Merry Christmas 2010

Apparently I did not set the post to upload at the right time, so I am manually uploading on 12/26, sorry it is late, but you get the point.  The holiday season is a busy time.  Time for food, family, traveling, and Christ.  We had all of this and more packed into our few day weekend.  What would some travel be without weather.  While going from one place to another, our plans to stay in a hotel overnight got cut short due to a threatening storm that was going to drop 8+ inches of snow.  We loaded our vehicles up and took off at 11PM to make a drive about 120 miles closer to home.  It started off well, then progressively got worse for driving. 


Interstate 35 was starting to look like another field in Iowa.  Luckily we arrived safely, but we did drive most of the time at 35-40 MPH.  It was about 2AM when we arrived! I have driven in bad conditions before, and this was stressful.  The good part is that you know the roads are bad, and people are mostly going the same speed, the occasional car would come flying past way faster than they should, but to each their own.  We saw a handful of cars in the ditch, but I was expecting to see more than we did.

 

With traveling and all the activities, I had a little trouble getting workouts in as scheduled.  Luckily I packed clothing to run inside on a treadmill or outside if I felt inclined.  I picked outside while it was still snowing the next day.  At the time I headed out, there was probably around 10 fresh inches of powder… what I would have given to be in Colorado skiing!  I headed out and felt good, the temp was perfect, and outside of getting some flakes in my eyes, I was very comfortable.  Since the sidewalks had not been plowed or shoveled yet, I had quite an amount of snow to run through, looking at my Garmin, I noticed I was still running 8:30 miles… that did not last long.  I got on the trail that runs by the river, and my heart was pumping HARD!  



At times I was in snow nearly up to my knees.  It makes you really pick up your feet when you run, that or pull them through the snow. At one point I stopped to snap some pictures.  I don’t mind running in a little snow, but that trail was brutal!  Intervals have nothing on trudging through snow on a trail.  I made it on the trail for about a mile and a half, then cut off on another trail to hit some streets or I would have possibly had a heart attack.  Once I got on the streets, I got some looks as a car or two would drive past or someone was shoveling. 



My route got cut a bit short of the plan, so I did a little out and back to get over 5 miles in.  I was feeling good toward the end, but running out of time, so I headed back although I really wanted to get another 2 or so in.  I have been craving a longer run, so I may try to get one in either Sunday or Monday.



We were home for Christmas Eve and got to attend our church.  Since we have only been in the Twin Cities a couple of years, we have always been out of town, but heard great things about the Christmas Eve service. 
  It was quite the experience.  They had live animals!  Camels, llamas, goats, ducks, cows, and donkeys.  Not to mention the sermon was also quite impactful.  We were blessed to enjoy the service with some other family members who were in town and then spent some time together that night.

I tried my hardest all weekend to be conscious about what I was eating.  Since I started to read Racing Weight  by Matt Fitzgerald, I am watching my food intake much closer than before.  Since making Team Trakkers, I am also wanting to improve my performance even more, and have taken a new stance on how I eat to better my performance and fuel my workouts.  I have steadily been getting back into a schedule.  This week is supposed to kick off a base week.  We will see what it has in store for me! 


For now, I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, enjoy the time with your families and safe travels!