Wait, it's the end of the year?

I've got a few things to write about since I last blogged...

But first of all I can't believe its the end of the year. I honestly feel like it was just spring. Where did the year go? Talk about a Time Warp.

Half-Marathon:
Well, don't want to talk about it. But I died around mile 8 when my lower back started cramping. It really affected my form, crippled it really. My mom said when I crossed the finish I was so hunched over she knew something was wrong. My right lower back felt so tight and knotted for the last five miles and it forced me to run like a fool, bent over and hobbling. Not cute and definitely not fast.

Needless to say, I was super disappointed. I knew I had the cardiovascular endurance and I had trained way more for this half than I had for my other. I had logged 7-9 miles for several weeks leading up and ran 10 miles the week of the half with a great pace to finish 13.1 around 2 hours. But the back pain was something I'd never felt before while running. And I couldn't change my gait to abate it. So anyway, my time sucked, but I finished. And as soon as I got home I signed up for next year's race--for HALF the price I paid for this year. HUZZAH.

Should I do another half?

Moving on...Christmas:
I have several days off from work since Blackbaud is wonderfully generous and gives you a crazy amount of paid time off the day you start. Seriously, Thanksgiving came around and I had something like 17 days left to use. So I took off work from December 24-January 2. It's been great to get some errands done, run on my own time, decorate for Christmas, clean out my closet, figure out my NYE outfit, and try to rest and recover a bit.

OK. So, Christmas came and went. I can't believe it. I gave my brother a painting I did of Brinkley for one of his Christmas presents. He was so surprised and he loved it. I painted it with a bunch of friends at Paint Your Pet Night at Wine and Design. It was a lot of fun and everyone's painting turned out great. Preston already put it up in the living room. Haha.

Brinkles just hangin' out.

I got a ton of great things for Christmas. A lot of surprises and practical things. Preston got me a book called "712 Things to Write About". It's a workbook of 712 writing prompts. Some of the prompts include "Tell the story of one of your scars;" and "This is the last chance to tell someone what you really think..."; and "What is lint, really?".  I love it and I can't wait to get into the zone and start writing.

Just plain cool.

For Christmas dinner, I made this cheesecake (minus the lemon blueberry topping because that's NOT Christimas) and roasted butternut squash. The cheesecake tasted great but I absolutely refuse to ever make a cheesecake again. Water baths are THE WORST. I had to redo it five times and it still failed. It's impossible to keep the water from seeping into the crust. Impossible, I tell you. I killed it with the butternut squash though. I'll make that for you anytime.

Other News (Massages):
My daily runs since the half have been mediocre at best. I've been struggling. It's so odd. Before the half I was crushing 7, 8 miles regularly at a pretty good clip and here I was dying around mile 2. I thought a massage might help. I needed my muscles manually rung out. They weren't tight or sore, just weak and heavy. They were fatiguing so much quicker than normal. So one of my days off I went to Urban Nirvana (Heaven). About ten minutes into the massage, the therapist said my quads were solid and full of lactic acid. She said "Do your legs feel heavy, like you're having a hard time gaining your strength back?" Ummm... "YES."Apparently, the lactic acid build-up in my legs was pretty extreme and my magical mind-reading massage therapist could feel it "crunch" in her hands. She said the massage would help pull out the lactic acid and re-oxidize the muscle fibers that were clumping together. She also suggested a salt bath afterwards to reduce inflammation and continue to extract the built-up toxins. She was right. After those things, I felt like a champ. Almost instantly, my legs felt lighter. For two weeks straight I felt like I had 20 pound ankle weights strapped to my feet. Just walking up the stairs (not to mention my daily runs) was tough. So I was exicited to finally feel more like my old self. Now I know what to do in the future.

Current Happenings:
Today is New Year's Eve and I can't wait for my two best friends to get into town so we can all celebrate. A big group of us are going to The Alley for it's huge NYE party. Look out for a post in 2015 to re-cap the party. Could be a couple days or so...depending on the number of vodka waters consumed.

Here are some random fun photos...

Dad and me before our run on Christmas morning.

My dad's attempt at photographer. 

My mom's attempt at photographer. First try. 

What NOT to Agree to Do the Night Before Your Half Marathon...

Tonight I'm going to a Christmas party with a bunch of girls from the gym. I always have a great time with them, and when we aren't working out or punching the snot out of each other in class, we are usually enjoying the finer things in life including (but not limited to) delicious food, dancing in crowded clubs, strong cocktails, watching Dating Naked (a highly-recommended, thought-provoking and award-winning show) unhealthy brunch items like syrupy pancakes and refreshing mimosas, lots of chocolate, bottles of wine... I'll stop there. But tonight, surrounded by lots of those things, I will unfortunately have to restrain myself, because TOMORROW I'm running (crawling) in the Kiawah Half.

Let me just say, it's a terrible idea to agree to go to a Christmas party the night before you plan on running 13.1 miles in 30 degree weather. AND it's definitely not such a great idea to go when the party is a cookie swap. Great. I'm just going to come home from the party with 60 yummy homemade cookies and NOT eat them in one sitting. Right. This will go over well.

Anyway, because I'm such a Grinch good sport and rarely always in the holiday spirit I said, "Of course, I'll go! What can I bring?"

So, I just finished making my grandmother's pecan sands. They are so good and stupid easy to make.

1 cup butter, 3/4 cup powdered sugar, 2 cups AP flour, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup chopped pecans. Get all that stuff acquainted with each other in a big ass bowl. Make sure every one is getting along and mixing well. We don't want the cool, popular kids (the butter and sugar, obviously) ignoring the nuts (really?). Next, roll those puppies into little balls. Bake at 325 for about 25 minutes. Cook them any longer and they will burn. I mean, I'm guessing they will burn. It's not like I burned a whole batch or anything. :|  Once they are out of the oven, fill a different, clean big ass bowl (come on, we aren't animals here) with powdered sugar and roll the cookies in it. Take them out, let them cool, and roll them again. Say what!?!? Yes, roll them in powdered sugar again.

So simple. My grandmother wrote on the recipe card, "Good for Christmas." But let's be real, they are good anytime. Now they are just sitting on my counter, whispering sweet nothings across the kitchen. Rude.

Look at 'em being all sweet and sugary, all snuggled up together.

Get a room already, cookies. I can't look at you.

We are also doing a white elephant gift swap tonight where you bring a gift from home to swap with someone. I saw this part on the invitation and read it as "Clean out your closet and bring all the stuff you don't wear." I hope everyone likes scarves and granny sweaters.

I took the day off from work today to try to relax (a.k.a. clean house, walk dog, bake cookies, scrounge closet for gift, make appetizer) before the race. I am excited to see all the girls tonight at the party, but I wish I could enjoy myself with a drink or two and not have to dip out early for my old lady bedtime. I am also pretty anxious about tomorrow. I just want to have a good run. Luckily, my feet have been fine the past few weeks. After my longer 7-10 mile runs, the once-injured tendons feel tired but not really in pain. I haven't had that sharp, debilitating foot pain in a long time. Let's hope it stays that way. Based on my recent training runs, I won't get anywhere close to my last half's time in February, but like my friend at the gym said maybe I'll surprise myself. That would be nice.

Stay posted (mom and dad and maybe one other creepy reader) for a post-race post. :)