Fitness Goals For 2010 and Beyond, Plus Yeehaw Pralines

So now that’ I’ve accomplished the big half-marathon goal, what’s next and why? I have a few short-term and a few long-term goals in mind. It’s important for me to have fitness goals to keep me from growing stagnant, especially in my run. It’s easy to say, get sick with a cold (hmm…that sounds rather familiar), be forced to eliminate exercise for a week, and then not really go back out there for a run on a 35 degree day because it doesn’t sound all that fun. It’s really easy. But when I make a goal for myself, it forces me to get back out there and keep training. The goals don’t have to be extreme either. It could be, “I want to decrease my time running the mile by 10-20 seconds” or “I’m going to walk one more block in addition to my regular walk every three days.” So, instead of just running and generally exercising in order to ward off the allergies, which almost seems a little too much like popping a pill, I like to train for a race every now and then.

Now, I’m not sure if Kevin and I’ll be ready for the Striders Duathlon below on April 18 because we haven’t even aired up the tires on the road bikes. We’ve mainly been using the recumbent stationary bike, and that’s not quite the same; doesn’t use the same muscle groups and it’s easy to overheat and then lower the resistance because you don’t have that natural wind that comes from using a real bike.

Short-Term Goals

• Striders Duathlon, San Angelo, TX: http://www.ironheadrp.com/striders/index.html
• DF Ranch Triathlon, Sweetwater, TX: https://fastfeetracing.com/df_Ranch_Triathlon.html
• Prude Ranch Races Half Marathon: http://www.halfmarathons.net/usa_half_marathons_texas_prude_ranch_races_half_marathon.html
• ASU Turkey Trot 2010

Long-Term Goals

• Run a 10:20 pace Half Marathon (don’t know if that’s going to happen with the hilly Prude Ranch Race that Trina is wanting to run)
• Run a Full Marathon (preferably on relatively flat ground)

Now that I’ve got some goals, it’s good to have some comfort food too. Below is a recipe that my mom and I created on New Year’s Eve, 2006. It’s milk free, gluten free, soy free, and egg free. These are extra rich and sugary, but if you freeze the batch you can eat them over a long period of time and not feel too guilty like I did when I scarfed down at least 3 or 4 (or was it 5 or 6 or 7 or 8) after making them. If you’re from Texas, pralines are a tradition, and there’s no need to go without them when you’ve got food allergies! It’s been modified from a local German cookbook that my mom’s had for years (the recipe’s called Texas Pralines or Texanische Pralinen). This recipe is also good with walnuts and other similarly softish nuts).

Yeehaw (…I hence forth call them) Pecan Pralines

• 2 cups sugar
• ¾ cup coconut milk (in the can; look for it in the Asian food section at Wal-mart)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 ½ cups pecans
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

Cook first three ingredients together in a heavy-metal pot (without non-stick surface) until the syrup forms a “soft ball” in water (which is about at 235 degrees F). Remove from stove and add the last three ingredients. Beat until mixture begins to hold its shape. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper and let cool.