Live From The Woman Cave: False Start

Only three days into the week and I can tell I need a long rest. Monday and Tuesday were crazy jam-packed days with work and I got out for an hour run on Monday followed by a very brief half mile run with the tire.

I could feel the tire in my low back just slightly on Tuesday when I woke up, but it went away over the day. At noon I met several people from the Fort Collins Running Club at noon at the Fossil Ridge High School track. I jogged easy laps while they did 400s. I just wanted to be there and meet some of the new members of the club. I ran about 4 miles and did a short ride on the bike, mounted on the trainer, that afternoon.

Today I went up to Horsetooth Mountain park and did two Rock Repeats, something I haven't done in months. I figured it would be good to get some climbing in, all I did was hike the uphills and jogged the downhills, I know I will be sore as hell even from that, but I needed to do it.

On my way out there I ran into some old running friends I hardly ever see anymore, they were out with their dog to hike the rock once. We talked for a while before we got started and again before I went out for my second climb, they were finished with their hike.

There were deer out everywhere, on the roads and trails.

Tuesday before I went to the track I had a long conversation with an acquaintance from some of the cancer-related organizations I've been involved with in town. We had not talked much, just briefly when we ran into each other at social functions, since I left the hospital, nearly a year ago. It was a great conversation, ranged from local cancer politics to life and death existential issues to our mutual dislike of the profit-focused lack of care in health care.

It's the kind of thing that sticks with you, and when I was running on the track afterwards, I couldn't wait to get to a quiet place to process what we had talked about, it fit perfectly into a piece I'm writing now.

This week I've been working mostly from home and been spending time with the girls. Iris was waiting for her dad to come home from work in this picture.

Tonight I indulged in a seasonal beer from New Belgium, Accumulation IPA. It has a light body, a mildly citrusy hoppy taste without being overpowering, and hardly any bitterness compared to most IPAs. I like it. Okay, maybe the hard core beer connoisseurs would say it's girl beer. Girl IPA. Girls appreciate the good things, we don't have to drink tar or acid to prove ourselves.

Speaking of girls, they had an extra little treat tonight before we came out to the woman cave, while I opened my beer. They love to lie down at my feet while I work, but occasionally they'll want in or out of the cave.

The rest of the week has some walking, time on the bike, a swim or pool run, and the Tortoise and Hare 5K, a Fort Collins Running Club event which is low key and I will jog it, just to be there. I got a text from Wheaties Boy today asking me if I wanted to meet for speedwork on Friday! I said, you're dealing with a geriatric runner here, how about a beer instead? I don't think I'll be ready for speedwork of any type until 2015.

I can tell how tired I am, I can run and feel decent one day, but then the next day I feel like death. Not ready to jump back in yet, this week has been an experiment with short workouts to see how everything feels.

Definitely far from being ready to get back to anything called training. That's okay, I have enough deadlines and projects to keep me busy.

Tonight I made chicken-spinach enchiladas with a new recipe I invented, sort of. I borrowed a salsa recipe from a restaurant in Manhattan Beach that the owner gave me, and adjusted it just a little.

There is this breakfast place we go to when we're there and it is amazing, it's right next door to a very popular restaurant that people wait in line for hours to get into, but just down the hill there is this tiny café that serves the most incredible food, and they make this fresh salsa that they put at the table and I think I go there for the salsa as much as I do for the food.

The owner is from Mexico and he made this salsa from dried chiles and it has oregano and bay leaf in it, and the flavor is too good to describe, you have to eat it to understand.

I had some chicken breasts that I cooked a few days ago, ground those up in the food processor, sautéed some spinach and onions and red bell pepper, and threw it all together with some nonfat sour cream, and corn tortillas, and a little cheese. I baked it in the oven while I made the salsa.

I added some hot chicken broth to it. About 10 minutes before the enchiladas were done I took them out and poured the salsa broth over the pan of enchiladas and stuck them back in the oven. The enchiladas were mild, with almost nothing spicy, but the salsa was super hot and spicy, and it was a perfect combination.

Eventually I'll remember to post this on Bitchen Swill, but maybe I'll keep it a secret for a while. Good thing I made a big pan, we'll have leftovers tomorrow.

Iris is staring at me from outside. I think she's telling me to quit for the night and come in the house and go to bed.

She gives good advice.