Maillard Reaction

On day three of week five — which is this week — I am supposed to run 25 minutes non-stop.  I have always looked forward to my outdoor time, but this one is staring at me like the school bully at the end of the hall.  So I stare back, because it’s very likely that I’ll get to run those 25 minutes way Up North at a friend’s cabin in the Upper Peninsula — way back in the woods. 

I’m fairly certain I haven’t been camping since I went with the high school church group of a certain boy who had the hots for me way back then.  We went whitewater rafting on Wisconsin’s Wolf River, and at the last part of the choppiest water, I got bumped out of the raft by a large boulder and nearly got brained while hanging on for dear life (once I surfaced). 

Trust me, I’ve wanted to go camping since then, but in varying degrees of desire and in no degrees of possession of camping equipment.  This time, I may get to sleep in a camper, and I’ll get to do some of the open-fire cooking; this new challenge for my culinary skills has me elated.  (I love cooking in other people’s kitchens — I could easily write a side blog called Have Knives, Will Travel.  I’m sure it’s out there already!)  Plus, one of my pals is sure to show me how to fish, which will probably lead to how to clean a fish.  I’m grinning stupidly at the thought of being wrist-deep in fish guts, since that in turn leads to fresh fish on the grill.  Can you say Fresh Fish Lust?  Try saying that ten times fast.  In addition to said hiking, running, fishing, and grilling, I anticipate some sharing of very special beers, a lot of shooting of the breeze, a few mosquitoes, and lots and lots of green space to refresh my mind and body.

This’ll be my first trip Way Up North since I moved to Madison two years ago.  It’s about darn time!

That was my bib number for the 5K. So, I did it, and it was great. Came in at 37 minutes and change — I was concentrating on finishing strong rather than noticing my time. I treated the race like a regular training session, until the second three-minute stretch, when my legs protested. (I think this was due to at least two things: I’m not a morning runner, and I didn’t walk straight out of the gate. I was up at 5 to begin the wake-up process for the 7:15 start time. Oof.) I alternated running and walking in 90-second increments thereafter, except for the four-minute downhill running bit that took us past my brother’s house. Steven’s girlfriend got an absolutely hilarious photo of me in the homestretch as I was high-fiving a couple folks along the way — and no, I will NOT be posting it, if she remembers to email it to me!

Out of 112 runners, Steven took second in his age division for men; I was still about ten minutes off the third-place time for my age division for women. If I remember correctly, the overall winning time was about 16 minutes from one of the local cross-country-team standouts. These students amaze me; their bodies are just like rubber bands. It’s amazing what the human body can do when it’s given the chance.

Tyranena’s Beer Run is exactly 20 weeks from yesterday. That half-barrel run is awfully tempting…

My brother and I will be running a 5K next Friday morning.  I’ll be in week three of Couch to 5K, so I’ll be ready.  Slightly nervous and new to racing, probably, but ready.  My goals are simple: don’t die, don’t finish last, and don’t embarrass my brother too much.

On a related note, I ran/walked to the east side farmers’ market yesterday, finishing with push-ups and sit-ups before I choose my veggies.  On my way out, I grabbed a ginger beer from the Jamerica trailer.  It was incredibly refreshing and reminded me of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s ginger drink when they were putting up hay.  I do believe I’ll give this recipe a go next week.

EDIT: Looks like this blog received its 10,000th hit yesterday.  Woo?