From Me to You

A Year in Races

This year has been a good year, running wise. After not running very much last year (1 race and probably a few miles a week on average), I am glad that I made the time this year to run more and to be healthier. I feel better overall and I like having goals to strive for. Here is a quick recap of the races from 2011.

September:

City of Roses Half Marathon, Cape Girardeau, MO: Thanks to my friend G-man, who backed out of this race but was the one to suggest it, I had a reason to train through the hot summer in Missouri. I started running 2 miles and worked my way up to half marathon shape. This race was a big PR for me. I finally broke the 2 hour mark!

Women Run the Cities 10 Mile, Minneapolis, MN: Thanks to Lisa, this was a fun weekend! We toured around Minneapolis before doing the run on Sunday. I had never run a 10 mile run before, so it was an automatic PR! Gotta love that!

October:

Green Stride Half Marathon, Newburyport, MA: I met up with my friend M, who lives in Boston, and we drove up to Newburyport (with Mr. L, who was our complimentary cameraman) for a beautifulrace through the New England fall colors.

November:

Almond Bowl Half Marathon, Chico, CA: My mom accompanied me to this race and took photos of my struggles. It was a chilly morning run, and part of it was on a dirt (rocky) road, but it was not too hilly and therefore netted me another PR.

Turkey Trot (5k), Fairhaven, MA: I roped Mr. L into doing this with me and we both had a great time! I think no matter what distance races you normally do, you should throw a 5k in from time to time in order to remind yourself how fun it is to run shorter distances!

December:

California International Marathon, Sacramento, CA: This is the big one, Elizabeth. I am so glad I finally buckled down and signed up for a marathon. It has been on my life list for a long time and I admit to putting it off, year after year, because I was afraid that afterwards I would be done with running. Quite the contrary, I am ready for the 2012 season! With gusto!

So, all in all, it was a good running season. I can’t wait to see what next year brings!

Also, here is a quick recap of the HBBC activities for the last week.

Week of Dec 10 – 16: 30.6 Points total (23.6 miles run / 7 days of veggies)

Week of Dec 17 – 23: 30 points total (23 miles run / 7 days of veggies)

Did you run any races this year? Which one was your favorite? Are you having any success in keeping your cookie weight off?  

Cookie Monsters

Last weekend I got together with the girls and we had a cookie decorating party. The original idea was that we would have our friend C and her two kids over, so that we could have a fun time with them, but they were not available. This did not deter us; we decided to have the party without them. 

In attendance was my friend N and her mom, me and my mom and our friend C.  We were assisted by little C, who is about 18 months old and actually decorated cookies better than I did, I think. Excuse the lighting, the low winter sun was shining right in the window and made it really hard to get a good photo.

Everyone brought snack foods to eat while we were hard at work; as hard as I tried to eat only carrots and hummus, I think I may have snuck in a lot of cookies along the way too. I mean, you have to try each type of cookie with each type of frosting! Right? 

My friend made two kinds of cookies: sugar and gingerbread, and three kinds of frosting: maple, orange and butter cream. 

We had several shapes, such as a bone, a star, a Santa, a couple of men, a heart, a tree and a bell.

We used food coloring and sprinkles to create our masterpieces.

We had a great time, all of us adult girls, decorating cookies badly. 

Have you ever had a cookie decorating party? Do you think you could do a better job decorating (meaning if you have preschool skills or higher) than we did? 

Note:  I just realized that my posts from the last few days were not showing up in Reader! After much detective work, I went to a site that I already followed and signed in, and VOILA, they were back. What the heck, google.

Christmas Is

Mom’s Village: About 15 years ago, I bought my mom her first piece for what is now a village with about 25 buildings including a post office, a fire house and a cannery, several different kinds of trees, an ice skating rink and a sledding hill. I wish I lived in this village.

The Advent Calendar: My aunt made this for me when I was a baby. For the last 26 30 few dozen years, we have been putting up an ornament on the tree each day, in anticipation of the big day, December 24^th, when the Santa goes up and the next day is Christmas. My brother and I had a deal every year. One person got to put up the star (Day 1) and the other person got to put up Santa (day 24). Each year we would forget who put Santa up the year before, so it would always be a discussion about who got to put it up this year. 

Getting Santa’s Sleigh Ready: My parents (who are very crafty; I don’t know what happened to me. I guess those things skip a generation) made these wooden figures of Santa and the 9 (including Rudolph) reindeer. This year we screwed them to some old wooden chairs we had lying around. It’s really fun to look out the window each day and see Santa and his reindeer, about to take off into the Christmas sky! 

Homemade Ornaments: Like I said, my parents are very crafty. My Dad draws the annual Christmas card. My Mom sews and paints and makes things. When we were kids, we always had mostly homemade ornaments on the tree. We would make them, using wooden cutouts or my favorite, the salt, flour, water mixture, which you shaped and then cooked in the oven until it was hard. Then you could paint it. My mom also took goose eggs and blew out the insides and painted the outsides. We still have many of those ornaments now (you can see the little boy; he is made out of flour.)

The Tree: Naturally, this is a big part of Christmas. But. Did you know that where I live, we go and cut down our own? It’s a tradition. Each year, we buy a permit ($10) and then drive up higher into the mountains (where we live is too low; the branches are not as straight) to find the perfect tree. When we find it, we take an axe to it. It was always such an adventure chopping down your own tree every year. I even got to have my own small tree in my room! Afterwards, our socks would be wet and we would be very chilly, but it was okay because that meant hot chocolate and a roaring fire when you got home. **You may notice our trees are not as bushy as some of the ones in the Midwest or Back East. They are Doug Firs, and we like them a little sparser, as this makes it easier to see all the (homemade) ornaments. My boyfriend, who is from Back East, thinks they are a little spindly, but personally I think the bushy ones are a little ridiculous.**

Wrapping Christmas Presents: I almost enjoy wrapping presents more than I enjoy unwrapping them! It is so fun to put something smelling of cinnamon in the oven, turn on the Christmas music and get to wrapping! We always listen to the Messiah (Hallelujah!) as well as a variation of other albums, such as Bing Crosby, Charlie Brown Christmas, Muppets Christmas Carol Soundtrack, Trans-Siberian Orchestra and Elvis. 

Stockings: Even though we don’t have any little young kids left in the family (although there are babies now so it’s only a matter of time) we still do stockings every Christmas. We each contribute by buying a few little things (paperback books, chapstick, socks) to put in the stockings each year. It is fun to wake up and see “what Santa brought”. At the bottom, there is always a mandarin.  All our stockings are handmade (wow, this is becoming a theme); some by my grandmother, others by my other grandmother and some by my aunt (the one who made the advent calendar). 

Mandarins: Speaking of, these are the fruit of Christmas for me. Not only does the mandarin signify the end (or bottom) of your stocking, but in our area, there are tons of orchards and so we get them fresh every year. They are so good, I have been eating at least 2 a day, and some days more like 10. I love it that they don’t have any seeds and that the skin comes off as if it were just waiting for you to peel it! Yum. I am going to go and eat one right now. A close second to the mandarin is the persimmon, but not the baking kind. Never eat that kind unless you want your mouth to taste like sawdust. Always get the Japanese (Fuji) persimmons.

Making Cookies: There is something about winter that just makes you want to bake. It keeps the house warm; it is something to do since you can’t go outside in the cold; it fills some void that I don’t seem to have as much in the summer time. In November it’s cakes and muffins and bread; in December, it’s cookies. We give the cookies away as gifts to the neighbors. We try not to eat too many ourselves. We have few regulars and I always try something new each year, some of which are good and some of which will not be making another appearance next year (pictured: overcookedchocolate chip, oatmeal, pumpkin no butter chocolate chip, Russian kisses).

What is Christmas to you? Do you have a bushy tree or a skinny one? Do you put out stockings every year? What song do you listen to every Christmas?

A-List Monday: III

Travel is an important theme in my life. I was lucky this year to be able to do it a lot, both for work and for pleasure, within the country and abroad. Here, in no particular order, is a list of some places that I really felt were definitely worth visiting this year! Obviously there were many more places that I went this year that I loved! It was hard to even narrow it down to these twelve!  

Koh Rong, Cambodia: This little island was quiet and secluded, with beautiful calm beaches and stunning green water. The accommodation was a powerless hut on the beach, but it was a great way to relax, unwind, do a little diving and eat good fresh fish (from the one of two vendors). If you want to relax, this is the place to go.

The Great Wall, China: This did not disappoint. Some icons seem different when you get to them, but the Great Wall lived up to its name. It WAS great! Even Flat Stanley liked it.

Little Liking, China: This was a small town with an old world charm. The streets were all cobbled and definitely not big enough for a car; the people all sat out on their stoops and chatted and played cards; the buildings were all ancient and made of stone. It was a beautiful little nook to wander and discover. (the only problem with China is that they block all the good websites)

 Ebbets Pass, CA: This mountain pass that we visited on our camping trip to Grover Hot Springs and Markleeville is around 8500 feet high and was used by the Miwok and Washoe Indians to cross the mountains.You can easily get carsick driving up to the pass, but once you get there, the view is totally worth it.

Home Sweet Home: Be it ever so humble, there really is no place like home. Isn't it pretty?

Rural Missouri: Who would have known that driving around the back roads in Missouri could be so fun? There are tons of barns and farms and tractors, and it has a certain charm. (je ne se quoi?)

Padangbai, Bali, Indonesia: This was the perfect place to spend a few days diving, swimming and snorkeling. The water was so clear and I saw a whole school of squid one day! I love the water and if you love beaches, this is a great place to go. Also the people are so laid back and nice. You will feel right at home (just try to avoid all the drunk Australians).

Busan, South Korea: The fish markets here were amazing. We were here when the cherry blossoms were in bloom, which was really nice. We also caught a Korean baseball game, which was a blast! Also good here: Korean BBQ, Kim Chi and Karaoke.

New Zealand: Hiking in New Zealand was one of the highlights of my travels. There are so many places to go; you just stop the car, get out and start walking! There are snowy mountains and green meadows. It really is one of my favorite countries.

San Francisco, CA: No matter how many other cities I see, San Francisco is still one of my favorites. It has it all, beaches and hills, Italians and Asians. All kinds of food, all kinds of weather. It is a beautiful city and I can't wait to go back there again!

New York City: No matter how many times I go, I always find something new to do, to see, to eat, in New York. I love wandering the streets with no plan. I always have a good time in this city.

Ninh Binh, Vietnam: I loved the hazy feel of the wet, green rice paddies. We biked around them and it was really neat to see all the locals out working in their fields. We even got asked if we wanted to help (I think that is what the old man gesturing to the mud wanted).

What is your favorite place that you went this year?

Don We Now

I love the holidays! Everything is so festive, the fire is going strong, things are being made with love and there is just a certain something in the air. Therefore, this week has been full of Christmas related activities! Grab your mulled wine and check out what they were (inspired by Kim)!

There was some decking of railings with bows.

The advent calendar came out of it's box (yes, a tad late but such is life).

I ran here. It's getting colder. It was probably in the 20s. 

Oh the wintery river. Doesn't it just LOOK cold?

I am Santa's little elf. I did a lot of this.

 I played around with my camera and the tree.

I baked a lot of these. And why not? Remember what I said about the running? 

I met up with some friends and we finished up our shopping and then went to the Sierra Nevada Brewery for lunch. 

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la. 

What did you do this week? Did you finish your shopping? Are you ready for Christmas?

Not So Fabulous

So the marathon is over. Now what? My mom recently asked me what I would be doing after I finished training for the race. I honestly did not know. Should I take a break for a while, now that I don’t have a race immediately scheduled? Should I keep running to keep up my stamina so when I do schedule a race, I will not have to re-train entirely? I don’t want to lose what I have worked so hard for, but at the same time, it would be nice to NOT have to spend all my time thinking about when I will get a run in and where I will run and how I will get to where I am running. It would be nice to plan some outings with friends without having to think about the fact that it will be dark when I get back so I may not get a run in (so maybe I should not go). I have been thinking exclusively about running for a while. Am I ready for a break?

A recentarticle in Runner’s World said that you should take as many days off of running as the number of miles in your last race. For example, if you just ran a half marathon, you should take 13 days off from running. RW suggests that the holidays are an ideal time to do this, since most people are busy and have so many other things to do. They say that for the first couple weeks of your break, drop mileage to zero and do light cross training instead. For the next three to six weeks, add running back in slowly: For two weeks, run 25% of pre-break mileage; for two weeks run 50%; the last two weeks, run 75%.

Last week I ran 18 miles. This is roughly 41% of my pre-race mileage. I feel great. I “only” ran 3 days last week and my runs were 4, 6 and 8 miles, which seemed like nothing really. I feel like any less would be a cop out, but only because it is less that the number of miles I am used to. Without a weekend long run of 13, 15, 20 miles, it feels strange. But maybe it’s all in my head. Maybe I should tune it down a little for the next couple of weeks?

Don’t get me wrong; I am not done running by a long shot. Next year I have a few things planned. There is the 12 in 2012, where I will run 12 half marathons in 2012. There is The Relay, which is a 199 mile, 12 person relay race from Calistoga, CA to Santa Cruz, CA; it even goes over the Golden Gate Bridge at midnight! I will talk more about both of these as the plans come together. There is also the possibility of another marathon. NYC perhaps (if I can get in)? There are things happening. But they are not this week or next week. They are at least a month and probably more from now.

So I am trying to break the mental feeling that I HAVE TO run and that if I don’t run a certain number of miles that I am doing something wrong or that I am not achieving my goal. I am trying not to log miles just to get my numbers up. But it is strange to not have a goal and to increase that goal each week. I am a goal oriented person.

So my goal is: To run because it’s fun, to run to keep myself feeling healthy (and so I can eat more cookies) and to run when I can, as much as I can, but to not worry if I can’t. Also I will try to do one day of cross training per week (which will probably be hiking).

Think I can do it?

Don't forget to go and link up with Jill if you have a Fitness related post! 

How do you handle the days and weeks after a big race? What is your recovery strategy? Do you feel weird if you don’t log a certain amount of miles?