Another New Year . . .

. . . To measure against . . . To enjoy . . . To live

We spent a quiet evening at home last evening. I made Turkey and Feta Stuffed Pepper - from Jenna's blog, HERE. They were really good. The recipe had enough filling for 5 peppers, so we enjoyed them again tonight. No pictures - we just wanted to eat them! Updated with a picture from Thursday evening when I ate the last pepper.  

They were very tasty and the feta really added some tang. I haven't made stuffed peppers for quite a few years and will be making these again.

Today we watched the Badgers play South Carolina in the Capital One Bowl. All the hoping and wishing that the Badgers would win didn't help! Another final game let down! Eventually they need to figure out how to win the final game!

At half time we made Buffalo Chicken Wonton's, yup, another recipe from Jenna's blog. Check them out here - they are great for a game! HERE. We have made these plenty of times before and they never disappoint. They are so good!

The cold weather has really settled in and is not giving us a break! Brrrrrr I think today's mid day temp was 10, but probably below zero with the wind chill. I was determined to get a New Year's Day run in, so Sophie and I headed out this morning for a little run. It was not even 2 miles - but a run is a run. This afternoon after the game we headed out to Token Creek for some snowshoeing. The trees helped to block the wind - Sophie had a great time romping in the snow, but had to stop to clean her pads and toes off constantly, they were full of ice balls. (I should have taken a picture of her feet) Sophie blends in so well with the grass and brush! She has a natural camouflage coat!

Enjoy the moments!

 

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Thanksgiving and . . .

. . . Birthday rolled into one. In case you didn't know, Thanksgiving was the latest in November it can be, based on the 1st being a Friday this year. When this happens it means that Thanksgiving falls on my birthday, or my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, take your pick. This year marked the beginning of my 58th year. I need a few days to let the fact that I am closer to 60 than 55 sink in and will post more about that later. For some reason this seems monumentis but maybe I am making too big a deal about it!

I sadly have no pictures from my birthday or Thanksgiving. My college son came home Wednesday afternoon and my oldest son and girlfriend came over on Thanksgiving day. We had the normal turkey, stuffing, beans, corn, stuffing, rolls and apple and pumpkin pies. Nothing photogenic about that.

No Black Friday shopping for us. The day started with a 5+ mile run with Sophie and then a couple of appointments at the house. We had a furnace check up and our house contractor came to measure one door and check on molding and trim decisions. I haven't previously mentioned this, but we are having new interior doors, window trim and base molding installed. Such hard decisions, picking trim! All the books are profile pictures, yet most of the time you look straight on at the window. Anyway, deciding on the doors was pretty easy, but the window trim was really hard. It is one of those decisions, that you spend lots of time himming and hawing over, but in the end, any of the choices would be fine!

Saturday was the last home football game for the UW Badgers.Surprisingly, the weather was fine. With the last game on Nov 30, you never know what to expect. As it turned out the temp was around 40 at kick off. While it did cool off as he game progressed, it wasn't until the 4th quarter that my feet got chilly. Too bad the game didn't have a better outcome for the Badgers, losing to Penn State.

On to Sunday with pictures.

Breakfast, was the usual steel cut oats with fruit.

 

Todd and I spent time cutting down the perennial flower stems and summers growth, while Sophie rolled in the lawn!

Then it was off to run some errands. First stop at the dog park at Token Creek so Sophie could run!

A few groceries and essentials at Costco and Woodman's.

Tonight's dinner was Thai Red Curry Chicken, compliments of Jenna's recipes at eat, live, run blog Here. My recipe count is up to three. I haven't figured out exactly how I will keep track of used recipes or more specifically, how to record it on the blog, but will come up with something.

The curry was a smashing success! I think Todd's first response was that it tasted OK, but then I think the subtle flavors worked their magic and he started to really enjoy it, even going for a second helping! This recipe was easy to make and tasted delish. There is plenty for at least two more meals. I love the bright orange color of the curry. I served it over rice.

Enjoy the moments and curry!

 

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The days . . .

. . . become a blur when you stop blogging regularly, or even semi-regularly and then try and do a recap of a couple weeks! One day becomes the next. Did I run on Tuesday or was that Wednesday? Did I do anything other than eat, sleep and work?

Well yes, I did accomplish a little more than simply eat, sleep and work during the last couple of weeks! It has been busy but that seems to be my new normal and I just need to accept that fact!

what a beautiful sight, although this is now only a distant memory

For one, I ran a 1/2 marathon, the Tyranena Half Barrel in Lake Mills. Albeit my slowest half ever at 2:16, but I still enjoyed it. I got to see Rachel and Amy, two of my teammates from our Ragnar relay team along with Sarah, Alicia and Matt, all friends of Rachels's that I have met at various runs.

Regarding my lack of speed, I need to either lower my expectations or train harder - it is as simple as that - no complaining!

After the 1/2 marathon, a few complimentary beers from Tyranena brewery and a lasagna lunch, (which is reason enough to LOVE this run) I was ready to hang out at home and relax. But late in the day we received a call from my son - Hey, do you want to go the Badger hockey game tonight? Sure - Well get ready, because we are going to go to Buffalo Wild Wings to eat before the game. So off we went to the BW3 and then to the Badger Hockey game!

On Monday, I had an old filling replaced with a temporary crown. Although dentistry has improved so much, there is still room for improvement regarding numbing your mouth before work is done. I didn't feel a thing during the procedure, but returned to work with a numb tongue and mouth that took hours to return to normal. I go back next Monday for the permanent crown. Then I am done with both my dentist and orthodontist except for regular check ups!

On Thursday morning I attended "The Home for Families Breakfast". This is an annual fundraising event for "The Road Home" agency, where I am on the board. As a new Board member, I wasn't expected to host a table, but did and was very happy that all of my invited guests were able to attend. I, like most people, don't like to ask people for money, but I approached this as a "getting the word out event" and invited people to come so that they could learn more about the work that the agency does for homeless families.

On Saturday we woke up to mild temp's but winds of 20-30mph. After doing the usual floor cleaning, dusting and vacuuming - can we ever get out of doing this weekly chore? Well after the cleaning was done, Todd and I went to the Badger football game and saw a great win over BYU. We thought briefly about biking - but since it was a 2:30 start time we would be biking home in the dark. We drove downtown and easily found parking and then walked into the wind on the way to Camp Randall. With the winds gusting to 30mph, there were times it was tough going. After the WIN, we mostly had the wind at our backs, which made a quick walk back to the car.

Today, started with church, where I played clarinet with the choir. After wasting hours watching the Packers lose to the Eagles (arggggg) we headed outside to clean the leaves off the roof and then headed to Costco. Dinner was roasted veggies and burgers.

Enjoy the moments!

 

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Football Saturday

Badger Football Saturday

Today was the first Badger game of the year against UMass, who were 45 point underdogs. Final score Badgers 45 - UMass - 0. Guess the bookies (odds makers) were right!

We biked to the game, one-way is 9 miles. On our way, there was a section where a cross road had just had new composite material laid on it - that little black sparkly stuff. We both tried hard to swerve as far out of that stuff as possible. We thought we made it through it - but about 1 mile later, we heard a pffffst - pffffst sound coming from Todd's tire - we stopped and sure enough - he had a rear flat tire. We had a heck of a time getting his tire off of the rim.  It seemed to have been melded into the rim. I bet it took us 15 minutes to get his tire off of the rim. In my opinion, changing a bike tire is never easy and yet, if you have ever seen a tire being changed by someone in a bike shop - they make it look so EASY.

Tip of the day - there are a lot of different requirements to purchasing the correct tubes.

1. Tire size  - my commuter tire takes a 700 x 32 tube. The 700 mm represents the tire diameter and the 32 mm is the tire width. My road bike is 700 X 23 (skinnier tires!). 
2. Type of Valve - all of our bikes have presta valves, which are often used for tubes / tires that require higher pressure. 
3. But the thing no one ever talks about is the tube stem length. I know about the stem size because earlier this summer I had a flat tire and while the tube I had with me fit the tire, the tube stem would not push through the rim far enough to attach the bike pump. 

When switching Todd's tube today - he had a tube with a shorter stem - while it did fit through his rim - when I was pumping it up, I bent the presta valve and broke it off. At this point we had a decision to make - walk his bike to the bike shop about 3 blocks away or replace the tube again, using my tube. So we started over and used my tube, with the longer stem! Finally after 40 minutes we had switched the tube twice and were back on our bikes and headed to the Badger football game.

At this point, our plans to stop at Union South before the game for something to eat and a beer for me were shot. As it was, we didn't make it into the stadium for the kickoff. I have never stood in line this long to get into the stadium. I don't know if the person swiping tickets was incompetent or if the hand held scanner was not set up correctly. It took forever to get through the line for our gate.  

The game was as lopsided as the score - but it was a beautiful day for football. We did stop at Machinery Row Bicycle on the return trip and purchased two new tubes - with long stems!  

Enjoy the moments!

Heat wave

Well not exactly a heat wave - but last Thursday we woke up to negative 13 and today we had highs near 48 degrees.  It was beautiful out.  Snow was melting and birds were singing.  AND I ran 6.5 miles outside with Jamie, from Running Diva Mom and Kerrie, from Tutu Runner.  Jamie is running 1/2 marathon every month - and Kerrie and I ran 6.5 miles with her - Jamie then continued to finish the rest by herself!  Love these young ladies!

I was going to run the local Valentine's Day 5k yesterday - but on Thursday I got invited (2 tickets) to the UW Men's Basketball game against Ohio State.  This was THE game of the season.  Ohio State came into Madison with an undefeated record and NO. 1 ranking in the country.  It was an AWESOME basketball game - the UW was ahead until the last basket of the 1st half.  They then came out flat in the 2nd half and quickly found themselves down by 15 . . .  but then went on a run and came back, winning 71 - 67.   The crowd (including me) at the Kohl Center were sooooooo loud - you couldn't actually hear yourself screaming.  Great game - great day - great weekend!

Next weekend is the local Frosty 5 k run that allows dog's . . . so Sophie and I will be running together.

Have a great week - get out there and enjoy the mild temp's.

Enjoy

Teach me how to Bucky!

Badgers vs Ohio State

Badgers WIN Game!

hubby and I have 50 yard line tickets for the 6 PM start

temps are suppose to be perfect - low 60's dropping to mid 50's 

It is a great evening for a FOOTBALL GAME.

The student section flooded the field after the Badger WIN!  It was awesome!

Autumn Leaves and Haunted Hustle Half Marathon!

Autumn in Wisconsin . . . The leaves are changing and dropping like flies.  After Monday mornings 4 mile run with my partner Sophie I was sitting out on the front porch brushing her and trimming her nails - it is our Monday morning ritual - it sounded like it was raining . . . the tick tick tick of leaves dropping to the ground.  This last week we have seen the trees brighten to an almost glowing state.  My living room windows over look this tree and last week the room glowed.

Now - a mere one week later - the tree is almost bare.  On Sunday we racked and blew and racked but will need to do it again.  Even though the weather has been beautiful - winter is just around the corner.

Here is a picture of one of trees in our front yard.

White Ash

Oct 7 - yellow / purplish - glowing in the sunlight

Oct 10 - dropping on the lawn

Oct 14 - one week later the leaves are all on the ground!

The leaves are pretty much raked - there are still a couple of piles in the yard that need to be moved to the tree court.  We even rake the leaves back from the street -  we are very conscience of letting things (including leaves) travel through the storm sewers since that simply flows into our lakes!  

Running Update - afterall - this is a running blog!!!!!                      Reading about all of you fellow bloggers running marathons this fall got me wanting to run another half marathon this fall.  I was on a waiting list for a half marathon - the Haunted Hustle on October 30.  I just got the news last week that I was accepted.  Yea!!!!  Two weeks to get ready - YIKES !!!!    I have continued to do at least one long run on the weekend - anywhere from 7 - 10 miles . . .  but this weekend I am going to commit to running 11 + miles.  It might not seem that much further - but for me it will be a challenge.  

This morning I ran 2 miles with Sophie and then ran home from work, which is 6 1/2 miles.  So 8 1/2 miles for the day at a 9:40 pace - that distance doesn't usually happen during the week, usually I just don't want to get up that early in the morning and I hardly ever will run after getting home.  So running home after work was a good way of getting an extra 6 1/2 miles in.  It was a beautiful run home - temp was around 60 - perfect running conditions.  

Tomorrow will be a rest day - I'll take the dog for a walk in the morning - but no running.  

This weekend is the UW Badgers vs Ohio State football game and we have 50 yard-line tickets!  So hoping the Badgers can pull out a win.  It is a 6 PM game and I am so looking forward to it.  

Go Bucky!    

Peace - enjoy the day!