Life is better as a runner

My professor and mentor in undergrad once told our class (Biodiversity and Conservation Policy) that his mentor in college told him that the best advice/philosophy to live by he could give was "It's ok to fart when you run". At the time a lot of people laughed (since anything referencing flatulence is funny, right?) but I think a lot of people thought that was some crummy, and weird, advice. I was just confused by it. Until the following year, which was my first year in veterinary school. And the first year I started running. My dad had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the week before I left for vet school. I was driving home every Tuesday afternoon (since in first year vet school at Tufts they gave you that afternoon off to study) and every weekend to visit him in hospice. It was stressful to say the least. Some of my vet school classmates told me I was crazy and that they would have taken a leave of absence their first year if it had been them. I would not have it, my dad had been so proud that I was going to be the first Dr. Nielsen and that I was going to vet school. The first thing he told my mom after they gave him the diagnosis was "I'm not going to see Lindsey graduate from vet school" with a completely disappointed but accepting face. So I needed to do something for the stress. And what did I do? I started running. Slowly at first. 1 mile runs, then 2. My dad died mid-October. By April I had signed up for my first marathon the following summer. Now I won't go in to my experience running that first marathon (it was bad) but the 5 that have come since have all mostly good experiences/memories associated with them. But I have grown a lot since that first year of running. I am not as good a runner as I was my third year of vet school now, but I am still a runner, and I have realized life is better as a runner. I don't say that to be self-righteous. I am not built like a runner, I am not tall or svelte. I am actually rather squat in my opinion (5 foot 4 inches, 145 pounds, and yes I have a beer gut, or actually it is more of a wine gut since I can't get enough of that wonderful red liquid), I have issues with portion control (I love my vegan food too much), and I am not fast (at my fastest in vet school I ran 8:30 minute miles, now I am back to a 10:00 mile, 9:30 on a good day). I blame the residency. But I stick with it. It would be easy to stop, but I can't, if I go more than 2 days without running it's like I start tremoring inside and need to be let out. And it makes me a better person. Life is better as a runner, you are more balanced, stronger, despite not being skinny I would be 30-50# heavier if I didn't run, and it keeps your mood level. It gives you something to look forward to on your less busy days, it gives you time to enjoy the music as well as take in the sites. I have seen so many wonderful scenes of wildlife on my runs, and I live in Back Bay (the heart of downtown Boston). Life is better as a runner. So with that sad, what sparked this blog? My run last night was quite hilarious. Winter running can be tough. It is cold, but that can be tolerated with layers. The wind is the worst. And the ice. I have yak trax to put on my shoes and help ont slip when running in ice or snow. We had a big snowstorm 2 weeks ago now, but it still hasn't all melted. There are usually 2-3 twenty to thirty foot stretches of ice on my normal running routes that I have to avoid or use yak trax for, but running with them on directly on the pavement is slippery and wears them out. So I tried to go on a different route thinking it might be more cleared last night: I ran along the Fens and by Longwood. There are lots of ducks in Boston, but last night I saw a ton of female mallards being chased by males, and started thinking back to my undergrad animal behavior courses where they talked about teams of young mallard males raping females (yikes, bad imagery for a run) and figured it must be about that time of year when the mallards are mating (and hopefully not raping) to get their little ducklings ready for spring. Then I hit a stretch along Longwood that was pure ice. I was too far in to the trail to turn around and decided to stick it out. Any runner knows, when you are having a good run it SUCKS to stop mid-stride, so even with obstacles you try to "run" through them. So this particular ice stretch was probably 100 feet long, and I tried to "run" through it without yak trax, which meant high-stepping, silly side steps, and lots of torking on the ankles. I must of looked like quite an idiot, but of course in the darkness a good song came on (Call Me Maybe) and I thought of the Cookie Monster version to it, and started singing out loud in a silly Cookie Monster voice to that version, laughing to myself. I did all this thinking I was alone only to have some kids smoking pot come out from the woods nearby laughing at me. I should know better, you are never "alone" on a Boston run, there will always be a nearby homeless man, kids smoking pot, or some other runner you didn't notice sneaking up behind you. Oh well. I continued along, finally reaching the end of the ice stretch, and into the home stretch of the run. As I turned the corner on the last part of my run I saw something moving out of the corner of my eye, and turned just in time to get whacked in the head by, you guessed it, a female mallard. The advancing male was on the sidewalk a couple feet away. The poor girl hit me in the head, and was already ungraceful as she flew, but hitting my head caused me to get dizzy and caused her to fall in to the middle of the road panting. Luckily it was on a quiet part of the Fens, and I was able to chase her out of the road before she was hit by a car. I just hope the unwanted male left her along after that. And I made it home. That was a long blog, but I never concluded my understanding of my professor's philosophy. Here is what I think he meant: if you are out there running you shouldn't care what other people think about you, just be yourself. Life is better as a runner, and if you need to fart while running, how dare anyone lecture you about what you should and shouldn't do on a run, enjoy yourself. If that means ripping one out, well, so be it. If that means singing outloud to Cookie Monster's version of Call Me Maybe, smile while you do it and don't worry if some high kids see you. If that means blowing snot rockets to keep your nose clear, please do try to watch out for the runner beside you, but otherwise, clear that nose. But get out there and run, and enjoy it. : )

another version of vegan pad thai

I didn't like the last version I made as much, so tried a new one: Whisk together 5TBsp soy sauce, 5 TBsp lime juice, 3 TBsp peanut butter, 1 TBsp chili paste, 4 TBsp brown sugar. In a wok fry sliced carrots, 1 package broccoli florets, and 1 package chopped tofu (I used TJ's smoked tofu) in some sesame oil. Then add 2 packages thai rice noodles, and 1 package bean sprouts, and 1 cup cashews. Mix a little more sesame oil in. Lastly add the sauce you made earlier. This recipe was much better than the last, but still had a little too much lime juice, so will try it again some time with a tiny bit less lime juice.

brussel sprouts sandwich, aka the leftover sandwich

This sandwich was to die for in my opinion. It was funny, I made it and Mark was scared. He took a bite and said he didn't like it, to which my response was fine, don't eat it. He took another bite, and another, and said he changed his mind. THen he tells me it is actually a really good sandwich, it just scared him at first since there was so much mishmash on it. Take a hoagie roll and cover each side of it with roasted red pepper hummus. Thenn top with some cooked sweet potato fries, then some appleslaw, then lastly with cooked (boiled and drained) brussel sprouts. The mix of flavors is PHENOMENAL and really grows on you. For the apple slaw I mixed together 2 TBsp agave nectar, 2 TBsp lemon juice, 1 tsp cumin, 1/8 cup olive oil, 2 sliced granny smith apples, 1/4 cup peanuts, 1 cup coleslaw mix, and 2 TBsp vegan mayo. Someone told me it was like a leftover sandwich, where you put all the leftovers in the fridge together in to a sandwich.

pasta made for the rolls

I recently saw this post with a neat vegan roll: http://www.theveganversion.com/2013/01/roasted-red-pepper-pesto-twirls.html So I made a paste dish just for the roll. THe rolls did not turn out nearly as good as the pictures from the original recipe. They were tasty but they did not rise right. THe pasta was just penne with a sauce made with one package of boca fake ground beef and peas. It was tasty. But i had leftoever topping from the rolls to maek the next recipe. I used the leftover topical spread as well as the chopped red peppers on bread for dinner the following night, and when topped with some balsalmic vinagrette was DELICIOUS.

vegan pulled pork sandwich

I had some left over gardein BBQ fake pulled pork in the fridge and turned it in to a sandwich, which was pretty good. Just heated up the fake meat, put it on a bun, and topped it with some leftover picked cabbage as well as vegan aoili sauce.

Louisiana skillet dinner

I tried yet another MTS recipe and I loved the name so had to keep it: the louisiana skillet dinner, made me feel like i was living in Bon Temps with Sookie Stackhouse. Cook one box of gemelli pasta per usual. In a large skillet pour some olive oil and heat. Add in one package of sliced vegan bacon and 1 package fake chicken (I used TJ's chickenless strips). Fry. Then remove and add to a bowl on the side with the pasta. Place one chopped red pepper and one chopped yellow pepper, 1 package raw kale, 1 can black-eyed peas in the skillet and cook with 1 cup veggie broth, 2 TBsp worcestershire sauce, and 2 TBsp creole seasoning. Heat until the kale is all wilted and the peppers are sauce, and then add 1 TBsp white wine and a dash of liquid smoke. Mix with the pasta and fake meat. Enjoy!! I agree, it does go best with a cold beer, and I pictured myself eating it in the humid, swampy south on a wooden porch looking out at the bayou.

super bowl party

This year I made MASSIVE CALZONES for a superbowl party with some friends over. I made one of my usuals, the vegan BBQ chicken calzone. Then I tried this stromboli recipe which turned out quite perfect: In a skillet fry 1 package mushrooms and 1 chopped white onion in some olive oil. Add in some fake beef (I used TJ's beefless strips) and fry some more. Set aside. Roll out one pizza crust. In the center spread slices of vegan cheese (I used the have a heart jack pepper vegan cheese). Then squeeze ketchup all over this. Then spread the veggie/beefless mix over this. Top with daiya cheese. Roll like a jelly roll over on itself twice and slice some small slits int he top once rolled up. Then sprinkle italian spices on top. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes.

vegan frittata

Tried this recipe from the MTS website with some minor modifications: Slice one package of vegan fake bacon in to small pieces and fry in olive oil until cooked. Set aside the vegan bacon afterwards on a paper towel to soak up the oil. Then fry some diced green peppers with olive oil and a dash of liquid smoke. Blenderize one package regular tofu, 1 TBsp soy creamer, 2 TBsp nutritional yeast, 1 TBsp cornstarch, 1 tsp onion powder, 1 tsp miso paste, 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp tumeric, 1 tsp braggs, 1/2 tsp lemon pepper, and 1 tsp paprika until mostly smooth. Spray a skillet with non-stick oil spray and pour the tofu mix in until it looks like a pancake. Fry for several minutes. Flip and fry the other side. Spread the vegan bacon, peppers, and some diced chives as well as as much vegan cheese as you want on top while frying and cover for a couple minutes until the cheese melts. Enjoy!