Seven for Seven in '09!

This is me trying to run on my Aunt's treadmill in her basement. The closest gym is 30 minutes away. Since it was 73 degrees it would have made the most sense to just run outside, but there are TONS of wild dogs and unleashed dogs and people generally drive crazy, running on the inside made more sense. I was trying to run to keep from gaining a million pounds. It worked because the holiday season only had me two pounds heavier than I was before. Yay! That's only 7000 calories which isn't bad considering I probably ate at least an extra 15,000 (Kentucky cooking is hard to resist!!)

I was fortunate enough to contract a very minor stomach bug that took care of holiday weight gain. That combined with my strength training has left me back in the negative. Woot!

I am extra happy that last week I went 7/7 and worked out every single day! Very little of that was spent triathlon training, in fact I only swam 1500 yards, spent 4 hours biking, and ran 13 miles. Things are getting kicked up a notch this week in preperation for Gulf Coast. It's 19 weeks away and I only have two pounds to lose to get to my "perfect" race weight. Since I started a new job at the Concourse I don't doubt that I will get there. I am spending a lot less time sitting at my computer screen and hours on my feet and demonstrating how to do things. I am going to start Master's this week too, if I can suck it up and get outside to swim. Pool....really warm. Outside air temp? Not so much.

Other than house remodeling (don't EVEN get me started on that topic!) things are pretty quiet with me. Totally pissed about the Falcons losing AND the Tech game.

Thanks Aunt Linda!

One of the best things about going to Kentucky has to be hearing about all the incredible things that my mother and her brothers and sisters did when they were younger. Turns out there is not a whole lot to do in Kentucky, except get in A LOT of trouble. As my Granny Bird would have said "Little Heathens". My Aunt Linda gave me this picture of my mom (pre-dental fixes!)before I left. I think I am going to use it for her "spacebook" (as she calls it) profile. If this is what I have to look forward to when I get older than I am in trouble......

I told my mom that she was allowed to find ONE horrible pic of me and I would post it in return for this!

Santa baby,

My Christmas wish list is super simple this year! I want:

A healthy left-knee that never, ever hurts when I run!

Entry into Ironman Florida

My two toenails back that fell off earlier in the season

And of course, a stocking stuffed with PR's! Tons of them!

If you are feeling extra generous, a little frolicking in the snow would be fun for the dogs too.

Dear Granny Pups,

Thanks so much for bringing us over a stocking full of doggy toys!! We fought over them and played with them all weekend!

Bella, however, hates things that are stuffed. It's her goal in life to make sure the stuffing comes out of all of her toys. So sadly, the football and Christmas tree didn't make it. The gingerbread man and pillow are still unscathed.

Are you following me?

At the gym on Tuesday I was in the locker room talking with Dana about Olga. Then in walked Olga. Then we were talking about the Suobs and in walked Sue! Yesterday I was at Performance talking to Keith about bike computers. I asked him a question and he said he wasn't sure, to ask the Suobs. So I left and there was Sue again! I was e-mailing Bob yesterday telling him Sue should see my friends at 1st Choice, and she was already on the way there! Strange coincidence? Probably not since we live about a mile from each other!

But do you want to know what is strange? Me getting faster without really trying all that hard. Of course I mean faster in shorter distances, but still, it is somewhat weird. First I ran around Stone Mountain last weekend. I was making my way around it when I realized that my time was much faster than normal, without nearly as much effort. When I finished and compared numbers, I ran it 4:30 minutes faster than I did a few weeks earlier! Things have been like that in the pool too. I was swimming 300's Tuesday and thought that I was counting incorrectly because they were so fast. I stopped and did the calculation, yes 6 x 50 IS 300 right? Then I swam two more and counted very intentionally and they were the fastest 300's I have ever swam, but with very little effort!

I guess this goes to show you that on 7 hours of training a week you can see increases in speed. Of course I don't imagine that I will be able to keep my speed up when my volume increases, but I will try. Interesting to see the relationship though. I think that my body is just so fresh right now, no fatigue from long workouts. Loving it!

Running the Virginia Highland 5k on Saturday. Join me if you love to suffer. 5k's hurt like a motha. Wishing for a PR!

Bella orgins defined!

Last night Christy came over to help get Karen's baby shower invites printed up and addressed. She kept looking at baby Bella and finally she said "I know exactly what she is, she's a puggle!" Christy got on the internet and googled it, and there was Bella! She is a little pug/beagle mix! They have them in brindle markings, although it's rare. She has wrinkles like a pug, but the face, ears, and tail of a beagle. Plus Puggles have BIG heads and everyone is always commenting on her oversized head! Scroll down and you will see a picture of a brindle puggle, it's Bella!

Don't forget, tomorrow NBC will be airing the Ironman World Championship! It's on from 2:30p-4pm, eastern time. Gotta figure out what to do about little Gracie's b-day party which is earlier that day since I forgot that IM was coming on, and thought that it would be on later in the day!

Saturday is also the Navy Seal Challenge here in Atlanta. I would be down for it, but I have to take a CPR class plus I can't do a pull-up. Sad I know. I try and try, but the bottom half of my body currently weighs a lot more than my upper body strength. I will keep trying though! Looks like fun (and it's free!) for the rest of you guys!

Ornery.

Sometimes we have good days and we have bad days right? Well some of you may know that my step-father suffers from dementia and lives at an assisted living facility. There are days were he is a total sweetheart but others, well, it can be a challenge to be around him. Yesterday afternoon while visiting him I was telling him that his sister has a birthday coming up on December 21st. I suggested that he send flowers. He said he didn't want to, and I told him that he could at least send a card. He got aggravated and said "why should I send her a card? She never does anything for me on my b-day?" (Totally not true! She actually flew into Atlanta for his birthday this year!) Trying to not point out his confusion but get him to understand that sending a card was the right thing to do I replied "George, I always learned growing up that two wrongs don't equal a right. So send a card." His response: " I am tired of hearing about your do-gooder horsesh$*!" What an ornery ole' coot. I laughed at him because there wasn't much else that I could do at that point.

Then Poncey in his infinite wisdom decided that the bush his sister Bella was sniffing was exactly where he wanted to pee, and he did, on her head! She and I are both unhappy about that one!

Speed.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Thursday I headed up to North Carolina to have Thanksgiving with my Dad and his family. On the way up there I was snagged by a state trooper and given a speeding ticket. Grrrrr, my 12th ticket in 10 years of having a driver's liscense! I know what you are thinking: lay off the speed! But really and truly I don't speed anymore than anyone else does. I just speed on road trips, usually on holidays, and always in the left lane, so I may stand out too much. What happened was that I was on the phone with Pee Wee getting updates on all my peeps that were running the half and full marathon. I was super excited for them and then all of a sudden Beyonce's new song "Single Ladies" came on. I started juking and jiving (a term my Dad likes to use) and before I knew it I was being pulled over by a state trooper. When he asked me if I knew I was going 85 in a 60 I said "I had no idea" and that was the truth! He was "nice" and made my ticket for 69 in a 60. Thanks. That's why I try to avoid driving on big trips.

So I was thinking that the fair thing to do would be set up a Dani is Dumb Speeding Ticket Fund. Everyone who ran the half should donate $2. If you ran the full you need to donate $4 because I was doubly excited for you guys. That should more than cover the cost of the ticket!

Enough about me, onto you guys! I want to say congrats to everyone who ran the half, especially those of you running your first (Olga and Steven). Tat ran her first marathon and rocked it! Nat PR'd on the marathon and snagged some hardware! Sue PR'd on the marathon course and Bob did awesome as well. There were a couple of ladies running post baby-which deserves special recognition because I can't imagine how hard that is!

My Luna teammate Michelle also ran her first 50k trail run this weekend. She won first overall! Way to go Michelle!

I am more anxious than ever about racing somewhere now!