BUH BYE 2017!!!

Seriously though, it was a pretty good year! How about everyone else?

Lizzie, 25 degrees - that's actually perfect. Not freezing cold, but certainly winter-ish. Have fun at the wedding and forget about diet at least until next year And of course you're becoming a stronger runner w all the cross-training. Funny how everyone says ''you have youth on your side!'' but those people commenting are usually just few years older As for rain and podcasts; I have these earphones and haven't had any issues. I'm thinking what I'll do in summer, tho... You know, carrying the phone part. Easy in winter w all the pockets.

10k at seaside w DH and K, perfect conditions! No wind, 35 degrees... Quite a workout for legs, but I am intentionally picking tougher routes recently elevation and surface-wise so that floorball rink would feel like piece of cake in 1.5wks. And that air and peace!! Just us and some seagulls  Should had kept the pace lower, tho.

Have a nice Saturday everyone

What a great morning! Longest run ever for two of my runners this morning - 12 miles. They are both running their first half (Houston) in two weeks. I was impressed by both of them (both way ahead of where I was when I ran my first half), and especially the girl that just started running with us a few months ago. I reminded her about mile 11 how she was so worried she wouldn't be able to finish 5 miles the first time she ran with us and so we had a backup plan to cut off at 4.......she was feeling mighty pleased with herself when we were done. After we hung out for a little while eating kolaches (the store has been opening for us and providing gatorade and kolaches every single Saturday....) and going over race logistics and what to eat and throwaway clothes, anything I could think of that they might not know. The one guy that signed up to run with us just to build his mileage and hold himself accountable, but had no intention of ever racing more than a 5k, told the group this morning that he wants to run the Houston Marathon next year (he's done probably 80% of the marathon training this year), and will probably run the Cypress Half (our November goal race) as part of his training. I think he's a little jealous of the race experience, and the fact that he's going to come back and race makes me so happy.

Liz, fantastic miles this week! Glad Christmas with HCBF's family went well (yeah, sisters argue. I don't know if I ever fought with my brother other than the three kids in the back seat "he's touching me" kind of fighting, but my sister and I used to go all out. I still remember my dad, who never yells, losing his cool and declaring loudly "new rule - no one is ever borrowing anyone's clothes ever again!" when we were in high school). Enjoy the wedding! Oh, you asked the other day how I got to the 70+ mile weeks. If you click on the little bar graph under my user name and scroll down you can see a graph of my weekly mileage over the past year. The 80-mile week I pushed a long run from Sunday to Monday, so it was more of a steady progression than it looks. This last one was definitely not a slow buildup, I just ran a bunch of really slow miles.

Elina, nice run for you. Sounds like everything lined up perfectly for the run, and your pace reflected that!

Laura, definitely TM season for you! Enjoy the day.......and yes, I may have been complaining earlier about not having family around for Christmas, but that doesn't necessarily mean I'm looking forward to 5 days with my MIL coming up. I get what you're saying about wanting things to be back to normal.

Okay, lots to get done today including taking Riley to the kennel this afternoon, so I better get moving. Early flight to FL in the morning.

karen

Mmmm, 60 out!

Lizzie, too damned cold where you are, and others.  Glad Christmas with his family was nice.    Enjoy the wedding and bacon/smores bar.

Elina, lovely pic on FB.

Laura, glad you got a groove.  Have a nice day.

Karen, have a great trip and congrats on the weight.  Though I don't know where you could lose any.  Congrats on your racers!  Can't wait to hear how they all do.

I went out for a couple of challenging miles.  Couple as in TWO.  I am still hacking up stuff and I cough so much, I gag at the end.  (TMI, my apologies.)  But it makes it really hard to run.

Today is grocery store and cleaning day.  I have another potential dog letter outer coming Monday afternoon, and the place needs a pick me up again.

Not a lot else really.  I stay home for NYE, too dangerous on the roads, and quite frankly, there isn't anything of interest to do.

Saw of few pictures of Bandera (Saturday's 25K) and I laughed!  I am going to DIE!  So ladies, it has been nice knowing you all. 

K

Weekend check-in!  4 miles running, 1.3 miles walking today.  Sunny, 49 when we left, 50s today.  Brrr!  (j/k!)  Glad to see 2017 go away.  Not a bad year personally, but a lot of "stuff" happened in the world that I did not think was good.  Will just leave it at that...    Not sure if 2018 will be better but one can hope!  New Years is one of my favorite holidays.  I like the idea of fresh starts, new beginnings, out with the old and in with the new!  Not sure if we will actually go out anywhere for NYE.  Sometimes we do, and there are options not too far away, but then we'd have to stay awake until midnight which is increasingly hard to do.  

Lizzie, awesome that you are feeling good and strong!  That's what matters, not numbers on the scale.  No dieting is allowed at weddings!    55 miles is a lot!  That's ultra training mileage for me.

Kilmisters, sounds like you had a wonderful run in many ways.  That was at the coast in Latvia?  Do you bring mini-K in a jogging stroller when you run?

LC, enjoy the family time downstate.  But I agree, it can be exhausting!  Getting through the holidays is an endurance event.

Karen, so fun to see how you have inspired your runners.  Next time I'm in a rut with my running and need my mojo jump-started, I'm signing up with you!  I think scale-watching is like pot-watching... if you keep looking at it, nothing changes!  Nice job getting to your goal.

Kat, I sympathize with you on the lung gunk.  I think I mentioned that it took forever for me to get over that bug when I had it.... but I survived and so will you!

QOTD: I run in ASICs 1000 or 2000 and Brooks Cascadia for trails.  I typically retire my shoes at around 500 miles.  I always keep one old pair for gardening and chores.  My DH brings our old running shoes to the Philippines (where he goes for work) and gives them away.  Occasionally running stores and race expos have bins for donating old running shoes.  I think the shoes are given away to people who need shoes?

Afternoon!  Went to OTF this morning and the class was ESP (all things at once, endurance, power, and strength).  The inclines were not too bad.  Ran 2.78 there and then went to help my dad run errands for his NYE party at my grandmother's.  I have 1.22 miles left, which I will do in a few minutes.

Ran my 5 last night in Bondi 5s which I assumed would make me slow down.  They ended up being at 10:25, so they didn't work. I quit trying to slow down and I'll go with the flow.  Figured if I start doing bad on the next races, that'll teach me, lol.

Lizzie, Nice run!

Elina, nice 10K and the picture looked lovely.

Karen, sounds like a great group of people. I am sure they'll do great in two weeks.  Congrats on the weight loss!  I'm trying to lose 2lbs before the race, so it's low carb for me from Monday to Friday!

Kathryn, nice run.

Margaret, nice run.  I think they donate them to poor areas or countries that would use them for walking. So, 500 miles in the shoes would be good.

Wow, is it really nearly 2018?

Liz, bacon and s'mores bar? Enjoy. I don't do s'mores because marshmallows have gelatin in them. But that sounds like a fun time for people who do eat such things!

Elina, old shoes become shoes for gardening, wearing around the house, or donating to Goodwill. I usually figure I get at least 500 miles out of my shoes, right now I am wearing them for a lot longer because I can't afford to replace them. There are some places that collect used running shoes and send them to be ground up into rubber chips that become part of a running track somewhere.

Laura, I can't imagine being an only child. I tolerate my brother and am very fond of my sister. Good that you got into a groove with the run!

Karen, great that people have been inspired t o do races because of your coaching group! That's something to be very proud of. Have fun in Florida.

Kat, hope the dog letter outer works out. Two miles is better than no miles!

Margaret, nice run. Good for your DH for bringing shoes to the Philippines! I also have seen the donation bins at races, I think they are either donated to people who need shoes or recycled.

Damaris, OTF is a big part of your routine now, right? Hope you get your long run outside.

I did 15.6 this morning, should have gone longer but I was feeling the heat. It was cold (42 F so maybe 5 C) when I started, but 71 F (maybe 18 C) when I finished. Seemed like more than 15. I also collected over 100 recyclables during the run -- people are pigs about throwing things out of the car window! I got over 200 for the month though will not reach 2300 for the year. I would like to do more than that for 2018.

Running rest day for me! I will probably head to a special NYE body pump class around 10. Put those carbs to good use.

Wedding was fun - except the DJ SUCKED! I swear all they were playing was backstreet boys and Nsync. Uhm...I was telling HCBF we were going to have better music when its our turn. Like techno dance music. I want people on that dance floor! Haha. Food was awesome though..smores bar..cake and cupcakes were awesome. And of course it was great to see the family. We got home and passed out.

Thanks for all the sweet comments on the dress! I just would like to say that it was $35!!!!

NYE....we will probably clean today and run some errands. No going out for us..I think we are going to splurge and do crab legs tonight. I will probably be asleep before midnight.

OH my cold weather folks - we are going to be 10 and below this week. Thursday and Friday is going to be 8 degrees! We never are this cold. Ha. What do you wear?! I was just thinking of doubling up everything like I did last week? Luckily this week is a cut week..so I am only doing about 40 miles..

Kilmisters - Oh thanks for the headphones! For carrying the phone..I usually hold mine, but I found this on amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/VUP-Wristband-Samsung-Rotatable-Walking/dp/B06XSZ375C/ref=sr_1_2?s=grocery&ie=UTF8&qid=1514727027&sr=8-2&keywords=iphone+7+wrist+holder

You can find it for whatever phone you have. I ordered mine and its coming Wednesday. I will let you know how it works. I hate the armbands. Aw, nice run yesterday! Sounds challenging! As for the running shoes…a lot of these ladies track the mileage on their phone or I think you can with a Garmin watch. I always forgot to log it..if I start to get some aches and pains in my feet after wearing the shoe for a while (months) I know its time to change. You can almost feel when its time. I usually use my old shoes for cross training.

Laura - How did I not know you were an only child? All this time I thought you had brothers and sister. Whoops. Nice treadmill workout yesterday. I agree, I am over the family stuff, too! My entire families birthday is in January…so it won’t end until February.

Karen - Aw, how exciting for your training group! You are making marathoners SO COOL. I know its early, but what are they calling for weather wise for Houston? You have had a lot of cold fronts lately maybe it will be cool! Good for you for being able to build mileage like that..I don’t think I would ever get to that number. 55 and my body was screaming. I think 60 will be my limit. WOOHOOO congrats on the weight loss!! You always lost those last 5 when you aren’t paying attention. Pass some of that motivation over this way. LOL. I am with Kathryn though, I don’t know where you would lose any Have fun in FL!

Kathryn - I am with you on the NYE..I don’t really want to Hassle the crowds. You will not die silly

Margaret - Nice miles!!! I love your outlook on New Years Eve! Fresh start I was telling HCBF last night that he can just wake me up when its midnight..I probably wouldn’t stay up. Like your outlook on the scale watching, also. I gave it up years ago..easy thing to get obsessed over.

Docket - Nice job on the miles and OTF! You are strong Have fun at the party tonight! I am sure this has been asked to you before, but what kind of treadmill do you have? I am in the market for one. Preferably one that folds up so I can put it to the side. Oh man, I hope you are doing your LR outside today!

Tessa - Holy crap, nice 15+ yesterday! What is next for you? Where do you keep the things you collect?

Carol - Nice run yesterday in those cold temps!! What do you wear for that?

Sandy - I believe you came home last night!!! I can't wait to hear about your trip!

Happy NYE everyone! Do we have any New Years resolutions other than the famous "I want to lose weight"? Mine is, I want to lose weight LOL and I want to really work hard to find a new job that values my "worth". I also want to get into the habit of saying one positive thing about myself to myself every day. I am always so mean to myself!