Resting Through The Holidays

I was looking forward to running right through Christmas and New Years since I'd be staying at a Walt Disney World resort, but unfortunately life didn't agree with me.  

Earlier this week I twisted my ankle.  Appearance-wise, the only issue is that I have a pretty bad scrape on my knee (my dad likened it to road rash that bikers get when they fall).  Physically, my ankle has been sore for the past few days.  It's been getting better everyday though.  I found that walking on it actually made it feel better for a while.  I didn't let it stop me from living life (heck I still wore boots with a pretty good heel on them), but it did stop me from running for the week.

Luckily, I was walking... A LOT.  That got me a boost for the Holiday Booty Buster Challenge.  In fact, with all the walking I was doing I actually had one of my best weeks when it comes to the amount of points I earned.  Today, I got down to the gym at the hotel and got on the bike for a while.  Ended up making my knee a bit sore (probably cause by the scrape and hitting it on my fall), but overall it felt good to sweat again.  I also got some weights in there so I'm almost back to my normal routine.

My Christmas present to myself will be a day another day off of running followed by maybe a 1 or 2 miler.  Something short just to start working on strengthening my ankle again.

Cross Training and Looking Ahead

I've gotten back into cross training recently, partially thanks to my roommates who have been hitting the gym at different times than me.  They've inspired me to go a second time during the day and I'll just use whatever machine is open so the cross training is coming pretty easy right now.  I've gotten on the stationary bikes, done some uphill walking (I even kept the pace pretty fast), and I've been working on my pull ups and dips.

All this working out has made me feel great about myself.  I love being sore and I've been really, really sore the last few days.  I just feel good.  I don't know if it's the endorphins that have been released with all the working out or if it's just me finally feeling good about myself again, but I'm really not going to question it, I'm just going to enjoy it.

Looking ahead, I've decided to look for some 5 and 10k's to do.  I think it would be a great way to get out and explore the city a bit more, support different charities, and a great workout push.  The first one I'm looking at is the Jingle Bell Run 5k in December.  I've worked 5k's before (I attended the Salmon Run in Ventura CA for the marine mammal rescue I worked for in college), but I've never been able to actually run at one.

It's funny, I jumped straight into half marathons, I never built up to it from the 5k to 10k to half marathon. So yes, I might be doing things backwards, but I've never been one to do things the normal way anyway...

I'm still looking for more races, I'm thinking I might want to try finding one race a month.  It would be a good escape from life and would keep my training focused.  Now I just have to find the races and possibly some people to join me...