Plagued by pain and frustration

First, let's get one thing straight: Mountain biking is my favorite sport. I love the challenge of it, I love how easy it is to see success and I love how, this year, I'm not crashing! Still...running has become my second favorite sport. I love to run alone on long runs, and I love running trails with Lynn and Elissa. There's something about just running and meeting each and every goal along the way that gets in your blood...the endorphins kick in, the adrenaline gets going, and you just feel so ecstatic...it's crazy and it feels wonderful.

It feels wonderful until, like me, you wake up the day after a long run with aching hips or shin splints...you get a sore knees 2/3 of the way through a run, or and this is the most bizarre, you wake up in the middle of the night with pain from a strained PELVIC JOINT. Yes. It's happened to me. Right now I'm dealing with some sort of tendonitis on the outside of my left ankle. It was getting better after 3 days of rest and then, like any runner, I went running. Let me stress that while running, my ankle did not hurt. I thought well great! It's getting better! Oh no. It was just toying with me. I woke up this morning and the pain was back, just as bad as Monday. Ibuprofen, ice, elevation...all seem to help a little, but MAN walking is painful. This is my foot, at my desk, in a slightly awkward position with a giant piece of ice under my ankle.



Look I understand that in running injuries are going to happen. I get that. It's a lot of pounding and blah blah blah. But do I have to get EVERY injury? Granted I only get them very briefly (the issue with my IT band lasted 2 runs), but still. It's frustrating when I want to train for the half-marathons and I can't.

On the other hand, it's a good excuse to go for some long bike rides! Maybe this weekend I'll bike here:


(Thanks for posing Tomas :))

I guess I just needed to rant. I've got a big bike trip coming up and more than anything I do not want this ankle to still be hurting. So I'll be good and I'll rest it and I'll sit at my desk in bizarre positions so I can ice it. Better to take a few days off now than a month off later.

Strawberry-Apricot Margaritas & Mahi-Mahi Lettuce Wraps

**I did not follow this recipe exactly. My substitutions are in italics! So this is my half-empty glass of strawberry-apricot margarita. It is refreshing and wonderfully cold in this 101 degree heat!

Strawberry-Apricot margaritas (originally just apricot margaritas)

1 & 1/2 cups of fresh apricots halved and pitted (or strawberries, or peaches, or any mix of these)
1/2 cup of tequila (or a little more)
2 tbsp of triple sec
1/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of apricot nectar (what I did as a sort of substitution for both of these was combine about 3 tbsp of sugar and 1/2 cup of water. I heated it on the stove until the sugar melted and then let it cool. I then added this to the blender.)
1/4 cup fresh lime juice or margarita mix
Fill the blender the rest of the way with ice. Blend until smooth. Of course you may need to adjust this to your taste with added sugar, tequila or fruit.

Mahi-Mahi Lettuce Wraps

For the fish: You can use Mahi-Mahi, Salmon, or even Tuna. Marinate the fish in a teriyaki marinade for about an hour. Grill over direct heat for approximately 5 minutes on each side or until it flakes easily. Flake it all apart on a plate or at least chop it up some so it's easy to put on your lettuce leaves.

For the condiments: You'll need easily wrappable lettuce leaves like the upper half of romaine leaves, butter or Bibb lettuce. Green leaf will work too.

Then create a plate of toppings like thinly sliced snow or sugar snap peas, cole slaw mix, onion, cilantro, and/or jalapeno.

If you can find it, mix some spicy peanut sauce with soy sauce for a great dipping sauce. Just plain soy will work too, or you can make your own mix with soy sauce, a little peanut butter thinned with water, and some cayenne pepper for spice.

Then you just assemble everything in a lettuce leaf and enjoy!

Apricot "wontons"

I chose this picture because I really think the rectangular "wontons" worked better than the triangles. This was a super simple recipe that could be adapted to any fruit in any season and probably could be done with several different types of pastry/crust/dough.

Ingredients:

eggroll wrappers (or wonton wrappers, or probably thinly rolled raw flour tortillas...)
about 1 cup of chopped fruit (peaches, apricots, cherries, apples, etc)
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp brown sugar
Powdered Sugar
Oil

Put the tbsp sugar in a small mixing bowl.

Heat a pan over medium high heat with the butter. When the butter starts to melt, add the fruit and cook just until the fruit starts to soften a little. Once this happens, pour the fruit and butter into the mixing bowl with the sugar. This might be a little soupy, but that's fine.

Rinse out your skillet, then heat oil in the skillet--maybe 1 1/2 inches deep? Not a full deep-fry, but not a pan fry...somewhere in between.

Lay an eggroll wrapper on a cutting board or hard surface. Place 1 1/2 tbsp of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold one side just over the filling, then fold in the ends and fold up the last side. Place the wontons in the pan, folded side down and cook for about 5 minutes or until brown on the bottom. Carefully flip over and cook a few more minutes until the other side browns.

Take out and drain on a paper towel. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream if you like.

I didn't measure and didn't write anything down, but I think this one will be easy to follow/figure out/re-invent!