WINTER

The weather has turned cold, the smell of pine is in the air, wreaths are up, candles are lit, and we now read by the light of the Christmas tree.

She makes everything more joyful. A simple walk down the street is a memory that will not be forgotten.

THE CHRISTMAS CARD

I love Christmas cards.

My parents made us take a picture each Christmas every year. There were times when I hated posing for the annual shot. There are some Christmas card pictures that I love and others (especially those during my awkward middle school days) that I'd like to forget. But I love the tradition. I love that I have a little photo album of just Christmas card photos from my childhood. I love looking back and seeing how my brother and I grew and changed from year to year. I love reflecting on what we were doing in the pictures --- there was the soccer year where we wore our soccer uniforms, the year with our dog Bandit, the years of swimming where we wore our Hampton Dolphins uniforms, and the unfortunate years where we tried to pose in our Sunday best. Our family Christmas cards tell the story of us as a family. And I love them.

So it is important to me that each year we take the time to design and send out Christmas cards to friends and family.

This year getting a family Christmas card together was a little bit harder than it has been in the past for several reasons. First, getting a quality family picture with a two year old is challenging - to say the least. And second, my camera was stolen when our house was robbed last month and we did lose some pictures from the computer that was stolen.

I have been feeling a little stressed about getting our card designed and the cards printed in time for the holidays.

Plus there are so many choices when it comes to designing and printing your Christmas cards. This year I decided to use Shutterfly for our Christmas cards. We've been using Shutterfly for several years now as our online photo album and I've always liked their services and products. Their Christmas card designs this year were fantastic (we spent considerable time deciding which one we liked best out of five or six choices) and I really like that the cards can be printed on cardstock. Shutterfly's prices were also reasonable and their holiday savings coupons and deals were unbeatable.

We have coupons for a free photo calendar if we spend $50 or more AND I am also participating in a promotion where you post a blog entry about your shutterfly card and you get 50 cards for free.

SWEET!!

Shutterfly is also offering 30 percent off all cards ordered before December 1st. And free shipping.

We hope to have our cards ordered in the next 24 hours and mailed to friends and family before December 20th. This also poses a huge challenge because my dissertation defense is scheduled for December 20th. We also need to bake and deliver more than 15 plates of Christmas cookies to neighbors and friends. And do some Christmas shopping.

Here's to getting into the Christmas spirit, checking everything off of my to-do list, and celebrating the creation of a wonderful Christmas card...

WE DID IT!!

We did it; we finished the Philadelphia Marathon.

It was a good race. We went out hard and held on for a strong finish.

It was beautiful, but I missed the crowds of NYC and DC.

There was plenty of water and food, but when I needed a port-a-potty there were none to be found.

When all was said and done, it was a great race. I finished 8 minutes faster than my previous best time.

Here's a shot of me and my running partner/husband the day before the race.

It was a great weekend in Philadelphia. More details to come...

CONFIDENCE

I'm three days away from towing the line at the Philadelphia Marathon.

And I am CRAZY nervous. I've been fighting negative thoughts and self-doubt for nearly a week now. Getting a nasty stomach bug a week before the race has not helped.

Before the sun was up this morning, I was trying to imagine what it was going to feel like on Sunday morning... and I got super nervous again and started thinking I might not be ready for this race. I cannot remember what I felt like last year before NYC. But I'm sure I wasn't this nervous. I quickly spiraled into a lot of negative talk about my training, my preparation, my strength to run another marathon.

Then I jumped into a cold shower - literally.

Standing under the cold water (which was slowly heating up) I washed away all the negative thoughts.

I am SO ready to run this race.

Since training began on July 12, I have:

-- run 512.71 miles

-- run 3 x 20+ mile runs

-- run more than 10 runs of a least 10 miles

-- hit repeats consistently and even managed to descend sets

-- nursed a very sore heal, successfully, and have NO PAIN

-- maintained my weight and feel light on my feet

-- conquered the hill on 13th Street so many times (and to think in early spring I could barely reach the top without stopping to walk)

-- run to National Airport and back home again with D

I am ready for this race. Yes, I've skipped a couple of runs here and there. And this week, I've opted for sleep over running. But I've listened to my body. I've trained hard and smart.

And I'm freaking ready.

I've held a pace of under 10 min/mile on EVERY long run I've run. I've held a sub-9 min/mile pace on several 10 mile and 1/2 marathon runs.

I'm going to rock this marathon.

And I'm going to look good doing it.

photo credit

AN ORIGINAL BY MY HUSBAND

D has been contributing to the blog run by our CSA for the past couple of months.

This past weekend he came up with this yummy salad. Unfortunately, I was too sick to be anywhere near the kitchen while he was cooking. I'm hoping he makes it again SOON.

There are other original recipes by Triple D on the blog. Head over there and check it out.

And congratulations to my husband for creating such a great recipe and publishing it.

STOMACH BUG

photo credit

In case you've missed it, let me be the one to tell you.

THERE IS A NASTY STOMACH BUG GOING AROUND!

How do I know this? Well, it took down each member of our family one-by-one this weekend. K was off beginning Thursday. Her appetite was small and she was fussy about everything. She refused a fried rice and veggies dish - and she love her rice (she's a quarter Asian!!). On Friday she was a little fussier, much snottier, and her diapers were full of loose, loose, loose poop. It was almost more than I could handle.

She went to bed Friday exhausted. She didn't sleep soundly.

But it wasn't K that kept me up for more than half the night. It was D. He was hot; then cold. He wanted more blankets; then less. He was feeling dizzy and sick to his stomach. Around 3am he starting hypothesizing that he was hung-over from the single drink he had with dinner. He was convinced this was the case until around 11am when we determined that his temperature was 102.

I was able to get up and run early Saturday. Last long (8.3 miles) run before the marathon on Sunday. D had great plans to run on Saturday morning, too, but that didn't work out.

D slept most of Saturday. K and I read a lot of books, made some pumpkin muffins, and took a brief walk to the park. At dinner time, she seemed to be feeling better and had a huge bowl of rice, two pumpkin muffins, and some English muffin. I was convinced we were all on the mend and that quite possibly I had avoided the whole sickness all-together.

D gave K a bath on Saturday night. She got really fussy towards the end and bite him on the shoulder as he was taking her out of the water. As he was getter her jammies on, she started to cough. He picked her up and she threw up EVERYWHERE. All over herself; her jammies; the changing table; the floor; D. I came up and took her to the bathroom. She threw up on me and herself a little more. She took another shower to calm down and rinse off. Thankfully she slept through the night and did not throw up again.

I woke up yesterday feeling great, but by mid-morning wasn't feeling so good.

By noon, my temperature was 102 and I was ready to go back to bed.

No one slept well last night.

I'm working from home today nursing a headache and upset stomach.

My goal: start feeling better and rebuild my strength before the end of the week.

PHILADELPHIA MARATHON is just six days away!!!

DETERMINED: OUTFIT FOR THE 2010 PHILLY MARATHON

Yesterday K and I hit up the local Fleet Feet store to see if they had one or all of the shirts I was considering for the marathon in stock. They did. And plenty of other cute tops. I tried on several and with a little bit of help from my fashion-conscious, girlie-girl daughter landed a great top to complete my marathon outfit.

Next Sunday (11/21) I'll be towing the start line at the Philadelphia Marathon wearing:

Lucy capri running pants

My trusted purple and black tanktop (to keep my core warm) - I have worn this top for every marathon and half marathon I've run; it is like my marathon security blankie.

Black BondiBand with a glittery star on the front

A plum-colored Nike long-sleeved running shirt with white accent stripes.

I went with the plum-colored shirt for two reasons. First, the color goes well with my skin tone, but is bold enough that I'll stick out in the crowd (plus I'll have my name plastered across my chest in WHITE). And second, I plan to run in my teal colored sports bra. As much as I liked the bright orange and green shirts I tried on, I didn't want my stripped tanktop or sports bra to show through my outer layer. Nothing can be seen through the plum-color. I love it; K does, too. I asked her to pick her favorite shirt from three different colors and she immediately was drawn to the plum.

I went with the Nike shirt over the Brooks because it just fit better. I have long arms for my height and the Nike size-medium had longer sleeves. It rested comfortably on my hips and was a little softer to the touch.

I really like my outfit and so excited.

Goal for this week and next: get my mind into the game and start believing I can run faster than I did in NYC last year. I also need to stretch more EVERY DAY. And probably should increase my stretching sessions to TWICE A DAY.

Pictures of my race attire will be forthcoming.