"Take this soul, stranded in some skin and bones -
Take this soul and make it sing."
-U2, "Yahweh" (video below):

In my random iTunes perusing this evening I came across a poignant U2 song... It's no secret that U2 is one of the most outwardly Christian bands around - so on the most uplifting holiday of the Christian year, it seems appropriate to spotlight one of the most uplifting and beautiful songs in U2's repertoire.

"Yahweh" is, in essence, a simple prayer: a humble plea to take this broken world we occupy, and make it right. Coincidentally, that also happens to be the message of Christmas.

Here's wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season and a peaceful new year...

Ever have one of those weekends in training that did not go as you had planned it? It was such a weekend for me.


I didn't get to my first DFMC group run last Saturday because of some company arriving in the morning (due to the snowstorm/blizzard that arrived later that day), and I just could not leave the entire house to the Hubs to clean, on top of going to the grocery store and preparing a mini feast for our guests. So… no group long run in Lexington for me. And of course, I had the best of intentions Sunday morning, but we were buried one foot in snow and rather than get my long run on the treadmill over and done with (a cardinal rule for me – if it doesn’t get done in the morning, it doesn’t seem to get done at all), I worked. And worked. And… worked some more. By the time 7pm hit I was finally done working (the price one pays for taking off 12/22 – 12/28 from work – well worth it if you ask me!) and exhausted. So no long run yesterday. I really was frustrated with myself for missing out on the group run Saturday, but need to let go of the perfectionism and embrace flexibility. I ended up getting up at 4am this morning to get a medium run in (an easy pace for 10k - it's less than optimal, but I am in this for the long haul, so when I keep that in mind, it seems alright) before coming to work. But nothing beats following through on the actual plan.

Speaking of plans, the goal is to hit the road this week and rack up some miles (lofty, considering my trip to NYC tomorrow with the Hubs [CANNOT WAIT – I have *always* wanted to visit NYC at X-Mas time & skate at Rockefeller Center, sip hot cocoa & browse the stores, etc!!!], the oodles of shopping & gift wrapping still left to do, and dozens of miles to be put on the car traveling to family for the holidays). However, I intend to stick as close to my weekly mileage goals as possible, while doing my utmost to allow some flexibility in to the plan. Afterall, I’m not a robot and I do need to remain sane (which I why it is crucial to include in the training my new fav beverage: “Apple Pie”: Harpoon Winter Lager mixed w/ Harpoon Apple Cider. Oh. My. God. YUM! :)

On an unrelated note, thank you so much to Lisa Crocker for donating to Dana-Farber this morning – it is truly appreciated, Lisa – THANK YOU!!! Merry Christmas, all! :)

It’s December 17th. You're in a X-Mas rut. You stuffed yourself with turkey three weeks ago and have been counting down the days all year until Christmas. The spirit of the holidays is buzzing through the air, but you just can’t feel it in your bones. You’re feeling more like the Grinch than a jolly Christmas elf. Time is running out. Well, that's me in a nutshell. Try as I might, I'm finding it difficult to focus on the good things about Christmas. Sure, I have plenty to be grateful and appreciative for, all of which I truly am... but I can't help but get frustrated and angry at all of the drivers on the road, all of the lines in the stores... fighting over parking spots and obsessing over all of the germs I'm forced to come in to contact with. So... I have a devised a plan of action to get me (sucessfully) through the holiday season without biting my loved ones' heads off:

Step 1: "Christmasfy" myself. :)

Step 2: Get a tree and pine candle. Check... and check. Because the Hubs and I opted for another "temporary" Charlie Brown fake Christmas tree this year (in the hopes that it will be our last one because we will hopefully be in our first house by this time next year), it just doesn't "feel" like Christmas without the pine scent. Enter: pine candle. Can I just tell you how much I love Yankee Candle and all of the awesome Christmasy scents it has to offer? Ahh... if only we were snuggled up in a snowy cabin in Vermont in front of a crackling fire... Anyway, I digress.

Step 3: Crank up the Christmas music. All the time.

Step 4: Shop. At the mall. Strip malls don't really cut it, as I found out the other night whilst running around like a mad woman until 9pm. Too many in-and-out-of-the-car, finding parking spots, etc. to contend with. It just doesn't make for a happy ending.



Step 5: Break out the Chrismas DVDs. Truthfully, I have no idea when I'm going to find the time for this, but I'm putting it in my 5-step plan anyway. Ideally, I would love to sit down & watch all of the classics. But alas, between hosting family get-togethers, long weekend runs, daily workouts, work, shopping, and a trip to NYC all planned in the 12 days, I've got my work cut out for me. And speaking of weekend long runs, my first group long run with my DFMC teammates is this upcoming Saturday morning in Lexington... I'm nervous and excited at the same time - hoping I can find someone that also runs at my snail pace; we'll see. Anyway, off to wrap some gifts... Merry Christmas, everyone out there (or at least to the one or two of you that read this!).

“If the only prayer you ever say in your entire life is thank you, it will be enough.”



Up on my soapbox, clearing throat.

My gorgeous husband, whom every day says and does things just to make me smile and make my life easier. (Best husband ever.)

I am thankful for my friends and family who inspire me and encourage me to always do bigger and better things.

For chocolate.

For (tasteful) reality tv.

For lattes.

I am thankful for my family for being comfortably consistent, always.

For my husband's many many delicious meals (can anyone say turkey burgers?? :)).

For red wine.

For central air.

I am thankful for my sweet Bear, who knows my heart and mind, usually before I do.

For Boston's amazing commuters on 128 who instantly brighten my day. :)

For the colors of Fall in New England.
I am thankful for the simple pleasure of homecooking and the learned ability to duplicate your mom's/grandma's/aunt's/cousin's favorite recipe.

For sushi.

For fresh flowers.

For BBQ'ing in the Spring/Summer.

For my job - there are few people that really enjoy their job as much as I do. A rarity, indeed.

I am thankful for Walt Disney World, because some day I will go there! :)

For hot chocolate and fireplaces.

For fuzzy sweaters, slippers and blankets.
 
For Barnes and Noble, West Elm, Crate and Barrel, and Starbucks.
 
For our Breville blender, and the ridiculously awesome protein shakes it whips up.
 
Books, books and more books. Plus our local library that doesn't charge me late fees (thank goodness!).
 
That I do not have to bill hours.
 
Everyone that reads this blog!
 
For Artie, our beta fish that recently passed away... I swear, he thought he was a dog - such a fun fish to have as part of our family!!
 
For Sunday mornings.
 
For Tivo.
 
That I have the ability to train for and run marathons - and enjoy the process!

• Akron, Ohio Marathon – Brooks running shoes
• Seaside Half Marathon in Seaside, Florida – Vera Bradley tote bag
• Nike Women’s Marathon in San Francisco – Tiffany necklace
• Stratton Faxon New Haven Road Race 20k and 5k – Loaves of freshly baked, organic artisan bread
• Zooma Women's Race Series in Austin, Annapolis, Denver and Atlanta – Brunch, mini-spa treatment and custom-designed silver necklace
• Bix 7 in Davenport, Iowa – All you can drink beer, admission to a jazz concert
• Napa to Sonoma Wine Country Half Marathon – Wine tastings, discounts on wine purchases from participating vineyards

Watching the finale of The Biggest Loser on NBC right now... yeah, yeah, so I admit that I got sucked in to the show years ago, and just can't tear myself away. As usual, they're dragging the finale out to two hours, which means staying up way past my bedtime. Ugh, 4:15am tomorrow morning is going to be approaching way too quickly. However, I must say tonight's broadcast is quite emotional. Seriously, if these people can lose 200 lb. they must have done something right. I'm sure they faced plenty of challenges along the way - particularly being at home for the past few months, continuing their efforts to tone and tighten. So getting 6 hr. of sleep is nothing to be complaining about. In fact, that really isn't bad at all... in fact, I should grateful that I'm able to get 6 hr. of sleep!

Okay, so the agenda tomorrow: a speed workout - most likely about 6 miles by the time I'm said and done. Then a long drive down to Providence for an all-day seminar. Then back to the house to order pics online for the frames (about two years in the making - it's about time we change out the pictures in the house!), get my first DFMC newsletter in envelopes and mailed (yippee!!!), and get crackin' on the Christmas cards... a busy day to say the least. Gotta hit the hay (PS looks like Danny will win The Biggest Loser - good for him, congrats!!!)

Had my first run in over a week this morning... still weezing and sniffling, but I'm back on track! And surprisingly, the run went really well - wasn't winded at all. Of course, it helped that I was nice and warm in the gym on the treadmill the whole time and not sucking in the cold 30 degree air outside. But I'm not gonna lie - I was super disappointed this morning to wake up and realize that the sidewalks were too icy for my liking for a run outside. Don't ask me why it didn't dawn on me last night as the Hubs and I were decorating the X-Mas tree all cozy with the fireplace roaring, watching the snow falling elegantly outside! Which reminds me... I really need to come up with some type of traction solution for my runners so that I can get through the long runs with the rest of the DFMC team on the roads of Boston this winter, without breaking my ankle. I'm sure there must be some type of trail-running traction device out there - must add that to the do-to list.

Anywhoo... I have turned a new leaf today. I am shedding the fundraising anxiety that has exponentially increased this past week, knowing that my newsletter & email campaigns will be starting any day now. I am relinquishing the stress of knowing that I will have to be asking people to shell out $$ in a difficult economy and tough time of the year (both before X-Mas and right after), and instead remaining positive, knowing that there are so many people right now that have much bigger battles that they are fighting than I am. Who am I to stress out about raising a measly $5,000? I'm not fighting for my life. I'm not undergoing chemo, or holding a family member's hand as they go through test after test, and experimental treatments. I have so much to be thankful for and appreciative of...  so I am letting go of the anxiety and embracing the challenge. I will do everything in my power to get the awareness out there, to let everyone know that Dana Farber needs help to raise the funds necessary to support untested theories that may successfully treat and ultimately cure cancer, and that without these funds all of the patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic currently fighting the battle of cancer have an even tougher battle ahead of them.
I am very much looking forward to the commencement of the 2010 DFMC team training schedule which was just released... the start date is the week of December 14 -20 and the first long run planned is 8-10 miles, depending on where you're at with your training already. The Greater Boston Running Company is hosting the first long run, which is super exciting - I've heard nothing but good things about their runs in Lexington... so bring it on, baby - 8am on the 19th, I am so there - back on track and more motivated than ever!

I need to post more. When things aren’t going well or I don’t have anything “motivational” to say, I tend not to write. I want so badly to be a leader and set a good example. But I can’t do that if I write negative, cranky, draggy posts. And who wants to read about someone failing? And, quite honestly, how many times can a person write “I’m still tired and not feeling so great” anyway? It gets old. But then again, if I’m only blogging when something exciting or happy occurs, I’m not going to blog very much (which is exactly what’s happening).

Anyway, the weekend is over. As great as it was having Black Friday off to spend with the Hubs and shop ‘til we dropped, it was exhausting. The family parties, the eating, the sloth-like behaviour just dragged on for four or so days. How can one be so tired when one hardly did anything at all?! I would love to have a nice quiet weekend. It seems that every weekend is always filled with tons to do and to be done or like the last weekend, filled with (sick) people out to get me sick (can you tell I’m a tad jaded? :)). This coming weekend I have no plans, other than errands (really need to get crackin' on my first newsletter to send out, as well as X-Mas cards).

So I survived Monday & Tuesday, barely! I was more than tired yesterday when I got home. Thank god that the house was clean and the Hubs cooked dinner (who am I kidding, what’s new – thankfully he makes dinner 99% of the time, a daily occurrence which I am extremely grateful for!). I pretty much ate dinner, laid down on the carpet in front of the fire and was out for the count. The goal was to sleep off the crappy feeling I had yesterday.

This morning I felt like playing dead in the bed. Let’s face it – I’m not the most chipper person to be around when I’m feeling sick, and while I had hoped last night that this would merely be a cold with sneezing and sniffles, this morning I woke up to a splitting headache, chills, fever and body aches to boot. It takes A LOT to get me to throw up – it rarely happens (as I rarely ever get sick, to be honest)… but this morning I was worshipping the porcelain throne, with no food in my stomach, at 6am. UGH. :( Needless to say, there haven’t been many runs lately, nor any cross training. The last great workout I had was the day before Thanksgiving. A week ago. Grrr. But I know the importance of rest & fluid, particularly when one is not feeling up to snuff. So I will try and heed my own advice and rest. Now… if only it were warm enough outside (and I had enough room) to break out my hammock…!