Dog on a bone!

That's how I will describe Micheal on Dog Mountain on Saturday....more on that later.

The holiday season has crept up on me fast. Thanksgiving was great. Since Bill's family were all in Mexico for the holiday we decided to go to Disneyland. We had a great time and especially Alex and Bill who love to ride all the hairy stuff. I am more of a Peter Pan level rider so my job is bag holder. We were in the park for 2 magical days and one not so magical day. Thursday was awesome, the crowds were fine, the fireworks and snow falling on main street were very enjoyable. Friday I felt the magic was being sucked out of me by the minute. THE CROWDS! Oh my, it was awful and I felt completely overwhelmed and scared to return on Saturday. I was pleasantly surprised by the lack of people on Saturday so the magic returned and we had a great time. I don't think Bill or Alex will out grow Disney.

I hit it really hard the weeks before Disneyland knowing that I would not be working out for 3 solid days. No running, no lifting and I needed it. But, when I got home and hit the routine again on Monday I was left with a sluggish tired body. Funny since I should have been rested? I thought it reminded me of a very bad taper. The kind when you have trained really hard, you begin the taper and it's to relaxed and you pay on race day feeling sluggish and lack the fire. That's how I felt. I think it might have been to drastic of a rest. It really didn't matter but was an interesting observation anyway. Back in action I did a killer track workout on Tuesday and an awesome tempo/longish run on Thursday. On Thursday we did 14 miles in Forest Park and did 3 miles at tempo speed. It was hard workout. I did a ton of lifting as well and was able to do 5 sets of 5 weighted pullups. I used a 10 pound weight strapped to my waist. I alternated my grip and was pumped to be able to do them.

For the weekend it was supposed to be amazing weather so we decided to head back to Dog Mountain for more laps. I have no pictures to prove how wonderful it was on that day because I had briefly lost my camera. Michelle said we would not be able to prove we did it and Beast would not believe us! The day was great and we were all strong. Michelle drug us up the first summit and showed us how to run down the steep side. Unfortunately I couldn't keep her in my sights to steal any tricks of the trade but I still came down faster than before. On our next trip up no one was jazzed at trying to hit the 1 hour summit goal. Micheal must of been on it though because before I could look up he was gone! I pushed and was stronger than the last time but only shaved about 30 seconds off. Micheal however...summited in 53:32 on the steep side! That has got to be close to a record. BEAST??????? I know you know so let me know please or if any of you readers know please share. That is simply smokin fast. Steve and I have still not broke the 1 hour mark but I know I can do it....eventually. :)

Sunday we did a great loop in Forest Park. Just over 16 miles but some good training. Overall we all felt better after this double Dog than the last time. Progress...... I feel pretty good about Muir Beach this coming weekend. I have my fingers crossed for a good day in the sunny climate. I want to have a fast time......

On another note: Steve told us he read an article that says if you hang around happy people you will be happier. If you hang around negative people it will impact you poorly but will not have an equal effect on your outlook as hanging around happy people. This makes so much sense to me. I am generally not miss sunshine but not unhappy either, more of a realist and I feel the emotions of the moment. But......I hang around happy people and am married to a happy person and I think it hugely impacts my outlook. I have hung around some unhappy people or more like folks who don't like other people in general and I got impacted by that even if I didn't think at the moment it has any bearing on my outlook. I am grateful for all the happy shiny people I get to mingle with....it keeps life moving and even in tough times a smile can be launched or laughter can be found. Download: Shiny happy people by REM.

Looking forward to Christmas Camp and will start planning very soon!