Monday, February 16, 2015

What does pork smell like?

Well, not much, turns out. Not ground pork, anyhow. No wonder there are mass quantities of seasonings in the meatloaf cooking away in the oven. Pork mince (in Brit parlance). Onions. Shrooms. With bacon on top.

Ah. Bacon. Bacon. A perfect food. Everything is better with bacon. I get Homer Simpson-drool going on when bacon is cooking. Today I put "lashings" of bacon on top of ground pork meatloaf or, as Nom Nom Paleo calls it, Super Porktastic Bacon-topped Spinach & Mushroom Meatloaf. Fun blog, awesome recipes, and oh damn I forgot the nutmeg. 

Crap, I forgot to add the nutmeg! I can't even blame my martini for that miss because that happened waaaay back before noon. And it's now waaaay past noon. Shoot. Well, probably it'll be okay without it. 

"Lashings." I don't really even know what that is but it is also a decidedly Brit word which seems to indicate some kind of schmear of something, or stripes or strips of something. On my meatloaf I have strips of bacon across the top, which I think qualifies as "lashings of bacon." Meh. 

I might forever associate this meatloaf with writing a presentation on what I can do for Company Not Named. Next week I am to do a panel interview (as in, the subject is ME and the panel is several of the company execs) in presentation (PowerPoint) mode. I'm not particularly thrilled and I'm totally anxious and the presentation isn't done and I'm pretty sure I've completely overthought this and I have one day to rework it before we go out of town. I want it DONE by the time we get on the train. So. Ugh. I keep asking myself "how badly do I want THIS specific job?" It happens that I'm a pretty good fit. But if, after all this, I don't actually GET the job, "do I want to bother continuing to look?" The first interview as January 14. Start date is April 1. 

So, pork smells like my presentation to Company Not Named. 

As Kerry says: le sigh. 

Saturday, February 14, 2015

Mo' Running

Yes, it has been some time since I posted, and I'm not going to make excuses. I'm just gonna jump right in to it. Can I keep it up? Maybe, maybe not, we'll see.

Mo' running, mo' running, mo' running. I'm up to about 20 miles per week. It's an astonishing milestone for me and one of which I'm incredibly proud. It feels good. Feels right. Feels like I could tack on a few more miles on a 4th day, especially if I'm mindful about massaging my achy calves after the Friday hill run with the running club

Speaking of the running club, I owe all my miles to them. I don't have words for how grateful I am for their support and encouragement. Many of the women are training for a half-marathon in April, in Italy. Groovy! I'm going to a half-marathon a few weeks later, closer to home, and decided to train alongside because, hey, it's a PLAN. I like a plan. Plus, I'm six months overdue for a half-marathon because of the move across the pond and not getting to run in the Rock 'n Roll Virginia Beach Half. 

I'm anxious that once I'm working again I won't be able to allocate as much time to running as I have been for the past two months. I'd like to say "I'll deal with that when the time comes" but those who know me know that I just can't let it go at that. I have to have a PLAN! At least the outline of a plan, at any rate. 

Yesterday morning on the aforementioned Friday hill run, the lovely woman I was running alongside wondered aloud how it was that some people ran so much faster. Mentally, I dug deep into the all the reading I'd done but I couldn't come up with a ready answer. Mostly because we're all built differently, we all have different levels of cardio fitness. One thing I remember reading from Matt Fitzgerald's writing is that, among other things, distance can improve a runner's speed over time. I'm certainly proof of that! I ran my first 10k, last May 2014, at a 14:00 min pace. With no effort at increasing my speed but just increasing my distance over the last year, I ran a recent 10k this month at a 12:00 min pace. However, I was reminded this morning during some bathroom reading that aerobic fitness is another key component, and I think the two are intrinsically linked. As I am running I'm building aerobic strength. Yay! 


from "The Little Red Book of Running" by Scott Adams


So, this is one answer from one author to that question. I can accept that. I think this is the same guy who wrote that some runs aren't perfect. Accept it and move on to the next run.

Cheers, y'all!