Endorphins, I Miss You

When I have chosen to or had to taper off on my running miles for one reason or another, my chocolate cravings increase as do my cravings for jalapeños. I am not a nutritionist, just a lover of food, but I am guessing that both of those foods elicit some sort of chemical reaction within my brain that either simulate or release endorphins. Incidentally, I also eat more of these two foods while my husband is deployed. Someone needs to start a spicy chocolate running club through MWR one of these days. I guarantee it would be a success.

God bless my parents for feeding us and teaching us how to cook for ourselves, but we ate a lot of mild foods growing up. All of my siblings are pretty good cooks and definitely have a love of food, but my folks were not spicy food eaters. Just picture many whole and delicious Norwegian and Irish foods. I didn’t even know there was such a thing as chocolate mixed with cayenne pepper or cinnamon until about five years ago, when I had my first taste of the magical Spicy Maya Chocolate Bar from Chuao Chocolatier. Huh. The Mayans, who knew? Soon after, I introduced my mouth to the Lindt Cherry and Chili Chocolate Bar and the Dagoba Xocolatl Bar. I am now on the hunt for some good spicy chocolate recipes, aside from just putting cayenne pepper in brownies. I have found but have yet to try these chocolate chili almond truffles. However, the fact that the recipe uses corn syrup has me a little hesitant because I spend so much time avoiding corn-based products entirely.

As far as the tried and true go, The Art & Soul of Baking, by Cindy Mushet, published for Sur la table, was a wonderful gift given to me years ago by the Curly Blonde. While it does not list any recipes that involve peppers, it is definitely the bible of baking with chocolate, and I highly recommend anyone who is serious about baking in general take a peek. One of my favorite bloggers, Kate Percy of Go Faster Foods, is a nutritionist and marathoner. She posted this AMAZING chocolate cake recipe last year, and while she does not typically post too many treats, I love her balanced approach to food and life (and chocolate) from an endurance athlete's perspective.

This week, aside from experimenting with chocolate chili almond truffles and dreaming of a future trip to the Mayan ruins, I am designing a new cross-training regime involving a tad more yoga, a few dashes of extra squats and lunges, and the rarest ingredient of all, bench pushups (more than 5). Tapering off on running miles can be a time for building both physical and mental strength and energy reserves for future goals. Endorphins, in the mean time, come in the form of risks and spicy chocolate.

Spectator Love

I woke up at 0345 Saturday morning to show some spectator love as my badass husband ran the Camp Pendleton Hard Corps Marathon. It was a beautiful, cool morning complete with ocean breeze and the usual, motivational race playlist combo of bad butt rock ballads and the theme song from Rocky, which just happens to be our alarm clock song (oh yes). This marathon had only a handful of participants, around 300 people, and they enjoyed a scenic ocean view on their out and back route. BAH was in good spirits before and after the race. He trained well and ran strong on a strict training diet of coffee, beer, and Gatorade (doing his part to conserve water). I have always been fascinated by his camel-like ways, but mainly, I am just impressed that he can train so well with his deployment and work schedule. He is a dedicated runner and teammate.

Camp Pendleton provides training facilities for active duty and reserve Marine, Navy, Army, Air Force, and National Guard while retaining some of the most beautiful and pristine coastal habitat as well as the last significant open space left in Southern California besides the Cleveland National Forest. When I was working as a biological consultant, we got the rare opportunity to perform surveys on this land and to document some rare protected resources there. It was neat being back up there for this race and witnessing what is really a relic of what it used to look like in Southern California before every square inch of the coast was developed.  

Post race celebrations included the yumminess of Brother #1's phenomenal barbeque Saturday night in which I was a big vegetarian cheater (totally worth it) and a great Sunday afternoon Padres game with some friends followed by more barbeque. After grilled portabella burgers with mozzarella, pesto, and tomato and devouring a good portion of Brother #1's homemade strawberry icecream, I am definitely starting to feel like I should have run the marathon with my husband...either that or I am going to need to very soon :) 

Relaxing 101

I’ll never fully understand why people lay out on the beach, on purpose, in the sun. I am told this is “relaxing”. It could be that my pasty-white complexion and blue eyes make the sun a naturally wondrous foe. It could be that I’d rather be running or looking for forms of life to analyze…or looking for shade.

I’m learning. The beach is a good teacher of relaxation. Sunscreen, hats, long sleeves, and mornings have served this original Seattleite well over the past several years of beach running here. I like having the tendons in my feet stretched out and massaged on the uneven surface. I am soothed by the sound of the waves and entertained by all creatures who visit this place. The best part of all? The smell of the ocean. It washes away all other smells and recalibrates the senses with its salty-dream mist.

San Diego has beautiful beach weather year-round, but the past weekend was particularly sweet and sunny. The morning tides created the perfect hard-packed sand substrate, a welcome treat for any beach runner.

This past weekend, the Curly Blonde and I were visited by an Old-School Girlfriend (OSG) dating back to our elementary school days. OSG was actually one of my college roomies (the crazy-ass kind that has burned more memories into your TMI brain than you should probably be allowed to have) and is now mom to 4 beautiful children AND is running the Northwest Passage Ragnar Relay this July. Thankfully, they’re not lay-out-on-the-beach people either, so we stuffed ourselves on cream cheese cinnamon raisin French toast and steamed caramel milk from The Parkhouse Eatery in University Heights. We went to the beach and enjoyed a relaxing atmosphere created by the soft energy of long walks and listening to good conversation amid the crashing waves. I think it is possible to be in a relaxed state without literally laying down. The trick, it would seem, is just to slow down. 

Engineering 101

One of my new favorite vegetarian meals is baked butternut squash, cut into cubes, sprinkled with chili powder and squeezed lime juice, coated in chopped, toasted almonds. It is very flavorful and filling and also good rolled up in toasted corn tortillas with a bit of fresh cabbage and plain yogurt or sour cream.

Keeping a food journal has helped me to become a little more creative in my meal planning because I can track the quantity and quality of protein and calories in my food and find new ways to combine them. While the doctors continue to uncover the mysteries of my digestion, going veg (for the most part, I still eat fish once a week) has been a really great way to allow my system a rest. Doing so has not just been about cutting out meat, but also about making slightly different food choices than I normally would. Having these choices available and knowing that I can do this and still be able to experience such a diverse palette makes me grateful. It has been an overall positive shift with just a bit more planning and eating required; two things that I love to do anyway!

So far, I have not had any meat cravings, and my workouts are still fueled to the level of intensity for which they were designed, so I must be doing something right. It is possible that these data points are coincidental, but my insides have stopped bleeding, and my intestinal Candida levels have come down to normal. In the case that you are wondering, I feel that TMI is a thing of the past where this is concerned. Too many people suffer from undiagnosed intestinal or stomach issues, which over time can lead to a lot of complications and malnourishment. As much as doctors are wonderful for the job they do in general, there is a lot you can do on your own. This is one of them. With a family history of obesity, diabetes, heart disease, Crohn’s disease, and intestinal polyps, I started thinking of my digestive health as a foundation on which you would build a house. You need to engineer your house structurally to accommodate its substrate; whether you’re building on sandstone, organic soil, rock, or clay. Obviously, we don’t all build the same houses. I thought that mine was pretty good all of those years because I am a runner and eat pretty healthful. I guess now, I would liken that thought process to the folks in La Jolla who build their mansions on the edge of a sandstone cliff.

Spring Blessings

Photo by Rich Hatfield. 

Celebrate spring and responsible stewardship by checking out The Great Sunflower Project!

This morning’s run was just a quickie through my beautiful neighborhood, which smells like fresh-cut grass and salty ocean on most clear, spring mornings. Usually, during my neighborhood runs, I look at people’s yards (especially the one with the pet chicken), wave appreciatively at the people who actually believe in stopping at intersections (thank you!), and think about food (always). This year, my badass husband and I are blessed to be able to spend Easter with family and friends and with each other. Brother #1 and the Curly Blonde received an extra special local produce box this week filled to the brim with organic, ripe strawberries, so I am making my favorite poundcake recipe from my 1940’s cookbook, served with homemade whipped cream with orange essence. Our designer strawberry shortcake breakfast will be served aside fresh, organic arugula topped with toasted almonds as well as my Mom’s quiche (I’ll do a mushroom version as well as the spinach-bacon original).

I love Easter! Growing up, my Mom and Dad loved this holiday (Mom because she could shower her children in Easter basket love and joy, Dad because he could play with toys and eat as much chocolate as he wanted without my Mom yelling at him). I am pretty sure I received an Easter basket each and every year, even through my Seattle college days, and to this day, I am hard pressed to think of a more glorious activity than hunting for eggs in the yard with my siblings over, and over, and over again until the shells are smashed into oblivion and the dye has bled off into the dewy morning grass (makes them all the more delicious).          

The significance of this beautiful day varies for everyone; for adult-me, it represents the perfect celebration of life, of forgiveness, and of regeneration. I love the idea of a fresh start and of growth generated from something as ancient and as alive as the seasons themselves.         

Many blessings for a happy Easter!