Goals and Decorations

It's almost the end of the year, that time when everyone starts thinking about the things they've done and the things they wish were different. For me today, that meant thinking back over this year's races.

My main goal this year was to finish my first marathon. I wasn't really focused on getting faster, just putting in the miles to make sure I finished Steamtown upright and happy.

I ran four half marathons this year, all right around two hours. A shiny new PR evaded me all year. I feel like if I'm going to improve my times, it's going to take more than just running. If I really want to get faster, I'm going to need to mix things up, and add some - gasp - strength training. The problem with strength training is that every time I think about doing any, I think "no, I don't really want to do that." So that's something I'm going to have to work on.

We don't have a space for the Christmas tree this year, but I have decorated the lights next to the tv. Plus we put holiday M&Ms in the gumball machine, so that's festive.

I also wrapped a bunch of presents, but it's not the same without a tree. Tom keeps teasing and saying "maybe we'll have a tree next year." I told him there was no maybe about it.

We got all dressed up over the weekend for a holiday dinner. It's the one day a year that we actually dress up, so we made sure to get photographic proof.

And here's an obligatory Buddy picture for you. I know you only read the blog to see Buddy ;)

A gloomy run and dressing up

My alarm on Saturday felt extra early for some reason. It was raining and gloomy out, but at least it wasn't as cold as it has been the last few weekends.

We had a decent group for our run, though most showed up late. I guess the gloomy morning got everyone off to a late start. On the bright side, the rain let up for most of the time we were running.

I actually remembered to start my Garmin this week, so that was nice. We ended up covering 6.57 miles at a 9:05 pace, which wasn't bad because the humidity was so high we were all having a tough run. It's weird to think about humidity when it isn't hot out, but it definitely makes a difference.

After digging through a few bins in the basement I realized I got rid of my semi-dressy coat when we left Alaska. I never wore it in Kodiak, go figure.

We braved the absolutely insane shopping crowds (and terrible drivers) and ended up getting a black pea coat from Old Navy. It isn't what I was looking for, but it was nicer than wearing my everyday coat, plus it was on sale.

Then it was time to go from this:

To this:

I don't have pictures from our fancy dinner, cell phones aren't allowed at the country club we were at. There was a ton of delicious food. Appetizers, dinner (we both had prime rib) and a huge table of desserts. Yes, please!

We did get a picture of us all dressed up, mostly because my mom kept insisting that I needed to send her a picture.

See? I don't always wear running clothes! ;)