24

This morning I tackled the dreaded 24 miler. I did the first twelve by myself and then a friend jumped in and ran the second half with me. I have the marathon in three weeks, so I hope I didn't do something crazy running this today. The plan says 24, so I did it. I ran it slower than race pace (I ran in 9:11 per mile pace and I'm hoping closer to 8:30) but ran it nonetheless. I'm tired and the muscles around my knees are a bit sore; woke me from a nap, actually. But other than that, I'm moving and feeling good (so far. :)) I am planning on easy runs from now till the "big day", with the weekend runs being 8 and 12, sorry if I've already said that. :) After the mentally defeating issue on the 22 day, I was happy to know I could do it. Now, lots of water, healing muscles and shorter workouts as I count down.
In other news, I am still in the kindergarten classroom, subbing for a teacher who is ill. Boy, those kids wear me out. They are walking (or running!) bundles of energy. They are fun little people, they just wear me out. I've gotten a lot of hugs and a student even brought me an "apple for the teacher" this week. It was so cool. The teacher will be back part time on Monday and Tuesday and see how she feels. I haven't been able to get every thing done at home, but that's ok, I'm doing one of my favorite things: teaching! My frozen meals from two weeks ago sure have come in handy on the busy nights! We had a few chilly nights this week and it was nice to have a warm, filling casserole for dinner. My husband said again that one of them was the best thing I'd made, ever: "thumbs up"! :) It was easy and froze well, except I didn't put the crumbs and butter on top until I thawed it. Here's the recipe:
Chicken Noodle Casserole

1/2 c plus 2 T butter, divided
1/2 c all-purpose flour
3 c rich chicken stock
2 c sour cream
1/2 c white wine
dash nutmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 lb egg noodles, cooked 6 to 7 minutes
4 1/2 c cooked chicken, cut into pieces
1 lb mushroom, sliced and cooked
1 c soft bread crumbs
1/2 c Parmesan cheese, freshly grated

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Clean and slice the mushrooms and sauté in a 2 tablespoons butter until soft and slightly browned, about 7 minutes.

Remove crusts from 2 or 3 slices of fresh bread and with steel blade in food processor, process bread until soft crumbs form.

Melt 1/2 cup butter in a saucepan, over medium heat, and whisk in the flour. Cook 1 minute. Gradually add stock, sour cream and wine. Cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper to taste and blend well. Arrange the noodles in an ovenproof casserole. Layer chicken, mushrooms then sauce to cover.

Melt remaining 2 tablespoons butter and mix with the bread crumbs. Top the casserole with the buttered crumbs and sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through and bubbly.

Serving idea: have with buttered green beans and biscuits.

Hope your week went well!