Miscellaneous Monday Musings...

So today, Rick's friend came over. We have his motorcyle hostage in our garage. It didn't do anything to offend us, it was more a matter of the parts necessary to repair the bike were waiting for us as a gift when we got home from surgery on Friday. Needless to say, one day too late. Rick decided he could make his way to the garage and sit in a chair giving instruction to his friend. Not sure how it is going, they are still there now almost 7 hours later.

With the friend visiting, I felt I could leave Rick for a bit and go for a run. I assume if he needed anything or fell over, the friend would know what to do to get him back in the chair, right? I thought so too so off I went...

It turns out today was "State Prisoner Clean Up the Park Day" at Stone Mountain. I didn't see any advertisements for it or any sort of banners hung about in the park but I did notice quite a few squads of prisoners at various places along my run. They were trimming hedges, chopping on trees, etc. Interestingly enough, they provided an unintended motivation to keep running at several points. (Insert picture of screaming 8 year old - STRANGER DANGER, STRANGER DANGER). I am sure they were harmless. Let's face facts though, they are in prison for a reason and I wasn't about to be weed whacked to death by some disgruntled state prisoner who was tired of gardening and wanted to make a break for it while the guard watched from the comfort of the econoline van 25 yards away. It wasn't all that bad but I was a bit nervous to pass them. They were on either side of the sidewalk with the various gardening tools and I kind of had to run in between them. They did inspire me to keep running. There was no way I was strolling at a walking pace through that crowd. It was pretty funny. They were actually polite. They all stopped blowing the leaves and weed whacking while I went past. Just like any good landscaper.

I managed to get in 10 miles today. WOO HOO. I am back on track. With the 13 at Disney next week, I am officially back on the plan for Nike. Speaking of... I rarely run with my camera anymore but REALLY wish I had one today. I ran past a tiny older woman walking around the park today. Emblazoned on the back of her shirt "Autentic (nike swoosh) Apparel". I think the folks at Nike might need to use spell check. Either that or it was NOT "autentic". GASP.

I made a foray into healthy baking this weekend. I made some cookies which had no butter, no eggs, no flour and no sugar. Oh my. They were actually good. Well, not good in a Cookie Bake-Off winner sort of a way but good in a "if you have a taste for clif bars you will like them sort of way". I got the recipe from a blog a while ago and finally got around to making them. My apologies to the blog owner, I cannot remember which blog it was as I stalk so many of them...

If you are interested:

Chocolate Chip Trail Mix Cookies

(makes 2 dozen large cookies - somewhere around 165 calories, 22g carbs, 5g fat, 12g protein per cookie)

4 c oats
8 scoops vanilla protein powder
1 1/2 t salt
1.5 cups nuts & seed trail mix (I used planter's nuts seeds and raisins - 1 bag)
1/2 c raisins (next time I may try dried cherries or craisins)
1/2 c 60% cacoa ghiradelli chocolate chips
1/4 c honey
1 c maple syrup (the real stuff not aunt jemima here...) :)
2 t vanilla

Combine all dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients and then incorporate into the dry ingredients. Stir until your arm gets tired and stir some more. I put in a little bit extra honey and maple syrup as the dough never got to a point where it would stick together. Keep stirring. Maybe use your hands. I did. It will be a bit crumbly but sticks together when you turn it out by whopping tablespoons onto a lightly sprayed baking sheet. I ended up kind of scooping them with a ice cream type scoop and then working them into balls. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Enjoy! I had one pre-run today and it worked out very well. This one is a keeper!

Last thing... over the past few times I have played tennis my elbow has been bothering me on my backhand. I waver between a one hand and two handed backhand so four years into my tennis career, I do both yet neither is great. So... pain in my elbow. I was thinking it was tennis elbow. Who doesn't have that, right? After being off tennis for a week, it hurts worse today. I am embarrassed to say that virtual farming may be the cause of my "tennis" elbow. Farmtown. I knew no good could come of it... What is so addictive about that game?