Batgavin and the Trail Bandits

Yet another sure sign that Fall is coming, we went shopping for a Halloween costume for Gavin today. He's into Batman at the moment (the old 1960s Batman - pow, kaboom and "holy camp comedy") and wanted to be the caped crusader. Here he is posing with "Trail Bandit Daddy" and "Catwoman Mummy" (boo hiss).
Here's another thing I learned today - Gavin really loves ice baths. Ever since he discovered them last week he's been wanting to try another one. The opportunity arose today because I felt a little stiff on this morning's run after yesterday's fast 20 miler (plus I seem to have misplaced my stick). Gavin was excited and jumped in the bathtub with me right after we added the ice - and he stayed for the entire 20 minutes. I swear that boy just doesn't feel the cold - I needed a big mug of hot chocolate to help me stay put.

Holy ice cubes Batgavin!!!

The Lucky Streak Continues

Within the past few months I have been on a red hot lucky streak. First I won a Nintendo Wii at a work convention (though I'm not really a gamer and have only used it once), then a copy of Dean Karnaze's new book (which I've nearly finished reading). Today I got an email from Ed at Trail Running Soul to let me know that I'd won the audiobook version of the same Karnaze book. Great stuff - I've been meaning to experiment running with an audiobook on my ipod for a while. Now I have no excuse.

A few months ago I tried out a new brand of road shoes - the Asics GT-2120 - and I loved them. They replaced my beloved Reeboks that didn't seem to work for me anymore. The only problem is that they are last year's model and have been replaced by the GT-2130. Now, the new model is very similar, but costs around $90 whereas I got the pair of 2120s for around $50 (if you know me, you know I don't like to pay full price for anything). I could have kicked myself for not buying another pair at the time, especially since I now have nearly 300 miles on these and will soon need more. I've been trying to find some online in my size (9, 4E wide) and at a good price for a while now, all to no avail. Well, this morning my lucky streak saved me as I think I found the last place on the internet that carried them in my size, along with an extra 20% off coupon which netted me two pairs of one of the best running shoes of the last few years for $104 shipped. How lucky is that?

And my new thinkpad arrived last night (which is what I'm typing this on). I pulled the hard drive out of the ancient laptop, popped it into here and installed linux on it. The machine is in perfect shape and does everything I need it to, so I'm happy - I got a great deal. Even more happy when I was able to fix the heat problem on the other laptop by simply removing the battery (which was old and didn't hold a charge anyway). That means I now have two working laptops that run really well. No more Mrs Welshrunner throwing me off to check her email!!!

To top it all off, here's a clear sign of Fall coming (other than the spectacular blood red sunrise this morning). I went to HEB this afternoon and discovered they have my favorite beer in stock again - Buffalo Bill's Pumpkin Ale. They have it each year in the run up to Halloween and it's super yummy beer - like drinking pumpkin pie. My perfect Fall meal is a nice warming soup with homemade Italian bread washed down with some of this stuff - wonderful. If you live anywhere they sell it, you've gotta try it.

2008/2009 Training Season - Week 5

Saturday 9/27/08
road - 20 miles. Done - 2:47:46 (8:23 pace). Ran 10 miles by myself and 10 with my group

Sunday 9/28/08
trail - 6 miles. Done - ran Kens with Roger, Ben and several others. Untimed.

Monday 9/29/08
trail - 6 miles. Done - ran Kens with Shawn and James. We blasted it in under an hour. Started off with sore legs from the weekend but they eased off the more we ran.

Tuesday 9/30/08
road - hill repeats. Done - ran hill repeats on Frontier Tr in Round Rock. Did 6 forward and 2 backwards.

Wednesday 10/1/08
Rest

Thursday 10/2/08
Rest - taper

Friday 10/3/08
Rest - taper

The Ups and Downs of the Sock Market

For the last month, I've been putting several models of Drymax running socks through their paces. How would they hold up against my current favorites - the Balega Trail Busters and the Wrightsock Double Layer? Let's find out.

Disclaimer : I did not purchase any of the socks in this review - Drymax sent me samples from their range to review free of charge. This has not influenced my review, but I feel I have to mention it

Drymax Reviews
Most of the Drymax range are equipped with top or bottom air vents designed to work in conjunction with the venting systems of the majority of modern running shoes - a feature that is very much appreciated in hot weather!!! This, together with a seamless design and a dual fiber lining helps to prevent blisters by repelling moisture and wicking it away from the foot. When I got them, my first thought was that they looked way too small, but the sock stretches beautifully to encase your foot and I didn't have any problems in this regard at all. Another nice feature is that the sock name is woven into the top of the sock - a small thing, but a godsend when you have several pairs in the laundry.

Drymax Running : nice thick socks - a little too bulky for my road shoes (which are fitted for use with thin socks), but if you like a looser fitting shoe they are a good choice. In fact, they worked really well on the trail with my larger trail shoes. Comfortable and durable, I will be keeping a pair in my drop bag.
Rating : 8 (tested on trail and road)

Drymax Lite-Mesh : thinner than the Running model, but still a little thick for my road shoes. I also have to question the durability - my wife and I each wore a pair at my son's indoor play afternoon. After two hours of walking around on carpet without shoes, she had worn a big hole in the heel of one of hers, though mine were fine. To be fair, I have tried to replicate this problem at home by wearing them around the house and have been unable to. The other two pairs are still going strong and they are very comfortable.
Rating : 7 (tested on trail, road and treadmill)

Drymax Hot Weather Running : a great thin sock that fits perfectly with my road shoes. I don't use them on the trail, but they have been well tested on the road in fairly hot and humid conditions - I have run several 20+ mile road runs in them and finished every run with dry feet. I also wore them in last weekend's marathon relays when we won the Governor's Cup, so they are my new lucky socks as well as my new favorite road socks.
Rating : 9.5 (tested on road)

Drymax Golf : very comfortable when you're going to be on your feet all day. I wore them with my everyday shoes and my deck shoes and they kept my feet nice and comfortable
Rating :7 (tested in general everyday use)

Drymax Maximum Protection : untested as yet - waiting for the weather to cool down before trying these, though after reading some opinions by other runners and foot experts like John Vonhof, I already have them earmarked for the Bandera 100k
Rating : untested

In summary, a very impressive line of running sock. Preference of sock thickness is very individual and has a lot to do with shoe fit but there's something in this line for everyone, and I've found a new go-to road sock (though I still love and use the Wrightsocks and Balegas as well).

Thrown to the Dogs

Gavin came up to me tonight with a serious look on his face. He looked me in the eye, wagged his finger at me and said "daddy, if you don't behave I'll throw you over the fence and let the dogs have you". Then he walked off laughing. What? Where did that come from? My boy is a cheeky little blighter - I'm so proud.

I started reading another Patricia Cornwell "wristslasher" this lunchtime. I was quite happy when I started reading - half an hour later I was ready to jump out the window and end it all. Her characters are without exception grey, miserable, pessimistic, whiny and full of self pity. They are forever moping around complaining about their "hard lives" and sounding increasingly like Eeyore. I enjoyed the early Kay Scarpetta novels but the later ones became increasingly bizarre and unrealistic. This one - "Black Notice" - falls somewhere in the middle. It starts with the main character sobbing in emotional turmoil and making a complete prat of herself. And she just keeps on going. By the end of the first chapter she must be completely dehydrated and I was about ready to whack her myself.

One thing I do like about the Kay Scarpetta novels is that the stories are intertwined with some great Italian cooking, which leads to this book - the most unique, fun and delicious cookbook I own. I have not had one bad recipe from it and each one includes a small description of how it fits into the novel to which it belongs. The recipes are indexed by both course and novel - highly recommended.

Dogs, Hot Tubs and Laptops

One of the things we love about our house is the hot tub built into the deck in the backyard - it's great fun when it gets cold and Gavin loves it. Unfortunately, one of the downsides of having a dog is that they really don't play well with hot tub covers. I've lost count of the number of times we've replaced it, but each time Charlie has started to tear it open again within a matter of weeks, and before you know it he's ripped the waterproof lining open and is pulling the polystyrene out of it. When that happens, it fills with water and becomes impossible to lift. So this summer we decided to drain the hot tub and cut the power to it. It's been lying dormant ever since, but now that Fall is in the air we wanted to clean it out and get it back up and running - but how to stop Charlie from destroying the cover? I think we solved the problem this weekend when we found a website selling aluminum hot tub covers. At $995 they're really expensive but we've spent much more than that just replacing the fabric covers so we decided to suck it up and bought one. It will be nice to be able to use the hot tub again, especially with all the ultras I have planned for this winter.

And then yesterday my laptop suddenly broke down with hardware problems I think are related to overheating. It's an old IBM Thinkpad that I've been using for a number of years. I installed linux on it about a year ago which gave it a new lease of life - I use it to write my blog, check email, surf the internet, interface to my jukebox and sometimes watch dvds or tv on (via a wireless link to my DVR). I loved that laptop and I hate the idea of having to buy a new one with all kinds of stuff I don't need and will never use, so I searched around ebay and found the same model listed for $89. It didn't include a hard drive, but I can canibalise that and several other parts from my existing machine, and I don't have to pay for a Microsoft license for an operating system I will only uninstall anyway. I'm not shy about opening these machines up to tinker with them, so I bought it - I think (and hope) I got a good deal.

In the meantime, I'm writing this on my ancient Thinkpad. It was built in the 1990s and I've had it for years, but it's still perfectly usable under Linux. Maybe when I get the other laptop configured I'll install a minimal version of the operating system on here and use it as a fast booting machine just for writing.

Governor's Cup Champions

The marathon relays took place downtown this morning, and my team won the Governor's cup (for local and State Government teams) with a time of 3:16:35. This was doubly satisfying for me as I was both team coach and captain, and I also had a great run myself. There were no hangovers from yesterday's 21 miler and I ran the first 10k leg in a time of 46:08 (7:26 pace). Not bad over a hilly course.
Our other team also did really well and finished fifth in the division. But above all else, we had a great time. All in all, not a bad day. It was actually a bonus to run first up because then I could make sure that everyone was organized and where they needed to be for their leg. I could also take lots of pictures of everyone. We celebrated afterwards with some beers and a few laughs which was a nice relaxing finish to a fun morning.

An Ice Story

Let's get the running part out of the way.

I decided to go ahead with the long run this morning and got to Old Settlers early to do a pre-RRFit 6 miles. It was a nice uneventful run, though I probably didn't take it as easy as I should have. Got back to the pavilion, picked up my group and set off on an 8 miler. I ran hard for the first few miles and waited at the turnaround to cheer on the guys before sweeping the last runner. Once we got back into the park, I upped the pace again and finished a very pleasant run. Nancy arrived with Gavin soon after, I put him into his jogging stroller and we took off for another 8 miles. This eventually turned into just 7 miles as we explored a new housing development with some lovely Cape Cod style cottages. I was happy with a 21 mile morning and we decided to call it a day.

So here's the good part. I needed to take an ice bath when we got home to minimize soreness for tomorrow's race, and Gavin was getting excited about pouring ice on daddy. So I dumped off my shoes, socks and shirt, climbed into the bath in my running shorts and filled it with cold water to cover my legs. Gavin enjoyed splashing me from time to time, but I could tell he was plotting evil deeds with the ice. He and Nancy carried the ice reservoir in from the freezer and he took great delight in pouring it all in. Of course, I hammed it up and squealed and complained every step of the way. Once the ice was in, he found it was extremely funny to grab pieces of ice and throw them down in the water so they splashed me. Then he got brave, dug his hands in and started splashing me. Let me tell you, that water was c-o-l-d. Finally I had enough and started splashing him back. Well, he thought that was hilarious, started giggling and doubled his efforts. I told him that if he didn't stop, I was going to pull him in.

What I did not expect was for him to think this was a great idea, and before I knew it he'd hopped in and was standing in the bath kicking water over me. Kicking ice water over me. When I complained that it was cold, he stopped, looked at me, and slowly sat down. "No it's not" he said and continued his splashing frenzy.

Humbled. By a 3 year old.

So I decided to splash him back and what followed was a riotous water fight - in an ice bath!!! That water was freezing cold, but I couldn't complain because Gavin was getting as good as he was giving and laughing fit to burst. There was water everywhere, and we were both soaking and laughing our heads off. When Nancy came to see what the commotion was all about, she couldn't believe it. In all, he was in the ice bath with me for a good 5 minutes and it didn't affect him one bit.

So the next time I chicken out of an ice bath, or boast about "mental toughness" (see yesterday's whiny post) I will remember the lesson I learned today from my 3 year old son, shut my mouth and just get on with it.

Needless to say, I am very proud of him. We sat down for sourdough waffles and pancakes afterwards (which really hit the spot) and he's now sitting on the sofa, wrapped up in a blanket and watching Nemo.

I think I'm going to join him.

2008/2009 Training Season - Week 4

Saturday 9/20/2008
road - 6 miles (pre-RRFit run). Done - 49:59 (8:18 pace). Pleasant easy-paced run.
road - 8 miles (RRFit run). Done - 1:03:46 (7:58 pace). Another pleasant run. Ran hard first half and then played sweep behind the last runner.
road - 7 miles (post-RRFit run). Done - untimed. Ran with Nancy and pushed Gavin in the stroller.

Sunday 9/21/2008
road - marathon relay 10k leg. Done - 46:08 (7:26 pace).

Monday 9/22/2008
Rest

Tuesday 9/23/2008
pm - road - 5 miles. Ran an easy 5 miles with Nancy. Untimed.

Wednesday 9/24/2008
Rest

Thursday 9/25/2008
am - road - 6 miles

Friday 9/26/2008
Rest

Short Circuiting the Relay

Here's a tip for you - never volunteer for anything. More to the point, never be volunteered for anything. A few months ago I was "volunteered" to coach some work teams to run the Silicon Labs Austin marathon relay and pulled onto the "fitness and wellness" committee. The race is this coming Sunday, we have two full teams turning out and I was slated to run a 5k leg for the elite team (how the hell I managed to be an elite anything is beyond me). Everybody who committed to run had signed up except for the guy who pushed for us to enter corporate teams in the event and who pushed me to coach the teams. He was scheduled to run the first leg in the elite team, is a very fast runner but never turned up for any of our group runs and stopped responding to emails. He assured us he was fully committed to run until he suddenly dropped out yesterday. All our backup fast runners were already signed up for the B team which left me looking at running both the 10k and 5k legs in a fast time and sucking up a double entry fee (since I had to register and pay for the whole team beforehand). Fortunately we found a guy who agreed to run a 5k leg for us, allowing me to switch to the 10k.

Except that I've already committed to a 22 mile run tomorrow (including a RRFit run). If I was only running a 5k I could get away with a fast leg, but a hilly 10k is another matter. I'm not prepared to compromise my training schedule for a rinky dink fun run I never wanted to do in the first place, but at the same time I don't want to let down the other guys who've signed up to run on our team - we've had some good laughs running together over the last few months. So I'm going to do my 22 miler tomorrow, have an ice bath afterwards, and go out fast on Sunday and see how long I can hold on. Sounds like a good challenge - I've always said my main running strength is mental toughness so let's see if that's true, or if I'm just full of it.

Little Batman

Howdy Grandpa Wales and Nana. Good news - the batman outfit you bought for Gavin arrived in the mail last night. Here's little Batman modeling it - he loves it. He also needs a haircut, but that's another story :-)

Sunday Morning B-run-ch

Brunch, get it? Ha ha, not one of my better puns I will admit, but I like it.

Well I couldn't resist the temptation to get up and run Ken's this morning, and I'm glad I went. I met some friends out at the dog park and we ran a variation on the standard loop. I pushed the pace quite a bit at parts and turned it into a good interval workout. I've been running so much road recently it was nice to get back on the trail. We got in a good 5 miles and then I jumped in the car and headed off downtown to meet my work group for our final group run before the relays next weekend.

Angel, Barbara and James showed up and we set off at a leisurely pace. Angel was doing 4 miles and the others wanted to get in 6, so we headed up through UT. The wind was nowhere near as bad as yesterday, but it was still noticeable as we ran into it going up Speedway. Angel cut off at 40th street for his 4 miles, and we continued on to 45th before hopping over to Red River and coming back over to Duval from 38th (via the big hill). Barbara started overheating about here, so we slowed the pace down and I gave her my water. We took it easy coming down Duval and headed through UT on San Jacinto. Barbara cut off at 17th, but James and myself carried on down Lavaca to hit the big hill before coming back up through the capitol. We had a good run, and everyone was very happy that I had iced water waiting at the finish (shades of the Sweaty Twenty). We hung around for a while yapping before heading off home.

All in all, a good weekend of running - I got in 28 miles this weekend in less than ideal conditions. My training season is definitely going to plan.

Learned an excellent lesson about hydration yesterday from Ken at Therapy Central (he gave a very entertaining talk to our running group). He told us that research has shown we can only absorb around 4oz of water at a time (with slight variations), so drinking more than that at one time does nothing (except make you go to the bathroom a lot). Thus, hydrating regularly and in small amounts is super important, because once you get behind in your hydration it is very difficult to pull it back (because of the 4oz thing). That is why the advice to drink eight 8oz glasses of water a day is outdated. This is vital information for runners and something I didn't quite get until yesterday, so thanks Ken.

The Wind Cries Mary

Hurricane Ike smashed into the Texas coast this morning leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. There were all kinds of predictions that Ike would sideswipe Austin, with predictions of 2 to 4 inches of rain, and what did we get? Not even a drop. West Texas is struggling with torrential rain, Ike is devastating East Texas, yet here in the capitol city we are dry as a bone. That's just weird.

One thing we did get from Ike was very high winds which made my 17 mile run this morning a real bitch. Last week I had a great run and averaged around 7:50. This week I struggled running into a headwind for most of the run and averaged around 8:45. On the few occasions I wasn't running into the wind it was super humid which quickly turned my singlet into a soggy, slappy, clingy, chafing deadweight. Did I ever mention that I hate running in the wind? Heat I can handle, cold - love it. But the wind robs me of any rhythm and I expended a lot of energy just trying to stay upright. This was a real head down, grit your teeth, wait for it to be over run.

I started out at 5:30 and got in a 10 miler before meeting up with my group to do another 7 miles. I have to admit that I wasn't looking forward to going another 7, but I made myself head back out. My plan for these runs is that I would do my solo run beforehand, and then run with the group which would force me to keep up a fast pace on tired legs. Wearing a coach's shirt usually means that you have a target on your back and everyone in your group wants to finish ahead of you, which in turn motivates you to keep the pace going. Unfortunately most of my group weren't that motivated today and turned around at 3 miles, but three of us continued on the extra half mile to get in the full 7. On the way back I swept up one chap from one of the other pace groups who had missed his turnaround. I ran with him until we got back into the park when he stopped for water and told me to go on.

Once I finished, I had enough time to get in a stretch and gobble down some pretzels before heading off to work to manage some system upgrades. Tomorrow is my last group run with the work crowd before next week's Silicon Labs marathon relay. I'm debating whether or not to run Ken's beforehand. I must admit, the temptation of a rare lie in is very appealing.

2008/2009 Training Season - Week 3

Saturday 9/13/2008
road - 10 miles (pre-RRFit run). Done - 1:28:09 (8:49 pace). Very windy - horrible run
road - 7 miles (RRFit run). Done - 1:01:09 (8:44 pace). Still windy - glad it was over

Sunday 9/14/2008
am - trail - 5 miles. Done - untimed. Ran a variation on Ken's with Gordon and Talmedge. Pushed the pace.
am - road - 10k. Done - 52:42 (8:30 pace). Hot, humid and hilly downtown run. Ran an easy pace with James and Barbara.

Monday 9/15/2008
Rest day

Tuesday 9/16/2008
Rest day

Wednesday 9 /17/2008
pm - road - 6 miles easy. Did not do - got stuck at work.

Thursday 9/18/2008
am - road 6 miles. Done - 48:27.

Running in the Lap of the Gods

Yesterday I had one of my best runs in recent memory. Not in terms of time or pace or any of those incidentals, but in terms of sheer enjoyment.

I got to Old Settlers Park at 6am to get in a 6 mile run (6 at 6 - has a ring do it, don't ya think?) before my group arrived. It took me a mile or so to get into a rhythm, but by the time I got out of the park and onto the dark country roads I had relaxed into a leisurely pace and was in the groove. The sky opened up into a mosaic of stars, a seemingly endless cosmic highway, and I enjoyed the feel of the cool early morning (good news folks, Fall is coming). The world seemed to begin and end within the beam of my headlamp - alone with my thoughts I could have been the only person in existence. Just before I reached my turnaround, an armadillo wandered across the road in front of me (I passed him again on the way back), glanced up and then continued his pottering. These are the kind of magical mornings you live for as a runner, when everything comes together just right and running is effortless. Runs like this make me realize how good life really is and I am so grateful to be fit and healthy, and able to be out there doing this. The moral of the story is that there is so much more to running than times and distances. Whatever your pace or ability level, do it for the enjoyment and everything else will just flow.

I got back to the pavilion just as dawn was breaking, dumped off my headlamp, refilled my water, picked up my group and headed back out. I positioned myself in the middle of the group and moved up and down chatting to friends old and new. We took a slightly different route and I stopped at the turnaround to sweep the last runner. I ran with him for a mile or so and then took off and hit the last 2 miles hard.

I got back to the pavilion, socialized a bit and helped do teardown. By then, Nancy had arrived with Gavin so I strapped him into the jogging stroller and we all took off for my third 6 miler of the day. This was a nice easy-paced run and I spent the entire time talking and laughing with Gavin. We pointed out the horses and the cows and he told me all about his hopes to spot elephants and tigers along the way. We had a grand old time - I think I've found my mental equal, and he's 3 years old. I'd promised him that if he was a good boy I'd play on the swings with him when we got back to the park, and sure enough he wanted daddy to chase him. We spent a good 30 to 40 minutes tearing around and playing on the slides. Nancy had brought a picnic (tea and trail mix) which we enjoyed, and we had a lovely time.

So three runs, all different and all super enjoyable in different ways. What a great day. That along with a fast downtown 4 miles this morning made for a great running weekend. Bring it on.

2008/2009 Training Season - Week 2

Saturday 9/6/2008
road - 6 miles (pre-RRFit run). Done - 49:14 (8:12 pace)
road - 6 miles (RRFit run). Done - 47:15 (7:53 pace)
road - 6 miles (post-RRFit run). Done - pushed jogging stroller w/Gavin and Nancy (untimed)

Sunday 9/7/2008
road - 4 miles. Done - 29:30 (7:23 pace). Ran a fast downtown run w/Angel.

Monday 9/8/2008
am - road - 6 miles. Done - 53:57. Recovery run - felt tired.
pm - crosstrain. Did not do this - fixed annoying problems with DVR instead. :-(

Tuesday 9/9/2008
am - road - 6 miles. Done - 52:09. Felt good and could have gone faster, but the dog kept dragging behind. I think I could run this a lot better without him, but our early morning neighborhood runs have always been our special time (and he gets so excited to be going with me) and I don't want to lose them. Poor old boy is getting old - I know the feeling.

Wednesday 9/10/2008
am - road/trail - 6 miles. Did not do this - Gavin crept into our bed in the middle of the night and cuddled up with me. Decided that was more fun than getting up at 4am to run.
pm - road - 6 miles. Done. Ran w/Jeff.

Thursday 9/11/2008
crosstrain

Friday 9/12/2008
Rest

JDarkroom - a Great Tool for Writers

Any good writer will tell you that the best way to write is quickly and without thinking. Let the words flow and keep going, even if it's crap - that's what revisions are for. So what is the biggest problem for writers? That's easy - distractions. Today's computers are super machines full of interactive whatsits and clickable thingamijiggs. They can do almost anything and often leave you accomplishing nothing. In short they are one big distraction. The solution? JDarkroom.

JDarkroom is a great little freeware text editor I found that eliminates all distractions by taking out the bells and whistles and rolling back the years to give you a good old fashioned fullscreen editor. No toolbars, no scrollbars, no choice of fonts, no clickable "interactive assistant", nothing but green text on a black screen. A writer's dream.

I was somewhat skeptical, but the complete lack of any visual stimulus is very refreshing and enables me to "just write". It is an adaptation of a shareware Mac application called "WriteRoom" and runs as a Java app, which makes it platform independent. I'm running mine on an ancient Linux-powered laptop and it is super fast.

So if you find yourself struggling to complete a writing project in Word or the like, download this cracking little app and give it a go. You may be surprised at how much more productive you become.

Mark's "Pierluigi" Spaghetti and Meatballs

This is one of my staple pasta dishes - tasty, great for carb loading several nights before a long run and with a good lean bit of protein thrown in for good measure it makes a great recovery meal too.

I like to make the meatballs and spaghetti sauce in large batches on lazy Sunday afternoons and freeze them in small portions. That way I always have some on hand - especially handy since Gavin loves them. The first time I made them, he asked me what they were and I came up with "Pierluigi's spaghetti and meatballs" because it sounded very Italian. He loved it when daddy pretended to be Pierluigi and the name just stuck.

I've been stuck on making them ever since.


Mark's "Pierluigi" Spaghetti and Meatballs

Meatballs (makes 18)
3 slices wholewheat bread, crusts removed
1 cup skimmed milk
2 eggs
1 package Jennie-O lean ground turkey (about 1.25lbs)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1/2 tsp cinnamon
Fresh parsley, finely chopped

Put the bread in a small bowl and pour the milk over it
In another larger bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add in the turkey, garlic, Parmesan, parsley and cinnamon and combine.
Squeeze the milk from the bread and crumble into the turkey mix. Season with salt and pepper and mix by hand.
Form into 18 balls and place on a baking tray. Place the tray in the freezer until the meatballs are hard and then store in a large freezer bag until ready to use.


Spaghetti Sauce
1 large onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 bell pepper, chopped
8oz mushrooms, chopped
1 tin (15oz) Italian diced tomatoes
1 large tin (29oz) tomato sauce
Basil, parsley, oregano to taste
Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat.
Add the onion, garlic, bell pepper and mushrooms, and saute for about 10 minutes or until browned.
Stir in the Italian diced tomatoes and juice and cook for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomato sauce and the herbs, and season with salt and pepper.
Reduce the heat to low, cover and let cook for 30 minutes.
Divide into 2 cup portions. Can be stored in containers and frozen if needed.


Bringing it all together
Heat a nonstick pan over medium heat and spray with olive oil.
Add the meatballs and cook for 10 minutes, turning half way through.
Add the spaghetti sauce, turn the heat to low, cover and cook for 30 minutes.
Cook the spaghetti as directed on the packet (or better still make your own)
Pour spaghetti into a pasta bowl, add the sauce and meatballs and toss.
Top with mozzarella (or shaved Parmesan) and parsley.
Enjoy.

Tip : make a little extra and take some to work with you for a midmorning snack.

The Things you See

As I was driving into Dallas last week I passed a giant billboard advertising a local undertaker's services. They were exceedingly happy to announce an "Early Fall deal" and were offering an "all in" price of $999. Passing motorists were urged to call immediately - there must be some bloody strange impulse buyers in Dallas.

And moving on to impulse biters - it serves you right. That's the first thing that came to mind (between fits of laughter) when I read this story about a Welsh angler who caught a blue shark off the coast of Devon and was then bitten while having his picture taken with it. The best comment of the article came from the Shark Trust who confirmed this was not a shark attack. "When you've stuck a hook in something's mouth and dragged it through the water and put it on a boat, you've basically attacked the shark. If the shark accidentally bites you it's hardly its fault." Brilliant.

And finally a big hello to readers in my hometown of Neath, South Wales. One of the local papers there came across my blog recently, read about my plans to run a 100 mile race and wrote an article about me - I guess not too many folks from Neath move to Texas and run ultras. The article was published last week - my dad called me all excited and read it to me. I think he's carrying it around town with him.

Mrs Welshrunner goes Olympic

I hate triathlons. I think it's because they take up so much time - you have to get there the day before to rack your bike, there's all the hassle of transition and you have to get up super early the morning of (not to mention the start of the swim that brings to mind middle-aged housewives at the January sales). Add all this together and I have no desire at all to do one. Mrs Welshrunner, however, loves them, and she did her first Olympic distance triathlon this morning. Her dad had come down for the weekend, so he babysat Gavin while we got up and out the door by 5am. I was on "crew" duty, so I took a camping chair which I happily sat in while Nancy went into the transition zone (which was guarded closer than Fort Knox). She was gone for a while and I found myself nodding off and eventually fell asleep. I must have been snoozing away for about 10 minutes before she came back and woke me up.

Her swim wave was due to get going around 7:30am, so we moved over to the edge of Town Lake. I gave her a good luck kiss, saw her off and moved myself and the chair over to the swim exit. I enjoyed myself people watching for a while and got chatting to a guy who set up his chair next to mine.

Once she finished the swim, I uprooted myself and headed over to Congress where I set up camp again on the bike route. She was going to do three loops of the bike course, so when she came past the second time round I took the chair back to the car and waited for her to come round again before heading back to the transition area.

Finally all that was left was the run. Nancy was looking good and seemed to have relaxed into a rhythm. The course was laid out in such a way that I could pace her in many places, cut off and pick her up again further down the track. I did this for a while and at one point I got talking to one of the policemen while I waited at an out-and-back. He was a nice guy and we chatted about the busy weekend, with the UT football game, the Human Race, the Austin Triathlon, Batfest and a surprise visit by President Bush. We both gave Nancy a good cheer when she got back. I set off with her again and ran most of the rest of the way with her before peeling off just before the finish line. She smashed her goal time by a good 13 minutes and I was super proud of her.

Then this afternoon I took advantage of Austin's Free Day of Yoga and went to a "Hot Yoga" class at Yogagroove on Great Northern. This is a style of yoga taught in a 105F room which concentrates on 26 positions and 2 breathing exercises. It encourages muscle flexibility and helps detoxify the body through sweating. I've been having issues for a while with stiff and sore muscles due to running (and my general lack of stretching - bad me) and I certainly feel a lot more relaxed right now. The class was a lot of fun - it was 90 minutes long and I got a really good workout (and a really good detox if the amount of sweat that poured off me is anything to go by). They have a good deal for new people with a 30 day unlimited yoga pass for $28. I may just try it out.

Now that I'm detoxified, I'm off to make some quesadillas for supper. Hey, it's not all bad - I'm using spinach tortillas!!!