On a Roll

When I typed the title of this post, it was meant to convey that things are going well for me athletically...and I'll get back to that in a minute. But since "roll" has multiple meanings, it also got me thinking about a couple of other things that are going on in my life right now.

One is that my company's Christmas party is tomorrow. I have mixed emotions about this. As a socially-inept introvert, well, large parties are not an environment in which I thrive. And since my nominal bedtime is just about when the dinner begins, I certainly have to stretch out of my comfort zone to attend.

On the other hand, I do enjoy most of the people I work with, and am looking forward to the opportunity to get to know my coworkers better. I like my job (my "role", if you will--get it?), I like my bosses, and I certainly do appreciate the fact that the company wants to show us a good time by springing for a nice meal at a fancy place. But as regular readers know, the word "fancy" denotes an entirely different universe than the one in which I reside. My closest relationship with "dressing up" would probably be when I watched "Tennessee Tuxedo" cartoons as a kid.

Anyway, the point is that my limited experience with fancy dining seems to suggest that the appetizer of choice at such events is often hard rolls. They're just like the dinner rolls you might have at your own house on Thanksgiving, but for some reason, their surface has the approximate chewability of carborundum. And if you do succeed in cracking the exterior, the result is an explosion of crust shards that mostly wind up in your shirt pocket. Once the crust is breached, the roll's interior is revealed to contain mostly air -- with no solid surface upon which to spread butter. And the butter they give you is usually impervious to spreading anyway. Haven't these people heard of Wonder Bread and Blue Bonnet?

Or better yet, what's wrong with a giant plate of nachos?

My guess is that most of the rules of "fancy" were created in Europe, and the standards for mealtime ostentation were based upon the cooking technology of the day. Those early trendsetters may have been kings and earls and such, but they simply didn't have access to the wondrous talent and innovation to be found within the American baking industry.

Regardless, my concerns are probably moot. There will probably be delicious appetizers of all kinds at our party, and the meal will be a feast of epic deliciousness. And surely the chef will understand the requirement for chocolate after the meal, as well.

I'll let you know. (But don't call me Shirley.)

Glutinous foodstuffs aside, the topic I intended to share today is an update on my training status. And on that subject, I am happy to report that things are going well. Some background:

For the past few years, I have struggled with running -- Injuries and inconsistency, mostly (or perhaps injuries because of inconsistency), generously sprinkled with bad attitudes and/or ambivalence toward the sport. Last summer, though, my friends Joe and Kristen talked me into a triathlon. Around the same time, my buddy Kim (yes, the same guy who inspired me to try the Triple Bypass) started urging me to train not only for triathlons, but to look toward doing a marathon as well. He has even signed up for the Colfax marathon next spring, and has continued to try to talk me into training for it with him.

With inspirational friends like these, and with the awesome examples set by ultra-running enthusiasts like my friend Katie, well -- I decided to make a more serious attempt to rehab myself. After all, I used to be able to do this stuff, and I'm not THAT old.

At first, my plan was to try to do more running in the evenings after work. But I quickly found that after a hard day of slaving over a hot computer, I hadn't the energy and motivation to go back outside. So I decided to try getting up a tad earlier in the morning and running just a couple of miles (on a treadmill at this point in the year), with the intention of becoming more consistent. The theory was that if I could do an easy run (no matter how short) every other day (or so), my body would adapt better than with what I had been doing -- which was running twice a week, with one of those runs a longer one. I would hope to slowly build up my weekly mileage without risking injury from trying to do too much at once.

So far, it seems to be working. The last few days have been relatively pain free during my time on the treadmill. I still need to do more stretching, get more massages, and lose more weight...but as of today, I've had a full week of consistent and non-injurious running, and I'm gaining optimism and enthusiasm each and every day. I hope to stay on this roll, and have it flow into where I can develop a serious training plan for races during the 2012 season. And as always, I appreciate the support from all of you. Should be a fun adventure, and a great year.

Oh, and by the way, the photo at the top of the page is musician Jelly Roll Morton. And speaking of musicians, please stay tuned for dramatic tales about Tanner's planned trip to Denver for Christmas. Is he coming...or not? Does he have a job? Or not? When will the next album be ready for sale? All these questions (and more) will be answered in future posts. In the meantime, thanks for dropping by. Have a great day!