As a new year starts ... my life will be dwindling....

As my time off from work comes to an end ... I get to look forward to the months of hell that end at April 15th and a few extra pounds. The months of ordering dinner at work and working weekends with minimal exercise will kill any momentum I had from running in the fall.  My goal is to not completely fall off the running track so that when I start again in April I will not be starting from square one but more like midway through a half training program.

I have already signed up for The Baltimore Running Festival to do the half, but not sure what else I want to do this year. The Annapolis Half Marathon looks like it is moving to December so that will probably be off my list since December weekends are pretty hectic and a 5k in December was just enough for me.

So any ideas what events I should do between June - September? Right now I am looking at Virginia Wine Country Half.

I went to the gym today since it was a tad cold, but more so insanely windy.  I did this workout followed by 40 minutes on the elliptical. I suck on the treadmill, so 20 minutes for me is good.  As I mentioned here ,  me and treadmills don't work but I am trying.

So during this holiday time - I did get a some fitness related items. I got a scale for Christmas from my husband. Okay... I know that sounds horrible but I wanted it. Its wifi enabled and can track and do all sorts of cool things.

I got the Withings Wifi Body Scale.

My dad got me a gift card to Dicks and I was able to get some Under Armour Evo Coldgear Compression Tights. They are much needed for our cold weekend runs. They had a bunch of clearance racks too, and for a total of $50 I got the following (each was $16.47) :

Under Armour Escape 3" Short 

Under Armour Catalyst (made from recycled materials) shirt

And my husband got the Under Armour Headgear Fitted Crew (in orange)

That is pretty much all of the fitness related things from the holidays. My husband got some running gadgets that will work with his future iPhone - but I will review those once he can actually use them in February.

On Christmas Eve we made a pretty delicious dinner -

Here are some photos from Christmas -

We rang in the new year with some good people -

Okay - that was long, Thanks for reading!!!

Pre-Christmas Update

This week has been a little hectic - so I figured I should post before the holidays and then do a post holiday recap.

I would say the post exciting thing that happened all week was that Santa came!

I get pretty excited - I would say it is the highlight of the year for living here.

We also had a little visitor ...

and when we came home last weekend our own little monster did this with our entry way tree ...

Onto the running part of the last week.

Here was last weekends run .... I was totally not feeling it but we did it anyways.

This week we went to the gym twice - I did cross training for 40 minutes one day and the second day I attempted the treadmill again.

I ran 1 measly mile and it was the hardest and sweatiest mile I have ran. But it is better than 4 minutes the last time. I swear - I am not cut out for the treadmill, but I was hoping maybe if I keep trying it will get easier. I ran my mile in 11:09 and my shins and ankles were hurting. I will stick to outside running as much as possible!!! I ended up doing the elliptical after that mile for the rest of my workout. 

Jingle Bell 5K Anyone?

As I mentioned on Friday, we kicked off the holiday filled weekend with Christmas Vacation.

On Saturday we got up and went and cut down our tree at Pine Valley Farms in Sykesville, MD.

Then we did some decorating over the weekend ....

The most fun part of the weekend was the Jingle Bell for Arthritis 5k in Baltimore.  I did it with the two most spirited ladies - Lisa & Tiffany, who which I may say have been fun racing buddies. I finished my 5k with a PR of 28:09 and ran the first mile in under 8 minutes - a new record for me. Here are a few pics, and more race details are under the race tab.

I hadn't done a 5K since I have started to run more frequently, nor have a dressed up in fun attire. I really enjoyed the race.  It was fun & festive and it was nice to have it be low key and be able to be home by 11am. 

Did someone say Christmas Vacation?

Quick update since this weekend will have a lot, I figured I needed to break it up into a couple.

So after I left work - I decided no gym and that we were getting pizza. Not just any pizza - my favorite pizza.

This is a Caprese pizza from Pizza Town in Owings Mills. So amazing... fresh minced garlic, basil, oregano, tomatoes .... along with cheese of course.

Now we are watching a movie that I think will really kick off the Christmas tree getting weekend....

Okay - that is it for now - but don't worry we are cutting down our tree tomorrow and decorating more, so there will be lots more pics and not so much running!

Jingle Bell 5k .. getting excited

Okay so I am getting excited for this 5k this weekend. I don't think I have ever been so excited for a 5k.

We decided we are going to go for a festive look.

I will be wearing my running tights with the following accessories.

I still need to find festive socks and a festive shirt. 

Real question ... how am I doing to do my hair???

What a Weekend!

Since Friday a lot has been accomplished!

First and foremost - I am so honored that Christie has asked me to be a part of her special day. I am so excited and we will have an awesome group of bridesmaids. There are two other girls, but this photo encompasses the SC&H girls (I think this picture was from Vegas in 2010). 

We also decorated our tree for the contest at work, so that made the day a little more fun.

After work Dan & I went on and went to the gym Friday evening for the third day in a row!

Saturday was a very packed day that started of with a 5.5 mile run on the NCR trail. Even though it was below 40, it felt really nice. It went well, but after working out 3 days in a row on the Arc Trainer, my legs were feeling it. 

After running some errands, we decorated the outside of the house. 

Then we went to the SC&H Holiday Party at M&T Bank Stadium. It was a blast!

Sunday was more low key. I started working on the indoor decorations but there is a lot more to get done and I will post pics once we get our tree next weekend! 

I made one of my favorite soups ever! 

Rachael Ray's double dumpling soup. The only thing I add is some corn. Recipe Here. 

PS - I love the bowls, they are from Crate & Barrel.  You don't lose your spoon and the curves of the bowl makes it feel really nice in your hands on the couch! 

I think that is about it for this weekend!