Saturday, March 8, 2008

#3374

It's official. #3374. That's my bib number for the Big Sur International Marathon. I have lots of work to do between now and then, but I'm looking forward to it. Signing up for events helps solidify things, but I hadn't seen official confirmation until this morning. Yes, it is obscenely early, but this is what works for me right now. It's too hard to do anything after work, which leaves getting up early and lunchtime.

I'm just stoked to finally feel this is real. Signing up for things and having confirmation of it is a mental milestone. I'd write more about this, but this topic is not original and I'd end up plagiarizing something, since I have recently read articles and blogs about it.

These are pictures of the more scenic areas of the course. The middle of the bridge will have a guy playing music on a grand piano. Strange things in California - Who knew??

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

GP... This is your Nemisis calling...

Crispy Pigs’ Tails Mmmm. Keyword: Bacon
From,"Diary of a mad man. pp. 4 intro

Active Time:45 min Start to Finish:9 1/2 hr

8 long fresh pigs' tails (7 to 9 inches; 4 pounds total; see cooks' note, below)
2 medium onions, coarsely chopped
2 medium carrots, coarsely chopped
2 celery ribs, chopped
1 head of garlic, cloves peeled
3 large sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Zest of 1 lemon, removed in strips with a vegetable peeler (avoid bitter white pith)
3 Turkish or 1 1/2 California bay leaves
10 whole black peppercorns
1 1/2 cups dry red wine
4 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (36 fl oz)
2 tablespoons dry mustard
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups fine dry bread crumbs
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon pieces
Special equipment:heavy-duty foil
Accompaniments:watercress or red mustard salad; malt or red-wine vinegar
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350ºF.
Arrange tails in a 17- by 11-inch flameproof roasting pan, then add onions, carrots, celery, garlic, herb sprigs, zest, bay leaves, peppercorns, wine, and broth and cover tightly with heavy-duty foil. Braise in oven until you can easily pinch through flesh of tails, about 3 hours. Cool (in cooking liquid), uncovered, to room temperature, about 2 hours, then chill, covered loosely, until pigs' tails are cold and firm, about 3 hours.
Put a 17- by 12-inch heavy shallow baking pan (1 inch deep) on middle rack of oven and preheat oven to 450ºF.
Remove tails from braising mixture and brush off adhering vegetables and aspic. Sprinkle tails with salt.
Whisk together mustard and eggs in a wide shallow dish and put flour and bread crumbs each in a separate wide shallow dish. Working with 1 tail at a time, dredge tails in flour, knocking off excess, then coat with egg, brushing it into the crevices and letting excess drip off, and roll tails in bread crumbs, coating thoroughly. Transfer as coated to a sheet of wax paper.
Remove hot baking pan from oven and add butter to pan, tilting it to coat. When foam subsides, add tails. Using tongs, turn and coat tails with butter on all sides (use caution; butter will spatter). Roast until underside is browned, 10 to 15 minutes. Turn tails over and roast until other side is browned, 10 to 15 minutes more.
Can be chilled up to 2 days.


Especially good for both "run" and "down" days. while your running, thinking of running, cooling down from running, running errands, running late, running to catch a train or plane, running the show..... You should always be thinking about pigs tails. Even when your tying the laces on those new sneakers- Think breathe & eat PIGTAILS!

Anonymous said...

Everybody gets what they want in life.
I wanted a mission. And for my sins they brought me one... Delivered it up to my room like room service...
Good thing, because everyday I stay here, I grow weaker while Charlie squats in the bushes & gets stronger.
My orders are to travel up the Nong River in a PT boat.
Intel has been tracking 3-4 ousted extremist members of the P.L.O. (Pizza Left on Oven)
My orders are to gather intelligence, infiltrate their camp, and to terminate their command by whatever means neccessary with extreme prejudice. They are out there in the field tempting troops without any reguard for basic military restraint. I'm going in!
this is it! This is what I live for. The Hunt...The Kill, The smell of Victory is just moments away!
My C.O. Wants proof of the kills, I'll just bring him back the crusts. There won't be anything else left.
I pity those poor hung bastards... I really do

Unknown said...

Charlie don't surf!

Anonymous said...

Well since you have apparently lost any sense of reason and have embarked on a mission that will deter you from ever putting on running shoes again I will say that you have picked a nice spot to die.