Vegetarians + Carnivores = Dinner??

For some time now, I've decided to stick with vegetarianism. Maybe one day I'll actually post about my reasons for making this choice, but for now, y'all just get to hear about FOOD!!!

Meanwhile, boyfriend has stood his ground and wants meat. Lots of meat. Carnivorous to the max. Tried vegetarianism for a month or so, hated every minute of it.

Like many couples or families with meat-eaters and salad-chompers cohabitating, we have faced some challenges in making sure that both of our needs are met. I am still eating fish though, so most of the meals that we can both eat revolve around fish/shellfish and makes life easy for the person cooking (me). However when the urge for meat comes calling to boyfriend and I get sick of fish, we often end up eating completely separate meals. Something involving tofu for me. Something involving a former animal for him. It gets pretty challenging to plan two completely different dinners, try to have them both ready at the same time, and oh - the DISHES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *shudder*

So. How can a vegetarian and a carnivore possibly make meals that make everyone happy AND don't require cooking two separate meals??

Here's a great start: stuffed peppers! I made the filling following a vegetarian stuffed pepper recipe, and just added some meat to half of it. Done and done. Also made some pretty fantastic smashed potatoes as a side dish.

Observe! The power of omnivorous cookery!

Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers and Meat-Eater Stuffed Peppers

What you need:

1 Tbsp olive oil

onion, chopped up

1 clove garlic, chopped up

handful of baby carrots or 2 carrots, chopped up

1 tomato, diced

1 cup peas, either fresh or frozen (I used canned :( they smelled funny)

1 tsp each basil and oregano

1 1/2 cups cooked brown rice

2-3 cups tomato sauce, either prepared or homemade

4 peppers (big'uns if you can find them!)

about 1/2 a package of lean or extra-lean ground beef, chicken or turkey. Whatever your meat-eater prefers.


Preheat the oven to 350 C (unless you are also making the potatoes. Check potato instructions!)

You should get started on your meat and rice at this point. Check the directions on your rice to see how long it will take. Traditional brown rice can take up to 40-60 minutes to cook!!!

Now we can get started on those peppers! Cut off the tops of the peppers and scoop out the seeds and membranes. Place them in a baking dish so that they can all stand upright. NOTE - if you prefer a less crunchy pepper, you can steam them for a few minutes before putting them in the pan.

Next, chop up all your ingredients! I have made excellent use of the Slap Chop here to chop up my onions, carrots, and yes - my walnuts. You're gonna love my nuts! (bahahaha!) The tomato I chopped up by hand because I wanted them to be bigger bits and not mushy, but hey, to each their own.
Don't forget about the meat. Check on it often. When the meat is cooked, drain out the grease (eew) and set the meat aside for now. Set the rice aside when it is done as well. Let's cook the stuffing! Saute the olive oil, garlic and onion till the onion is golden yellow, about 2 minutes. Add the carrots, peas and herbs. Cook till the carrots are tender, about 3 minutes or so. Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the tomato, walnuts, brown rice and a 1/2 cup of tomato sauce. Heat through.

Now it's stuffing time! Stuff your vegetarian peppers first (and stuff them good, don't skimp out! This recipe makes an insane amount of leftovers once the meat is added!). When the veggie ones are done, toss in that meat that you cooked and set aside earlier. Heat the mixture up again to get the meat heated through. When it's hot, stuff the meat peppers too.

Add about 1/2 cup of sauce to the bottom of the baking dish before putting your peppers in. Once all stuffed and placed back in the dish, liberally top your peppers with more tomato sauce. Mmmmm :)!

Pop the peppers into the oven and let them cook for 20 minutes. If you like softer peppers and haven't steamed them first, leave them for a little longer (up to about 30 minutes is enough).



Ridiculously Easy and Delicious Smashed Potatoes

mini potatoes (for two people, I used about 12 to give us 6 each)

olive oil

kosher salt and pepper to taste

rosemary (dried or fresh)

The potatoes take the longest time, so get them started first if you are making both recipes. Preheat the oven to 400 C. In a bowl, put your mini potatoes in and roll them around in about 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Then, place them in a baking dish (this here is a cake pan, but it totally doubles as a roasting pan *shifty eyes*). Pop 'em in! They will need to cook for 20 minutes.
When your 20 minutes is up, take the potatoes out of the oven. Use a large metal spoon or a flat-bottom pot and squish each potato just until you hear the skin pop. Your potatoes are smashed!


Drizzle your taters with a little bit more olive oil (about 1/2 Tbsp), and sprinkle with pepper, kosher salt and rosemary. Pop 'em back in the oven for another 15 minutes.

*note, you can put them in the oven with the peppers at the lower temperature too, but they'll just take longer. They will end up coming out of the oven at the same time if they are at 350 instead of 400 C).


The final product! Behold!

These are the veggie stuffed peppers and delicious little smashed potatoes (with a few that got a little bit too eagerly smashed :P). Check it out, they even look good when the meat-eating pepper falls over and spills everywhere!

I must admit a small disclaimer on this magical meal though - it's not skimpy on dishes. But since the peppers and potatoes take a while to cook together, you've got time in between to clean up :)

What other meals can carnivores and vegetarians both enjoy together while still feeling satisfied?

Well shit.

Pardon my French.

Remember a short time ago when I posted that my bike was going to have to be my main mode of transportation for the next little while?

Well.

I rode to work and locked the bike up right outside of the yoga studio doors. There were several other bikes also locked up there, and it's a fairly busy road with lots of pedestrians and some car traffic. Sometime in the afternoon, during a very busy time at the studio with three classes walking in and out, this happened:


That would be one end of my supposedly "indestructable" bike lock which, clearly, is quite destructable when one uses a flame to melt the outside casing and spends a good long time hacking through the cables within. Clearly this took quite an effort to work through since it's not a clean cut. I find it very difficult to believe that nobody saw anything here given that it was a busy time on a well-traveled road. Sonofabitch.

Unfortunately, to my own demise, I had only this lock attached to my bike. However, this was the strongest lock in the universe according to my bike-riding-highly-security-conscious father who bought it for me, who was subsequently in shock when I told him that his lock sucked.

So, I walk out of the studio ready to ride home, when surprise! All that remains is my lock lying sad and limp on the ground, the lock itself still fully intact. Major sad face :(!!!!!!

Now I'm waiting for the police to call me back to collect the serial number and bike information to file a report, and need to call my house insurance people to see if I can get anything, though I suspect that my insurance will end up increasing if I make a claim on it. Bah!

The moral of the story: make sure that you have double or triple locked your bike if you're parking on the street, and try to lock up on a main road where surely somebody will see and may actually stop to beat up whoever is trying to steal your bike. For now, I have to either start looking for a new (hopefully cheap) bike or start walking a lot farther :S

H 2 Ohhhhhhhhhhhh yeah!

That's right friends, this is a blog about WATER!

We all know that water is important, but many of us struggle to get enough in each day. Heck, most of us don't know how much we even need in one day!

Water is a vital part of our body's functioning. About 60% of the average human is made of water, including the water that flows around in bodily fluids (blood, lymph, digestive fluids, cerebral-spinal fluid, interstitial fluid...) Water has numerous functions in the body, including:

• Lubrication - fluid surrounds joints and organs (e.g. ocular fluid around the eyes) to reduce friction.
• Transportation - most vitamins are water soluble, so water helps to transport nutrients around the body to muscles and tissues that need it. Oxygen and carbon dioxide are also transported through fluid (i.e. blood).
• Eliminates wastes - newsflash, urine is also mostly water :) It transports all of the unneeded nutrients and metabolic wastes out of the body.
• Regulates body temperature - sweat helps to cool the body by evaporating from the skin
• Chemical reactions - water is needed for many chemical reactions in the body to take place, including all of the activites of digestion, absorption and use of the water-soluble nutrients.

Unfortunately, even though we have so much water inside of us, we also lose it in a lot of ways. Water is used to excrete wastes and to control body temperature, as mentioned before. We also lose water through breath (ever noticed that your breath is foggy in the winter? Guess why :)!)

Canada's Food Guide is very vague about water recommendations, saying only that you should "drink water regularly. It's a calorie-free way to quench your thirst. Drink more water in hot weather or when you are very active". Soooo... what does that actually mean? How regular is "regularly"?

The 8-glasses-per-day rule doesn't apply to everyone, but it's still a pretty good guideline to get started on. For someone consuming a 2000-calorie diet, at one mL per calorie, 8 250-mL glasses per day (about 2 litres) is perfectly fine. For someone looking to lose weight or who is very active, they may need more water to ensure that their bodies needs are met and that lost water is replaced. When you are active, especially if you are breaking a sweat, increase your water intake to replace the water lost through sweat and breathing. If you are sweating a lot or exercising for an extended period of time (more than about 40-60 minutes), you will also need to replace lost electrolytes.

I hear you. "I hate drinking water!", you say, "It's soooooooo boring and gross". It doesn't have to be this way my friends! Many fluids that we consume can count towards that 8 glasses, such as:

• Milk
• Juice (preferably real juice, not sugary fruit cocktails)
• Coffee and tea - recent studies have shown that despite their caffeine content, coffee and tea do not contribute towards dehydration as previously thought. However, drinking caffeinated beverages in excess may indeed cause dehydration, so be cautious if coffee is your only source of water :)
• Herbal teas and decaf coffee

Note, alcoholic beverages do not count, because they do contribute a diuretic effect.

Still not convinced? Here are some other ways to get more fluid in your day!

• Fruit has a crazy amount of water in it. Some fruits have 90% of their total mass as water, such as watermelons, peaches, strawberries, oranges, etc. Things that taste juicy generally ARE juicy! Some veggies also have a ton of water inside, such as cucumbers and celery.
• Soups still count as fluid, especially broth-based soups. Mix up an easy veggie soup and get slurping!
• If you hate the boring taste of water, add some stuff to it. Fruit (berries, orange slices, lemon and limes) can add some zing to a boring beverage, as can mint and/or cucumbers.

Dehydration can be easily avoided. When you first start to feel thirsty, you are already becoming dehydrated! Be sure to keep sipping your beverage(s) of choice throughout the day to ward off dehydration before it even starts. If you are peeing regularly and the colour is a pale yellow or clear, then you're good to go! If it's dark, chances are that you're dehydrated (though sometimes colour can be caused by excess vitamin C or other vitamins, but more often than not it's because the urine is super concentrated - i.e., you're dehydrated). If you ignore the thirst, other signs of dehydration include nausea or lightheadedness, headaches, dry mouth, dry eyes and weakness. If you're exercising moderately/high intensity and not sweating, that's also a bad sign! As dehydration continues, the situation can become life threatening. So please, drink up, and up, and up!

What's your favourite way to get enough water in a day?

Back from NOLA!

Hello again, blog!

I'm back from New Orleans! A group of 23 students from Ryerson, York and Western Universities went down to NOLA for two weeks to work with community organizations and with St. Bernard Project to help rebuild homes in this fabulous city.

When I first found out about this course, I was like "What? Wasn't Katrina like, 6 years ago? Why would they still need help rebuilding houses? I thought everything was back to normal now...". Pretty much every person I've told about this has had the same thoughts, even those who have actually been to NOLA (NOLA = New Orleans, LA) since the storm. Of course, usually these people were hanging out in the French Quarter/tourist areas, where a) there was little or no flooding in the first place, and b) the neighbourhood is quite wealthy and was able to repair what damage there was pretty quickly compared to other areas. The rest of the city, however, has large pockets that remain completely devastated. We walked and drove by several blocks at a time without seeing a single house that was inhabitable - if there was even a house left at all. Many homes have been abandoned, torn down due to mold and damage, or simply were washed right off of their lots during the flood, and never rebuilt because the owner of the lot simply cannot afford to come home.

How is it possible that in the United States of America - theoretically the richest nation on earth - that the situation has not changed in SIX YEARS????

So along came a group of students from Canada to help rebuild a house. The home that I was assigned to belonged to a man whose home was completely destroyed during the storm and had to be rebuilt from the ground up. Everything he had was lost. He has been living in Baton Rouge with family for the last six years, but wants desperately to return to the community where he grew up and raised his children and grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren (!!!). This man deserves to come home. Sadly, many of his neighbours have not been so lucky, and there still stand many uninhabited homes or empty lots around his new house.

People have asked me a lot of questions since I came back. Why can't these people just rebuild their house with the insurance money they got, or the money they got from FEMA? Why would they need to rely on volunteer labour 6 years later rather than just hiring skilled contractors so that construction could be done way faster?

Most of the neighbourhoods that were most affected by the storm were the poorest areas of New Orleans (e.g. the Lower Ninth ward). It just so happens that the major levee breach, at the Industrial Canal, broke in this neighbourhood. This was a manmade levee, as were the others that broke and the MRGO that helped to funnel the storm directly into the city and destroy what remained of the city's bayous by releasing salt water into freshwater areas. The natural levees that exist along the Mississippi River did not break. Ironically, in 2004 this neighbourhood was removed from the flood warning list, because it had experienced NO flooding in 40 years. People were no longer required to have elevated homes (costs about $100K to elevate a house) or flood insurance ($2500-3000/year). Now that these major expenses were no longer required, many homes canceled their insurance and didn't worry about massive renovations to their homes for flood protection. The very next year, Katrina came along. Residents who had no flood insurance got NOTHING for their homes. They were lucky if they received a few hundred or a few thousand dollars for part of their property, e.g. if a tree happened to have fallen on it, but nothing for the actual flood damage. As for FEMA, the US government failed the people of NOLA massively. Yes, they were given some money for their damaged homes, but not near enough to rebuild anything. Some were "lucky" enough to receive FEMA trailers to live in while their homes were under construction. I say lucky in quotation marks because it turned out that these $100K trailers were chock full of formaldehyde, making many people sick. Did I mention that they were poor, had no insurance money and had to live in a trailer? This means that they probably didn't have the money for their medical bills either.

Way to go, FEMA.

Without money, people can't afford to pay a skilled contractor. In addition, some contractors weren't exactly as skilled as they claimed. We've all seen Holmes on Homes and seen the shotty work that is done by unskilled and overpaid contractors. Imagine that in a disaster situation, where the greedy can gain even more. Sadly, many who did use their insurance/FEMA money to hire contractors ended up right back at square one, with a lot less money, due to unsavoury contractor work. With no other option, many homeowners have turned to non-profit organizations like St. Bernard Project, Habitat for Humanity, etc. to find help in the form of volunteers like us. Even better, the volunteers learn new skills. Some of the volunteers that participate in these projects include other NOLA residents, and recently some of the fisherfolk from St. Bernard parish who have been unable to fish after the BP oil spill. The volunteers are learning new skills that may help them to get new jobs that will still help their community. Win win situation, anyone?

Long story short, New Orleans was amazing, and I can't wait to go back. I want to return and see the house that I drywalled standing tall and proud in the Lower Ninth among all of the other destruction. I want to see the neighbourhood come back to life. And, I want to encourage everyone I run into to do the same!

Meet Mr. Bike

Despite working four part time jobs during the summer (FOUR!), I am still making only enough money per month to pay for rent, hydro, phone and internet, and groceries (not eating out, only groceries). That's it. I don't even have the money to buy gas or TTC tokens to get to and from work!

So what's a girl to do? With gas prices soaring and the threat of yet another TTC fare increase always looming, I don't have much other choice...


Meet my bike.


This one isn't my actual bike, because mine is a lot dirtier. It has been living in the garage collecting dust, grime and cobwebs all winter. But, it's the same kind :)

I bought this bike 2 years ago when I moved to this area, because I hadn't owned a bike since I was 12 and figured that moving to High Park meant it was damn near time to get one. I also didn't realize at the time that I have an immense fear of going down hills, and riding on the road. Let's not even talk about riding down a hill in traffic O_O

I have decided that me and Mr. Bike need to be better friends. I still have a car available to me for the times that I need to go far away (e.g. Mississauga or North York) to work, but I think that the bike might be my main mode of transportation from now till it gets cold again. I've mapped out my routes to and from work at WW, yoga studios, and the place where I volunteer, and it looks like I'll be riding around 50+ km per week. Hmm... This doesn't sound like a lot for someone who rides their bike a lot. I have ridden my bike a total of 5 times since I bought it two years ago.

I'm starting slowly. Today me and bike went out to the local hardware store to pick up some last-minute needs for New Orleans. It was 4.5km, so 9km round trip. Of course, it started to rain while I was doing it. And of course, the route on the way back involved a) heavy traffic, b) a large downhill, and c) ripped up/crappy road conditions because that main road leading directly to High Park does not have a bike lane (thank you, Rob Ford). Despite thinking that I might die, I managed in the end and got home safe and sound.

Extra bonus - bike riding is free, and awesome exercise. Double win!

The Dukan Diet

So I was watching Dr. Oz the other day, and he and several of his doctor friends were discussing the "latest craze in weight loss" - the Dukan Diet. Apparently it's popular in France, and several celebrities have been known to use it, therefore it must be good for you!

The Dukan Diet claims that you can eat whatever you want 6 days of the week, but must be "good" for one day. Somehow by doing this, dieters can expect to lose large amounts of weight very quickly. Seems fishy.

Participants start in the Attack Phase for 1-10 days depending on how much weight they want to lose. In this phase, you eat almost no carbohydrates and an insane amount of protein. The only fat you get is from oily fish (e.g. salmon). Because you are not eating carbohydrates, this means that you are eating NO fruit or vegetables. You also must eat oat bran. Dukan claims that you can lose over 10lbs in a week doing this.

I have no doubt that this is true - the majority of the weight that will be lost in this phase will be water. I've posted before about the importance of carbohydrates, and how in the absense of carbs the body will resort to breaking down other stuff to make glucose instead (e.g. lipid and protein). The catch is that if your body isn't getting glucose in its preferred form - i.e. carbohydrates, it needs to break down other stuff and uses energy to do it. This process will also more than likely leave you dehydrated. Over an extended period of time (more than about a week), you run the risk of entering ketosis, where the pH of the blood declines (becomes more acidic), and is an incredibly dangerous consequence. Might I also add that cutting out fruits and veggies sounds like a really awful idea? What about all of the vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and fibre that these foods give the body? Duh.

The second phase of the Dukan diet is the "Cruise" phase, where you eat the same stuff as in the first phase, but lucky you! You're allowed to eat non-starchy veggies every other day! You stay on this phase until you reach your goal weight. I repeat my concern in phase 1: veggies are a food group. Seriously??

The third phase is the Consolidation phase, where you are allowed to eat "celebration" meals twice per week. You get to eat whatever you want! Wine, pizza, whatever. So long as one time per week, you eat nothing but lean protein. The entire day. Sigh.............

The final phase is Stabilization, where you must eat only protein one day per week, you must continue to eat oat bran for the rest of your life, and oh yeah, this phase introduces ACTIVITY for the very first time in your entire journey.

The doctors on the show had mixed opinions. One lady was all "Well, at least people are losing weight :D!", while the other, smarter sounding doctors said that it was incredibly dangerous to be eating in the attack/cruise ways for a long period of time due to the intense carbohydrate restrictions, that losing such a significant amount of weight so rapidly would set dieters up for yo-yo-ing, and that healthy changes in behaviour are a much more substantial indicator of success than the number on the scale.

I was very troubled by hearing about this diet. It sounds very much like another Atkins situation, which was devastating. I think that it's actually quite sad that our society is so determined to find a quick-fix or band aid solution to weight loss that we are willing to risk our health to do it. Since when does it sound like a healthy idea to cut out an entire food group (fruit and veg especially) in the name of weight loss?!? Since when does activity serve no purpose in weight loss until you're actually maintaining!!!

The best way to lose weight, avoid yo-yo-ing and achieve a healthy lifestyle that you can maintain for the rest of your life cannot be found in a book, pill, or supplement. The absolute best way is to simply eat a balanced diet with a proper ratio of carbohydrates, proteins and fats, and to find them mostly in whole or less-processed foods. Not all fats, proteins and carbs are created equal, e.g. the refined sugar in your cookie is not the same as the naturally-occurring sugar in your apple. I'm currently in the middle of reading Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, where the main motto of the book is "eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants". Sums it up nicely, I think.

If you do choose to go with a weight loss program (WW, Jenny, Herbal Magic, etc etc etc), do your homework first. Does the program encourage you to eat a balanced diet from all food groups? Does it focus heavily on consuming way more of one macronutrient (e.g. protein) than others (e.g. fats) in such a way that does not allow for a balanced diet? What kind of support does the program offer (online tools, in-person support)? Does the program encourage activity? What is their maintenance plan - do they teach you how to maintain your weight over the long term in such a way that you will actually be able to eat that way forever, or do they require that you continue to buy their supplements/books/products for the rest of your life?

I'm a little bit biased towards WW because that was the program that I chose after doing my research 5 years ago. I liked that WW allowed me to choose any foods that I wished, so long as I stuck with my Points target. I needed to learn what foods were good bargains for the Points that I had available (usually these were the whole and less-processed foods), and needed to fit in Good Health Guidelines (fruit and veggies, lean proteins, liquids, etc) to ensure that I wasn't spending my entire day's points on cake and ice cream instead of real food. I needed to learn how to grocery shop and cook healthy recipes, and what to choose when I went out to restaurants (because I could go out to restaurants rather than being restricted by my mail-order food menu!). I started to exercise, because it was encouraged on the program by giving me extra Points. It was WW that taught me the basics of nutrition all that time ago, and gave me the passion for food and health that I am now using to pursue a new career.

That being said, I have no doubt that people who choose Jenny or other programs have success as well - but like I said, I don't know the ins and outs of their program (e.g. their maintenance plans, costs of food/materials, etc)!

The bottom line: Eating a balanced diet and healthy changes in behaviour are much more important in the long run than rapid weight loss. Rather than looking for a quick fix, look for a lifestyle that you can maintain forever!

10k update

Sporting Life 10K number 2 - COMPLETE!

My original goal was to beat the time that I ran last year, which was 1:12:23.

As you may recall, this time last year was warm and sunny, so I was able to go out and train relatively well. The longest run that I had done before the 10K was 5.6km. Not great considering that I had hoped to be comfortable with 7k and up beforehand, but I had been sick in the weeks leading up to race day.

This year, Mother Nature had other plans. It has been cold, rainy, sometimes snowing, and WINDY for months. Unfortunately, this meant that up until recently I had not been training very regularly. I had also been running on a treadmill mostly, because it was so awful outside. Once I got properly equipped with warm weather running clothes it became easier to go out and run, but my longest pre-10K run was a mere 3.5km. Uh oh.

In addition, I recently went to a sports doctor to find out why my left knee always hurts. Turns out that my IT band is tight enough that it is actually pulling my kneecap out of place. My knee also hyperextends when I walk, leaving me feeling unstable and lots of pain in certain yoga poses. This prevented me from running for quite a while, though lately it has actually been ok, so I've been trying to work through it. The doc recommended that I go for a combination of physio, acupuncture and an RMT. Wheeeee!

Race recap:

• Pre-race: tummy wasn't feeling very well for some reason. I opted to have a pretty light breakfast of toast with peanut butter, a cup of herbal tea, and a bottle of water for the road to the start line. Tummy continued to protest, but seemed to settle itself reasonably well by the time the starting gun fired.
• Km 1-3: feeling pretty good, still running mostly downhill. The wind is beginning to pick up, but I'm wearing my rain-and-windproof jacket with zip-vents (that never opened during this run), plus a long-sleeved shirt underneath. Despite this, I'm a little chilly.
• Km 4-6: My muscles are beginning to cramp up a bit. I'm now past the longest pre-race run, and my body is not happy about it! First, my butt is cramping. Then my abdomen. The wind is now fierce as we enter downtown Toronto and the wind-tunnel effect of the tall buildings.
• Km 7-9: NOW I'm cold. I'm not even sweating anymore, despite wearing a non-breathable jacket because it is effing WINDY. I convince myself that I need to keep running to stay warm, because if I stop running I'll just freeze to death. My knees are angry about this decision and force me to stop for walk breaks more often than I'd like. We can see those annoying fast people who finished the race already, wearing their medals and finishing T-shirts, who decided that it wasn't enough to run the coldest 10K of my life, they also feel the need to run BACK. Jerks.
• Km 9-10: My stomach has begun to grumble. Loudly. Like, loud enough that I can actually hear it through my headphones and music. Should have eaten more for breakfast :( But look! There's the finish line! I keep running so that the photographers standing on the sidelines will still take photos of me that I can see on the website where I'm not walking. Alas, I'm pretty sure that I look like I'm going to die of hypothermia and exhaustion anyway.

So, by the time I reached km 8 or so, I knew that I wasn't going to beat my time from last year. I was a bit upset about that, because I had hoped to be able to see some improvement in my running. Given the weather complication and lack of training though, I was ok with it! I opted not to get hung up on a goal that I knew I wasn't going to make, and instead made a new deal with myself - aim to beat 1:20.

And you know what?

I did! 1:18:58 :)

I'm feeling happy about meeting my revised goal, and even happier that these extra challenges that I've dealt with have given me more knowledge to help me train a little bit more effectively for next time.

Assuming that my knee gets well soon, I'm still hoping to train for that 1/2 marathon!