Cheryl Katz

I have run every day this week, at least 3 miles.

Normally I don’t run every day, but today is the last day of Sami’s preschool until camp starts up a week and a half from now.  I just know that the likelihood of getting out for a run where I’d want to be aware of my average speed is pretty slim.  I’m excited to report that depending on the temperature, my average speed ranged between 11 minues/mile and 11.2/mile.  That’s pretty exciting for me, considering that includes the warmup and cooldown walking, and some pretty gnarley hills.

I think that recovery is somehow getting easier.  Last month, every day I ran was followed by at least a day of not running, because I physically felt that I needed the recovery time.  I saw this as a sign of my age…  but I am starting to think that running is making me younger!   If you ask me how old I am and I don’t think too hard about it, or if my kid isn’t there, my go-to answer is still 24, and I am so many kinds of not 24 any more.  But there’s something to this exercise of feeling younger that I like.  Or maybe I need it.  In any case, between the increasing physical ability and the generally sometimes forgetting how old I am, I’d say I am well disposed at the present.

In culinary news, I accidentally bought a jar of Pumpkin Pie Spice when I was reaching for paprika a few weeks ago.  Last night was an exercise in how to kill some staples (carrots, celery, onion), some frozen turkey, some miscellaneous junk and use up some pumpkin pie spice.  I wound up making a stew with red beans, turkey, and vegetables.  On top of the pumpkin pie spice, I added some crushed red pepper, cayenne and brown sugar, and the result was… thoroughly edibly comforting.

It wasn’t mindblowing like other recent experiments have been, but I strove for comfort food for a reason, so it pretty much hit the spot.  Sami wasn’t a fan, but that because it had green things in it, around which she had to diligently pick.  This is kind of how it goes with a persnickety preschooler, but at least she eats.

I have weighty things to blog.  Or at the very least, to be writing, but I’ve been terribly unmotivated, and when I wasn’t unmotivated I was moving the site to a new server.

I might have more interesting things to say, but instead I’ll just share that I had a little heart attack today when a high school kid sprinted across the road, in front of my car (which was going 50 mph on a big, wide non-residential street) to get to the city bus at the stop on the other side.  I didn’t hit him, but it required maximum effort and some burnt rubber to avoid it.

I’ve never been so close to accidentally killing someone, and it was so completely not my fault!  That kid was fast, and didn’t give any warning.

Still it shook me, and I was glad to be home when I got home, and glad that no one was hurt, that Sami’s car seat was (duh) appropriately installed and everyone and everything in my car was safe.  And everyone outside my car.  And yeah.  I’m babbling.

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Originally uploaded by cinediva

This is one of those photos where I can’t deny how much Sami looks like me.

But also, she’s a ham. Like the hammiest. She made this face entirely for the benefit of the camera.

There’s a bunch of new ones on Flickr – we had a little ham session today. Feast your eyes, the girl is cute.

Oh, and I cut her hair. The end.