A finish!

I finished a new holiday wall quilt! It's from a free pattern from Jillily Studio called Holiday Lane. The pattern is for a pillow, but I wanted a wallhanging.

Like the runner? I had to. After all, it's MY Holiday Lane!

12 Days of a Runner's Christmas

(because this is what I was singing during my shoer this morning)

On the 1st day of Christmas.... oh heck, let's skip to the good part!

On the 12th day of Christmas, my husband gave to me:
12 issues of Runner's World
11 Bondi Bands
10 pretty toenails
9 flavors of Gu
8 water bottles
7 Running Skirts
6 new sports bras
5 Race entries!!!!!
4 compression socks
3 tubes of Nuun
2 running shoes
and a Garmin Forerunner 10!


(The best part is he actually has given me some of these things over the last year)

Goals for 2013 and the roller coaster I'm riding

This year, I have completed several goals:

We ran our first marathon!
New half marathon PR! (2:01:49, an improvement over 2:13:15)
New 10K PR! (52:41, an improvement from 54:00)

So, on the running end, I did great. Quilting? Not so much. I don't think I made much of a dent in my work-in-progress "collection" (it keeps growing!). I got my Roll, Roll, Cotton Boll mystery quilt top put together finally, but it will probably have to wait a long time to get quilted... as in, until I can pay to send it off, or have a larger set up to do it myself. I still haven't made us a new bedspread, nor have I finished much beyond wall-hanging sized projects. But I don't care. I quilt for my own fun (most of the time), so the only deadline is my own.

TMI warning!
This past month has been a roller coaster- the whole fall has. to be frank, I've been waiting to find out if I had cancer or not. 12 days before the Freedom half marathon, I had a 3 cm biopsy taken from a "sensitive" part. Luckily, the Dr said I could still run, even though she flat out said I was crazy. So that PR means a helluva lot more. Yesterday, I finally had the check up and was told yes, the chunk they took was cancer-in-situ (cancerous cells that haven't yet invaded), with "suspicious" areas. The good news is they don't need to to anything else for now. The frustrating part is that I go back in April for another check, and if it grows back bad again, the best option will be to yank out another body part.

All of this made me so thankful on November 11 just to be able to run, even though I was in that nebulous waiting zone. On Thanksgiving, I felt at peace, chanting my late father's mantra of If it's meant to be, it will happen, combined with my aunt's mantra of Que sera, sera (which always makes me smile, since she sometimes calls me Kasera-sera). I have to take the news as best I can, and just assume it will all be fine. And in the meantime, I will run my little heart out, grateful for every mile these legs carry me.

I've been thinking of my 2013 running goals. I want to run 13 half marathons, but for financial reasons, I'm making my own rules:

I will run 13 half marathons through a combination of halves and fulls. So, there are 2 fulls on the schedule, which will count as 4 half marathons (because it's my dang challenge and I do what I want). Assuming all goes well all year, I'll end it with (EEEK) the Huff 50K ultra, which will also count as 2 half marathons. So, I just need to run 7 other half marathons.
And I am not above running a shorter race and tacking on mileage at the end for myself. Again, this is my own personal challenge, and I do what I want. I've also learned this year that sometimes you have to wing it (like only running 25 miles TOTAL the 5 weeks before a half!).

With all of this, I hope to hit 1000 miles. Wouldn't that be bad@$$?

As far as my quilting goes, I want to finish my Christmas quilt. And make 2 baby quilts for a couple we know who are having surprise twins (oh, the quilting possibilities of making 2 similar quilts!). But more important than finishing projects, I want to ORGANIZE my craft room.

So there you have it. October/November in a nutshell, where I've been, where I'm going.

It's been rougher than usual, but hey, I'm a Tough Chik.

And it never hurts to get home and find out you won a fun giveaway from Running Diva Mom !!! Seriously, go check out her blog- she's pretty inspiring, and often has awesome giveaways. I'm thrilled to have won one!

Busy, busy

I've been absent, mostly because I have been busy, and partly from worry. It's hard to find something fun to write about when you're stressed out. But, I have been stitching away on the Kawaii from Hawaii winter cross stitch, amd a cross stitch iphone case I got on black Friday, and my new shoes came from Mizuno today, and we had a great holiday at home with family- I even got a new PR for the 10K with a time of 52:49 during the Turkey Stampede.
So, now I'm just hoping for some good news this afternoon.

Norfolk Freedom Half Marathon

I had a great weekend in Norfolk. Got there late Friday, exhausted, but so happy to see my friend Furb (a nickname she got from a yearbook snafu in elementary school). We've know each other since kindergarten! We've got the kind of history that makes it feel like we haven't been apart every time we get together.

Saturday morning, we got up to do an easy run- part of her pre-race ritual, and something I felt like I needed after being cooped up on planes the day before. I wish I had taken pictures of where we ran, because it was pretty and so different than where I usually run, but we were so busy chatting as we ran I never thought of it.

We spent the rest of the day basically running errands, but I'm odd and like that kind of thing sometimes. Plus, who doesn't love grocery shopping? And then it was off to bed to try to get some sleep (though I failed miserably for the second night in a row- I never sleep well away from home).

We got up bright and early and got ready. I was pretty excited and feeling good. Plus, I couldn't wait to play with my new Garmin (thanks, Husbeast!)

 We ran to the start since it was kind of close (1.5 miles away- she thought it was less). The race itself was a good course- well marked, mostly flat, fun- but I battled some severe internal pain from a biopsy I had done 12 days prior. I had been maintaining a great pace (average of 8:30) for the first half, but then had to take 2 walk breaks, one of which lasted about 5 minutes. But, thanks in part to the nagging beeping of the pace function on my Garmin, I sucked it up and resumed a pretty good pace (anywhere from 8:45 to 9:45, depending on how much was twinging).

I had wanted to PR. That was my main goal. But I also really wanted to break 2 hours. Given that when I saw Furb waiting for me at the last turn (she's a speed demon and ran sub 1:40) I used a big 4 letter word to describe my level of pain, I'm pretty darn happy with my time- somewhere around 2:02.

I mean, come on, my last PR was 2:13. I had gallbladder surgery and 2 other procedures that impeded my running last month, the most recent of which is still causing pain.

So I'm pretty.darn.happy.

 Sub-2 hour half marathon, I will get you, just like Furb got the gingerbread village that wouldn't stay together!

All in all, a pretty awesome way to celebrate my pre-birthday weekend.

Anyone else do something fun this weekend?

I fly solo

I just figured out that  the majority of the flights I've taken have been by myself. Which feels strange. But I guess that's part of why I don't freak out when I fly- it's kind of difficult to be a bad traveller when you have no one to listen to your panic.

Tomorrow, I'm heading to Norfolk, VA by myself, but I'l be staying with my BFF from high school, and running with her. This is the race my husband signed me up for our anniversary back in July, and it's the weekend before my birthday, so it's like my own personal holiday.

I've got my suitcase packed (except for all those annoying toiletries that can't be packed until the last minute), and my carry-on ready.

I ran 4 great, progressively faster 400s during our running group's interval workout today (1:52, 1:50, 1:45, 1:40).

So, I'm as ready as I can get for the weekend!

Half marathon #4, I'm coming for you! Sub-2 hours, if these sturdy peasant legs will cooperate!

Did you vote?

I voted!

(I did not run there, though- just had a feeling I better drive, which turned out to be the right choice since the postcard I received last month had the wrong location!)

If you live in America and want to right to complain about our government, GO VOTE!!!

9 little owls

The hats I made 2 weeks ago while recovering from surgery are getting shipped off tomorrow.

A brilliant idea?

Those of us in America are probably all THRILLED that the election is this Tuesday, which will mean the END OF POLITICAL ADS (for a short time, anyway).

So, to celebrate, I suggest we all run/walk to our polling locations (if you live close by).

In Indiana, most counties have satellite polling locations, often within just a few miles. I know mine is within 5 minutes' drive, and I would guess it's only 2 miles from home.

Tuesday morning, I will be loading my brightest running jacket's pockets with my ID so I can run to the polling location! It will also throw some hill work into my training this week.

If you can run/walk to yours, think of it as killing 2 birds with one stone- getting fresh air and exercise while doing your civic duty!

Who is with me?

(I do realize this is just another check mark in the "She's a crazy runner" category, and I'm ok with that)