Weekend of Remembering

The last few days my mind has been preoccupied with my brother Chris who we lost 2 1/2 years ago as his birthday is approaching (9/12).  I will be posting in this regard separetely but today also brought 9/11 memories. I think all of us never forget what we were doing and where we were at on 9/11/01 when tragedy struck.  My thoughts and prayers go out to all who lost a loved one that day or who lost a soldier in the following years fighting terrorism.  Tonight, I have enjoyed all the tributes to 9/11 on TV and hope this is a reminder to everyone to keep that patriotism that 9/11 brought out across the country 10 years ago. 

Tonight, I had a craving for bacon and scavenged through the pantry, fridge, and freezer for items to make something involving bacon.  I was happy with the end result which was chicken fettuccine alfredo with bacon and a side of sauteed zucchini (from our garden).  If interested, here is the recipe. 

Ingredients:
Fettuccine noodles (8oz)
Package of bacon
Chicken breast (I used 3 boneless skinless breasts)
1/4 cup butter (plus extra for bacon and chicken)
1 clove minced garlic or 1/2 tsp roasted minced garlic
1 cup whipping cream
2 tbsp milk
3/4 cup parmesean cheese, grated
Salt and pepper to taste
Sliced zucchini

1. Cook fettucine per package instructions.  (8oz is half a box and would have served 3 adults. I would use full box and doule sauce components if serving more people)
2. In 2 separate skillets, I cooked bacon and chicken breast over medium-high heat each in a tbsp of butter.  Drain bacon and crumble.  Slice chicken and set aside.
3. In large skillet, melt the 1/4 cup of butter and saute garlic for 1 minute over medium-low heat. Add 3/4 cup of whipping cream and cook over medium heat for 3 minutes while stirring.
4. Add chicken and bacon to sauce.  Add remaining cream, milk, cheese, salt, and pepper and cook for 1 minute.  Add fettucine and cook an additional minute while stirring.
5. For the vegetable, I sauteed sliced zucchini in a tbsp of butter and salt and pepper over medium-hign heat in a medium skillet until tender (7-10 minutes).

Duathlon update:
Our schedules this week made it difficult to fit some workouts in but was able to catch up for the most part by the end of the week.  On Friday, I ran 75 minutes, which is my now my all time longest run.  Unfortunately, this run brought out the problem with my over supination (or under pronation) style of running.  Everytime I run the ends of my 4th toes hurt afterwards from hitting the front of the shoe.  I have been getting blisters but its been tolerable discomfort.  With the long run on Friday, I had severe pain in my right toe and discovered that my nailbed was dark purple.  I learned that there aren't very good options for over supination except to pick shoes that focus on cushioning, which I have (currently wearing Asics Gel Cumulus 12).   So, my options are to try an even more cushioned shoe and/or try a toe cap.  Since Zappos makes it so easy to try a pair of shoes and carry the wide width I need, I went ahead and ordered the Asics Gel Nimbis 13 (free next day shipping) and am going to stop by the Running Room tomorrow to pick up the toe cap to try.  Let me know if you have any other suggestions.  We only have 2 weeks of training left so I have to continue to workout depsite the toe.  I made today a rest day in leiu of this coming Tuesday and will be back at it tomorrow.
Day 29: run 60
Day 30: rest
Day 31: rest (had to move up from later in the week bc of work schedule)
Day 32: run 30
Day 33: run 75
Day 34: bike 120...stopped at 90 minutes bc legs were not feeling it

Up North

We headed to northern MN for the weekend because we had a Groupon for The Lodge at Giant's Ridge in Biwabik, MN.  I took a chance with this when I bought the Groupon back in the spring.  It was a good buy because we were pleasantly surprised at how nice the lodge was and also surprised that our room had 2 separate sleeping areas (in other words, we didn't have to share a room or bed with Jackson) and a kitchen.  It is a ski lodge in the winter and we had the ski slopes right outside our window.  In the summer, it offers a lake and golf course and is located along a great paved bike trail (Mesabi Trail).   We didn't arrive until almost 11pm on Friday with Jackson still awake.  He rode pretty well in the car thanks to the portable dvd player and the iPad except for his obsession with us going to the "airport to fly on a red plane."  This request continued all weekend.

Since I wasn't able to run on Friday with travelling, so I went running Saturday morning while my boys were still in bed.  So, when I moved to MN, I thought I was moving to the land of evergreens, lakes, and moose.  Little did I know that Rochester was far from that and more like northern Iowa (farmland).  My run was awesome because I had my evergreens and a lake so I was only missing my moose.  By the way, anyone who knows me, knows that I really want to see a moose (outside of the zoo) and I have yet to find one.  During our drive up, I finally saw my moose but unfortunately it was dead on the side of the road.  After my run, we headed to the Mesabi Trail for a bike ride.  We rode along or around 3 different lakes and up and down lots of hills (and I forgot the camera so no pics).  It was supposed to rain and be overcast all day, which was how our ride started.  But, within a few miles the sun was out.  When we finished, we were ready to eat but we learned the only bad thing about the area is the lack of restaurants.  The area is filled with small towns that each have seriously 5-10 bars a piece and only a single restaurant.  Although we had little choice in where we ate, we actually had some tasty food. The only restaurant that was open in Biwabik was Alden's Restaurant, where we had Philly Steak Melts, which were awesome.  The rest of Saturday was spent watching college football and swimming during the weather delay of the USF/Notre Dame game.  We ventured out to Eveleth (home of the world's largest hockey stick) for dinner at Poor Gary's Pizza.  Let's just say the inside of this place left something to be desired but the pizza was great.

Quarry in Virginia, MN

Sunday was supposed to be full of sunshine but instead we woke up to the 50's, wind, and dark clouds.  We had planned to ride another segment of the Mesabi Trail but when we got to the trailhead I had serious doubts about the weather.  Brian came up with the idea to head towards Lake Superior to find another place to ride and at the least make a trip to Betty's Pies in Two Harbors.  Two Harbors is my favorite city in Minnesota, located along the shore of Lake Superior just north of Duluth.  It is full of good eats and outdoor activities.  It was an hour from where we were staying and I agreed that it would be worth the extra drive.  We headed to Gooseberry Falls State Park where we got on the Gitchi-Gami Bike Trail and rode to Split Rock Lighthouse and back along the shore of Lake Superior.  The bad weather followed us so the first half of the ride was overcast with some intermittent rain but the return trip was full of sunshine and an incredible view of the lake.  Unfortunately, the ride was purely hills, which wouldn't have been so bad if Brian wasn't pulling Jackson but was still a fun ride.  After our ride, we took Jackson to see Gooseberry Falls, which was a fun memory for me because I was last there with Beth and the 7 month old version of Jackson.  It was finally time for Betty's Pies where we enjoyed pie shakes (a milkshake made with an entire piece of pie including the crust) while we waited for a table, tasty food, and slices of pie to go.  Then it was time to head back to Rochester.  Overall, it was great weekend.    

Construction on the trail :(

 Throwing rocks (agate) into Lake Superior

A quick stop during our ride.

 Gooseberry Falls

With Dad September 2011

With Aunt Beth July 2009

The Bottle Fairy

So, I will probably get disapproving looks from many people when I say that Jackson was still going to sleep with a bottle of milk at night.  I know, I'm a physician, how could I let my child 1-sleep with a bottle and 2- still use a bottle at the age of 2 1/2.  From the age of 9 months until 18 months, Jackson had a huge problem with recurrent infections and he would eat pretty poorly.  He choked because of  his huge tonsils and would drink tons of milk to get his caloric fill.  He would wake up every few hours wanting to drink and we would feed him multiple bottles of milk during the night.  When he got older, we just let him fall asleep with it.  We had successfully weaned him off the bottle at night at 15 months but while we were on vacation, he got another ear infection (despite having PE tubes in place) and was not sleeping well. We reintroduced the bottle and have been stuck with it ever since.  At first we waited until we fixed his infection issue, which was a tonsillectomy at 18 months. We hadn't put much effort into trying to get rid of it mostly out of the ease of getting him to bed.  We never gave it unless he asked for it but he always did.  But, last week we decided it was time for the death of the bottle.  We prepped him all week telling him the bottle fairy was coming to take it on Friday.  Saturday was our first night bottleless and he went to bed without any mention of it.  We thought "SUCCESS."  Sunday night wasn't so easy.  He cried (and not the fake cry he often does) and cried for his bottle.  When I told him the fairy took it, he told me to go to the store to get one.  I then tried another trick my mom told me, which was to cut the top of the nipple off.  He had such a relaxed content look when I handed him the bottle, took one sip, and blurted out as milk flooded into his mouth "I don't like this. Get me the right one."  I didn't give in and finally he went to sleep.  The remainder of the week involved some mild crying each night and asking us to "get the bottle back from the fairy,"  but we have made it all week with no giving in.  Now, if we could just have success with potty training, all will be good.

Duathlon update:
So, it was a busy week at work and between our schedules it was tough for me to fit in my workouts. I sadly missed a workout and it was the halfway point (24/48 days), where I was hoping to celebrate.  Well I got back on track and hopefully won't miss anything else.  Brian was able to stay on schedule this week.
Day 22: Bike 60 minutes...complete
Day 23: Rest...complete
Day 24: incomplete
Day 25: Run 15, Bike 30, Run 15...complete

Hopefully, the rain stays away this weekend as we are heading up north and are hoping to get some cycling while up there.  3 more weeks until the duathlon and I do not feel ready yet.  The next two weeks are much heavier workouts so hopefully that will get us where we need to be.

Have a great Labor Day Weekend!

Something New to Try

So, my best friend, Beth, has been telling me to start a blog for quite awhile now.  I finally took her advice when my facebook page was becoming very blog-like.  As a little background, I'm a resident physician from Florida who has been living in Minnesota for the past 4 years.  I had always lived down south until the move up here and definitely miss things like Sweet Tea and Grits.  During residency, my husband and I have had our first child and our lives seem to be always full of adventure and randomness, especially when the 2 1/2 year old is involved. 

Recently, I became obsessed with baking cupcakes so this will also be a place for me to share my yummy treats.  I have been a cookie baker for a number of years but I've added homemade cupcakes after I got tired of watching shows on TV showing them but I couldn't actually taste them.  I think my trip to DC in May is what sealed the deal after Beth and I picked up cupcakes from 2 popular shops. 

My other new obsession has been training for a duathlon (Run-Bike-Run) with Brian.  Back in June I decided I needed a new bike after I could barely move from a 23 mile ride on my mountain bike. Brian switched to a road bike last summer and I was becoming envious of his improved ride.  At first, I thought I just wanted more comfort and decided to get a hybrid bike (Trek 7.3 WSD).  It was a nice bike and a HUGE improvement on the mountain bike (Trek 4500) but during my first ride the thought of doing the duathlon popped into my head.  My husband competed in it last year and I thought that it would be fun to complete together.  I should add that we completed the Warrior Dash together in July, which added to my motivation.  I can be quite competitive (mostly with myself) and would never sign up or show up to something like a duathlon without seriously training.  So, the next day after I got the idea to compete, I found a training schedule online and Brian and I went to work.  It didn't take long for me to realize that I was not properly equipped for the duathlon with the hybrid bike and luckily we decided to go back to the bike shop to try a true road bike.  The next day I left the shop with my new Trek Lexa (love it).  It is just an entry level road bike, but exactly what I need.  We have completed 3 of 7 weeks of training at this point and we officially registered for the race today.  I was not thrilled when I registered to find out that because of construction, the runs had to be lengthened from 3.3 miles each to 3.5 miles.  This is the other reason I need a blog because what keeps me on track is posting that I completed each day's activity. 

To end, I'm going to give my funny toddler story of the day.  Today we did brick training with biking followed by an hour run (by the way, I had never ran an hour before), and I was feeling tired afterwards.  I decided to pick up a few things at Walmart and then planned for Jackson and I to watch a movie so I could just sit.  Unfortunately, a few minutes into Walmart I realized I didn't have my wallet so we left.  On the way home, Jackson started telling me there was "an indian in the tree." He went on to say "oh no, the indian has your wallet." Then a fake fight went on between him and the indian in the back seat of my SUV.  This included grunting and fists flying through the air.  Then he began claiming the indian was hiding in another tree.  I wasn't sure what to make about all this but was happy to find my wallet lying in front of his play kitchen when we got home.  I think the "indian" can be contributed to his obsession with Peter Pan.  By the way, if you ever want a good taste of political incorrectness, watch Peter Pan.