Despite some nasty traveling weather on Christmas Eve Eve, we had lovely Christmas days with both my family and Mr. Bump's family, got lots of great loot, and ate lots and lots and LOTS of cookies. I even managed to get a couple of runs in during that weekend, despite the cold and snow and ice.*
Mr. Bump gave me a Garmin 310XT for Christmas, which I totally completely and utterly love. So much data! At your fingertips! It's going to require fiddling and fussing to get it set up exactly how I want it, but it's really really cool. You can download your data and track it on Google Maps.
New Year's was eh. We didn't do our traditional movie marathon with Mrs. Bump, and instead we sat around reading until Mr. Bump fell asleep in front of the fire sitting up at 10:30. Both he and Mrs. Bump toddled off to bed around then, and I sat by myself in front of the fire and read my book until 1 am. That's right, I rang in 2010 by myself. Reading a book and drinking a mug of cocoa. Golly, I bring the party, don't I?
So in between finishing my book and sipping on my non-alcoholic bevvy, I began thinking about what I wanted to accomplish in 2010, where I planned to focus my intentions, etc. It took me a couple of days to get them all lined up, but one thing rose to the top. Let me explain the chain of events.
First, I eat waaay too much over Christmas weekend, and then the following week the gym is closed at work so I can't work out there, so I'm in a panic about weight gain! and backsliding! and so I set up an intense running schedule for New Year's weekend, because that's what you do on New Year's Day--you start over.
But then, I neglect to remind Mr. Bump to grab my running shoes from under the bench by the front door. He doesn't think of it, because they aren't his shoes and he's not a mind reader. I don't think of this or remember it until we're actually an hour north of our house, which is approximately 5 minutes prior to pulling up at my mother-in-law's house.
So I decide that I might as well go buy a new pair of running shoes, because I'm going to need a new pair soon, and so I'll do that and I'll be able to run. So on New Year's Day, I go to the running store, pick up my new shoes (they're pink!), and as I'm going to pay I say, "Oh yeah, and I need to sign up for the Colorado Marathon, too." (!!) It just popped out of my mouth. Well, sort of.
So I really wanted to run (or try to--there's a lottery) the Nike Women's Marathon next October, what with the Tiffany's necklace finisher's medal and all, I felt like if I was going to do it, I might as well get a blue box from Tiffany's out of it, right? But then we decided to go to Italy. Guess when we could go on frequent flyer tickets? Yep, October.
So no Nike Women's Marathon 2010--boo! If I didn't get in to the lottery for the NWM, my backup plan/thought was to run the Denver Marathon, which is the same weekend. So that one was out, too. I started hunting around for another one. There is the Boulder Backroads, which is the half-marathon I did in September. I really didn't want to do that one again, what with the hot and the hills and the poor organization--running out of water, etc. I know I should give them another chance, but maybe not on my first marathon, mmkay?
Based on conversations with a marathoner friend who has done a few destination races, I decided I wanted to do one on home turf, where people I know can cheer me on. But here the marathon season is either May or September/October. So then I looked at the possibilities in May. Which came down to either the Colorado Marathon or the Colfax Marathon. One is a downhill course through the scenic Poudre Canyon. The other is on Colfax, which if you are at all familiar with Denver, is a big long stretch of asphalt that is in no way scenic.
So by process of elimination I had narrowed the choices, but I honestly wasn't planning on signing up so soon. But then I realized that if I was going to do the Colorado Marathon, I should start training, like, now-ish. And if you're at the running store, and they have the sign-up sheet there, now-ish starts right at that very moment.
The shoes I bought were the fourth pair of running shoes I've bought. The first pair I bought was on New Year's Day 2009. When I bought them I couldn't run a mile. One year later I'm signing up for a marathon. If you had told me this would be my future I would have laughed. Loudly.
What a crazy year this has been. I feel really grateful for all the experiences 2009 offered up. I appreciate every person who said "good job" or sent me an email or a comment. Every one who came out to see me race, or even just cheered me (and everyone else) on from the sidelines. Everyone who noticed those 50 pounds slip away. I'm grateful for these two, also:
Mr. Bump spent a lot of nights giving me room to exercise, being supportive of my healthy eating goals. And the Ru-hound spent a lot of time waiting for me to come home so that she could give me supportive licks. I appreciate their sacrifices so much I'm going to ask them to go around again. I've got 18 weekends of long runs, and some fairly significant mid-week runs ahead of me. At the moment, it's very cold and very dark outside. We've gotten 3 inches of snow today and it is supposed to get down to zero tonight. I keep getting these little panicky shocks every time I look at the calendar and realize there will come a day at the beginning of April where I will have to go for a 20 mile run. And then on Mother's Day I'll have to add 6.2 on to that. I honestly don't know how it's going to play out, but I have a new toy and a new pair of running shoes. I'm going to just keep putting one run in front of the other and see how it goes. I'll let you know.
Oh, and once I cross that finish line? I'm buying myself my very own blue box.
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