crisis communications

If you work in PR, you know Those Days. When the phone calls and the e-mails keep coming and you fill up sheet after sheet of yellow lined paper taking notes on what everyone needs. When there are questions, so many questions, and you really want to help, but you honestly don't know the all of the answers. When you are afraid to show too much emotion and just as afraid not to show enough. When all you think about is: Please, don't let me say the wrong thing.

And then you go home and put on your pajamas and watch videos of cats gnawing on corn. Because sometimes, this is the only thing that makes perfect sense.

dinner tonight

Veggie tacos from the Taqueria Santa Cruz.

trail season ends

So I accomplished my Annadel goals. I am not in a hospital bed right now, and I traded my XL race shirt for the correct size. Winning!

Also a plus: I finished in 2:45:42, according to my Garmin. (According to the clock, it was 2:46 and change -- and there was no chip timing.) I was aiming for sub-3, so I'm pretty happy with this. Yes, it's not a super-fast performance, but considering how technical these trails were and how the first half of the race was very nearly a continuous climb with a few breaks here and there, I'm thrilled.

The bad part: I'm pretty thrashed. Since the first eight miles involved climbing, the rest of the race was a descent -- a rocky, gravelly one at that. My runner's knee started acting up big-time -- with a full-blown flare-up just before the finish. But I made it. (A huge thank you to Lisa for running with me throughout the entire race -- we took turns leading and pacing each other. Gratitude also for all Turtles who volunteered -- so awesome to see friendly faces on the course!)

And so marks the end of trail season.

The training group celebrated tonight with a party. We filled our plates.


And our glasses too.


I marinated some portobello mushrooms in olive oil, sesame oil, shoyu, umeboshi plum vinegar, garlic, green onions and Urfa Biber to put on the grill.


They were such a hit, that I had to fight for this little slice!


Anyway, I will probably let the trail shoes be for awhile. It's time for a much-needed break.

happy trails

Or so I hope.

My primary goal for Annadel tomorrow is simple yet extremely important: Do not get airlifted out of the park. That's right. I honestly don't care how long it takes me to run the damn course as long as no one has to call in the emergency helicopter.

And my secondary goal: Exchange race shirts. Because somehow, even though I registered for this race months ago and asked for a size S shirt, I ended up with XL. Seriously, how did that happen? I can understand maybe going to a medium if the smalls ran out, but XL? Fail!

And since we are talking about clothing, today while I was assembling my race outfit, I came across some of the tops I used to wear when I first started running.

I bought this shirt because it was on sale. I don't really understand the design -- is the extra fabric supposed to make you more aerodynamic? Or maybe there is a sailboat effect if the wind hits you at the right angle?


And then there's this shirt, which I loved because of the pocket. (These were the pre-SPIbelt days.) Unfortunately, now I prefer to run in racerbacks. (Also, this shirt is a little too short. Hopefully that's because it shrank, and not because I've gotten fatter.)


Anyway, for what it's worth, I will admit that even though I did lay out my clothes for tomorrow, pack my drop-bag and am already in my pajamas, I spent this afternoon wine-tasting. I hope this won't become a bad habit. (For the record: I spat. And drank a lot of water in between.)

I was pretty good about the diet, though: Vegetarian chili and potato salad from the Jimtown Store.


(By the way, this place was recently on that Guy Fieri show, so it was a complete madhouse. Lots of tour buses. And in case you're curious, apparently the current trend in wine country casual is extremely short dresses with knee-high boots -- like it's summer on top and winter on the bottom. Weird.)

mochi

I continue to cook from the Alicia Silverstone book. Tonight's recipe: Savory pan-fried mochi topped with grated daikon and wrapped in toasted nori.

Aside from the nasty burn I received while frying the mochi and the fact that I cut the nori pieces a little too small, this dish turned out really well. I loved the elegant presentation (I'm such a sucker for looks), and the flavors were an interesting combo -- the chewy-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside mochi had a tiny touch of sweetness, the seaweed added saltiness and the daikon brought an earthy slightly bitter note.

I ate two pieces and had to force myself not to eat more.