Festivity

I have a confession: I never put up my own Christmas decorations. I’ve been living outside of my parents’ house since I was 18 and since then, I’ve always relied on roommates to provide the holly and the jolly 🙂

Last year, I had nothing and the house didn’t see a Christmas light anywhere. This year, I decided I have got to start getting into the spirit. I listen to Christmas music as much as the next person but have been lazy with the decor.

So I started small. Plus, I usually gain about an ornament per year and have nowhere to put them. So…sad as it is, I bought an ornament tree since I’ve not yet made it to “real (fake) tree” status. You can see a bit of my efforts above — it’s a work in progress!

The Perfect Running Watch

I FINALLY found a running watch I can handle — just barely. Let’s just say I’ve been saying I’m going to use a running watch for over a year. I got one a year ago that I couldn’t figure out and then lost it (Sportline.)

Then I bought the same one and still couldn’t figure it out even after watching a YouTube video and reading the directions.

So…I went big and tried a Garmin Forerunner 110. Guess what? Couldn’t figure it out. I don’t know if it was user error or not but the thing seemed like it could not hold a charge. I never once figured out how I could see the pace. In fact, I wore it the entire Philadelphia Marathon hoping that at some point in there I’d manage but…no.

I returned both watches and thought maybe I just had no future with a running watch of any kind. I exchanged the Garmin for Nike Running Watch. With it’s nice big, simple numbers, it looked so easy. I can NOT mess this up, I thought.

Well, after over an hour of messing with it, I was still struggling. Of course, then Rick spent 5 minutes with it and figure everything out. 

Then, I strapped it on and went out for a run. PLEASE work right! Shocker — it worked. It tracked my distance and pace — the main reasons I wanted. Hallelujah! Who knew it would be this hard though?

Marathon Preview

Ran: 8 miles@ 9:30 pace (the watch time up there was after I’d been walking).

I ran in my new Brooks Pure Project running shoes, which Brooks sent me to try out. I was immediately in love with the color. Though they were comfy, they were not my favorite shoes to run in. I can see what they are going for — for example, I love the lightweight feel — but they haven’t convinced me to switch from my beloved Mizunos.  That being said, I know many people who LOVE Brooks and I’d be willing to give other models a try. I know they are a very reputable brand!

Shoes aside, it was a pretty terrible run in which I felt like I was weighed down with a sack of potatoes. I had intended to go 10 miles but I was too annoyed to carry water so I had to cut it short. Five days until the Rehobath Beach Marathon, I guess there isn’t much I can do at this point. I’m a little scared.  Here’s the course:

I really feel like my legs are going to hate me and frankly, I’m a little scared that it could take me like 5 hours if things go badly. Even if it does, that is okay…I just hope it doesn’t! I took 8 full days off exercise of any kind after Philly (this is seriously a record) and felt like…terrible. I was psyched to work out again have been doing so consistently since last Monday. Mostly, elliptical, recumbent bike and minimal running on the treadmill.

No plan means Rehobath might just be a rough time but you never know….three sub-4 marathons in a row would be epic 🙂

Been loving these winter DC sunsets lately, I’ll tell you!


How were your runs this weekend? Races coming up? Has anyone else had a hard of a time as me figuring out running watches?!
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