Monday, July 09, 2007

He Cooks, Part II

Tyler has been home for the last three weeks on summer break. His school is on year round schedule. He will get 12 quarters, 4 years at a traditional school, completed in 3. He left this afternoon to head back to San Diego for the summer term. When he first come home on June 16 I asked him to cook a meal for us sometime before he went back. In true teenage style he waited until the last possible night to rise to the occasion. Lisa took him shopping earlier in the day. Grandma and Aunt Leslie were able to join us. Bryan was at work.

He made a salad with mixed spring greens with pine nuts and feta cheese and a strawberry vinagrette dressing he made from scratch. The entree was pan seared oven roasted chicken breasts, apparently his favorite (very similar to what he made last time). This time he paired it with garlic mashed potatoes and carrots and asparagus sauteed with minced garlic and shallots.


It certainly looked good and was yummy to boot.

On the running front I met up with the Cruisers at Tagge's Gym for a jaunt through the Redwood Grove and into Chino Hills State Park. The usual loop up Northridge, down Sycamore, returning on Telegraph is 14 miles. I only had 9 on the schedule. I suggested just heading up Telegraph, turning around at about the appropriate point and heading back out. My primary motivation was babying the foot by missing the uphill work.

The cool thing about this run is that Jeff from Time to Run showed up to run with us. Another cool thing is that between runners and walkers we were 29 people. Some people were doing the 3 mile Tagge's loop, while almost everybody else followed my lead on the Telegraph out and back run. Jeff and I ended up taking the lead once we hit Telegraph. From Tagges to CHSP is about 2 miles. The back end of CHSP is mile marker 8. The plan was to run to mile marker 5 and then retrace our steps.

Mile Marker 8 is actually somewhere between 1/4 and 1/2 mile into the park. Jeff and I ran along, not really knowing the pace. Not too far behind us was Jay and John (not Dr. John). Running east on Telegraph was hot, even at 8:00 in the morning. We finally came upon the 5.5 mile mark. Only 1/2 to go before we turned back. We ran for another 6 minutes or so and never did see the mile marker. Jeff over ruled my desire to hit the landmark so we turned around.

I was having great difficulty seeing from the sweat dripping into my eyes. The trip back down Telegraph was a blessing, we had a nice breeze in our face most of the way, which helped keep the sweat under control. We figured we'd traveled at least 5.5 miles out. By the time we hit 8 miles I was pretty much toast. I started lagging behind and finally told Jeff just to gone on without me. He was still running strong, while I was not. I had met Jeff several years ago, the one time I met up with the 6:42 group on a Sunday. That was long before either one of us were bloggers. It was a lot of fun to get to share the trail with him.The approximately 11 mile run took 1:45. The 9:33 pace was acceptable but it sure hurt far more than it should have.

Sunday I got in 4.5 miles before waking the family for breakfast; hash browns and scrambled eggs this week. With that I met my goal of >25 miles for the week at 26.6.

Tonight after my massage and chiropractic appointment I put in 3 miles on the trail is Bonelli. It wasn't a speedy effort but everything felt in good working order which hasn't been the case far too often lately. Week 3 of the plan calls for a drop in mileage, as does every third week for the first 12 weeks. I plan on taking full advantage of it.

Enjoy whatever your week brings your way.

11 comments:

SoberMommie said...

Yummy! That looks great!! What a chef. Looks like you had a great run too. Have a great week!

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed with the meal! And it even looked pretty! :)

Good job on your mileage for the week. Take care of that foot!

Anonymous said...

Nice job hitting your mileage goal. Recovery weeks are important and often overlooked. Especially by me. I'll work one in soon, I promise.

The food looks tasty.

Scott McMurtrey said...

I just got home from dinner but this post makes me hungry. :)

Nice mileage.

Wes said...

Mmmmm. I can admire a man that knows how to cook. I made Spanish Chicken and Rice today. Every once in a while I get a new recipe right the first time. Come to think of it, I've gotten it right the first time about three times in a row now. I guess I'm getting better at it :-)

That's really cool you guys have so many people to run with. I enjoyed running with the group last Saturday. It was awesome. Glad to hear your body is whipping itself back into shape! We'll keep the good vibes coming.

~nattie~ said...

wow, looks like tyler really cooks! i love asparagus! way to go on your 10th marathon, i hadn't been reading blogs for a while and missed it.

Rae said...

Yum!! Can you send him here to cook for us???

Joe said...

"Good working order"...great words, Darrell.

What a cool meal for Tyler. The presentation is excellent...very cool!!

Unknown said...

That food looks great!

Nothing like hitting that goal!

runliarun said...

Can we borrow Tyler to help out with a dinner or two?

David said...

Dinner looked outstanding. Don't let him wait so long next time he's home.
Your run sounded like mine today. Sweat-in-the-eyes hot. Good to get it behind us.