Knitting 40 shades of green

Until tomorrow...

Tomorrow I will run the Cherry Blossom 10 miler with 15,000 other people.  It will be hard (long distance running always is).  I will finish.  The weather is supposed to be beautiful and the cherry blossoms are supposed to be at peak bloom.  To that end, I had best head to bed.

Random Friday

1. I attended a wine club member pick up party this evening at Blenheim Vineyards and realized that for all the good intentions and photos taken, I have still not added this winery to my Virginia Wine page.  I need to do that write up.  Not to mention a whole bunch of others. 
2. I am running the Cherry Blossom 10 miler Sunday and really don't feel that I have run much (and definitely not put in a long run) since my last half marathon in February 6 weeks ago.  No matter what I will set a personal record (PR) since I have never run this distance before.  I am just going to take it slow and not get injured.
3. I am running another 10 mile race two weeks later (The George Washington Parkway Classic).  I wonder if there is a two week training plan that I should follow?
4. I better figure something out as far as exercise goes because the next couple of weeks are full of food events and apparently I think it is a good idea to go to all of them.  My justification was missing the Paris trip...
5. Missing that trip leaves me still needing to take a real vacation this year.  I need to start planning.
6. I am tempted to sign up for another half marathon and yet I am barely running.  I need to get re-motivated.  The state of Oregon keeps coming up and I wonder should I go out for the Wine Country Half again this year...can I finally train and make my goal time?  I wish I was running the Virginia Wine Country Half Marathon.  Maybe because it was my first, I wonder it I should be looking into that?
7. I can't wait to go biking.  With the weather finally warming up, I am pretty excited about it. 
8. Apparently my lack of exercise over the past three days while visiting family is weighing on me. 
9. I have about 5 knitting projects that I want to start but have felt like I should finish up some others first and feeling uninspired (or unwilling to solve the problem that led me to leave them in the first place) I don't knit but wish that I was.  This is an easy problem to solve.  Start the new project.

Related articles

April Fools or sometimes life gives you lemons

Why Everyone Is Running a Half Marathon These Days

Craving FRESH

The sun has been out and trying to herald in this cool and rainy spring, asking apologies for the the late March snow.  I am left craving green, craving FRESH, craving light flavors. I haven't been to the farmer's market in a month or two (vegetable delivery rocks!)  and I know there isn't much in season that hasn't been forced in a green house or hoop houses...but I have been crazing craving nonetheless.  As the spring warmth makes you want to clear out the cobwebs of winter, I have been trying to focus on cooking from the pantry...maybe you have a cabinet like this...

full of bottles (there are another two rows behind what you can see and then a few others elsewhere) ...some are used regularly and others less so. Forgotten after whatever recipe they were bought for, like the bottle of bulgur, right there front and center, what can I do with that?  Wait, didn't I just pin a recipe for that?  ah the FRESH tastes of tabouli.  Now this isn't extremely local for this time of year but life is about balance -- what is it they say 80/20?  This is one of those 20% meals.

Tabouli

adapted from Sam at Drizzle and Drip

• 1 cup bulgur 
• 1 1/2 cups boiling water
• 3 Tablespoons olive oil
• juice from two lemons (2 T)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 cup scallions, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups cucumbers (I used Persian) chopped
• 3 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
• 3/4 cup mint
• 1/2 cup flat leaf (Italian) parsley

Mix the bulgur wheat, water, olive oil, lemon juice and water in a bowl, covered and let sit to water is absorbed and temperature has cooled 30 min to an hour.

Meanwhile chop the remaining ingredients (I try to keep everything about the same size as the sliced scallions) and mix in bulgur mixture.  Serve at room temperature.

 

Fresh Air

Back in January, when the year was FRESH and everyone was talking about resolutions and goals, I mentioned that I wanted to rediscover some of the outdoor activities that I have gotten away from since moving back to the city.  One of these is hiking.  So in true "Jasmine go big or go home" form, I decided to start the year's hiking off with the best hike in the state...and likely one of the most difficult, Old Rag Mountain.

It was the beginning of March and they were calling for the temperature to be 30 degrees at the top of the mountain.  This is a good day for this type of climb.  Not too cold and icy but cold enough to keep the crowds away.  Nothing like standing in line for half an hour to scramble up the next rock out cropping.  A group of about 18 of us set off from the lower parking lot.  I have never been much for hiking in large groups but if it was going to get me out there, maybe it wouldn't be too bad. 

The hike starts out with gentle switch backs.  The trail wasn't too muddy and had frost heaves along the trail which is much desirable to sheets of ice.  Soon the trail tuns to rock scrambles and false summits as you go up and down over the rocks usually with three points of contact.  It is fun and it is difficult. Let me show you. (click to make image bigger)

We ate just below the summit and then stopped at the top only long enough for photos (the wind was blowing up there and it was cold).  We took an easier trail down that ends with 2 and a half miles of fire road and another mile or so back to the cars.  I have to say these 10 or so miles left me more tired than the New Orlean's Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon that I had done the weekend before.  I can't wait to get back out there.

 

April Fools or sometimes life gives you lemons

• I am on vacation.  I wanted to be posting photographs taken on a wonderful whirlwind trip to Paris, but it didn't happen as planned. 
• The contract on the other side of my duplex expired today.  The IRS liens still haven't been cleared from the title.  No one knows what the next step is.  All I do is wait and throw money at this fool's journey. 
• Somethings are out of my control and I just have to accept that.  There are moments I just want to pout and be surly about the whole situation but then I remember that I am an adult and really that behavior isn't so becoming at my age (actually it isn't even becoming at 2 despite what parents with video cameras may believe).
• I could use a FRESH perspective because so far this vacation isn't going quite the way I had hoped.

So, what am I doing instead? 

First up is visiting family.  I took a whirlwind trip to see my Aunt and Uncle.  They are getting along in years and I realize how important it is to see them now so as not to regret it later that it has been too long.  I want to try to work this in to my schedule every three months or so.  Tomorrow I will be jumping on a train and heading down to visit my neicelets as well as my mother and sister.  The girls are getting bigger by the minute and I don't see them often enough and a couple of days in the country will do me good.

Secondly, I am obsessing over food.  I have been reading food blogs, pinning recipes on Pinterest, signing up for food events.  (Yes, they are expensive but just think of all the money I saved by not going to Paris).  My local grocery store has been closed for the past 6 months and you would think I hadn't been shopping in all that time.  Considering that, I have been cooking and trying to triage the fresh food so nothing goes to waste while I am hanging out with the neicelets and eating out.  Good thing I got a new refrigerator in January, I actually have some freezer space for this stuff.  Maybe I will share a recipe or two soon.

Lastly, I haven't been adequately preparing for the Cherry Blossom 10 miler that I am running on Sunday.  I hope that I will be able to fake it and finish.  I have never run a race at this distance before so no matter what I will set a personal record with a chance to break it two weeks later at the George Washington Parkway Classic.  I know it is a little crazy but I have to do something to offset all the food.

2013 goals.2

Carole of Carole Knits has been challenging us to lists of "ten on Tuesday" for a long time.  This weeks topic is Ten goals for 2013 and I thought I was going to skip it since I wrote about goals for the new year but then I decided I could put some firmer goals out into the interwebs...besides, I was talking with my pilates instructor about the new year and a juice cleanse she was organizing through her studio and it came up for many people the idea of resolutions means that they are at their best for the first couple of weeks in January and then it is all down hill from there.  I had to disagree as January is when you are at your worst for the year as we slowly improve over the course of the year...we can't fail because there are always more small steps that we can take and tomorrow is another day.  Maybe that is the difference between resolutions and goals that everyone talks about.  Resolutions are an immediate changes to make us better that are hard to follow through on over time and goals are broken down into little changes we make to eventually end up better.  So without further ado, ten goals for 2013.

1. Finish some knitting, there seem to be a million things laying around that just need some time devoted to them and usually there wasn't a good reason why they were abandoned (well, sometimes there was) things got busy and they were moved from one spot to another and then out of sight out of mind.  Let say at least one finished object each month (in addition to socks).
2. Keep up the sock knitting.  When I carry these around with me and bring them out a little at a time all those stitches add up -- let's say another 6 pairs of socks
3. While we are on the topic of finishing....that blanket,
   yes, that one...has never been assembled (we won't mention that it was started sometime in 2006)
4. Make pasta.  I finally broke down and bought a pasta mill after wanting one for so long and now I just need to find an afternoon to make some pasta
5. Try my hand at homemade cheese.  I have one of those cheese making kits and a recipe for homemade ricotta -- I just need to pick up a couple gallons of milk.
6. 5 minute no knead bread.  Everyone raves about these recipes...I think they would go great with that home made cheese and I just picked up some rye flour last week.
7. Stop putting off the house projects.  I may have a closing on the 31st of this month and I may not but either way, some things need to be taken care of around here and I can't let them go another year (electric, paint, etc).
8. Be more deliberate in my actions.  I have been highly emotional and impatient lately and probably not someone who you would want to interact with if you hadn't done something the way I thought it should be handled.  (This house purchase is getting to me and my frustration is coming out in unpleasant ways, this has to stop -- adults deserve patience, too)
9. Rediscover the activities that I used to love and now rarely do:  biking, hiking, kayaking (maybe even rock climbing).  See if the spark will be rekindled...
10. Travel....stop procrastinating on the planning and do it.

Happy 2013!

"The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high & we miss it. Rather, it's that we aim too low & we reach it." - Michelangelo

Travelling around the blogosphere there are many a reflective post on the year that has passed and the occasional projections for the year ahead.  I am sure that if I looked back there are plenty of accomplishments that I could find over the past two months (finishing a couple of half marathons to name one) but also plenty of lessons learned the hard way and difficult times as well...but I would rather look ahead here then reflect on the past year.  There are many times through out the year where I evaluate and set goals -- the beginning of the new school year, my birthday and again here as the calendar turns a page. 

Goals for 2013

athletic - yes, I have that cliche goal lose weight, be healthy...it is hardly worth mentioning but some of the specific goals are to

• be more consistent in strength workouts
• run at least 4 races of 10K or farther
• improve my 1/2 marathon time
• plan more hiking, kayaking, outdoor fun

 travel - I kind of feel that I have been neglecting the vacation planning, I talk about it and then for three different vacations this past year, I have let the projected house purchase get in the way. n So these goals are as follows

• take a real vacation (out of the country) no matter what is going on with my house purchase
• enjoy my traditional weekends away (Irish Fest, Madrona)
• fit in a visit to visit friends that I haven't seen in too long (maybe CO, CA or VT)

creativity -- I have gotten away from my creative pursuits, I really haven't been taking the time to do these activities that I enjoy -- some of the things I want to rediscover as an outlet for creativity

• beading
• knitting
• cooking

social -- I have a bad habit of hibernating and not making the effort to go out and be social, I enjoy it every time I make the effort but often I find it easier to not make the plans (I have noticed this more as my evenings were freed up with the cancellation of the first half of the hockey season).  Some of my social goals involve

• write more hand written note (everyone loves personal mail)
• theater
• live music
• entertaining

Some of these goals are better defined and some just came up as I was typing up this post, but I think that documenting these things here will allow me to look back and review how I am doing from time to time.

the calm before the hurricane

It is late.  I should be asleep, but my sleep schedule has been way off for the past couple of months.  It is barely raining outside and earlier today they closed governmental offices and schools for tomorrow, declared a state of emergency.  It is likely overkill, but every couple of years they cancel school for a little rain...I guess they want to be safe, but really?  I am drinking a mug of sleepy time tea with a little local honey and hoping that I feel compelled to sleep as I have been tossing and turning too much lately.

I am thinking about sleep but not sleepy...maybe it is the lack of running lately?  I find it hard to motivate to run regularly when I don't have a race scheduled.  Maybe once or twice a week I get out there or maybe it is every one or two weeks I get out there.  It is different when I have a half marathon scheduled.  I make a training plan and then make a decent effort to stick with the plan give or take...

You do know that I ran another half marathon over Labor Day, don't you?  The one I signed up for before I joined the VIrginia WIne Country Half Marathon at the last minute (making it the half baked half marathon training plan).  This one I called Willamette, Damn it Half Marathon Training Plan...I didn't tell you about that?  Well, it was hot this summer but I still got most of the training in and managed to take 11 or so minutes off my time (from 2:57:52 to 2:46:43).  I was going to post about it but eventbright so watermarked their photo proofs well...it isn't the same without photographic proof.  But I was a little proud of me (and I guess mom was proud of me too because she bought the photo pack...so I should scan it in).  It was still a little slower than the goal I made after the first one...

Oh, I only alluded to that goal?  Well, I mentioned that Jeff Galloway had been the featured speaker at the VA race?  Well, my goal is to beat his time in that race.  No don't worry, I wasn't being too pie in the sky.  Yes, he is a former Olympian but did I mention that he fell going down stairs in February?  He broke his hip and he had been bed bound for weeks and only run/walking for the 6 weeks leading up to the race...oh yeah, and he still beat me.  So my goal time is his time after barely any taining and with a broken hip (2:36:44).  It is just under a 12 minute mile.  I feel as if that is realistic. 

So I have been looking for a race...I was thinking the Rock 'n Roll Half Marathon in New Orleans this February.  Flights aren't too bad but it is the weekend after my annual trip to Tacoma for Madrona.  Prices go up on Wednesday so maybe I should push the decision...in the meantime, I am taking a sick day (well actually a personal day) to help sick kids and am hoping to raise some money for National Children's Medical Center.  It is a worthy cause.  Should you feel inclined to give, my fund raising page is here.  The sick children and their families will appreciate it and so will I.

Run for Virginia Wine

Last weekend I ran a half-marathon, this weekend I have done very little other than sleep...well I did have a 6 hour meeting with 4 hours of driving yesterday for the union but overall it has been a "take it easy" weekend. I guess my body is letting me know what it needs.  I am now among the ranks of the half marathon finishers.  My time was not as fast as I might have liked but I finished and now I have conquered the hardest part -- the mental struggle of whether or not I can do it.  And I have already set a goal for my next one...with just 13 weeks it might be a little lofty but look I was even smiling during my last race...
I credit that to Jeff Galloway.  The race organizers had a wine reception on Thursday night before the race and as soon as I walked in and mentioned to the woman checking me in that I was going to run walk the race, she dragged me over to Mr. Galloway and left us to chat about race tactics.  He asked a few questions about my training and then proposed a plan that was radically different than what I had planned on doing.  I was sceptical but who am I to argue with a former Olympian?  So, I took his advice and while I was pretty tired on Saturday night and just wanted to stay off my feet, by Monday when I met with my trainer I felt pretty much recovered and didn't feel at all affected by Tuesday.

Now I just need to figure out how to run it a whole lot faster, the first 5 minutes can be made up but not stopping for the bathroom (something I did for my friend P. who was wonderful about running with me despite her ability to keep a much faster pace), the other minute and 13 seconds that I would like to take off my pace time will be all training.  With 13 weeks until Labor Day, it started this morning.  Will I continue with the Galloway run/walk method?  That remains to be seen, I started his book during my lunch break today.

Half Baked Half Marathon

If you have talked to me in the past couple of months, I have mentioned that I will be running a half marathon but when I went to sign up for my first choice (because anyone who knows me knows I won't run for just anything, it is all about the party), it had sold out.  I entered the second chance drawing but unfortunately didn't make that one either.  So I adopted a plan B which included traveling to Oregon.  Same party, different venue but that race was ages off.  Not until Labor Day.  That is at least 9 months away, and then it was seven and six and now 4 and while I monitored the site to make sure it wasn't selling out, I also didn't sign up for it.  Without this race a reality on the horizon, I let my training slack off, in a good week I might get out once or twice for a jog but most weeks if it wasn't for paying trainers twice a week, I might have nothing to show for the week.  Then 8 weeks before the race I had been rejected from sends an email that with purchase of the dinner the night before and a contribution to Special Olympics, I could have one of 100 spots saved for charity.  Well, I jumped on it.  And then realized, this was a half marathon, and it was happening in 8 weeks.  Had I run in the past month? 

I have always said that if I am going to race, I am going to run even if I could walk faster...but then I had 13.1 miles staring me in the face with only 56 days to train -- oh wait, can't train on race day so 55...I searched around on line and looked for a run walk training program.  SInce Jeff Galloway is the featured speaker at the dinner maybe it is only appropriate. Well, when you are a beginner they definitely think you should take more than 8 weeks to train.  So I chose a 14 week plan and started on week 7.  I have been plugging along and getting in two short runs and an endurance run most every week (easier on vacation than once work started back) and today I ran my longest run before the race which will happen in 3 weeks.  10.62 miles just about killed me but I could have used a little more water and maybe figure out fueling for long runs.  I am trying to stay positive about adding another 3 miles on race day -- the next two and a half weeks will be spent adding one more minute to the run intervals for a goal of running 5/walking 1 intervals for race day.  For me, the mental race is always the hardest but this one may have a physical challenge as well.  I will finish...and then on to running the half in Oregon.