The Spirit of Columbus

I thought I would split my blogs into two today since it's been forever since I've written. I was getting lazy about uploading pictures but here it is, in backwards chronological order :)

I just got back from a mini-roadtrip to Columbus, Ohio. My dad and I went out there to run the Spirit of Columbus Half Marathon. I was not prepared for the run. My longest training run was just under 4 miles and my total for the month was 9 miles. Not the best. I tried not to think about it.

My dad picked me up Thursday and we drove back to Illinois. The next morning we left. I made sure to bring lots of knitting with me. I finished my bamboo scarf before we even got to Illinois.

On the way through Chicago at 5am, we were hit by a drunk driver. I was sleeping and woke up to the crunching noise of the cars bumping up against each other. The traffic was crazy so we didn't stop and neither did the drunk. He continued to weave in and out of his lane. We tried to see the license plate but it was too dark. At the next rest stop we got out to check the damage, imagining a huge dent in the rental car. It was just a little scratch. Barely noticeable. Could have been worse. A lot worse.

I couldn't sleep after that and so I started to knit. I finished the hat before we hit Ohio. I'm sure glad I brought sock yarn, too.
When we got to Ohio, we checked into the hotel and picked up our race gear for Sunday. We had a day and a half to kill. Most of it we spent driving around lost. Apparently they're really anti-signs in Dublin, Ohio, where we were staying. We went to some fun shops and I got some ceramic beads at a cool beadshop with flamingo statues all over and fat, friendly cat. We asked about a yarn shop and headed off to find A Tangled Tale. Awesome yarn shop! The ladies were super nice and friendly. They were having their knit night and about to watch A Christmas Story on tv. The shop had all these yarns I've been lusting after on Ravelry. I spent way more than I should have. I got two balls of Mini Mochi, a Zauberball and some Ty-Dy sock yarn. I also got some 1.5 double pointed needles for the Frankensocks I started using 2s that were coming out a little big. And my dad bought me an Addi Turbo circular needle so I could finally start a sweater I've been sitting on forever.



That night we had pizza and ran through the pouring rain back to the car. The next day we ate at a sushi place, where I had to pick fish flakes (gross) off of my tofu, and saw the Time Traveller's Wife. Good but not as good as the book. Are they ever?

Sunday we got up at 5:30 (4:30 our time) to get ready for the run. Eat breakfast, take a shower and a dump, drink water. The weather was perfect and chilly. There was another runner stretching outside her room as we were leaving. We got there with lots of time to wait in line for the port-o-potty and walk around. The run started a little late but went pretty well. There was no water at a few stops and no oranges and candy bars like promised. I'm just glad I always bring my own stuff. I was having an awesome time, though. No problems with the lack of training. Why train ever? I'm going to do this for all my marathons! At around mile 8, I think, my dad went ahead. I always slow down at 8. At mile 9 I broke out my iPod for moral support. The tendon in my foot started to bother me at mile 10 but I wasn't about to stop. I ran past the finish line in 2:51. Not a terrible time, but my worst yet. I got passed right at the end but I couldn't move any faster, I wanted to walk so bad. I got my medal and finisher shirt (out of smalls... and hats, which were also promised). There were no oranges at the end. Or water. Just vitamin water. At least there was watermelon and pretzels. I couldn't stomach much, though.
My foot hurt and it was hard to walk on it. I iced it on the way home. It's 100% now but the other foot is messed up. Go figure.


We stayed the night in Bloomington to avoid Chicago and got horribly lost because of construction. The next day we drove the last 6 hours to Wisconsin. I finished reading a book on knitting and worked on my sock more. We had Red Robin boca burgers for dinner and hung out looking at old running bibs and relaxing. It was a fun week! And I got a lot of knitting done. Here is what I had on the sock by the time I got back home:

Needless to say, I took a little break from knitting for a few days when I got back.

I've been drawing a lot and yesterday Howie and I went to Borders so I could use my 40% off coupon and $5 in Borders Bucks. I got an awesome cookbook for $12...

I've heard good things about it. So last night I made the "lazy" Indian dinner. There was nothing lazy about it. I was in the kitchen for probably 2 hours. It's always good to read the instructions fully before starting. I did lots of chopping but ended up with some yummy food.. even though we didn't eat until 9:30.

Samosa stuffed baked potatoes with mango chutney, sauteed spinach and tomatoes and jasmine rice.


Our potatoes were smaller than what was called for so I foolishly made more. I ended up having to scoop out the insides of 12 potato halves. I had leftovers today. And probably will tomorrow and possibly at work on Sunday, too. Yeah, it made a lot.

Well I'm off to knit now. I'm making a little creature from my leftover handspun. :)