Sayonara Carol

My brother-in-law is in the Dominican Republic and likely won't see this post, so it's mostly about running!  Yesterday morning, I got my sorry ass out of bed early, ate some hard boiled eggs, drank my coffee and met Tanya at the Running Room at 8:30 am.  I knew I was going for a deep tissue massage this morning, so I wanted to get my hill repeats out of the way. It was windy, cold, icy...and we were the only two losers running.  I met her in front of the store (which was closed), and she said in her cute shrill voice, "what the hell are we doing here?"  Good question my friend. But we ran a 2.7K warm-up, then did four 400 metre hill repeats for a total distance of 6.5K.  Not too shabby since it was freaking cold, and the wind kept taking my breath away!

We are BAD ASS!!!!!!!!!

Yesterday my family came over for Christmas dinner.  I made a delicious roast in my slow cooker, squash, green beans with chilies and garlic, roasted Rosemary potatoes (for my dad), rutabaga and sweet potato mash, and a salad (spring mix, feta cheese, red onion, raspberry vinaigrette). It was super yummy!  I ate a lot (minus the Rosemary potatoes) and had fruit for dessert. My sister-in-law brought a fruit tray and a cheese cake.  I think I may have mentioned this before, but I eat a lot right now. More than I ever have in my life.  And despite the copious amounts of food that I eat, I managed to lose 7.5 pounds at my last weigh-in.

I convinced myself that I had a slow metabolism, when in fact, my metabolism is working over-time because of the food I put into my body and the physical activity I do. I never had a slow metabolism, I just abused my metabolism and used it as an excuse for being over weight.  Proper food choices and running has my body in great condition and for the first time in my life, people are telling me that I should eat more and run less.  It's not possible for me to eat more, and I don't want to run less.  Running more is likely, but less?  Nope.  My father and father-in-law both comment that I'm too skinny. No way!  I think I look healthy.  With flabby skin!  And did I mention that I eat tons of food?  Whole foods, healthy foods, lean protein, vegetables, fruits.  All the good stuff that I find myself craving these days.  All I could think about on my way home from the Running Room tonight was the Asian pears I bought this afternoon.

Last night was my former running instructor's good-bye party. Even though it was in the middle of a snow storm (17cm), I ventured out to say good-bye.  Carol has been a wonderful mentor to me. She believed in me when I didn't believe in myself.  She's always been supportive, encouraging and always so much fun to run with.  I'm glad I got to spend that last couple of months taking her clinic.  We got to run quite a bit together over the past couple of months and it meant a lot.  She will be missed.  She's headed out west to manage a Running Room until spring, then she's moving to Illinois.  Perhaps Bev and I will road trip down there one of these days to run the Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa which is only 30 miles from where Carol is moving to.  Carol has invited the entire Running Room to run the Bix 7.  She's going to have a very busy house!  I ran half of my run tonight with her and we got to say a final farewell after our clinic run tonight.  I'll always remember her fondly.  Even though Enz brought me to the Running Room for the first time, Carol kept me there.  Her passion for the sport of running wore off on me!

Carol (center) and 2 of her 5 Learn to Run participants!