Motivation

So, I don't think I've talked about this here yet, but I've signed up for a half marathon in September! I think it's slightly crazy, considering I was not exercising in any way, shape or form when I signed up (in April), so I was starting from nothing. 21 km is a long way to go!

For reasons I can't talk about, April was a complete write-off for training, but I seem to be doing ok now. I have no illusions about actually running the whole thing. My goal is to train regularly (about three times per week), getting my mileage as high as I can go without hurting myself, and then run/walk the race on the day. It will be doubly difficult as I'm pretty much restricted to treadmill training until September, although I am planning to do some outside runs when I'm on vacation in a week or so.

Can I say that it's really difficult to train right now though? The room I run in does have air conditioning, but given that it's not running unless I'm in the room and the room has large, east facing windows, its often hotter inside than outside. An engineer at work told me that the average temperature for June this year was 50 degrees C!!! I believe it, even if the information I find on weather on the internet doesn't support that. (Just fyi, Weather.com says it's 39 degrees here today, and BBC is actually predicting 38 and rain (I don't know what they're thinking. I've only seen rain here two or three times in two years, and today doesn't look like the day for it.))

So, anyone that's ever lived in a super-hot climate, how does one stay motivated to run when it is so warm? I did 45 minutes on the treadmill this morning, and managed to soak through my moisture-wicking gear and had sweat running down my back and arms. I've never actually experienced that before, even in steamy Ottawa summers. There are some articles on Runner's World, but given that the sweat isn't evaporating, I don't know how much use a lot of that advice will help (a lot of advice revolves around wet hats or ice in a bandana around the neck).

FO: Ishbel

See, I do occasionally finish things! This didn't take much time, only a few days, but I was knitting a lot during that time.



It's difficult to get a shot where my facial expression is normal in the very bright sun. This is the best one I came up with.



Pattern: Ishbel by Ysolda Teague
Yarn: Sophie's Toes sock yarn Layers of Colour Collection Dark Teal from emilyparson
Needle: 2.25 mm
The yarn was very nice to work with, and looks great.



And some nice flowers in the sun.

Story time

So, I was supposed to be on vacation this week, but things haven't quite worked out as planned. This seems to happen a lot to me, but at least it wasn't a work issue that quashed my plans this time.

On this occasion, my cat got sick the day before I was due to fly out. I feel a bit 'crazy cat lady-ish' admitting that I canceled my vacation for a sick cat, but that's what happened. She has giardiasis, which is not very much fun. I do not recommend it. Anyway, I'm just considering it to be preparation for when I have actual children.

So, the yoga retreat and two days of shopping in Marrakesh has morphed into a week in Paris later this month. (Part of my compensation for working where I do is an allowance that must be spent on travel outside of Sudan, which I need to use.) Not a bad outcome by any stretch. I would actually be leaving this weekend, but the cat needs a second week of treatment, as we haven't managed to kill all of the parasites yet.

So, in my spare time between shoving medication into the cat, I've been knitting on an Ishbel in Sophie's Toes sock yarn in Dark Teal. No pictures yet, as I have some tinking to do. It's become apparent to me that I don't have enough yarn left in the ball to finish it quite as I was planning. The yarn is gorgeous though, so I'll try and get some good pictures in the sun soon!

I'm traveling for work this week, and I don't have my camera cord, so there are no recent pictures to be had, so I thought I'd open with this touristy shot of me at sea level on my way to the Dead Sea (Jordan side) last month.

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting, although I have a Rogue Roses sock with me from the Rockin' Sock Club from Blue Moon Fibre Arts. I fly home tomorrow morning, if all goes well, so it's about time for me to go to bed now.

Life runs away

So, life (or at least blogging) has kind of been getting away from me these days. I've had all sorts of plans to post, but it just doesn't seem to happen that often.

Today is just a quick update. I found out the other day that I'm going to be an aunt! The first thing that came to mind is what I should knit for the upcoming baby. My sister isn't planning on finding the gender out until it's born, so I will have to come up with some good gender neutral knits until I find out what I'm dealing with. It should be a Christmas baby, so I will hopefully get to spend some time home with my sister and the new baby around then. Yay!

I finished something!

It's not much, but it's the first thing I finished in a while. (Particularly the 'finishing' portion) Sadly, I don't have any pictures of them on the tiny recipient, but hopefully those will be available in the near future.

Pattern: Saartje's Booties
Yarn: Blue Moon Fibre Arts Socks that Rock leftover from some basic socks. (I think the colour is Farmhouse.)
Needles: 2.75mm
Buttons: Random ones from A's button collection (from the spare buttons that come with clothes)

Long Absence

Wow, it's been a long time since I've done a real post! I got busy, as happens from time to time. There was a month or so where I was doing nothing except work (I worked two weeks of overtime in just under four weeks!), and it's taken a few weeks to start feeling normal again.

I haven't been doing a lot of knitting, although there has been some. Of course, there aren't any pictures. I'm easing myself back into blogging slowly. :)

I have a number of babies upcoming, so I thought I'd try out the Elijah pattern. I've got my first one done minus one ear and arm. A very cute pattern, although picking up the stitches for each new piece is definitely finicky. I have also started my Rogue Roses socks from the last 2009 Rockin' Sock Club mailing. I started a Wisteria, but haven't even finished the yoke, and it's been set aside for who knows how long. I should really just pick something and finish it!

In non-knitting news, I'm starting to get ready to move back to Ottawa! I should be back, trying to get settled sometime in early September! As you can probably tell by the exclamation points, I'm looking forward to the change. I love having the chance to live in another cultures for a while, but there are things I miss. Two years is a pretty good length of time for Sudan, and I'm ready to go home.