2017 Races - Here I Come!

When you put yourself on the line in a race and expose yourself to the unknown, you learn things about yourself that are very exciting. -- Doris Brown Heritage

Why race?  The need to be tested, perhaps; the need to take risks; and the chance to be number one. -- Dr. George Sheehan

Now is the time of year when the race schedule for next year gets set...and I think we've got 2017 nailed down!  I'm so excited.

January 1 - First Day 5K (registered)

January 22 - Frostbite 15K (registered)

February 26 - Sentara Colonial Half Marathon (planned)

March 19 - Tobacco Road Marathon (registered)

May 13 - Kinetic Oly Triathlon (planned)

June 10 - Jamestown Oly Triathlon (planned)

July 9 - Rev3 Williamsburg 70.3 (registered)

August 13 - Steelhead 70.3 (planned)

September 24 - IM Chattanooga (registered)

There may be a couple other running races here and there for training runs...and who knows what I'm going to want to do next fall - maybe lay on the couch for a month?  (Oh, wait - I've done that in other October/November time frames and it really isn't as much fun as it sounds.)

Anyway - the plan looks good - now I just gotta finish getting registered for everything and then TRAIN!

The Twelve Observations of Christmas...

There are three principal means of acquiring knowledge...observation of nature, reflection, and experimentation.  Observation collects facts; reflection combines them; experimentation verifies the result of that combination.  -- Denis Diderot

So I'm too late for the Twelve Days of Christmas, but I'm taking the number anyway.  Besides, I couldn't really do Twelve Days better than Straight No Chaser...my favorite Xmas music band.  No seriously - check them out.  You will love them, too.

OK, so here's my Twelve Observations of Christmas...

1. My coach has me pool running to put some easy peasy miles on my legs.  (Apparently the theme of this winter is super easy, super hard.  Not sure how I feel about that yet.)  Pool running is weird.
2. When you're pool running, you get to watch people.  People are weird too.  The weirdest thing I've seen so far was a man swimming laps with a snorkel.  (I mean that's weird, because who willingly swims with a snorkel?  I have a snorkel - it's homicidal.)  Anyway, not only was he swimming with a snorkel, but every time he stroked with his right hand, he turned his head - as if to breathe.  And the end of his snorkel went underwater.  Um.  Missing the point?
3. I am not a lotion girl, but I do like body butters.  Since I'm spending so much time in the pool - between Masters and pool running, I was getting a bit scaly.  (Perhaps turning amphibious, but I assume it's dry skin.)  Anyway, body butter is magic.
4. Whoever's bright idea it was to track sleep and food for December was an idiot.  Oh, wait.  That was me.  Yeah...no.  I mean, I'm tracking my sleep - but it's horrible because I'm totally off schedule.  And eating, well - no, that's horrible too.
5. Hill running sucks, but it works.  My coach has me running hill repeats when I'm not pool running.  They suck.  My neighbors think I'm a creeper when I pass their house for the 4th, 5th, ...7th, time in a half hour.  They're hard.  They hurt.  I hate them.  And they're making me stronger.
6. I ran my best 5K in a long, long time in December.  Not a PR by any stretch, but I've been slow for so long now, it feels like a PR.  Yeah me!  (Must be that hill running!)
7. There is a reason I don't bake.  It's because home baked sweets are from the Devil.  In general, my sweet tooth is very manageable.  Unless there are homemade cookies in my house.  Then I'm like Cookie Monster on drugs.  NOMNOMNOMNOM.  Get in my belly!
8. My kids are old enough to bake on their own.  This is even worse because I get the sweets without the work.  Crap.
9. Christmas shopping is a great way to get in lots of extra steps.  Too bad I prefer to shop online.  But the day I went with the girls, dang - I walked for miles!
10. That first cold snap of winter, even though it's not really cold, feels like Hell has frozen over.  And it's hard to deal with mentally, because you know that later on, in January or February, it's going to be even colder...but right at that moment, you think you're going to die.
11. Red toe nail polish never dies.  Neither do poinsettias...although I'm getting pretty close to killing our plant this year.  I painted my toe nails red for a holiday party in early December and am still rocking the look...and they don't look bad at all.  Red finger nail polish, on the other hand...dies too quickly.  Too bad I'm too lazy to take it off right now.
12. I love Christmas - but it's a season of sloth.  I also love New Year's, which thankfully follows with a season of renewed energy.  Kind of nice how that all works out, right?

Here's another Straight No Chaser song for you...

Tell me you don't feel more festive now.  :)