I can’t believe it’s December 30th already. HO-LY.

My first thought on 2005 was "I wish I knew how many miles I logged," but then I got to thinking about it, and I remembered some of the firsts and other great things that happened this year. So without further adieu, here they are:

1. I made a lot of new "imaginary running friends." That still blows my mind. Thank you for all of your encourangement, advice, humor, and wisdom. It is very much appreciated.
2. I bought a wonderful road bike, and put some serious miles on her.
3. I trained for and completed my first Triathlon. Wooooooot! Better than that, I did it with Dianna and Joan, who seriously rock. I heart Triathlon.
4. While my running ebbed and flowed this year, so to speak, I managed to run for most of the year without any serious injury. My back has been funny, but I am learning to manage that issue pretty well.
5. I ran a race that I actually enjoyed, for a good cause, with some great running friends. Other than the tri, this was the first event I have ever looked forward to and felt confident about.

So, what does this mean for next year? That is a good question. I am going to think about it while I workout at the Y tonight. I’m thinking that there will be tri goals, race goals, and other quantifiable things… very specific, I know. :)

More later.

Mark tagged me with this:

1-Create a post titled Runners Who Rock.
2-List three runners who rock and tell us why they rock. Make sure you provide a link to their blog!
3-Tell those three runners about the meme and tag them so they can keep it going.
4-Link to runners who rock and to the blogger who tagged you so we get a ping and can keep track of all the participants!

So here goes.

I think that Sean rocks. His was the first running blog I ever found and was the inspiration for this one. He is also a kind, southern gentleman, likes dogs and technology. What is not to love about Sean? Nothing, that’s what!

Megan rocks and rocks hard. Like me, she isn’t a high mileage runner or a speedy runner, but she has got it going on. She’s an awesome writer, too, and rides a scooter. A scooter, people! If rocking like that is wrong, then I don’t wanna be right!

Nicole is not only rockin’, but she’s a rockin’ broad. Or dame. I’m not sure which, actually. Nicole is one of those smart, sassy writers (and an amazing photographer to boot) who makes her posts really… real. I love that about her. She has been doing great with her running this year.

Good Day: It’s sunny and cold outside – great running weather.
Bad Day: It’s icy and I forgot a hat and/or winter headband. No way I’m running without them in these temps. Off to the gym I go (tonight). It will be my first TM run in… a long while!

Good Day: My new Filofax planner pages arrived.
Bad Day: My schedule is really busy from now until when we leave on the 22nd for Ohio.

Good Day: I finished most of my Christmas cards last night.
Bad Day: I have no idea when I’ll make it to the post office.

Good Day: Sugar free hot cocoa.
Bad Day: I have to finish icing 8 million christmas cookies, and I am a spaz with the pastry bag.

Good Day: I look cute and my skinny jeans, even after their trip to the dryer, fit just fine.
Bad Day: I’m cold at my desk.

Good Day: I talked to Dianna on IM
Bad Day: My boss IMed me and asked me to do more stuff before I leave.

——

So today I find myself vaccilating between being happy and depressed. I can’t shake it. I’m happy because of the silly Filofax pages, but depressed about having to run indoors, and having to wait to do it. It’s weird.

I guess I didn’t realize how much I needed to run at lunch today, and how pissed off I would be when I couldn’t. Stupid temperature. I suppose I could have gone, I guess. It just would have meant lots of inner ear pain and a splitting headache when I got back. So instead I ate my lunch in the atrium and tried to absorb as much natural light as possible. Heh.

Anyway,  Run tonight, finish Christmas cards, make Royal Icing, work on cookies. That’s my life. :)

Despite all the snow we had in Lowell, Cambridge didn’t seem to get that much – not comparatively anyway. I’m sure the near-40 degree temps helped with the melting, too, but I definitely expected to have to wear my YakTrax today. On my way out, however, another runner spotted me and said, “Hey, if you’re running on the Cambridge side of the river, you won’t need those, but the Boston side is really icy.” Good to know. So off came the trax and off I went.

I don’t know what it was, but today’s run was something else. I know I didn’t run better or faster or even feel that fantastic during my time out there. But the sun was out and the air was crisp. I was really enjoying… breathing and stuff. :) I guess I just felt better for having gotten out in the middle of the day or something.

In my Runner’s Inspiration book, which I like to skim through from time to time, there was an entry about that feeling not too long ago. Maybe it was one of the November entries. I’ll have to try to find it and read it again, but basically it was about the feeling of freedom one gets from taking a running break. I finally get it. :)

Anyway.

Having cut my run short yesterday due to some back weirdness, I felt like today might be worrisome, but so far, so good. That said, here’s my schedule for the week:

M- Run 3 (done)
Tues – Run 3 or Yoga & core exercises
Weds – (do whatever I didn’t do Tuesday)
Thurs – Run 3
Friday – rest
Saturday – Run 5
Sunday – Yoga & core

Oh yeah. It is going to be a good week. I can feel it.

Well, I took your advice and went out in the snow for about 40 minutes on Friday. Holy hell! Now, I’ve been snowshoeing in deep snow, but never that ultra powdery stuff where you sink in past mid-calf or up to your knees. That’s backcountry stuff, my friends, and it’s weird when you’re breaking trail in an urban landscape, like I was.

I headed up towards UMass, on my regular running loop. The plows had been out, but none of the sidewalks were cleared. Some people were walking in the street. They laughed at me, I guess, huffing and puffing, blazing the way down what I thought was the sidewalk. The sun was coming out, and the wind had mostly stopped. It was glorious.

I turned down a side street about 3/4 of a mile into my trek and decided to head back towards the house, as I was getting tired. I couldn’t believe how tired I was so soon, but then again, I’d been walking through unbroken snow at least a foot deep, and sometimes 2′, depending on the size of the drift. Eventually I came to a building where someone had shovelled at one point during the storm, so the snow was maybe only 4″ deep. It was a welcome reprieve.

I was still smiling when my building came back into sight. The Bobcats were out, plowing the sidewalks around the downtown area, and the christmas lights had come on. Lowell does this great holiday light display with white lights, wreaths and garland over the downtown streets, and white lights on all the trees. It’s really old-timey and very pretty. Add in the snow and it was gorgeous.

Back at home, I stripped off my layers and laid everything out to dry. I stretched out my legs and back and then hopped in the shower, warming up. It had been a good cross training day. :)

Yesterday was a rest day, and also a cookie-making extravaganza. I have a cookie swap party to attend next weekend, and had decided to make my great-grandma’s cut-out cookies. They’re like a sugar cookie, but they have lemon in them instead of vanilla, and are a little firmer and flatter than your regular animal cookie. They are frosted with colored, buttercream icing. Hot damn!

Anyway, I made up the dough Friday night and put it in the fridge, and then on Saturday, after I ran out and bought food coloring and cookie cutters, I spent about 2 hours rolling, cutting, and baking. The recipe makes at least 100 cookies. So yeah, I was busy.

Then I made some chocolate pistachio biscotti, which came out okay, but I don’t think I’ll be using that particular recipe again. After that, I whipped up some turkey chili for dinner. Whew.

So today I have to run, and start frosting these bastards. :)

I’m sitting here in my pajamas, working on a document, drinking my delicious coffee made in the french press, and contemplating my day.

See, the snow is coming down. Lots of it.

I’m giddy and giggling and keep turning on the news to see what the accumulation is. The snowshoes are already out of the closet and sitting in the foyer. My SmartWool socks are laid out next to my boots. Woot!

Today is supposed to be a rest day, but whatever. It’s snowing people! As long as I don’t get all crazy and spend a couple of hours out there, it should be fine. And maybe I can go again tomorrow. I’m fixing to run 5 miles on Sunday, but tromping about in the fluffy stuff shouldn’t bother my back or anything. Probably less so than running on pavement, in fact.

And speaking of running, I started some uh, training this week. I’m not saying for what yet, or if I’m committed to doing the race at all, but I’m going to try to up my mileage during December and January and see where I am at. I know that the weather will be a huge factor in how many miles I log, which is why I am reluctant to come out about this race just yet, but let’s just say that Lara inspired me with her marathon endeavors, and that I am NOT running a marathon, but it’s not a 5K either. Your patience is appreciated. :)

That said, I need to finish up a few tasks and get out into the white.

Rob did laundry this weekend. He’s perfectly capable of doing laundry, and I did appreciate having my running gear clean and folded. However, we are continuing to do battle over the use of the dryer.

He knows better than to put my running stuff in the dryer. That isn’t the problem. The problem revolves around my pants, specifically jeans and corduroys, and how they experience shrinkage when they are not hung dry. So into the dryer my pants went. "I guess I’ll be wearing skirts to work this week," I said, "in the snow… and the cold… and the wind." This speech was accompanied  by some copious eye rolling. I know. Seriously.

But today I was running late, so I grabbed my chocolate brown cords out of the drawer and threw them on, forgetting the dryer drama of a few days ago. And what do you know? They still fit! Shrinkage be damned. I am getting smaller, people!!

It’s snowing outside right now, and my back is killing me, but I think I might still go for a little run today at lunch – stretch everything out as it were.

One of my friends in town is trying to convince me that I should do the Speedo Run in a few weeks. It’s a 1 mile run through the Boston common in your swimsuit. Hehehhe, no thanks. I think I’d rather do one of those hangover 5Ks or something instead. Anyway, that’s all that is going on here. I am working on Friday this week, so my schedule will be a little screwy (read: no swimming). I’m hoping to run on Thursday and Sunday, however, and Saturday is Spinning.

There have been so many days I’ve wanted to sit down and type out an entry, but work has been crazy, and since I’ve been either running at lunch or simply snarfing a quick meal before the next meeting, I just haven’t had time while at work to post. And when I get home I am far too tired to sit in front of the computer. Mostly, then, I read the New Yorker while the Bruins are on (and don’t even get me started on that ridiculous Joe Thornton trade), or knit.

But here I am, home on a Saturday night, updating. :)

I ran the most fun 5K EVAH today. It was the Hot Chocolate Run in Northampton, MA. The race was to benefit Safe Passage, and organized by an imaginary running friend, Diane. I drove down to Caito’s, stopped and brought her a coffee, and then she drove us out to Northampton. Not only did this give us some time to catch up, we got to watch the sun turn to clouds, then to snow, then sun again, then sun and snow. Go figure. It was about 30 and windy when we got to Northampton which, if you haven’t been, is about the cutest New England town in existance.

We checked into “The People’s Institute” to get our race numbers and warm up, talked with Diane, met our other imaginary friends and generally stood around inside then outside… then BRRRR, inside again, until it was time to line up.

I decided I was going to just enjoy the beautiful, sunny day and scenic course, and treat the race like any training run. The first mile+ was a pretty decent uphill, followed by a downhill-flat course. Running uphill gave me plenty of time to look at the beautiful homes surrounding the Smith College campus. “I want to live in that one,” I thought, “no, that one,” as I passed through the campus and up towards the park, where there was sort of a turnaround onto a different street. Lots of dogs running, people with strollers, etc.

We had started out at the END of the pack, and I was picking people off left and right, but it was a small race and I knew I would be towards the end of the finishers. No matter, I was loving this run and the day. Right at mile 2 was when it really started to feel like a downhill course. I flew down that hill, and my ITB twinged a bit, but I was climbing again and it went away quickly. I wasn’t sure where the end of the course was, until we summited the last hill and could see the building down the street. I booked it in at 32:30 by my watch, which is a little faster than my average, 11:00 pace.

Met my speedy friends at the finish, got my mug (so cute! way better than a T-shirt) and had some hot chocolate. JillieD gave me some peppermint schnapps, which was awesome in said hot chocolate.

Jill is a BADASS. She was parked along the final stretch of the race route, and stopped at her car to get booze during the race and ran with it across the finish line. I bow before her, honestly.

After changing into a clean race t-shirt and putting my down coat on, we walked en masse over to have some brunch. It was nice to see everyone, especially my friend Jennifer from Holyoke. She wasn’t running this year, but was an excellent volunteer. :)

We ate. We laughed. We sang happy birthday to another of the imaginary running friends. Jill had made her a cake and we happily dove into it afterwards. But by then it was getting to be around 1:30 and Caito and I had to head back to Boston. We said our goodbyes and hit the road, had great traffic, and after she dropped me off, I was home by.. I dunno, maybe 4:00? It was still light out, so I guess that’s about right.

So after I got home and put my stuff down, I headed right for the shower. I thought about the race and the camaraderie I shared with my running friends, who are all much faster than I am. I thought about how the speed didn’t matter, and how much fun the day was. And I decided that maybe, just MAYBE, I really do like to race, as long as I don’t put all kinds of pressure on myself. It was like I finally let go of feeling bad about my speed, or trying to keep up, or whatever the hell my problem was. I ended up running for myself, and by myself, but that’s totally fine.

Now I just have to pick another race to run. :)