4th of July

For my second year ever, I ran the Peachtree 10k roadrace, Atlanta's most famous and infamous race -- 60,000 participants running 10K on a hilly course on the 4th of July, in Atlanta's heat and humidity.  Last year (2010) we ran a great race. I was still near the peak of my running ability (although had been having right knee problems), the temperatures were reasonable (66 degrees at the 7:30am start line, such a gift!).

This year though, things were different. Although I spent several weeks rehabing my knee with PT and core strengthening, I rewarded those gains with 3 hard races this spring - the Publix Georgia half-marathon in March, the Cherry Blossom 10-miler in April, and the Rock'n'Roll San Diego half-marathon in June. Since then my knee has not been happy and all of my runs for the past month have been less than 3 miles.  Secondly, this year's Peachtree had the hottest starting temperature in 14 years -- 73 degrees at the starting gun, which may sound reasonably cool for a nice walk, but to attack the Peachtree hills in the thick humidity of Atlanta, it was brutal.

It was another one of those races where the last mile seemed like an inhuman act to just keep running. But we did, and finished only 3 minutes slower than our time last year.

So to reward the hard run of the morning, we joined some of hubby's friends for a 4th of July evening potluck barbecue.  I went with 2 recently practiced recipes -- the Peach Tart and Yakitori, and both were very successful.  For the Peach Tart, I used 2 Georgia peaches that were not quite ripe enough yet, so after peeling and slicing them, I tossed them with 2 Tbsp of sugar.  That was the perfect addition -- the tart had a wonderful, sweet peach flavor.  My next experiment with fruit tarts may be to pre-bake the crust for less time.  When I prebake for 15 minutes, the crust bakes enough so that the fruit does not stick in place to the crust.

Georgia Peach Tart for the 4th of July

Yakitori, a delicious Japanese dish for the 4th of July!