Each Day Is a Gift

20 Weeks to Boston

Schedule says this is a recovery week, today's run s'posed to be 7 mi w/ 10X100 m strides.  Nah, I think I'll repeat week 20 and take the recovery week on week 16 (Dec 22-27) when the holiday would force a recovery week.  This will give me a gradual 3 weeks build up then 2 weeks stepback over the holidays.

Feeling not as rested this morning, but the weather is perfect for a nice run.  Ran 8 miles same route as last Monday and see how many miles I could maintain at sub-9.  Here goes:

1) 8:54 (0.5 mi of downhill)

2) 8:59 (some down and some uphill, keeping effort even)

3) 9:55 (uphill and elevation gain of 144' in 0.4 mi, steady effort)

4) 8:50 (heading east, rolling terrain)

5) 8:44 (2 seconds shy of tempo pace)

6) 8:54 (getting lazy)

7) 8:39 (hitting tempo pace)

8) 8:23 (tempo pace finished strong)

8 miles in 1:11:22 (last Mon was 1:10:15).  Average pace: 8:55.  HR: 170.  Not quite a tempo run, but a good run with 7 miles at marathon pace.

6 Ez recovery miles in 56:58.  Average pace: 9:29, HR: 154.  Splits:  10:04, 9:33, 9:18, 9:23, 9:18, 9:18

AM/PM Yoga

2 sets 15 rep for biceps and triceps

3 sets 15 rep crunches

1 chinup (barely and very shaky), 0 pullup (can't do it) on the trapeze bar of my backyard playground (haven't got the pull up bar gizmo yet)

I want to do today's 9 mi General Aerobic run a little different.  First off, this run is for Paul who's in the hospital recovering from brain surgery.  I love to run with a purpose.  It gives meanings and hearts to my run.  Secondly, I want to divide this run in two.  The first 2/3 (6 miles) will be run on hills.  I will run south on the 300 W hill then west on the 1200 W hill.  The last 1/3 (3 miles) will be eastward on gentle rolling terrain.  Depending on how my legs and lungs feel after all the hills, I will run this at tempo pace to cruise home.  Here goes:

Ran west for 0.3 mi at warm up pace before reaching the 1.5 mi of downhill which I ran easy not wanting to blow it.  Turn around at mile 2.3 for the 2 mile uphill.  It wasn't all out hard work.  Was able to keep the wheezing at bay.  During this stretch I thought of the struggle Paul, Leslie and her family are facing.  It gave me courage to run strong.

At the top of the hill (mile 4) I turned west to run down another hill, time to practice downhill technique and let her fly.  This is a good 0.5 mi downhill.  Just before the road level out, I heard and saw an ugly pug barking and charging from a side road towards me from the left.  I ran past the road keeping an eye on her.  She kept coming and chasing me.  I turned, while running backward, yelled for her to go home.  She didn't back off.  What to do?  I slapped my hands, pumped my arms while kicking high with each stride.  She finally got tired as the road began to go uphill, still barking and trotting now back on the sidewalk.  It made me so mad that people would let their dogs out loose.  With that I turned and attacked the uphill.  My heart rate was already elevated by that stupid pug.  I saw a group of mothers walking with their strollers, I warned them of the dog.  The next 1.5 mi has an elevation gain of 183'.  My goal was to run this at an even effort trying to keep it under 10:00.

Felt pretty good at the top of the hill (mile 6), so I picked up the pace going east.  The mountains look spectacular today as always.  The weather is perfect, partly sunny, temp at low 40's.  I began to feel that Paul is going to be all right.  A loving Heavenly Father will bless him.  Finished the last 3 miles progressively.  Jogged 0.25 mi for cool down.  Stretched throughly while petting sweet little Serena.

9 miles in 1:23:23 Splits: 9:38, 9:11, 9:29, 9:50, 9:29, 10:00, 8:46, 8:38, 8:19.  AP: 9:18, HR:159, Arthritis: 4 

50 crunches

Around the world core workout 15 reps

Around the clock lunges 15 reps 

Wall sit 3 x 15

Calf raises single 15 reps double 30 reps 

Biceps, triceps 2 sets 15 reps 

Yoga

Asian Chamber of Commerce Christmas dinner party tonight.  Try to drink water instead of juice and eat no more than 1/2 of dessert. 

Brrrr, I think temp. was in the high 20's.  Wore l/s Ogden08 shirt, CW-X insulator tights, running therma fleece, gloves, sunglasses; could have ditched the fleece after a mile.

6 EZ miles eastward, turned around at SR92 (mile 1.6) westward to 900W.  Time: 54:45.  AP: 9:07  HR: 167. Arthritis: 5  Nice easy run.  Splits:  10:06, 9:20. 8:47, 8:48, 8:50, 8:48

AM/PM Yoga

1 chin up (better controlled); 0 pull up (got to about nose level and couldn't go up higher).

The colder morning temp (24), the holiday gluttony, the late nights and the thought of running 15 solo miles didn't make for much motivation for me this morning.  Drag my tired self out of bed.  Had a yogurt and some gatorade.  Wore l/s top, tights, jacket, gloves and sunglasses.

Ran by my lonesome self on the JRP, same route as last Sat going north.  I saw two guys from my ward running on the opposite direction around mile 3.  The first 3 miles came in at 10:07, 9:35, 9:25.  Mile 4 and 5 with the uphill came in at 9:56 and 10:23, a bite slower than last week.  I really missed having someone (Kelli and friends) to push me here.   

Took 1 Gu with 1 flask of water at the mile 5 turnaround.  The downhill felt nice with a slight headwind coming from the south, mile 6 & 7 came in at 9:00 and 9:38.  I got distracted on the middle miles with the beautiful golf course, sunny sky and vista of the mountains.  Mile 8, 9, 10 splits were 9:26, 9:21, 9:33.  Felt a little tired by mile 10 and was glad to reach the car where I ditched my jacket and fuelt belt, drank 10 oz gatorade.  It took less than a minute, but sure felt good.  

Feeling revived I continued south to get 5 more.  I missed KellieS who ran with me on this stretch last Sat.  The splits came in at 9:13 and 9:06.  I turned around at the wetland trailhead and picked up the pace a little for the last 2.5 miles.  Finished the last three miles at 9:03, 8:55 and 8:32.  Right calf felt a little tight.  Jogged around the parking lot over the old bridge for a few minutes to cool down. 

15 miles in 2:21:20.  Average pace: 9:25.  HR: 159.  Arth: 4  Calf: 3

Hubby and I are hosts tonight at the company Christmas party dinner (4th one this week).  It's going to be Italian instead of Market Street Grill.  I hope the dessert is terrible. 

I just can't get into the Christmas spirit until I watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional.  How I love their messages and stories.  I find myself searching at the viola section when the camera pan the orchestra.  Oh, I'm missing my son so much.  He's serving so diligently in Brazil.  He was 15 when he auditioned for the Orchestra at Temple Square.  He was set apart as a music missionary and had such wonderful experience.

I should've gotten out earlier.  I spent the morning "thawing" out my achy body and arthritis and waiting for my missionary's email.  By the time I went at 9:30, the wind was blowing fierce.  I ran the same route as last Mon hoping to do a tempo run.  The north wind just killed my drive especially running uphill.  What to do?  Cut it short?  Gut it out for a poor tempo?  I'm glad I had a beanie to cover my ears.

I read that intervals workout helps improve running economy and adapting better running form.  What an idea, it might just get my mind off this horrible wind.  So after the 3.5 miles of hilly warm up, I began the intervals going east.  It's gentle rolling, with wind coming from the north, in other words, a crosswind.  I ran 1 min. at around 10K pace and recover for 30 seconds, repeat 10 times.  The last set got a little harder, so I took 60 seconds to recover.  Intervals are hard but quite fun.  I discovered how springy my legs felt during the last two miles cruising home. 

8 miles in 1:13:55.  AP: 9:14.  HR: 165.  Arth: 5.   Splits: 9:24, 9:39, 10:33 (uphill w/ headwind), 9:16, 8:15 (10 x 1min. interval w/ 30sec recovery jog at 15K pace) 9:09, 8:58, 8:38.

AM/PM Yoga 

Hey Jeff, I did it.  You're a genius!!!  Here's Meg and I chatting away after Spectrum...FUN!

 Oops, I need to learn how to size it down before posting. 

Schedule calls for 5 recovery miles.  Pfitzinger says to optimize training, one needs to find the correct balance between training and recovery.  The most common mistake marathoners make is training too hard on recovery days.  For optimal recovery run, I need to keep heart rate below 70-75% or run approximately 2 minutes per mile slower than half marathon pace.

Temp. was in the low 20's.  The road has a layer of sparkly snow crust.  Perfect condition to do a recovery run.  I love this kinda winter morning when the mountains are completely covered with snow.  Its peaceful calm was only interrupted by the soft crunches of my slow smooth rythmic strides.

About 2.5 miles into the run I saw a gal turning from a corner and running the same direction ahead.  By her running form I recognized who she was.  I slowly caught up to her.  It was fun to talk about our SGM experiences.  I ended up running her home, for a total of 6.25 miles.  Average pace:  10:27, HR: 148, Arth: 5

Around the world core workout 25 reps

15 bench dips w/ legs elevated

30 bicep and tricep wt. lift

2 chinups, 0 pullups

Plan to run 9 EZ today.  As I was choosing which of the 4 pr of shoes to wear (they all have over 300+ miles and hashed), the phone rang.  Mary wanted to run with me.  She needed motivation.  She wants to run Ogden as her very first marathon.

I forgot to turn on my Garmin until about 1.75 miles into the run when Mary asked how fast we're going.  That's what happen when you start with someone you haven't seen for a long time and has a million things to talk about.  She only wanted to run 6 today.  Well, I'm a terrible coach.  I took her on two hills and ended up making her run about 7.25 miles.  I left her and finished my run with 10.25 miles total. 

Felt good the entire run.  Mary and I solved all the problems with her Stake's YW, and my Stake Primary.  We found our purposes in life.  She learned about tempo run, intervals, rest and cross training, long runs, motivation to run, blah blah blah.  It was all good.  I hope she's not too sore and never want to run with me again.

Garmin shows 8.5 miles in 1:21:16. Average pace 9:30.  Arthritis: 6 (stinks)

Major case of insomnia...meetings, meetings, meetings all morning.  Here's the hurry workout at lunch time:

Around the world core 20 reps

Around the clock lunges 12 reps

Calf raises single and double 20 reps

Wall sit 3 sets 15 sec.

Bicep triceps wt lifts 3 set 15 reps

1 pull up (YAY!), 1 chin up, not from hanging position.  Not sure if it's an improvement.  2 days ago I did 0 pull up but 2 chin ups.

Will do yoga tonight. 

Cape Diem

Forecast says it's going to snow tomorrow.  So I "seized the day" for a long run.  Ate yogurt, Kashi cereal w/ milk.  Wore l/s shirt, Nike sphere jacket, CW-X insulator, gloves, fuel belt.  We often say: "All roads lead to the temple!"  The road/route I ran today from home to temple is exactly 8 miles, east to Highland via SR 92 then south to American Fork for a 16 miles roundtrip.

A light snow dusted me the first 3 miles.  I drank 1 flask gatorade at mile 5.  Lotsa traffic this morning.  Under the shadow of Angel Moroni, I re-feuled w/ Gu and water before heading home.  The return trip always seems harder, heading north with slight elevation gain.  I drank 2nd gatorade at mile 11 and the last one at mile 14.5.  Passing motorists gave the "you're nuts" or "way to go" look.  Today I got two "HiYa" honks.  

I experimented with a running form where the pelvis is tilt slightly up, like tucking in the tail bone.  It seemed to give better leverage for the push off and kick...no more granny shuffles.  I used to tell my children:  "Don't just play notes, make beautiful music."  Now I'm telling myself:  "Don't just run miles, make beautiful strides." 

A bit more fatigue (during the last 5K) and calf tightness on today's 16 miler than last Sat's 15 miler.  Time: 2:33:20  Average Pace: 9:35  HR: 162  Arthritis:  5 pre- 3 post-run.

Splits: 10:19, 9:40, 9:41, 10:05, 9:57, 9:39, 9:12, 9:16, 9:47, 10:06, 9:38, 9:31, 9:00, 9:16, 9:07, 8:59

Afternoon:  clean up the play house, laundry, date night.

Evening:  AM/PM Yoga, aahh...so good to stretch!

Hubby bought me the Irongym bar from Walgreens.  I'll try it out tomorrow. 

Recovery run 4.5 miles in 42:13.    Average pace: 9:22    Felt great.  

Have never done this before, I think I like doing recovery run after long run.   

Talked to my sons today.  They're so excited to come home for Christmas and so happy to hear that we have snow for skiing.  They're jealous that I could still run outside.  Ice storm in Iowa and windy brutal winter in Chicago made it unsafe; so they have to run indoor.  

Tried out the Irongym tonight.  AARRGGHH!!!  Can't do it.  I have wimpy arms, trapeze and pecs!!!  MAJOR STINKS!!!  My husband did 2.  My sons did 10.  Not fair!!!  

Was going to run 9 with 4 at tempo pace.  Temp was in the high teens, windy.  The thought of my sons in the cold midwest made me appreciate Utah's winter.  Pulled on my trusty UnderArmour subzero mock turtleneck, insulator tights, therma fit jacket, headbands and gloves.  

The roads in the subdivision were not plowed so I stayed on the main roads.  Right away I abandoned the tempo run idea.  It was too windy and there were icy stretches.   Had to cut my run short because my fingers started to hurt.  Note to self:  wear mittens instead of gloves in this kinda weather.  It began to snow horizontally for the last two miles.  I think I got about 6 miles at marathon pace.

8.25 miles in 1:14:08.  Average pace:  8:59.  HR: 166.  Arthritis: 6.   Asthma: 3.  Splits: 9:39, 9:14, 8:50, 8:56, 8:43, 8:50, 8:55, 8:45, last 0.25 mi at 8:43.   

 Evening:  AM/PM Yoga 

AM.

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" my hubby was singing at 5:30 am.  I put on my shorts and shirts thinking it's a treadmill day.  Ate breakfast while looking out the window and saw that it's calm with light snow falling.  WooHoo! a winter wonderland, time to play!!! 

Quickly changed into my winter running gear.  So excited to try out my Boston jacket.  I have worn it, just not run in it .  I put on my yuckiest pair of shoes, no need to worry about cushioning, plenty of that today, sunglasses (snow shield for the eyes) and ski mittens (my fingers going to be toasty). 

The whole world is white, quiet and peaceful.  Even my footfalls are muffled.  Running on snow is like running at the beach on wet packed sand, well, a winter version.  It has quite a bit of give.  My joints love it although the pace is significantly slower.  Running on 1"-2" of powder is sheer fun.   

On the last mile home I made a mistake by running thru a semi-developed subdivisioin.  There were patches of black ice and snow drifts that I had to navigate.  I slipped a little but didn't fall.  Chunks of snow started to pack under my shoes making the soles a little icy and uneven.  What a fun run with no damage done, YAY!!!

6 miles in 1:02:29.  Average pace: 10:25.  HR: 165.  Arth: 6.

PM. 

Around the world core 25 reps

Around the clock 15 reps

Wall sit 3 x 15 sec.

Calf raises single and double 20 reps

Bicep and tricep wt lift 3 x 15 reps

0 pull up, 0 chin up on irongym bar, MAJOR STINKS, Teena!!! Help!!!

****** 

A sad note:  a dear dear friend of ours, my sister-in-law's sister-in-law, passed away during the wee hours today.  She battled with cancer for over two years.   She's one year younger than me, our children are the same age.  We will miss her terribly.  Will be heading down to California for the funeral in a few days.

15 degree cold has a way in aggrivating the arthritis.  But a good run always cures everything.  I'm still saving my new shoes for the new year.  So pick the pair with the least tread wear and put on two pairs of socks (my toes are gonna be toasty). 

With the lungs wheezing away, I ran up them hills and felt like a million bucks.  The soreness on the left quad muscle located at 4 o'clock from the knee and on the right calf muscle at 8'oclock behind the knee started to bother me on the hills.  They eased up after 8 miles and completely gone after the run.  See, I know it, a good run does cure everything.

A film of frost has formed on my shoulders.  Except for the north or shady side of my body, it melted after the sun came up.  Felt so great after the run I shoveled the 100m long driveway to cool down. 

10.5 miles in 1:43:39.  AP: 9:52.  HR: 156.  Arth: 6.  Asthma: 4

Recovery run 4.5 miles in 43:45.  AP: 9:40.  Arth: 6.  Same soreness on L quad & R calf (during run, none after workout)

Around the World core 25 reps

Bicep, tricep wt lifts 3 x 20 reps

Dips 2 sets 20 reps, 1 set with legs elevated

AM/PM Yoga 

REST today... if you could call vacuuming, washing five quilts and all the beddings, moving beds, shoveling snow, shopping for more gifts, grocery shopping, mailing, visiting the widows,  more laundry, taking a load to DI,... REST.  Oh, and praying for the safe arrival of my sons & company.  Whew!!!

Eric and Marianne arrived at 1:15 am after a 28 hours train ride.  Jeff has arrived earlier in the evening.  Went to bed around 2 am.  Got up at 6 am.  All seven of us piled into the car and headed to California.  The weather was good.  

Our last gas/potty stop was in a nice valley town after Victorsville.  I saw a sign in the shopping complex that says:  "Fontana".  Hey, that's where Robw8 and Mindy live.   It's funny how I looked for all the places where my "virtual running friends" live.  Drove past VOF State Park sign, Las Vegas where JeffC and Megan live, Apple Valley where Sweetiepie live.

Arrived at my sister's in exactly 12 hours at 6:00 pm.  She already had a nice spread of appetizers waiting for us.  Dinner was a feast.  My sister is a great cook.  Everything she makes is sinfully delicious.     

Rain. Temp at low 40's.  Location:  Ranchos Palos Verdes, Calif.  Ran up Ganada Dr. at elevation 1019' to Crest Rd (mile 0.4) at elevation 1194' (175' gain) down from Crest Rd. to Palos Verdes East (mile 1.5) at elevation 922' (272' loss).  Turned around and ran back up Palos Verdes East (272'  gain), same route to my sister's house.  

Nice easy pace with challenging hills 3.1 miles.  

Left for the viewing at 9:00 am in Costa Mesa.  Funeral was very nice.  Bittersweet family reunion time for all the families gathering far and near.  It rained all day, the clouds parted and the rain stopped just in time for the interment at the cemetery. 

Cold (for Calif standard) in the high 30's and windy, partly cloudy.  Ran the same route but further on Palos Verdes East Dr. to the Miraleste Library.  The local runners were wearing winter running gear while I just had my Boston long sleeve shirt and shorts on.  One gal said as she ran towards me in passing:  "You made me feel very cold."  Lots of walkers with dogs and a few runners on this scenic, rolling, hilly course, very narrow shoulder with single lane traffic.  There's actually a marathon on this peninsula sometime in May.  Someday I will run this marathon.

6.6 miles in 1:05:07.  Average pace: 9:53.  Nice hilly run (total descent = 1282', total ascent = 1255') Splits:  10:39, 9:02, 9:10, 9:08, 10:17, 10:40, last 0.6 mi in 10:23 

Ate way too much the last few days.  Every meal ends with desserts, apple pie, pecan chocolate pie, chocolate cream pie, blueberry tart, Christmas braid, crescent rolls, cookies of all kinds, not to mention the sausage, English scones, french toasts, omelet I had for breakfast.  Did I mention my sister made all these from scratch?  Oh, we eat out too, we had dim sum for lunch.  We went to a very nice Chinese restaurant for a  9 course seafood dinner (West Lake soup, ginger crabs, clams, fresh steamed fish, salt and pepper shrimp, Peking duck, crispy Shanghai chicken, seafood chowmein, garlic eggplant, sweet tapioca soup)

I think I gained 8 pounds. :-)   

So sad to say goodbye to my sister and her husband.  They packed my cooler with fish (salmon, halibut, sea bass, cod, and some I don't know the names) that Joe had caught in Alaska.

All 7 of us piled into my car again for a long drive home.  We took a detour to Riverside where my daughter-in-law met and visited briefly her sister.  We stopped at Vegas, Virgin River hoping to get lunch, but couldn't find a place to park or the buffets were closed due to the holiday.  Hubby refused to stop at any fast food place for dinner because it's Christmas Eve.  We really missed being home for Christmas Eve.  We finally made it to St. George at 6:00 pm and had dinner at Texas Road House.  We were starving and very road weary.

It started to snow at the Virgin River Gorge in AZ and most of the way through southern Utah.  By the time we reached home the snow was coming down hard.  We arrived home around 11:30 pm.  It was over 14 hours.  Quickly unpacked.  Wrapped the presents, Santa didn't forget us.  Went to bed at 3:00 am. 

Merry Christmas

 Slept in till 9:30 am.  Cooked my traditional Christmas feast, turkey, ham, roast beef, mashed potato, fruit salad, stuffing, thanks to Sissy, we have crescent rolls and Christmas bread, corn, carrot, broccoli, rice and German Chocolate birthday cake for David.

Talked to Bryan serving happily in Brazil, Larissa and grandkids before eating at 1:00 pm and opened presents at 3:00 pm.

It was a great a Christmas being with my children, my mother-in-law and Larry's sister and her family from Minnesota.  

I was too pooped to do any exercise.  Just sat and watched my sons wax their skis and hubby packed the car for skiing.

6 miles in 52:19 with 4 miles at tempo pace: 8:20.  Average pace: 8:42

Around the world core 25 reps.

Bicep tricep lifts 3 sets of 20 reps.

AM/PM yoga 

My son and I had planned on running the JRP this morning.  Hubby said:  "Are you nuts? There are over a foot of snow on our lawn.  I'm sure the trail has over 2 ft of snow and not shoveled."  He's probably right.  I screwed some short screws on my shoes while Eric took off.  He's run on worse road condition than this in Iowa. 

The road is icy and snow packed so I was running cautiously.  At about mile 2.5 I saw Eric running towards me, he had already ran 5 miles.  He was going to run 10.  I kept telling him to head home.  "Mom, I want to run with you."  "But I'm too slow for you."  "You're running Marianne's (his wife) speed."  "Well, her pregnant speed."  "No, you're a great runner...besides I never get to run with you."  What a sweet son!  The run was wonderful but the conversation was priceless.  Oh, I wish wish he and I could run Boston together; well not together, but the same year.

Before we knew it we had run home.   Eric did 14 and I ran around the two blocks for another 5 miles to make 12.  I had to cut my run short because we had a baby shower to do for Marianne and my niece.  What a wonderful day.

12 miles in 1:59:27.  AP: 9:55

Hubby wants me to make the dinner that I normally cook for Christmas Eve since we were on the road the whole day on Christmas Eve.  It was a nice Sunday dinner.  The good thing about doing the cooking is that I usually don't eat as much.

Drill sargent hubby woke us up at 6:30 am so we could leave the house at 7:30 am and be first on the ski slope when the lift opens.  Solitude has two new express lifts, the Moonbeam and Apex.  We skied all day.  The boys had so much fun.  It was a great time to be with cousins far and near and ski together during the holidays.  The down side for me is we always go out to eat at a buffet.  Tonight was at the Asian Buffet on 123rd South.  I ate TOO MUCH.

Snow ski for 6 hours.

4 EZ miles in 38:00,  AP: 9:30

It's like "ground hog day", bright and early we were awaken by Mr. Smooth and off we went to Solitude again.  I got to ski with my sister-in-law from Minnesota the whole day.  Dinner was at Chuck-a-Rama at 123rd South.  I used to call that place Upchuck-a-rama.  Again I ATE TOO MUCH!!!

6.5 hours skiing.  My quads feel fine.  It must be all that running.  LuAnn's (my sil) quads were killing her.  The only "injury" I sustained was these lines of very small rash/blister from the seam of my socks on the back of the legs below the calves.  Crazy sensitive skin.  It was a beautiful blue sky ski day.  It was fun meeting all these skiers from all over the world.

6.25 miles in 57:50.  AP: 9:15

Another banner ski day, perfect snow condition under sunny sky.  I did 20 runs in 5.5 hrs., most of them with the best private ski instructor, the sweet Mr. Smooth.

Half of the family went to this Trampoline Jumping Co. in Springville and had a grand time.  Then bowling afterwards.  Then we all checked into this motel by the Cougar stadium.  I had about an hour before the traditional family New Year Eve's party started.  So I ran on the Provo River Trail from the motel to the mouth of the canyon.  The temp was around 28, the sun was just setting.  By the time I turned around to head back it was getting dark.  I was glad to see Eric running towards me with 2.25 miles to go and escorted me back. 

There were about 60 of us, not counting the babies and little children in our family NY eve's party at the hotel conference room.  We had a feast of pizza and a spread of  pot-luck party food. 

After the food fest we always have a program or team games.  This year we were divided into 4 teams and had fun competition games: 1) the Amurakami Idol complete with kareoke song and dance and the three judges, 2) chopsticks relay 3) stories telling with 2 truths and 1 lie, guessing which one is the lie 4) human tetrus 5) swimming relay.  We did the count-down and brought in the New Year at 8pm with "fire cracker" and toast with sparkling juice.  We finished with moments of reflections and share our love and express our gratitude.  We ended the party with a family prayer.

The young adults and youth are heading to some dances.  Some are swimming.  The older adults are visiting. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR to y'all!!!

skiing for 5.5 hrs.

8 miles in 1:18:45