This week, I’m…
Recovering from the Glasgow half-marathon
Ladies and gents, I did it. It wasn’t fast, and it certainly wasn’t pretty, but yours truly stumbled across the finishing line two hours and fourteen minutes after setting off.
Glasgow’s half-marathon is popular as the course is flat (ish, not quite as my rose-tinted ten years ago experience recalled) and many people achieve personal bests. I was thankful for its flatness, but speed wasn’t coming into it. Glasgow joggers run the gamut of weather types in late September, and the day was no exception – overcast and cloudy at first, then bright sunshine, heavy rain half-way through and repeat.
The crowds turned out to cheer us on. Little kids high-fived as many runners as were willing (me, every time), witty signs read Good Luck Random Stranger! This is great practice for the zombie apocalypse, and someone who’d drawn the poo emoji and asked if anyone needed one yet…
Grateful thanks to my support crew—my husband, my mum and her partner Neil, who cheered me on at the start and the end.
Eating pasta
A race always means a reward meal—I opted for a protein, carb and fat overload in the form of Beef and Mac ‘n’ Cheese. You can buy this, but have you ever eaten a shop-bought mac ‘n’ cheese that made you sigh in contentment? No, I thought not. Most manufactured versions stint on the best bit, when the dish should be more a case of, would you like some pasta with your cheese?
To continue the celebration theme, I washed the lot down with a decent helping of pink Cava.
Writing short stories
In an attempt to the ‘game’ the Amazon system, I’m putting out a book of short stories a mere thirty days after publishing the last book…
I’m not sure what this achieves, except that I’ve seen it written about in ‘places’. My search history* is too vast to revisit anything unless I remember to do so an hour later, so heaven alone knows where I read that or if it’s even viable. But I have read it a few times so here goes!
Book marketing experts also bang on about the importance of the mailing list—*sighs*—and this book might end up being my freebie incentive. Sign up to my mailing list** and you too could be the proud owner of this free book, kind of thing.
I’ve served up a mix of vampire tales, modern love dilemmas and a bit of historical fiction. The book is available for pre-order here and here.
Making spicy stuff
This year’s chili crop will outlast us. Good people, we grew a lot of chilies this year as you can see. And I’ve already made the rookie mistake—gosh, aren’t they small, better put a few of them in YEOWCH—so it’s one or two per recipe max. Thankfully, they freeze. Our house is about to become Curry Central.
Dieting the cat
Cat emotional manipulation expertise 1. Emma determined to hold out on number of feeding intervals 0.
Freddie’s vet visit and vaccination beckons, and I’d like to escape the annual lecture on the size of him. He’s bordering on moggie obese. So, a few weeks of strict portion control, no treats and definitely no sly helpings of ham.
Yeah, good luck with that one.
*And VERY confusing for Google.
**Which will of course be 100 percent GDPR compliant.
Emma Baird - author 
Well done Emma! I could never do a marathon. I hyperventilate walking up a hill and gave up the couch to 10k almost immediately. Good luck with Freddie. My Slinky is definitely more chunky than slinky. Haha.And good luck with your short story collection. X
Thanks Sharon! Wish I’d known about that lovely Railway Children walk when we visited Haworth earlier this year… My cat plays the both of us, pretends to one he hasn’t been fed etc. We have to co-ordinate feeding schedules and we’ve resorted to a please don’t feed me collar, as I know he goes into other people’s homes and whinges for food!
Malkie Moonpie, whom vet Dr Sarah said was merely ‘chunky’, has been labelled ‘obese’ by vet Dr Katy. We don’t like Dr Katy anymore. Malk is now a mere 5.5 kg from 6.8… he has tons of energy and is attempting to regain his dramatic weight loss by eating dozens of skinny-looking little mice, and leaving the bile ducts on the kitchen floor for unsuspecting bare feet.
Excellent running skills – congratulations on your achievement, And sign me up for the book…
Thank you! Malkie did well to get from 6.8 to 5.5 – slimmer of the week to him! I always tell my vet that Freddie does lots of exercise and we always make him jump for treats to earn them. And he’s big boned!
Congratulations and well done Emma. I bet that macaroni and cheese tasted so good.
Not ‘alf! I got the idea from Marks and Spencer’s, as they have a range of food called Gastro Pub and this dish was in it, but it’s so easy to make yourself why not?
Well Done Emma! well earned Mac ‘n Cheee!!
Thanks Angela!
Our cat Zara is quite small but chunky. She has looked like a black and white bowling ball over two spells in her life. The first was when she was first tamed from being feral at about a year of age and ate everything in sight for about a year. She then slimmed down naturally but then got very fat again when we acquired a new feral cat. She has recently slimmed down naturally herself. I was always getting the fat cat lecture from the vets when I brought her. I showed her the chart in the vet’s office and explained it all to her but she didn’t bother sorting herself out till she felt like it.
As it happened–and God knows how–Freddie had managed to lose 250g, a whole packet of butter, by the time we took him to the vet. So, no lecture. We’ve also signed up to a European-wide study looking at blood pressure levels in cats over the age of seven and Freddie’s levels are perfectly normal.