Christmas down...bring on the New Year!

Christmas was good to me this year. I didn't eat as much as I usually do, and I was able to get out and do some running/walking. I had a lot of fun with my family and friends--there were a couple of nights when I probably drank more than I should have. We played some board games and had a great time (thanks to my partner R. for helping me kick some ass at Taboo and letting me drink her tequila!)

I've found some more songs to download:
-Tool's "The Pot" is a great angry song to run to
-Counting Crow's "Mr. Jones" is an oldy but goody
-Alanis Morissette's "Right Through You"

I am headed back to the small town to hang out with the family some more. I'll let you know if I get any more runs in. I did one short run on Christmas day...it was a 1.7 mile run but somehow it got deleted off my iPod so I don't have the stats for that. That was just a fun run :)

3 o'clock run

Aha! I was able to get my lazy butt up and out the door around 3 o'clock for an afternoon jog around the small town of Amite. I love being able to just run wherever I please...when I am in Baton Rouge, I really don't have that freedom, but here in Amite I can go everywhere!

I spent most of my day reading and wrapping Christmas gifts--I am a horrible wrapper and as my dad would say jokingly, I have trouble with the rhymes *cue fake laugh* Finally I decided that I had been in the house too long and needed to get moving so I did.

I started out at the end of my driveway after a short talk with the neighbors then headed off not really knowing which route I would take or where I would end up. I kept an eye/ear on the distance while I was running and when I got around 2 miles I started heading back to the house. I ended up running a totalk of 3.5 miles which I am very pleased with considering it is the holidays for me. This is much better than what I normally would do during a holiday break! Here are my stats:

Distance: 3.49 miles
Time: 31.54 minutes
Pace: 9:06 min/mile
Calories: 363

Short Break

After taking a two day hiatus, I started back slowly...17:00 min/mile pace slow. I am spending the holidays with my folks (which usually means I don't get much running in) but this morning I got up around 7 to take a walk with my mom and the dog. Well the dog really took me for a walk...

It is finally getting chilly down here which is nice after the heat wave we had for a week. I am glad it will be cold for Christmas--hopefully we will be able to light a fire. This morning it was in the 50s which is perfect for being outside! The three of us went for a walk around the nearby neighborhood abd trying to keep the dog in line when she spoted fellow dogs proved to be more of a workout than I thought it would be.

So now I am being lazy hoping that later this afternoon I will have enough initiative to get out for a real run while the weather is satisfactory.

Happy holidays!

Rainy Day Wednesday

When I got off of work today it was pouring down raining. Luckily I had a waterproof windbreaker in my car to wear on my run. I was actually supposed to go swimming this morning before work, but my alarm clock was set for the wrong time so I got up too late. Well, I still got to get wet! The windbreaker was for my iPod because I'm not sure how resistant it is to water and I really didn't want to find out. Has anyone run in the rain with an iPod? I don't have a protective case for it yet--I am hoping Santa will get me one ;)

I never realized how heavy my shoes would be when they are wet. It felt like I had weights around my ankles...but I pulled through and ran all 5.7 miles :-) I was a little worried though because I didn't know what would happen if the chip in my shoe got wet but nothing happend so I guess it is at least moisture resistance which is a plus!

Distance: 5.77 miles
Time: 54:46
Pace: 9:29 min/mile
Calories: 600
Wieght of my wet shoes: 342.6 pounds

I got my paper back...

And I got a B+ :D

I am really happy about this because I swear I thought it was one of the most horrible things that has come from my typing fingers! It was a paper about Oscar Wilde and I refused to write on his homosexuality which was hard because that seems to be what everyone else is writing about so it was hard to find sources to back up my argument! But oh well...I am definitely happy with my B+!!!

Santa snackers...yum!

I wanted to get up early this morning to go running, but I was having this really neat dream about making a good grade on the paper I just wrote, so I decided that I must stay in bed to see what happens. Plus we had Santa Snackers Lunch today at work and I wanted to be sure I had plenty of time to get ready and not look too gross!

I went to the rec center when I got off work to use the track to calibrate my new Nike+ thingy. I usually despise running around a track (especially this one because it's only 200 meters around) because I have such a hard time keeping count of the laps that I complete--so if I want to run 3 miles I have to run....hmmm let's see there are 8 laps to a mile times 3 that equals 24 laps!!!! I can't count that high while I am running; I have too much other stuff on my mind. I try to break it down to sets of eight but I just get confused :(

Anyway, I did a half mile to calibrate the new toy and then did 2 more miles. Here are my stats...

Distance: 2.02 miles
Time: 17:28
Pace: 8:38 min/mi
Calories: 210
Times I got confused about which lap I was on: zero--because the damn thing talks to me and tells me how far I've gone and how much I have left to do :D

I can also track my progress and set goals for myself on the Nike website. I have officially set a goal for myself:
---80 miles in the next 3 weeks
hmmm??? I think I can do more than that but because it is my first goal, I will start small. Also I don't like goals too much...it means I have to make a commitment and I don't particularly like commitments.

One more week :D

That means I have one more week to finish up my Christmas shopping which is unsettling because I don't think the crowds are going to thin out...oh well.

I went for an early morning swim for about an hour--I wanted to go running but my stomach was not being nice so I thought swimming would be better. But tomorrow morning I am definitely hitting the pavement or treadmill depending upon sunrise...no running in the dark for me thank you!

I've been downloading some new songs for my iPod. I wanted some songs that would be really good to run with...slow songs just don't cut it. I've already downloaded some Kasabian songs (really love these guys!) and Kill Hannah's "Lips Like Morphine" I am currently looking for some more running songs...if you have any suggestions please let me know!!

This is a picture from the morning on the 5 mile race...it was foggy and somewhat chilly at 6:30 in the morning. The race went around this lake and one more to the left. I had more pictures but they came out really dark...too bad :(