When is an afghan not an afghan?

When it’s a throw! (Warning: Knitting talk ahead.)

I was supposed to knit 36 repeats of the 8-row lace pattern. I stopped at 30. Actually, I think the proportion turned out better, because if I’d done a gauge swatch (Swatch? Swatch? I thought that was a pocket!) I’d have realized that I should have added a couple more repeats widthwise, as well.

As it is, the finished piece blocked out to fit on top of a twin bed – no overhang, and starting where the pillow ends. Thus, it is a throw. And it looks so nice on the couch in our “new” living room, doncha think?

I did three miles on the treadmill yesterday morning, a jog/walk combo that averaged out to 15-minute miles. Which, I guess, makes it a three-mile walk. It’s amazing how different I felt yesterday compared to Sunday – slow, heavy, just plodding along. Increasing my speed was very difficult, and I could only manage it in quarter-mile segments. (On Sunday I was able to run continuously for 1.25 miles.)

The plan I’m following right now is getting me ready to train, and I’m going to keep doing the first week until I can run every mile. (The first week is four running days and three rest days; I’m doing the total-body workout on two of the rest days.) Had I not done something like this in late 2006/early 2007, before the Country Music Marathon in April, 2007, I’d be discouraged already. But I know from experience that training increases stamina, speed and confidence.

Or at least it did a couple years ago. Let’s just hope history repeats itself.