Mind, Motion & Matter

Running, Essentially . . .

Author Archives: Lynn Deutscher Kobayashi


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Consistency is Made of Runs Like This

While sipping my coffee just after 4 a.m. yesterday morning, I wondered if the only smart choice for a 15 mile run was on the treadmill.  Nonetheless, I decided to stick to my plan and left home at 5:47 a.m. just 2 minutes behind schedule. The temperature was 27C with 79% humidity, said to to feel like 38C on a day being billed as one of the hottest of the decades. As the day evolved the same-day temperature record was broken with a 37.5C and notably for me, with my early start, the all-time highest, minimum temperature record of 27C  was broken at 6 a.m.

Sunrise on Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario 6:00 a.m. July 21, 2011 - A record minimum temperature at 6:00 a.m.

How did it feel to run in these conditions? Thanks to a 20K breeze off the cooling waters of Lake Ontario it was not too bad. I ran at a very slow pace but since most of my run was along the lake shore, with sun on the horizon and not overhead, I survived quite nicely. For the first time since my December marathon I wore my most pared down running gear, the type of outfit that my son once referred to as my bathing suit.  This added to my comfort level.

Humber river park

Cooling breezes off the lake on Humber River spit at mile 9 of 15.

I’ve never seen so many shirtless men of all ages, walking, cycling and running. This was not a day to be self-conscious and I said to myself, “Good for you!” when spotting a senior man going topless.  On my part, I admit to being grateful that I resumed my planking routine given that I was exposing my belly for the first time in a while. A notable sighting was group of 25-30 twenty-something rowers with their bare backs to the lake, listening attentively to a coach.  I think we would be happy to have this group holding the fort.

I received a couple of comments commiserating about hot weather running, a blogger from Florida and one from Chicago.  This led me to check out temperatures at 6 a.m. in these cities.

CITY TEMP FEELS LIKE WIND HUMIDITY
Toronto 27C 38C 20K 79%
Miami 27C 39C 0 84%
Chicago 28C 39C 17K 74%

I think Miami were the worst off with not a breeze to be found. The two hottest races of my life have taken place in Chicago. The windy city, in my experience is even muggier than Toronto. I ran the Chicago Distance Classic 20K more than a decade ago and then a 5K. That 5K was brutally hot. I recall feeling as that the last kilometer was one of the longest ever, more grueling than the last kilometer of a marathon.

In 2006 I ran Chicago on a nice cool day and placed first in my age category of 50-54 with a 3:13. My participation was strategic in that it was the only time in recent memory that the race was held in the third week of October, a couple of weeks later than usual. Early October in Chicago  involves the risk of running a marathon in what for me are less than ideal conditions.  The famous scorching conditions of the following year bore out my fears with headlines like 2007 Chicago Marathon: One Dead, Hundreds Treated, What Went Wrong?

At the end of the hottest July 21st ever, I felt great for sticking to my program of running 15 miles as I head towards a 50 mile week. Yes, consistency may seem like a mundane concept but for the marathoner, achieving it involves a few battles with the elements.

Battle Number One on the road to NYC – WIN!


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Running in the Heat – Plan A & Plan B

For various reasons, tomorrow is the day that I must do my long run. A day that is forecast to be one of the hottest days of the decade. The predicted high is 38C and it will feel like 48C.  The sun will rise around 5:55 a.m. and I plan to be out the door earlier than that timing my run so I can see the sunrise on Lake Ontario. I had hoped to do 15 miles but I think I will have to see how it goes and moderate my ambitions. That is Plan A. Plan B is to head to the gym and jump on a treadmill if the heat is hideous although today, there was about 15 degrees difference between the high and the low temperature. I’m hopeful . . . sigh.

Lake Ontario

Lake Ontario, March 14, 2011

I’m working a half-day tomorrow due to some evening and weekend work and I plan to take a nap before heading to work. Running in heat is most exhausting and I also have to stay awake for a fairly demanding evening, three hours of non-stop Adobe Illustrator instruction.

Hot as it is, I maintain that it is not quite as bad as some of those high humidity days with lower temperatures. I had considered running at the U of T Athletic Centre but discovered that it is closed for renovations.

My mileage goal for the week which starts on Mondays is 50. So far I’ve run, 8, 4 and 6. Even though I’m about 16 weeks out from the NYC marathon, this will be one of the more challenging training weeks.

I shouldn’t have trouble waking up early as I woke today at 2:45 a.m. Can’t figure that one out having come home from Alberta but it works well with my running plan.  I’ll be heading to bed shortly i.e. 7:30’ish and aiming to rise around 4 a.m. so I have a bit of time to relax before my run.  I guess my training tip for hot weather running is get out the door as early as possible.

Sweet dreams!


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Running with the mosquitoes

My return flight from Edmonton was delayed and touched down in Toronto at midnight.  This did not bode well for an early morning run today particularly since the weather in Edmonton over the last four days was far cooler, very pleasant actually.  The only down side was that the headlines of the Edmonton daily papers were screaming the news that it was the worst summer ever for mosquitoes.

Sturgeon river

Land of the silver birch, home of mosquitoes

There is a scenic river path in St. Albert, a suburb of Edmonton which runs alongside the Sturgeon river as it peters out.  The water is still, very still. At the best of times you don’t run this route without insect repellent and my first instinct was to skip the river path completely.  However, the thought of running along roads connecting one gigantic sub-division after another with a higher speed limit than similar Toronto roads, did not appeal either so I decided to check out the river path and “bail” if necessary.

Sturgeon river

The St. Albert, AB river path

Happily it was not too bad, except one section where I had to run with both hands leading the way with a propeller motion. On the way back, I did some sections of fast running to coincide with the most bug-ridden sections.  Despite the headlines, this summer did not seem worse than others.  The only thing I noticed was the infiltration of mosquitoes into indoor spaces.  For example, a mosquito landed on the platform of the weight machine while I was doing leg presses at the gym.

Marie Anne Gaboury (geni.com)

 

This mosquito business brought to mind the adventures of Louis Riel’s grandmother Marie-Anne Gaboury who was the first woman of European descent to travel and settle in what we now call Alberta.  The excellent biography of Louis Riel, Riel, A Life of Revolution, written by Maggie Siggons, mentions her travails while roughing it in the early 1800’s in western Canada, bug bites and all. Edmonton is a land of extremes with the snowiest winter in years, chronicled in my post about that trip: Winter Wonderland   and now a summer pestilence.

I woke to my alarm this morning after four hours sleep and was out the door soon after, for a four miler.  My legs were heavy from running with the mosquitoes but there was a bit of a breeze which took the edge off the heat.  I felt like a trooper, battling heat and jet lag, admittedly a fraction of the gumption that Mary Anne Gaboury would have needed in her cross-Canada travels on foot, canoe and horseback but hey, I’m still proud of me!



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For those who run every day, this is moderation

As planned, I got in 45 miles this week.  I was also more conscious of eating moderately as opposed to eating as much and whatever I want.  One example is a variation on the usual breakfast I order when my father-in-law takes us out to his favourite breakfast spot. Normally, I relish one of Ricky’s famous big breakfasts, the Perogy and Egg Platter which includes; 3 eggs, 7 perogies with grilled onions, your choice of bavarian, chorizo or calabrese sausage and toast.

To moderate this indulgence I convinced my husband to share this big breakfast with me along with a waffle breakfast.  I call it the breakfast buffet. In case you were wondering, we split the 7th perogy in half.

Big breakfast

Big breakfast, split two ways

Waffles, breakfast dessert

Waffles, breakfast dessert for two

Today I’m baking a pie for my father-in-law.  I love the way he hints that it would be nice if I baked a pie. Actually, the beauty of it is that he says, “Are you going to bake a pie?” and then laughs and says he is just kidding me.  I can’t really tell if he is teasing me or hinting but I always commit  to baking a pie, in this case a lemon meringue pie.  I am quite vain about my pie making prowess so it doesn’t take much to get me going.  This is the third pie I’ve baked in the past month.

I have an internal rating system for each effort.  I baked a blueberry pie for a BBQ for workmates which was a disappointing *C*, about the lowest score I have given myself. Of course, I don’t mention the rating system to the eaters as I know any home baking is usually appreciated and most often better than anything store bought. I’m trying to get over making excuses and being too hard on myself for what I cook or bake for others.  As for the moderation, I never say no to my own baking, after all the joy of running is connected to the joy of baking but I will stick to one serving.

I baked a lemon meringue pie for a departing work colleague which turned out very well, an *A* effort.  What made it fall short of an A+?  That would be the aesthetics.  It looked fine and the crust was nicely browned but the edging was very basic with no fancy leaf patterns or other embellishments I sometimes create.

My father-in-law has good reason to remember me for my pies.  For my in-laws 50th Anniversary I baked nine pies in one day.  We had a very big crowd at a brother-in-law’s cottage which was one part of an all-weekend celebration.  I was very touched by my father-in-law’s public appreciation of my efforts which was really the least I could do.  I baked apple pie, blueberry pie, peach pie and rhubarb-raspberry pie.  Other pies in my repertoire include my famous sweet potato pie flavoured with maple syrup and pecan pie drizzled with chocolate.  Pies I aspire to make are banana cream pie, coconut cream pie and cherry pie.

Lemon meringue pie

Today's lemon meringue pie gets a B+

With increased mileage, I find myself looking forward to baking a little more.  Bring on the pies . . . I mean miles.


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New York City Marathon, A Shot of Adrenalin

Yesterday I enjoyed a longish, leisurely 14.5 mile run on a favourite route. I don’t often run it however as the group I usually connect are oriented to a different part of the city. All the photos from my run were taken with my Blackberry.

Palace Pier bridge

Humber river bridge near Palace Pier

Running west along the lakeshore, past the Boulevard Club, Marilyn Bell Park, the Argonaut Rowing Club and along the Sunnyside beach boardwalk over the Palace Pier bridge and through what I refer to as the Humber river spit.

My favourite view of Lake Ontario

Favourite view of Lake Ontario

When I get to this spit, I go clockwise once and then counter clockwise for a scenic two-mile section.  On the southern shore there comes a point at which you cannot see a single building.  I love that!

Favourite view of Toronto skyline

Favourite view of Toronto skyline

Regular enjoyment of the most scenic parts of urban Toronto is one of the pleasures of running.  All the better when done in the early morning. The final five miles loop back through the Humber River butterfly garden and through the southeast corner of High Park.  It always feels much easier than any route that goes north as it is fairly flat.

Humber river

View at my Humber spit turnaround point

While crossing the Humber River bridge at Palace Pier the image of marathoners crossing the Verrazano bridge during the NYC marathon flashed through my mind.  I felt a surge of adrenalin.  Yes, I am training for the NYC marathon.

Later in the day I received an email from the NYC marathon telling me that the deadline for choosing transportation to the start line is July31st.  Yikes . . . such is the way when you run the mother of mega-city-marathons and I’m already too late for the bus option which loads a block away from my hotel.  So I chose to travel to the start on the 6:15 a.m. Staten Island ferry, followed by a bus to the start. Marathon morning anxiety begins to kick in and I ask myself, though I feel confident I know the answer, is this marathon worth the logistical hassles?

For past marathons and Around the Bay 30K I have printed out tiled route maps as part of my visualization process.  I think its time to print out the large map of the NYC course to be hung in a prominent location. Yesterday I jotted down a 17 week training plan.  The peak training weeks will be the last week of September and the first week of October.  If all goes well, I hope to hit 80 miles or more for those weeks.

A few years ago I would have aspired to place in the top three for my age category of 55-59 however, I’ve had a hard time keeping focused on intensifying my training lately and I think my goal will be to better my 3:42 time at the Sacramento Marathon.  This time was run on a net downhill course and New York is not a fast course so, that in itself will be a challenge.

But I’m feeling fitter with consistent mileage since our vacation and last week I started weight training again, and it feels fantastic.  I’ve done upper body weights for most of the past 30 years and lower body weights for the past decade. My recent lapse of a couple of months from this routine was unusual.  Partly to blame was a vague plan of replacing some of the weight work with plyometrics and circuit training, a plan which never took shape.

I’ve done four sessions of the anatomical adaptation phase for weight training as described in my post:  Weight Training, Love It or Lose It and I’m looking forward to the maximum strength phase when I get to bulk up a bit.  The goal of the lower body weight training is to maximize the the musculoskeletal system in preparation for the heavy mileage that will come later on.  While I won’t be trying to log the 100 mile weeks I once did, the time has come come to run, run, run as much as I can!


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Ed Whitlock’s Advice: “Run as much as you can!”

Recently, I was reminded of the virtues of simplicity while weight training at the local gym.  A group of women and one man were involved in what appeared to be resistance training on a small 15- laps-to-the-mile track that circles the weight training area.  Some were hunched forward pushing 25 pound circular barbell weights, made slide-able  by a towel underneath in an inverted “V” posture that seemed to lend itself to back strain.  Another participant was pulling a couple of these same weights  with a makeshift rope and belt combination attached to her waist.  My impression was that this complicated endeavor had something to do with improving leg strength.

Toddler running

My three year old niece in the 20 meter dash for toddlers

While trying to figure out what they might be trying to accomplish, Ed Whitlock’s deceptively simple words popped into my head. “Run as much as you can!” is was what he told me when I asked him for advice. And then another thought, variety for its own sake, is the mother of ridiculous inventions.  One place where odd physical challenges are at home is the community picnic, summer camp or team building activities.  During this busy summer we’ve had our share of those, along with the hilarity and laughter while taking part.

At the Toronto Japanese Community Picnic, despite my protests, I found myself in a three-legged race with a brother whose strategy was to go out hard and if we get in a groove well great and if not . . .  Well, you get violently pulled to the ground by your out-of-synch bound legs, experience near concussion and scrape your face as I did and still come up laughing.  Of course this was recorded by numerous family members on video, footage I’ve yet to see.

Japanese getta race

A traditional competitve event at the picnic

My husband and I were the winners of the egg-on-your face award during the egg toss competition.  Couples toss an egg back and forth, at increasing distance until disqualified by a broken egg or a grassy landing.  My husband got egged by the splatter from the couple next to him and I got splattered by his inaccurate toss, causing great laughter. I have fond memories of summer picnics and park track and field days as they were the scene of my earliest running victories.  My memory is that my skinny  self never went down to defeat in the short dashes we took part in as kids.

My husband and I were at a camp in the Muskokas this weekend and took part in various team challenges which included a relay race where you had to spin around five times at the turnaround point, causing utter disorientation on the homestretch, a tug-of-war and wild multi-age soccer and volleyball games.  My two camp mornings started with a multi-age run, as all were invited to join me on my laps of the dirt track surrounding the playing field.  I ran 5 miles the first morning and 6 miles the next morning with companions dropping in and out.  The first part of my run involved going round to each cabin and bunkhouse to do wake-up calls at 7:15 a.m.  Never did my morning run feel quite so useful.

Tug-o-War

Our team wins the tug-o-war

The other team

But going back to Ed’s advice, he’s telling us to RUN not cross-train or push weights around on a track but run.  His regime of 2-3 hours a day of running gives testimony to the amazing capacity of the aerobic system to improve à la Arthur Lydiard.  If injuries limit how much you can run, that is the time to look for strength and flexibility training to increase your capacity to run.  In addition, “as much as YOU can” points to the wisdom of Matt Fitzgerald, author of Mind, Body, Running who advises that to improve as a runner the role of all the other stuff should be to strengthen your vulnerable spots, those the keep you from running “as much as you can”.

Apart from taking up an inordinate amount of space on a track meant for running or walking, the complicated weight pulling and pushing activity seems wildly off the mark in anyone’s total fitness package.  Grandmaster Ed’s advice points us all in the direction of better running but also vitality and quality of life. Advice well demonstrated by the natural instincts of toddlers as they enjoy their first years on their feet.


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Running in the Seventies – Some Differences

Writing about my husband’s past running accomplishments in my last blog reminded me of some of the changes that have occurred over those years.

Looking smug at the start of Ottawa Marathon,1982

  1. Conventional advice for winter running was to wear woolen socks to keep hands warm. Who knew that you might dedicate a pair of regular mitts or gloves to exercise, let alone spend money to buy special ones to run in.
  2. Runners used string to measure routes on paper maps.  The really high-tech folk, of whom I knew only two, bought special map measuring wheels.  My upgrade was to use candle wicking which had wire inside and improved accuracy while measuring around a bend.
  3. Not all results were made public for the Boston Marathon.  Not only were the qualifying times more difficult (sub- 3hours for open men) but you only got your name in the official program if you were 3:15 or faster, whether male or female.
  4. There was no such thing as a personal music device.  I owned the first Sony Walkman, introduced in 1981.  The prototype was a behemoth and to run with it involved a complicated system of belts and strapping which felt like being wrapped in a very wide tensor bandage.
  5. There was no affordable stopwatch available until 1974 when Casio produced the first, priced at $150.  A bargain compared to the $2100 Pulsar by Hamilton a few years earlier.
  6. Instead of chip-timing, the popsicle-stick-timing system was commonly used and believe it or not, fairly effective.
  7. There was no Olympic marathon for women. The first Olympic marathon for women took place in 1984, three years after I had run my first marathon at age 26.  Joan Benoit stepped into the record books with her historic victory.

To hear Joan Benoit read the poem below CLICK HERE

Wanting to be able to
by: Piet Hein

“Impossibilities” are good
not to attach that label to;
since, correctly understood,
if we wanted to, we would
be able to.

26 miles later, Olivia Newton-John Wannabe feels the pain


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If My Husband had a Tattoo

It might read “I ran a 2:36 marathon”.  I find his time impressive considering that while in his first year of university the three sports he chose for his mandatory physical education credit were fencing, bowling and swimming.  His discovery of long-distance running shortly after, was his first real foray into jockdom, if you can call it that.

Pat Deutscher, Patrick Deutscher

Finish Line Proof, Vancouver Marathon 1982

He ran his first marathon, the Ottawa marathon in 1977 in a time of 3:13.  His second was the Toronto marathon later that year where he qualified for Boston with a sub-three-hour effort, easily going under the qualifying mark of 3 hours.  At Boston on a very rainy day he ran 2:47 another P.B. despite making a pit stop in a restaurant where he ended up using the women’s washroom.  Porta potties were not as plentiful back in the day. His fourth consecutive P.B. was posted at a small marathon in England called the Milton Keynes marathon.  After that he took quite a few runs at going under 2:40 and then finally ran a 2:36 at Detroit his all-time P.B.

Pat Deutscher, Patrick Deutscher

Racing indoors at Hart House, U of T in the early eighties

Injuries, including knee problems, and fatherhood intervened and since then he has only run one marathon.  That was the Columbus marathon in 2000 to celebrate his 50th birthday in what for him was a hugely disappointing time of 3:14:03. I ran that same marathon and finished in 3:15:22.  It is a part of family lore that had the race been 800 meters longer, I would have passed him.  He was in fact, fitter than I was but went out too fast with a 1:30 half-marathon split and a very painful and plodding 1:44 second half. Had he paced himself more wisely, I think he would have gone under 3:10.

So that was yesteryear.  Yesterday my husband ran around Queen’s Park circle, a popular downtown running loop in Toronto and spotted a crew from the local news station.  He made a detour, worried that his knee doctor might spot him on TV, blatantly disobeying his orders to avoid any vigourous activity.  A blog or two ago, I inadvertently offended my husband by referring to the current state of his running as meager.  When he mentioned this to his boss, a long-time and often-injured runner himself, his boss laughed in commiseration. Well, at least my unintended insult had the positive effect of a lightening the workday with a laugh.

Yukon river run

Running together since 1985 (Yukon river run, June 2011)

As for lightening up, that is our current mantra as we are hoping and praying that physics will be on our side and a weight loss of 7-10 pounds might be all that is needed to  put his knee on the right track.

Incidentally, the 5 X 7 proof above was mailed to every finisher by Marathon Fotos, rubber-stamped lightly with the words, “PROOF ONLY Property of Marathon Fotos”.  Things change.


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NYC Marathon, No Longer an Abstraction

When I registered for the NYC marathon, I was not entirely committed.  I was able to get automatic entry based on my time from the California International Marathon (CIM) run last December and entered in advance of firm commitment as major marathons have been filling up in record time the past year.

California International Marathon

Running guaranteed entry time for NYC at the CIM

If you do not have a qualifying time you are entered in a lottery however all potential entrants must pay $10 to acquire a NY marathon runner ID and once entry is confirmed your credit card is charged for the entry fee.  I seem to recall a few years back having paid about $100 to enter so when my credit card bill arrived with a $273 price tag plus $10 charge, I was surprised.  Up to then I had viewed my entry as something of an expensive reservation. Thus it is that I am now commit to serious marathon training.

Sunday is the day when I tally up my miles for the week and this week the total stands at 45 miles.   I consider this my rock bottom minimum mileage at any given time but I have recently fallen off that wagon.  In spite of heat and humidity for my 14 miler yesterday, I was able to complete the distance fairly comfortably, aided by the pace-moderating factor of a companion who is on the comeback trail from a calf injury. I ran about 150 miles in June and my target for July will be to get over 200 miles, including increased quality and a long run of at least 17 miles. I’m also going to get back to regular weight training to start on Tuesday.

Sunday afternoon was spent at the Art Gallery of Ontario enjoying a bit of New York that has recently arrived in Toronto, Abstract Expressionism New York, Masterpieces from the Museum of Modern Art.  This is the first time that a show of these modern masters has left New York.  As an art student in the 70’s I and my artistic peers were naturally enthralled by this group which included; Jackson Pollock, Barnet Newman, Wilhelm De Kooning and many others.

"Edge of Town" by Philip Guston

The work that I found most interesting was Philip Guston’s, Edge of Town from 1969 which expressed his frustration with the lack of explicit social commentary in art during a time of great upheaval with civil rights at the forefront.  The work above with its cartoon like depiction of the Ku Klux Klan is an indicative work, informing the article Philip Guston: abstract expressionism’s provocative pioneer and ultimate critic, a biography from Museum Today.

The November marathon trip to NYC will be a short one as it will be a busy period at work. With careful planning, I hope I can fit in a visit to  an art gallery or two. With eighteen weeks to marathon day the countdown begins NOW!


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Toronto, Lately . . .

For my last few posts I’ve been dwelling on the details of our vacation, with encouragement in that direction as one of those posts was Freshly Pressed.  But, it is time to get back to my blogging basics, my daily run and the life in which that is embedded.

Winston Churchill Park, Toronto

View from Winston Churchill Park, Toronto (Blackberry photo)

The most scenic parts of Toronto are the ravines.  I can do 18 miles from my very urban location and run close to 70% of that on paths or wooded trails.  This route includes the Cedarvale Ravine, the Beltline, Mt. Pleasant cemetery and Moore Park Ravine.  You can check out my favourite route through Moore Park Ravine HERE.

I’m getting back in the groove with training and logged 40 and then 41 miles the past two weeks.  I’m on track to run 42-45 miles this week.  With the return to my regular running routine and avoiding sweets, other than the blueberry and lemon pies I baked, I’ve lost those five pounds gained on holiday.  Those were the pounds that made me deduce that our bathroom scale was broken.  More likely culprits than the scale malfunction are the following concoctions that would add a little zest to any vacation.  My ideal training weight is 107-108 pounds, which at just a bit over 5 feet, 1 inch is considered, by some exacting medical charts an ideal weight for my height.  I was told by my chiropractor that my consistently light weight was one of the reasons why I have stayed injury free for my past 25 years of my 30 years of running.

Lemon Cheesecake

Lemon cheesecake, Rocanini Coffee Roasters, Steveston, B.C.

Mango Bread Pudding

Mango Bread Pudding, Stowaway Cafe, Skagway AK

With the exception of my weekly long run I usually head to Lake Ontario and head east or west on the Martin Goodman Trail.  On Thursday I decided to go northeast as picking up a specialty item for a Japanese dish I was reparing for a Canada Day picnic would be a time saver.  This route took me through the Nordheimer Ravine and two mini-wetland projects, the Roycroft and Glen Edyth wetlands which goes past Winston Churchill park.  Winston Churchill park has a unique view of the CN Tower in that is almost a totally green view.  I did 7 or 8 sections of fast running which included stairs and uphills and then headed home with a stop at the P.A.T. Central Asian grocery store on Bloor, west of Bathurst.

Abura-Age

Abura-age, fried bean curd

On Wednesday my husband went to see his knee doctor.  He was expecting to get another cortisone shot but was told not to play any sports or run and to return if pain returned.  My husband concludes that he will have to wear a fake mustache when he does his meager amount of running, just in case Dr. ______ is around the next corner. He agreed with me that if he wants to get serious about running regularly, he will have to lighten the load on his knee.  So he has set a goal to go under 160 pounds, a loss of 6-7 pounds.  He was about 140 pounds when I met him and still looks slim at 167 pounds but to have any chance of getting back to his two hour weekend runs, lightness matters.

Maze gohan

Maze gohan

In addition to the Japanese dish, maze gohan, I baked two lemon poppy seed pound cakes for the family picnic buffet. I find my own baking the hardest to resist so with the array of fabulous picnic food and a holiday weekend ahead, the new regime of vigilant consumption is scheduled to begin on Monday.

Lemon poppyseed cake

Lemon poppyseed cake