Ran my longest run ever today, 13-miles. Happy New Year to me! I did this without my young running partner Lindsey, who, during our 12-mile run last Sunday, expressed plans to celebrate the New Year “big” and didn’t plan on getting up early enough to run. I missed her!
As it turns out, I celebrated New Year’s Eve pretty big for me. John and I stayed up well past midnight, watching the Times Square ball drop with friends at Will and Kim’s NYE party. For someone who usually goes to bed around 10:30 PM, I felt like the ball had dropped on me when I woke this morning.
After last weekend’s hilly double plus loop around Cherokee Blvd, I had a general, flatter route in mind. I was out on the road by 11:00 AM. I ran through my neighborhood, across Gay Street bridge and down to the waterfront just as members of the Knoxville Track Club were tearing down the New Year’s Day 5k venue. Running felt great and I tried to stay in the current mile and not look forward. I ran through parts of the UT campus, across the Alcoa Street bridge and on the UT Agriculture Farm (nice gravel-dirt roads there). It’s amazing how some places I thought were miles away are really not!
Finally I had logged enough miles to turn around and head for home (my favorite part of any run). I did not feel great on the way back, probably lack of nutrition. I had several meltdowns (see blue lines on map below) including a call to John, declaring I did not think I could make it home. He offered to come pick me up which jarred me into the realization that I was headed for failure if I didn’t suck it up and run home.
I did…suck it up and run home. The run wasn’t pretty and I learned a valuable lesson about nutrition. Looking back, my satisfaction does not come from completing the run but the fact that I didn’t quit on myself.
It is time to wrap up Christmas 2009. We had a great Christmas, probably the best I can remember in a while. Lots of time spent with family, and food, food, food! We started celebrating on Christmas Eve Day with Lee’s 20th birthday and kept going until Christmas Day evening. John, Daniel and Lee left for Huntsville on the 26th to spend a few days with his family, while I stayed here and worked. Below are some pics from our Christmas…
John with Lee’s birthday cake
John made Lee’s birthday cake from a recipe in this month’s Southern Living. The devil’s food cake had a 7 minute white frosting with chocolate ganache filling. Some days I think I am dating Martha Stewart’s long lost son.
One candle for each of Lee’s 5 years
Daniel (left) and Lee
Christmas Day with the Smith’s at Shannondale Healthcare Center
Leslie and Carol and lots of presents
Daddy
Christmas with the Dunlaps
Daniel
Daniel and Lee opening a coffee siphon from John
Making coffee with the coffee siphon
Standing rib roast for Christmas Day with the Dunlaps (another John creation)
The “fourth” meal, Christmas dinner with the Smith’s
Crab dinner at Leslie and Mike’s house
