Pining for the Fjords

Last weekend, we ended up taking an only-half-planned culinary (that will be debated later, as you’ll see) tour of the British Isles!  Come with us while we eat and drink around Ireland, Scotland, England, and Wales! Thursday, March 17 As everyone knows, we’re all Irish on St. Patty’s Day.  We didn’t actually have plans to celebrate St. Patty’s Day out; I telecommute on Wednesdays, and on the 16 th , I spent part of my lunch hour putting together an Irish feast for us to eat later that day.  While I worked from the kitchen table in the afternoon, I could smell our corned beef roasting away in the oven, later adding carrots, potatoes, and cabbage to it as well.  We initially thought we’d stay at home on the 17 th itself eating leftovers and keeping away from the madness.  When I got home that day, however, I found Chris ready to go out.  He’d stumbled across the special St. Pat’s menu for Peoria Artisan Brewery, the new gastropub that’s only a few miles from our house.  Wh

Generally, when we run races, we don’t end up doing the same ones year after year.  Some of the running events in the area are too good to do just once, so we’ve repeated the PF Chang’s series of events, the Tucson half and full marathons, and several others, but for the most part, we don’t necessarily set out to complete the same race on an annual basis.  Since this part of the state of Arizona is pretty much off limits for running for six to eight months of the year, the months of October-April end up being packed with tons of events, and it seems like a shame to race the same ones over and over, ignoring all of the other options out there. With all of this said, last weekend was the 6 th annual running of the Kiss Me, I’m Irish series of races, and as is my yearly custom, I participated.  We randomly ran across the very first Irish run six years ago and signed up for it on a whim, thinking, oh that sounds like fun.  The run starts and stops each year at the Westgate en

Most endurance athletes, be they professional or casual, know that one of the cardinal rules of doing well at an event is following the old adage, “nothing new on race day.”  This applies to what you eat (before and during the race), what you wear, race strategy, and the gear you use.  Being an excessive planner, I’ve only broken this rule a few times, and generally only when absolutely required.  For example, a few years ago, I moved away from my standard Nike Air Pegasus running shoes to venture into Mizunos.  While Mizunos are great running shoes that work well for many folks out there, they weren’t for me; they ended up causing me a decent amount of foot pain, so the week before that year’s PF Chang’s, I went to the nearby Nike outlet, grabbed another pair of Air Pegs off the shelf in my standard size and spent a few days breaking them in before running a full (or potentially a half – I can’t really remember) marathon in them.  Although this was a dangerous thing to do, it ended u

Last Saturday, I ran the Phoenix Marathon, one of the newer races in the area.  This was my first time on the course and only the 4 th or 5 th time total for the race, and overall, the experience was both good and not so great. I will admit to being concerned coming into the race, particularly about the weather.  My training for this run, which began in December or so, was held in the most beautiful conditions imaginable; I’d start my long runs at 10am or so when the temps would hit 55, and I’d be home by the time they crested 65 a few hours later.  They’d be in full sun with a light breeze, and they were glorious.  A few weeks before race day, however, Phoenix set a record for the earliest 90 degree day on record (February 17 th for crying out loud!), and while it wasn’t quite this hot, the unwelcome warmer temps were still hanging around, eventually topping out at 86 for the day. I was also somewhat concerned about my endurance for this race.  Normally, I finish at