It was a stressful week of work and will be another doozy this week.  Unfortunately, I am learning the cycle of so many well-intentioned wanna-be fit people where too much work leads to stress leads to working more and staying up late and then sleeping less and reluctantly there is no way to fit in a workout.  I am going to be on the bandwagon this year with the other 67% of Americans who are starting a new workout program in the new year.  Mine basically will consist of actually getting my ass out of bed in the morning to do SOMETHING.  After that, everything is gravy.

Actually I need to do more than just gravy because we (Anna, Erin, and potentially a couple of others) really do intend to train for a 50K race in April.

Because I desperately needed a stress-relieving, feel-better-about-myself run and because we were kicking off our 50K training schedule, Anna and I decided to brave the snow and head out on a Saturday afternoon run this weekend.  To show how motivated we were, we initially planned to run at the YMCA at 9:30.  I nearly choked my daughter by shooting Vitamin D liquid too quickly down her throat which traumatized both me and her so I texted that I was not going to be able to run until we had both recovered.  That led to me wanting to take a nap with Belén because I was too nervous if I let her sleep on her own she might die because the Vitamin D was in her lungs or something.  Which led to waking up from the nap around 12:30 starving.  Which led to being lazy on the couch and then Andy going and getting us BURGERS and TATER GEMS (seriously, like that is going to help the situation…but yes, I ate EVERY LAST BITE!) which led to me delaying the run yet another 45 minutes so I could digest a bit.  Finally we met up at Anna’s house around 3:15pm.

I gave Anna the first part of her Christmas gift (I drew her name in our family gift exchange), Yaktrax, so she would not slip in the snow.  I had some last year and they work like a charm.  I literally ran (pregnant, no lectures please!) on sheets of ice without falling!

After we both put our Yaktrax on, we were finally after six hours of delay, ready to run.  Regal (the dog) was about ready to jump out of her skin!

We figured out a route that was approximately six miles, which is the distance our training schedule says we should be doing.  We started on a ditch bank near Anna’s house.

Pretty scenic for a ditch bank.

We disturbed an extended family of ducks floating on the water and ice.

I brought my camera along because I had a feeling it was going to be beautiful.  Mother Nature did not disappoint.

Anna playing “keep away” with Regal, while I was trying to take a few pictures.

Some geese perhaps heading south, tired of the cold.

And finally, we were finished.  Our Yaktrax worked great!

Now, we just need to stay motivated for future runs.

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