Maria Runs - Maria Runs

My version of Grasshopper Bars

When we went to the Hummingbird Bakery, one of my friends said she normally got a graasshopper bar, but they didn’t have them this time. When she described them, they sounded amazing- a chocolate base, a minty filling and chocolate on top. I fancied making some, but after a lot of searching I mainly found recipes for grasshopper pies. So I made my own.

I have a good brownie recipe, but it goes very squidgy, so I used one instead of two eggs to make the batter a bit less liquid.

(Melt together 100g butter, 175g caster sugar, 25g dark chocolate, 1tsp golden syrup, 1 tsp vanilla extract. Leave to cool. Beat in one egg, and sift in 100g plain flour and 25g cocoa powder. Pour into a brownie pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, until firm).

To make the filling, I warmed 200ml cream (I used alpro cream because I had some, but normal would work too I am sure) until tiny bubbles appeared. I put 200g white chocolate in a heatproof bowl, and poured the warm cream over it. I stirred it until the chocolate melted, and then added a tsp peppermint, and a little green colouring. I put this in the fridge to cool while the brownie base cooled.

It does look a bit lumpy at first, but I promise if you stir gently it will all melt and go all thick and gloopy. Not a good recipe word, but that is how it is.

After spreading the cooled mint filling over the base, I melted 100g dark chocolate and drizzled this over the top, although that turned out to be an awful lot, and I think 50g would have been fine.

Mmm I just love the chocolate and peppermint combination- I already want to make them again!

Have you ever had grasshopper pie? Weekend plans?

I shall be parkrunning in the morning- hooray!

Parkrun- dream vs reality

I always have pretty vivid dreams, but they are normally about something I am worried about, and parkrun is something I look forward to (especially when I missed the previous weekend). Now, I had volunteered this weekend for the new runner briefing again, because that would mean I could still run it, so perhaps I was still a little worried about doing that. Also, someone in my running club had mentioned a new parkrun in Hoddesdon (not much further than Panshanger) so I must have been thinking about that too.

So, the dream:

I am travelling to a brand new parkrun, to do the runners briefing. I get there are 8.30, and begin to try and find the start among a sea of fluorescent-clad runners. I realise I still have my handbag with me, and a rucksack, so try and find Andy’s mum (who was going to watch) so she could hold my bag. I felt bad because there was a long walk from the start to the finish so she would have to carry them a long way. My shoes were not tight enough to I have to keep pulling out more and more of the lace to make them do up. I walk up and down a steep steep a few times, trying to find someone in charge, but I can’t spot the high viz jackets because everyone is wearing bright tops. Then I realise the date- 12th September, and remember that I am meant to be at Panshanger. I have a bit of a panic wondering how I am meant to let them know that I am in the wrong place. Then, we line up. Andy is there, and we are both wearing our Southampton 10K tops. When the guy says “go” we both sprint off down the hill, with only about 4 others, but are told we false started so have to jog back to the start.

The reality:

I get up, have some water, potter about, empty the dishwasher, pack my tennis visor, check my emails. Drive to parkrun. I see the run director, but he can’t find the laminated prompt sheet, so he writes down the main points for me. One of the OH ladies is tail running, and one is chip scanning, so I chat to them for a bit.

Time comes for the briefing- I stand in my high viz jacket and wave, and have a big group- around half were tourists and half were new to parkrun. No questions, but a guy on a bike turned up late so I go through it with him. The rain is holding off so I leave my visor in the car.

I go to the back and chat with the tail runner, then we listen to the start talk (two people were doing their 50th run). We go. As I am right at the back, it is very stop start, as it narrows through a gate and then along a woodland track. I was not aiming for any time, although I have given myself an unofficial target to keep them under 30 minutes each week. After a mile I catch up with another OH lady, so I say “hi, enjoy” before I pass her.

Past the fields, the track widens out, so I overtake a few more runners. I shall make the most of the downhill, I decide. As we run down through the sheep field (although no sheep to be seen) I try out the grass instead of the track- I think it was a bit faster.

At the 2 mile point my watch beeps, but I don’t look because I want to run on feel- this feels hard but enjoyable- I still have the energy to thank the marshals and smile.

On the final hill I am digging in and someone overtakes me seriously sprinting! I try to say “good work” but I think I just panted something incomprehensible! As I finish one of the marshals (who is RD sometimes) said “well done Maria” to me, which was lovely – I can manage a smile, but then the current RD passes me and asks me how I got on- I could not answer very well! That hill is tough! I saw a few of the OH ladies so we chatted a bit, before heading back to our cars. I bought a chai latte from the coffee van, and while in the queue I saw a guy who was a tail runner with me back in the summer- he had just run it with his wife- it was her first parkrun- hooray! After that, it started to rain, so I put my hoodie on and headed home. Perfect. I think the reality was better than the dream! My 48th parkrun too!

2015-09-12 10.18.01 I was showing off my OH hoodie.

Now, I have a dilemma. Next Saturday I am going to a wedding. It’s a small wedding (not sure if this makes a difference), and is more relaxed than normal. I need a hair cut, so I tried to book one, but the only time they had was 9am on Saturday. Those of you who share my love of parkrun will feel my pain. It’s worse because the next weekend we are meeting family near Birmingham, and the weekend after we go to Bournemouth for the 10K, so I won’t go to one for ages. So, do I keep the appointment and have my hair done for me, or re-book for later, go to parkrun, and do my hair myself? I think you might be able to tell which way I am leaning. But my hair really needs to be cut!

Do you have vivid dreams? Shall I parkrun on Saturday?

Quest bars- a review

I am a bit of a cereal bar addict. There are plenty of bars that I love- nakd bars, pulsin bars, clif bars, bounce bars; I find them perfect for leaving in my bag for a few days until I need a snack (much better than leaving a banana in there to turn brown and squashy). While I was away, Predator Nutrition offered me the chance to review some Quest bars, and because of my love of cereal bars, I agreed.

They sent me a big selection of flavours!

Quest bars are protein bars (around 20g per bar), that are high in fibre (17g in some bars) and low in sugar (1g in some). They use whey protein, so they are not suitable for vegans. The flavours all sound very tempting- Mint Chocolate Chunk, White Chocolate Raspberry, Peanut Butter Supreme, Apple Pie.

My first impressions were not too good- to me the packaging is really cluttered and it was not easy to see which flavour each one was. Plus the photos of the dessert that the bar was trying to imitate seemed a bit strange- seeing a photo of apple pie with a big scoop of ice cream on it seemed a bit misleading, plus it made me want a proper dessert even more! But that may be just me!

I packed a Coconut Cashew one when I marshaled at the triathlon, but was so busy I didn’t have the time to try it. Afterwards I had to pop to town to collect an order, so I had some of the bar on my walk back to the car, but I have to say I wasn’t keen. I was really hungry by this point (it was gone 11, and I had been up since before 6 and eaten nothing) so that didn’t help. But it seemed way too chewy, and had a weird metallic tang. When I checked the ingredients I noticed stevia on there, which in the past I have not got on with. But, some of the bars didn’t contain it, so I decided to try one of those next.

Next I tried a Peanut Butter Supreme- this one had no stevia, and I did prefer the taste, but I can’t say I really enjoyed it. The texture was still so chewy and to me it didn’t taste that much like peanut butter. The Vanilla Almond Crunch had no stevia, and the shortest ingredients list, but again, not for me.

Then, I tried an Apple Pie bar as it didn’t contain stevia- it smelled of cinnamon, which I loved, but the taste was just not for me. I can’t pinpoint it, but they seem to taste too sweet, even though they are low in sugar.

The White Chocolate Raspberry had huge chunks of white chocolate, and freeze dried raspberries, but something in the bar seemed to overpower those flavours.

Finally I tried the Mint Chocolate Chunk, hoping that the mint flavour would overpower the artifical flavour that I kept tasting. The peppermint flavour was good, it had chunks of chocolate cookie or something in there, but I was disappointed as I didn’t like this one either.

I appreciate having the chance to try these, but they are not for me. I am not sure if it is the whey protein (when I tried that before, years ago, I didn’t get on with it), the artificial sweeteners (or I suppose sugar-free sweeteners, as stevia is a leaf so I suppose is “natural”), or the added fibre, but the combination is not for me. I think I will stick to my tried and tested favourite ones, and eat some actual mint chocolate if I want some.

Are you a fan of Quest bars?

* I was sent the bars in exchange for a review. All opinions are my own.

PS- If you like them, Predator Nutrition have some good deals, including some short dated stock for a reduced price.

Back to work running

Well, last Tuesday was the last day of the holidays, and my first trip to the running club since my holiday. I love our Tuesday sessions- we never know how far we will go, which route we will do, and whether it will be a steady run or an interval session.

Last week only three of us turned up, so we did a lovely route through a cycle way (an old railway line), and then we took on “the hill”- I had only run it the day before on my Bank Holiday 6 miler. Ah well, the more we do it, the better we will get I suppose.

After work on Wednesday we walked up to the cinema (Mission Impossible 10 or whatever- which I very much enjoyed) so I decided to get up early on Thursday morning. I don’t normally like to run before work, but we had a training day that didn’t start until 8.45, so I had more flexibility in getting to work.

I left home just after 6am and was treated to a pretty impressive sunrise- it looked like the building was on fire! I did 3.5 miles and it really made me feel so much better- our training days on Wednesday and Thursday were sitting down, which is very different to my normal days at work and I was feeling sluggish.

On Thursday evening I went to Body Pump for the first time in about 5 or 6 weeks. I didn’t think it would be too bad (not sure why)- I chose slightly lighter weights for the squats, chest and triceps, but for the rest kept my usual weight. By Friday afternoon I was really stiff and sore. We got a Eurostar to Paris on the Friday evening, and spent Saturday and Sunday doing lots of walking.

Last night was another club run- a lot of them are doing a local 10K race (the same weekend I am doing the Bournemouth 10K) so we have officially started 10K training. We ended up doing 5.4 miles (including that hill) at a pretty fast pace. By the end we were running to beat the light- it was fairly gloomy and we ran through a few alleyways that seemed quite dark. It was really enjoyable, but I felt pretty shattered when I got home and I don’t think I will be running far today!

Oahu- running gear spending spree!

So after our few days in Yosemite, we had a night staying near to San Francisco airport before flying out to Honolulu (on Oahu). With the long flight (just under 6 hours I think) and time difference (3 hours) we were pretty tired by the time we arrived, so as soon as we had checked in we headed out for dinner. Because we had been there before, we didn’t need to find our way at all, which really helped.

I was awake before 5am, but the thought of running in the city in the darkness didn’t appeal, so I got ready and headed out a bit before 6, and was treated to a beautiful sunrise. After a lot of stretching on the beach, I popped to Starbucks (it was at the bottom of our hotel) for a cold drink for me, and a coffee for Andy.

They have flip flops on their summer cups!

We did a lot of walking around the Waikiki beach area, and to a big shopping centre, as well as some relaxing in the hotel room. I still managed over 26,000 steps (although that did include my run).

Without fail, every day our breakfast was an acai bowl from Island Vintage Coffee- so delicious and refreshing in the heat. It was 0.75 miles from our hotel (on my first run I measured it with my Garmin!) so it was good to stretch our legs first thing each day.

On our second day we got the bus to the bottom of Diamond Head, which is a small crater that you can walk up. It is pretty tough- there were warnings about how many people they have to rescue from it- it’s quite steep, plenty of switch backs, and there is little shade too.

It was hot and sweaty walking up there, but the views made it all worthwhile.

You could see all the way back along the coast to Waikiki. Over 18,000 steps walked, and lots of those uphill!

The next day we had hired a car for the day so we could drive around the rest of the island (last time we came, we had a car for the whole time, but it was expensive to park in the hotel, the roads were crazy busy, and we didn’t use it that much)- so after our usual breakfast we walked to the hotel to pick it up.

Last time we had driven to Pearl Harbor and then continued to the north shore before driving back, so this time we headed on a sort of anti-clockwise loop of the island, stopping when we fancied it.

Here, we were near the big ranch where a lot of films (like Jurassic Park) were filmed.

(Both of those photos were taken from the same spot. It was strange having the green rocks so close to the sea).

A little later we stopped near the north shore market place, which is just lovely for a wander, with lots of quirky shops, art shops and a famous shaved ice shop. I was most excited to see another branch of IVC, and although we don’t usually have lunch on holiday, we shared a sandwich- how could I resist this- toasted cranberry walnut bread, with peanut butter and fresh mango, served with a side salad.

We had a wander and bought a picture (the same artist as we had bought on our last trip- Heather Brown– she has a really unique style), Andy got some shaved ice and we both bought some t-shirts there, before we headed back to the car. On the way back we stopped at the Dole plantation for a pineapple float. We were trying to get to the running shop for me to collect my race bits, but traffic was bad, so we just returned the car instead and left it for the next day. After dinner we were walking back along the beach and two runners passed us, both wearing different Hawaii running tops with pineapples on them- once we got back to the hotel I googled them and found that a running store a mile from our hotel sold them, so I made a note of the address in case we had time to get there.

On our final full day on Oahu we got the hotel shuttle to the big shopping centre, as the running shop (Runner’s Route) I needed to visit was close by. Picking up the race pack was great- I was pretty relieved that there were pages of entries (as when I signed up, the entry list was something like 16 people)- and it was in a really nice running shop so I had a browse. I had left my visor at home (just hadn’t thought about it) so when I saw they had a few nice ones I bought one. The store had loads of race t-shirts for decoration, so it was great to look at past Hawaii marathon tops and so on. The shopping centre is massive- we went past a Lululemon with a sale, so I had a look at the capris- I like short length ones and they actually did a pair that were the perfect length, so I bought some.

We could have got the shuttle back, but I wanted to see how to get to and from the race (it started at the beachfront park close to the shopping centre) so we walked the 2.5 miles back to the hotel, which was nice but pretty hot! When we got back to our hotel, our room was about to be cleaned, so we quickly got some water and then headed out in the other direction to the other running shop (Running Room) in search of the pineapple top.

In the end I was spoilt for choice- they sold it in different vest styles, t-shirts and long sleeved tops, in a variety of colours. I was very restrained and only bought one!

We walked out for dinner, and then to watch the fireworks (they have free ones set off by the big Hilton hotel)- we had walked over 23,000 steps that day, not bad.

The next morning was my race, so my alarm went off at 4.45am, ready for me to leave the hotel at 5.15 and run the 2.5 miles to the race start. Once the race was over, I picked up breakfast on my way back, and had a quick shower as we had a flight to catch- next stop, Kauai!