Spring Has Sprung

If you have a pulse and live in the Midwest, you cannot help but to be excited this time of year. The winter is finally breaking and the birds are chirping. There is a sense of optimism in the air.

10 Reasons we are excited about spring…..


1. Mowing- By the end of the summer my tune will change and I will hate mowing, but for now, the smell of fresh cut grass and being outside making my lawn look nice, sounds delightful. Feel free to drive by and make fun of my ‘Forrest Gump’ mower and how I cut my lawn. Why do I mow a complete circle around my house? Try mowing with ‘Snappy’ (our Snapper mower) and you will know why I do laps around my house.
2. Grilling- We love to cook on the grill. We cook anything out there that we can. We don’t have a ‘fancy pants’ grill but it gets the job done. Our favorite is grilling pizza (recipe coming soon). I also have a knack for making some killer steaks on the grill. Bring some meat over and I would be glad to grill it on our grill.

3. Sitting on our front porch- There really isn’t anything like enjoying a couple of drinks and watching hoards of Amish drive by. I should also mention that our giant porch is perfect for some cornhole.

4. Bonfires- When I say bonfire, I should probably say ‘tinny smoking twigs in a ring’. We have one of those ‘fire pits’ in our back yard that we like to sit around on a nice clear night. Sometimes we roast some wienies and others we just sit there and watch the fire (or sometimes a lack thereof when there is a lack of dry wood).

5. Fishing- I only speak for myself here because Julie hates to fish. I didn’t really do much fishing the last couple of years, but it is my goal this year to get out as much as I can. I especially like to catch catfish. I hate bluegills and they could all die for all I care.

6. Camping- Again, I only really speak for myself here. Julie tends to think that if our bed is within driving distance, why not sleep there? I see her point, but it really is fun to camp out for a weekend.

7. Taking Teddy on a walk/bike ride- I know Teddy loves this and that is the main reason this really makes the list. It’s not as much fun for Julie and I to take him on a walk or bike ride. We have tried all sorts of training techniques and he still wants to pull and choke himself when we go on a walk. When we take him on the bike, we have a little ‘doggy basket’ that he fits in. He usually barks the entire ride because of how excited he is. It really is annoying but he likes it. Sometimes a parent has to make sacrifices.


8. Air conditioning- I know, it’s not that hot out yet and that doesn’t really mean that we like spring, but I argue that there really isn’t anything more refreshing than being sweaty and hot and walking into a building that has it’s AC on. LOVE IT!!

9. Kayaking- We don’t do this a lot, but we do enjoy going when we have the chance. Last year we went down the Mohican river twice. It’s such a nice way to relax and cool off. I think I would like to try it on a bigger body of water this summer.


10. Running on the trail- We HATE running inside. Now that it is warm enough, we can actually run outside. We are very fortunate that the trail runs really close to our house. It really has been a great way to get outside and keep active. I don’t know that we would run as much as we do if we had to run on the road or drive to a track.


Why are you excited spring is here?

Hurray for Running!!!

Supposedly this is a running blog, but for the last 2-3 weeks, we haven't run.  Shame on us.  Let me get my excuses out of the way now....

1. The weather in Ohio has been horrible the last couple of weeks. 
2. My shins have been killing me.
3. We needed new shoes.
4. My schedule didn't allow for us to run on certain days.
5. Teddy needed more mommy/daddy time.
6. We will run so much when it's warm, we might as well enjoy not being able to run.
7. The NCAA basketball tournament was taking up most of my time.  I had to study for my brackets.
8. We were busy trying settle NFL lockout.

I could keep going, but I will save it for future posts. 

So we are pleased to announce that we went for our first run tonight.

The problem with Julie and I, is that when one of us doesn't want to run, the other follows suit.  We have made a pact that if one doesn't want to go, that the other has to remain strong and push the other to run anyways.  Tonight, it was Julie's turn to push me.  I wanted to run, but it was cold out.  And as we all know, I am a little girl when it is cold out.  She told me to bundle up and pack up my barbies... we are going for a run. 

So a-running-we-did-go.  It wasn't a very far run, nor was it a very fast run (it wasn't a warm run either), but it was a run.  The thing that we often times forget is how good it feels to run.  The gratification of sitting on our butts all night does not compare to the feeling of accomplishment one gets after burning some calories. 

We are both very pleased with our new running shoes (and of course our bondi bands).  Altogether, it was as successful as it could have been for our first run of the spring. 

If you haven't been able to get out and run yet, we hope that you too can get our soon and knock off some of the winter cobwebs.

New Shoes!!

I have been having some serious issues this year with shin splints. I used to get a little sore, but this year it’s been a sharp pain. I have researched them online and spoke to several people about them. I am not getting a consistent answer. The main issue that keeps coming up is that I probably need new shoes.

This past weekend we went to a shoe store geared towards runners that was referred to me by a friend. The name of the store is Road Runner Sports. It’s located north of I-270 near Worthington, Ohio. Inside this store you will find everything related to running from underwear and socks to shorts to sunglasses to heart rate monitors. The reason we wanted to give this one a try over going to a store like Footlocker, is because they do an analysis of your feet and your running gait.

The associate that helped us was Laura. She was very knowledgeable and helpful. We started off by standing on a mat that was hooked up to a computer. This showed where most of our pressure is being placed on our feet and where our center of gravity is. We then got on the treadmill and ran for 45 seconds while being recorded by a video recorder. I didn’t really want to see what I looked like while I run because I’m sure I look like an idiot, but it was from the back of the knee down. Laura ran our runs back to us in slow motion and paused it on each foot to show how our feet landed and how our ankles up to our calf were reacting during our run. Based on that analysis along with asking us some other questions (eg. How long do you run? What kind of surface are you running? etc), she narrowed down the type of shoe that we should be wearing. They also molded custom insoles to put in our shoes to use.

 

Both Julie and I tried on what seemed like 100 pair of running shoes in the ‘category’ that we were recommended and were allowed to run around the store. A lot of the shoes I could not tell a huge difference in, but going from a medium cushion shoe to a high cushion shoe seemed like a big difference to me.

We both purchased new running shoes and the custom insoles to go with them. I cannot tell you if my shin splints are better yet or not because we haven’t had a chance to run in them yet, but I do want to recommend that if you are interested in getting some good running shoes, to check out Road Runner Sports.  If you don't have the time to get to a store, there is also a neat online version of the "prefect fit shoe finder" to try!

 

Spinach and Feta Pasta

Ingredients


1 (8 ounce) package penne pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups chopped tomatoes
1 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
2 cups spinach leaves, packed
salt and pepper to taste
1 pinch red pepper flakes
8 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

1.Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Cook pasta in boiling water until al dente; drain.

2.Meanwhile, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add onion and garlic, and cook until golden brown. Mix in tomatoes, mushrooms, and spinach. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Cook 2 minutes more, until tomatoes are heated through and spinach is wilted. Reduce heat to medium, stir in pasta and feta cheese, and cook until heated through.

Julie: This turned out AWESOME!  We added some extra shrimp for protein/extra yummy-ness.  I am already looking forward to making this again!
 
Chad:  I was skeptical about this recipe because of the feta cheese and the apparent lack of sauce.  However, I must say that this recipe really impressed me.  Not only did it taste great, but it was super easy to make.  The only change that I might recommend and try when we make it again, is to add chicken.

Getting Back on Track

Since we have so many loyal followers, I'm sure you're all about to start a riot since we haven't posted lately. You're probably asking yourself "Where have they gone? I need my daily dose of Chad and Julie's amazing insight."

Well, I'll tell you where we've gone - we fell off the wagon. In the last week, we've eaten a ton of junk food. We haven't gone running once. Heck, I think the most exercise we got in the past week was taking Teddy for a walk around the block.
Now we could sit here and list a bunch or reasons for why we haven't put forth much (if any) effort in the past week, but we'll spare you all that. Instead, we'll let you know that what happens is life. All you can do is brush it off and pick up where you left off.

Our plan is to get new running shoes to help curb some shin splints (hopefully), cut down on eating out and high-calorie beverages and get our butts in gear and keep running. In the next week or two, I hope to get registered for our race so that we have a goal, motivation, and something to work towards.
So, bear with us while we work on getting back on track. Just know that we have many new recipes to share, and a couple of product reviews/giveaways in the works.

Slow Cooker Pepper Steak

Ingredients
2 pounds beef sirloin, cut into 2 inch strips
garlic powder to taste
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cube beef bouillon
1/4 cup hot water
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 large green bell peppers, roughly chopped
1 (14.5 ounce) can stewed tomatoes, with liquid
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Sprinkle strips of sirloin with garlic powder to taste. In a large skillet over medium heat, heat the vegetable oil and brown the seasoned beef strips (you could also get the precooked steak strips at the grocery store to skip this step). Transfer to a slow cooker.

Mix bouillon cube with hot water until dissolved, then mix in cornstarch until dissolved. Pour into the slow cooker with meat. Stir in onion, green peppers, stewed tomatoes, soy sauce, sugar, and salt.

Cover, and cook on High for 3 to 4 hours, or on Low for 6 to 8 hours.

Julie: We omitted the tomatoes - not by choice but because someone (me) forgot to pick them up at the store.  We served the meal over white rice.

Chad:  We would recommend leaving the peppers out until an hour or so before you are ready to eat if you like a little crunch to them.  We left the peppers in all day, as the recipe told us, and they were very mushy.  We also added ground ginger, red pepper flakes, and garlic(to taste).  We also thickened the sauce by adding some extra cornstarch about 30 minutes before eating.  Next time I think we might add some snow pees or broccoli or some other vegetable.

All in all, it was a very easy meal to prepare and pretty tasty.  I always judge our meals on whether or not I would make it again and I would probably make this one again.  It's not in my top 10, but it does the job, especially if you have a little extra beef in the freezer that you don't know what to do with.

Bondi Band Winner Announced

 We used random.org to choose one of our enterants to be the winner.  Congratulations to Jeremy.  He is the winner of the free Bondi Band (our first giveaway)!

Stay tuned for more reviews and giveaways.