13 Miles Later...

Today was Half Marathon Day, and I think it is very safe to say that it was a success!

I knew going in that I wouldn't be able to run the entire thing, just because of my subpar training, but my goal was to run the first 7 miles and then alternate walking/running for the remaining 6 miles. I'd hoped to finish within 3 hours, since I'm not super speedy :) Of course the ultimate goal was just to finish, the chance of which I was rather doubtful of last night, but I'm happy to say 2 out of 3 goals were achieved!

I ran the first 7 miles straight through, and then stopped at 7 and walked a mile, ran a mile, walked 2 miles and then ran the final 2 miles - so in total I ran 10 of the 13 miles!! I thought my legs were going to spontaneously detach at the hips by the end, but the point is I made it to the end!! I came in at 3:02, which is a bit longer than I'd hoped for, but almost on target. It's annoying to think that if I'd just pushed myself a bit harder at the beginning, or walked a bit faster during the walking bits, I could have been in under 3:00. NEXT TIME!!

I'm not going to lie - the last few miles were tough, especially given my fear of spontaneous amputation, but that feeling when I could finally see the finish line, and I knew I would make it to the end, was amazing! I also had a super cheering squad of some friends from Swansea, whose crazy loud yelling gave me the energy to pick up the pace for the last 350 meters. Never again will I underestimate the power of cheering spectators!

So, there we go - this goal has been achieved! Now I have to pick another race...I want to work on my time, so I'm thinking some shorter ones so I can focus on getting faster rather than distance. I'll keep you posted :) In the mean time, here are some photos from the day...

Cardiff Millenium Centre: site of the longest lines for port-a-potties in the history of the universe. Also, the starting line.

Me and Alex (my super fast running buddy - 1:55!! Go Alex!) before the race. My lovely friend/his lovely wife Anne was our early morning cheering squad, emergency contact, photographer and supply carrier :)

Stretching out our pre-race jitters...

There were 15000 runners there today!

Go Wales! They love all sporty things and dragons.

Almost finished!! 350 metres to go...

I just found the Swansea cheering squad - hence the smile. Trust me, by this point I would not have been smiling if I hadn't seen them!

Medals! And free massages! Fantastico!

10k!

This morning I ran 10k for the first time ever!!!! No stopping, and I managed to keep up with my normal time/km, which is amazing! My friend Sue came along, and I think if she hadn't been there I would have stopped after 7 - I felt like death. But running with someone is so much better than running with music because the conversations can distract you from how much further you have to go and how much you want to stop. She's never run 10k either, so we were both on a bit of a high afterwards :)

The Cardiff half marathon is next Sunday. ONE WEEK! I'm so glad today's run went well, because I think I should definitely be able to do 10 - 12k no problem next week, and then walk/run the rest so that I can finish in a reasonable amount of time.

I got my race pack the other day - I'm number 8031, and they make space for emergency contact information on the back of your number. Ominous. They also provide you with information in case something happens and you can't finish - it all sounds rather horrible, and this is just one of the many moments where I think it would all be easier if we had wands so we could just shoot up red sparks if we're in distress. Alas, I am but a Muggle.

Anyway, I got excited about the distance this morning - I'm going to hurt a bit tomorrow, I can tell already. I'm going to have to remember to stretch many many times today, but right now I just can't believe I actually did it!!

International Thanksgiving

It took me a while to make friends here in Wales. It was weird, because while I wouldn't say I make good friends easily, it's never been as difficult for me as it was here. I think months went by before I had a real conversation with someone here about something other than where I was from and what my research was. The real turning point, I think, was Canadian Thanksgiving last year.

I invited some people I'd met so far, but didn't know particularly well, over to celebrate. I think at one point there were 10 people in my very small living room. Half of them had to bring their own plates, cutlery and glasses as I only have four place settings, and since I have a two seater couch, most people were sitting on the floor. Back in Edmonton I had an overly stocked kitchen and could have entertained 10 - 12 people without worrying about anything other than seating. Here, most things were served straight from the pans, and I used my Portuguese cow creamer as a gravy boat. I was so worried beforehand that the total lack of supplies and space would make a bad impression, but I think it had exactly the opposite effect.

As soon as the first person started laughing about just how unappetizing gravy coming out the mouth of a cow creamer was, everything changed; it was the first night I really felt like myself rather than like I was trying to make friends. Thankfully, the friendships I made that night have stuck to the point where I can't imagine what life would be like here without these people - they're a huge part of what makes Swansea a great place to live.

We're having our Thanksgiving dinner tonight, and smelling the turkey roasting in the oven reminded me of last year and what a fantastic time it was. This is my favourite holiday of them all, because apart from the general craziness of cooking and timing the meal, there is really no stress associated with this day. No presents to buy, usually no weather craziness to impede travel plans, and no multi-day family juggling olympics. Just family and friends getting together for one great, relaxing day to celebrate all the good things we've been given and the great people around us.

So Happy Thankgiving (in advance to everyone across the ocean!) from me and Jorge (my cow creamer) - I hope it's a fantastic day for all of you!

Simon and Garfunkle Turkey

I've tried a few different recipes for roasted turkey, but my favourite so far has been a variation on Martha Stewart's Roast Turkey with Herb Butter, the variation being I'm too lazy to make the herb butter, and instead just stuff full herbs in random spots around turkey and add lots of butter.

This year, for International Thanksgiving, I thought I'd combine Martha's recipe with an idea I got from a Jamie Oliver Naked Chef episode I saw a while ago where he replaces the rack of the roasting tray with vegetables. I've tried this with roast beef and had fantastic results, so I thought this year I'd try it with the turkey, and it did not disappoint!

So, if you're still looking for a recipe for this year's turkey, give this one a try! And, let me know if you have any suggestions or alterations - apart from the cheesy name, that is. That's sticking around from now on...

As a side note, in the interests of using all parts of the turkey, rather than throwing out the neck, mashed gravy vegetables, bones and grisly bits left after carving, I save everything and use them all to make turkey stock the next day. The turkey stock can easily be frozen if you're not going to use it right away, or you can make some excellent soup with all the turkey dinner leftovers :)

Simon and Garfunkle Turkey
1 whole turkey (mine was around 11 lbs)
5 - 6 Tbsp butter
1 small handful each of fresh sage, rosemary and thyme
1/2 lemon (optional)
salt and pepper
2 medium yellow onions
2 stalks celery
2 carrots
3 cloves garlic
3 mushrooms
1/2 c. white wine (optional)
A few sprigs of parsley
1 - 2 tsp cranberry sauce
1 Tbsp plain white flour or cornstarch

I've listed the cooking times for my unstuffed turkey first, and the times for a stuffed turkey are in brackets afterwards. It's an extra 1 1/2 to 2 hours for a stuffed turkey.

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.
2. Peel and halve the onions and quarter the celery, carrots and mushrooms.
3. Add all the vegetables in a single layer to your roasting pan and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.
4. Rinse the turkey inside and out with cold water and pat dry with paper towel.
5. Separate the skin from the turkey breast and drumsticks by carefully sliding your hand under the skin. It should separate fairly easily.
6. Mix salt and pepper with the butter and then rub all over the turkey, inside and out, as well as under the skin where it's been separated.
7. Insert the fresh herbs randomly throughout the space between the skin and the meat; as the turkey roasts the skin will become really thin and partly transparent, so spreading out single sage leaves and placing individual stalks of thyme and rosemary sporadically will look nicer than great clumps of herbs together (if you're going for that aesthetic appeal).
8. If you're stuffing the turkey, add the stuffing now. I didn't stuff the turkey this time (someone else was in charge of stuffing this year) so instead I put a stalk each of sage, rosemary and thyme in the main cavity of the turkey along with 1/2 a lemon to keep things extra moist.
9. Place the turkey over the vegetables in the roasting pan, tucking and tying wings and drumsticks as needed.
10. Loosely cover the turkey with foil and roast at 350F, basting every 45 minutes or so, until a meat thermometer reads 125F, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours (3 to 4 hours).
11. Remove the foil and increase the oven temperature to 400F. Roast for 30 minutes (1 hour), or until the turkey is nicely browned and a meat thermometer reads 180F. If the turkey starts browning too quickly, cover again with the foil.
12. Remove the turkey from the pan to a cutting board. Cover with foil and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
13. Mash the vegetables in the roasting pan, add the white wine, parsley, cranberry sauce and stir everything together, simmering over low heat on the stove and stirring frequently.
14. Collect any extra juices from the turkey and mix with the flour/cornstarch to make a paste. Stir the paste in to the gravy to thicken.
15. Before serving, pour the gravy through a strainer and season with salt and pepper to taste.

**Another option is to simmer the turkey neck in just enough water to cover, and add that stock to the gravy for extra flavour. I've made gravy with and without the turkey neck stock and it's been fine both ways, although I like the idea of being able to use all parts of the turkey, and so I generally do add this step.