Monday, April 12, 2010

10K and Indirect Heat Grilling

Woke up nice and early Sunday morning to go run a 10K I had signed up for.
I love that early morning "race vibe". Always a great group of people with tons of energy.
The "vibe" did me good as I was tired from not sleeping well the night before.
It was a beautiful flat course they had laid out through a very pretty residential neigborhood.

I had only ran once or twice since my last 5K. Well to be honest...just once. The other two times I tried running on the treadmill after a workout. I can't and won't do it ;-) I mean I can't even run a quarter of a mile on that machine and I truly hate every second of it. So I just give up. It just doesn't feel natural nor right.

It's strange...I don't consider myself a runner...my body doesn't really look like one either and I'm just not very good at it (I do enjoy it though) that thought made me laugh on Sunday morning as I thought of this picture.


I'm learning that every race is different...
This race I struggled to get going. I just couldn't find a nice pace and it seemed hard to run. But then a friend of mine (24 and a former women's college soccer player) tapped me on the back as she and her (personal trainer) boyfriend passed me. We exchanged a few words and then they got going. I decided to follow. After the first mile I asked her what our time was and she said about 8 minutes. I enjoyed being outside and my stride started to get easier.
The turn came a little after 3 miles and I was feeling good. So...I left my young friends behind. I picked up my pace and with some good music, really started enjoying this part of the race. At mile 5 I thought that I had been clocking some good time AND I was still pretty fresh. So the last 3/4 mile of the race...I picked up speed. I ran as fast as my legs could go and it felt awesome. I passed tons of people and it was a thrill to run this hard this late in the race. Went through the finish line and.........54 minutes. No wonder I was still so fresh, I couldn't have ran 8 min. miles with this kind of time to show for. And, knowing how fast I was booking for the last part, it must have been 9 minute miles. It was a weird sensation...I thought I had ran a pretty fast race, but it was not so. Time to get my self a cheap watch with a stop watch function ;-)
Has that ever happend to you?

No picture, but try this for indirect heat grilling. Piece of grass fed steak (I had a rib eye). Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Coat one side with butter. Like you're buttering a piece of toast. Sprinkle butter with garlic
powder. Put on grill, butter side up over high heat. Watch closely for a minute, then transfer to indirect heat side of grill. Close the lid. After 5-7 minutes turn and close lid. Another 3 or so minutes (this depends on the heat of your grill obviously) and you're done. I also grilled a few slices of eggplant, that I chopped up and mixed in with some tehina, cucumber and tomato.

SMILE.


2 comments:

Natalie said...

Hey, Marc, you said it. Every race is different. All my cronies ask me before the start, "what time are you going for?" and I never have a good answer: I don't even wear a watch. Some days I go out feeling like a fox and some days I run like a dog and I never know what's going to happen, either.

And you know what?

It is all OK.

Congratulations on another one under your belt. Stay off that stinkin treadmill. Who needs that noise? I would rather run in 125 degrees than on a treadmill, (and yes, I have made that choice before.)

One of my favorite T-shirts says: GO PLAY OUTSIDE. I'm thinking you shop that aisle too. :)

Marc said...

Natalie,
BRILLIANT ;-)

Go play outside. I have never seen it. It's now in my top 3 of all time. In the top 3 is also "aging..it's not for wimps"

I totally agree...it doesn't matter, I enjoy neing out there and being able to do it.

Marc