>Even when

>I apologize for the seemingly constant changes to my blog “design”. I get bored easily; what can I say?

So I sit here on Tuesday evening, having been booted from RPM because I didn’t know that one had to reserve a spot for the evening RPM classes at the gym. Well, now I know. So I’ll use my energy (I burn ~500 calories in that class) to write a blog. If only writing burned calories…

Katie and I had an awesome race on Saturday. I will share with you a picture that I downloaded from runningguru.com.. I don’t think other nonprofessional pics from that day have been uploaded yet:

This is me with quite an interesting expression on my face PR’ing (personal record) this 5K. Yes, “PR” can be a verb. I crossed the finish line at 28:43, with a pace of 9:16, my fastest yet. It does not feel like I was running that fast, but it’s all relative.

I put my race pace into this calculator and it tells me that my marathon pace right now is 10:42, which amounts to approximately four hours and thirty-nine minutes of pure insanity. That’s not too shabby. Right now my personal goal is five hours, but I’m hoping that will change for the better as Gabriela and I train for this thang. Yes, thang.

My sister-in-law did awesome on her 5K.. she ran the whole thing and at her goal pace! So proud of her. I think the running bug has bitten her too.

I had another victory this weekend related to fitness: I weighed in at the gym last night fully expecting a weight gain of five pounds from my lowest recent weight, or 42-ish pounds down from December 2008. Alas, I am actually at the lowest weight I’ve been in over ten years (45 pounds LOST!). In 7th and 8th grade I gained height and then in my freshman/sophomore years of high school I grew into my height. I was never overweight until after high school. But daaaaang. It feels good! From all this running I’m starting to get two lines of definition in my calves. Sweet.

Sunday night I got home from visiting my Aaron’s oldest brother and his family at around five. I bought a little Christmas tree from a consignment shop and decided to put up it and the trimmings. You should have seen me. It was the most pathetic sight in awhile, what with my crying in between stringing the lights and putting on the ornaments.

In my prior frustration with this situation, I had let Aaron go on videochat because even to this day I hate letting him see me cry. I cry a heck of a lot in general, but I still don’t like him to see it. Anyway, I got through putting up the decorations and then I felt better. This is the first Christmas in eight years we’ve spent apart. I have to remember that no matter how hard it is for me, it’s equally so or more so because he doesn’t have family right there.

On a different topic than my private pity party, I miss teaching. You know it’s your calling when you’d rather do it than any other job. I really don’t mind what kind of teaching it is – piano, tutoring, Sylvan, whatever – I miss the interaction with students. They teach me probably more than I teach them. They inspire me, make me laugh, frustrate me, but I’m anticipating finding out our next duty station so I can look for a job.

Two-thousand ten has been by far the strangest year of my life. So much uncertainty, excitement, anticipation, disappointment, learning, growing, loving.

This week I look forward to work (day one of seven down), finally reading the Chronicles of Narnia, spending time with friends and family (and friends who are family!), talking to my husband, and what is life without watching Smallville over Skype?