Knitting, Botany, Mycology, Nature, Adventure, and Life... in no particular order.
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I Am My Own Superhero
A while back I decided to signup to run an all women’s half marathon. At the time I figured that since I was already training to run a 5K and I was interested in training to run longer distances that it would be the perfect opportunity to push myself.
Training for the 5K went well, as did the race back in late September. From there I planned on having just over a month from being ready for a 3 mile race to a 13 mile race. I figured that 5 weeks would let me get up from running 4 to at 10 miles at a good clip and would be able to then do the whole thing if I paced myself. Especially since all I wanted to do was finish.
Isn’t it interesting how things hardly ever go quite as planned?
Between the end of September and yesterday I managed to get 2 different bugs. The first one left me just utterly exhausted for several days. The shortly after that got better I got a terrible cold that kept me home on the couch or coughing for some time. So while I ran several more times in the end of September (for ultimate), I ran not at all in October until our last ultimate tournament on Halloween.
If you’re trying to figure out the numbers here folks, it means I did 1 day of running in the month before my first half marathon and previously had only been running up to 4 miles. As you can imagine, yesterday was interesting.
So what happened yesterday? I completed my first ever half marathon. That’s right, 13.1 miles from start to end. Not only that, it is the longest distance I have ever run. (And for full disclosure, I did not run the whole race. There was walking, especially up some beastly hills and towards the end. However no full mile between mile markers was walked at any time.) The race was in lovely coastal York, ME on yesterday’s beautiful, warm, sunny, and slightly breezy day. I miraculously finished the whole thing in under 3 hours! I did it in 2 hours and 55 minutes (and 58 seconds). At times I felt very much like giving up and just laying in a stranger’s yard until my guy came and found me, but I did not. (Miles 10-13 were especially hard, and 11 & 12 were torture.) Nor did I cry. Nor did I get mad at myself. (Nor did I figure out how to drink a cup of water while running without getting all of it up my nose. Stopping for water was the way to go!) Heck, I even enjoyed myself for most of it! And while I maybe did not pace as well as I could have, and perhaps could have run a little more here and there, I crossed the finish line running (albeit very very slowly)!
So yesterday in the car on the way home I said to my handsome fella that I felt simultaneously like a superhero and the lamest person alive. I felt like a superhero because I did it and lame because I always feels bad when I finish so far behind everyone else that there is no pack, or sign of a pack, or hardly anyone at all. Today, after I figured out my average pace was a 13.18 mile I was convinced of my own superhero status. Who cares if I came in towards the very end of the pack. Heck, who cares if I had come in last, I did it! (and boy oh boy do I have the aching body to prove it!)
Next time, however, I will definitely train. (Note how I already know there will be a next time. Nicole was right.)
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Fall Aspirations
So the temperature has dropped and it is cool and gray and rainy outside. This weather is perfect for knitting and drinking copious amounts of tea! (note to self: find more decaf black tea, preferably lady gray.) The tricky thing becomes sticking with something long enough to finish it!
Right now I am working on (or about to start):
- An afghan in Sheep Shop One wool in beautiful blues using cables from Alice Starmore’s St. Brigid. I cast on after the wedding it is a gift for so I really better stick with that!
- A lace mobius cowl in Three Irish Girls Springvale Super Merino in Devon (a beautiful mix of greens that are very spring like). Meant to do this earlier, but after having made the same pattern (Prickle) for a swap gift I know I can do the whole thing in 12 or so hours of knitting.
- BSJ! That’s right, I’m about the start the famous Elizabeth Zimmerman pattern for the Baby Surprise Jacket. The yarn: Koigu Kertsi Merino Crepe! Excitement level very high. Too bad I need to gauge swatch still. :(
- Pirate/skull hats! Some of my favorite people have moved to Durham and the boys have requested hats, pirate hats. So they’ll get matching hats, one with blue details and the other with red (as requested). It’ll take longer to get cold there, but I still better get started on those… which means going and buying yarn. :)
- Owed hats: 1 for my knitting buddy and pastery expert and 1 for my nerdy love. I already did 1/2 for my buddy, however ran into a problem and since it’s lace and the pattern is flat and I’m doing it in the round I’ve ignored it for probably at least 6 months! For the cutie I actually knit the hat once… to big around and not long enough. Superfast knit if I get my act in gear.
I think that’s a big enough list for now. Should allow lots of options for difficulty, attention, techniques and fiber. :) However I also would like another fall scarf for myself, preferably something that looks smashing with my new brown herringbone blazer/fall coat.
I better get of my computer and pick up my needles!
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Wait a Minute!
So tomorrow is September 1… how did that happen?! Where did the summer go?! We got 3 weeks of summer weather in August and that’s it!
August was a pretty packed month: I went to “Nerd Camp” for a week to learn about hypogeous fungi (and even collected some species that need to be described), the cutie and I went to Philly and he sucessfully defended his dissertation and we got to spend time with great people, my friend from high school got married and it was beautiful and fun, I got sick and knocked on my tuchis for a week… well that was pretty much August. Some work and helping friends from work move and a trip to the South End and even a movie got snuck in there too. Whew, maybe I’m ready for a new month.
September always feels like a new beginning… which we can probably attribute to school years. Having attended 17 years of school (kindergarden-college) it’s pretty much hardwired, and then throw in working at a university and taking the occasional class, my brain is positive September marks the beginning of things. So I think this September I am really going to embrace it!
This September will be the beginning of getting myself back in order! This hopefully will include:
- Cooking more! (Healthy things!)
- More time on the porch and listening to music
- Leaving less clutter and mess everywhere at home!
- Running more (with 2 nights of frisbee a week and signing up for 3 races I better)
- Scheduling things I want to get done and doing them (like grocery shopping and working on my collections)
- Making time to relax, be me, and do my own thing (knitting, reading, drinking tea, dancing in the livingroom, bike rides, hikes, looking for fungi, and even some yoga!)
- Have people over more!
So here’s to September and new beginnings! Let’s hope it has some good beach days in it so we can still have some summer left!
