Smoke Free in NC

Come Saturday, all restaurants and bars will be smoke free in North Carolina. This is a huge deal since tobacco has always been such a big part of this state's economy - and I am SO happy that the no smoking law was passed! Florida passed it several years ago when we were living down there, and it was weird to move to a state where smoking was still allowed. We forgot that when you walked into a restaurant they still needed to ask, "Smoking or non?" Well, not anymore!

This guy isn't as happy as me. What an idjut.

"Starting Saturday, Albert Brown will be forced to alter a cigarette habit he picked up at 9 years old. No more Marlboros over breakfast at the Toot-N-Tell Family Restaurant.

The state's smoking ban doesn't sit well with Brown, now 67, who shows a chest scar to prove his loyalty to tobacco. After heart bypass surgery in 2000, Brown kept smoking.

"The first thing I did when I got in my car was light a cigarette and puff away. Is that stupidity? Of course it is. But I love my cigarettes."

Christmas Catchup

I had to work Monday through Wednesday of last week, and it was surprisingly busy, even with a lot of people taking PTO. It went fast at least. Marty and I saw Avatar in 3-D and you can ready Mr. Cynical's review on his website. Thursday we drove to Virginia where we would be spending the holiday at my sister's house.

Christmas Eve we had our now traditional dinner at Outback.

I'm on the nice list and Shana's on the naughty list:



Christmas morning was filled with lots and lots of presents.



Nice jersey! Tassie somehow managed to get in most of our pictures, too.



Tassie also made time to get her hair did.



And in keeping with the theme, Shana and I wore matching shirts for Christmas dinner.



Christmas dinner is always lasagna. Don't get me started on you people who eat Thanksgiving again on Christmas.

The day after Christmas Marty and I found a park where there was a 1.5 mile trail around a lake. Neither of us wanted to run at the Dismal Swamp again (BORING), but we didn't factor in all the rain, so the trail we found was beyond muddy. And yeah, we did have to do a bunch of loops, but at least it was interesting. Tassie ran about 6.5 miles with us. The first lap was spent trying to get her to not run through all the mud puddles, but we quickly realized this was futile. She got a bath when we got back to my sister's house.



When we got home yesterday, Marty and I went out for a short mountain bike ride. It was sunny and 50-something degrees and there were families and puppies and babies all running around the local park. If it were any cuter we would both have been puking rainbows.

And it wouldn't be Christmas without catching some sort of cold, so now I'm all hopped up on some over the counter medicine and have a big box of Puffs Plus to help minimize the red nose from blowing too much.

Longest Run Ever?

I think I may have just set a new pr for myself in running for my longest run. I realize most of you readers out there are triathletes and runners so this is not going to be too impressive to you all, but for me it's pretty big. 14.1 miles in 1:46 - it had some warmup, some tempo, and some cooldown. We ran on the American Tobacco Trail which is about as flat as you can get around here and still run on a soft surface. It does have some net downhill/uphill but the uphill is only noticable when you're nearing the end of the run and you're tired, then it's like "where the f did this hill come from?!" My tempo portion is nowhere near where I want my race pace to be so I really have no clue how that small miracle is going to pan out. Ah well.

My sister and her yellow lab drove up and will be staying with us for the next week and a half or so. Now Tassie not only has another human to shower her with attention but also a dog to keep her company and play with. As you might remember, Shana also doubles as my personal shopper so she came bearing some new shirts for me which I promptly paid her for. I'm telling you, you guys need to get one of these - I don't have to worry about spending time at the mall which I don't really like doing, but I end up with good clothes that always fit. Yay for sisters who like to shop!

We Just Can't Help Ourselves

They were calling for a wintry mix here today, and we're getting it! So of course we had to video and document the snow - I know, I know, we can't ever get over the novelty of it. We are such Floridiots.

Tassie & Running

Tassie has been putting in some good miles so far this winter. Yesterday she did a double! Sometimes in the morning I'll do a short little wake-up jog (like 15min) and Tassie loves coming along. It's good because Marty likes to roll over and go back to sleep. Although I can't complain too much because I've been very guilty of this same act with morning swims the past couple of months.

Anyways, Tassie also ran with us last night which consisted of some 1min pickups. We didn't end up doing them all because she got a little too tired. I tried to do an extra but she was having none of that and pulled so hard she was practically frothing at the mouth trying to catch me.

I always get worried when she starts falling behind and trotting more than running. I'm paranoid since she has a heart problem (even though the vet has assured us that running is GOOD for her heart). 10 times out of 10, it's because she has to poop. And me being the apparently rude dog owner can never remember baggies. And seriously, Tassie, kicking up grass and dirt afterwards in an area that is not even remotely close to where you just laid a grumpy* is not helping.

Yup, maturity is through the roof tonight...

*Term Marty likes to use because, duh, you look kind of grumpy when you're pushing it out!

Jolly Elf Trail Run 5k

This past Saturday Marty and I did a local 5k in Bond Park. If I’m being honest, I need to admit that I totally tried to talk Marty out of doing this race. And only because it was going to be hella cold in the morning. I really have no problem racing – I think doing road races is an excellent way to get feedback on how the training is going as well as get in a great effort for a hard workout. I don’t get all tied up in pr’ing or any of that. I know some people only want to race if they’re going to race well, but I can compartmentalize and race for fun when I want to.

Anyways, Marty wasn’t budging and I grudgingly got up the next morning. I immediately checked the weather and the feels like temperature was 23 degrees. Awesome. We dressed in many layers and then jogged over to the park, much to the dismay of Tassie who watched us from the window as we took off. Since we were both running and weren’t taking a car, we couldn’t take her with us. So I was warm I guess on the way over and even took off a layer before the start because I didn’t want to overheat. I still had on fleece tights, a short sleeve base layer, and long sleeve shirt that had a little turtleneck, warm hat, running gloves (that were not thick enough), and smart wool socks.

The other fun thing about this race is that it’s mostly cross country – trails and hills and even a big wide open field for the start (about 150 yards long) with a sharp turn at the end. There is some greenway pavement mixed in. So the race went well – it was cold and my hands went completely numb, but I was pleasantly surprised to run an 18:54 out there. Unfortunately, even though once again I was signed up as Bri, the results have me as Brianna. I guess I’m entered into their database incorrectly. Marty sent a strongly worded email asking them to fix it – something I would never do since I’m too much of a coward at confrontation. Although, complaining about it to the world on here doesn’t seem to bother me.

I Know I Know

I know I'm slacking when I get an email from Marty telling me "your blog is lonely for updates." You'd think my own husband would know what's going on with me and not have to resort to reading my blog, but what do I know. So here are some random thoughts for Friday:

• We did a track workout this past Tuesday and it was dark, cold and rainy. There were only a few other brave souls out there. The traffic was horrendous and we may just have to cut the cord on that track until we change time and can get to the one that is slightly closer.
• I really like the people at Master's. Although I hate having to get up early, I'm always glad to see everyone and push myself to the point where I feel like my lats are going to burn off.
• In the locker room, one of the girls told a Tiger Woods Christmas themed joke: What's the difference between Santa and Tiger Woods?..........................Santa stopped after 3 ho's!
• Ho ho ho! :)
• Tassie made an update last weekend.
• Marty and I did a tempo run last night. I hate how dark it gets so early which means we can't run on trails (I get home too late). I'm so lucky he'll wait and run with me when I get home.
• 7 years ago on Dec 7th, Marty proposed to me in a swan boat in the middle of Lake Eola.
• After not having a Christmas tree the past 3 years, we have 2 this year? Why, you may ask? Well, Marty was at WalMart and saw a really cheap deal on a tree and bought it as a surprise. I was surprised. And then he was surprised when I said, did you forget we bought one last year? No matter! They're both going up!
  

Weekend in Virginia

I drove up to Virginia to my older sister's house to do a little pre-Christmas festivities with some of the fam, as well as celebrate my nieces 11th birthday. She is a huge Twilight fan so we had tons to talk about ;) No one wanted to take her to New Moon so I sacrificed myself and went to see it again with her yesterday afternoon. She LOVED it.

After the movie we watched the Gators fall to Alabama - now I know it's sacrilegious for me to cheer for Alabama since I did go to Auburn, but the one team I will always cheer against is Florida. So ROLL TIDE! I definitely enjoyed myself watching that one.

This morning I ran 12 miles at the Dismal Swamp Trail. Seriously, who decided that would be a good name? It totally reminds me of The Swamp of Sadness where Artex died (anyone else out there fans of The Neverending Story? I loved that movie as a kid, but always cried during this scene. Okay, and what the heck was the name Sebastian yelled out at the end of the movie?! That's like the mystery of the century).

Here's a funny picture of me and my sister - both on the computer sitting practically on top of each other. What can I say, we like each other. Here's how ridiculous this is, we were actually looking at the same website, pointing funny parts out to each other. It was www.fmylife.com in case you were wondering.

Feeling Off

Did you know that there are bowling alleys that don't sell beer? Because I sure didn't. We met the Lovgren's out for some bowling fun on Friday night and we were all WTF when we realized that no beer was to be had. But we don't need beer to have a good time! It would have just been a nice little addition to the beverage selection. I bowled a 71 and a 109. Did I mention I am awesome at bowling?

On Saturday I woke up not feeling so great. I was tired, sour stomach and all around blah. Lots of lying on the couch watching football while Marty and Tassie lived it up our friends house. Sunday was not a whole bunch better. My training has suffered over the past few days. I just haven't felt like myself and I'm getting worried and might be re-assessing my goals for the Disney half marathon. I'm definitely no where near where I had hoped at this point in time.

My sickness or whatever has morphed into some sort of head cold. I'm still tired but at least my stomach feels better.

I see that Marty has put up a race schedule on his blog. I guess I know what races to plan for myself next year now ;)