Mind over matter

I've written about mind over matter here before, but not as credibly as Gina Kolata wrote about it in the New York Times yesterday. For anyone involved in athletic training, it's an interesting and inspiring read. I know I can easily cut a workout short when I'm tired or when a random body part hurts. But it appears that even those of us who will never win a marathon or the Tour de France can benefit from the suggestions Kolata describes.

And then there's this: Eating healthfully is more expensive than eating crap.

You don't say. How many times have you dropped five bucks on a McDonald's premium salad while your friend/spouse/date/kid eats fries and burgers from the dollar menu?

Anyway. Eating continues to go pretty well around here, and I'm using the treadmill – although perhaps not up to my potential – daily. Today's forecast calls for freezing rain and sleet this morning, with showers lingering the rest of the day and evening. Dear Treadmill: See you soon.

As for 8 on the 8th? We'll see. Maybe a mantra, along with grit and determination, will help get me through it. It might end up being a DNF, though.

Thanks for your very sweet comments on the little hat. Thanks, Mich, for telling me where you've been lately. I've updated my Google Reader. As for how long it would take a rank beginner to make a cabled earflap hat … that's difficult to answer. If you're a fast learner, that hat could be your first real project. Or you could make one just like Jayne's.

Knitting involves only a few basic maneuvers:

• Casting on
• The knit stitch
• The purl stitch
• Increasing
• Decreasing
• Binding off

Once you master those, you can manipulate the stitches – crossing sets of stitches, as I did in the cables, or creating deliberate 'holes' in the fabric for lace, for instance – to create just about anything. There are many good learn-to-knit websites out there, and I can answer questions, or you can check your Yellow Pages for yarn shops. Many offer classes for beginners.

This morning is a good oatmeal-for-breakfast one, and my steel-cut oats have been bubbling in the crockpot all night. Yum! I hope your breakfast is as good as mine.