Light

Every year I get so excited for Christmas! It's not because I'm Christian and view it as one of the most important celebrations of the year. It's not because my mom is completely obsessed to the point of reminding me how many months left on the 25th of each month. It's not because of the gifts. It's not because decorating is fun & pretty. It's not because of the food. It's not because of the snow. It's not because every Christmas from the time I can remember has at least one good memory attached to it.

All of those things are true, but over the years my love of this season has somehow absorbed all of these and still managed to grow beyond them. I love this season, this time of year because it reminds me how amazing humans are. I post every year on Facebook about how cultures around the world (although perhaps not as consistently in the souther hemisphere) celebrate light during the darkest week of the year. Now days the darkness of this time of year is usually brought up regarding electric & heat bills or depression but there was a time when it would have put a huge burden on human existence not to be able to provide in the same ways for their families. I think it speaks to our true nature that over the centuries we have chosen to celebrate light this week. We focus on its beauty and all the gifts & strength the light brings us. In stead of giving up we as a race pull together with our communities & those we love to remind each other to have hope. We feast, give gifts & make merry in direct defiance of darkness in the very week it is most prevalent. We remind each other that we are not alone, and together we are stronger. Together we will overcome & persevere.

I realize I have been speaking to literal light and dark, and in our history celebrations may have been just about that, but for me this season means something more. In a world full of stress, pressure and cultures that reward self preservation it reminds me that have not lost our ability to love selflessly or to give freely of ourselves. This season renews my faith, not just my spiritual faith, but my faith in the people of this world. It reminds me to look for it & live it everyday.  So as you sit down with your family and open gifts remember to love, remember to care, remember to hope. There is so much darkness in the world today remember we are stronger when we stand together and hold onto the light.

Happy Holidays

That's a Hill for Another Day

I had the day off today from random nerdy reasons you may hear about in a future post but I had the pleasure of doing my run in the morning. And for those of you that know my pleasant morning disposition I actually mean pleasure. It was a nice way to start my day, no one to bother, got my adrenaline going for the day, met my step goal by 8:30, and didn't have to worry so much about what I consumed during the day! Another run that went well and nothing to vent about! Other than, you know, the running part. ;) I made good splits, felt strong and to my surprise attacked the hills (I have three on my route) with more energy than I anticipated. The last one nearly killed me (figuratively) and I had to walk a large portion but that is a hill for another day.

Distance: 10k

Time: 76:23

Best Kilometer: 5th, 5:43

Worst Kilometer: 4th, 10:59

Weather: mid 40's, foggy ^_^

# This Wk: 1

Song I Finished To: Let It Go (don't judge me)

Stand Out Though: If I was a stay at home wife I think I would like to do this every morning

That's How You Know You're Doing It Right

I bet you're waiting to hear what went wrong this run, or what I'm going to complain about? Well not this time! Nothing went wrong, nothing hurt more than it should have, all things considered it was a pretty good run. I was a little slower than normal yes, but to be fair everything hurt. Not in an injury sort of way but in the way you hurt the morning after doing a great work out. It was the kind of hurt that reminds me I'm building strength & getting a burn from these runs, not to mention endurance. It's the kind of hurt that reminds you you're doing it right!

Distance: 5k

Time: 36:43

Best Kilometer: 5th, 6:22

Worst Kilometer: 1st/3rd, 7:43

Weather: 32

# This Wk: 2

Song I Finished To: Centuries

Winter Is For Training

I know you have all been missing the summer where I wrote about circus antics. Well here it is, the triumphant return of circus blogging!! I mentioned in a previous post that our gig frequency decreases in the winter so we often use this time for improving skills and finding new ones. I think it's because no one in our troupe is good at having too much down time, but that is why we do what we do.

The weekend just past we had two workshops, one was on juggling and the other was on circus balancing. I was very excited and ended up having a blast!! Juggling is something I've struggled with for a long time. It was nice to have some help and direction other than "just do it over and over". I mean that is obviously part of it but a part I understood when I started learning. I made some small progress with juggling not a lot but more importantly I understand the mechanics better. I will become a juggler!

The circus balancing though, that was my favorite! We did some rolla bolla which if you've read my blog is kinda my thing in our show. Also we got to play with a walking globe, it looks kinda like a big yoga ball but instead of being squishy and bouncy it's hard and rolly. Getting up was a bit challenging partly because I have short legs and the globe was just a few inches below my hips. Once I was up there I was able to find that sweet spot for balance pretty well. Walking though, walking is what I would need to work on most. Really want a new toy! The slack line surprisingly was my least favorite. Don't get my wrong it was really fun and if I had one I'd play on it, but I think I like tight rope walking better. I did well with it for a first time,  I was able to balance on my own for about 5 seconds and walking wasn't too bad. I even spun around it from a lay back position. Gave me a nasty rope burn though.

So now that the workshop is over theres a few things I am planning to work on this winter.

• Rolla Bolla - jumping on it, balancing with the pipe the other way, turning my body the other way, standing in the middle, one foot, start stacking
• Throwing Knives - just starting this really
• Juggling
• Getting back some of the aerial moves I lost with that rib thing
• Press hand stands

If you were wondering the answer is yes. Yes, I am planning to build on all of those things with even more skills!

The First Step Is The Hardest

Those of you reading know that I'm working up to 10k distance. I decided that what I need to do is just start going that distance as often as time & my body allows. Even if I do not run the whole time. Two quick things about me: I'm very competitive, and very prize motivated. This makes it hard for me to set a reasonable pace for myself, I frequently over set my goals. Yesterday I set out to run/walk my new distance with a really reasonable goal though, of walking 1k and then running 2k. It was going really well, then my phone died. It appears I'm bound to have a glitch every run, such is life though right! I think I did pretty well regardless but keep in mind these stats are not entirely accurate (but more than last week!).

Distance: 10.5k

Time: approx 85 min

Best Kilometer: 5th 5:41

Worst Kilometer: 4th 11:06

Weather: 36 -> 34 degrees, snowing, ground was wet turning into slushy & slippery

# This Wk: 1

Song I Finished To: None, music died with my phone :(

Stand Out Though: The quickest way out is through

The One That Shouldn't Have Happened

I kept trying to talk myself out of running today and for once I probably should have listened. Murphys Law definitely applied today! It started with Map My Run going crazy on me. So my distance and splits were not accurately calculated. Also even when I'm tight after I get myself moving muscles tend to loosen up. Nope! I actually got tighter as I ran and everything hurt, everything. I had to shorten my run by (I'm guessing) a kilometer or so just so I didn't pull anything. You know when you make a good choice for all the right reasons but it still feels like failure? That was my run from start to finish today. Sorry for the negative post but the only positive I can glean is: I did it. 

Distance: 4K

Time: 30:57

Best Kilometer: N/A

Worst Kilometer: N/A

Weather: 32 degrees, sunny, patches of snow & ice in the ground 

# This Wk: 2 

Song I Finished To: Shipping Off to Boston

Thoughts: (see above mostly),at least my leggings got broken in, maybe this means Tuesday will be better, can I get aways with blaming this on the full moon in two days? 

Look at my messed up GPS!!! This is NOT the route I took!

Back At It!

It has been two weeks since the Dirty Duel and I finally got back out on the pavement running. I know, I know! I've been a lazy slacker! To be fair it wasn't all laziness I had some legitimate reasons for postponing one of them being: cardio does not fit into my Thanksgiving schedule ;)

Distance: 5k

Time: 37:35

Best Kilometer: 2nd, 6:24

Worst Kilometer: 3rd, 9:29

Weather: 37 degrees, dry, sunny, some black ice >:

# This Wk: 1

Song I Finished To: Stamp On the Ground

Thoughts: This is going to be great I have new leggings, nope still sucks, but my leggings are still really great, this is gonna be a terrible run, it's OK because you were sick on Sunday, why does this actually clear out my respiratory system of all the junk?, I think my legs are too physically too short for running leggings, I get cake later