And then three weeks went by…

Well haven’t I been a delinquent blogger! I haven’t posted anything since I broke my November daily blogging streak. So there’s lots to catch up on!

Final days of #beaststreak

It was really anti-climactic doing the last three runs of a month-long run streak on a hotel treadmill all alone. I had so many great and rewarding runs during the month of November, but those were just strictly get’er done runs. Luckily Pippa made me a banner.

Vegas

My trip to Las Vegas was a huge amount of fun, and a very excellent way to cap off a crazy and amazing November. There was shopping, eating, drinking, lots of catching up. We stayed at the Stratosphere, which was okay, but waaaay down the end of the strip and really far away from everything else. We took a lot of cabs.

In keeping of the “what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas” tradition, no photos of our adventures, just this one of the strip late in the afternoon. (The Christmas decorations all started to come out after Thanksgiving on Thursday!)

Exploring Las Vegas

Running

After nailing all of my planned training runs in November and throwing in a whole bunch of extra runs, I have definitely been slacking a bit in December. I skipped my long run on December 1st (largely due to the fact that I traveled home from Vegas that day), but have done my other two long runs this month. I’ve made my hills sessions happen (even did last week’s on the treadmill!), but I’ve certainly missed/skipped a few of the others. I’m trying to get back on track this week so that I have some momentum going into Christmas.

24 Days of Christmas Karma

I’ve been trying to work these activities into my December. So far the items I’ve completed are:

4.  Go for a run without a watch, cellphone, music, no technology whatsoever! – I went technology-free on my hill run on December 4th.
7. Do a double run day – one in the am, one in the pm. – Last week I missed my opportunity to run on Tuesday, so I did Tuesday’s run and Wednesday’s hill workout on the same day! One before work, one after.
11. Donate something. – A book for our Christmas hamper.
14. Write a letter, postcard, and send it real mail, to whomever you choose. – I wrote all of my Christmas cards over the weekend and popped them in the mail Monday!
15. Read 1 book in December – Allegiant, Veronica Roth
18. Volunteer – Spark meetings x3! Part of me feels like it’s cheating to count Sparks because it’s not something I went out of my way to do this month, but just because I do it all the time doesn’t mean that it’s not special.
19. The age old pay it forward – Paid for a nice-looking young man’s coffee last Sunday on my way home from my run.
20. Reconnect with someone you’ve been meaning to – Check.

So that’s only 8/24, but I’m pretty pleased with my progress so far. I know there are some items on the list that won’t get completed before Christmas, but I’m not necessarily going for 100% completion. Every item I check off this list will make my December better!

Christmas shopping!

This gets its own category, because I’m actually doing pretty well this year. I’d say I’m 90% done shopping, and 85% done wrapping!

The beginnings of my gift wrapping!

I’m counting down the days of work remaining!

Starting My Christmas List Early

Okay, it’s not really my Christmas list, but I have some pretty big ticket items that I’m lusting after right now. Sadly it’s another four and a half months until my birthday and almost six months until Christmas, so I’m either going to have to buck up and spend some money or do my best Jack Johnson impression (sitting, waiting, wishing) until then.

Here is my current list of highly desired items (some running-related, others not).

1. Kobo Touch eReader ($99)
   

   I kept thinking I didn’t really want an e-reader, since I love to collect books, but I’m beginning to see how useful it would be. Books are starting to take over my tiny bedroom. And many of them are books I might not ever read again. I love to take books when I travel, but hate the weight and space they take up! I won’t ever stop buying real books, but if I have an e-reader I’ll only buy the books I truly want to keep on my shelves!

2. Garmin Forerunner 410 ($199 at costco.ca)
   

   I’m getting tired of both Nike+ on the iPod Nano (not accurate enough) and various apps on my iPhone (don’t always feel like carrying it). Being able to record, look at and keep data from my runs is something I’ve discovered I’m really into, so I think I’m ready for a more robust system. I’ve read some reviews for a few members of the Forerunner series, but I think the 410 sounds like a good match for me. (I definitely don’t need anything that’s swim-friendly. 

3. MEC Tarn 3 tent ($249)
   
   I’ve been thinking about buying myself for a while now, and decided on this tent last summer. I decided I would wait to buy it until I needed it, but haven’t been camping since. I’m still drooling after this puppy (good sign!) and now I’m wondering if I should just buy it to try to entice myself to go camping… (Probably not a smart plan, financially.)

What’s on your wishlist right now?

Do you own any of these? What do you think?

These Are Five Of My Favourite Things

Life Lately in Bits and Pieces

In no particular order, here’s a snapshot of my life recently.

• I’m poised to win the hockey pool at work in what will go down in history as the playoffs where everything went exactly according to nobody’s predictions. I stand to win $150 and will probably never shut up about it. (I really don’t care who wins, as long as Kovalchuk comes out with more points than Parise.)
• I went to Portland to see a Vancouver Whitecaps game with a group of awesomely insane/insanely awesome people who call themselves the Vancouver Southsiders. I promised a blog post, but I think I’ve broken that promise. So here are some pictures:

They have many kinds of packaged cheeses in the US of A.

D and I in our blue and white.

This is just before the thunderstorm at half time. The sky opened and it poured for about 10 minutes. We didn’t care.

• I have not one but two lumps on my head after my soccer tournament last weekend. The first was a head on head collision so hard I fell over. Goose egg to forehead. Then the next day I was chasing a ball that went over the fence and the gate swung back and hit me in the head just as I went through it. Goose egg to temple. It’s all good though, they match my collection of bruises on my knees and shins.
• I have a dragon boat practice tomorrow and I’m really excited.
• I’m playing dodgeball with coworkers as part of Corporate Champions this weekend. I really hope I’m better at dodgeball than I was in middle school.
• My favourite worldly possession right now has to be my pair of Lululemon running tights (officially “Run: A Marathon Crop“). I know as well as the next person that I could buy a pair of totally adequate running tights for half the price of these, but OH. MY. GOD. These are the most comfortable things I have ever put my legs in. They seem to fit me perfectly and they have an insane number of cool features. Say what you will about Lulu and the cost of their clothing, but they really nail the details.
  

  They have little rubbery grippy bits (technical term for them, I swear) on the hips to hold your shirt in place. How are they the first people to think of that, it’s amazing! They have huge (and yet totally inconspicuous) pockets on the sides that hold my beast of an iPhone (in its Otterbox) comfortably for 20 km. The backs of the knees are mesh. There is elastic grip at the knee to keep the hem in place. The waistband is super comfortable. There is a zippered pocket in the back. There are four gel pockets around the waistband. The colour is awesome (I have the one pictured). And damn do they make my legs look good. (Those are not my legs pictured above; I think mine actually look better.)

  I’ve worn them running probably ten times since I bought them and have yet to discover something I don’t like about them. Well worth the $88 in my mind.

• I may have included all those other things in this post so that I wouldn’t have to feel weird about writing a whole blog post about pants.