Bright Sunshiny Day

Fantastic weather here, after a lot of overcast days!

I had a good run this morning—nothing like heading out at dawn with the morning sun creating patterns of gold and shadow along the trails, birds singing in the trees, robins and squirrels going about their business, mulberries ripening and the scent of jasmine and honeysuckle in the air!

I followed Brays Bayou to Hermann Park and the zoo where I ran among the trees, then into Montrose and through some of my old neighborhoods to Buffalo Bayou where I enjoyed the company of other runners hitting the hills and trails. Then I ran through River Oaks (rich neighborhood) and into one of the business areas where I stopped at my bank to deposit a check. (Nothing like a run that adds a little money to your bank account, is there?) And from there I ran home, through another nice neighborhood where the trees meet overhead, past Rice University, back around the park and zoo, then home.

Near my house I noticed the bayou was running fairly clear and I could see a lot of fish in the water. They were bigger than I had thought bayou fish would be and explains why I’m always seeing cormorants and ospreys around.

Now that we have our vacation dates somewhat decided for the latter half of May, I’m scouting for fun things to do in New Mexico. The 10K I had thought I’d like to do in Santa Fe has been moved from late May to early June, so that’s out. And although I’m intrigued by “The World’s Toughest 10K,” the date is too soon for me to train to run up a 12% grade and I won’t be acclimated even a tiny bit to the altitude. So I think I had better pass on that one. I’ll keep looking and if nothing presents itself, it’s not like it will be the first time.

I made two loaves of banana bread yesterday, adding chopped dates to the recipe. Dan says this is the best version yet and has already gone through most of one of the loaves. I suspect the second one won’t last long, either.

Oh, and in case anyone is paying attention to these sorts of things, my favorite organic wheat flour went up 80 cents in the past week, from $3.69 to $4.49 for five pounds, and I noticed that conventional flour is up, too. It’s still cheaper than buying pre-made items (which I didn’t price, but probably went up, as well), but I’m regretting now that I didn’t buy more flour at the lower price. That’s’ what you get when you put fear of looking like a wild-eyed wacko survivalist ahead of the good old common sense that got humans out of the caves and into centrally-cooled homes. Oh well.

And finally, Ironman Arizona is Sunday! Good luck to all participants!

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical
Tuesday: 6.5 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin, abs
Thursday: too much work to do—missed workout
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 20 mile run

Recipe Share

I made this pumpkin bread for the second time today and since it was just as good as the first time, I thought I’d share. What I like about this recipe is that it doesn’t come out too pumpkiny. Not that it would be bad if it did, but this time of year just seems wrong to be eating something that tastes like Thanksgiving.

When I make this pumpkin bread, I substitute one cup of unsweetened applesauce for the oil and six packets of stevia for half of the sugar. For the optional goodies, I use pecans and golden raisins, as recommended, and dried cranberries. The result is a moist, fruity bread that’s yummy for breakfast or anytime I want a snack.

There’s another reason I like this recipe. Once I’ve got the pumpkin bread in the oven, I make a curry with the remainder of the can of pumpkin. I just sort of throw it together, so I can’t give exact measurements (spice is a very individual thing, anyway), but the basic recipe is:

• whatever is left in can after making pumpkin bread
• half the pumpkin can of water (chicken or vegetable broth would also work)
• one can of garbanzo beans, drained
• sautéed yellow onions (or onion flakes to taste, if you’re lazy)
• salt, white pepper, coriander, cumin and lots of curry, to taste

This makes a very nice dish served over rice.

And finally, I tried these carrot cookies this weekend:

This isn’t the recipe that’s given me fits for the last two weeks. The resulting cookies are very tasty but quite different from the crumbly shortbread-like carrot cookies I’ve been trying to get right. These cookies are more like little carrot-cakes, which can be good or bad depending on how tempting you find a cookie jar full of mini-carrot cakes.

I did a lot of cooking this weekend, but I’m set for the week now with home-cooked meals and snacks for every day. From here ‘til Friday, it’s me and the microwave!

Have a tasty week, friends!

Weekend Update

I got an interesting start to my weekend when my toilet stopped flushing on Thursday night. The water swirled around but wouldn't actually go anywhere. I had already been thinking about taking Friday as a work-from-home day, so that pretty much nailed my decision. We do have the studio apartment we can use in a bathroom emergency, but this is not Little House on the Prairie. Traipsing across the yard to answer the call of nature is not acceptable as a long-term solution.

Friday ended up being super-productive. I started working at 6 am and finished the salary/benefits portion of next fiscal year’s budget just before 5 pm. I took about an hour in the middle of the day to wash the dishes, make banana bread and start the laundry, but other than that and opening the door so someone could come in and fix the toilet, I was head-down the whole day and by 5 pm I was hungry and brain-dead. But my portion of the budget is now done, I have clean clothes, tasty banana bread, AND my toilet is flushing normally—the problem was a partially clogged line. Apparently this isn’t an unusual problem in these older houses, where buildup accumulates in the pipes over the decades.

This morning I was up early and went for a run on approximately the same route as last week, starting with a loop around campus while waiting for the sun to come up before heading out toward Hermann Park, Rice University, and eventually Buffalo Bayou. At one point I encountered a group of runners, one of whom was running on one of those curved-blade prostheses that runners use. I’ve seen these in the running and triathlon magazines and of course there was the recent fuss over whether double-amputee athlete Oscar Pistorius was getting an unfair advantage from his prosthetic legs.

I had never seen anyone IRL with one of these, so my first instinct was to go chasing after the guy so I could tell him how cool his leg was and ask how it worked. Of course, I did no such thing. He might feel self-conscious about it. But it did get me thinking how far we’ve come in technology and as a society when the reaction to a prosthesis is: OMG! Cool alert! Lemme see, pleeeeez???

Oh, and did I mention the guy was nice to look at, too? Buff and blond, about half my age, but none of us is getting any younger, right? Right.

Moving right along, now.

My next-door neighbor, for reasons known only to her unemployed self, has decided to engage in home improvement projects. This would be good, except that they seem to always involve noisy power tools. I was very suspicious when we got back from having Indian food and there was a backhoe in front of her house and an assortment of lesser noisemakers in the yard. Nice. I was up at 6 am, ran 20 miles, and now I was going to be deprived of an afternoon nap? Luckily the noise didn’t start up right away and I was able to sleep for a couple hours, but if she’s fixing up the house to sell, I hope it gets purchased by Orthodox Jews. Then I can count on quiet Saturdays.

Just now, Tidbit managed to fall out of her litterbox. I have no idea how she accomplished this, since it’s a high-wall box and she fell out of the side. She lay on the floor for a few seconds with a surprised look on her face, until I put her back on her feet, watched her hop around, then gave her a treat and rubbed her ears. I love you, Tid. Even if you are a klutz.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 35 minute elliptical, abs
Tuesday: 6 mile run
Wednesday: 40 minute spin, abs
Thursday: 30 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 20 mile run

A Book for Tid

One of Tidbit's friends gave her a copy of Bunnicula today. This will be her first read in the horror genre. She's still trying to understand why the humans think this book is funny.

Dumb Rabbit Update

I send all the way to Nebraska for special hay for this creature and instead she hops up on the bed and eats holes in the sheet.

Ingrate.

Saturday Check-In

When I stepped outside the door for my long run, it was overcast and had obviously rained during the night. The prediction was only 30% chance of rain, but it looked like more than that. Using the logic that if I left my sunglasses at home the sun would surely come out, I did just that. And it did. I got sprinkled on a little, but toward the end of my run, the sun did come out and it ended up being a very nice day to be running around town.

As an experiment this week I decided to see what would happen if I didn’t bring any work home from the office. Dumb idea. By Thursday I was behind on things and felt awful about it. I made significant progress catching up on Friday afternoon, working from home where I wouldn’t be interrupted all the time, but I’m still going to have to do some weekend work to be on track by Monday morning. It’s frustrating, although at least I work with people who seem okay on the concept that if someone has to work extra hours, they should at least be allowed to choose the venue and time of day for those hours. Especially when it’s all unpaid. You can bet if these management jobs were hourly and paid extra for everything after 40 hours a week, we’d suddenly have much saner workloads!

I finished my alteration project on the $2.50 capri pants I bought last week. They’re black with three bands of ribbon trim at the cuffs, and oh-so-cute! And now they don't balloon out at my hips. Joy! I wore them to go have Indian food today and I have a feeling these are going to become this summer’s favorite pants.

I have another alteration project going on, but it’s much more complicated and I don’t know how long it will take me, especially since I don’t have a sewing machine and have to do everything by hand. In addition, I have decided I should have an apron if I’m going to keep on with all my recent baking projects. The easiest thing (which I’ve seen on the Wardrobe Refashion website) is to convert an old sundress. I was pretty excited about that idea until I realized that: a) most of my summer clothes are still buried at the bottom of a huge wicker chest, and b) I think I gave all my unwanted sundresses to charity when I moved. So there’s a potential dilemma here. We’ll see what I find once I start changing out my closet for spring.

I baked some carrot cookies tonight. I tried adding a little molasses to see if that would make the end result a little less crumbly. It helped a little, but I’m going to have to keep tweaking this particular recipe. I used craisins (dried cranberries) instead of golden raisins and it added a nice little flavor punch. Highly recommended! Now if I can just get the moistness right, I’ll be in business.

Not much else is happening. The week went by unbelievably fast, even with me not working from home in the evenings. I hit all my workouts though, and things are coming along well with my new novel, so I’m happy.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical (intervals), weights and abs
Tuesday: 7 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin
Thursday: 35 minute elliptical
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 19 mile run

My Not-So-Restful Weekend

What a weekend! Here’s the lowdown:

Errands:

• Got watch fixed
  
• Got hair cut (hate it, but that’s a separate issue)
  
• Donated a big ol’ stack of old magazines
  
• Bought new cookbook
  
• Went to cheap store to stock up on baking supplies
  
• Went to my usual organic stores for weekly groceries
  
• Went thrifting—bought cute capris for $2.50
  

Miscellaneous Projects:

• Colored my hair (nothing fancy, just covering the gray)
  
• Started altering the $2.50 capris (needed to be taken in at the hips; for $2.50 I don’t mind doing a small alteration)
  
• Tidbit’s Easter photo shoot
  

Baking:

• Banana-walnut bread
  
• Carrot-Apple bread
  
• Carrot cookies (came out dry, although I followed recipe exactly)
  

Other Cooking:

• Black beans with garlic
  
• Brown rice
  
• Wilted spinach with garlic
  
• Curry zucchini
  
• Curry rice
  
• Hard-boiled eggs (not for the Easter Bunny but for my lunches this week)
  

Other Food:

• Saturday lunch (Indian restaurant!) with Dan
  

Workouts:

• 17 mile run (including first-ever encounter with hostile canine)
  
• 90-minute spin
  
• Weights and abs
  

Writing:

• Posted Spring Flash Fiction Carnival
  
• 4,000 words on current WIP, bringing total word count to 31K+
  
• Flash fiction accepted for Word Catalyst Magazine’s May issue
  
• Nice review of my book on The Lulu Book Review site
  
• Five blog posts (including this one)
  
• Numerous comments on other blogs
  

I think that’s it. I’m tired now and I still have to feed the critters and iron some clothes for tomorrow. I swear sometimes I need a vacation from both my job and my weekends!

Hoppy Easter!

Tidbit apologizes for the late post, but she was exhausted after hiding all those eggs!

For those who celebrated, she hopes you had a happy one! For those who didn't, I hear there's lots of half-price chocolate in the stores starting tomorrow!

This Just In!

The fossilized remains of an ancient lagomorph have been found! (That's a bunny to you ordinary folks.)

Tidbit is impressed.

Tidbit's Bunspace Profile

Tidbit's Thoughts

All this blog blather about food is making me hungry. Hurry up with the greens, biped!

Food for Thought

I cooked up a storm this weekend! From Friday afternoon to Sunday afternoon, I made the following:

Baking:

1 loaf banana bread

1 loaf honey-wheat bread

2 loaves carrot-apple bread

Just Regular Eats (food for the coming week):

couscous with feta and diced grape tomatoes

wilted spinach with garlic

curry zucchini and onions

black beans with garlic

brown rice

curry fried rice (I always do a rice dish with the previous week’s leftover rice)

I also dehydrated some spinach. Central Market has been selling locally-grown triple-washed spinach for several weeks now and it occurred to me that I’m going to really miss it when the season for it is over. So I broke out the dehydrator and now have lots of dry, crunchy spinach leaves sealed in a freezer bag and residing in my freezer for some summer day when I want cheap spinach. Because it’s dehydrated and crumbles easily in this state, it would also be good for any sort of pasta Florentine dish—no chopping required, just crumble before rehydrating.

I don’t know how many of you out there have been paying attention to the value of the dollar, the state of the American (and by extension, the world’s) banking system, and oil/gas prices, but it looks like we're in a situation that’s going to get worse before it gets better. And if you haven’t read up on what’s happening in the grain markets, the short answer is that prices of most grains, especially wheat, are also going up due to a number of factors including drought and wheat rust. Add in the higher cost of shipping now that diesel is at $4/gallon in a lot of places, and you’d have to be blind not to see where all this is trending for summer.

If you don’t know how to cook cheap, now is a great time to start. With a rice cooker and a crock pot, you can have tasty meals for pennies, with about 5-10 minutes of actual time spent working in the kitchen. (Yeah, food takes longer than that to cook, but you don’t have to actually be present.) For the same amount of time a lot of folks spend at the drive-through breathing exhaust fumes, one can cook a cheap, healthy meal at home!

I hope all the economic indicators are wrong or that a deus ex machina is about to swoop down and save us from the crazy confluence of problems driving the dollar down and the cost of everything up. But I’m not betting on it. Right now, $2.54 buys me a 5-pound bag of organic wheat flour. How many loaves of wheat bread can you buy for that price? If our economy doesn't get straightened out fast, how many do you think you'll be able to buy this summer?

Food for thought, indeed.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 35 minutes elliptical, 10 minute row
Tuesday: 6.5 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin, abs and weights
Thursday: 35 minute elliptical, abs and weights
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 18 mile run
Sunday: 2 hour spin, weights and abs

Recipe Share: Carrot-Apple Bread

This is the recipe I modified last week from a zucchini bread recipe. Other than the time spent chopping carrots for the food processor, this takes very little time to make and will produce two yummy loaves. Freeze one for later or bake them in disposable foil pans and take one to work.

BTW, your house will smell heavenly while this is baking!

Enjoy!

CARROT-APPLE BREAD

INGREDIENTS

• 3 eggs
  
• 1 cup vegetable oil (may substitute applesauce for oil)
  
• 2 cups white sugar (or 4 packets stevia and 1 cup sugar)
  
• 2 cups grated carrots
  
• 1 cup diced dried apples
  
• 3 cups flour
  
• 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
  
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
  
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour two 8x4 inch loaf pans.
   
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until light and frothy. Mix in oil (or applesauce) and sugar. Stir in carrots and apples. In separate bowl, combine flour, spices, soda, baking powder, salt and nuts; stir into the egg mixture. Divide batter into prepared pans.
   
3. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes, or until done.
   

Some notes on my ingredients. These are personal preferences and not required for this recipe to work:

• I use organic ingredients
  
• I substitute 1 cup organic applesauce for the 1 cup oil, but one could also do ½ cup oil and ½ cup applesauce
  
• I usually use 4 packets of stevia and one cup of brown sugar instead of all that white sugar. If you decide to reduce the sugar, you may want to add more of the spices.
  
• I use whole wheat flour, but white or a combination of white and wheat would also work
  
• When I have it, I use a little hazelnut or pecan flour in all my breads. These are very finely ground nuts that one can get in the bulk bins at an organic foods store.
  

Physics for Rabbits

Attention Small White Creature:

Two things cannot be in the same place at the same time.

This is a mandate from God/Nature/Science, not me. I obey the laws but I do not create them. Physics is not a democracy. I was given no vote.

What this means for you is that if you shove your face in the food bowl, I cannot put your morning kibble in. Really. This is why you sometimes end up with kibble on your head, and this is why you have no business looking at me like that when you do.

Read up on basic principles of physics and you'll understand. And check out Pauli's Exclusion Principle while you're at it.

We'll try this again tomorrow.

That is all.

Carrot Bread Update

The carrot bread came out pretty good! It's a little dense, so I may want to tweak the recipe for next time. I got a little too happy with adding stuff to the batter, like an extra cup of shredded carrots, hazelnut flour, and some dried apples and cranberries. It's all good, but I think the bread would've been lighter with not so much stuff in it. It could've used more nutmeg too, and maybe some ginger.

I love experimenting in the kitchen!

Lackluster Run and New Adventures in Cooking

Sometimes I go out for a run and I’m just not feeling it. Today was one of those days.

I’m always sleepy in the morning and the feeling usually passes, so I didn’t worry about that. And although I’m having a lot of asthma troubles with all the ash pollen these days, my lungs usually figure things out after about half an hour, so I didn’t worry too much about that, either. It was a little colder out than I would’ve liked—I had to wear my fleece headband to keep my ears warm and my hands got cold and stiff. I wasn’t happy about that at all. But I figured those things would resolve themselves with time and I’d end up enjoying my run.

Nope.

But since I hadn’t been able to work out for two days and had been doing a lot of eating, I forced myself through it. I had mapped out a route that would take me on the newly-refurbished part of the bayou trail, to the zoo, to Rice University, and eventually to my bank before coming home. The bank was kind of a priority since my father sent me a check to help with my student loan repayments.

It was a clear sunny day with bright blue skies, perfect for running. Flowers were in bloom, robins bopping around in the grass, ospreys soaring over the bayou looking for fish. Nice. There was some kind of event going on at my university and there was a run going on at the Rice campus—race bibs, timing mat and everything. In all, it was a really nice morning to be out seeing people and other wildlife, but I just wasn’t feeling it for some reason.

Oh well. I got my check deposited. And I earned lots of yummy Indian food for lunch.

I got a package today from my father. He has always been one to give random little gifts that aren’t necessarily very expensive or significant of themselves, but always carry a warm “thinking of you” message. Today’s box contained dried chiles, pecans from his tree, some Easter candy, and an over-engineered water bottle that tracks your hydration throughout the day. I offered Dan the bottle, telling him maybe it would help him keep from getting kidney stones again!

Tonight I’m working on a new culinary experiment. See, I have a carrot problem. Tidbit loves carrot tops but she can’t have a lot of carrots because of the sugar content. And although I like carrots just fine, I get tired of them. How many ways can you cook a carrot? So tonight I’m making carrot bread, using a zucchini bread recipe and substituting grated carrots. Results should be available for tasting in about half an hour!

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Tuesday: 5.5 mile run
Wednesday: 35 minute spin (intervals)
Thursday: no workout
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 19 mile run

Bread

Yes, peeps, I made bread. Whole wheat bread. With yeast. And I did it not with a fancy bread maker but by mixing things, letting the dough rise and putting the whole thing in the oven. I even put a honey glaze on top.

It turned out all right. Tasted like...bread.

I'm starting to scare myself.

My New Love

Couscous.

Boil a little water, dump in the couscous, cover, remove from heat, walk away. Five minutes later, dinner! It’s almost as easy as microwaving a frozen dinner, but much cheaper and with none of the nasty plastics and preservatives! I added herbs, sliced grape tomatoes and crumbled feta to my couscous and it was filling and delicious! How on earth did I not make this discovery years ago?

I hope to have a fun Tidpic soon. Dan has been coming home for lunch lately and took some pictures of Pixel and Tidbit napping on the bed in the study. I need him to send me the pics so I can post them. It’s funny to see them hanging out together because whenever we’re around, Pix makes a big deal of being too cool to hang out with a rabbit. But when we catch him unawares, it’s clear that the real story is quite different!

Speaking of cats, there’s a new one hanging around—a tortoiseshell. There was already a black cat, who often sleeps on our front porch, but now there’s this other cat who hangs out on our back deck. I haven’t fed any of these cats, since they already look well-fed. It’s fun to see them around, even though sometimes they get to looking in the windows and then Pixel gets upset.

I ran about 17.5 miles this morning and wanted to do more but got a late start. Somehow I managed to re-set my alarm clock in my sleep! There was a lot going on around campus today, so I had to change my route almost from the beginning. I was going to do the “diminishing loops” route I tried last weekend, where each loop was shorter than the last. Good psychology! But instead I was stuck with same-distance loops. Lucky for me, my brain was up for it and I didn’t try to talk myself out of it. It’s funny how often it’s the mind that sabotages the body and not the other way around.

In other running news, it looks like the south-side trail along the bayou is essentially done, which means I’ll feel more confident about leaving the neighborhood and going up to Hermann Park. Since moving here in August, the south side where the mansions are has been under renovation, leaving only the north side open. The north side abuts some highly questionable apartments and although I’ve only twice seen people who gave me cause for worry, that’s been enough for me to not feel comfortable running that trail with regularity. The other side is much safer and I’m excited that it’s open again. I might even go check it out this week.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, 10 minute row
Tuesday: 6 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin
Thursday: no workout; got stuck late at the office
Friday: 30 minute elliptical
Saturday: 17.5 mile run

Tidbit Tagged!

Tidbit taking over here! It seems I've been tagged!

My friend Lola has asked me to answer the following question:

What three things would you do that you have never done before, if you knew you wouldn’t get caught, get in trouble, or suffer any consequences?

I don't know what to say. This question implies I have a secret desire to get up to some kind of trouble, which I can assure my friends I do not!

Nevertheless, if in theory I were to behave in an uncharacteristic way, I might do one of the following:

• Eat the male human's tortilla chips. I tried this once long ago when he left the bag on the sofa. He thought I didn't know what they were. Boy, did I prove him wrong!
  
• Find where the humans are keeping my hay and help myself. I know the nice man from UPS brings a big box every month or so, stuffed full of sweet green timmy hay from the Oxbow company. But my dumb humans hide it from me and only dole it out in little bits. Unacceptable.
  
• Finish tunneling under the bed, either through the storage boxes they keep under there or via the mattress, which I was making a very nice hole in before the humans made me stop. I don't know why under-bed is off-limits, but I think it would make a fantastic bunny hideout, if only I could gain access.
  

So there you have it. Three things I would never, ever do, except hypothetically, of course. I'm a good bunny. Just check out this classic picture of me!


















Innocent and adorable, aren't I?

I'm supposed to tag someone who hasn't played yet, but I think all my furbuddies are tagged by now. Maybe the buns at A Houseful of Rabbits haven't done this yet and would like to play? Otherwise, here's the obligatory link back to petspics and anyone who wants to play can hop on in!

Office Space

This week’s theme at my office was how to juggle people around to accommodate the space needs of an interim director and his secretary. Space is always at a premium at our university and even though the people moving into our area are from a different part of IT and we won’t report to them, they’re still going to be housed with us, for lack of other options.

Fortuitously (for the space issue, not for the employee who left us) we had a resignation that freed up an office. For at least Round One of the office moves, this made everything work out. It’s been a big job, though, getting offices cleaned out, furniture moved and phones moved and installed on short notice. The director moves in Monday!

The employee who resigned had been out for medical reasons and was unable to return, leaving my staff to pack her personal belongings, go through her files, etc. That left me handling things I might have otherwise delegated, and I had one day where it seemed everyone was determined to keep tasking me things without ever giving me a chance to work on them. I finally got frustrated and told my boss she couldn’t give me anything else to do unless she took something else away. She laughed, but left me alone after that. I got caught up. Funny how that works.

On today’s run I stopped at my office to get water and because I saw a co-worker’s car outside and wanted to see how the office moves were going. My co-worker was busily going through files, and when I went to my own office I noticed that a lateral file had been moved in there, so I can only assume our space management guy showed up in the wee hours as promised to do a little heavy lifting. In addition to the lateral file, I also acquired a printer out of this deal, so I’m happy. I work on a lot of confidential documents and it’s a pain to have to run down the hall and wait for stuff to print so I can grab it before anyone else does. Now if only I could get a proper desk chair, I think I’d be set!

I’m hoping that having the interim director and his secretary in our suite will set a more serious tone for our business office. My own team are usually quiet and professional, but there’s another group that seem to spend a lot of time ordering take-out and giggling over popcorn shrimp or whatever it is they buy. As far as I know they do good work, but appearances mean something and they don’t always give the people we serve a good impression. I have a feeling things are about to change.

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical, weights
Tuesday: 5.5 mile run
Wednesday: 45 minute spin, weights
Thursday: 45 minute elliptical, 10 minute row
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 19 mile run

Classic Tidbit

Fun Links!

Since I have nothing interesting of my own to share tonight, how about some links?

My Strange New Mexico: Not updated nearly as often as I would like, but just what it says. If you think the imagined New Mexico of my speculative fiction is weird, just take a look at what the real New Mexico of today is like!

Paleo-Future: Hilarious and fascinating look at what we thought the future would be like.

The Victorian Peeper: Fun historical tidbits from Victorian England.

Scandalous Women: Great little articles about women who broke boundaries and got people talking in their day!

Enjoy!

Saturday Post

It was supposed to be a rainy morning, so I did a three-hour spin, only for the morning to remain clear. I was a little annoyed, but the weather was so warm and soup-like that I probably did myself a favor by not running. And the rain finally did move in this evening with some brief but gusty storms.

My plan for tomorrow is to go to Memorial Park and run about twelve miles, then hit Central Market for a few items (and food samples), and spend the afternoon cooking and resting up for the week ahead. We don't have any old bananas for banana bread this weekend, but we do have all the fixin's for bread pudding, so there won't be a shortage of treats around here!

It's been a quiet weekend so far and I'm happy about it.

Recent Workouts
Tuesday: 35 minute elliptical, abs and weights
Wednesday: 5 mile run
Thursday: 45 minute spin, abs and weights
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 3 hour spin (Lake Placid Spinerval video)

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!

If you're in the mood for a little romantic (or not-so-romantic) reading, drop by the Flash Fiction Carnival website for links to short stories and outtakes, all around 1,000 words or less-- perfect for some light reading on your lunch break!

And since getting the Carnival post put together tonight precludes my writing a new post here for the occasion, here's an oldie but a goodie from a few years ago: Roses. True story. Strange things sometimes happen, even to me.

Have a wonderful day, friends!

Recruited!

After dropping hints for several weeks, the good folks in our HR department finally came right out and said it today: they want to make me an offer.

This is interesting on a lot of different levels. They can’t offer me much more money than I make now, but they can offer a lot less stress. They might be able to offer a better career path too, since I’m very close to being as high as I would ever want to go on my current trajectory. There's one more level up from here, and after that I'd be looking at responsibility for an entire college or division and I don’t think the extra hours and headaches would be worth the money.

But (there’s always a “but”) I'm overdue for that next bump up on my current path and I’ve been busily arranging matters so that my case won’t be denied. Having a competing offer from HR would pretty much nail my next promotion with my current department and the pay would be better than anything HR could offer.

Thankfully, no action is needed at this time. I’m having lunch with one of my HR contacts on Friday and we’ll see how that goes. I have a lot of questions and a lot of thinking to do. No matter which way this thing goes, though, I have a feeling I’ll be making more money very soon.*

*Note: In university administration, “very soon” means sometime in the next six months. It's not time to hit the mall just yet, as if I ever would.

Tidbit Escapes!

I've figured out how to get out of my room!



















I like it out here in the hall. The better to check up on the humans!

Chocolate!

Ha! Got your attention, didn't I?

Central Market was a regular House o' Chocolate today and boy did I have a great time sampling the wares! Truffles, chocolate bar samples, cookies, chocolate fountain with goodies for dipping-- they had the works! Of course the crowds were horrendous at times. What is it with people who park their huge shopping carts in such a way that no one can get past and then dawdle over the samples, trying several of each kind, oblivious to the fact that twenty people on each side are waiting to get by?

I suggest a new rule: No chocolate for inconsiderate idiots!

After coming home, I did some cooking: sauteed spinach with garlic, steamed carrots with dill, brown rice, spicy black beans, and fried rice (made with last week's leftover rice). An hour in the kitchen; a week's worth of meals!

Next it was time for a spin workout. I did two hours on the bike followed by some abs and weights. I can barely raise my arms enough to type now, but I'm hoping a nap will fix that. A nap at 6:00 pm? Uh...yeah. I'm weird that way.

There will probably be bunny pics later if the ones I took of Tid posing in the hall this afternoon turn out. But for now, it's time to catch some Z's.

De Regieur Saturday Post

I’ve been tired again this week, I’m not sure why. Maybe my metabolism has shifted and my body wants more sleep. Maybe it’s the kava-kava I’m taking to ward off a case of monthly bitchiness. Maybe it’s my body adjusting to my shift toward more interval and weight training work now that the marathon is over. Whatever it is, I hope I get back on track soon. I don’t like feeling this way.

I never realized how busy my campus was until I moved a block away. Today the rec center was open early for a regional swim meet and there were swimwear hawkers and proud parents everywhere. There was also something soccer-related going on because while I was using the new jogging trail outside the rec center, a bus pulled up and a bunch of young Asian men in matching warmup suits piled out and were directed by their coaches to the soccer field in the bowl encircled by the track. And there were other things happening on campus too, that I wasn’t entirely clear about. There were children in karate uniforms, little girls in track suits but with their hair in buns like ballerinas, and of course there were the usual campus tours and Saturday classes happening.

A busy day for them, but for me it was just an ordinary Saturday: running, Indian food, and a nice long nap.

Wildlife Update: Dan found an owl in our backyard a couple nights ago. We had heard it for awhile, but this was the first time either of us had seen it. He said it swooped right past him and landed on the ground underneath our ginormous oak tree. He watched it for awhile, then came to get me. Although I went outside immediately in bathrobe and slippers, the owl was gone. I did get to see a raccoon on my run this morning, though. It slipped out of a neighbor’s back fence, wearing its mask and thinking it was incognito. Then it saw me and ran away. Am I that scary? And finally, there are some new water birds hanging around the bayou. I’m not sure what they are, so if I have time I’ll go out there with the binoculars and take a look.

Tomorrow (Sunday) is cooking day. I’ve already made banana bread and bowtie pasta casserole, and I have some old naan for bread pudding when the banana bread is gone. Tomorrow I’ll be cooking spinach, potatoes, rice, and either a bean or lentil dish. In spite of my culinary frugality, though, Friday’s grocery bill was a hefty one. I was low on some of my more expensive ingredients, like hazelnut flour and almonds, and those kinds of things really add up fast! Luckily they also last quite awhile.

And that’s about it for the week, except for writerly stuff which I’ll post on my other blog tonight or tomorrow. I hope to have a new Tid Pic sometime this weekend, too. These days it’s hard to get her to stay still for the camera because photos so often feature bribes that she wiggles all around, sniffing for raisins!

Recent Workouts
Monday: 30 minute elliptical (intervals), weights and abs
Tuesday: 45 minute spin + weights and abs
Wednesday: 5 mile run, with fartlek intervals
Thursday: 45 minute elliptical (steady pace), weights and abs
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 16.5 mile run (campus and bayou)

Gravity and Weekend Update

I had a little trouble with gravity this past week. No, I didn’t fall or anything like that. Thankfully, my klutzy moves are rare (thanks for putting me in ballet class, Mom and Dad!). But by the latter part of the week I really found myself dragging, as if I had somehow become much more susceptible to gravity than usual. Several of my co-workers felt the same way, so maybe it really was a gravity problem. It’s as good an excuse as any, I suppose.

I was worried that my gravity problem would affect this morning’s long run so I was careful to plot a route that would take me through some areas I hadn’t been in awhile, to keep my focus on something other than being tired. This trick worked and I had a very pleasant run that went mostly through Montrose with a stop at my favorite cemetery to visit the grave of the girls killed in the hurricane of 1900.

There’s another grave at this cemetery that I find interesting. It looks like a tallish tree stump, and in addition to the name and dates of the deceased, it bears the seal of the International Woodmen of the World. But what I found more thought-provoking was the plaque added much later by the Houston Police Department. It stated that the deceased, who was 31 at the time of his death, was a police officer killed in the line of duty. We tend to think of our own time as the only one filled with random social violence, so it was an interesting reminder that there’s really no such thing as a more innocent time. Here’s a little info on Officer Cain, if anyone is interested.

This evening I’m still feeling full after all the Indian food I ate for lunch. I’m being tempted by the banana bread I made last night, though, and I might succumb pretty soon. I’ve been perfecting my recipe and this time I added ground hazelnuts, which was a good move.

I don’t have much planned for Sunday, other than the usual round of cooking, errands and working out. I hope I don’t have to contend with a lot of pre-Superbowl crowds at Central Market, stocking up on deli food and such.

And finally, in other weekly wrap-up news, I have a story published in the February issue of Flash Fiction Online. Go check it out if you have the time, and read the other fine stories there, too!

That’s all for now. The husband is home and destroying my concentration. Is it any wonder I have trouble writing until after he’s gone to bed?

This Week's Workouts
Monday: none; too much going on at work
Tuesday: 5 mile run
Wednesday: 30 minute elliptical followed by weights and abs
Thursday: 60 minute spin followed by weights and abs
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 15.5 mile run

Tidbit Update

Rabbit, viewed from above.

Lately, Tidbit has figured out that she can come out of the study and chase us through part of the house. With me, she just checks up on what I'm doing, then goes away. But she follows Dan's movements like a little dog. That's because he gives her treats, like banana slices and raisins. I'm just the boring lady who cleans her litter box and gives her hay, water and fresh veggies.

Ingrate.

Saturday Thoughts

I had a nice run today, following a familiar route to Hermann Park and Rice University. I came upon some sort of race going on near one of the zoo entrances, but I'm not sure what it was about. There's a race next month benefiting the park and zoo, so I'm pretty sure today's race was for some other purpose.

I haven't decided what I want my next big project to be. I want to get back into triathlon, but my hip is a problem. I have to tape my hip to run, and you can't tape a wet body between swim and bike, or bike and run.

Triathlon would also require I reorganize my work schedule so I could swim in the morning. Pool chlorine leaves me sniffling for hours, so I have to swim early if I want to sleep later. The problem is that I really like working early and leaving early, and I also don't like swimming at any hour, much less first thing in the morning. I may try it out this week, though, just to see how such a schedule would work. It might not be as bad as I think it would be.

I'd also like to do some of the MS-150 training rides this year. I don't want to do the MS ride-- the Houston to Austin ride is way too full of amateurs to be fun or safe. But I miss the training rides, and my only real problem is how to get to them, since they're all way out in exurbia. My car is old and I'm not so sure I want to do battle with Dan to get driving privileges for his prized Jeep. I've recently discovered that a co-worker will be doing the MS ride, though, and I might be able to work something out with him to get to the training rides.

Or I might just focus on overall conditioning, including core and upper body work. I like being able to keep my own schedule with no worries about race dates and training schedules. The rec center always has interesting classes, so maybe I could reorganize my schedule for a dance class or martial arts or something.

In other news, I'm getting back into cooking again, after a lapse over the holidays that continued into January. Why cook when you have a fridge full of leftovers? I'm back to cooking up meals for the week on Sundays, though, and Dan is getting into the act, too. He cooked up a big batch of pasta this past week and I added veggies and pine nuts. Last night I made banana bread with the overripe leftover bananas from the week. It came out pretty good and was much quicker and easier than I thought it would be. A lot of cooking is that way, though. You think it will take forever, when in actual practice, the prep time isn't so bad at all. I especially love the convenience of rice cooker and crock pot. Ten minutes of work, a week's worth of meals.

Mercury in Retrograde?

Many years ago, I was the admin assistant to my current boss. I then became business head of a department in my own right, then was moved back under her in a division reorganization. Throughout these years, she has been my direct boss, my dotted-line (peripheral) boss, and now my boss again but in a more peer-structured relationship.

Why do I mention this? Because no one ever removed my ability to see the details of her Outlook calendar from back in the days when I was her assistant.

Why does this matter? No reason, really, except that she's been through a heck of a lot in the last two months, including major car troubles, financial woes, the death of her father and the passing of a beloved dog. She's taken a lot of personal time to get her head together, and she just now left the office. Again. I checked her calendar to see if it was for an important meeting or for some other reason, and found nothing conclusive. But starting next week, she's got a series of daily reminders:

No Big Decisions: Mercury in Retrograde

From any other person, at any other time, I'd be shaking my head in stunned disappointment at such superstition. Instead, I'm sitting here smiling in private amusement. After what she's been through lately, she needs to be making no big decisions. If an Outlook reminder about a planet will do that for her, I'm for it.

I Like Being a Girl

A couple weeks ago I changed out a flat on my bike, but the tube I used was short stem and nearly impossible to inflate. So today I tried to change it out for another tube. After half an hour of struggling with a tire that required I defy eight laws of physics before it would go back on the rim, I found that my new tube wasn’t holding air very well. The next tube I tried was old and burst with a nicely exciting bang when I tried to inflate it.

Had it been a normal two-day weekend, I would’ve been crazy with frustration. So much to do, so little time to spend on bullshit! But with a whole extra day in which to get things done, I took wheel and tire to the bike shop and bought two new tubes. And since I wasn’t up for fighting that tire yet again today, I had the shop mechanic put one of the tubes on for me.

Yes, I wimped out and asked a man to fix my tire. And I wasn’t embarrassed. Not much, anyway. That’s one of the nice things about being female. You don’t lose face when you ask for help with a job that falls into the “manly” category.

Sometimes it’s good to be a girl.

Body Willing; Mind Weak

My non-running friends probably think the body is what keeps a runner going, but this isn’t entirely true. The body is a dumb animal in many respects. It will do what it’s trained to do. Train properly, and you can point your body out the door, tell it to run, and it will trot along as ordered.

It’s the brain that will sabotage you.

I recovered fairly quickly from the marathon and by this morning I was ready to run again. Or so said my body. I picked out a three-loop route that would give me twelve miles while keeping me close to home. My body didn’t have a moment’s trouble, but from the very beginning my brain nagged at me. It’s too cold out. Too many puddles. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I don’t wanna. Can we go home now?

I persevered, but I was well into the final loop before my mind quit trying to sabotage my run and bowed to necessity.

So today I trained my mind. I like to think it was a character-building exercise, but it was probably just needless torment.

Recent Workouts (marathon recovery week)
Monday: 2 mile walk
Tuesday: 30 minute elliptical
Wednesday: 25 minute elliptical + 1 mile run
Thursday: 25 minute elliptical + 1 mile run
Friday: scheduled rest day
Saturday: 12 mile run

Happy Birthday to Me

I don't normally want much of a fuss made over my birthday. It's not that I mind getting older-- quite the opposite. The older I get, the more I feel like I'm coming into my own. It's just that birthdays aren't that big a deal to me. I'm flattered when someone remembers and wishes me a happy one, but I don't see any reason to make a big production out of it with cakes and hoopla.

So this morning I was surprised to arrive at my office and find that my staff had put a Happy Birthday note on my door and a bunch of balloons. I don't think I even mentioned my birthday to them, so they must've looked it up. Isn't that sweet?

Then when my staff arrived, they informed me they were taking me to lunch. Awww... I have the bestest team ever!

After we got back from lunch, flowers were delivered. They were from Dan, who so rarely gives me flowers that it's a real treat when he does. I got lots of compliments on them and was even more impressed when Dan told me later that the florist is a guy he hung out with in his Teenage Delinquent years. Apparently the guy's parents were florists and he inherited the shop and is quite the respectable citizen now. Funny how life turns, isn't it?

And topping it all off, I got a funny card from my father today with a little cash inside. He had given me birthday presents before going back to New Mexico, so I wasn't expecting anything at all, but my father is the master of little "thinking of you" gifts, so I shouldn't have let myself be surprised. Not after forty-one years to get used to his ways.

In sum, it was a really sweet, special day for me. I got nothing of real consequence, and if I got balloons, cards, flowers and lunch for every birthday it would be trite. But because it's the sort of thing that isn't the norm, I found myself oddly touched by it all.

Happy Birthday to Me!

Houston Marathon – Race Report

This year was much less stressful than last year. The weather was not in doubt. It was cold and sunny, so no last-minute dithering over whether I would need rain gear. Second, I wasn’t on the brink of bronchitis, so my mood and energy level were good and I wasn't having breathing troubles.

Dan dropped me off at the convention center and I had plenty of time to get ready, check my bag and even use a real restroom, instead of one of the port-a-cans. I waited until the last possible minute to go outside because the skyscrapers create a wind tunnel effect, making it feel colder than it really is.

I found the 4:30 pace group and stuck with them for the first few miles, concentrating mainly on not tripping over anyone because the pack hadn’t spread out yet. I swear I don’t know how people run the really big marathons like New York and Chicago, where the packs never seem to thin.

By around Mile 4 I was able to find my own pace and moved ahead of the 4:30 group. Between Miles 6-7 I kept pace with a guy who was trying to get a sing-along going and joked with the spectators, trying to get extra applause. Watching his antics kept me entertained for a couple miles, but I lost him after awhile.

When we passed the Palmer Episcopal Church between Miles 9-10 I made sure to get in a good spot for some of the holy water they were splashing on the runners. It’s a cute tradition and with still so far to go, anyone’s blessing was welcome.

Crowds were good through West U, and it was nice to see the folklorico dancers out. I was glad to get to the halfway point, though, and turn toward the Galleria. By now the part of my brain that had been arguing with me about whether this was a good way to spend my Sunday morning had finally shut up and I could just focus on getting the miles done. I was glad when we finally turned onto Woodway, though. From here it was a straight shot to downtown, down my old running routes.

The belly dancers were between Miles 19-20, as usual, and I was very happy to reach the Clif tent around Mile 21 and get a Clif Shot and some Clif Bloks. My hands were cold, making it hard to find things in my pack, so the easy calorie boost was welcome.

Dan met me between Miles 22-23 and I handed off some of my cold-weather gear I no longer needed. I stopped soon after Mile 24 to stretch my legs (hip acting up) on some stairs for a pedestrian bridge over Allen Parkway. And after that, no more stops, no excuses.

There’s always a horrible “so near and yet so far” moment when you turn onto the final approach to the finish line. You can see it several blocks away, but at this point, it seems like no matter how many streets you cross, it never gets any closer. This is always an occasion for me to mutter a lot of WTFs, but finally, yes, the finish line is there. I heard the beep as I crossed the mat, I remembered to stop my watch, and I immediately found it was a lot harder to walk than run.

I got my picture taken (I probably look stupid in it since I don’t photograph well) then I staggered into the convention center to get my medal, pick up my bag, and get my finisher’s shirt and cup. The finisher’s shirts made me happy because they had actual girl-cut shirts for female finishers. I hate huge shirts, and even a men’s small is too big. But the women’s small was perfect and so cute!

I found a nice place to spread out my towel and ice my legs with my instant cold packs. I called Dan and he told me where to meet him, but long runs cause temporary brain damage, so I just pretended I knew where he was and figured I’d have to hope for the best. Since my cold packs were still cold, I gave them to a nice young couple who had been stumbling around and watching me enviously.

Then I headed outside and started walking. Poor Dan! It’s a good thing he’s done the marathon before too, or I would’ve never gotten the amount of patience I did from him. I wandered a bit before finding a sunny spot and calling him. I read the street signs (thank goodness I could still read!) and he told me to stay where I was until he found me.

After a hot shower and some Indian food, I started getting my brain back and Dan’s original instructions made perfect sense. He later said he thought about telling me he was on the north side, but figured I was in no fit state to understand the concept of "north." "I probably would've cried," I said.

I noticed they’ve already opened registration for next year’s marathon. I’m conflicted about whether I should sign up early or even sign up at all. Each year I swear not to sign up again because I’m around so many sick people in December and early January that I end up spending Christmas and New Year’s in a state of paranoia. Running San Antonio in November would actually be a more sensible option. But marathons are funny things. No sooner are you done than you find yourself wanting to sign up again, no matter how much pain you were in at the end.

Well, no need to make a decision today. I’m glad I finished, glad I did better than last year, and glad the pressure is off and I can turn my thoughts toward other things.

Done!

Finish time: 4:25:44. It's a significant improvement over last year, but still a good ways off what I think I'm capable of.

I'm not dissatisfied, though.

More later. It's nap time.

A Fun Day

For many years it has been my annual tradition to take the Friday before the marathon as a vacation day, go to the Expo and do some shopping. The fact that my birthday always falls on or near marathon weekend is an additional reason for this fun tradition.

I started my day by sleeping in until 8:00. I read the morning news over coffee, checked up on things at the office and handled a few work-related matters, then got dressed and headed downtown.

I got to the Expo at 11:15. I picked up my race packet, got my chip tested, got one of the two shirts I’ll be getting this weekend (I get the other after I cross the finish line) and explored the Expo. I hadn’t had breakfast, so I made sure to hit the Clif Bar booth for samples. I was disappointed that there was no Smoothie King booth, but there were two rice companies with booths and I ate a lot of rice. I also ate a mini Lara Bar. It was okay, but I still prefer Clif Bars.

I browsed the sale clothing from the various running shops, but didn’t find anything I just had to have. I bought a couple of new running caps though, and some socks and an amphipod pocket. I have two amphipods already, but they’ve been missing since I moved last August, and I’ve really missed having one for short runs.

I signed up for Bayou City Outdoors' newsletter and entered a drawing for a weekend in Marathon, Texas (near Big Bend). I picked up race info on upcoming triathlons and next November’s San Antonio Marathon.

When I could find nothing else of interest, I left the expo and went to one of my favorite resale shops. I found a lot of good stuff there.

Then it was off to PetSmart to stock up on supplies, using one of my gift cards from Christmas. And since PetSmart is next to a Barnes & Noble store, I browsed the books and found two I liked, using another of my Christmas gift cards.

Walgreens was next on my list, where among other things, I got some instant cold packs for after the marathon. It was great last year to be able to ice my legs immediately after getting my finisher’s medal and shirt. It speeded my recovery and made me feel very smart.

And finally, since Friday is Grocery Day, I went to Central Market and Rice Epicurean, where I filled up on samples and did the shopping for the week.

I got stuck in traffic on the way home due to a stalled cement mixer on the freeway, but that was the only down spot of my day. I got home and put all my loot away, visited with Dan and read blogs and emails.

Tomorrow I’m going to do laundry and maybe go for a morning walk to my new secret trail. I’ll get all my gear together for the marathon, so I won't be scrambling for anything tomorrow night. Dan and I are going to a wedding in the afternoon, but we’ll be home early and hopefully I’ll be tired and able to go to bed early. If not, no big deal. I’ve done runs of over twenty miles on just three hours of sleep, so I’m confident my body will be up for whatever I tell it to be up for on Sunday.

One more day!

A Discovery!

Today I found a new running trail!

My plan was to run to the recreation center, do a mile on the indoor track, then run home, for a total of about three miles. But as I was running past a hill where some trees had been planted a few weeks ago, I noticed the backs of signs on top of the hill. And a bench. I also noticed that the top of the hill looked suspiciously level.

So I did what any curious runner would do, and climbed the hill.

A trail! It was beautiful, nicely leveled and made of quick-draining dirt and gravel. It wound around the perimeter of a sunken soccer field where two students kicked a ball back and forth in the grass and clover. The trail had signs and workout stations at various points along the way, and a nice new water fountain exactly like the ones along the Buffalo Bayou trails where I used to run before I moved.

I could tell the trail was still being worked on, because where some parts had lights installed for evening runners, other areas only had bare conduit poking out of the ground. There were sidewalks leading to the trail from the rec center and outdoor pool, but they were blocked by construction workers' fences.

So for now, the only way to the trail was to climb the hill. I was above the street level, above the soccer players, with a great view of the trains on one side and the downtown skyline on the other. On such a pretty, golden afternoon with fine clear skies, green grass, a cool breeze, and a secret trail of my very own, I felt very fortunate, indeed!

Last Long Run

I did my last pre-marathon long run yesterday—twelve miles. It was the distance I had planned for this weekend from the outset of my training and I was nervous that I might not be up for it. Sometimes after I’ve been sick for a few days, my body seems to forget how to run. I plotted a route that would keep me close to home in case I wasn’t up for the distance, but everything went just fine. I was a little tired toward the end, but that was just the lingering effects of having spent three days with a fever and not sleeping well. I had no sense that anything was really wrong. It’s funny how after seven and a half years of distance running, one learns to know the difference between different kinds of tired and different kinds of feeling “off.” One develops a sense of when it’s a cause for concern and when it’s just a bad day.

The marathon is next Sunday, so my plan for the week is to exercise as I normally would this week, Monday through Thursday, mostly bike and elliptical with maybe a short run with no time pressure on Tuesday or Wednesday. Friday is my usual rest day, and Saturday will be a rest day too.

I’ve scaled back on the herbs and vitamins I was taking when I first got sick, since all that C was giving me a sore throat. But I’m continuing to take everything on a reduced scale, and I’m hoping that this little illness has put my immune system on the offensive so I won’t pick up anything new before next weekend. Last year I was on the cusp of a bronchial infection the day of the marathon and it affected my ability to enjoy the race and led to a very long recovery period afterwards. Hopefully I’ve escaped that fate this year and I’ll be able to tap into the fun and excitement of participating in Houston’s biggest road race of the year.

One week to go!

Dodging a Bullet

I usually post for New Year's but instead I’ve been incommunicado. Or rather, I’ve been sick. Sick and terrified that it would keep me out of the marathon, which is less than two weeks away. I figured if I didn't say it, it wouldn't be so.

It started when I spiked a fever Sunday night, completely out of the blue. The heat and chills, joint and sinus pain were bad, but what scared me was the cough. Once something settles into my lungs, I’m out of commission for up to a month, easy, and it wouldn't be the first or second time a bout with bronchitis kept me from the marathon at the last minute.

Holidays are a sucky time to be sick since the doctors are all on vacation, so for three days I fended for myself, dosing myself with every vitamin and herbal I had in my home arsenal and putting an extra clove of garlic into every bowl of soup. I ran a fever nearly the entire time, dripped and sneezed like mad, and am expecting my thank-you note from the Kleenex Corporation any day now for all the product I used.

Luckily the lung congestion turned out to be non-sticky in nature, and by today I was pretty sure it was only my sinuses that were the problem. And I do mean problem. It's no fun to wake up at 4 am feeling like your eyes and brain are about to pop out of your skull from your head being squeezed in a vise. It's the sort of pain that makes you want to cry, but since you know crying will make it worse, you don't. No bravery, just pure self-preservation.

I went to the doctor today and she confirmed I had a sinus infection and gave me meds. She also said my lungs were on the mend and to keep doing what I was doing. Yay! She gave me pain meds for the next couple days so I can sleep while the antibiotics get a handle on my sinuses, which is a relief-- no more waking up at 4 am and wishing someone would just beat my brains out and get it over with.

Since my temp has been normal since mid-morning today, I guess that means I can’t stay out another day from work. I would dearly like to and I think it would hasten my recovery, but I’ve only got one other person on my team this week because I let the other two have extended Christmas/New Year vacations. Dumb move in retrospect, but I was operating on the assumption that I would be there since I’m almost never sick, and even more rarely am I too sick to go to the office. I don’t believe in managing by exception, so. . .

At any rate, I’m feeling much better tonight and I might even go to the gym tomorrow after work and walk or do light elliptical work. It’s scary how you can get so used to being active that you feel bad when you’re not.

Here’s to dodging a bullet, and to a healthy 2008!

Product Review:Spinervals On the Road 2.0 - Lake Placid Training Ride

I had been coveting this spin video for awhile and was excited to find it under the tree this year! (Okay, we didn’t have a tree, but you know what I mean.)

This is a three hour spin workout and what makes it hard is what makes his other On the Road video hard—you don’t get a break. Most of Coach Troy’s videos are interval work. You spin hard, then you rest. But with the Virtual Reality videos, you’re pedaling the whole time, which is harder than a standard spin video and harder than an actual ride outdoors.

The beauty of the landscape in this video is what makes the time pass. The ride starts and ends at the site of the 1980 Olympic Games in Lake Placid and for three hours you ride the roads of the Ironman USA course through the surrounding hills. I’ve never been to the Adirondacks before, but I found the landscape and architectural styles similar to Vermont, leading to moments when I caught myself looking for covered bridges!

I ignored Coach Troy’s gearing advice and simply focused on the road, switching to easier gears on the downhills and harder ones on the uphills to mimic what I would be feeling on a real bike ride. I got so into it that I caught myself waving to other cyclists, but the stuck-up jerks didn’t wave back. Their loss.

By the last hour, I was feeling this workout. Part of it was that I had done a long run yesterday and slept badly last night, but a lot of it was also just the effect of spinning my legs for three hours straight. Coach Troy likes to say that three hours on the trainer is the equivalent of four on the road, and given how many of these turns and downhills I would’ve coasted in a real road ride, I believe it.

Great spin video! Highly recommended! I understand Coach Troy has a Tuscon Training Ride video in the works and I can hardly wait!

Odd Little Christmas

Christmas morning started according to plan. I got up at 6:00 and went to the studio for a three hour spin workout, which would put me in calorie deficit, free to eat whatever suited my fancy for the rest of the day.

The workout went well and I came back to the house at 9:30 with visions of coffee and panettone dancing in my head, to find Dan lying on the sofa. “I’ve got bad news,” he said. “I’ve got another kidney stone.”

Great.

“I just had one last week. I don’t know why I keep getting them.”

“Have you been drinking lots of water?” I asked.

“Uh…no.”

“I don’t think we’re going to need to call Sherlock Holmes, then.” I told Dan that I would get cleaned up and we’d go fill the prescription he got last week for pain meds.

“I tore it up. I didn’t need it.”

“You know our emergency room co-pay is $100, right?”

Merry Christmas to us.

I took a shower, made coffee for myself and heated up some panettone. We opened our gifts, which I absolutely loved—some books from my Amazon wish list and a spin video I’ve been coveting. Dan was definitely not feeling good, and after we unwrapped our gifts, he decided to go to the minor emergency clinic. I offered to take him, but he swore he was okay to go alone and didn’t want to ruin my Christmas if he had to be there all day. So since he’s a grownup, I told him what I thought of his stupid plan to drive while he was in pain, and let him go.

It was actually a relief to have him gone. I washed some dishes, disposed of the wrapping paper, photographed the bunny enjoying her Christmas present, and got ready to go to my parents’ house. Just before I left, I called Dan, who said he was being discharged and to wait.

Well, okay. He came home (on non-narcotic painkillers) and we got to my parents’ house only half an hour late, where we found the following:

• my brother suffering from severe depression and doped up on new meds
• my sister recovering from bronchitis
• my father with some sort of pulled muscle in his hip
• my (step)mother with a bruised tailbone from a recent fall

This left only me and my sister’s boyfriend among the whole and hearty. What a way to buck the trend!

Food was iffy. It was all store-bought and from Boston Market, not homemade or absurdly expensive high-end deli stuff like what Dan and I are used to. But I was hungry and filled my plate twice, both for dinner and dessert. I ate lots of cookies, too.

We had all agreed ahead of time that gifts were to be minimal, so although we got some nice stuff, the bulk of our gifts was in gift cards and cash. I know it’s not in the correct spirit to say this, but I like it better this way. My family members, especially my parents, have proven to be very good at giving me stuff I don’t care for or don’t need, and since we’re all grownups, it’s less wasteful to just give each other the means to buy what we want.

We left my parents’ house early, since Dan’s pain was starting to return. We went to a 24-hour pharmacy and got his prescription for stronger pain meds filled, and I picked up my new asthma meds while I was there, since I had only one more day before I needed refills. This saved me a trip today or tomorrow, so I don’t need to go anywhere today unless I really want to.

We got home early enough for me to finish a writing project I was working on, and by then I was getting sleepy. The early morning workout and lack of a nap had finally caught up with me. I kissed my drugged-up hubby good night and went to bed.

Merry Odd Christmas to us!

Merry Christmas!

If you were good, Santa came last night!















Find the gift that belongs to you...















And dig in!

Merry Christmas to all who are celebrating today, and a Joyous Holiday Season to all!

Luminaria Night

They do luminarias in my neighborhood.
















Everyone gets some. Even newcomers like us.















Merry Christmas!

Secrets

Hey, Pixel! I'll tell you what the humans got you for Christmas, if you 'fess up what they got for me!

Last Long Run!

I needed one more run over 20 miles to get ready for my January marathon and as of last night I was still undecided whether it should be today or Christmas morning. Even though it had been less than a week since last Sunday’s 19-miler, I went with today, based on the following:

• Rain predicted for both days, but Christmas would be colder.
• Fewer people around on Christmas, which isn’t a good thing when you’re female and running alone for 4-5 hours.
• I might feel pressured to hurry on Christmas and cut my run short.

My plan was to circle the campus 3-4 times while waiting for the sun to come up and then make a decision whether or not to head toward Rice University and Montrose. Weather.com predicted scattered thunderstorms, so when I saw the dark clouds to the west after sunrise, I assessed how I was feeling and decided that my brain was up for the tedium of staying close to home and doing campus loops, so I would be close to shelter at all times if a really bad storm blew in.

I’m happy to report that the reports of rain were greatly exaggerated. Although I did get rained on for the last nine miles, it was mostly gentle showers and drizzling. What made this a hard run was that many of the university walkways are of that pebble-encrusted concrete that becomes slick when wet. It messed with my stride and made me have to concentrate on my footing a lot. The other hard part was resisting four decades of being told to get in out of the rain! I’d be trotting along in the rain, feeling fine, but my brain would be screaming at me, “It’s raining! Go home!” But I couldn’t go home. Once I hit the halfway point, I was committed to finishing the run. I couldn’t go eleven, fifteen, or eighteen miles and then call it off and try to do twenty in three days. So no matter what the weather did, I had to keep on unless it became dangerous.

By the time I finished my run, the rain had passed and the sun was starting to come out. And thanks to the wind and the miracle of wicking running gear, my clothes dried super-fast and I never felt soggy. I had run 22.5 miles and felt pretty good about it.

From here forward, it’s taper time. Look for me to start getting grumpy as I have to cut back on yummy food to accommodate a reduced exercise schedule!

Announcement: Flash Fiction Carnival!

I've got a holiday-themed flash fiction carnival posted on one of my other blogs, so if you're looking for something to read, be sure to stop by! Each story is under 1,500 words and many are under 1,000.

Short reads and with an appropriate seasonal theme! What could be better?

Grumpy and Paranoid

Dan is sick and I'm a nervous wreck. I cringe every time he coughs, I run around after him sterilizing light switches and doorknobs over and over. He kept rearranging things in the grocery cart tonight until I felt like screaming, "Quit TOUCHING everything!!!"

I'm four weeks from the marathon and if I get a chest cold now, it's a good possibility that it'll turn into bronchitis and I won't be over it on marathon day. It'll be $100 down the drain if I can't make the race.

This is the main reason why every year I say I'll never sign up for the Houston Marathon again. December and early January are inevitably a time when I'm surrounded by sick people at work and at home and I can't enjoy the season because I'm so busy avoiding people and trying not to touch anything.

Maybe I'll go be a hermit in my studio apartment for the next month.

(Bunny) Life Imitates Art

On my trips to Vermont I fell in love with local folk artist Warren Kimble's rabbit paintings, since those fat white bunnies look so much like my own little fatso here at home!

The above print is in Tidbit's feeding corner, so she can be reminded of her overfed condition and reflect on how much better she has things here than when I found her at the shelter a few years ago, a bony little thing weighing only four pounds!

And here's the perp today:


















Looking well-fed and innocent, as usual.

See the resemblance?

Mileage Miscalculation

I know how weird this is going to sound to my non-running friends, but I ran twenty-three miles today by mistake.

Yeah.

I plotted my route very carefully last night, but for whatever reason this morning I thought I was supposed to start with three loops around campus instead of two. I suspected something wasn’t quite right when I got home and it was after 11:00. I had expected to be home between 10:00 and 10:30, and while I had a couple delays due to water procurement problems and the siren song of a yard sale, those things shouldn’t have added close to an hour to my run time.

But an additional three miles on top of those delays sure did it.

It was a pretty good run, though. I was out before dark and got to watch the sunrise. When I got to the zoo, I heard the monkeys whooping it up somewhere and felt like I was in the rain forest. I stopped to read the inscription on a monument in the park. I did battle with a high-spouting water fountain in windy weather. I browsed a yard sale. I watched ospreys soar overhead and cormorants dive for fish in the bayou.

And I had a very hearty lunch at our favorite Indian restaurant. Now that I realize I ran three miles more than I thought, I believe this entitles me to another cookie. Or to some of the rice pudding I’m making tonight.

As crazy as it sounds, I think I’ll do this route a couple more times this month, body willing. I don’t usually do more than a single twenty-miler before the marathon, but if I can handle two or three in the 20+ range, I should have a really fantastic marathon in January!

Gonna go have that extra cookie now. I earned it!

Bunny Decorator

Or, "Why We Cover the Bed With an Old Sheet."

Holiday Weekend Recap

I had a nice, low-stress (by my strange standards) four day weekend. And boy, did I need it!

Thursday morning started with a two-hour spin session to put me in calorie deficit ahead of Thanksgiving dinner. Dan and I stayed home, no traipsing across the city to be bored by his family or annoyed by mine. Although we had toyed with the idea of cooking, we ended up buying the things we would need at the Central Market deli Tuesday night, instead. It was all very nice and we watched a movie afterwards, took naps, stayed up late puttering around and just generally didn’t do much at all. During my late-night writing time, I wrote a new short story.

On Friday I went thrift and consignment shopping. My favorite thrift store was closed, but I did well at a good consignment store near River Oaks. The store often has really nice stuff, sometimes with the tags still on. It’s amazing what rich people give away. Once I got home, it was time to do the laundry, since Friday is always laundry day around here. It was also grocery night, and we stocked up for the week. In the evening, I finished editing my new story and posted it.

Since it was raining like heck on Saturday morning, there was no hope of doing a long run. I dilly-dallied and finally forced myself to get my butt to the studio for a spin workout. I did three hours, thus earning the right to stuff myself on Indian food, which I did. I took a nap afterwards, overslept, and stayed up late to compensate.

While I napped, Dan went to meet his sisters on his father’s side of the family and was surprised when they gave him some his dad’s effects. His father passed away several years ago and Dan had been wanting to ask for something to remember him by, but had been shy about it. Long story, but to put it most simply, Dan’s father had a wife and family already when he started sneaking around with Dan’s mom. So Dan grew up without knowing his father, and only met him a few years before his death from lung cancer. So it was quite a special thing for him to get some mementos.

This morning I got up and cooked for the week. I made steamed carrots, sautéed spinach with garlic, roast potatoes (two kinds) and bread pudding. It took longer than I would’ve liked, so even though I had hoped to do a 20 mile run today, by the time I did 16 it was getting too late in the day to finish. I did today’s run in the gym due to the bad weather and alternated one mile on the treadmill with one mile on the indoor track. It worked pretty well and I think if it hadn’t been getting so late I would’ve had the mental stamina to do 20. I hope I don’t have to find out, though. I’d much rather run outdoors.

When I got home I ate dinner and put a bunch of things in the crock pot in the hope it would turn out to be turkey soup. And it did! I had some after my nap and it was delish!

So that was my long weekend. There’s a lot I meant to do but didn’t. I wanted to finish hanging pictures and tidy the studio some more—things left undone when I finally ran out of steam after our move in August. I meant to finish a lapsed salary report for work and of course I meant to do more writing and didn’t. I didn’t do a heavy weight workout this weekend, either.

I’m not disappointed in myself or the weekend, but I really do need to move to a planet with longer days. Or get a job with longer vacations.

Santa Claus Is Coming!

Okay, not for another month. But he's blogging again and getting ready for the big day. Be sure to check out Santa's blog and add it to your blog reader, if you've got one. It's a lot of fun!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Wishing blessings to you and yours and another year to be thankful for!

Ebay: I did not know that!

Tonight I found some items on Ebay Canada (ebay.ca) that I couldn't find on USA Ebay (ebay.com). Silly me, I had assumed that us being neighbors and all, I would find the same stuff on both sites.

Not so!

And what was I looking for, you ask? Old postcards of New Mexico towns. And I found them in Canada, of all places! Why our northern friends had postcards of the copper mines in Hurley, New Mexico, I'll never know. I'm just glad they didn't want them any more.