OK, fine. Now where are my sneakers?

Dear Self,

Congratulations on getting through that 5k over the weekend. That's great. High five. Taking a day off from the gym on Monday was well deserved. Maybe Tuesday was as well. Maybe.

But this, this not having done any cardio since Sunday nonsense is ridiculous. There will be more road races in your future, and if you've got any hope of running them in a more respectable amount of time, you're going to have to make friends with the treadmill again. Soon. And don't even get me started on training for the 10k. Six miles, dude. Six miles. They won't run themselves. And you certainly won't run them with this level of effort.

In sum: go to the gym already! Seriously.

Cheers,
Reality: Destroyer of Denial

Challenge

I sewed the sleeves and body of Surface together yesterday evening and tried on the result to see if I could proceed without utterly wasting my time. Best Boyfriend Ever was impressed with the progress (though, honestly, I could show him a tangled mess of yarn with three sleeves and no neckhole, and he'd still be my biggest cheerleader), and then, unwittingly, he issued a challenge I fear I'm powerless to ignore.

"Do you think you'll finish it in time to wear it this weekend?"

A finished Surface would be perfect for this weekend. We're going on a mini vacation with his family, and there'll be a need for cute, I'm-making-an-effort-to-look-put-together (but not dressy) attire. I hadn't even thought of bringing Surface, except for a vague likelihood that I'd bring it to work on. In his nonchalance, though, Best Boyfriend Ever made me realize that I could absolutely get it finished and blocked in time. And now I must try.

Sigh. Sorry, walls I need to get painted. As it turns out, I probably won't have time for you this week, after all. Catch ya next week...

I spoke too soon!

That thing I said, about how I figured the seeds I planted were never going to germinate (they are, after all, from last season or perhaps the year before), was apparently an example of me speaking prematurely. And me being impatient. As it turns out, hope springs eternal (as have the tomato seeds), if only one can can manage to wait another few days.

Phototropism at work!

I'll also tell you all that I ran that race I talked about, and managed not to be the last person across the finish line. Whoo! I walked up a couple of hills, but otherwise ran the whole thing, albeit rather slowly. The silver lining here is that I'm almost guaranteed to see an improvement in my time for my next 5k. I've also (almost) decided to sign up for my area's Big Famous 10k. Eeep. Scary.

What else? Surface sleeves are nearly done. Sushi for dinner tonight. It's a good day.

Updates by Category

KNITTING
I'm about halfway through Surface at this point. I knit the back and fronts of the body as one piece (no side seams!) and that part is finished. The sleeves, knit from the fun, textured cuffs up to the caps, are about a third done. Enter a lot of rows of stockinette in my future.






GARDENING
Still wistful and hopeful for warmer temperatures and visible soil around the corner (ha). My Favorite Man recently received a Home Despot gift certificate, which we've decided to allocate toward the building materials needed to assemble raised beds. Must research. The seeds I planted a week-ish ago have done zilch in the germination department; I think it's almost time to give up the ghost and admit that they've aged out. Updated shopping list: building materials for raised beds, seeds.


FITNESS
Road race this weekend. Between now and then I need to create a super-duper up-tempo playlist for myself to make sure I've got constant motivation in my ears for the numerous points at which I'm likely to want to slow down and/or start walking.

The following weekend, I'll actually be learning how to snowboard. That phrasing might be a bit ambitious, to be fair. I'll be on a snowboard, and I'll take a snowboard lesson, but whether I'll actually learn *how* to snowboard is still up in the air. Either way, I expect to use my get-up-from-having-fallen muscles quite a bit.

Meow.

It's official! The Awesome Boyfriend now has a live-in girlfriend (me), and a cat (Moxie).



Here she is perched on the couch, which she's determined to be her favorite place in the new digs. She just made the trek here from my old house last night, and after a couple hours of tentative exploring and general slinking-around, she seems to be realizing that everything really is ok, and that we won't be subjecting her to any more carrier confinement in the near future. That, and I think she's still coming to terms with the Furnace Monster that she thinks is lurking in the basement.

Overall, though, yay, she's settling in well, and her arrival makes the Moving In process official. I still need to sort and move a lot of tangibles that are still over at the other house, but with Moxie here now, there's no affirmative need for me to stop by every day for food/water/litterbox/attention purposes.

On the knitting front, I'm about halfway through Surface in a white wool blend. By the end of the day, I'm likely to be done with the body, and will have the sleeves, collar, and button band left to go.

Also on the schedule for today, I'm hoping to go running outside. It's supposed to be reasonably comfortable (just under 40 F - not warm by any stretch, but not painful, particularly once the cardio gets going), and I need to get myself used to running outside before that race I've got coming up. My concern, though, is that I've been all sneezy and eye-itchy and miserable this morning. At 7:30 this morning, I was fine. By 9:00, I was a sniffly, blubbering mess. I've got my fingers crossed that whatever it is that's attacking my sinuses is indoors, and that running outside will actually make me feel better. In the meantime, though, it makes it difficult to find the motivation to actually GO running. Sigh.

Cue Chariots of Fire Theme

I'm signed up for a 5k road race in two weeks. I've done a few 5ks several years ago, and I actually signed up for this particular race last year but didn't end up running in it for various reasons. I'm determined to keep that from happening again this year. A couple months ago, I made a point to make my trips to the gym treadmill-focused without overdoing it, causing shinsplints, and bringing myself back to square one. I came to the realization yesterday that - uh oh! - this thing is coming up on the horizon alarmingly fast (which phrase, of course, has nothing to do with how I run). My mile-and-a-half or two-mile treadmill outings of late aren't going to cut it if I have any hope for not thoroughly embarassing myself at the race. I know I'm going to be among the slowest of the slow (always am!), but I'd like to finish the thing, and finish in a time that's at least not humiliating. For me, 33 minutes would be keep me out of humiliationsville. Half an hour would be fantastic, but I'm not sure if it's realistic for me, at least for this particular event.

Anyway, I went to the gym today and set out to get my muscles and psyche used to the idea of running for thirty minutes at a time at a slightly uncomfortable speed and level of exertion. It was great! So so so great. I mean, yeah, I got bored at various points and tired at a lot of other points, but the treadmill screen tally at 3.1 miles was a lovely sight. Today's "ok, I'll run a little while longer" moments brought to you by "Take the Power Back" by Rage and "Toxic" by Britney Spears (don't judge, it's up-tempo and very motivating).

Now I'm exhausted and a little hurty, but in the best possible way. Time to make a batch of broccoli-cheddar soup. Today's a good day.

Thanks, Uncle Sam!

I just finished and filed my tax returns for 2008, having gone through the federal prep process twice, thanks to Turbo Tax's policy of bumping you over to their "Basic" rather than "Free" edition without really notifying you until you're at the final we're-gonna-need-your-money-now screen. Anyway, it's done now, and my refunds should hit my bank account by direct deposit in a couple weeks. Hooray. Much needed, that.