The First Annual Brad Pinney Wine Tasting and Silent Auction!

The weekend finally arrived! On Friday, we headed to Wilbraham to get ready for The First Annual Brad Pinney Wine Tasting and Silent Auction. And, I am proud to say the event went off without a hitch!! We had an amazing night, with 118 guests and over $8,000 raised for the Melanoma Foundation of New England! SO many of Brad's friends and family came out to celebrate his life and support this cause in his honor. With over 20 different wines, samples from Opa Opa Brewing, tons of prizes, awesome food, a delicious cake from Cordis Confections and jazz piano from our good friend Dustin -what could be a better way to spend a Saturday night??

A HUGE Thank You to all of our vendors, donors, guests and friends who helped make the night so special. Thanks to my favorite gals, Ashlee and Jori, for working the door. You girls rocked it!

I think my favorite part of the night was standing back and watching guests and old friends reunite. To see people sipping wine, chatting, laughing and catching up was exactly what Brad would have wanted.

Hosting this event only reinforced how important it is to have a strong support system in life. This was something that Brad was good at and passionate about - creating a community of friends and family for support. It was so nice to have my parents and sister in Wilbraham for the big night. We had a sweet Lasagna dinner (thanks Chris)and for the first time, I felt like my two families were together at once.

So today, as I ran my 14 miles, I snapped the "Entering Wilbraham" sign above. I finally understood why Brad had lived in Wilbraham all his life - the amazing people and the strength of the community. And when I entered the house, exhausted after 2 hours of running, I was greeted by applause from 12 family members having lunch in the living room. Just another reason why I know Brad is definitely around..the support of family! =)

Boston Marathon Training: The Things You Do For Love.

Happy Valentines Day, all! Yes, it's the day of love and all things cupid, but training must go on! Today, I ran 12 miles out on the Charles, before a delicous Valentines day dinner cooked by Shaun. I finished at a 9 minute mile pace, fighting a relentless wind on the Storrow side. Seriously, the wind literally did not stop blowing for atleast 8 miles. I have pretty sweet wind burn to show for it. Oh, the things you do for love =)

Last week, I got a pretty sweet response to my Breakfast of Champs post,(Quiche recipe below)..and today, I started my morning off with another Power Breakfast: Peanut Butter Banana Oatmeal! This is a heavy hitter. Loads of carbs for energy and protien for recovery,so make sure to eat it a few hours before your run. All you have to do is mix 1/2 cup of Quick Oats, 1/2 cup water, 1 smashed banana, and a tablespoon of PB. Microwave for 2 minutes. YUMMMM.. It's my favorite!

As I was getting ready for my long run this morning, I started to realize the effort that really goes into a long run. Here are my top necessities to get the job done:

Petroleum Jelly: I slather it on my feet, arms, wherever to prevent blisters and chaffing. Last year I had a chaffing scar on my neck so huge, that everyone thought it was a hickey. I'm trying to prevent that this year.
Foam Roller: The second love of my life. I roll right before and right after my run to release muscle tension
My Fuel Belt: H2O is critical, so I fill my fuel belt with Nuun, my favorite electrolyte drink. This belt is also wicked fashionable.
My ipod Today I started off with tunes from MGMT, then moved to Jay Z. About halfway through, I thought "I wonder if Beyonce ever gets mad about Jay's old songs.."Girls All Over the World? Hustler?!"...Yup, music is always a good way to kill time.
Gu - Sticky energy, nuff said.
Aquaphor's Eucerin Ointment: I slather this on my feet after every run. This stuff heals any and all blisters, open wounds, the works.

All in all, a solid V-day and a solid run. Next weekend is 14 miles and the big Brad Pinney Wine Tasting & Silent Auction. Get ready for lots of pics!

And lastly, here's last weeks Egg Quiche recipe!
Ingredients
1 (10 ounce) package frozen chopped spinach
3/4 cup liquid egg substitute (or regular eggs!)
1/2 cup feta cheese
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 cup diced onion
3 drops hot-pepper sauce (optional)
Directions
1.Microwave the spinach for 2 1/2 minutes on high. Drain the excess liquid.
2.Line a 12-cup muffin pan with foil baking cups. Spray the cups with cooking spray.
3.Combine the egg substitute, cheese, salsa, onions, and spinach in a bowl. Mix well. Divide evenly among the muffin cups. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out.

Wishing you all a Happy Valentine's Day. Thanks for reading!

Boston Marathon Training: Breakfast of Champions!

Happy Superbowl Sunday all! Since my Buffalo Bills or Patriots aren't playing, I'm finding the game pretty anti-climactic. So instead, I've decided to chill out, catch up on writing the blog and cook up some serious fuel food for the week! So what's up in my training these days? Here's the low down:

- Last week, we headed off to Wilbraham to prepare for the big event - the Brad Pinney Wine Tasting and Silent Auction on Feb 20th! Everything went well, even my 8 mile run in 6 degree weather!! Thank goodness for Shaun's mom, who gave me 2 extra layers of clothes to wear and dealt with my early morning neurosis.."Should I run? Should I not run? It's so cold? What do you think? What if my toes fall off? What if I can't move? What if I get lost? I should just suck it up and go. Right? Right?" . Right.

-This weekend, I hit up my favorite run of all - the last 10 miles of the Boston Marathon route. I started at Newton Wellsley Hospital and ended at Marathon Sports on Boylston. I ran about an 8:30 minute mile, so I was psyched. When I finished, I hung out in Marathon sports until Shaun picked me up, deliriously talking to the store clerk about my blister fiasco of 2009 and frantically aplologizing because I smelled.

-Tonight, I made the BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONs! These yummy spinich and egg quiches for the week..Just eggs, spinich, feta and tomatoes, cooked up in muffin tins. They are the perfect "Grab and go" fuel and spinich is a great food for cancer prevention.

All in all, running has been going well, despite an old ankle injury that suprisingly seems to be healing up nicely. And the greatest update of all? I know Brad is with me when I run...protecting me and helping me to push through the tough times. I can just feel it. And that in itself, is worth every mile.