retirement...

from marathoning.

yes. you read that right.

2010 will likely be a year i won't talk one time about running 26.2 miles.

i am sick of running.

yes. you read that right again.

while it's done phenomenal things for me mentally and physically, it's also become something that is *work* lately and not nearly as fun as it used to be. i'm just plain tired of spending every free moment running. while new york will be phenomenal (and completely overwhelming in every sense of the word), i look forward to november 2nd (mark's 42nd birthday coincidentally) as my official retirement date.

i'll keep running over the course of the winter. (i can't really fathom putting all of this work into this year to lose it all by totally giving it up.) so i'll only run 3 or 5 miles every few days. none of this devoting 6 hours every saturday morning to running 18 or 20 or 22 miles. (yawn). my friend ally is going through the same strife...so i'm glad i'm not alone in feeling like i do. there is such a thing as 'burnout' and i don't just mean those high school kids who used to hang out on the corner smoking...

that said, there *are* plans already in the works for 2010 in relation to travel and running. but it's much less running than *training* for a marathon...

i plan to run here.

pretty right?

those are the wasatch range mountains in utah.

there happens to be a ragnar relay there.

that we've already got a team put together for :) jd meet altitude.

i've never run in the mountains. actually mountains and i haven't ever really bonded, much to my chagrin. we just don't have too many mountains close to MN that i hang out at regularly. the mother lake is awesome, but she doesn't come with big range mountains...so next june (coincidentally over grandma's marathon weekend) we'll be heading to utah for 4 or 5 days of fun, running and adventures!

not else much to report. mark's in texas as i write this. he's singing for just a few days, and we found just one day in mid october that we can actually take a day trip to either leaf peep or hike or bike or something just the two of us. which, again, running takes me away from. the husband. not good. but the same goes for his singing. we really don't have the traditional life of seeing each other every evening or on weekends. we see each other, literally, at bedtime and *maybe* one or two evenings a week. if that. i hope by retiring, this will help us see each other more...

we leave for nyc on oct 30th. we fly back nov 2nd. we leave for winnipeg for mark's big 'rock star' solo of a concert on nov 6th. come back the 9th. that's going to be quite a week!

Cora is still hanging in there, and still doing pretty damn well for getting diagnosed with what usually takes greyhounds down within a few months back in June. Quinn is Quinn. lovable. goofy. afraid of all hard surface floors including our own. felines are just as snuggly as ever (as long as they aren't in the same vicinity. ellie still give lucy grief at every turn...)

happy autumn to all (since it's almost equinox day) and be well...~jd