First, the running. I am doing a program called Couch to 5K, which I heard about first on the Nest. Several of the girls on there have done it or are doing it and it seems like a good way to get started. Basically, it's a program that has you run 3 days per week, building up to the point where you can run 5K. This first week, I will do a 5 minute walk to warm up, then alternate running for 60 seconds with walking for 90 seconds for a total of 20 minutes.
And, today I accomplished the first day! I am proud of myself. I did my first mile (including the 5 minutes of walking - I didn't notice how far I went in that time) in 14 minutes, 33 seconds. For the Disney 1/2 marathon, I have to be able to run a 16-minute mile. My goal is to be able to do that by my birthday. Of course, then I'll have to work on sustaining that pace! By the time of the race, I want to be able to run about an 11 minute mile, as Kate figures that's what she'll be doing and we want to be able to run together. But, I have to reach the small goals first!
Oh, and for today's run, I wore my new pink running socks that Kate & Erick gave me for Christmas. Aren't they cute?
OK, on to the cooking. That was not as successful as the running. We make pizza at home a lot, and since Alec gave me a Kitchen Aid mixer for Christmas, I decided to try making my own crust. I had a recipe from one of the girls on the Nest. It calls for both white flour and whole wheat flour. Well, after I'd already activated my yeast and put some of the dry ingredients in, I pulled out the whole wheat flour and it was infested with bugs (gross!). So, I decided to just add the same amount of white flour. That was probably my first mistake. But I put it aside to rise anyway and started on the topping, which was also a new recipe. Well, my second mistake was not having a warm enough place for the dough to rise, and so it didn't. So, here I was with this chicken topping and no crust!
So, I did what any good cook will do and I improvised. We had sloppy joes for dinner last night, and we had some sub rolls leftover. So, I took the provolone cheese that was supposed to go on the pizza and put it on the roll, then topped it with the chicken. It tasted good anyway and since the filling was something new, too, I decided it counts as a new recipe.
Plus, I said I was going to try one new recipe per week. I never said they'd come out well. Anyway, here's a picture of Catherine's Improvised Italian Sub:
Next week, I'll get some new flour and try again. And, I've already figured out that a good place to try the rising will be in the bathroom with the space heater running!
6 comments:
Pizza crust is always tough -- for me, sometimes literally. That's the first thing I made for Ryan, and it was an absolute disaster. Luckily, he'll eat anything, but your conversion to sub rolls was a great idea! They looked very tasty!
It sounds like I'm better off sticking to my mix-in-a-bag that I buy for pizza crust. It's just about fool-proof for me!
Okay... so anyone who actually MAKES pizza crust deserves some credit in my book... I usually just leave that to the folks at Boboli...
I bought you some new super cute running socks today... :) It will be a great excuse for me to get to the post office!
Kate
I make my pizza crust in my bread maker. I laughed when I read where you found a warm place. I will have to take pictures of my food. I am doin weight watchers and trying to be a lot healthier. Good luck with blogging!!
So... still waiting for some more updates on the running? I've got a 13.1 sticker with your name on it...
:)
K
So... Julia is all signed up for Disney's 1/2 Marathon... and we'll be in by the end of the week... How about you? And... how is the run/walking coming along? Need some help with a training plan?
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