Back Where it Began and New England Country Soup

On Monday, April 16th, at 10AM I will be standing at the starting line in Hopkinton, waiting for the whistle to blow, the canon to fire, the gun to go off…

I’ll be back in Wave 3, Corral 1 of the 116th Boston Marathon. Sure I wish I was in Wave 1, Corral 1 but maybe that would be too much pressure…you think?!

Partly discouraged because I’m in the last wave, partly relieved because I’m in corral 1, I’m grateful I’ll even be there again. The benefit to being in the first corral is less of a crowd to fight at the start. The drawback to being in corral 1 is having a clear road in front and going out too fast. But I’m ready.

I learned in Philadelphia that any pace under an 8 minute mile will most likely make me pay later. There’s just one problem: I’m scared to look at my pace during a race. Yep. I said it. There it is. Why? Because the first time I ever checked my pace and saw how much faster I run a race than I train, my legs turned to jelly and I slowed way, way down. This psychological hurdle will hopefully be resolved when Ted and I attend McMillan Running camp in May. Until that time, I’m not sure if I should keep my eyes up and forge ahead based on how I feel or dare to take a quick look and suffer the consequences.

There is a possible solution to my problem. Because of the way Boston assigns bib numbers, I know I’ll be lined up with folk that ran their fastest marathon at about the same pace as I ran mine. The crowd could be my pacers. During those last 6 miles, the real guts of a marathon, if I’m feeling good, I can put forth a little extra effort.

What do you think? Should I look at my Garmin? Should I just go with the flow? Should I use my fellow "bibbers" as pacers?

A Product Review: New England Country Soup

Surprise!  A box arrived in the mail and it was a sampling of New England Country Soup.

The flavors:   Yankee White Bean, with chicken and Nana’s Chicken Soup.

Unfortunately, I don’t eat chicken but Ted was excited!  I put him to the test.

The first soup of choice was the Yankee White Bean.  

Before I get started on their review, let’s hear from New England Country Soup:

All natural, ready to serve soups in 8 different flavors that are low in sodium and made with ingredients slurpers recognize, can pronounce and probably have in their kitchen.  Simply heat and enjoy!  The company is based in Cambridge, MA and are committed to letting shoppers know not only what is in their soup but where it comes from.  If you go to the companies web site, you can access the Ingredient Tracker to see the farm, field, or ocean from which each ingredient in each 15 oz pouch is sourced.  In addition, the packaging, a light weight, BPA FREE microwavable pouch is used to reduce energy and waste.

The 8 flavors:

1. New England Clam Chowder
2. Yankee White Bean with chicken

3.  Chicken Corn Chowder

4.  Chicken Pomodoro

5.  Nana’s Chicken Soup

6.  Caribbean Black Bean

7.  Lentil

8.  Sweet Chicken Curry

For more information and coupons, go to New England Country Soup. 

How did Ted like the soup:  “Mmmm…that’s….oh! Wow! That’s hot. That’s peppery.  Let’s let Teddy have that one.  Too much jalapeno for me.” 

The Yankee White Bean –

We heated Nana’s Chicken Soup –  2nd try:

“That’s good. It’s not salty.  The chicken is tender.  Yeah. I like this.  It’s much better than the canned soups we get. It tastes more like your homemade soup.”

The result:  We’ll be looking for these soups in our local store.  I’m dying to try the lentil and black bean!  As for the peppery Yankee White Bean, there were no complaints from Teddy. He ate it right up without comment and when Teddy doesn’t say a word when eating and leaves his bowl clean, it means the dish was P U R R E T T Y  DARNED GOOD!

What’s your favorite store bought soup? or is that unheard of in your house, “store bought”. Do you make your own?