High 30s - low 40s F; first 12 miles: rain showers w/ snow mixed in and very windy at times; last 8 miles: dry, cloudy w/ sun breaks and occasional gusty wind. Endurance run, club run w/ MP, Leg Builder Hill, and finished around the Ridge. Some women whom I know from the neighborhood came to the club run today (I have mentioned them before; they run together weekday mornings but are too fast for me usually.) I decided to throw caution to the wind and run with them and the pace turned out to be between 9:00 and 9:20 most of the time. Insto-presto, marathon pace workout! :D Well, I had a feeling I'd pay for it later, and the last 4 miles of my 20 were pretty hard. I think it was worth it. It sure was fun (the MP part, not the last 4 miles). Also present was a new woman, trying out the club for the first time, and she ran with us as well. I was enjoying her company, and feeling a bit awed by her tall, slender self, running all gracefully and effortlessly. Then she told me she is a Smartwool Sales Rep, and I had to elevate her to Goddess Status. Naturally, I had to gush about the many ways in which Smartwool products enrich my life. I would have earned myself Blabbermouth Status with her, except that the fast pace precluded my talking for as long as I could have. I'm so lucky I didn't have to run yesterday, in the horrible storm. We were absolutely hammered with rain, wind, hail, and sleet yesterday morning. At my house the wind speed got up to 42 mph. All my porch furniture crawled up on itself in one corner of the deck, and my yard waste bin got scooped out of its little niche and thrown into the middle of the back lawn. So I was not surprised to see the branches everywhere this morning. One tree down as well. It made me appreciate the relative mildness of this morning's weather. Shoot, I've got so much to say today... OK, coming to the end soon. Mr. Sno & I bought a pull up bar for our little home gym, and it arrived yesterday. Guess how many pull ups I can do? Zero! Wow, lucky me to have so much room for improvement! ;) SnoFlake, my young gymnast, loves it and can do all kinds of tricks on it. Last thing - some folks have been asking me what I eat lately and I wanted to share the yummy dish I made when I came home from my run... Saute 1/2 C red cabbage, 1/2 C celery & 1/4 C onions in a heaping T of coconut oil (more stable, for higher heat cooking). Salt and cook on medium high until the veggies have softened a bit. Add 2 scrambled eggs & lower heat. Stir continuously while cooking for 1 minute. Top with cheddar cheese (I like Organic Valley Raw), turn off the heat and put a lid on the pan. Go do something else for a minute or two. When you come back the cheese should have melted a bit. Scoop onto plate and top with Muir Glen Organic Salsa. I also ate a piece of thick slice bacon from Thundering Hooves. A good source for finding pasture raised meat near you is eatwild.com. Happy Easter to my Christian friends! | 