Turkey day week
Nothing too exciting, but still plenty to give thanks for. These things include, but are not limited to, the following:
- We've had snow. A few times! But none that makes driving difficult or snowboarding fun.
- I ran a 5k pre-holiday race today, and evidently won my division! No wonder it hurt so bad, even if for just 24 minutes. 7:45 for my first mile, yow. Yay for Great Harvest bread & cookies as post-race nosh. And yay for co-workers who run races, too!
- I've decided to run the Memphis 5k, in two weeks. I may have wussed out on a winter half-marathon, but I'm still enjoying running. And, I'm excited to visit a new town!
- Hubbie and I are finally taking a road trip with my new car. Southward, ho!
- We might even try a night or two of camping, during that trip. We like camping, but haven't found time to do it in a long time.
- We have a short week, ahead. Yay! Or, a normal length one that includes a turkey dinner and visiting with relatives. Double yay! Pumpkin pie! Sweet potato casserole! Buckeyes! Nom nom.
- I tried a new pose in yoga, last week: bird of paradise. It was scary, and wobbly.
- Today I went to an inspiring lecture by Dr. John Francis, who teaches us that we can change the world by changing ourselves. Here's more info on what he's up to.
- Yesterday I made a batch of tomato chutney dip, and took some to Tim's party. We stil have the other half of the batch here, to enjoy, this week.
- Mom continues her courageous work, keeping beachcombers away from beached sea lions on the Oregon coast.
- It's almost time for our new year's day party, again!
Labels: food, running
Toast
I'm taking a sick day, today, because I am sick. Darn that little coughing climber, next to me, at the gym, yesterday! Or, perhaps more realistically: darn me, for doing 2 hours at the climbing gym in the morning, then a 75-minute power yoga class, in the evening. Silly rabbit.
The photo is of the
Blueberry Cinnamon-Burst Muffins that I made on Saturday evening. I hope you can see the burst of cinnamon, at the center of the photo.
Labels: cooking
Potato floes
This is the type of edge we live on: this morning I realized that we had raw (but shrink-wrapped, at least) ground lamb in the refrigerator, and it's been there since I bought it about 6 days ago. Somehow it didn't make it into the freezer on shopping day last weekend.
So! Today's lunch would be the
Potato and Lamb Moussaka that we'd planned to make this week, with the small revision of Potato and Very Well-Cooked Lamb Moussaka. And the additional revision of swapping in very available hot chipotle salsa for the not so available low-sodium tomato sauce.
In fact, it was visions of this for for a satisfying post-run lunch that powered my run in the cold, today. So, perhaps it's quite fitting that, once baked, the top surface of the dish reminded me of a walk I took in Duluth, years ago, in winter. The ice floes along the edge of The Lake were fascinating. And emitted very strange noises. Which the moussaka, thankfully, did not do. Had it done so, we may have gotten the proof we needed, regarding what exactly may have taken up residence in the meat.
Alas: it got very, very hot. And it was very, very tasty! And, this recipe is probably the only one I am every likely to try, for moussaka: it featured potatoes instead of the standard eggplant. I truly dislike handling raw eggplant. I have the same problem with mangos & papaya. Too, too slimy. Yet all are so tasty when cooked and/or handled with something other than the fingers.
Labels: cooking running
Smells like music
Around 11:30 yesterday I was faced with a decision: yoga, walk, or run? There was a light rain. I'd get wet doing any of the three options (I'm still on the heated power yoga kick). By 11:55 I'd narrowed it down to walk or run; lately I'm not as keen on power yoga 2 days in a row. By 12:05 I had my gear on, and had set foot outside. Brr. It was chilly enough that my calf-length tights would not have been warm enough, so
BAM the decision to run was made.
For several months now my fitness schedule has been mainly dictated by a training plan related to whatever race was on the horizon. I've done 5 races, the first of which was in late April!
However, for the last few weeks I've been hemming and hawing about this Memphis half-marathon on December 6. I've been loosely following a Hal Higdon half-marathon plan, but presently am rebelling from it. Why? It's on pavement, not soft trail; I've been in training for a race since last January & the motivation has petered out; it's on the last day of a road trip and we'd basically need to jump in the car right after the race; my husband and I are due for a trip that is not end-capped by set event dates/times; I'm more into yoga at the moment (perhaps due to race training burnout).
But just like that, I blundered into my decision yesterday, and it was a most fabulous -and surprisingly fast- run. I picked a similar method to choose my route: My normal routes didn't appeal to me, but I've never run home before; it's only about 2.6 miles away. That's a nice distance for a lunchtime loop run. And the weather was perfect, if not downright comfortable, for this Tacoma-Washington raised girl: coldish and rainy.
Perhaps the key to the run's perfection was the sensory overload brought on by the season, and by my decision to not bring my iPod.
Sight: Most of the leaves have turned and fallen, so the scenery was not only colorful, but topsy-turvy in terms of what drew the eye-this is what I truly love about the seasons in Minnesota. For the past several months, the brightest thing has been the sky, but with yesterday's grey sky, the brightest thing was the ground, where all the bright yellow leaves were. We'll have more of the same switcheroo, once more snow sets in (and it had better!), though it won't be quite as vibrant as the yellow. Constrasty but quiet
Smell: Why does juniper have a stronger scent on moist, cool days? Wow.
Sound: The swish-swish of my nylon windbreaker. The unzip (too hot), zip (chilly breeze), unzip (too hot again). The sticky sound of car tires moving over the wet pavement. Dogs bark. Train crossing bells blare; a train engine car roars through an intersection. My easy breath in, out, in, out, in, out.
Touch: It was cool enough to need mittens... until 10 minutes into the run. In, out, in, out of them. Hot fingers. A raindrop or two hit my cheek; one stuck to my eyeglass lenses & annoyed me for about 20 minutes. Then I removed the glasses and licked it off.
Taste: Wow, that juniper was strong-smelling. Why did the back parking lot at work smell like wet dog?
So, I've decided against the Memphis; no race is worth that much hemming and hawing. We'll have fun as tourists, on our road trip.
Labels: running
