Almost at the 5k.

So, Friday we went for run 2 of week 7 of our 5k101 challenge. It was 87 degrees outside, we were trying to move as quickly as possible out the door, S was sick, and I was, well. Fine, I was fine. But in my defense, I was on day 2 of no caffeine, with a residual panicky feeling from having about seven shots of espresso on Wednesday. Additionally, I try to drink as little as possible before heading to New York so that there can be fewer pit-stops. There was one time where, stuck on the bus, I had to pee so badly I actually tried to ask the Chinese bus driver if we were almost at the McDonalds. We weren't. I considered getting the woman with the baby in front of me to tell the driver there was a baby-related emergency so we'd have to stop. Don't worry. I made it. But still, it was enough to made me purposely dehydrated myself before any bus ride. I'm an idiot, I know.

Cut to the third interval of running for twelve minutes, me completely dehydrated, and feeling like I'm about to vomit. I haven't vomited in twenty-one years, and I'm not starting now, so I had to stop running. S kindly asked if he could keep going, and I watched him run on without me. I kept listening to the podcast, hating myself, and trying to start up again. However, each time I started, I felt like the upper part of my stomach was shaking with every step, threatening to work its way out of my throat. Too gross? It was awful. So, I eventually met S at the end of the run, really disappointed in myself, just ready to get on the road. A reminder: S was ill during this run, and he finished. I don't think I'm completely crazy for kicking myself.

There followed an amazing weekend in New York and on the New Jersey shore (I had never heard of Manasquan, but I'm happy to have experienced it), which will be detailed once I upload the pictures.

Today: we got home from New York, filled with an amazing brunch from The Farm, (I split poached eggs + grits and strawberry french toast with my awesome brother in law) one of my favorite brunch places in Ditmas Park/Kenzington, in Brooklyn, and decided to get on the road. I needed to redeem myself from Friday's run. Redemption was going to come by way of FINISHING the run - not by doing it fast. So slow and steady we needed to move - for the sake of my pride and of S's health.

And finish we did! It's such a great feeling; setting a goal and meeting it. Little steps, reminding me that I'm capable of doing more than I think sometimes.

We're 7 days from our 5K. Thrilled and scared. Mostly thrilled.

Well, that was a day.

Today was day one of week 7 of the 5k 101 training. Three 12-minute runs, with three-minute recoveries in between. S and I ended up covering almost 4 miles, which is unbelievable. I can’t believe how far I’ve come. Beginning with four 2-minute jogs (the first was on April 15th). And now here we are. We’re running our first 5k on June 5th, less than a week after my 28th birthday. Twenty-eight. The closer it gets the older it feels.

The run was fantastic. The first interval was a bit tough, as usual, for the first four minutes. After that I had worked to convince myself that running felt good after four minutes, so it was a treat. That first interval took us into Harvard Square, across from the Harvard Bookstore. The second interval took us into Inman Square, and the third took us home. We covered more than 5k! Maybe almost 7k!

All this came on the tail of a long day at work. Have I explained my job? I work as an art therapist/clinical educator at a prominent mental institution/psychiatric hospital in Massachusetts. I work with adolescents, average age of 16. So, today, Wednesday, May 25, 2011, was a tough one. One co-educator has been out all week with the flu, so we, the remaining educators, were stretched a little thin. I was thrilled to come home. And this run was on five hours of sleep!

See, my husband and I got tickets to see Chris Thile and Michael Daves at the Brighton Music Hall last night. “An evening with Chris Thile,” they called it, and the due played two sets, about 2.5 hours of smoking bluegrass. Daves has this great “high lonesome,” as S calls, it. It’s a clean, clear, no-vibrato falsetto, which is such CLASSIC bluegrass. And Thile is a prodigy on the mandolin. I lapped up every minute. But... the awesome show kept us out until midnight. Worth it. Worth every shot of espresso, every heart-palpitation from too much caffeine (I kid), worth the gasping breaths from the last interval. What a day it’s been.

Sunday, lazy.

After breakfast we went on an adventure. Our goal was to explore a Middle Eastern market, in the vain hope of finding green, fuzzy almonds. They're only available for a few weeks a year, but we didn't know what they were when we spotted them in a store near Foxboro.

Today we ended up in Burlington, ostensibly to go to H Mart and Market Basket, but also to go to this Halal grocery store. The little plaza that we ended up in did indeed have a Halal marketplace, but it also had “Spice Land,” “Foodland” and “China Merchandise” (now specializing in Indian groceries). Each shop was wilder than the one before. Spice Land had good prices on microwaveable papdum, but Foodland had amazing mangos. China Marketplace was the most amazing, we decided, with an aisle labeled “Flower Pot Vases” that contained mostly pan-Asian noodles, just as an example.

H Mart was another story completely. It was Family Fun Fest (apparently), so there were a dozen tented tables in the parking lot giving away samples of daifuku red bean cakes, teas, sausage (for S) and fruit. Inside were another dozen sampling stations. I was actually uncomfortably full by the time we left. No room left for a sample of Vermont Curry (my favorite. It’s made with honey. Nothing else to say.).

After coming home and unpacking all the groceries, I ended up going to Mudflat. I finished glazing a bowl and a vase, putting the final coats on (my bowls have at least four glazes right now), I trimmed a large bowl, which took about an hour, and threw a few new pieces. I have a fair coming up next month, and I realized I only have about eight mugs to sell.

Aside from the need to make pieces to entice people to buy, I simply love the act of throwing. The hot water, the mud and grit under my fingers, the cool clay slowly moving away from where my fingertips press. It’s like a dance sometimes. I move, the clay moves, I try to respect where the boundaries are, and we reach a subtle balance. I appreciate the process almost more than the product sometimes.

Art therapy dogma. Ugh.

Sunday Brioche

One of my favorite moments of the week is Sunday morning. S and I wake up usually around eight, and quickly get ourselves presentable to the outside world and head to Petsi's.

Well, actually. Every other week for the last month or so we've been running on Sunday morning before Petsi's. We've been cycling through the 5k 101 training program with six day weeks, running every other day. So last week on Sunday morning there we were, sweaty and happy at Petsi's around nine a.m., following our run of three eight minute intervals of jogging. We looked so happy, and were still talking about the high and low points of our run, that the scruffy gentleman behind the counter asked:
"So, has running stopped hurting? Because it's always just painful for me."

We gleefully got to respond, "Yes! No more pain!" Thanks to my new shoes from Marathon Sports.

But our weekend run fell on a Saturday this time around, so straight from bed to Petsi's today.

I walk by Petsi's every morning on my way to work, and it smells amazing even at seven a.m. I often stop for coffee during the week, and have to steel myself against the beautiful delights behind the glass. Sweet potato pecan breakfast bun, filled with a core of sweet potato fluff? Raspberry jam-filled corn muffin? Ginger raspberry scone? I'm a weak person. I barely stand a chance. When asked by an employee how they can help, I often say "I'll just get a coffee," so there's no chance of the kind person asking if there will be anything else.
Sunday is a special treat, though. My amazing husband gets me breakfast every weekend, and it's always the same thing - delicious Rao's coffee (the Petsi House Blend) with a bit of soy milk, and a vanilla sugar brioche.

Brioche is a sweet, eggy, buttery bread, which always (from Petsi’s) tastes like the love-child of challah and a croissant. This special specimen is doused with vanilla syrup, flecked with the tiny black dots of an authentic vanilla bean. They bake the individual brioche rolled in spirals in a muffin tin. So much of the joy is in slowly unrolling the layers of sweet, sticky bread. Today’s brioche was warm. Whether it was warm from the oven or, as I suspect, the microwave, I simply don't care. It was absolutely delicious.

Graduation Day

Today my dear friend Melissa graduated from Lesley University, where I myself graduated from a year ago. Though I didn’t make it to graduation, I did make it to her celebratory party. It took place on our friend’s roof-top in South Boston (Southie), and since it was also rapture day, I made rapture cookies.
What might Rapture Cookies be? They’re the cookies I wouldn’t mind being my last. Lots of fat, sugar, chocolate, and flavor. They ended up being chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies, with a sprinkling of French sea salt on top. The batter itself was delicious, and the cookies stood up to the test of several hungry art therapists and a few children’s repeated tastings.
The afternoon drifted into the evening on the roof, with the weather being indecisive – misty? Sunny? Cold? Foggy? I declined an offer for a veggie burger, as I have a hard time getting over a veggie burger being made on a meaty grill, and gleefully ate hummus, cheese and bean dips. Southie is such a beautiful neighborhood, with a checkered past. This rooftop in particular overlooks Saint Augustine, a beautiful church and school associated with Whitey Bulger, and referred to frequently in All Souls by Michael Patrick McDonald, and in The Departed.

Celebrating Melissa’s graduation is a gentle reminder that I graduated a year ago. I’ve been an art therapist for a year now. I’ve been working towards licensure and independence for a year. It makes me really question where I am right now, and where I’m going. This graduation also points to the fact that I’ve been married for 11 months now. My graduation last year initiated the month-long countdown to our wedding.

There’s a lot to celebrate today. Good thing I made rapture cookies.

Here goes:

Peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookies (adapted from here
Makes about 2 dozen.
Ingredients:
 6 tbsp butter
 3 tbsp peanut butter (I used chunky Teddy)
 ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar
 Scant ½ cup white sugar
 ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
 ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
 ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
 1 egg
 ½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
 ½ cup plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
 1 cup Rolled Oats
 ¾ cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate Ghirardelli)
 pinches of sea salt (i used some fancy French thing from TJ Maxx)

Method:
 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
 Beat together butter and peanut butter until smooth and fluffy. Add sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Beat until combined.
 Beat in egg and vanilla. Beat in flour. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
 Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat.
 Sprinkle with salt. Bake 10 minutes or until light brown around edges.
 Remove to wire racks to cool.
 Eat many. Prepare for the rapture.

Rapture Day

S and I began rapture Saturday with day two of week six of 5k 101’s 8 week training course. It’s the first day in a while that hasn’t been clouded by rain, so I finally got a chance to run in just shorts and a t-shirt. All the running goods I’ve been stocking up on are getting use. With just a few bites of banana and a glass of water with chia seeds, we strapped into our shoes and left the house.

We started with a five-minute warm-up walk down the hill towards Petsi’s, the sun warming our faces, then broke into the first of two twelve minute jogs. For the past two runs I’ve been logging miles on my iPhone with Nike+, but since my armband hasn't arrived and I’m getting wary of holding my phone in my bra, I clipped my tiny shuffle on instead. This means that I didn’t get the soothing voice of some robotic woman in my ear telling me that we had completed 1 and 2 miles, alerting me to my slightly sub-standard mph, but also that I didn’t have to worry about my phone slipping down the side of my bra.
Typically, running in the morning is more difficult for me, and today was no different. By the middle of the first interval my lungs were tired. They felt tiny, which is a strange sensation. I was grateful to stop for a small recovery, and then was ready to start the second interval. I would say the last eight minutes of that second interval were the easiest of the run, but I was still excited to stop running.

We slogged back up to the house and stretched, noting the mouse that had been left in front of our porch by a neighbor’s cat who loves us, then headed inside for breakfast.

I’ve been eating this protein-laden oatmeal concoction of my creating for a few days, and I keep exclaiming to S about how amazing it is. However, it also prompted a co-worker to comment that it looked like I was eating sewage during rounds yesterday morning. S, ever adventurous, was game to try, so I whipped up a double batch. Here’s how it works:

Ingredients for 2 servings:
 Scant ½ cup rolled quick oats
 ½ cup almond milk (unsweetened vanilla almond dream for us)
 ½ cup water
 1 banana, cut into small pieces (with a few larger ones)
 dash vanilla
 pinch of cinnamon
 4 tbsp hemp protein powder
 2 tsp chia seeds
 2 tsp maple syrup (divided, added at the end to each bowl)
 2 tbsp honey peanut butter (same as for syrup)

How to:
Mix water, almond milk and oats at medium heat, then leave to warm up. When it’s bubbling, add the banana, vanilla and cinnamon, and stir vigorously as the banana breaks down and the cereal gets creamy. It should smell amazing.
When the oats are still slightly too liquidy for your taste, take off the heat and add the chia and protein. Okay, it’s now slightly unappetizing. It’s green, in fact. Remember my oath that it’ll taste fantastic.
Now divide the goods into two bowls, top each with a teaspoon of maple syrup and a tablespoon of peanut butter, and devour. I use a kitchen scale to measure everything out because I like precision, and I like getting every gram of goodness that I deserve.