Running, Yarn, and Beer in Amsterdam

I haven't been able to blog for a while, because I've been away in Amsterdam!  It was fantastic.  Everyone spoke English well enough, and since I can read English and German, I could read Dutch well enough that we got around just fine.

We had a general idea of what we wanted to do, but we were so tired that we only accomplished half of it.  I guess we'll just have to go back!

This picture is in front of the Rijksmuseum.  We didn't go into this particular museum, but we had to see the I Amsterdam sign.  It's also just a couple hundred meters from the Van Gogh Museum, which we did go into.  He only painted for a few years, but he managed to produce enough to fill an entire museum.  I have never been so impressed by a painting of a pile of potatoes.

Can't even make fun of everyone in front of the I Amsterdam sign, because we were there, too.

And of course I had to stop in an adorable yarn shop, Penelope Craft.  They had plenty of Madelinetosh, Malabrigo, and Cascade, but I can get those anywhere.  What I was really after were Loret Karman's yarns, which she dyes in Amsterdam!

 

We also took a tour of the Heineken Brewery.  The first half was very neat.  We got to look at all the copper vats that the beer brews in, split some barley, play with the dry ingredients, and taste the warm water and barley stage.  The second half was just a gigantic advertisement.

I also went running, of course!  I ran twice, once for six miles and once for eight, and I felt really good.  I'm very glad, because I had started to worry that my shin pain was compartment syndrome instead of just plain old shin splints.  I have no desire to have surgery on my legs now or any time in the future, so I'm relieved that there was no pain at all on either of those runs.  My times were also pretty good, since the city is so flat.  I ran mainly through the Rembrandtpark (which was near where we stayed) and the Vondelpark (which is on every "Running in Amsterdam" list).  I also learned that Dutch dogs are not as disciplined as German dogs.  Both parks were full of Dutch people looking and calling for their dogs, and I saw one tiny dog bite a man's leg.

Ouch!

Turns out, you shouldn't jump right into a heavy-mileage training plan after you don't run for three months.  Who'd have thought?

[Pause for laughter as "real" runners take a glance down below at the weekly mileage I was doing.]

I've developed some pretty awesome shin splints, only on my right leg interestingly enough, which I didn't know was possible.  I was supposed to have a three mile run today, but I was in pretty awesome pain after just a half mile walk with the dog, so I nixed it.  Something tells me an 11-miler tomorrow would be a bad idea.

It's hard to do, but I think I am going to have to start over with a lower mileage plan, like one for real beginners even though I've run five half marathons already.  Munich in October is my target race, and I don't want to injure myself training for a race I'm running just for the heck of it.

Not one to end on a negative note, I am also including a photo of my first pair of knitted mittens!  Just missing one thumb!

If you are a right thumb amputee, these are finished!

I'm a Real Person

I spend about an hour each day in my car, commuting to and from work.  Public transportation is, unfortunately, not efficient or cost-effective in my case, so I drive.  This means I have a lot of time to listen to podcasts, and one of my favorites is NPR's Fresh Air with Terry Gross.  One of my goals in life is to do something interesting enough that Terry Gross interviews me.* 

Terry Gross was interviewing Greta Gerwig a few months ago for her movie Frances Ha (which is pretty good, by the way), and Greta said that she felt like a real person once she was a member of the Screen Actors Guild.

All of the to say, today, having joined the Knitting Guild Association, I am also a real person.  I'm pretty sure you have to actually act on a screen to be part of the Screen Actors Guild, and you don't have to provide proof of knitting to join this guild, so maybe I shouldn't compare the two, but it still feels good.

You even get a membership card!

*I used to want to be on Conan O'Brien, but I've realized I wouldn't be able to make jokes fast enough, and it would be one of those really uncomfortable, scripted interviews.  Although, if you still want me, Conan, I promise I will make you look really smart.