Carbo Loading by Dinky-T

Tonight, for dessert, the kids had angel food cake topped with red and golden raspberries picked from our yard and homemade whipped cream.

While the kids were eating their dessert at the breakfast bar, I had my back to them, cooking tortillas for their lunches. (Lately they have been making tortilla pizzas with turkey pepperoni.)

Dinky-T asked, "Mom, can I have a tortilla?"

"I don't know, can you?"

"Mom, may I have a tortilla?"

"Sure."

Dinky-T grabbed a tortilla and went back to the counter with the other kids. I continued to cook tortillas until I heard, "Now that's what I call carbohydrates!"



Hmmm...I am thinking that an angel-food-raspberry-whipped-cream-burrito is not exactly ideal carb-loading...

Excuses, Excuses...Wait, Have I Used That Before?

Since the plane crash, I have been a little leery about running.

Okay, not really, but I have been very busy with a project and getting my new company fully up and running (yay).

Okay, I have been busy with the project, but honestly, I have skipped some runs. I was a cruddy running partner and cancelled a run with H3 just to take the kids to a movie. And to eat buttered popcorn. Sprinkled with M&M's.

There, it's out. Whew. Don't you feel better now? I do.

I did manage to run with Pacemaker and the new TNT gang last Saturday. I did 7.09 miles, 10:39 average. I am getting to my speed goal, slowly but surely. Emphasis on slowly...wait, I am starting to see a connection here...NAH.

After the run (and a much needed shower), the kids and I headed to Seward to help Nana & Bumpa winterize the boat.

Big-C was more thrilled than he looks.

Tinkerbell was under the weather with a nasty cold. Gia's daughter Cari-boo came along for the ride because (1) we invited her and (2) her sister got-to-go-to-the-fair-and-life's-not-fair-wait-that's-too-funny-to-be-whiny-so-can't-she-come-with-us-we-are-going-to-stay-in-the-hotel-and-swim-in-the-pool.

I am glad Gia puts up with my whining.

Winterizing the boat was pretty labor intensive. The first day we worked in the cabins, cleaning and removing everything that might freeze. The second day was to be spent on the "mechanical" aspects of winterizing. The second day brought a gripping realization that I have not been doing enough upper body workouts.

Oy.

The engine and pump compartments are way too small for a man of my dad's size to fit into. It is also worth mentioning that my father had a heart transplant 4 years ago this weekend, and I hate to see him crawling around and contorting his body trying to squeeze into spaces filled with machinery....so in I went. Unfortunately, there were two problems with my plan to play plumber/mechanic; I have no idea what I am doing and I apparently do not have enough forearm strength to do some of the work.

The solution to problem number one: take a photo of the part, pass the camera to dad, follow instructions. Check. The solution to problem number two: brace my body against anything and use my body weight to add force. Nine ugly bruises and one sarcastic "are you having a baby in there?" comment from my mother (my grunts of effort) later, the boat was winterized.

Before we left Seward, we had to stop and have lunch at the smoke shack. Ohhhh yummy. I chose the healthiest option available, smoked cod, and WOW who new healthy could taste so good. Thank you, Smoke Shack.

So healthy I could almost run. Tee Hee.

Well That Doesn't Happen Everyday

So I have a confession....I may have caused this:

It's a plane crash.

I didn't mean to crash an airplane.

Let me 'splain.

On Tuesday, Unagi (the doggy) and I left the house for a dreaded tempo run. When I told Unagi our plan, she was clearly not thrilled. I thought we would follow a new route I experimented with last week. I have been hesitant to run on the trail system by myself, and I don't care to run along busy roads, so I found a route through the neighborhood that passes through a section of the airport.

So Unagi and I started with a 20 minute warm up which took us to the North side of Lake Hood. We then started the tempo portion of the run. Our goal was 20 minutes at the maximum sustainable pace. Oy.

Twelve minutes into the torture, while gasping for breath and sweating profusely, I heard sirens. My first thought was that a good samaritan had called the emergency vehicles to assist me, as I looked (and sounded) like someone about to have a heart attack.

As we followed the road that winds through the airport, we were passed by police cars, fire trucks, an ambulance and airport emergency response trucks. My relief that they weren't coming for me was tempered by the fact that they were coming at all.

At the fifteen minute mark, as I turned East to head home, I was met by an airport-emergency-response-man. He informed me that the road was closed due to a plane crash.

I immediately felt VERY bad as I realized that my gasping for breath must have created a dramatic and unexpected cross wind, causing the plane to crash immediately after take-off.

I'm sorry.

I felt so bad, I didn't even tell the airport-emergency-response-man that I was in a bit of a pinch now. You see, I had no hydration or fuel with me, and the detour to get home added another 1.5 miles to my route. Ouch.

I opted to slow back to a normal pace, tough it out until the last half mile, then walk the cool down.

I'm sorry Mr. Pilot. Promise not to breathe so hard next time.