Daily Archives: February 1, 2009

Seventeen Miles and a Friendly Copper

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Halfway through the Superbowl and I watch the fuzzy television, tuckered out.  I wish I had run seventeen miles today.  No way.  I ran seventeen miles this week, but that still is pretty good.  At least I am up to that.  They were tiring runs this week, all three of them–slippery, cold, windy and hilly.  When every step slips backward on a long steep hil, it makes one tired.

Plus last night I spent a few hours are Waterbury Wings to see my friend Skip play with his band, Generous Thieves.  They were pretty great.  I had not seen them yet and I danced with the rest of them.  This meant I was out late, and so got to bed late.  My children don’t sleep in.  Ever.  Therefore I do not sleep in.

Driving down Route 116 at 12:30 last night, I got pulled over.  The blue lights flashed in the mirror and I pulled to the snow bank.  I haven’t gotten pulled over in over a decade.  I knew I wasn’t speeding but my adreniline was pumping.  This Williston police officer was pretty dang nice.  “On your way home?” he asks me.  I told him I was coming from Waterbury and he asked “Off skiing?”  He gave me a warning for having a headlight out.  I felt like he stopped me to do me a favor, as if he just wanted me to be safe.  The guy had a huge grin.

I still have to get the headlight replaced and send in the ticket with a signature on it.  From some certified repair guy.  That will still cost me, I suppose.  I do need to replace it.  Too bad I just noticed it a couple of days ago.  Anyway, I have some new respect for Williston police.  At least I wasn’t speeding.  Or drunk.

The ticket was dated February 1.  See you later, January.  Maybe this week I will get up to twenty miles.  I don’t plan to drive to Waterbury any day soon.  Or anywhere at midnight for that matter.  Now I just need to get that damn headlight replaced.  Tomorrow.  The copper may have been nice, but he didn’t give me much time to deal with the problem.  At least I will be taking the day off from running tomorrow.  That should give me a little time to deal.

Coffee Cake and Two Days of Running

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Kid Pic of Morning Goodies

Kid Pic of Morning Goodie

(Originally posted 1/25/2009)

I rose early to rekindle the fire in the stove, to get coffee started for my beautiful wife, and to bake something. I had purchased sour cream yesterday and dumped into the cake above. The photo was taken by my daughter, who ran upstairs to tell me she took a photo of the coffee cake.

It was fairly tasty, although I left off the icing and did not add lemon, which I prefer, since my spouse does not prefer. All in all, however, a fine breakfast food item. It was my first item of the day, the other major kitchen project being the tofu pot pie, which is hard to beat on a cold day.

I ran again today. I have not run two days in a row for quite a while. Leavensworth Road is perfect at the moment, the right combination of temperature, snow and traffic making even the class four section runnable. It was not as cold as yesterday, but cold enough. It was below zero last night but got into the teens by this afternoon.

Since I pulled a muscle at the end of the summer, I have had to take it easy as I slowly recover. I figure I need to keep it down to 20 miles per week for another month. By spring I should be able to turn it up, as long as I take it easy. By the time it gets warm, and running is easier, I am hoping I can get in some long runs. We’ll see.

We have plenty of coffee cake left, and some pie, and even some bread from yesterday. I have an easy breakfast and an easy lunch. Which is a good thing, since I need to be out of here early, and I need to work late. It will be a long day. A long week, even. But I have a new soup recipe I’d like to try. I made some stock today and I have a lot of celery left. That will be a good project for maybe Tuesday. Since my wife works late that day, I won’t be able to run anyway. Might’s well make up some soup.