And a new month brings...

More running!

A little milestone for me- I ran over 100 miles last month. I was thrilled to see those kind of stats again on RA. Hopefully I can at least maintain 60 per month this spring.
The weather so far this week has been working against me. I had to run on the 'mill Wednesday because of a wind/thunder/rain storm that rolled in to town after work. Then the frigid wind chills forced me inside again today for my 8 miler. I gotta say, I don't HATE the treadmill. I just get so bored so very quickly which makes the run miserable.
I think that's about it. I have a 17 miler on deck for Sunday. Looking forward to having that one in the bank. Next week is a 'step down' week with 12 being my LSR. Somehow that still doesn't seem like that much of a break..:)

Sherlock...

He's fitting right in:)

My pretty girl

My Boo. She's a mini me. I just love her:)

Wrapped up the week nicely~

Another running week flew right by again. I had 32 miles in store for me last week and despite a rather uneventful ice storm, I managed to get them all in. It seems like my weeks are just on repeat. I was chatting with my friend Liesl last night, discussing our upcoming week and trying to squeeze in some time to visit with one another. I realized my Mon and Weds are always the same and Tues and Thurs are always the same. Soon enough, Friday will no longer be my day "off" and I'll be at Hillcrest High for my clinicals. Far cry from my days of being bored at home with nothing to do but run...*sigh* I do kinda miss those days!

After dropping Nigel off at school, I went to the gym and tried to run on the indoor track. Meh. Some jerk was in the basketball court singing..alone. The turns made me feel like I was dizzy so I hit the treadmill instead. Of course, the kids were dismissed from school at 10 am because of the ice storm but at least I got the run in.

Took Saturday off to relax and do nothing. It was lovely:) I had to rest up for my LSR on Sunday. Of course, it was blue ass cold Sunday morning so my scheduled departure of 815 was delayed an hour in the hopes it would warm up considerably- nope! David and I left at 915 and he ran 5 with me before turning to complete his 6.5. I ran another mile and met Leah for 6 miles. We went out to the old YMCA and back to the clocktower where I left and finished up my 3 that I had remaining. It was a very good run and I felt great the whole time. I'm almost looking forward to next week's LSR.

That's about it! Nothing exciting. Oh, I will mention that I'm hella pissed that the writers of Downton Abbey killed off Sybil. UGH!

Holidays make for a Blog-less Mar

Hello all!

Well, what a busy holiday season it was. I thought when finals were done for the fall semester I might find more time to spend online however, that was not the case at all. Naturally, I found many other things to fill my time. Like coffee with friends, running, shopping and preparing for my husband's return from Bahrain.



Novatel Overlook in Times Square



Night in Times Square



With the crazy holidays upon us, David and I realized that we would actually have almost a week all to ourselves! No school, no work, no kids...yay! We decided it was a great time to whisk away to NYC. That's right..I got to spend yet another holiday vacation in the best city in the world. Naturally, I had to run in Central Park. I was floored to see how many runners would brave the cold in very little clothing and take to the streets in NYC. I didn't pay much attention in the past as I was too busy staring at everything else in that city. However, now I feel as though I can relax and enjoy it as opposed to cramming all the touristy things in at once. I spent time searching out the best running shops, best book shops and riding the subway as much as I could.  David and I walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and spent a few hours at the Freedom Tower that is near completion. The time flew by but I loved every second. Can't wait to go back!



Early morning shot of Sherlock and myself



Breaking him out of Cat Jail!





As I mentioned a few months ago, O'Malley the cat passed away rather suddenly in October. I've been on the fence about adding another little furball to our litter but decided that the time had finally arrived. I met Sherlock and fell in love. He's the lovey, affectionate kitty that any girl would love to have but only sees in those stupid cat food commercials.

Now that school is back in full swing, I'm back to work. Classes keep me busy 2 days a week and work has me occupied for 2 more, leaving me with a 3 day weekend each week. That will change soon as I will have to start working at the local high school for the remainder of this semester.

With this crazy schedule, running has to be crammed in whenever possible. I find I'm doing more late afternoon runs when I finish up with work and then having to do long runs on Sunday. Makes those Monday afternoon revcovery runs torture. I am up to 15 mile LSRs again with the marathon a short 7 ish weeks away.

Coming off the surgery was tough. I felt like a brand new runner, complete with all those bitchy, whiny days where running just sucked. I have to say, it made me appreciate all new runners. I don't know how you get past those weeks/months of suck ass runs to make it to the joy that is running. I'm not sure I would have made it had not already known have fantastic it is.

So, today was a lunch time run of 5 miles. My speed is really picking up which makes me feel like a 'real' runner again! We'll see how that 8 miler goes tomorrow with the ice/snow that's expected to hit....

You're gonna have bad days..

And today was one of them! I started off on my 3 miler by wishing I had more time to run longer. It's a lovely 57 degrees outside, breezy and total cloud cover. Perfect long run weather! I was so optimistic and cussing my poor planning with today's schedule because it would really be an excellent opportunity to get that 10 miler in. Well, I wore myself out by mile 2. I'm not sure where my energy level went but it certainly wasn't with me. Then I went from wishing I had more time to thanking the training program Gods that I only had 3 miles to do today.

Such is the life of a half assed runner..:)

Creep, Creep, Creep

I picked up Leah this morning and headed into Greenville for our 6 mile run along the Swamp Rabbit Trail. The weather was awesome. 43 degrees, cloudy and a slight breeze. The first 2 miles were a lot of fun and uneventful. We slipped under the bridge along the trail and there sat a man on the beam. Leah mentioned that the police sometimes have to run off the homeless people from under the bridge. We were just discussing how awful it must be to have to live under the bridge for shelter in the winter months. As we got to the end of the bridge and closed in on the man sitting there, we noticed that he was sitting with his hands in his lap and seemed to be shaking. I averted my eyes because I had an idea as to what he was doing. When we came back into the daylight and started back up the hill, Leah looked over and said "Marion!!" I asked..."Was that what I thought? Was *IT* out?!?!" Of course, Leah's eyes are about to bug out of her head as she squealed "YES!!"
I couldn't help but think he must be incredibly desperate. I thought about how protective men are about their bits and to think, this man was just letting it all hang out in near freezing weather! Honestly, I struggle to see what in the world could have turned him in on that cold ass weather. Bunch of sweaty people running and biking by and THAT'S what does it for him?
It guess it takes all kinds...