DECEMBER 25th

Wishing you all a merry Christmas and a happy new year.

ONE MORE RUN

Well the weather took a turn and it went from 75 yesterday to 38 this morning with rain. Not weather I want to run in so I headed for the gym, haven't been there in sometime. I was dreading walking on the treadmill but picked one at the far end and started out. Did 3.75 miles and then went home.
It is now afternoon and the rain has turned to snow, beautiful flakes drifting down. They say we could have from a trace to 2 inches.

JINGLE BELL RUN

I have to admit I was a bit reluctant to do this race. Running at night in December, I was thinking cold, cold cold. How was I to know it would be 68 at race time.

Christy, Allie and I are ready to get this race going. Allie was doing the 1 mile fun run with grandpa and Christy and I were doing the 5K.

Before the race I had time to tell Santa that I've been good this year.

We lined up at the start. There were lots of people with kids and pets and one black lab almost tripped me before the race had even started.

Santa and friends started the race and we began running in the dark. I wasn't sure I liked this. I was trying to watch the road for any pot holes and trying not to get run over by baby strollers. Christy and I started together but soon got separated. Once some of the crowd thinned out it got better. The run seemed easy, maybe it was because it was in the dark and I couldn't see how far I had to go. I saw the three mile marker and was able to see the time on my Garmin as I passed under a street light, WOO HOO, I might make a PR ! I picked up my pace.

Whew ! I finished with a PR !!! Time was 37:31. Notice I got warm and shed the Jingle Run shirt so my husband didn't get a picture of me crossing the finish line because he was looking for a white shirt.

After the race we went to the ballroom in the Anatole hotel and enjoyed pizza and beer.

This turned out to be a great race. Thanks Christy for making me sign up.

SMELLS LIKE CHRISTMAS

We are still being blessed with this mild weather and it's hard to think about baking when it's so warm out, however I did send my husband out for more butter so I could do some more cookies. I had another great walk today getting 4.74 miles in. I'm so close to my goal of 500 miles for the year. I guess you could say I'm walking my cookies off.

CHRISTMAS PRESENT

My children are all grown and so I have no one to take to see Santa except my sweet little dogs. I don't think they enjoyed it as much as my children did.

Today was gym day with Jillian's cards. I wasn't able to do some because they required me to jump and I figured that wouldn't be such a good idea. After Christy and I finished the circuits we had cardio to do. She wanted to go up on the treadmills but it was another beautiful day and I convinced her that we should go outside. I'm glad we did, it is like Spring out. We walked 5.22 miles.

CHRISTMAS PAST

What a beautiful day we are having. Earlier we went into Dallas and signed up for the Jingle Bell Run on the evening of the 22nd. Christy and I will do the 5K and Tom and Allie will do the 1 mile fun run. By the time we got home the temperature was around 56 so it was the perfect time to go for a walk.
Christy and I did 4 miles on the trails.

Now I have cookie dough waiting in the frig to be baked.

SIMILAR

I found this picture of Jenny and it looks like she is trying to run a race or maybe just run away from her dad and great grandfather. But look at how much it looks like her last race... She was born to run !

Maybe the arms are a bit higher in the air and there are lots more runners behind her. She is such an inspiration.
I went out today and did over 5 miles.Later in the day I had an appointment with the eye doctor. I have some floaters and thought I should get them checked out. I asked if running could aggravate them and he said " You probably shouldn't' run for at least a week but you can walk. This really bums me out as I have only 37.65 miles left to reach my goal of 500 miles for the year. I guess I will just have to walk it.

WHITE ROCK MARATHON

I was not the runner today, I was here to cheer on Jenny doing her second marathon. My job was SPECTATOR. I still had to get up early and an error in setting my clock caused an even earlier wake up time. I checked the weather and it was foggy and 48. Brrr. glad I wasn't running. We had about a 45 minute wait before Jenny lined up.

Race Time. We watched her pass us at the start and then headed for the car to find our next spot.
Thanks to Mark and Tom for great directions and driving.

One job of the spectator is being out there to hold up your signs.

And to take articles of clothing when they are no longer wanted or needed. Here come the gloves!


At the finish line you are there to cheer them in. Jenny finished with a PR and a time of 3:41:57. Looks like she's on her way to Boston in 2011!


Last spectator duty was giving directions to Sprinkles Bakery so we could all pick out our very own cupcake. I chose the coconut one. YUM!

SUN TODAY !!!

After five days of gray sky's, the sun finally poked its head out of the clouds. It didn't matter that it was four in the afternoon I was just excited to get back outside and run. Being in the fresh air felt so good. I ran my trails to Kids Kastle and then did some laps around the park and the little pond. Even the ducks seemed happy to see the sun. Total miles for today 4.05

CARDIO, COOKIES AND READING

I can't let the cold weather cause me to miss workouts. Today is Sunday and that means gym day with the Jillian cards. I mixed up all the workout cards and told Christy to pick one. Workout 4. It didn't look too bad. There were 5 circuits with a lot of concentration on the back. I have trouble with the back kicks with shoulder press. You need a lot of balance to do this but some how I manage to get through it. After we finished we went upstairs to do cardio. I did 3 miles on the treadmill.

I have my first batch of Christmas cookie dough in the frig. Hoping to bake them this afternoon and have the house filled with the aroma of fresh baked ginger cookies. Maybe while the cookies are baking I can start reading "The Help" by Kathryn Stockett, I just picked this up Friday at the library. My sister said it was a great read.

THANKS

Thanks to the cold spell we have been having I have skipped my runs and stayed inside grumbling how cold it is. BRR!
Thanks to the cold spell I have gotten my Christmas cards all ready to mail on Monday morning.
Thanks to the cold spell I have probably gained five pounds because I keep eating thinking that will make me warm.

IT HAPPENED !

Last night the weatherman was predicting rain with a chance of snow, usually when they forecast this it never happens. It happened!!! I awoke this morning to the sound of rain but as the morning got lighter the rain changed to snow and for about an hour we had the ground covered and fluffy white flakes falling from the sky.
I knew it would be too wet to run outside and also too cold plus I needed to get to the gym and do some weights. I headed up around 10, did the workout from The Abs Diet For Women by David Zinczenko book and then did 3.25 miles on the treadmill.

END OF NOVEMBER

Can't believe that it is the last day of November and it's only 25 days until Christmas. We had such beautiful weather over the weekend, we were able to get the out door lights up and most of the decorating inside done. Sunday while the weather was still in the 60's I went out for a short run of 2.75 miles. This morning I thought I should take advantage of another nice day and get a run in. Managed to do 4.95.

FORT WORTH TURKEY TROT

For the last two years we have done the Dallas Turkey Trot but this year I didn't feel like running 8 miles so we switched to the race in Fort Worth which was a 10K. For five dollars more we got to upgrade from a long sleeve cotton shirt to a tech shirt. We left the house at 7:15 and when we arrived at the race site the temp was a chilly 48.

We were looking for portapotties but found the flag for the start of the race. Never did find them until we crossed the finish line. I even heard someone comment that they had never been to race that didn't have portapotties! So I guess I wan't the only one searching.

I was liking this race before it ever started. They were giving out free hot chocolate so I ditched the cup of Starbucks I had gotten free and opted for the chocolate. Can't believe I dumped a Starbucks out.

This was a great course through some beautiful neighborhoods. There were lots of people out cheering and we asked a nice lady if she would take our picture.

There were more hills on this course than I thought there would be and so I was glad to see the big turkey at the finish line. I crossed the finish line with a time of 1:24:10, good enough to take third place in my age group. We had a great time running together and will definitely do this next year.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

TURKEY DAY

Tomorrow is the big day and a lot of people I know are doing a Turkey Trot race. Good luck to all. Christy and I are going to try the race in Ft. Worth this year. We'll be doing a 10K.
I figured I better get out and do an easy run/walk this afternoon. Of course I was dressed to warm( had my Disney 1/2 shirt on) and I waited to late to go out. I did manage to get 3.65 miles in, that's better than nothing.
We have been having gorgeous weather but that is suppose to change by Sunday.

BOX JUMPS OR FALLING

Today was as nice as when I was in Dessert Palms. Just the perfect weather, a slight breeze and the warmth of the sun. I went out on the trails and there were quite a few people out, I guess because school is out for the week. I was a little sore this morning and I didn't know if it was from doing box jumps yesterday or falling over Allie last night, but I figured the run would help get the kinks out. I did 5.21 miles today.

5 DAYS

Thanksgiving is coming fast, 5 days until the big food event. So now it is really important to get to the gym and get the runs in. Christy and I had our Jillian workout today. We were able to do all of it in the class room away from the other people working out. I'm
sure when I do some of her exercises it's not a pretty site, especially the mountain climbers. After we went through all the circuits we did our box jumps. I can definitely see that we have improved on those! Box jumps done now it was upstairs for some cardio before we headed home.

FALL WEATHER

Today's weather really seemed like Fall weather, there was no sun shinning and the temp was a cool 58. I waited til noon before I went out, hoping that the sun would pop out and warm things up but no such luck. I ran the trails in the neighborhood but reversed the course and added a new loop. When I came past Kids Kastle there was music playing and a lady was setting up a table with fresh fruit another person was setting up orange cones. I thought, what's going on and then I remembered the grade school was having a turkey trot today.

Miles run 5.50

AWARD

Sheila from one persons journey through a world of books gave me this award this week. Thanks Sheila. I am suppose to write ten honest things about me.

1. I love to read, mostly fiction and cookbooks.
2. I love to bake especially at the holidays.
3. Honestly I like to run but sometimes I don't love it.
4. I only knew my husband for 3 months before we got married yet we've been together for 44 years.
5. I have a nursing degree but I've never been a nurse but it sure came in handy with 4 kids.
6. I been to all but 4 states in the U.S. Can you guess which 4 I haven't been to.
7. I've been to over 10 countries.
8. I'm a shoeaholic and just picked up 12 pair this week.
9. I love chocolate and have been known to stash it in my underwear drawer. But it has to be good chocolate I'm a chocolate snob.
10. I make the best sticky buns ever according to my family.

SUNDAYS WORKOUT

Time to get serious again and back in the groove of working out. Christy and I grabbed the Jillian cards and headed for the gym. We were back to the first card and I remember how hard it was the first time we tried to do it. Today seemed easier and we definitely had a better idea of what to do and how to do it. After the weights we headed upstairs for twenty minutes on the treadmill.

Yesterday the temperature was only 48 and the wind was really blowing so I went to the gym and did my run on the treadmill. I have a little over a 100 miles to go to reach my goal of 500 miles for the year.

SPEEDWAY 10K

This race took place at the Texas Motor Speedway where all the big car races are. We drove in and were directed to the parking areas down by the garages.

How cool is this with the track and stands above me!

The race started with a Porsche leading us. We had to go down this hill under the track and then out to the road that runs around the stadium for 5 miles and then back down the hill, through the tunnel and up the hill and back toward the garages to the finish. As I was coming back in I could hear the cars racing on the track and I stopped to get a look as they went roaring past above me.
The weather was perfect for running and I was glad because there was no shade on the course.

These are some of the cars that were racing .

I finished with a 1:22:19 time which was a PR for me for a 10K. I received one of the first place tiles. This was a great race and we'll look forward to running it next year.

WHERE WAS I ?

Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.This was the first stop on our 12 day road trip to California and back.

What you can't see in the picture is the great cafe across the street that had the best blueberry pie, still warm from the oven.

Can't stop in Phoenix without a trip to the Heard museum.

This sign says it all !

Woo Hoo ! We arrived in California on day 4.

Balboa Park in San Diego.

Oceanside Beach, we ate at the diner at the end of the pier.

Seal Beach. La Jolla. I felt like this after my lunch yesterday at Oceanside.

We had a great trip and even managed to get some runs in. The weather was perfect, the sky was blue and you just can't not like California. However today I am back in Texas and had to get a run done as I have a 10K race on Saturday. Did 5.75 miles outside.

ARRIVED

We finally arrived at Carlsbad on Thursday afternoon. Had a chance to catch up with a lot of family I hadn't seen in some time.

This morning Amy, Kelsea ( my nephews daughter) and I headed to the beach to get a walk in. We thought it would be a nice flat beach, wrong. We had to carefully climb down a steep cliff and then because the tide was coming in we were only able to walk on the stoney beach.

Total miles for the week are 13.92!