Life in Beta

So last night I was hanging around the house, staring at the ceiling and daydreaming (as I usually do, ya know) and thought to myself:
Self, you should train to run a 5K race. ‘Cause that would be a really cool thing to randomly do.

Promptly after that, I thought:
Uhm. Shit. How the hell far *is* a 5K race?

Ya know… in normal mileage that I understand? Because 5K could theoretically be like 300 miles and I certainly couldn’t do that! I popped open a web browser and searched for “5 kilometers to miles” and through the magic that is The Google, I am told that 5 kilometers is equal to 3.10685596 miles. (Thank God. Because 3.2 miles would have been too much!)

Three miles seemed doable, so I decided then and there that I was going to run a 5K race next fall (specifically I’m shooting for the 2011 “Turkey Trot” put on every November by our local runners’ club). AND in my infinite wisdom, I decided to post this little ol’ goal on my Facebook page — for the sake of accountability and all that.

Crap. I’m pretty sure I need my head examined. I’m in no position to even consider running. I’m out of shape, overweight, and even when I was on the track team (sprinting) in high school and in the best shape of my life, I never ran more than a mile at a time MAX. But then, maybe there’s no better time than the present…? And I’ve given myself over a year to train…

I’ve decided to attempt the Couch-to-5K (C25K) training program. You can read about it here, here and here. It’s a very clever gradual program that eases you into a running regimen.

So tomorrow after work I’m going to break down and fork over the cash for a gym membership. This weekend I start “training” … think I’m going to need the remedial C25K program though … about 4 weeks on the “week 1″ workout. Sounds about right.

For me it’s not so much about losing weight (though I could use it and it would be a great bonus). It’s more about having a healthy body again. There are so many things I’d like to go do and try … and the fact that I am overweight and get winded so easily when doing sports and such really holds me back. AND THAT SUCKS. I’m fed up with it. I wanna have some fun again.

Have any of YOU done the C25K program (or something similar)?

I broke down tonight and bought a new monitor (23″ HP for anyone who cares). My old monitor was a 27″ Hanspree, which had fantastic resolution and completely spoiled me. Unfortunately, it decided to go totally berzerk on me in the last few weeks, randomly popping up the monitor-menus and refusing to let me close them. No amount of tweaking or driver-updating fixed it.

Working in Visual Studio was pretty much impossible with a giant blue contrast-adjustment menu in the dead-center of the screen, so I decided I should give up and get a new one.

I went to Best Buy and after a slight derailment with them recommending a 32″ LCD television (which totally didn’t work out), I settled on the 23″ HP monitor. It’s shiny, sharp and has nice color. I have it hooked to my Windows 7 desktop via DVI and to my MacBook Pro via HDMI and everything looks great. I’m pretty happy with it.

SO … Guess that means I can get some work done, huh? All those projects I keep hinting at but haven’t made progress with. Riiiiighhht.

If you subscribed to my RSS feed on my other blog, MandiKnits.com, you probably just got an entire slew of updates. That’s because I decided to forward MK.com over to my main blog, here at LifeInBeta.com, and just create a new post category for Knitting.

I hope you’ll all stick with me … update your RSS subscriptions to point to http://www.lifeinbeta.com/feed if you want the latest updates.

I don’t have much of a knitting update at the moment, except that I’m working on socks (surprise, surprise). They’re the July 2010 Rockin’ Sock Club colorway, Firecracker, and the pattern is My Heart Beets 4U by Anne Hanson. Beautiful colors, aren’t they?!

Every year I promise myself I’ll take time to be more aware of the slow, subtle change of the autumn leaves. Every year I forget, and it seems like Mother Nature flips a switch and overnight I suddenly become aware that there aren’t any green leaves left in sight.

This year, finally, is different.

Nearly this whole year has been different, actually. Ever since I returned home to Pennsylvania in April, I’ve noticed so many tiny things that always escaped my senses in the past.

All summer long, I enjoyed the smell of fresh cut grass. Fresh cut grass in Nashville smelled terrible, due to all the wild onions growing in everyones’ yards. (I’m not kidding, and I hate onions.) Here, the grass smells sweet and damp and fresh. I hadn’t realized how much I missed it till I smelled the difference.

Now I’m enjoying the sights and scents as Pennsylvania enters autumn. The nights are getting cooler, the skies are bright and clear, and I’m finally seeing the endless star-filled night sky that I so missed in the city.

A few nights ago, I came home late and as I got out of the car, I took a deep breath and discovered the air actually had a floral scent. Though there are no flowers in bloom, the air smelled like a light, natural perfume. It was awesome, in the true definition of the word.

It’s so good to be home.