One small step for a pedometer...

New gadget alert!

After many faithful years of service, my Sportline pedometer finally stopped working last week.  I can't say enough good things about my experience with it, particularly because the company was really nice about replacing the plastic clip the few times it broke over the course of five-plus years (normal wear and tear for something used every day).

But the step counter was just not incrementing, so I decided that it was time that I finally take advantage of some of the many advancements made in pedometer offerings in recent years.  Again, nothing against the Sportline, but the model I had was kind of like the first cell phone I ever had, which was a chunky flip phone that had the same screen the computer I played Oregon Trail on in middle school, black with green pixels.

Now, I have one of these:

It's a FitBit Zip.  And it's pink!

I thought about getting some of the fancier activity trackers with sleep monitors or the ones you wear around your wrist all day.  But I really only need the step-counting part of it.  It is fun to be able to sync to my computer and phone, but otherwise, I'm just glad that I didn't have to go more than a few days without a pedometer.

Do you use a pedometer or other snazzy activity tracker?

WIP Wednesday: Empty your mind and think pink

I went to yoga again this week before meeting my dad for the usual Indian dinner.  I'm liking it as a compromise between working out and worrying about everyone that I'm working out with.  In most strength training classes, there's always the fear of being the one that completes the reps last and holds everyone back.  But with yoga everyone is very inwardly focused and encouraged to do whatever their body allows.  And it ends with a few minutes of just lying on the ground and breathing.  It's as close to nap time as I think I'm going to get post-Kindergarten.  I know I'm supposed to be clearing my mind during it, but I find it difficult to not think about whether I want Channa Saag or Aloo Ghobi.  Or planning my blog post.  Speaking of which...

This Friday's FO post will be chock-full of finished objects because I finished Affection-ite last week.  I also finished my Lexe-Me cardigan before last Friday, but waited until my trip to the wildflower center on Saturday to take photos.  So stay tuned for floral FOs.

Until then, I have a WIP to share with you.  In fact, I think I only really have one WIP going on.  The only in-progress knits I can think of are in deep hibernation.  It's a strange feeling.  It made me very anxious to cast something on.  So I turned to my trusty queue in Ravelry and picked something relatively quick.  You know, so I can be anxious again in a very short time.  My logic there wasn't the best.  But maybe after I finish this I'll have decided on something else to knit for my long-term swap. Either that or I might start another cardigan.  I have the yarn stashed and pattern selected for at least two others.

This project started with the buttons.  I found them half-off in Gauge and had to have them, especially when I found the perfect yarn to go with them at the same time:

The yarn is bamboo, so it's got a nice shine as well as being a bright pink.  To show it and the buttons off, I found this pattern on Ravelry for a cabled cowl.  Although it doesn't originally have buttons, I saw that some people had used the holes behind the cables as buttonholes.  All I needed to do was add a third braid so that I could use all three of my buttons.  Like lace, cables always take a few rounds to really show their true colors, but I'm starting to see how this is going to turn out, and I like it:

I'm calling it Pretty Pink Plaits, because when I can't think of anything witty to name my projects, I go with alliteration.

How do you name your projects?  For more WIP Wednesday posts, go to Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday: Can you hear me now?

Yesterday I challenged myself in two notable ways.  First, I went to my first group exercise class since my marathon training started impeding on my time way back near the tail end of last year.  It was a 'power half-hour' of squats, lunges, and other full-body strength exercises.  I survived, but I am feeling so sore today.  I tried not to audibly groan whenever I got up from my desk.

Speaking of groaning, the other challenge yesterday was a visit to my cell phone carrier.  Nothing went particularly wrong, but dealing with this kind of stuff is always kind of torturous.  We were adding a line because my mom is making the leap from her non-smart phone that she doesn't even text on to one of my passed-down iPhones.  She's also switching carriers because it just made more sense to join into a family plan than to each have individual ones.

She's very trepidatious about the iPhone, because she really only wants it to be a phone, but it doesn't really seem to be an option to go smart-less these days, so she's getting 1 GB of data that she doesn't really plan to use.  I'm hoping the transition to the touch screen and all of that won't be too traumatic.  She uses her iPad all the time, but is adamant that she just wants a phone to make phone calls, nothing else.  We'll see how it goes.

At least my knitting hasn't elicited any groans this week.  My Affection-ite Color Affection shawl progress is slow and steady.  The rows are starting to get long enough that I have to think about whether I have enough time to finish a row before I get started, because when I'm knitting straight I prefer not to stop in the middle.  And all of the stitches are started to get scrunched on my needles:

My cable is slightly shorter than recommended, and I might at some point bite the bullet and switch it out for the 60-inch one I bought in case I ever decide I want to do magic loop hexipuffs two or three at a time.  Who knows when I'll get around to those hexipuffs, though.  For now, it's all about the soothing garter stitch of this shawl.  I have a few more stripes left in the middle section, and then it's onto the tricolor short rows.

For more WIP Wednesday posts, go to Tami's Amis.

Inspiration Saturday: Active knitwear

Ah, Texas weather.  One day, it's 80 degrees, the next it's below 40.  I prefer the first one myself, but I suppose I can concede that tis the season for me to be freezing all the time.

One slight benefit of the cold is that I don't need to worry about getting up early to get my run in before it's too hot.  So I slept in, and then bundled myself up as much as possible to avoid being too cold before I had a chance to warm up for my seven miles.  I had a hat with earflaps, convertible mittens, and a scarf for the part of my neck left exposed after I had my running hoodie zipped all of the way up.

Which got me thinking about active knitwear I could knit for myself.  The scarf was the only thing I had made, everything else was bought.  I did that on purpose because I knew I was going to end up getting them sweaty so I wanted to make sure I grabbed washable-type things instead of ending up felting some of my own mitts.

I'm going to have to look in my stash for some washable fibers to make some of these patterns:

Runner's Companion by MichelleCanKnit

Photo credit: MichelleCanKnit

I'm not sure I trust a handknit armband not to stretch and become too loose to reliably keep my iPod in place while I'm running, but I like the idea.  I could imagine doing something similar with more of a pocket for keeping keys and other things that you want to keep with you.

Nike+ iPod Shoe Hack by Yarn-A-Go-Go

Photo credit: Yarn-A-Go-Go

I'm about to order a new GPS watch (yay!), but at the moment I'm making due with the little Nike+ footpod.  I happen to have the shoes from Nike that fit the pod in the sole, but this would be a really sure and easy way to enable any pair of running shoes.

Hannah by Blake Ehrlich

Photo credit: Blake Ehrlich

I like that this hat not only has that nifty hole for my ponytail, but it covers the ears as well.  I would love to find some buttons of someone running, that would be cute.

I've also been looking at non-knitting 'equipment' I might need for the big event in February.  Mostly I'm thinking about compression leggings, a new pair of running shoes, and the aforementioned fancy GPS watch, maybe with a heart rate monitor (?).  Of course, I'll make sure to get everything in plenty of time to test it out before the actual marathon, including the various fueling strategies.  It's not just your legs you have to get ready for those 26.2 miles, it's everything!

For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

WIP Wednesday: It's all downhill from here

I love the feeling of Wednesdays, that almost perceptible moment when you tip past the halfway point of the workweek.  Especially because for me that coincides with the coffee klatch in the afternoon, making the 'peak' of hump day something I look forward to.

But there's always something about passing that halfway point that's satisfying.  I'm well past the halfway point on the Fruit Loopy Shawl, it's starting to get narrower on the other end, and I just hope that I have enough yarn.  I removed a short row section on either side of the middle point, so hopefully I'm safe.  I'm not quite sure what I would do if I reached the end of my yarn with a row or more to go.  I just won't think about it.

Being more than halfway through my training program has pluses and minuses.  On the plus side, I've developed the habit of running every Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Saturday.  On the minus side, the miles are starting to rack up and it's taking longer and longer chunks out of each of those days.  I've also been experimenting with listening to things other than music while running, because while pop songs are great to help me power through a couple of miles, I find that the humor of 'Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me' podcasts is a more helpful distraction from running for over an hour.

I'm also halfway through my word count towards my daily goal for NaNoWriMo.  Which means I still have about 800 words to go, so, um, I gotta go!  Bye!

For more WIP Wednesday posts, go to Tami's Amis.

Inspiration Saturday: Marathon momentum

In case you were worried that I had silently stopped my marathon training, I'm happy to report that I have just completed Week 15 of my plan, which brings me to the halfway point.  It was a cut-back week, meaning that after running 7 miles last Saturday, I did only 5 today.  But my Wednesday runs have been bumped up from 3 to 4 miles, and next Saturday I'm jumping up to a 9-mile long run.  So moving swiftly along.

Except for one not-so-swift moment this morning when I tripped and fell within the first mile.  I have no idea what I tripped over, whether it was a seam in the slabs of the sidewalk (they weren't completely even) or just my own feet.  But before I knew it, I was slammed into the cement.  My hip and elbow on the left side seemed to take most of the fall, getting successfully scraped up.  I hit my knees a bit as well, but I had long pants on so they didn't scrape.

After a moment's shock, and a quick check that none of the technology I had secreted about my person had been smashed (pedometer, iPod Nano and iPhone), I got back up, started running again, and finished the rest of the designated mileage for the day.  I didn't ever seriously think about stopping.  Partly because I'm rule-follower, and I knew I needed to get the run in.  So I wasn't going to not do it.  Plus, since I was going to run, I didn't want to have to start all over again.  I may have only put in 3/4 of a mile, but darn it, I wasn't going to run that 3/4 of a mile again!

I'm all patched-up now and just hoping that there's nothing that will keep me from going into Week 16 okay.  Along with my war wounds, I'll be taking a little extra inspiration into training from the New York Marathon being run tomorrow.  I don't know if I'll ever get to run in one of these premiere, big city events, but it is inspiring to imagine running through the streets of New York, and to think of all the people from around the world gathering to do it themselves.

With a slightly less-impressive cityscape, the Austin Marathon recently posted a YouTube video of the race route I'll be talking in just over a hundred days.

There's something a little depressing about a six and a half minute video covering the route it will take me more like six hours to run.  But still, fun to visualize.

And I feel like I have to mention this hat pattern if I'm going to talk about inspiring running things:

Photo credit: Sandra Jäger

I can just about accept that I'll be able to run 26.2 miles if I keep following the training plan, but making this seems really ambitious!  I would need another 30-week program of color work patterns to build up to it.

One foot in front of the other, one step closer to the marathon.  For more inspiration, go to Woolen Diversions.

Inspiration Saturday: With a little help from my friends

This week, I'm feeling inspired by the communities which surround the things that I do.  I value my alone time just as much as anyone, and I'm certainly an above-average homebody, but there's something special about the support that comes from a communal experience.

First, I'll talk fitness, then I'll get to the fiber.  On Thursday I did my first group run.  Because my company is sponsoring the marathon for which I am training, the activity center has been organizing various talks, trainings, and things of that nature.  I ran about five miles over my lunch break with a few other folks, and even though I was staring at their backs the whole time, it still felt different than when I'm just running in my neighborhood.

Actually, it was different, because in trying to keep pace with them, I ran my fastest mile.  And just knowing that a few more people know about my goals makes me feel even more committed to them.  I'll try to bring that to mind as I run six miles (my longest yet) tomorrow morning.  I'm hoping to join them for future runs, but it's always tough to carve time out of the middle of the day.  I know I'm touting the benefits of getting together with people, but how many meetings does one person need?

Having run with a group, now I'm crawling with one.  Yarn Crawling, that is.  My mom and I travelled more than 240 miles today and hit six yarn stores, plus one fiber artist studio.  We won't mention a number of dollars spent.  What's important is that along the way we not only reconnected with our favorite store owners, but also with fellow Crawlers.  Coming from all over the hill country and even beyond, there's still often a common flow from store to store, and you start to build a rapport as you pet the pretty yarns.  It's comforting somehow during the Crawl to be surrounded by so many crafty people.

And that comfort can even be felt in cyberspace.  I know I wouldn't be the knitter I am today without Ravelry.  Posting in the forums is what I do most on this great invention of the internet.  And the group crafting has been the driving force for me improving and adding to my repertoire of skills.  Without swaps and knitalongs like Ravellenics, I wouldn't have tried half of the projects on my page.  If it wasn't for Tour de Fleece, I might not have a single completed handspun skein to my name.  Heck, if it wasn't for Ravelry, I wouldn't have a wheel right now.  It's a powerful thing when the camaraderie formed over online craft talk will 'earn' you the inheritance of a training wheel.

And then, of course, there's all of you.  Group hug, bloggers and readers!

Okay, that's my motivational speech for the month.  For more inspiration this week, go to Woolen Diversions.

WIP Wednesday: Sweat. Eat. Repeat.

I had a whole other theme thought out for today's post, but I'll have to save that for another time.  So look forward to hearing about some fiber purchases I made last weekend.  But right now, I'm in recovery mode from this evening's workout, and that's all I can really think about.

I'm in the second week of Hal Higdon's Novice Supreme marathon training program, which specified a three-mile run for today.  I usually run on the treadmilll before joining my group exercise class, but I only rack a little over two miles in 30 minutes, then give myself about ten minutes to refocus on whatever torture the trainer has devised.  Could I squeeze in another mile?  And then do a whole other workout?

You know it!

Now, the question remains, can I get out of bed tomorrow morning?

I'll deal with that hurdle when the alarm goes off.  For now, I'm just digesting my delicious post-workout dinner.  Brace yourselves, because I did not have pancakes.  No, this time I went with something completely different: chana masala from Tarka Indian Kitchen, and Tutti Frutti frozen yogurt.  Aside from the proximity to frozen yogurt, I chose Tarka because I've recently found that I quite like Indian food, making my dad and I the only two who do.  So we have to take advantage of our opportunities to enjoy it, and I have to make my way through a menu full of wonderful-sounding dishes.  Chickpea curry?  Yum.  And Taro frozen yogurt for dessert?  Double yum.

I don't have an action shot of my cardigan sleeve sitting in a pile of basmati rice, you'll be happy to know.  But I am a few inches into the ribbing there, and I've added a few layers of wrapping onto my single cop.  If I can run three miles, then bust out a great group exercise class, I'm sure I can get these WIPs turned into FOs soon!

For more WIP posts, visit Tami's Amis.

Not-so-centered thoughts

I decided to go to the gym for my run this afternoon, and thought that I might as well join the group yoga class while I was there.  I'm guessing that these are not the calming thoughts that I'm supposed to empty my mind with:

• My feet are cold.
• What am I going to make for dinner?
• What's on TV tonight?
• I should publish that article on Examiner when I get home.
• Top Model with guys...
• My feet are cold.
• My calf muscles are just not long enough.
• What should I bake for next week?
• I should paint my nails.
• My feet are cold.

Namaste, everybody.

Game, set, match, history

It took 77 years and four match points, but it happened: a Brit won Wimbledon.

I wasn't on Henman Hill, but I was cheering right along with them.  From my first time watching Wimbledon, I've been rooting for the home team.  I almost don't know what we're all going to do next year with a defending champion.  But there's a lot more tennis to be played until then.  Next stop: the US Open series on the road to New York.

I'll be thinking of them grinding it out on the hard courts as I pound the pavement myself.  I've found the plan I'm going to follow: Hal Higdon's Beginner Supreme.  I like that it's longer than most other programs, because it pairs a 12-week starter set that will get me up to snuff for the 18-week set that more experienced runners can train from.  I have my calendar marked, Week 1 starts on the 22nd.

Which also happens to be the first week of the US Open series, which starts with the BB&T Atlanta Open, which was the last title that my other Andy, Roddick, won before retiring.  Coincidence, or another sign of the aligning stars in the new world order of sports?

5K and froyo hits (The Yogurt) Spot

So, I think I can say that I've moved beyond contemplation of insanity to commitment.  Not to an insane asylum, but to a marathon.  I haven't formally registered yet, but when I think about it, I've started thinking about how I want to train for it, not whether or not I will.  There are several options, from training programs that hold group runs every Saturday to plans I've found online that I could follow by myself.  Whatever I end up going with (I'm leaning towards Austin Fit right now, thanks to a commenter in my previous post), I have over a month until I enter the time frame for any of those programs.  So in the days before t-minus 26 weeks to the marathon, my goal is to extend my current conditioning from running a few miles at a time once a week to running a few miles at a time multiple times a week.

Marking the start of my pre-training training, I ran the Maudie's Moonlight Margarita Run last night.  If you remember, last year I celebrated reaching the finish line and refueled with a cupcake:

This time, it was frozen yogurt.  My mom once again helped me avoid the chaos of event parking by dropping me off, then settled herself in at The Yogurt Spot for some quality knitting and wi-fi time, with some tasty yogurt refreshment.  Further adding to her case for Mother of the Millennium, when I was done running, she got back into her truck and picked me up, with a bowl for me.  The frozen yogurt didn't last long enough for an at-home photo, so you'll have to imagine the bowl in my hands instead of the cupcake.  Same savoring-the-deliciousnee face, though.  Green Apple and Tart, mixed with pineapple, strawberries, kiwi, and a cherry on top.  Yum.  In true Yogurt Spot fashion, their Green Apple compares wonderfully against the others I've tried recently, and their Tart is fabulous as always.  Their prices have risen, though, from 43 to 49 cents an ounce.

Have you seen the commercial for Lay's potato chips where the woman is having her nails done, but just can't resist the greasy, salty goodness?  It makes me shudder just thinking about it, because the idea of the chip crumbs stuck in her still-wet polish is really disgusting to me.  I mention this not because I ate potato chips after my run as well, but because before my run I painted my nails with a quick coat of China Glaze's Papaya Punch before running this year, a slightly different shade of orange than last year.  I find that a fun nail polish is a helpful psychological trick in physical exertion.  Whether I'm keeping up the pace on the final lap or pulling the last rep on a bicep curl, seeing a glimmer or glamour while I'm feeling distinctly unglamorous can give me a boost.  And the fact that these colors coordinate with my lovely company-provided racing singlet makes it even more powerful.

The connection to that Lay's commercial is also because this color could just as easily be called 'Cheeto Orange'.  But that would probably not be as appealing to their target audience.  I do kind of like the idea of a whole line of polishes inspired by junk food.  Or maybe a collaboration between OPI and Ben & Jerry's.

I know, I'm weird.  But considering the pun in this post's title, what did you expect?

Tell me if I'm crazy

For the past week, I've been considering something that might be a little insane.  I keep wavering between thinking that I can do this, and feeling overwhelmed at the prospect.  Here it is: I'm thinking of running a marathon.

It's an idea that's been ruminating in my mind for a while now, as a vague, 'someday' idea: running a marathon.  But since the company I worked for announced that they are sponsoring the Austin Marathon, I've been thinking that perhaps someday is 250 days from now.  26.2 miles to be covered while I'm still 26 (the day before my birthday).  The numbers are really aligning there, aren't they?  Okay, that's probably a sign of insanity, seeing meaning in numbers, but I can't help it.

The idea has been in my head for the past week, carefully revealed to just a few people so far.  I didn't want to mention it only to renege after coming to my senses.  There's nothing to make you feel less accomplished than for someone to say, 'Hey, weren't you going to run that marathon?' and have to admit that you never actually did.  But after several Google sessions about training, and coming to terms with the number of hours I will have to log, I think I'm tentatively ready to say that it's something I might do.  Possibly.  That's a commitment, of sorts.

I have a 5k to run this Thursday, which I'm thinking will be the kickstart of my pre-training running routine. So what I'm wanting from those of you out there in the world wide web is a sanity check: just how crazy am I?  And if you have any advice, please give it!

One foot in front of the other

I feel a little ambivalent while writing this post.  On the one hand, I know that what I'm feeling is genuine, but on the other hand, I can't help that one of those feelings is a sense that they are so insignificant in comparison to the experience of others that they aren't worth typing.  But I just want to go ahead and get it out there.

Since I began losing weight, and even in previous attempts, counting my steps has always been a simple way to establish a baseline of activity that had no real limitations as far as when and where I could do it.  I have paced the length of my living room countless times, sometimes while knitting, to reach the magic number of steps at the end of a given day.

As fitness became a pursuit in and of itself outside of the means to weight loss, I took my steps to more interesting ground, from nature walks like the one I recently took at Enchanted Rock, to road race 5Ks like last year's Moonlight Margarita Run which I celebrated completion of with a cupcake.  I've run in nearly half a dozen 5Ks, and I've always enjoyed them.  There's a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie even when you participate alone, running alongside others and passing cheering spectators.  Both push me to run a little farther, a little faster.

I had been thinking about the Boston Marathon since Monday morning, when I found out that my boss' boss was running in it (he's fine, by the way).  I was thinking about how cool it would be to run in a marathon, much less one like Boston, London, or New York.  Running down Congress, passing the Paramount Theater and with the Capitol building in the background is pretty cool, but those cities would be amazing.  I was also thinking about what kind of training I might need to do to be able to get to a half marathon first.

The news broke for me when the hashtag bubbled up on Twitter, prompting me to click on some news links and turn the radio on.  My reactions included the same concern, horror, and inability to understand what motivates someone to do something like that which I expect most people felt.  But I also felt a particular twinge of empathy for these people who I admired for this particular effort, with whom I felt a bond, tenuous but existing.  A moment of accomplishment and pride was taken from them and replaced with fear, danger, and sadness.  It's not fair.  But then, it never is.

My connection to the world of runners is one mostly of admiration and aspiration.  And this may be the least important takeaway from yesterday possible, but it motivated me to make myself more of a runner.  It makes me want to join another 5K sooner rather than later.  And the next time I lace up my shoes, it's going to be one more thing that keeps me putting one foot in front of the other.

Inspiration Saturday: Enchanted (by the) Rock

Today I did something which I have apparently done countless times, but only really remember doing once or twice.  Childhood is strange like that, you have a handful of vivid memories for countless experiences that fade into the background.  So it's nice to go back and try them again.  In this case, I went for a walk/hike at Enchanted Rock.

Photo credit: Texas Parks & Wildlife

About an hour and a half's drive, Enchanted Rock is a state natural area not far from Fredericksburg.  What 'natural area' means as opposed to park I'm not at all sure.  But what it is is essentially a big dome of pink granite.  There is an interesting geological story I could go into, but I wouldn't really know how to tell it.  I just walked up and around it.

They also have camping, picnicking, and rock climbing, the last of which I'd like to do sometime.  It's different on the granite because it has such great grip, you aren't so much searching for hand holds and pulling yourself up as you are walking up at just the right angle like Spiderman.  It's another one of those things I've done at least once many years back and would like to try again since losing weight.

Why is this inspiring?  Well, there's the fitness inspiration, how nice it is to get out and climb something and feel your legs.  I love a lost weekend on the sofa watching movies and knitting, but I also like getting out and doing something.  And feeling like I earned those shrimp fajitas I had for dinner.

Then there's the natural beauty part of it.  I'm always seeing granite as that 'must have' item on episodes of 'House Hunters', and pink granite was used to construct the Texas Capitol building.  And then you go out here and there it is, just a huge mound of it, unpolished but still rosy with flecks of black and white, with the occasional sparkle.  It's almost strange to step on it.

And then you climb to the top and you're about 400 feet up, looking out on the hill country.  Can't beat that.

For more inspiration, read Alicia's post at Woolen Diversions.

WIP Wednesday: Slopes and stitches

Today is Wednesday, but it feels like Monday to me, because I'm just coming back from a four-day weekend.  This was an uncharacteristic use of vacation time in the first half of the year, as I tend to hoard my time for fear of not having enough at the end of the year until I realize that I'm running out of time to use it all.  So why use two days now?  To go skiing!

We've been going to Ruidoso for long skiing weekends since I was a kid, once every year or two.  When I was in school we combined it with President's Day weekend, my dad would pull me out of school the Friday before as soon as I was counted in attendance (shh! don't tell!) and we'd drive out, ski Saturday and Sunday, then trek back and hope that I didn't have any outstanding homework.

Since we don't get President's Day at my office, we wanted to avoid the holiday weekend crowds, drove out on Saturday and got back yesterday around dinner time, with two days of skiing in between.  So I made progress on two projects: my secret swap handmade, and my snow bunny skills.

The super-secret project for my Gilmore Girls swap is going well.  I would estimate I'm about 40% done, thanks to the nine-hour drive each way.  Since I gave away a little bit about the texture of the knitted item last week, I'll sneak you a peek at the yarn (this is the stock photo, not my own socks):

It's Regia Hand-Dye Effect, and so far I'm really liking working with it.  The color changes are really pretty, going from a violet blue purple to a pinky fuchsia purple, with silvery gray in between.  It's got a little kink to it, so it's not a yarn I would want to use for something with clean stitch definition, but that's not what I'm going for here, so that's okay.

This project has been pretty simple, it doesn't necessarily involve anything too complicated, but it does show me how far I've come that I'm not really intimidated by the techniques it does use.  The more you knit, the less scary it gets.

The same is true for skiing.  It's something I've done for years, but like I've said, only a few days at a time.  There's only so far you can get in your technique for getting down a mountain slope in one piece over a weekend.  What I've been trying to do the past few times we've been out is to transition from the beginner's wedge to the more controlled parallel skis, setting my edge and just generally making more of a connection between what I do with my body and where I end up.

I'm a cautious skier.  Some people may be okay with just careening down at vast speed and coming to a crashing stop somehow, but I am a far more cautious student of the sport.  I take it one turn at a time, and my dad can get down the mountain, back up in the gondola and down again in the time it takes me to do a single run.  Let's put it this way: in a race, there are rabbits, there are turtles, and then there's me.  But just like working with metal DPNs (another hint!), the more I do it, the less scary it becomes.  By Monday afternoon, I was really starting to feel comfortable.  I wasn't tearing down the gulch, but I wasn't stopping and starting as much, and I was enjoying it more than fearing it.

Hopefully I'll get back on the slopes soon, but in the meantime, I'm trading in my poles for knitting needles again.

Don't forget, there are more WIP posts at Tami's Amis.

WIP Wednesday: Done...sort of

The trainer who runs the group exercise classes I go to on Wednesdays has a tendency to lie.  She'll shout out things like, 'Two more and we're done,' pausing just long enough to give everyone a false sense of relief before adding, 'with this set.'  It's cruel, but it's also good to have that sense of breaking up an hour of sweating into separate sets of exercises.  Somehow, it makes it easier.  From the gym to my Ravelry library (still being loved), this week has been all about being done...but only with part of a project.

First, my cardigan.  I'm done...with the back.

So far, this has gone well.  I had one moment when I didn't decrease the right amount, but I realized it in time to have my mom fix it for me.  She's mastered that voodoo or creating and disappearing stitches as needed in a way I haven't quite yet.  Other than that, it's just been a matter of getting through the rows.  With the back done I'm onto the left front, doing more of this oh-so-fun ribbing.  It's not that it's difficult, just repetitive, and the addition of alternative knitting and purling through the back loop on each row is just different enough to slow me down.

And then, I finished spinning...another cop.

That makes two.  I still have plenty of fiber left, though, so I'll probably spin that all up before I start plying, just in case I change my mind about how I want to do that.  Right now I'm still set on plying each end of the center pull balls together.

Check out more WIP Wednesday posts at Tami's Amis!

Working it out

If there's one feeling I never anticipated experiencing, it was positive anticipation of a workout.  Looking forward to a session at the gym.  I could always understand enjoying playing a sport, and logically understand the benefits of going to the gym. 

But somewhere along the way I realized that the sense of relief as I walk from the desk to the treadmill wasn't coming just from the sense that I was going to burn off a cupcake's worth of calories.  I mean, I love cupcakes, but unless there was one waiting for me as I stepped off the treadmill, it wouldn't be enough to keep me putting one foot in front of the other.

Aside from powering through with pop music and visions of myself as Buffy the Vampire Slayer running through the high school with a half-demon mayor chasing me, what I look forward to in my work outs is the moment when the effort and the exertion pushes everything else out of my mind.

Sometimes I can reach this point on the treadmill, but I always reach it in the group exercise class immediately afterwards.  Somewhere around the 7th rep of any given exercise, it becomes impossible to obsess about the meetings, the deadlines, and whatever other frustrations have accumulated throughout the day.  All I can focus on is getting down from 3, to 2, to 1, and rest.

It's not easy for me to stop thinking.  If I don't have something to listen to when I go to bed, it will take me forever to fall asleep because my mind just wanders from thought to thought and before I know it the alarm is going off and all I have to show for a night's rest is a collection of random ideas ranging from what to blog about next to who I really need to make sure to call before the end of the week.

So when I leave the gym, my muscles are worn out, but my brain feels refreshed, and ready to tackle that great blog idea...

There's no crying in running!

If it wasn't for rain, I could have watched Andy Roddick's final match in the comfort and safety of my own room.  I could have maintained some dignity knowing that only the cat and my father would know just how many tears I shed.

But no.  Instead it rained for most of Tuesday night and the final point was called this afternoon while I was running on the treadmill in the gym before my group exercise class.  I made sure to tune one of the TVs there to ESPN2, and prepared myself for a run fueled by emotion rather than adrenaline.

It was Andy's last service game, and I imagined that I could ensure that he held serve by running with just a little more determination.  It worked, but it was only to be followed by what everyone knew was almost certainly Andy's last professional game.  I couldn't hear the crowd, and had only the best efforts of the closed captioner to relay the commentary to me, but I could feel what everyone in Arthur Ashe was feeling.  I was right there with them.  And when it was all over, I was just as distraught as Brooklyn in Andy's player's box.  Only I didn't have any sunglasses to hide behind, and I was running on a treadmill in the middle of the gym.

It turns out that you can't really sob and run at the same time, while I was running it was like my body refusing to give into a complete bawling breakdown.  That makes sense, you need your lungs to taking in air, after all.  But the tears still came, and I must have looked more than a little ridiculous to anyone who happened to see me.  But the gym is like a crowded train, most people tend to avoid actually looking at anyone else.  That's what I tell myself, anyway.

Afterwards I took a moment to go ahead and be a big baby about it.  You guys, this is Andy.  This is Wimbledon, this is the Davis Cup, this is the US Open, this is 150 pounds.  I needed a moment.  And then I splashed some water on my face and went in for a little Fitness Fundamentals, where I was happily able to keep some sense of decorum as I lunged, lifted, and crunched.

So Andy goes out the last American man to win a grand slam, and I become the girl that cries when she runs...

The end of an era

Calling the retirement of Andy Roddick from tennis the 'end of an era' probably sounds a little inflated. But I'm not talking about an era in the history of tennis, though that certainly can be argued.  After all, he's the last American man to have won a grand slam, to have held the number one world ranking, and he's been the driving force of the Davis Cup for years.

But no, this is the end of an era for me personally.  The commentators talk about watching Andy grow up on the court, and the truth is that I grew up along with him as a tennis fan.  Andy's the first player I really ever rooted for.  Yes, I loved Sampras, the king of Wimbledon, but Andy was my guy.  I cheered like nothing else when he won the US Open.  I cried like no other with each Wimbledon final.  I've seen him play three times: once at an exhibition match while I was in high school, then at the US Open years later just before starting another year in college, and finally when he bring the Davis Cup to Austin. 

And there's a part of me that owes something very special to Andy.  Because the night before Andy played in that last Wimbledon final, I was making all of those prayerful promises that fans make when they really want something.  Please, just let Andy win.  If Andy wins, I'll clean out my closet.  If Andy wins, I'll floss twice a day.  If Andy wins....I'll lose the weight.

If you know me in real life, you already know, but otherwise, I should tell you.  I used to weigh much more than I do now.  I lost a lot of weight in high school and then gained it all back plus interest throughout college.  There was no particular reason why this, the first summer after graduation, should be the moment when I really did lose the weight and keep it off.  There are, I'm sure, many more blogs' worth of things to say about it.  But what matters is that that promise, not even spoken aloud, just made to myself, that I would do it for Andy, somehow that carried through even the disappointment of his loss.  

I started slow, I began writing down everything I ate, I counted my calories and had my base metabolism tested.  I wore a pedometer and made 10,000 steps a day a requirement.  And each day that I did it built upon each other, making it easier to keep going just by virtue of momentum.  Until finally, a year, maybe a year and a half, later, I was a hundred and fifty pounds down.  I know, it's still a crazy number for me.  But that's what it is, and I've managed to maintain it.  

Is Andy Roddick the reason I lost the weight?  Of course not.  But it's just one of those associations that makes the news that this US Open will be his last even more emotional for me.  Because yes, it's about the game.  But it's also about the part of my life that happened alongside that game, and the milestones I marked with his victories and losses.  And that makes it hard to say goodbye.

Instant rant-meal: just add water

Okay, before I enter into this rant, you have to understand something: I watch a lot of TV that, if it was food, would be empty calories.  I use it as the background noise that keeps me from thinking that every creak in the wall is a serial killer, and to try and quiet the many trains of thought constantly leaving the station of my brain.

Having said that, Saturday night I was watching the second season of 'Biggest Loser' on Netflix Instant, with our newly-returned access to the internet.  I tend to favor TV series that don't require me to be constantly paying attention.  Unfortunately, during a moment that I was paying attention to the ever-so-slightly contrived weight loss show, they were in the middle of one of those really obvious infomercial moments.  A trainer walks in and asks if they've eaten breakfast, then takes them into the kitchen to show them a great option: oatmeal!

'We can eat oatmeal?' a contestant asks.  Why yes, in fact, you can!  But this isn't just oatmeal.  It's Quaker Weight Control Instant Oatmeal.  It has fiber and protein and dairy-flavored pixie dust, and just 160 calories in a single packet.  Wait, what?!  I went from doing something random online to searching for someone to rant to.  Because that's freaking ridiculous.  In that one packet there couldn't have been more than 1/4 of a cup of actual instant oatmeal.  And I am obsessed with making oatmeal (seriously, I had it for dinner last night), so I know that that amount of straight-up oatmeal is just 75 calories.  So that means that over half of the calories are coming from whatever else is in there.  Basically, the powdered dairy and flavorings.

Now, I am not against ready-made, portion-controlled things.  I mean, I stuck Stove Top in a mushroom, I'm always doctoring up cake mixes in baking, and I do often take advantage of things that are 'light' for the sake of a few calories.  It just made me so mad, because the people who saw this little vignette could save calories and cash by just taking a regular old tub of instant oatmeal, some non-dairy creamer, maybe some Splenda and dried fruit, put it into little baggies, and they'd have the exact same thing.  I know it's advertising, the point is to sell something.  I just hate that the selling point in this case is a statistic that relies on the consumer not having the rest of the numbers in order to look impressive.

Okay, I feel better now.  You can all go about your regularly-scheduled Monday now.