Will the snow every go away?

We have been having a very cold and snowy winter. It's crazy to me since I thought moving to Virginia would mean no more snowy winters. I was wrong. I know I did a morning snowy run post, but wanted to blog about our afternoon since I got to make snow angels and Sean went sledding with the neighbors.

All bundled up and so excited that I still had my bib overall snowpants!

I found the perfect spot for my snow angel

Check out this beauty!

The finished angel, too bad you can see a little grass

The neighbors were cross crountry skiing through the neighborhood

Sean and Sammy slide down the hill that leads up to our house....yes this is on the main road but luckily there weren't many cars driving

With all of the snow we had received we had been "stuck" at home all day. We could have left since Sean's truck has 4-wheel drive but most of the city had shut down.

Our friend JoJo decided to walk to our house approximately 4 miles since she wanted to get out of her house. We were going to watch a movie at the house and just hang out. We got a call from our other friends, Sonny and Suzy, who are also our neighbors about getting out of the hood and going to Tequilla Rose for some dinner. We decided it'd be a fun adventure, just to get out of the house.

We were originally expecting our new couch to be delivered they said between 4-7, but because of the snow we assumed they weren't coming. I tried calling the company and no one answered so that confirmed to me that they were closed.

JoJo and I enjoy our Margaretta's at Tequilla Rose

Dinner was a ton of fun and we enjoyed our little adventure. But, when we got home we were disappointed to find out that our couch was attempted to be delivered, and they had tried to call our house phone 3 times and Sean's cell (which he had left at the house) 3 times! I called the delivery guys back, but by now they were almost in Richmond. We would have to re-schedule. I was so bummed, since we have been waiting since September for this couch.

Snowy Run

It is snowing in Virginia, and not just a dusting, a covering. This is Sean and my 4th winter in Williamsburg and this winter has been the snowiest by far. We got a mini snow storm mid December, but nothing like they are calling for this time. According to the weather man this morning they are predicting about 10" of snow in Williamsburg. 10" of snow is enough to remind me of Vermont winters. Now I definitely don't miss Vermont winters, but it is really nice to have a little bit of this white stuff every once in a while.

Last night when we went to bed there was nothing. I always get up a few times in the night, and each time I peaked out the window. I saw a little bit of snow, but not enough to cover the grass. Originally we were going to head to the pool and go for a swim, but of course the entire city is shut down. Plus, we decided a run would be more fun anyway.

We bundled up and I decided it would be fun to document our run with my camera. We left around 9 am, and by now there was a solid covering on the ground and the snow was falling.

A view from my front porch. The snow is starting to accumulate.

Almost immediately we realized we weren't prepared. The snow was hitting us directly in our faces and we both wished we had either a brimmed hat, glasses or something to protect ourselves. We weren't turning back so we decided to just deal with it.

We are really fortunate to have a nice trail by our house. We can access it from our neighborhood and it has rolling hills and is a 5 mile loop when leaving and finishing from our house. The trees protected us from the snow, although not 100%

Sean runs up the trail

I absolutely love taking pictures, but I like some of myself too. I gave my camera to Sean for a bit and had him take some of me trugging along in the snow.

Running in the snow makes me happy

The snow was tough to run in and we definitely didn't have the traction we were used to

The trees look so pretty with snow in them

Both of our eyebrows and eyelashes were frozen with ice crystals. Our faces were pretty cold too.

After our run posing for an eye crystal photo

I love how the ice makes Sean's eyebrows look like a mono brow.

Although our run was much tougher than normal, running in snow = running in sand, we had so much fun. We were laughing and having a lot of fun running together.

Just as we finished, we turned around and saw our buddies Sonny and Suzy finishing up their morning run. They ran much longer than us, but took advantage of the WISC trail for part of their run. It's really nice having friends you can share the joys of running with.

Now I'm back inside. It took a hot shower, warm clothes, an electric blanket and hot tea to warm me up. I've stop shivering and am now looking forward to spending a lazy day stuck inside with Sean. Since the snow isn't stopping anytime soon I've declared in PJ and Movie day! This afternoon we may play outside and try and make a snowman. Not sure if it's the right kind of snow but I think we can make it work.

I'm sure I'll be posting another snow update tomorrow. So stay tuned.

I love racing season!

I can't believe I have the first race of the season in just 20 days! This is the 2nd Annual Virginia is for Lovers 14K, held Valentine's Day weekend. I raced it last year with Jami, and this year we're racing it again. Sean and JoJo are both joining us so it'll be fun to have more people to hang out with before and after the race.

Realizing that this race is less than 3 weeks away was starting to freak me out, not because I didn't want to run it, but because I was afraid my body wouldn't be able to run it.

I've been spending the last few months doing Muscle Pump twice a week, and thanks to my Dad I am now the proud of owner of a bike trainer, which I've been using a minimum of once a week. With the combination of weight lifting and biking my legs have gotten a triple workout. Because of this I haven't been running, because let's just face it, I'm tired.

I raced a half marathon in November and than a few 5K's after that, but basically since the middle of December I've been giving my body a break from running and I've gotten lazy.

Last week I went out for a few short runs and they felt awful. My legs felt heavy and I didn't enjoy the 3-4 miles I tried to accomplish each time. This past Tuesday we had a nice day in the 60's and I figured I'd attempt a 6 mile run, I failed. It was awful. I ran 3.5 miles and my body could not go anymore.

This made me nervous, because A. I don't like to fail and because B. I have this 14K in less than 3 weeks and a half marathon in 55 days. I needed to figure out something. I wasn't sure why my body was shutting down on me, okay it wasn't shutting down on me, but it wasn't allowing me to push myself the way I'm used to pushing it. I decided I'd try decreasing my weights for squats. I did this on Thursday, took Friday off and than decided to attempt another 6 mile run today.

This morning my legs felt tired, my ankles felt weak and I was giving myself all sorts of excuses as to why I was going to fail. But I HAD to run. I have 3 weeks to go from 3 miles to almost 9 miles. I needed to get a good run in today.

Luckily Sean has been getting his runs in and he already had a successful 6 mile run earlier this week. We left the house together ready to conquer our run. It was chilly, in the 30's, but it was sunny. I started off at an even pace not pushing it too much, I always go out fast. My body felt good, I kept with Sean for the first half of the run, and than my body wanted to kick it, it wanted to push it. Mind you, it wasn't a fast run, but it was solid and I had negative splits for each mile, aside from mile 1.

Mile 1: 9:26
Mile 2: 9:41
Mile 3: 9:35
Mile 4: 9:27
Mile 5: 9:19
Mile 6: 8:47
last quarter mile: 8:09 pace
Average of 9:20 pace for the entire run

I pushed it until the end and I felt a rush, a sense of accomplishment, and a knowing that I would be fine in 3 weeks. Prior to today I was beginning to forget why I loved to run, and my run this morning gave it all back to me. The adrenaline rush was amazing.

After my run I came inside and started thinking about race season. I am excited to run, I'm excited to race and I'm excited it's almost here!

So far I've only signed up for the VIFL 14K and Shamrock Half Marathon, but I am signing up for the Smithfield Triathlon and than Sean and I need to sit down and look at our calendar and decide what other races we want to do. There are a ton of triathlons we want to do, we really want to do at least one international distance and than I love the 5K, so I'll be signing up for a ton of those for sure. As I sign up for races I will list them on my sidebar.

I'm really glad this is something Sean is into as well. It helps to have him there to push me and for me to push him. He is taking his training a lot more serious this year, so I have a feeling I won't be able to beat him anymore. He beat me the last race of the 2009 season, and I have a feeling he got a taste of success and won't let me have it back. I do, however, hope maybe I can beat him at least once, I know, I'm so competitive. Regardless of who wins between us, we still both win because we are doing what we love and we are improving each day.

Sean and I have made a ton of friends doing what we love and we can't wait to share the 2010 journey with all of you.

To my friends and family that don't race, thank you for your support, and willingness to listen as I go on and on about my races. Thanks for at least pretending to be excited for me and get ready as I get excited about 2010, it's going to be the best year yet!

Wedding Fun in Cancun

It's hard to believe that we've been back from Cancun for over a week now. It's been hard getting back to the daily grind. A week in Mexico was definitely relaxing and definitely needed. Because it has been over a week I'm going to do an abbreviated recap, at least that's what I'm going to try and do.

Sunday after Christmas, Sean and I flew out to Cancun for our friends Jami and Ryan's wedding. We arrived at our resort, Gran Caribe Real, around 3 in the afternoon. It didn't take us long to get out of our winter clothes and to something more appropriate.

Sean's ready to hit the beach!

I'm ready too!

We were lucky in that we found Jami and Ryan fairly quickly. They knew what time to expect us and were waiting around the pool area to greet us. Once we were changed we met them on the beach.

Jami and I enjoy some sun

All of the other guests weren't arriving until Monday, so Sunday night was just the four of us. We stayed at the beach until the sun went down and then got dressed up for dinner.

We love the self-timer, and thanks to Audrey for letting me borrow this dress

Sean and I must have called each other since they were twins

Jami and I

Monday morning before heading to breakfast Sean enjoys the view from our room. It was really nice to be able to relax, enjoy the warmth and have no responsibilities.

Monday evening at the grooms dinner. Sean is all smiles.

Sean shows off the wedding gift Jami and Ryan gave us. Beach Towels!

I surprised Jenni early in the week with a quick pick-up.

After the grooms dinner we all headed to bed ready for the big wedding day on Tuesday. During the day while Jami was getting extra beautiful Sean and I laid on the beach and relaxed. The ceremony started at 3, so after lunch Sean and I went and got ourselves ready and headed to the wedding, which of course was right on the beach.

The sign welcoming the wedding! Luckily Ryan got them to change Jami's name so it didn't say Tami anymore. Not sure if Jami would have appreciated that.

I love this picture of us! It was a perfect day for a wedding.

The set-up, so pretty!

Ryan walks his mom down the aisle.

Maids of Honor and Best Man

Ryan gets a glimpse at his beautiful bride

Jami with her parents

So beautiful!

I love the girl's dresses...the yellow looked perfect with the blue of the ocean

Kiss the bride!

Mr. and Mrs. Brayton!

Nice dip!

Jami's friends all had on fun sunglasses...it got her to laugh

Love it!

All the girls

All the boys

It was hard to pick just a few pictures to post on here. Almost every photo showed how much Jami and Ryan love each other and it doesn't help that they are both extremely photogenic.

They didn't get quite the "private" beach wedding you would have expected. Before the ceremony even started there were people pulling their beach chairs to face the ceremony, standing out on their balcony, and then there was a group that just stood near the chairs that were set up for all the guests.

This guy had his video camera out and recorded the entire ceremony. We all thought that was pretty strange, but than him and his wife came up to get their picture taken with the newlyweds.

Sean and I

Welcoming Mr. and Mrs. Brayton into the reception

The first dance! I love seeing how happy Ryan is.

Love them!

Us girls at the reception

Showing my AWESOME dance moves

Dancing with Jami's Dad

Jami and Ryan with THEIR sign

What's a wedding unless you pick up a bride. Sorry Audrey I should have picked you up, and Janelle, you better watch out...you're next!

The hotel at night

After Party!

Pick-up #3 of the vacation

Wednesday morning we woke up and we did what we did every other day, we went to the beach. Most days I just laid and read and Sean played in the waves. He would stay in their for hours. He loves it!

Sean plays in the Ocean

Pick-up # 4

Thursday there was a little beach volleyball going on. It was hot and I decided to relax and be the photographer.

We stayed at the hotel for New Years. We debated going out to a fun Mexican Club, but it was $75, and we figured since our resort was doing something which didn't cost anything and since the resort was inclusive we saved our money.

The resort handed out hats, champagne and grapes and Sean and I brought in the New Year together Cancun style.

Sean and I enjoy New Year's Day, where else, on the beach!

The week seemed to go by way too quickly as do all vacations. We soon found ourselves, Sunday morning, at the Cancun airport waiting to board our plane.

Sean shows how he feels about leaving Mexico

I'm not any happier

We arrived back in Virginia close to midnight last Sunday. Our flight from Atlanta was delayed by about 4 hours. It was pretty miserable hanging out in the airport, especially when we could have been on the beach.

Now we're back to the cold, and dreaming of our next vacation. Thanks Jami and Ryan for planning a destination wedding and letting us come along. Congrats!