Bad.

Guess who ran 3.3 miles (with walk breaks) in 34 minutes?

This girl! I'm a bad patient. 

Hopefully, I'll get cleared to run next week. Heehee.

Stitching, baking, and running!

So, I finally changed the url for my blog to stitchbakerun.blogspot.com. This will be fun for anyone who has old links... :) It just seemed like a good idea since that's the title I operate under here, so yeah. There ya go.

I've been stitching a fun scarf (it's halfway done now, but I haven't taken an new photo), and the yarn is made from silk.

Fancy.

I baked bacon-wrapped egg bites (bacon in a muffin tin, filled with egg/cheese mixture). Sorry, no photo, they were too good to pause that long!

And I ran yesterday. a WHOLE 100 METERS! In sandals! Haha. And it felt glorious.

I might actually put on running shoes and go for a wog tomorrow.... :D It's the little things.

What one small thing is making you smile today?

Enjoy your weekend!

TV and construction

Did you know bull terriers love Deadliest Catch? Well, Prudence does. She watched half the episode sitting front and center like this. 

Right now, her ears are pointed back and she's making the funniest grumbles as construction goes on outside. They are replacing the main road, and everyone else in our neighborhood got a handy little flier explaining what was going on... But we didn't! We never do. So this construction was a surprise, and it means my 2 minute drive to the grocery will now take 20. Yeah. And, I get to wake up to the sound of asphalt being destroyed this week. And the construction won't be over until mid-July... Which in construction deadlines could mean August. UGH. Guess I need to finally go get some new tires for my ancient bike- thankfully, the running/biking path is still open across the river!

Klutz

In the past week, I have fallen down the stairs, ran into a door, shut my own head in the pantry, and burned my palm. And spilled a whole bag of chips, poured water in my cereal instead of milk, dumped a bag of groceries (thankfully not the one with eggs!), and spilled flour and sugar.

Kids, crafting is dangerous. So is just walking through your house. Or making preserves. Or trying to get ready for bed. Or basically trying to function as an adult.

Yeah. Makes me think there's some truth to the idea of biorhythms.

My aunt, who is the holistic queen of the family (and also suffers from ataxia/MSA, and therefore is often looking for natural alternatives to medicine) was told about these by one of her doctors. Since she already suffers mobility issues, he actually had her monitor biorhythms to try to anticipate bad fall days, and when she was working, she used to try to plan around them.

After my accident-prone weekend, I checked: Yup, I was at the bottom of the bottom of not one but 2- physical and emotional- which, perhaps, explains the whole klutz thing, and the negative nelly body image I've had the last few days (placated that yesterday with a new pair of shorts for $8. Sometimes, a little retail therapy goes a long way).

It is interesting. I'm not 100% convinced, but for the last few years, every time I check after a particularly klutzy spell, the line match up. It's worth considering.

PS- just checked back on the dates which I ran a PR- and the physical one was very high if not the peak on ALL of them. Interesting... which has me excited about both marathons this fall, since they both fall around peaks... interesting... hopefully that's just one more thing in my favor!

Not just a time-suck

I reactivated my Pinterest account. And then this happened yesterday.

And this

And this

Hmm, what to make today?

Really? My last chance? What a shame...

How sad... Brigthroom has informed me this is my last chance to pay $40+ for this wonderful shot that reminds me I need different sunglasses for running so I stop looking like a creepy insect.

(these are all from the Freedoom Half last November... you know, the one I ran 12 days after having a golfball-sized chunk of flesh removed, so I was a bit of pain by the end... as you shall see)

Oh, damn, I won't be able to overpay for this gorgeous shot

In all honesty, I was saying Fuuuuuuuuudge. But not really. If you get the drift. #pottymouth 

Or this one... I think I was doing a Walking Dead impersonation. Watch out, #4124, there's a zombie in  a skirt about to eat your brains!!!

(Every time I see these, I laugh so hard. PRs definitely aren't pretty. They also make me wonder how one earth Brightroom ever makes any money!)

Because I'm slow

I'm starting my Christmas knitting while on hiatus from running. I'll be working on these 2 projects for awhile, plus a couple more.

Knitting takes forever. If you ever get a hand-knit gift from someone, at least show gratitude for the time they spent- even if it's an ugly sweater! :)

(These are going to be a scarf and a wrap, hopefully not ugly!)

Well, there's that...

Took a much-needed day trip to the beach today. I love Lake Michigan.

Apparently, so does this guy- so much so he has an all terrain hoveround.

Y'all know where to find me when I'm 92....

Forward Progress

I'm going AWOL.... well, not really. But, I'm stopping my pain meds today. I don't see the point of refilling a prescription for Motrin. Seriously, I can buy off-brand OTC Motrin cheaper than refilling the prescription, and the difference between dosage is 50 mg. I think I'll be fine.

The pain has been significantly reduced since I started walking longer. Sunday and Monday were both at 3 miles or longer, then yesterday I walked a total of 4.7. Whoohoo! Plus, the last 3 of those were at a pace of 16 minutes/mile (in flip flops, mind you, so I wouldn't be tempted to try too hard). Know what that means?

I should have no problem staying well under the 7 hour cutoff for the Air Force Marathon! SWEET! I night miss that last shuttle back to the hotel, but whatever. The Husbeast and I have already worked out a plan for that- I'll have to run with my phone, but this way, if I'm super slow and miss the shuttles, he'll just make sure to get one after he runs the half and then he'll bring the car to get me.

The only problem with feeling so much improved is that now it's getting really hard trying to avoid doing too much. :D

National Running Day!

How do you celebrate National Running Day when you're side-lined for 4 more weeks?

Retail therapy, of course!

I bought a new Team Sparkle running skirt (in red) to wear on the 4th of July, and a pair of race legs (the blue stars/red stripes pair, of course!

And, depending on what kind of cray weather we get this fall/winter, they could become part of my outfit for the Veteran's Marathon in November.

While my running shoes must wait for 4 more weeks, at least I'll be ready for the 5k on the 4th again, wardrobe-wise. The good news I got from the Dr today was that I can resume light exercise (like yoga), and can actually start back up on the elliptical/stationary bike in 2 more weeks. Apparently, the Beast-mode I was in before surgery has things healing so well I can return to exercise quicker than anticipated! Slowly, of course. I'm too afraid of the consequences to push it, but I'm also so excited that I can start doing a little more each day!!!

Hope you got a run in (if that's your thing), and for you non-runners, I hope you didn't even notice that we runners were nuttier than usual.

Kicking Off Fall Marathon Training!!!!

If you've been following for a bit, you might be confused. Wait, didn't she just have major surgery 12 days ago?

Yes, I did. But, I've been feeling significantly better each and every day, and while I will respect the doctor's orders about no running, weights, or anything else strenuous, I am exploiting the permission to walk my little heart out.

For those of you just joining the fun, my name is Kasey and I am equally obsessed with running and crafting. I signed up for 2 marathons and an ultra this fall/winter before finding out I'd need major surgery and miss 6 weeks of training. I'm 12 days into my 42 day sentence recovery, and though I'm a little stir-crazy at this point, I'm staying positive and working towards those big running goals in any way I safely can and driving my husband nuts by trying to do too much. Right now, that's walking. 

Today marks Day 1 of fall marathon training. I walked a 5k in 53 minutes. In the last 8 days, I've walked 14 miles (and let's be honest, I've had some weeks where my running mileage wasn't that high!).

Because of surgery, though, plans for the fall have been adjusted. The Air Force Marathon will now be approached as a training run. I would have dropped down to the half, but it was full already.

Instead, I will be focusing on marathon glory during the Veteran's Marathon in Columbia City, IN, on November 9. Last year I celebrated my birthday with the Freedom half, so it seems fitting to run the Veteran's Marathon the week before my birthday this year!! 

My shoes miss me so much, they're practically jumping out of the storage cube!

Why did I pick this race? 

They had a KILLER New Year's Day special.... and the swag looks to be pretty spiffy (hello, it's a NB jacket!). 

It's close to home (Google says I can get there in about an hour).

It's being put on by some pretty amazing people (I volunteered after the Huff 10 miler last year at the 3RRC aid station, and I can tell you they are fun people!).

Day-of packet pick up. No wasted gas trying to make multiple trips! And, as far as races go, I can "sleep in" until almost 6 and still make it there on time. DOUBLE BONUS!

The half looks like a pretty fast course, so I'm pretty excited that the full will be 2 laps of that course (and we all know I have experience running laps after Circular Logic!). Think about it: you know what to expect, approximately where the aid stations are, etc. 

All in all, I can't wait to run this race. Frankly, right now I can't wait to get back to running! I hope these 6 weeks off will leave me refreshed, energized, and ready to blaze through it all.

But for now, I'll be walking here:

And doing a lot of this:

Cheers! I hope I see you there in November!!!