Spring has finally . . .

come to Madison . . . although our two large lakes, Monona and Mendota are still frozen

and we are sure to receive some cold temp's in the weeks to come, I think we can actually think about spring in the current tense instead of the future tense.

Spring! I especially think we were waiting . . . waiting . . . waiting for any slight sign of warmth after the extremely cold winter we had. I checked the weather history and in March 2012 the highest temperature was recorded at 83 degrees with 19 days when the high for the day was 60 or above. 19 days sounds unbelievable as we just survived a March that only yielded 1 day that was above 60, March 31 when the high was 65.

Biking: This year we were thrilled with 50+ degree weather, which occurred for a whopping 5 days in March! I got out on my bike on 3 of those days and was also out on a day when the high was only 46! I biked for a total of 61 miles in March, an all time record. When I bike to work I usually do 60+ miles per week, but in March, not so much!

Running: I have been running, but not for any distance. My runs are comprised of running with Sophie for 2 miles. Here we are on Monday morning - I loved the deep blue sky.

The next race I would like to do is the Crazy Legs run on April 26th, a 8k run though UW Madison campus, ending up on the 50 yard line at Camp Randall. Unless I am able to get some hill work in and run for more than 2 miles, I won't be signing up. We will see what the next few days and week end brings.

Recipe Update:
I have now made 25 recipes from Jenna's blog: eat,live,run, HERE. Doing the math or looking at the counter on the right hand column of my blog, shows that I have 105 recipes left to go. Looking at the number of recipes I have completed so far, 25 just doesn't sound like that many, especially since I started in November. Anyway, I am not going to give up and will continue through this journey!

Last night I made the Penne with White Bean and Spinach, here. I will be honest, I didn't think I would enjoy the fact that there really wasn't any real sauce in this recipe, but the lemon zest and juice along with a little water from the penne and the white beans provided a creamy consistency. The cayenne pepper provided a bit of a bite. It was a quick easy meal. I would make it again and actually thought of adding tuna . . . that might sound weird, but I think it would go well with the lemon and spinach.

I have another recipe planned for tomorrow evening - Chicken Paprika with Homemade Dumplings - this will be a new experience since I have never made dumplings before!

As always

Enjoy the moments!

 

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