Vacation -- It's "Away From the Computer" Time

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In order to re-charge my creative juices, I'm going on a blog (and work) vacation until August. Unless I have a brilliant idea just pop up, I won't be blogging for a while. Have a great summer everyone and stay cool!

Exercise--Enchanted Run

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The Assessor and I were on a run the other night and we came up with an exciting idea! Sometime, before we're old and grey, we want to run the Enchanted Circle in New Mexico over a period of 5-6 days.

I've been talking fora while now about how I would love to run an ultra marathon (more than 26.2 miles). But then the Assessor and I watched this movie called Running the Sahara on Netflix.

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Okay, so those three people are nuts. The heat, the politics involved in moving through several countries, the running more than a marathon each day, and the drama between the runners and their team were all insane! But the idea of creating our own extreme long run in a place that's relatively cool and somewhere we love: we can't beat that!

According to the Running the Sahara dudes, they were running anywhere between 14-20 minute miles. That's totally doable, and it tells us that they had several walking breaks during their 4,620 mile journey.

For us, the idea would be that we would obviously do some distance training (running and hiking) in the mountains before we start the journey. Then, when we felt we were ready, we start in Angel Fire and run to Eagle Nest and then spend the night at a hotel. That's about 12 miles of running. And just in case I don't mention it, we'd stop in a hotel in each of these towns that I'm going to mention.

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The next day, we'd wake up and run from Eagle Nest to Red River and stay at another hotel. That's a distance of about 17 miles and it'd probably be the biggest climb of the trek.

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Then the next day we would travel from Red River to Questa (15 miles).

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We'd then go from Questa to Taos.

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Then Taos to Angel Fire would be the last leg of the trip, and also the longest (24 miles).

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Then we would collapse, preferably into our husky and border collies waiting at the finish line. :)

Obviously, we're not ready yet to do this run this summer. We need to prepare and there are a lot of things to consider like the following.

• Reservations: We'll need to reserve hotels and that would make our decision to run very concrete (no backing out).
• Time: We'd need to make sure that we could already run a good 6 miles before going up to the mountains, then we would need a least a month to prepare for the several day run. Maybe even more prep might be required.
• Babies: We want to have a baby or two, and this involves a bit too much extreme exercise for baby-making. Once, Lord willing, babies are had, that creates a bunch of other issues as well.
• Other Babies: We have two dogs that will need attention while we're gone during these days.
• Help on the Road: What if we run out of water or food, we need help checking into a hotel, we have medical issues, we need a little inspiration from a friendly face? We're going to need people to help. Maybe even some people might want to join us. :)
• Equipment: Clothes, shoes, etc.
• Injuries: We'd need to be relatively injury free (like my knee problems would need to go away or somehow be minimized).

So, thoughts? Interested in helping or joining? Have a better idea? The Assessor and I would love to hear it!

Cook - Superhero Cooking Oils Series, Corn Oil as Rougue

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Don't go away (or visit the loo)! This post is a continuation of my Superhero Cooking Oil series.  You can read my previous post on sunflower seed oil.

Corn Oil as Rogue

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Corn oil is extracted from the germ of the corn kernel much like Rogue was removed from her southern home by Mystique after Rogue discovered her powers.

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Rogue isn't always a goody two-shoes. She spent a lot of time with the criminal mutant, Mystique before she amended her ways and joined up with the X-men. Similarly, corn oil is also not the best of oils. It's slightly higher in saturated fats than canola and grape seed oil, but as a whole it's no where near as bad as butter, hydrogenated soybean oil, and coconut oil.

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Corn oil is high in polyunsaturated fats (which can reduce LDL and triglycerides 4x more than olive oil, but also decrease HDL as well). In fact it's mostly unsaturated fat and therefore awesome like Rogue and her superpowers (flying, power-absorbing, memory sucking, fire, etc).

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If you put Rogue under fire, she tends to get a bit testy, a little miffed. Corn oil is just the same, with a smoke point of 350-400, corn oil is best used for cooking at medium temperatures otherwise it can discolor and stink up your food.

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When Rogue gets tired in the fight against evil, she just saps someone's energy to replenish her superhero strength. While corn oil does take away your strength to grow it's own, the large amounts of vitamin E is great for increasing your immune system.

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Although Rogue is quite worldly because of her travels with the X-Men and her ability to fly around, she never looses her country accent. Corn oil hasn't lost it's hillbilly ways either. Corn oil is most commonly sold unrefined and, as a result, it has a little flavor and is yellow in color. Make sure it stays that way.

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If you know Rogue at all, you'll know that she's super powerful, but she has one down side. You don't want too much of Rogue or else she'll extract your life force and superpowers and leave you in a comma or leave you dead (if you touch her skin). Corn oil is rich in Omega 6  (a healthy fatty acid that we consume in unhealthy quantities) and has been associated with cancer in some studies. However, because corn oil is found in so many unhealthy foods (fried foods, chips, candy), it makes you wonder if it's our unhealthy use of corn oil and the high quantities of the stuff that's the problem.

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And lastly, even though she's a little rough around the edges, everyone likes a Rogue. She's witty, strong, and a definite feminist. Corn oil is also quite lovable; it's often in tasty salad dressings and delicious baked goods and it's very inexpensive

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For more information about corn oil, check out Wikipedia's article, or this, this, and this web site like I did.

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