A light at the end of the tunnel

After nearly 5 years of unidentified stomach pain, (gotta love terms like functional disorders) I finally have a specific reason to blame! Food allergies! Can I just tell you what a relief it is to find out I'm not crazy? Or undefinably abnormal?

Instead of just telling you what I can't eat, I thought I would write a few haikus:

Juicy, dripping, pink.
Gandalf's Elvish word for friend.
Spit out the black seeds.

Nebraska's cash crop.
Steamed, creamed, grilled, boiled, cobbled, and shucked.
Fields of golden maize.

It's the poor man's steak.
I like it Kentucky-fried.
Bawk bawk bawk bawk bawk.

The only green nut.
Nutella's glorious nut.
These nuts grow on trees.

'Loping melons.
No more of these in a pod.
Pink freshwater fish.

There. Those are the big ones. I have also have a slightly smaller allergy to bananas, string beans, carrots, coconut, mushrooms, oats, potatoes, rice, rye, sunflower seeds, peanuts, walnuts and chicken.

I have gone through what I call the stages of allergy acceptance:

1. Acceptance. (OK, so this is what's going on!)
2. Excitement. (Finally, I know what's wrong with me!) 
3. Sadness. (I can't eat. Or that. Or that.)
4. Anger. (Stupid body. Why would you be allergic to all of those things?)
5. Second acceptance. (Sorry about that, body. I know it's not your fault.)
6. Hope. (Yes, substituting turkey for chicken could work. So could substituting quinoa for rice! This could be OK)

In the end, I believe that it's better to know why I'm feeling pain. I'm very grateful for modern day medicine that can me what's going on with my body.

In other news, I made this tasty cookies for choir today:

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients

1 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

2 c. white sugar

1/2 c. vegetable oil

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. confectioners' sugar

Directions

Mix together the cocoa powder, sugar, and vegetable oil in a large bowl. Beat eggs into the cocoa mixture, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Stir this mixture into the cocoa mixture.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a baking sheet.

Fill a shall bowl with confectioners' sugar. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar and place on the baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from  the oven and allow to sit on cookie sheet for 1-2 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Thank goodness I can still eat these. Mmhm.

Finding the Itch

I've spent most of my life hating the very idea of running. It was inconceivable to me that people actually run for fun or feel a need to do the same thing repetitively over and over again. Do they also like to watch their fingernails grow?

I decided this summer to finally overcome my prejudices and find out what the big deal about running is. I started a 6 week training program and I'm about to finish week 2.

Here's my plan. Next week, it's going to start getting serious. However, after this 6 week program is up, I will be able to run 30 minutes without stopping. It's a beautiful idea.

There are some things that I've already learned from my limited experience running:

1) There's an unspoken bond between runners. I like to run by Tramway, a major street in Albuquerque, mainly because the streetlights are spaced at a convenient half mile distance. The sides of the trail are also populated with numerous prairie dog holes and it's one my main sources of entertainment watching them sprint across the trail and pop in and out of their hole. Every time I pass a runner, they either nod, smile, wave, give a thumbs up, or my favorite, a solemn salute. I feel like a poser and feel a strange desire to shout at their backs, "I'm not really a runner yet! I only just started...", but I don't. I guess they'll have to be deceived for now.

2) I'm starting to understand why running is not only physically taxing, but also mentally straining. So much of my doubt comes from my own belief of my ability in my head. I can do anything I want as long as I don't allow doubt to control my run.

I'm not sure I've found the addiction yet, the inexplicable urge to run, but I don't plan on stopping until I do.

Finally, my real reason to run, spoken so eloquently by Charles Schulz: "Jogging is very beneficial. It's good for your legs and your feet. It's also very good for the ground. It makes it feel needed."