Do the Humpty Hump

I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. I was really excited to see my progress. I made it another 2 miles. It seems like 2 miles is my hump that I need to get over. I am determined to set a Christmas goal for myself. My x-mas present to myself will be to run at least 3 1/2 miles.

I really hope my knee agrees. RICE is my friend. I spend lots of time getting to know him. My knee feels great! I just hurts when I make a sharp turn (walking or running) or walk down our stairs. I'm pretty sure it's my IT Band, not runners knee (as I thought before). I now know what to do and how to work it right. I love the Internet!

Here I am after tonight's run. Not sweaty, because it was only two miles. I remember a time when I thought two miles was a huge distance, now it's a piece of cake! I love tracking progress.

How long have you been running?

Christmas is Around the Corner

My knee is a little sensitive today, so I'm letting it rest. I've decided to post about x-mas around my house. We have everything bought for our families, I have one more item to buy for hubs and I think he'll be shopping for me this weekend. Other than that, all I have to is wrap packages. I can't wait! I have something special for him and I think he'll love.

Here are a few pictures of our house here.

Here's one of our bookshelves. It's very festive.


I have a nutcracker. I'm not sure if it would actually work (I bought it in the $1 bin at Target). It looks cute, though.

Our one and only x-mas tree. It is fake and very sparkly.

It's also about 6" tall. Our place isn't very big, so this is all we have room for. Hey, it's a tree!

Our mantel. This is the most Christmassy place in the house.

We've started a section for the cards that we've received.

Gotta have music!

I was playing around with the kittens and taking some fun pictures that I'd like to share. When I got home, I opened the blinds and let the little bit of sunshine that was left in the house. The girls really liked that.

Here's Scouty-Poo (her nickname for no reason) enjoying the sun on her face.

Izzie watching the reflection of the camera screen and the sun on the wall. She was very amused by it.

What's your favorite x-mas decoration?

2 More Miles Down

After work, I headed straight to the gym, excited to see how far my knee would allow me to run. I managed to get 2 miles out of this old thing. If I keep progressing like this, I will be back on track in no time. I'm hoping to be able to progress be at least 1/2 mile each day.

I know I should be excited to see my progress, but I just keep thinking about how many miles I was running before all this happened. I can't wait to get out on the road and test out my new reflective gear I got for (an early) x-mas. I don't want to run on the road until I can run some decent miles (and not have to walk back).

Here are my legs after running tonight. Not sure why I took this picture, but here's the gear I wore to the gym. I have my Mizuno shoes, Addias socks, ace brace, Nike capris and an off brand (Old Navy) tank.

What is your favorite piece of running gear? Mine is my mp3 player, can't leave the house without it.

How Far Did I Run?

I ran on the treadmill for the first time in about 3 weeks. How far did my knee allow me to run run??? 1.16 miles!! Hey, at least I can still walk. I stopped when I started feeling a little pain. This time, it was my right knee (not my left or my foot). Everything else is held nicely. I can't wait until this heals.

I hope this Christmas goes better than Christmas 2007. That x-mas (if you look closely), you can see that I can a huge bandage on my left hand. I ended up burning my self pretty badly and two days prior, my dog got attacked. It was a horrible x-mas that will never be forgotten. I know this will be a much better x-mas...I can just feel it!


What are your worst holiday memories??

Coffee and Shopping

I got up bright and early this morning and went x-mas shopping. It was so nice when no one was out and about. There weren't any lines at the stores that I went to. I got almost all my shopping done in just a few hours.

Once I finished, it was time to meet up with an old friend that I lost contact with. We meet up at Starbucks to catch up. Afterwards, we went x-mas shopping for her boyfriend. I was really nice to see her.

What were your plans this weekend?

Jingle Bell 5k

Last night, I stayed up a bit too late. I was so tired waking up at 5:30 this morning for my race in Davis, Ca. I was guessing that it would take about 45 minutes to get there. We made it in 20 minutes. So, I got there pretty early. It was actually before the race was even set up. I was the first one there and I received my bib, chip and bag. After that, I headed back to my car to take a small nap (I had 2 hours until the race started).



The race director told me that they ran out of small t-shirts and since I was the first one there, she upgraded me to a tech tee. They only had one extra. How lucky am I?!

Here I am setting my Garmin waiting for the race to start.

And we're off...

Here I come (you have to look really hard because I'm way in the back there).

During the race, I had lost my timing chip (it was the kind that velcros to your ankle). I noticed it the second it fell off. I was glad I noticed when I did.

The post race food spread was pretty awesome. They had oranges, muffins, cakes, and so many drinks. It was really yummy. All I was craving was my banana I had in the car. That was the only thing they didn't have. I did have some pastries anyways. YUM!!

I finished the race (5k) in 33:48 with NO pain!! I was (still am) so happy!! I feel great right now! I can't wait to head to the gym on Monday after work!! How were your races this weekend?

After the race, we headed to the post office to mail out our far aways families x-mas gifts. Everything is going perfectly this weekend. I hope it continues tomorrow (I'm hopefully finishing my x-mas shopping for the hubs). Wish me luck as I venture out in the wild.

Tagged and a Cornish Christmas

I was tagged in Running Off at the Mouth's blog earlier. Here are my answers:


How did you get started running? About 6-7 years ago my hubby (boyfriend at the time) went to Hawaii. I spent most of my time in a bikini. We developed the pictures and I saw what I actually looked like. I didn't like what I saw and needed to do something about it. Running was the only thing I could afford to do. Once I started, I couldn't stop. I love it!

If you could run just one more race, which one would it be? I think I would want to put the NY Marathon in my books. I don't think it's possible to BQ any time soon, but it's on my wish list to do some day.

What's your favorite post race treat? My favorite post race treat is a banana. I love them! They're easy to take with you and taste great!

What's you favorite distance and why? I would have to say a 5 miles, because my legs are warmed up and ready to go. I race a lot of 5k's , but will make the leap to a 10k in feb.

What's on tap for 2011? I have a New Year's day race (half pavement/half trail), Feb is my first 10k and May is my first 1/2 marathon. I'll have many more races later on in the year, but not sure exactly what yet.

It's your turn:
Run, Courtney, Run
2 runners and a brown dog
Rad Runner

Tonight, hubs and I went to downtown Grass Valley and enjoyed a Cornish Christmas. I saw some advertisements (online) for it and it sounded like something I would enjoy (and hubs would put up with). It was cold and took about 1 1/2 hours to get there (with traffic as we expected).

There were so many people there. We had to park a couple miles away and walk down the huge hills (which meant we had to walk back up the hills). There were little white twinkling lights and x-mas music playing.


They were also roasting chestnuts over an open fire. They were free, but I'm not a big fan of nuts in general, so I didn't try any.

Carolers were singing x-mas music (as you can tell, the entertainment dressed up).

Here's me with our dinner (mine and hubs, not just my dinner). We had some bratwurst. Super yum!

This snowman was selling something (not sure what). He totally creeped me out! He was so scary looking (he wasn't suppose to be).

Here's a restaurant/hotel. The lights were so beautiful and twinkling. People were outside their rooms eating drinking.

Here we are enjoying ourselves.

You guys were right! I made Peanutella Balls. Yummy. There's going to be x-mas gifts for far away family. Nutella is a yummy chocolate hazelnut spread. I love it on crepes and bread. So yummy, such a great treat!

I'm going to continue my busy weekend tomorrow with my second 5k for the month. It's in Davis, Ca and will be much better than last weeks. It's ran by Fleet Feet. Wish me luck and I hope I can actually run the entire race. I'm not worried about my time, just hoping for a non-injury race!