The year of FIRSTS.

I'm very excited about how 2006 is wrapping up.

It was the year I did my very first Olympic distance triathlon, my very first Half-iron triathlon, and got a run split down to 10 minute/mile.

But all this pales in comparison to what I accomplished today.

Today,



for the first time in my life...


(music swells)


I made...



(light slowly brightens, music swells louder, a female voice sings high and magestic above the chorus...)


I made a pie crust.


Hey, DON'T LAUGH AT ME; this is HUGE.

I've put off doing this all my life. Every year I SAID I would make one. I said, "this is it. this is the year." Then, I would chicken out, head to Whole Foods, and buy one.

It's also the first year that I made our holiday roast.
A squash stuffed with wild rice to me is just not Thanksgiving. I want something with stuffing, something juicy and sort of meaty. But vegetarian roasts are insanely expensive for what you get (a tiny lump of roast to feed a Clydesdale, and athena, and 5'10", 170-pound growing 15-year-old Mini-me.)
Like the pie crusts, I've said every year that I would make one. But this year, I made one, after, again promising each year that I would and then crapping out to go to whole foods. For non-Vegans, this is again HUGE, a lot like doing your very first Turkey, all by yourself. I made the Yuba and everything. The recipe comes from the Seitan and Gluten cookbook I have, but it's a lot like the recipe here.

So why all this efficacy all of the sudden? could it be from triathlon and the related, "gee, I wonder what else I can do?" Maybe. Maybe I'll start doing all those others things I've been putting off forever, like my master's paper and my level III teaching endorsement dossier.

or maybe not.

Anyhoo, this morning, we all (three of us) got up and did the local Turkey Trek. At the treak I ran into fellow outlaws Pirate and Her People. Her People did the .4K - they are too cute to be believed. Pirate showed me her new toy, the Ipod shuffle., and I got to experience techno/athletic toy lust.

I. Want. One.

I did about an 11:00 mile at the Trek, not bad considering the first half is completely uphill. It was a nice way to start off the day of gluttony. All procedes go to a local food bank. And, another first - I was in the middle of the pack instead of the back. (thanks to all the walkers and strollers that showed up to make that happen). Mini-me kicked my butt and beat both Sweet Baboo and I.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

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