Woooo-weeeee! It has been busy around here. What is it about September that always rushes by? Or maybe the world just seems to be rushing by because I've been spending so much time running lately! On September 8th, I completed the Wurst Tri Ever my second triathlon of the year and my longest to date. A cold front came through through about an hour before the race began and made the temperatures perfect, but the wind pretty intense. That's definitely a trade-off I'll take!
Veronica and I decided to compete in this tri for one reason and one reason only - the slide! This is a way more fun way to start a race than clinging to the side of a pool until someone says go. The slide drops you into a 70 degree spring-fed pool. I was ready for it to be cold, but for some reason I wasn't expecting the pool to be full of plants (I even found some stuck to me when I hit the showers after). After the swim, we took off on a very hilly bike ride with 15 mph headwinds for the first 7 miles. Luckily it was an out and back loop (with lots of pretty farmlands and cows), so I flew on the return with the wind at my back. By the time I got to the run, I was cruising. The weather was gorgeous and some young deer ran with me for a few blocks!
A few days later, my cousin Abbie was in town for business so we took her out to dinner at La Fonda on Main. It's San Antonio's oldest Mexican restaurant and has a fantastic patio. The weather has finally cooled down enough that we can eat outside again. It's a weird quirk of south Texas weather that fall through spring is our outdoor eating season. It was so great to catch up with Abbie, I wish we got the chance to see each other more often. (Notice our cousin synchronicity - we showed up to dinner wearing the same necklace.)
Last Friday we did something I wish we did more often - see (and in Geoff's case, play) live music. There are plenty of opportunities to see shows any night of the week, but it took an old friend from the Ataris coming to town to get us out of the house. There were a couple great local bands opening up, the beer was cheap, and the bar was Stanley Kubrick-themed. (You can watch a video of Geoff playing base on their last song, here).
I took it easy because Saturday mornings are my longest runs - 7 miles this week - in training for the half marathon. I have mostly been running along the Riverwalk, starting and ending at the farmer's market where I can pick up some produce, locally roasted coffee, and a breakfast burrito. This week there was even a great rockabilly band playing while I stretched. (If you want to donate to SBTX in support of my half-marathon, and get an entry in my custom-knit raffle here's the link.)
I've been trying to make some protein-packed snacks lately including these protein-poppers for before runs. For mid-afternoon snacking, I made some homemade crackers and white bean dip. The dip is super easy - cooked or canned white beans, lots of lightly toasted garlic, thyme, rosemary, and red pepper flakes thinned out the richest chicken stock you can get your hands on. Good, healthy, and quick. Okay, I think you're caught up now! I'll be back soon, I promise.
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