U s u a l l y S t e p h a n i e

On appearing relaxed to the finish

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 14 May 2012 19:16:00 +0000

Pics from the 8K two weeks ago finally came out. For what I assume were money-saving reasons, volunteers, rather than pros, took photos of the race. I dug through hundreds of photos and found two "of" me, if you consider out-of-focus photos adequate, which I do.

The photographer was standing near the finish, which I think explains why the other women in the photos look so anguished. In comparison, I look pretty relaxed, although the blurriness helps with that. I'm sure that if the bottom photo were in focus, you'd see my bulging veins.

There is a slight possibility that I am airborne, too!
Runner 255 crossed the finish line 10 seconds
ahead of me.

The woman next to me finished at the same time I did.
She also looks really, uhm, awkward.

I'm not sure if my relaxed expression means that I'm not trying hard enough (which is possible because unless the angle is completely wonky, it would appear that 217 caught me by the finish) or if I just have a good poker face. I'm going with the latter. I promise you, my legs were not feeling awesome at this point, and I was afraid that I had kicked too early. Now that would have been awkward.

On returning to running, training, and racing

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:09:00 +0000

April marked the 1-year anniversary of my return to running after a nearly 2-year layoff. Not that I was a speedy runner when I dialed down the running in 2008 and then almost all together in 2009, but I was most certainly faster in 2008 than I am now. Like, two and a half minutes over 8K faster. That's a tough pill to swallow.

I ran my first race of the year on Sunday, a small 8K in downtown DC, in near-perfect weather conditions. I had no idea what time I could turn in or whether I could run 8K without stopping for a traffic light to catch my breath. Yeah, the training has been that haphazard.

I lined up in what I thought was the middle of the pack. I'm insecure as a runner, so unless the race start has pace-based corrals, I often line up near someone who is wearing too many layers for the weather and carrying an absurd amount of water for the race distance.

I've run this course multiple times, always with a large crowd. Sunday's race was significantly smaller, with just over 700 people at the start. Roughly two-thirds of the runners did the 8K, and everyone else was on the 5K course. The crowd thinned out immensely after 2 miles. Coincidentally, that was the only mile marker that I saw on the course, and I have no idea how I could have missed the other two. It's not like it was crowded. In fact, after 2.5 miles, I think I ~~saw only~~ passed 12 more racers. Actually, I wasn't counting. I was too busy checking out my Garmin and panicking about the paces I saw.

It turns out, I should not rely on the paces that my Garmin spits out on race day because between my inability to run in a straight line and the Garmin's challenges with picking up satellite signals that aren't bouncing off of buildings, I was once again duped into thinking I was cruising faster than I was. Like 10-12 seconds per mile faster (on average). Not that I'm displeased with my finish time: it's completely respectable given how haphazard my training was (did I mention this already?), and it's a lovely reminder of how far I've come since returning to the sport a year ago.

Less speedy than I thought I was: Garmin measured
.1 mile more than the race distance.

I'm spending this week easing back into a little maintenance running and also picking up two new regular restorative yoga classes (teaching) on the weekend. Next week, training for the North Face Endurance Challenge 10K begins in earnest!

Back to "racing" . . .

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 19:34:00 +0000

My first road race of the year is coming up, although I use the term "race" loosely. Over the winter, I registered for this Sunday's Race to Stop the Silence 8K as a way to keep myself somewhat accountable and to make sure that I didn't go into June's North Face Endurance Challenge 10K completely unprepared. So instead, I'll go into this weekend's 8K unprepared.

"Training" for the 8K began right after I got back from Oregon in the beginning of the month (see "eking out what I can from the 2011-2012 ski season"). I'd be super motivated on Mondays to wake up and run. And practice yoga in the evening. And I'd do both. Then I'd plan on heading to Pilates Tuesday mornings, but instead, I found myself hitting snooze and convincing myself that rest was better for me. Wednesdays, I taught yoga in the morning and had every intention to do speedwork in the evening. Except then the afternoon would arrive, and I'd be dead tired, so I'd scrap the speedwork. Then on Thursdays, I'd be scheduled for another evening workout, but because of other yoga commitments earlier in the day, I was – you guessed it – too tired to run. Notice the theme: unbalanced yogini! Ahhh! Strike a tree pose, quick!

Finally, Fridays would come along, and between Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I crammed in all the missed and scheduled runs. Then I'd feel so bad about beating up my body that I'd take a couple yoga classes over the weekend, too. Rinse and repeat for three weeks. Obviously, this is not ideal.

Then last week, I amazingly got in a tempo run only one day off schedule. I completely scrapped a scheduled weekday run, but over the weekend, I got some things dialed.

First, I received bodywork, sort of. On Saturday, I went to a Yamuna Body Rolling workshop at one of the local yoga studios. Whoa. It's like foam rolling, but with a softer apparatus, and for the entire body. The instructor's eyes lit up when I told her I was a runner. This was a good thing. She showed us a number of techniques for working on muscles along the spine, hamstrings, quads, calves, and glutes. What more could I possibly ask for??

The other thing that I tried out over the weekend was a long run in a new locale and with a group! On Sunday, a local running store – Potomac River Running – and Saucony hosted a trail run with sample Saucony Peregrine 2 shoes for people to try out. And, not so coincidentally, the run was at the location of the North Face Endurance Challenge. Given my propensity to take wrong turns on trail runs when left to my own devices, I had already intended to check out the 10K course at some point before the race, but this was serendipitous. Who cares if it was over a month before race day, and I'll probably forget everything between now and then? I could kill 3 birds with one stone: do my longer weekend run, try out trail running shoes (which I don't own), and check out the course. It even stopped raining for the hour that we were on the trail.

I swear this was a group run. There's just no one around me.
And I look knock-kneed.

Check out the fancy sample Peregrine 2s on my feet!

So the verdict on last Sunday is that for the longer run, the group pushed my pace, but that's not a bad thing. For the trail race course scouting mission, I really have nothing to compare it to, but I was struck by how long it took to get to the singletrack, probably to space out all the runners. As to the Sauconys, I didn't get blisters, so that's a plus, right? And, they're purple! They were lighter than anything that I've run in, and my left arch (because my body is imbalanced that way) felt somewhat unsupported. I don't think they're the right shoe for me, but they've definitely turned me on to finding a grippier (and lighter!) shoe for the trails.

With only four weeks of haphazard training, I'm not expecting the upcoming Sunday to be anything more than a timed run through a small section of the city. I expect to be faster than I was at the Jingle All the Way 8K (same course), but then again, at the December race, I basically had a conversation with my running buddy, so being "faster" is not a stratospheric goal!

Wallowas Backcountry Ski Recap: Food Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 19:04:00 +0000

I've started ~~training~~ building a base for my spring races. Really. But before I get to that, in true "eking out what I can from the 2011-2012 ski season" form, I'm writing one ~~last~~ more post about the Wallowas backcountry skiing trip.

You may remember that about a month ago, I was in the midst of prepping meals and food for the trip and nervous about it. I'm not a confident backcountry cook, and I didn't know two of the people in the group, which made it even trickier. What if they were gourmet cooks?? I was banking on everyone burning a lot of calories the day that I was assigned to dinner and being so famished that they'd eat anything.

So of course it rained for 28 hours straight, making the avalanche risk super high. We stayed at camp. All. Day. No one burned a significant amount of energy.

I know you're dying to find out how my communal meal went. Let's get to it.

Despite the lack of calories burned during the day and my bias, I think my meal turned out yummy. It faced stiff competition, though, as the couple that brought in a sled actually brought in all fresh food, including: Brussels sprouts, asparagus, capers, lemons, and 2 pounds of fresh salmon (and a half gallon of milk, raw eggs in shell, raw sausage, bell peppers, and new potatoes...suffice to say that not all backcountry trips are created equal.). On the other hand, the sled was a fiasco.

Quarter mile in and already having sled issues.

Being a mean 100 lbs and schlepping everything on my back (squashed in a 35L pack!) meant that my meals needed to be light and compact. There was virtually no on-site prep required for my recipes, unless you count "boiling water" as prep. Also, they're "one-pot" friendly.

Slaving away.

The Dinner Menu

Snack: [something crispy] and guacamole

Appetizer: potato leek soup

Entree: teriyaki salmon with brown rice and spinach

Guacamole:

1 packet guacamole mix
avocado
lime

Follow instructions on packet, which are more or less "mash avocados, add mix, and mash some more." The lime was my special secret ingredient.

This one is a no-brainer. I brought in Simply Organic guacamole mix and an avocado. My guru, the Backcountry Culinary Goddess gushes about the virtues of bringing an avocado or two into the backcountry, so I did. Then I found two more in one of the camp's two coolers. The prior hut group had also left a lime. Score!

I later (like two weeks ago) found crystallized lime packets that will substitute for fresh lime when weight is an issue, as it is in most backcountry situations.

True Lime, where were you when I needed you??

This "recipe" is definitely coming with me the next time I head out into the woods. The challenging part is figuring out what to dip into the guac. It needs to be something I can squish into my pack. I'm open to suggestions...

Potato Leek Soup:

1 package of potato leek soup mix
1 cups of potato flakes from instant mashed potatoes
6.5 cups water
3 bouillon cubes
1/2 cup cured bacon bits
some amount of shelf-safe grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup shelf-safe whole milk (or powdered equivalent)

Bring water to boil and add bouillon cubes to create broth. Add soup mix and potato flakes and simmer ~30 minutes. Add milk. Top with cheese and bacon bits. Serve.

Soup mixes are abundant. I've also seen some in the bulk food aisle (in Seattle).

There are also several options for instant mashed potatoes.

The Backcountry Culinary Goddess told me that a block of aged cheese almost always makes it into her pack. I sought a lighter weight alternative: grated Parm. As for the milk, 2% or whole fat is better than non-fat for this recipe. For the life of me, I could not find powdered milk with fat in this town. So in a departure from my goals of reducing volume and weight, I actually brought in shelf-safe whole milk.

Not sure which is more creepy: shelf-safe milk
or cow drinking milk from a straw.

A benefit of being assigned to prepare a menu for the last night of a backcountry trip when your group includes members petrified of running out of food is that you can often scrounge some ingredients. So I scrounged an obscene amount of fresh cheddar cheese, which someone else had brought in but didn't want to carry out, to add to the soup. I also grabbed some cheese that the prior group had left behind. Don't worry, I tested it on a guy with an iron stomach before adding it to the soup.

This soup would have been ideal if we had actually burned more than a few hundred calories the day my menu was up for dinner. Instead, my meal made it seem like I was fattening up my pals for slaughter. Maybe I was.

Teriyaki Salmon with Brown Rice and Spinach

The amount of teriyaki salmon packets that will feed your crew. I used 3 pouches of BUMBLE BEE® Prime Fillet® Pink Salmon Steaks for 5 people, although I had brought in 4 pouches.
The amount of instant brown rice that will feed your crew. I brought 3 cups and cooked it all.
Fresh spinach (large bag)
Nori Fumi Furikake rice seasoning (optional, available in Whole Foods and Asian grocery stores)

Prepare rice according to instant rice directions, add spinach after rice is cooked. Let spinach wilt. Break salmon into chunks and heat through. Season to taste with Nori Fumi Furikake rice seasoning. Serve.

This recipe shouldn't even be called a recipe because it's ridiculously easy. My most genius move was bringing the rice seasoning in an empty Nuun tube (I also brought a tube actually filled with Nuun). Even though the rice seasoning already comes in a small container, I still repackaged it in an even smaller container.

Lunches...

Except for the day that we were stuck at camp, when I ate leftovers from dinner the night before, I ate Kind Bars, Honey Stinger chews and gels, and almond butter and honey-filled tortillas. I completely forgot that bars "froze" when cold. And using separate almond butter and honey packets for the tortillas was an unnecessary inconvenience. The raw almond butter was somewhat difficult to spread, and again, it wasn't until a few weeks after I got back to DC that I saw pre-mixed almond butter and honey packets. The latter turned out to be waaaay easier to spread on bread products. In my defense, they were on the highest shelf at the grocery store, so I didn't seem them earlier. Right.

Honey almond butter packets (right) are the way to go.

When it came to actually preparing the honey almond butter-filled tortillas, it was more effective to cut the tortilla first and then spread the honey almond butter onto each half before rolling them up. I previously had spread the honey and almond butter onto the middle of a whole tortilla, rolled it up, and then cut that down the mid-line. It resulted in a gooey mess. Gooey mess in the backcountry = not ideal.

Breakfasts...

Again, these were the easiest for me, and I described my quinoa flake porridge in my food prep post. They did the trick.

Parting thoughts, keeping in mind that my focus is on weight...

Repackage the amounts you'll need for your meals, and bring in only what you need, with a little more just in case. This saves on the waste you'll most likely have to carry out. On the other hand, I personally wouldn't repackage meat/fish because it probably comes in a seal-tight packet that I can't recreate.

Measure and combine ingredients in ZipLoc bags prior to the trip so that all you need to do on your trip is open and pour. Again, this also saves on waste that needs to come back out. Although, if something is already pre-prepared/mixed (ie, soup), there's no need to open and repackage it, unless you are consolidating multiple packets.

If you're bringing in fresh food/veggies, continue to think in terms of weight. I brought spinach and not, say, broccoli (or a head of lettuce), and it's not because I dislike broccoli. Spinach is light and can be compressed. Period.

The next post is back to running. I promise.

A Word On My Yoga Teaching Philosophy

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 02:00:00 +0000

I rarely write about yoga, even though I'm certified at the 200-hour level, have taken additional training in restoratives and therapeutics, and teach it part time. But because I'm not eking out any more turns on the ski slopes and have started spending more time pounding the pavement and trails, I've had plenty of time to think about last Wednesday's Morning Edition piece on Hindus and the evolution of modern yoga and what it means for me, an agnostic Asian American teaching yoga in the nation's capital.

I teach yoga.

In a gym setting.

In a town that's saturated with yoga studios and gyms offering yoga classes.

I've never been to India.

There are rock star yoga teachers in D.C. As of right now, I'm not one of them. But if I were, someone would probably want to take yoga back from me. Heck, they probably want to take it back from me right now.

So what's my teaching philosophy, and why come to my classes?

Because gym yoga is often the gateway to a more holistic yoga practice, in a more traditional venue.

This isn't to say that gym yoga is inherently not holistic. But, realistically, many people who practice yoga at the gym are there because they want a workout or stretch session, and this was the only class offered that day (not kidding about this). Maybe they'd heard something about the meditative and mindfulness aspects of yoga, too.

Similar to how I sneak restorative poses into the classes that I teach – on the hunch that most people in D.C. don't even realize their bodies are craving restoration – I also sneak in reminders of mindfulness and silent meditation. It may not be the entirety of what traditional yoga in India offers, but it's more traditional than other more fusion-based practices. Poses are not "yummy" or "juicy." They are what they are, and if you happen to bind in your standing twist today, then yippee for you, at this moment.

If anything, call what I teach yoga "light." I believe it's still yoga.

ॐ

Wordless Wednesday: The Wallowas Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 16:20:00 +0000

Here are some more of my favorite pics from last week's adventure. There's a definite benefit of being the last one when climbing/hiking in someplace: there are lots of photos of you!

Snow shadows

Sliding downhill with skins on
and heels up is confusing. Just sayin'.

Looking like it's the heart of winter right now!

Don't let me down, snow bridge...

Thanks for all the turns, Winter 2011-2012!

Wallowas! (aka, Winter's Last Gasp)

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 02 Apr 2012 12:00:00 +0000

I'm back on the grid! After weeks of blogging and talking about it, the trip to the Wallowas happened.

Bright and early last Tuesday morning, five of us set out for a 7+ hour drive to Joseph, Oregon, from Bend. Our ultimate destination: the Wallowa Mountains. After playing in Bend for three straight days, ~~I was~~ my hip flexors were grateful for a travel/rest day.

Gear and skis for 5 actually fit into a Suburban!

I'd skied the backcountry before, and I've even hauled in my skis a few times for the spring Tuckerman Ravine ritual. But the Wallowas would be my first multi-day backcountry ski trip. Until this week, I'd only done day trips, and I'd slapped skins onto my skis a grand total of probably 4 times, if you count the first day of my avalanche class where we were focused on rescue, not climbing, techniques. I'm also counting the time that I skinned up a closed ski area in New Hampshire.

I'd been feeling for a few years that backcountry skiing was the next progression for me, so I was super excited when Charlotte called in January inviting me on the trip that she and Aaron were planning. It would be a relatively flat 4-mile ski into the huts, from which we could access some amazing terrain. My hope was that even coming from sea level, I'd be able to keep up with everyone (uhm, yeah), and with any additional luck, my feet would remain relatively blister-free (I was a little more successful at this one).

We arrived in Joseph, Oregon, just after 5pm. Our plan was to spend the night here before heading onto the trail the next morning. Not so conveniently, nearly every store in town closed at 5pm in the winter. Our only options for killing time before dinner were checking out Our Little Store and window shopping.

The results of our not-so-blind taste tests of Mexican Pepsi
and Mexican Coke purchased at Our Little Store: Mexican
Pepsi has more flavor than Mexican Coke. Who knew?

Carb loading at Embers Brewhouse, one of the few
open establishments in Joseph after 5pm

My room at Chandlers' Inn. Pretty inspiring!

The hut company sent an employee to our B&B for a briefing Wednesday morning, and a Forest Service ranger also joined us. Then we headed out to the Sno-Park.

If you've spent your entire life on the east coast like me, you probably have never heard of a Sno-Park. Thanks to Google, I've learned (in the last five minutes) that there are Sno-Parks in Oregon, Washington, California (and probably other states), and permits are required for parking there. Yay, Google.

DAY 1

After gearing up in the parking lot, we set out. Our goal for Day 1 was to make it into camp, and depending on how we felt afterward, maybe climb for some turns.

I've never been successful at shooting non-butt
photos of people gearing up...

View from the Sno-Park parking lot.

Every now and then, the sky brightened, and we were treated
to great views.

Practicing some spacing. The guys are way out in front with
the sled. We won't talk about the sled, but let's just say there's a
reason that two people needed to maneuver one sled. Charlotte
and Christa are also in front of me, so I was just hanging out,
taking pix.

Snowmobile high marking tracks on the treeless slope
near center.

We arrived at camp too late for more skiing, but Christa and Andrew had brought in fresh food (hello, sled!) and whipped up an amazing backcountry meal: fresh salmon, rice, asparagus, and...brussels sprouts. My second brussels sprouts experience ever, and it happened in the backcountry. Not kidding. They weren't bad, either.

Veggies being prepped. I was a little apprehensive about the sprouts.
I mean what kind of wacko people pack in Brussels sprouts??

The complete meal.

DAY 2

When we woke up the next day, it was snowing and there were several inches of fresh snow on the ground! Whee! After a bit of climbing and some snow pit digging and analysis (thanks, Aaron!), we skied.

Rise and shine!

Freshies at camp!
The kitchen hut is to the left, and sauna hut to the right.

Charlotte skins up.

I've approximately two photos of the climb up because I was working hard. The reward, though, was worth it.

Here's the thing: I know this is blasphemous, but my powder skiing is marginal, and with a pack throwing my balance off, it became atrocious. Nevertheless, I managed to get comfortable with it by the end of the run. So even though this isn't me skiing down, it's a picture of my tracks, which enter the photo on the left behind some trees, cross over another set of tracks and end, well, at the bottom of the frame, where I'm taking the photo.

My tracks (and evidence of my outriggers).

DAY 3
And on the third day, it rained. All. Day. So I played Bananagrams. A few times with Charlotte, Aaron, and Andrew, and once solo. Yep, I know how to have fun on a rainy day in a ski hut.

The completed Bananagrams board. And honey bear.

A part of me was glad for the forced rest day. I'm not used to skiing with a pack. Between skiing in on Day 1 and the skiing on Day 2, my right calf was weirdly sore in a spot I don't think I'd ever felt it sore. I sort of felt that I needed some rest so that I'd be able to ski out the next day. But the rain was also depressing. We all hoped that it hadn't deteriorated the snow too much – like melt the snow bridges over the water crossing – for the ski out, and that the weather would improve in general.

DAY 4

I don't know about anyone else in the group, but given that it was pouring rain when we went to bed on Thursday night and raining even harder on Friday night when we hit they hay, I wasn't entirely sure it would clear up for our ski out. I woke up a few times in the night and was pleasantly surprised not to hear any drips. I did, however, hear weird rippling sounds that sounded like rodents and freaked myself out. After I finally fell asleep for good, I woke up to this:

The sun rises behind Christa & Andrew's hut.

We cleaned up camp following the strenuous checkout requirements and then worked our way out of the backcountry. On our way out, we actually crossed paths with the group coming in for the weekend. I was mildly jealous because the weather report looked pretty good for their stay.

Strenuous checkout duties (and camp rules).

We had lucked out with amazing weather for the ski out!

Amazing views, too. Btw, does this beacon make me look fat?

The route follows the contour of the slope.

It was sunny, warm, and ~~a little~~ very breezy. We could spot the parking lot from a distance, and it was a little sad to realize that each stride brought me closer to the end of my 2011-2012 ski season. I had eked out all that I could. It's now time to hang up the skis and focus on running.

I'm super grateful to have had this opportunity to head out into the backcountry with such fun and patient people. I can't wait to do it again!

Wallowas Ski Trip Prep: The Playing in Bend Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 02:50:00 +0000

I've been cooling my heels in Bend, Oregon, for the past few days. Charlotte and her husband have been taking me out on snow every day I've been here, and Charlotte and I have chased the skiing with some yoga: Back Bend Yoga for some hatha flow and Juniper Yoga for yin. Right now, my legs – especially my hip flexors – are crying. Good thing tomorrow is a rest/travel day.

As for the last three days' play time, they looked a little like this:

Saturday: cross country day.

Mini clinic on skate skiing. On my rental classic skis.

On skinny skis for the third time in my life!

Sunday: A little climbing before avalanche
beacon practice and a short ski down.

Monday: Resort day at Mt. Bachelor. I've no earthly
clue why my helmet is askew.

We head off the grid early tomorrow. The fingers are crossed for smooth travels and stable snow!

Wallowas Ski Trip Prep: Food Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Sun, 18 Mar 2012 22:31:00 +0000

One of the things that makes me anxious about backcountry trips is the food situation. While everyone else worries about being mauled by bears or facing natural disasters, I worry about getting enough calories into me. I also worry about whether anyone else will eat the food I bring, if I'm responsible for a meal or two.

A peek into the food stuff sack. Yes, those are Honey
Stinger gels and chews. And a tube of Nuun.

Even on my hungriest days, I have a tendency to get bored with the flavors and textures of my food long before I'm full. This isn't a backcountry phenomenon, but it's not ideal when it happens in the backcountry because usually the only food option is sitting in my bowl at that moment. I once forced myself to eat mushy mediocre cous cous because it was either mushy mediocre cous cous or nothing. Blech.

So, it's important for backcountry meals to be tasty.

Also, weight matters, especially when you're my size. The general rule of backpacking is that the total weight of your pack shouldn't be more than some manageable percentage of your body weight. Obviously, this is more challenging the less you weigh. Food can be heavy...on the flip side, commercial freeze-dried meals taste sort of "meh." It winds up being a balance.

On this trip, I'm responsible for one dinner and all of my breakfasts, lunches, and snacks. No pressure. I can do this. With these challenges – tasty and lightweight – in mind, I turned to the Backcountry Culinary Goddess.

The Backcountry Culinary Goddess kicks back in
amusement as I subject everyone to freeze-dried lasagna.

When we were hiking the Torres del Paine circuit, the Backcountry Culinary Goddess whipped up amazing meals on the camp stove while I subjected the group to freeze-dried meals, which are only a few steps up from MREs. What's her secret to yummy meals in the backcountry?

The Backcountry Culinary Goddess told me that she basically adapts tried and true home kitchen recipes into backcountry recipes by using as much dry product as possible, with the exception of aged cheese and avocados, which she just tosses into her pack and says is completely worth it. She directed me to a survivalist online website that sold powdered foods in bulk (#10 can of powdered eggs, anyone?). She also owns a food dehydrator, which made her options almost limitless. I, on the other hand, decided that because all I was responsible for was one dinner and a handful of other personal meals, I'd try to to this without buying crazy amounts of powdered anything or a food dehydrator.

I spent a day visiting grocery stores in DC – the Backcountry Culinary Goddess advised hitting the specialty stores in addition to the regular stores – and I returned with a pile of dried/shelf safe foods. My best find was almond butter packets and honey straws. It means that I won't have to go to a zillion diners around town to steal peanut butter and honey packets for my lunchtime nut butter & honey sandwiches/wraps. Woohoo!

Some of the finds...

As for the meals themselves, ever since I had the Backcountry Culinary Goddess's potato and corn chowder on the trail, I've wanted to recreate it. I ~~picked up~~ purchased a bag of creamy potato soup, hoping it would be a good starting point. Then I read the ingredients and saw that it contained MSG. Eek!

Next!

Whole Foods came through for me. Really. I found a package of potato leek soup with all the herbs already in there, plus some instant mashed potatoes. To this, I added finds from the standard grocery store: shelf-safe crumbled cured bacon bits, grated Parmasean cheese, and – of all things – a juice box-sized package of shelf-safe whole milk. Add boiling water. And vegan bouillon cubes, which I know are negated by the bacon bits. Work with me here.

The beginnings of a creamy potato soup.

As for the rest of dinner, I'm thinking packets of teriyaki salmon on instant brown rice, with baby spinach. The baby spinach part may emerge to be the most genius part of my scheme – lightweight and compressable!

Breakfasts...so, even though I can't eat a ton of the same thing in one sitting, I have no problem eating the same thing every. single. day. My breakfast plan: quinoa porridge. I like slow-burning carbs for breakfast. I mixed quinoa flakes, shredded coconut, dried papaya and dried cherries, and added random nuts that I had laying around: macadamias, almonds, and peanuts. I topped this with cinnamon and a dash of salt.

Then I added boiling water. This cooks up in minutes, and after it cooled somewhat, I tasted it. A fresh fruit version of this is often my go-to breakfast at home, and the dried fruit version proved to be pretty tasty, too.

After fiddling around with the measurements, I packaged up the mix and double bagged everything. There's nothing worse than a dry foods blowout in the backpack.

I'm excited to see how this all works out. Bon appetit, happy campers!

ॐ

Short of hiring your own cook to take care of this for you, what are your backcountry meal inspirations? Are there any foolproof recipes you always take into the backcountry?

Wallowas Ski Trip Prep

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 13:43:00 +0000

I'm two weeks away from setting out for my first multi-day backcountry ski trip to the Wallowa Mountains in northeastern Oregon later this month. I've been super excited for this trip ever since Charlotte and Aaron invited me to join them and another couple (hooray for being the 5th wheel!). We'll be skiing in to a ~~hut~~ glorified tent and making it our base for a few days before skiing back out. But, I'm not sure my friends knew what they were getting into when they invited me. . .

Wallowas, up close and personal in two weeks!

First, they have a physical advantage. They're both bigger than me, but then again, nearly everyone is. Also, I live at sea level. They don't. Moreover, they live in Bend, the capital of overachieving outdoor enthusiasts. The fly fishermen in Bend probably wrestle bears, and win. I, on the other hand, got sick in the second week of February, which knocked out my respiratory system. At the same time, I was reluctant to do any upper body strengthening until the pinched nerve in my upper back/neck was no longer traumatizing me in my sleep. In short, I took the month of February to recover. And I'm pretty enthusiastic about recovery. Endurance athletes (not that I'm putting myself in that category) lament at not being able to work out on weekends; I cheerfully spent the better part of my February weekends in my pajamas, editing ski videos and catching up on Grey's Anatomy episodes. And reading about central Oregon.

Central Oregon propaganda!

Second, I still needed to compile my backcountry ski repair kit. Yeah, so to the folks that I ski toured with last year, guess what: I didn't have a ski repair kit with me. Whoops. You seemed like kind, helpful people that would come through in a pinch, though.

With this in my repair kit, everyone will want to help, right?

Finally, I should not be trusted with preparing any meals for a group unless freeze-dried lasagna sounds appetizing. Nevertheless, Aaron assigned me to put together one night's meal. He should consider himself warned.

Aside from my physical fitness, which is what it is, I've spent the last few weeks putting together a ski repair kit, planning my backcountry meals (more on this in a later post), and reviewing strategies in snow assessments and decision making. As a result, I added Hello Kitty duct tape to the repair kit (for those backcountry MacGyver moments); discovered that although my local REI does not have skin wax in stock (yeah, I don't know how to use it, either), it does sell replacement powder baskets for my ski poles; scoured the local grocery stores for shelf-safe foods; and perused some exciting bedtime reading material.

My avalanche mantra: 'fraidy cat = alive. And other stuff.

Onward with the trip prep!

First Forays into Editing Ski Videos

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:05:00 +0000

The past few days, I took a crack at editing video footage that a friend took while we were at Big Sky. This was the first time I edited any substantial amount of video. It was also the first time that I had no idea what footage I was dealing with, so I had to sift through all of it.

My friend's camera is embedded in the goggles, which offers (I think) a different vantage point than you get from a helmet cam or chestie harness. Everything is from the goggle wearer's point of view, which makes you realize how much your head moves, even when standing around. From a goggle cam, a simple head nod turns into a minor earthquake. And while "stabilizing" the image after the fact while editing the video is, in theory, a great idea, I wound up losing a lot of the frame.

In the final cuts, I tried to minimize the amount of footage taken while the goggle wearer is skiing. In fact, the first video features footage taken only while the goggle wear is stable, minus a head shake or two. In the second, I felt that the traverse at the peak and the catwalk at the end were integral to how we skied the run, so the POV skiing is include, albeit a little bumpy at times. And the catwalk sequence is longer than I would have preferred if I could have had custom length music.

At any rate, enough writing, as I'm hardly a video (or ski) pro. Please take a look. Hopefully you enjoy them and don't barf.

Ski Divas at Big Sky

Taking on Marx at Big Sky Resort

(Mostly) Wordless Wednesday: Big Sky Edition

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:45:00 +0000

I'm not usually into the Wordless Wednesday thing, but in light of last week's trip to Big Sky...

Kicking back in a pair of the Athleta Super G ski pant.

Some tree skiing.

Apres ski with Lone Peak Brewery's Steep & Deep

Big Sky Musings

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 19:07:00 +0000

I hit Big Sky this past week with the ladies from theSkiDiva.com, and while there wasn't any new snow (story of this winter), it was a blast. I've been meaning to ski Big Sky ever since my former roommate Jen said she was headed there with her family a few years ago. So when Wendy chose Big Sky as the location for this year's Diva Week West, I jumped at the chance.

Ski Divas and friends ski the Bowl below Lone Peak.

Things I learned from this week:

Skiing with people you know primarily – if not only – from the interwebs gets better every year. And it's a lot easier than online dating. You're already communicating with each other on an online message forum, so you can kind of tell who meshes with your personality and who's nutso. If your Spidey senses tell you that someone is creepy, then maybe you should trust your Spidey senses.

It's possible for 3 advanced skiers with poor communication skills to take out 4 ski patrollers while unloading from a chair lift. It's also hilarious, particularly when no one gets hurt.

It also possible to pack EVERYTHING (except skis and boots) into a carryon! Even my helmet. Another minor miracle. I stuffed socks and undies into my ski boots and bought full-size shampoos and saline solution after arriving. On the way home, I packed the liquids into my ski SportTube. I had a very short wardrobe rotation. Sorry roommates.

The last 10 feet of the tram ride to Lone Peak makes me nervous. The tram slows to a crawl and inches up a rock wall to its terminal. And by up, I mean vertical. Eek. Luckily, the tram was packed the first time I rode up, so I didn't have to watch this.

In the tram.

Booking a flight through Chicago in February was stupid. In light of snow showers yesterday, O'Hare was limiting plane landings, so my 12:55 pm flight didn't take off from Bozeman until closer to 4:30 pm. Then my connecting flight to DC also left an hour late. And to top it off, the shuttle dropped me off at the Bozeman airport at 10:30 am. I spent some quality time in front of the fireplace at the Bozeman airport.

I am no more than 2 degrees separated from everyone in Seattle. Really. Skiers from Seattle showed up at the Sunday night meet and greet, and being from DC and only knowing how to communicate by networking, I immediately played the name game. And found a connection right off the bat.

The town of Big Sky kind of looks like a movie set. See? Just like the set of the Truman Show.

Finally, I'm stoked for my backcountry ski trip in the Wallowas next month. Big Sky was a great tuneup!

Drive-by shooting of the Wallowas at the end of January.

Wednesday Flashback

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:03:00 +0000

I know it's Monday. I'm going to tell you about last Wednesday, though, as Wednesdays have proven to be somewhat challenging for me lately.

Last Wednesday was the first day of a new morning yoga class that I'm teaching. Unexpectedly, it coincided with my first yoga teaching anxiety dream: a yoga twist on the classic "sleeping through class" dream. And, I woke up at 4 a.m. on the dot, even though I didn't need to wake up for another two hours.

The yoga class went well, but the lack of sleep and my wretched nutrition planning for the rest of the day led to actual bonking during winter maintenance running that evening. It was even a slightly easier workout this week. Last week, I merely came close to bonking and possibly crying. This week, I actually bonked but didn't cry. I'm not sure what's better.

Scratch that. I know which is better:

Not bonking is always better than bonking. Period.

About one mile into Wednesday night's intervals, my "on" segments were no longer distinguishable from the "recovery" segments. Uh oh. I rounded a corner on the gravel path on the National Mall, and I began to hear footsteps behind me. Like last week, after we settled out, I was in between the speedy gals and less speedy gals. Actually, being a group running noob, I hope I didn't unintentionally thumb my nose at some sort of group running etiquette by running, uhm, alone.

Once I realized that I was fading, I made it my mission to hold off the 4 women behind me for as long as possible. On the second to last turn, the last woman passed me. My body was done. It was all I could do to keep pace with them and hope that it would end soon. I wobbled my way through the remaining sets of core and arm strengthening drills, plyometrics, and (get this) more sprints.

Long before the last set of dips, pushups, crunches, and balance drills, I was planning my dinner: the Whole Foods food bar and whatever randomness it would offer.

Getting to Whole Foods was a minor miracle: I had to sprint to make the bus, and the sprint basically used up the paltry glycogen reserves that remained in my system. Once I got to Whole Foods and ate, I couldn't move from the dining alcove. So, I exchanged a series of texts with my pal Ben. The best parts look something like this:

Me: I wonder if a wheelbarrow can pick me up and roll me home...
Ben: That's a little overkill for someone your size.
Ben (4 minutes later): Should I send a car?
Me: It's nice and warm here. Isn't that what hypothermic people say right before they take off all their clothes and die?
Ben: Ha!
Me: I can't move. It's only two blocks home.
Ben: 2 blocks? You can do it! Just think couch, awaits!
Me: I am going to live Tweet my walk home. I'm composting my cardboard food box.
Ben:...
Me (3 minutes later): Stairs now.
Ben: Steady....
Me (7 minutes later): In building elevator!!
Ben: Snort...
Ben (2 minutes later): Hey, you forgot to grab me some ice cream and run it over here.
Me: Don't worry, I put it on the Circulator bus for you.
Me (45 minutes later, after watching an awesome ep of Law & Order SVU – Treat Williams played a former football star): I don't know if I can move to the shower.
Ben: Try to crawl. It'll be just like college.
Me: Dude, what college did you go to? [We went to the same college]
Me (5 minutes later): I don't think I'm cut out to be an endurance anything, except whiner.
Ben: Try winer.
Me: I can't move from the couch. Too much inertia.

And that, my friends, was my Wednesday. I'm happy to report that I made it through the remainder of the night (and week and weekend).

ॐ

I'm entered in a Facebook photo contest for a ski trip to snowy Whistler. Please help a mid-Atlantic girl out (I mean, come on, check out the conditions I'm skiing in!) and vote for my entry. You can a vote EVERY day until midnight, Mountain Time, February 1. Thanks!

31 Days of Adventure: Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 04:37:00 +0000

Week 3 of the 31 Days of Adventure was a major fail for me. Other than Monday, which I had off from work, I basically was unable to complete any of the prompts on the day of, or at all. On the other hand, the prompts got me thinking of stuff to try out, like trapeze. In late December, I told Susannah of Running Around the World that I'd try trapeze with her, and I need to make good on that Twitter promise.

Day 16 - Monday, January 16

Witness the painting of the sky

Today's adventure is in three steps:

1. Today: Scout out a nice spot to see the sunrise.
2. Tonight: Before you go to sleep, set your alarm clock extra early.
3. Tomorrow morning: Get to your spot before the sun does.

Watch the sun rise.

Where did you choose to go? What colors do you see? If this was a familiar place, was it different than usual? In what way? If it was new, what did you love about it? Why did you choose it?

The forecast was not looking good for watching a sunrise on Tuesday morning, so I took advantage of a pre-dawn drive to the ski hill (Day 1!) to catch a photo of the rising sun behind us. I've driven this route countless times and even seen the sunrise from my rear-view mirror. Today may have been the first time that I'd watch the sun rise as a passenger.

Day 17 - Tuesday, January 17

The birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees

Today's adventure takes us outside (sensing a theme yet?): Find a nearby trail to hike and notice the nature/wildlife.

Can you identify the trees? Which ones still have leaves on them? What's growing on the ground? Are the nests in any of the trees?

For the first time in 2 weeks, I didn't do any trail running on the weekend, and so I don't didn't hit any trails.

Day 18 - Wednesday, January 18
Throw away the directions

So you think you know your neighborhood? Today we invite you to explore your hometown (and beyond). Take a drive (or a bike ride) without a map. If you're with someone, take turns choosing which direction to go when you reach an intersection.

Bonus: Park when the feeling is right and go explore on foot.

Extra bonus: For a different kind of adventure, try this on a trail. (Just remember to bring a map and compass!)

There was no time to do this today, and I'd have to drive a bit before getting someplace that I'd never explored and where I wouldn't think that my safety was an issue. But, as an honorable mention, my brother and I did drive around Newark, New Jersey, one time sans map and Smartphone, hit a detour, thought we were lost, and miraculously found the interstate that we wanted. In a residential neighborhood. Of course.

Day 19 - Thursday, January 19
More than a trillion choices

Our world is full of many colors. Have you noticed lately?

Choose your favorite color for the day and head outside to take note of all the places and ways it shows up in your world. What are the different shades? Where do they appear? Be sure to look up, down and under. Take a picture of your favorite.

If you're feeling extra adventurous, take at least five pictures of your color and share them with others.

First, I had a tough time choosing a color. Green popped into my head. Then purple. Then, I interpreted the prompt as finding those colors not only outside but also in nature, and I wondered how on earth I'd find anything living in D.C. that was not currently brown. It turns out that shrubs are still green. And there are plenty of green traffic lights in the city.

Day 20 - Friday, January 20
Get your blood flowing

Today we're going to get our bodies moving.

Try a new sport or outdoor activity today (or one you haven't done in years). Run one mile. Rent snowshoes and go for a hike. Maybe there's an ice skating rink or perfect hill for sledding near you. Ever tried curling? Bicycle polo? Skijoring?

What sport have you always wondered what it might be like to try? What are you waiting for? Go try it!

I can't get my act together fast enough to wake up and say, "Hey! I'm going to try a new sport or outdoor activity today!" and actually do it. But, I've been planning to try trapeze at TSNY once my pinched nerve disappears. Until then, it's running, yoga, pilates, and skiing for this girl!

Day 21 - Saturday, January 21
Wish upon a star

For your adventure today, set your alarm for 1:00am. Head outside and check out the constellations.

If you're in the city (or it's too cloudy) and you can't see the night sky, see how many constellations you can name. Grab a constellation book (or consult the Internet) to learn more.

Ah, urban living + cloudy skies = no constellations. I know that the only ones I can identify are the Big and Little Dippers, and Orion.

Day 22 - Sunday, January 22
Get out the play

Play outside for 30 minutes today! Need inspiration? Pretend you're a kid again and remember the outdoors is full of "natural" toys waiting to come to life with a bit of imagination.

All work and no play make Stephanie a dull girl.

Actually, today was a crazy raw day: there were a few flakes in the morning, but otherwise it was freezing drizzle. All. Day. Long. Subpar outdoor play conditions. I'm taking a raincheck on this one.

I'm blogging weekly recaps of my 31 Days of Adventure on Mondays, but if you can't wait until next Monday, I'm tweeting my daily adventures at @usuallystephani with the hashtag #31adventures.

31 Days of Adventure is crafted by

and

ॐ

Sometimes, When We Least Expect It, Stuff Just Matters

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:47:00 +0000

I thought this post was going to be about (nearly) bonking after this past Wednesday's winter maintenance running session, but it's really about the intersection of athletic pursuits and crying. Cue Tom Hanks' character in A League of Their Own: "There's no crying in baseball!"

A little over two weeks ago, at the first winter maintenance running session of the new year, I discovered that I revved up to 90% effort on the "on" portions of intervals noticeably faster than many of the women I was running with. It had to be a fluke. They must not have been trying. Or maybe the fast women were still on vacation.

I spent the better part of the last two weeks trying to figure out how I, a mediocre distance runner who looks nothing like Usain Bolt, could possibly hang with the Boston qualifiers in the group when it came to intervals. I mean, come on. And yes, I know "about" fast twitch versus slow twitch fibers, but I promise you, my legs do not look, uh, fast twitch-like, to the extent they have a "look."

So this past Wednesday, I wondered. Would I still be "fast" over short distances? Would the other ladies try tonight?

It wasn't a fluke, but it also wasn't easy. Oy. After the workout, I nearly bonked in the grocery store check-out line and seriously contemplated squirting honey directly into my mouth.

I'm lucky that I've been slightly above average, athletics-wise, my entire life: I try stuff, don't completely flail, and come back for more. However, Wednesday was the first time I remember seeking divine intervention during a workout. After I sought divine intervention, I noticed that I was close to tears. I don't think there's a relationship between the tears and seeking divine intervention, by the way.

I haven't cried a ton when it comes to physical exertion or competition, but the times that I have are memorable:

* When I was 6, I made a tactical error at a gymnastics meet and faulted twice on the vault. The fact that I remember this is a little disturbing.

* My boat didn't make it into the grand finals of an end-of-season regatta my junior year of high school. So my rowers and I cried.

* In my early 20s, a mogul field at Mad River Glen ate me for breakfast and lunch. Plus, I was about to bonk. I stayed where I had most recently fallen and cried.

* In my late 20s, I blew out my knee – for the second time – on the soccer field. I actually heard my ACL pop.

* Two years ago, I burst into tears right before the last leg of the Torres del Paine Circuit because I picked up a stomach bug and had to backpack 11K on a few hundred calories. I didn't know whether I'd have a bed waiting for me when I finished, which was really sad.

* And on Wednesday, pushing myself on those intervals – wanting neither to let anyone behind me to pass me nor to fly and die – pretty much made me cry. It could have been the wind, but I'm not sure.

Until Wednesday night, my cries related to athletic endeavors were out of frustration, injury and disappointment. These reasons seem reasonable when I list it out like that.

I have no idea why I was on the verge of tears Wednesday night other than it mattered to me. It mattered to me on Wednesday that I push myself, in the form of holding off the runners behind me. Sometimes, when we least expect it, stuff just matters.

ॐ

How I Spent My Holiday Weekend

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:06:00 +0000

Having taken care of errands on Friday, I was able to spend Saturday, Sunday and Monday doing the following: run, Fuse Pilates, eat, make two types of soup, eat, sleep, eat, run, vinyasa yoga, lose keys (ack!), try to stay warm and not bonk, find keys (yay!), eat, teach yoga, assist restorative yoga, eat, sleep, eat, SKI, snack, snack, snack, Iyengar yoga, eat, sleep.

Yes, you read it right! I got in Day 1 of the 2011-2012 ski season! I don't usually blog about my run of the mill ski days, but as you can tell from the pics, it was epic, you know, just like all the skiing in the U.S. outside of the PNW has been until this week. Behold! The awesomeness of skiing in the mid-Atlantic!

R-L, Ben, Becky and I head up for run 1.

Uhm, yeah.

Redefining the phrase "blower pow." Also, I swear I'm

moving my weight forward. And keeping my hands up.

ॐ

I'm entered in a Facebook photo contest for a ski trip to snowy Whistler. Please help a mid-Atlantic girl out (I mean, come on, check out the conditions I'm skiing in!) and vote for my entry. You can cast a vote EVERY day until midnight, Mountain Time, February 1. Thanks!!

31 Days of Adventure: Week 2

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:11:00 +0000

This week's 31 Days of Adventure prompts were challenging for me to accomplish the same day. I also wasn't able to accomplish at least one of the prompts this week, either. Part of this, no doubt, is because I'm too rigidly scheduled on a day-to-day basis to add in spontaneity. If you think I'm kidding, ask me how far in advance I need to schedule meetups with local friends (hint: it's not just me)!

Day 9 - Monday, January 9

Connect the old-fashioned way

Many of us have family and friends spread all over the globe. Emails, Facebook updates, texts and blog comments are all great ways to stay connected. But think about the joy that comes from a hand-addressed letter in the snail-mailbox. When's the last time you sent a handwritten letter just to say hi?

Today, go analog and send a card (or letter) to someone far away. Or heck, send a postcard to your next door neighbor.

Find a card laying around the house. If you don't have a card, use a piece of paper, or you can get creative and make your own. Then write a nice note, address, stamp and send!

I picked up this card from NPR when I stopped by their offices in December to participate in a listener survey, and on Tuesday, I sent it off to one of my favorite NPR junkies in Oregon.

Postcard front.

Day 10 - Tuesday, January 10

Pull out a $10 word

Learn a new word and incorporate it into a conversation with a loved one or colleague.

Bonus challenge: Strike up a conversation with a stranger and use your new word.

Extra-extra bonus: Make up your own word, teach it to someone else and use it in a sentence with a stranger.

So my first challenge was finding a new word. Luckily, I play Scrabble with Jonathan online all the time, and he usually decimates me by 100 points. This is because he knows a billion more words than I do and has memorized the two-letter words. Speaking of two- letter words, what does "AE" mean?

Apparently it's Scottish for "one."

Now, here's where I admit that I did not teach a single person this new word. I just couldn't weave it into conversation, mostly because I had no idea who to use it in context. But, if you're reading this post, consider yourself schooled in "ae."

Heh. "There can be only ae."

Day 11 - Wednesday, January 11

Ideas that are twice as nice

Friends and loved ones can add an element of spice to any adventure.

Today, why not invite a friend to join you on a creative endeavor? Here are a few ideas to get you thinking: make a meal together, paint a picture, sing a song, read a story aloud, build a sculpture or script a screenplay.

How does including another add to your experience?

Oy. Way too hard for me to accomplish, unless downhill skiing on Sunday is a creative endeavor. Sorry kids.

Day 12 - Thursday, January 12

Listen to the voices in your head

Today's adventure is about tuning into those voices and getting to know them a little more.

* * *

Listen to the voices in your head. We all have them (right? Or is it just me?).

Throughout the day, they tell us what we should and shouldn't eat, who we should or should't talk to, and what we should and shouldn't do with ourselves. We don't even notice them most of the time—we just carry out their orders.

Today, stop and really LISTEN to those voices with intention—as if they're coming from a friend or family member. Which messages or instructions really stand out? Are there ones that you might need to defend yourself against? If so, stick up for yourself to that voice.

And, if there's a quiet little (or not so quiet little) voice that pipes up that you identify as your creative self—consider DOING what it asks of you rather than putting it on a shelf for another time (or worse—to be forgotten).

Neither of these is mine. I'm still a few steps away
from being a full-on dirtbag skier.

Speaking of skiing, I'm a very geographically-challenged alpine skier, and the not-so-little voice in my head has been nagging about this for a while. I thought I gave in to this fix somewhat last winter, but apparently not enough....it must be because I don't yet have the prerequisite vehicle for being a dirtbag skier.

Day 13 - Friday, January 13

The gift of vulnerability

Sometimes it can seem like we're alone in the world. And that we need (or it's easier) to do everything ourselves. We're here to challenge that assumption with today's adventure: Ask for help.

It can be hard to ask others for help. (It's usually much easier to offer to help others.) What do you need help with today?

Go ahead. Be brave. And vulnerable. Ask for help.

Does asking someone to get the tomato paste from the top shelf at the grocery store count? I'm 5 feet tall. I have an okay vertical leap, but I can rarely reach the top shelf at the grocery store.

By the way, being a damsel in distress is sometimes my M.O. Just sayin'.

Day 14 - Saturday, January 14

What do you know?

Today's adventure is about learning. And sharing. And gaining knowledge. But it's really about sharing that new knowledge with others.

Choose a topic you know nothing about (maybe you've been curious about this topic for awhile) and find information or an article about it. Read it. Then tell someone what you learned.

This past week, I've been trying to figure out whether there was a physiological difference between sprinters (runners) and the rest of us, other than more slow twitch fibers. Lucky for me, in 2009, researchers at Penn State published the results of a study where they found that a part of sprinters' Achilles tendons was shorter than the rest of the general population, causing the calf to contract more slowly and generate greater power. Or something like that. Anyway, that's what I explained to Jonathan over IM, while he was kicking my butt in Scrabble (see above). I'm not sure I really understand what the lever arm of the Achilles tendon is. If you do, please let me know.

Day 15 - Sunday, January 15

Embrace the elements

Feel the weather on your face today. Whether it's snow, rain, sun or wind, go outside and expose your cheeks to whatever the day brings. In the winter, it's easy to bundle up and bury our chins in scarves.

But today, at least for a few minutes, wake up your soul and your skin by basking in the day's weather. Be present to the weather today and pay attention. There's nothing like a little weather to keep you in the moment.

Hey, I was thrilled it was sunny and over 30˚F when I headed out for a run this morning. Just as thrilling is that I have discernable eyelashes in this photo. They're usually stubby.

I'm blogging weekly recaps of my 31 Days of Adventure on Mondays, but if you can't wait until next Monday, I'm tweeting my daily adventures at @usuallystephani with the hashtag #31adventures.

31 Days of Adventure is crafted by

and

31 Days of Adventure: Week 1

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 13:30:00 +0000

The first full week of 31 Days of Adventure has concluded, and here's what happened:

Day 2 - Monday, January 2

Notice the little things

It's often easy to overlook the little things as we go about our days. Today's adventure invites you to pause and notice the littlest things: The way the light comes in the window. The rise and fall of your chest as you breath (or maybe the breath of whoever else is in the room). The patterns made by the trees. How do the little things add adventure to your day? What have you discovered that you missed before?

More often than not, I'm drinking a cold soy chai or water out of a pint glass that looks like this. I've never noticed that bubble in the glass before...

Day 3 - Tuesday, January 3

Remap your route

Ever feel like you’re totally stuck in a rut and doing the same thing day in and day out? For your daily adventure today, consider a different means of transportation to work (or school). Can you bike? Walk? Take a bus or carpool? Or, if you can’t do that, take a different (maybe more scenic) route and see what you discover.

Having lived and worked in the same places for a number of years, I've already taken the most direct routes between the two. But I rarely take this bus in this direction, especially on a day that much of the city's inhabitants are returning to work after the holiday break. Today, two pre-schoolers got on the bus at my stop with an adult, and another passenger decided to launch into an 8-block soliloquy on why there should be school buses for city kids.

Day 4 - Wednesday, January 4

Stretch your brain

It's often said that knowledge is power. What have you learned recently? For today's adventure, learn something new.

Today the Capital Weather Gang tweeted that although the radar for areas north/northeast of DC showed precipitation, the anticipated snow showers or flurries weren't making it to the ground. Why? Because it's "virga." Sigh.

Day 5 - Thursday, January 5

Get foodie with it

The colors and aromas of ethnic cuisines from around the world can open us up to all kinds of adventure. For today's adventure, try a new food.

I wasn't able to get to this adventure on Thursday, but on Saturday night, I hit a local Burmese restaurant and had Ohno Kaukswe, ~~Apollo's long lost cousin~~ an egg noodle, broth, and coconut milk soup. It was pretty delish!

Day 6 - Friday, January 6

Rock out to a new beat

Break out of your regular playlist and listen to new music today. Check out your local venues and go see a new band. Change your Pandora station to something you've never heard of. Listen to an opera in its entirety.

Oh man. My taste in music is stuck somewhere in the 90s. Or 70s. Or somewhere in between. About all I'm good for is karaoke. After a Twitter-based plea, Amy and Deb came to the rescue. Amy recommended The Jezabels. I pulled them up on iTunes and listened to a few samples. Not bad. Deb recommended (via Paige) African Essentials on Pandora. This is where I admit that I have never used Pandora. I'm a lost cause.

In the end, I stayed true to my NPR roots. I pulled up the music page to see what was going on. Lo! Primus on World Cafe! I don't think I've ever listened to World Cafe. So I did.

Then I realized that even if I've never listened to World Cafe, Primus was definitely in my familiarity zone. So then I streamed The Mix: The Sounds of globalFEST.

Done. Not my usual playlist.

Day 7 - Saturday, January 7

Heighten your awareness

Today is all about adventures for the senses. Focus on all your senses today. What does the air smell like? Can you pick out particular sounds in your environment? What car is rattling? Which one has the bass booming? What color is dominating your landscape today?

It hit a whopping 68˚F today, so I actually got to wear a tank top on a run, in January. Feeling 68˚F air on my arms in early January while at "home"? A little weird for someone who has lived her entire life above the 38th parallel.

Day 8 - Sunday, January 8

Expand Your Circle

Have breakfast, lunch or dinner with someone you don’t know well. Whether it’s the colleague you’ve been meaning to get to know, or an acquaintance you made at a recent social event, take the opportunity to spend time with someone outside your normal circles.

I met some gals back in December, when the new Athleta store in Georgetown was hosting a winter running clinic. One of them organized a group run for this morning, making it pretty easy for me to have a meal with people I don't know well, or at all, for that matter. After nearly 7.5 miles, we pulled into a Mexican grill for some breakfast. YUM. I'm pretty certain that I could live on just breakfast sandwiches and good conversation.

I'm blogging weekly recaps of my 31 Days of Adventure on Mondays, but if you can't wait until next Monday, I'm tweeting my daily adventures at @usuallystephani with the hashtag #31adventures.

31 Days of Adventure is crafted by

and

Ski Less, Run More?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 15:28:00 +0000

Faux snow report from the Squaw website.

To state the obvious, I'm not skiing at Squaw today. Earlier this week, I cancelled my flight to the Biggest Little City in the World – the always lovely Reno, Nevada – and instead of spending last night in a flying tin can, I camped out on my couch after some Fuse Pilates (where I ran into boot-less Emily – how awesome is that for her??!), watching Grey's Anatomy with a Sweetgreen grain bowl in hand. My 2011-2012 ski season is off to a ridiculously slow start.

Years ago, I was quoted in my college newspaper as referring to myself as a hermit in the winter. It's still true. I dial back on running, ski instead, and practice more yoga. I have little desire to run in the dark, so the crazy scheme works out. Except when the snow doesn't fall. Or even when it's too warm to make snow.

In past winters, when I did run, it was only two times a week until it started getting light earlier in the mornings in late February (only to have daylight savings time thwart me a few weeks later in March). One night a week was with the Washington Runhers winter maintenance program, and the other run was a 4 to 6-mile easy run on Saturday or Sunday, whichever day I wasn't skiing.

This year, I feel the urge to take advantage of the mild temps and run both weekend days – one trail run and one road run – in addition to the mid-week Runhers winter maintenance. I've got my work cut out for me if I plan to run a trail race in late spring (hello! I hate hills!). And, I'm totally getting my money's worth with the winter maintenance program. The coach figured out my name the first week that I showed up and has been promptly calling me out ever since. That's a good thing, right?

So there it is. Mother Nature has dictated that so far this winter, I'll be running more.

Kicking Off 31 Days of Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Mon, 02 Jan 2012 13:58:00 +0000

Day 1 - January 1, 2012

Today's adventure is all about seeing things in a new and different light. Take a photo of something familiar from a new angle: up close; upside down; from above; from underneath.

What do you notice? What's interesting? Unique?

Ever since ~~Honey I Shrank the Kids~~ this article roughly a week ago in the Wall Street Journal about ridiculous job interview questions, I've actually thought for more than a milli-second about what it would be like to be shrunk to the height of a nickel (and stuck in a blender).

"You are shrunk to the height of a nickel
and thrown into a blender. Your mass is
reduced so that your density is
the same as usual. The blades start
moving in 60 seconds. What do you do?"

Um, right. That's apparently a question that Google job applicants are asked, should they make it to the interview phase. No, I don't work at Google. But, I was inspired to see what things looked like from the inside of a refrigerated cheese counter when I saw what was in store for Day 1 of the 31 Days of Adventure. What's most noticeable and interesting, respectively, are the light and reflection on the glass. And that I'm now craving some cheese...

I'm blogging weekly recaps of my 31 Days of Adventure on Mondays, but if you can't wait until next Monday, I'm tweeting my daily adventures at @usuallystephani with the hashtag #31adventures.

31 Days of Adventure is crafted by

and

Incipio: 31 Days of Adventure

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 16:58:00 +0000

Happy New Year!

Yesterday, the Next Level ski camp at Squaw next weekend with Jessica Sobolowski-Quinn, Ingrid Backstrom, and Michelle Parker – three women who absolutely rip on the slopes – was canceled. I'd been looking forward to this camp for months, but sadly, there's just zero snow at Squaw, and I don't think the cancellation was a huge surprise to anyone glued to the snow reports. Alas. Coincidentally, my dreams of skiing big lines with some rockstar women was snuffed by email a few minutes before my first email from the gals at 31 Days of Adventure. What's that cliché? One door closes and another opens or something?

I signed up for 31 Days of Adventure last week without knowing anything about it other than a few women who I follow on Twitter were doing it and an intentionally vague blurb on the website. The brainchild of Amy at Expand Outdoors and Lydia of Wander Lydia, the gist of the project is that while some adventures are larger than life, others are right in our backyards. It's a reminder that we don't need to take overnight flights to the end of the world – or to Squaw, I suppose – to feed our quests for adventure.

To that end, 31 Days of Adventure is posting an adventure a day to kick off 2012, or you can get your daily adventure in your inbox. Here's what showed up today:

Ah, a change in perspective for the New Year!

Intentions for 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:17:00 +0000

Intentions. That's yogi talk for "goals" because I'm not into goals (sorry, Lululemon). You can skip ahead to read my 2012 intentions, but even if you're not into "woowoo" (or whatever onomatopoeic sound you use to refer to "out there") yoga, I urge you to hear me out as to why "intentions" make more sense than "goals" for many of us:

In Daniel Gilbert's Stumbling on Happiness (which I only read the first few chapters before getting bored), the author argues that we suck at figuring out what makes us happy in the future. I agree. In 1999, I created a five-year professional plan – a great leap forward, career-wise. I met my goal. I got to where I wanted to be at year five, and it was meh. The journey wasn't bad, and I scored some sweet work travel (Saipan anyone?). Overall, reaching my goal positioned me for where I am over a decade later, somewhere I never thought I'd be. When I reached my goal, I was thrilled, but the goal itself was not right for me.

If we don't know what type of person we'll be in five years, how are we supposed to know what will make us happy in five years? If you do know, please send me your crystal ball.

So, as fluffy as it sounds, I'm more about the journey and positioning than setting goals. I want to be positioned so that if someone asks me to do something that sounds cool, I can jump right in. Invitation to fill a last-minute opening on a hut-to-hut ski trip? I'm in. (This actually happened a week ago, and I'm stoked!) Need someone to fill in on your overnight-relay team? I'm your gal (especially if it's Hood to Coast! Or Cascade Lakes.).

Also, every time goal that I've had for road racing has been sort of arbitrary. When I started running, my goals were things like "finish a 5K in under 30 minutes" or "10K in under 60 minutes" because I was stuck on how we categorize time. The fortuitous thing is that they were completely reasonable goals for me. Phew.

So, here are my some of my intentions for my extracurricular activities in 2012, and the steps I've taken towards making those intentions happen:

* Run my first half marathon. I'm registered for the Richmond Half (technically the McDonald's Half Marathon, but who knows what that is??), on November 10. It's possible (though not likely) that I'll run a half before then, but racing 13.1 miles will happen no later than November 10.

* I would love to have the diligence to train for a finish at Richmond in under 2 hours (another arbitrary time goal). On the other hand, I'd be very pleased if I could go under 2 hours in a half marathon before someone goes under 2 hours in a full. Heh. Who says I don't set reasonable ~~goals~~ intentions?

* In the process of training for the sub-2-hour half marathon finish, I intend to PR in the 5K distance. My last 5K was in September 2007, and I clocked 26:46. If a sub-2-hour half marathon is going to happen, a 5K PR will, too. Also, I've been wondering whether I took my running hiatus during my peak, or whether I can still pick up speed. This is one way to find out.

* I would also like to volunteer at the race expo of a major local race. To this end, I'm registered to volunteer at the Friday evening packet pickup for the April 2012 Credit Union Cherry Blossom 10-Mile Run.ª I've already done the course volunteer thing and got snarled at by then-D.C. Mayor Fenty (whole other story). Way to lose a vote.

Handing out water at the 2008 Dextro Tri to someone faster than the mayor.

* For years I've been contemplating running a trail race, too. So, maybe 2012 is the year I'll run a trail race. I'm contemplating the 10K distance of the North Face Endurance Challenge when it comes to the DC area in early June. This particular race may be tricky to fit in. Hopefully it works!

* I'm going to ski a line, look up and say, "Holy shitake mushrooms, I just ripped that!" Or some other variation. Of course, the 2011-2012 ski season is off to a spectacularly slow start.

* I'd also like to ski the Gulf of Slides on Mt. Washington. I don't really care if it's in 2012 or 2021. This could happen in May, maybe? It all depends on the conditions. A life intention, really, not a 2012 intention.

* Backcountry hut ski trip. This wasn't originally one of my 2012 intentions as it's also more of a life intention, but right before Christmas, I was unexpectedly invited to fill in for someone who dropped out of a trip to the Wallowas (OR). Woohoo! I'm telling you, positioning, not goal setting, is the key.

* I'd like to teach a regular, weekly sunrise yoga class. There's something special to me about early-morning yoga. My paperwork has been wending its way through a gym for several months now...fingers crossed that it'll be complete early in the new year, and that they'll have an opening to teach a 7am class.

* I'm going to stay injury-free and healthy. Despite heading into 2012 with remnants of costochondritis and a recurring pinched nerve, both on the right side of my body, I am optimistic.

* I'd like to sleep 8 hours a night. Theoretically, this is the easiest thing to do on my list, but I'm horrible at getting enough rest.

Really, these are about it.

ª I've actually already hit a snag because the unexpected hut trip coincides with when I've registered to volunteer at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler expo...it bums me out that I'll have to cancel being an expo volunteer.

Hey, Are We on the Appalachian Trail?!

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Sat, 24 Dec 2011 21:34:00 +0000

Merry Christmas!

For a Christmas Eve day treat, my brother and I bagged the highest peak in New Jersey. Actually, we drove up there. I know, utterly thrilling. Contain yourselves.

No snow? Go trail running on cross country ski trails!

Our plan: run the Monument Trail, or what turned out to be our bastardized version of it (sorry trail planners), at High Point State Park. Within half a mile of starting the run, which we decided to do by heading south-ish first, my brother noticed that we were following white blazes, and not the green/red ones (how timely!) we had originally started following.

Red and green blazes we were supposed to be following.

"Hey!" he called out. "Are we on the Appalachian Trail?! We're going to wind up in Georgia!"

Uhm, yeah, so here I was, lost on another trail run. For the record, I rarely get lost on hikes. When running, though, I get caught up with trying not to bite it – which I did anyway 2 miles later – that I miss less than obvious blazes. So that's how I found myself, on a lookout tower on the Appalachian Trail...

We made our way back to the trail junction where I got derailed and then rerouted ourselves back onto the Monument Trail. Woohoo! Back on track! Oh, damn, a glacial lake...what direction do we go around this thing? Really, it could have been better marked. Just saying. After figuring out which way to go, the trail crossed a paved park road and headed back into the woods. That's we started hitting the hills.

Hills are not my strength. Looking down at my shoes and hoping that it ends quickly is. So that's how I noticed some neat ribbons of ice on the ground that my brother just plowed through.

Ice ribbons.

We tooled around for about an hour and crossed paths with two other parties, and we were the only runners. Now we're toasty warm and waiting to see what the evening has in store! Hope you and those dear to you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season.

On Being a Re-beginning Runner: Ghost of a Former Self?

noreply@blogger.com (Stephanie) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 14:08:00 +0000

There's a gap between 2009 and 2011 in my past race results, and it's because I took that time off. First I was burnt out. Then, when I was ready to come back, I got injured. To top it off, I'd been doing structured training programs for only 3 years. Then again, maybe 3 years is the shelf life of structured training programs for those of us who are merely type A-minus – rather than type A – personalities.

Anyway, this fall, I returned to running. The Army 10-Miler was my target race. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise: returning to running after a multi-year layoff isn't easy, especially when your (and by "your," I mean "my") cardio training for 2 years consisted solely of intermittent hiking and commuting to work. Yeah....

Hiking in the North Cascades gets you rad views like this.

And depending on your constitution, it may be more difficult to return than it was to start in the first place. On the bright side, just as it was possible to start in initially, it's possible to restart.

I always hear about elite runners who take a hiatus to have a child (actually, more often than not, they're running through pregnancy) or who take a break from running due to injury, and then they come back in a short period of time to win a marathon. But what about the rest of us, who weren't that honed to begin with?

Here are five things I learned about being a re-beginning runner (or anything else, really, as I've given some of this advice to yoga students).

Start with a clean slate.

During my hiatus, I downhill skied a bunch and practiced even more yoga asana. I didn't do a ton of cardio, unless you count the ski conditioning class I did in Seattle last year (and the hiking and work commute). When I came back to running in April 2011, I was a ghost of my former running self, and it was frustrating.

Seasoned yogis may be familiar with the phrase "beginner's mind." Sometimes when you've been doing something for a while, it's easy to forget how difficult it can be for a newbie. When re-starting, have a beginner's mind, rather than an attitude of "pick up where you left off." Remember how fantastic it was the first time you hit what seemed to be dauntingly long run? Embrace that mentality. Sure, you once ran that distance with ease. With training, you can do it again. And it'll feel awesome.

Set attainable goals.

Manage expectations by setting attainable goals based on where you are now. This is probably standard whether one is beginning, re-beginning, or seasoned, but I think it's harder to stick to for a re-beginner because having a clean slate is difficult to maintain, and you so badly want to return to where you were.

Be patient.

Maybe starting in the first place was easy. Maybe you have great genes and can pick things up again quickly. Lucky you. But for me a lot of my frustration was due to things like a two-mile run taking forever and a lifetime to feel somewhat easy. I mean, they used to be easy, right? Why aren't they easy now?

I had to learn to give myself a break when running didn't return to being "easy" overnight. The reality is, two miles at a fast clip wasn't easy the first time I laced up my shoes over a decade ago. Plus, I was younger then, and as far as finding time for training goes, I had way fewer obligations then, too. I had to give myself time to fall back into the habit of executing a structured training program. It'll happen with diligence.

Be kind to yourself.

The first mile of a 9-mile run this summer – my longest run to date – felt crummy. When the run still felt like crap after 3 miles, I shelved the remainder of the run until the afternoon. I had a lot of down days like this when training for the Army 10-Miler this year. I fretted, for sure, and even beat myself up about it, but in the end, I'm doing this for fun.

Running is supposed to be fun.

Remember why you are re-beginning.

When the going gets tough, remember why you decided to pick up running again. To finish unfinished business? To get in shape so you can be there for those you love? You didn't need to re-start running, so what brought you here?

Finally, as I end many of my yoga classes, thank yourself for ~~coming to the mat~~ lacing up the shoes. I know I did.