Jonesing for London

I've got it bad. That feeling of hopeful longing that soon turns into a pang in my stomach, because I don't know how long it will be until I get back there. London, that is. Just a year ago, my room was cluttered with lists, piles of clothes, and vacuum storage bags in preparation for my semester abroad. I was also in the beginning stages of creating this here blog so that I could keep in touch with everyone back in the States. Even though I've been back for eight months, there are just times when I can't help but wish I still lived there.

A photo from my seats in Emirates Stadium

Yesterday was one of those days. For a fun family activity, we all decided to go see Harry Potter since my brother and my parents hadn't seen it. In one scene, Harry, Ron, and Hermione apparate to Shaftesbury Avenue. This was the trigger. I walked along Shaftesbury Ave. every single day to get to class, and just seeing it briefly in the movie made me long for some Café Nero. Then we went home, and lo and behold, Arsenal was playing Chelsea at Emirates Stadium. They showed a bird's eye view of the stadium and the surrounding area, and my brother paused the shot to try and figure out where the tube stop was and where we walked to get into the stadium when we saw them play in April. Tugging at my heart strings. Then, when I thought my longing was about to subside, we decided to go to the Pub for dinner. While it certainly doesn't have the character of the Exmouth Arms with the jukebox and blue icicle lights in the window, they do have Guinness on tap, and two of those sent me into a serious downward spiral of angst, desiring nothing more than a trip to Waitrose and some Chutney Raj. This morning, my mom came home from the grocery store, and she bought Nutella. Now this doesn't necessarily seem like a huge event, but Mom has never bought Nutella before, and the only time I have ever had Nutella was in London. On toast, with apples, or just out of the jar on a spoon, that stuff is delicious. The taste of it jogged memories of slathering the delicious spread on HobNobs that were mistakenly bought without the chocolate. To top it all off, walking downtown to the Caps game tonight, I see that they're putting in a Wagamama right by the Verizon Center, a sweet Indian fusion restaurant I went to soon after I arrived in London.

Don't get me wrong, I love being home. But the moments I realize that I'll never have the experience of studying abroad again definitely make me sad. Sure, I can go back and visit for a week, but it will never be the same as living in the center of the city, seeing shows on a weekly basis, going out to a new pub every night, and then rolling into bed with taxis whizzing down Farringdon Road outside my window, lulling me to sleep. The only thing to do now is see if anyone is hiring in London. Maybe I could get Hal's job as the administrative assistant at the ND London Center. Goes to show you how liberal ND gets across the pond. If that doesn't work out, if anyone's got a job opening in England give me a shout. I'm in a very vulnerable position right now, desperately wanting both a job and an excuse to go back to London.

Christmas Eve Gym Rush

If you're reading this today, I'm thinking that you've probably run out of excuses for disappearing from all of the family togetherness, and have resorted to reading this humble post on your smartphone while pretending to participate in the scheduled family activity. I justified my "me time" today with a trip to the gym because they have the sweetest elliptical machines. The Precor AMT is really much more than an elliptical - it's an "Adaptive Motion Trainer" which means that you do all of the work and it provides the resistance. It has a huge range of motion, and you can use it as a simple stair-stepper, a standard elliptical, or get your whole body going in a hybrid elliptical/gazelle motion. I got spoiled by these machines this summer, and while Rolfs has two of them, they are always taken. Hence I treated myself to 45 minutes of cross-training on this bad boy.

While I was blissfully chugging away on my AMT, I realized just how many people were at the gym on Christmas Eve. My gym is not that big and there are plenty of times when I go in and it's me, one white-haired golfer, and the guy who works the front desk. I just chuckled to myself thinking about all of the family gatherings these people were escaping - Cousin Eddie, Dirty Uncle Sal, or maybe even a Meet the Parents situation. Luckily I'm not escaping anything that outrageous, so I'll count my blessings. I also got to see this gem of a commercial, which made me think about my family down in Alabama. Merry Christmas. Roll Tide.

Why I'll Never Run a Marathon

One of my dear friends from high school, Ammer (who I've know for most of my life, really), texted me on Monday and asked me if I wanted to "chaperone" a trip to New York that her sister and friends had "planned". Naturally, I took her up on the offer, and thus thwarted any efforts for blog posts on Monday or yesterday.

Our charges, while being wonderfully bright young women,  had no expectations for their trip to the big city, and no plans besides taking the bus to and from New York. Ammer is a shamelessly meticulous planner, and while I've learned to "go with the flow" somewhat in college, I just function better if there is at least a bare-bones itinerary for my day. I don't care if that itinerary is "wake up, do nothing for a while, have dinner, and do more nothing," but at least there's a plan for all the nothingness. So we made a plan for the girls to see the big things - Times Square, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center - and then scheduled in some shopping and meeting up with some of our sophisticated city friends along the way, including my cousin J.

I am by no means the most accomplished runner in my family. One of my cousins is 25 and she has already run 6 marathons. Her sister, "J" for the blog, was a stud cross country runner for her college, just completed her first marathon, qualifying for the Boston Marathon (3:30 or under). J now lives and works in New York, and she and Ammer were best friends before my cousins moved to New York when we were all in middle school. I'll spare you all of the strange and coincidental overlap between my life and Ammer's, but we decided to meet up with J for lunch and catch up.

We met at a hole-in-the-wall Jewish deli by Madison Square Park, and after ordering our soups and sandwiches, J briefly mentioned the marathon she ran in the fall, but clarified that she isn't "cut out for distance races". I just looked at her and thought, "if you aren't cut out for distance races, then who is?" J just screams RUNNER as soon as you look at her - thin, petite, strong, and totally fit. She explained that she just wanted to qualify for Boston and say that she did it. But she also said that she had to take two weeks off from work leading up to the race, and since the marathon, she hasn't been able to run and it still hurts to walk up the stairs. Two reasons why I'll never run a marathon, and the inspiration for this list.

Why I'll Never Run a Marathon
1) The first guy to run a marathon died. Pheidippides.

2) I don't have time. 65 mile weeks are a huge time commitment, and I'm just not willing to sacrifice my social life or Top Chef to get my training done.

3) I run to stay healthy. It seems that everyone who runs a marathon gets hurt. Physically or mentally. People either can't run at all after the marathon because of an injury, or they don't even run the marathon because they get hurt during training. Then there are those who just get burned out. They get sick of training, tired of running. I still love running. I'm not willing to risk losing that just for a race.

4) Four hours is a long time.  It's a long time to do anything without stopping. I mean, if someone said, "Do your favorite thing in the world for four hours straight," I'd probably choose to sit at a bar and drink Guinness. But drinking Guinness for four hours straight is a comparable feat of physical prowess to running a marathon, since you'd probably end up like our friend Pheidippides. Frankly, the only person I know who could do it is Kevin, and Guinness runs through that man's veins.

5) Triathlon first. I'm a huge fan of cross-training. And if my cross-training was built right into my race training, I'd say sign me up! I'm much more excited about doing a triathlon than running a marathon, and it just makes more sense than running myself into the ground.

6) I won't do it alone. Agreeing to be a running partner in a marathon is like entering into a mini-marriage without the paperwork. I need someone who will talk when I need to talk, let me zone in with Lil' Wayne when I need a pump up, and will push me towards the finish line. A running partner sees you at your highest highs and lowest lows in a marathon. The perfect running partner is not something to be taken lightly.

This is all to say that I'm willing to be convinced. If you find me in a weakened state, say at the end of a half marathon during the endorphin high and say things like, "It's just like this, but twice," I'd probably say, "Hell yeah!" and then curse you on my sixteen mile training run. If at some point I have the perfect running buddy, a few triathlons under my belt, and all sorts of free time, and still feel like my race resume is lacking that quintessential marathon, then I might suck it up and do it. But until then, I'm perfectly content. In fact, I still love running, and I'd like to keep it that way for a little while longer.

TOMORROW: You made how many cookies today? Yeah, that many. It's Christmas y'all.

Winter Break...Finally

It's been a whirlwind of a week with final papers, exams, and far too many cups of coffee, but I'm finally home for winter break. The house is in prime condition for a good ol' fashioned family Christmas, complete with a monstrous 12 foot tree in the foyer. Little full, lot of sap.


NEWS: My roommate and I had been talking about running a half marathon over break, and we finally decided on the Naples Daily News Half Marathon on January 16. When we were running together a little more than a week ago, she mentioned that she wanted to run a race down there, but didn't want to do it alone. I had been bumming that my next opportunity to run a half wouldn't be until April, and I had no reason why I couldn't go. So I looked up flights and figured out my schedule and now we're going!

I'm definitely excited, but I think my biggest challenge will be doing my long runs leading up to the race in the cold, and then having to run the race when it's 75 degrees outside. I'm pretty resilient when it comes to running in the cold, but I'm a big fat baby in the heat - my body just doesn't respond well. I'm convinced that my body has a Pavlovian response to certain climates. I grew up as a beach bum, conditioned by my family to be wonderfully content lying in a chaise lounge in the sun for hours on end reading a book. Once I got to college and started running, I was so adverse to the idea of running on a treadmill that I would put on as many clothes as necessary to brave the Midwest winter winds just so I could get my workout in. Now, when the air is warm and the sun hits my face, I collapse as if Prof. Lockhart removed all of my bones. But if a brisk winter wind hits my cheeks, I get this automatic surge of adrenaline. The race starts early enough that I don't think I need to be too concerned about the heat, but it's definitely on my mind.

Despite my climate concern, I'm totally stoked about the race. Kaitlin is a great running partner, and the impending race will keep me on track during the season of copious cookies and bountiful booze. I have heard that beer is a good recovery drink though...

As a side note, I've got some goals/ plans for my break, so that I'm not a completely useless human being.

GOALS:

1)Apply for Jobs. All of them. Maybe even get an interview?

2) Cook. I'd like to get a few more quick recipes under my belt for next semester so that I'm not constantly eating grilled chicken and green beans on the days I'm short on time.

3) Read. I've got a few books on my list already, but any recommendations?

PLANS:
1) Christmas! Pretty self-explanatory. Lots of family. Lots of food. Lots of Christmas music. Lots of Scrabble.
 
2) San Francisco! I'm visiting my brother who moved out there in August, and he's been talking about it since we made the plans in September. I can't wait to drink all sorts of delicious wine, eat delicious food, and maybe get him to go for a quick jog with me one morning.

2)Naples Half Marathon! Or, running off all of the food I ate during the other two events.

Study Break

Finals are in full swing, which also means that people are getting creative with their procrastination. Some people clean, some people sporcle, but I go for runs in a snow storm and then write about it. Frankly, it's a win-win situation. I get to take a break from memorizing the conflicts between the Church and State in Europe and Latin America, and you get to do a little procrastination of your own by reading it. You're welcome.

You know that you've lived in South Bend for four years when you look at the weather and it's 31 degrees, but with windchill it feels like 18, and you think you should go for a run. You know that hell has frozen over (pun intended) when your roommate from California says, "That's pretty reasonable." Ignoring my better judgment, I bundled up and set out on a four mile trek through the Notre Dame tundra. This time I brought my camera and took pictures. I'm pretty happy with how these turned out, provided that the last few were taken after the outside corners of my eyelashes had frozen together and snow and ice had built up on my eyebrows like Jack Frost. 

I didn't even wear my watch yesterday since I knew that it was going to be somewhat of a slow-going treacherous run. None of the paths had been plowed and since it had rained the day before, there was this pleasant layer of ice underneath all of the snow that was still coming down. Fortunately, the fresh snow gave me some traction, but I was still pretty conscious of my footfalls. Maybe I need to invest in these. Or these. Or this. (click the links to see them). Happy procrastinating!

The road between campus and my apartment. The footprints are from two guys on the cross country team, which made me feel real legit.

The endless wind tunnel of South Quad.

God Quad. I tried to get this picture from Main Circle, but it was snowing so hard I couldn't see anything.

I run by this all the time. When it's as quiet as it was yesterday it always makes me think of how special this place is.

 

 

 

The Classiest Christmas

Despite it being finals, this is the best time of year. I'll give you some reasons why:

Kenzie's Birthday

There isn't a person who loves fun or Christmas more than Kenzie. Well, maybe Buddy the Elf, but he hasn't responded to our party invitations. She turned 22 on Thursday which was conveniently our last day of classes, so we had a bunch of our friends over to celebrate before going out to Michiana's Largest Dance Club, a seriously classy establishment. Needless to say, all of that birthday bliss and Christmas cheer resulted in a pretty stellar night.

"Study Days"
Or shall I say, sit around, watch Friends, order Jimmy Johns, and go to the mall days. I mean, I just passed in two huge papers and my first exam isn't til Tuesday, so I think that one day of the aforementioned agenda is totally deserved. At least that's what I'm telling myself.

Snowy Runs
You know that I couldn't spend a day in which I literally had nothing to do and not run. My roommate* Kaitlin and I bundled up and went for a run down by the scenic St. Joe's River. We didn't think about the fact that the path would be completely covered in ice and snow, even though Notre Dame Ave. still isn't plowed...oh well. Despite the mildly treacherous conditions, the sun was out and and we had a glorious run. I even brought my camera with the intention of taking a good blog photo, but I was in the zone and totally failed. Rookie Blogger Ooops.

*There are five people that I will refer to as my roommate at any given time. We have three adjacent apartments so we don't all live together Per Se, but we have all lived together at one point or another. We've recently determined that our main goal in life  is to open a gym in Denver with a Sweet Green next door. Kaitlin and Maggie and I are getting our personal trainer certification next semester, so we'll be totally qualified.

Classy Christmas

Every year, the boys host a lovely party which has come to be the highlight of the Christmas season. Everyone puts on a classy Christmas outfit, the boys make hors d'oeuvres, and we celebrate the season in style. Last night was our last classy Christmas, so we went out with a bang. The boys bought wine,  Kenzie made peppermint bark, and Scott made a delicious artichoke dip. I think we're well on our way to becoming real people who host real parties. I mean, we still had to have a sing along to Pursuit of Happiness (the remix of course), but we're making progress.

Doesn't get much classier than Deegs in a Santa hat.

Part II: Vanishing Gingerbread Biscotti

When it looks like this outside my apartment window,

The only thing that I want is one of these:

Gingerbread Biscotti dipped in Chocolate. If you're thinking, "Mmmm that sounds absolutely delicious," then you should go ahead and stop everything you're doing and make these. Like now. Seriously. If you're thinking, "I'm not so sure about the whole chocolate-gingerbread combo," then you should also drop everything and make these too, or at least try one from the batch that the people from the first group made.

My friends and I decided that in order to preserve our sanity during finals and to make sure we were properly reveling in the Christmas season, we would set aside a few evenings to make a Christmas cookie and listen to Christmas music or watch a Christmas movie. I decided to bake first since I was itching to try this recipe, and needless to say, it was a hit. One last picture before the recipe? Okay.

Gingerbread Biscotti
from Allrecipes

1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup molasses
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 tablespoons ground ginger
3/4 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.

In a large bowl, mix together oil, sugar, eggs, and molasses. In another bowl, combine flours, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg; mix into egg mixture to form a stiff dough.

Divide dough in half, and shape each half into a roll the length of the cookie. Place rolls on cookie sheet, and pat down to flatten the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.

Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool.
When cool enough to touch, cut into 1/2 inch thick diagonal slices. Place sliced biscotti on cookie sheet, and bake an additional 5 to 7 minutes on each side, or until toasted and crispy.

Once cool, dip one side in melted semi-sweet chocolate. Refrigerate until chocolate is hard. 

I personally think this is my new favorite Christmas cookie. The combination of the spicy, aromatic gingerbread and the smooth, semi-sweet chocolate is a crazy good balance, and nothing beats a cookie that you can get away with eating for breakfast with your coffee. Also, if you decide to take the time to do a prettier dipping job than I did - my friends weren't too concerned with the aesthetics - they would make for a beautiful little Christmas treat to package up in cellophane bags. Add Martha Stewart's Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti and people might start placing orders.

Part I: The Anthropology of Rolfs

It's finally winter here - snow is on the ground, Christmas decorations are up, and the South Bend permacloud has set in. That means two things: moving my workouts to Rolfs and making Gingerbread Biscotti.

Yesterday I went to the gym on campus since I had gone for a pretty long run Thursday and wasn't really feeling another cold run, but I hadn't been there to lift weights very recently since I had allotted the majority of my workout time to training for my race. I walked in, took off my coat and sweats, put on my headphones, and walked over to the lat pulldown bar to start my first circuit. During my first set, I realized that I was the only girl on that side of the gym - all of the other girls were across the gym using the cardio machines. Once I had that in my head, it felt like all of the guys lifting weights were looking at me as though I had eight heads or was some rare species encroaching on their territory. Clearly, the unspoken consensus in Rolfs is that girls do cardio and boys lift weights, and cross-training doesn't exist. This may be a reflection on the gender dynamics at Notre Dame or maybe I'm just misinterpreting innocent glances at my obnoxiously bright tie-dyed shirt, but after a brief poll of my roommates, it seems that I'm not the only one who has noticed this at Rolfs. The far side of the gym is totally intimidating because the gym-rat guys are always hanging around, looking at their biceps in the mirror more than they are actually exercising, and the gym-rat girls get miffed when some dude in on her favorite treadmill.

The point of posting this observation is not to whine or preach, but simply to say that girls shouldn't be intimidated by the weight room and guys could benefit from swapping a lifting day for a good treadmill sesh. I'm mean, I'm by no means Jillian Michaels, but this summer, her book Making the Cut taught me how to lift weights so that my cross-training was more effective - strength training actually improved my running - stronger legs and core made me faster with much more endurance. It's also true that no matter how much weight you're lifting, the only way to burn fat is to pump up your heart rate, so incorporating cardio into your workout will give you more definition and tone.

I feel like this is all interconnected with the ultimate goal of a healthy lifestyle. A balanced workout is part of a balanced lifestyle. Yes I prefer running to lifting, but I also prefer my Cinnamon Harvest Kashi to scrambled eggs for breakfast. A wise person said that variety is the spice of life, and I'm a total believer in that sentiment. Shake things up, try something new. You might find something that you really love, or it will just make the usual that much better once you go back to it.

Coming up: Vanishing Gingerbread Biscotti. It's that good.