The Backache

Last Thursday, I threw out my back.  I am not exactly sure what happens when you "throw out your back" as there wasn't any throwing.  I was just getting out of the shower and putting on my socks.  I only got half of one sock on before "it" happened.  I am still not sure what happened.  I was putting on a sock and then I was filled with pain and unable to move. I had to call my husband (on the phone since he was in the basement) to come help me.

Thursday started out as an interesting day.  I had to miss work to take Stormy to the doctor. I was really torn over missing work as I had to miss an event I had been trying to get going at my college for almost two years.  But, the event was in capable hands and I had already made contingency plans in case I had to miss work because Stormy had to be picked up from day care with a fever on Wednesday.  It was a really good decision to miss work because the doctor said, "Yikes!" as she looked into each of my son's ears.  There was a reason for his continued unhappiness and its called double ear infections. He was crabby the rest of the day. By Thursday night I was so happy to be showering. The kids were finally asleep and I could take a shower in hopes of making it to work on Friday. I never made it to work on Friday.

I went to the chiropractor Friday morning then spend the rest of the day and the weekend laying down while knitting and watching a lot of TV.  Thank goodness for yarn, Netflix and Hulu. I finished crocheting a baby blanket, knit three hats and two dishcloths.

I made it to work on Monday but was in a lot of pain.  Sitting is the worst. I moved my chiropractor appointment up to 2:30 requiring me to leave work early.  I got a call 15 min before I needed to leave for that appointment that Miss D was sick at school and needed to be picked up.  I got her, we went to the chrio and got home.  Soon she was vomiting.

Today I am home with a sick daughter and I received a text from Stormy's babysitter that he is the crabbiest he has ever been. She's going to drop him off after he wakes up from his nap. 

On the plus side, my back is starting to feel better. Maybe I can resume exercise next week.

I'm feeling like I can't catch a break.  Do you ever feel that way?

Valentine's Tri

I spent Valentine's day falling in love with the triathlon.  I guess it was just a matter of time since I like running, biking, and swimming; I might as well put them all together. I have been very blessed to have some very great ladies in my life that have inspired me to be more active and challenge myself with different races. I am already registered for a sprint triathlon in June and I hope to do many more in the future.

The Bradley Indoor Triathlon was a very low-key event which is perfect for an introduction to the sport. Swimming, biking and running was all based on how far you could go in the appointed time: 10 minutes for swimming laps, 20 minutes for biking (spin bike) and 15 minutes of running on the indoor track. There was designated transition time between, so there was no real hurry to get to the next phase. I swam 575 yd, bikes 6.94 and then ran 1.88 miles.  That is an 8 min/mi run!!!  I haven't run that fast since high school.  The results only have two divisions: college student and non-college student.  So my results are all mixed in with people of different ages and genders so I am not sure how I compare to other females in my age groups but I feel like I did really well.

The strangest part of the whole event was that I noticed on my wave information that there was a guy, my age, with a pretty distinctive name of someone I went to high school with.  I thought there was no way this guy from high school could be in my wave.  We went to high school in Iowa, how could we both possibly end up at an indoor triathlon in Peoria, Illinois. Turns out it really was him. I talked to him for maybe the first time in my life and found out he came from Iowa for the event.  I actually might see him around more if I start doing tris in the Quad Cities. Even though we never really knew each other in high school, it was nice to see someone from my hometown area.  I don't run across too many classmates.

The second strangest part was that the triathlon shorts I ordered were delivered to my house about an hour after I left. I didn't get to use them this time, but I will have many more opportunities to wear them.

How was your Valentine's Day?

My Big, Little Alien

It is snowing in central Illinois.  So much snow that my 5k was cancelled for today (Sunday) on Friday.  The snow should let up about 2 am. The forecast is for 7-10 inches. I hope we can go play later today.  It is big wet, heavy snow which is perfect for packing into forts, snowmen and snowballs. None of the snow so far this winter has been this perfect for play.

Snowy weather is the perfect time to finish up some projects.  I have been working on a hat for Stormy on and off for weeks.  I started out very happy with the project but as I went on, I lost a lot of interest because the pattern is not well written and the hat was not coming out quite right.  But this morning I decided to finish it off and see how good or bad it really was.

The pattern is called "Alien Elf" and it is in the book Monster Knits for Little Monsters.

Stormy looks exceedingly cute in anything so that really helps boost the cuteness of this hat,  It is supposed to have Yoda-like ears but I ran out of yarn on the second ear.  I ran out of yarn because the hat is so big.  I used the toddler sizing and got a hat that fits me.  The pattern called for size US 3 needles with bulky yarn and if you are not familiar with needle to yarn ratios, this ratio is weird.  Bulky yarn is the thickest of yarns while US 3 is on the small end of the needles.  I decided to use needles more suited of the yarn thickness and I did get gauge (how many stitches per inch there should be). However my gauge seems to have run amok and I ended up with this number.

I think I will remake it because I love the concept, but I'll fiddle around with the needle size a bit more to get a hat that will actually fit a toddler .

And that is how knitting (or really any project) goes.  Some projects turn out great, others get shoved in the back of the closet.  I think the majority of my projects do turn out nicely, but I still seem to focus on the wonky ones.  That's how I am at work too.  I focus on the projects that didn't turn out quite right instead of concentrating on all the good things.  Maybe that makes me a pessimist, but I see it more of always aiming for perfection.  I am an oldest child, I have perfection issues. I think that is why I like knitting, it shows me in tangible ways that something can be pretty good without being totally perfect. When I make something, I see all the flaws because I made them and I know where to look, but a person who sees my finished object only sees it in its entirety and they think it is great.

Even though this hat didn't turn out right, it is still okay and serves its function. Things don't have to be perfect to be great.  Knitting is full of life lessons.

What life lesson have you recently learned?

You Say Yes

Today I was off-campus at a meeting and when it concluded I remarked, "should I go for a run?" and my colleague quickly told me that the answer to that question is always "Yes!" So I headed back to campus and ran 3 miles at the gym. 

I am going to try to take her advice to heart and say "yes" when ever I question going for a run. It has been far too easy for me in the past to make excuses but this month, I didn't make excuses and a wonderful thing happened.  I reached the joy of running. 

Running is hard. It takes a lot of dedication and crappy runs to get to a state of joyful running. I've been back to running for about a year since Stormy was born but I never really put a lot of effort in and I skipped a lot of days of running. I ran some races last year but I never felt really compelled and happy to run.  In the past week or so I have really started to feel that joy of running again.  I had forgotten what it felt like.  So my advice to runners still in that crappy phase is to keep going and some day you too will feel that joy that runners talk about. 

Part of my joy comes from my time. Already with the re-dedication of running at least twice a week for the past month or so, I've already reduced my mile per minute time by over a minute. Soon it will be time to start adding more miles but right now, I am happy running 3 miles.

I've had a total of 9 runs this month and that keeps me on pace to hit my 100 runs this year.

Will you say yes when it is time for a run?

Active Nerd

A little over a week ago, I bought myself the best gift, a FitBit Charge HR.

I have been wanting an activity tracker for quite some time but they were always too expensive and I needed other things. Plus, I wasn't sure which brand and model to get and you want to be sure on something like that before spending. When I started reading about the new FitBits, especially the FitBit Charge HR, I new I needed to get one. The FitBit Charge HR just happened to come out the same month I receive my Wellness Works money.  At my place of employment, you can earn up to $200 a year for doing healthy things thought out the year like going so many times to the gym, running races, volunteering in your community, visiting the doctor, etc. Usually I just let that money go to paying bills, but with this year's new fitness goals I decided that the Wellness Works money should go toward my FitBit.

I am pretty much in love with the FitBit Charge HR.  The design is new and improved.  It can display the time, steps taken, current heart rate, distance for the day, calories burned, and stairs climbed. (It also alerts me to when my phone is ringing  by vibrating and the phone number or name appears on the display which I didn't think was a big deal but I am loving that feature since my phone is often on silent from work.) More metrics are collected and reported on my FitBit dashboard which I can view through the FitBit website or app. FitBit has pre-set goals for 10,000 steps, 10 flights of stairs, 5 miles, and more.  As I have mentioned before, I love a challenge.  I love these daily goals and I am ecstatic when I reach them and surpass them. I can compete with friends to walk the most steps each day or week.

The FitBit is really helping me be more active already. Last Monday, I was off work and the kids were off school so we did a lot of nothing and it really showed on my FitBit tracking.  I was thousands of steps away from 10,000  when I put the kids to bed, so I walked up and down my stairs and paced down the hall until I reached the goal.  And you know what, I felt great to make the goal.  Before the FitBit, I didn't have a way of seeing how inactive or active I was on non-workout days.  Now I can see all the numbers and get myself moving!

My FitBit is a nerdy dream come true.  I can see all these statistics.  I am really focusing on my sleeping pattern right now.  I thought I got at least 7 hours of sleep since Stormy started sleeping through the night, but I am not. I need to start getting to bed a bit earlier.

I am happy to report I have lost one pound, which is small I know, but that number hasn't moved in weeks. I'm not sure I can get all the credit to the FitBit but I know it definitely helped.

Do you have an activity tracker?  Do you find it motivates you?

Disclaimer: I am in no way connected with the FitBit company and I was not compensated for this post.  I am just really happy with my purchase and wanted to share.

Six Days

I am so sore.  I haven't felt like this in years.  Today is my first rest day in 6 days. Usually, I have rest days more than workout days.  I do have a plan to work out 6 days a week, but every week I miss most of those workouts due to a variety of commitments.  These commitments are mostly me leaving work later than scheduled (if I don't leave right on time, I don't have enough time to run and get the kids from day care before closing), doctor appointments for the kids (I didn't realize that when I had a second kid, doctor's appointments would increase so much), or some other thing I need to do for my kids (kids are needy).

Some how the stars aligned just perfectly for the first time in months for me to hit the gym. I continued my streak this week with playing basketball on Sunday, then running on Monday and spin class on Tuesday. I don't think I have worked out 6 days in a row ever.  Even when I was an athlete in high school, I only worked out Monday through Friday.  

Tomorrow, I'll start it all over again and see if I can hit six in a row again. I don't think I'll hit it this time around but there is always next time.

What is your longest streak? 

Rocky, Cold Start

There is one thing knitters love and that is cold weather.  At no other time do I feel as useful as when it is bitter cold outside and I can make something that can remedy that. I find people appreciate the knitted (and crocheted) arts much more in sub-zero temperatures because really, there isn't much to appreciate about sub-zero temperatures.  This past week, my daughter had two days off for windchill. My college even closed one day. So we found ourselves with a bit more vacation time on our hands after a long vacation.

Last weekend I finished these mittens.

I love them. Great yarn and great pattern. I figured that this would be my last project for a while since I was going back to work. But with the extra day off, I got some more knitting time.

I made two things.  A cowl and a hat.

Both of them are all wrong.  The cowl I can deal with.  The cowl pattern is called Gap-tastic and I have made it before for my sister so it was a familiar pattern.  When I saw this yarn, I knew it was destined to become a Gap-tastic Cowl.  I was over half way through when I noticed that there was a twist. When knitting in the round, the pattern always says to be careful to not twist your stitches.  I was really careful.  I even pulled it all out once and restarted but I got another twist. This is the first time in almost 6 years of knitting that this has ever happened to me.  The blame goes to not having a long enough cable and me trying to shove too many stitches in to too small of space.  The good thing is is that there is a name for this type of scarf (mobius) and instead of it being a totally disaster, it is a new design feature. You can't tell that it looks different from what I intended.  It is still a cowl and it still does its job.

The hat is not so lucky.  This hat will fit no one and I blame it on (1.) not having the correct size needles and attempting to do it anyway and (2.) the pattern being totally wacko.  I knit another hat from this pattern with the right sized needles today and I still cannot get this hat to fit.  I pulled out a bit and am making it longer.  I really don't believe a hat only needs to be 4.5" before decreasing for the crown, even with super bulky yarn. I'm going to go at least 6" this time.
.

While sub-zero temps are kind to knitters they are brutal for runners. Since my gym closes when the college closes, I couldn't run on the indoor track on Wednesday like I had planned. On Thursday, the gym was open and I was the only participant for spin class, so I got a lot of one-on-one attention. Friday, I played in a Faculty/staff volleyball tournament (we got second place) and ran on the track.  It was actually one of the best runs I've had in a long time.  Now this may sound weird, but I got inspiration from watching an episode of Psych on Netflix. (I watch Psych as I go to sleep at night almost every night. I love that show.) In the episode, the protagonist, Shawn, is on a elliptical machine and he is really working hard because he thinks if he doesn't a bomb will go off.  Thought it is all a misunderstanding and he is in no danger, it got me thinking about my running effort.  I have been running more regularly for a few weeks now, but I have been doing what is called "easy runs." Easy runs are an essential part of running and yes it should be the majority of runs, but not all of the runs.  I decided to try to go faster and harder on Friday and it really paid off.  I ran 3 miles in 27:17.  This is no where near my fastest, but it is closer to my old easy run time than what I have been running. It made me feel good that even though I didn't get to run on Tuesday (due to packing error) or Wednesday (weather), I could come out and do a harder run. The good mo-jo traveled on to today and I hit the pool with my friend and swam 1000 m.  Tomorrow, I have pick-up basketball at church. I feel that even though this week got off to a very rocky start, I am starting to make progress.

I also finished my first book of the year, Like No Other by Una LaMarch and I think it is "meh." The premise is that a Hasidic girl meets a non-Hasidic boy and falls in insta-love which challenges her religiously obedient life and family. My favorite book of all time, The Chosen by Chaim Potok, is about Hasidic Judaism so I was hoping to like it but I think Potok's works are much, much better. 

So for 2015, I only need to: run 494 miles and at least 98 more times, read 24 more books, and make 10 more large projects (the failed hat doesn't count until I get it right). Not to bad, right?

Is your new year off to a rocky start?