Puppies and Plumbing Oh My!

We have had a crazy few days in the Meyer household! Christmas was wonderful. We spent Christmas day with my family in South Bend and then returned to Indianapolis to visit with Jarrett's family on the 27th. On our way home we picked up the newest addition to our family - Madeline ("Maddie"). She is a 9-month old shetland sheepdog we adopted from the Greater Lafayette Sheltie Rescue. Maddie is absolutely precious. She is very shy and is very much in need of some structure in her life but we could not have asked for a more well behaved puppy. She still needs to learn the basic commands like sit, stay, etc, but she does know her name and to come when called. Amelia loves her. They are inseperable.

On top of a new puppy and crazy holiday fun, Jarrett and I decided that we would remodel our guest bathroom while we had some time off work. Thankfully my dad came down for the day and got us started in the right direction. It was our first tiling job and I must say it came out really well! This bathroom looks like it is going to be the nicest room in the house. I think it has given Jarrett more confidence in tackling a few more home improvement projects. We are planning to put all new floors in our house in the next year and with the exception of a small carpeted area we plan to keep, we are doing everything ourselves. So if anyone needs some tile work done, let me know! The only thing we decided not to do on our own was move some of the plumbing. I think it'll be the best $140 I've spent to not deal with sweating pipes and cutting copper. Yes, I'm sure I COULD do it if I wanted, but this is one I think we'll hire out.

5K's of Christmas

I had a wonderful run this morning. Jarrett, Cyndi, and I made it downtown and ran the 2nd Annual 5K's of Christmas. I finished in 29:30. This becomes a new 5K PR. The race was fun and we had the added bonus of getting to watch the RCA Dome implode. Although it sounds like it should have been awe inspiring, it really was a bit of a let down.

In other news - We are trying to adopt another sheltie. If we are approved, it looks like we may be able to bring her home just after Christmas :)

Now - Time to finish Christmas shopping!

Goals for 2009

I'm going to break this down into a few categories:

Short Term Goals:
1. Gym - 2 days a week - No excuses
2. Pool - 2 days a week - No excuses
3. Run - 5K's of Christmas this weekend and the 6-miler January 1st. I need a good run.
4. Frosty - 2 days a week, 3 if the weather holds out
5. Find shoes that don't give me wicked blisters. Seriously. I think my feet hate me.

Long Term Goals:
1. Toronto Marathon - October 18, 2009 - I'm one step closer. I have my passport photos and application ready to mail :)
2. Complete 2 half-marathons
3. Swim with confidence at my first triathlon
4. Complete a minimum of one race per month.

Here is my tentative race schedule for 2009:

1. Resolution Revolution - 6 miles - January 1
2. Mini Training Run - 5K - February 7
3. Mini Training Run - 10K - March 7
4. Circle of Life - IU Mini Marathon - 13.1 miles - April 4
5. 500 Mini Marathon - 13.1 miles - May 2
6. Out Run the Sun - June 5
7. Indy Sprint Tri Series - June 20
8. Morse Park Summer Triathlon - June 27
9. Indy Sprint Tri Series - July 18
10. Indianan Downs Triathlon - August 2
11. Tri Indy - August 16
12. Indy Sprint Tri Series - August 22
13. Go Girl Triathlon - September 5
14. TORONTO MARATHON - October 18
15. Drumstick Dash - November 26
16. Jingle Bell Run or 5K's of Christmas - December ??

Yes - This is a very rigorous schedule. I need this. I need to push myself to meet these goals. If I don't have something to train for, I stop training. I need the "next thing" to look forward to. I need to push myself to meeting my next goal. My goals with these events are simple. Finish in a time that I feel good about. I don't like to set speed goals. I feel like I set myself up to fail. Instead, my goal is to go to every race and cross the finish line saying, "I raced the best race I could today."

This schedule is also going to push me to my other goal this year. Leave work at work. Training time is my time. Sorry, I don't take cell phone calls at the gym, in the pool, or at the barn. Period.

525, 600 Minutes

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

These are the lyrics to one of my favorite songs, Seasons of Love, from the Broadway musical Rent. Today marked the one year anniversary of letting our beloved Shetland sheepdog Belle go to the Rainbow Bridge. It has been a long hard year. I know she is in a much better place now without pain and with all of the other animals we have loved and lost.

The picture is of Belle in her wagon. She suffered from terrible arthritis that kept her from being able to go on walks. My parents bought her a wagon so she could go for rides instead. She loved it so much.

I read a book this summer called Merle's Door: Lessons from a Freethinking Dog by Ted Kerasote. I highly recommend it to anyone who has lost a dearly loved animal or who just loves dogs. It is the beautiful celebration of Ted's dog Merle's life and death.

Measure your life in love

Snow!

So it is officially winter in Indiana. We had our first real snow yesterday. The roads were awful in the morning but got better as the day wore on.

Yesterday Jarrett turned 30. This historic milestone was marked by a nice day spent cruising the mall for deals and a wonderful dinner of sushi at our favorite sushi place, Tegry Bistro. We aren't really the birthday partying type of folks and since we don't get to spend enough time together a day with just the two of us was really nice. I got him a new iPod Nano to replace the one that was stolen out of his car last year. The fur kids got him movies. They love to snuggle and watch movies so it was appropriate they picked out a few favorite films for him, including Cars, Elf, and Nightmare Before Christmas. Now that I used all of my good ideas on his birthday presents I will have to think extra hard of a cool Christmas gift.

I have been super lazy since Thanksgiving. I haven't been to the gym or swam in ages. That will change this week. I'm traveling tomorrow so I plan to hit the hotel gym after I get in to PA. I will swim on Wednesday. I swear I'll do it. Seriously. I will. Swimming has been a total drag since it started to get cold. I just need to suck it up and go. Running is going to have to take place at the gym for pretty much the remainder of the winter. I managed to get pretty sick after running the Drumstick Dash on Thanksgiving in 20 degree weather. My lungs do not deal well with frigid air. Biking will also have to take place in the gym. I don't have a good place to set up a trainer in our house.

I wish everyone well this week :)