Happy New Year!

Happy New Year Folks! Sorry for the absence - the holidays tend to get crazy. From the 17th to the 2nd I felt like I was non-stop. For once, it was good busy though. Holiday Parties, my birthday, three random days of work and then 11 blissful days of vacation. It was marvelous. I wasn't completely sedentary either, check it out:

Week of 12/21 - 12/27

Week of 12/28 - today

Favorite Workout
Difficult to decide. The swim today was pretty good - mostly because I got to play with all of my new gear! (and it just happened and the 12/21 run was damn near 2 weeks ago..) Anyway. I got some awesome new gear for Christmas and a lot of it was swim related.

Out with the old - in with the new!

I also got a sweet new AudioFlood iPod to replace my H20 Audio set. The little lock on it busted the week before Muncie and I've been tunes-less ever since. I was super excited to try out AudioFlood after reading Swim Bike Mom's awesome review. It didn't disappoint! It's literally just an iPod shuffle and it clips on your goggles. Technology guys, it's real. It's awesome.

I also got some new fins - yay kicking! I forgot I'd ordered short blade fins. This means that they're more about fixing your kick technique and increasing strength then they are about helping to propel you through the water. Oy. My hamstrings were screaming during the first couple of 50s but subsided after awhile. I noticed that when I swim with fins it allows me to be super intentional about my upper body and body positioning. Guess that's what happens when you're not relying solely on your upper body for buoyancy and propulsion. Who knew!

I also loved my birthday run. For the last few years I've made it a point to get in a run on my birthday and it's a really wonderful tradition. This year I got to run with Rania since Wednesday was a short day. It was kinda rainy and chilly but it was a good run nonetheless. I'm really looking forward to sunlight sticking around later so we can keep running

Favorite Food
Super hard to pick. Not necessarily because everything I've eaten in the last two weeks was good. It's just...oh lord everything I've eaten in the last two weeks.

For starters, there was this amazing vat of ham salad my mom brought me for my birthday.

I.Love.Ham Salad. Not a huge ham fan otherwise, but this stuff is golden. And this particular variety comes from a lady she works with who has a farm. Thank you, Wilbur, for your delicious salad-y goodness.

Christmas dinner was good, Christmas brunch was good. Christmas dinner at my mother in law's was good, as was everything else we ate. I tried not to over do it. My goal at my in-laws was basically just to stay hydrated. Drink as much water as possible and run every day. I basically got that done. AND this year I didn't have any tummy troubles over the holidays, which is huge. I owe it to Good Belly (and some to my good sense, but not much).

So what's next?

- Currently setting my training plan for the Run the Bluegrass and Kentucky Derby Festival Half Marathons! I can't for the life of me find my training plan from last year. Must've gone without one #Beast
- Finishing a post to sum up last year. I have a lot of thoughts about last year - some good, some bad, and I should probably put them down before...
- Finishing a post about next year! Time to set down some goals and plan ahead for 2016

So there's the plan for the week. Lets get to it.

Happy Running!