Dine and [Dunecht] Dash recap. And new PR!

It has been two weeks+ since my last post; part of this is due to some major technical difficulties from Blogger (or Mozilla Firefox?), which has prevented me from uploading any photos to this post the last four days I've tried. I've finally had success using my husband's Macbook instead. The other reason is that I've been incredibly busy looking after three dogs for my in-laws while my husband jetted off to Portugal for a boys surf and camping holiday. He's now back and the dogs are now home again, so efforts to blog are becoming more realistic again. I'm on holiday next week from school, so hopefully this blog will be full of new posts about the many ideas I've got to write about.

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My husband has been saying for a few months now that we should try The Creel Inn, a restaurant in the tiny village of Catterline, nestled on the east coast of Aberdeenshire, between Stonehaven and Inverbervie. Like the many restaurants that scatter the east coast of Scotland, the Creel Inn offers fresh seafood an intimate and cosy seafood restaurant, with large portions of food that could be described as homecooking with a fine dining twist. Pat had been there for lunch and came home from work that day saying "The next time we go out for dinner, we have to go to the Creel Inn. It's your kind of place!" My kind of place? I'm in! We reserved a table for this past Saturday, and drove to Catterline, which is just off a main road but still seems remote enough to feel like you're in the middle of no where. The village itself was quiet, but the restaurant was alive! It boasts a pub and a sit down restaurant with a stone fireplace in the middle. The day's specials, as well as special beers, are written on a chalkboard at one end of the dining room. We spotted the seafood platter for two special of coconut and chili mussels, langoustines, salmon and rock turbot, and ordered that to greedily share.

It came with a side of thick cut fries (wedges?) and steamed snap peas and carrots. It also came with three delicious sauces: chili mayo, roasted red pepper and creamy herb.

There was so much food we couldn't fit it on the table! It was all amazing and fresh, and we were thoroughly stuffed, but somehow found room in our dessert stomachs for apple fritters served with homemade mixed spice ice cream. 

I thought these would be like apple fritters you'd find in North America or Germany: a kind of donut with apple, cinnamon, sugar and sometimes raisins, with either a glaze or cinnamon sugar coating. Instead, they were segments of apple, dipped in batter and deep-friend, then coated with cinnamon sugar. Different, but still delicious.

On the way home, we snapped a photo of the most dramatic clouds reflecting the sunset at dusk:

Why so much food? Well, we had a race the next day! After running a 'mixed-feelings' Balmoral 10km last month, I got the racing bug and researched local races to enter. Rachel had mentioned the Dunecht Dash, a 5km run around the Dunecht Estate in Royal Deeside, so after some quick googling, I entered myself and my husband Pat in the race. I hadn't done a 5km since February 2011, where I placed second in a field of five females, with a time of 29:59. The macho runner in me always thought 5km's were easy races for beginners and always went for the 10km option instead, but every now and then, it's a nice respite from hating 10 kilometers of race to only 5 kilometers. Very refreshing indeed!

The Balmoral 10km race recap

I’ve known about the Stenna Drilling Tartan 10 km, or as it’s popularly know the Balmoral 10km, for a few years now. I’ve always been intrigued with running a race around an estate, especially an estate which houses one of two residences of the royal family when in Scotland. Balmoral Castle was built in 1856 for Queen Victoria and Prince Albert in Aberdeenshire, and is in the region of Royal Deeside, aptly named for being on the side of the River Dee (hence 'Deeside'), and royal because of the royal family. If you're interested, the other Scottish residence of the Royal Family is Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh.

The house that Vicky and Al built

 There had always been two things preventing me from entering the race in the past: I was scared of the large monster of hill along the race route (for which the race has a reputation), and when I finally did suck it up and go to enter the race, it was always full! This year, I resolved I would run up that hill and finish the race, so I entered back in November of last year. Wendy from my running group followed suit, and so we began to run with the idea of Balmoral in the back of our minds. Fast forward to a month ago to when the race became full, and we were on the lookout for extra entries so Amy and Nanette, also from our running group, could join us. We were successful and so began our preparation.

We didn’t follow an actual, formal training plan, but decided every weekend we would run up Garvock Hill, a very large hill with an almost 600 foot elevation, to help us get ready to face the infamous hill in the race. We also ran up many hills around Laurencekirk as well, as if we couldn’t get enough. Leading up to the race, I had the common pre-race jitters. I hadn’t run a race since the Montrose 10km last June, where I PR'd on the flat course, and had been dealing with injury stuff for the rest of the year, so pushing distance and speed weren’t priorities at all. I had stuck within my comfort zone distance of 4-5 mile runs, and did a 6 mile run a week before Balmoral. In terms of stamina, I wasn’t well-trained and wasn’t sure how I would fare. Following the Run Balmoral’s website advice that this 10km course wouldn’t allow for PR’s, I set some realistic goals for the race:

1. Run the entire way up that hill! Especially after Rachel bet me an alcoholic beverage that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Stubborn me wanted to prove her wrong!

2. Run a faster second half, achieving one form of a negative split, (where your pace increases as the race progresses).

3. Run in under an hour.

4. Run the whole race.

  

Race day arrived, and Wendy, Amy and I set off on the 1.5 hour journey over the river, through the woods and hills of Scotland, past Aboyne and through Ballater, two very nice towns in Royal Deeside, up to Balmoral Estate. We had studied our information booklets in anticipation, so we were prepared for the around 20 minute walk from parking spot to race area we had to do. We were all full of nerves, and nervously chatted and munched our snacks on the drive up and during our walk to the event field. 

Myself with Amy and Wendy

Thankfully, the race didn’t start until 2pm, which allowed us to sleep in that morning, get enough food in our bellies, and gave us enough travel time. We met up with Nannette, who had gone early to watch her kids race in the 2.5km fun run, and us four Laurencekirk running ‘lassies’ set out to check our bags and wait for the race to begin.

On Boston

I write this post as someone who has never run a marathon and someone who has never been in as devastating a situation as the two explosions that went off at the finish of the Boston Marathon this past Monday. It is truly horrific what has happened and the impact it has had on the running world, never mind the city of Boston and the families of those injured and killed. This was done with the intention to hurt, to kill and to instill fear, and while initially that intention was fulfilled, it in turn created a reaction toreach out, to contribute and to come together. Just like the running and blogging world have done this past week. What is important is that we must continue to help and support in whatever way we can, we must continue to race, and above all, we must continue to run. The Boston Marathon will not cease and races will continue to take place. Above all, we must not stop running.

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Tuesday, we ran 6 miles for the first time in a very long time. It was tough but we did it. And really, after reading in the news that after the blasts, Boston Marathon finishers ran to hospitals to give blood, 6 miles is nothing to complain about. Onwards and upwards!

For a first hand account of a Boston 2013 finisher's experience, head over to Amy's blog for her initial reactions and feelings.

Skiing the Italian Alps - Part Due

Part two of two, (or due of due - pronounced 'doo-ay' - two in Italian) of our ski adventures! I know it's been a few posts since part one of two, but perhaps you can understand? I had an epiphany along the way, and rather than leaving it to percolate in my drafts folder for ages then lose the zest for writing it (which happens quite often), I decided to write about it when the inspiration presented itself. Success!

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Day 3 of skiing saw us try out new trails. When you buy a Courmayeur lift pass for 3+ days, you can use it at other resorts close by. We went to the La Thuile resort further down the road because a few people had recommended it to us, and because it had an interesting feature: it shared space with La Rosiere resort in France. I've skied in two provinces before at Sunshine Valley (BC and Alberta), but never two countries!

Skiing in two countries - source

The day started early as we caught an 8:15 am free skibus out to La Thuile. We were on the mountain and ready for action by 9:30 am but had to get away from the explosion of British tourists huddled together at the base of the mountain. We felt pretty confident going into our third day of skiing in a row, after a successful second day at Courmayeur. We stuck to the morning break, lunch, afternoon break routine, and covered a lot of ground in both La Thuile and La Rosiere along the way.

We also saw the Italian Alpine Military, or Alpini, going through some exercises:

It also seemed as though the scenery that day was a painting. So surreal!



La Thuile had great snow and groomed pistes, but some runs had flat sections that actually went uphill before joining with another run. Quite frustrating to deal with at first, but once you got to know the pistes more, it was easy to adjust then tuck and speed!

Just before lunch, we skied over to La Rosiere.

And encountered this on the way:

Welcome to sunny France

 Once we reached our destination, however, we were treated to this beautiful sight:

The Pros and Cons of #ThisBody

I know I said that I would continue writing about our Ski Adventures in the Italian Alps, but I've had an epiphany and need to get it out. Hopefully you'll understand?

Yesterday I went to the doctor for a regular check up. We went through my information, then I got weighed and had my blood pressure taken. Good news: no change in weight in two years, and my blood pressure is in a good range. I hadn't weighed myself in quite some time before yesterday, and had mixed feelings towards the result of 73 kg (or 160 lbs). At 5'7", 160 lbs isn't obese, but according to a BMI calculation of 25.1, I'm now in the 'overweight' spectrum. BMI isn't the be all and end all determinant for what is deemed a healthy weight: I look back to my weightlifting days, when I trained with girls who were much heavier than me due to their sheer muscle mass and their ability to lift well over 100kg (or 220lbs - 1kg = 2.2lbs). I also am very aware of my muscular build, and my husband and physio have told me I have muscular legs. I will never be someone with long and lean muscles, and I also know that genetics is a huge factor in how you put on muscle and what your muscle mass will look like. Both my parents have muscular builds; it's basically inevitable for me.

This news of weight led to some very mixed feelings, which one could see as the Cons of This Body:

This body needs to lose weight.

This body runs regularly, but has maybe hit a running plateau and needs to up the intensity in one, or more, ways.

This body has a small muffin top I get when I wear my jeans and work pants (trousers), of which I'm not that crazy about.

Then I started thinking about this more, and began putting things into perspective. Last month, Christine and a few other bloggers wrote letters of apology's to their bodies. They detailed the negative things they'd done to their bodies in the pursuit of fitness and thin-ness, how they sacrificed food and their bodies, resulting in injuries and sickness, and leading to further unhappiness. While I haven't deprived myself of food aside from a week of healthy and controlled-portion eating to begin to lose weight for my wedding, which ultimately drove me crazy and led to taking up running instead, and the whole I Eat Therefore I Run mentality, I have had negative thoughts about my body in the past, and even every now and then. I could've also written a letter of apology, but I choose to celebrate the things my body has done in the past instead. This tattoo of mine really does help!

Some of these next points would've featured in a planned post on 33 ways life has been good OR 33 reasons why I don't do bucket lists, but I found that sitting down to write that post was difficult because I felt like I was bragging. Instead, I'm celebrating how my body, in all it's postive and negative glory, has taken me to some pretty amazing places and helped me do some incredible stuff.

Or, in a more simple form, the Pros of This Body:

This body in the early years

This body hasn't gained weight in two years.

This body eats whatever she wants in moderation (and no fast food), and running contributed to that.

This body has remained the same clothing size since high school, fifteen years ago.

This body has battled nameless aches and pains for almost a year now, but was determined and never stopped running, and is now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. And also is seeing a really good physio therapist.

This body ran its first 10km in under an hour, (59:13).

I'm on Bloglovin!

As mentioned in my previous post, Google Reader is shutting down July 1st of this year. If you're a Google Reader user and aren't sure how to follow my wee blog after what is also Canada Day, a few suggestions would for you:

- Randomly checking in to see that I've published a new post

- Following me on Twitter to see when I've tweeted about new posts

- Suscribing to posts via email

- Being fortunate enough to be Facebook friends with me (one day, I Eat Therefore I Run will have its own Facebook page).

- And now, following my blog on Bloglovin

Bloglovin gives blog lovers one place to find all their favourite blogs. Once you've signed up, you search for you favourite blogs (by name or URL), Bloglovin finds them in their massive online database, and you simply click on 'Follow' to add your favourite blogs to your profile. Every new post from your favourite blogs feature in your home page, all you have to do is click on each one to read it. You can also install the Bloglovin App to your iPhon, and get notifications when your favourite blogs are updated. 

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Hence why I've got this interesting bit of HTML code...

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4756491/?claim=a7vkbbekjty">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

it's Bloglovin's way of letting me claim my blog.

So click on the Bloglovin widget on the right and sign up!

Back with the rest of my Italian ski adventure tomorrow, I promise :)

Skiing Adventures in the Italian Alps - Part Uno

Before I begin, I want to remind you that I Eat Therefore I Run is now self-hosted, meaning to get here, you just need to type in www.lovetorunandeat.com, simple!

Do you use Google Reader to follow this blog? You may already know that the service is shutting down as of July 1st, 2013, and will cease to exist. Another way to follow my foodie and running adventures is through Feedburner email subscription: simply enter your email address in the appropriate box on the right, and you will receive I Eat Therefore I Run posts straight to your inbox. This is what I use to follow the many blogs I read, quite handy actually.

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Anyway, greetings from about a three week hiatus, fellow eaters and runners! Apologies for my absence, I've been tired from a long term at work, and then my husband and I packed our bags and jetted off for a ski holiday to Italy last week.

My beloved, Italian made ski boots

This was a trip of many firsts for me: first time skiing in the Alps, first time going to Italy, first time in Switzerland, and being the plane geek I am, first time flying with Lufthansa. You see, to ski the Alps of France, Italy and Switzerland, no matter where, it seems Geneva is a central point to fly into. From there, you hop aboard your shuttle destined to whatever country/town/resort you've booked. We took the most possible rigamarole route to get there, flying from Aberdeen to Frankfurt, then onto to Geneva, only to catch a shuttle bus which would take us through France into Italy. Five countries in one day, how many passport stamps would one get? My husband and I were excited because we both assumed we'd get a Switzerland stamp on our passport with it not being in the European Union. Pat hasn't had a stamp on his passport since we went to Canada in 2010 because all the countries we've visited together since are EU countries (and if you're an EU citizen, like my husband, you don't get stamped). Sadly though, not only did we not get that Swiss stamp, but there wasn't even any passport control in Geneva! There were, however, many billboards for private banks displayed everywhere. Despite traveling through so many countries, the only stamp that was received was Germany. Disappointing, really.

We did, however, get a first glimpse of the Alps from the plane, poking through the clouds. Not at all disappointing.

We headed to Courmayeur, Italy, just over the boarder from France, in the Aosta Valley. We were staying in the little village of La Palud, nestled in the mountain above the town of Courmayeur, at the Albergo Funivia, 'an antique restored mountain house,' full of rustic charm and warming interiors. Elena and Vittorio, the owners, greeted us with a loud and friendly Hello! Welcome! all in Italian of course. It was fantastic to see their enthusiasm and passion.

The hotel is a small, 13 bedroom house that has been converted into a B & B. We both absolutely loved this place, and I would love to decorate my house in this style some day. The best parts of the hotel included the two sitting rooms for guests to lounge:

Our room was built into the roof of the hotel, so it featured some quirky slanted ceilings and a ladder to our window.

You could really see the attention to detail everywhere in the hotel. There were cute ornaments and decorative touches throughout, like this hook in our bathroom:

Enough about the hotel though, onto the skiing. The last time I'd been skiing was December 2011 in Scotland, on what was considered a day with good conditions at Glen Shee, although there were icy patches all over the place. The last time I'd been skiing in the proper mountains was sometime in 2008, one of many ski trips to the Rockies with my university friends before moving to Scotland. Those were good times.

The day started off in the dinning room with a satisfying breakfast consisting of the most delicious and smooth yet strong cappucino, fresh wholegrain bread from a local bakery in Courmayeur topped with Nutella, mueslie with yogurt, and a blood orange. Very satisfying and enough fuel to last until late morning.

Our first day at Courmayeur-Mont Blanc resort, which was also a crowded Easter Monday, was a combination of exhiliration, excitement, happiness and exhaustion. We picked up our ski rentals then took the Dolonne gondola up to the base of the mountain, ready to jump on a chair lift and warm up our legs after over a year of not skiing.