pasta and a movie: Run Fat Boy Run

Since we recently upped our Netflix queue, I can finally start to watch some of the running movies folks have been recommending, like Run Fat Boy Run.



Hey, man, whatever motivates you, right? Also, add Thandie Newton to the list of actors tripping me up with their previously unbeknownst to me non-American accents.

For dinner, I'm going to give the exciting rice-sweet potatoes-brussel sprouts medley a go. Yep, I bought brussel sprouts. Super excited about it, too. Mmm hmm. Anyway, I figure I've got to do everything in my power to prepare myself for tomorrow since I'm still nursing a mysterious back of the knee aggravation since we ran Lake Chabot on the 7th, followed last weekend by the even hillier Redwood Regional Park 12-miler. I skipped out on Tuesday's run, did yoga that evening, and cardio cross-training on Wednesday. I felt pretty good on Thursday so while I missed my morning track workout due to solo parenting, I ran about 3 1/2 miles after dropping my son off at preschool. And back came the pain about a mile in. Bummer, dude. I'll see how it feels after 14 - hopefully - miles tomorrow but it may be time for a visit to a sports doc or the like. Sigh.

encore! encore!

Fundraising - I just can't quit you! In addition to donating 75% of proceeds from the sale of TNT/LLS runner silhouette race bib inspired thank you notes, I'm taking orders for chocolate covered candied orange slices just in time for Valentine's Day!

With citrus harvesting time right around the corner (in fact, I have a feeling we'll have a counter full of oranges from the tree in our backyard by the end of this weekend), and considering you get dozens of these highly caloric confections from each batch of just four oranges, I figured I'd put the two projects together in an attempt to make that final push past my fundraising minimum of $1800 (I'm so close!).

To get your order in, just make a donation of $10 - that's it! - to my online fundraising page.

Ten bucks will get you a nicely packaged half-dozen orange slices. But wait, there's more! Each $10 donation will also earn you one entry into a drawing for one of three gorgeous glass bead jewelry pieces made by my aunt, Jolina Adams.

She sent over three gorgeous pieces, all with the signature TNT color purple.

Perfect for V-Day!

 

Two necklaces and one pair of earrings (I seriously want to keep these kitty earrings) - up for grabs if you place your $10 candied orange slice order between now and February 7th. That's the last day I'll be taking donations in order to pop these in the mail by Friday, February 10th or hand-deliver them (to fellow runners after our long run) on Saturday, February 11th.  

Thanks again, Jo!

pasta and a movie: Spanglish

What's that you say? Spanglish isn't a running movie? I beg to differ. We actually upped our Netflix queue so I could have a running movie each week, as I've quickly gone through much of what I wanted to see via instant play. And, as I'm currently reading Run Like a Mother (one of the raffle items up for grabs on Sunday!), I've been thinking a lot about my fellow mother runners, why is it I enjoy running so much more after having my son than I did before (solitude, being able to actually give in to that constant feeling that I'm racing the clock, etc...but more on that in a later post), which, naturally, made me think of Téa Leoni's character ("left!"). While hilarious to watch, as a mother, she's a bit nutty, don't you think? And that's the other thing I've been thinking about a lot lately, how all the women in movies are either childless, presumably because they've been busy pursuing other things (probably the subject of the movie), or, if they are mothers they're either absent (deceased with the cause of death often a total mystery or in a coma) or crazy. And if they're absent, it's pretty likely they were also cheating on their husbands before they fell into a coma and/or died. What's up with that, Hollywood? Anyway, it'll be interesting to watch the film all these years later and three plus years after having my own kid and picking up running again.



So what's for dinner? Well, I originally planned to try my mentor Laura's pre-run dinner of brown rice (but using the leftover black rice from a couple of weeks ago), sweet potatoes, and brussel sprouts - she's explained that the sweet potatoes combined with the brussel sprouts make a complete protein, without using any meat (and while I almost always crave a cheeseburger the night after a long run, I'm not in a meaty mood the night before). Thing is, while I appreciate brussel sprouts aesthetically (they look like miniature cabbages! so cute!), I've never cared for the taste, so I think I subconsciously left them off my list when I stopped by Trader Joe's last night. Without the greens, I decided to make a sweet potato variation of the black rice salad I enjoyed so much, using a basmati rice pilaf mix, three small sweet potatoes (cooked like the butternut squash, but for only about 30 minutes instead of 40), about a tablespoon of chopped green onion, with some slivered almonds and chopped, dried cherries sprinkled on at the end.

Not bad, if I do say so myself. By the way, in case you're wondering, I took last week off after feeling worn down and possibly sickly following three days at home with a sick toddler. But Neal made this "salad" on Friday, also from Sunset magazine. While I've enjoyed many recipes from this latest issue, I'm sorry to say this one was not a keeper.

fundraising grand finale (because yes, there will be an encore or two)

With the fundraising event at See Jane Run this Sunday fast approaching, I thought it was high time I did a follow-up post to my new year, new raffle post a couple of weeks ago to let you all in on all the fabulous prizes that have been so generously donated to our in-store raffle.  Here's the list, somewhat in the order the items were donated:

• $20 gift certificate to See Jane Run, also hosting the brunch-style shopping event (mimosas, anyone?!)
• a "Beauty Bash" at Benefit Cosmetics in Berkeley (valued at over $800!)
• Gu T-shirts and samples of highly sought after new flavor: peanut butter!
• signed copy (signed by co-author Sarah Bowen Shea) of Run Like A Mother
• certificate good for copy of Train Like A Mother, by the same duo as above, out in March 





• $15 gift certificate to James & The Giant Cupcake (I can personally vouch for these cupcakes, more often than I should admit)
• free entry to any Brazen race (I've heard nothing but great things about their races)
• $25 gift certificate to The Pasta Shop
• $25 gift certificate to Crepevine
• Q-Link Pendant (a $99 value!)
• a 1-night stay courtesy of Personality Hotels (winner's choice of 4 hotels in San Francisco's Union Square area!)
• gift certificate good for a pizza from Zachary's!
• $100 gift certificate to First Crush restaurant in San Francisco
• $25 gift certificate to La Farine





• $20 gift certificate to Homeroom (yummy mac 'n' cheese restaurant I've blogged about before) 
• $20 gift certificate to Great Harvest PLUS one loaf free each month for a year!
• Free Functional Movement Screen at SOL (Sports + Orthopedic Leaders)
• $50 gift certificate to Puccini & Pinetti in San Francisco

Phew. Not bad, eh? We tried to really highlight the Rockridge shopping area in Oakland, since that's where the See Jane Run store is, but we have quite a few donations from elsewhere in the world of running and in Oakland, Berkeley, and San Francisco (many of which you'll enjoy even if you're not a runner!). So if you haven't already donated to buy your raffle tickets in advance, do it now! Raffle "tickets" are 2/$5 or 10/$20 in advance (you can think of these as "entries" if you donate online but rest assured we have a spreadsheet and actual raffle tickets so it's all good - you will be in the drawing on Sunday if you donate online!); 1/$5 or 5/$20 on the day of the event. And while most of the raffle items will be best enjoyed by a Bay Area resident, that's not necessarily true for all items (and hey, aren't you due for a visit??) and you DO NOT have to be at the event to win.

That said, if you are at the event on Sunday from 11 am to 1 pm, get there early because we'll have goody bags chock full of, well, goodies for the first 50 shoppers! Seriously, these bags courtesy of See Jane Run are already full from their latest race and I haven't even added the Gu or the Luna bars!

So other than fundraising, you might be wondering how my actual training is going so far? Pretty well, especially considering I was suffering from some serious IT band woes around this point in my training for Big Sur in 2001. I do have a new pain - some soreness on the inside of my knee, wrapping around from my calf muscle along that tendon, along the side of my knee to my quad, ever since we did 10 miles at Lake Chabot a couple of weeks ago. I was blaming my shoes but got the green light at TranSports earlier today (no pronation whatsoever! and in neutral running shoes, no less!) and walked out with a foam roller instead. Stretching, strength training, and cross training are, it seems, just as important as clocking in the miles. I'm hoping to add in a bonus yoga workout once or twice a week beginning next week since I only have about a month left to use a Groupon good for 10 sessions! All that said, I'll aim to complete 12 miles this weekend in one of Oakland's gems, Redwood Regional Park.

Stay tuned tomorrow for another edition of pasta and a movie (and, because I know you were looking for it last Friday, an explanation of what I ate and watched - or didn't - last week)!

pasta and a movie: Off and Running

This week, it ain't pasta I'm eating and it ain't really a running movie I'm watching. But carbs will be had and to offset the unconventional running movie choice, I'll start the evening program with the NOVA episode Marathon Challenge. Off and Running, the feature presentation, is more of a coming of age story and if you're a longtime reader of this blog, you know I'm a fan of female coming of age stories, even though I have little in common with the subject of this documentary:

With white Jewish lesbians for parents and two adopted brothers — one mixed-race and one Korean — Brooklyn teen Avery grew up in a unique and loving household. But when her curiosity about her African-American roots grows, she decides to contact her birth mother. This choice propels Avery into her own complicated exploration of race, identity, and family that threatens to distance her from the parents she’s always known. She begins staying away from home, starts skipping school, and risks losing her shot at the college track career she had always dreamed of. But when Avery decides to pick up the pieces of her life and make sense of her identity, the results are inspiring. Off and Running follows Avery to the brink of adulthood, exploring the strength of family bonds and the lengths people must go to become themselves.

That synopsis is from the film's website. Here's the trailer:



Looks pretty good, don't you think, and with enough actual running footage to fill the figurative tank for tomorrow's ten-mile run (our first "easy ten"!).

To fill the literal tank, I'll be making this "salad" from the latest issue of Sunset Magazine. Turns out my best runs seem to follow the nights I have rice, not pasta, so now that we're getting into double-digit mileage, I'm starting to get a little more serious about what I'm eating all week long but particularly the night before a long run. Downside is it'll take me about as long to make this salad as it will to run 10 miles tomorrow morning! (And that's long!) Also, I'll be running in brand new shoes, brand new shoes that are currently still on the UPS truck, ready for delivery. Well, at least it's not the night before the marathon, right?

new year, new raffle

My fundraising is going really well, thanks to all the early and generous donors! Thank you, thank you! But I'm not going to rest on my laurels. No sir, I'm organizing yet another raffle with the help of three other teammates, which will take place at an in-store fundraising event at See Jane Run in Oakland on Sunday, January 22, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.  This brunch-style shopping window will include mimosas and snacks, a 5% discount to shoppers (with 10% of all proceeds during the two hours going back to LLS!), goody bags for the first 50 shoppers (have Gu, will shop!), and a drawing of fabulous items including but not limited to a Benefit Beauty Bash for the winner and a few friends (all the deets in a later post), a copy of the book I'm currently obsessed with when I have a few rare moments to read, Run Like a Mother, plus a certificate good for a copy of Train Like a Mother, the duo's next book coming out in March!  Check out the Facebook event page to RSVP and for updates on raffle items, what you can expect in your goody bags, etc.! To buy raffle tickets (2/$5 or 10/$20 in advance; 1/$5 or 5/$20 at the event), make a donation right here - you don't have to be at the event to win! That said, I sure hope you'll make it if you're in the area!

In other fundraising news, this has been in my shop for a few weeks, but a busy few weeks it's been, so I'm just now getting around to blogging about it.  Did you know Team in Training has a relatively new corporate team program? And Google is one of them! Since I make phone cozies for Android phones, that gave me the idea to create a TNT cozy with 80% of the proceeds going to my fundraising efforts this season!

And in other Etsy news, I added a new "limited edition" case to the shop yesterday.  Oooh, sparkly! (Yes, there's glitter in that there felt!)