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.

Half Marathon

Exactly two weeks after Ironman, I ran a half marathon. Knowing my body hasn't properly healed and my ugly blood blisters on my feet seem to be clinging for dear life, I just used the race as a catered long run. I decided that I would use this race as "Thank a Police Officer Race." It is December; it is cold; it is near the holidays; it was on a Sunday and I'm sure they would rather be home with their families than blocking traffic for runners. So I ran from police officer to policer officer rather than run from mile marker to mile marker. I simply stated, "thank you for helping out today," which was always met with a "you're welcome." It made me feel so good inside and gave me motivation to finish when my IT band was killing me.

I then met my training group for a potluck and an afternoon of fun and stories of our racing experiences. After that, I went to a BBQ with friends and listened to beautiful Christmas music and watched concerts on television.

What a glorious day! I love my life right now. 2009 is ending on a happy note. Unfortunately, my post-Ironman feet don't think so, but they sure deserve my love for getting me through an almost 14 hour race. I have recently deemed my body "six feet of bad ass." It has worked hard for me all year.

New Year's Resolutions Revisited

So let's see how I did on my New Year's Resolutions, seen in this blog post:

My New Year's Fitness Resolutions:
1. Run 3 half marathons by February 2009
Ran P.F. Chang's Half Marathon in Jan 09, London's Run Half Marathon in Jan 09, Lost Dutchman Half Marathon in Feb 09

2. Complete an Ironman competition
Completed Ironman Arizona on Nov. 22, 2009

3. Place in an event
Placed 2 and 3 in a few events including an Earth Day 5K, 4000m open water swim, Cota Michael Moreno 5K

4. Join a swimming team
Joined Racelab and swam with a group 2-3 times per week

So I think I did okay. Time to think of some new goals.

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.

Life

Someone over Facebook emailed me and said that she is having a case of "life is always greener" and she said my life sounded so much more exciting. I've spent countless hours wishing I were someone else or wanting what others have--countless hours upon hours. The person who emailed me has beautiful children and a beautiful husband and she is gorgeous herself, so I found it interesting that she would even think that about me. I am just a single girl who likes to travel and run and dance.

But when I think about the things I do and have done, my life is pretty freaking fantastic.

Ironman Adventures






Ironman video link