Summertime

I ran 70 minutes this morning after taking the whole week off to deal with crazy long workdays and then being sick. I felt fantastic, and I think it's because I had a whole lot of built up antsyness and fresh legs. I also had a new playlist of classic rock full of songs that make me think of serenades in my living room and Thursday nights at Max's, and if ever I had happy places...

Waka Waka, which apparently I totally missed along with everything World Cup, kept me bouncing along until I hit a comfortable stride. I intersected some kind of serious race at the top of the park and then again down on the west side, and those people look like their bodies were created to run; the fluidity and speed is just mesmerizing, until I started to feel vicarious exhaustion imagining the exertion as I tried to estimate how long I could keep up with them on my all-out sprint.

By the time I got close to an hour, I felt okay in the heat and had the urge to speed it up. When I know I'm rounding the southeast corner of the park and don't have long to go until my Gatorade and cold shower, whatever energy I have wants to kind of burst out. The last ten minutes felt fast and relatively easy; my appreciation for how much of this is mental has certainly grown.

Got home, drank up, and went in for my leftover chopped salad lunch. I experiment with ingredients, but this is the all time favorite:

arugula
tomato
cukes
red/yellow/orange pepper (which I forgot this time)
strawberries (have to have because they love balsamic; I'm more flexible with the other fruits)
blueberries (antioxidants)
apple or  pear
Gorgonzola crumbles
pecans (toasted in the oven) or marcona almonds for a splurge
olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, ground black pepper

...with a slice of home made flax sunflower whole wheat bread and almond/peanut/regular (if I'm throwing caution to the wind) butter for good carbs.

A giant tupperware full of chopped veggies and fruit left undressed makes me happy for the whole weekend :)

UPDATE:
And for my favorite Susana Homemaker: the healthy bread recipe.

2 tbsp active dry yeast
1.5 tsp white sugar
1/2 cup very warm water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup molasses
1/2 cup canola oil
2 eggs
2.5 tbsp lemon juice
7 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 cup flax seed
1/4 cup flax meal
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
5 tsp salt
3.5 cups bread flour


1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a little bowl. Set aside.
2. In a very large bowl, mix 3.5 cups of water, the honey, molasses, canola oil, egg, and lemon juice.
3. Add yeast mixture to large bowl wet mixture.
4. While stirring, slowly mix in 4.5 cups of wheat flour and the flax meal. Once incorporated, add flax seed, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds until evenly disbursed mixture.
5. Set aside mixture for 15 minutes.
6. Stir in salt and the rest of the flour, slowly (you might not need all of it).
7. Kneed for at least 10 minutes. Return dough to floured bowl and cover with a towel. Let rise for an hour.
8. Kneed dough for another minute. Divide dough into 5 loaves on probably two cookie sheets (which might have to overlap to fit in the oven at the same time-- or you can do one at a time; it won't kill the dough). Let rise for another 15-25 minutes.
9. Bake at 370 for 32-36 minutes.

Eat warm, with real butter and sea salt, or dipped in olive oil that has been heated with rosemary.