89. Have my brother's family visit

Matt and his family came down this past weekend to visit. It made it easy because it was also Christmas. It was really fun having them come down to visit and to enjoy Christmas with. The little girls all wore the same Christmas outfits and looked great together. There were two exciting parts of their visit that came out of my Christmas gifts this year. The first one was a game that my mom gave me called Ticket to Ride. If you enjoy board games and haven't played this game yet, it is a fun one. My sister-in-law introduced me to this game and I really like it a lot. It is similar to Settlers of Catan, which is also a really fun game.
The second exciting part was that I got a Wii for Christmas. I am not a video game person. My brother and I had plenty growing up, I just didn't put too much time into developing the skill of gaming. I am a good watcher though! The fun thing about the Wii is that anyone can play it. You don't need to know the correct combination of how to press A + B + X + Y, all you need to do is move the controller in a logical direction. I have enjoyed it a lot, I think the part that was most fun playing was when we all played the computer in boxing and cheered each other on. Nothing looks more ridiculous than watching someone else box on Wii. I don't know how anyone can do it well looking graceful.
Overall, I had a good time and look forward to the next time that we all get together.

Why do I even cook?

I came home today to a kitchen that was a complete disaster! The word disaster was what Melissa used. Honestly, I didn't see it as that bad. The reward for that "disaster", a beautiful assortment of Christmas cookies. Melissa said that she had been in the kitchen all day and had been snacking on sweets for a good portion of that time. She asked me what I wanted for dinner and I didn't have much of an answer. Really, I would have just been happy with cookies for a meal, but I know that wouldn't have been an acceptable answer. She found a recipe for a Monte Cristo sandwich that looked absolutely delicious in the magazine. I told her that it looked awesome and she should cook that. Lucky for me, she wanted it too so she was ok with making it. She told me not to get my hopes up about the picture because hers wouldn't look as good. After a quick trip to the store to get a few supplies for the sandwiches Melissa began to put it together. It looked as good as what the picture did, and tasted just as you would expect...delicious! I told her she could put it into the regular rotation of meals. I'm hoping that she does.

I made dinner on Sunday

I made dinner on Sunday. I made the same roast that I did a month or two ago. Melissa said it could count being that it is a full meal. I was hoping that each meal I made would be different. The meal didn't turn out as good as it did the first time. It wasn't bad, it was just different, and the first time it was really good. I think I will try to come up with something else before the month is over. I feel like I cheated a little making something I've already done. I'm marking it off on my list of goals, but I still feel like I need the challenge of coming up with something new.

67: I drank a lot of water last week

One gallon of water, each day, for a week. That is a lot of water.

I did this goal because I knew I should do a flush of my body and to make sure I was plenty hydrated for the race on the weekend. As I wrote last week, it is really important to drink water. I can write nothing on this post that would make it interesting, so because of that, I will write no more.

Tecumseh Trail Marathon.....Done!!!

Yesterday, my brother and I went down to Bloomington, IN and ran a marathon. We woke up, opened up the blinds and saw what was the makings of a blizzard outside. On a normal day I would have looked outside and thought, "Okay, I guess I'm not going to go outside today." We had to run a marathon in that weather, it was tough. We drove to the finish line, parked our car, then boarded a bus for an hour long ride up to the start line. After the ride, that made us feel completely stiff, we got off the bus and felt the 20 mph winds and snowflakes blasting our faces. What a wake-up call! After the race started we began our march to the finish line. The reason for the word march was that we were on a trail most of the way which meant we were in a line with people most of the way. I don't think that I had the complete idea as to what this marathon would be like. First of all, I fell 6 times. None of these were big falls, but they were all times that I found myself needing to put my hands down to make sure I didn't make it all the way to the ground. Because of the snow, it made for icy conditions on the trails the whole way. Our pace was barely over a walk for most of the race. This was because: 1) it was icy and any attempt to run would have surely resulted in a hard fall. 2) There were an incredible amount of hills on the course that took a bunch of energy out of you if you decided to run them. 3) I hadn't run in 2 weeks and both my cardio and my foot were struggling to keep up. The biggest thing that I had going for me was the fact that the doctor said I couldn't do any permanent damage to my foot. That was good to know, it helped to keep me going. Plus, it didn't hurt bad enough anyway that would have taken me off the course at any point. The thing that really kept me going was the fact that I had my brother there to push me along. If he wasn't there, I think I still might be out on the course.
The ride home was tough. I'm sure Matt will comment about how I was almost asleep the whole way home. He is right, I fought sleep for the last hour and a half. He is an amazing driver and I am very happy he was behind the wheel on the way home.
What's next on the race calendar? I don't know yet. I know May 30th I've got a 5K. Before that, we'll see. Matt is trying to get me to do another marathon. I am waiting for my body to recover before I get too far ahead in making a decision about that again. I'll keep everyone (all 5 of you that read this thing) posted.

Updates

First thing is first. Drinking a gallon of water a day is hard! I've done it for a couple days in a row. I find myself liking my breaks more and more throughout the school day. 4 more days!

Next, the doctor I went to see today gave me a good report. She said I probably had some tendonitis in my foot. I was then told, welcome to the world of running. This aparently is a fairly common occurrence that I didn't know about. Upon some examining, she determined that there was no long-term risk for me running the race this weekend. She did say there might be some discomfort afterward, or possibly during, but that I wouldn't be doing any damage to my body. I felt that her assessment of my foot was fair and I trust her. Aparently this is something I might have to get used to.

Matt, I can say with a big smile on my face, "This is going to be quite the memorable experience!"

The benefits of drinking water

Goal number 67 is for me to drink a gallon of water each day for a week. That is a lot of water, but my body needs it, and so does yours. I typed in the phrase "benefits of drinking water" into a google search and came up with a ton of reasons for why I should make sure I get enough water and I couldn't argue with any of them. The big thing I am thinking about this week is the fact that the marathon is coming up at the end of the week and I need to make sure that my body is fully hydrated. That is the reason I listed the goal in the first place. After doing some research, here are some reasons to drink plenty of water:

• limits cramping while doing physical activities
• improves your energy
• Increase Your Mental and Physical Performance
• Remove Toxins & Waste Products from your body
• Keep Skin Healthy and Glowing
• Help You Lose Weight (or maintain weight)
• Reduce Headaches and Dizziness
• Allow for proper Digestion (you can eat all the fiber you want, but without proper hydration, it doesn't have the same impact.)

The rule of thumb they said is to drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water. With this in mind, the typical thought of 8 glasses of 8 ounces of water doesn't work unless you are 128 lbs. For those of us that are bigger than that, we need to drink more. For those that are exercising and active, it goes up much more. The lesson here is, drink your water. Early and often.