Roasted pumpkin seeds

Still not running which is becoming a problem because work is crappy. How can it not be when I work in an industry that is bleeding jobs right now. Sadly there are some who would celebrate because I work in that ever-evil Canadian Oil Industry. No, I don't work in the oilsands, but even our provincial Premiere calls us the embarrassment of Canada. To be fair, it's probably because we elected an anti-energy government in a province that runs on the energy industry.

But, I'm not here to talk about that. No matter how bitter I may be.

You probably remember this, my lovely pumpkin from last weekend.  Well, after I roasted the actual pumpkin, I separated the seeds from the goo, rinsed them and then did wonderful things to them.

I spread them out on a parchment covered cookie sheet (because who wants to actually clean up after making a mess?) and drizzled a bit of olive oil on them. Then I sprinkled them with salt (go for sea salt if that's your thing) and Moroccan spice (because what else am I supposed to actually use Moroccan spice for?).  Then I roasted them for about 10-15 minutes at 350 degrees.

I probably should have pulled them out at 10 minutes, they were a little over-roasted, but at 10 minutes they seemed under roasted.  It doesn't matter they were delicious.

Injuries suck.

Pumkins!

I can't run so I have to do something to occupy my time, right? I went to my running clinic on Saturday and stuck with my walking until I can do that without pain in my foot. On the way home, I decided to stop and pick up groceries. And there in the middle of the produce department they had cute little pumpkins.

Pumpkin - cleaned and ready to roast

I had to buy one. And then I had to cut out the stem, gut it, slice it in half and roast it.

Yummy roasted pumkin

Why am I doing this? Just last week didn't I say I joined weight watchers?

Well, there's more to li...errr pumpkins than just pumpkin pie. I really just wanted some puree to make pumpkin smoothies for breakfast. So after roasting my pumpkin with a little salt, I pureed it in the blender and then froze it in muffin cups (silicone ones, not paper) for easy use.

I've had two smoothies so far and they're delicious.

1/2 cup frozen pumpkin puree
1 apple (quartered and cored)
1 cup milk
1/2 scoop VegaOne Vanilla Chai (you could probably just replace this with some pumpkin pie spice or apple pie spice, really).
Optional: handful of spinach because: green things

You may find that your blender has trouble with the muffin cup sized pumpkin puree - mine does ok, but it isn't happy about it. So freezing it in smaller sizes or using pumpkin that isn't frozen might be better. Add ice cubes though because warm pumpkin smoothie is probably a little weird. Even if it does taste like pumpkin pie.

Another smoothie secret: want it to have a more milkshake-like texture? Pick up Xanthan Gum. I found it at my local Sobey's, packaged by Bob's Red Mill. Use no more than 1/4 tsp for a smoothie. I usually do about an 1/8 of a tsp.

I decided I need another pumpkin. Or two. We've already used half of the pumpkin we froze. Possibly more if my husband had a pumpkin smoothie this morning.

Review: SimplyYoga

Last night I downloaded SimplyYoga to my phone. I have an Android.

My problem is I've done quite a bit of yoga in the past and I have some preferences. I like a yoga class that flows, without making me feel like I'm doing a yoga marathon. I even had some favorite videos and a favorite class (until the instructor went on mat. leave).

I probably should like SimplyYoga, but I found it too simple. From what I could find on my phone, there's a really limited selection of videos. You select the length (20/40/60 minutes) and your level. From there, instead of getting a selection of classes, you're presented with a series of poses that will fill the selected time.

Which is great, but that's not what I'm used to.

This app was recommended to me by a friend who has an iPhone so I'm not sure if the iPhone experience is better or if it's something that works well for her, but isn't enough to meet my needs?

Looks like I'll be trying the Gaiam subscription next. The good thing is, I know I like several of their instructors already because I've owned the videos.

Yes. On VHS.

#FeelinOld

And Yoga.

Last night, Mr. Moose and I canceled our gym memberships. Done. We were going regularly before, but in the last year we haven't gone. We probably should have canceled sooner.  For me, I have no interest in going because I can run outside.

I may regret that plan when winter gets here.

Beyond running, sure I should be doing some strength training and I was, but I wasn't loving it. I should be doing some stretching, but the yoga classes at the gym were awful.

At my running clinic last Saturday, our topic was exercise and cancer. We all know that exercise is good for our health - whether or not it helps us actually lose weight. It does good things for you and there is a lot of evidence that it also helps prevent cancer from returning.

Sign. Me. Up.

Well, ok, sign me up for exercise, not so much the gym. The point is, the speaker talked about more affordable and time efficient ways to fit in exercise. I already have the running piece figured out, but she talked about doing yoga with online classes. Something I've never considered because I find the free ones aren't great and I didn't want to pay a subscription fee to access better ones.

Which makes no sense considering I was willing to pay significantly more per month for a gym membership I hadn't been using.

The site our speaker used is called YogaGlo.com. It looks interesting and it definitely has an excellent selection of videos and your first 15 days are free. Compared to the cost of yoga classes in the city, it pays for itself in about one and a half classes at $18 per month. I assume that is US$.

A little more googling brought me to SimplyYoga - A free App on iTunes or Google Play. (Let me know if that link is broken, I'm having some issues with technology today).

And finally, I found GaiamTV. I've used Gaiam videos back in the past when VHS was a thing. Because I'm old like that. I've even used Gaiam DVDs because technology happens. But this saves me from having a bunch of videos collecting dust.

Fine, I still have the videos collecting dust. Probably even the VHS versions. Don't judge me.

There may even be a VHS player in my house.

Oh my god, I'm my Grandmother.

Ahem. Back to GaiamTV. $9.99 per month.

All three of these options are available on mobile devices - both Android and Apple if you feel like doing yoga when you're out and about - like on vacation.  They do not appear to be available as apps on Windows devices, but it still has a browser and they are websites.

Well, except SimplyYoga.  If you choose that one you're on your own.

I'm probably going to give SimplyYoga a shot, but I think I'm going to end up using GaiamTV over the long term.

Yoga, on my schedule, at my level.  Hooray!

Joined Weight Watchers

I'm not sure if this is the ultimate sign of desperation or just a really good idea I've been putting off for far too long, but this morning I joined Weight Watchers Online. They have a pretty good deal right now that if you lose 10 lbs in your first 2 months, you get 2 months free.  Should be good motivation to get going.

I used to belong to SparkPeople which is kind of a free version of Weight Watchers.  The more I investigate the online portion of WW, the more I see similarities. Which is good because SparkPeople was motivating for me when I participated. The problem was there was little to keep me going there when I lost motivation. And it was an online community I struggled to find my place in. Although I did have some success with my blogs.

I've realized that all of the exercise in the world isn't going to help me lose weight if I don't get my eating under control.

I actually red a blog last week about how people don't like to exercise and it shouldn't be forced on them as a way to lose weight because it really is a crappy way to lose weight. The best control we have over our weight is through diet.

It's kind of a cruel irony that I enjoy exercise more than I enjoy eating healthy foods.

I get that all of this makes sense. There aren't many gains to be made even through strength training. Even by taking the stairs all the way to my office every morning or running 15 -20 miles a week. Walking Hank at the dog park will do even less for me.

I tried going back to a diet I'd tried before, but I struggled to maintain that for more than a couple of weeks. I quickly got bored of the food and lazy about preparing it. Although I'm still doing a fruit filled smoothie every morning and trying to make sure that fruits/vegetables are part of every meal.

It's with some fear that I start back on Weight Watchers. A program is only ever as good as the person following it. Since recovering from cancer, I sometimes get a, "screw it, we're all going to die anyway!" mentality and just go for the food I want to eat. Ok, I get that mentality a few times a day.

Especially since I haven't been able to run.

I went to my running clinic on the weekend and walked the 20 minutes instead of running. My foot/ankle wasn't painful, but I could definitely feel the tendon was irritated. To bad since I'd hoped to start running again on Sunday.

So, instead, I started sanding a desk we've been planning to refinish for my sewing room. It kept me active and out of the kitchen. We also bought stain and paint for it and now I'm going to have to go find some brass polish because it's old enough to have actual brass drawer pulls that are tarnished and crappy looking.

September Goals.

It's kind of amazing how an injury will sidetrack you.  I just realized today that August is over, we're a week into September and I haven't set any goals.

So, here goes.

1. My foot seems to be back to normal and I have a 5K to train for. It's time to get back at it.  Run 3x a week.

2. Mileage = 15 miles.  I have missed out on the first week after all.

Injuries suck

Last weekend after my run, I felt great. About 3 hours later, however, I started to realize I'd injured myself. The more I walked around doing errands with my husband, the more the inside of my right heel hurt.

Since runners are notorious self-diagnosing when it comes to injuries, I ran off to the internet to figure out what I could possibly have done wrong.

It appears as though I have a bit of tendonitis.  Either achilles, or another tendon that runs along somewhere in the vicinity of the ankle and appears (from internet pictures) to start almost exactly where my pain is focused.

I don't actually remember what said tendon is called so we're going with foot/ankle tendonitis.  Causes for this are:

1. New shoes.  Nope.  That said, neither are my shoes old.  They're kind of at that point where they're broken in, but well under 100 miles have been put on them.  PRobably closer to 60 miles on shoes that on average should last for about 500 miles.  Your mileage may vary, but probably not by that much.

2. Old shoes - see above.

3. Increase in mileage or speed.  Nope.  Definitely not running significantly further.  Slightly faster, but not that much further and I'm only increasing time ran at the rate of the plan which is often painfully slowly.

4.  Tight calves.  Oh.  That's probably the one.  Previously the same issue caused different symptoms.

Right now I'm taped with a knock-off KT Tape.  I'm stretching, doing calf raises to improve strength in my calves and doing some other strength training to help with form (clamshells, ugh).

I'm enjoying my little break from running a little too much, really. I do miss the running, but it's great to not have to get up at 4:30 in the morning to go out for a run. I think I might move to lunchtime runs at work, or now that fall is here just run after work.

The internet, me and a Watermelon-Saskatoon Smoothie recipe.

Sometimes I have so much to say.  Other times, I pretty much only need to say, "ran today, felt great." Which is what Twitter is for - if you use Twitter.

I have a Twitter account.

I don't use Twitter.

Every time I go there, I see tweets from people much more adept at that kind of thing posting awesome statuses that go well beyond, "Ran today.  Felt great." Things that motivate me.  Or give me a list of books to read, or podcasts to listen to.

And then I realize that for an IT professional, I don't do the internet well. Podcasts (seriously - Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is a fantastic resource for all of you readers out there)?  Who has time for podcasts?  And are there that many people who listen to them? (The answer is yes, yes there are)

Let's face it - I post pictures of Hank to Facebook, make the odd running update from Endomondo into a status and complain about work (all on facebook). I have instagram - sometimes I even post pictures there from my phone.  They all should be marked #nofilter because who's got the time to figure out filters?

My Pinterest page now has a "Stop Pinning, Start Doing" board.  Which technically should be a list of things I want to try soon. I've pinned things to it. A few have been tried. I've even managed to move those few into boards titled "Favorites - something."  According to Pinterest, I don't like much.

So sometimes I really struggle with what to post here.

Which is why today you're getting a smoothie recipe.

This is my super-fantastic picture of my smoothie in a spaghetti sauce jar as I ride the bus to work. 

1 cup watermelon chunks

1.2 cup saskatoons (or blueberries)

1/4 cup kefir (or yogurt, or milk, whatever floats your boat)

Splash of iced coffee concentrate (this is a technical measurement)

1/2 cup of water

1 date (remove the pit)

2 tsp vanilla protein powder (I used Vega One protein & greens. You can easily skip this)

Throw it all in a blender.  Blend until smooth, or until you're done feeding the pets.  Pour into a glass.  Realize you're running late.  Pour from glass into a jar.  Rinse the blender pitcher and lid.  Try to remember to put the jar of smoothie into your bag before you run out of the house because you're running late and you don't want to miss the bus.

Wonder if the dog ate the cat's food after you left the house.

Realize that the smoothie needs a picture if you're going to post about it on the blog so take a poor quality one on a dark bus before you drink it all.

Remember why you make coffee concentrate every now and then.

Realize that people probably don't know how easy it is to make their very own coffee concentrate to make their own iced lattes at home. Provide link to The Pioneer Woman's Perfect Iced Coffee page. 

New goal!

I did not run this morning - mostly because of a poor sleep, but also because of the air quality.  It's pretty bad and every day they just keep rating us higher.  We're at a 14 or 15 on a 10+ scale.  I'm not sure exactly what a 10+ scale is, but apparently it's extremely flexible.

Anyway, the point is really that I didn't run.

I did, however, take the stairs at work.  I work on the 5th floor of an office building and it's 9 flights of stairs to get to my floor (3 to the second floor, and 2 to each subsequent floor)

I've decided on non-running days, I need to at least do the stairs.

Soon, I hope to make it all the way to my floor without wanting to die.  Or at the very least, without having to stop part way to catch my breath.

Air quality advisory, running and diet.

Last Friday night, I arrived home in the snow.

This week, we have heat, but smoke from the forest fires in Washington. You can't walk out the door without inhaling enough smoke that you think you're way closer to the fire than a few thousand miles!

I've been getting along really well with my running.  This week I started 4 min run/1 min walk and it's been going well.  Ok, it's painful at times and I'm exhasted when I finish, but I'm doing it, and faster than when I ran pre-cancer so there's that.

But getting up to run in the morning when it's so smokey you can taste it is going to take some extra motivation.

The diet is going fairly well. I've been sticking to it, for the most part. On the weekend, we went out for dinner and had a fabulous dinner that I tried to make fit the plan, but let's face it - a marscapone risotto stuffed with smokey spanish ham probably doesn't fit any plan. Unless that plan is "delicious." Also, pumpkin sticky toffee pudding fits into that category as well.

It was worth it.

I figure so long as I can make it through the week eating healthy, a nice meal to reward myself isn't the end of the world. And it seems to be working - I haven't been measuring myself, but the scale is down a bit and my clothes seem to be fitting looser.

Almost done the month of August.  I'm inching my way to my mileage goal and feeling pretty good about my weight. :)

Running and diet and sleep

I'm not always the best with my diet, but the husband and I have decided to do something healthier when it comes to food.  We are  loosely following a commercial diet plan that we happened to have a cookbook for as well as some success in the past following said diet plan.  It's really more about us actually planning our week's food and eating in rather than giving in and eating out when we have nothing planned. Which is why I'm not really going to mention the diet - it's way more about balance and eliminating fast food than what the diet actually says.

That's been interesting because at the same time I've been avoiding junk food (my favorite) and alcohol (I like it, but this is not such a big deal).  Meanwhile our summer student at work is driving me to drink.  Or at the very least crave large amounts of salty, crunchy food.  Or giant plates of pasta.

Did you know that the Germans make a dessert that is essentially ice cream extruded like pasta.  Often topped with strawberry sauce?  There is something wrong with that, but probably only to someone who loves pasta more than ice cream and sees this as sacrilege.

These are the things you can find on the internet when you're trying to ignore your hunger while googling "German Ice Cream" to see if there's anything your coworker needs to be aware of before she departs for her vacation.  Because, priorities. Also because killing summer students is frowned on and it seems somewhat harsh to request he be fired.

So, having changed our diet for a whole three days (seriously, today is day three, I'm not good on diets), I've noticed that the one benefit promised in the book of benefits (otherwise why would you buy the diet book?) is actually valid.

IMPROVED SLEEP.

I'm actually sleeping mostly through the night (pets notwithstanding) except for that bizarre 12:30-12:35 am time period where I continue to wake up every night.  Sure, I have a bit of trouble falling asleep (I'm surprised I was asleep by midnight last night to make my 12:30 wakeup call) now and again, but I seem to be getting better quality sleep.

I say this because I'm actually waking up at 4:30 to run with a lot less, "OMG! NO!"  I can also get on the bus on running days and not sleep for the entire trip into town.  And out of town.

On non-running days, I also don't feel the need to nap on the bus so much.

This could also be because I switched from coffee to tea at the same time as starting this diet so perhaps the sleep thing is not so related.  BUT THE BOOK SAID!

Regardless, the early mornings are getting easier, my speed is getting faster unless a hill is involved, and I'm kind of enjoying this running thing a little bit more.  And for some reason Hank is getting better behaved on leash.  Except for that poor cat he chased into the park yesterday.  In other news, turns out a good whistle will bring that dog back, even with a small furry animal to chase.

The one result I haven't seen much of, you know after three whole days, is actual weight loss, but I'm sure that'll come if I manage to find my patience.

On missed opportunities

So, I follow a science writer called Science Babe (or SciBabe).  She's pretty awesome, but today I learned that she lost 90lbs in the past.

And I realized that when she was dealing with illness she handled it much better than I did.  I can't even blame drugs that played with my appetite because she managed that like a grownup.  Unlike me.

At the start of my treatment I had the BEST intentions regarding eating healthy and losing weight.  What a great opportunity to focus on my health, right? I always have the best intentions.  They are generally followed by a trip to the grocery store where I can't resist the new flavors of Lays potato chips (Butter Chicken?  WHAT A GREAT IDEA!) (Yes, I did this last night).

On the plus side, I'm down two pounds this week through the way I've eaten the rest of the week and the snacks/junk I cut out. Like yesterday when I sat down with a bag of grapes instead of wandering to the convenience store conveniently placed right across the street.

Finally, SciBabe has an amazing attitude about her health:

"I’m going to be “sick” for the rest of my life, but most days I feel just fine. Getting into shape and taking care of my health was a huge part of that. It wasn’t my weight that caused my condition, but the circumstances of my condition stopped my weight from eventually causing any other problems."

I have much to learn.

Random bits of random stuff

I hate mornings. What is it about the night before that makes me think, "sure, 4:30 am is awesome!"?  Because 4:30 is not awesome. And most days I manage to just reset my alarm and crawl back into bed.

Now that I have some actual goals and really want to meet them, it's a little harder to go back to sleep. I tried this morning, but decided since I was up, I might as well get out there and run since later it's only going to be stupid hot.

And a big, black dog does not run well in the heat. He does, however, run really well in the morning before the sun comes up and he's getting to be amazing on the leash - rarely pulls and hardly stopped to mark his territory at all this morning - a huge improvement.

So, we ran. And then I got home and made myself a smoothie for breakfast.

Which I forgot on the counter when I left.

But I still had my fancy new Qi'a cereal from Costco. Which is apparently endorsed by Food Babe - not a selling point for me. In fact, when I discovered that, I kind of rolled my eyes and considered throwing it out. Except that it's $17 a bag and kind of tasty. I'm still at war with myself over this, but since she also likely endorses things like carrots and peas, I'm probably safe eating it so long as I don't actually hand her any money to purchase it.

So I ate Qi'a on yogurt with some raspberries for breakfast which seems like a good start to a day.

August Goals & Updates

Sooo, I'm pretty awful at keeping up with this seeing as it's August 11 and I'm just now posting my goals for the month/next 2 months.  Go me.

August Distance:  I want to run 25 miles in the month.  While I ran 22 in July, it would seem that this isn't such a huge goal, I'm also running shorter distances with my Running Clinic and focusing a bit on faster speeds rather than longer distances so 25 miles should still be a bit of a stretch.

Longer Term Goals:
5K (October): 46 minutes for the Run for the Cure on October 4th.  For good runners and a lot of walkers, this number will seem extremely high.  Given that my last 5K was 51 minutes, let's just accept that it's an improvement and move on.

Weight: I want to lose 15 lbs by October 7.  That's the day that we leave for the Wine Festival and I want to feel like I've accomplished something and maybe need to get my clothes taken in at the same time.

5K (December): I'm a beginning runner so it's probably unrealistic to expect too big a jump in this, but I'm targeting 43 minute 5K by the end of Dec. If I can make that happen. I should be able to expect a reasonable finish time for the Zion Nat'l Park half marathon so I'll sign up for that if I meet this goal.

Moving on, update time.

I spent the weekend in Manitoba for my cousin's wedding.  This was awesome because I got to visit with a cousin of mine who I don't see nearly often enough (not the one getting married) - which really means all of my cousins because I don't really hang out with any of them.

The wedding was beautiful.

I also managed to get up the morning of the wedding and go for a run with my Mom at the lake.  For once, she struggled to keep up.  Which means I'm doing something right and getting faster.  Go me

I've been using Runkeeper to track my runs, but I'm finding that it's reliance on GPX files rather than the Garmin Connect functionality is awful. I might have to change tracking apps which isn't a huge deal now that I'm using the Garmin again. Although I do have a friend who actually uses Runkeeper so I'll lose that social networking. I do like how Runkeeper displays pace and elevation, but I'm pretty sure I can find that in other apps.

Overall, I feel pretty good about how things have progressed with my running.  Sure, I'm slow, but I'm getting there.

Three and a half miles on Monday

Hank and I went out Monday morning for a nice run around the lake.  And it was a nice run.  It was also a test of running at a busy park with lots of dogs and kids around.  Hank did amazing.  He let a little girl pet him and sat still while another little boy ran by yelling, "Hi Puppy!"  He even had a good sniff at another dog on the trail so that was a relief.  We keep waiting for the problem with the big guy and there are none.

Well, he does think he belongs on the furniture.  And he likes licking faces.

Anyway, he continues to motivate us to get active and me particularly to keep running.  Although this morning was a morning run fail so I'll have to catch up tonight.

My first running clinic

The cancer survivor running clinic was pretty awesome.  I wasn't sure what to expect, but it's a mix of returning participants and newbies like me.  So today's session was getting to know each other, followed by a quick 20 minute run.

we start out with 1 min run, 2 min walk, which is much shorter than I usually do so I attempted to run a little faster than normal.  At which point I also had to walk faster to recover. I did ok, but it wasn't great and in the heat, I was a little uncomfortable.

I'm sad I'm going to have to miss next week's clinic for a wedding, but I can't wait until the weekend after that.  Looks like it's going to be a fun bunch of women to get to know.

Also, I managed to get my Garmin watch straightened out so I can actually use it to track my runs instead of my phone.  Or as a backup to my phone on days I forget to charge my phone.

So, this running thing, still going well and now I have a bit more motivation to get out there and do it.  Looking forward to the run in October.

Running this week - even at 4:30AM!

This is what Hank looks like after a 2.8 mile run/walk at about 24C.  

That was Tuesday night after I felt really crappy about consistently not getting up to run early. I'd even written off running that night after we'd stopped at the vet, the library and the post office to get some errands done.  We still had to have dinner and it was almost seven.

I was bummed.

Then my super-awesome husband said, "why don't you take Hank for a walk or run now and I'll make supper."

So, off Hank and I went.  He had some issues that night with being a bit aggressive to other dogs, but we hadn't walked him that morning so I think it might have been more our fault for leaving him with way too much energy.  That's also why the run ended up being 2.8 miles instead of the usual shorter distance.  When we caught up to a family walking two dogs very slowly, I made the decision to not follow them down the path they were going, instead running out to the main road and some extra hills.

Hank got home, drank water and crashed - first on his bed, then he decided he'd rather hang out with my husband downstairs (where he can make sure no one leaves the house without him) and he sprawled on the floor at the bottom of the stairs.

This morning when my alarm went off at 4:30, I turned it off planning to go back to sleep.  About 5 minutes later I dragged myself out of bed and got ready to run.  Then I realized that my phone wasn't charged so I couldn't track my run (the horror!).  I attempted to get it charged before leaving the house, but it lasted less than 5 minutes before the battery saver shut down the GPS.

But that doesn't matter.  What matters is that I actually went out and ran in the morning again.  In my new running skirt!  Without my phone, it's hard to judge, but it looks like I even managed a good time.  So I manually added it to Runkeeper with my estimated time.

In June, I ran 13.1 miles.  I targeted 20 miles for July and today I pushed past 20 miles with a distance of 2.3.

July has a lot of records, but most importantly, I met my distance goal!

Here's the thing, sometimes it's hard to get back into the routine.  It's hard to get motivated.  We have lives and families and sometimes we just want to sit on the patio with a bottle of wine.  It's been a huge struggle for me to get back into it, which was a surprise for me.  I missed it so much when I couldn't run, but apparently I got in a couch rut.   This article from Runners World helps a bit.  Ugh, I have to get back into weight training.

Then I packed myself a delicious breakfast - a peach, some jarlsberg and saskatoon banana bread.

Tasty Tuesday - Saskatoon Raspberry Muffins

Saskatoons are in season right now and on Saturday, I picked berries with a friend.  We came home with berries.  A lot of berries.  She had fifty-four cups of berries.  I think I had fewer, but not by much.  I got tired of picking and slowed down at the end.

I had about 2/3 of a stockpot full of berries.  Gorgeous, plump berries.

First thing we did was freeze about 2/3 of them.  Then I was left with a 9x13" pan full of them in my fridge. The picture above is what is STILL left after freezing and baking. Next up, we might try infusing some gin or vodka with some berries.

Growing up, Mom had a pretty great cookbook that she's long gotten rid of, but I remember baking banana bread and blueberry muffins from that cookbook - the Harrowsmith Cookbook.

This is probably why I struggle to lose weight.

I used to bake the blueberry muffins all the time, so this is my best guess as to the actual recipe from my memory.  It's been a few years so it's probably not quite right and I'm pretty sure it didn't include raspberries, but these turned out pretty darned great.

For cupcakes without frosting.

I stored these in a ziplock bag and tossed them into the freezer so I can have a quick breakfast to grab on my way to work with some fruit and cheese.

Saskatoon Raspberry Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened (just use butter, it's always better)
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3 cups unbleached flour (reserve 1-2 tbsp for the berries)
1 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 cups berries - I did 2 c saskatoons, 1 c raspberries
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease your muffin tins. You can use liners if you like, I have some silicone ones, but I prefer without.

Cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.

Toss your berries with the flour until evenly coated, set aside. Then mix the remaining dry ingredients together well. Finally, mix together the buttermilk and vanilla.  You may find that you need a bit more or less buttermilk.

Alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture, 1/3 of each at a time.  When it's just blended, fold in the flour-coated berries. Do not overmix.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.  Remove to wire rack and allow to cool.

Kayaks, cancer and my life this week.

Last night, my husband and I went out for our second kayak lesson.  This one focused on practicing what we learned in the last class as well as rescue skills. The important part - how to get back into your kayak when you've fallen out of it.

I am so so so bruised from trying to claw my way back in on the self rescue portion. The good news is, I can get myself back into the kayak so long as someone is there with me.  So we're all set.  If I'm ever off kayaking alone, I'll just stay close to shore.  That way if I capsize, I can swim ashore and climb back in on land.

Last night I also realized that today marks a year since I discovered I had cancer.  I celebrated by starting the morning picking saskatoons with a friend.  

Well, actually I started with a book and a giant dog snuggled up in bed. Because, lazy.

Speaking of giant dogs, our new addition has a name.  We finally decided on Hank.  Hank is an excellent running partner, wonderful walking buddy and generally just awesome.  I walked him down to the vet yesterday.  He has his first appointment later this week and I wanted to make sure that we didn't have an unpleasant surprise.

Kind of like when we attempted to give him his first bath. We learned a couple of things that day - Hank (purportedly a Lab cross) hates water. No, he more than hates water. There is no word to describe our new buddy's feelings for water.  We also learned that he is big and strong enough to push open a reasonably heavy unlatched door. To get away from water.

Back to the vet, no unpleasant surprises there so I had him step on the scale.  He's 96 lbs and they feel he might be a little light.  

Good news, no one should bother me on my runs with him around!

The past year has brought many changes to my life, most of them unpleasant. I'm never quite sure how far to go when I talk about my experience with cancer. Last year, my husband and I were sitting in a parking lot in south Calgary, trying to absorb the diagnosis and I was trying to stop crying. 

It's been a long year and now that it's over, finding ways to move on and forward and live my life is interesting. I feel an urgency to do the things I've always wanted to do, but put off because there was always more time.

I guess that's the big lesson I've learned - there isn't always time.

Wishlist Wednesday

I have a pretty extensive wishlist when it comes to running.  There isn't much I can say about some of the items on the list (oh, for a 30 minute 5K), sometimes it's fun to share this kind of thing.  So I'm hoping to make this a regular installment on my blog.

Wishlist Wednesday.  Items I covet.  Things that would make excellent Christmas gifts.  Events that seem like they'd be worth a hotel stay and maybe even some airfare.

Today, I'm going to start with the  Road ID.

This is exciting - it's been awhile since I've looked at their website.  Today, I found that they have a product that works with my Fitbit Flex.  I love my fitbit and adding yet another item to my wrist (becuase the fitbit is worn WITH a GPS watch sometimes) just seemed like overkill.  Enter the Road ID for Fitbit.

As for safety, if something should happen to you, the Road ID provides emergency contact information and can also include vital information such as medical conditions and allergies.  While I'm certain nothing will ever happen to me while I run, safety equipment is really only there for the exceptional occurances. 

The more I participate in events and those events get longer and/or further away, wearing something that can provide emergency workers pertinent information in a hurry seems like a great idea.