Over the Hill (work) and Birthday Cake... (Chocolate Stout Cake with raspberry frosting)

Saturday's awesome hill...

The tip of the arrow touches the top of the hill where I start my decline.

My sweet husband drove me to the top of this hill with the goal to meet me at the bottom and drive me to the top again for a total of 5 miles of running down a 14% grade hill.  I'm training for Hood To Coast's first leg starting at Timberline Lodge.  It's a doozer of a leg... quite the incline (err, decline!).... but lucky for me I found a great hill!  Steeper than the popular Terwilliger Hill in Portland...

And this hill I found is quite the run.  I ran one mile down it and was incredibly sore in my calves.  Yikes!  This is a great workout!  

When I got to the bottom of the hill, one mile complete, my run plans were dashed when I found my husband with his head under the hood of our broken down car.  It was running, but would not disengage from park.  Something was up with the transmission?  Well, after ditching the car and going home to do some research, he found that the solution was a 10 minute trip to the autopart store for new fuses.  I'll have to tackle this amazing, steep hill some other time.  

In the meantime, while hubstud worked on the car (at my hill), I analysed my amazing hill's decline to that of Hood To Coast's first leg.  Huh.

My one mile descent was 400 feet.

Leg one at HTC covers an average of 500 feet in a mile... (unless I'm reading the graph wrong...)  One hundred more feet per mile, I'm venturing to guess, is going to be quite a difference.  Oh boy.  Feeling nervous.

Well, when I was done fretting over the hill work and hubstud finished working on the car, it was time to celebrate his birthday.  Last year's cake was the "Mario and Princess Peach" Toasted Pecan Cake (and a blog post about how supportive and amazing he is to help me with my training... I'd like to also state that he isn't really a runner.  [Not yet anyway... ;) ]).

So, I suppose to stay consistent, here's the recipe for this year's cake.  As you can see, he is still amazing, super supportive and helpful with my running.  :)  

I'm a lucky girl. 

Chocolate Stout Cake with Raspberry Buttercream frosting

Cake:

2 C flour

1/2 C unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 1/2 C light brown sugar

2 large eggs

~ 2 cups (or less) of Rogue Chocolate Stout  (save the rest to drink with the completed cake, or just drink it while the cake bakes and enjoy the Voodoo Doughnut Pretzel, Raspberry & Chocolate Ale with the cake!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter/grease a 9 inch cake pan.

Mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt. 

In a separate bowl, beat together sugar and butter until fluffy.  Beat in eggs and then stir in half the flour mixture until well incorporated.  Then stir in half the beer, mix and the rest of the flour and mix.  Then the rest of the beer.  

Pour into cake pan and bake about 35 min or until center of cake is cooked.  (Insert a "cake tester" or toothpick and if it comes out clean, cake is fully cooked.)

Frosting:
1/2 C salted butter (to go with the pretzel theme of the ale... unsalted is fine also)
3 to 4 C powdered sugar

1/4 C raspberry jam

splash of milk if frosting is too thick...

In a mixing bowl, cream together (with electric mixer) jam and butter until incorporated.

Add powdered sugar (one cup at a time) until desired consistency is achieved.

If it's too thick, add a little milk.

Spread on cooled cake!

We enjoyed the cake.  Here's to loving life... and loving some hill work in my future.

Do you think my hill is good enough?  

Race Recap: The Joe Dudman 5K

Race Recap:  The Joe Dudman 5k on June 21, 2014 

June 21st fell on a beautiful, sunny Saturday this year and also marked the first day of summer.  As the longest day of the year, several races were going on in my area during the morning and into the evening.  

So many choices.... where should someone kick off the celebration of summer and go run?

Well, the answer was simple for me.

I spent my morning at The Joe Dudman 5K.  This was a small community event (just under 70 participants) and a once in a lifetime race.  After all, how many times do we get together in the racing community to throw a 5.0K race in honor of someone's 50th birthday?   I haven't spent time with Joe outside of saying "Hey, good job." at local races, but it was important to me to be there for such a milestone for such a great guy.  You can catch up on some of his adventures on the Run Oregon blog.

That morning, I hung out at the packet pickup table and helped runners check in before they went out to warm up for the race.  There were athletes of all levels represented in the audience from those who hadn't run much (or at all, like my dear husband) and some who were new to the idea and this was their first race.  However, the great majority were strong athletes vying for the prizes for the top three finishers in the Overall division and the Masters division.  (Don't believe me?  52 of the 67 athletes finished the race in under 30 minutes.  Don't worry.  I wasn't one of them.)  One participant was a 6 year old and I hope that my kiddos will want to run with me (instead of ride in the double wide behemoth stroller).

We started the race by singing "Happy Birthday" to Joe and then counting down until the race began.  And everyone was off on a strong start!

Joe with his prize for a great race, (upper right corner) me with my mug and cupcake and (below) my husband securing the behemoth stroller to the roof of the car.... because my stroller is the size of my car.

The course was laid out in a pretty and quiet business complex in the Beaverton area and then over to the Fanno Creek Trail and back again, starting and ending near the ADAPT Training building.  The course was fairly flat and I enjoyed the foot bridges and trees in the paved trail part.  My kids shouted "YIPPEE!"  everytime we crossed a bridge.  

Before the race, an Adapt trainer lead the group in some dynamic warm up stretches and after the race, participants were invited to checkout the 9am class for free.

Funds from the race were donated to the American Cancer Society, and about $500 was donated.
Participants were given a pretty blue mug donated by Run Oregon blog and I happily filled mine up with half hot chocolate and half black coffee, donated from starbucks.  The race had lots of fantastic donations and raffled off some free race entries to some local races, socks, "Thera pearl" recovery hot and cold packs, tech shirts and much more.

 There was a cupcake bar that participants could pick out a chocolate, vanilla or red velvet cupcake and coat it with chocolate, vanilla or cream cheese frosting and then top with various candy choices.  How cool is that?  If anyone wonders what to get me for my birthday?  Throw me a race party with a cupcake bar.  ;-)

Living The Crazy Life... (Running, zombies and birthday parties, oh my!)

I guess I should start this post out as a race recap.  So much has been going on, I could write about my crazy life and how it has been a whirl wind of events lately... along with grating nerves.  I'm tapering for my half marathon this weekend and stressing out about the costume I'm intending to run 13.1 miles in...

Then it was my Squeaker's first birthday this last weekend.  The same weekend that I was given a race entry to be chased by zombies by a fellow injured runner.  I probably should have said, "No.  I can't do it... I'm so busy as it is..."  But it was a free race!  The transfer was okay'd by the race officials and I'd be running for me, under my name and getting the pee scared out of me by zombies chasing after my two plastic lifelines hanging around my waist.  

How could I resist?

Saturday evening, left me and the family traveling over to Dayton, Oregon for the Zombie Apocalypse Run.  

You can see the fun from the year past here:

So after getting the house set up for Squeaker's party the next morning....

Squeakers enjoying her first Birthday Cake

...the family boogied out the door to check out the party going on pre race that evening.

This event is very much about a family environment, being held on a local pumpkin patch-farm.  The farm's market was open for local goods, a petting zoo was on site with a small hay maze, jack-o-lantern jumping house, large slide for the kiddies to play on and all sorts of amusements.  The local fire department had a fire engine they were giving kids a lift on to circle the property (adding to the atmosphere that the area needed to be contained from zombies...) and there was a vintage tank in the distance along with the local national guard with their trucks and troops ready to help out.  If that isn't enough to get you in the mood to run for your life, a helicopter is on site too.  (You can pay $20 to ride in it post race.)

I really wish I had my camera available to snap some photos of the amazing costumes I saw on the run...

Here's me before the race:

my DIY attempt at being a "Sugar Skull"

I queued up with a woman in a 50's house coat, hair in curlers and a fake cigarette hanging out of her mouth.  Some chose to wear camouflage and one person had a back pack on full of water balloons that his family would grab and throw at any passing zombies.

The zombies were forced to wait a whole two minutes while the runners were given their head start.  The vintage tank fired a shot in the distance and that was our cue to start running.  It was pretty difficult to get past the hoards of survivors.  It didn't take long for there to be lots of walkers jamming some of the narrow trails and it was difficult to get past them.

There were just over 800 participants, though I can't tell you how many of them started out as survivors or were held back 2 minutes as zombies.

After our two minute head start was over, the sirens exploded in the distance to let us know that the zombies had been released.  When those sirens started going crazy in the distance, my mouth went dry and my heart froze.  I was scared.   I hauled myself as fast as I could go, and I knew I was burning myself out fast.  There was no pacing myself out... I had to get out of there!  My first mile was done in 10:13 minutes, which is completely phenomenal for me with my average being 12:30.  As my garmin beeped that I was at a mile and going crazy with excitement for setting a new record, I hit a very clogged piece of trail and could not edge around the groups of walkers.  As i tried to politely nudge my way through, a hand brushed my waist.  Damn it!  First flag was gone and the zombie with it.

It was not long at all and the second flag was gone too by the time I was half way through the course.

Beyond not having a chance to survive, the race is a lot of fun.  A helicopter (the very one you can pay to take a joy ride in) circled above us and shouted directions and warnings as we ran from the zombies.

The course takes you on dirt trails, open fields (with uneven footing on long grass) and through dark woods with fake fog and zombies behind a chain link fence leering and grabbing at you.

I saw a devil in a suit and tie standing in the distance just staring at us, and I was pretty terrified.  His eyes were white and just little black dots for his pupils.  Some zombie volunteers were in the path and pretending to make a grab for the runners who whipped by.  My favorite zombie I passed was a zombie Mario playing the 8-bit dungeon music from Super Mario Brothers.  That made me laugh out loud... Until he leered at me.  Then I passed a runner dressed in a silver wig in a bun, little wire frame glasses and running with a wooden, bloody, rolling pin in her hands.

Nearing the end of the course, the path lead us through a road with fields of pumpkins on either side of us and then though a field of tall corn.  I was certain I'd hear zombie moans or have one jump out at me... but neither happened.  An opportunity lost, perhaps, but the anticipation of it was just as scary.  After that, I rounded a bend and saw a barn with terrible laughter noises inside, machinery and screams of agony and horror to fill your imagination for the home stretch.

With that, I picked up the pace again and finished strong.  The course ended up being 3.4 miles, but I still PR'd for a 3.1 race... :)

I guess all I needed was some zombies to scare me?  Now to gear up for my half on Sunday, and baby my tight hamstrings for way overdoing it on those trail inclines at top speed.

Have you been chased by zombies?  Or looking forward to any Halloween type races coming up (or do you avoid them)?

It takes a (running) community to get me on my feet



Who doesn't have a crazy life? It might be pretty peaceful and full of great people, fond memories and every other warm and fuzzy thought... but it can get crazy. How the heck to balance it all?

A general recap of last week would include hubby's birthday, a killer long run and planning a course for my local chapter's Moms RUN This Town virtual race. I'll leave out the recap on laundry and tough stains.  

 

The Mario and Princess figurines were not made of fondant, but that cute 1up mushroom is!

 

Starting out with something sweet, Bug-a-boo helped me whip up a cake for the guy who does it all.  With out hubby's unwavering support,  I can tell you I would have quit running by now.   So for his birthday, we whipped up a toasted butter pecan cake with cream cheese frosting and then covered with marshmallow fondant.  For my first cake with fondant, I was pretty happy with it... and it didn't taste icky (like typical fondant does).  [Recipes linked in the text above.]   

This week has had me reflecting a lot on my running and how I got here.  There's that proverb that "it takes a village" to raise a child, but it takes a village to make me a runner! 

Last Sunday, I left the house in the cool of the morning to get in a long run of 6 miles.  I hate out-and-back running and wore out looping the neighborhood, so it seemed like a good idea to leave squeakers (the baby) with hubby and hit the course with Bug-a-boo in the jogging stroller and meet up with them at the end of the 6 miles... have a little picnic, rehydrate and get a ride back home to the air conditioning.  Well... some plans are better in thought than in action. 

I left the house way later than I had hoped (around 9am) and the heat had already set in.  On top of that misery, I was just completely unprepared.  I had no idea hubby had packed snacks for me and Bug-a-boo in the bottom of the stroller and I had completely forgot to put sunblock on myself.  After 2 1/2 miles, I realized I planned my course to go by a friend's house.  I called her to "borrow" some sun block, a sweat towel and a refill on water...  stopping long enough to fuel up, it became apparent that I had better just call it quits.  I had the shakes, chills and was not thinking clearly.  I got three miles in and felt like I was cooking.  My back looks like it too! 

Stay hydrated people! 

Without a friend willing to help me out that day, I get nervous speculating if I could have gotten heat exhaustion or really compromised myself and my daughter out there. 

Lesson learned and I am so grateful for good friends... and that they live so close!

I picked up the remaining three miles that evening and then June left and July started!  With July, it had been my goal to run 13.1 miles in the month.  The WHOLE month to get that distance down.  That was my goal in April when I first learned of Moms RUN This Town and signed up for the virtual race.  After some encouragement from friends and a pretty good response to others wanting to do the virtual race with me, I started a local chapter.  Now it's time to start racing and logging miles for the virtual.   

I had some serious doubts in April about my stamina and if I could accomplish the 13.1 miles in time.  I wasn't sure I could handle more than a 5k once a week!  After reviewing training guides, I latched onto Hal Higdon and went for it.  So that I couldn't back out of the commitment, I signed up for a half this October ("Run Like Hell").  It will be the 10th anniversary of this race and it's the 2 year anniversary of my first race ever. (Which happens to be the 5k "Run Like Hell" in 2011.)  I'm pretty jazzed about it.  I try not to interject that "I'm running a half this October." into every conversation, blog post and facebook status update. 

Anyway....  I've been working on a course loop for my gals who signed up to do this with me, and with training in general... I completed my miles in 7 days!  This morning I finished up the final mile and hubs was there with the medal to reward my hard work.  Seriously, this guy needs a medal for being super dad and most supportive cheerleader. 

This morning a friend sent me an email saying simply "I need to know how you started running."  Already I've been wandering down nostalgia lane with my running shoes in tow, so it turned into a long email that I won't bore you with too.  Suffice it to say, I wouldn't be here without cheerleaders, awesome friends backing me up and running partners willing to slow their pace but challenge me to pick up mine.  It has been an emotional couple of weeks... discouragement from the heat, relief in friends and running mates, leaning on my wonderful husband and completely bewildered at how far I've come these last few months and my accomplishments with training. 

Thank you everyone.  I hope you all know who you are and that you have helped me tremendously. 

     Who or what is your running community?  What helps keep you going when things get tough?