Extreme Blog Makeover

If revamping my blog was my resolution for the new year, then I can pretty much sit back and relax for the next 362 days. Apparently much has changed since I started, but it was a lot less overwhelming to tweak and edit things than I remember, which is GREAT! I feel like this make-over is exactly what I need to start off the new year, and taking time to add labels/tags after the fact gave me the chance to quickly look back on my journey over the past two years (I decided to go back and add them, thinking it'd be neat to have the whole blog included, opposed to just starting from now). It's a good feeling to lay out goals for the upcoming month/year, while not losing sight of the fact that I've come a long way from where I started.

Speaking of resolutions and goals, I have decided to set running goals for the month, instead of the year, so I can celebrate the small victories (/avoid overloading my list with a moment of excitement!). Scary that they're now in print. Here we goooo:

1. In preparation for Hope Express, choose one day a week to run before AND after work. Woof.

2. Mountains and Hills and Slopes, oh my! Also in preparation for next month, adding straight up repeats into my regime. I'm proud to admit that I have stopped sobbing at the sight of incline/gladly welcome hills into my runs, but certainly adding more intentional repeats into my runs in the upcoming weeks will be crucial.

3. More cow bell. I mean, cross training. Signed up for a class at the gym to help with this one and I'm eager to get more out of my gym membership.

2011 in review

argh! I somehow just lost my monumental final post of 2011 - rats!

I actually figured it out when I meant to add a note about wanting to work on this layout in the upcoming weeks (big aspirations, I know).

Happy new years!

let the bodies hit the floor

...or just one.

Today I fell when I was running with Ryan around his neighborhood. More than anything else, the shock of it is what made it hurt the most (well that, and my hands breaking my fall on the concrete...that did hurt a bit too). Minus a few scraps and cuts, I'm fine, but I was really happy I wasn't running alone. If nothing else, it just reiterated my recent thought about needing a Road ID, something I have been thinking about lately. Argh!

Will Run for Ice Cream

...or very similarly flavored gu. Tried this today and it was delicious! I'm hoping it will be served at Christmas Eve dinner tonight....okay, that's pushing it...

weather you like it or not...

...the weather will change. I've really been enjoying it. Don't be fooled into thinking this picture was taken too recently, but I realized I had forgotten to post it! I had taken it to capture the change of season and to acknowledge how appreciative I am for the fact that running allows me to really notice these beautiful changes. It's been warmer than I believe is typical for this time of year, but I have welcomed the 30's with open arms and have really enjoyed the fresh feel of the this (not too!) cold, particularly with a dusting of snow on the ground (which we've had a few times). Fingers crossed that this appreciation continues! If you don't hear from me about by mid-January, I've probably frozen mid-stride.

Sunriseeee, Sunset. Sunriseeee, Sunset.

So contrary to fairly popular belief, Michigan is part the Eastern Time Zone!

Because it just barely skirted into the (second) biggest and baddest time zone, there is a significant difference in sunrise/sunset times as compared with Philadelphia. We noticed it pretty quickly when we got here and I've especially noticed it, as I've been given an extra half hour of light for me to squeeze my runs in after work. I don't mind dark running, especially when I'm with a running buddy (Always thinking about safety MOM!!!), but it's really, really hard to get motivated to first begin a run in the dark.

In other sun/rotation/revolution news, winter is upon us! Based on the info below, it looks like we're on par with friends back east, but from what I hear, that's only as of very recently. We have been in the 30's for about two weeks now, and I surprisingly enough haven't cried/melted yet! It's been really refreshing and I've really enjoyed my cold weather runs (of course, I postponed today's run by a few hours when I woke up to the tune of 19 degrees...but I think being flexible is a positive quality!). I took my new headband out for a spin today and it kept my ears nice and toasty (I even had to shed it towards the end...I was hottt!).

Ann Arbor:

Philadelphia:

Training Update!

Training for the EXTREME team (wait, really? This still hasn't hit me) is going really well, taking into account the normal bumps in the road. I had a really good long run last weekend and today, and I feel like I'm in a good rhythm and things are good. Not easy, but good in that I'm becoming less afraid/more aware of the fact that it's so mental (if I had a dollar for every time I said that...yet still, somehow I'm still working on internalizing this fact). I would like to add an extra day of some other type of workout into my schedule, starting ASAP, which has probably been the biggest challenge as of lately, since I work last 2x a week. I would say that's probably my goal for this week.