So Thankful... Now Take a Drink.

Turkey Day is upon us... let's have a moment of silence for the 85 million turkeys that gave their lives so we can feast on Thursday. 

Okay, now let's talk about something more fun... like booze.  Thanksgiving boozing to be more precise.  A coworker* sent me the link to this fun Thanksgiving drinking game.  And what better way to make the best of the inevitable awkward moments that will take place?  For the full set of rules, click here.  These are my favorite.

1.  When someone refers to the turkey as moist... TAKE A DRINK!

2.  Someone asks for an unreasonably large piece of pie**... TAKE A DRINK!

3.  Someone actually eats the canned cranberry sauce... CHUG YOUR WHOLE DRINK!

4.  Someone brings a "raw", "clean eating", or "paleo" side dish***... CHUG YOUR DRINK!

5.  Someone asks a personal question you'd rather not answer... CHUG YOUR DRINK!

Why do people think this is okay?

6.  Someone actually says, "Gobble Gobble"... CHUG 2 DRINKS!

7.  Someone unbuttons their pants... TAKE A DRINK!

8.  Someone takes off their pants... CHUG 2 DRINKS!

9.  You're forced to awkwardly say what you're thankful for...  CHUG 2 DRINKS!!

10.  Someone (and maybe it's you****) eats 5 or more rolls...  TAKE A DRINK!

I am thankful for so many things this year, not the least of which is boozing on Thanksgiving.  Hope ya'll have a happy happy turkey day!  Gobble Gobble!


*My coworkers are awesome.
**That would probably be me.
***How about vegan/gluten free?
****It is.

Top It Off.

People, I have to tell you something.  I love to eat.  Did you know that?  I love food.  I love to talk about it, read about it, watch it on TV, look at food porn on Instagram, pour over cookbooks while drinking wine.  Food is my jam.  For real.

I just thought you should know. 

So here's some food talk.  These are 10 of my favorite condiments... the spreads and sprinkles that really rev my foodie-engine.

1.  Peanut Butter.  At any one time you will find about 5 different brands or kinds of peanut butter in my casa.  We all love it.  BUT, a life-altering event happened this weekend when I made my own peanut butter in the Vitamix.  I may never buy peanut butter again.

Nutter Butter.

2.  Green Tabasco.  I have always been a Tabasco fan, but when I discovered the green version, I was in love.  There is not a lunch I eat that wouldn't benefit from this green juice.  Plus it makes guacamole sing. 

Wacky Tabaccy.

3.  Nutch.  AKA Nutritional Yeast.  These cheesy flakes add flavor and texture to sauces, salads, and soups.  This is another condiment that I find goes well with just about everything.

Nutch.

4.  Stockyard BBQ Sauce.  This sauce is local, gluten-free, and tastes amazing!  It's a little sweet and as thick as molasses.  Amazing.

Gooey Dreamy Yummy.

5.  Gulden's.  In life there are ketchup people and there are mustard people.  I'm on team mustard.  And I only buy Gulden's.  This spicy brown mustard has been putting pizzaz on my sandwiches since I was a kid.  I've got serious Gulden's brand loyalty.

I love you, mustard.

6.  Tamari.  Tamari is gluten-free soy sauce.  They can be used interchangeably.  I love tamari in sauces, dressings, or just sprinkled over dinner. 

Tamari Love.

7.  Siracha.  Seriously, who doesn't love siracha sauce???  I always put a bottle out in class for the kids to use and now they are addicted too.  One mom told me her kid was insisting that she buy the "rooster sauce" and she had no idea what he was talking about.  Mix this spicy sauce with the tamari above if you are looking for serious flavor.

Hot!

8.  Pumpkin Butter.  Okay, this is a seasonal one, but I've been eating so much I felt I had to share.  This stuff is amazing spread on toast, mixed into oatmeal, stirred into yogurt, or in place of the jelly on a PB&J.  It's amazing.  And only available for a limited time.



Pumpkin Butter.

 

9.  Trader Joe's Goddess Dressing.  This is my fave for veggie dipping.  It has a really unique, almost Asian flavor.  I like it... a lot!

Oh yeah!

10.  Trader Joe's Hummus.  There are so many to choose from!  I love the classic, but sometimes have to mix it up and try one of their many flavors.  However, who knows what will happen once I nail hummus in my Vitamix.  Hummus may go the way of peanut butter.

Oh how I love you!!!

What are your favorite toppings, sauces, and condiments? 

The Dirty Lou

We were in St. Louis this weekend for the at-home reception from the wedding we went to Hilton Head for.  Can we just talk about how super-fun St. Louis is???  I have so much freaking fun every time we're there.  Love that town!  Here's 10 pics from our weekend adventure.

Dressed up!

The group.  We're all super fun.



Scenes from the dance floor.

The Groom.

Getting our K-S-U on.  And please check out Alexis in the back.

More dancing.

Ummm.... dancing?

The bride & groom.

The cab ride home... our cab was decked out in strobe lights and I thought we were on Cash Cab.



The bar we ended up at instead of going back to the hotel.

For real, we had a super fun weekend.  It helps that Drew has such a fun group of friends and all of their wives/girlfriends are just as cool. 

Happy Tuesday!

Books!

I don't always find the time to read like I wish I would.  But here are ten books I've read this year.

1. Blood Bones and Butter

Yummy.

While Googling this book I found out it is going to be a movie!  Starring Gwyneth Paltrow!  So regardless of what I have to say about it, you know you should read it!  In case you are wondering, it is the memoir of a gal who refers to herself as a "reluctant chef".  It made me want to travel to Italy and do nothing but eat. 

2. Kitchen Counter Cooking School

Learn to Cook.

I was so excited to find this book.  I read Kathleen's first book The Sharper Your Knife The Less You Cry and I loved every juicy detail of her adventures at culinary school in Paris.  In this book she teaches real people to cook.  It was so wonderful and actually inspired some new lesson plans for me.
 

3.  A Dogs Purpose

Puppy Love.

I originally thought this was just a collection of fantastic dog stories surrounded by the idea that a dog has many lives.  But when I finally realized the connection, I just died.  And hugged my puppies.  It is so good.  If you have crazy-dog-lady tendencies, you really need to read this book.
 

4.  Racing Weight

Run run run.

Meh... I checked out this book during my hard-core training phase before Chicago.  It was interesting, but I was kind of turned off by the way he hated on runners in comparison to other athletes like triathletes.  I wasn't a fan.
 

5.  Silver Linings Play Book

Read this right now!

Oh my goodness.  I know you've seen the movie... who could say no to Bradley Cooper and Jennifer Lawrence???  But the book is 1,000 times better!  We listened to the audio book on our way to South Dakota and both Drew & I absolutely loved it.  So entertaining.  Read it!
 

6.  Tao of Martha

I ♥ Jen & Martha

I've always loved Jen Lancaster.  And I'm accepting that as she gets more famous and less bitter her writing will also change.  This book isn't Bitter is the New Black or Such a Pretty Fat, but it was pretty dang fantastic.  It made me smile and even cry.  I continue to love Jen.
 

7.  Kara Goucher's Running for Women

Love Kara!

Kara Goucher is my running inspiration.  She's amazing and wonderful.  I didn't find a ton of new information about running in this book, but I was obsessed with and in love with the stories she shared from her running career.  She's so wonderful.  And I think if you are a newbie runner, you should absolutely check out the book for it's straight-forward advice and information about running.

8.  Born to Run

Born to run.

I loved this book!  It is full of all kinds of history about running and also features my favorite vegan/ultra-marathoner Scott Jurek.  It was so inspiring!

9.  The Beauty Detox Solution

OMG.

I cannot believe I'm admitting that I actually read this book.  I can't believe I made it through the entire thing.  I couldn't put it down because I was so intrigued by what crazy thing this gal would say next.  She writes about a diet and lifestyle that will lead you to your most beautiful self.  It's basically an extreme vegan diet mixed with colonics and bizarre food pairings.  I thought it was mostly BS.  But, that's just me.

10.  Salt Sugar Fat

Holy moly.

Oh wow.  This book is fascinating!  It's all about the evolution of the food industry and how they've shaped the way Americans eat.  It is full of food science, history, and stories from industry insiders.  There was a section about how Home Ec teachers were the biggest opponents of the industry's push of convenience foods in the 1950's and how the food industry got us on board with their products.  I was horrified.  A lot of the book horrified me.  And made me hungry.  I absolutely stopped to buy chips after reading about the scientific formulation of Lays.  What an idiot.

Okay, looking at this list I realize that almost everything I've been reading has been non-fiction.  What novels should I add to my list?  I need more stories and less science.

Hilarious Marathon Signs

I've never seen such hilarious and motivating signs as I did during the Chicago Marathon*.

Here are 10 great signs that any runner would love to see during a race course.

1.  Worst Parade Ever.



2.  Kim K.

3.  Chuck.

4. People love to talk about poop.



5.  Kicking Ass.

6. I think Nike stole this one from me.

7.  That's what she said.

8.  I can never hear that enough.

9.  This is my go-to for race spectating.

10.  Kenyan signs are always motivating.

I will tell you that one of my fave signs in Chicago* was one that read, "I don't do marathons, I do a marathon runner."  That guy was my hero.

*Yep, still talking about it. :)

The Chicago Marathon

I don't know that I actually have words to describe my Chicago Marathon experience.  Euphoric might be the closest I can get.  I have never in my life felt this way during a race.  Runner's high doesn't even come close to describing it.  The experience was magical.

 

Race day started out pretty typically.  I woke up, ate breakfast, and went in search of coffee.  We'd been told there would be coffee and donuts in the lobby before the race.  We were lied to.  Luckily, there is a Dunken Donuts on every corner in Chicago.  So we didn't have far to go. 

 

Britt and I took our coffee up to our room where we stretched and warmed up in the hallway in order to let the boys sleep a bit more.  The whole hotel was buzzing with racers and spectators.  We ran into a man in the elevator who was bringing coffee to his wife.  He said he thought he might be more nervous than she was.  So cute.  A man from the room next to ours departed while we were warming up and we ooohed and ahhhed over the A on his race bib.  Corral A is for the fastest runners.

 

Eventually we made our way departure and headed toward the race start.  Only runners were allowed in this year.  Security was tight, with bag checks at the entrance.  After we got into the area we took some pics, checked Britt's bag, and got in line for the porta-potty. 

 

I ♥ Chicago.



Oh so excited!!!

We were both walking into the porta-john and closing the doors when an announcement came over the speakers paying tribute to the Boston Marathon victims.  We were asked to partake in a moment of silence... I was as silent as you can be while squatting in a porta-potty.

 

Next we made our way to our corral.  There are two start waves of the marathon (because there are SO many people).  We were in the 7:30 start, in corral C.  Our plans were to stick with the 3:35 pace group for at least the first half of the race.  That did not happen.

 

The corrals closed at 7:20, which is about the time we slipped through the gate.  With over 3,000 people in corral C, we were kind of stuck in the back.  You had to have a qualifying time to get into this corral though, so most of the runners were running a fairly similar pace. 

 

When the gun went off at 7:30, we were off.  As off as you could be in a sea of 3,000 people.  We had a ways to walk, but I was surprised at how quickly the people spread out after we made it past the starting line. 

 

Immediately this was like no other race I've ever run.  There was such an energy from the runners, from the crowds, and from the city.  It felt amazing.

 

We quickly fell into a comfortable pace.  Because of the large number of runners, we were a bit behind on our mile splits from the start.  We were shooting for an average 8:12 pace, but I quickly realized that my watch wasn't in sync with the course.  Luckily I had snagged a pacing tattoo at the expo that listed every mile split.  So we decided to go with that.  I stopped looking at our average pace and paid attention to how far behind we were at each mile.  Slowly we crept closer to where my tattoo told us we should be.

 

From the get-go, I was sure I was going to have to pee.  It was in the back of my mind from mile 1.  I eventually decided that I was not going to miss a BQ because of a porta-potty stop, and I resigned myself to peeing my pants at some point in the race.  You hear about people doing it all the time.  So I decided eventually I would be one of those people.  Gross.

 

The first half of the race flew by.  We ran through so many beautiful neighborhoods, and the crowds remained huge.  There was so much cheering, singing, dancing, music, and hilarious signs, I didn't have time to feel tired or to worry about the race.  Somewhere around mile 11 I remember thinking that I felt great, but that we had a looooong way to go.  I think that was my only negative thought the whole day.

 

Around mile 13 we saw Britt's husband Scott.  I was concerned that Drew wasn't with him, but it turns out Drew was a few people ahead and I just missed him.

 

That's me excited to see Scott... where is Drew???

I honestly can't believe we even saw them.  There were close to 2 million people spectating that day.  So it was cool that the boys were there and that we saw them!

The next several miles are where things got... crazy.  In my head at least.  I hit a serious runner's high.  I thought maybe someone had laced my GU with crack.  I was in another world.  I kept telling Britt how much I love her or shouting things like, "THIS IS IT!  THIS IS OUR DAY!"  I may have also confessed my love for the city of Chicago several times. 

I couldn't stop smiling.  Everywhere we ran, there was so much energy.  We would run past music pumping and we'd start singing and dancing.  Every time I saw a camera man I'd run up to him, throw my hands in the air, and smile.  Seriously, check it out.

We saw the boys again at mile 17.  This time both were there, so I was reassured that Drew hadn't been kidnapped by the Chicago Mob.

There we are!

Running on crack.

Aren't matching outfits the best?

And there we go.

I believe it was mile 16 when I looked down at my watch and busted out in a huge smile.  Britt asked and I told her we were 12 seconds ahead of where we were supposed to be.  I knew we were going to make it.

Don't pee your pants!

We continued to knock time off of our splits.  But at mile 20, I started to worry.  Scary things can happen to you after that distance.  I knew that one or both of us could hit the wall at any second.  I continued to fuel and keep my mind positive.  My legs felt great. 

We plugged away at the final miles, and they came and went as fast as the others had.  Once we made our final turn toward the finish, I knew we were going to make it.  We started to push the pace.

The crowds continued to grow as we approached the end.  Music played from every direction.  At mile 25 we were hit by a wave of people singing Sweet Caroline and we gladly raised our hands and sang along with the "BUM BUM BUM!"  I will forever think of mile 25 of the Chicago Marathon whenever I hear that song.

It was around this point that we passed a gal who had clearly peed her pants.  It made me grateful that I hadn't had to go there.  Because it wasn't pretty.

As we pulled into the finishers shoot, Britt and I grabbed hands as we finished the most amazing race of our lives, together.  I'm not a crier at the end of a race, but this was definitely the most emotional I've ever been.  I can't tell you how much it meant to me to finish (in 3:34:07!) with Brittney.  We've spent so many countless hours together on the road or on the track.  And it was amazing to hold her hand as we qualified for the Boston Marathon together.

After we stopped running, I was immediately hit with the all the pain and fatigue that had been masked by whatever mind-altering drugs had been slipped in my Gatorade.  I limped my sorry ass along as we gathered our snack bags and bottles of water. 

Goose Island had a stand with the friendliest folks handing out cups of 312 beer.  The thought of beer kind of made me gag, but I took one, just in case.  One sip (after a month of sobriety!) and I was back in my happy place.   We made our way to the bag pick-up and as Britt stood in line to claim her things I plopped down on the ground, soaking up the sun, sipping brew, and basking in the glory of our accomplishment.

We took some fun pics at Buckingham Fountain and swapped war stories with other runners.  It was amazing to see all the people who travel from around the world to this race.  Runners have the best stories.

We did it!!!

We are huge dorks!!!

Eventually we made our way out of the runners' area and found the boys.  They were oh so happy for us and patiently listened to us retell the entire race for them.  They put up with so much. :)

We each enjoyed another 312 and I'm happy to say that I was good and drunk after 26 miles and 2 beers.  What a great way to celebrate our accomplishment!

Cheap Date!

Drunk Girls.  Drunk Boston Qualifiers.

The Chicago Marathon was hands down the most amazing running experience I have ever had.  I don't know that I'll ever have another experience like it, but I can tell you that I will spend the rest of my life chasing that feeling. 

If you've ever considered running a marathon, please consider Chicago.  I've always heard about how cool big races are, and I have to say I didn't expect it to live up to the hype.  It more than exceeded the hype.  It was incredible.  I would do it again in a heartbeat. 

Happy Running!