A Lovely Cheese Pizza, Just For Me!

Since I bought tomato sauce at the farmer's market a couple of weeks ago, I decided to make pizza for dinner tonight. I used the recipe for John's Pizza. It was easy to make and amazingly good - tasted even better than Papa John's, Dominos, Pizza Hut, etc. I will definitely be making this again in the future!

Recipe:

CRUST

1/2 cup almond flour

1 egg

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

TOPPINGS (I did not use "John's" suggested toppings)

Tomato sauce

Shredded cheddar cheese

Oregano

Parsley

New York Botanical Garden

Today was corporate day at the New York Botanical Garden and I had free tickets through Pfizer.

I went with two friends from church, Sarah and Joy, who I have gotten to know through my 6:30am Friday morning Bible study.

Unfortunately, my tickets were only good for today and it was a cold, rainy day here in the northeast.

The special event going on right now at the NYBG is The Orchid Show on Broadway.

Fortunately, this event was all inside...

because orchids only grow in warmer climates.

I never realized how many different kinds of orchids there are.

About 60% of orchids are "miniature" orchids and can only be seen with a magnifying glass.

I am so tired of wearing pants and thick coats/sweaters/layers.

At least seeing all these flowers makes it look like spring.

I had fun with my new DSLR camera today.

I am happy we decided to go even though it was raining. I do want to go back on a warm, sunny day as there are 250 acres in this garden.

Camelback Mountain

When I was home for Christmas, I think I hiked Camelback Mountain more than half of the days that I was there. I love that mountain, and it is such a good hike. Whenever Jenn and I hike together, we always say that there is nothing like it in NYC.

This mesquite tree at the top was decorated for Christmas.

There was also a Christmas tree.

Dad ACTUALLY made it to the top!

I can never get jumping pictures quite right.

I hiked with the Millsaps the day after Christmas.

Alexi, Mack and Mikalie.

Mack and Mikalie made it to the top with me. Lexi and Diahann...not so much.

This is not Camelback, but Squaw Peak. Jenn and I hiked this early one morning.

Can't wait to get back and do some more hiking. Might be a little too hot at Memorial Day and the snakes will be out then too!

I Love the Farmer's Market

Today I went to the Union Square Farmer's Market. I didn't get there until about 4:30pm so a lot of the farmer's had already packed up or were packing up for the day. But, I did score a few items.

I bought 3 jars of tomato sauce, honey and womanchego cheese. The tomato sauce in stores (including Whole Foods and Trader Joe's) usually has sugar added or some other ingredient I cannot eat. I have been wanting to make pizza, and have been holding off doing so because making your own marinara sauce sounds very labor intensive. I saw this tomato sauce, and the ingredients are just tomatoes, onions, garlic, vegetable oil, oregano and salt. I bought 3 jars. I also bought a spaghetti squash at Whole Foods so I can eat that with some marinara sauce and parmesan cheese.

All of the vendors at the farmer's market had pictures of their farms and the animals were running around the pasture's like they should be. All of the vendors are local too - mostly from New York and New Jersey, and some from Connecticut.

Here are a couple of other pictures from today...

Otis and Sam earlier in the day. It ended up being a nice day here and they were enjoying the sunshine.

This is sand art in Washington Square Park. I was walking around Soho and walked through the park to get to Union Square.

Traning Schedule For the Half Marathon

In the event that I do run a half-marathon again, I wanted to document my traning schedule for the Central Park half.

• January 24 - 3 miles - 29:44


• January 26 - 3 miles - 29:34


• January 27 - 3 miles - 29:35


• January 29 - 4 miles - 40:20


• January 31 - 3 miles - 29:45


• February 2 - 4 miles - 39:38


• February 3 - 3 miles - 29:25


• February 5 - 5 miles - 50:40 (Central Park Lower Loop)


• February 7 - 3 miles - Did not write down time


• February 10 - 4 miles - 39:39


• February 11 - 3 miles - 29:24


• February 12 - 6 miles - 58:22 (Central Park Loop)


• February 14 - 3 miles - 29:29


• February 16 - 5 miles - 49:30


• February 17 - 3 miles - 29:20


• February 20 - 8 miles - 1:15:30 (2 Laps Central Park Inner Loop)


• February 21 - 3 miles - 29:20


• February 23 - 5 miles - 48:53


• February 25 - 3 miles - 29:03


• February 27 - 10 miles - 1:37:42 (2 Laps Central Park Lower Loop)


• February 28 - 4 miles - 39:46


• March 2 - 5 miles - 48:23


• March 3 - 4 miles - 38:30


• March 5 - 11 miles - 1:55:14 (1 Lap Central Park Loop, 1 Lap Central Park Lower Loop)


• March 7 - 4 miles - 38:36


• March 9 - 6 miles - 58:14


• March 10 - 4 miles - 38:29


• March 12 - 12 miles - 1:56:27 (2 Laps Central Park Loop)


• March 14 - 4 miles - 38:47


• March 16 - 5 miles - 48:16


• March 17 - 4 miles - 38:26


• March 19 - 9 miles - 1:27:26 (1 Lap Central Park Lower Loop, 1 Lap Central Park Inner Loop)


• March 21 - 3 miles - 28:47


• March 23 - 4 miles - 38:58


• March 25 - 3 miles - 28:33


• March 27 - 8 miles - 1:15:21 (2 Laps Central Park Inner Loop)


• March 29 - 3 miles - 29:55


• March 31 - 31 miles - 29:59


• April 3 - HALF

Half Marathon!

This last Sunday, April 3, I ran (and finished) my first half-marathon. After running the charity:water 10-k last November, I was motivated to do a half. So...in early January I signed up for a half with New York Road Runners and started training in mid-January. I generally ran three times per week on the treadmill, with distances ranging from 3-6 miles per day. On the weekends, I did one long run in Central Park, ranging anywhere from 5 to 12 miles.

This was the finish line. I took this picture before I even started running.

Waiting for the race to begin.

I was at the back of the pack. I entered with a really slow pace time, since I really had no idea what my pace would be for 13 miles.

The race was a little over two laps of the loop in Central Park. Fortunately, this was where I did my long training runs each weekend, and we ran the same direction as I usually did on my training runs. The first 3 miles were difficult because I was passing people (since I started at the back - but it did feel good to pass so many people). There are two killer hills on the loop - Heartbreak Hill and Cat Hill. These hills were approximately at miles 2, 4, 8 and 10 - I ended up walking up the last hill at mile 10. After that hill though I knew the end was close - only 3 more miles. After mile 12 I tried to really push it to the end, but the I didn't think that 13th mile was ever going to end.

My goal was to finish in 2 and a half hours, and my official time was 2.08:26. I was happy with that time. I don't think I would want to do half-marathon's often, but I could see myself potentially doing another one. It is a good feeling to cross that finish line :)