Maureen and I hit the snow-covered trails on Saturday for our “long” run. I only had 5 on the schedule and she had 6 miles on hers, so we compromised and ran 5.75.

Highlights of the run:

• Beautiful scenery. We ran on the conservation land bewteen Millennium Park and the cemetery, then backtracked and headed into the Newton conservation lands.
• Great weather. Cold, maybe 32F, but sunny and once we got out of the park, which was unbelievably windy, it was relatively calm.
• Great company. I love running with Maureen because she doesn’t care about time, only distance. That is sometimes just what I need so that I don’t feel frustrated and give up on myself.

I like having a schedule and started my official training for R2R.  Since the Jan 1, I’ve logged some exercise every day and I’m proud of that. I think today will be more time on the trainer, given that I won’t have time to run this afternoon. Tomorrow is yoga/core day, although I may run at lunch. Also, I have minimal pain/discomfort with my PF right now.

The year is starting off great.

I read a sentence the other day where the author said, simply, “there is always hope.” This has become my mantra for everything that is going on in my life. See, things haven’t been great at work, and they certainly haven’t been great at home. I have been having a really hard time trying to put on a brave face for the past 6 weeks, and most days I do OK, but sometimes I break.

But there is always hope.

Hope is the thing that allowed me to do my own self-inventory and learn what I need to change about myself in order to sustain a healthy relationship. Hope is what made me take a chance on something at work. Hope is what allows me to be vulnerable in ways that I never imagined. And hope is what keeps me on the roads in even the coldest weather – the hope that one day I will run farther and faster than I ever have before.

Anyway. I have hope. I’m not making any promises for this year, but I am working toward where I want to be, and who I want to be.

And I hope that your year is wonderful.