Simple Pleasures....

Isn't it amazing how the some of the simplest things can make you excited? Last week it was finally cold enough to pull out the sweaters. Well, I don't know if anyone else is like me, but after being put away for a whole year I tend to forget just what I have hiding in those Rubbermaid bins. So I was excited at the thought of wearing a few of my sweaters, but then when I started pulling them out I just kept pulling more and more out and thinking "OH YAY! I FORGOT ABOUT THIS ONE!" I was almost giddy thinking of my "new" wardrobe. Especially since no one down here has seen any of them, they truly are like new (well except for some that I should have gotten rid of long ago, but couldn't manage to part with). Ahhh.... the joys of sweaters.

It's a Cousins Christmas!

Highlights from the Annual Cousins White Elephant Christmas Party! (I must apologize for all the red eyes... I tried to remove them but Photoshop wouldn't get them all - it pretty much just gave everyone black eyes - like you'd been punched, or worse a whole black face... so I figured red eyes were better!)

I must be crazy...

I can't believe I'm actually letting myself post this picture, but if it wasn't so dang funny I wouldn! I know this should go with the previous post, but the picture wasn't avaible when I did it.... This is another "Adam MADE me do it picture"

Could I look any whiter? Um yeah, so just so you know I wasn't racing a Giant duck, this was a green screen and they superimposed the background....at least I was winning..... UGH.

RACES!!!

I've done a couple of races (well can you call them races when you have no hope of winning, or for that matter just want to not be last?) over the last couple of weeks so here are the highlights:

First I did the Turkey Trot on Thanksgiving. Nice little 10k, it had rained for a couple of days prior to the race and cleared up just about an hour before the start. It was nice and cool and mostly shady for the whole (hence I forgot my sunglasses.. argh). Here are some pictures:

Adam MADE me take a picture with the turkey. And as in made I mean he drug me down the street to chase him down and stole him away from some kids that the turkey was giving candy too. He made me put my tshirt on and everything (I should have known this would only be the beginning). He caught me at about the 6 mile mark to take this one:

And here's the finish - please do not look at the finish time... I am so beyond out of shape - luckily that's the gun time so my time was a little bit faster, but still it was a good 7 minutes slower than my PR.

And here are my socks I wore to celebrate the day! The turkey trot I ran in Boise the last couple of years gave socks out instead of shirts (the race was a lot cheaper)... Aren't they SWEET!

And today I did the Iron Girl Tempe. It was a ten miler and the weather was pretty much perfect... well it was a little chilly at the start:

Adam and his parents were there to cheer me on the whole way. The course made two laps and there was a bridge in the middle so they walked back and forth to take pictures and cheer for me:

Obviously no one has ever said running was a glamorous sport. I can't believe I am even posting this picture.

And keeping in line with what I can see will be tradition, Adam made me take a picture with the Duck. What the heck? Why does every race have a fowl for a mascot?

Thanks love for being so supportive of my races and carrying my stuff around for me! Your the best

OH I almost forgot! What was my prize for finishing the race, yes I did get a medal but this is what drove me on for the last mile:

So this really wasn't a prize, but I had been holding onto some gift cards for claim jumper for weeks for this occasion. The biggest pice of chocolate cake you've ever seen! Sweet rewards, priceless.
(By the way, this was pretty good, but I still think Costco Chocolate layered cake wins for best cake ever!)

Who would have thought?

So this morning i head out on my last long long run before the race in two weeks and since I haven't had to go 8 1/2 miles around here before I knew I would be running in some new territory. I wasn't expecting to see anything too exciting, its always fun to see how people landscape around here, but other than that nothing is very out of the ordinary. Well this morning was a little different.

I live in Phoenix right? And the population here is what like over 1.5 million people? And I'm running down a pretty major 5 line road when all of a sudden on my right there's a house with probably a dozen or so peacocks. I was like SWEET! I love peacocks! I was hoping that one would get mad at seeing me and flare its wings, but no luck. The next house has some cows and horses and I'm thinking this is really really weird. ( I know there are animal properties in the area, but it was so odd to see so many of them all right together and on the major roads) Then the next house has chickens running around like crazy. What the heck? I am in Phoenix, not in the country! As I travel along for another 1/2 mile or so the smell of farm animals just grows stronger and stronger. Then I decide I need to make my turn at the next corner and the farm animal stuff keeps continuing. Mostly cows and horses. And then I come up on a big plot of land with at least one hundred Pygmy goats and a handful of mini horses. At this point I'm just about laughing out loud. I can't help to think I wouldn't even see this many animals if I was running through the outskirts of Ontario Oregon where I grew up. The animal properties continue for another 1/2 mile or so, and then they just all of a sudden stop and I'm back into just plain houses. Well at least it broke up the monotony of running for 20 minutes or so!