Knitting for Christmas

I always wanted to post pictures of my knitting projects because I really enjoy seeing other people's pictures on their blogs.

This is the Christmas I knitted gifts for everyone. I made my mom a simple garter stitch triangular shawl in a sparkly kid mohair that she can wear to Red Hat Ladies events. My coworkers, who are far more experienced knitters than I, were just raving about it. I knit my tutor a small keyhole scarf out of some super soft hand-dyed angora wool that produced variegated colors. I often knit at her house during the two hours a week she patiently helps my kid with his reading. Her house is a knitter's paradise, well decorated, always clean, and very peacefull with light coming in from the skylight. My co-workers received a version of this same scarf design knitted with fuzzy angora wool.

On these cold winter days I still enjoy my very first knitting project: a garter stitch scarf made out of a super-chunky multi-colored wool. The scarf is now longer than I am tall, so I can wrap it around and around and around my neck for warmth. It was knit on size 35 needles, so it was really quick and easy. I knit one for my husband and one son, and I'm tempted to knit up another for myself.

But all of my knitting projects will have to wait. I've put away my knitting needles and unfinished projects for the year so I can focus on studying for the CAE.

One Hour Runner

On Saturday, Jan. 21, 2007--almost exactly a year after I started running--I became a 1-hour runner!! I can't quite believe it. Before I do each long run in the back of my mind I think, "I can't run 1 hour..." and then somehow I just do it. This is a little over 5 miles for me, nearly three laps around my favorite park. I don't run all of the way. I run the first lap with intermittent walk breaks, then run the entire second lap, and then go back to running with walk breaks. If I don't do anything else with my running, I hope to continue to be a 1-hour runner.

I've been following a schedule to become a 1-hour runner that I found in Runner's World that calls for increasing the long run by 10% two consecutive weeks and cutting back by 50% the third week as a rest week. (The plan suggested that experienced runners could increase by 20%-25%, but I thought that was just too much.) So far this has worked out well, but I find that running 55+ mins is hard on my body and I'm tired or a bit sore the next day. So, I plan to repeat weeks to let my body adjust. This next week I'm going to a conference, and next week I'm running a 5K race. After that I'll go back to running 60 minutes.

During the week I run on the treadmill at about 4 a.m.!!! I swear, sometimes the only reason I'm running at that hour is because the treadmill is moving. I'm up to 45 minutes now. Usually, I begin by walking 15 minutes and then alternate running and walking by some ratio.