one of the energy sources around mile 8 (where I started to feel like I wanted to quit last time). Race volunteers were also handing out Gels right before miles 5 and 7. I was tempted to grab another, just in case I felt like dying towards the end of the race. But as it goes, because I carried one in my armband (which caused chaffing), I didn’t end up needing it. I felt tired, but not nearly as horrible as I did during the Shamrock’n half. So I still have no idea what the Gels or Gu’s taste like.  

The four of us have completed several runs together before. Marissa and Heather always stick together, and I always run with Lauren. Lauren and I originally set a goal of under two hours for this race, and then later decided that 2 hours and 10 minutes is more realistic for us. Fortunately, we beat our final goal with a time of 2:09:43.72, and we ran the entire race (another goal accomplished!). Next up in the running world for me: the American River Parkway Half Marathon on May 4^th. I hope to be better about training for this race by following the last two weeks of the training program I had started for the Shamrock’n half. So far, so good!  

Chipotle: Vegan Style

Chipotle is one of my favorite places to eat at, especially when I'm dining with my carnivorous family. Seriously, my brothers love meat and a meal isn't complete without it. So if I'm planning on going out to eat with my family, Chipotle always ends up on my list of suggestions. There's plenty of meat for the others, and I have plenty of vegan options to work with.

I have a "usual" that I always order: a vegetarian burrito bowl with brown rice, extra black beans, grilled fajita veggies, mild salsa, corn salsa, and lettuce. But times have changed. A new era has begun.

Chipotle now offers sofritas at all of their Northern California locations. I've found that the shredded tofu braised with chipotle chiles, roasted poblanos, and other spieces is an excellent addition to my "usual". A few years ago Chipotle was testing out vegan/vegetarian chicken. I thought the chicken was alright and I would probably order it again every once in a while, but apparently other people didn't care for it since the item didn't stay on the menu. Luckily though, the sofritas are now a permanent addition and I'll most likely order it all the time. I've already been to Chipotle twice in the past week just for this item. The sofritas remind me a lot of ground beef; they're a little spicy, but still super tasty.

Easter 2013

Since I haven't written that many blog entries yet, it was really easy to locate last year's Easter post. I realized that my family and I like to stick to tradition. We had brunch at Arden Hills again, and took our obligatory picture with the Easter bunny. Being vegan, it's not always easy to find hearty food from an omnivore's menu. Luckily though, this buffet had more vegan-friendly selections than most places. I loaded up on pineapple, roasted potatoes, and salad with a balsamic vinaigrette. I also asked for sauteed spinach, onion, and bell peppers from the omelet station. I grabbed some plain pretzels and graham crackers from the chocolate fountain setup for dessert.

 Abby, you'll thank me for this one day. Maybe.

Because we are already dressed up for this occasion, my siblings and I always persuade our parents to take a family picture that will hopefully be our Christmas card picture at the end of the year. There should be at least one good picture to choose from, right?

After brunch, Lauren and I went to her mom's house for Easter dinner. We spent the afternoon watching DIY network and "helping" prepare dinner. I always love going over to Leti and Dan's house...they always make an effort to have delicious vegan food. For us vegans, we had Gardein stuffed turkey with gravy, scalloped potatoes, sauteed green beans with slivered almonds, steamed broccoli, and garlic bread. YUM! The potatoes were my favorite...of course!

Next it was time for our annual Easter egg hunt, wahoo! Each year Lauren and I fill eggs for each other, and we take turns hiding the eggs. This is probably my favorite part about Easter. Yes, I know I'm 22. Still. It's so fun to camouflage the eggs. (Put the green colored eggs in plants, put the white eggs behind the blinds, etc.) I'm pretty sure I found all of my eggs before Lauren...what are best friends for anyway? :)

Shamrock'n Half Marathon

Last Sunday Lauren and I ran our second half marathon! Wahoo!!!

My one resolution for this year was to run at least one mile a day, everyday. January was great. I felt so pumped at the beginning that I even registered to run a half marathon in March. However, my running high didn't last long. The last week of January I had the stomach flu (eww), which prevented me from running for a few days. There was no way I could run; I felt horrible. But once I did start feeling better, going to the gym everyday wasn't a priority anymore. Thus, I hadn't run since like January 28. I kept telling myself that I would start running again to train for my half marathon, but I never did. I even started the year off following a 12-week training program...

Despite my lack of thorough conditioning, this half marathon was so much easier and felt much better than the one I ran in July. When I ran that half marathon, I ran a total of maybe 5 times that entire year, haha! So even though I only ran for less than a month leading up to the Shamrock'n half marathon, it was a lot more training than I had put in before.

 Before:

 After:

Okay, so I fell. I was literally 20 feet (if that) from crossing the finish line when I fainted. I was running at full speed (as fast as my legs could carry me after 13 miles), and I ended up on my knees.

Regardless of my graceful fall, I managed to beat my previous half marathon time by about 28 minutes, and I reached my goal of finishing under 3 hours! All's well that ends well?

Sooooo...I've already registered to run a 10 mile race in April and my third half marathon in May. My left knee is still too sore to run, but hopefully I'll be able to start training again by Tuesday. Fingers crossed!

Stitch Marker Swap

This past weekend Lauren and I attended Stitches West in Santa Clara. For those who have never heard of this event, it's essentially a HUGE yarn convention where thousands of knitters, crocheters, weavers, and anyone else who enjoys yarn, gather to take classes and/or shop the vendors' booths. But I'll post more about the actual event later.

Ravelry is an excellent site, containing many free and for-purchase crochet and knit patterns. Mostly everything I knit comes from patterns I've seen on this site. More recently however, I discovered the "groups" feature which allows any member to join and start a discussion based on the topic of the group. THANK YOU LAUREN FOR FINDING THE STITCHES WEST GROUP and urging me to join. Lauren also read in a discussion thread through the Stitches West group about a Ravelry member who was hosting a stitch marker swap at the event. The thought of making swaps and scouting out people to trade with quickly brought me back to my days years of being a Girl Scout. I have fond memories of swapping with other girls years ago, so I immediately jumped on the idea to make and swap stitch markers with fellow yarn-loving companions.

All of the potential swappers were notified that approximately 100 other swappers would be in attendance. Thus I knew I HAD to make 100 swaps as I was bound to trade with everyone! I was very adamant that I wanted to use up some of the crafting supplies we already have to keep the cost of production down. After hours of brainstorming, Lauren and I decided to make stitch markers out of clay. Many people chose to use beads for their stitch markers, so we wanted to create something really different and unique. Lauren chose to assemble different colored birds, and I dabbled in sculpting rubber duckies.

 

I started by molding the clay into two different sized balls: the smaller ball for the head and the larger ball for the duck's body. I next rolled the larger ball into a shape that somewhat resembles a boat (that's the best description I could come up with, sorry...). I used a plastic knife to score the bottom surface of the head and the top surface of the body so that the two pieces would stick together better. With a sliver of orange clay, I added an orange beak onto the head. I then stuck a pin (bought at Michael's) in each duck and baked them in the oven.

I had a horrible incident where I scorched 40 ducks to death by turning up the oven temperature too high. Seriously...they were black. I was devastated. But besides that, everything else went smoothly.

Lauren helped me (and by help I mean graciously did everything) attach the jump rings and/or lobster claps to my finished ducks. It turns out that I'm not too good with pliers or wire cutters...

Then I used some black and white acrylic paint with q-tips and toothpicks to adorn the ducks with eyes. I was finally all set to swap!

There were dedicated times to swap: Friday and Saturday evenings at 5 PM. However, Lauren and I didn't get to Stitches West till Saturday, so we missed swapping Friday night. Everyone was given a button to wear, identifying him or her as a "swapper". If we spotted a button during the market shopping hours, we excitedly asked to swap with them. We were the first ones ready at the swap location on Saturday night...that's how excited we were. It was fun meeting everyone, but mostly it was so interesting to see what all of the other knitters and crocheters created. Here's my haul:

I'll probably never need that many stitch markers, but that's okay. I didn't participate in the swap to gain stitch markers, but rather I needed to fulfill my weird urge to make something useful that others could benefit from while concurrently using up some of my stashed materials. I loved trading with others and I was happy to see that I wasn't the only adult eager to swap. I'm already devising plans on what to create next year for my stitch marker swap!

Easter!

Yes, I realize Easter was LAST Sunday. But hey, at least I'm actually blogging. Easter is now one of my favorite holidays...I love all of the traditions, and new additions.

Dyeing Easter Eggs

Easter Brunch 

Easter Baskets

...and Easter Dinner with L's family and an Easter Egg Hunt (no pictures were taken)

Of course one of my favorite parts was giving and receiving Easter baskets. I got three this year, I'm lucky! One from my mom, one from L, and one from L's mom. In the picture above, L's are the two on the left, and the two on the right are mine. The gray basket with crocheted flowers is from L. She bought me and made me lots of cool stuff! Some of my favorites are my flannel polka dot pajama pants, three cowls she made (two sewn and one knit), two drawstring pouches she sewed, a fatty stuffed pig, a bath balm from Lush wrapped in a cute chick cloth, and TONS of candy. The basket my mom got me is on the far right. She gave me a purple stuffed bunny, two nail polishes, and more candy. The basket from L's mom is not pictured...but she gave me a Chipotle gift card (YUM), a Whole Foods gift card (for L and I to share), and a cool notebook! Thanks everyone!

I started my Easter morning off with an Easter egg hunt in our backyard. L and I filled the eggs, and my brothers hid them. My mom hid $10 in one of the eggs as well. Some of the eggs had Hersey kisses, some had jelly beans, and the others had a coin. After all of the eggs were found, everyone went inside and opened all of their eggs to see you had found the most money from coins, and who found the $10. Well, I found the $10 and L found the most money in coins, wahoo!

Then my family and I (and L) went to Arden Hills for brunch. We also had brunch with my dad's family. Sadly I did not remember to take any pictures of the food, but my favorite were the potatoes. My brothers and sister were amazed to learn that broccoli can also be purple...it was my sister's favorite part of the meal. 

L and I then went to her mom's house for dinner. She made a vegan version of her Easter dinner just for us =). Vegan Field Roast, scalloped potatoes, green beans with slivered almonds, dinner rolls, apple pie, and ice cream! Luckily there were leftovers to take home.

Of course, the day could not be complete without a Nerf Gun war. L had wanted a Nerf Gun for Easter...I gave in and got her the smallest one in her Easter basket. My brothers each had one, so Marissa, Heather, and I also bought a gun so we could participate. The six of us ran around the house chasing each other with bullets and hiding/ducking from our opponent's bullets. Heather won the first game and L won the second. I can't wait for our next Nerf Gun game....REMATCH!

 

First Post!!

It's my first post, yaaaay! Happy Lauren? =)

So I've never had a blog before, so we'll see how this one goes...hopefully it's not too boring.
Anyways, I can't believe the summer is almost over; I'm so not ready to go back to school! But moving into my new townhouse dorm with my best friend will make the school year so much better. Speaking of our new townhouse, L and I made candle holders today. It was a pretty simple project and we already had all the materials we needed, so that was a bonus. We started with several glass jars and mod-podged tissue paper onto them. It turned out to be a little time consuming than I initially thought since I intelligently decided to cut out dozens of tissue paper stars...bad idea. Our candle holders turned out pretty cool, but they'll look even better with candles lit inside them.