Arm Wrasslin

Yesterday was a great day. It started out right with a long run with El. We planned on running for an hour and a half or so and ended up doing 2 1/2 hours, 17.5 miles, 1800 feet of elevation gain, followed by a steep power hike up a nearby trail. Training training training! I planned on having a nice relaxed evening, early to bed, a couple glasses of wine....then my friend came over and convinced me to go to an arm wrestling tournament that didn't even start until 10:00 (a good 30 minutes past my bedtime). We dressed up and rallied and had a blast. That is the most partying I have done in as long as I can remember. I only made it to round 2, but I was psyched!

My saucy diggs.

Round 2 facing off with Kitty Krusher. I hung on for a long time, but couldn't beat her. There were some really strong ladies in attendance!

Awesomeness.

Catherine ?, Meghan "Phoenix" D, me "Rockin' Rhonda", and Kathleen "Head Huntress" Jones

Selah Videos - Climbing, playing

Here are some videos of Selah playing. She loves climbing on stuff, including a small rocking chair she has in her room. Today I found her not only standing on the armrests but with a leg up on the back or top of the chair, trying to get into a shelf.

Pictures

I took Selah in for her well baby check this afternoon and here are her latest stats:
length: 27.5", 25th percentile
weight: 16 lb 9oz, 5th percentile
head: still huge

She is going down in the percentiles but the doc isn't worried at all. She is a busy little bee and just a bit slender. She got an A+ for health today.



Nice hair.


Sunsets are one of the reasons we love this place.


Daddy and his girl.



Mike, S, and Margie on a walk. She left yesterday and we're so sad!

"That's enough recipes...

I want more pictures of my Selah!" -Grandma Margie

My mom also thought she was going to die with 4 weeks of no Selah pics. Here you go, Grandmas!

Selah and mom at her awesome Christmas party in December.

Stef and I all dressed up.

Selah Claire in her new bike helmet.

Mama loves.

Selah's new teeth in December.

Now she has 6 teeth, this was taken a few days ago.

Grandma Margie is here for the weekend. Yeah!!

Selah Messing Around

Here's a random Selah video. She loves digging through the drawers and cupboards of our house.

Another yummy recipe

If you tried the pasta dish I posted last week and have extra arugula around, here is a delicious, simple, and super easy way to use it:

Radicchio Arugula Spaghetti

2/3 box whole wheat spaghetti
1 package Prosciutto, chopped (I added this to the original recipe)
4 T. olive oil
2 T fresh thyme leaves
3 large cloves garlic
1/2 radicchio, thinly sliced
2-3 cups arugula, roughly chopped
juice of 1 lemon
1 c fresh parmesan
salt and pepper to taste

Boil spaghetti according to directions. Save 1 mugful of starchy pasta water for the sauce before you strain the pasta.

While the pasta is cooking, brown the prosciutto, remove from fry pan and set aside. Add olive oil to pan, then add thyme and garlic. Simmer on medium heat until very fragrant, about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, place radicchio and arugula in a large bowl, squeeze in the lemon juice and pasta water and toss. When spices are fragrant, add them to the greens along with the pasta and parmesan. Mix and enjoy.

Running and Race Schedule

This past weekend was the lottery drawing for entry into the Wasatch 100 mile trail run. There were 272 spots for 383 applicants and I, unfortunately, was not a lucky entrant. That does mean that I am freed from the burden of having to decide which Hundy to do this year, as I had it narrowed down to 2 choices. Tahoe Rim Trail is the winner!

Now I just have to confront my self doubt and believe that I can actually finish the race. I know success is dependent upon my state of mind and that will be my biggest challenge by far as I work toward this goal. Right now, I consider myself pretty out of shape and I have a lot of work ahead. My IT band was inflamed for nearly a month after the Vegas marathon, so I had to take it easy. Workout options in this small town are somewhat limited in the middle of winter: the nearest pool is 30 minutes away (with a full time job and an infant, I don't think so...), biking on the ice is not ideal, I'm too cheap to buy a membership to the one gym in town, and I would rather rub salt in my eyes than ride the bike trainer inside. So, I stuck to running much less than normal, maybe 10-20 miles/week. The last few weeks have been better and I'm now up to my regular 40 miles/week, but it doesn't feel very easy and I haven't done a run longer than 9 miles since the marathon. Alas, it is really okay and I'll be in shape by the time the first race rolls around.

Here is the official race schedule for the year (subject to change, of course):

April 17th, Desert RATS 25 mile: I've done this race 3 times in the past, '06, '07, '08 (I watched with 3 week old Selah in the Bjorn in '09). My goal is break my PR of 4:38.

May 1st, Collegiate Peaks Trail Run 50 mile: This was my first ultra ever in 2007. My goal is to break my 50 mile PR, 10:31.

June 26th, Seattle 1/2 marathon. Mike is doing the full marathon and I get to push Selah in the Chariot. I consider this a just for fun race. Hopefully, we'll be able to hook up with our friends Joe and Heidi while we're up north.

July 17th, the big one! Tahoe Rim Trail 100 mile. Goal? finish without dying :)

October 17th, Denver Rock n Roll Marathon.

December 5th, Las Vegas Rock n Roll Marathon. I did the 1/2 at 22 weeks pregnant in 2008 and this was my first "official" marathon in 2009. My goal is to break my marathon PR of 3:30.

It's going to be a big year!

Del.i.cious.ness

I've made 2 new recipes of late in an effort to spend more time in my kitchen. While I appreciate the fact that my job provides three squares a day, I realized that I was feeling: 1. I live at work (which I guess I do), 2. I love to cook and miss it, and 3. I make healthy, tasty things.

They are both adapted from Rachael Ray recipes. I never follow a recipe very well, so I wrote them out as I made them, not as the originals were. If you make one, please let me know what you think.

Chicken Pot Pie (If this is not a husband/child pleaser, your eaters are too picky:)

• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, poached and shredded or diced
  
• 1 onion, chopped
  
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
  
• 1/4 pound button mushrooms, chopped
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 russet potato, diced
• Salt and ground black pepper
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup milk
  
• 1-1 1/2 cups chicken stock
• 5 to 6 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves picked and chopped
• 3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 1 sheet puff pastry or pie dough, defrosted if frozen (I used Pepperidge Farms, no hydrogenated oils)
  
• 1 egg, lightly beaten with a splash of water

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

Poach chicken breasts. To poach, place chicken breasts in a pan and mostly cover with water. Simmer, uncovered, until meat is cooked through, about 12 minutes. While meat is cooking, cut up veggies and brown in olive oil. Season with salt and pepper. When veggies are cooked through, sprinkle with flour, toss lightly to coat, and cook for about a minute. Deglaze pan with white wine and add stock and milk. Return to a simmer and add peas, tarragon, mustard, and shredded chicken. Stir until sauce starts to thicken, 2-3 minutes.

Transfer to a casserole dish and cover with the pastry dough, trimming it as needed to cover the entire surface (a good way to do this is to put the casserole dish on top of the dough and trace around the dish with a knife). Make a few slits in the dough to allow steam to escape, then brush the top with the beaten egg.

Bake the pot pie until the filling is bubbling and the crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes.

____________________________________________________

Chicken, Tomato, and Arugula pasta toss

Ingredients:

• 2/3-1 lb. whole wheat penne
• 3 T olive oil
• 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, diced
  
• 2 t. poultry seasoning
  
• 3 large cloves garlic, minced
  
• 1 large red onion, chopped
  
• 2 pints grape tomatoes
• 3 T flour
• 1 c. red wine
• 1 c. chicken stock
• 2 cups fresh basil, chopped
• 3 cups arugula, roughly chopped
• 1 cup shredded Parmesan

Cook pasta as directed. While pasta cooks, dice the chicken and season with poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper. Heat olive oil in a large skillet, add chicken, and cook until brown on all sides. Add garlic and onion and saute until soft, about 5 minutes. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook about 5 minutes until the tomatoes begin to burst and release their juices. If they don't burst, break them open gently with a potato masher. Sprinkle flour over mixture and toss lightly to coat. Add red wine and chicken stock, stir, bring back to a boil, and cook a couple of minutes until slightly thickened. Turn off heat and stir in basil, arugula, and Parmesan. Serve.

Mission work

Thanks to Aubyn, I discovered failblog.org. While I try to limit my blog to personal stuff (really, it's all about ME!), I just could not resist posting this.



Oh, and I find out on Saturday whether or not I made the lottery for the Wasatch 100!!

More Sledding Video

Some sledding video from this past weekend.

Selah at the basketball game

Big Day with Daddy by Selah

On Saturday Daddy and I got to spend the whole day together, allowing Mommy to go skiing with friends.

The night before Daddy made the mistake of not watching the clock and staying up until 11:30 reading. Well, I don't care when Daddy goes to bed because I like to get up around 6 no matter what. He keeps telling me that I need to learn about sleeping in on the weekends but to me a Saturday feels like any other day.

So, Daddy got up with me at 6:15 but instead of making coffee he shut the door to my room and lay on the adult bed in my room while I played by myself. It was fun because Daddy fell asleep and I could do whatever I want, like chew on used baby wipes and other trash out of the trash can in my room. Then Daddy woke up and he made coffee that our friends in London sent us. Daddy likes his quiet time to drink coffee, wake up and read the newspaper online. I like tormenting Daddy by trying to find trouble like eating paper and pulling things off shelves and hitting the keys on Daddy's keyboard. You know, that's what babies do.

After breakfast and my morning nap we started by playing inside. I love chasing my Daddy around the house and then letting him chase me. He's pretty fast but I think it's just because of his long legs. I also rode my Strider bike around the house and helped Daddy organize CDs. I couldn't figure out why he kept putting them on a spindle because you can only see the top one. It makes more sense to dump them on the floor so you can see what you've got.

I also helped Daddy trim his climbing skins for his new skis. I like licking the soft hair on one side of the skin and putting my hand in the sticky glue on the other side. Later, I got a little upset because I was trying to eat the dirt out of the big potted plant in the kitchen but Daddy made it really hard to get to and I hit my head when trying to climb through the shoe shelf. Ouch! Why did Daddy have to make it so hard to get to the dirt?

Daddy wanted to go for a run but it has snowed over a foot in the last two days and it was still snowing heavily Saturday morning. So, he took me sledding instead. Daddy built a little hill of snow about 4 feet tall in our yard and I can go down it really fast on my new orange sled. I also like crawling around and eating the snow. I like to put my nose deep in the snow. Brrr! I also like to crawl under the big pine tree and try to eat dirt.


Sledding was really fun until Daddy thought it would be funny to throw me into the deep powder. It didn't hurt but it was really cold when I sank a foot into the snow and the snow caved in on me. That made me cold so we went inside and warmed up.
Then Daddy took me to brunch. He had eggs benedict and I had spinach, potatoes, ham, grapes, and melon. Daddy tried sharing his orange juice with me but I didn't really like it.

I was so tired from sledding and playing in the snow that I took a 2 hour nap after lunch.

When I woke up Daddy was all packed up for skiing so we drove to Sunlight and Daddy bundled me up for a trip up the mountain. It was off and on snowing while I rode in the kid carrier on Daddy's back. I like catching the snow with my tongue but the kid carrier has a hood so it makes it hard to catch the snowflakes. Daddy says the hood keeps me warm but I think I would prefer to catch snowflakes. After getting to the top Daddy zoomed down the fresh snow. I like it when he goes fast.

From there, Daddy took me straight to the high school where I got to see my first basketball game. Daddy dressed me up in a little basketball uniform so that I would fit in. We got there just in time for the tip-off of the boys' varsity game. At first I didn't know what to think about all those people in the gym and the loud buzzers. Eventually I realized it was fun to crawl around on the bleachers, play with toys and eat yogurt and banana. I also like all the attention I get. Everyone wants to see me because they know my Daddy from school. It takes forever for us to walk anywhere because everyone wants to stop and talk to Daddy and look at me. Sheesh people, haven't you ever seen a baby before?


At halftime Daddy bought me popcorn. After eating some popcorn I was playing with a tube of yogurt when it broke open and sprayed all over the bleachers and the hair on the back of a girl's head. Woops, I'm just a baby so what do you expect?

Daddy cleaned me up and then we moved to a spot where I could have more room to play. I started to get the hang of clapping on the bleachers when the crowd would clap to celebrate a good play. It was fun, especially because Glenwood, my Daddy's school, won.

Then, we met Mommy and some of her students at the Hot Springs Pool. It's the world's largest hot springs pool and I really liked it. One of the pools is 100 yards long so I had plenty of room to swim with my Mommy and Daddy. I like to kick my legs and try to swim. I also like it when Daddy plays motor boat with me and goes really fast in the water. It's also fun we he picks me up and down out of the water really fast. That's fun. I also like drinking the water even though I'm not supposed to.

Eventually I got really tired because I was at the pool until 8:30 and usually I'm in bed by 7:00. Mommy washed me off and made me a bottle. By the time I got to the car I had almost finished the bottle because I was so hungry. Then, Daddy says I fell asleep after driving just a few blocks from the pool. I was so tired that I didn't even wake up at the loud sound of the Wendy's drive-thru speaker.

At home Daddy carried me inside and rocked me to sleep with another bottle. I was so tired I couldn't keep my eyes open for more than a couple minutes. And, I should have been tired, it was a long day with my Daddy!
Selah Claire is 9-1/2 months old. This is her first blog post.