The 4th was my 1st!

This 4th of July I made a last minute decision to join my fiance and some of his friends in a 5mile road race!! (with a little encouraging from Heather!). Him and his friends have run it the past couple years...it's a little local 5mile road race in New Hampshire up near lake Winnipesaukee (right near where he grew up).

Keep in mind I have NEVER run 5miles...the most I've ever run without stopping is a little over 3miles. The other factors included being sick the week before and therefore I hadn't really even worked out in 2 weeks. Also, this had hills, including one HUUUUUUGE one!! The big hill was pretty much 1 mile straight up haha...I ended up walking a lot of it, then down hill was pretty hard too because some areas had a 14% grade and as someone who designs roads for a living, that is STEEP (you are usually not permitted to build roads that steep anymore).

Ok so after all that I finished in just under 57minutes...I was actually surprised I made it in under an hour haha! As I said before I walked a lot of it, but even walking some of those hills was a challenge. I am SO glad I did it though!! It was a great experience and I felt great after :) Looking forward to my next one (hopefully just a 5K).

Now for my PESTO!

I had purchased a nice bunch of basil earlier in the week
I had a major pesto craving. It's so simple to make and you can freeze the extra sauce.
Pesto Sauce:

• 1 bunch Basil
• 3 cloves garlic
• approx. 3-4 T olive oil
• 1/2 cup shredded Parmesan (or more to taste)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• salt and pepper
• pasta watter

• Get your water going for pasta, and add pasta when ready.
  
• Peel cloves of garlic, and chop into a few pieces.
• Saute garlic in 2-3T olive oil for just a few minutes (Don't let them brown). This is just to take the harsh bite off the garlic.
• Place washed basil, Parmesan, walnuts, garlic, and oil that the garlic was cooked in...all into a food processor.
  
• Process/pulse til finely chopped. May need to scrape down sides periodically, and add more olive oil to get things moving.

• Taste it! Add some salt and pepper if needed.
• By now your pasta should be almost ready, but before dumping the water take 1T of hot pasta water out and into the processor. Add another if desired. The pasta water will make the pesto creamy!! The starches in the water just work their magic.

Mmmm pesto. I combined about half of this batch with 1/2 box whole wheat rigatoni and 2 chopped steamed zucchinis.I enjoyed some on a bed of baby spinach.
I had a treat on Thursday...NO WORK!! On Wednesday, my boss informed us that we did so well for our first 2 quarters that we get a free day off :) Too bad it was pouring out, but we got a lot done!

I took this opportunity to make a delicious breakfast. I took the rest of the Walnut Prune bread and made french toast.
The bread soaked in:

• 2 eggs
• some skim milk
• cinnamon
• vanilla

For a few minutes on each side. I made Brian a stuffed french toast with some cream cheese and jam in between 2 slices. With banana and strawberries on the side.I had 1 slice, and a side of Oikos Plain with fruit and homemade granola.
Perfect start to the day. We visited the tux place, and updated our registries!!

The wedding is only 2 months from tomorrow!!!!!!!! Crazy.