Before and After

Welcome to my newest cousin, Celie Annalin!

American History 101

True quotations from a caller today:

"He came over on the Mayflower with Christopher Columbus."

"It all goes back to Rome."

"There was a Civil War and they was a Continental War.  I reckon George Washington was in the Continental War."

"Loretta Lynn was in the middle of this.  The Carter family, too."

More on the race . . .

So, by the numbers: I came in 7,109 of 26,242 overall finishers (about the top 25%); 391 of 2062 in my age group (about the top 20%); ran the second half very slightly faster than the first half (19 seconds faster, to be precise -- this is a good thing); and had a 9:09 pace overall (faster than my training pace).

May I say that I was really quite pleased with myself?

More generally, it was a great day to run. Everything went perfectly for me as far as getting there, parking near the start (my little secret!), watching the elite runners sprint off, and laughing at the costumed runners. The speedo-ed "Michael Phelps" certainly encouraged me to get past him, and some people I knew won first in the group contest with a great Ms. Pac-Man theme. The weather was perfect. The waves were nicely timed, so there weren't too many slow people to dodge. There were bands and spectators all along the course, and then there is the course itself, which is just one of those perfectly lovely places that makes me glad to live in Richmond.

Pictures later if I buy them!

56:55!

That, my friends, is my best-ever 10K time . . . all on very slack training, thank you very much.  The original plan was that this would be the year I really tried - the goal was a sub-55.  But what with the traveling to Alabama, getting sick, getting engaged, snow, and it just being too darn cold to get out of bed in the morning, I sort of didn't get started until two weeks ago.  My long run (on a treadmill) was a pathetic 3 miles.

The only theory I have was that the caffeinated Jelly Bellies I scarfed down before the race helped, as did predicting my time optimistically so I wasn't stuck running around slowpokes.  Anyway, yay me!  I'll have a more thorough analysis of splits, places, and all that later.

Got a shovel?

Oh, holy cow.  Will you just look at all the snow?  I'd guess about six inches, and it's still falling.  (It would appear to be the last gasp, though, according to weather.com.)  I've got some still-painful frostbitten fingertips and lots of lovely pictures.  I'm going to spend the rest of the day watching movies and baking cookies.  And hoping they cancel work tomorrow, because we really truly do not have a snow shovel, and how am I to get out of here?

Lucky 13!

All my readers know, but I wanted to make it official with a blog announcement as well as a gadget . . . John and I got engaged!  Ring pictures soon, I promise . . . Look, here it is!

A few words about the holidays

No, I haven't become one of those people who calls Christmas "the holidays" (which is disturbingly common, you know) but am referring to the Christmas-New Year's stretch. Which is two holidays, ergo, "the holidays."

Anyway, a few pictures, in no particular order. Two are in Baltimore, with random JS family members and their pets; two will be recognized by my faithful readers as being at Meme's house, or rather in her kitchen. We were all very tired on New Year's Eve, so we ate our chili and went to sleep without so much as a spoonful of ice cream (though I actually think she managed to get us to eat some of Bonnie's famous chocolate pie). The next morning I whipped up some tasty Morning Glory muffins . . . or rather reconstituted them from the mix I bought at Whole Foods. They were very tasty with apple butter.

Later that day a few Smiths came over bearing food - roast beef with assorted trimmings - and we had a lovely supper, after which we enjoyed the traditional New Year's Eve sundaes. Happy 2009 to everyone! It promises to be a terriffic year.

Chili Pouf

So, Christmas morning this year found me away from my normal traditions. The lovely Ginny and Craig made up for it, though, with all sorts of delights (babies, dogs, and a real Christmas tree!), not least of which was Eggy Pouf on Christmas morning. As I ate it, I thought it tasted both delicious and haintingly (ha! meant to type "hauntingly" but as a sort-of-Alabamian, haintingly works too) familiar. It was, it turned out, pretty much the same thing as the old Gilbert Christmas classic, Mexican Eggs, but with cheddar instead of pepper jack and bacon instead of chilies.

I was inspired, then, to make a pan of Mexican eggs for supper the other night. It's easy, tasty, and always pleases. We ate it with some nuked sugar snap peas.

Mexican Eggs

5 eggs, 1/4 cup flour, 8 oz. cottage cheese, 4 oz. canned diced chilies, 2 Tbs. melted butter, 1 tsp. baking powder, 2 cups chredded pepper jack cheese. [I wanted to use up the tail end of some white cheddar so I shredded that and made up the balance with pepper jack. Also, the food processor just goes through cheese so quickly you will not believe it. It's magic!]

Mix it all together and put it in a greased 9 inch pie pan. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 350, and cook for another 20-25 minutes until golden and perfect.

Look!

Behold some of my delightful Christmas presents!  I've already watched the Dexter DVD (thanks to Kenny and an absurd amount of off-work time), and Lewis Agonistes is excellent so far - still in the biographical portion.  However, the prize this year goes to the camera, a gift from the lovely and talented JS . . . everyone can look forward to seeing more pictures on the blog in 2009!