Running - Maria Runs

Mince pie bars

I know, I know, Christmas is over. But you might have the odd jar of mincemeat lurking in your cupboard. Or, like me, you might have bought some scrummy mince pie filling in the Holland and Barrett penny sale. Who knows.

Anyway, because I had this, and some leftover marzipan, I made some bars. I am not a pastry fan, so the base is a bit like a caramel shortbread base, but with oats added in for some texture. I used some wholegrain spelt flour and some white, but all white would be fine. Wholegrain spelt (I use Dove’s farm) seems to work well in most baking- often I use it in cookie recipes to replace all the flour.

Anyway. If you fancy making it here is the recipe:

For the base:

150g margarine (I used Clover additions)

40g soft light brown sugar

180g plain flour (I used part wholegrain spelt and part white)

60g oats

1 tsp mixed spice

Topping:

400g mince pie filling (I used Meridian so I needed a little more than a jar but you could use normal mincemeat)

100g (approx) marzipan

Flaked almonds to sprinkle

Icing sugar to dust

Preheat the oven to 180C and line a pan with baking paper (I use a brownie pan from Steamer Trading Cookshop- the best size for most of the things I make).

Make the base by creaming together the butter and sugar, then stirring in the oats, spice and flour until it resembles crumbs. Pour it into the pan and press down with a metal spoon.

Bake in the oven for 15 mins until pale.

Meanwhile make some pretty shapes with the marzipan by rolling it out (dust with a little icing sugar to stop it sticking) and then cutting it out. You could cut it into lines for a lattice effect but I prefer shapes.

Remove the base from the oven and spread the mince pie filling over. Sprinkle with flaked almonds, dust with a little icing sugar and then top with the marzipan shapes.

The marzipan shapes are the best bit.

Then return to the oven and bake for a further 10 mins- this will finish cooking the base, toast the nuts slightly and melt the marzipan.

Leave to cool and then slice into bars/ squares.

These were for Sunday tea. So much nicer than a mince pie.

In other news, I totally rested over the weekend (well I did a lot of walking but that was it)- I was feeling totally fine so went on a short (2 mile) run after work yesterday. I did loads of stretches when I finished, and I am pretty sure I had no trouble. I was worried about this morning (because it seems to be delayed after a run, so not sure if it is related) but all good so far. No two runs in a row for me though, so today will be a rest. At least I have kicked off Jantastic now!

2013 Travelling Tales and Race recaps

So, of course, today is the final day of 2013 so a recap post is due. I think these sorts of posts are really fun to write- I love going back over old race recaps and looking at photos.

This year we have had some awesome holidays, which can (through a rather convoluted set of circumstances) link back to when I was really ill a couple of years ago. I ended 2011 in hospital- this turned out to be due to a large ovarian cyst that had to be removed. We were meant to be going to New York, Washington, Philadelphia and Florida for the Christmas holidays, but had to cancel as I was not allowed to fly. Luckily we had insurance, so claimed it back (or cancelled things) but before we knew for certain Andy said to me that if we did have to cancel we could go to Hawaii in the summer (2012) instead. So we did. It was amazing. On one of the islands we went to Volcano, a National Park, and it turned out cheaper to buy a yearly pass than for the days we were there. So then we returned home with a pass for the year for all US National Parks….

Easter saw us visit Disneyland in California, before an epic road trip across several western states. We went to the Grand Canyon.

Monument Valley (not a National Park, but Andy wanted to see it)

We went to Zion National Park.

And Bryce Canyon for the day.

Plus Lake Tahoe, Las Vegas and the most amazing place, Yosemite.

I am still not sure how we managed to fit all of that in the Easter holidays!

In the summer we had another epic road trip, starting in Seattle (went to Victoria in Canada for a couple of days) and taking in more National Parks including Olympic, Glacier, Mount Rainier, Yellowstone, Rocky Mountain, Grand Tetons…

We did a 10 mile round trip hike through grizzly bear country to see this beautiful lake filled with icebergs (and saw no bears).

The next day we did a short walk (2 miles) and saw several bears, including a very close encounter!

“There’s a bear in the bush”!!! Exciting and also terrifying!

We certainly got good use of our year pass.

(This has reminded me that I have not posted a holiday recap on here for that holiday- something for a rainy January day perhaps).

This year was a great year for me running wise too. I finally felt like I was back to full fitness and not only got back to my old times, but achieved pb’s in several race distances.

I ran the Brighton Half marathon in February, and got a pb- this race was great to do because I couldn’t do it the previous year as I was still waiting for my op. I also met the lovely Lara in the starter pen 🙂

I have been trying for ages to get my 10K pb under an hour, but at my first attempt this year I didn’t make it, (60.34!!) although this was a cross country course. I made up for it back in Brighton in November, when Andy paced me around and I managed 56.14! I also coined the phrase “Royal Flush negative split” which I am pleased to report has been used several times on Marathon talk now! (Each mile faster than the previous mile).

In June I managed another half marathon pb, getting my time down to 2.10.09, and then in July I had the most fantastic experience running 5 miles in the Olympic Park. Most of the course was not that interesting, but coming out onto that track at the end was just amazing. I met up with Anna briefly at the end too which was lovely. That was a pb too, as I had only ever run one 5 mile race before, which turned out to be a cross country course.

The race I most enjoyed (apart from the final stretch of the Olympic run) was probably the local 10 miler I did. It was a week after another half marathon (that didn’t go so well), it was cold and pouring with rain, but it had the most marshals I had ever seen, it was so friendly, there was a cow on the route- what more could you ask for? Again I got my fastest 10 mile time but that is because my only other 10 miler was the Great South run a few years ago.

I also started going to Parkruns this year. My Dad persuaded me to go, and I am really glad he did. I have been to 11 this year, and helped out at about 3- I don’t go every week but when I do manage it I love it. I have managed to get my 5K pb down to 26.29 which I am really pleased with.

There have of course been some disappointing moments this year. I developed a bad cough in the summer, so could not do a 10K race I had signed up for, and I have spent the last month with this little hip niggle. But I am so pleased with how my running is going- I think running with Sweatshop has helped me run faster over slightly longer distances, and going to Parkruns has helped me to get used to that feeling of really pushing yourself. I also did the marathon talk Jantastic challenge (Go Team Run Blog Bake!) and I am sure having a good base of training at the start of the year helped. All my times have gone down this year, so I am hoping 2014 can continue. When I finished the Stockholm marathon back in 2011, I felt a bit like I had unfinished business. I would love to do another marathon, but I wanted to be faster over shorter distances first, because being out running for over 5 hours is just really tough. And I am getting closer to my target time so who knows in 2014 I may sign up for another one. Maybe.

I don’t tend to set new year resolutions or anything like that, but I like to have goals to work towards. I have signed up to the Bath half and the Oslo Rock ‘n’Roll half marathon (so excited about this) so would love to beat my half marathon time in one of these races. I also need to work on my flexibility so will be carrying on with my physio stretches and looking at booking some sports massages in the new year. But really I just want to keep enjoying running- that is why I do it.

How was 2013 for you?

Hello from Nice!

Hey peeps!

So as I mentioned in the last post, on Boxing day we were off to NIce for a few days.

We hired an apartment, and this was the view that greeted us out of the window when we arrived. Gorgeous.

We had a run along the seafront on our first morning- we did about 4.5 miles weaving in and out of people walking, running, cycling and roller skating along- I only wore a t-shirt and capris and I was very hot by the end- it was very warm. I packed my elastic band thing from the physio, so did my exercises and stretches before my shower. Then I walked to the shop to get us some fresh bread, cheese and salad for a lovely lunch.

In the evening when Andy had finished work we walked to the main square to see the Christmas market.

There is a new park that runs down the main road between the tram lines. It has all these fountains in it, and just looked so pretty in the dusk.

There were loads of stalls at the Christmas market. I had a hot chocolate, and then we shared some churros with nutella. So good! But so sugary! Our apartment has a little kitchen so we bought some soup to have a savoury dinner after all that sweetness.

Rain was forecast for Saturday, but when I woke up it was dry so I went for another run along the seafront. It was much cooler, and when I left the front door I was wondering if I should have worn something more, but of course I warmed up when running. I did the exact same route, but it ended up being exactly 4 miles- shows how much weaving I did the day before. At one point a group of runners overtook me and sort of did a fist pump to me (you know, as if you were saying something like “good on you”)- I had my yellow Sweatshop t-shirt on, but I saw some other people with very similar ones (yellow, adidas, writing…) for a marathon, could not work out which one, so maybe they thought I had done that marathon?

Anyway, it was still not raining after breakfast so we went out for a walk in the old town, and to some shops (I bought some Christmas macaroons- they are sparkly!!), before it started to pour. We spent the rest of the afternoon chilling out in the apartment- much nicer than being confined to a hotel room. A cup of tea whenever we want! Plus we found Elf being shown on TV so had a final Christmas film fix.

But the next morning my right leg/ hip (whatever it is) was feeling really sore and stiff. So annoying! We went to Antibes for the day, which is a town further west than Nice- weirdly it reminded us both of Sienna in Italy- it had a lovely old town to wander through, and some lovely looking chocolate shops.

Then we came back and walked to the Christmas markets again. It was jam packed! But lovely to walk around and see all the stalls.

I bought some tea, and was tempted by gingerbread, but was still full from our late lunch/ early dinner.

This Christmas tree is my favourite- you can ride in the baubles!

My leg is feeling OK today, but I want to be cautious. Today I am going to have a walk along the seafront, as the sun is back again, and if all is well I might try a gentle run tomorrow. I am also pondering whether to change my Jantastic number to 3 runs per week- I had originally chosen 4 per week, but if the problems with my hip are going to carry on then I need to be sensible and not push too hard. So, I have that to ponder this week.

I think there was going to be some fireworks here for New Year’s Eve, so hopefully we can see them before we come home.

Any plans for New Year’s Eve?

A perfect Christmas Eve

Hey peeps! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas.

Love this jumper!

Rewind to Christmas Eve. As the weather was meant to be better I had planned a run, but as it was so gloomy first thing I had breakfast, wrapped some presents and then headed out before lunch. I could not decide on my route- I knew the fields would be a no go because of all the rain (I tried them the other weekend and it was rather bog-like), so I headed off and started to think about trying “the hill” route (a Sweatshop run). It was so windy that for the first mile I could barely hear my podcast and the going was very slow! My leg was feeling fine so when I got near the hill I decided to go for it and see how I managed the route. I took the hill very slow, but I felt good. There was lots of flooding around- at one point I had to run on the road as the pavement was so flooded, at another point I ran down to an underpass, saw the flood and ran back up again. After 4 miles I was feeling so good- I was about a mile from home but there is a little loop I can add on, so I went for it. There is a ditch (or a small stream or something) and it had flooded and water was pouring out over it, across the pavement and into the road. I have never seen that before- shows how much it rained on Monday. Anyway, I got home having run 5.5 miles and feeling really good. Hooray!

Once I was out the shower (and put on my Home Alone jumper!) Andy got home from work so we had lunch and then settled down for some festive movies. We put on “It’s a Wonderful Life” and did some more wrapping. The weather was still good so we stopped it half way through for a walk in the sunshine (well, as it was setting). Then I started decorating our Christmas cakes as we finished watching it.

I made us little gingerbread men and holly leaves (I used cutters for them) as it matches my Christmas teapot.

Hooray! We had a Christmas Eve tea- bread, cheese (Wensleydale with cranberries for me, and some sort of blue cheese for Andy), salad and pickles.

And of course some Christmas tea (Celestial Nutcracker tea which is black tea with vanilla and spices). The teapot was a bit drippy when it was full- not so good. But it looks pretty! We also had a slice of Christmas cake- very tasty indeed.

Then we watched The Snowman- I just love it. I saw that the new one was on so have taped it, but not watched it yet.

Then I got out my cake decorating bits again, and started doing the cakes for our parents. I had seen these cute reindeer on The Pink Whisk so I started making them. I had some Lindor truffles which I thought would be perfect for their bodies.

They were not the easiest to make- the heads were a bit heavy and kept sliding off at first. But I managed to make 4 in the end, phew! I could not decide what should be on the rest of the cake, but I had these snowflake cutters so I coloured some icing blue, cut out the middle with the smaller one, then added purple to the leftover icing before cutting out with the larger snowflake. I also had some lustre dust so added that for fun.

The only problem was that their antlers were a bit too high meaning that the lids would not shut on the tins. It made for an interesting car journey as Andy had to hold both cakes on his lap- luckily it is only a ten minute drive!

I tied ribbons around the cakes too, but not sure where that photo went.

Hmm.

While I was finishing up, Andy then watched Die Hard. We had a bit of a move marathon!

The other week I bought some pretty topcoat (a pearly one) and last week I painted my nails with lilac topped with it for a frosty look. Once the cakes were decorated I swapped for a pink with the top coat for a more festive vibe. Finally I made some cinnamon roll dough (it needed to go in the fridge overnight) ready for breakfast. Then we did a little bit of packing.

On Christmas morning we opened a few presents at home- we gave each other small presents are we are having a few days in Nice for our Christmas present to each other.

Then we loaded up my car and headed to my parents first. We had the cinnamon rolls and swapped presents with my family. My Dad and brother were very pleased with their Parkrun tags- I was impressed that my Mum had managed to keep it a secret (as she had to find out their barcode numbers and let me know).

Then we headed to Andy’s family for lunch. After lunch we played games, went out on a walk for some fresh air, played more games, and then swapped presents when Andy’s other brother came around (he was working earlier in the day).

We tried not to have too late a night, as we were up pretty early to catch our flight to Nice. But more on that next time!

How did you celebrate Christmas this year? Found anything good in the sales? I have had a little look on-line but nothing has really leapt out at me.

Christmas Movies

My, the weather outside is frightful. And not in a Dean Martin snowy way either, just howling winds and torrential rain. Luckily (?) this week I have been very busy at work, and also conscious of not doing too much, so I have not really had time to miss running. Actually on Monday I didn’t get home too late, so did about 2.5 miles (and on Tuesday I went for a waffle with some friends). On Wednesday I had a physio appointment-I felt to bruised after, so when I got home I persuaded Andy to accompany me on a walk as I knew I would not be going to the Sweatshop run. Hopefully I can start that back in the new year.

Then I did some baking for work- ginger cake (recipe from British Bake Off book) and a honey loaf (from the Leon cookbook).

I made a lemon icing for the gingerbread, as I used the lemon zest in the honey loaf so the juice needed using up anyway.

On Thursday I had to stop by the shops on the way home as someone at work was leaving and I was in charge of getting her gifts. I was planning on having a short run, but I think I got home at about 7pm, and it started raining, and I was just so tired (and still had marking to do, and gifts to wrap for work) so just had a shower instead.

We have managed to watch a couple of movies this week- one night we watched Mary Poppins after seeing Saving Mr Banks last week (which I just thought was brilliant- it’s not a documentary though, just based on a true story, whereas a lot of critics seem to be annoyed that it is not completely true to life- it’s just a movie!!!!!), and then another evening we watched Home Alone. I am still trying to decide if I actually want this jumper or not.

On Friday after work I visited my Nan, and then my Mum and Dad- it was so relaxing to chat and catch up. Then I did my physio exercises and stretches at home in front of the TV.

This morning I was planning on having a run, but the weather again was awful, but according to the weather it would stop raining in the afternoon, so I postponed until later. I made some festive pancakes- with all the toppings: cinnamon apple, mince pie filling, a little chocolate pb, and some gingerbread syrup.

It’s so gloomy! I had both blinds open in our living room but still the flash went off. Means I can keep the Christmas tree lights on all day though …

After popping to the post office I went on a run- I went for about 3.6 miles- I was keeping it steady but when I looked at my Garmin I was below 10 min miles- I think the wind must have been behind me at that point! It was great to be out there- plus I was listening to marathon talk (from a couple of weeks back) and someone else scored a royal flush negative split! Love that the phrase is catching on 🙂 I was giggling as I was running at that point.

I have had a massive tidy up and clean today- so therapeutic as these last few weeks have been hectic. We have a Christmas music playlist so I was listening to that earlier while making some gingerbread dough- yup, I am going to make a gingerbread house over the weekend. Hooray, I love Christmas baking.

What would be on your Christmas music playlist? We have had some classics including Winter’s Tale, The Snowman soundtrack, and some others but right now Proper Crimbo (Bo Selecta) has popped up- eclectic to say the least!

What Christmas movies do you love? I also need to watch The Snowman, but I normally save that for Christmas Eve.

PS- Anyone else joining up for Jantastic? We still need 3 more team members for Run Blog Bake! We are friendly I promise, and I am especially keen to encourage people to start running (run/ walking).