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August 2nd, 2006
10:41 am - Tu: rest; W: ???
Didn't row or run. Ran out of time. I'll run and bathe the dog today.
I want to train to run my 6 minute mile but I'm still afraid of reinjuring my foot while it is healing. It feels much better but once in a while I feel the pain in my toes or ball of my foot that tells me it hasn't completely healed. I'm running a little because I simply don't have the time every day to take the dog out for half an hour AND row. So I have to either skip rowing or combine taking the dog out with my exercise (i.e., run with the dog). I'm not able to regularly do interval training and it makes me nervous about being able to achieve my goal. Less than a month left before I make my effort. I've lost at least 5 lbs. so that's a good thing. I'm sticking with it despite the obstacles. I want to do this so badly that I can taste it.
Tried a new recipe yesterday in the hopes that T and R would love chicken prepared with this recipe. The genesis of the idea occurred as I was running the other day. I was reflecting that chicken satay with peanut sauce is very tasty. I thought about it and concluded that I might be able to create a recipe using peanut butter that would have a similar effect. On an offchance that someone else had a similar idea I looked online and found a couple of recipes involving chicken and peanut butter. I modified a couple of them to create the following dish:
Chicken with Peanut Butter Crust
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/3 c. chunk style peanut butter
1/2 t salt
1/8 t pepper
1/4 c. milk
1/8 c. flour
4 chicken breasts (we used boneless, skinless)
1 c. plain dry bread crumbs
1/8 c. canola or corn oil or equivalent
Mix egg, peanut butter, salt, pepper. Add milk slowly while blending. Dry chicken and roll in flour to completely dry surface. Dip chicken in peanut butter mixture. Roll and thoroughly coat in bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet or baking pan and lightly sprinkle oil over chicken. Place in 375 degree oven for 35 minutes or until chicken is done (depending on thickness and whether or not boneless).
It was a decent dish, crunchy on the outside with the flavor of peanuts and chicken blending nicely. The crust tended to fall off so I might have to modify how I apply or create the peanut butter mixture. T liked it okay but R loved it. J and I liked it but it was improved 10 fold by sprinkling with cayenne pepper flakes and dipping in some spicy sauce (we were using Tiger Sauce). With the additional spices it was delicious. Otherwise, mediocre.
Dinner was pretty good overall. Chicken prepped as above. Tomato, basil, mozzarella with lemon thyme and ex. virgin olive oil. Hard crust bread with creamy interior. Asparagus. Carrots with dill.
Here’s another poem I wrote some time ago:
The Hunger
The restless hunger returns
Gnawing at my soul.
Just when I feel comfortable,
Or full, it returns.
A feeling like a weakness,
Is overcoming my soul,
Unless I can nourish it.
Feeding on itself,
It is a hollow satisfaction.
The real joy would be found,
In a moment's embrace with you.
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02:41 pm - 10K+ in 95-107 degree heat index
The dog needed to go out and I needed to bathe him so I ran with him. I hurried to get out the door but by the time we left the heat index was at 95 degrees. We went slowly, covering the 2.9 mile route at about 12 min/mile, inclusive of all stops. It was blazing hot so we had to stop repeatedly so that I could give the dog water and spray his head and back to keep him cool. After the run I slowly cooled him down with warm then lukewarm water for his bath. He seemed fine after the bath and he was inside. I just wanted to make sure I didn't overheat him.
I took a short break to cool down, drink some water, and water the garden. I decided to run another 3.3 miles to cover a 10K for the day and I wanted to do the first couple of miles at a decent pace because I wasn't running with the dog. However, the heat index was 105 degrees, which is dangerous heat, so I had to be careful. I drenched my clothes with cold water, drank a tall glass of really cold water, and brought a cold bottle of water with me. I started running at a decent pace but I knew better than to really push it. The heat was oppressive. I felt like I was running with a heavy, wet, hot, cotton quilt on my body and like I was breathing through a pillow filled with hot, damp cotton. Not the best of running conditions. I took it easy and throttled back and covered the first mile in 7:10. I eased up a little more and hit mile two with an overall 7:20 pace. Then came the hills. Hills in 105 degree heat = heat stroke. I didn't want heat stroke so I slowed way down. I added an extra leg so the entire route should have been about 3.5 miles but I logged it as 3.3 for a total of 6.2 miles (10K). I checked the weather right after I returned and saw a heat index of 107. After a cool shower and another glass of water I felt as good as new. Tired, but new. My foot feels okay too. I still need to keep the mileage down but it felt good to know that I could cruise on a very, very hot day and hit a 7:10 mile without trouble.
Last night just before bed T said he had to poop. He went into the bathroom and was quiet for a long time. J finally checked on him and started laughing. She called to me to come up and see what he had done. He was sitting on the toilet and he had taken his clean undies and put them over his head with one arm sticking through a leg hole. He looked ridiculous and he knew it. He had sat waiting for us to find him in his silly garb. Everyone started laughing so hard. I don't want to encourage clownish behavior but it was truly funny. And he had planned it all along.
R continues to verbalize more and more. His sounds are becoming more distinct and he sometimes seems to try to say complex words like "helicopter". He constantly asks for names of things by pointing and saying "dis?" R and T are learning to play with each other as R develops new skills.
Tonight we are having breakfast for dinner. I'm going to make a triple batch of my special fluffy pancakes (J taught me to make them) and we'll eat pancakes with fruit and sausage for dinner. Then we'll freeze the leftover pancakes (there will be a bunch of them) so that we can have them for a quick breakfast whenever we want.
I want to finish the chapter this week. I want it out of my life. Back to work.
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04:54 pm - Africa hot.
I just went out to check the mail.
I can't quit thinking about the quote from Biloxi Blues (1988) in which Eugene Morris Jerome (Matthew Broderick) complains about the heat:
"Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot."
My sister and I used to joke about Africa hot when the Santa Ana winds would hit So California. This is hotter than that.
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