The script had some really decent material between some good scenes and some intriguing philosophy about relationships, but ultimately the story lacked any kind of beginning, middle and end as they explored that stuff. Art Garfunkel (who apparently chose to go by Arthur on the big screen) did better than I guessed he would have opposite Jack Nicholson as the best friend.

Ultimately though, the fact that I barely remember the names of the characters and still think of them as the stars who played them goes to show just how little I was invested in these people and their journey from college to mid-life. This movie might be worth watching just to see the famous scene where Jack Nicholson is fighting with Ann-Margaret over her lack of happiness and how she might want to “pick up” around the house in order to feel better.

Tonight was a quick night of cooking. I knew I didn’t have a ton of time between walking in the door and getting food on the table, so I picked one of the quickest, easiest, but tasty meals. I haven’t made parmesan tomatoes in a long time, but they taste awesome, really fill you up, and aren’t a ton of calories.

I decided to try a new recipe by ricing cauliflower.  I’ve been reading about using cauliflower as a pizza crust and as rice lately, so I decided to give it a go.

I cooked some chicken in leftover spaghetti sauce to have with it, and that is the runniness you see on my plate in the picture. The chicken really ended up playing second fiddle to the veggie casserole though.

Obviously the cauliflower makes it healthier than if you used real rice. Then again, you can ruin the whole thing from a healthy standpoint depending on how much butter and cheese you use.

Yeah, it is really scary and unpleasant, but honestly you can just move yourself away from the ocean and you’ll be fine.

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I wanted to make arroz con pollo tonight, but ended up pulling an audible.  I was on a kick a few years back where I was trying to perfect my simple rice and chicken recipe.  It is a traditional Latin American and Caribbean dish, but I could probably live for weeks on rice alone.  Anyway, I decided to make it with sausage and beans and it turned out really well.

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Overall, I ran 609.77 miles (445.5).  It took me 78 hours, 19 minutes and 48 seconds (64:13:12.)  My average speed was 7.8 MPH (6.9).  I burned an estimated 90,190 calories (67,308) over the course of 124 activities (118).  The max distance I ran all year was 13.1 miles (twice) (8.37 miles in 2010) and my average distance for the year was 4.92 miles per run (3.78.)

I ran tons of races this year as well.  A few highlights.

I ran a five miler in Mentor in September and really outdid myself in terms of pace as I completed the race with splits under 7 minutes per mile.  6:47 to be exact.  I ran my first mile in 6:30 to get off to a good start, paced myself in the next three miles and sprinted the last mile in with a speed of 6:37.

One of the craziest races was the Potato Stomp 9 miler in Mantua.  It was an UGLY September morning and started to pour about halfway through the race.  Then the lightning kicked up, but we were halfway through the course and there was nothing to do but try to finish fast.  In the torrential downpour, I was not only soaked and cold, but my shoes were filled with water and it killed my iPod.  Despite all this, I ran the 9 miler in 1:04:05 for a 7:07 average.  Considering how wet I was and everything else, I was elated to have such a good time.  I also passed about five or six people in the last two miles as I had splits of 7:05 and 6:49 to finish really really strong.

In a two-day span in September, I ran two races.  I won my age group running the Shaker Lakes 5k in 19:57.  It was probably a bit short, but I still finished in under 20 minutes, technically, so I’ll take it.  :-)  The next day, I decided to go out and run a five miler which I finished in 35 minutes for a 7 minute per mile average.  I was pretty proud of that time considering I did it in back-to-back days.

The best by far was my half marathon.  In the Towpath Marathon event, I ran a half marathon despite having a bad cold.  Despite those odds, I ran my 13.1 mile race in 1:35:36 for a 7:19 min/mi average pace.  This is despite hitting the wall about mile 10 and running the last three miles with splits closer to 8:00.

Those are the highlights.  It was a great year and I had lots of fun.  I survived a painful foot injury in November without too much problem and I am looking forward to doing even better in 2012.  Life might get in the way of doing as many races, but hopefully I can get my mileage going.  And who knows?  Maybe I’ll do something crazy like a marathon this year.

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