Is 2008 over already?

Happy New Year! It seems like they go so fast anymore! Does that make me sound old? When you are a kid, Christmas takes FOREVER to arrive and here it has come and gone along with the rest of the year. It seems like ages ago when in a brief moment of insanity I decided to sign up for the Disney half marathon and then decided I could do the full and registered for it too. Tick Tock. I am leaving a week from today for Mickey's house. 11 days from today I will be 40. 11 days from today I will have completed my first marathon. WOW.

A friend asked me if I was nervous about the race or just excited. Honestly, I can say I am not nervous at all just over-the-top excited. I have put in the miles, come back from the stress fracture, played catch up with the training schedule and am ready to run 26.2 around the World. I can do this. Really.

In looking back at my numbers from the year, I really can't believe that either. I ran 649 miles this year (that is equal to the distance from Atlanta to Miami!). In 2007 I ran ZERO. Three half-marathons, three triathlons and a handful of 5 and 10k races in 2008. Funny how much my life changed with the simple decision to start running. AND... without sounding like a Lifetime Fitness commercial, it all started there. If I had not signed up for the TEAM fitness class, I would have never run that 5k race last February and kicked this whole thing off. In retrospect, it is pretty amazing how that decision molded my whole year and hopefully years to come.

I used to be amazed by all the "TRI people" on my masters swim team. They would head out after a swim to go run or some even ran from their homes to the pool and then ran back home after the workout. I would think "who does that?". Now it doesn't seem so odd (not that I have really done that yet but it is no longer out of the realm of possibility). I am looking forward to becoming more involved in triathlons and can't wait to get in some workouts with the Peachtree Tri Club this year. Ironman 70.3 Augusta is looming and I can't wait! Now to just come up with a training schedule....

Have a great start to your 2009!

A bloggy funk ...

I have so many things I could go on and on about but am just not feeling it today I suppose. Don't you worry campers, I will delight you with stories before you know it. I know you miss my incessant ramblings about how my knees hurt, how I am losing a toenail or perhaps how I burned 2 million calories whilst running around the mountain like Oh Susannah! Oh don't you cry for me, for I come from Alabama with a banjo on my knee. My bad, I got carried away there. Feel free to stop and sing along. Or just try to get the song out of your head now.

Last night, RW and I went to my first birthday dinner of the birthday season. For those who don;t know me, I LOVE to celebrate my birthday. Well, not only my birthday but my half birthday as well. My real (full, not to be confused with half) is on January 11th. Yes, I will be 40. There, I said it. Actually, I am totally fine with it. I believe that 40 is the new 30 after all. Forty and fine in 2009. It is the official slogan for the year. It will catch on. Watch, I am pretty sure Dick Clark and/or Ryan Seacrest will utter those very words on New's Year Rockin Eve. I'm just sayin.

Anyhow... My first birthday dinner was last night. I have a couple others sprinkled across the next two weeks. Last night, RW and I went to Roy's Hawaiian Fusion. We are chain restaurant people. I know, shocking. Not adventurous eaters. Well, I can be but RW, not so much. Roy's is Hawaiian/Japanese. It is a chain but not a chain like Outback that is on every corner so an adventurous, yet safe, choice. We plug in the address into the GPS (I swear I really didn't know what I was missing until I got that thing...). The restauarant is 20 miles from the house. Normally, I wouldn't notice the distance but the runner side of me is constantly thinking in terms of how far it would take to run there. It also helps put it into perspective for non-runners in the car who you want to impress. You know, like "20 miles, yeah I could run there but we have reservations at 6:30 so this would be quicker". Seriously, it is amazing to me too. We were in the car for what seemed like forever so 20 miles is a looooong way. Let's not even talk about 26.2!

Back to Roy's. I figured nice restaurant, we must need reservations, right? We walk in, there is one other group of people there. Quick flashback to Thanksgiving where we couldn't be seated before 8:00 and we arrived to find NO ONE in the restaurant. Seriously, you couldn't have squeezed us in earlier than 8:00? It was actually nice, we got lots of attention, great service. I had a Hawaiian Martini and we shared an appetizer "canoe" with lots of yummy things (shrimp, sushi, calamari, spring rolls). We had butterfish for our entree and then a pineapple upside down cake with toasted coconut gelato for dessert (on the house for my birthday but no singing - they did write happy birthday in hawaiian on the plate). Nice place, had a great time. Adventerous but not too "out of the box". :)

And now you are thinking, "for someone who was feeling bloggy, you sure do have a lot to say". You can see why the facebook thing isn't my favorite. They only let you write one line.

Some other things rambling about in my head that we can discuss on another day.

- GOALS! Yes, I need some. Yes, I have some.

- Boot camp, Swim Atlanta Masters, tennis and a conundrum (I just like that word)

- Training Schedules. What is a girl to do when she reaches the end of Hal Higdon's plan?

- 2008 in review or "is it possible to train for a marathon and not lose a pound?" The answer is yes.

Gotta run, blogfriends and lurkers. I need to pack my gym bag for tomorrow :)


P.S Dear Women's Health Magazine, I have entered your daily giveaway faithfully each and every day for the past month. (OK, except that day you were giving away that weird stuff that I didn't want but every other day). Maybe you are upset because I also entered Rachel Ray's giveaway too. Can't we just all get along? Seriously, I do like Women's Health better than Rachel Ray ;) At some point, you could actually select my name as a winner. Really. Just between us, I was hoping you would see your way to choose me that day you gave away the Dooney and Burke Giraffe bag but really any of the other things would be fine too. Just pick my name, once so all those entries don't go to waste. PLEASE? It is almost my birthday! :)

a little bit of "spirit"

I finally cracked open my DVD "Spirit of the Marathon" this afternoon. Loved it. Here is a little taste that just might inspire you too... I was *planning* to study for my upcoming re-certification test today but to no avail. Let's just say I am easily distracted from the task at hand.



and here would be how I DO NOT want to finish my race at Disney! (of course if I were first and fell on my butt maybe it wouldn't be all that bad...)

one last long run before Disney

According to most official plans, the last long run should have been last week with the 20 miler. Since I felt like I had been playing catch up after the stress fracture, I wanted to try and get one more long run in before I taper the next 2 weeks. Really, after the half marathons in November, I think I have only run three distances longer than a half leading up to today. (maybe two, not sure...). Anyhow, I set out for 20 miles today at Stone Mountain. I know a lot of people like to build in some variety to their training but I have really enjoyed running every week at the mountain. I have built in water stops at the car every 5 miles (and more if I wanted to stop at the water fountains along the way), restrooms, people to see along the loop, and lots of hilly goodness. Agreed, the hilly goodness might not always be a good thing but the reality is I am a stronger runner for it.

Today, I set off for the four loops around the mountain. I felt pretty good during the first two loops. I saw my buddies from Tri Your Best on their weekly ride. As I roll up to my 10 mile water stop my left hip (IT Band maybe?) starts to feel odd. Tightening or possibly tearing apart in an attempt to stop the running madness, just a theory. Either way, not exactly sure of the issue. I kept going for loop three. The wheels fell off around mile 13. I tried to stretch it out and kept going. Type A, overachieving Karen was trying to convince my more logical side that "we" could keep going to 20 in run/walk fashion. Around mile 14.5, I settled into just walking back to the car. There was no running to be done and I told Type A Karen she would just have to get over it. :)

I am a little disappointed that I didn't get 20 done today BUT most people training for Disney are in taper mode this week anyhow so today was just extra to appease my overachieving side AND I did have a great run last week and felt that if it were flat (as Disney will be), I could have kept going. Based on all of that analysis I feel like I am ready for Disney. I am just going to take it easy and have fun and try not to become so focused on getting a fast time that I don't enjoy all the festivities going on around me.

Fourteen days to Disney - I can't wait!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas blog world :) Somehow I managed to get all the Christmas parties and gatherings done by the 23rd so today is just a much needed day of rest. I plan on chillaxing and watching some Tivo, reading some magazines and doing nothing but transforming myself into a couch potato. Hope your day is everything you wanted too!

Poor Price Tag Placement

Hmmmmmm.....

And after a nice long run, there should always be baking..

Today was all about baked goods. I really don't know why, it just worked out that way. I got up this morning planning to make this egg casserole thing only to find out that you had to soak it overnight. I guess I should have read the recipe. For some reason from there I dove into making cookies, red velvet cupcakes for my family's Christmas before Christmas gathering on Tuesday and a coconut cake just cuz. After all that and a few loads of laundry, I had about an hour's rest and headed out to pick up my sister to go to Publix Cooking School for "Fancy Cookies to go". Basically a hands-on cooking class where we made 5 or 6 different kinds of cookies in a whirlwind 2 hours. All in all a good time but I am TIRED! (I know, what is new? Can I have one post where I don't talk about how tired I am? seriously.) Here are pics of me and my sister proudly displaying one of our containers of treats.






OH! and for some reason, Friday morning in the intersection by my work is a big bottle of Absolut Vodka. What is up with that? I guess instead of tossing it out the window as they finished it off going down the road, they decided to place it gently on the curb so as not to create a mess on the road. You have to love a considerate drunk.

Today's run is brought to you by the number 20

Whew, I am glad that is over! Except that I have to do it again next week and then some... In all honesty, and I am not high on crack, it was not that bad. I ran it at Stone Mountain and stopped every 5 miles at the car for a quick GU gel and splash of water/gatorade. I really felt if I had been on a flat course I could have gone further and been comfortable.

The weather today was 65 degrees and 92% humidity which is probably a good thing since it will be humid in Florida. Normally, I like my Decembers to be cold but for today's purposes the temp and humidity worked out great as a trial run before the marathon. I was completely drenched when I got done which if I am like that in Florida should make for a LOVELY finishing shot. UGH. I wonder if they will let me cross the finish line and take a victory shot before I start? HA.

I saw my biking group from Tri Your Best looping around the mountain so that amused me for the first 10 miles. After that I was on my own. At one point, after someone on a bike had passed me more times than they thought was reasonable, they shouted out "how many miles are you running anyhow?". Yes, I was that psycho woman running for 3.5 hours which is funny because I usually see one or two out there that continue to run as I am driving back home and I wonder to myself how many miles they are running or I simply say "freak" as I drive by. Kidding... sort of. Today I was the freak.

The only odd thing about the run to speak of was I burned about 300 more calories than normal. I usually burn right at 100 calories per mile. Today, I burned 2300 for the 20 miles. Not sure what was different. Perhaps my body thought I was commiting suicide by running and just started to cannibalize from the inside out to help speed up the process of death by running. Just a theory.

Seriously, I am ecstatic that the run went well and was not torture. I feel like I am prepared for Disney. One more long run next week and then I start tapering. Can't wait until the 11th!

Boot camp can hurt you!

Me: I have a rug burn on my tailbone. (seeking sympathy of course)
Rick: From situps?
Me: Yes! How did you know?
Rick: I had one too one time. Also from boot camp but mine was 30 years ago. Only the sergeant was in my face yelling at me and calling me names. Real boot camp, air force style.
Me: Oh. Well my guy doesn't like to yell so much as he likes to share recipes.
Rick: Yeah just a little different.


Last week in boot camp, I came away with bloody knuckles from boxing. Today, well.... I have a rug burn on my tailbone from all the sit ups. I only did 100 sit ups but it left a mark! OUCH! I got in the shower at LFT, the minute the water hit my backside... what the ?!? I am missing skin. So wrong! Still loving boot camp though :)

Shall I impress you with what I had for dinner tonight? cookies. Seriously. Who does that? Ok, maybe buddy the elf. I am pretty sure sugar is not at the top of any healthy person's food pyramid! ESPECIALLY since I vowed to cutback on sugar last night after watching The Biggest Loser (while eating doritos, of course).

I am working on my mental attitude about running distance on Saturday. Yep, I am going for 20 miles. In a row. If you don't hear from me, I might be passed out on the side of the road somewhere. I'm just saying....

I gave in to the masses and updated my facebook page. I am not sure I "get it" as I much prefer to drone on and on about my daily doings on this site but I can see where it could be good to connect with friends, share photos (assumig I actually take some from time to time ...) and scheduling events. It is pretty addictive, I just pryed my fingers away from it after a couple of hours. ARGH... Darn you facebook creators! :)

Not much to tell

I skipped boot camp Monday to give my legs a day to rest. Today I did a short run - about 4 miles. It felt better towards the end although was hard to get started. It was raining so I opted for a treadmill run. I feel myself falling off the wagon and am resisting the urge to fall off completely. I am only 3 weeks away and can't bail on the schedule now! I reaaaaalllllly want to run the whole distance at Disney so am going to have to get back on track. I think the plan this week will be to rest on Friday and go for the big mileage on Saturday. I *know* if I can get the 18 miler behind me I will be more confident for the next two weeks of the running schedule.

I purchased a wetsuit with a little bit of my bonus cash this year. It was on sale for 50% off at xterra which I thought was a steal! It came in the mail today like a little Christmas gift from the UPS guy. (I love that man in the brown suit - I want to drive the truck!) I haven't opened it yet but am very excited to have my own. I had considered renting one but it seemed like a hassle and something that you would rather have of your own. I might not use it all that much but it will be nice to have if I need it for a triathlon.

No tennis tonight due to the rain. I am making ham bone soup (kind of a yummy 15 bean type soup with a leftover ham bone) and some snowball cookies (you have probably had them before they are called everything from Mexican Wedding cakes to sand crescents to, well, snowball cookies). I love them. So easy.

Weekend Update

The original plan for Saturday involved a fun 5k (the Jingle Jog - what is not fun about a race that gives you jingle bells to attach to your shoes and where people dress in costume?). After getting an invite from a local group (Peachtree Tri Club) for a ride, I thought it might be divine intervention and through it would be stupid to pass it up. I had picked up a flyer from this group at the ING expo and had been thinking about joining up for a while. Besides getting a chance to meet the group, they were riding from a store about 2 miles from my house which meant I did not have to get up so early (in my world on a weekend, that is HUGE).

Rick put together my trainer Friday night and I gave it a quick test run. It had been several months since I rode on anything other than a stationary bike so it was a good chance to remind myself how to shift. (I'll say it for you, DUH!) I spent a few minutes testing out the trainer and tossed it all in the car for the morning ride.

Without taking you through every mile in painstaking detail, suffice it to say it was a great ride. I believe the official temperature was 28 degrees. It was cold. I must have dressed appropriately because the only place I felt the chill was my face. We went about 16 miles from the store and back. It was pretty hilly but a great chance to prove to myself that I can do this. I really had no problems at all shifting (in previous runs, I had a hard time figuring out what gear I needed to be in for the hills). I got some advice from one of the ride leaders on the downhill which was a HUGE help. There was some fear going in that I would be the last person in the group but the reality is I was in the middle most of the way and even close to the front at the end so at least I know I am not as pathetic as I might think at this biking thing! I came away from the ride with a lot of confidence and had a great time. I also ran into Sarah there. It was kind of ironic because someone said something about Mr. Cupcake (her husband) and I thought to myself, I know her! (well I read her blog...not to sound stalkerish) :)

The store, Tri Your Best, has been there for several months which is sad because I live around the corner and had no idea! (I live so close that we rode by my street on the last leg of the group ride). They have rides every Wednesday morning and Saturday morning. I will definitely go back :)

Post-ride, I had to bail out quickly as I had two tennis matches scheduled to round out the day. Won one, lost one. The one we won was a playoff so we move on in the bracket!

The downside to all this Saturday activity is that my scheduled 18 mile run suffered because of it. I KNOW I made the right decision going on the ride but my legs were feeling it this morning (did I mention the ride was hilly?). I will say most of the issue was mental, I have so many things I want to get done today - wrap presents, clean house, laundry, make divinity (it was a co-worker request) and other assorted baking. As I am running, I keep thinking of all the things I need to do and how much my legs aren't into this run and I finally just decided to stop. I got 8 of the scheduled 18 in. Part of the problem is that, prior to this weekend, I was using Saturday as a "rest" day. I had tennis but that isn't all that exerting (sorry tennis ladies... it is the truth) so I felt good to run on Sunday. After the ride and 2 matches, my legs were super tight. When I left the house I was pretty sure I wasn't going to be able to make the full distance. There was a lot of stopping on the hills today. At mile 7ish I was trying to convince myself to at least do one more 5 mile loop around the mountain. My legs and mind were having none of that trickery today. At 8 miles I was toast.

As the schedule oriented over-achiever, I am not certain how to get back on track. I think I may try to do a couple of longer than normal runs during the week and get back to 20 next Sunday. Not sure. I am trying not to freak out too much. I kind of felt behind already because of the stress fracture. The reality is I probably could make 26.1 now it just wouldn't be pretty. I really don't want to die on my 40th bday :) Rick offered to follow me around in the dark if I wanted to try and get a long run in during the week. Sweet but... I think I will come up with another plan.

OK - enough whining - off to make divinity! OH! did I mention that in looking over the race booklet, one of the food stops at the Disney marathon is candy. You gotta love Disney! The stops are something like water, gels, bananas, gatorade, etc. and then around mile 22ish there is candy. Funny. I like it!

I no longer despise biking.

I read that on someone's blog one time and thought, I wish I knew what that was like. Well today was the day. I crossed over to the "no longer despising side" YAY! Tell you more later.

I want to ride my bicycle ...

I want to ride my bike....

OK... I am bailing on the Jingle Jog previously planned for tomorrow. As it turns out earlier this week I got an invite for sort of meet and greet at a local tri club tomorrow morning. It is a tri club I was interested in joining so it worked out pretty darn well that the event is about 3 miles from the house. Kind of hard to turn it down. The event includes a 15ish mile bike ride which I am kind of nervous about. I know, what kind of toddler is nervous about riding a bike. Seriously. I think the face plant into the motorcycle at that tri still gives me flashbacks. I know. Get over it. Aside from that I am very excited as at the past couple of races I thought that having a group of friends would be great at some of these things.

On a related note, I got an early Christmas present which I dropped a big hint for so I love it when a plan comes together... I got a bike trainer! YAY! Super sweet!

I forgot my pants!

Seriously. It was bound to happen. Frenzied bag packing the night before going to the gym at 5:20ish am. Packing a bag of work clothes, another bag of tennis clothes, breakfast, lunch, snack before tennis. I was bound to forget something. I was hoping it would not be my pants! Somehow, I realized it as I was walking into the gym. Just a feeling. I confirmed that feeling in the locker room when I looked in my bag and there were no pants to be found. DOH! hmmmm.... what to do....

Two options. 1. Go home and change and incur the wrath of crazy time keeping boss by being an hour or more late. Downside - unpredictably tempered boss could lead to mental pain for the entire day or longer. 2. Wear the black yoga pants I have in my tennis bag and hope the top dresses it all up enough to pull it off. Downside - wearing form fitting yoga pants all day is a little unprofessional and I might get sent home to change by the dress code gestapo...

I opted for the yoga pants and stayed in my office most of the day only getting up when necessary so as to go unnoticed by the dress code police. sigh..... It worked like a charm but I did feel oddly uncomfortable all day thinking that people were wondering what was up with the tight pants and just not saying anything to me. Paranoid and proud, that is me. For the record, they were not compression tights - I am not an idiot :) If that were the case, I would have definitely gone home!

On the bright side - there is a meet and greet for a triathlon club literally 3 miles from my house on Satruday so I am very excited... will fill you in later.

Its baaaack!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

the day the reality of long runs set in...

You know, I thought what I had done before seemed like long runs. Not so. Today was a long run. (or long in my book). The reality of how long 17 miles is and how long that might actually take to run hit me like a brick wall today. My last long run post-stress fracture was 13 miles last week so 17 was probably stretching it but I have about 4 weeks to Disney and really wanted to get the miles up there in the next 3 weeks so I could do a shorter distance run the last weekend before Disney. I have been playing catch up ever since the doctor released me to start running again so I think this weekend should put me back on schedule. Seventeen miles is probably a stretch going from a distance of 13 so I hope I don't regret this later this week (or later tonight, or in a few minutes when I try to get up from this chair...).

In all honesty, the hardest part - as usual - is getting out of the house to do it. Not doing it was not an option as a three plus hour run can only be done on the weekend and today is Sunday. I knew it might be mentally difficult to keep running for 17 miles without a group for distraction. (I couldn't meet with the group yesterday as the timing didn't work out my tennis match so I was on my own today). Given it was all about self motivation today, I had 4 different options for routes in my head. I finally settled on Stone Mountain thinking that I could at least stop at the car every 5 miles and get a drink, GU Gel, whatever. Even as I rolled in to the parking lot at Stone Mountain at about 9:15 I was debating which routes within the park I would run. I finally opted for 3 loops around the mountain with an extra couple of miles tacked on the end and then walk back to the car to cool down.

Miles 1 through 5 were OK, mostly just trying to warm up. It was 40ish and windy this morning which normally I think is perfect running weather but is chilly once you get started. I stopped at mile 5, quick drink of Gatorade and gel and kept going. (Oh, quick stop at the bathroom, made the mistake of looking in the mirror - you know I really should run a brush through my hair before I run!) I felt really good on miles 6 through 10. I have no idea why. Maybe all the conditioning is paying off and that leg is no longer torture. Stopped again at mile 10 for another drink and a gel. Miles 11 - 14 still felt good. I think I had that "i am on the last loop" high. At around mile 14.5 I was really feeling it (and probably this is why all the plans only increase mileage by 1-2 miles a week...). My knees were starting to hurt, my crazy big toe joint (I am pretty sure that is the medical name for it) was hurting. The wheels weren't really falling off the cart but the run went from comfort mode to "let's just finish this thing" mode. I FINALLY made it to 17 and started the 1.5ish mile walk back to the car. In retrospect, a dumb idea. It is still 40ish and windy. I don't run in a jacket just a long sleeve tech shirt and knee tights. I cooled down pretty quick and could not convince my legs to run to the car to warm up (darn legs have a mind of their own...) so it was a pretty darn cold walk back to the car. BRRRRRR... The run today was right around 3 hours by the time I got back to my car including the walk.

The run wasn't all torture, don't get me wrong, it was really just that last little bit. I was happy that I felt good right up to the end and honestly, that was my own fault for trying to tack on too much mileage. On the up side, I have gotten really good at attacking the hills from running at Stone Mountain (trust, me there are plenty of them - if you run one direction it is slightly less uphill but for some reason I decided to run the extra hilly way today). I think what works best is to just look down and keep your normal pace and not even look up until you think you are almost there. I know some people have little mantras they repeat when going up a hill. For me, I just put my head down and keep going like it is flat pavement.

I was also working on taking it easy and pacing. I really don't want to start out fast at Disney and expend all my energy in the first half. I would like to run the whole way without long walking breaks if possible. I have been reading a lot of race reports that talk about how surprised runners are that most people are walking at mile 22ish. I want to still feel good to run at that point so I think pacing will be important. I want to enjoy it and not kill myself. It will be my birthday after all!

Not much else to report. I got some major cleaning done downstairs yesterday - FINALLY moved some items upstairs that needed to be moved oh - I don't know - maybe three years ago. ahhhh... DONE! I am doing some cookie baking this afternoon in what time is left after my all morning running adventure. Tomorrow is boot camp in the AM, tennis in the PM. Oh! I made the mistake of looking at my 401k account Friday. For the love of God, don't do it! I am not naive, I know the market is waaaaay down. I just had chosen not to calculate what that might mean to me personally. All I can say is WOW. I will not look at it again. Maybe until I retire.

Time for new shoes...

I had to break down and buy a new pair of running shoes today. My best guess is I probably have between 400-450 miles on them and the tread was starting to show wear so it was time. I had good luck with this last pair so went with the same kind only new :)

Not much else to report.... Although, subconsciously I must have some worry going on about Disney. I had a dream last night that I was at Disney and they were pressuring me to buy all these things like running shoes and clothes. It was stressing me out - so much so that I woke up in one of those panics where it takes forever to get back to sleep. I may be the only person in the world to have a nightmare about the "happiest place on earth".

I ran 3 miles today. It was supposed to be 5 according to plan. Oh well... I was tired. Boot camp tomorrow! I am excited to go back. I skipped Wednesday because I literally had worked my triceps so hard on Monday that I could not bend my arms. OUCH!

Nothing like tennis in the winter!

I headed out tonight for yet another match. With this rain this weekend, I have tennis for the next four nights which, combined with boot camp and my running plan in the mornings makes for a long day. Tonight's match was particularly brutal as it was in the low 40s. Yes, we play outdoors. No, we don't have indoor courts. Tennis is a year round event in Atlanta. It does get cold here but not cold enough to hae an abundance of indoor courts around town. I can think of maybe 2 or 3 in the entire metro area. So you play in the cold or you take the season off and sit inside. I chose playing in the cold.

Tonight was one of those matches where you wonder if you are burning the candles a little too far on both ends to be effective. I just didn't play that well AT ALL. I felt tired (and I guess who wouldn't after getting up at 4:44 and starting the day with a boot camp workout). It was just frustrating because you see your friends getting better and moving on but I stay in the same level, hovering near the top of my division but never quite finishing it off. It is just the reality of having too many things I am trying to accomplish at one time so I can't give enough attention to one or the other to really excel. I feel like I have whined about this to the blogworld before... So. boo hoo me. I am over it now. Just the reality of needing to let one of the tennis leagues go so I have some time to actually rest and not drag my lifeless body from one activity to another. Maybe one day I will take my own advice and take a break. Maybe... someday.

Oh! Boot camp instructor. I really like him. Today he recounted all the foods he made for Thanksgiving dinner. A trainer that eats real food on occasion - nice! The only downside is I have this craving for sausage balls that is not going away... I am not sure what region(s) of the country know the delicious goodness of a sausage ball but I have met several midwesterners who have never had this little bite of heaven. Basically, it is sausage, bisquick and cheese formed into bite size balls and baked. YUMMMMMY!

Double oh! On another front, I realized tonight that my Get Fit Club meets through April so I might be able to get some long runs in with them before Disney which is sweet because who really wants to run for 3 to 4 hours by themselves? That might take a little more focus than I might have. The downside is they run on Saturday mornings across town which kind of conflicts with ... tennis. Yes, the conflict again. I may have to sit myself out of the lineup a week or two to get a run in. We'll see. I'm excited to find out this nugget of information as I thought I had fallen too far behind when I had my stress fracture to keep running with them.

Tomorrow. 6 miles according to Hal Higdon, tennis practice at night.