Plans for the New Year

It's hard to sit here on the last day of the year and not think about my goals for next year. The most obvious one is the one I've spent the last 6 months preparing for: The Chevron Houston Marathon!

The signs are up all over town and I get a little giddy every time I see one. It makes me want to drive by as many Chevron gas stations on my way to work just so I can see them! I think I might be going a little marathon crazy at this point!

After the marathon, I plan on sidelining the super long training runs and focus more on running doubles to prepare for the next Texas Independence Relay!

I captained a team last year and we had such a great time that we've already registered for this year's race. We're all gearing up for another 48 hours of travelling across southeast Texas crammed in a van with 11 other sweaty runners.

But in addition to running doubles, I'm also going to be spending a lot more time on the saddle. My new Cannondale is finally going to be put to the real test in April during the MS150.



It's a 2 day bike ride from Houston to Austin. The Hubby and I have joined up with the St Arnold's bike team (the local brewery in town) and we're excited to drink all the free beer we can manage and have a support team along the way.

Other than those 3 events, my schedule is pretty much empty. As much as I really want to fill up the calender with races and events, I think I'm just going to fly by the seat of my pants and take the year as it comes. I'm excited for 2012 and all the fun it's going to bring!

Happy New Year!

Tis the Season

It's been a pretty busy season. Between Christmas parties, busy work schedule and even a promotion (!!!), it's been hard to get in my training. I completed my longest training run of the schedule almost two weeks ago and it's been hard to keep the motivation up since then, especially since it requires good time management.

I found myself off work a little earlier today with nothing else to do, so why not get in a run!

Before: Playing with the new camera I got for Christmas! 

The doggies want to say Merry Christmas!

I hit up Memorial park since it was such a dark night for some Veronicas. Not sure why it's called Veronicas, but it's one hell of a workout! I warmed up with a mile then stretching then got to work. 5 sets of 3 minute sprints at VO2 max followed by 3 minute jogs then a cool down back to the car. I finished with 6 miles and felt great. I really pushed it during each sprint, but managed to make the last one the fastest.

After: showing off my 6 miles and testing out the self timer.

Marathon is in 3 weeks! Can't wait!