Sorry for the lack of food posts recently. I’ve been sick, and wrapped up in making my kids’ costumes, staggering through the most recent 5K (see last full post for costumes and staggering), and then moving around like Frankenstein’s monster because of all the resulting soreness and stiffness in my underused muscles.
Yesterday, election day, was a day off from school for my kids and my husband. After he went to vote, Bill bundled up the kids – really bundled up, it was cold and windy – and took them fishing for trout. They brought two thermoses of hot cocoa, and the kids had fun climbing around on the rocks. They caught nothing, and Bill got tired of the cold sooner than the kids did (for a change), so they didn’t really stay out all that long.
But to back up a bit…after they all left in the truck with their tackle box and poles and thermoses of cocoa, I bundled up, started up my ipod, and walked. First – over to the elementary school to vote. I scooted past the campaign volunteers with their signs and ducked into the gym (or “all-purpose room” which was WARM, took my time voting just to soak up the warmth, and then hit the road.
I didn’t run at all, but I walked probably about a mile and a half, wincing with every step. Ow ow ow. But – I did it. And today, interestingly, I don’t feel as sore or stiff.
Oh – and to back up further…on Monday, I registered for another 5K. It’s the “Downtown Jingle 5K” – another new 5K in Providence. Same route, I think, as the Monster Mini Dash.
There’s some humor in the fact that I was hobbling around in pain and still felt it absolutely imperative that I register for the Jingle 5K. Some form of insanity, I think.
So that’s the reason for my walk yesterday. I did two minutes better in this 5K than in the one in September, and I think that got my competitive juices flowing. (Although, given the fact that I’ve been sick for days, those juices might just be a sinus infection.) If I did two whole minutes better without even trying…maybe I could do even better if I tried harder. Wow! What a novel idea!
So my goal, this time, is to…well…do better. Not very specific, I know, but in my thoughts, “better” might mean running the whole 3.1 miles, or at least running more of them than I did in this last race. And I know that to accomplish this, I need to run more. I need to build up endurance and muscles.
Simple stuff, but so hard at the same time. Not the actual exercising. That’s actually not difficult.
It’s that whole “finding the time” thing that I still struggle with.
I’ll let you know how that goes.
Yesterday, after my walk, I went shopping for ingredients so I could make ALL FOUR of this month’s French Fridays with Dorie recipes. And I made them. All. Yesterday. For dinner and dessert.
Again with the insanity.
First I made the dessert, then the main course, and then the two sides. (Main and sides needed vastly different oven temperatures – something I neglected to make note of when I was planning my marathon.)
Everything turned out the way it was supposed to, though the dessert wasn’t as pretty as I’d hoped – totally my fault and nothing to do with the recipe itself. And it tasted good, which is the most important thing anyway.
Likes/dislikes will be discussed when I write up those four posts, but I will say that I wasn’t surprised at all with who liked this and who didn’t like that. No – wait – I’m wrong. There was one surprise. But you’ll have to wait to hear about it.
I know. I’m so mean.
This morning when my husband headed out the door to go to work, we were surprised to see frost all over the car and the truck. Heavy frost that had to be scraped. (It’s dark when he leaves the house, so we hadn’t noticed the frost earlier, while sitting in our chairs drinking coffee and checking on the election results and grumbling about still feeling run down.)
After he’d gone, and the sun rose higher, I was in the kitchen reheating coffee when I noticed the spoon out on our deck railing. The spoon in the first picture of this post, I mean.
I love frosty pictures. So I got my camera and went outside to snap a few. The spoon. The welding gloves Bill uses when he’s playing with fire (or grilling, whatever you call it), dill, kale, and the peas we thought we might have time to grow. As you can see, we’ve got a few blossoms, but I’m not sure they’ll bear fruit.
Though it’s supposed to warm up a smidge this week, so who knows?
And with that, I’m done for now. I’ve got some other non-food and non-computer projects I’d like to work on today.
See you tomorrow!
I love the frost pictures! It hasn't gotten that cold here but it's always nice to glimpse the beauty in every season.
Your description of signing up for the Jingle 5K while still aching from the last one made me think of "hair of the dog" treatment for hangovers. It does seem like moving while you're sore and achy would help your muscles loosen up some.
I haven't ever done a 5K and the only time I run is when I'm playing with the dogs in the backyard. Someday, maybe... LOL
Posted by: RoseAnn | November 03, 2010 at 03:34 PM