Merry Christmas Eve!

I started my day with a run. I had planned on today being my long run day since usually Saturdays are, but once I got going my legs were not cooperating. I almost told my hubby that I wanted to turn back to the house. Thankfully he let me lead the run which helps mentally for me for some strange reason. I had hoped that my body would get in it's groove before we hit the one mile mark and it did, mostly.

At one mile I wasn't really sure which direction to go. I really wanted 7 miles for the day but told him that I'd be ok with 5 like he suggested earlier in the week. "If we get 5 miles in that's pretty good considering it's Christmas Eve." Ugh, sounded like an excuse to me and I hate excuses when running. I did say, fine though we can just go as far as we can and consider it a good run day. Excuse? Maybe but like I told him, "Running is better than not running no matter how many miles we go."

I chose the hilliest side of our route. There was one hill near my kids' school that I wanted to tackle because I had never ran that road before and every time I drive it I think it'd be great to run. The hubby had ran it and told me it was pretty tough. He actually told me that entire side of the route was pretty difficult but I was willing to give it a try. Our pace was moderate and it was pretty tough but I managed to get that hill before it got me. I felt pretty victorious.

The next mile plus was basically down hill and flat. At one point I looked at my Garmin to see that I was running an 8:30 pace. When I hit mile 4 at well under a 9 min mile I was stoked. I fist pumped the air and smiled! Then I went back to tell my hubby all about it. haha And we ran then next little bit until he reached the 4 mile mark. At that point our route took us uphill again and we decided to just walk back home. However, I wasn't satisfied with only a 4 on my Garmin so I decided to just run the rest of the way. I didnt' make 5 miles for the day but because of my sub 9 on mile 4 I didn't care. I ran hard. It felt good after the week I had.

The rest of the day was normal. We did our little Christmas just the 4 of us, had homemade pizza, watched a movie and sprinkled reindeer fod on the lawn. The kids and I even posed in our new Christmas pj's so the hubby could get some pics. Below is a comparison of me last Christmas Eve and tonight. I like looking back as it reminds me of how far I have come. And if I do say so myself, I'm amazed.

[caption id="attachment_897" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Mama and the kiddos 2010"][/caption]
[caption id="attachment_898" align="aligncenter" width="225" caption="Me 2011"][/caption]

It still blows my mind the difference a year makes.

Merry Chistmas, friends!!! Thanks for following my journey and the continued support. It means more to me than you'll ever know.