Harding Hustle Inaugural 30K - NOT!

My favorite training partner, Rico, called me a few days ago to invite me to watch him cross the finish line at the Inaugural Harding Hustle 30K trail run. Since I'm still not back to racing yet, but looking for any opportunity to be on the trail, I jumped at the chance. I figured that I would get there, do a hike on my own, see all the runners and take a photo of Rico crossing the finish line. But it was not to be. Here's where retirement (both Rico & I), dates, geography and time all collide in a place called the Twilight Zone.

Rico and I have spent thousands of hours training on numerous local trails, two of which are the Harding Truck Trail and Blackstar Canyon. For some reason, Rico prefers calling the Harding Truck Trail the bird sanctuary. The fact that there is a bird sanctuary there might have something to do with it. When he told me about the race he specifically said it will be at Blackstar Canyon which is exactly where I went. But NO! The race was actually at The Bird Sanctuary. Are you getting all this? Because I'm not.

I ended up doing a lovely hike at Blackstar Canyon, searching for the start/finish line. They bussed the runners in, so that's why I wasn't surprised that there were just the usual amount of cars there.

I posted some lovely pictures that I took of myself. I understand that they are doing wonderful research over at the Harvard Brain Center with expiring minds. Anyone interested? Rico?

Seeds Of Change

Who out there would like to easily grow your own food in your kitchen for 13 cents per pound? We would! We have decided to break out the sprout jars again.

You may have heard the fact that everything necessary to create a life is contained within a seed. But did you know that when a seed sprouts, an incredible flow of energy is released. Each seed holds vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats, and carbohydrates in reserve, awaiting the suitable environments to begin growing. It is at this stage that the highest abundance of living energy is in the plant, just waiting to be utilized by our miraculous bodies. Sounds like a pretty good deal to us for 13 cents per pound!

Here's how we do it:

Glass jar with lid

Organic seeds (here we used lentils and garbanzo beans)

Filtered water

1 tsp. wheatgrass powder (optional)

Draining rack

Fill the jars about 1/4 full with seeds. Cover with filtered water so that the jar is about half full. Add a little wheatgrass powder to the water if desired; the seeds will soak up the trace minerals and nutrients. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or screening. Allow seeds to soak for 4-6 hours for smaller seeds, and 12 hours for larger seeds and beans. Drain off the water. Put the jar at a 45 degree angle, mouth down, in a place where it can drain freely. Rinse twice a day, then return to draining area. The miracle of sprouting occurs anywhere from 1-6 days depending on the seed. Refrigerate and enjoy your own crop of living food!

We highly recommend Ann Wigmore's wonderful book entitled The Sprouting Book in which she details how to grow, provides nutritional value, recipes, health benefits and history of the life giving, nutritional powerhouse of sprouts.

Once the garbanzo beans are sprouted, we are planning on making home made hummus. We will follow up and provide you with the recipe.

Not only are the spouts easy, fun and delicious, but they make you run faster, be a more flexible yogi, fit into your jeans easier and make you happy! Now, isn't that what life is all about?