1 1/2 cups of garbanzo beans
1 1/2 cups of carob chips
4 eggs
2/3 cup agave nectar
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
put the beans and the eggs in a food processor & mix it all together
melt the chips in a bowl in the microwave
pour the melted chips into smooshed beans & egg mixture
add agave nectar & baking powder
put in 350 oven for 40 minutes.
don't worry. you haven't landed on the wrong blog. it's still all about running my way to boston. but i've learned and shared a few foodie things from my nutritional overhaul with you: fun facts like bananas and clementines make for very good long run fueling, and refined sugar creates bad toxic g.i. mojo (for me at least). i thought maybe i'd share the knowledge that chickpeas can be turned into brownies. its true people, and it's like magic. i mean, who knew that chickpeas did more than make hummus? not me. jen sent me this recipe a few months ago and just yesterday i made it for the first time. i have to admit, i didn't expect them to be yummy. really though, who would? i had my typical glass is half empty there-is-no-way-in-hell-chickpea-brownies-can-be-good attitude. but my glass is half emtpy attitude always leaves room for pleasant surpises. these are good. way good. that said - i suggest that you don't try to pass them off as brownies. my kids weren't buying it. they said they were too "fluffy and cakelike" to be brownies. personally, i don't see anything wrong with fluffy and cakelike - perhaps if i had said "here kids, i made you some fluffy chocolate cake-like squares" they would have eaten it up. you know, both literally and figuratively. my husband didn't buy it either, but as soon as he heard they were made of chickpeas, they suddenly became amazingly delicious. chickpeas? really? yes. really. they make a great fluffy cake-like thing.
i have a really good hummus recipe too.
Mar 31, 2008
Mar 27, 2008
the marathon gods
i have gotten really good at wallowing in self pity. first it was missing my BQ. then it was an injury. then it was illness on top of injury. and now, with less than a month to go until i won't be running boston, i'm back to wallowing that i didn't BQ. its just weensy wallowing here and there. but its wallowing nonetheless.
mostly i wallow when i see emails going back and forth about boston plans, restaurants, etc. i tell my friends that if they are going to include me on the messages, they need to at least preface it with: get your tissues and a glass of wine, cause i joked that hearing the fun boston plans were like rubbing salt in the wound. a wound that has gotten fresher now that april 21st looms closer and closer and i still have yet to pick up the phone and cancel the damn hotel. cause the cancellation fee is just like pouring big rock salt on the wound. and the flight too. haven't cancelled that yet. i may as well cut a lemon in half and just rub the salt in with that.
but in the midst of the back and forth emails i get a 'tough love' message from coach - a little reminder that that it took him 17 marathons before he qualified. and i knew this. but i need to be reminded of it now and then. i have a tendency to put coach on a pedestal. i mean, the guy goes mountain biking the day after a hilly marathon. he paces people at half marathons a mere week after running boston. it borders on freak of nature. so i love the fact that it took him 17 tries - it brings the pedestal down just a bit, makes him more human. it keeps my disappointment over missing it in just two tries in check.
after the tough love message came another from my friend who told me what a friend of hers said when he asked her how i did in birmingham: she told him i got a PR, but not a BQ. his response was "she has not knelt at the altar of the marathon gods long enough" - it had taken him 8 or 9 tries.
i have not knelt at the altar of the marathon gods long enough.
i mulled the brilliant statement over. my god. its genius. i mean sure - there are the freaks of nature out there who qualify on their first marathon; no kneeling required. i ran with one of these freaks of nature one day on a big dog run. i was so happy that a new girl had joined the group and because we were running together i think, thank god there is someone here as slow as me. so we run and chat about what the other is training for - i say birmingham, she says boston. a few more sentences into the conversation, i learn she qualified at her first marathon. and then the conversation is over as she too pulls away to eventually catch up with the group. she is so way faster than me. and there i am. alone, bringing up the rear and sucking wind. wondering how the hell someone qualifies at marathon #1. she had to be the exception to the rule. she had to be.
unlike freak of nature girl, i think most people do a lot of kneeling at the altar. and while freak of nature girl just made me feel bad about myself that day, the runners i most admire - the ones who paid their dues, and knelt long and hard are the ones that make me feel better. i love to hear how many tries it took someone to get to boston (unless it took you one try, and then of course, i hate you) it puts two tries into perspective, and serves as the proverbial: "snap out of it" slap across the face - in a good, get over it, tough love kind of way.
its not like i am walking around in a funk anymore. my moments of wallowing are very few and far between. i crawled out of the vacuum of self pity i was in post-marathon and while dealing with knee shit a while ago. today was my last PT appointment. i'm out of the woods, good to go. i'm running, i've started looking up races and i like my bike again. it's all good. that said, come april 21st, i know i'll wallow a little bit. hell, i'll wallow when i finally suck it up, pay all the fees and cancel everything. i mean, i hate missing out on fun. especially if its running fun. running fun with friends. i hate that i missed the opportunity to go and share the whole experience with them. and having to pay penalty fees to miss it? ugh. salt on the wound. with lemon squeezed over it. i wonder if that counts towards some dues.
but i'll remind myself as i sit glued to coachs' every split on the live tracking on the 21st that it took him 17 tries to get there. i've only tried twice. i need to do some more kneeling. i wonder though, how best to appease the marathon gods? a shrine? are there special candles i can light? wonder if there is some sort of offering that might bring the number of tries down to four, six at the most.
mostly i wallow when i see emails going back and forth about boston plans, restaurants, etc. i tell my friends that if they are going to include me on the messages, they need to at least preface it with: get your tissues and a glass of wine, cause i joked that hearing the fun boston plans were like rubbing salt in the wound. a wound that has gotten fresher now that april 21st looms closer and closer and i still have yet to pick up the phone and cancel the damn hotel. cause the cancellation fee is just like pouring big rock salt on the wound. and the flight too. haven't cancelled that yet. i may as well cut a lemon in half and just rub the salt in with that.
but in the midst of the back and forth emails i get a 'tough love' message from coach - a little reminder that that it took him 17 marathons before he qualified. and i knew this. but i need to be reminded of it now and then. i have a tendency to put coach on a pedestal. i mean, the guy goes mountain biking the day after a hilly marathon. he paces people at half marathons a mere week after running boston. it borders on freak of nature. so i love the fact that it took him 17 tries - it brings the pedestal down just a bit, makes him more human. it keeps my disappointment over missing it in just two tries in check.
after the tough love message came another from my friend who told me what a friend of hers said when he asked her how i did in birmingham: she told him i got a PR, but not a BQ. his response was "she has not knelt at the altar of the marathon gods long enough" - it had taken him 8 or 9 tries.
i have not knelt at the altar of the marathon gods long enough.
i mulled the brilliant statement over. my god. its genius. i mean sure - there are the freaks of nature out there who qualify on their first marathon; no kneeling required. i ran with one of these freaks of nature one day on a big dog run. i was so happy that a new girl had joined the group and because we were running together i think, thank god there is someone here as slow as me. so we run and chat about what the other is training for - i say birmingham, she says boston. a few more sentences into the conversation, i learn she qualified at her first marathon. and then the conversation is over as she too pulls away to eventually catch up with the group. she is so way faster than me. and there i am. alone, bringing up the rear and sucking wind. wondering how the hell someone qualifies at marathon #1. she had to be the exception to the rule. she had to be.
unlike freak of nature girl, i think most people do a lot of kneeling at the altar. and while freak of nature girl just made me feel bad about myself that day, the runners i most admire - the ones who paid their dues, and knelt long and hard are the ones that make me feel better. i love to hear how many tries it took someone to get to boston (unless it took you one try, and then of course, i hate you) it puts two tries into perspective, and serves as the proverbial: "snap out of it" slap across the face - in a good, get over it, tough love kind of way.
its not like i am walking around in a funk anymore. my moments of wallowing are very few and far between. i crawled out of the vacuum of self pity i was in post-marathon and while dealing with knee shit a while ago. today was my last PT appointment. i'm out of the woods, good to go. i'm running, i've started looking up races and i like my bike again. it's all good. that said, come april 21st, i know i'll wallow a little bit. hell, i'll wallow when i finally suck it up, pay all the fees and cancel everything. i mean, i hate missing out on fun. especially if its running fun. running fun with friends. i hate that i missed the opportunity to go and share the whole experience with them. and having to pay penalty fees to miss it? ugh. salt on the wound. with lemon squeezed over it. i wonder if that counts towards some dues.
but i'll remind myself as i sit glued to coachs' every split on the live tracking on the 21st that it took him 17 tries to get there. i've only tried twice. i need to do some more kneeling. i wonder though, how best to appease the marathon gods? a shrine? are there special candles i can light? wonder if there is some sort of offering that might bring the number of tries down to four, six at the most.
Mar 25, 2008
Mar 21, 2008
Mar 20, 2008
cautiously optimistic
i'm reluctant to even write this.
you know, because of the whammy-factor.
i don't want to put one on myself. i've done it before.
in fact, i daresay i have a pattern of this behavior:
i get all jacked up and excited and announce that i've had
a fairly ok, pain free run one day
only to hear my knee start to talk smack the next day.
i should just keep quiet. see how it goes first.
but since i don't know how to do that,
and i'm fairly bursting at the seams with excitement
and at the same time trying to remain cool and realistic
here goes:
i ran today. and the day before yesterday too.
and this is mostly significant because
for two runs in a row, for the first time in 5 weeks,
there was zero pain. zero. none. nada. zilch.
two runs. in a row.
and i may be jumping the gun a bit,
and therefore putting the whammy on myself -
it wouldn't be the first time.
but i just counted out the number of weeks until
this.
physical therapist knows this has been my hopeful plan.
she hasn't told me i'm delusional. yet.
keep your fingers crossed.
knock on wood.
i wonder if there is a patron saint i can bury in the backyard.
the saint of
happy knees, you can totally gear up to run 13.1 in five weeks.
i think i might be a weensy bit delusional.
perhaps too excited over past two runs.
must.calm.down -
see how next few runs play out.
but still. i could always use some sort of happy running-mojo
patron saint buried in the backyard. for times such as this.
__________________________________
postscript (added post-run friday):
now its' three runs.
three pain free runs in a row.
knocking on wood.
you know, because of the whammy-factor.
i don't want to put one on myself. i've done it before.
in fact, i daresay i have a pattern of this behavior:
i get all jacked up and excited and announce that i've had
a fairly ok, pain free run one day
only to hear my knee start to talk smack the next day.
i should just keep quiet. see how it goes first.
but since i don't know how to do that,
and i'm fairly bursting at the seams with excitement
and at the same time trying to remain cool and realistic
here goes:
i ran today. and the day before yesterday too.
and this is mostly significant because
for two runs in a row, for the first time in 5 weeks,
there was zero pain. zero. none. nada. zilch.
two runs. in a row.
and i may be jumping the gun a bit,
and therefore putting the whammy on myself -
it wouldn't be the first time.
but i just counted out the number of weeks until
this.
physical therapist knows this has been my hopeful plan.
she hasn't told me i'm delusional. yet.
keep your fingers crossed.
knock on wood.
i wonder if there is a patron saint i can bury in the backyard.
the saint of
happy knees, you can totally gear up to run 13.1 in five weeks.
i think i might be a weensy bit delusional.
perhaps too excited over past two runs.
must.calm.down -
see how next few runs play out.
but still. i could always use some sort of happy running-mojo
patron saint buried in the backyard. for times such as this.
__________________________________
postscript (added post-run friday):
now its' three runs.
three pain free runs in a row.
knocking on wood.
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