Getting Nervous

I wanted to share this with you a few days ago, but have been disorganized getting my picture in the right place at the right time.  Last weekend I finally got around to making something I've been wanting to make for a LONG time.

Back in June 2009, my buddy Syl made these Shrimp Salad Rolls that looked so good.  For about a month after that, everytime I went to a grocery store I looked for the rice paper wrappers that were needed and they were continually out of stock.  (Was that when there was that rice shortage thing going on???? Hmmm, I don't remember)

The other day I was looking for something interesting to pop out at me in the Asian isle and BAM, rice paper wraps!  I snatched them up like a thief and knew exactly what I wanted to make.

I made them slightly different from Syl.  Mine included the following:

• Rice paper wraps
• Rice Vermicelli
• Shrimp (we're the same to here) 

then I added:

• chopped Cilantro
• julienned carrots
• julienned orange peppers (would have preferred red)
• julienned cucumber 

mixed up some:

• Hoisin sauce
• peanut butter (4 to 1 mix)

SO GOOD!

I actually didn't find them too hard to wrap if you soak the paper until just barely plyable, like 2-3 seconds at the most.  Then I placed them onto a damp plate.  I found if you put them on a clean tea towel, as many sites suggest, they often stick to it and sometimes tear.  If everything is cut & chopped, ready to go, they don't take too long to assemble.  It was actually kind of fun!

The only thing is I made so many of them (and my kids won't touch them), so we had alot of leftovers.  They still TASTE great leftover, but they continue to get softer and the wrap gets very tender and break easily.  I just used a knife and fork to eat them.  This is one of the leftovers.  Maybe doesn't look appealing, but so YUM!!!  That's a side plate, they're not that huge☺.

So as the title of this post indicates ... I'm getting nervous.

My next race is in about a week and a half (on May 9th).  It's a massive 10K run (Vancouver Sun Run).  I did it last year, first vowing never to do it again, but then loving it and being excited for the next year. 

 

On one hand I am absolutely pumped to do this race.  Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I fully expect to beat my last years time of 58:56.  Possibly by quite a bit.

 

However, I'm starting to get extremely nervous about this race.  Why?  Because of the events that went down at my last race, the half marathon.  Since then, I DO NOT run anywhere unless I'm 100% sure there is available potties or I carry TP.  I've also become quite aware of how often I actually use the facilities during a run.  Over 5-8K I pretty much need the services once on most runs.  Afternoon/evening runs are suprisingly not so bad ... but morning runs (which races tend to be), pretty much guaranteed.

 

This makes me feel very nervous for this upcoming race.  Actually, no .... it's makes me nervous for ALL future races.  What if this is a continual problem?  Can I only enter races that have facilities on route?  Some of my favourite races there is no option other than bushes.

 

I didn't seem to have this problem last year.  The only thing I can see that's different is I used to NEVER eat before running in the morning.  No food, no drink (other than maybe a little water).  But then again, on the morning of the fateful run, I also didn't eat.  So maybe that isn't the solution.  Plus there seems to be so much positive information in regards to pre-race fuel.

 

I'm sure I'll get through this.  Likely that was a race out of the norm and hopefully it will never happen again.  But saying that and KNOWING that are two very different things.

 

Wow, this is almost a post worth of Shut Up & Run.  Sorry if it's TMI for you :)  It's just a concern that is weighing heavily on my mind.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to have a very exciting (well for me) post.  Stay tuned!!!

Have a wonderful today!!

And to my friends out there in bloggy world and beyond who are receiving snow today ... my heart goes out to you.  There is no words of condolence.  That just SUCKS!  Bring on SUMMER!!!

Heidi

♥♥♥♥♥