Chocolate Zucchini Cake: King Arthur Flour.

This is an idea for what to do with part of the Two Very Large Zucchinis sitting on my kitchen table.  I’ll be making pickles with the rest of it.

Though I’m not a huge fan of the cold, I try to appreciate the crisp air that autumn brings. The changing colors paint the landscape and the sunsets seem more vivid. I took a few photos on the drive home last week, and I’ll share them once I get them downloaded from the camera.

It’s a nice time of year to bake, which is what I’ll be doing this weekend. I have an order for eight dozen cookies, and then I have apples to use for apple conserve or butter, haven’t decided which.

I’ll be getting the house into the fall mood this weekend too: putting away the last of the warm weather clothes and bringing out the winter wear, extra blankets; making sure the holiday decorations aren’t buried somewhere in the basement.

I have some thoughts bouncing around my brain about beginning a new blog. Running To Sonoma would remain my running-life write space. I’m not sure if it’s the right place for all the rest of it, though, especially since I’ve gotten out of the habit of writing at all.

We’ll see.

I owe you a race recap (which may or may not happen, as the race was 6 weeks ago!). The short of it is – I made it, fastest time yet, and tk and jd and Charles Dinersign (did I get that right?) were there to greet me. It was truly awesome.

Since the Napa half marathon, I have taken a break from running, and have focused on cycling. Left heel pain is the reason, and it has gotten better the less running I’ve done. I even went out and bought a trainer. It’s all set up in the basement so I can ride inside when the weather outside is uncooperative.

It has been really freeing to go out on an early Saturday and/or Sunday morning and just ride, exploring roads that I’ve never even driven down much less biked down. My longest ride so far has been about 39 miles, and I hope to increase that soon, when I have the time.

As some of you know, I’m having surgery in a few weeks to correct a problem that doctors believe is the reason for the multiple miscarriages I’ve had. I’m trying to get in longer weekend biking while I can, because they tell me I need to take it easy for a while after that.

Anyway, that’s the 5 cent update! Linda, yes, I really do have scars, but they’re fading pretty quickly. Note to everyone – remember your Body Glide!

In flight. Adele in my ears, and two hours left to go.

Race day is Sunday. The past two months have been a bit of a blur, and yet, here I am. Life outside running has gone haywire since the May race. I began to write a few times, and then abandoned it. But now I have some time.

Where to begin? What have you missed? Well, there was the Lighthouse Run in June, the 10 miler where I forgot Body Glide and have some lovely scarring to serve as a future reminder. It was a hot, humid run, miserable really. I finished slower than I wanted.

Outside of that, training has been remarkably uneventful. Occasionally I would see a fox, coyote, or deer on my morning runs. One morning I heard helicopters on the way out; on the way back home, I saw smoke rising in the sky. That was the Monday morning of the Patrick Cudahy fire. Currently, I have some nagging pain in my left heel, which I attribute to worn out running shoes, kept on past their good life. Though I did get a replacement pair, I took this week off to make sure the heel has some time to rest up before 13 miles.

What else? Oh, I turned another year on my calendar. 33-years-old, about to run m y fourth half marathon. Who would have thought?

Our garden is in, and growing. I have pictures to share if I ever manage to get them uploaded! Four tomatoes have taken over the midsection – a tomato hedge. Also this year, we are attempting zucchini and corn, cucumber, radishes, carrots, three colors of bell peppers and two colors of eggplant. One jalapeño pepper plant, which is doing well. Raspberries. Along the house we have strawberries and three pear tomato plants. In the back of the yard are two chocolate cherry tomato plants. I really need to get canning this year, if I can master it.

Then there’s the matter of the miscarriages. I have been in consultation with a specialist, and we have done some testing which has led to scheduling surgery, about a week after I return from California. Uterine septum is the diagnosis, and so the “cure” (so to speak) is to go in there and resection it. And that’s what we’ll do. Or she’ll do, as I’ll be under general anesthetic. The whole thing has caused a bit of friction in the home; we’re both scared of certain things, and don’t always express that fear in a productive way. We’re working on it. Will the surgery work? (for me?) Only time will tell, but it seems to help others, so here’s hoping.

So this trip to Napa is my escape, my interlude from my daily life. I’ll collect a rental car at the airport, plug in the GPS and make my way to the tkjd compound in the Russian River valley, and catch up with those kids, and meet Charley for the first time! This year will be especially awesome, mostly because tk will be at the finish of the race – quite a welcome change from last year. And Ali will be there in spirit, since she’s stuck with her Real Life in the mountain states. 
Friday, I’ll join the rest of Team Wisconsin at our hotel in the afternoon, and maybe get out to a winery or two. Saturday, I’ve made a reservation for a group tasting/tour at Quintessa Winery on the Napa side of things, and several of us will venture over there.

Of course, then the race on Sunday. About my goals for the race, I am at a bit of a blank. If I had to choose some, they go in this order: Finish; uninjured; and faster than my last race. I suppose I aim for all three any time I race. I’m hesitant to assign a time goal, for fear I’ll fall short. There’s always time to decide on one, though. I’ll be running with the Garmin, which should be fun and help keep me focused.

Anyway, I probably have a dozen vignettes to write for you – the excitement I had with a rabbit trapped in our backyard, finding the foxes on our family bike ride, and then there’s the whole chapter about Scott and his obsession with obtaining a classic car which is driving me insane. Oh, and the weight loss struggle is always a good one – I seem stalled, hanging around the same number no matter what I do. Another story for another time.

if you are interested in supporting our race to find a cure for Crohn’s , just go to my fundraising page. The CCFA is a great organization, which uses 84 cents of every dollar donated for research, outreach and support programs.  And did I mention that your donation is completely tax deductible?

Thank you for donating – every dollar brings a cure closer!

Recommittment is this week. I’m on the fence, but I feel obligated to recommit.

In light of that, plans are in the works for another wine night at Vino 100 in Wauwatosa. Nothing is definite at the moment, but we will hold a raffle with all proceeds going to the CCFA.

Peggy is having a free car wash this coming Saturday, at Mo’s Southwest Grill on Capital Drive in Pewaukee, from 11am to 3pm. All donations go to CCFA. (Peggy needs volunteers to wash, so if you have some time, please come help!)

Also, Peggy has organized a raffle for a hot air balloon ride! Hot Air Balloon ride for 2, by Winddancer Balloon Company out of Waukesha – $10 a chance 3 for $25. Contact me for tickets.

Some team members have put together a beer tasting, which will be on May 30th. Tickets are $30 each, and include 10 beer samples. I don’t remember much else about that, but it will be in the Third Ward. I’ll try to get more details for all that are interested!

That’s just a little bit of what’s coming up in the next few months, before the race on July 19th. Time flies when you’re having fun!

That’s what I’m up to right now! This morning marked my fifth day in a row of running, -with no walk breaks-. This is a huge accomplishment for me, and I’m not sure where it came from, but I’ll take it.

All of my runs usually involve walk breaks. But since the half marathon, I’ve been trying to go without them, and succeeding. My goal, of course, is to run the Napa half marathon entirely, slowing down to walk only at water stations.

I would also like to run 60 miles this month, which I am on track to do. My mileage really suffered (and rightly so) in April, and while I don’t intend to push myself to “make up” that month, getting back on track would be nice.

So that’s what I’ve been up to. I have some photos that I want to put up at some point too, but I haven’t taken the time to download them off the camera. A few are from the weekend of the race, after which we went to the cabin. Another one is of the HUGE BUMBLEBEE that threatened to eat me after I came home from a run this week.

The Lighthouse Run is Saturday, June 20th, and I will be there! Denise and I are registered for the 10-miler. (No, we are not attached at the hip. Really.)

It’s nice to have another race on the schedule, between now and Napa. Ten miles at that time will be nice preparation for the slightly longer distance in wine country.

Since I was up this morning at 6:30, I decided to go for a small run around the block. 1.15 miles, just enough to test the waters, so to speak. In reality, I could have gone for more probably, because that distance felt just enough to be a warm up!

But I completed the one lap and came home as planned. I feel good now, and I want to stay that way! I do have a second blister, on the underside of my right big toe, that was giving me some trouble yesterday. It appears to have popped, and then reformed last night.

I’ll be taking the remainder of the week easy still, with Team Challenge training coming up on Saturday. Also, there is a session of Milwaukee Adventure Boot Camp earlier on Saturday morning, that I’d like to try out. I’ve been looking at it for a couple months, but haven’t committed yet.