Words for Wednesday

My sentiments exactly!

I don't have a runner's body, but I have a runner's heart 

- and that is all you need.

- Army Sergeant Jennifer Morris, Runner's World Challenger

Keep crossing that finish line

Just like countless others, I'm struggling to make sense of it all.  The usual questions....who would do such a thing?  Why would they do such a thing?  How could they do such a thing?  And of course, we are offered the usual lack of answers.  I don't say that flippantly   I mean honestly, how could something like this, something so unreasonable, be reasonably explained?

And now we add the question, why a marathon?  Why something so pure and harmless that does nothing but promote life, happiness and celebrates the human spirit?  And why choose the time when it was mostly the weekend athletes crossing as their friends and families cheered them in?  These everyday people; our brothers, our neighbors, our extended running family that we have never met?

We train.  We run.  We test ourselves in these grand events and we each do it for our own reasons.  Running is so many things to me.  It keeps me fit.  It keeps me sane.  It introduced me to a new way of life, new friends.  It keeps me alive in so many ways.  Some run for the pure joy it brings.  Some run to celebrate life.  Some run to remember loved ones.  Some run to even save lives.  And now?

Well, now we will all run to honor the lives lost and lives forever altered in Boston.  Don't stop running.  We're endurance athletes....we know how to be strong, to be resilient, we know how to be in it for the long haul.  They need us to keep going.  They need us to keep crossing that finish line.

I want to cross that finish line.  I want to cross for those who can't.  I want to cross for those whose spirit may be shaken.  And I especially want to cross for whomever decided it was a good idea to place explosives in trash cans.  Yes.  I want to run for YOU.  Because I want to show YOU that we WILL keep going.  The best way to get me to do something? Go ahead and tell me I can't.

Join me.  Refuse to let that finish line symbolize loss.  Let it symbolize life.

Don't let them tell us we can't.

Food for Thought: Simple Tuna Wrap

One evening in the not so distant past, I came home from the aquatic center a bit late.  I was flying solo that night, I think the hubs was out of town.  I know this might shock you, but I was running out of daytime to actually cook, so I had to deviate from the planned menu.

Don't worry, my palms didn't sweat too heavily, and the hives went away the next day....

Anyway.

Lost, hungry and delirious, I was frantically looking for something not only healthy and tasty, but quick and easy.  And then it hit me.  Something so simple that I've had a dozen times, but never thought of as a dinner for one.  Now it has become a go-to meal for me on nights when I need something on those really hectic nights.

Simple Tuna Wrap

1 Flat Out multi-grain wrap (I always keep a package on hand. They keep for quite awhile)
1 3oz can of albacore tuna in water (I find these very handy and perfect serving, and Walmart carries the 3 packs)
olive oil
1 Tbsp capers
1 oz soft goat cheese
1 Tbsp pesto
sundried tomatoes
olives (I like kalamata)
romaine lettuce
salt and pepper

Drain tuna.  Mix with a tad of olive oil, just enough to crumble and make the tuna moist.  Add in capers and a little salt and pepper. Set aside.

Spread goat cheese over wrap, then the pesto.  Layer the lettuce, then tuna, sundried tomatoes and olives.  Roll, and then, well....eat it!

Hope's Note:  This picture has banana peppers.  I find that they take away from the taste combinations of the rest of the wrap.  I advise against them, unless you really like banana peppers.

Hope's Note:  Sub tuna with chicken if you like.  This would also be good with smoked or grilled salmon if you happen to have it handy.  I use tuna, mainly because it's there in my pantry  and it's just a matter of opening the can!

Words for Wednesday

Just keep going.

- Hope and Jyl