Ok, I'm not really a candidate for the 'couch to 5K' programs. While I haven't been running regularly for a long time, at least 9 months, I'm not a rank beginner, and I've been dancing, walking, doing Pilates, and getting in an occasional run just so I don't feel like a complete slug. I hadn't been running because of a strained hamstring. It seemed every time I was starting to feel a little better, I'd push too hard in exercise class, or take a long drive and it would start bothering me again. HOWEVER, I think I've finally moved past it. The pivotal event was a long day of much driving. 8 hours in the car, all told, and not a twinge! Huzzah! So it was time to get back into shape. Of course, every morning that I had time to fit in a run, it rained or snowed. Last week though I finally got out. Twice! Roads are clear, nights are mostly above freezing, and there are only little bits of snow left in shady corners. Did I start out short and easy? Define short. Define easy. I started at 3 miles. I figure I have enough muscle memory to keep me going for 3 miles. I hadn't run since early February, and I hadn't been running regularly then either. I didn't have to stop and walk, and I even felt OK. I was REALLY SLOW! But I can live with that. So 2 runs last week. Four miles this morning. No snow or ice to worry about (I would hope not, after all, it's April). Maybe I'll find my stride again soon and move up to a sub-10-minute mile.
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| socks for dear daughter |
On the knitting front, very little has been happening. I know I've written about my tennis elbow. I was in physical therapy in the fall and it was really a lot better. Then I volunteered to work backstage at my dance studio's production of the Nutcracker. Have you ever heard the phrase, "No good deed goes unpunished?" Seems the backstage work was a little harder on the arms than anticipated. That moved straight into having kids home for the holidays and all the cleaning and cooking that entailed. Don't get me wrong, I was thrilled to have them all home, and it's much more satisfying to cook for a crowd than just for one or two or us, and I even got company and sometimes help in the kitchen. But it all took its toll, along with shoveling snow and clearing ice dams on the roof this winter. The pain has waxed and waned, and I've done little bits of knitting when I was feeling OK. The most progress I've made in knitting has been socks for my daughter. I knitted on our vacation to New Orleans in March. Airplanes are great for knitting, and there was no stress on the unhappy arms while we were on vacation. Love those vacations---no cooking or cleaning! Lately, though, both my arms have been a lot worse, so my knitting is currently not happening. I still go to knitting group, and chat and eat, and knit a little bit, and chat some more. Really, we mostly go to knitting group to chat. I'm going back to physical therapy next week and am hoping to finally get back to normal. Seems everything on my list of things I want to do involves heavy arm use.
With all the knitting projects on the back burner, I needed a creative outlet. One was painting the kids bathroom. I find painting a room to be very satisfying because the change can be so drastic and the end result always looks clean and new and fresh. I've never been fond of the prep work involved, but it was all worth it. Our hall bathroom now looks like a lovely spa bathroom. Yay! It also helped that all the kids were out of the house and I could leave the mess when I was done painting for the day. The only thing I had to worry about was the cat peeing on my dropcloths. I was working with a deadline: I wanted to finish up before the kids got home for spring break. There are really only a few little touch-ups left, along with sanding and finishing the doors. I'll try not to let another 2 years go by before I manage to finish that up.
I've been doing more sewing lately too, also, I think, to satisfy the need to create. I made another version of"the perfect t-shirt" that I wrote about in the last post. I'm getting much closer to a really great t-shirt, and will talk more about that progress in my next post. Time to wrap up.
Shelley in CT
