Renewed Love of Running

Mid January last year I suddenly had a "great" idea.  I was going to run the GO! St. Louis Half Marathon.  What a great goal to set for yourself, right?  The thing is I hadn't been exercising at all.  I threw down the challenge for myself to go from couch to half marathon in 11 weeks without much thought.  I was an avid distance runner in high school and competed in track.  I loved running back then and was pretty good at it so I thought getting back into it would be a piece of cake. Yeah, right.

I found a training program online and set out to start training (I totally ignored that the training program said you should be able to run at least 4 consecutive miles and be logging 8-12 miles a week before starting.) As if running my first half marathon wasn't enough I decided to set a time goal for myself.  I wanted to run the half marathon in 2 hours (yes, I may have been a little crazy)  Every other day I would lace up my shoes, strap on my watch and set out on my runs.  I would need to run around 9 min miles to finish in 2 hours so I was constantly obsessing over the little numbers on my watch as I ran.  Speeding up or slowing down as need be, pushing myself to the limit.  Since I had been getting practically ZERO exercise before this endeavour training was HARD.  My body hurt.  My shins ached. My knees throbbed.  I got more blisters on my feet than I care to remember.   But, I had set a goal and was determined to achieve it so I ran on.  

 Before I knew it training was done and it was race day.  I was fortunate to have my brother and Dad running the half marathon with me. They helped put my nerves at ease and gave me great pointers for my first half marathon.  I'm not going to lie, the race was kind of overwhelming.  The hoards of people, the pushiness of other runners, the heat that day. I had been training in cold Missouri Winter and early Spring temperatures.  However, on race day there was a heat wave and temps reached into the upper 80's during the race.   It was awful and people were dropping all over the place due to heat exhaustion.  I pushed forward and finished the race in 2 hrs 6 min.  Not the time I was hoping for but I was so happy that I had finished.

After completing the half marathon I pretty much stopped running cold turkey.  My body was beat up and I was just plain tired of running. Over the next several months I would maybe do a 2 mile run every once a month or so.  I engaged in other activities like hiking, biking, walking, etc but I could not bring myself to run consistently.   I think I had just pushed myself too hard and had been too focused on time when I trained for the half marathon. I had burned myself out on running. 

At the start of this new year I decided I needed to start running again.  I wanted to get back in the routine and get my body back into running shape.  I think enough time had passed that the memories of training had faded a bit.  So I started running again but I decided that this time around I would leave my watch at home.  I wanted to completely change the way I thought about running.  I want it to be a means for keeping myself fit and healthy.  I want it to be a release for stress or other negative feelings.  I want it to be a time to relax and enjoy myself. I started out running a couple of miles a couple times a week then slowly progressed.  I never left for a run with a predetermined number of miles in my head.  I listened to my body.  If I felt good I would run a little further or faster.  If I wasn't feeling so hot I would slow my pace or cut the run short.  If my knees or shins started to give me problems I would take a few days off.  I try to do a couple of short runs, around 30 minutes or so and one longer run, around an hour, each week. 

After a few months of running like this I can say that I am totally in love with running again.  It's not about how fast or how far I run.  I simply live in the moment.  I get lost in the rhythm of  the music playing through my ear buds.  I take in sights of the blossoming trees, the setting sun, the little birds, bunnies and squirrels scurrying about.  I breath deeply and take in the scents of freshly cut grass, flowering trees and rain. When I'm running now, the rest of the world just seems to fade away.  It's all about me and the road ahead.

So far I haven't lost motivation.  I've found that I still have the internal drive to push myself while running.  I'm getting in great shape; I feel stronger and healthier both physically and mentally.  I can run a little further and a little faster each week.  My last long run was just shy of 8 miles and I loved every minute of it.  I definitely see myself running in competitive races again in the future.  Completing a marathon is on my bucket list.  I think with my new outlook on running, training in the future will be much more enjoyable.   

So, my advice to any of you that are wanting to start or get back into running but are a little hesitant:  get out of your head and and into your running shoes.  Don't think about it so much, just be in the moment.  Make a playlist of your favorite songs and listen to them while running.  My current running playlist is chalk full of Bon Iver, The Head & The Heart, Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, The Civil Wars and other relaxing music I can get totally lost in.  Start running slow and low, maybe just a mile at first.  Once you get comfortable and can run that easily go a little further.  Push yourself but also listen to your body.  You'll know when to slow it down or take some time off.  Before you know it you'll be loving your runs and how they make you feel just like I do.  

Grilled Pizza

 Anyone who knows me well has heard me RAVE about grilled pizza.  It is absolutely amazing.   I happened upon this method of cooking pizza a couple of years ago and we have been hooked on it ever since.  I mean how can anything but magic happen when a barbeque grill and Italian food collide?  Lots of people have been intrigued with this idea so today I thought I would share the process step by step. 

What you'll need:

 -A grill.  Duh.

-Clean grill grate. Don't want the dough to stick!  You can also spray it with a little cooking spray

- Dough- from scratch, packaged mix, canned- whatever your little heart desires

- Sauce 

- Toppings

- Olive oil

- Grill tongs and Spatula 

- Rimless baking sheet 

Mmm.  Can you smell that rosemary?

 First, you will want to prepare your dough and prep the toppings you will want to put on your pizza.  I like to make my dough from scratch because it makes me feel more Martha Stewart-ish and I also like to add a little rosemary and basil to my dough (you should totally try that if you've never had rosemary pizza crust). Mix and form your dough according to instructions.  Divide your dough into four even portions.  Why divide the dough?  Because working with four small circles of dough on the grill is sooo much easier than one large one.  It also allows for you to do different toppings combinations and if you are having guests over everyone can customize their own personal pizza.  Yay!  

 Next you will prepare a rimless (you will see later why it needs to be rimless) baking sheet  to form your pizza crusts on.  Lube that baby up with lots of olive oil so it's super slick. 

 Work the dough sections into circle-ish shapes on top of the oiled baking sheet.  They don't have to be perfect and trust me, even if they are they won't stay that way for long.  The crusts should be about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Use a pastry brush to apply more olive oil to the tops of the crusts.  Now its time to do a test.  Pick up the pan and tilt it to one side.  When you do this the crusts should begin to slide on the pan.  If they don't remove the crusts and add more olive oil to the sheet til they do.

You are now ready to head out to the grill. 

We have a charcoal grill.  I prefer the flavor of a charcoal grill over that of a gas grill but a gas grill can also be used.  You will want to pre-heat your gas grill to medium heat.  Charcoal grills are a bit trickier.  You will want enough coals to cover the entire bottom of the grill in a singe layer.  You'll want the coals to be moderately hot with no visible flame.   The coals are moderately hot when you can hold your hand about for inches above them for no more than 3 seconds.  If you are using a charcoal grill you will probably want to start the coals before you begin making your dough since it takes around 30 min or so for a charcoal grill to reach the desired temperature.

 Hold baking sheet above the grill and slide the crusts, one at a time, onto the grill.  If you are having trouble you can use grill tongs or spatula to help ease them off the sheet.  I know what you are thinking...that dough is going to fall right through the grate.  Don't worry.  If the grill is at the right temperature the dough begins to firm up instantly.  If any edge does start to slip through just use tongs or spatula to pull it back from its fiery death. 

After just a minute or so the crust will begin to bubble and puff up.  It's time to remove them from the grill.  Slide your spatula under the crust flip them so you place them grilled side up on your baking sheet.  They should easily come off the grate.  If not give them just a few more moments on the grill. 

 A couple of these got a little too done but you get the idea.  You want that side of the crust to be just firm enough to remove it from the grill.  Now you can take your crusts and add sauce and toppings to the already grilled side.  With grilled pizza the crust is really the star here so you don't want to over do it with sauce and toppings- less is more. 

Obviously I feel no need to impress with made from scratch sauce. 

 I prefer to use a mix of pesto and tomato sauce.  Something about the nutty, basily goodness of the pesto just pairs wonderfully with the smokey flavor of the pizza.  I also love tomato sauce and the two play so nicely together.

 Like I said before, go light on the toppings.  This is often hard for me because I just love, love, LOVE pizza toppings.  This night we opted for grilled chicken, bacon, red onion, mushroom, black olives, goat cheese and threw a little parmesan on a couple of them.  I've also had grilled pizza with just a few vegetables and it was  amazing.  That's what I love about pizza....so versatile! I do suggest that if you are using any raw veggies like tomato slices or onions that you give them a quick saute just to remove some firmness because they won't be on the grill for all that long.  Once your pizzas are topped to your liking take them back out to the grill to cook the bottom side of the crust. 

See whats happening here?  Pure. Magic. 

This time you will want to leave the pizza on for a little bit longer around 4 minutes or so. You want the bottom of the crust to turn a light shade of brown and be nice and firm.  I constantly check the bottom by lifting the pizza with a spatula to make sure it doesn't burn.  Once the crusts reach the desired color remove them from the grill. 

Don't they look dreamy?  Swoon.

  At this point if your cheese didn't melt enough you can pop it under the broiler in your oven.  Your pizza is finished!  Cut those suckers up and relish in the deliciousness of grilled pizza.