The days are getting colder, the Farmer's Market is over, so it must mean one thing--winter is coming :( Our local, seasonal eating continues, with squashes, beets, potatoes, and pumpkins filling our kitchen. With the help of visiting friends Kathy and Jim, we even tried our hand at homemade cheese making with milk from local cows (blog to come later). It turned out awesome! We are actually looking forward to raiding our freezer for all the stuff we made and froze this summer. And, of course, to busting out the crockpot, a warm necessity for the many cold nights to come.
Our next adventure: the Marathon! We've signed up to race in the Breast Cancer Marathon in Jacksonville, FL this February. My mom, dad, sister, and brother-in-law all plan to participate by walking the half-marathon. John and I decided we would try to go for the whole thing (and its a good excuse to get out of the Palouse in February). After reading the book 'Born to Run', we were impressed by how members of a group of people in Mexico were able to run ultra distances with nothing but flimsy sandals on their feet. The book (a recommended read for anyone interested) goes into how modern day shoes are actually the cause of many of the problems people experience (knees, feet, achilles, etc) while running. Since we both have issues ourselves while running, we wanted to try out some 'barefoot' running to see if it was true. We purchased some Vibram Fivefinger shoes and absolutely love them so far!
Kelly went with the grey/palm Vibrams
We went with the KSOs for 'Keep Stuff Out', which so far have worked really well for streets and sidewalk running. We purchased some toe sock liners to wear with them and they are really comfortable, with only a few blisters here and there. You can definitely feel it if you hit a good sized rock, but the rubber soles keep most things painless. The first couple of runs (ranging from 1 to 3 miles) left our calves REALLY sore. But this past Saturday, we did a full 7 miles in them with no problems. We hope to be able to keep it up, get rid of our nagging injuries, and run like the Tarahumara!
John sporting the black Vibrams