Happy New Year! Yes, I am still here!

Greetings fellow bloggers! I hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday. My Christmas holiday was fantastic! As much as I enjoyed Christmas, I am honestly looking forward to my life getting back to normal. The last few weeks have been nuts! I have been a huge slacker and a very bad blogger. Both running and blogging have been put on the back burner due to the busy holiday season. The good news is that is going to change starting January 1st:)

I did receive my secret Santa gift in the mail a few weeks ago! Thank you Adam!! Adam sent me the movie, Spirit Of The Marathon. I love my gift and have watched it twice! Thank you to Jill for setting up the blogger gift exchange....it was an awesome idea and a wonderful way to share some blogger love:)

Good news! I have a race on January 1st called the Polar Dash. It is in the Team Ortho series of races and I ran this one last year. It was cold but fun:) Beth, I hope to see you there! Hopefully we will not get another snow storm like they are predicting...like we need more snow:)

I have one more bit of news to share! I am pretty excited....I have decided to run a spring marathon! I am going to do the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon in May! One thing that I should mention is that Wobegon is not a true trail race. It is a ten foot wide asphalt bike trail. The course is flat and fast. Last year I was a volunteer for this marathon and know that several of the runners came from out of state hoping to BQ. Training will start in January. I have taken almost a month off from running and know that I have lost fitness. I am so not looking forward to those first few weeks of training! Can we say sore muscles and massive sucking air attacks!?! God, I can't wait:) I would really love to run this next marathon in four hours or less. I need to shave nine minutes off of my Twin Cities marathon time. Hopefully with proper training and a few more longer runs I will be able to pull it off. Wobegon is a smaller marathon and there will not be pacers. I am so fortunate to have found a personal pacer:) Thank you Mark! Mark is a St. Cloud River runner who has qualified for Boston and is using Wobegon as a longer training run for another marathon. My four hour goal will seem like a walk in the park for him:)

My next post will be the Polar Dash race report! Yay! It has been so long since I have posted a race report. I promise to take tons of pictures....keep your fingers crossed that Minnesota will not be blasted with another winter snow storm! I want to run:)

Happy running, biking, swimming, lifting and surfing! Cheers to you all! May you all have a fantastic New Year!

I Am Back With A Tag! A Reason To Post!

Greetings everyone! I am finally sitting down to post after a week of blogging vacation. Last week was nuts, I was left with limited computer time. This weekend the Minnesota metro area was pounded with 20 inches of snow! Holy cow! I was supposed to run in a 5K yesterday morning....never happened:) My hubby had to snowblow our driveway three times! Good news, I was able to get the heck out of my culdesac and go shopping today:) I did some serious damage...I have yet to tell Mr. Julie how much money I spent!

I was recently tagged by Misszippy to answer a few questions about running. I was pretty excited because now I have something to blog about!

1) Do you prefer winter or summer running? This is a tough one to answer. I enjoy running in the cooler temperatures but winter running in Minnesota is challenging because of the layering of running clothes. The snow and ice makes me go slower than normal...not falling on my ass is always good. Summer running is nice because I can go out with shorts, a running shirt and shoes. I do hate running in the heat and humidity....I really hate it! Yuck! However, running in the heat and humidity is good for conditioning and helps for when it is the perfect temperature. It makes me feel like I am kicking it:) Did I answer the question? Yea, I am not sure about that one.

2) What has been your toughest race to date? Hands down, the Gopher to Badger Half Marathon. It was so freaking hot and humid that day! I felt like total crap and wondered if I would ever finish. I did finish it with a time of 2:02:45...not too bad considering the crazy weather elements. Running this race and living through it made me realize that I could run a marathon and finish with a respectable time.

3) What are your running goals for 2011? I would like to run a sub 4 marathon. It would be great to PR in a few of the other distances too. I have raced in 21 races this year. I think that next year I will cut the number of my races down and train more. I hope to do more running with my running group....they will keep me honest and working hard:)

4) Do you have any other passions in life? I love to travel, learning about history and other cultures. I also love to meet people:) I consider myself a friendly and outgoing person. I love and enjoy stimulating conversation with just about anyone.

5) If you could live anywhere, where would it be? Oh, this is an easy one, I would love to live in California wine country or somewhere in Montana. I have been to wine country several times and always have a fabulous time. The weather is so nice and perfect for running. Montana is also so gorgeous and peaceful. We took a family vacation there a few years ago and had a blast...great memories! Internationally, I would love to live in Italy. I have always had a thing with Italy. When I was a little girl I would go to the library and spend hours looking at pictures of the beautiful places and sites to see. Currently, I love watching movies that are set in Italy:)

If there is anyone who would like to be tagged and do this too...knock yourself out! You are all tagged:)

Happy running, biking, swimming, lifting and surfing! Cheers to you all!