Livin' the Dream in Lima

Every year that we come to Door County , there are certain things we absolutely have to do. Yesterday we accomplished three of them! My favorite thing to do running-wise is to run from our cabin down to Fish Creek, then run through the Peninsula State Park all the way to the lakeshore beach. It's a good 8.5 miles (all downhill), so I always coerce one of my sweet sweet family members to drive down and pick me up. Because, first of all, I'm not running 17 miles on vacation. That's just crazy. And to run 8.5 miles downhill and return and run 8.5 miles uphill? No thank you. Beautiful lake in the morning. So yesterday, I made the trek bright and early and ran down to the beach. I had some extra time before my mom was due to arrive, so I added on for a total of 10 miles . Perfect long run by the lake.  I could run with this view all year long and never complain. Second thing we did yesterday was a picnic lunch ! We returned to the beach area for some essential la...

Okay, I might have added that last tidbit on that phrase. Definitely the land of cherries, but maybe only the land of running to me. Car ride iced mocha... sporting the Door County tee. Lots of excitement. My Business Man and I drove a little over halfway to Door County last night and spent the night in Kenosha, Wisconsin. This morning we made the final 4-hour trek up north! My parents have a timeshare up here at Little Sweden in Fish Creek, Wisconsin. We've been coming up ever since I was a little girl, and I just love it here. My Business Man has been along in 2008 and 2009 (when we got engaged), and has also visited as a kid. Valkommen! At Little Sweden, we have a half-log cabin all to ourselves. Living room, dining room, kitchen, 2 bedrooms, 2 baths. We could fit a lot of people here if we tried. With a pull-out couch even! And cable TV! This is the life. Dining room & kitchen. My Business Man and I's room. Yup, we've got two beds. I ...

I've decided that for this training cycle, Tuesdays will be dedicated to tempo runs  or threshold mile repeats . (These two workouts basically work the same system.) I've never really liked them, so if I can get them over with early in the week, it is wonderful. And alliteration makes everything more fun, right? Source Yesterday I set off on a 4-mile tempo run. Tempo pace is about 20-30 seconds slower than your 5k race pace, so my aim was to run between 6:50 and 7:00 minute miles. I don't have a fancy schmancy Garmin, but I do know roughly where the mile marks on a specific route. Usually I come home and map it online to find my exact pace. I started with a 10-minute warm-up jog, a few leg swings and then I was off! I felt good for miles 1-3 but then the pain settled in for mile 4. Fortunately it was the last one! Mile 1 - 6:50 Mile 2 - 6:40 Mile 3 - 6:42 Mile 4 - 6:48 An average pace of 6:45 , right where I want to be! Ideally I'd like to get up to ...

Ehhh... I know. Lame title. But we grilled quesadillas ! Which then makes it a quesa-grilla! Ever since we got our new grill, I've been super excited to grill some non-traditional foods. Fruit, romaine, and pizza are all on the "must-try" list. Last night we thought we'd try our hands at grilled quesadillas. I found a recipe for S teak Teriyaki Quesadillas in the latest Taste of Home magazine and went with it. The steak is marinated in a teriyaki style marinade, then grilled to perfection. It's then sliced and combined with chopped green pepper, red onion, and fresh pineapple.  Then stacked onto a tortilla and topped with mozzarella cheese! (And some bacon because we had some in the fridge... mwa ha ha...) Then, it's just returned to the grill for a few minutes to melt the cheese. Oh, and get those beeeautiful grill marks. Sweet from the teriyaki, smoky from the steak, crisp on the outside, gooey cheese on the inside...

Yesterday my Business Man and I got a little bored in the Bean Town and decided to get outta town for the day. We'd been eyeing a bar-height table for two at ikea.com  for our little baking nook, so decided to head down to IKEA in Cincinnati. Unfortunately, the table was not in stock. :( We still got the two chairs to go with it though! Hopefully it will be in stock soon and we can actually purchase it. I also got a super-sweet poster print for my classroom. Geek much? It goes the other way. Just turn your computer screen on its side. After our long and exhausting one hour of shopping we were obviously famished and had to re-fuel with some straight sugar, by sharing a cinnamon roll and a Diet Pepsi.  Brunch/lunch of champions! We then moved to the next destination of the day. We've always just driven by these outlets on I-75 and finally decided to stop. I just love outlet malls! I got some really good deals on some summer tops from Banana Republic ...