Still on my awesome week off and non-stop activities! I have a minute before we start a record session of Wii! I wanted to catch up on a couple of things, I've been such a bad blogger this week, but I have a good excuse right :-) First of all I had a blast with the Christamas Card exchange with five wonderful fellow bloggers whom I now am keeping up with at:
There some very creative and festive cards I loved it!!
Then with Jill's gift exchange I got this awesome gift from Caratunkgirl, it has a flash mode and a glow mode and you can wrap it around your arm or leg, thanks!!
Last but not least my hubby took me to Wolf Creek for 2 awesome days of skiing as my gift!!!
Now I've gotta try to catch up with everyone and the fun still isn't over! I hope I'm able to get a New Year's post in...
What exciting news do you have? Let me know I want to go read about it!
So I have been super busy and loving every minute of it. I managed to sneak this post in because I couldn't sleep so I came out here to do this while the house is still quiet. So much fun in so little time! I'll mainly do this one as a wordless post since the pics speak for themselves.
1st Running Club's Holiday Party
Goodies, I took a pair of running socks!
Eating yummy Italian food, the baked polenta was awesome!
It's not a running club without skinny Santa!
2nd we got another round of snow just before Christmas and had to take advantage of it!
We all love the snow!
Sledding was not the best idea here...
We love hiking and snow makes it even funner!
3rd My friends decided to do a Christmas Eve beer run where you ran a 1 mile loop then stoppped to drink a beer between each lap, the person to complete the most laps in 90 minutes wins. I wasn't going to participate the plan was just to say Hi to my friends but with a little peer pressure before I new it I was on my 9th lap! My friend Gwen is a way faster runner but apparantly college paid off for me becuase I was a way faster chugger! This also counted as my Virtual 5k with Daily Vitamin F~
Before we started waiting for everyone in the COLD, brrr!
Gwen realizing I was actually participating :-)
She fell because she was laughing so hard..
My wonderful hubby who was my DD and cheered me on when I wanted to quit, at lap 8 I said I was done and still had 10 minutes left ont he clock, he yelled, You've never DNF'd right?!?! So of course I kept going!
Now on to more adventures! I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and I hope you all have a safe and Happy New Year? What was your favorite part of Christmas? What was your favorite gift?I got photoshop software and a ski trip to Wolf Crekk!!
No you don't need to check your calendar, it's not really Friday and no I have not lost my mind in all the Christmas hubbub... I am aware it is only Thursday but it is MY Friday! This is my last day of work for 11 days!! WooHoooo that is one awesome benefit of where I work. So to start off the Holiday here is a little punk rock Christmas song for you guys!
My plan is to try and blog a little over the break with all my fun runs that I have planned and winter wonderland frolics but I'm going to be completely honest, it's the only week I get to see hubs until September so I can't make any promises. Just in case we don't talk until next year, MERRY CHRISTMAS everyone! May your 2012 be full of PRs!!!
12 Days of
Christmas
On the first day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
A Garmin and a clean tee.
On the second day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Two warm gloves,
A Garmin and a clean tee.
On the third day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the fourth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the fifth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the sixth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the seventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the eighth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eight Power Bars,
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the ninth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Nine Headlights dancing,
Eight Power Bars,
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the tenth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Ten tights for leaping,
Nine Headlights dancing,
Eight Power Bars,
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the eleventh day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Eleven blogging pals,
Ten tights for leaping,
Nine Headlights dancing,
Eight Power Bars,
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee.
On the twelfth day of Christmas,
my true love sent to me
Twelve running buddies,
Eleven blogging pals,
Ten tights for leaping,
Nine Headlights dancing,
Eight Power Bars,
Seven swimming goggles,
Six shirts for layering,
Five race entries,
Four gel shots,
Three running shoes,
Two warm gloves,
And a Garmin and a clean tee!
So this morning I saw this title on an MSN video: The 'Tough Mudder' is so tough it puts a triathlon to shame.
Then I went to their website and found the following:
Description of the race: This depends upon your definition of tough. Sure, running 40 miles in a
straight line isn’t easy, but we don’t think running 40 miles in a
straight line is a real test of all-around toughness, strength, stamina,
and mental grit. Tough Mudder gives participants the opportunity to
test themselves in every way — all in one place and all in one day. Our
relatively low prices and close proximity to major cities means that you
can compete against thousands of other inspiring participants, not just
thirty endurance geeks with more time and money than sense.
How fit do you need to be? Basically, you should be in good physical
condition – complete slackers need not apply. At a minimum we recommend
that you are running regularly (2+ times a week, working up to 5 miles
per run), able to do 15-25 push-ups in a row, able to bang out 6
pull-ups in a row (especially the dudes), and able to swim 50 yards
without stopping (although you can skip the water obstacles).
Now I've never done one of these so I can't speak to the toughness of it but maybe they don't realize there are different distances in triathlons like say the Ironman? If the point was to convince me to pay them to do this race I guess, mission accomplished because I just found out they are adding a New Mexico race which will mean I'm doing 2 obstacle course races next year now!! So it's a 10-12 mile obstacle course with, barb wire, swimming, some electrical shocks. Basically the only change to my training I need to do is add some upper body strength exercises. All I have to say about if I think is tougher than a triathlon right now is, this will fit in nicely as one of my weekend workouts for my Ironman training! :-) Who knows maybe I won't be able to finish it...but that usually isn't an option for me. Death before DNF right?! at least that's what my sweatshirt says and so far I've stuck to that motto...
Has anyone done one of these? Is it tougher than an Ironman?
So I've always prided myself in being a self sufficient single gal and never thought I'd get married. But then I met a guy that could keep up with me and before I new it I was married. Now I'm spending my 1st year as a newly wed ALONE! I was thinking this will be a breeze, I'm use to living alone, I've got this! What I didn't realize that it's one thing to live alone and be single and it's another thing to be alone and married. Anyway, now that I'm done with my pitty party here are a few things I've started doing now that I'm settling in to my psuedo single life that I couldn't get away with before :-)
1. Picking movies out to watch on Netflix who's only qualification might be a hot guy with a six pack in it, and not getting the
rolling of the eyes :-) Face it guys no girl really liked the X-Men:Wolverine Movie!!
2. Eat whatever I want whenever I want or not eat or cook at ALL!!! Sometimes for dinner I may have chips and salsa and that's it, or trying to live an entire 3 weeks off nothing except for my organic produce, I swear I think my skin turned green from all the juicing and kale I ate.
3. Wake up early to and get my workout done without the whining of why can't we every sleep in, or why can't we just have one lazy day?
4. I can steel the covers and toss and turn all I want without getting yelled at. I may or may not have let the dog take over his side of the bed from time to time, although I came to regret this the night she puked all over my bed :-)
5. If I don't feel like getting fully dressed I don't! Now you may think why wouldn't you walk around naked if your husband is in the house he would love it? Well, you see even those of us who outwardly give off an aura of confidence have their little quirks and can be self conscious. So when I think of people walking around and doing stuff naked it reminds me of the Seinfeld episode where his girlfriend is trying to fix the bike or open the pickle jar!
6. Some people may skip a shower here or there, not that I would ever do that! Or not shave on a regular basis, TMI?????? Sorry...
7. Without a smelly dirty boy around you don't have to clean as often, buy as many groceries, and get to spend as much as you want on clothing!
8. Finding great gal pals and getting to spend lots of quality time talking about girl stuff, you know running, sales on exercise clothes, getting to race weight, no that's just me?
9. Leaving my half drank diet Dr. P around without getting scolded for never finishing it
10. Play my latin pop music so loud that I don't have to make myself suffer
with my singing (yes I'm that bad) all while doing a crazy dance that
makes my dog go bonkers and do this weird thing that's kind of between a
growl, yelp and yoddle because she doesn't know what to do with me!
So all that fun stuff put aside, I really do miss him and can't wait to hopefully have him back just in time for our 1 year anniversary!
What do you do when you get the house to yourself?
So as I read reports of Holiday stress and saw it in action on the streets and in shops I smugly thought to myself "Thank goodness that's not me!" See I took the time to plan ahead, ordered most gifts online and way before December, had my house decorated at Thanksgiving, menu planned and basically just ready for my hubs to come home for the holidays and family to drive in! Well, that smugness came back to bite me! See yesterday's post to see how excited I was to get Lexi her new doggie door. I had been testing her and she had been doing so well in the house alone. Then this happened:
I thought ok I can fix that no biggie besides it's her bed she just gets to sleep in the kennel again.... Then the last night I came home to this:
I freaked out when I walked in to see this and her standing there with her head hung low... my instant reacting was to start yelling but then that just scared the pee out of her and created another mess to clean up... So today she is having to spend the day outside in the rain.
Lessons learned:
1. Just because you are prepared for the holidays doesn't mean stress will evade you!
2. Being a single doggie mom can be hard!
3. If a dog doesn't get her exercise because her mom doesn't feel like going out in the rain she will show her displeasure, dogs are like athletes they need their exercise!
4. With a dog you learn what you can live without and now I will be adding couch cushions to the list...
Some weekends are more active than others and this one I truly felt like a weekend warrior. Not all of my outings were necessarily sports related but none the less adventurous. Here we go quick run down:
Hard at work!
Keeping me company and distracted while a hole was being cut into my house...
The beer I bribed him with to come over...
Friday - Hung out with some great friends one of which happens to be a super fast running buddy. They spoiled Lexi rotten and let her get away with all the things I normally yell at her for :-) but most exciting of all Lexi now has a doggie door and I don't have to leave her outside in the freezing cold! Thanks for all the help!
It's a little bit more of a jump from the outside, might need to build a ramp....
Figuring it out, now she has complete freedom!!
Saturday - 5 mile run in 22 degree weather with a new running buddy who I am glad I have a date to meet every weekend because it gets me outside. Then off to get my gazillion Holiday letters a packages in the mail. Not only friends and family but some awesome bloggers were on the list! Now let me tell you, put a bunch of cranky holiday shoppers in a long A@!$*! post office line and you get a ridiculous yelling match. An old lady that is probably hard of sight accused the guy in front of me of skipping in line when he had to step to the side to fill out some forms then it turned into a "why did you only ask me and not this other lady too doing the same thing are you prejudice!?" Then I somehow got put in the middle when asked to confirm that he was in front of me in line. Then the unamused post office worker unenthusiastically saying "settle down everyone" while I was desperately trying to pay and get the heck out of there!!! So if you get a card or package from me and it seems a little beat up it's because I had to fight to get to the drop off! :-)
I also of course watched the Ironman Championship special on NBC and cried like I do almost every time I watch those! It is so inspiring!
Sunday - SKI DAY!!! My first official day of skiing for this season was in full effect. I was so happy to have some company on the trip too! Got to make a new friend and hopefully yet another running buddy. She also just ran the RNR Vegas Half. I got out of there with only a bent pole and a pulled shoulder muscle. My first attempt at filming with my bloggie luckily was on a blue run so I was able to go fairly slow and not wreck!
I love my skis!
Bent pole after he ran into me...
My new friend!
Then finished the weekend with some beer and pizza ( I know NOT part of the Ironman diet but didn't I earn it after burning at least 800 calories on the slopes?) and falling asleep on the couch at 8:30!!
So I am in the process of making my Christmas Menu for the family since my house tends to be the central location for all our family shin - digs. First I'm am starting the countdown because I get to see hubs during this holiday yay!!! But then I won't get to see him again until Sept. booo that means my dad has offered to make the two of them meat (I guess he's going with beer can chicken I don't really get it but ok) Now for the rest of us I decided after I had to eat leftover green bean casserole and stuffing and mashed potatoes all by myself for an ENTIRE week I am going the non-traditional route this time. I'm going to look for some yummy vegan Latin fusion dishes we'll see what happens. I'm not a baker at all so that has been defaulted to my brother's girlfriend. But then I started thinking about all the calories that would be consumed. I found this gem of an article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/19/christmas-foodanddrink
Christmas pudding Does anyone actuallly eat this? Ok well that's 6 miles I won't have to run... (100g) with custard and brandy butter 6.28 miles That's 33,158ft Turkey The vegetarians in the family won't have to run this.. (90g serving) 1.6 miles That's about as far as you'd get in half an hour (average speed 3.2 mph)
PanettoneNo thank you... (1 slice, 68.6g) 2.1 miles That's about 4,235 steps
Christmas dinner plus 2 glasses of wineOk so I think I'll just run this distance to play it safe? 12.8 miles
Brussels sprouts I love brussel sprouts and usually roast them in the oven but we did that for TG so not this time (80g serving) 1,108 feet That's one-and-a-third times around a running track Carrots (80g serving) 296 yards
Roast potatoes Yum I love potatoes mashed, baked fries (especially sweet potatoes), roast so I'll probably have 2 servings of whatever potato dish we have. (85g serving) 1.4 miles
What the average Briton eats on Christmas Day 75 miles That's the range of a fully charged Fiat 500 electric car Mulled wineI've been skipping wine/beer for the last month or so, whew (glass) 2.6 miles After Eight mints (100g) 4.5 miles
What are some of your favorite Christmas dishes? Are any of you running over the holiday? Are any of you going to do a non- traditional meal, if so what?
As I heard the reports the night before of the possible storm rolling in I was excited and I had dreams all night of the fun I would have if there was a snow day! I kept the phone on silent next to my bed and sure enough the light went off at 5 am with a text of a 2 hour delay for the University!! Then I ate a big breakfast and sat patiently waiting for the next text of a closure as I watched the news and snow! Just as I was about to give up and stood up to go get dressed I got the TEXT closed for the day! Wooo Hooo! I felt kind of bad as I bragged on fb because hubs doesn't get snow days and they are about to spend a week out in the field. But then I got over it, j/k love ya! :-) So it has been 3 days full of snow for me and I'm loving it!
Day1 relay handicap race with some good friends 3 miles each in the snow alternating, my teammate twisted his ankle though and didn't tell me now he's trying to recover before his marathon, booo. Hope you get better soon, I can't believe you kept running!
Day 2 ran a loop in the snow with a new running buddy and we were having so much fun talking that we didn't even feel the cold. It turns out if we would have just waited an hour or two we would have been able to run in the sun but I enjoyed running in the snow flurries.
Day 3 today is really really windy(gusts of 40-50) and snowing so I'm not sure if I'm brave enough to run in this. I will for sure take my dog to play in the park where there's more snow cause she loves it so much but I'm gonna have to wear a full face mask. I'll probably just end up doing an Insanity DVD indoors for my workout because my bike trainer is broken. :-( My brother just called and I'm excited we are going to hang out today do a little Christmas shopping, have some soup, and do some baking.
How do you spend your snow days? Do you like them more now as an adult than you did as a kid? I do!!
Notice the slide marks she loves to slide in the snow not to mention eat it...
December is here, there is a nip in the air and gale storm winds all around us! Seriously if I can't sleep with this wind how am I supposed to run in it? I know, stop making excuses! My dog was going crazy she wanted to go outside and chase the leaves around but I was afraid she'd get carried away like Toto or even worse impaled by a flying object so I had to be the mean mom and keep her indoors. Now let's see if this storm actually brings us some snow!!!
So I guess we should start getting in the Christmas Spirit.
I'm excited to participating in Just Trying is for Little Girls Holiday Card Exchange and Run With Jill's gift exchange! I'm also planning on doing a lot of fun runs like this Saturday's running club handicap which is relay style, then a brewery run with them and it's looking like there's a Rudolph Run and I hope to have people over next weekend to watch the NBC Ironman Special!!!
Here at my office instead of the 12 days of Christmas we have the 12 days of gluttony! :-)
In the 2 days that it has already started this is what has been waiting for us:
So now that Thanksgiving is over and I am back to work and reality I can get back to my routine. Sometimes I miss my routine but I can't say I really miss it enough to ever come back to work early from time off. I just heard someone on the radio say they had taken one more week off but came back early because they were going crazy!
I have a few shots that my dad sent me of Ironman Arizona I was going to add more of my own but I think it might be overload so what I'll do is at some point I'll upload mine to my photography page. So ever since my dad signed up to do next years Ironman he's been so excited that he keeps posting about it on Facebook, so have I, but the thing is there seems to be a pessimist among his friends. Every time he posts she comes back doubting him. Here is an example:
DoubterWhat do you mean only a year? A year is a long time. Are you sure you are up to it?
My Dad - Hi Doubter, You should look into my history. It is not a matter of finishing
the 140 mile race it is a matter of finishing ahead of my own
expectations. See you at the race
MeThe body can handle it we are very resilient beings it's just a matter of having the mental strength to endure it!
Doubter I think I heard that somewhere. Mind over matter, or something like that? Do you know it doesn't always work?
Have any of you ever had anyone try to bring you down when you have a big event you have signed up for? I told him she must not understand what he is doing and to just blow it off but I know if it were me it would be getting to me. How would you handle this?
My Christmas shopping is done and everything is wrapped, the decorations are up (expect for the outdoor lights) my house is clean and I am ready for our next break!! :-) How many of you are ready for the Holidays?
OK now for the pics:
Ready to pass out the finisher's medals
Llanos Top Male Pro Finisher
Taking a quick break to rest our feet
He is in love with Zipp tires
Finisher's Line Volunteers before the real mayhem started
On the first day of Christmas, 
4. I can steel the covers and toss and turn all I want without getting yelled at. I may or may not have let the dog take over his side of the bed from time to time, although I came to regret this the night she puked all over my bed :-)
So I am in the process of making my Christmas Menu for the family since my house tends to be the central location for all our family shin - digs. First I'm am starting the countdown because I get to see hubs during this holiday yay!!! But then I won't get to see him again until Sept. booo that means my dad has offered to make the two of them meat (I guess he's going with beer can chicken I don't really get it but ok) Now for the rest of us I decided after I had to eat leftover green bean casserole and stuffing and mashed potatoes all by myself for an ENTIRE week I am going the non-traditional route this time. I'm going to look for some yummy vegan Latin fusion dishes we'll see what happens. I'm not a baker at all so that has been defaulted to my brother's girlfriend. But then I started thinking about all the calories that would be consumed. I found this gem of an article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2008/dec/19/christmas-foodanddrink 
Turkey The vegetarians in the family won't have to run this..
Sweet Empandas
