Happy New Year!

Well, Happy January 1, everyone! I hope your first day of this fresh new year was all you hoped it to be. Isn't it funny how special Jan. 1 is? A blank slate, a fresh page... I love it. I also love "Back to School" which is many ways feels more like a new year (aha! and it is for me!) but without the satisfying change in numerals. I spent some time planning my running for the year, or at least the next few weeks. I'm not going to spend the $$ to join the Bolder Boulder Training Group as I had planned, but I did devise a running schedule based on chats with Sarah (who is a member). I'll run Tempo Runs on Tue/Thu. I have a 4 week program to get me up to a 20 minute tempo run, with a 10-15 minute warm up and cool down. This is supposed to help you increase your speed in racing. Because, you know, I've got those races to win. Ha. Mon/Wed/Fri I'll either hike or run easy. Saturday or Sunday will be the long run. While Ted is at Trek, there is a nice 10K route at Eldora I may try out. Otherwise, I have plenty of choices for Sunday runs. I have a singing gig with the Greeks this Sunday, but it's not a weekly commitment, so Sundays are good days if Saturdays don't work out. I signed up for the Frozen Foot 5K on Feb. 8 for my next race. They actually changed my Colder Boulder time on the website to 29:55 (I KNEW I was under 30:00!!!!) so my goal for this next 5K is sub 29:30. Gotta get far enough below 30:00 to make it a habit, not a nail-biting hold-your-breath wish. And this race, I promise I'll set my own watch! 

At today's New Year's Party, I brought the crockpot brie dip. It was devoured. I love my crockpot. I love the crockpot lady. Do you have a crockpot? Do you have any fun recipes to share? Check Stephanie's blog for SURE, because it's just chock-full of recipes. I think I'll be eating a LOT more vegetables this year, thanks to all the scrumptious crockpot dips (not that they are all that healthy! The fantastic garlic dip (that I pretty much inhaled all on my own, thank you very much) had an entire block of cream cheese in it. Heh.)