Goals For The Fall: Cook More, Run More & Understand Hockey

Going off the title, I have decided to better learn to cook this fall. And I've been wanting to read the book Julie & Julia after seeing the movie. I love cooking but I'm not great at it yet, so we'll see how that goes.

And October is fast approaching. Which, if you even remotely follow sports, its a big month. The MLB postseason kicks off October 6th with the ALDS and NLDS. (American League and National League Division Series). The NBA preseason starts, but no one really pays much attention to that, and the real NBA starts October 26th. The NFL is in full swing in October with games every Sunday and Monday, and college football starts to get into interesting conference match-ups. Oh, and if you follow hockey, that starts October 7th too.

Which means I'll be doing a lot of cooking in front of the tiny little tv in my kitchen instead of the giant HD one in the living room. Go figure.

I also got a Gordon Ramsay cookbook. Gotta love him. I love watching Kitchen Nightmares on the BBC, it's fantastic.

Another goal of the fall: continue running, which, by the way, is some sort of bizarre addiction. Doing a 10K in October, 10 Miler in December, 14K in February, and Half-Marathon in March. Maybe another 10K in April. After you run a Half-Marathon (13.1 miles) a 10K (6.2 miles) seems a whole lot easier.

Which brings me to the idea of running as a sport. It is completely different from team sports in that you are not usually motivated by a coach, and for most sports, running is the punishment for doing something wrong. I know, we used to have to run around the field if we missed a pop-up because we didn't use two hands or didn't get the glove all the way down on a ground ball. Now my coach likes squats. Five squats for every screw-up. Ouch.

So because I am training for a 10K, infinitely easier than training for the 1/2 Marathon, I'm going to use the cooking goal and the running goal and combine them. How, you ask? Easy. I'm going to learn healthy, energizing recipes I can use not only as a tasty meal, but something that gives me fuel and electrolytes and all the vitamins and minerals you need to get in shape and keep your body from having problems when you do run.

So on to the final fall goal: hockey.

I love hockey. I find myself watching it with rapt attention like you would watch the word "dvd" bounce around the screen in a boring meeting waiting for it to hit the corner. But I have zero clue what's going on. Its different from the other sports I watch, because I know the rules of those, except curling. I still don't have a good grasp on that. Anyway, hockey is the beast that has eluded me for some time. Its like football combined with basketball combined with MMA (mixed martial arts).

And it moves as fast as the 100 meter dash.

So what is the best way to go about learning the sport? I've found the most effective way is to watch it with someone who knows and ask questions. Yes. It is never bad to ask questions, even if you think they are stupid. There's a difference between asking a stupid question because you want to understand and asking a stupid question because you want attention.

If you are uncomfortable with a group setting, ask someone in advance to watch a game with you and explain it. Chances are good they won't mind. Which is my plan. This fall I will master hockey, I will understand it, I will know how to pronounce all the Russian and Canadian names, and I will not jump on the Sidney Crosby bandwagon (Go Bruins!)

So, by December 21st (the official start of winter) I will be a better cook, a better runner, and possibly a hockey fan. Who knows. Life is full of possibilities.