Post-Christmas 2010 Dispatch

The Great Holiday Season of 2010 left me feeling pretty drained, though it was fun. I spent much of it on the road with my hubby and cat, which provided for some interesting moments. If you can put up with a cat who yowls nearly nonstop from New Jersey to Kansas in a cramped sedan, you've earned bonus points in my book, just saying...

I ate and drank a lot while I was on Christmas break. I tried Slovakian moonshine for the first time, and man, did it nip any potential bronchial issues I may have had, right in the bud! And my running went down the drain the two weeks I was in the northeast. I could blame it on the freak Nor'easter that went down late December in much of New York, New Jersey and New England. (As an aside, it was shocking to see my relatives' homes buried under mounds of snow - we are talking 30 inches - and they live in the Jersey Shore, which always gets rain, but never a shitton of the powdery stuff! Meanwhile, western NJ and eastern PA, the areas that usually get frozen over with snow, barely got 5 inches. Strange.). But honestly, that wasn't the case. I just didn't make the time to run and as a result, it didn't happen. On the bright side, however, I feel much better rested and relaxed. All that lack of activity actually brightened my spirits.

But now that I'm back at the homestead, it was also back to (running) work. I hammered out a brisk 1 mile this afternoon, 8:52 split, followed by an easier-going 1.5 miles. Honestly, however, my lungs were on fire and it felt pretty bad. So I have some catching up to do on the cardio front. But it's a terrific start to a new year. Cheers to everyone, and I wish you a splendid New Year.

Being the Procrastinator that I am...

...leads to a lot of dead air in between blog posts, LOL. (My friend Leann, by the way, was the one who nudged me into writing this entry, ahem).

Things have been fairly busy, especially because of Christmas, work and all of the usual suspects. I'm not busier than the average person, just do a pretty lame job at balancing work/life/personal interests. That said, however, I accomplished the goals that I'd set for 2009 (one of them running a half marathon - done as of December 6), so overall, I'm satisfied.

I'll write about the HM in the next entry. And despite my grinchiness during the holiday season, I realize I have plenty to be grateful for. And even though it isn't apparent to those who know me in real life, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.