Major Award!!

Who's got 2 thumbs and received a major award in the mail last night.... THIS GIRL! (sorry.. we've been doing that a lot w/ Mason.. it's way cute when he does it.. perhaps not so much via blog? Oh, well) I got my Tecumseh Trail Marathon medal in the mail last night.. it's kinda cool because.. even though I wish my time was faster (5:22.. but it was my 1st trail marathon.. & make no mistake.. that course is no joke.. but still), they take the time to put your name & finishing time on the medal, which is kinda cool. Anyway. So I think I'm over my little cold or whatever it was.. actually.. I think our whole house is pretty healthy, which is lovely. Hope we can keep it that way! Something I really like to do, but usually gets strange looks from everyone else, is finding running groups, gyms, etc to workout/train with while I'm on 'vacation'.. which is usually visiting family. So I got to do that last week when we went to KC to visit my family.. it went pretty well! I'm always impressed w/ the running community in Kansas.. all you have to do is google 'running in KC' and all kinds of groups, websites, etc pop up.. Very cool. Unfortunately this trip didn't allow me to join those groups, though.. But I've run with 2 different groups in the past & I found a couple trail running groups that I was trying to meet up with, but KC decided to be really wet for a few days while I was there.. which doesn't make for great trail running.. plus.. I didn't bring my headlamp because 1 of the trail groups actually meets to run in the dark every week! I'll remember that for next time for sure! But I did get to meet a friend out at Shawnee Mission Park for a nice hilly loop 1 morning.. Then I got to visit a few YMCA's.. I still think the Y I have here is up there as the best I've seen around, but I got some good spin's and swim's in.. so can't complain. Probably the 'crown jewel' of my travel workouts this visit was finding Sky's Limit CrossFit & working out with them 3 x's while I was in town! (I was only there 3 full days.. so needless to say.. I enjoyed it) They had a really great gym (I guess they refer to it as a 'box'? I'm not familiar w/ all the lingo yet.. I was like.. 'the what??'), good trainer, nice, midwest folks to work out with.. so good stuff! So now I'm back on my own turf.. got a good swim in this morning out with the masters group.. kinda cool because I could actually make the interval on this one for once!...of coarse.. it was a 20x50's main set on 1:30 w/ the goal being to hold your best pace.. which I was right at 0:40-0:43 the whole time, so not exactly a tough interval to make.. but a solid set none the less, & I was pleased. Also got a crossfit in.. always a good time! I'm looking forward to the next few days, which weather.com has promised me some sun & 40's.. they better be right! Because that should make for some lovely running. I also got my super secret (I sent an exact link) surprise christmas gift from my parents already, so I need to go set up my new trainer & get my spin on! My 'power' based spin on, that is.. Yay! All in all.. it's beginning to feel a lot like a very merry christmas, indeed.. Thinking about either a 1/2 or full night trail marathon, which would be in about a month.. so we'll keep posted on that! Also suppose it's worth noting that I've decided that I'll be 1 of 3 coaches for Team In Training's Triathlon team, so I'm excited about that. Should be a very busy, exciting, fulfilling experience & I'm looking forward to it!