WIP Wednesday: Companion Training

For the past two months I have been very focused on an activity that I have not been blogging about (thesis not included. No need to go on and on about scary looming deadlines).  I call this activity Companion Training.  Basically this means that I want to be prepared when The Doctor shows up at my door to whisk me away on adventure, so I am taking measures to be sure that I can outlast whatever villain we face, be it cyber or flesh-like in nature.

I didin't really want to blog about this because A, it isn't really fiber related and B, what if it doesn't work out?  How embarassing would it be to say I am trying to do this and then fail?  Long-time readers of this blog will remember that I have mentioned running in the past, but it never seems to really go anywhere.  This summer I decided to try again, this time taking precautions to avoid injuring myself in my over-enthusiasm.  And so, at the beginning of June, I started the Couch to 5K program.  I was really skeptical in starting, I mean after all, I ran a 5K two years ago without any training and last summer I was running 2 miles daily in Pittsburgh.  But low and behold it is the end of July and I am in the middle of week seven, running 25 minutes at a time.  I'm not running farther than I have ever run, but I am running longer than I've ever run and I'm loving it.

When I was nine my parents noted my lack of affection for soccer and my lack of talent for dance and signed me up for the swim team.  Over the next several years, through most of high school, I learned to swim slower than to which I was inclined and thus cover more distance more easily than some of my fellow teammates.  I swam butterfly, which if you're not a swimmer, is often looked at as the hardest stroke in the rec leagues in which I participated.  I loved it.  After the initial discomfort and awkwardness I found myself falling into the rhythm of the strokes.  I'm starting to feel that way when I run.  It's insane and jarring for a while, but after about 15 minutes I start to really jive with the rhythm of my steps.  This is not to say this is hard. It's insanely difficult, but it's mostly mental.  I know I can do it physically, but I have to convince my brain that I don't hate running and I'm not going to die.

How is all this fiber related?  Well, what motivates us knitters more than the prospect of new yarn or a lovely FO?  I've picked out a skein of Dream in Color Starry  to serve as my reward for making it through all nine weeks of the program.  I'm not sure where I'll buy it from, but buy it I will.  This is all the more motivating because I've been knitting from my stash alone for two months, not all that long but I really don't have that much stash.  I have a project that I have wanted to make for a while but do not have the yarn for and for which this yarn will be perfect.  I just have to survive three more weeks.

For more knitting-related WIPs, check out Tami's Amis.