Please, week, end!

I am so ready for this week to be over, so in advance, I apologize for a crappy post. I have a lot of reading to finish tonight, and I'm somewhat ill-prepared for my Latin quiz tomorrow.

At least I packed an aesthetically-pleasing lunch:


Bobbi, here is the basic recipe for the low-fat, apple bran muffins that I love so much. (I ate three today.) I've added to it a bit, so here is a more clear-cut, annotated recipe:

No "Muffin-Top" (=Low-fat) Apple Bran Muffins

(Makes 12)

Ingredients

• 1.5 cups wheat bran
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I add more for sweetness.)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  
• 1/2 apple, grated (I just chop mine.)

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine bran and buttermilk. Set aside to soak for ten minutes. [Once, I skipped this step, and they turned out just fine. When I do this soaking step, I have to add more buttermilk later to make the dough wet enough.]
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease muffin pan, or use paper liners.
3. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and cinnamon. Stir in bran mixture, egg whites, and vanilla extract. Fold in the grated/chopped apple. Divide batter into 12 muffin cups.
4. Bake in preheated oven for 16-18 minutes (My wonky toy oven takes more like 20.), or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for five minutes before removing from the pan.

Notes

• The online recipe estimates about 85 calories per muffin, but my version probably has slightly more since I double the amount of brown sugar and apple, plus add some vanilla and cinnamon.
• They are best when eaten fresh, but I usually put them in a zipped bag to store. They get kind of gummy on top after being in the sealed bag, so try to eat them in an expedient fashion, or just pawn them off on your boyfriend's department.
  

By some miraculous turn of events, the weather was in the 40's today. Unsurprisingly, the wind was also gusting quite a bit because it wouldn't be a proper day in central Illinois if the weather didn't make me super-depressed. Nonetheless, I decided to take advantage of the semi-warm weather after class and went on an unofficial 10K of my own. (In shorts, no less!) I ended up "racing" against a variety of other runners, most of whom I haven't seen before. I, therefore, consider them to be way less hard-core since they are apparently fair-weather friends of running.

At one point, I was running a few yards behind a man in a black running ensemble around the southern end of campus. I was pacing him pretty well when suddenly, I noticed that he smelled like poop. I continued to secretly race him and noticed that the poop smell lingered, long after he had crossed to the other side of the street. I started worrying that the fecal smell was, in fact, emanating from me. I dispelled such worrisome thoughts with my long-held belief that I am physically incapable of smelling like anything but flowers, and perhaps, sometimes sweat.

Fortunately, I eventually remembered that the southern part of campus includes the university's cow pastures. Lo and behold, the poop smell was issuing forth from the campus bovines and not from me, nor from my running competitor. I, for one, was/am relieved.

That was a long story about poop-smell. Here are my splits:

• Mile 1: 9:42
• Mile 2: 8:56
• Mile 3: 9:17
• Mile 4: 9:02
• Mile 5: 8:30
• Mile 6: 8:12
• 0.2 mile nubbin: 1:32
• Total: 55:13

I'll admit that I really hauled ass at the end, but I'm pleased nonetheless. That's over six minutes faster than my first 10K in 2007.

The captain of the Girls Heart Rockets team wrote me back today, pointing me towards this website, where lonely runners and teams are looking to meet up for the Illinois River-to-River Relay. I'm too slow for the Girls Heart Rockets team and probably for the Van Dykes (the lesbian Chicago team). And I'm not a 40-year-old dude at 7:30 pace, so I don't qualify for the Lumber Jacks team either. Boo.

On that note, I think I'll go work on some of my reading. Matt, I apologize for not writing this post in French, but trust me when I say that I'm not nearly as funny or comprehensible in other languages.

The boyfriend is back on campus working on a problem set due tomorrow. Left to my own devices, I ate frozen blueberries tonight and turned my tongue blue. Whoops.