These are a few of my favorite things...

The last couple of months are my favorite months in which to run. And fall never seems to last long enough. And I'm usually injured from overtraining during the summer or just a little burned out on running to really enjoy it. This year has been different. I have managed to stay uninjured, at least not to the point where I end up having to take a couple of months off and start all over again. And even though it's been pretty cold, I've enjoyed running in it. I'm usually a pretty big wimp and just run on the treadmill when it gets cold. But this year I have loved getting out and breathing in that crisp air. Now don't get me wrong... when the wind is blowing, I'm inside. I'm still a little wimpy.

One of my favorite things about running in the fall is all the leaves on the ground. I don't know about you, but I love crunching through piles of leaves and kicking them up. This doesn't make for good strides, but it makes for a lot of fun. This is a terrible picture, it was done with my phone, but it shows the long street that I'd run down just covered in leaves, waiting for me to crunch.

Saturday I set out for a ten miler. It was snowing lightly during my whole run and was so much fun. I ended up making it 13 although my poor body kind of paid for it the rest of the day. I guess some sort of fuel besides a couple of drinks of water would have helped. Whenever I get the chance to run in the snow, it seems like the world kind of slows down. My footsteps even seem softer, lighter and the world seems quiet. Plus when snowflakes get stuck on my eyelashes and cheeks, I can't help but smile.

My hair was frozen into icicles by the time I got home. I really think my hair would have broken right off if I had tried to bend it. That hot shower melted them and never felt so good!

A Turkey Trot and a Santa Run

I haven't been very good about posting lately. I am still running. I am still doing my killer video twice a week although I am starting to dread it. But I am still getting sore from it. And I tried my first spinning class a couple of weeks ago and will do that during the winter. I've knocked out a couple of 10 milers as well and hope to be able to keep that up. My body is feeling good, no knee pain and I'm feeling pretty grateful for that. You never know what life is going to hand you tomorrow.

My daughter wanted to run our hometown Thanksgiving race because a couple of her friends were doing it. So I got roped into it as well. It ended up being so much fun. She really doesn't run other than playing football or soccer at break but she is quite the little ballerina. The kids race was 2 miles and the adults ran 4.

She and her friends all started out sprinting from the starting line while Heather, Jodi and I ran just behind them. After the first mile it is a pretty good incline to the finish. That did them in. We walked for a bit so they could catch their breath and then once we got to the straight away, they finished sprinting. I was really proud of her because it was hard for her and she never gave up.

Her time was 19 minutes!

We made another loop which was pretty tough. Heather and I caught up to Jodi and we were able to finish together. Abby came to run us in and was "encouraging" us by telling me to beat Jodi and vise versa. What a stinker!

All our neighbors that ran and our winnings! Abby took 2nd in her age group and I ended up taking third! My time was 36 minutes. It helps when not very many people show up for the race. That will never happen again. It was a good day!

My next adventure was a race called the Santa Run in Ogden. To run the 5K you must dress up like Santa. They supply the long sleeved shirt, hat and beard and I made us some sweet pants. We found some striped socks and the outfit was complete! This is my kind of race! My goal was to not sweat. We were staying afterwards for a parade and lighting ceremony and I didn't want to be cold. No such luck. We did take it easy just having a good time and taking pictures all along the way. But I did sweat. And to think that earlier that day I was worried about being cold during the race!

Heather, me and Jodi

The volunteers were all dressed like elves and they served milk and cookies (and water). I tried one bite for a photo and regretted it the rest of the loop.

Really not a bad time for how many times we stopped! For more pictures visit my other blog and Jodi's blog! Good times! I can't wait for next year! Any ideas on how to improve the outfit?