Happy Holidays!

I've been feeling particularly un-Christmasy this Christmas season. I think it is because it's my first Christmas completely away from any type of family. So to lift my holiday-plagued spirits, I went to the best place I could think of--the happiest place on earth. Disneyland had the most beautiful decorations and rides that were transformed into a holiday theme. A fireworks show at night was set to Christmas music and it snowed on Main Street. It was magical.

The next day I watched a boat parade. The harbor shined with plenty of lights strung along loads of boats.

I drank peppermint hot chocolate and tried to feel Christmasy. It worked for two days.

12Ks of Christmas

Just as in the 12 Days of Christmas, I did a race of the 12Ks of Christmas. It started at the "North Pole" aka Gilbert, Arizona. We were all given Santa hats to wear along with special Christmas socks. Most everyone dressed up. I found a red technical t-shirt to get into the spirit of the race. Dogs were colorful with wreaths around their necks and red and green leg warmers on their four little legs. One man was a human wreath; one girl dressed up as the Grinch and dyed her hair green; some just colored themselves all red and green. One guy dressed up as Scrooge and wore a top hat and a full suit. Along the route were choral groups including a children's bell group and a choir dressed to the nines in Victorian fashions. I loved it. Santa was there with his reindeer (dogs with antlers). However, there was a police officer who stopped all the runners to allow traffic to cross. I was stopped for 2 minutes by a cop who held out his hand and let cars go by...say what?? There goes my pace. It was a timed event and the race directors paid money for that road to be stopped. But the police officers decided that cars were more important than runners. I appreciate the volunteers (in this race they were called "Santa's Helpers") and the cops who make races possible, but come on...we were in a timed event and held off running.

Christmas

I think being around family is hazardous to my health. I have had three very nasty migraines in the past year and all fell during a holiday period when I'm around family. I got another bad one yesterday morning and was sick all day.

But Christmas was nice. My brothers both came into town and we opened gifts and spent Christmas Eve dinner with relatives.

I had a movie marathon and saw three new movies: Up in the Air, It's Complicated and Nine. I really enjoyed Up in the Air and not just for the eye candy that is George Clooney.

Back at work today and all week.

All I want for Christmas

On the eve of Christmas eve, here are the things I am asking Santa for:

1. A special meal prepared by Curtis Stone himself
2. George Clooney underneath my tree Christmas morning. Santa can just pick him up on his sleigh and drop him off. If he is unavailable, Clive Owen will do just fine.
3. Faster legs to get a faster marathon time
4. An expense account at Armani, Max Mara, Sephora and Tiffanys

Is that too much for a girl to ask? I should be on the nice list this year.

Last race

I had my last race of the year this weekend. It caps a year of 30 races ranging from 5K to full Ironman. With 52 weeks a year, I averaged just over 1 race every other week. And I can feel it. My last two races have been harder than I expected and my knees and IT band really hurt.

I think I need a break. I don't think I'll be doing the big rock 'n' roll marathon this year in January. The next few weeks I think I'll run, but at a nice, easy pace. But, I am contemplating doing my first ultra marathon of a 50K distance. Might be an experience to try. So I hope the break I need won't last too long and I get back to feeling normal soon.

I think always having something to train for is filling some kind of social void in my life. I don't know if that's a good or bad thing.

Happy holidays! I love this time of year: eating, eating, eating and baking and looking at lights and singing Christmas carols off tune (at least I do).

Baby, it's cold outside

I went to Utah for 4 days to play in the snow. As I got to the airport, I saw on a screen that it was 11 degrees outside. My mind automatically thinks Celcius when I see a number that low, so I thought, that's 43 degrees F...I can handle it. As I got outside, there was the sight of my breath there to greet me. I haven't seen my breath in quite a while, so I realized that really was 11 degrees F.

I met my dad already there and we headed north to Layton and Brigham City. I spent the day visiting my uncle and browsing Barnes and Noble and laughing at just how cold it was. We ate delicious rocky road fudge, watched sledders and spent as little time outside as possible in the cute small towns north of Salt Lake.

I watched a Christmas broadcast of the choir with Natalie Cole on Saturday and saw the gorgeous lighting displays around downtown. It certainly was a wintery wonderland.

Christmas felt more like Christmas and the glow of the snow underneath Christmas lights is certainly more dramatic and provides a lovely Norman Rockwell scene...much more than cactus with cheesy lights wrapped around it.

I didn't get much time to see many friends this trip. Next time I come I will visit with more people. I didn't get to see any cousins or aunts or people I used to work with, but next time.

New Favorite Things

I have compiled a short list of my new favorite things:

1. After a massive amount of blood blisters from Ironman, I realized my trusty running shoes weren't so trustworthy anymore. So I went to Roadrunner Sports and was fitted with a snazzy new pair of snug shoes in which my feet are tightly bound. So now my feet don't move around to create very undelightful blood blisters underneath my toe nails.

2. These new Hershey kisses for the holidays. At a work luncheon I received some Hershey kisses that were candy cane flavored with white chocolate. Yum!

3. Christmas carols. I love singing along in my car when no one is there to listen to my terrible singing voice.

4. Gingerbread cookie dough. Gingerbread is my favorite flavor of cookie. Now I can simply cut off some cookie dough and bake it. I also discovered a new recipe for gingerbread baked brie which I tried out this week while watching Christmas shows.

5. Starbucks during the holidays. I can't get enough of the winter wonderland Starbucks creates during this time of year: red cups, peppermint flavored treats, gingerbead, pumpkin bread, cranberry bliss bars. I could go on and on.

6. Modern Family. This tv show is my new favorite. It's hilarious, but with a sweet ending to each show.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was spent just the way it should be: amongst friends and family consuming far too many calories. Thanksgiving is my most favorite of holidays. I love the turkey and all the trimmings and the start of the holiday season. I love the smell of gravy and stuffing and dipping ham into cherry sauce and finishing off my already overstuffed self with fruit pies and pumpkin pies and pecan pies with dollops of whipping cream saturating the already sweet flavors. I even tried "cookie salad" this year. I don't know what it was, but anything with "cookie" in the title was sure to get my attention.

My grandparents came to visit as did other relatives from Utah, so the table was full.

Friday I spent nursing allergies and some very unwelcome blood blisters left over from my Ironman race (which was a small price to pay for one big accomplishment).

Saturday I headed to the mall and when I pulled into a very lucky parking spot, Wham's Last Christmas came on the radio. It is a pure sin to turn off this wonderful "Christmas carol" (if you consider George Michael's song a Christmas carol, which I do). So I sat in the car and listened and realized I felt very happy in that moment. It was one of the happiest moments I have ever had. I finished Ironman, I got my braces off, I am back to blonde, it is the start of the beautiful holiday season and my favorite time of year, and I have been eating delicious food for days straight. I don't know what it was about the song that made this moment so deliciously happy for me, but it is a happiness I haven't felt in a long time.

I have had a rough year in terms of some people leaving my life, some friendships came to an end, including a 9-year friendship, so this moment sitting in my car was something to savor and relish.

Good Tuesday Morning

I had excellent sleep last night, finally. But I dreamt that Mt. Rainier was erupting and lots of people were on the mountain. I don't know why I dreamt that, but it was a horrible dream.

This morning I arose and headed to Starbucks to treat myself. It was fully decorated in red and silver with beautiful garlands for the holidays. I love stepping into a delicious smelling winter wonderland. I love everything about Starbucks during the holidays: red paper cups, pumpkin scones, cranberry bliss bars and mouth-watering gingerbread. I love their special menus with gingerbread and peppermint flavored goodies. While I am not a coffee drinker, plenty of speciality items on the menu satisfy my taste buds.

What a happy morning. I am singing Wham's Last Christmas to put me in the mood.