Four days until the Cadbury Half Marathon and I must admit that over the past few days I have been a little apprehensive/nervous/freaked out. Now, this is not unusual for me in the countdown to a major event, and I have learned to recognise this as part of the process of training for a race or preparing for other big moments. Still, I can’t help feeling a little panicked and when Casey asked me how I was feeling about Sunday I couldn’t hide the emotion from my voice. Once again, she was the voice of reason and told me to stop thinking about this as a massive race, and just think about it as another run, just another wonderful holiday opportunity, and to remember why I run in the first place.
Of course, she is absolutely right. Thank you Case.
Casey may have taste-tested these while giving me a pep talk.
I took a moment and looked back at my training schedule. In the past couple of weeks I’ve successfully completed 16km, 18km (by two!), and 20km training runs, so I know I can physically do this. The mental game is the only one left to play.
At the end of the day I know I am not a contender to win the race, but that was never why I started running in the first place. I run because I love the way it makes me feel. I run because doing these races over and over that I am a runner, that I belong out there on the road. I run to remind myself that I love my body and I am so grateful for the things it can do, and the way that it has changed over the past couple of years, and the fact that it belongs to me so much more now because I know its limits and I’m not afraid to push them.
In this moment I am reminded of a line from Ben Lee’s brilliant song ‘Into the Dark‘:
‘You can’t climb ’til you’re ready to fall’.
So as I step out onto the road on Sunday I am ready to fall.
Fall into the rhythm of the road. Fall into the pursuit of the finish line. Fall into the beauty of my life at the moment. Fall into the wonderful possibilities that this new year has brought to my door.
I am ready to fall so that I may climb.
Not burnt: caramelised.
Spiced White Chocolate Muffins
Ingredients:
- 1 cup plain flour
- 1 cup wholemeal plain flour
- 3 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 cup low fat plain natural yoghurt
- 1/4 cup low fat milk
- 2 teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup rice bran oil
- 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
Method:
- Preheat your oven to 200C (390F) and line 18 cups of two 12-cup capacity muffin tins with pretty papers.
- In a large bowl whisk together the flours, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon. Form a well in the centre.
- In a separate bowl whisk together the yoghurt, milk, vanilla, egg, and oil until they are well blended.
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and whisk until almost combined. Do not over mix your muffins or you will end up with a tough crumb.
- Sprinkle chocolate chips into batter and mix in until distributed. If there are a few streaks of flour in the batter this is okay as long as there are no large pockets of flour. This is quite a thick batter.
- Distribute batter between muffin cups and bake for 12-15 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes in the tins and then place on a wire rack to cool completely.
Just gotta trust these babies and the work they’ve done over the past months.
Share with loved ones who give you the courage to fall so that you can climb again.
Tell me, dear reader, do you ever have to remind yourself to let go and just fall? Where do you find the courage to let go? Is there anything you are falling into at the moment?
