Gold

I slept in this morning and missed my running buddies, but my week had been busy and I needed to move sleep to the top of the priority list. My knee felt a little tender from the beginning but it wasn't painful enough to stop so I cut the distance by a measly 2km and stretched and iced it afterwards. I probably should have stopped running to be on the safe side. Shrug.

Gold sun, golden leaves. I set out later in the day, enjoying the sunshine and keeping both open for small, cantankerous dogs, of which there were many. It amazes me how really small dogs, I mean ankle-biters, can be counted on to act more aggressively than larger dogs. One cute little fella listed toward me with snarls that sounded too large for its body. It was hardly difficult for me to escape its falsetto rasps; half a stride and already I was miles from its reach. The small dog probably needs to exhibit some 'tude to avoid being preyed upon, but why would it turn on a runner lost in her music and thoughts? Unless I was unknowingly close to mashing the feral little tyke into the florescent green goose droppings on the path.

It was still warm enough to wear a running skirt but there are so many full blown signs of autumn that there cna't be many days left like this in the season. I'm always sad to see summer leave us but my running clothes have more pockets for holding my music player, gels, etc. As a reason to welcome winter, that might not seem substantial enough but for me it's up there with soup simmering deliciously in a crock pot and skating by the light of the full moon. All gold.

Black bean salad with corn and ginger-lime dressing.

Milk and cookies*

Glory Box - Portishead
Teardrop - Massive Attack
Don't Cry - GNR
Let's Stay Together - Al Green
Try a Little Tenderness - Otis Redding
Wicked Game - Chris Isaac
Can't Help Falling in Love - Elvis
One - U2
I'm on Fire For You Baby - April Wine
Downtown - Peaches
Gimme Sympathy - Metric

*Because pain and pleasure go together like milk and cookies.

Headwind

I just discovered that a website I have followed for years has been renamed. Recipezaar.com is now Food.com, and yeah, it still serves basically the same function as before, storing and offering millions of recipes. The original site in the 90s was a collection of hyperlinked pages without images, and over the years I read and downloaded books' worth of recipes. It's been redesigned many times since, but the new name and appearance are dramatic changes. It's like arriving at your office building and finding that your job is the same as before but you're working for another company (with a lamer name. Food.com doesn't sound or look nearly as elegant as a name with "zaar.")

This morning I overslept and missed the group run, so I ran the 18k on my own (on 5 hours of sleep). The misty weather was ideal for a long run.




I didn't feel a breeze on the first half of the run, but I definitely felt a headwind when I turned around for the second half. I think this poor tree lying across the bike path might have been the victim of some harsh gales.

Off

She's a twister, he said
a real firecat
amber eyes spitting
image of her mother
crazy is as crazy does

she drank gin in her lincoln
parked in the driveway
curled up on his sofa
when the migraines hit

he thought she had kids
god knows where
no friends to speak of
ex husbands fighting
the law or
the devil
or both

She packed up one day
daggers glinting in her tiger eye
I guess I'm off, she told him
and she was

















~Curried quinoa pilaf with cashews and ginger
and a ghost in the teaspoon~

Herring

‘Twas a fine day in Holland
The sun shone so bright
on my face
until shadow
Took over the light

Looking around me
I saw a tall girl
with an object
in her hand that gleamed
Like a pearl

A grey-silver herring
Did hang from her claw
held high
and then
she opened her jaw

And the fish disappeared
In a gulp and a blink
“I’m into whole foods”
She said with a wink!

Wafelling

Overheard on the sidewalk:

"I don't know what to think, but I feel like I hate her."

Whatever feels right

How do you know if you're running so-called properly?

In spinning class yesterday, several people asked the instructor about proper arm positions and back posture while on the bike. We had been discussing how the position of the knee, hip and foot are instrumental in determining the most effective bike set up for each person, so questions about the rest of the body seemed totally relevant and helpful. The instructor, however, didn't respond with similarly technical answers but with vague statements that are open to interpretation. "Keep a neutral spine. Whatever feels natural," she said.

I guess the same applies to running. You can take note of technical aspects like your stride length or what you're doing with your elbows, and you can quesion these and possibly change them, but only if you notice them first. Knowing how you feel when doing anything (as well as nothing) is really important. Overall, if it feels right, it probably is.

World food fact #2455: Bakers in Denmark know how to throw down pastry, chocolate and caramel into something resembling ecstacy.