This is how you do a snow day

Yes, just one day after we returned from the frozen tundra that is Texas, the skies dumped a bunch of snow on New Jersey.  It was bitter cold, but we did a good job of making the most of things around here.  

Today's run:

1.5 mile warm up
1 mile @ 6:49, then .25 miles @ 8:00, repeat 3 times
1.5 mile cool down

Total distance - 6.75
Time - I don't know

This was my second serious attempt at getting faster.  Warm up and cool down were out in the snow, but I did the sprint circuit on a treadmill.  I actually intended to do the cycle five times, but I bailed out.  I made myself do burpees to make up for it.  Needless to say, I was pretty much dead when I left the gym.

Fortunately, I came home to this delicious dinner.  I got it started before I headed off for my workout, and Keith finished it up.

Hearty tomato soup!  Totally homemade.  Totally vegan.  It was a cinch to make, too.  Recipe at the end of the post.

I hit up Dick's Sporting Goods today because I had a bunch of $10 coupons that were going to expire.  I really don't need any running gear, so I decided to just buy my next pair of shoes and put them on the shelf for when my current pair dies.  It turns out that this was a damn good idea because my Nikes already have 180+ miles on them!  Since they are lightweights, I'll have to get into a new pair in about a month and a half.  The bad news is that the color options were pretty limited...

No offense to all the highlighter fans out there, but these things are loud and proud.  Oh well, maybe it'll be good having a neon sign on my foot that says "Hey, Wreckless Driver, don't hit me with your car!"  And before you ask why I decided to get shoes that I think are ugly, I'll go ahead and tell you why:  I'm cheap and they were the best deal. 

I also took advantage of the amazing sale going on at Lululemon right now.  I mean, seriously, I've never seen a Lulu sale this good!  Check it out. 

So, I know you're anxious to find out what I got... the pleasing pant!

And they are pleasing, indeed.  Especially at the sale price.  Indeed.  

I have new bedtime reading material.

Have any of you read this?  It's amazing!  Honestly, it's the reason for my recently revived interest in doing speed work and getting faster.  The story chronicles the efforts of John Landy (Australia), Wes Santee (USA), and Roger Bannister (England) as they each attempt to run a sub 4:00 mile.  These guys worked.  They worked in a way that makes me feel sluggish.  So I'm letting history inspire me.  I'm trying to run faster because that effort is exactly what makes this sport so mind-blowing and so worthwhile.  I don't want to tread water anymore; I don't want to stall.  I want to overcome.

My very favorite quote from the book is something that Bascomb cites as coming from John Landy after one of his early attempts at the 4:00 mile.  Landy was describing his experience as his competitors fell off of his blistering pace.  He turned into the last lap, and, as he says it:  "Then I went."

Then I went.

Even the really hard stuff is just as simple as that, isn't it?

I'll leave you with a more substantial quote, though.  Something that might rouse your spirit for your next run.

"Before stopwatches, cinder tracks, and perfect records, man ran for the purest reasons: to survive.  The saying goes that 'every morning in Africa, an antelope wakes up.  It knows it must outrun the fastest lion, or it will be killed.  Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up.  It knows it must run faster than the fastest antelope, or it will starve.  It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or an antelope--when the sun comes up, you'd better be running.'  There are few instincts more natural than the body in full motion as it races across a field or through the tress.  From the beginning, we were made to run.  In days past, when 'survival of the fittest' meant exactly this, the only measure of the race was whether the hunted reached safety before being overtaken.  Seconds and tenths of seconds had no meaning.

Sports evolved from this competition to survive.  In ancient Egypt newly chosen kings went on a ceremonial run, as historian Edward Sears wrote, that 'symbolized laying claim to his domain and proved that he was fit enough for the demands of his positions.'  Thirty years after the king's coronation, and every three years thereafter, he was challenged to run the same long distance he had run as a young man.  If he failed, he lost his power to rule.  Other early societies proved status by skills such as hitting targets with a bow and arrow, lifting heavy rocks, or jumping across streams, but the ability to run faster and farther than others remained a dominant standard."

Homemade Vegan Tomato Soup (serve 3-4)
Ingredients:
6 vine ripe tomatoes
olive oil
1 garlic bulb
1 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp Red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  Wash the tomatoes and lay them upside down on a rimmed baking sheet.  Cut slits in the skin of each tomato.  An "X" is sufficient.  This allows the tomatoes to release steam and not burst.  Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over each tomato.  Put the pan in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

3.  Remove as much of the papery shell from the garlic bulb s you can and, using kitchen shears, snip the tip of each clove.  Drizzle oil over the bulb and delicately enclose the bulb in foil.  Put in the oven with the tomatoes for 45 minutes. 

4.  Dump all of the tomatoes into the bowl of a slow cooker.  Squeeze the garlic out of each clove from your roasted bulb, and stir it into the tomatoes.  Add the vegetable broth, oregano, and red pepper flakes.  Let cook on low for an hour.

5.  Using an immersion blender, blend the soup to your desired consistency.  I like my soup a little bit chunky, but you can completely puree it if you like.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

6.  Serve hot with some crusty french bread or (if you Keith's appetite) a grilled cheese sandwich.

Bon appetit!