New Running Buddy

It's a dog! Well, she's a puppy at the moment, and also, not a runner (yet). My husband and I adopted Sadie, a little pit mix, just a few weeks ago. But it didn't take long for me to realize that I want this "puppy stage" to end as quickly as possible and just have a normal, functioning dog that doesn't act a fool when she sees a rock on the ground.

I know it will be a while before this can happen, much less, before she can run for more than 30 seconds before discovering another rock. But I decided to take her down to the community track last week and begin some conditioning exercises anyway.

Just a little running by my side on the straightaways is all I had in mind.

But apparently, Sadie had other motives. Either that or the worst ADD I have ever seen. In short, she would run when she thought she was chasing someone. Those were full-on sprints. There was a lot of, "Come on, Sadie...just run a little more until we get to the finish line!" and I would proceed to nearly drag her against her barely-moving little paws for the final 5 meters to the end of the straightaway. I think we did 3 laps total (mostly walking), then headed home.

I don't know if this counted as a "workout" for either of us (maybe more so the dog than me, just because it tired her out for a good long nap later on), but at some point in the future there will be human/dog workouts going on.

Doggie-selfie fail

All tuckered out from too much shoe-chewing

I don't want to set myself up for total failure though. If by some stroke of fate Sadie does not want to be my running buddy (highly unlikely), I guess I cannot force her. But I do know that she loves the outdoors, and along with me, my husband, and my husband's sister Jenny, Sadie completed a long day of hiking in LA last weekend.

No running buddy? No problem. My hiking buddy you shall be! 

Oh no!

Ladies and gents, this is not the end of an era.

Yes, that is my beloved pizza stone broken in 2 pieces.

Also, I believe it is the result of improper heating. I know, I know. For every single recipe I post I say, "put the pizza stone into a cold oven and then turn it on." I sorta broke my own rule.

Trying to be a multi-tasker, I thought I could make my Friday night pizza and start prepping some cookies for Super Bowl Sunday at the same time. The cookies needed to cook at 350, the pizza at 500. So I thought, "what's the harm in making my cookies, and then putting the stone in a 350 oven, and then turning it to 500?" Well, if you didn't notice the picture above, that is the harm.

I could blame this mishap on overuse of the stone. Or maybe I cleaned it improperly once or twice. Or maybe it was a piece of junk all along. Regardless, this has been a devastating loss for my pizza creations. This pizza stone has retired to my local trash can and it is time to hunt for a new one!

On a happy note, I did manage to completely cook a delightful pizza on the stone before tossing it out. While the oven was somewhere between 350 and 500 I heard a low "pop" from the oven and wondered, "What the heck is going on in there?" only to find two pieces of stone where there once was one. With no other alternative to cook the awaiting pizza, I simply slid the two broken pieces together and forced it to work for just one last za. And praise Jesus it worked because it was just all too delicious a pizza to have missed out on. That pizza's story will be told in the near future as well!