Hello! How’s it going? How was your month … last month aka September aka a few days ago?  Did you make October goals?

I did!

(Read as: I’m going to make them right now in an effort to get it together.)

But before we get into the best run, eat and repeat from September & new month goals… Let’s talk about chopping!

I took the Knife Skills 101 class at Sur La Table a few nights ago!! I don’t remember how I originally heard about it but I knew I desperately needed this class! And I finally have a friend and convinced them to take the class with me!! Boom.

So if you’re keeping track here is the current score on life stuff:

1. make friend – done

2. learn something – done and done

3. maintain friendship – tbd

4. put new skill to use – tbd

 

Most Sur La Table stores have cooking and kitchen skills classes. There are 2 locations near me in south Orange County and I took the class at the South Coast Plaza location.

South Coast Plaza is a very fancy mall in Orange County with super high end stores that I don’t actually go into because of fear I’ll accidentally wipe my germs on a pair of socks that costs $5000 and then be asked to pay for it or be arrested for being poor or something.

Anyway.

I managed to try and act cool long enough to enjoy a glass of wine at one of the restaurants with before class. And they gave us fancy bread which is important and notable.

It’s a good idea to drink before learning how to use super sharp knives, right?

Sur La Table Knife Skills 101

This 2 hour class is $65 per person. It’s a fairly small group – there were 8 people in the class and 1 instructor. And it’s hands-on so we chopped different vegetables using different techniques as we went along. Then, we put it together at the end with a Green Goddess Dip (the instructor made in front of us) and a Roasted Red Pepper Soup.

Everything I know about cooking and food prep I’ve learned from the Food Network. Also – everything I know about eating I learned from Guy Fieri.

So I really needed this class!

 

Highlights of the Knife Skills 101 Class:

• Learning how to sharpen your knife
• The onion chopping hack that keeps it together
• Rubbing your hands on stainless steel gets the garlic smell out
• Me laughing at myself and almost drooling on the veggies I was chopping which we were using for the dip platter
• That you’re supposed to always hold a knife down and at your side when walking through the kitchen
• Oh, and say ‘knife!’ when you’re walking behind or past someone so they don’t bump into you
• Don’t say “KNIFE!!!” when you’re home alone while making a stabbing motion as this encourages an eventual spiral into insanity
• Don’t arrive dressed like a ninja thinking the class is about fast sword skills

 

I liked the class and would definitely want to take another class. I want to go to cooking school now!

Or maybe buy Julia Child’s Master the Art of French Cooking cookbook and do all the recipes and blog about them.

Awww. Someone already did that?! Never mind.

The dip and soup were amazing. The soup was my favorite!! And the recipe is in the handout packet we got!

I loved it!

It was fun and I learned something and Gordon Ramsey didn’t say I was a crap sandwich or something.

(I don’t know if that actually happened on TV… him calling something that, but I feel like it did?)

Okay wait… I looked it up!

Anyway.

I definitely want to take another cooking class or go to culinary school or maybe enter an eating contest… 

Now let’s talk about the best running and eating from last month! If you want to take a cooking class or get more info check out your local Sur La Table.

This isn’t an ad or sponsored – I just know I’m going to get questions and want to share in case you also want to be fancy and cook-y or choppy. And I looked for a Groupon and coupon code for it and couldn’t find one – but I just saw there’s one for October! Select Classes are only $46 with code: CLASSES46 – See details

 

So I’m randomly charging my Garmin running watch right now and since it’s here I looked up my mileage for the month. I rarely do this so I’m excited about the timing!

September Running Stats:

Total miles run: 229

Days run: 24

Hours run: 34

Calories I burned: 24,147

Calories I ate: 2,988,248

I’m most excited to see I ran 24 days out of 30. I was concerned that I wasn’t taking enough rest days but I took 6 for the month. Boom.

 

Favorite RUN:

This was a hard call because – I didn’t realize I ran 18 miles on Sept 1st…!

I was talking to Janae ( Hungry Runner Girl ) the other day and talking about marathon training and how not ready I am for my next marathon. I said I hadn’t run more than 16 miles since last year. Well, I didn’t realize I ran 18! Ha! What is my deal? Is it my memory? Am I just a space cadet?? What is a space cadet???

(from my instagram not a blog post)

But the winner is the Lexus Lace Up Half Marathon in Irvine – it was fun and my mom went with me and ran the 5K!

 

And I thought I had a hole in my shoe but I didn’t. Random! But hear that story on Podcast episode 94 – How Runners Can Prevent and Defend Themselves…

Check out the Lace Up Irvine Half Marathon Recap here.

Check out all the new discount codes here.

Favorite EAT:

Yogurtland and Chipotle date!! This is my favorite.

[  I post eats on Instagram – so make sure you follow for running, eating and life updates.  ]

Favorite post I’d like to REPEAT:

My love letter to my cat Vegas…

This makes me sad. But it also makes me… well, still sad…

but eventually grateful that I had him and that I have you to share that with. I really appreciate you following along and I feel like we’re friends and it feels nice to have this place to share my life with someone. Thanks.

 

Race Discounts and Coupon Codes

Fall running season is upon us! If you want to run a race this year – register, train, do it!

I have discounts for you on so many fun races!! Tell me if you’re in!

Revel Big Bear – Oct 14

Lace Up Ventura – Oct 21 – code: RER10

Rock N Roll Los Angeles – Oct 28

$10 off with code RERLA10

$5 off 5K with code: RERLA5

* Rock N Roll Los Angeles Race info and Registration *

Rock N Roll Las Vegas – Nov 11

$10 off with code RERVEGAS10

$5 off 10K or 5K with code: RERVEGAS5

* Rock N Roll Las Vegas info and registration *

Lace Up Palos Verdes – Nov 17 – code: RER10

Lace Up Riverside – Dec 1 – code: RER10

Run for a Claus 5K in Orange County Dec 2

$5 off with code : RUNEATREPEAT5OFF

Revel Hawaii – March 9 2019

 

Check out the Race Discounts Page for more!

 

If you’re a race director or represent a race or running group and are interested in sharing a discount or promotion code for your run – please contact me for more information.

I love to pass on running or fitness discounts to my virtual fitness buddies! Please email – [email protected] Thanks!

 

 

 

 

What was your favorite RUN or EAT from last month?

Are you running any races before the end of the year?