Mini-Marathon 2013 Photos

The photos are up!

Here are some from the race. There weren't too many good ones except the posed one my Mom and I got. I really like it! 

5th Mini-Marathon Complete!

I finished!

I finished the Kentucky Derby Festival Mini-Marathon in Louisville yesterday! That was my fifth mini-marathon, which I can't believe. I'm sure there will be even more in the future. Luckily we didn't get rained on, but it looked like it the entire time. The weather was perfect, cool in the in the lower 60s. 

I ran with my Mom and Maggie. We were running at a 9 minute mile pace for the first 3 miles and then I wasn't feeling it for some reason, so I had to slow down my pace a little bit. I ended up finishing in 2:09:23. That is under a 10 minute mile which I'm happy about. I cut off 6 minutes from last year's race. My Mom and Maggie blew it out of the water and ran under 2 hours! Go them!

I love running and even though I didn't feel the best, I had fun. I hope to run it again next year. It felt so good crossing the finish line. I'm proud of my accomplishment and happy that all my training paid off. It was great to run another race with my mom again, she is always the best motivater.

I think the next race on my list is an obstacle course run in June when I'm home. I'm excited but will have to do lots of training for that. 

T-shirt!

Maggie and I 

Mom and I

Maker's Mark

On Saturday, I made a trip to Maker's Mark out in Loretto, KY. This was my second time going, but I don't remember too much from the last time because I wasn't 21 (aka not interested!). I went with Kevin and it was a lot of fun. It was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for a tour! 

We had like a 70-year-old lady take us on the tour. She was really sweet and you could tell she loved her job. We walked all over the grounds and saw the process on how to make bourbon.

Did you know all bourbon is whiskey, but not all whiskey is bourbon? Learn something new everyday, right? 

There are characteristics as to what makes a bourbon a bourbon, but I don't remember so you may want to google that...Check this out if you want to know more! 

Fermenting....we were able to dip our finger in and taste- interesting!

It's kept in a barrel for 6 years

Wax dipping area. Kevin got to dip his own bottle which was neat!

Taste testing

Cheese!

Mini-Marathon 2013 Training Update

If anyone was wondering, yes, I am still running the Louisville Mini-Marathon. For some reason updating my training hasn't been a priority of mine. I'm not sure why, but school has gotten busier so I have less time to blog! I have been training and it is going really well! 

Last week I ran 10 miles and I had run two other 9 mile runs which is good for me. Last year I only ran 10 once and probably 7-8 twice. The weather has been perfect and having a good running partner is always a plus! 

The race is in 9 days! 9 DAYS! I can't believe it's almost here. I'm excited to see my Mom and run with her. She's a little nervous about it, but I'm bet she will so great! 

I may update what I've been doing the past weeks (or months I guess), we shall see! I will be posting the race results after the race. 

Day at Keeneland

This past weekend I went to Keeneland for the first time, with Kevin. It was a lot of fun and a beautiful day to go. We met up with some of his friends and eventually went inside to watch some races. We didn't bet. The last race we watched I randomly said a horse that I wanted to win, and what do you know, that one wins! Oh well. 

Me and Kiley

Kevin and I 

Kevin and some of his friends

Kevin and I 

Life Week 2013

I thought I would also post what I wrote on the Hilltoppers for Life Blog on my blog as well! Check out Life Week!

This year Hilltoppers for Life will be putting on Life Week April 15-19, 2013. This year will be different from last year's Cemetery of the Innocents. HFL will be presenting a "Celebrating Life through Facebook's Timeline." We are putting up a display that highlights the life of Steve Jobs through Facebook. The display will be a a tunnel that anyone can walk through to read all the "posts" that highlight Steve Jobs' life. Our purpose is to highlight that EVERY life is valuable and even though there are setbacks it's still worth living. Steve Jobs, which is a highly renowned person, didn't have a perfect life and faced many hardships. He still made the most of it though. He was adopted, saying that he was happy that his biological parents didn't have an abortion. He was also diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and fought hard. Although he faced difficult times, look at all his accomplished!

Our goal for this week is to show campus that although we are the anti-abortion group, we want to celebrate life as well. We want to support those that chose life and we offer them help if they need it. We hope to spread our mission on campus  "to educate minds and soften the hearts of people on pro-life issues, especially those regarding the pre-born." 

The timeline will be on South Lawn (by TopperCafe on Western Kentucky University's campus). It will be up 24/7 during Life Week so please stop by anytime. 

Throughout the week we will have numerous events happening to get campus involved. Below are the events:

Monday April 15th:

-Tabling all day. Stop by to learn about HFL! Write your comments about our display.

Tuesday April 16th:

- Tabling all day.

- Crossroads Life Center will be here in the morning. They offer help to those with unplanned pregnancies. 

Wednesday April 17th:

- LIFE FEST: anyone is welcome! We will have games and snacks all afternoon. Time: 1pm-7pm. There will be 4 movie tickets to "Jobs" the Steve Jobs movie coming out Friday April 19th. 

- Prayer Vigil: at 8pm 

Thursday April 18th:

- Tabling all day

Friday April 19th:

- Tabling in morning and Take down 

Tabling means that someone from HFL will be represented to ask any questions and offer literature. There will also be free speech boards to write your opinions about the display. 

Below are some of the graphics featured on the Timeline.

If you have any questions please email: hilltoppers4life@gmail.com

Lasagna Recipe

Over the weekend I made lasagna for the first time. I was a little apprehensive about making something new and sharing it with people but it turned out great! Kevin suggested that I make it and he thought it was even better than the lasagna he had the week before at a restaurant (hopefully that was the truth not just made up :) ) 

I looked up some recipes online and found this one from Kraft. I adapted it somewhat.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground beef
2 1/2 cups shredded low-moisture part-skim mozzarella cheese, divided
1 container (15 oz.) Natural part skim ricotta cheese
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese (I used fresh)
1/4 cup parsley
1 egg, beaten
1 jar (24 oz.) spaghetti sauce (I used a garlic flavored one)
1 cup water
12 lasagna noodles uncooked

Directions: 

Heat oven to 350°F.

BROWN meat in large skillet on medium-high heat. SEASON IT!!! This is the most important part (in my opinion, to make it taste like it has flavor). I added garlic powder, sicilian mix, and pepper. Meanwhile, mix 1-1/4 cups mozzarella, ricotta, 1/4 cup Parmesan, parsley and egg until blended.

DRAIN meat; return to skillet. Stir in spaghetti sauce. Add 1 cup water to empty sauce jar; cover with lid and shake well. Add to meat mixture; stir until blended. Spread 1 cup meat sauce onto bottom of 13x9-inch baking dish; top with layers of 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta cheese mixture and 1 cup meat sauce. Repeat layers twice. Top with remaining noodles, meat sauce and cheeses. Cover with foil sprayed with cooking spray.

BAKE 1 hour or until heated through, removing foil after 45 min. Let stand 15 min. before cutting to serve.

Hannah's plate full!

Easter Treats

I love to bake and since Easter was a few days ago that meant I had an excuse to bake something! Kevin requested that I make Oreo Cheesecake. I also made the chocolate/M&M popcorn, which I've made before. They both turned out well and turned delicious.

Here is the recipe for the Oreo Cheesecake.....

Ingredients:

24 Oreo Cookies, divided
3 TB butter, melted
3 (8oz) packages Cream Cheese softened
3/4 C sugar
1 Ts vanilla
3 eggs 

Directions: 

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Place 16 of the cookies in resealable plastic bag. Flatten bag to remove excess air, then seal bag. Finely crush cookies by rolling a rolling pin across the bag. Place in bowl. Add butter; mix well. Press firmly onto bottom of 9-inch springform pan.
2. Beat cream cheese, sugar and vanilla in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating just until blended after each addition. Chop or crush remaining 8 cookies. Gently stir half of the chopped cookies into cream cheese batter. Pour over prepared crust; sprinkle with the remaining chopped cookies.
3. Bake 45 min. or until center is almost set. Cool. Refrigerate 3 hours or overnight. Cut into 12 pieces. Store leftover cheesecake in refrigerator.

Adapted from: allrecipes

Next up...the Popcorn!

Ingredients:
2 Popped bags of plain/salted popcorn
6 Blocks of Almond Bark vanilla
1 bag of Easter M&M's 
Wax paper, big bowl, baggie

Directions:
Melt the vanilla Almond Bark and mix in a big bowl with the popped popcorn. Stir really well to get all the pieces coated with vanilla. (It may feel like you are smashing the popcorn, but don't be afraid to stir hard!) Then mix in the M&M's. Stir well! Put the mixture on wax paper and spread out so it dries quickly and not in clumps.  It will probably take about 30-60 minutes for it to completely dry. Break apart and put in a bowl. Serve and enjoy :)

Hope everyone had a Happy Easter!

Happy Easter!

Since going home for a weekend is too short I spent Easter with Kevin and his family. It was a good Easter!