Rolling out from scratch

The good news is that my feet haven't gotten too fat and my running shoes still fit. For the first time in many weeks I went for a trek on my dam trail. It was an hour-long walk punctuated with dots of jogging on the return. I don't think I'm all the way back to week-one-day-one stage of Couch-to-5K, but it certainly does feel a lot like I'm the too-heavy guy starting all over again.

Really, it's been a relief to see the weight creep back on again, because it's also a sign that I have an appetite again. When the duodenitis was at its worst -- a time I'll fondly remember as the Great Puke of 2010 -- food and I were in a period of estrangement.

I can't think of a better way to reconcile than a little fooling around in the kitchen. So this week I decided to experiment with homemade pizza, something I've been wanting to do since acquiring my beloved toaster oven with 12-inch-pie-pan-swallowing capacity. After adapting a dough recipe from the Food Network site, my first attempt emerged with a too-thick, doughy crust topped with a soggy mess of sauce. A couple nights later came beta version 2.0, where my goal was to thin out the dough and thicken the sauce.

After realizing that I didn't own a rolling pin, the improvisational center of my brain engaged and I ended up rolling this dough ball flat with a cold can of Coke Zero from the refrigerator. I won't be a competitive threat to Domino's but I can say that 22 minutes later, I was devouring a very-edible spinach-and-steak pizza. We must do this again sometime.

Today is the fifth anniversary of my first half marathon. Now those were the days -- 2006 was the last time the Houston Marathon event was under cap. People could actually walk into the expo on Saturday and register to run in the morning. Ain't that quaint? That was also back when I thought a finisher medal was the coolest trinket ever. (Today I still think they make really nifty Christmas tree ornaments.)

As I mentioned in my last post, I took the deferment option out of this year's Aramco half. But I plan to be out on the course on race day as a volunteer. So for those of you still running: Have a great race day and I apologize in advance if we inadvertently send you merging onto the Pierce Elevated.