Slip Sliding Away ... Indeed

Oh, my. What a run this morning. About a dozen brave souls showed up at Dunn Bros. for a jaunt around NE Rochester that would prove to be more like skating that running.

I wore my Icebugs and on no other day were they more useful than today.

They have built-in carbide spikes. And they work GREAT. Buy they're heavy (with my orthotics in them, they weigh 16.65 oz. each; without the orthotics. 14.90 ounces--yikes!).

I ran with Trevor. The bike path and bridge were especially slippery north of the Rec Center. We headed north on West River Road to HyVee. Running east on 37th Street, I swear it looked like Trevor was just spinning his wheels. I wasn't sure whether he was making forward progress or not. It was just comical. Water sitting on glare ice. We continued east INTO THE WIND and up the HUGE hill to Century H.S. (I just looked on mapmyrun.com and from Shopko up to the intersection just past Mayo Clinic NE it's 1.06 miles.) This was, I think, about the longest-feeling mile I'd run in a long, long time. The wind was relentless and that hill gets really steep. Oh my. We had been talking about this being a character-building run and it was all that. Plus. Then we headed down Viola Hill. The bike path was ridiculously slippery so we took the road down. Then we turned south on 11th Ave and to 7th St, around the lake, the long way. Then we decided to go around again. I needed to be back at Dunn Bros. at 9:00 to go over the LUABC route with Todd, but we had enough time left for a second loop. I'd done 1.88 miles at 7:10 before the rest of the group arrived and when I got back at 9:00 had 12.00. After sharing my chocolate chip pumpkin bread with the rest of the weary, hungry runners ...

I decided to head out for yet a third trip around the lake. I stretched it out on both the west and east sides and finally called it quits at 16.10 miles. GOOD ENOUGH. DONE. Then I went home for a warm bowl of oatmeal and a warm shower. : )

Casey asked for the low-fat pumpkin bread recipe. Here 'ya go:

1 c. packed light brown sugar
2 large egg whites
1 c. pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)
1/4 c. canola oil
1/3 c. plain low-fat yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 metal loaf pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour.
2. In large bowl, with wire whisk, combine brown sugar and egg whites. Add pumpkin, oil, yogurt, and vanilla extract; stir to combine.
3. In medium bowl, combine all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture; stir until just combined. Do not overmix.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. Cool in pan 10 minutes. Invert pumpkin bread onto wire rack; cool completely.

NOTE: I added mini chocolate chips to the batter. Also, I baked it for more than an hour (and it still collapsed).

Some sort of soup sounded "souper" for supper. : ) So it was Golden Winter Soup, a Cooking Light recipe. Butternut squash, potatoes, leeks, chicken broth, s/p, FF 1/2 and 1/2. I added a little nutmeg.

Then a broiled slice of baguette with Gruyere on top and it was good to go. Good indeed. Totally hit the spot.

We still REALLY need volunteers (course marshals) for LUABC on 2/14 (Lace-Up Against Breast Cancer 5K and half marathon). Please consider volunteering if not running. Volunteers can contact Sarah Shonyo . We'd be ever so grateful for your help. We need runners too. Information on all aspects of the event is available on the LUABC website. Thank you.

Here's my quote for the day: "“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.” — Winston Churchill

Happy trails.