Maria Runs - parkrunning and touring since 2013!

Deliveries!

Hey peeps!

I have been very lucky over the past few weeks to be sent a few some parcels with goodies to review.

I was sent a few products from the My Protein group. I chose some True Women vitamins from myvitamins.com, some flaked coconut from myprotein.com, and some almond butter from thehut.com. I love the packaging that the vitamins come in- these will be easier to take on holiday than a little jar. Although they are rather large! I did get a tip from someone at work- to look to one side as you swallow as that helps open up your throat. The vitamins are suitable for veggies, and have plenty of iron and B vitamins in there, which is what I was looking for as I have been a bit worried about being tired recently. A small point was that I did find the website hard to navigate as I could not see an option to sort by dietary requirements- something I would find useful as so often I would click on something and find it was not suitable.

The coconut is gorgeous – it does have a small amount of added sugar (1%) but no sulphur dioxide which is what I was looking for, as so many dried fruits contain it, and it does not agree with my tummy. I am looking forward to baking with it, but so far have enjoyed some slices as a snack.

This almond butter is so good- really drippy, and no salt added either, just 100% almonds. I decided to make some cookies from my Oh She Glows cookbook. The recipe is pretty much this one, only using almond butter not peanut butter. I just used normal flour instead of the oat flour, and they turned out pretty awesome!

I added some flaked coconut to some of them before I baked them.

Seriously- make them. Almond + chocolate + coconut is an amazing combination.

On Sunday morning I was up early so decided to head out for a run. I did 6.5 miles over the fields, but it was really humid and I was roasting by the time I got home. To cool down we had our first acai bowl of the year.

This was a frozen banana, some frozen cherries and frozen blueberries, all blended up with some almond milk and acai powder. We put muesli in our bowls, top with the frozen smoothie, then top with a chopped nectarine and some coconut. Summer in a bowl.

I had a few Holland and Barrett points so ended up ordering a little parcel of goodies online (although later found out that Ocado now stock coconut oil and for much cheaper, so I shall be getting it from there next time). I wanted to try the Salt of the Earth deodorant, as I would quite like to avoid aluminium (and have tried a few natural brands but not been that impressed). Unfortunately it is just that, a deodorant, and not an antiperspirant. I like the fact that they are both unfragranced, as often the fragrance irritates my skin, but I do still feel a little bit sticky still, so I think I might use them on cool days, but use my bad stuff on hot days.

I saw these meridian bars and had to try them (they are vegan and soya/gluten free)! The almond one is made with almonds, brown rice malt, agave nectar, rice bran, concentrated fruit juice, rice protein, rice starch and sunflower lecithin. It was rather sweet, but I liked it, and the texture reminded me of a less chalky Pulsin bar (I do like Pulsin bars, but they are just on the verge of being that weird chalky texture that some protein bars have). I bought the toothpaste on a whim- I have been using Green People moisturiser and liking it, so thought I would try it, although am using my current toothpaste first.

But my favourite delivery of all…..

Wow look at these beauties! Wiggle were having a sale, and I could not resist. I have Asics trail shoes which I really like, and thought I would give a normal pair a go. I had to swap them for half a size up as the 5.5’s I ordered were more like 5’s (according to the US and European sizes on the box) but they are really comfortable. The only trouble is I don’t want to get them muddy.

Now, that should be enough for me, but Thoosa are now having a sale and I am really in love with their workout tops and slogan t-shirts…

Anyone else an online shopping addict?

And the winners are…

Hey folks!

A quick announcement first of all. The winners from the Urban Fruit giveaway (old school- names written on paper, Andy drew them out of a pot).

Hannah Ashley (via facebook)

Lara

Vikki Roberts (via facebook)

Poppy

Mary

Congratulations!

If you could all email your address to me (emailme@runningcupcake.co.uk) I shall pass it on to the folks at Urban Fruit and they will send your goodies out to you.

Rambles from this week:

Sweatshop on Wednesday was part of a new route and part of an old route- it introduced me to more of the field which I love! I was at the back but kept the other girls in sight, and even managed one mile at 8.55! I was pleased with that (and exhausted after!).

Pump on Thursday- getting used to the new release now.

Run after work on Friday- 3.5 miles- through fields including the long grass section so had to really slow. Very muggy and sticky but enjoyable.

Saturday- Went out for breakfast with friends. Hoped to spot Jenson Button competing in his triathlon. Saw a few cyclists whizzing by but no Jenson. The tea and company more than made up for it. Then got roped into helping decorate our bathrooms!

Sunday- 6.5 mile run looping through the fields twice. As you can tell I am loving running through the fields at the moment. When the sun came out it was baking and almost unbearable though.

This is the part of the field where the grass is very long!

You can sort of see tracks but they are pretty over grown. I love that this is only 5 minutes from where I live.

What is the best thing about where you live?

Rediscovering home-made ice lollies

Hey peeps!

The weather here has been crazy at the moment- hot one moment, windy and cold the next, then dry, then thundery rain… our meals have been all over the place because of it. One day we want a hot dinner and warm drinks, and another day salad for tea and iced tea to drink!

Recently Sainsbury’s kindly sent me a few bits for my blog- some basil and lemongrass paste, and some ice lolly moulds. As soon as I saw the lemongrass paste, lollies popped into my head. Innocent used to make a smoothie with coconut and lemongrass which was just so summery, and I fancied trying to recreate it. Luckily this weekend was warm!

I actually used my star moulds in the end. Now, this is not the most scientific of recipes- I had to measure the capacity of the lolly moulds (mine were about 400ml in total), so in a jug I mixed pureed mango (around 300ml- this was tinned as I couldn’t get fresh ones and didn’t want to use frozen fruit as I don’t think it can be frozen twice) with coconut milk (around 100ml), and then added a tsp lemongrass paste.

I then poured the mixture into moulds and left in the freezer. I fancy trying a pineapple version too, as I think pineapple and coconut will go very well together too.

They didn’t take too long to freeze either- we enjoyed our first taste the same evening.

I had loads of the puree and milk left over, so I am going to sort out my ice cream maker and see if I can churn it up to make a sort of sorbet.

I do like fruit puree lollies, but I prefer them with a little coconut milk as it makes them so creamy and really summery.

The basil paste was crying out to go in some tomato sauce with gnocchi.

This again is not really a recipe. Chop a red onion, brown in a little oil, and then add passata, basil and a little salt. The tomato sauce does splatter all over the place- you have been warned!

While that is simmering away, cook some gnocchi. You can buy ready made packs in the fridge section (not sure how to make it from potatoes), and we tend to cook half and freeze the other half for another time. It takes about 5 minutes to cook.

Then put the gnocchi and tomato sauce in a dish, add some pieces of mozzerella (optional) and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Top with a little fresh basil if you have it. We tend to serve this with a salad. Crusty bread would be good for the tomato and basil sauce, but it tends to be pretty filling by itself.

Do you match your meals with the weather? We do have a few summer only meals (avocado and bean wraps) but some meals (like sweet potato chilli) we love so much we keep on having all the way through the year. I would only have ice lollies when it is really hot though, as they make me so cold!

Mangoes on the move with Urban Fruit

Recently Urban Fruit sent me some goodies to review- I love their “gently baked” fruit; some dried fruit with a few almonds or brazil nuts is such a good snack. Although chocolate covered dried mango, and cherries inside brownies are also very good.

They have a huge range of dried fruits (with no horrible sulphites added either) so there is something for everyone . I love the mango and strawberries the most but I have not yet tried a fruit that I have not liked (although I have not yet tried the dried banana- I like real banana but am not keen on strong banana flavours so am saving them…).

I have been loving the fruits combined with a few nuts for snacks to take with me to work. I often tend to opt for snack bars, because I don’t always eat the snacks I bring with me, and so they will last.. But these also last (unlike fresh fruit which gets squashed/ goes mouldy after a few days). I love the dried strawberries- perfect with a few almonds.

I made a tropical mix with dried pineapple, coconut and a few nuts (brazils and almonds).

So I have an exciting giveaway for you!

Urban Fruit are offering 5 readers a tote bag filled with their delicious dried fruits!

They are trying to encourage people to have healthier on the go snacks, so all you need to do it leave a comment on this post saying your favourite healthy on the go snack. For an extra entry, comment on the link to this post on my facebook page.

Entries are open to UK residents only.

Entries will close on Saturday 12th July at 6pm, and I will then pull names out of a hat.

Good luck!

Women’s Running 10K recap

On Saturday morning we were up bright and early to drive up to Milton Keynes. A few weeks ago Andy had decided that as I was running there, and it was the same weekend as the Grand Prix, he may as well get a ticket for it. So he dropped me off at race HQ at 8.30am, and then was off to qualifying.

Well, the race didn’t start until 10am, so I had plenty of time. The race was around some lakes, so I had a little wander about. It was really pretty.

It was raining pretty hard at that point. I was wearing a raincoat, but that meant I didn’t want to go to the bag drop until as late as possible.

The race HQ was tiny- just how I like it to be.

Starting arch on the right, and the fence on the left is where the finish tunnel was, as well as the bag drip tent. After my little wander around I made my way back to the HQ- by around 9am it was getting busier. There was music playing and a lady chatting about the sponsors, people who were running and so on. At 9.35 I reluctantly took off my coat and put my bag in the drop tent, and then headed back to the shelter of some trees. I didn’t join in with the warm up, but at least they didn’t do silly stretches.

I was secretly impressed with my colour co-ordination- the purple number, my purple Thoosa vest and purple on my trainers.

It really poured during the warm up, but luckily it stopped just in time for the start.

They had pacer runners, which I love. I started between the 55 minute and 60 minute ones, as I wasn’t really sure how I would get on. I knew I couldn’t get a pb, but as it was overcast and fairly flat I thought sub 60 would be a realistic but challenging target.

The route was lovely. It was 2 laps of the lake, which of course has pros and cons, but as I enjoyed the first lap it was good to do it again. There was some support along the way, and there seemed to be a good community spirit between all the runners. It seemed to be the first race for a lot of people. The course was pretty flat. There was a section (3K/8K ish) that was up and down a bit, almost like running up and down gentle bridges (I think where water was flowing in and out of the lakes or something), and the final part was through some woods, but I was glad of the overcast day as most of it was right in the open. It was a pretty muggy day and I was very hot by the end, despite wearing a vest. The shade of the woods was much appreciated. Towards the end I was flagging a bit, and had a little stitch, when a girl running next to me (we had been next to each other for a few km I think) said “nice pacing” to me- then I felt like I had to keep going.

When I saw the 9km marker I checked my watch- at this point I realised I hadn’t looked at it at all (a bit late at that point for any help with pacing!) but I was on 53 minutes I think-if you have read one of my race reports before you may well remember that maths goes out of the window for me when I am running (I calculated 7 miles as being half way of a half marathon before…), and my Garmin is set to miles, and I know mile pacing, but I felt pretty sure that I could do a km in 7 minutes, so pushed on for the final part. In that final km I pulled away from the girl a bit, and managed to overtake another girl who had been swapping places with me for a lot of the race too.

As I as coming up to the finish straight I heard the commentator say my name (they were checking race numbers) which was a nice touch (I had this at the lovely Sherwood forest run before) and then she was saying “we are still under 60 minutes” so I felt pretty pleased!

This is what it is all about! As I crossed the line a medal was put around my neck (I tried to just take it, but the person insisted in me wearing it, which I quite liked really)- then I got to choose my t-shirt (and they had all the sizes!!! Hooray!!!!) before being handed a goody bag and told to go and get a recovery shake.

The grass was wet so I sat on the carrier bag that my t-shirt was in, and had some of the shake. It was OK (a fruit and soya protein drink), but to be honest not the best thing for me right after running. Then it absolutely tipped it down. I walked to the public toilets and got changed (baby wipes for the win), and then went back and stood under some trees and ate some almonds I had brought with me. The plan was for me to walk to the centre of Milton Keynes and get some lunch, and then Andy would pick me up on his way back from Silverstone. I had a map, but the map said it was 2 miles away, and I wasn’t even sure which way up to hold the map. It is not my forte. Luckily there was a Premier Inn there, so I got a taxi instead. I did feel a bit of a cop out (I just ran 6 miles- a 2 mile walk should have been fine) but it was raining so hard.

Then I had the joy of negotiating a busy shopping centre on a Saturday, with all my wet (heavy) race kit in my rucksack. FYI, rucksacks make negotiating busy shops even harder.

Straight away I saw Pret, so headed there for a lunch of an avocado wrap, mango and a peach iced tea. I had some shopping (end of term gifts for colleagues, and birthday presents) but a few hours later I was flagging, so went for a Starbucks. A cinnamon roll is usually a treat I save for after a half marathon, but I didn’t have one after Ashridge. The goody bag included a magazine, but I had also packed my mp3 player and was pretty tired, so I listened to some Marathon Talk instead.

Words cannot convey how tired I was by this point. I had big bags of shopping, my rucksack (wet trainers weigh a lot!) and the goody bag. The shops were so busy, and although a change of clothes made me feel better, I did feel a bit skanky and really wanted a shower. Andy didn’t pick me up until 4pm in the end, so I had been out for hours.

At least I bought a few bits for myself- Accessorize were having a sale so I bought this scarf, some new earrings and some green Essie nail polish (which coincidentally matches the scarf!).

The goody bag was pretty good. The technical t-shirt was the best thing, and the medal was lovely too. It also had a random selection of other goodies: some shower gel (for men– weird… at a women only run…), Urban Fruit mango (the best!), rice bran oil, that spatone iron water stuff, cereal, 9 bar, shampoo sachets, some sweetener and some chewing gum.

I like that the t-shirt lists all the races. I think that is why they had all the sizes (and they weren’t SML either, they were actual number sizes which are so much better). Before when technical t-shirts have been on offer at a race I have ended up with a massive size as none of the smaller sizes are left when I finish (well apart from Stockholm) so I have a few really baggy technical t’s. I love that this one fits so well.

The ribbon has the date and place, so something is specific to that event.

I was not massively keen on the white, thinking it would be a bit see through, but I went for a run on Sunday morning and it was fine- I don’t think my sports bra showed through. It is lovely breathable fabric too- thumbs up from me.

I was a bit unsure about a women only event- I did wonder if it would be all pink and girly, but it was supportive as well as being competitive (they mentioned at the start that if you wanted to be the fastest time of their series this year you had to aim for sub 42 minutes). For me, I would definitely do this race again. The race HQ was nice and small (bag drop tent, a few portaloos), right by the car park, the technical t-shirt is a bonus. I also liked it being on a Saturday as it meant I could recover on Sunday instead of hobbling around work on the Monday. The scenery was really pretty too and it was a traffic free course. It was chip timed, as you had a chip in your number, but the results have not been published yet. I shall have to wait and see if I officially got in under the hour.

Have you ever done a women’s only event before? I have run a few Race for Life’s and think they are great for raising money and encouraging people to start running, but I preferred this one as it was more low key, as well as being more of a running event.

EDIT: Chip time is back: 59.19 Number 98/316 runners