LiveSTRONG Army - Midsouth

In an effort to spread awareness about Cancer and the Lance Armstrong Foundation (LAF), a Midsouth Chapter was created yesterday. LiveSTRONG Army – Midsouth was initiated by Brett Richard of Memphis, TN as “A place for all whose lives have been touched by cancer to share their stories and help each other LIVESTRONG.” I got to know Brett through Colleen Wilson (a very inspiring and incredible athlete who works for LAF in Austin). LiveSTRONG Army – Midsouth will be participating in many athletic events across the country to raise awareness about cancer and LAF, including RB’s Ride Into Spring, RAGBRAI, HTC, LiveSTRONG Challenges, and our very own chapter 5k run/walk on LiveSTRONG day (10/2). If you belong to Facebook, look up the group LiveSTRONG Army – Midsouth and join us in the fight against cancer. More updates and information will be posted here in the weeks to come. Team Clementine is a supporter of LAF and will be participating in many of the LiveSTRONG events, including HTC, hosting the Midsouth Chapter’s 5k run/walk, and the LiveSTRONG Challenge in Austin.

LiveSTRONG!

A Recipe for Endurance

Minton's Marvelous Morsels

(Granola/Everything Cookies)

Prep Time: 15 mins
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Taste: Out of this world

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 – 1.5 cups rolled oats
1 – 1.5 cups whole bran cereal
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cream of tarter
1 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped pecans (or other desired nut)
½ cup almond slivers/slices (or other desired nut)
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup sunflower seeds
½ cup peanut butter
½ cup wheat germ
1 cup shredded coconut
1 tablespoon of cinnamon
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup honey

Optional:
1 cup dried fruit (Berries or Raisins)
1 cup chocolate chips

Prepare:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix everything together in a large bowl with a large wooden spoon. Add flour last, a little at a time as you blend it in. If optional ingredients are used, add some more applesauce or a little milk to keep consistency consistent. Don’t be alarmed, this should mix up pretty chunky. Feel free to adjust ingredients such as the nuts, oats, bran cereal, and flour to get your desired consistency (more nutty, more cake like, etc). Bake for roughly 10 minutes or until done.

Place spoons of mix onto a non-stick baking sheet. Be sure to flatten the little balls on the sheet some before cooking (since these cookies are pretty chunky and the mix is a little dry, they want fall down and form a cookie shape like a traditional cookie.)

Suggested Serving:

Put a couple in your jersey pocket and eat as needed. Be prepared to be amazed.

The Spanish Sweet Clementine

Drafted back in circa 2007 in honor of a good friend working late nights in east TN, and to commemorate the inaugural pealing of this tasty citrus indulgence, I present to you this one and only poetic masterpiece: The Spanish Sweet Clementine.

The Spanish Sweet Clementine

Oh how I love you sweet Clementine orange. You are so tasty and special. Sweet and delicious... especially most nutritious. Oh how I love you sweet Clementine orange.

Clementine, sitting so sweet in your special little crate in the grocery store… I just don’t know how my taste buds ever survived before you, what a bore. You’re tasty juice is so sweet and pure, I’m sure my potassium depleted muscles, you will cure.

Clementine, with your soft bright skin, in the store you’re easy to find… you belong to the mandarin family of oranges, the smallest of your kind. Imported into the states the first time in 1982… now I just can’t get enough of you.

Now that you are intrigued by the tasty little jingle I have prepared, I’m sure it is time for me to get back to work, despaired. Sweet Clementine, I’m sure we’ll meet again, in about 2 hours when I peal another one of you, and dig in.

The Clementine Experiment

November 2006 - two young athletes worked tirelessly in a cold, dark conference room. It was a typical late night at Captain D’s and these athletes, as usual, were pouring over audit workpapers. Little did these two know, something bigger was happening all around them, something that would bond them, and others, together as teammates on one of the greatest endurance teams ever known.

It was at that point that The Clementine Experiment was conceived. It would not be until two years later that these athletes would realize what had happened.

The idea of running the upcoming 2007 Country Music Half Marathon in a 1:30, which was quit a stretch for these two “professional amateurs”, kept being tossed around the audit room back in 2006. April 2007 brought disappointment to each, yet built a foundation of motivation and drive like none other. Over the next two years, these two athletes would endure hours and hours of rigorous training, injuries, career changes, and even transform from runners to triathletes. Then, in November 2008, after miles and miles and hours and hours of training, one of these athletes declared that he was going to write a book about the experiences of going from an out-of-shape auditor to an age-group winning triathlete and (hopefully) an Ironman.

The two athletes started reminiscing about those longs nights in the audit room, the room where it all began, and how they used to discuss running. Book titles started being tossed around and then they both remembered one single important thing that they could not believe they had forgotten. Clementines. It was the sweet Spanish Clementine that had gotten them through those difficult times. It was the Clementine that given them the ability to work all those nights and train all those long miles. The book title was determined that instant: The Clementine Experiment.

The Clementine Experiment did not end there. Many friends were made along the last two years of mileage that were all part of The Clementine Experiment, part of what ultimately made this group of teammates what they are today. Team Clementine was created. Team Clementine is a group of amateur athletes who support each other in racing the most challenging endurance events they personally can. Team Clementine is a group of average men and women who work normal jobs by day, train like professional athletes by night, and race like machines on the weekend.

Anyone can juggle the many things that are thrown at them in life and become an “ironman” at anything they wish to pursue. This webpage will be used to track the experiences of Team Clementine throughout the next year, the progress towards becoming an ironman, and motivate others to lead a healthy, balanced, and active lifestyle.