Last Race of 2006!

Today was my last race of 2006 - the Happy Zoo Year's 5K Run-Walk!!

With receiving over 8 inches of snow yesterday, I knew that this race wasn't going to be a PR and went into it thinking I would do some running with my walking.

The temperature was about 22 degrees but in the shade it was cooler and the wind chill was about 7 degrees. The path was all within the zoo and made two loops. I don't really care for loops in races, but this one was georgous! The path was cleared as best as they could have, and covered in dirt/sand, but it still has some slick spots and I took my time. I went out too fast and wasn't warmed up at all. I had to do some walking long before I was mentally ready, but I took the time to enjoy the scenery and the animals around me. Overall, I did more running then I set out to do, and it was truly a beautiful sight out there!!

Happy New Year's Everyone! See you next year!

Winter Wonderland!

Ask and you shall receive, right? Well, it wasn't too long ago that I was "complaining" about having a Christmas without snow, and I woke up to this today! This pic was taking early this morning and it hasn't stopped snowing since! It will make for an interesting New Year's Day run tomorrow! We are expected to get 6-9 inches of snow between today and tomorrow!

Isn't it georgous!?!?!

Weird Weather

RR: First, on a running note, I hit up the gym again for a slow, very slow 3 miles. Yuck. My lower left shin is bothering me and I might have to take the next couple days off before the race. I also lifted arms today. Might be a little sore tomorrow!

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Now, as related to the title of this post, our weather has been soo weird here in the capital city. Let's just say that it's been so warm that I haven't warn a coat all week. Got home from the gym this morning and it was already 37 degrees with no chilly winds. We are supposed to reach a high of 40 degrees. AND, there is absolutely NO snow on the ground and we didn't have any for Christmas either.

I don't know how many of you pay attention to the weather crossing the plains, but Denver is preparing for their second Blizzard, up to 18 inches of snow. Some of that is supposed to hit North Dakota, but I am hoping it is just enough snow to cover the ground nicely without causing too much caos!

Keep on keeping on....

Another Meme

If I understand this Meme right you bold the items on the list that apply to you. The ones that apply to me are in yellow! The ones I would like to do in my lifetime are in blue!


01. Bought everyone in the bar a drink
02. Swam with wild dolphins
03. Climbed a mountain
04. Taken a Ferrari for a test drive
05. Been inside the Great Pyramid
06. Held a tarantula
07. Taken a candlelit bath with someone
08. Said “I love you” and meant it
09. Hugged a tree
10. Bungee jumped
11. Visited Paris
12. Watched a lightning storm at sea
13. Stayed up all night long and saw the sun rise
14. Seen the Northern Lights
15. Gone to a huge sports game
16. Walked the stairs to the top of the leaning Tower of Pisa
17. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
18. Touched an iceberg
19. Slept under the stars
20. Changed a baby’s diaper
21. Taken a trip in a hot air balloon
22. Watched a meteor shower
23. Gotten drunk on champagne
24. Given more than you can afford to charity
25. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
26. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
27. Had a food fight
28. Bet on a winning horse
29. Asked out a stranger
30. Had a snowball fight
31. Screamed as loudly as you possibly can
32. Held a lamb
33. Seen a total eclipse
34. Ridden a roller coaster
35. Hit a home run
36. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
37. Adopted an accent for an entire day
38. Actually felt happy about your life, even for just a moment
39. Had two hard drives for your computer
40. Visited all 50 states
41. Taken care of someone who was drunk
42. Had amazing friends
43. Danced with a stranger in a foreign country
44. Watched wild whales
45. Stolen a sign
46. Backpacked in Europe
47. Taken a road-trip
48. Gone rock climbing
49. Midnight walk on the beach
50. Gone sky diving
51. Visited Ireland
52. Been heartbroken longer than you were actually in love
53. In a restaurant, sat at a stranger’s table and had a meal with them
54. Visited Japan
55. Milked a cow
56. Alphabetized your CDs
57. Pretended to be a superhero
58. Sung karaoke
59. Lounged around in bed all day
60. Played touch football
61. Gone scuba diving
62. Kissed in the rain
63. Played in the mud
64. Played in the rain
65. Gone to a drive-in theater
66. Visited the Great Wall of China
67. Started a business
68. Fallen in love and not had your heart broken
69. Toured ancient sites
70. Taken a martial arts class
71. Played D&D for more than 6 hours straight
72. Gotten married
73. Been in a movie
74. Crashed a party
75. Gotten divorced
76. Gone without food for 5 days
77. Made cookies from scratch
78. Won first prize in a costume contest
79. Ridden a gondola in Venice
80. Gotten a tattoo
81. Rafted the Rio Grande River
82. Been on television news programs as an “expert”
83. Got flowers for no reason
84. Performed on stage
85. Been to Las Vegas
86. Recorded music
87. Eaten shark
88. Kissed on the first date
89. Gone to Thailand
90. Bought a house
91. Been in a combat zone
92. Buried one/both of your parents
93. Been on a cruise ship
94. Spoken more than one language fluently
95. Performed in Rocky Horror
96. Raised children
97. Followed your favorite band/singer on tour
99. Taken an exotic bicycle tour in a foreign country
100. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
101. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
102. Sang loudly in the car, and didn’t stop when you knew someone was looking
103. Had plastic surgery
104. Survived an accident that you shouldn’t have survived
105. Wrote articles for a large publication
106. Lost over 100 pounds
107. Held someone while they were having a flashback
108. Piloted an airplane
109. Touched a stingray
110. Broken someone’s heart
111. Helped an animal give birth
112. Won money on a radio show
113. Broken a bone
114. Gone on an African photo safari
115. Had a facial part pierced other than your ears
116. Fired a rifle, shotgun, or pistol
117. Eaten mushrooms that were gathered in the wild
118. Ridden a horse
119. Had major surgery
120. Had a snake as a pet
121. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
122. Slept for more than 30 hours over the course of 48 hours
123. Visited more foreign countries than U.S. states
124. Visited all 7 continents
125. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
126. Eaten kangaroo meat
127. Eaten sushi
128. Had your picture in the newspaper
129. Changed someone’s mind about something you care deeply about
130. Gone back to school
131. Parasailed
32. Touched a cockroach
133. Eaten fried green tomatoes
134. Read The Iliad - and the Odyssey
135. Selected one “important” author who you missed in school, and read
136. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
137. Skipped all your school reunions
138. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
139. Been elected to public office
140. Written your own computer language
141. Thought to yourself that you’re living your dream
142. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
143. Built your own PC from parts
144. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn’t know you
145. Had a booth at a street fair
146. Dyed your hair
147. Been a DJ
148. Shaved your head
149. Caused a car accident
150. Saved someone’s life

Short run

RR: 2.25 miles, 295 calories, and 35 degree weather. Good temp, not so great run. Little stiff in the lower front part of the shin. I felt like a horse trodding through a field. It will be interesting to see how my last 5K of the year will go this coming Sunday. On a good note, I have officially passed my 300 mile marker today...before the end of the year! YEAH!

Post Holiday

RR:

• 6.5 mile run last thursday.
• 3 mile run today (1 mile warmup, 1/2 mile sprint, 1/2 mile at a 3.5 incline, 1 mile cool down
• 2.7 mile bike today

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Well, Christmas has officially come and gone. I have one week left of break before heading back into my classroom and I know it too will fly right by me. So much to do and so little time. I finally got a chance to go for a run since last thursday. There has been limited time and not the warmest weather around here. Tomorrow I plan to run outdoors due to the weather reaching above freezing for a while!

I have been doing some more thinking about my goals for 2007. I plan to keep them the same, but making things interesting by having monthly goals. Kind of like short term goals. Here they are:

1. I will be slowly weening myself off of soda. I don't drink it that often, but when I do, I usually feel icky an hour later.
2. Drink 64 oz of water a day. (I get pretty close to this already, so it shouldn't be too hard)
3. Each of the 4-5 workouts a week will be atleast 1 hour long.

Shouldn't be too hard to accomplish. We'll see how it goes!

Keep on keeping on!

2007 Races & Goals

RR: 3.25 miles, 406 calories.

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Over the past few weeks now, I have been thinking about races and goals for 2007. My 5K Zoo Race(Happy ZOO Year) will be my last race of 2006 on December 31st. From there, I only wish I knew what was next on my race schedule. As much as I would like, there are no scheduled half marathons in my future. Come January, I will be finishing my last semester of Graduate School (on top of finishing the school year with teaching), finding a job for the 2007-2008 school year, hopefully moving, and helping with my sister's wedding. I don't think I will have time to travel for a half marathon, and there certainly won't be much to offer up in the blustering cold of ND. So, as much as I would like to provide a race schedule, I can't. I won't be able to. There are races in late Spring that I might participate in, but I am not deciding for sure just yet. It only depends on how much training I will have time for and how much time I will ahve available at that point in the semester. Here they are:

• St. Patrick's Day 5K - March
• I Made the Hill 10K - May
• Fargo Half Marathon (or Relay Race) - May 19th
• Prairie Rose State Games 10K - July
  

Depending on where I get settled in for the next school year I might choose to train for one of the following races:

• Finest Half Marathon, San Diego - August 20
• Rock and Roll Half Marathon, Virginia Beach, Virginia - September 3
• Chicago Half Marathon - September 24
• Twins City Half Marathon - October
• Nike Women's Marathon - October
  

Now, for the goals. Ahhh, the wonderful goals. It's really hard to make goals when I don't know how much time I will have and how capable I am. It only makes sense to make attainable goals, but I don't want to be too easy on myself. But, since I don't have any specific races in mind, I hope to work on becoming a better and faster runner, along with increasing the mileage on my long runs. Here's what I have so far:

1. Each week will consist of:
   
• 1 long run,
  
• 1 set of intervals,
  
• 1 easy run,
  
• and then another run of choice if time is available and I am not too sore (i.e. Negative splits, hills, .
  
2. Accomplish a 30 minute 5K
3. Log 600 miles
4. Cross Train 2x per week
5. Weight Train 2x per week
6. Ditch the Soda :) .. .. . . entirely

....more may be added later....

Happy Runnings, y'all!

Christmas Meme

Joe tagged me. Here you go:

1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? I would have to prefer hot chocolate. But, I rarely drink it. It's too sweet I think. I would rather have a nice warm Tom and Jerry. If you don't know what it is, you are missing out (feel free to ask me about it!)
   
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? I do, but I don't usually have the patience to make it look all fancy with ribbons and bows. That is usually my mom's job to tell me to add more.
   
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? It depends. Our tree growing up was mostly colored and I loved it! But I do like the elegance and beauty of the while lights on trees and houses.
   
4. Do you hang mistletoe? Nope.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Hmmm. Didn't really have much at my apartment, but did get them out last week. Due to lack of time mostly! Next year I will go all out! When I was living at home, the family would usually put up the decorations the weekend of Thanksgiving.
   
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Homemade mashed potatoes and rice, with a little homemade gravy on top of both. (And Grandma's homemade buns on the side).. .. ..mmmm....
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child? I don't know if I necessarily had a FAVORITE memory, but there were lots.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I can't remember. I am sure some rotten kid at school told me, since I am the oldest.
   
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Yes, that was the way we always have done it. We would open most of them on Christmas Eve and then "Santa's" gift in the morning.
   
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? I don't have one at this moment.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? I love it as long as it is nice enough to play in!
    
12. Can you ice skate? Yes, but since it seems as if I do it only once every few years, I can be quite sore and bruised up the next day.
    
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? No. I will admit, I think I might have been spoiled as a child. (I still am.)
14. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you? Being with family and friends...enjoying each others presence....laughing and sharing memories.
    
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? How do I choose ONE?
    
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? Driving around for hours looking at Christmas lights while listening to Manheim Steamroller!
    
17. What tops your tree? N/A.
    
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? Giving for sure! But receiving a little gift here and there doesn't hurt!
    
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night
    
20. Candy canes? Mmm. The traditional Peppermint and the Cherry flavored ones as well.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? 1) National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, 2) Elf, and 3) How the Grinch Stole Christmas (the one with Jim Carrey).
22. What do you leave for Santa? Nada! If I left out cookies, I would eat them before he would get there!
    

Congrats Sis!

RR: 5x400 Intervals, total of 3 miles, 417 calories.


It's been a busy weekend! Congrats to my Sis for graduating on Friday with her well-earned degree in Accounting! She worked her butt off and EY should be honored to have her as part of their team! I should have gotten her a pocket protector and calculator for graduation...nerd! :) Good luck studying for your CPA!


On an exercising note... As noted above, I did intervals today. The same intervals that were schedule for thursday which didn't happen. The same ones I thought I was going to do Friday morning, but was too tired! Oh well. It went well today though. Hopefully I will plan to get to the gym tomorrow for an easy 3/4 miles. I have been noticing over the past couple weeks how much muscle I DON'T have in my arms and really need to get those back before Sis' wedding in June. 6 months. Eeks. Time to get back into the weights!

Big change...

I have switched to Blogger Beta. There was about 6 hours of down time and this girl was quite worried she had lost her whole blog.

*moment of silence*


But, alas, here it is ... still. For all your enjoyment! hehehe

Perfect Winter Weather

RR: 3.1 miles, 35:12 minutes, 350 calories

We couldn't have asked for better weather today. Perfect weather for outdoor running. How do I know? Well, when you can walk from your car to the gym with nothing but a sweatshirt and sweatpants on, no gloves and the tips of my fingers didn't freeze.. .. ...that is how I knew it was perfect winter weather for outdoor running. I believe that the temperature got all the way up to 37 degrees today. But, when you factor in that there was NO wind or breeze, that is pretty good for around her in December. I wanted to run outdoors so bad, but knew I would have only gotten 1 mile in before the sun had set at 4:30-something. Crazy.

Tomorrow... rest day. My right calf is a little stiff today.

2/3 Done!

RR: 5.1 miles, 60:13 minutes, and one feelin' good chica!

I wanted to take it nice and slow. Wes once told me that long runs should be done nice and slow. So that is what I did. But, I was consistant and did very minimal walking. It felt wonderful. It can be frustrating when you have a hard time being consistent, and then when you have a long run planned, it is hard to think that it will be 100% successful. This time, it was successful. What a great way to start the week... on top of handing in my last 3 projects today! I am 2/3 DONE with school! One more semester, folks! Now I get to start thinking about where I want to apply for jobs! The east coast keeps calling my name, but where do I want to apply?!? Hmmm.

Live life and make the most of it!

BIG 26!!

The end of the semester couldn't have come at a better time! Last week was extremely crazy with assignments and presentations. I didn't get many workouts in, due to lack of time. Just wednesday and then Sis and I ran a mile around the gym track and then I biked for 9 miles saturday. But, like I said, the semester couldn't have come at a better time.

Friday night....
.. a bunch of friends and I celebrated Chrisgiving. We have done this for a few years now. It's called Chrisgiving because it is a combination of Thanksgiving and Christmas. So much food and so much fun!

Sis and her fiance...and the little one, Deja

The boys, manning the turkey in the deep fryer

Saturday...
...I slept in! And it felt sooo damn good! What could have been a better way to start my first day as a 26 year-old?!?! Happy birthday to me! I opened my gift from my family and was so excited! I got a nice Bose speaker for my nano! And it sounds soooo good! I am kind of jealous of myself! Thanks cdoc for the socks and christmas ornament! You are too good to me! :)

We went out for dinner with a bunch of friends and I got my free meal! After that, Sis and I went to the Sioux hockey game. It was a good game, but we still struggled and lost. Those badgers are good! After that, a bunch of us went out for a night on the town and it was wonderful!

Mid-week run

RR: This run wasn't necessarily planned. But, as I was leaving school today, I figured that I had a couple hours between school and class so I figured I would use them wisely.

3.1 miles.

367 calories.

One tired chica.

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I am so mentally drained right now, I should have used those 2 hours for a nap. I probably won't run again now until saturday. Darnit.

One of class left people.. .. ... oh how I am counting the hours! 20 hours....

Go Big...or Go Home!

I am sooo sick of homework and everything related to my classes right now. After spending the last 4+ hours working on my research paper, I couldn't help but think about what I would rather be doing. And then it dawned on me....

THIS is what I would rather being doing....

....MT. SUMMIT!












I mean, really...where else can you go and see something this beautiful at 7,000 feet? From this point, one can see the mountains in Canada and Idaho, including Glacier National Park. I was just so fortunate to see everything so clearly the day I made it up there.. I guess it's a rare ocassion to have clear skies up in "neck of those woods".














Oh, how I would love to be there.... away from everything related to being an adult! Just doing the runs and enjoying everything around me!














So beautiful ... and so much fun...I do it again in a heartbeat... alone even!
















... GO BIG .... OR GO HOME!

Congrats Mom & Dad

First of all, Congratulations to my Mom and Dad for completing, yet, another half marathon! Wahoo! Way to go! I hope Memphis was wonderful!

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RR: 5x400 intervals. Sucked. I think I was tired and went out too fast on the intervals, causing the last interval to be done at an extremely slower pace. Boo. Completed 3.3 miles. 406 calories.


Be Strong...Live Life....