Friday, June 28, 2013

Friday Mishmash

Tomorrow is a big day - running club begins again!  We are doing a 24 week training program for the BCS Marathon/Half Marathon in December.  I'm excited about it, but also a little nervous - you see, I ended up stepping in as the organizer this season.  It's not something that I particularly wanted to take on, but it needed to be done, and since this group was such a big help in getting me to my first half marathon, I figured I should be willing to help keep it going so we can be there for other new runners.  Thankfully, I've got a really wonderful team of coaches who are bringing a lot of enthusiasm to the group.  We've got lots of fun extras planned, plus our schedule this year is much better than the one we did last year - we start out with low mileage and very gradually increase it, plus we even have some weeks where we run a shorter distance on our long run than the previous week...I can't tell you how much that helps, both mentally as well as physically.  I'm sure it will all come together just fine, but I will be glad when we've finished with the first day and are sitting at Blue Baker, having breakfast and rehashing the (successful, I hope) way everything went.

********************

Now THAT'S a cool cake!

Speaking of my running peeps, last Saturday was the one year anniversary of the opening of our local running store, Brazos Running Company!  We gathered there for a 6:00 am run, followed by shopping, door prizes (I won a technical shirt, woohoo!), and cake.  Then several of us went to Blue Baker for breakfast, where the funniest conversation took place - I had to get up and take a picture:
Jeff and Amy were discussing Game of Thrones, but refused to look at each other so they wouldn't give away any spoilers.

********************

With all the goings on about getting everything ready for the start of running club, I haven't had time to knit much lately, but I was getting frustrated about that - I'd bought such lovely yarn at the Madtosh store and I wanted to knit it!  I finally put everything on hold for a couple of hours and started a baby sweater.  I was making great progress, when I looked down and my heart stopped - the cable on my needles had broken off, and I had live, loose stitches just hanging there!  ACK!!!  I wasn't at home when this happened, so scrounged in my knitting bag for whatever I could use to corral the stitches:
Luckily, I got all of the loose stitches saved.  Crisis averted!

This is the second time it's happened, and I swear, I'm not that hard on my knitting needles!  Not sure if it's the brand - ChiaoGoo, which I really like (except for the whole breakage situation), or what, but it's not a good thing.  I'm going to carry an extra pair of needles in my bag, just in case.

Here's the sweater now, on different needles:
A little farther along, too...I'm smitten with how cute it's turning out to be!

********************

Finally, the giant hibiscus flowers are back.  I saw them on Monday during our walk and noted that they were the size of Julia's head, so I brought my camera with me on Wednesday to document it:
Seriously, almost the same size!  And don't you love what a good sport Julia is, posing like that?

Alright, I have to run - literally!  Have a great weekend!

22 comments:

  1. What a cool looking cake! That is the biggest hibiscus flower I have ever seen. Just curious, you said the running group starts off with low mileage...how low do you start off with? Have a great weekend!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Our half group will run 2 miles tomorrow, and again next Saturday.

      Delete
  2. That hibiscus flower is HUGE and pretty! My mom loves to knit too but she has yet to teach me though :)

    I love that you guys are forming a running club!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You should have your mom teach you - knitting is magical!

      Delete
  3. That hibiscus is glorious!!! Oh so pretty!

    That sweater looks like an adorable little capelet like that :D

    Enjoy the running club. In the past, would you ever have thought you would be an organizer for a running club? Not to mention running the half?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Nope. I'm more of a follower than a leader, so this is a stretch for me.

      Delete
  4. Pink!!! The hibiscus! The baby sweater! Both are gorgeous. It sounds like none of the lost stitches unravelled--you are lucky!

    Yes, I have noticed that Julia is a very good sport. I love her running top too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I know, I really was lucky the sweater didn't unravel...that would have been a mess!

      Delete
  5. Thats awesome that youre helping!! Did you think several years ago that you would be here? Cant wait to hear more about the organizational aspect!!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. I can't believe it's been a year since the running store opened - I remember when you posted about it's grand opening!!

    That hibiscus is gorgeous!! :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. We are still so happy that the running store is here, and the owners are really great people, too!

      Delete
  7. I love that you are organizing this time around, just another way to keep you motivated, right?!

    Enjoy your weekend! Hope its not too hot in your neck of the woods!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Beautiful hibiscus! Good luck with the running club. Do you have any aspirations to do a full marathon ever? I personally have never done even a half marathon, but I have plenty of experience being a marathoner's wife (and now, mother!). When training for a half or full, our local running store clinics do three weeks of training with increasingly longer long runs and than an 'easy week', with 3 weeks of tapering at the end.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The full marathon bug has not bitten me and at this point I doubt it will...I've seen what it takes, both training-wise and on race day, and I'm not willing to put out that much effort.

      Delete
  9. That sweater is going to be beautiful! Make sure to post a finished photo!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh I will post several, you can be sure of that! :)

      Delete
  10. You'll be a great organizer for the group! I'm sure you'll keep the energy level up for the duration! (I'm tired already. :))

    ReplyDelete
  11. So cool you are one of the organizers this year. I know you will be awesome at it. I'm seriously considering an emigration to Texas. I'll even accept the heat, just to hang around and run and bootcamp with you (and discuss GOT with Jeff, I'm a fan too) You're so cool!

    I made my own 16 week schedule for my half yesterday and added 3 weeks of lower mileage than the week before too. After I made it it gave me peace of mind knowing I made a schedule that works for me.

    Enjoy the run today and the sweater is looking beautiful so far.

    ReplyDelete

Comments are now moderated to prevent spammers from leaving, well, spam - but rest assured that as soon as I read a real comment, I will publish it. So please, comment away, even though the blog is officially closed. Thanks!