Merry Christmas!!! Our Christmas morning started at 6:45 a.m. I was very pleased that my 6 yo didn't wake us up earlier. He said he did wake up at 5:20 a.m. and took a sneak peek at the loot but decided to obey my request to not wake everyone else up until after 6:30 a.m. He must have still been tired because he fell back asleep and our 2 yo was the one waking everyone up at 6:45 a.m. The best part of the morning was when, after slowly taking turns opening their presents one at a time the final present under the tree was unwrapped and Aaron and I called the kids attention to the fact that their was wrapping paper covering the back door to the yard. When our two oldest ripped off the wrapping paper and revealed the new trampoline, squeals of excitement echoed through the house! It was AWESOME!!! It is definitely the favorite gift and my oldest two are jumping on it right now in the 50 degree sunshine. Another GORGEOUS December day! For my workout I left around 10 a.m. for a 30 minute warm up. My RRB friend, Jeff met me out on Marshall road where I would do my intervals. He was on the bike riding next to me timing my intervals and giving me updates and pointers. Thanks Jeff, you were VERY helpful!! I planned to do a U-turn in each interval to practice keeping pace despite a sharp turn-around since the course for the Houston half has six U-turns scattered throughout. Supposedly the course we are running for the Houston half is two laps of the Olympic Trials marathon course. I wish it didn't have so many U-turns. That'll be 12 U-turns for the marathon, not to mention many other curves and turns...annoying. I understand its very spectator friendly and all, but man...couldn't they simplify that at least a little? Anyway, back to the workout.... 5X6 minutes at half marathon pace with 2 minutes jog between each. Pace was 5:37, 5:34, 5:29, 5:34, 5:29. I felt really solid on these intervals despite getting poor sleep a few different nights this week and completing my week at 70 miles. Yay for a big, solid week of training! What a blessing!! Today was the cherry on top as I enjoyed the beauty of the moment...sun shining down on me as I pushed through a tough workout in my shorts and a t-shirt (in DECEMBER!!) Five weeks to Houston. I hope all you bloggers are having a wonderful Christmas!!! | 