19.9 C
Toronto
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Blog Page 277

Three Bean Tacos – Get cooking iRun

There is something about the dropping temperatures that make me want to make hearty home cooked meals. Enjoy Regan.

Three Bean Tacos
2 cloves garlic minced
1 tbsp chili Powder
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1C chopped onions

1C chopped bell peppers (any colour)
1C black beans (from a can drained and rinsed)
1/2 C kidney beans (from a can drained and rinsed)
1/2 C chick peas (from a can drained and rinsed)
9oz can of tomato sauce
12 taco shells (hard or soft)
 In a pan over medium heat sautée onions, garlic and bell peppers until soft (2-5 mins), add all spices, beans and tomato sauce let simmer until it thickens (20 mins).  Stuff soft or hard taco shells, top with lettuce, tomato and hot sauce!  Non-vegans can also top with cheddar cheese. Makes 12 tacos. – Yum

Tips for holiday gift giving

Well, it’s one month until Christmas and I’m feeling festive!  Before the humbugs out there raise a chorus, let me just say I have simplified the season a lot in the last few years and really do enjoy it.  However, shopping for the perfect gift for a loved one can still be stressful when your greatest desire is to see the smile that says “I love this!” rather than the one that says “you shouldn’t have! Really!”Christmas present

One need only Google “gifts for runners” to get tons of ideas – but some are better than others.  So in the interest of helping you to delight your loved one and not waste money, here are some Dos and Don’ts of gift giving.  These ideas are really to help people with good intentions but little knowledge – and let’s face it, I don’ t know your runner, so feel free to deviate if you know what you’re doing!

Do

Get gift cards: they’re the gift that gives twice! First you’re excited to get a gift card, then you’re excited about picking out your gift!

Get the facts. Some stores, like The Running Works in Guelph, Ontario, provide little “wish lists” that your runner can fill out and stick on the fridge for you – they have all the information you need to make sure you get the correct item.   If your runner’s favourite store doesn’t have these, get him or her to write down exact style names, sizes and colours – and hey, more ideas are better, so he or she is still surprised!

Get thoughtful.  Runners hurt sometimes – massage gift certificates or self massagers like The Stick show you care.  Reusable ice packs make good stocking stuffers!

Show you care.  Reflective vests, blinking lights and other such items show you want your runner to be seen in the dark!  Shoe cleats such as YakTrax show you don’t want her to break any bones or split her head open.

Try books.  If your runner is a book worm, there are a lot of great books out there that she might enjoy.  Check out the iRun, iRead Book Club for some ideas!

Offer babysitting.  Please note, this is not for spouses of runners – when you’re at home with the kids so your spouse can run, this is called “parenting.”  But if your runner happens to be your sibling, child, niece, nephew or friend, offering to babysit and give your runner a guilt-free long run could be the best gift in the world.

Get socks. Runners love socks.  This is one area where you can get some advice from a running store and generally not go wrong!

Don’t

Get shoes. Unless you know the exact make, model and size of running shoe your runner loves, don’t ever try to buy shoes.  If you must buy shoes, try to go to the store where your runner got his last pair – the store might be able to look up what he got.

The same goes for tights, sports bras, most other clothing and Superfeet.  Even with electronics, make sure you know what you’re doing – you wouldn’t want to drop $300 on a fancy GPS only to find out your runner really wanted the one with the heart rate monitor instead.

I could go on and on, but how about a little help?  If you have your eye on something, have ever received something that made your day, or have some advice for gift givers, please share in the comments below!  Every little bit helps!

Let’s get cooking iRun

Welcome to iRun’s newest blog “What’s Cooking iRun”. This is where we will share some of our readers favorite recipes and we encourage you to offer feedback and some of your own recipes.

This is our first recipe and we hope you give it a try and share it with others.

Here’s a recipe for granola that I make every week that I received
from my friend Megan, another runner. It’s a great breakfast fuel for
my husband and I before our long run on Sunday. We usually eat it
with our homemade yoghurt.

1/2 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
3 cups large oats (not quick oats)
1/2 cup chopped or sliced almonds
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1 cup mixed dried fruit – raisins, cranberries, apricots, apples etc.

Heat honey and oil over low heat until liquid (don’t boil). Remove
from heat and stir in vanilla. Stir in pecans and almonds. Add oats
and mix thoroughly. Spread on large baking sheet. Bake for 20 minutes
at 350F. Stir every 5 minutes. After removing from oven, add dried
fruit. You can also add spices to the honey such as cinnamon, ginger
and/or nutmeg for a different flavour.

Kim

Shake it Off

I’ve been swamped lately. Regular end of term stress coupled with housework that never seems to get done and kids who are flirting with sickness. I’ve been so busy that I’ve been slacking on my runs. One or two a week, and because I’ve been running less, the runs have been harder. And because they’ve been harder, I’ve been less motivated to go. And because I’ve been less motivated to go, I run less. And, well, you get the picture.

At times like these, I always feel like I’m not a “real” runner. What with the lagging motivation, it seems that surely I’m not actually someone who loves to run, merely a fair weather runner.

Yesterday after I sent my kids to daycare, I sat down at the computer and started working on my term paper. By early afternoon my brain was turning to mush, so I laced up my five-day-old sneakers for their inaugural run.

The air was cool enough for a jacket and toque, my feet thumped on the pavement and I knew within the first 200 metres that it was going to be good.

A relaxing 10k and by the time I was home, I felt amazing. I had shaken off all of my stress about school and family and friends and over-extended to-do lists. The dog and I came home and I stretched while she panted happily beside me.

Runs like that, the ones that happen exactly when you need them, exactly when your faith in…. whatever… is running low, that’s why I run. Because it’s good for me, and I don’t mean in that Doctor’s recommendation kind of way.

The world seems a better place today. It snowed last night and a white skiff is covering the roads and trees. The kids are happily watching their morning cartoon while I sip my tea. There’s still laundry to be run and bathrooms to be cleaned and an enormous term paper to be completed, but it doesn’t seem so overwhelming today.

And I can’t wait to get out for that first snowy run.

Gearing up with the Runner’s Pace Calculator App

It is with great pleasure that we are able to debut our first combined entry from two of our Gear Team members. Both Don and Jean-Luc have produced reviews of the iPhone Runner’s Pace Calculator. I have managed to combine both of their reviews into one critique. Enjoy!

The Runner’s Pace Calculator is a fun little app that features distance (MI/Km), speed, and a comparison to real race data. It is simple to use and very accurate. This app provides statistics which can help runners to set personal goals and to pace for races or training runs. For those who are a little more competitive the Runner’s Pace Calculator can provide you information to determine where you would place in some major running events. If you are not an elite runner, it can be humbling or motivating to see where you placed in the New York Marathon, Rome Marathon, or Ironman World Championships. However, it would have been nice to see a Canadian half-marathon or marathon in the race field. I’m sure they are working on it.

Jean-Luc mentioned that he liked the fact that he can switch from kilometres to miles easily and predict longer distances based on previous race times. The interface (“screen” for those less tech savvy), was big enough and easy to manipulate.

Both Don and Jean-Luc would recommend this app to any runner. The Runner’s Pace Calculator is free and can be downloaded from iTunes.

Thank you so much for your input, Don and Jean-Luc.

Reflections on a race well run

One more post about the Hamilton Marathon, then I promise to shut up about it.  My reflections so far have all been about external factors -the crowd, the course, my new friend – so this last one is all about me.

The week before the race I was more nervous than I’d ever been before a race, probably because I was putting a lot of pressure on myself.  I had decided that I was finally due for the perfect race, and was deciding whether to commit to my super-secret whisper goal known only to me and a small handful of others.  So early in the week I was actually losing sleep over it, playing my race plan over and over in my head, running the numbers repeatedly to decide if it was actually possible or if I was just setting myself up for bitter disappointment.  Fortunately the nerves peaked around Tuesday and when I finally committed my mind to the goal, I moved into a state of calm that was kind of alien to me.

My biggest fear was mental toughness:  all of my training predicted that I had selected a challenging but reasonable goal, but I was afraid that I wasn’t tough enough to handle the discomfort needed to achieve it.  I feared that when it came right down to it, I would let up in the name of immediate gratification.  I threw it out there on Running Mania, and fortunately my fellow Maniacs came through with some good tips; including what I used as my mantra: “this hurts now but I will love this memory.”

I am happy to say all the fretting was for nothing.  It helped that I had stayed on pace to meet my goal for at least the first 34K – maybe all the way to 36, but my ability to do math was seriously depleted by then so I can’t say for sure – knowing it was still a possibility was probably a huge factor in my pain tolerance.

After that, I began to bleed time.  I don’t blame myself really – I was still pushing with every ounce of my being, so what happened to my pace was somewhat outside of my control.  What a strange sensation: my brain fired a neuron to my legs that said something like “Giddy up!” and my legs said “Captain, I’m givin’er all she’s got!”  My effort level increased, my legs burned even more, and my breathing got ever harder –  but my pace just didn’t budge.  Then I knew I had executed my plan to use it all up out there without blowing up.

Even though I missed my super-secret whisper goal by 1 minute and 39 seconds, I have no regrets.  I ponied up where it counted and proved to myself that I am tougher than I had thought.

Related Posts:

Marathon Reflections
Reflections on the course
Reflections on the crowd
Reflections on teamwork

Reflections on team work

Prior to the Hamilton Marathon, I had never brought a music player to a race before.  But given the course logistics and the size of the field, I figured I might be spending a good percentage of the time alone with nothing but my own footfalls and breathing to keep me company.  So after a lot of personal debate, I decided to bring it along just in case I needed a boost.  It was cold at the start of the race and I didn’t want to fuss with my gloves, so I even put in one ear bud, ready to hit “play” if necessary.  I ran almost the entire race wired for sound, but never once used it.

You don’t need it so much at the start of the race – there’s a lot going on and you’re still surrounded by people for the first little while!  Shortly after the start, I became conscious of a person a few feet away but directly beside me who was keeping perfect time with me.  I kept an eye on her using my peripheral vision – she looked kind of serious and had her own earphones in, so I wasn’t sure if it was a coincidence.  As the pack thinned out, I was fairly sure it was not, so I looked over at her.  As if relieved that I finally acknowledged her, she immediately introduced herself as Darlene.  She asked me my name, my goal, and if she could stay with me for a bit.Hamilton Darlene

Well “a bit” turned into nearly the whole race, and I have to say, it was great.  We both did the majority of our training alone, so it was nice to have someone there.  Even though we didn’t talk the whole time – we were both expending a lot of effort you see! – it was nice just to know someone was there.  Someone who had family on the course who would cheer for both of us, and would benefit from my family’s cheers – thus effectively doubling our personal crowd support. Someone to reassure me if I blurted out my doubts.  Someone who had a couple of doubts of her own, allowing me to reassure her, and by extension, reassure myself.  Someone who might keep running and leave me behind if I gave in to the desire to walk.

I lost track of Darlene immediately after the finish line as each of our personal crowds engulfed us – and, quite frankly, as I went looking for a place to sit down – but thanks to the miracles of online race results and Facebook, we did manage to find each other so we could share pictures.  I may never see her again, but I guess it doesn’t matter – that day we were a perfect team.

Related Posts:

Marathon reflections
Reflections on the course
Reflections on teamwork
Reflections on a race well run

Reflections on the crowd

If you’ve ever been at a finish line and you like to people-watch, I am sure you’ve seen them:  the people who finish, stretch, eat something, then wander off to a car – all by themselves.  I know I am totally projecting my own perspective when I feel bad – some people couldn’t care less if no one they know is there; some people don’t even tell people they are racing because they don’t want anyone to come out.

But personally, I am so grateful for my family and friends.  I feel so lucky that my husband will, without a single complaint, drag himself out of bed at OMG-o’clock on a Sunday morning and put up with my pre-race jitters (read: criticizing his choice of route around the road closures and asking him 97 times whether I will be warm enough in what I am wearing) to drive me to the start line.  I am fortunate that he happily brings along the good camera to try to capture the day – he takes shots of me running, as well as the leaders, the scenery, and anything else he thinks I might want to look at later.  It’s great that he emails maps of where he plans to cheer to everyone else who plans to meet up with him, and hands out his cell phone number so he can give directions and last minute detours.

I am also lucky that there are other people who want to call him and find him and join him on the course.  My parents, my close friends Kirk and Tanya – heck, even Tanya’s parents!  They cheerily drive from all over the place, as if they have nothing better to do, wave their cowbells wildly and provide high-fives for 30 seconds as I run by, before packing up and taking off for the next cheering point.  Tanya even jumped in a few times to provide a little boost for a few hundred metres.  They tease me that they do it for the breakfast buffet that they found just after the start, but I know better.

And let’s not forget the volunteers!  What a long day for them, and yet, I don’t think I have ever seen such enthusiastic course marshalling or water stations.  Even the police seemed happy to be there! Special hello to the final water station – McNab High School? – you were great with your cheers, high-fives, and big signs, right where they were really needed.

Then there are the strangers.  The crowds that line the course at various places, the people walking in the opposite direction on the trail – they cheer for all of the runners as though we are rock stars.  I can remember running towards the finish line in a semi-fog, and I never heard my name over the loud speaker, but I tuned in as I heard the announcer say, “…from Fergus…” and this small contingent leaning over the barricade erupted into a loud roar of “YEAH FERGUS!!!”   I placed 1,064th out of 1,121, dead last in my age category, but I might as well have broken a world record – the crowd was great.

I feel so very fortunate that all of these people were a part of my day – I might be gushing a little, but I don’t care – thank you everyone.

Gabby, Mom, Tanya, Me, Steve, Kirk, Dad; photo credit Bill who would have otherwise been in the picture too!
Gabby, Mom, Tanya, Me, Steve, Kirk, Dad; photo credit Bill who would have otherwise been in the picture too!

Related Posts:

Marathon reflections
Reflections on the course
Reflections on teamwork
Reflections on a race well run

Reflections on the course

It must be a challenge to design a 42.2 kilometre race course.  Runners are a rather picky bunch with preferences about terrain, elevation, scenery, and about a thousand other possible variables.  Personally, I thought the Road2Hope Hamilton Marathon had a pretty good course, despite the re-routing to avoid construction.

I do a lot of my training on country roads, so the first half of the course was like home to me.  Starting in Stoney Creek, we ran around the outside of the city through some beautiful areas.  Some highlights for me included:

  • A giant statue of the laughing Buddha, arms raised over his head – he seriously looked like he was cheering for us
  • Some beautiful countryside including fields, trees, and lovely homes
  • An out-and-back section; call me crazy, but as a back-of-packer, I like the chance to actually see the pack!

Hamilton Backroads

After exiting the parkway we came to a rather questionable part of the course – a road that was under construction with slightly treacherous terrain, not to mention a train-crossing that saw several runners waiting for the train.  I was fortunate not be delayed at that spot, and I think I would be annoyed if that was me if for no other reason than I would probably cramp up and fall off pace for the rest of the race!

Then we headed off along a residential street that looked familiar somehow, and I realized why when I saw the 14K marker for Around the Bay.  This stretch was lovely, but it felt so much longer as the 32-36K point in a marathon than it ever did as the 14K mark of ATB!  Honestly, it seemed like forever before we turned toward the lake and joined the waterfront trail.

The trail was also lovely, and we were very fortunate weather-wise – I could see this stretch being a heck of a challenge on a windy day.  Then I came to the point of the course that was the only point that made me say “you’ve got to be [expletive deleted] kidding me.”  Right where we were to cross the park to make the final turn around toward the finish, there was a gravel path.  No big deal, right?  I am not talking trail-friendly pea gravel here.  I am talking big, chunky back-road gravel.  The kind that challenges your stabilizing muscles with every step when you’re 41.5K into a marathon, and pokes into your feet enough that it would have hurt at the start of the race – so by the end it was like hot coals.  Even though it was a short stretch, it was too long for me.  To add insult to injury, as soon as I got back on nice, even paved trail, I looked up and saw a hill.  It’s not the steepest you’ll ever run, and it’s not that long, but again, it made some colourful words float through my fog-filled brain.  But given that they saved all of the good stuff for last, at least it couldn’t mess up much of my race plan.  Sure, it shot my final kick all to heck, but I don’t really know how much of a kick I really had left anyway!

Related Posts:

Marathon reflections
Reflections on the course
Reflections on teamwork
Reflections on a race well run

Photy by Terry Fletcher
Photy by Terry Fletcher

Marathon reflections

Now that I have had a week to recover from the Hamilton Marathon*, I’ve decided to share some stories.  The next few days tell the story of my nearly-perfect day:  my thoughts on the course, the crowd support, and my surprise race partner.  In the last part I will share some of what I was thinking and feeling.  If you’ve run a marathon before, you might be able to relate to some of this stuff, or if you’re sitting on the fence about whether to tackle one, you might see something that is helpful.  Of course, everyone’s experiences and the personal value they attach to the marathon are different – or as they say, YMMV – your mileage may vary!

*including: coming down with a wicked cold; trying to get some stuff done around the house; and tackling some of the more intellectual tasks that had been neglected due to my complete inability to concentrate on anything else over the week leading up to the race, such as reading the instructions on a frozen pizza box.

Related Posts:

Marathon reflections
Reflections on the course
Reflections on teamwork
Reflections on a race well run