Dinner with Mom

My mother is visiting from Spain. Not surprisingly, she loves food just like I do, so cooking while she is here is always fun. We had a beautiful and large piece of Arctic char in the fridge that we had bought at Coastal Seafoods and was asking to get on the grill. That along with some of the last fresh corn of the season did the trick. The pan was to add a beurre blanc sauce, but after it split, it looked more like melted butter. It did the trick anyway.

The Arctic char was cooked with just olive oil, salt and pepper on the grill for just about eight minutes on the skin side only.

For the corn sauté, we used a recipe I have adopted from Fine Cooking. Cut up some nice bacon into small pieces, cook and reserve. Cook onion and garlic in the bacon grease or olive oil until they start to soften, add mushrooms (chopped) and cook until almost done. Then, add frozen peas, the corn (shucked). Right before they are done, add the bacon and some chopped chives.

For the starch, we cooked a large sweet potato in the oven until soft and served sliced with a little olive oil and kosher salt.

Here is the result... delicious!

Tokyo here I come

Last night I received confirmation indicating I was selected in the lottery to participate in the 2011 Tokyo Marathon. A privilege extended to no more than 35,000 people. Clearly a very exclusive club. Here are the first few lines of the message.

Dear Mr. Diego Ramallo

Congratulations!
You have been selected to run the 2011 Tokyo Marathon.

What's more, Sharon was also selected to run the 10K, so that pretty much seals our plans to travel to Tokyo on late February. I was sad to learn, however that my brother-in-law, Edu, was not selected. Edu, who is temporarily living in Tokyo, run a number of Marathons in his youth, some decades ago. Since I run the Madrid Marathon with his 16 year old son (his first), I though it'd be a great idea to bring back Edu from running retirement and run Tokyo together. It wasn't meant to be. He lives in Tokyo, so there is always 2012 for him :-(

The news of my selection puts me on a wining streak. I am 2-0 for recent lotteries. Just a couple of months back I was selected to run the Zoom! Yah! Yah! indoor Marathon in St Olaf College. Maybe it is time I try signing up for New York again. My attempt a few years back was met with a rejection. The tide seems to be turning my way.

Cold schedule

Next weekend is the Big Woods Run, so I decided to get a nasty cold this week in which my training scheduled called for no miles anyway. Seemed like a good opportunity. One I didn't want to miss.

With the races I have planned for this fall, I didn't want to risk being healthy through the fall. The fact that I am getting a flu shot sometime mid-October also limited my possible cold schedule. Had I waited until after the flu shot, getting a cold would have required much more effort. Really, who wants to be searching for the right strain of the virus that is not covered by this year's shot? While I am usually very successful at that, There is always risk that I may not find it this year.

Twin Cities Marathon - Race report

Last Sunday I completed my 10th marathon (4th run of Twin Cities). Weather was nearly perfect. A cool 39 at the start and about 55 at the end. At least that was the forecast on race day. I definitely think it felt a tad warmer. Perhaps the absence of clouds and the bright sun made it feel that way. In any case, a good run.

As much as I like running marathons, I've never been crazy about seeing every mile marker. On my training runs, I like to look at my Garmin 405 to find out I have completed another 3 or 4 miles since I last checked. That doesn't happen on a race when every mile is shown with a colorful sign. Still this time, at least for the first 15 miles, I kept being surprised every time I saw another mile. As in... "Another mile already? I just passed the last one!"

Seeing Tim cheering me on at mile 11 was a pleasant and unexpected surprise (that sounds redundant, aren't surprises by definition unexpected?). I nearly missed him in my usual run-looking-at-my-feet mode while listening to my iPod. Fortunately he shouted y name so that made me look up. That made me wonder how many times he might have called my name on earlier miles but I didn't see him... :-)

Miles 15 to 20 were also good and easy, but I definitely was starting to feel exhaustion coming up. I did feel great all the way to mile 20, I just got the feeling at some point that wasn't going to be the feeling for the entire race. At mile 19.5 (Franklin bridge) I got a nice boost from my wife Sharon, my mother Bity and our good friend Patty Mayonnaise. I sort of caught them by surprise as I don't think they were expecting me that soon. By that point, I had averaged 8:54 per mile.

About 3/4 of a mile later I saw Tim again. I think he was alone. Was he there for me? Do I have a fan? Perhaps a stocker? Either way, it helped me keep going a little longer. :-)

Not much later, I took my first walking step of the run. The big long hill before getting to Summit was just a tad much after 21 miles. I might have even walked before mile 21. Can't remember.

This brings me to something I thought while running. Every long distance runner and multi-marathoner has experienced runner's amnesia. This is a well documented and discussed phenomenon by which at the end of the race or shortly after, you forget about the pain and exhaustion you felt while running. You forget you swore this would be the last marathon ever. You forget the pact you made with yourself that if you finish this one, that will be it. You even forget having rationalized the number or marathons run by whatever your age and forget being satisfied with such a significant accomplishment that does not requires repeating any more.

I wonder if those who run a marathon and never repeat the feat do not experience runner's amnesia and that is what keeps them from running another one. Is there a Runner's Amnesia gene they lack?

But that is not what I was thinking. What came to mind was not the documented phenomenon of runner's amnesia, but the far less discussed and pretty instantaneous recovery from the amnesia that takes place around mile 20 of your next run. As in "That's right! I said I was not going to run any more, and this is why!" You remember not only your last miserable run, but every miserable run you've had and think: "How could I have forgotten?" That recovery last a from mile 20 to about mile 25, at which point you feel this is about over and endorphins kick in and the new wave of amnesia starts to slowly settle in your mind like a dense and quickly moving fog.

By the time I hit mile 25, I was tired and knew would not be breaking 4 hours again (not that I had expected it, I was aiming to 4:15 or 4:20 to enjoy the run). I didn't want ti walk any more, so I had an idea. Change the playlist on my iPod to Sharon's running list. I usually don't like it because the list os too short, but she has some kick-ass songs. I immediately started skipping songs to find one that would take me to the end. About the third song in the list did it. Eric Clapton's San Francisco Bay Blues from Unplugged did the trick.

As I calculated, I had about a mile left and the song must be four or five minutes long. If I listen to it twice while running and didn't stop to walk, I'd be at the finish before the second playing ended. That worked beautifully. Not only I run until the end, I was flying. I was singing out loud. I was smiling. I was truly enjoying those last 8 or 8 1/2 minutes were awesome! Here is a picture the organizers took by the Cathedral almost at the end.

The mile 26 market and the finish line really took me by surprise. Was I finished already? I passed Sharon, Bity and Patty while singing out loud and finished in 4:07:18 (chip time). Or about 9:26 per mile on average. As I said, a good run.

AWESOME wine party the day before TCM :-(

Just as last year, Mike and Anita scheduled their very awesome wine party the day before the Twin Cities Marathon. That means I will have to enjoy the company and the food (mostly whatever has high carbs) and perhaps a single glass of wine while I hydrate with lots of water... :-(

Here is a picture of the winning bottle, from our good friend Patty Mayonnaise.

Last long run before TCM

Next weekend is the Twin Cities Marathon (TCM). My fourth TCM and my 10th marathon overall. That means this weekend is my last long run. Within an hour I will hit the road for 8 miles. Weather could not be better. 44 degrees and hardly any wind at all.

Unfortunately 8 miles is a strange number for me, I don't have a route for that distance, so I think I will head downtown and get lost there until I get close to hitting 8miles and then head back home.

Excitement is building up.

Post-run report: Run went very well. Ended up doing 8.25 miles at 8:49 pace. See details here. What's more, when I wrote the run mileage on my log, I realized I am about to hit 6,000 KM since I started tracking my miles (which is nearly since I started running a little over 4 years ago. I am exactly 14.6 KM from that milestone. With the schedule I have, I should hit that right at the beginning of the Twin Cities Marathon.

Tapas with Tim and Joy

As defined in Wikipedia (I am going to get lazy here), Tapas are wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold (such as mixed olives and cheese) or warm (such as chopitos, which are battered, fried baby squid). In select bars in Spain, as well as some parts of North America and the United Kingdom, tapas has evolved into an entire, and sometimes sophisticated, cuisine.

I like tapas because it is a way to not commit to a single dish (to prepare, serve or eat). They are definitely more work to put together and, to do it right, there is a lot of logistics involved to make sure everything looks good and so guests are not waiting for too long between courses. Often the leftovers lasts for days. SInce you are going to spend the time cooking so many dishes, you may as well spend a little more time and make larger quantities to eat at a different time.

Last night we had Tim and Joy over for tapas. They are always fun to hang around because, as we do, they like food and they like to try new things and new places. Tapas seemed like the perfect meal for foodies like them.

Below is a picture of the dishes we served. I will follow with descriptions.

1) Smoked trout over avocado cream

2) Poached shrimp with spicy mayo and garlic breadcrumbs. This is definitely one of my favorites. To eat it, you take a piece of shrimp, dip it in the mayo and roll it over the breadcrumbs.

3) Iberico cheese (sheep) with an olive tapenade from Naples

4) Chèvre stuffed jalapeños and roasted bell pepper

5) Potato crisps

6) Spanish hot chorizo over asiago crackers

7) Trio of soups: roasted beet, velvet corn and minted pea

8) Lamb chops with garlic and rosemary with cremini mushrooms in sherry wine

9) Moroccan surf & turf, made with harissa shrimp and a piece of pork tenderloin with paprika, fennel seed, cumin and coriander seed

10) Saffron turkey meatballs and a saffron tomato sauce. As I told Tim, if you could marry a meatball, this should be the one.

11) Grilled orange and shrimp pizzeta with goat cheese and orange cream

12) Ice cream with sherry (pouring the sherry over the ice cream

gives the dish a burnt sugar-like taste reminiscent of a crème brûlée)

13) Dark chocolate mousse with raspberry gastrique served with a 2004 Olivares Jumilla, a rare Spanish dessert wine that brings the best in chocolate and berries

14) To finish, a glass of 20 yr. Graham Tawny port (I prefer 20 yr. Sandeman, but it is very difficult to find)

15) Our guests, Tim and Joy

16) The hosts, Sharon and Diego

Not pictured was olive bread served with the now staple goat butter with kalamata olives and Himalayan salt. During dinner I was taking pictures to be able to publish this on this blog while Joy was beating me to the punch by taking pictures with her iPhone and posting them on her Facebook page. Turns out, Joy takes pictures of just about anything interesting she eats. Here is a picture of Joy proudly showing some fabulous dish she had somewhere.

Harmon Farms 10 miler Trail Run - Race report

Pretty awesome run. Within a few minutes I felt winded. I thought I was going to do terrible, but as soon as we left the grass and started running on dirt, things changed. I must have started too fast. In fact I did the entire 10 miles pretty fast (for me anyway). I averaged 8:20 per mile, a speed I don't usually do even on paved road.

Large portion sof the run were single file, so as soon as you got to more open areas you'd get people passing you. I ended the 10 miles in 1:23:22. You can see the route here. As expected, the GPS shows a shorter distance. The quick turns part of the trail race are lost in the surveys made by the device. I am told that the 9.32 miles shown on my run were actually 10 miles.

Unfortunately, this is a small race, so there was no photographer to document my participation and I didn't have anybody to cheer, so the best I could do was photoshop a close approximation of what I may have looked like crossing the finish line.

A fun fact about the race was that I was given bib # 333 and ended up in 33rd place. Good thing I wasn't given a bib # 1. The pressure would have been too much!

Harmon Farms 10 miler Trail Run - The hunter in me

Tomorrow is Harmon Farms Trail Run. A 10 mile run I have been looking forward for a few weeks, when I signed up. I don't do much on trail, but I am slowly developing a good taste for the unpaved road. Somehow it brings the hunter in me. Not that I care for hunting (have never been and have little interest), but whenever I run on a trail (the rugged the better) I can't help but to think of a primitive man running to chase it's prey.

I recently finished the book How Pleasure Works: The New Science of Why We Like What We Like by Paul Bloom. The last chapter has references to the effect that nature has in humans. The author describes studies in which they add large screen TVs to an office with no windows and display images of nature. While the office workers indicated they liked the change, metrics of their blood pressure, heart rate, etc indicated no change. On the flip side, a window in the same office that overlooked some greenery had noticeable effect on those same metrics, much like studies that show that having a dog as a pet at home may lower your blood pressure.

I think the trail runs have that effect on me...

Third Friday

Yesterday was the third Friday of the month. In most places, that is just one other Friday. Where I live, we have a happy hour for neighbors to get together, a a glass of wine and share some appetizers. This, along with other events in the building such as Yoga on Saturdays and Movie Thursdays in winter helps develop friendships and contribute to welcoming new residents in addition to creating a strong sense of community among neighbors. Al that apart, it is just plain fun to sit down with your neighbors and friends and have a glass of wine and share an appetizer.

With little time to plan this week I used up some italian sausage I had in the freezer along with a locally produced fresh mozzarella to create mine. The result was a mini pizza with a polenta crust, sausage, mushroom and garlic with fresh mozzarella and a roasted cherry tomato. Not my best Third Friday appetizer but still a crowd pleaser. I am happy to say it was the first appetizer to go...