There's no place like home

I have not written in several days mainly because I have wanted to have a breathe of inspiration to write about or even something informative for that matter. My training has been doing well lately and I have steadily increased my mileage over the last 2 weeks and am feeling good. My ankle has been responding very well and is getting stronger with each day and hasn't been as tight in the cold as it had been.

Last Friday evening the family and I ventured up to Northeast Kansas to visit my family and celebrate my niece's 6th birthday and a belated Christmas since sickness and winter weather prevented us from making the annual trek north during the week of Christmas. I love my family with all my heart and enjoy when I have an opportunity to go home for a few days; even though it isn't the home I was raised in. Another thing that I enjoy when I go to visit my parents is the food that they prepare. I can always count on having some very hearty meals when I go up there, but I have to be careful or else I will overindulge and not even bat an eye. Saturday was no exception. I ate very well and ate some more; not to mention a cupcake for the birthday party.

When we had traveled up on Friday the weather was an unseasonable 70 degrees. Crazy! When we got up on Saturday morning the temperatures had fallen to the low 20's and stayed in the 20's all day with an occasional snow flurry or two. After eating some good food and some sweets I knew I needed to do my due diligence and ensure that I was being wise about my caloric intake since I am doing the Zeal for Life 90 day Challenge. It is my goal to lose weight, trim up and still feel good.

I love running in the extreme weather, but when you are not totally prepared for the cold weather it can be challenging. I packed light for our trip and didn't really observe the weekend forecast and hence I did not pack a lot of warm running clothes. Nonetheless when I decided to run Saturday I wasn't worried too much about it and took the bull by the horns and just did it. I dressed in a long sleeve shirt, shorts and my Nike stocking cap and took off for a nice, cold run. Let's just say the weather was of course getting colder by the minute and I was about 30 minutes from dusk. The bone chilling wind from the north howled fiercely. As soon as I turned north to run towards the track my entire body was numb; especially my face and hands.

I hadn't been able to run on a track since my last visit home a year ago during Thanksgiving and though it was cold then, it was nothing like 22 degrees and wind chills in the single digits. Call me crazy for running in this, but I love training in the elements to build up my mental toughness and abilities to overcome extreme conditions. Each time I circled the track I braved the wintry blast from the north and then slowly warmed up as I turned to go south on the backside of the track. I did 10 laps, two and a half miles, on the track along with the half mile there and half mile back to my parents house. A three and a half mile run in those conditions made me an instant candidate as Mr. Freeze.

Once my body thawed in the warmth of my parents home, I settled in to have an enjoyable evening with the family opening Christmas gifts and enjoying a large plate of Chili Nachos; one of my dad's specialties and a family favorite. It felt great knowing I didn't have to worry about what I could eat or not eat after burning 650 calories in my afternoon workout. I have to say that I am extremely blessed to have a loving family and the opportunity to make wonderful memories with them.

Looking forward to seeing them again soon when we have Micah's birthday party next month. And just like Dorothy clicked her heels three times in the Wizard of Oz and stated, 'There's no place like home'.  Whether it is in frigid Kansas during January or nestled in my home in Oklahoma where the wind comes sweeping down the plains, I can honestly say there's no place like home!