It's Christmas Eve!!

And I just finished with a 90 minute trainer session. Funny how things change when you grow up, huh? I mean, 20 years ago, i'd have been setting a plate of cookies and milk with my little brother, hanging out in our pjs and waiting for the presents that would be waiting under (and around) the tree the next morning.

Not now. Now, I'm relaxing in jeans after my first full week back to work. And I've already had all but one Christmas. And I'm excited about going for a long run in the morning. And the fact that the days are getting longer after surviving the winter solstice earlier this week.

The last couple weeks have been a whirlwind. I slept in til 5:30 this morning and felt both refreshed and like a slacker (because it wasn't time enough to allow for a workout). But it's not like I've been slacking. We did over 4k at swim practice the other morning. And I've been on the trainer more than few times this week. And last weekends runs were a blast. Oh, and the walk to and from work gets a little chilly, but it's good decompression time.

I got to spend some time last weekend with my brothers and nieces and nephews. They're so much fun! Almost enough fun to make me want some of my own. Almost.

But I do love them. ANd I've been blessed with some amazing friends and family.

It seems we choose certain times of the year to appreciate them, and this is one. And so many times we just look at visiting as a chore with the travel and the stress of picking out gifts and all the noise  and chaos. But when we look back on it, these are usually the times that mean so much because we're all together.

Thank you to my friends and family. You guys are awesome. I love you all.

Merry Christmas everyone! Eat up and drink your cares away cause base training is on it's way :)

friday thoughts

 - why am I always having a good hair day on the days I need to hit the gym at lunch?
 - riding outside tomorrow. should be interesting. high of 28 degrees. will be testing new cold weather gear.
 - Splash'n'Dash on Sunday. I'm actually going to do it this time. 1000m indoor swim followed by 5k outdoor run. then more running with teammates.
 - will also be trying on new team unis.
 - speaking of which, Triple T tri top designs are out. they look tight. per usual.
 - looking at going some place warm soon. wait. even TX and Atlanta are getting dumped on with snow? f*^k!
 - thank you Lincoln and Washington for President's Day. and that I have a job at a bank. three day weekend in store!
 - the above is much more exciting to me than valentine's day, which is just another day. I guess I don't understand why we only show our love one day a year through obligatory flowers and candy.
 - not that flowers and candy aren't nice and yummy...
 - because the tulips sitting on my kitchen table are beautiful. and the chocolate covered strawberries were delicious.
 - the half hour on the treadmill at the gym just now seemed to take FOREVER. much longer than the 80 laps on the indoor track on Wednesday.
 - tomorrow will be the 5th and final day on the bike for the week.
 - and Sunday will be the 5th and final run. but only the 3rd and final swim.
 - perhaps I should get in the pool more?
 - I'm leaving early again today to kick off this 3-day weekend.
 - and I'll be hanging with an old high school friend. should be entertaining.
 - Oh, and Winter Olympics start this eve. I like the Olympics.

Three down, one to go...

My Saturday morning run was much more enjoyable than the day before. Mostly because I was prepared for what was out there. More wind. More cold. And yes, I went out and about in the town of Effingham. I ran by the high school, which, if you've heard that Ben Folds song I referenced before, you'll notice the first line is "If there's a God, He is laughing at us and our football team!" It's because they're named the Effingham Flaming Hearts. No joke. 

And I ran past the hospital where I was born...This is also where my mom worked. And still does on occasion.

 After that fun, I ventured out to Wal-mart. And I was scared. So, for protection, I took Kaylee and I let her wear her Heelies. I figured I could play mom and fit right in with allowing her to skate down the aisles.

Then it was off to dad's side of the family in St. Joseph, IL. Again, I took Kaylee with me. We also brought the pup. .

If you get grossed out easily, skip the next paragraph.

Let me give a little preface that all dogs have something called anal sacs that can leak. And what come out is the most revolting liquid known to man. I'll just state for the record that there have been times when Clubber has secreted some fluid. It's usually when she's reaaaallllyy tired on warm and cuddling on someone's lap. Which is what she was doing with Kaylee on the way to dad's family. Clubber stood up and the odor wafted into the air as Kaylee screeched and I bursted out in laughter (not out of cruelty, but because it's happened to me before. and why not laugh?)

As luck would have it, we were just five miles from an oulet mall and stopped at Old Navy for a quick changing of the pants. and stuffing the old ones in a plastic bag. We were back on the road in no time. And later, Kaylee was able to laugh about the situation too.

We arrived and got to hang out with grandma, and the kids (2 year old Marley and 4 month old Owen) while dad and my little bro and his fiance went to get gifts. I love those children, but after a weekend of being around kids, let me just say that there is no better birth control than children themselves.

Back to mom's that night. In a snow storm. Luckily, I have a guy who will entertain my niece with text messages from Boulder while I grip the steering wheel and pray we don't die. Upon arrival, we encountered a mess of monumetal proportion...but I won't divulge what occured. Just know I went and cleaned up the next morning, but stayed the night on the couch at my grandma's.

And went for another cold, and snowy this time, run before the 25 family members gathered at Granny's. That was fun. It was just a lot of people. And a lot of kids. Seriously. Very effective birth control. I was EXHAUSTED by the time I left that afternoon.

 

 

So was Clubber, but she got some lovin' from her cousin, so I think that totally made up for it...

I got in my car to make the drive back to Cincinnati, and it smelled like gasoline, but I figured it would go away like it usually does (yes. I said usually. I mean, i usually also only drive the 6 miles to work, so it doesn't bother me). But a half hour down the expressway and I wasn't feeling too great. And I had the window down. And it was all of 19 degrees. Oh, and i don't have heat.

So, I called mom and my little bro brought me her car to drive home. A couple accidents on the roads, some severe traffic, and a 6 hours later (it usually takes 3.5-4 hours), I was finally back in KY in my own bed!

And there's only one more Christmas to celebrate.

Christmas with the ladies

Morning began with an hour run. I decided to run the 15 minutes out to the country and run amongst the farm life. While it's typically very peaceful out there, I failed to remember that where it is flat and farmland, there is no shelter from the wind. And the gusts were about 35 miles an hour. And the cold was rolling in. It had rained the previous 48 hours. After a half hour in that lustering cold, I was definitely looking forward to getting back to town for some reprieve from the wind. About five minutes from home, I was pelted with freezing rain. I had to stop and turn my back to it at one point because the little balls of ice felt like razors hitting my face. Hot coffee never tasted so good as when I got back to mom's.

My aunt and cousin arrived and we had lunch. This was fairly uneventful. Then the Scrabble gaming began. Granny sat out the first game. My cousin won the first game and then she and my aunt headed home.

That's when the real fun started. My granny, old and senial as she is, dominated. At one point, she was up by 40 points. She couldn't add her points up for shit, but she sure as hell can play up the triple word scores. And let's not mention the fact that she'd start the game with a word and then later ask who wrote that word and whether it was actually a word!

We had four generations of women sitting around the table. My granny, who will be 91 in three weeks, my mom, me and my ten year old niece. My mom was asking about my favorite Christmas song, which turned into her singing "I want a hippopotomus for Christmas..." horribly off tune. Kaylee and I were laughing about farts, I'm playing words like "boner" as granny snickers in the background and tells her daughter to "shut up" and questions whether "freer", which was played about four rounds earlier, is a word. To be a fly on the wall in the room...

It was a glorious day and a fabulous evening.

Tomorrow, I head to dad's family...

Four Christmases. in real life

My mom and dad are from IL. When I was a wee tot, my dad got a job with the federal government, which moved us to Northern KY/Cincinnati. And we're pretty much the only ones that moved away. ever. The entire rest of the family is still in IL. It was always us that travelled for holidays, back to Effingham (central IL) and St. Joseph (right outside Champaign). This was always an adventure. For one, my parents couldn't take a trip to the mall without a major blowout. And any trip over 45 mins and my older brother would eat a can of honey roasted peanuts and stink us all out. I was the token fat, middle child (and only girl) that always needed to eat. you know "can we stop at Dairy Queen?" right after having had McDonald's. And candy. Chips. Coke. You name it.

Yeah. Dysfunctional doesn't even begin to describe.

My parents have since divorced. And remarried. And my little brother moved far away and started his own family. And mom moved back to IL. So, I still travel. There's Christmas at mom's. Christmas at mom's family. Christmas at dad's and Christmas at dad's family.

Things are much calmer and more fun now that I'm older. And now that we're not three crazy kids and fighting parents shoved in a minivan full of peanut gas going over the river and through the woods.

But that's not to say it's not entertaining. I mean, within the first hour of my arrival to mom's today, my granny said "now...I think you've gained some weight since I last saw you..." Um, she's 90. And her memory is dwindling. And I no longer wear a size 0 (yeah, fat kid to way  too skinny to now) but that comment has had me feeling like a lard ass all night. But that's just granny. If it's not your weight, it's your hair. but she's honest. so it's kinda funny.

I decided to make the trek to Effingham today lest I spend Christmas eve at my lonely little apartment and Christmas day wondering why the hell I didn't finish all my shopping earlier. It's just the girls here now - my mom, my granny, my niece, Kaylee and me. Oh, and Clubber. We're banishing the male cat to the porch (no worries, it's covered and like 40 degrees out).

Just now, we were decorating the tree and my mom busts out in song "O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree"... and Kaylee is commenting on Clubber sniffing feline ass. Granny went home. She lives next door (yes, this is small town central IL - for a funny take on this town, listen to Ben Folds "Effington"). She keeps her house at about 82 degrees so no one stays long. Smart lady. Or maybe she wants to see some skin?

Did I mention that I also had to help Kaylee register her new iPod? yes. Miley Cyrus. And Taylor Swift. I think I already heard Party in the USA about 20 times. in the last hour.

Tomorrow, the rest of the family comes in for some grub. The hilarity ensues. Stay tuned. I'll have pictures. Maybe even old fat pics.

In other news, I stopped by Judi's today to exchange gifts and got these adorable wellies!

And she made Clubber a collar with her name on it!

And Clubber got to play with Fausto and Ari. Lucy prettty much stayed to herself. But it made Clubber EXHAUSTED for the ride. Good for me. Merry Christmas all!!!

Oh, Chipmunks Christmas album is now playing as our soundtrack.

I don't know if there's some hidden meaning behind those t-shirts...

...but, seriously, Life is Good!

It's one of those times when it feels like it's in fast forward because so much is going on and the days just seem to fly by. But I guess that's kinda how the holidays tend to get, right? I mean, one day you're passing out candy to trick-or-treaters and then suddenly, you look up and see Christmas trees and snow!

Unfortunately, I'm one of those very few people who had to work the day after Thanksgiving. Fortunately, it was only for three hours. And then I left for a weekend in Boulder....and if you haven't ever been, go straight to travelocity and book a flight NOW. But wait until after the holidays to visit because flight prices are exorbitant right now.

It's an outdoorsy person's dream come true. Hiking trails and bike paths. Sun. Moutntains. Fresh air. Trust me on this one. It's gorgeous.

Those three days passed oh so quickly, but involved a climb up Mount Sanitas, which overlooks the city, a ride into town to walk around Pearl street, an hour and a half run on the Mesa Trail, cheering at a cross race, good beer, nice people, and some relaxation.

I skipped swim practice yesterday morning and slept in. I walked into work to get some activity. And I wished I had remembered to bring my camera. There were so many sights to see. I passed by the big Christmas train display downtown, saw an elderly woman walking a dog and carrying another in swaddling clothes (no kidding). Plus, the moon was crazy big last night as I made the trek back home. I love walking through downtown with my iPod in my ears. Soon, it'll be too cold and wet to make the trip by foot, so I'm trying to take advantage of the nice days.

I got up and went for a swim this morning. I'd forgotten how great it can be to just swim. Judi had told me about it. But I've become so accustomed to hard sets with Masters practice that easy swimming alone with no intervals or sets seemed foreign. But it felt great.

So, yeah, all this activity the last week is my excuse for not writing. That, and I've had no good material. These are the frivolous thoughts I've had and some of what I get to look forward to...

 - There's a 10 mile trail race this Saturday that I'm SO looking forward to doing. I haven't run trails competitively since high school cross country.
 - I get to go be Judi's sherpa for her cross race on Sunday. In Louisville. It's pretty cool to watch instead of race all the time.
 - Can you really listen to Jay-Z without dancing along? or at least bobbing your head? or getting a swagga?
 - Why is there ever just one lonely shoe out in the middle of the road?
 - I want to do an Ultramarathon this year. Either the Leadville Silver Rush 50 Run or the Mohican 50 Mile. Problem is, Mohican is just a few weeks after TTT; Leadville has crazy altitude. Running is my true love though. And trail running is even better.
 - November was my month to slack on intake. Too much sugar all around. I'm making a better effort to watch what I eat. And no, I don't mean just seeing crap go down my gullet.
 - Nice job at IMCoz, Kim! Way to rock it out. Is it really your last? Somehow I doubt this.
 - Flight is booked to go back to Boulder for New Years. It will be a nice repreive after Christmas with the family. I love them, but it's a little overwhelming. And a lot of travel. I am looking forward to seeing them all though. Maybe I'll take my bike to IL.
 - I haven't been on the trainer since prepping for Worlds. I'm holding out until I have to get on that thing again.
 - I love witnessing someone talk about their passion. Can you really, truly even know someone without seeing this?

Ok, enough from me. Happy Hump Day!