I texted Coach John the other day about when he thought I could try to run again. The Achilles is feeling better, definitely not completely better but improved, and I’m going through slight Central Park withdrawal. His answer:
No running for another week
Balls. If it were up to me, I’d have tried to run already. And I can tell you with a fair amount of confidence it would have been a really stupid idea ending with me limping back to my apartment. But of course I still tried to argue and see if I could cut it down to maybe 5 days? Seriously, why do I do this? Will I ever learn?
But Coach John, ever the wise one, said that even if it’s feeling better, the Achilles needs more time to heal. Dr. Levine is also in agreement. So now this kind of feels more like an actual injury rather than a small bump in the road, and another week of no running it is. In the grand scheme though, it’s still fine and I’m still fine, but I am pretty glad there are things I can do totally pain-free – spinning, elliptical, yoga – to keep me sane and hopefully prevent a big loss of fitness until I’m back on the roads. Plus, I have to admit that super sweaty spin classes with really loud music can be fun. They will never replace the bridle path, but they are fun.
you will still be pretty in another week
I was signed up for the NYC RUNS Central Park 10 miler on Sunday, and obviously that didn’t happen. I absolutely hate when things I plan to do don’t go on as scheduled for whatever reason (control freak much), and this was my first race DNS since the 2009 NYC Marathon. Maybe I’m learning to mellow out or something though, because I actually felt ok about this DNS. Probably the fact that it wasn’t really a goal race helped too. But while the weekend was sans running, I managed to get a good amount done with my final internship portfolio, an assignment for class, more job applications and worked per usual at the running store.
And now it’s officially the last week of my dietetic internship (!!). I’m not sure how I feel about it yet, so instead I’ll talk about a random craving I had for The Meatball Shop’s Buffalo Chicken Balls. I did, after all, grow up in Buffalo and fried chicken parts covered in spicy hot sauce are pretty much a diet staple there (don’t ask for my nutritionist opinion on that). The Meatball Shop has a cookbook out now and I found a few recipes online, but I just kind of winged it per usual.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup diced celery
- 1/4 cup diced onion
- 1/2 cup hot sauce
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- ~3/4 lb ground chicken
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees and grease the bottom of a 9 x 12 inch baking pan with a little bit of Canola oil. Set aside.
Combine the ingredients into a bowl and add ground chicken. Mix well until all are incorporated together and form into balls, about 3/4 of an inch wide. Line balls in pan; you should have three rows of three. Place pan into oven and let bake for ~20 minutes, until balls are firm (<– that’s what she said?).
I placed the balls on top of some sauteed vegetables – kale, mushrooms, celery, broccoli, red bell pepper and onion – and topped with gorgonzola cheese and more hot sauce. I thought the gorgonzola would be a nice change from the usual blue cheese/hot sauce pairing, and while it was delicious I think I’d probably go with the old favorite next time.
Question: Ever DNS a race? Food that reminds you of your childhood?
