All-American 2026

 I ran this race on my own.  It was a great day and my pace was slightly faster than last year.  My pace was 11:26, it's the fastest I have run in a long time

St. Patrick's Day Run

Great run with Joe today.  I was 3rd out of 25 in my age group and a really good pace.

Snowball Series #1

 

Doing the series virtually this year as I won't be in St. Louis for all the runs.  I'm much slower when I'm running on my own as my time is definitely not as good as last year by a long way.  It is much harder to run in Denver as I feel like I am never here long enough to get used to the change in altitude and humidity.  Or maybe I'm just getting older and slower.  At least I'm still doing it AND I get the medals!!!!!

Hot Chocolate 15K 2025

Joe & I ran the Hot Chocolate 15K and both did well.  My pace was pretty good for a longer run and I was 3rd out of 7 in my age category, so right where I usually am.  Joe had a great run and his pace was 11:40-he took 30 seconds off his last year's pace.

Since Joe finished before me, he got a chance to take a photo as I crossed the finish line!!!!

Our usual "before" picture

Biting the chocolate!!!!

Our "after" photo

MO Cowbell 2025

 

Hard run today, we were just not feeling it.  We still made it in just under 3 hours, but I really did feel like I wasn't going to make it to the finish line.  We weren't the only ones, a lot of folks seemed in the same boat as us.

Macklind Mile

Joe and I ran Macklind Mile this morning.  They separate men and women, so he ran before me.  Joe ran in 8:30, that's really amazing for him.  It was very hot and humid098% humidity!!!!  Still, it's a really enjoyable race, even though my pace was not that great

 

All-American 5K

 

This was always one of my favourite runs-from Kirkwood Y to Webster Y.  It hasn't been held since before COVID, but I'm so glad it's back and hope it continues.  We did very well, pace was 11:32.  Joe said it's the fastest we've done together at the 5K distance.

Go! St. Louis Half Marathon

 

This was a great run with Joe.  The course was about as flat as it could be, there were a lot of water stations & the weather was perfect.  I cut 3 mins of my times last year so I'm very happy about that.  Most of all, I felt great afterwards

Frostbite Series #5 5K (should have been #3)

 

Well, I finished the series in 2nd place & ran a pretty good pace today.  It was cold (only 19), but felt warm as we've had a bitterly cold week

Frostbite Series #4, 3 miles

 

Joe & I ran the 3miles in the rain.  Slower time than last year, but I really enjoy running with Joe so I'm OK if we run slower.  I am down in 2nd place overall now, but still in the running for being in top 3.  I hope I can hold one.....

Snowball Series #3 Creve Coeur 7K

 

Another pretty icy run.  They had to change the route due to the ice on the trail on the north side of the lake.  It was damp and icy on the whole trail, I saw a lot of people slipping, but no falls.  I did way better than I thought, although my legs and feet hurt afterwards, probably due to not being able to run while relaxed.

Frostbite Series #3, 4 miles

 I ran with Joe this morning.  It was pretty chilly and still snow/ice on the ground, but not too bad.  We had a pretty good time, but more hills than we wanted (but we pretty much don't want any hills-haha)

Somehow I managed to be first place in the series standings, but that won't last for long as there are runners in my category who are much faster than I am.  Still, at least for 2 weeks, I'm in the lead!!!!

Snowball Series #2 Kirkwood 4 miles

 

This might be the craziest run I have ever done (although I'd have to think back to the Stan Musial Bridge one to even compare!).  We still have a bunch of snow & ice around.  It has started to thaw for a couple of days, but it was bitterly cold and there was ice everywhere.  You had to be really careful not to fall and it made everyone's time slower, but the goal was really to stay upright!!!  There was a particularly bad spot where we all had to wait in line to stagger across the ice & a couple of other places where we had to line up to get through.  There were some caualties, but luckily I wasn't one of them.  I had already fallen earlier in the week, I don't need that again!!!!

Snowball Series #1 5K Forest Park

 

Really good pace this morning.  It was colder than I thought it would be & my back has been bothering me, so I was happy with the result.

Frostbite series #2, 2 miles

 Ran with Joe this morning.  He definitely pulled me along!!!!  Pretty good pace for me and the weather was perfect for running.  I'm in 3rd out of 15 place in the series standings.

Frostbite Series #1, 3K

 

It was absolutely pouring this morning.  Why did I do it???  So I had the option to bow out of a later one is the weather is really bad!!!!  MUCH slower than last year though.

Hot Chocolate Run 2024

 Great run today and great time.  Weather was perfect.  I was 3rd of 7 in my group, so a good showing overall.  I also shaved almost 2 minutes off my time from 2 years ago! I'm very happy

St. Louis Half Marathon with Joe Wheeler

 

Joe asked me to do this at the last minute.  This is the first time I've done that and I am so glad I decided to say yes!!  We did a pretty good job, a little bit faster than the Cowbell.  Of course, we started off at an 11:30 pace and then got slower towards the end.  We walked quite a bit that last couple of miles.  Still we really enjoyed it and that's all that matters

MO Cowbell Half Marathon with Joe Wheeler

This was the first long run I had done with someone else, and it made it way more enjoyable.  We made sure that we didn't overextend ourselves and we did really well.  It was around 70-75F and very sunny, so not my ideal running conditions and we had an interesting hill at the end where the sun was blazing in our eyes-the most challenging part.  This is about my usual half marathon pace, so I'm happy with it.  Best of all, I feel fine the next day....

Quinoa bowl with green tahini sauce

 Ingredients

750g sweet potato, cut into 1cm thick half moons

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Fine sea salt

½ brown onion, sliced into 1–2cm wide slivers

¾ cup quinoa, rinsed

1½ cup chicken or vegetable broth, see tips above

1 x 400g can black beans, drained and rinsed

A squeeze of lemon juice

2 tablespoons sunflower seeds, toasted, see tips above for substitutions

For the green tahini sauce

35g (a generous handful) flat leaf parsley leaves

1½ tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon (25g) hulled tahini

¼ teaspoon garlic, minced

¼ teaspoon ginger, minced

2 teaspoons runny honey

A tiny pinch of fine sea salt

Method

Roast sweet potato in air fryer

Over low heat, warm 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a small to medium-sized heavy-based saucepan for which you have a lid. Add the onion and a small pinch of salt and stir. Cook the onion for around 10 minutes — slow and steady over low heat — until soft and sticky. Then add the quinoa and broth and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to simmer with the lid slightly ajar. Allow the quinoa to cook for around 15 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed and the centre of the quinoa grain/seed is translucent. Remove from the heat, place the lid on the pot and leave for 10 minutes.

Place the black beans in a mixing bowl and add a squeeze of lemon juice, a drizzle of oil and a sprinkle of salt. Stir then taste, and adjust seasoning as desired.

To prepare the green sauce place the parsley, oil and lemon juice in a mini food processor and blitz until the parsley is finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and blitz again until smooth. Taste and adjust the flavour as you wish — more lemon, more salt, etc. 

To serve, place a spoonful of quinoa in a bowl, followed by a spoonful of beans and roast sweet potato. Drizzle the sauce over the top and scatter some toasted seeds. Finish with an extra drizzle of olive oil if desired.