Happy New Year!

Most of the world celebrates the new year on January 1st. For me, my new year begins on January 12th. My birthday is January 11th so my "birthday season" starts with Thanksgiving and rolls right on through January 11th. Sometimes, if I am not in a mood to stop the holiday eating just yet feeling particularly festive, I carry it right on through MLK's birthday which as a bank employee is yet another day off for me. Cry me a river. Let's just say this year, I am ready to shed the stress, drama, unfinished plans and cancelled race dates that became 2009 and move on with a fantastic new year! Either that or I stepped on the scale this morning and was horrified at the number that appeared. Perhaps it was a combination of them both some of which can be attributed to the strawberry cake with strawberry buttercream icing that I made for myself for my birthday. Oh my it was good.

This year, the focus will be on living clean and simple. One of my biggest problems in life is that I try to do way too much. I have a problem with saying no to people (including myself) and end up either doing things I never really wanted to in the first place or trying to stick to training plans that are just completely unrealistic and I end up getting frustrated and don't enjoy it. My newly cleaned calendar will consist of only 3 races this year. THREE. Hard to believe but it is tough love baby. Active.com you can send me all the enticing emails you want to sign up for your races but you will not entice me. My races have been chosen and I am sticking to my guns. Oh wait. Make that four races... I do love that Thanksgiving Half. OK, 4 races this year. FOUR.

My big goal for the year will be to just get back into the enjoyment of running. Not that I DON'T enjoy it now, I guess that is misleading but after sticking to so many training schedules over the past 2 years it started to become more of a 'have to' instead of a 'want to'. To start the year off right with running just for fun, I plan to run 11 miles of enjoyment tomorrow on my birthday. My own 11 on the 11th. The only big event I am training for next year will be the Goofy Challenge in January of 2011. Registration opens tomorrow at noon so that will be my birthday gift to myself. I am over the top with anticipation to sign up. I hope I feel the same when the race rolls around!

My new clean and simple living plan also extends outside of my exercise life and into my home. I am planning to spend at least a few hours tomorrow ridding myself of excess. I have so many things that I have not used in years. Clothes, household goods, you name it. I am one of those people that keeps things just in case. You never know when you might need that Freshman Composition book or those clothes from 1992. I know... I am hoping the purging will feel very freeing as opposed to very traumatic. I know hubby will be beside himself with glee once I get rid of it all. Wish me luck. :)

Of fire jumping and ice cold tennis...

Y'all! I came across the scariest coolest event that is a must do for my calendar in 2010. Yeah, I know, I have a lot of "must dos" and more often than not lately I manage to not do them BUT this one is so different, you have to try it, right?

It is the warrior dash. Basically a 5k with 13 obstacles added in for good measure. No ordinary obstacles. Think fire jumping, leap frogging across platforms on a lake, scurrying through a muddy pit under barbed wire, climbing cargo nets, weaving through submerged logs, rappeling. That sort of thing. Why would I think of doing such a thing? As any self respecting lady would, I am all about the gift with purchase. Not only do you get a medal, you get a "warrior helmet".

Check it out... shirt, medal and helmet.



I am not 100% certain how one trains for such a thing. This is the official training regimen as listed on their site. Not exactly the Hal Higdon method I am used to but you have to love it.

How do I train for Warrior Dash?

1. Day one: run as far as you can. Go home. Day two: do the same thing.

2. Find the dirtiest pond in your neighborhood and snorkel in it - in your slippers, without goggles.

3. Practice your climbing and crawling skills at your local jungle gym. Ignore the small children and parental glares.

4. Do not shower or shave for weeks in order to obtain a true Warrior look.

The race is May 22nd so I have plenty of time to work on my scaling and climbing, right?

In other news.... This weekend was the first weekend of our mixed tennis league. For those non-tennis folks, that is doubles, men and women. It was FREEZING. Of course, those of you who are used to such chilly conditions may scoff but to play outdoor tennis in 28 degrees is FREEZING by my standards. My match lasted 3 hours and then there were another three hours standing in the FREEZING weather watching the other lines on the team finish up. All in all we won. WOO HOO! It was definitely not a cute tennis outfit day but more dress to survive the elements. I am the one in the pink hat with the blanket fashioned into a skirt.

This was before the sense of how cold it would be really hit us.


This was 6 hours later


At this point, I had lost all feeling in my feet :)


Gotta run! I have ham bone soup on the stove and cornbread in the oven. YUM-O!

Nothing but blue skies...

Today was the perfect ending to a nice long weekend. We don't have big family gatherings for Christmas. Our Christmas Eve is usually our family get together and then Christmas Day is mostly lounging around the house watching TV and eating a variety of leftovers. While working for a bank can have its advantages throughout the year in terms of every banking holiday off, at Christmas, I am always jealous of those who work for businesses who take the last two weeks of the year or even just Christmas Eve off. Either way, I made the most of my three day weekend and enjoyed the perfect mix of family, lounging and getting things done around the house.

Over the past week or so, I have started to get back into the momentum of a regular workout. My schedule at the tennis club is Monday and Friday nights and then all day Saturday. For the first couple of weeks after taking on this second job I was struggling trying to figure out how to fit a workout into my day. I call it "struggling" others may call it "sleeping in instead of working out". Tomato, tomahto.

What I have learned is that this schedule will require much more determination than before. In the past, I would get up early knowing I could go to bed early to make up for it most nights. Now, I can't always go to bed early if I am tired but still need to get up and get a workout in so bribing myself with extra sleep is gone. (Yes, I have to bribe myself. Sometimes I fall for it, sometimes I don't.) I considered maybe working out after work but at that point I am mostly just interested in going home. For now, I think I am just going to tough it out and try to stick to the same schedule I was on before job number two. I haven't been 100% successful at getting up at the exact time I wanted each day but HAVE been successful in making it to the gym which is half the battle for now. I have gotten in several short runs this week topped off by two runs at Stone Mountain yesterday and today so am feeling very much back on track which is a good feeling. Tomorrow the plan is to do a short run followed by a swim workout.

I am still a little sad to miss the Disney Marathon this year but am excited about doing the Goofy Challenge in 2011. I also am thinking of working in the Iron Girl this summer along with a few other local races. I am feeling good about 2010. I think going into the New Year, my goal will be to incorporate swimming back into my workouts at least once a week as well as strength training. Swimming will be a piece of cake since I love it so much but the strength training will require me to get over myself and go use the machines or weights at the gym. I still have that weird high school feeling at the gym that I am out of place in the weight area. I know... stupid. I have tried the P90X and know people who LOVE it beyond belief but I am on the fence about it. I think I need something that involves leaving the house as opposed to taped instruction. I haven't given up on the concept but am not sure it is my thing. For now, I will give the machines at the gym another try.

I also am going to try for more of this in 2010


Clementines. Seriously, as much as I love tangerines and navel oranges, how did I go 40 years without trying one of these? All I can say, is thank you Spain for sending us these little jewels in the cute wooden box!


and less of this...





I believe I have eaten my weight in peppermint ice cream since I discovered it a few weeks ago. (OK, maybe not that much but we have had more than a carton or two...) Add that to the red velvet cupcakes and 8 million varieties of Christmas cookies. Just so we are clear, I am not giving up these delicious treats just consuming them with a little more moderation. Let's not get crazy. :)

Side note, I may be a little too good at hiding the sweets in my house from Rick. In my cleaning on Saturday, I came across a box of cookies I had stashed on top of the refigerator in October. Amazingly enough, they still looked quite fresh although I had no interest in trying them. At what age does senility start setting in? I am pretty sure it might be 40!

Have a good week!

I guess the changes in life are what make it interesting...

As always, the year seems to be drawing to an end before it ever even really gets started. Around the corner is 2010. Amazing. This year has definitely been one of change and of unexpected happenings in my life. It started off with a bang with my being able to finish the Disney Marathon for my 40th birthday and then just became a whirlwind of challenges in a variety of ways from that point on. (Not to sidetrack but this is starting to sound like a New Year's resolution type post, isn't it?). So many things have happened that I normally would blog about since my last post on November 11 but the whirlwind continues to swirl and just haven't had the time or energy to give this the attention I would like.

As far as races go, the last big race was the Atlanta Half Marathon on Thanksgiving. I had a blast at the race but not because of the running. I volunteered at 2 shifts during race weekend and had a great time giving back a little to the running community. My first shift was at packet pickup on Wednesday. I was part of the crew handing out the race numbers. The Atlanta Marathon (and half) have about 11,000 runners so the packet pick up is stretched out over a couple of days. I really enjoyed seeing the excited runners coming to set the their number. Some of them were running a half for the first time and were nervous chatting about their expectations and whether they felt ready, not sure what to expect, that sort of thing.

Shift two was a little more of a challenge as I had to be at the race start at 5 AM for bag check. The volunteer site said that you could volunteer at bag check if you were racing but in all honesty I didn't feel like I did all that much to help. Race morning was particularly cold and runners were holding on to their bags until about 6:45 (the race started at 7:00). By that time, I was leaving myself to get in my corral. Side note, all those races throughout the year paid off. Last year I was in the last corral. This year I was up in corral three. Progress. :)

My race time was 2:01. Not my best, not my worst. I wasn't expecting a stellar time as I had not been able to train like I had leading upo to previous races. As long as I hover around the 2:00 hour mark, I am good to go. OK, if I was being completely honest, I would prefer to hover on the inside of the 2 hour mark but whatever...

At this point, it is looking like Disney is not going to happen for me this year. I have taken a 2nd job to help make ends meet. It is making it tough to get in long runs on the weekend not to mention the expense of just going down to Disney in general is not adding up for me. The good news is that job #2 is at a tennis and fitness facility so at least it is somewhat interesting despite the fact that it is cutting into my training. Unless something changes, I think my current plan will be to scrap any out of town races in 2010 and just save up to do the Goofy Challenge in 2011. Pray that the financial picture in my household changes in 2010!

Have a great week! I do have other things to blog on and on and on about of course but will spare your eyes until next time :)

Make mine a double...

Happy Veterans Day! Thanks to all the veterans for your sacrifice, past and future!

My double header was quite the adventure. The adventure being more in terms of logistics than anything else. Race number one was about 45 minutes from home, race number two was a two hour drive. All in all it was a great day. The weather could not have been more perfect and I had a couple of fun races.

My day started out incredibly early as I headed to Lake Spivey for the 15k. For whatever reason I had it in my head that the race course was flat. Luckily, I noticed in a pre-race email from the director that the course was "challenging" so was mentally prepared for something other than a pancake flat race. I wasn't sure what exactly but they don't throw out words like "challenging" in an advertisement unless they mean it.

The race was very low-key. You could park right next to the number distribution and start line. One of the requirements of a perfect race allows you to park within 50 feet of the start/finish, don't you agree? About 10 minutes before the start, everyone starts making their way to the start. I am guessing *maybe* 250 runners are braving the 40-degree weather this Saturday morning with me.

The start is a long sloping uphill, at the time I thought that was kind of cruel but quickly came to realize that was the least of the hills on this course. I can honestly say it was the hilliest race I have ever run. It was constant rollers as we made our way through the neighborhoods and around the lake. I loved the scenery and actually loved the course as well. The director was correct, it was challenging. I ran every hill and loved every minute of it. The participation was so minimal that there were stretches were I could not see another runner. It was like being on a training run.

At the end, they had Chik-fil-a biscuits for the post-race offering. I believe it was the best biscuit I ever had. Isn't it funny how they can give you stale toast at the end of a race and you would still think it was the best food ever? (not that the biscuit was the equivalent of stale toast...) One of my friends told me once they were given some kind of lukewarm ramen noodles at race end and they could not enough of them. At any other time, I am certain anyone would think that they were disgusting. (Not that ramen noodles don't have a warm place in my heart - how can you not love food that is 6 packs for $1?). The results have not been posted yet. I believe my time was somewhere around 1:29. I didn't set the course on fire but kept a steady pace throughout. Do I get points for consistency?

Upon arriving back home, I grabbed a quick nap, shower and then fueled up for the second race. As I mentioned, Callaway Gardens is close to two hours from home so I had to hit the road in order to get there for the "twilight" start of 4:00. (I had wondered why they started at 4:00 since you might not be able to see the Christmas lights all that well. As it turned out, they have to be wrapped up by 6:00. Now we know.). I got to Callaway Gardens around 3:15. Another drive up to the registration kind of race. Cha-ching. Two in a row!

I had not been to Callaway Gardens since August of 1977. I remember the date because while we there, Elvis died. No, he did not die there but I remember my aunt gasping as she heard the news on the TV that night. I have a weird memory for random things. It may not make me rich but I can come in handy in a trivia game. Surprisingly, the beach area where the registration was being held had not changed at all since 1977.

I picked up my number, tossed my t-shirt and goody bag in the car and grabbed a last minute granola bar before the race. The start was a 1/3 mile walk from the parking area. I thought that a little odd at the time but in retrospect it is probably the only way they could mark off 6.2 miles and end up somewhere near a large building for the pre and post race gatherings.

A view from the right of the start


and the left of the start


Did I mention it was pet friendly? His legs don't seem long enough to go 6.2...


I enjoyed this race as well. I just kind of went on cruise control and enjoyed the run. Despite the 4:00 start, the lights were visible throughout so there were plenty of photo ops. My only regret was around mile 4 I felt like I hit a wall for a second. Just incredibly hungry. I am not sure I fueled up enough for the race and had not brought any jelly beans or gel with me thinking it was a 6 miler and I should not need them. Luckily, there were water stops every 1.5 miles and they were heavy handed with the gatorade mix so I grabbed 2 cups at each of the last two water stops and no longer had an issue. When I got to the end, there was not a lot in the way of food so I grabbed an apple and a banana for the ride home. Yes, that apple was the best I had ever tasted. Ironically, it happened to be my new favorite variety that I just discovered a couple weeks back, Jazz. Yum.

My race time was right around 59 minutes. I am pretty sure I am destined to be a pace leader as my comfort pace is 9:30 to 9:45 and I could run it consistently mile after mile without the aid of a watch to keep me on pace. I should just start bringing my own pace sign to the races and see how many people I can get to run with me.

The race was lovely. Perfect fall weather and the temperature of 70 degrees was quite a contrast from the morning's race of 40 degrees. Enjoy the pics and have a great week!

A Saturday Double Header...

I have big plans for tomorrow all of which start with going to bed crazy early tonight. I know, living large on a Friday night. Don't hate. For a reason that remains to be seen, I though the idea of running two races in one day seemed like a fun challenge a month or so ago. Tick tock. The races are tomorrow.

In the morning, I have the Lake Spivey 15k. It is supposed to be lovely and scenic and the race director's reminder e-mail described it as challenging. Hmmm.... I think I always go into these things hopig they will be flat. Challenging as an adjective for the race does not inspire. Is that lazy? I will say it for you, YES that is lazy. :)

In the afternoon, I have the Callaway Gardens Twilight 10k. The draw for this run is that Callaway Gardens has a hugely popular light display for Christmas and this run is the week before it opens. The course runs through the same paths the cars take to view the lights. As a girl who dearly loves all things Christmas, I had to sign up.

In the evening, I plan to catch some more zzz's as I will be completely wasted from race-a-palooza of the day. Can't wait!!!! Have a great Friday :)

Tough Girls Wear Skirts...

About a week ago, I received an email forwarded to me about a sale at skirt sports. I think it is a holdover from my tennis love affair but I am a skirt runner. I have shorts too but I love running skirts. In the winter, however, the running skirt is not all that practical. I have spandex type knee pants that I generally wear but didn't really have any full length pants that I felt comfortable in for running. They all made my legs resemble that a sausage link and that really isn't the look I am trying to achieve. Not that the sweaty body, head band, no make up look that I go with when running is either but...


Back to the sale... Buy $75 at Skirt Sports get a tough girl skirt free. I checked out their site and the skirt is normally $90 so a pretty good deal! CHA-CHING. I opted to buy a tough girl and then get a spare for free. Lord knows I can't be washing the skirt every day so I at least need 2, right? I placed my order. I had my doubts. Were they going to be too short, too long, too shiny? These are the things that bother me...

Y'all, I got my package today. LOVE THEM with a capital LOVE. The skirt has boot cut clingy type pants. Not real spandex but clingy enough to provide warmth. I cannot wait to wear them. The material is soft like buttah and extremely comfortable with an ipod pocket under the skirt. It comes in 3 colors, pink, navy and black. I am all about the black so both of mine are in that color. Mine is a small and seemed very true to size. I generally can wear a small off the rack without any issues and this was no exception. If you are in the market for some running pants with a cute little skirt for extra booty coverage, give these a look. I might have to give them a go tomorrow night for tennis :) Too bad they don't have a ball pocket.