Back to Morning Running

For most of my decade of running, I have run in the morning. At first it was simply the most convenient time, but eventually, it became part of the pattern of my life. Running happens in the morning. There have been exceptions to that rule, however, including this past winter. I was under employed for a few months, giving me extra time in the afternoons to run. I was able to completely change my schedule and run during the warmest part of the day.

It was a shock to my system when I switched back to morning runs at the end of March. It had not crossed my mind that I would need to adjust to my old (now new) schedule. Well I did. But the change could not come at a better time. With the humidity settling in, 6 am is becoming the best part of the day for running after all.

The tail end of sunrise this morning on my run

I also forgot how much I like running early in the morning. I love the atmosphere and community in the morning. I get to see the sunrise and the mist rising off the fields. The air feels crisp and fresh and I come across a lot more wildlife than in other parts of the day. I even saw a beaver! There is also a whole community of people out early, even more so than in the afternoon when most people are at work. I see the same neighbors each morning walking their dogs or jogging. We smile at each other, say hello, and encourage each other. I didn't realize how much I missed being part of that community. Not only is it nice to see them, but I feel safe knowing that friendly people are around. While I miss the flexibility of open afternoons, I am glad to be back in the swing of my morning runs.

REPOSTED: The Crafty Runner goes to Craft Shows

So, this post was deleted when Blogger.com had a glitchy day. I am attempting to rewrite it:

One of my favorite sources of inspiration is the handy work or others. I love going to craft shows and art galleries where the artist is there to talk about their work. In the past couple months I went to two great shows. The Smithsonian National Craft Show and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. Both were a lot of fun and had beautiful and inspiring works.

After having taken the pottery class, I found the craft fairs to be much more educational than ever before. I had a great time talking with artists about types of clay, firing heat, and chemical reactions in glazes. There was one artist who made the same sculpture out of different clays and fired them at different temperatures. She took me through each one explaining how the piece acted differently. It was great!

As a closing note, what would a crafts blog post be without a picture. Here is one of my favorites from the New Orleans Jazzfest. It's by A.me and Mitch Alamag:

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

I did it! At last I made a rice flour waffle that tastes like a waffle and doesn't totally crumble! The secret ingredient? Apple Sauce! I have been working on this recipe for months, so I hope you like it. It is not the healthiest recipe out there, but the extra egg and the oil help keep the waffles moist and cakey.

For those of you who are not bound to a gluten free diet, use whatever flour you want, half the apple sauce, one egg, and no oil. Enjoy!

Gluten Free Rice Flour Waffles

1 3/4 cups rice flour (I use a combination of white and brown rice flours)
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil
1 cup apple sauce
water, added 1/4 cup at a time
cinnamon, honey, vanilla, or almond extract

Preheat your waffle maker to your favorite setting.

Mix the rice flour, baking powders, salt, and cinnamon if using it. Add in the apple sauce, egg, and oil. At this time, add any honey or extracts you want. Mix thoroughly, adding a 1/4 cup of water at a time until the batter is smooth and the consistency of pancake batter.

Pour the batter 2 cups and a time into the waffle iron, cook, and enjoy!

Serving: 1 waffle, 1/4 cup of batter
227 Calories, 8g fat, 1g dietary fiber, 3g sugar, 3g protein

First Time Potter: The Finished Products

Tah-Dah! Here is the bottle from my previous post as well as a few of my other favorites:

1) Here is the finished bottle. At the last minute of glazing I thought it would be fun to poor some blue into it. I'm glad I did. I like the subtle blue tint at the mouth of the bottle. I also really like the interaction of the shiny bottom glaze and the mat white top.

2) This was one of the first successful bowls I made. It's actually pretty even and centered! I did a double glaze on this one, doing a dark glaze with a white glaze over it. It's hard to see the resulting iridescent sheen in this picture, but it's there (a little).


3) I have a lot of chopsticks (as you can see) so I thought it would be fun to make something to keep them in. I did not take seriously enough the instructors warning that pottery shrinks in the firing process. So my chopstick vase is a little small. I like it none the less. I also wanted to make a spoon rest for my kitchen, so naturally I thought the two should match. I think overall, the glaze has more depth on the spoon rest than the chopstick vase, but they still make a nice pair for my kitchen counter.
Overall, I came home with about 15 pieces of pottery. Some are great, some are ok, and a couple are just terrible. The class was challenging and fun, I can't wait to take another one and hopefully bring home a few more stellar pieces.

First Time Potter: The Bottle Saga

When I took the pottery class this spring, I mostly just wanted to have fun. But true to my nature, I found myself looking for a challenge. Though the class had little structure, the teacher did demonstrations every now and then. One such demonstration was how to make a bottle. You make a cylinder, which is a great thing to practice, and then you bring in the top. That was the easy two steps according to the teacher, anyway. I thought it looked like fun, so I set out to make my own bottle. My attempts produced a number of bowls and vases, but I could not get my cylinder tight enough and tall enough to bring in the bottle neck. Finally, after a good couple weeks of work, I made my first bottle.

Here it is in all the phases of pottery making!

First you throw it (make it on the wheel)....

Then you bisque fire it (fire at a low temperature)...

Then you glaze it...And lastly, you fire it again! But you'll have to wait for the next post to see the final product.

Best Laid Plans

Since last April, I had planned to run the George Washington Parkway Classic. Since September, I had been building up my base runs. Since January, I had been timing my runs and training my pace... But not all plans work out.

In mid-March I started working full time again. This meant no more running in the afternoons. The adjustment to the full work week and running in the mornings was more than I had anticipated. After a long and tiring first week, I started to reevaluate my 10 mile race plan. From there it all unraveled. A long story short, today was the race and I was not in it. Instead I took this week off running and spent time with family after my fiance's grandmother passed away.

This morning I took a peaceful 4 mile run through farmland. It was much nicer than a crowded race course, after all.

Yoga+ Running= Yes!

I've been running for years, but I just started doing yoga this past summer. I guess I was a little skeptical of yoga because people only say amazing things about it. I just didn't believe any one thing could really be that great. I'm not about to tell you that yoga changed my life, but it definitely changed my running. Here is how:

Mind set- Right off the bat, I started thinking more about the intentions I had for each of my runs. This has helped me stay motivated.

Posture- I never thought about my posture while running until after I started yoga. Maybe other runners think about this all the time, but not me. Keeping my shoulders back and thinking about what part of my body I'm "leading" with has reduced cramps and helped me push more easily through hills.

Speed- The craziest part is, any time I run after doing yoga, I am a lot faster. I honestly feel lighter on my feet. Very strange, but I'm not going to knock it!

So... Yoga + running= fast runs, with fewer cramps, stronger hill running, and a better mind set= Yes!