The Huron Shores Rotary Race!

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to run in a really great race, and one that supported a charity that's really important to me.

Erin and I took off around 6pm Friday night and headed for Southampton, the town my Grandpa lives in, to run in the Huron Shores Rotary 10k Saturday morning. I had been up since 4am working, and....long story short, we ended up lost at 11:30pm in a town with no gas stations or convenience stores, then I hallucinated people on bikes (turned out to be a stop sign), and then, around 1am, we ended up at my Grandpas, and I will forever be made fun of for getting lost on the way to somewhere I've driven to a hundred million times.

Saturday started off pretty shaky with extreme thunderstorms and torrential downpours. We headed down to the main street anyways since we had no way to listen to the news to find out if it was cancelled, since the power was out! It was postponed for a half hour, someone had seen a tornado, and nobody could figure out what to wear....it was cold, but would it be humid along the shoreline? Would it keep raining? Should we wear the shirts they handed out?

Anyways, it turned out to be an awesome race....it ran along the shore of Lake Huron and was breathtaking. It was my most challenging race to date...my stomach was not impressed with something I had eaten the day before, but we both had a great time.

More importantly, the race raised $14,000 for mammogram machines for the hospital. I ran this race for my Grandma who passed away 9 years ago at only 59, and if the hospital had had those machines back then, she might still be here. So...YAY for such a successful event!! Here are some pics :-)

Me, Erin, and our ponchos LOL

Trying to Stay Warm

Erin Finishing....only 20 seconds away from breaking 1 hour!

Me finishing!

With my Grandpa :-)

My Nephew Is Growing Up!!

Get ready guys......you're about to see many, many pictures of the cutest, sweetest, most amazing Golden Retriever on the face of the planet! Okay, that might have been a little exaggerated, but I went and spent the afternoon with my brother and his girlfriend's puppy a couple days ago and I couldn't get enough of him!



The "Reimer" Look



Me, letting Reimer think he's the one running me LOL!

Snuggle Time

With my Mom helping cut watermelon

The Happy Family- Reimer, Amanda, and Jordan

Is Anyone Stitching Out There???

HEY!! Long time no post... what can I say? It's summer. That's all I've got.

There's been absolutely no stitching happening in the last month. I've been so busy in my gardens, running, working and reading that I can't find time or motivation. How do you guys keep it up when it's soooo nice outside? Pleeeasee tell me your secrets, I need to know before my Crazy January Challenge becomes an epic failure LOL!

Happy Trails!

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through the obstruction."
                                                          -William James, Born To Run

My first trail race- HARD!

Crossing the start line- me, with Erin not far behind (grey headband)

Miraculously emerging from the woods and heading for this finish line!

My running group!

Homemade Granola Bars!

Hey there!

So I tried out a recipe for super-healthy homemade granola bars today, and they turned out to be so freakin delicious that I had to share the recipe. I started with a base recipe and then added what I wanted to. Here it is:

1 2/3 cups oats
1/3 cup oat flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup dried mulberries
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup walnut pieces
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
2 tbsp whey protein powder
1/3 cup 100% natural peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
6 tbsp melted butter
1/4 cup honey
2 tbsp corn syrup
1 tbsp water.

Preheat oven to 350

Line 2 8x8 inch square pans with waxed paper, and spray with a non-stick cooking spray

Mix dry indredients and wet ingredients separately, then toss them together and press the mixture evenly into the pans.

Bake for 30-40 minutes.

*note: the Bulk Barn is my most favourite place to find most of the listed ingredients*

Here's the finished product:

As you can see, when I tried to cut it into squares it crumbled to pieces. That's because this is the only corn syrup I had in my cupboard:

For obvious reasons I decided not to use it...hence the crumbly-ness.

Oooopssss!!!

Delicious nonetheless :-)

TUSAL

Phew, I almost forgot! Here's my TUSAL for May!

Tear!

Okay, I have to admit, I wasn't looking forward to the royal wedding. I openly said that I didn't care, they're just people getting married and people needed to calm down, I wasn't going to watch it....etc, etc, etc.

I do have to comment on it though because it was such a momentous event and for no reason at all, the day before, I got super excited about it and couldn't wait to watch!

The problem was that where I live the ceremony was starting at 6am. I had to be at work at 5am. But the good news......we have a TV in our lunchroom! So at 6, Bakery Barb, Roz and I ran upstairs and watched on the who-knows-how-old blurry TV. Soooo fun!

I mean seriously, LOOK how happy these two are!!

I do have a thing for Prince Harry........so I had a great time watching him too :-) This wedding contained all of the elements it takes to make good TV: humour (I found it hilarious that the ring wouldn't go on Kate's finger), suspense (William not being able to turn around and see Kate for so long was killing me!), drama (the little girl covering her ears added a little dramatic effect- would she cry? Would she scream?), and sentiment (seeing how happy these two are together definately tugged at my heart strings!).

So. Those are my thoughts on the royal wedding.