January 2020-it’s a wrap……

January is going out similar to the way it came in-chilly and dreary. It was a good month by all accounts though it fell a little short of what my active self would have liked. On the rare occasion I was up early enough to see this, but more often than not, sky watching was part of my evening routine.

It rained a lot in January and the temperature was all over the board-20’s to 70 F.

I got back into a swing with my art classes, something I struggled with in November/December. Unfortunately I did not devote as much, well any time to drawing outside of class, which did not improve my ability or my confidence. My January class will wrap up next week and I will not take another until March.

John and I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary on January 16th. We celebrated by going out for sushi at one of our favorite downtown restaurants, Nama’s. Pretty low key for two people who married late and can’t believe we have been together so long. Both pictures were taken in bad lighting but the sushi photo makes me hungry now. We have one more chance to make a bigger splash as we will be celebrating 20 years together in February.

My active goals for January were to be outside more than I was inside. I was successful at this but just barely, outside 17 days or 54.8% of the month (for someone who hated math, I love numbers!).

Running

I had no real goals here, I wanted to see what I ran without anything pushing me. I was out 13 days for a total of 44.29 miles. My uphill elevation gain was only 832.6′. Obviously I tried to keep it flat. Some days were good, some days were a struggle but I never regretted it once I closed the front door and headed to the street.

Walking

John, Katie and I or just Katie and I got out for walks around the neighborhood or in area parks. Overall we were out a total of 8 days for 17.02 miles. Good thing the pup is in day care 1-2 days a week cause this is not nearly enough outside time for her.

Hiking

We started to ratchet up our hiking toward the end of the month. We were out for 2 hikes for a total of 11.22 miles. Our elevation gain on these two hikes was 2381.9′. The first hike was a 3 miler (short) at Norris State Park. The second hike was just over 8 miles at Frozen Head State Park. I am working on my post for this hike.

February begins tomorrow and it is a reset for me. I will be paying attention to food consumption and outdoor activities, specifically hiking and running. We are currently on for an Alaska adventure in August (fingers crossed no dog issues) and training must begin now.

I have signed up for 10K race in the morning, my first in years and I am a little scared! I will be one of only a handful of female racers over 65. I know I will be slow but a 1/2 marathon will be going on concurrently with the 10K so I shouldn’t be the last person on the course.

I wish everyone a happy February and thanks for reading!