As 2010 comes to a close, it's time to take a step back and look at where I've been this year, how far I've come, and where I want to go for 2011. 
2010 brought:

* 619.2 miles run.  While this is 210 miles less than 2009, I also am trying to remind myself that I didn't run for six weeks while hurt and then also spent a couple of weeks out of town, one being a backpacking trip where I was (hopefully) getting a lot of exercise in and the other a church girls camp where I was in charge of a bunch of teenage girls and couldn't seem to get away to run at all.  I did try to run up the hills near my campsite when I was out and about though! 

* A trail running injury.  Eight stitches later I have a great scar in the shape of an "L" on my left knee.  I will never forget which knee is Left again.  Unfortunately, I also didn't get to run for over a month because of it.  Mostly because it hurt to walk!

* A race a month for September, October, November, and December.  I've never done a race a month before.  It was fun and kept up my motivation when the going got tough to get out of bed as the sun rose later and later this winter.

Son, Myself, and Niece warm up for the Jingle Bell 5K

* A PR for the 5K for my Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving!  Yay! I know lots of people go MUCH faster than 24:07, but, for me it was an accomplishment.  And, what if I actually put effort into speedwork?  What would happen then??



* An age group win.  No, not just in the small church sponsored race, but in the Jingle Bell 5K that happened on Dec 18th.  Somehow in the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I didn't get the photos posted about it.  My 15 year old niece wanted to run a Christmas 5K, so we found this one.  Niece, Son, and I ran while Husband and Daughter cheered us on.  I was a lot slower than the Thanksgiving 5K, but I guess everyone else was as well, and I ended up with a cool handmade Christmas ornament to take home!  What was even cooler was that Niece finished her first 5K ever!  She totally earned her t-shirt!



Handmade ornament as an age group prize!



* A nice running blog surprise today.  Husband cued up this podcast and played it for me.  It's Husband giving the intro and promoting this blog.  I listen to Chris Russell's podcast while early morning running regularly, and love listening to his interviews and perspective.  How cool that Husband did this!  And if you've arrived here via Run Run Live, welcome!

What a year it's been!  And I didn't even mention any job, family, or kid related stuff!

Stay tuned... I'll be posting my goals for 2011 soon.

Christmas week motivations?

Christmas vacation is always a hard time for me in keeping up my running and fitness goals.  First, I'm off work for two weeks and not obligated to run at 4:30am.  I tell myself that I will run as soon as the sun comes up and it gets warm, but, then the kids get up and daily chores rear their ugly heads.  Before I know it, the sun is going down and it's getting cold again!  Second, sweet treats keep showing up at my doorstep and are taunting me at every turn.  I haven't even baked anything this year and I have cookies and candy coming out my ears!  I'm sure I can't be the only one in this situation.  I know that's why the theme on every women's magazine in the grocery store checkout line is how to "Lose the holiday pounds and keep them off."  And while driving today, in the space of 2 miles, I heard 3 radio commercials for various gym promotions to start my new year off right. 

So far, though, kuddos to me, I ran 4.5 miles yesterday and went to Pilates class today.  Not too many kuddos for me though.  I had a bad attitude.  The Pilates teacher was out of town and left us with a awful substitute.  I do mean awful.  I wanted to stay at first because Husband got me a really cool yoga mat for Christmas that I wanted to try out.  (Is my gym the only one where it looks like they have pet sharks that eat the corners off of all the mats?)  Then fifteen minutes into class I really wanted to leave.  I did stick it out the entire hour.  I suppose moving through his class was better than sitting at home eating the half full bag of Christmas M&M's though.  



Maybe the new socks I got for Christmas will help.  My sister sent me these great running socks!  I had never told her that Balega is one of my favorite running sock brands, but great minds think a like and they were gifted from her to me!  There's nothing like a run in a new pair of socks!  Someday when I inherit millions from a long lost relative, I will only run in brand new socks.  I think I'm looking forward to my next run now!

The 3rd and 4th Biannual Team Brenton 2.5K Fun Run

Last year, Husband had a great idea for a New Year's Fun Run.  We had great time doing it, so we are "hosting" the 3rd and 4th Biannual Run this year!  I am running a little behind this year on getting the information out on this event, but it is still on. The rules are simple, and the same as last year. They are listed below...

1. Sign up by making a small donation at: 100 Friends.  This is a great non-profit run by a guy named Mark Gold. He lives out of various hotel rooms. He gives small amounts of money to people who are trying to make a living, but have great needs. It might be 50 cents, or 15 dollars, but it will be enough to help them be self sufficient. Husband and I liked the charity and felt it was worthy. Please research it for yourself so you can feel good about your donation. Read the Sunday Parade magazine story and more of what he does at the link to his Facebook page.

2. Run 2.5K on December 31st 2010, and then run the second 2.5K on January 1st 2011. Running can be substituted for walking, skiing, cycling, skipping, crawling, any non motorized human powered activity you choose. (2.5K is 1.55 miles)

3. Have fun, and feel good that we are helping someone we don't even know because that's what good people do.

4. All finishers will receive a finishers prize after providing photographic evidence of their accomplishment that will be posted on Running Around on Empty and quite possibly Husband's blog, Broken, Beat and Scarred (lots of cool info about his rock climbing and other (mis)adventures written from his unedited viewpoint!).

Husband and I will be running from 11:45pm on December 31, 2010 to 12:15am January 1, 2011 (approx). If you are in town and want to join us we'd love to have you... otherwise, we can't wait to see your photos!

The "Official" Turkey Trot

The church 5K was just a warm up.  The real action was at the Thanksgiving Cross Country Classic... aka the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving morning.  In our 5th year of running it, there were still lots of haybales to hop over and a mud puddle to leap - or run through as I always do.  I think it's the fear of slipping and falling that makes me not even try to leap the mud puddles!  Son wanted to make sure he beat husband.  Daughter came along for moral support. 

First Son came up the hill...

And then my amazing Husband!

It's a race where they run men and women separately.  Men went first and Daughter and I spent the time looking at jogglers, guys in elf suits, and boys wearing turkey hats all run by while we tried to see Husband and Son.  Pretty soon Son came along and not too far behind him was Husband.  The unfortunate part about this whole thing was that there were so many people at the finish that the numbers and times could not be collected quickly enough and there was quite a backup of men.  Which, of course, didn't work out so good for husband, his time was quite skewed from what he thought it should be.  Son didn't care.  All that mattered to him was that he had beat his dad and his grandpa promised him $20 for the feat!  If only I could earn money that easily!

Here I am avoiding the puddles!

Then, the women were off.  There were lots of them running as well and I did manage to start near the front, so it helped me gain position from the start.  I managed to set a PR and come in at 24:07.  Amazing really since I didn't feel like I was in great 5K shape.  Maybe all the extra pilates is showing that it is worth something??  I would LOVE to get a 5K time under 24 minutes, but I am quite happy that I did as well as I did!

No prizes... except for maybe Son who was collecting cash, but I was happy and felt at least a little justified in being able to have a big turkey dinner and a little bit of pie!

November 5K #1

Our church sponsored a Turkey Trot 5K the weekend before Thanksgiving.  Son and I decided that we were going to do it as a warm up to our official Turkey Trot that we would later be doing on Thanksgiving day. 

It was a beautiful day for a run.  It was at a small park and the participants got to run along the running/bike path.  It was a small run as well.  There were a variety of events taking place in town that weekend, inlcuding the end of many soccer seasons and a very large bicycle event in which people from all over the world come to see and participate in.  So, there were only about 35 people total who participated in the run.  Which might be why I came in first overall in the womens and first in my age group!  Son came in first in his as well, though he was quite disappointed in the results since he had been a lot faster at the run in October.  That's what will happen when you don't run for a month Son.  Some lessons are harder to learn than others! 

It was the first, and probably the only time ever, that I was told by someone that I was fast.  And the person had a straight face as well!  For the record, I did PR with a time of 24:12.

We didn't have anyone to take pictures for us and I didn't want to explain the quirky phone on my cell phone to anyone, so here were are in our self portrait to document the moment!