2008 Restrospective

2008 was a potpourri of bumps, glides, hiccups, and yodels.

From a running perspective, there were certainly more hiccups than yodels. It looks like total miles logged will be about 2376 - a far cry from last year's 4,233. There were many days off, many less-than-planned weekly totals, few extra long runs - all for a variety of reasons ranging from falling on my tailbone to caring for a sick mom. But I was still able to get out, feel crisp cool air against my face, lope along the beach, scramble over rocks, dodge cow pies... What's a mileage total when you've got that kind of freedom at your toetips?

And in the grand scheme of things, it was a mighty fine year. My mom recovered from her sickness, my husband still makes me smile, my sons still like to come home to visit, and my dog still wags his tail whenever he sees me.

This is what makes the year shine!

Jester, Paul & Devon, December 2008

Holiday delights

This Christmas, our greatest delight has been having both of our sons home:
Paul just back from a trip to China where he taught English at Anhui Normal University and Devon who was able to squeeze together a few days off work and a train trip from Illinois to Colorado. It's Devon's first visit back to Boulder since last Christmas. Our house definitely feels more like home when the brothers are prancing about!



Our Boulder Colorado weather has been just wintry enough to make it feel like Christmas...especially when Mister Kendall is willing to don his boots and ho! ho! ho! his way out through the snowbanks to the morning newspaper in his nightshirt. Neighbors beware!






And, as an added delight, the January/February issue of "Marathon & Beyond" arrived in my mailbox Christmas eve sporting the first of my four-part series about my run to Michigan. Happy holidays indeed!

Baking Bonanza

Wintry weather blasted into Boulder this weekend. Perfect weather and perfect timing for turning on the oven, turning up the carols, breaking out the Baileys, and invoking my mother's cookie baking gene.

Many dozens of ginger cookies, magic cookie bars, pecan angel slices, date nut pinwheels, maple pecan butter cookies, buckeyes, chocolate & peppermint-studded dream cookies and Seydel date bars later and our Christmas cookie supply is shaping up nicely. Bunches will go in the mail tomorrow and bunches more will be awaiting the arrival of our boys...home from China and Galesburg. Holiday excitement mounts!

Ankle biting road junk

Some junk you find along the road can be fun - like all the junk I found along the road during a couple of days in Nebraska that I turned into this mobile for AndyE:
However, today I had a first-hand (first-foot?) encounter with road junk that I wouldn't quite refer to as "fun" - (fun sure wasn't the first word that flew out of my mouth at the time of the encounter). I was running along, saw that the light at the intersection ahead was about to turn green so I picked up the pace and began to fly! Unfortunately, I wasn't flying because of my supersonic speed...no... I was flying because, apparently, my left foot had just stepped on a wire hoop, causing it to raise up, where it caught my right foot in mid-stride. So "fly" was immediately followed by "crash" then "slide." Ouch! My knees and elbows now sport some lovely scrapes and egg-sized bumps - but, worst of all, the spanky smart wool gloves that I won at a race got a hole ripped in the palm. Rats!

Beware the road-side traps!