In Which I eat crow cake

So my friend Val was eating cake.
Which she made in a cup.
A mug.
In the microwave.

What? Microwave cake in a cup? No way. I was skeptical.

She posted the recipe.

No leavening. 3 minutes.

How could it not be a gluey gooey glop that, at best, doesn't boil over and make a mess?

Val suggested maybe I did not trust her enough.

But ... would you? Microwave cake? Yeah, whatEVAH.

I decided I had to try it.

I could have used a huge mug, but she claimed it would work in a regular mug, so I used my very own personal every morning coffee mug.

Here we are, ready to go:

Ingredients mixed. A big old cup o' batter.

I was not the only one interested in the experiment:

Well, I'll be. It's rising up out of the mug, straight and tall, not pouring over into a goopy mess down the side:

It fell a bit upon removal. I wonder if it needed to cook a little longer?

It did not turn out easily. I used a knife to loosen along the sides. At this point I was still pretty skeptical. Maybe it was the holes where the chocolate chips melted, but it looked kind of goopy and unevenly cooked. I thought my skepticism had been justified.

I cut it lengthwise in half, then each half into thirds, to give everyone a taste test. I ate the clump that remained stuck to the side of the mug.

Much to my surprise, it was pretty good. Even for me, a not-really-a-cake-fan person. In fact, I kind of preferred the less crumbly texture. And melted chocolate chips are good in anything. The kids were the real test.

They proclaimed it a success.

So ... go figure.

I guess Val is trustworthy after all! :)

Here's the recipe:

Val's Mug Cake

1 coffee mug
1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. sugar
2 tbls. cocoa
1 egg
3 tbls. milk
3 tbls. oil
3 tbls. chocolate chips (optional)
small splash of vanilla

Add dry ingredients to mug and mix well. Add the egg and mix thoroughly. Pour in the milk and oil and mix well. Add the choc. chips and vanilla and mix again. (Actually, I mixed the vanilla in with the (rice) milk and oil and egg, all the liquids at once.)

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 min. at 1000 watts (Val does 2:30 in a high wattage oven--don't remember the wattage--1800 maybe?) The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don't be alarmed. (actually, Val uses a large mug, so she has never had this issue - but you see I did and it turned out okay!)

Allow to cool a little and tip out onto a plate if desired.

This can serve 2. Or seven skeptics.

There's a runner in there somewhere

So did I tell you I've been driving around town, looking at Autumn leaves on the sidewalk, and wanting to be running. I've been frustrated with my hip. But more than that, I'm realizing I really want to run -- more than I expected. I don't even feel like I ever really *became* a runner (whatever that means! Apparently something to me!) but yet I really really want to become - to be - a runner.

My hip has been feeling nearly better.

I've been wanting to give it another careful try.

Today when The Grand Lunar left for work he looked at the 50 degree drizzle and said, "It's a great day. Not." -- and I said, "It looks like a great day for running." He looked at me like I was crazy. And maybe I am. But the crisp, damp air and the autumn colors called to me.

So today I went out for a test run-walk. I did random intervals. Took it back to a walk when my hip or gait felt too off.

The good news is that I did a mile around the block. I wanted to do more. I wanted to do fewer intervals, and I wanted to go farther. To just keep running and thinking until I was too tired to do any more. But I did my best to make myself slow down, take walking intervals, and stop at once around.

I was surprised that I wanted to push myself. I've never been a push-myself kind of person. Surprised at how strongly the desire to keep running was within me. Surprised that a "not-yet-runner" could be so excited about running again.

But now that I'm home the little niggling ache I felt while running, the little slightly-off gait I sensed, is translating into the same pain and limp as before. And I'm discouraged. I'm trying to think what to do. I have this book and haven't really put my all into the alignment. I should do that. I believe the book too much to think special shoes are the answer. I don't want to accommodate my dysfunction, I want to align it so it's no longer dysfunctional. Strengthen the right muscles. The book promises it can work that way.

But what else beyond that?

I could visit my doctor. Maybe get referred to someone who does sports injury stuff. But ... that doesn't really feel like the right route to go. Endless trips to different doctors who are all not really sure. I could go to a chiropractor. We know a nice one. I drove behind his car yesterday. But, again, that's endless visits and I'm not sure it's what I need. I don't know. I'm pondering surfing for running coaches. Someone who could look at what I'm doing and suggest what's good and bad about it. Although I am guessing, still, it's the underlying alignment and muscles having grown content to do the wrong thing that's the issue behind any motion errors I'm making.

Here are some things I decided while trying to run today:

1.) I really want to run
2.) I want to use my running time to think / pray / meditate on things of God and Faith. To use that time to draw near to Him.
3.) I want to use my running time as a positive example to my family, to be active in my life and pro-active about my health
4.) to let that pro-activity about my health encourage me back on the healthy eating thing

I don't really think I need to be *fast* and I don't expect it ever to be *easy* but I want it to be *fluid* and to feel *natural* to run. Not awkward. But I'm not sure how to get my short, stocky self to that place: fluid and natural.

If running isn't what God has for me, then I pray He directs me to something else that I can enjoy and be content with. I know I could be a walker, just fine, but ... it turns out, after a taste of running ... I really want to run.

So now I just need to figure out how to get back to being able to.

Ten. And a half. Months.

And counting.

I haven't had my camera out much this fall. I'm missing countless Autumn leaves, interesting frost macros, and of course the speed at which this baby is growing up.

This isn't the best picture photography wise, blurry and grainy. But it's good expression-wise.

Here's two more, a blurry peekaboo around the door, and one of her crawling. She likes best to hold fingers and walk about the house, and the's cruising on furniture, but I have no pictures of those things, yet. :)

Well, Rats.

I'm afraid my running 'career' might be ending before I even came to think of myself as a 'real runner' ...

a few weeks ago I ran on the treadmill, and whether that started things or whether there were hints before ... I've had some hip joint pain, since.

It wasn't something that happened while running ... at least, not in the sense of "Wow, I just broke something in my hip!" ~ no instance I can point to where I became injured.

But after those runs my hip hurt and I lurched around like frankenstein. And after a day or two it would seem mostly better. So I ran again. And repeated the cycle. The last time I ran - last Saturday - I only ran 2 miles. I felt like I was "pulling to the right" and that my center of gravity was over my right leg. I also felt like my gait was uneven, like I was spending more step-time on my right leg than my left, like a slightly syncopated gait.

So I decided to give it a few days to rest and recover.

But ... I'm not really getting much better. I mean, the first day or so I had some moments where it REALLY hurt, and that's not so much there. But there's an underlying issue that doesn't seem to get better.

My gut feeling is that it's an alignment thing. I'm not in alignment, so I'm compensating, and in so doing I've messed things up more. I checked out a book from the library on alignment, but am having trouble finding/making time to "lay around" for an hour in various body-alignment positions to adjust. It DOES seem to help, but hasn't yet FIXED it, and it doesn't FEEL like "real work" to fix anything while I'm doing it. I think I need to try a little harder to make time for that.

So in the meantime I'm stuck in this limbo. I'm not actually in pain most of the time. But I certainly am not back to normal. I am still lurching slightly when I walk, and I have some *issues* with lifting my leg when it's bent. When I sit at my chair with my knees bent 90 degrees I can lift up my left leg fine, but my right leg hurts right at the inner hip joint, and just feels weaker, it helps if I use my hands to manually lift my leg. Weird, eh? Almost weird enough to go running to the doctor, but not quite. Because I don't really feel like it's a big deal serious issue. I think if figure out the alignment thing and maybe some stretches and what-not I'll get over this without the whole medical intervention blah-blah. I don't know. Meh. But I figure continuing to try to run when I can feel I'm not really walking *right* is out of the question.

But what it really means is that, unless something BIG changes, I'm not going to be able to run in the race this month. And I'm not going to be able to run the Nike 10K that I hoped to do. And ... I'm afraid I might never become a real runner.

Which discourages me a lot. I don't want to give up on this new found thing just yet. I don't want an injury or alignment problem to defeat me. But I was already struggling to make time to run once school started. And winter is coming, with it's cold and snow and ice. How will I make it through the winter and into spring as a "real runner" ??

I just don't know.

Rats.