The crazy.

In the past week or so, three guys, all of whom know me pretty well but in remarkably different ways, have suggested I think I about a triathlon. One because he thinks I need to cross-train more, one to get me to shut up about not being able to find a 10K listed on-line in September or October in Korea, and one I'm fairly sure is just looking for motivation to train himself. My brother and I now have an agreement - I'll think about a tri if he'll think about a 1/2 marathon (which is sort of me looking for motivation to train myself).

I think I may be mental, because I'm actually considering this.

I haven't been on a bike in a million years, and haven't swam (swum?) a lap in probably 15 or more. But a sprint triathlon is pretty short, and even an olympic distance one would actually incompass training for a 10K to a 1/2 marathon...

If nothing else, I'll probably look into how much it would cost to use the pool at ISU during July.

As my students would say, "ee-yah." which basically means "eew."

closer

I am very close to being ready to head out of town. I need to load the car, do one more once-over cleaning, and give away a couple more things, but for the most part, I'm ready to go. I leave Friday, because I just can't bring myself to leave before my contract is officially completed. I'm a doofus like that.

Anyway, school is out for the kids and this week is all about grades, cleaning out my classroom, and make-up exams for any of the kids who show up to do it. This was done by about 9:00 this morning. Things are so slow that I worked out in the weight room at school, took a nap on the couch in my office, and wandered around aimlessly most of the day. I expect more of the same tomorrow. Except maybe more knitting and playing on the internets - ohlala!

I'm ready to go. This waiting around doing nothing business is tiresome.

forerunner

I was looking at the ads for the Nike/Nano venture, and was thinking about how the accelerometer could be adapted to non-nike shoes (BTW, I've decided that it would be a few months before someone was able to come up with a decent mod for it.) Linked because I think it is pretty smart of both companies, even if I don't wear Nikes or have an iPod.

Then when I got home, I found my aunt had surprised me with this:


Woo! and WOW!!!

Mimi, you really shouldn't have, but I love it so much!! I can get all kinds of details like altitude and pace and accurate distance, I can use it for navigation (somehow, not exactly sure how yet) and distance. It tells me calories burned, I can use it for laps, it tracks data for me (yay, obsesive/compulsive streak!) and I can hook it into my computer to track the data even more! (not exactly sure how on that last one yet...) basically, it is totally amazing. Thank you.

I used it for the first time on my run tonight, and found I've increased my pace when on the trail by about a minute from where I thought I was. I also now know exactly how long the loop is.

This is a million times better than a talking iPod.

5K

My time was not spectacular, but I finished, I wasn't last, and I beat my goal time. All three good thing.

Because the course was so steep in places, I had mentally prepared myself for a 45 minute time. I wanted to be <40, but didn't think it would happen. I came in with a clock time of 37.26!! And there were at least five people after me, not counting the folks who came in after they cleared for the 1/2 marathon. Not a horrible time for a first 5K, and there were experienced runners who were talking about how challenging the course was.

I feel great! I'm planning to enter a couple of races in July, and I plan to start training for a 10K for this fall.

And I did it. A few months ago, I had an "only if being chased" attitude towards running. Now I've competed! In a race! (which arguably could be considered "being chased," but in my case, not so much.)

Race

My first 5K race is this Sunday. I know I'll be able to finish, and I might not even be last, but I'm still nervous. I've run the course, and the last mile is HARD. Finding out today that the mountain bikers refer to that section of the trail as "The House of Pain" just confirmed it.

Last weekend on the way to Albuquerque, I was talking with friends who have run for years. They were talking about how they had come in last in races before (one somewhat regularly), and how DFL (dead fucking last) is always better than DNF (did not finish).

I have a bunch of friends who will be there with me, so that's good. Because of how steep the hills are on the first and last mile, I'm aiming for a sub-45 minute time, which is totally do-able I think, but I'd like to be sub-40, which is where I think I'd be pretty easily if the route was flatter, and what I have done a couple times in my neighborhood and on the treadmill.

I was thinking this morning about how great it will be to run in Indiana, because while there are hills, there are lots of sections of nice flat flatness between. I think I'm going to register for a couple of 5K's in July in Indiana.


In other news, I finished the socks. Fraternal rather than identical twins, but done is good.

Icarus

(this is just the button for the knit-a-long. Nothing much to see here, but I wrote some html to go with it! oh lala!)

Knitting

Today, this was ripped out.



Lorna's Lace Heaven, and the pattern was the easy shawl on the band. I lost interest and lost count and this lovely yarn was lonely in the bottom of the bag next to the couch. Too horrible a fate for this loveliness.

It will hopefully become this:

(picture of the picture in the magazine - prettypretty!)

Right now, it looks like this:



I forget the name of the color, but the top picture is reasonably close to accurate. Because of the mohair, I'm knitting on size six addi turbos (best needle point I have in that size) which i think should work, given that there are about 400 more yards in the ball of Heaven than in the yarn used. I may need to assess the length as I get closer to the fancy part on the edge.

I like that I'm knitting in the colors of sunset as I get ready to move from here. Next to the people I've met, the sunset and the rocks are what I will remember most.

And because knitting TWO lace shawls right now makes SO much sense...

Am working on a post as part of the Amazing Lace knitalong. Be prepared.

c is for cookie...

Did you all know that Cookie Crisp cereal now has a peanut butter cookie flavor?
And that they are really, really, good?
And that there are a lot of cookies in 3/4 of a cup a cup of cookie crisp?
And that if possible, I don't think there would be another food I would ever eat again, ever?

A

Yesterday, I tagged along with a friend who was headed to Albuquerque and I got new running shoes from a real running store - Brooks' Glycerine 4 - and went to REI where they were having a great big sale, and got lots of little things - another Nalgene, one of those sippy inserts for the bottle so i hopefully can stop getting water both up my nose and down my shirt when I try to drink and move at the same time, a new sports bra (Moving Comfort's Fiona) and anti-blister socks. THEN we went for Indian food! Excellent. And I love REI. There isn't a whole lot I actually need, but I can look around forever. And please, please please tell me why I really don't need the Garmin Forearunner even though it is on major sale. (I really DON'T need it and don't have the money for it, but DANG what a cool toy!)

Today I ran what I think might be the course for the 5K. Which really? More like 3.5 miles. I drove the dirt road, which was about 1.3, and from the 2 mile mark on the trail to where the access road meets the dirt road is at least .25. The only think I can think is that it will stop and start a little further up. I may have run it backwards, which would not be fun the day of the race, because while the second mile SUCKS, I'd rather deal with a horrible middle than sucky beginnings and endings. I literally felt like I was flying for the last quarter mile today. :)

And the shoes dealt with the trail, the softer access road, and the hard-packed dirt road quite well. No blisters or ouchy feet stuff at all!

settings

I'm a dingbat. I just checked my settings and realized that I had the default of having to be a member of blogger to post comments. That has been disabled, so if you wanted to, you could comment. Just sayin'. (but NOT fishing! I love the email! Either! Both! Nothing! whatever.)

socks and shoes

I turned the heel of the second sock in a pair I started ages ago and am almost all the way through the gusset decreases.


This is the fun part of socks - there is enough to do to keep me engaged, but it is for the most part mindless knitting I can do while monitoring the students doing research in the library, and right now I'm close to the end. As opposed to the beginning of top-down socks, where after the first inch or so, a million miles on itty-bitty needles starts to grate on my nerves. Especially the second sock. Maybe I should just start making little footy-type socks, which is what I wear the most, anyway. Though I may try a jaywalker and the lace socks in the Spring Interweave Knits...

I think I need to go to Albuquerque to go to a real running store sometime soon. I need someone who actually knows what they are talking about to tell me what kind of shoes I should be wearing. The arch of my foot (just past the ball) is blistered again, even though I've been taping it consistently (and a side note, I cannot tell you how much I hate taking tape off the bottom of my foot. ugh.) and I'm not totally sure what type of shoes I need. If I wear stability or motion control, I get nasty pain - bursitis maybe? Same thing that happens in some pairs of high heels - in the middle of the ball of my foot, kinda on the outside edge, but everything I've read says that "heavy runners" - anyone over 150 lbs - normally should go for stability or motion. Basically, I think I need a stability shoe with a lot of cushioning. I just don't know exactly what that would be.

Prefecture assignment

In today's mail, I got my prefecture assignment for Japan. I'll be going to Aizu-Wakamatsu, Fukushima. The main industries are lacquer ware and sake, and there are lots of hot springs. Sounds good to me!

Running. Because I'm boring.

I ran (like, without walking) for three miles yesterday, and then later did about 1.25 miles of hill work before going to the gym.

Today, I ran the Big Hill that I've always had to walk.

And I ran my first sub-40 min 3 mile. On the treadmill because it was way windy out and I'm crazy but not stupid.

I'm slow, but considering that two months ago running for five minutes seemed almost impossible, I'm pretty pleased. (and I do realize there is a bit of a difference between this post about my ability the one from a few days ago. But then I hadn't run for three miles!!) And now I m planning new long-term and short-term goals. With the race on the 21st, I'll have met the 5K goal. I'd like to start training for a 10K, and am thinking about maybe making the new longer-term goal a 1/2 marathon. But that seems a little crazy. But long term!! Like, in a year or so.
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I need to turn the heel on a sock, but I don't remember what I did for the first one, and need to find my notes or study the first one more closely. I ripped out the v-neck sweater because I realized the pattern was for puff sleeves, and umm, not so much for me. I'm almost back to the point where I had to rip, so even if I took a picture, it wouldn't look any different. I did a couple of rows on the lace, but nothing that would be noticable to anyone but me. But here is the finished sock of the pair:


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In other news, I turned in my letter of resignation to my principal today. This is real, y'all.

Three weeks with kids, a week of in-services, and then I pack everything into my car. Wow.

Knitting geekery

I have just taken the combination of knitting and internet geekery to the next level - I signed up for a knit-a-long, where a bunch of strangers work on the same type of project.






I will be working on the lace project I posted over a week ago (as no progress has been made, a picture isn't worth the bandwidth) and will hopefully end the summer with a stunning lace wrap. Goals are good. Accountability is also good.

running

Tonight I finished the last offical run of the couch to 5K program - my third half-hour run this week.

But I'm not at 5K in thirty minutes. Not even close. Like, only 2.3 miles. Using the pretty fast-paced walking I do for warm-up and cool-down, I'm doing three miles in about 41 minutes. If I were running more of that, I would be able to be below 40 min, so I think I'm going to go back to week 7 or 8 and start running for distance rather than running for time.

Which in terms of general running and fitness and stuff is fine, but I'm sort of committed to this race in two weeks (and two days, not to put too fine a point on it - the Squash Blossom Classic site is almost functional now) and I'm a little freaked out. I know logically I am capable of completing the course (though it is seriously "this is hiking" steep in places and I may have to walk a bit) and that with other people around I will probably be able to keep up. But I'm just worried about looking totally foolish for even attempting it. And there isn't a walk this year, so I could be dead last. I mean, I know SOMEONE has to be last, but I would prefer it not be me, you know?

I'm going to run the couse this weekend and probably head to the treadmill (ugh) or to the track at one of the middle schools to run for at least three miles this weekend just to know for sure I can do it, but I'm full of self-doubt and am not really sure how I should train in the next two weeks to make the least amount of a fool of myself. (but you should note that I'm not saying I'm not going to do it. This is what is called Progress and it is Significant.)

verbs/nouns

On my drive home yesterday, I started thinking about when it is appropriate to define oneself with a noun instead of a verb. For example, I now identify myself as a knitter as opposed to saying "I knit." I am a teacher, as opposed to saying "I teach."

I've been running for a little less than two months now, and I run at least some distance (even if it is only a mile) everyday. Most days I log between 2-5 miles. (I can't do 5 in one shot, so most weekdays I'll break it over two shorter runs) and yet I haven't felt comfortable identifying myself as a runner. I don't look like one, and I often don't feel like one as I gasp for breath on runs when I try to kick up my pace or face a rough section of trail.

When do you move from a verb to a noun in self-identification?



And speaking of running, I came across this podcast - Podrunner - which is amazing. I'm usually not a huge fan of electronica, but I LOVE this. They are about an hour of music that is at a specific beat per minute, and there is a new one each week. Awesome.

Packing

The packing continues, and I'm at the point where I kind of just want to be done with everything. Then I remember that I still have to live for a month. I think realistically, I would be able to have everything packed and a day or two if I needed to do so. A couple more loads to the Goodwill, a bunch of stuff to the trash, some boxes and suitcases into the car. Done.

One of the most interesting things about this whole process is seeing which objects I view as valuable and important. I have a lot of stuff, very little of which is critical.