The desire is there, but my health isn’t. I was thisclose to walking out the door and heading over to the event this morning. I had a strong feeling that it probably wasn’t a smart thing to do though, so I called a running friend for some impartial advice.

He advised me that since I ultimately have larger goals on the horizon (my upcoming half marathon specifically) that sitting this one out made sense. He reminded me that there will be plenty of other 5k/10k races. He said it really wasn’t worth risking my upcoming training time for the half marathon to do a 5k now since I’ve been sick/injured the past couple of weeks. He basically gave a voice to what I already knew in my head was the right thing to do, even though my heart was screaming at me otherwise. This is exactly why I called him. It’s always good to have an impartial voice of reason.

Instead of racing this morning, I’ll head out a bit later and take a nice easy shorter walk. Since I haven’t been able to do any training in nearly 3 weeks, this will help me ease back into working out without taxing my recovering body too much. It will also give me a chance to try out my new custom mix of workout music my aforementioned friend created me a couple of weeks ago, too.

I’m still struggling with wanting to walk out the door and head over to the race. I still would have time to make it if I left right now. I decided I would take some time to blog instead to keep me from doing just that. Hopefully by the time I finish this entry, it will be too late for me to make it there in time. Hey, whatever works, right?

Since I won’t be doing the race after all this morning, I might actually start on a new stitching project. I went by my LNS yesterday to pay for my class project for the stitching cruise we’ll be going on next week. While I was there, I picked up the first of the charts & the fibers for the Lizzie Kate Boo Club double flip series.

The shop had actually kitted up the necessary fibers and a piece of the 32-count Dirty Belfast linen called for in the Boo Club instructions. It looked so amazing together that I was very tempted. I ended up deciding that the smart thing to do economically though was to use some fabric from my stash instead. The chart said any 32-count neutral fabric could be used, so I figured I probably already had something that would work.

My initial thought was to use one of the Lakeside Linens I’ve been collecting over the past couple of years through the Fabric of the Month club from Shakespeare’s Peddler. Once I started looking through them though, all of the colors I thought looked best were all 40-count. Given the charts in this series uses little buttons for things like eyes and such, I was afraid shifting from 32-count up to 40-count might throw off the proportions. Instead, I ended up deciding on a piece of 32-count hand-dyed Sand Castle Jobelan. Here is a photo of my floss toss on the fabric (click for larger version):

Ok, the window of opportunity for making the race is definitely over now. I’m going to head back to bed and try to get another couple of hours of sleep. I’ve only had about 6 hours’ worth so far since I got up at 5:15am to get ready for the race. I could definitely use a little more.

I hope everyone has a great day. For those watching and/or going to parties, have a great Super Bowl Sunday.

Well, I still haven’t decided if I’m going to go out to the Surf City 5k in the morning. I did go over and pick up my bib and goodie bag today. Check it out …

And now for something completely different. Ok, so it’s not completely different as I did try and little bit of vlogging (video blogging) last year. I picked up a Flip portable video camera a couple of weeks ago, so I’ve decided to give it a try again. Here’s my first attempt. Please be kind and don’t laugh too much.

Before heading over to pick up my race packet, I hit my Saturday Weight Watchers meeting. I was down 0.7 this week. I was actually shocked that I had a loss at all. I’ve been chugging orange juice like it’s going out of style this week trying to shake my cold. I knew it was costing me a ton of points, but I was willing to take the hit on the scale to try and get well. So, I was pretty happy to have a loss.

Thanks for the encouragement about my health woes, everyone. The foot/ankle issues are finally starting to clear up, thankfully! I still haven’t made a decision on whether I’ll do my scheduled 5k race on Sunday or not. Part of me really wants to for several reasons:

1. I’ve not done a race in a few months.
2. Several of my friends are also registered for it.
3. I’ve already paid for it anyway.
4. They have a cutest little surfboard finisher medals. ;)

Ok, so maybe reason #4 is the one I’m thinking about the most right now. I already have the one from last year’s race. I think it would be a shame not to get this little matching friend for it, don’t you?

Aren’t they adorable? Yes, in case you are wondering, they are made of real wood.

Right now my plan is to go on Friday afternoon and pick up my bib/race packet at the Expo. I’ll likely make my final decision on whether I’m up to actually doing the race on Saturday night. If I am feeling up to it, I’ll be sticking to all walking and won’t be doing any run intervals. I figure there’s no need to tempt fate when I’m just getting back on my feet (pardon the pun).