Knitting 40 shades of green

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.

 

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.

Hot Chocolate 15K

I ran 15K last weekend.  You can find plenty of posts on-line where people wax poetic about the lack of good planning/site/course by the organizers but that is not my story...I ran a 15K.  That is the furthest distance I have ever run.  I was on good track with my training program when I gave blood on my birthday.  Before heading over to let them draw a pint, I went for a run of about 4.5 miles and had completed my long run of about 6.6 miles for the week on Wednesday .  I decided to take about three days without running while my body recovered (I still went to see my trainer and pilates), then bam.  I was hit with a chest cold and the associated congestion and didn't get back on plan as the congestion lingered and then it was the week before the race.  So after not running the 4 weeks before the race I went out and ran further than I had ever run in my life. 

My time was slow, but I ran it.  Being in the back of the pack I didn't suffer the bottlenecks and slowing that faster runners complained about.  My splits started off pretty good (which likely means that I started off too fast) and as the race went on I got slower...by mile 7 I was starting to feel the lack of training and the hills...by mile 8 I was ready to be done but slogged on at a jog not faster than a walk, but I ran it (or jogged it if you'd like to be more precise).  I was never happier to have the run be over as we ran up the hill to the finish line.  Apparently I didn't learn my lesson as I am running an 8K in the morning should I not deem it as too cold.

Functional Fitness, take 2

Sorry about the lack of post with yesterday's video but I went out to dinner with a friend I hadn't seen in a while and next thing I know I am just barely getting that post in before midnight and on a school night no less. 

I loved the piano steps.  It is interesting to note the difference in the escalator use in the video after the piano steps are put in. 

When I was in London this summer, I had a few hours to kill before meeting my friend at the train station.  So I took a walk around a lovely neighborhood over by Saint Pancras Station.  There was some great architectural art:

 

Courtesy of the South Camden Community School.  But the thing that really struck me about the neighborhood was how many parks and outdoor play spaces there were.  Just blocks away from a nature reserve with a hike along a canal, there were three different playgrounds.   Next to the children's play structures,
   was the adult play structures.

A full outdoor gym!!!  Cardio in the form of stationary bikes and nordic track like machines, weights and stretching.  No need for the adults to sit around while the kids play, here is an entire free gym.  If it words in a rainy gloomy place like London, just think of the possibilities.  Check it out here. 

Drive by

 

I need to head out to see the boys play the Islanders.  Let's hope it turns out at least this well.

 

Here is the progress on the monkey romper -- I have some sewing, some bands  for the legs, lots of ends and quite a bit of blocking to do but it is getting there.  I am sure I will be able to present it to baby Bella by next Monday.

Take me out to the ball game...

My friend Ruth and I met blogless Sue and Isel for a lovely evening of Knitting and Baseball. Yes, Stitch n Pitch came to Washington. This was my first time out to see the Nationals since they moved to Washington and changed their name from Expos. We used to catch the Expos farm team all the time for two bucks when I lived in Vermont. I am not much of a baseball fan but it was a pretty good game with almost being a no-hitter and then the Braves hit a home run -- it was pretty impressive.

The press didn't know what to make of us and were swarming the section. More than once we had a camera man ask if we could hold our knitting a little higher or could we look this way for a picture. We did make the blog of a writer who described his job as "writing about sports but not really, sort of weird things about sports and surely this counts." And as we were leaving, we spotted this...