Some Pictures and 2014 Goals

Things have been busy in my world, but I wanted to put up a quick post to say that I’m still here and still running. As a matter of fact, I’m running more than usual…because, well, it’s Christmas, and I’m eating more than usual. 😉 My sister makes some darn yummy cookies, let me tell you. 😀

Here’s what we’ve been doing:

Merry Christmas to my boys, who got plenty of presents, including shirts to support our favorite college team. 🙂

 

 

On Thursday, I woke up to snow, which I wasn’t expecting. I had three miles on the schedule, but decided to do four to work off last night’s apple pie. It was cold but not awful, although I did hit a headwind on the way back. Still, it was a pretty and invigorating run.

 

 

 

Later, I had to return a gift and then get my annual mammogram (oh fun!), and on the way, I managed to stop for a few snowy pictures.

 

 

 

As the sun was setting, I went down the road to get some sunset shots, but the clouds rolled in and foiled me. However, I had a few surprise opportunities…one was a pretty fence that one of my neighbors had decorated.

 

 

The other was a meeting with a couple of falconers who were using their hawks to hunt rabbits in the state game area a ways down the road (where I like to get my sunset shots). I was shy about talking to them at first (yes, me, shy!), but they were more than willing to not only tell me all about their birds and how they hunt, but also let me snap some shots of their beautiful birds. This is a red-tail hawk–what a magnificent creature!

 

 

Friday night, I was able to get a much better sunset shot.

 

 

And finally, this morning (Saturday), I went out for my long run–eleven miles! It was fairly warm (40 or so degrees), which was a nice change from the frigid teens and 20s. (But I know those will be back before I know it.) I took a new route and enjoyed the sights.

 

 

I managed to run at a 10:58 pace with three stops for water and to catch my breath. I was doing good until I turned into the wind, which was what I dealt with for the last 5 miles. 😛 But I burned 16 activity points! 🙂

 

 

I was technically supposed to only run 6 today, and 11 next Saturday, but we have an early hockey game in Lansing next Saturday, so I decided to switch them out. Not sure when I’ll get the six in next weekend, but I figure it’ll be easier to fit in 6 than 11. (When did I become a person who thinks it’s easy to fit a six-mile run into my day, lol?)

If you’re wondering, by the way, what training program I’m following, well it’s Hal Higdon’s Novice 2 Marathon program. Yes, you read that right–I’m officially training for a marathon! God help me. 😉 I’m really struggling with how to fit all these runs in (8 miles on a Wednesday?!), but I figure where there’s a will, there’s a way. Wish me luck!! It’s a pretty lofty goal for 2014, but I’m excited about it. 😀  My other goal is of course to maintain my weight in the 115 range (I was just under that on Monday, but we’ll see what all these desserts do next Monday ;)), as well as to continue with my strength training.

My kids have goals as well:  Jamie is planning to do the first two Kona Company runs (St. Patrick’s in March and Kona in June).  We both agreed we can’t commit to the other two at this time, which are in the fall and therefore during hockey season.  I asked him if he had a time goal for either race, and he said not right now, but maybe later he’ll set one.  I daresay he’s going to surprise me the week before the race again with a goal to beat his previous best (1:02:24), so we’ll see. 🙂  Meanwhile, Daniel, my 7-almost-8-year-old, has a goal to run his first 5k, which we have set for the first weekend in March. He’s been running on the treadmill a few days a week, and doing really well!

That’s it for our goals.  Please feel free to leave a comment to let me know what YOUR 2014 goals are, and I’ll be happy to support you in your endeavors throughout the year!

Thanks for reading, and happy New Year!