Week 16: An Important Milestone Achieved
Plus a Quick and Tasty Miso Soup Recipe
I’ll just come out and say it…WE DID IT, we ran our first half marathon! Last Sunday, November 15th, we successfully completed the San Antonio Rock ‘N Roll Half Marathon (13.1 mi). It was an amazing milestone for both of us! Mark, as he didn’t believe he could run 10 miles less than 4 months ago and for me, getting out of my boot less than 2 weeks prior. We didn’t do half bad either…Mark beat me in this race, accomplishing the feat in 2 hr 31 min and I came in shortly after at 2 hr 37 min. Not my 2 hr goal, but not shabby considering I was immobilized for 1.5 weeks less than 2 weeks prior (heck, I think just finishing was a feat)!
We started off the morning with a banana and piece of wheat bread before walking to the start line. The start line was ~2 mi walk from the B&B, so it provided a great warm-up to get the muscles going and ready for stretching before the race.
The race itself was torture for me…
My ankle was perfectly fine (still is), but what was giving me trouble was my right hip. See, when I was walking with the boot, it got me off balance and I guess I developed a knot in my upper hip/lower back region on my right hand side. During the race, I believe it placed me a bit off-balance and put too much strain on my knee, causing it to flare up. I’ve so very rarely had problems with my knees, so whenever I felt it act up, I took it as my cue to stop and walk. I probably walked a good 1/3 of the 13.1 miles and still came in averaging 12 min/mi. After the race, I went straight to the medical tent and was iced down well before going to the family reunion area to wait for Mark (which took 1.5 hours, as he was waiting at bag check). We learned a very important lesson that day to have a predefined meeting place after large races…we were dummies this time and paid for it! 
Mark did well, only a few aches and pains, but that didn’t stop the both of us to stop at the convenience store after brunch (Twin Sister’s Cafe; decent food but over-priced and lacks some flavor) to pick up a few 10 lb bags of ice to take back to the B&B we were staying at (Inn at Crag Place) for our much needed ice baths!
The rest of the day we just took it easy, trying to tend to our aches and pains and skipped out on the Grand Funk Railroad concert later that evening. Seriously, who puts a free post-marathon concert so late after the marathon? Most of us are beat and nearly dead by evening…oh well!
That evening we went around the corner from our B&B to La Fonda on Main for dinner. It was pretty decent, but I was a bit put aback when the waitress asked if we wanted tea or lemonade for dinner. I mentioned that I had just run a half marathon and thought that was cause for a margarita on the rocks with salt. She looked at me like I was crazy and told me she “had to see some identification”. Crazy…Mark and I very rarely get carded and never by someone who seriously believed I was under 21! I mean, I’m closing in on 30 (yes, scary thought)…
The food was decent, not the best nor the worst Mexican food I’ve had in San Antonio. Best quality was proximity to bed! 
Needless to say, we turned in quite early that evening, ~8:30-9pm and arose fairly early the next day (Monday), our final on our San Antonio mini-cation.
On Monday, after our “breakfast in bed” (it was in the bedroom, but we were dressed and ready), we headed to Mission Trail to see the old San Antonio Missions. It was definitely a very worthwhile attraction. Since we both grew up in the Northeast with Colonial History surrounding us, our Frontier history lacks a bit, and this opened our eyes to some great Texan history! It also gave our joints a chance to move around and avoid our joints locking up too much after the half marathon.
By the time we completed the Missions, it was time for lunch. I had found a unique looking vegetarian/kosher place called Green Vegetarian Cuisine that had a very interesting looking menu. Oh my was that a find! Probably the best veggie burgers I’ve ever sunk my teeth into! We both got their “green burgers” with a side of black beans (me) and side of sweet potato fries (Mark). We will definitely be back to Green on our next visit to San Antonio. It even rivals our favorite vegetarian restaurant out there, Blue Sage Grill (Bucks County, Pa), though slightly different in their approaches.
After lunch we decided to make our way home, leisurely driving back to Houston and picking up the pup on our way home from her vet, who was providing boarding.
We had one last dinner out, at Ziggy’s Healthy Grill, our favorite stand-by restaurant in Houston. Then to the grocery store, so we could get back to cooking for ourselves and get back to normal (well until Thanksgiving).
It was a nice, short, relaxing mini-cation, just enough ompfh to get us through Thanksgiving!
Outside of the half marathon, we took it pretty light on training for the rest of the week, giving our bodies some time to recover…but here’s how it broke down…
Saturday: rest
Sunday: San Antonio Half Marathon (13.1 mi: Stef – 2:37, Mark – 2:31) + 2 mile warm-up to race
Monday: rest
Tuesday: rest
Wednesday: Track Practice (Stef ~2 mi; Mark ~3 mi)
Thursday: Stef – lunchtime yoga; Mark – rest
Friday: Stef – lunchtime yoga; Mark – rest
Total mileage (Stef): ~17.1 mi
As you can see, I’m almost back up to my pre-injury mileage. Just a little bit slower now. Hoping that as time goes on, I’ll get stronger and a bit faster again. However, right now I’m just very grateful to be able to run at all!
After 4 days of eating out, I was so ready to try new recipes this week! One thing that Mark and I have been wanting to experiment with lately is miso. We normally stay away from Asian food, due to sodium concerns, but are trying to experiment with Japanese cuisine. After finding this recipe from Cooking Light, we were inspired to adapt it to what we had lying around in the kitchen/pantry!
Miso Soup with Tofu and Soba Noodles (inspired from Cooking Light)
Ingredients (serves 2-3 entree sized):
- ~6 oz Button Mushrooms, sliced (will use shitake next time, didn’t have them lying around)
- 4.5 cups Mushroom Broth (Better than Bouillon)
- 0.5 piece minced ginger
- 4 cloves crushed garlic
- 1.5 tbsp yellow miso
- ~7 oz Firm Tofu, patted dry somewhat and coarsely chopped (1 block/0.5 package)
- 0.5 tbsp dark sesame oil
- 0.25 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 4 oz soba noodles (cooked per directions on package)
- ~1 cup fresh snow peas
- 1-2 tbsp sliced scallions
The most involved part of this recipe is creating the broth. Other recipes I’ve seen use short cuts, but do take a little bit of time here to create the mushroom broth. It adds a lot of depth and dimension to this dish!
Combine mushroom broth, ginger, and garlic and bring to boil, then simmer for ~15 minutes. Start pot boiling for noodles and prepare using directions on package. After done simmering, strain out ginger and garlic and add miso and tofu. Cover and set aside to keep warm.
Heat sesame oil in pan and saute mushrooms and red pepper flakes for ~1-2 minutes. Add snow peas. Continue to saute until mushrooms are tender and snow peas are cooked, but not limp.
Add vegetable mixture to broth.
Add ~1/3 of the noodles to each deep dish bowl (makes ~3 servings) and cover with ~1/3 of the veggie and broth mixture. Top with scallions as garnish.
This was an awesome meal! Especially because we were able to put it together with what we had in the pantry. Next time we will have use shitake mushrooms, to add even more depth. I really advise against using chicken broth in this recipe, I really don’t think it would add anything and would retract from the lovely mushroom/miso blend.
Nutrition (approximate for 2 servings):
- 240 cal
- 7 g fat
- 26 g carb
- 2 g fiber
- 18 g protein
This coming week is Thanksgiving, so I’ll be sure to update with our Thanksgiving activities, including our 10k Turkey Trot and our home-cooked dinner!
Happy Thanksgiving to all my readers!
