This and that

The folks at Diet-Blog have published a round-up of sites which offer workouts for iPods and MP3 players. I subscribe to djsteveboy's podcast, which means once a week I get to leave the dial-up connected for, oh, about 10 hours while it downloads the newest mix. After I peruse D-B's list I may as well just turn "sleep" mode off and leave the computer running 24/7.

There are a couple likely prospects that focus on strength training. Since that's my weakest area – heh – I think that's where I should go first, don't you?

Thanks for all your support about the half-marathon. I got a call back from my doctor yesterday, who said go for it – no stress test, EKG, whatever necessary, and to call the office when I finish to let them know how I did.

Have I mentioned before how much I heart Dr. C? Oh, yeah – I think I have.

And I think it's so cool that some of you are looking for your own races and even thinking about entering the Nashville one. I've never done any kind of organized run before. I'm not worried about the running part – it's the registering, finding where to get the computerized timing chip, wondering if I'm wearing the right gear. That's the crap that immediately gripped me. That's also the crap that usually stops me from trying something new. I'm sure I'll figure it all out once I get there. I've looked for 10Ks within a reasonable distance from the Middle of Nowhere in February or early March, just to get the experience, but haven't found any. Yet.

Denise mentioned yesterday in the comments that she'll soon be learning to knit. I want to point to three great knitting sites for her and for anyone else who might have stumbled over here lately. [My blog traffic has doubled this week!]

• Knitting Help offers free videos on a huge variety of knitting techniques.
• Knitting Pattern Central has collected and categorized thousands of free knitting patterns.
• wiseNeedle provides a huge database of user-supplied yarn reviews and advice.

I did a four-mile walk yesterday. Although I tried to push it up to a jog, I made the mistake of wearing a heavy cotton hooded sweatshirt and ended up having to tie it around my waist – not a comfortable way to jog. But I walked purposefully and was back home in 62 minutes. That's the fastest I've ever walked four miles.

This is the mildest winter I can remember since I've moved to the Middle of Nowhere. Ten years ago this month we had a blizzard. Yesterday I was running in a long-sleeved tee. I'll take it!

Today will be another weight-training session, and a three-mile run. I'm thinking of doing it on the treadmill, since it's supposed to rain all day. That's subject to change, of course – I could end up doing four miles outside in the rain.