Now Norma Knits

DONE!

Hey Guys,

Remember when I said I had a little goal of running 12 5K races in 12 months? 

Well, I've failed.

Because here it is, only NINE months, and I've already DONE my 12.

That's me this morning, crossing the finish line at the

Clarence DeMar 5K

South Hero, Vermont

Time: 30:12

Place: 10/16 F age 50-54

73rd female in 251 total runners

 

Thoughts:

• A year ago, I never would have dreamed I'd have done this. 
• I'm so glad I did.
• I'm not stopping now, but I have no aspirations to run longer distances.

(Warning: This attitude could change at any minute.) 

But I really do love the 5K distance because:

• Long enough for me to feel like I've done something.
• Keeps me fit enough, and complements my strength training nicely, without wearing me out and tearing me down.
• Short enough to prevent injury.
• Fun and challenge without [much] misery.
• I love the people I meet and see over and over again at the races.

All that said, this morning's racing conditions were pretty darn good, and I really DO want to improve my time. I was hoping today would be the day that I came in under 30 minutes. Damn, so close!

Just after the Mile 1 marker (at which a wonderful GMAA guy was calling out times -- mine was 9:20), my left Achilles tendon started to hurt. Since, apart from near heatstroke at last week's super-hot evening race, I have not felt any pain -- and since I hold one desire paramount: I don't.want.to.hurt.anything -- I pulled back a bit on the pace. But at the turn-around mark, the pain completely went away, and there was a lovely cool breeze. I felt like I was sailing. 

So I was a little disappointed when I got to the finish line to find that I was finishing just about at my usual pace. I seem to finish at about the same time no matter the conditions. Awful cold temperature and hilly course? Flat course, deadly hot? Flat course, not too bad a temperature, and a nice breeze? 

Same time for all of them.

Not exactly, but definitely within the same range. I'm nothing if not consistent. So I'm reliable. That's a good thing, right?! But I haven't broken 30 minutes yet. And I want to.

So anyway, I'll just keep on keepin' on. At my next 5K, I'll be in a different age category. Gulp. 

5K No. 10 And We're Doin' All Right

I took 2nd in my age group! This is the fourth time I've done that! This one was hard! The heat was killer! Lots of exclamation points!

This one was slower than any race I've run since last November, I think. But I did it, and I also won a $25 gift card to a local sports shop in the raffle. So that right there was worth a little sweat. 

Two more 5Ks to go in my goal of 12 in 12 months. Next one scheduled for July 5th. 

What is going ON here?!

Savory-ing The Summer

Good morning! Happy Soon-To-Be-Summer Solstice! 

I'm in a bit of a slow-down where work is concerned, and I just came in from the garden, so I thought I'd take a few minutes to write you a note. 

So how are you all doing? 

Thank you all for your donations to my recent fundraising runs! They were a great success, and very much appreciated for all concerned. In the last few hours before the race for the Champlain Islands Parent Child Center a week ago Saturday, I made a Facebook challenge to my friends that if someone would donate, I'd wear my SL,UT t-shirt (You may remember when I got that.) to the race. Some people did, and so:

I haven't learned how much we raised for that little organization yet, but I know we did pretty well. So thank you again! I ran a respectable 30:39 5K. (Man, it was hot!) But there was a woman in my class (50-59 female) who beat me by quite a bit. David and I had to do a lot of explaining about the t-shirt all morning. But everyone agreed: Hey, if it brought in a few extra dollars, it was well worth it.

Then this past Saturday I did the Run For Empowerment in support of Women Helping Battered Women. I thought I was gonna smoke that thing, and I did shave 30 seconds off my 5K time from the week before:

 

But holy crap, we have some fast friggin' over-50 women around here! Look at the No. 1 female finisher! In all classes! 57! And she was ahead of me by the proverbial (nope, literal, now that I think about it) mile.

But anyway, we did a fabulous job with the fundraising for that; and they do such good work, they deserve it. So thank you again!

~~~

So by my count, that is 9 5K runs in the can toward my goal of 12 in 12 months. I fell a little behind in the spring, so I'm playing catchup. I'm thinking of signing up for another one this coming Saturday. I'm enjoying these things. (Did I just say that out loud?)

~~~

We got our first electric bill since installing our solar panels:

This reflects the first three WEEKS! So the way it works here is we have net metering. We don't get any actual cash. Credits are built up. And we are given credit by our utility for an extra 6 cents per kilowatt hour that we produce as well, because, you know: Vermont.

Our system was designed to meet our established prior usage (in our case, average $91/month). So in the summer we are cranking out that extra power (probably 130% or so of our actual simultaneous usage) and getting credit for it. Then, in the dreary winter months when we don't produce as much solar electricity up here, we draw down on the credits we built up in the happy sunny summer. So from now on, we should have a zero electric bill. Forever. Well, for the life of the panels anyway, which is about 20 years.

The credits have to be used up within one year of creating them, and if we have any left over at the end of the one-year period, we can donate them to another person on the same utility -- a family member or friend or neighbor -- or to a nonprofit or whatever.

Is that cool or WHAT?

~~~

The garden is going strong. Big parts of it are a bit unkempt at the moment, but that is just about par for the course, innit?

Yesterday when I was doing the heavy lifting of cleaning out and relayering the compost bins (my favorite garden thing!!!), I opened the door to one of them to be surprised by one of these guys chilling out (or warming up, more accurately) in there.

After my initial EEK! startled moment that I always have with snakes, I gently urged him to go find another place to hang out while I cleaned the bins and took care of the compost. I hope he didn't go too far, though, because according to Wikipedia, "Young milk snakes typically eat slugs, insects, crickets, and earthworms." I have had no slugs in my garden this year so far. Coincidence? I hope I did not push him too far away, though the environment in the bin is no longer the same since I cleaned it out. I hope he finds another suitable close-by home.

This morning's harvest included beet thinnings, spinach, parsley, thyme, and summer savory.

This is my first year growing summer savory, and I wondered this morning: What in the world is summer savory used for?

Everything, apparently. 

Hope you are savory-ing your summer, too!

 

Fitter Knitters Represent at the Vermont City Marathon

So about that running thing.

Yesterday I was joined by four wonderful women to run the relay race in the Vermont City Marathon.

The Fitter Knitters

(Our shirts got us a lot of attention and friendly inquiries and photo ops! If you would like to get a shirt like ours, go ahead and go here and order one. They will put your name on the back if you ask. You can search around if you want one with sleeves like Lisa has, on the right in the photo. Or different colors. Whatever you want.)

I'm completely new at this marathon huge race thing, and thankfully at a dinner party the other night, a friend who has run this race gave me a tip about making sure I lined up in the right place for my expected pace. I've been running 10-minute miles in most of my races. I was hoping to run 9 this time, but I decided to undershoot rather than overshoot, and lined up with the 10s.

~~~

One of my teammates, Kat, shot this photo at the start line. I'd be some little speck over there by that 10:00 flag by the white house. I was standing right next to that flag. It was a mob scene, but a very sedate and happy and polite mob.

It was SUCH a beautiful day for a race right next to the Burlington waterfront and running through the city and neighborhoods of Burlington. The whole community embraces this race, with the most wonderful and supportive and entertaining crowds. I am very thankful there is a relay option -- otherwise I would never be able to participate in something like this. We learned a lot about things that worked well, and things we would do differently next year.

Yes, we are already talking about next year. Heh.

We got up at the crack of dawn -- 4:10 a.m. in my case -- we ate crockpot oatmeal, and Vermont bacon and fruit, and drank a little coffee. (Next time I would remember to drink more water, even though it is 4-freakin-something-a.m.)

Wheels up at 6 a.m. to head to Burlington.

We arrived at about 6:35 a.m., early enough that we snagged a prime parking spot in a nice shaded garage, verrrrry close to the race site. We walked the block to the waterfront, and turned around to see an ocean of people walking down the hill. Five minutes later, and we would have been fighting for parking. It was astonishing, really. So the extra-early departure was a good idea. It made for a very long day, and it messed up, maybe -- ahem -- some of our natural rhythms, if you know what I mean. But no matter.

In the first leg of the race, I saw a hot pink sign held by a spectator that seemed made just for me: "F*&king AWESOME!" In the first mile, I had terrible dry-mouth -- it felt like my tongue was a big wad of dry cotton. I was extremely worried about that. "Ohmygod, are you kidding me? I didn't drink enough water and I'm THIS dehydrated? I'm going to let my team down ON THE FIRST THREE MILES?!" But that fuckin' awesome sign made me smile against my dry teeth, and press on and hard (the first mile was up a hill, as well). My body quite quickly cooperated and released the probably-retained water from the salty bacon I had eaten that morning. My mouth became moistened and I felt fine, albeit a bit hot. SCORE ONE FOR BACON. And the human body.

Another sign that made me laugh: "Worst Parade EVER!"

At about Mile 2, I came upon a senior gentleman runner whose shirt said, "Larry. 1,300 Marathoner." People were congratulating him on the marathon he ran the week before, "Great job last week, Larry!" and asked him, "Is this 1,301?" He said, in a southern drawl, "Somethin' like that."

I Googled him just now. A lawyer from San Antonio! Fantastic!

I passed two people (and saw several more later in the day) whose shirts said, "50-State Marathon Club" (or something like that). The woman seemed to be being interviewed as she was running. I heard her say, "This is my 48th state." She was YOUNG. She seems to have a long running life ahead of her. Will she go through the 50 states TWICE? Or will she move on to something else, like swimming all the channels in the sea?

On Church Street, at about the 3-mile mark for me, a super-fabulous Patriotic Transvestite, dressed in ridiculously wonderful red-white-and-blue garb and sparkly outrageous blue glasses, was urging us on, to not slow down, to keep on moving. Made me smile so hard, made me bear down and speed up, and makes me smile again just remembering it. Even though at that moment I was hot and cranky and thinking, "SO glad I'm only doing 3.3 and not 26.2... or even 6."

During Kat's leg (I think it might have been the most difficult leg of the race), she was cheered on by bagpipes, bands, neighborhood parties, and maybe best of all, these Taiko drummers at the base of Burlington's version of heartbreak hill:

Taiko drummers at Vermont City Marathon from Norma Miller on Vimeo.

These guys helped to give her the will to get up that hill.

Kat made it up that hill and handed off the bracelet to Lisa. Lisa took off like a shot. On her leg of the race, she ran through lovely neighborhoods where property owners had their garden hoses on, spraying overheated runners if they wished to be sprayed for a cool-down.

More fun memories for me: A text message from Carol at 11:53:  "Still no Lisa."

Next text message was 12:04 from Lisa: "On bus." 

Made me laugh. Because in other words, Carol must have just barely pressed "send" on that text, and then, "OOOOOOPS, there's Lisa! RUNNN!"

(Lisa and Carol are pretty zippy!)

We all had the most fun time. At least two of us (Adrienne and I) had personal bests, as well. Smiles all around.

I managed to break away from the 10-minute milers about halfway of my little 3.3-mile portion of the race (the first leg), and kept pace with my hoped-for 9-minute milers. My average pace was 9:30/mile, according to my trusty Map My Run app:

Yeah, I was happy with that.

We sweated, we focused hard, we had packs of fun, and we got 'er done. We had laughs and wonderful camaraderie. It doesn't get any better than that. It was a beautiful, beautiful day. I feel sore but happy today, and I'm so appreciative for my teammates for joining me in this adventure.

A year ago, I didn't believe I would ever run a race of any kind. I had no interest in doing so -- it didn't even enter my consciousness as an idea of something I would do. Not even a 5K. It was just a non-thing. The idea that less than a year later I would take part in something like this... I don't even know what else to say about it. It is just plain awesome.

But I have no aspirations to run a marathon. No no no no.

QUOTE OF THE DAY YESTERDAY, from teammate Lisa:

"A half marathon is only four 5Ks and a little bit, Norma."

Yeah.

No.

Maybe.

But no.

-----------------

After the race:

Fitter Knitters VT City Marathon Team 2014

Kat Kennedy, Lisa McGuire, Adrienne Martini, me, Carol Bradford-Roe

So.Much.Healthy.Fun.

The sweet necklaces we are wearing in the photos were a gift from Lisa.

Thanks again, ladies!

~~~

I'll make another plea for donations for my upcoming runs for charity. Maybe do it for the Fitter Knitters, because we rock.

See this post, and thank you.

 

 

Now She Runs?

(This is a long one. You might want to go pee first, and get a cup of whatever it is you like to drink.)

So let's get this straight:  I am not a runner! 

And yet, somehow I have just completed my 2nd 5K since August 24. How the heck did that happen?!

Before the race on Saturday.

And after, posing with Amy (she's a knitter!), who I just met that day:

Much to my surprise, I had a not-embarrassing finish in each one. 

The trick is, I guess, if you are feeling great, you can do almost anything. 

After so many years of trying to be a runner, and giving up every time because of various aches, pains, injuries, I-HATE-TO-RUN-I-AM-NOT-A-RUNNER, whatever-whatever, this past summer I finally did something that I highly recommend to you if you have a history of Hating To Run the way I did:  I joined a running group and got some coaching. 

The gym that I love, Artemis Fitness in South Burlington, VT, started a summer running group, with the goal of training for either the 5K or the 10K run in the Green Mountain Athletic Association's Round Church Women's Run. They hired a wonderful coach, Kris Gleason, from Fleet Feet Burlington. Over time, a few more great coaches joined in, because our group had a variety of running levels and personal goals, and they helped us each in our own way. (AWESOME.)

I signed up for the Tuesday night running group, but "NUH-UH, NO WAY AM I GOING TO RUN THE ACTUAL RACE! I'm just mixing up my workout routine, thankyouverymuch!" 

And so I went to the first meeting, and that very first night, the coaching was worth its weight in gold. Life-changing, really. I'm not exaggerating one tiny bit. The dynamic warmups seriously changed my running life. 

So then we get to Thing No. 2: Shoes. That first night, and maybe the next one or two, I still had one of the many pairs of hundreds of dollars' worth of running shoes that I have bought over the years which were THE WRONG SHOES for me.

I had done my research, or so I thought. I had tried the minimalist shoes, thinking that was The Thing for me, but we might or might not all remember how that ended up. I'd tried all kinds of various neutral, highly cushioned shoes. Blech, blech, blech. Nothing worked for me. I-HATE-RUNNING-I'M-NOT-A-RUNNER.

So anyway, back to this summer and the running group. I finally listened to what people were saying and went to a proper running shoe store (not the mall variety), and got properly assessed and fitted, and contrary to all the crap I'd read on the internet and in magazines (you know the one), and having done self-assessments about my high arches, and etcetera and so forth, I was told that I needed a HIGH-STABILITY shoe. Well, damn. What a revelation. If I say "life-changing" again, will that be too repetitive? 

At this point, I need to back up. Now the numbering system in this post is going to get all out of whack, because BEFORE JOINING A RUNNING GROUP, here is what is even more important: As Kendra and Cate, the owners of my gym say, "People think they should run to get strong. But instead, you have to get strong in order to run."

Yes, yes, and yes. Say it with me: [chorus: life-changing!]. Strength training BEFORE running. Totally [chorus]

I celebrated my one-year anniversary with the gym by running our last 2.5 miles before the August race, in about 99 degrees F with my running group. We died from the heat, then went out for a celebratory dinner. Up to this point, we had never run a full 5K, or even that last 2.5 miles, without stopping. We had done run-walk intervals the entire time. Despite the training, I was unconvinced that I could run an entire 5K without stopping. I had had no proof that I could. 

One night, though, none of the other 5K-ers showed up, and I joined the 10K group. We run-walked 6 miles that night, and I didn't actually die. But it sort of felt like it. The gym is not far from K-Mart, so that was my landmark, and I will tell you, I was never so glad to see a K-Mart in my life. 

During the end-of-training-group celebratory dinner, I still believed in my head that I was not going to go to the race on that Saturday. I was going to just yes-yes everybody, and then crap out and simply not show up for the race, having some manufactured reason why not.

But instead, when Saturday morning came, I got up at nearly the crack of dawn so that I could eat, get ready, and drive the hour and a half to get to the race site by 7 a.m. After we had trained in high, high heat for the previous six weeks, it was ridiculously cold that morning, and I was not prepared with the proper clothing for that cold. Kris had an extra long-sleeve tech shirt in her car that she lent me to keep me from shivering too much before the race started. Still not convinced that I would make it through this thing, my only goal was to try to keep running for the whole thing. I did not believe I would be able to do that.  

I was able to make it to the halfway point without stopping. And a sometimes coach for the summer and a friend were running with me. At the turnaround point, there was a hill. I stopped to walk for a few seconds, and I lost ground from my friends. I tried hard to catch up to them again, but never could. I got exhausted, started to flag, and looked like I was going to start walking again. A wonderful stranger (a slightly older woman, but a more experienced runner) started talking to me, and she egged me on. She ran the rest of the race with me, and we made it! She encouraged me to kick it up for a strong finish in the last 50 yards or so. And damn. 

You can see the results here. In the overalls, look at #118, and in my age group (that would be 50-59) look at #14. For a confirmed NON-RUNNER, not too horrible at all! 

I was seriously holding back barfing on the guy who was cutting the chip off my shoe. And I do mean SERIOUSLY.HOLDING.BACK. I was retching, and thought, Ohmygod, this is going to be bad. But I didn't do it. MAYBETHEREISAGOD, I didn't throw up on him. My legs were shaky then, but I recovered fairly well:

But then, back to this past weekend. No problemo! No training, either, really, although I did run 5K last Tuesday at home. I did have that barfy feeling just after crossing the finish line, but no sea legs, and I had a reserve in me at the end. In retrospect, I now know that I could have run faster. But I ran just about at the same pace as last time, which was comfortable, and one of my goals in this thing is to run uninjured. I'm not out to prove anything major here.

The difference in this run was though the course was flat, it was somewhat difficult. We were running on loose gravel and/or wet grass for the first 2 miles, and then thank goodness, pavement for the last mile. If I were not in good overall condition, or if I had my old low-stability shoes, I could easily imagine a twisted ankle or knee or some such.

Amy and I ran together, and we kept each other going. We talked about knitting(!) and we were a great mini-team. For the bigger picture, I was a part of a small fundraising team that looked like this on race day:

Suzanne Somers and Richard Simmons

were valuable members of our team. Hee.

You can see the results of the race here, where you will see that I came in 283rd overall, and Amy was right behind me. Thanks so much to Kris G., who graciously invited me to join in the fun! I'm so glad I did. 

So now, I have mentioned the dietary changes I've made, and some people want details. It's quite simple, really: In an effort to determine what foods I might be allergic to, I am following an elimination diet.

Some ugly symptoms reared their ugly head like they did in late September 2011 and the coincidence was just too great. The timing was almost exactly at the same time of year (and thank GOODNESS for the blog, for being able to sleuth out the date), and the symptoms were exactly the same. I thought I was dying. And it turns out I almost was. Again. (Although I avoided a hospitalization this time.)

So I asked myself, "What is different about this time of year?!"

And I came up with the answer:

And my first reaction was:  PLEASE DON'T LET IT BE TOMATOES!!!! They are my favorite food in the whole wide world. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE don't let it be tomatoes. I want to DIE if I can't have tomatoes.

But hang on. 

I had thought I had leukemia or something.

So let's weigh this:

Possibly no more tomatoes   vs.   Leukemia

Or stroke. 

Or sudden death.

I'm pretty sure I can live with no more tomatoes.

But in any event, I got myself to a naturopathic physician, because let's face it -- no offense to all the doctors I adore -- but regular doctors are clueless. And the last time, once they ruled out that I had had a heart attack, they shrugged their collective shoulders and said, "Carry on. We don't know what it was. It may just be one of those things we'll never know."  And the cardiologist said, "I don't know what you had, but I know it wasn't your ticker." 

And then it was all like, "Call us the next time you almost die."

Helpful. 

And then last year I had a bad tomato crop, so I didn't eat as many. But this year it was a banner year again. And so there I was, right back where I was two years ago. And when I thought back, there were other episodes in my life that were very similar, one of which is when the doctors put me on a beta blocker.

I think the writing is on the wall here. 

So anyway. I am currently on what is known as an elimination diet. Many people seem to misunderstand me when I say that -- they think it is some sort of a cleanse, as in, I'm eliminating toxins from my body. Well, I am, for sure. But the term "elimination diet" has a different meaning. 

And that's what I've been doing for about a month now, and WHAT.A.DIFFERENCE. Can I hear another LIFE-CHANGING?!

All of my inflammation is GONE GONE GONE.  You know that chronic tendinitis? GONE. The painful, sticky fascia? Smooth and elastic again. The muscles that were hard and painful like rigor mortis? Soft and pliable again. It's like a frickin' miracle, I tell ya. [chorus! chorus!]

So much so that I can honestly say I ALMOST DON'T miss my favorite foods in the whole wide world, and I almost don't see a reason to go the next step in this regimen, which is to reintroduce the foods one at a time to see what effect each has on me. I'm doing so well, I really don't see any reason not to continue indefinitely on this path. 

In a nutshell, I am simply not consuming the following:

- nightshade vegetables (I believe this is the biggest culprit)

- dairy (this is a close second)

- wheat (this is tied for second) and most other grains except quinoa, gluten-free oats, and brown rice

- soy (not sure this is a factor, because I never consumed much soy except when I was a vegan and then I pretty much hated it, so it's dead to me anyway.)

- eggs (this one might or might not be an issue)

- chocolate (I think this is a problem for me. Kill me now -- except. Thinking I'm dying of leukemia? Or no chocolate. Yeah. I can live with it.)

- coffee (I actually wake UP when I get out of bed now, rather than needing an hour to sip my coffee before I begin to feel and act like a person. I do still consume some caffeine, in the form of green tea)

- corn

And I think there are more things on the verboten list, but I choose to focus on the "include" list:

- meats, poultry, fish (organic, grass fed, and uncured as much as possible)

- all vegetables except nightshades

- all fruits

- most nuts

- legumes 

- gluten-free oats, quinoa, rice

I feel 99% better. I would say 100, but I might have one more food that should be eliminated, because I have a new symptom:  a bothersome itchy scalp and a couple itchy, irritated places on my skin. I'm suspecting either coconut or a certain kind of nuts (perhaps cashews). My intention was to eliminate nuts and coconut from my diet starting today, but despite my best intentions, I ate both of those things. Maybe tomorrow.

Losing the nuts on top of everything else makes getting through the day a bit harder for me. Meal planning is not difficult as long as I have plenty of food in the house and as long as I'm home. Going out is a bit tricky, particularly since a) chefs LIE (they do!) and b) even at my healthiest fallback places to eat, just when I think, "I can eat that!" I read the ingredients and it has red pepper flakes in it, or paprika all over it. I definitely have reactions to those two things. So yeah. Pretty sure it's the nightshades. 

But still. I don't have leukemia, and I just rocked my second 5K.

I got this. 

And a parting shot to the regular M.D.s: I WISH YOU'D GET A FRICKIN' CLUE about this stuff. 

“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” 
― Hippocrates

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Garlic Planting Day

And while I was out there, I harvested some Romaine, spinach, and dandelion greens to make a salad for dinner.

It's a tough life, but somebody has to live it. 

Starring For Dinner: Arugula, Roasted Beets, and Sauteed Beet Greens

I have been suffering from a headache and general malaise for the past couple of days, probably due to not enough good sleep lately, too much work stress, not enough exercise, and not drinking enough water. (Please don't tell the Conservatives about the water thing. They will blow a gasket.) Then again, go ahead and tell them. Let 'em blow ALL their stupid gaskets. We'd be better off for it. 

So one of the best cures I have for many of the above problems (except the Conservatives. That is a problem that is not at all within my power to solve) is to go work in my garden. And one of my favorite things to do is to go do the hard, dirty labor of compost bin maintenance -- or mothering, as I like to say. 

I have a wee problem with one of my compost bins: It's been taken over by a colony of bees. And they are awfully protective of the area. I'm not exactly sure what to do about this. So far they have flown at me, around me, and one even flew in my ear. (And if you don't think THAT scared me, then you have an unrealistically high opinion of my courage.)

Amazingly, none of them have stung me. Unfortunately, one HAS stung Mr. Jefferies. And the noise they are making at me is getting a bit louder and more aggressive. I am not the sharpest tool in the shed, but I'm not stupid. I'm getting the distinct impression that they are trying to tell me, "Woman, we have tolerated your bullshit digging and lid-lifting and walking-around and banging noises so far, but it's time to GET THE FUCK OUT OF OUR TERRITORY. OR ELSE."

So anyway, today I very gingerly worked in and around the other two bins (the fourth one has unfortunately fallen apart). I discovered that one was too terribly wet and anaerobic and smelly.

YAY! MY FAVORITE THING! 

(I mean it.)

(Yes, I might be a little bit not right in the head.)

I get to pull out the wet, foul-smelling gross stuff, and get all sweaty and muddy and aerate it and relayer it with some dry carboneceous materials -- today it was big old cardboard boxes (one that a refrigerator came in -- because I don't fool around) that I shredded by hand -- and a little bit of soil. And I pulled up a few half-dead tomato plants and bean plants and weeds, and added them to the mix, too. 

And while I was mothering the compost, I also happened to harvest the main players for tonight's dinner:

Beets, beet greens, and arugula

Of course, my steno-hands and -forearms are now killing me, because I'm very smart like that.

Also, the headache and body aches are not really that much better, but maybe they will get better in a little while -- maybe after I eat those wonderful things for dinner, even.  

 

Salsa Saturday

I am not an expert on salsa. Heck, I live in Vermont, where "south of the border" just sort of refers to those flatlanders in Massachusetts. I never even tried salsa, or anything Mexican, I don't think, until I was in my 20s. Things are different now up here in Siberia the Green Mountain State. We actually have a couple of local salsa-making companies, even, and we're all artisanal and multi-cultural and shit. But when I was growing up here we were so isolated from the rest of the world there was no such thing. 

I like salsa all right, but I don't love it, except on certain days. I probably wouldn't know truly good salsa if it hit me in the face.

And I don't consume very much of it. It's probably the food I buy that I feel the most guilty about, because it is also the food I probably waste the most of. I buy a jar when I get a hankering for it, which is not very often. I eat a few tablespoons -- or at best, half the container -- and then it gets pushed to the back of the fridge. I remove it several months later when I'm cleaning out the refrigerator and toss out the rest of the moldy mess that is left in the jar.

Of course it follows that I've also never made homemade salsa before (except for my own idea of a salsa fresca on occasion).  But today I did.

I used this recipe, and my own garden tomatoes and peppers. Meh, it's all right. Mine came out milder than I'd like it to be. I wish I'd been a little braver with the hot peppers. 

I put it up in little half-pint jars, which are more my size. 

My hope is that in little jars, it will have a better chance of getting eaten by humans and not become food for the worms.

 

 

 

Raise Your Hand If You Remember Saturday Sky!

Here's my entry for Saturday Sky this week.

She Who Is Not A Runner somehow managed to run her first 5K this morning.

I thought I had done really well, too, until I looked at the list of 60- and 70-somethings that came in before I did.

Still, fairly respectable for a first outing at age 54. 

My goal was to run, not walk, and to not hurt or tear or break anything. 

I succeeded, and I'll take that.

The group I trained with and ran with - the Artemis Fitness RoadRunners - made all the difference. Only a few of them are pictured here. Some dropped out of the group and others couldn't make it to the race today.

These ladies are awesome.

And getting into the right shoes also: night/day difference! My advice: Don't read stuff online or in a magazine and try to figure out what shoes are right for you. Go and get assessed and fitted at a sports shoe store with staff who know what they are doing. Turns out, I need a highly structured shoe, which is exactly the opposite of what I had been going for all these years. I am sad about the many dollars and the many years of trying to run wasted on the wrong shoes for me -- it is such a personal thing -- and also trying to run without having coaching. 

The coaching was worth its weight in GOLD.

I am so glad I joined this gym (this week was my first anniversary there!) and this little summer running offshoot of the gym. It has been SUCH a positive experience.

I might even run some more -- you never know!

 

Look What I Did Today

"Yeah, yeah," you say, "so you bought another travel mug from Starbucks."

 

But look! In the sea of choices marked "Made in China," I found a few items on the shelves that are marked "Made in USA." These may have been there all along -- the trademark/copyright date says 2011 -- but it's the first time I've noticed them. They are said to be BPA-free, and made of 30% post-consumer recycled plastic. 

Well done, Starbucks! I said I would buy mugs when the Made in the USA ones hit the shelves, and I started today. 

This is a slow week for me, while all of my students are busy taking exams. Next week things will ramp up steeply again, and so I'd best take advantage of the time I have this week. I bought a few cold-hardy veggie plants and put them in. 

Having discovered broccoli raab last year, and loving it, I bought six plants this year and plunked them in.

And under cover of the trusty inexpensive coldframe from Gardener's Supply (this is year three, and it's still in great shape), I have four Winterbore kale plants, eight lettuce plants, a curly parsley, several arugulas, and then I threw in a few seeds for radishes and more arugula:

Let growing season commence!