Catching Up

I can't believe a whole week has gone by since I've posted. But life is busy enough that it's not all that surprising.

Running from where I'm living now involves a lot of hills, but in the overall scheme of things, that's good. I can tell it's made me stronger. I've got a new route that I really enjoy. It can be 6 miles, 8 miles, or 10. I run up the hill to the water tower, up over 20th St to the east (not as bad as west) and then east on 20th St all the way to Marion Road. The stretch between 11th Ave and Marion is new and this week was the first time I'd even seen it, let alone run on it. The city is plowing it and it's been ideal for running. From here, it's 2 miles to 11th/20th and then one mile to Marion. A great spot for mile repeats. I've brought my 10 mile time down 6 minutes this week and that feels great. Yesterday I ran 20.04 and the first 10 were in 1:24:21. Each mile got faster up until 9 when I headed back here for some water and a slice of bread. I hadn't intended to run long yesterday thinking I'd do it today instead (warmer today, and I had to work all day yesterday) but it was going well so I just kept going. The last 11 miles were hilly. There's not much more than 1/8 mile that's flat within a mile of this house, so the last 11 were quite a bit slower. 2:57 for the 20 miles and I was happy about that. I am running a marathon in Ocala, FL in late January and Napa Valley in early March. I ran 61.53 miles this week, 2 hours on the Stairmaster and Friday was an off day. Feel like I'm getting back in shape, and feeling good. This morning I ran 10.16, the first three by myself and the rest with Millie and Jen. Fun run, even though we were ALL pushing the pace. : )

What else went on ... lots of hours at my jobs. 50'ish. On my one evening off, Tuesday, a bunch of us gals went to Hugo in 3D. My first 3D movie. I liked it. Good story. Here's our merry little band in our stylin' 3D glasses ...

Gina, Julie, Jean

Me and Cheri

Friday was a big day. Matt, my youngest, graduated from college magna cum laude with a degree in music education. They had a nice ceremony in Winona and we went over to WI for lunch at an Irish pub afterwards. My dad was still here and that made the day even more special. The first couple pix are two of the big thank you cards that Matt got from each class at the elementary school in Lewiston where he spent the second half of his student teaching experience (JM High School being the first half).

The graduate!

Me and Matt

Eric and Matt

That evening, I took the boys to the Tonic Sol-fa concert at the civic center. They're a 4 man acapella group. Matt's acapella group, Hear and Now, opened for them in Winona once. Anyway, it's a very fun concert with humor and audience interaction mixed in. They sang holiday music.

And that brings me to today. My first day off with nothing scheduled in 2 months. Got lots of cleaning done. Made a pumpkin almond cheesecake for my Cooking Light holiday get together tomorrow. Had to run to the store midway through to get more almond paste as I'm having issues with this oven. The first attempt at the almond cake base wasn't too successful. Tuesday evening my friend Pam is having a Chex Mix exchange. We all had to pick a recipe from chexmix.com and then we'll exchange them. What a fun and different idea!
Well, better check on the cheesecake. Have a great week!!