These are the most righteous sneakers. In all seriousness I have to tell you, I rolled up all my hills on hills running in these adizero's as fast as I would have coasted up on my Fuji road bike! Love these shoes for speed work and hills, in Alaska I wore a version of these running my three sister mountains and it worked out pretty well. When you find your favorite sneakers the Marathon magic comes.

Today, I listened to my Micheal Jackson playlist which was perfect. Everyone loves MJ!! Made me think of really awesome dance parties plus driving up the coast of Maine with my friend Annie in college when Smooth Criminal came on. 😊 Music that makes you want to dance will also make you want to run fast fast fast. 🎶

My dough has four cups of bread flour, 5 teaspoons of yeast, 3 tablespoons of olive oil and pink Himalayan salt to be fancy. I let the kitchenAid dough hook work its magic for extra gluten to accumulate, all the dough is off the edges and on my dough hook attachment. I seasoned the dough with garlic powder and dried oregano trying to be like Varsity Pizza, then I lathered on nice olive oil all over the crust with sesame seeds. I’m letting the dough rise again, baking it for ten minutes and then putting on all my toppings. 🍕😻

Post ten minutes of crust in the oven with Peppino's Pizza Sauce and fresh herbs of oregano and basil!

Covered with toppings and cheeses ready to bake!

Crispy pizza baked at 400 degrees! Yummy😋

Very much looking forward to cutting this sponge candy up into generous square pieces to coat in layers on layers of chocolate! Barbie and me love sponge candy, so it was super fun to actually make on the stove ourselves today. We enjoyed watching the chemical reaction of baking soda being added to the hot sugary mixture and expanding to the tip top of our large pot! I highly reccomend cooking sponge candy on your stove top. Simple sugars burn off fast too, candy can be healthy.

https://homeinthefingerlakes.com/buffalo-sponge-candy-2/

In anything competitive it is so important to focus on yourself and not look around, which is separate from the comradery in a sport and pleasure of finding friends with the same passion. Sometimes you are crossing all your goals off the lost or sometimes a friend is instead, having obtainable goals for yourself is very essential.  For example, one time when I was in my teens running marathons my orthopedic doctor looking at my stress fracture was insanely jealous about my marathons and sort of went off on an insane tangent about themself that made very uncomfortable.  I really rather would have gone without that ortho doctor's stories about their glory days or heart break days, or issues they had.  Everyone accomplishes things at different ages.  I think that sometimes it is best to just look at your legs and to look at your watch during a race, then to be really careful about who you share your success stories with.  Running is a touchy subject for some individuals.  Then, there's people on the same wave length whom are awesome to connect with or interview sharing the highs and lows in a healthful way.  However, putting the race blinders up certainly is a real thing.  I feel like after this year of covid, I'll feel funny about toeing the line while being in real life versus virtual events and meetings, but just taking that step back and knowing exactly what I'm looking to accomplish is helpful whilst jumping back into real life.  Obtainable goals, focusing on myself and healthful relationships are the big things.

This morning, I used all six bananas from my sister’s trip to Wegman's to bake this delicious banana bread and abundant amount of mini muffins. Again, the Madagascar vanilla bean is the key ingredient in all of my baking lately! Muffins are very healthy for runner’s and everyone really. Such a treat to bake this week! Love munching on the strudel whilst walking by the counter throughout the day.

In terms of running, for my latest run I switched from my trainers to my adizero sneakers and completely flew through my mileage as if it were supposed to be mile split times versus a middle distance leisurely training sess. Super fun to fly!

After strawberry picking with Navirino Orchard, I baked this fabulous cake alongside cream puffs to compliment the glorious freshly picked strawberries. A lovely Victorian sponge cake infused with a vanilla bean simple syrup covered with piped dollops of whipped cream. Madegascar vanilla beans made this dessert deserve the two <<s's>> in the term dessert, because the powerful flavor encouraged everyone to have two pieces! I filled the cream puffs with egg custard combined with whipped cream which is very delicious.

This morning, I went on a hilly ten mile run wearing my Nike Pegasus trainers and enjoyed an orange Gatorade five miles into my excursion. A simple stretch I love for the summer is sitting up straight on a chair or cooler, and stretching my legs and toes out as far as I possibly can, repeating ten reps for each leg maybe add some side stretches to stay loose after a cool down. My yoga bolster is also a favorite way of mine to stretch with my band resistance. Last week, I started doing my 50 toe-touching sit ups and push ups everyday, and it’s a pretty big deal.

Then, I enjoyed my garden until it was time to walk my Chihuahuas on their favorite trail. The marathon is such a tantalizing event, it will feel really terrific to run one after becoming in shape all summer. 🌞

After a weekend of fun, I am proud to say that I have really been executing my running schedule to a T. If I run like this all summer I will run super fast in the fall. On my run this morning, I thought about when I was sick or 'at risk’ in high school and how much I would have loved a designer mask with a matching cover for my heart monitor and electrodes. Overall, I am happy to have been a part of such a huge sewing project this year to help people going through what I did. I am so grateful to be healthy presently, reflecting on how far I have come from the year of heart problems preventing me from walking or having a normal life. From not being able to even walk out the front door without fainting to go to school when I was sick to having a higher education and being a well seasoned marathon runner, certainly keeps my faith strong. My run goal currently is a half marathon PR in September and Marathon a month or so afterwards!😊

The good thing about the Marathon event is that there are so many of them. Yeah, I would have loved for OT to work out for me both times in my ten year Marathon career, but it did not. I’m not going to even want to run OT when I am 29 after doing 26.2 since my teens, so instead I have a time goal for the next two years and need to be smart about the event I am going for the time in. However, who cares OT never happened for me? There are so many marathons in cool places and opportunities to run stellar times and actually place really high. I think, this year I will run something fast and flat in the fall for a full, and then do a destination half marathon in the spring. Onto the next!

My run book probably correlates more with like 2 out of 5 degrees I have than my actual running career so it doesn’t matter that I did not run at all this year! It’ll be like my violin recordings no-one listens to, no one will read my book…

If I train all summer I will be in shape for October, and juggle racing with work and grad school. Positive affirmations like the desire to accomplish my goals make me feel good. Do you have affirmations to motivate you?

It is okay for something to be a big deal to you, but not a big deal. Like the linen quilt I am hand quilting….

Today, my run was a speedy five miles with hills on hills. I asked myself, ‘If my race is in October then why am I going all out?’ Will I burn out if I do speed often in a time span longer than three months out? I have decided to do 'me’ or 'what feels good’ until my three month out period of my actual fall marathon and hopefully I will run it well!

Tonight, I used my Alton Brown recipe crepes to make a manicotti style dinner! Plus, I used cake flour in the crepe recipe, for something extra. I stuffed the crepes with the typical ricotta and chopped parsley and cheeses mixed with egg and gourmet cheese assortments. I really topped my crepes with an obnoxiously pretentious amount of cheese, and they are so delicious with a side of extra saucy meatballs. 😻