Monday Bunday: Funny Pose

I wish I knew why Cadbury likes to pose this way.  It doesn't look very comfortable.

Cadbury had a lovely Thanksgiving, although he probably would've liked more treats.  On work days I let him out when I come home for lunch and he gets a treat such as a grape or banana chip as a reward for going back in his cage without a fuss.  No sweet treats over the holiday for this little bunny!

I got plenty of treats, though.  I made a pumpkin cheesecake the weekend before Thanksgiving, and then we bought a regular pie for Thursday, since the cheesecake didn't last long.  (Ahem.)  I ran sixteen miles on Saturday, though, and three on Sunday after a 45-minute spin.  I can have the occasional treat.  Also, my boot camp starts this week.  I don't know what possessed me to sign up to be tortured three days a week at 5:30 am, but if I ever get such a crazy notion again, I hope someone slaps some sense into me before I get out my credit card.  *sigh*


Have a great week, everyone!

Now I've Done It...

Something I haven't done in a couple of years.  I've registered for a marathon!

Surfside Beach Marathon, February 26, 2011. 

Happy Training to Me!

The Art of the Craigslist Run

For a few months now I've been trying something different on my Saturday long runs.

• I love to run
• I love a good bargain
• After nearly 10 years of running the inner loop, I'm out of new route ideas

The solution is the craigslist run.

The way it works is the night before my long run, I check craigslist for garage sales in the areas I like to run. I select the most promising ones and build a route around them using gmaps pedometer. I take cash and business cards with me in case I find something I want to come back for, and voila! New fresh running route with fun stops along the way!

Most of the time I don't get anything, but two weeks ago I got two new designer tops (unworn, with tags still on) for $5 apiece. The week before that it was a blouse and skirt for $3 each (the blouse still had original tags). Today, I got three pair of earrings, $5 for the lot of them, and one pair was an exact match to a necklace I had at home.

I'm having a great time with my new route-planning method and I'll be disappointed when winter sets in and pickings become scarce. Luckily most of the year is garage sale weather in Houston, though. I'll have new routes for years to come!

Saturday Long Run: Hip Update

I had a good run today, except for the blister that I inexplicably woke up with this morning. How did I get a blister on my toe in my sleep?

Anyway, a blister was a lot easier to deal with than last weekend's sinus headache that had me nearly in tears every time I moved, so that was a good thing. I got to the park by 5:30 and did the eighteen-mile run I had been unable to do last Saturday.

I had a very nice run and although I had to stop and stretch my hip every couple miles after mile ten, I wasn't in any real discomfort until around mile seventeen. It's too early to say if this is because of my new hip exercises or if it's because I had to cut last weekend's run short because of my headache, so I'll just say it was a nice run, I was happy with it, and that's good enough for me.

Back to Basics

I've decided I'm tired of only managing the pain in my right hip. A few years ago I gave up trying to fix the problem because physical therapists seemed intent on fixing everything but my hip, at $40 per co-pay, three times per week. After months of time and money wasted, I gave up, started buying kinesio tape like it was a hot new fashion trend, learned how to do trigger point therapy for palliative care, and hoped for the best.

I learned enough when I was in physical therapy to know what didn't work and to have a pretty good hunch what would. So this week I started adding some adductor/abductor work into my routine and returned to my childhood dance training to work in some pliés whenever I have a few spare moments. For now I'm sticking to demi-pliés because I'm more stiff than I could've ever thought possible. (What, I'm not a four year-old in pink tights anymore?)

I also found out that they're starting yoga classes twice a week in my office building. It's not free, but the cost is reasonable, and I'm thinking of trying it. I haven't done yoga consistently since the early 90s, and I know it would be good for me. I'm going to find out if the instructor allows one to pay by the class the first couple of times just to check it out, since I wouldn't want to pay for a full month only to find it's not a good class for me.

If I can fix this hip problem, I can go back to working on speed rather than just endurance and maybe finally get my Boston Marathon qualifying time. I would also be able to return to triathlon. Ironman has been a dream of mine for a long time, but hasn't been remotely realistic with this chronic issue dogging me.

So there you have it. I'm actually doing something about my hip and after a successful first week of daily action, I'm feeling positive about it. I'm tired of not being able to enjoy my hobby to the fullest.

Running Around

I've been lazy about posting my workouts lately and I'm going to try to be better about that. This week was a mixed bag. On the one hand, Tuesday morning got rained out. We're talking thunder, lightning, wind-driven rain and street flooding. I tend to second-guess myself when I skip a workout, wondering if I'm just looking for an excuse. But when I saw the tv images of people being evacuated from their flooded homes on the west side of town, I figured maybe I wasn't such a wimp, after all.

On a positive note, though, I can run on campus in the mornings again. I had quit for awhile, following a campus shooting that had some of the hallmarks of gang activity, but last week the perp was arrested and he turned out to be a student with psychological problems.

Oddly, I found this reassuring. The way I see it, a random crazy person can get you anywhere-- office, school, church, shopping mall, or traffic light. There's no place truly safe, but no place is any more dangerous than another. I'll change my habits to avoid gangs and habitual criminals, but you can't have any kind of life worth living if you go in fear of crazy people.

So I ran twice this week, nice early runs before the sun was fully up. I had to contend with early-morning leaf-blowers, but that's an unavoidable hazard wherever one goes. Does anyone know what actually happens to all those leaves, by the way? Seems kind of pointless to blow them someplace else, since they'll only blow back again.

Saturday Check-In

Happy Saturday! I've been pretty busy lately with work and spring gardening. The house and yard get so much shade that I'm having to experiment by planting in a variety of spots, waiting to see what will work and what won't.

In writing news, I got my first chapter posted this weekend. It can be accessed via the banner on the Maelstrom website or via this link, which will take you to the pdf. The chapter includes my latest artwork, which will also be used on the cover of the chapbook I'm working on as a freebie to advertise the book, once it's available.

As to the book, I'm on my third round of edits, doing pencil markups in a paper copy. Cleanups have been minor so far, which I'm happy about, and Dan has twice absconded with the book to read it himself. This is significant, since although he is supportive of my writing, he's never actually read my stuff before now.

I ran seventeen miles this morning and did all my scheduled workouts for the past week. I'm happy about this, since I had been getting lazy about my weekday workouts. The warmer weather we had last week helped, and although we got a cool front today, I hope my winter slump is over.

Finally, our bunny friend Fiona is sick this week. Last I heard, she was showing signs of improvement, but rabbits are such fragile creatures that prayers, good wishes, or whatever you've got to offer are still needed. So if you haven't done so already, go wish Fiona well.

Running, Kitchens, and Bunnies

One expects the weather people to make wrong predictions a week, or even a few days out, but this morning they were mystifyingly off-base, and even the 6:30 am forecast for the morning was wrong. The 7 mph winds and high-fifties temps I dressed for were instead low-fifties with winds of at least 15 mph and strong gusts. I had a good run anyway, and even took in a garage sale, but came home chilled in that way that one feels for hours afterwards.

In household news, the kitchen faucet broke last night. It was original to the house and over fifty years old. Due to the design of the sink area, there is no way to install anything of a newer design without doing a complete remodel. Problem is that a faucet similar to the one that broke must be ordered special because stores don’t stock them.

So in the meantime we have no water to our kitchen sink. We also, due to the arrangement of our 1950s kitchen, have no dishwasher. And did I mention yet that we usually save our dirty dishes during the week and wash them on the weekend? Luckily we have a full-size kitchen sink in the studio, but it’s going to be a hassle to carry everything out there and back. It could be worse, but that doesn’t mean I have to like it.

I ordered some more art for the Maelstrom site, and the artist did a preliminary sketch that I like. She won’t be able to start on the colorization until after next week, but I should have the finished product by the second week of February. The art will illustrate the first chapter of the novel, which I’ll post on the website.

And speaking of Maelstrom, I hope everyone is thinking of what bunny charity we should sponsor. I’m thinking of offering prizes to donors, and have already sounded out Rabbits' Guy, who is considering self-publishing a bunny book that I think would make a great prize. If anyone else has ideas for prizes, let me know. The Bunny Benefit Bash will begin sometime in March.

Saturday Check-In

I got my custom artwork on the Maelstrom site, but I’m still having difficulties with the template and the way it won’t let me completely remove the previous art (I had to lay my new art on top of the old) or adjust certain things about the header. I also want to work on the resolution of the art at the reduced size, so I think I know what I’ll be doing this weekend. But the basics are up and running, I’ve tested it on IE and Firefox, and it seems to be workable for now. I’m happy about that.

I ran fifteen miles today, doing the med center run again. I ran past a site where they’re doing construction on a new medical building and saw about two dozen cement mixers lined up in the street, with another dozen a block away, waiting for the light to turn. I had never seen so many cement mixers in one place before and for some reason I thought it was funny. I would’ve been much less amused if I had been in my car, trying to get somewhere.

This weekend, I’m passing up my third marathon opportunity of the month. I wasn’t able to get into the Houston Marathon, which is tomorrow, because it filled up so much earlier than usual. Ditto for the New Year’s Day Texas Marathon in Kingwood. And I opted out of the USAFit marathon last weekend, although I seriously considered it. Oddly, I’m not disappointed, and it’s not just because I broke a toe a few days before New Year’s, since I'm getting around just fine. January is a tricky month for marathoning, at least for me. Training through Christmas and trying to avoid everyone with a winter cold really puts a damper on things, not to mention my aversion to training when it’s cold outside.

Speaking of cold, this past week we had early morning temps in the 30s every day and I finally broke down and drove myself the half mile to the gym so I could work out. I felt like a wimp, but I just couldn’t get motivated any other way. So there.

Well, it’s time to go play with my Maelstrom template some more. I’ve also got a new story to post over there tonight!

Saturday Check-In

In spite of my best efforts, I managed to come down with a cold this week, missing out on the snowflake-making at work on Wednesday and not enjoying the Thursday party very much. But it was not a total loss. I spent almost all of Wednesday in bed and went home early Thursday because I still wasn’t one hundred percent. As a result, I got over this bug pretty fast and it didn’t move into my chest and team up with my asthma to give me a case of bronchitis, which is always my big concern when I get sick.

I was well enough today to go for a run, although I kept it short by my standards, only 12.5 miles. I had a hankering to run at Memorial Park, so I went there, with a detour to my bank and back. It would’ve been a solid run except for a persistent cramp in my right hip that had been there since I was sick earlier this week. I think it was caused by all that inactivity!

Two more workdays and I’m off until the January 2nd! Already I’ve got three weeks’ worth of projects for a week and a half of vacation! Yay, me?

Racing and Me

I interrupt my usual bunny blogging and thoughts about cooking and dull personal topics for a little of what this blog used to be about: endurance sports.

I'm not doing the Houston Marathon this year. The main reason is that it filled up so much earlier than any previous year. I like to wait until I'm back from my summer vacation and have assessed my health and finances before committing. But even though I went to register at an early-for-me date in July, the marathon was already full. Unprecedented.

But in a way I was relieved. The last couple years I've gone out there wondering why I'm doing it, other than habit and orneriness, which aren't good reasons for running 26.2 miles.

In fact, I race very little these days. In my first few years of running, I tried to do all the important local races, especially the marathon warmup series, but then I lost interest, not for the running but for paying money and showing up at a specific place at a designated time to do what I would've done anyway on my own schedule.

The blog owner at Studies in Clydeology summed up my problem in an email to me: The nice thing about a metro area with a good race venue is there are a lot of races. The bad thing is that there are a lot of races but all on the same venue or two.

That's exactly it. All the big Houston races are run on basically the same routes, which are also part of my regular training routes. When I'm on vacation, I'm disappointed if I can't find a race wherever I'm at, because running is a fun way to check out the local scenery. But at home I avoid racing. The idea of paying good money to trot the standard course seems silly.

Having said that, I'm pondering the following two marathons that are close enough to not require major time on the road, but not so close that the venues are in any way familiar:

• Surfside Beach Marathon on February 14
  
• Seabrook Lucky Trail Marathon on March 15

I might do one, both, or neither, and I hope they don't fill up before I decide. In the past, I've always worked in a job that made me feel like a slacker for taking any time off at all, for any reason. But in my current job, I often feel like the only one not taking personal time each month. This far ahead, there's no reason I couldn't request the Monday after either of these races as a personal day to rest and regroup. And now that I have a little experience driving Dan's Jeep (the newer and more reliable of our two vehicles), transportation isn't a problem for me, either.

I need to do a little more thinking on these two races, and do some research on what others have thought of them. I seem to recall having read positive things, and if I can get the time off from work to make up for time lost from my usual weekend activities around the house, these races might be just what I need to spark things up a bit.

I'm a little sad not to be doing the Houston Marathon this year because it's been such a big part of my life for the last eight years, whether I ran it or ended up having to bow out due to injury or illness. I may skip the expo this year too, as much as I like checking out the new gear and helping myself to the freebies. But I should be taking advantage of the opportunities I have with my new, more relaxed job and start thinking of race venues further afield. I'm lucky to work at a place that pushes work/life balance and there's a lot more to the local running scene than what goes on in and around downtown Houston.

My Thanksgiving Holiday So Far

My four-day weekend is nearly over, and of course I haven’t done most of what I planned to do.

Thanksgiving was nicely low-key. I got up late, went for a run, then did a little writing over coffee. Dan and I bought most of our food on Tuesday night from Central Market’s deli, so other than cooking the sweet potatoes, dinner was a simple matter of heating things up. It’s not that we’re too lazy to cook a turkey dinner—it’s just that with only two of us, it would only lead to waste. The few leftovers we have from our deli meal will go into recipes for this week. Turkey should go just fine with chickpeas and curry, right?

I ran a few errands on Friday, enjoying the light traffic and lack of long lines at the post office and grocery store. Everyone was either sleeping off their turkey dinner or fighting each other for bargains at Wal-Mart, and good riddance to them. I also dropped off some magazines at Half-Price Books and donated a bag of paperbacks at the new paperback drop-off at Central Market. The books go to the MD Anderson Cancer Center’s patient library, which is cool.

Today I did a long run under overcast skies that threatened rain but thankfully never delivered. I saw some old friends out for a run by the zoo, I saw early tailgaters at the Rice University stadium (what were they grilling at 8:00 am?), and I observed that Rice has two types of squirrels: the ordinary red kind, and a gray kind with light almost-white fur on the backs of their ears. I ran the Buffalo Bayou trails for the first time since the hurricane and noticed there’s still a lot of silt covering the trails at their low points. And I noticed that there are a lot of new trees (magnolia, oak and pine) being planted along the bayou near my house. These aren’t replacement trees from hurricane damage because they’re in places where there weren’t trees before. I figure it’s part of the entire revitalization project they’ve had going on for the last couple of years along that bayou, re-doing the trails and things like that.

After lunch today, Dan and I went to 10,000 Villages to get a birthday gift for one of his sisters. We got her one of these boxes and some bracelets and other little things to put inside. The store is just a block away from where we go for Indian food in the Rice Village and it's a neat little place to go for reasonably priced gifts that you know won't be what everyone else is giving.

That’s about all the news from around here. I can’t believe I have only one more day off, and it’s pretty well spoken for, since Sunday is for cooking. Oh well. I’ve enjoyed my little break, I’ve gotten some writing done, and Cadbury has enjoyed the extra time hanging out in the chair with me.

Saturday Run: Yard Sales and More

I wasn’t looking forward to this morning’s run. It was going to be cold and I was worried I’d set off my lungs like I did two weeks ago and end up on reduced workouts just in time for Thanksgiving. That would’ve sucked. But I had to go to the bank, which is the sort of errand I like to combine with a long Saturday morning run, so I did a craigslist search for yard sales to visit along the way and plotted a route.

It ended up being a very nice run. The day was sunny and there weren’t a lot of other runners out, which was nice. I’m always glad to see people exercising, but when the trails are full of people who don’t understand basic concepts like “keep to the right,” it gets annoying. My route included Hermann Park and Rice University, then I hit three different sales and did well at one. I paid for some items, gave them my business card, and made arrangements for pickup later, then went to the bank and deposited a check. And then I went home, pleased that I had enjoyed a fun run, after all.

This past week was pretty busy at the office. I’ve been drawn into a lot of special projects and reports, which I like, but my equity analysis and job create duties don’t go away just because I’m working on committee reports. I’ve got two training sessions on Monday, but I expect to be able to start getting caught up on Tuesday and Wednesday. A lot of people at the university take extra time off around Thanksgiving and other holidays, but I don't because I treasure having a few days where no one gives me extra work and I can get ahead of the game.

Dan and I have no family plans for Thanksgiving this year and we’re pretty excited about that. We had such a relaxing time last year having our own turkey dinner and visiting with each other, instead of making the rounds of local relatives with their worldviews so different from ours and their TVs that are never shut off. Dan and I often feel like strangers with our families, so it’s nice to not have to run that gauntlet and hang out with each other and our furry critters instead.

I also want to do some work on the studio, set up the sewing machine (manual arrived today, so I can figure out how to thread the damn thing) and do some work on some of my alteration projects. I also need to do some cleaning and reorganizing in the house, and maybe Dan and I can put up our Christmas lights. And I hope to get a lot of writing done, too.

Relaxing four-day weekend? Sure. It’ll be gone before I know it and then I'll be in need of a vacation.

Sunday Wrap-up and Recipe Share

This has been a particularly productive weekend for me.

My Saturday run was very nice—we’ve had some cooler (by our standards) weather lately and for the first time since May, I ended a long run without being thoroughly soaked. Although it’s true that I learned to run in a Houston summer and can gauge my effort by how much sweat I wring out of my clothes, that doesn’t mean I don’t greet cooler weather with joy. But September is still summer for all intents and purposes, so the weather should be up to its old tricks by next weekend if Hurricane Ike doesn’t come here.

I have some new art project ideas so I went to Michael’s today to stock up on craft supplies. Although I wasn’t surprised by how high my total came to, it is interesting how quickly all those $3 and $4 items add up. It doesn’t help that I’m more likely to buy too much than too little, for fear I’ll get halfway into something and realize I don’t have what I need to continue. I’d rather spend $20 I didn’t need to than spend an hour or more of my time going back for that one thing I didn’t get. Sadly, there is every likelihood I’ll have to go back anyway since I'm new at this particular type of project and don't know what to anticipate, but that’s just how things go.

I’ll have more to say about my art project as time goes on. There might be a giveaway involved, if all goes well. For now, I'm still experimenting.

I tried a new recipe today and it’s a good one. Check out these Black-Eyed Pea Cakes. When I made them as directed I found them too wet to work into patties so I added extra breadcrumbs and some of Bag Lady’s dehydrated spinach. My next misadventure was trying to fry them, per the instructions. In spite of generous amounts of olive oil, they stuck to the pan, so I ended up baking these about 15 minutes at 450 degrees. Putting them on the broiler would’ve worked, too. I skipped the adobo sauce and instead I topped them with chipotle cheddar. The result was so delicious that Dan insisted on trying one, then ate the whole thing even though he had just finished a big lunch. He ate another one tonight and is pestering me for more. It looks like I’ll have no choice but to make more if I want to enjoy any myself!

I also made oatmeal cookies, Persian spiced rice and curry zucchini and broccoli. I have some leftovers from other meals in the fridge, so this ought to get me through the week and if not, it only takes five minutes to make a batch of couscous.

I have two new short stories up this weekend. Ordinary Miracles is part of the Will and Diana series, and The Beauty Queen is a Steal Tomorrow Extra. Check them out if you’ve got time.

And in bunny news, Cadbury did his first out-of-cage flop tonight under my chair by my feet. I wasn’t able to get a picture of it, so this picture of him under the computer chair will have to do.














I know he looks sweet but he's now in the corner trying to relocate the litterbox and chew fringe onto the sides. I have serious misgivings about his decorating ideas but there's no stopping him once he has a notion.

Have a good week, everyone!

Sunday Recipe Share

Since it's a long weekend, I didn't feel the same sense of urgency to get all the week's cooking done today. And a good thing, because I had a few obstacles thrown in my path.

For starters, I was working on a story this morning when Dan decided to go for a run. This was the first time in more than a year and he couldn't find his shoes. Or his running shirts. Or his old mp3 player with his running songs queued up on it. No matter how much one might want to say, "Hey, buddy, that's YOUR problem," the fact remains that it's damn difficult to immerse oneself in a fictional world with someone coming in and out of the room, digging through things, asking questions and muttering sour nothings under his breath.

Around noon, I gave up and left to run errands. I was already an hour behind schedule and had to make a separate stop to pick up my asthma meds, since my annual deductible kicks in on Monday. Still, it all would've worked out okay if I hadn't come out of Central Market at 12:45 and found my car wouldn't start. AAA got there in pretty good time, but it was still 1:30 before I got home and could start cooking.

And by the time I got done with my cooking for the day, it was just too late in the afternoon to do a bike workout. I was hungry and it was nap time, so I'll just have to try to work that into my schedule for tomorrow.

But I did try some new recipes today, and here they are:

Peanut Butter Cookies: In the comments associated with this recipe, everyone suggested adding more flour, so I (rebel that I am) added 1/4 cup of quick oats and some pecan meal to the cookie dough. I also added about 1/4 cup of maple syrup and some cinnamon. Be sure to take the cookies out sooner rather than later if you like them soft. These are totally decadent and delicious, and I have a feeling I'll be asked to make them again!

Persian Spiced Rice with Potato Crust: I had this for dinner, hot out of the oven. It's quite a treat! I don't have a 1-quart casserole dish, so I used my 2-quart dish and doubled the recipe. If you do the same, bear in mind that you need to increase the cooking time. I used red potatoes instead of new potatoes, since that was what I had on hand. Yukon golds would've been good, too. I used yogurt instead of sour cream, and I didn't have saffron. Oh well. I threw in some curry and coriander and ended up with something probably more Indian than Persian, but hey, it's all good.

I also made Apricot Bread again, but I haven't tried it yet so I can't say how my new recipe adjustments worked out. Faithful blog readers may remember that I thought it was a little dry and not sweet enough last time. This time I added some apricot preserves and maple syrup, so we'll see how that worked out.

And that's it on recipes today. My day wasn't nearly as productive as I would've liked it to be, but that's just how it goes sometimes. At least I don't have to go to work tomorrow, so I can try again!

(Note: The car issue was a loose battery post. I gave someone a jump at the park yesterday morning after my run and he said I had a loose battery post, but I was brain-dead and didn't really get what he was saying until I was outside Central Market today with a car that wouldn't crank. Never try to tell something to a tired runner. It does no good.)

Saturday Notes

No, we're not throwing the bunny away! It just seems there's nothing he's not curious about. He got in my lap last night while I was on the computer, stuck his face in the sleeve of my bathrobe and just sat there like that for fifteen minutes while I rubbed his ears. Little weirdo. I guess he's never heard about oxygen. Note to self: add science lessons to the reading lessons.

In other news, the hurricane tracking models have settled down and it looks good for us, bad for New Orleans. Although actual site of landfall is still uncertain, you might as well have the checkbook handy. Or just send your Red Cross donation now and beat the rush.

This morning’s run wasn’t what it could’ve been. My hamstrings were tight and I wasn’t disappointed when preparations for a music festival along the Buffalo Bayou trails required me to turn back and cut my run short by about a mile. Since we’ve got a long weekend, I might see if I can get an appointment with my massage therapist. It’s been a long time and I could stand for her to beat up on me a bit.

There was no post-run ice cream and music today. Damn those people for setting my expectations! I had to go home and eat yogurt instead. Better for me, but not as much fun.

Recent Workouts

Tuesday: 6 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 19 mile run

Sunshiny Ice Cream Day

I’m glad I started going to Memorial Park on Saturdays to start my weekly long run mega-early. I still think it’s ridiculous to drive in order to run, but it’s the closest safe place I know for running in the dark and this way I get my long run done before temps get into the 90s.

I got to the park a little after 5:00 this morning and did three loops before heading out to do the Buffalo Bayou trails. It was one of those good runs where my body felt mostly-good and my brain was on board with the plan. As every runner knows, there are days when your brain spends most of the time trying to sabotage your run, thinking of all the reasons you should stop early, whining and being generally bratty about the whole thing. But not today. Brain kept itself occupied by pondering this and that, freeing my body to do the simple task of putting one foot in front of the other.

It didn’t start getting warm out until I was heading back toward the park with about three miles to go. When I got there, I saw that today was HARRA’s annual Party in the Park. The event was free to all runners, with music, booths for many of the local running groups, cold water, cold sports drink, and best of all, free ice cream! There’s really no describing how it feels to be greeted with music and an ice cream cone at the end of a 20-mile run in a Houston August, but suddenly I didn’t care that I was wet and stinky, my socks were squishy, and my shoes had created a small blister. The sunny day turned sparkly and all was right with the world.

After I finished my ice cream and changed into dry clothes, I went to check out a drug store I sometimes run past on my Chimney Rock run. I had seen some stuff in the windows that I usually order online because it’s hard to find around here, and the store looked cool in general. So I went there and was very excited to find all kinds of things I needed. It’s so hard to find a store that stocks all the things you want, as if the buyer were your psychic twin. Now that I’ve discovered this place, it’ll probably close down. Seems to happen every time. But I’ll try not to be too cynical.

After all, today was an ice cream day!

Back on Schedule

For several weeks, my weekend has been disrupted with have-tos. Some have been good (Cadbury!), some have been less tedious than I expected them to be (Dan’s half-sister’s daughter’s Pentecostal wedding), and others have been teeth-grindingly frustrating (lunch with my immediate family).

I’m a creature of habit and too many weeks in a row of disruptions to my schedule leave me irritable and tired in a deep way that extroverts can never understand. So it was with great joy that I greeted my first normal weekend in a long time.

My Saturday long run was a semi-repeat of last week, when I got up extra-early and drove to Memorial Park so I could begin my run at 5:00 and finish before the weather became obscenely hot. Memorial Park is full of runners at almost every hour of the day and night, so it was quite safe to be trotting the trails in the pre-dawn darkness. Once there was a little light, I took off toward Turtle Pond, the roadside garden, and Tanglewood, which is a route I’ve missed doing since moving close to the university. Upon my return to the park, I did one more loop, changed into dry clothes in the Tennis Center locker room, and went home. Indian buffet lunch proceeded on schedule, as did my post-everything afternoon nap. Very nice.

Today I spent some time in the kitchen, making food for the week. Menu is as follows:

* Quinoa Spinach Bake, using Bag Lady’s spinach.
* Rice Balls, using chipotle cheddar instead of mozzarella. Mind-blowingly delicious.
* Steamed Broccoli
* Brown and Jasmine rice blend
* Oatmeal Cookies
* Granola Bars (made these Saturday night)

I’ll probably make some kind of quickbread this week, but I haven’t decided what kind. I have a lot of dried apricots, so I’m leaning toward using them in some way.

I followed up my afternoon in the kitchen with a 90 minute spin in my exercise studio. It’s been a couple of weeks since I’ve been able to do that.

And finally, the big news. I finished the line edits of my novel this morning and uploaded it into Lulu for print or electronic-download purchase. The pocket format is more expensive than the trade paperback format for some reason, so I’ll be working on the trade format tonight or tomorrow and making that available as well. I also uploaded the novel into Kindle format, available from Amazon in a few days. For more information about all of this, check out my post on my writing blog. And to get started reading the web serial, you may bookmark Steal Tomorrow, add it to your reader, or sign up for the emails. New posts will appear on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

That’s it! It’s been a nice weekend of re-charging by doing the same-old and I’m ready to face the week. Sort of. This actually promises to be Hell Week because we’ve got exactly one week to review, approve, and upload all merit increases for the entire university, but hey, one Hell Week every now and then is nothing compared to Every Week a Hell Week in my last job. I am so counting my blessings!

This Week’s Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: Rain Day laziness
Wednesday: 4.5 mile run
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 19 mile run
Sunday: 90 minute spin

A Run Too Far

As I always do, I carefully mapped a running route for today. I needed to take a couple of checks to the bank, so it had to be a route that would put me at the bank at or near 9:00. No problem, since I do this fairly regularly.

The run went okay at first. I did a loop around campus then headed out along the bayou, where I saw a flock of brown ducks—the first ducks I’ve ever seen on this bayou. Later, as I neared the end of the bayou portion of the run, I saw another duck, much larger, and with black and gray coloring. This duck was alone, but the egrets and cormorants didn’t seem bothered by its presence.

I finished the bayou section of my route and headed toward Rice University. From there, I went to my bank and got there a little too early. With ten minutes to kill, I refilled my water bottle at Whole Foods and went for a stroll around the block. Then I deposited my checks and headed toward River Oaks.

No sooner was I in River Oaks when I realized I needed a restroom. There wouldn’t be another one on my planned route for at least five miles, so I detoured to a church that I knew would be open. It took me off my route, so I figured I would make up the difference near the end of my run, cutting straight across Hermann Park instead of going around. By my mental calculations (made under the influence of heat and humidity) it would all work out about the same.

So when I got home much later than I expected, I chalked it up to the time spent waiting for the bank to open and having to make a pit stop. Also, there were a couple times I got a side stitch and had to walk. (I have no idea what that was about, since I don’t usually get stitches or cramps any more.) Anyway, everything added up in my mind, so I went on about the business of getting ready to have lunch with Dan.

Then tonight I got online to check my route and confirm my numbers. Twenty-two miles. Damn. That explains a few things.

I may start cutting back my Saturday mileage a little now that we’re in the worst of summer. It can be pretty hot by the time I finish, and the last two miles are in direct sunlight. There’s no safe alternative route home, either. But there’s another part of me that wants to just keep after this thing, since I’m pretty well acclimated and I hate building mileage. Maintaining is just so much easier.

I think this is the sort of thing only a runner can understand, but I try to keep my distance mileage high because I'm lazy. Too lazy to drop back and then go through the suffering of re-building.

Well, tomorrow is cooking day. I don't have anything new in my plans, but I could come up with something between now and then. Also, I made some more granola bars tonight. A certain spouse keeps eating them. I guess that's the sign of a good recipe when you can't keep the food around for long!

Saturday Run Report

I decided to be adventurous today and run the Brays Bayou trail from my home to Hillcroft, which is 10.6 miles and roughly halfway to my parents’ house on the west side of town.

It was cool when I started out, but very humid. It’s a strange feeling to be covered in sweat yet not hot, but that’s Houston for you. Although most of the Brays Bayou trail is unshaded, this isn’t a problem in the early morning when the low angle of the sun and the fact that much of the trail in the Med Center is below street level work in one’s favor, creating shade. There were a lot of cyclists on the trail and a number of runners and dog-walkers in certain popular sections, so I felt safe even though once I was past Buffalo Speedway I was in unfamiliar territory and wasn’t sure how safe the trail would be to my turnaround point.

Some stretches of the trail have water fountains at well-spaced intervals, but there were places where you could easily run several miles without finding water, so it’s a good thing to always take some along. Here’s the most unusual water fountain I saw today.













By the time I reached my turnaround, the sun was fully out and I had begun to realize that running a straight out and back route of this length presented some psychological challenges. The route as a whole was no longer than most of my Saturday morning runs, but running looped routes close to home puts you in a very different mental space from being more than ten miles from home with only your own feet to get you back. And did I mention it was very hot out by now?

I spent much of the way back fighting my own brain, which was at least a distraction from the heat. Once I got to the Med Center I was in need of some cold water, not the outdoor water fountains which run cool at best and are often hot in the summer. I went up to street level and went into the nearest medical facility, figuring they’re in the business of caring for people so of course they’ll let me use a water fountain. Not only that, but the very kind folks at Texas Orthopedic offered me a cup of ice in their lunch room. Maybe I looked pathetic. I hope not.

Refreshed, I finished my run with no difficulties and was greeted by my lovely Tid when I got home. Sure, I was hot and stinky and my calves wanted to cramp up, but when someone like this runs out into the hall to say hello, you just have to take a minute for an ear rub, right?















I’m making carrot cookies tonight. Dan and I decided that we like the way they came out last weekend when I doubled the recipe and made it moister by adding applesauce. The end result is actually more like carrot blondies than carrot cookies, so maybe that’s what I should call them.