TwentySixPointWhat?

Full disclosure - I am not Catholic. Whew! I'm glad I got that off my chest. That being said, yes, you read the post title correctly this is my Lenten update.  I was raised christian, a mixture of Baptist and Methodist but all of my cousins were raised catholic (long story involving parents who were human and committed human acts which rendered them unable to marry in the Catholic church). For Lent this year I 'gave up' going out to restaurants to eat and recommitted to a traditional training program. The first stemmed from the realization one week that I was throwing away more and more food because it was going bad before I could use it. . .this was a direct result of eating out at least three nights a week, sometimes more. The second was a realization that I was stagnant. At some point I figured out that I didn't need to put in the miles to be a successful marathon/ultra runner. In fact, I actually became a better runner the less I trained with a 'traditional'

A few weeks ago I decided to purchase a Le Creuset Dutch Oven and have been experimenting with recipes ever since. Before I forget this awesome recipe; here is my take on Jambalaya. 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1/2 inch pieces 3 links fresh andouille sausage, cut into disks 1 medium cooking onion, diced 3 stalks celery, diced 1/2 cup scallions, diced 1 can italian style diced tomatoes 4 cups chicken stock 2 cups rice (I used a rice blend of red, wild and white rice) 2 cups peppers, diced (red, yellow, orange, green) (I used leftover mini-peppers because that's what I had in the fridge) 2 tbsp creole seasoning (I used the Cravin' Creole seasoning they sell at the butcher)       [ you can make your own  -Onion, Garlic, Green and Red Peppers, Paprika, Pepper, Cayenne, Thyme, and Oregano ] 2 tbsp minced garlic 1 bay leaf dash of salt (1) In a dutch oven saute chicken with 1 tbsp creole seasoning; add sausage when chicken is almost completely cooked.

Here we are 44 days into 2013 and I'm finally getting around to writing about it and wrapping up 2012. At the beginning of January I stepped back and took a good long, hard look at myself, my running and mapped out (however vague) where I want to be in 2013. Despite what my friends say I am lazy and undisciplined. How can I say that about myself when day in and day out I'm pounding pavement, lifting weights and stretching or dragging my sorry butt to the gym when it's raining or too cold out? In an article published last week in the nytimes, ' Getting Into Your Exercise Groove ' Gretchen Reynolds tells us that 'humans naturally aim to use as little energy as possible during most movement. . . when we walk or run, our bodies tend to choose a particular cadence, a combination of step length and step frequency, that allows us to move at any given speed with as little physiological effort as possible.' There you have it. Over the past 8 years it seems that my