... and fall down at your door...

Well darkness has a hunger that's insatiable
And lightness has a call that's hard to hear...

I went to the doctor, I went to the mountains...

I stopped by the bar at 3 a.m.
To seek solace in a bottle or possibly a friend
I went in seeking clarity...

We go to the bible, we go through the workout
We read up on revival and we stand up for the lookout

There's more than one answer to these questions
pointing me in a crooked line
The less I seek my source for some definitive
The closer I am to fine



It was cold. It was SO cold. And it was slow. I averaged just over 12 minutes per mile. I kept having to stop to rearrange the face mask that was freezing over my mouth. There was quite a bit of walking, and a TON of swearing. Did you know that mascara can freeze? And then it flakes off? True story. 

I don't usually take selfies during or after runs. I'm generally a sweaty mess. But today's run was such a 'win' for me that I did it anyway! Good luck to everyone in the coming year!

Retro-spective

2000 miles is coming up. That's 2k in about 5.5 years. Which made me think all sorts of things about what has gone before...


15 years ago: I was dating a person who had been convicted of dealing meth, and had 4 kids by 2 women. I was in college, smoking about a half a pack of cigarettes a day. This may have been the time I had a shaved head.

10 years ago: I was recovering from a short stay in a voluntary-admission hospital, finding a lawyer to divorce me from my husband of 6 months. I regularly earned $500+ dollars a day as a designer and I owned a house on a lake.

5 years ago: After surviving a melanoma diagnosis, I was teaching myself to run on a treadmill in Montana. I was happily married, the owner of a thriving massage business, and an enthusiastic member of a rural community... a mere two months from starting a family!


If I was going to resolve to do anything this year, I would resolve to live in the future my past created. I don't mean that in a negative way. I mean that I want to appreciate where I've been so it can give me power in the future. This coming year I'm going to have the chance to combine all of those crazy experiences into really being useful to more and more people. I hope I can remember all that.

Accuracy

I want to be extra-sure that I don't under-calculate my total mileage. So after today's 4.0 mile run, this is where I'm at. So exciting!!!

OMG You Guys

(Sometimes my brain thinks I'm 13)

That's all. That's all I wanted to tell you. In 8 miles I will have run 2000 miles post-cancer-foot. 

(I just wasted about 20 minutes finding out how far across the US this is. It's from Jacksonville, Florida, to San Diego, California, +/- 80 miles according to this complicated website)

Pay no attention to the pace though. I spent a LOT of time walking with this thing on simply to record mileage. Also, I was pregnant once. And ran a marathon in 6.5 hours. And... sigh. Most of the time I'm just slow. 

I'm planning to hit the 2k before next Wednesday so... yay!

Checking it Twice

A great job - enough money - stunningly perfect (for me) friends - the ability to self-motivate - good books - hot cider - pajama carwash afternoon - cookie dough - Christmas magic - thoughtful preschool teachers - LED lights - fuel efficient furnace

Resolve

Every year I go on a hard-core rant during December. It goes something like this:

STOP WAITING UNTIL JANUARY FIRST TO DO SOMETHING YOU WANT TO DO!!!!!!

(also, please make this year the year you learn the words to Auld Lang Syne)

Reasons for my rant:
1. January 1st is my birthday and I want people to enjoy it, not "start their diet".
2. People feel like they have a pass the rest of the year if "I'll start on January 1st".
3. The end of the holidays is a terrible time to start something new- for most people, all of December was something new (parties, outings, family, etc.) and January would be a great time to resettle into a routine, not add something new.
4. People make fun of people who Resolve to do things on January first. Entire industries (like the personal trainer/gym membership/workout sign-up deadline) are built on the fact that people will pay for anything in the first two weeks of January. Some fitness centers (I might have worked at one) base their entire year's income on the first 1/2 of January. Did that make sense? They make ALL their money for the year in the first two weeks... you just don't want to be 'that guy'.
5. Once you've missed the Resolution window, it doesn't come around for another year.

My advice:
1. Make January 1st a nice day where you don't hold yourself to any new standards.
2. Pick a different day to start something new, and make that day (all year) your day to reevaluate. (I like Fridays... there are a bunch of them every month).
3. DON'T WAIT. Runner's World has a fantastic article this month about what to do RIGHT NOW to start achieving your goals (hint: most of them start with, "Drop this magazine and...")
4. Pick goals, and mini-goals, and smaller goals. But don't think you're going to live a different life starting a week from Wednesday.

End of rant.

Music Obsession

There are thousands of running playlists. And holiday playlists. And workout playlists. And playlists for whatever mood you've ever experienced. Isn't that cool?

I have my music divided into 5 categories: Metal (fun & upbeat), Earth (mellow but passionate), Water (quiet, melodic), Fire (blues, firey blues), and Ridiculous (i.e. The Christmas Macarena).

Here are the top songs from a few categories. Enjoy!


Water

Metal

(not really safe for work)

Ridiculous