Hello, Global Warming. My Name is Toasty.

Wow. Who put warm spring day on his or her holiday wish list? Looks like you weren’t quite as naughty as you should have been this year.

And I totally took advantage of it.

Landon was in town for the holidays and gave me good reason to make it back down to Lock 29 for a run on the Towpath.

The air was perfect—65 degrees with only a few patches of wind and no rain—for the 5ish-miler and the trails, well, they were perfect for getting my shoes dirty. Half mud and half puddle. Good news is that the mud and puddles switched off enough to give my shoes a bath in the final stretch, so everything came out clean in the wash.

My legs felt a little muddy all day on Saturday, though. Running with Landon is always invigorating (I’m like a puppy who gets way too excited when she sees her friends), but I was just plain slow and too sluggish. Perhaps it’s the out-of-whack holiday sleep patterns. Or the eight pounds I’ve gained since Thanksgiving. My legs have been screaming about how carrying this extra weight was totally not in their contract. They might be on strike.

Which is why it was totally appropriate to visit Main Street Cupcakes while we were in the neighborhood…

Even I was surprised at myself, though, when I bought 12 cupcakes (six chocolate lava for Neil, two chai for a friend and four for future use) and didn’t eat any of them before I made it home. Instead I sipped some pomegranate juice and ate rosemary loaf. See? There’s salvation for me yet.

Lucky for me, this mass of holiday celebrations will be coming to a close. (I hope everyone had a happy season.) And putting “stop binging” on my new-year to-do won’t be necessary. Who needs to wait until Jan. 1 to do these things anyway?

Friday morning runs with E*Speed have been a good habit to pick up (thanks, girl!) and sticking to lunchtime treks through the Heights should keep me on track for the Cleveland Marathon in May. I hope to run at least part of that race with Landon.

And here’s crossing my fingers that we get the same weather we had on Saturday, Dec. 27, on Sunday, May 17!

On the Third Day of Christmas...

I’m scarfing down the last several delicious gingerbread cookies (thanks Betsy and Dan!) before I start my new year. After three days straight celebrating Christmas and eating at least 3-4 times my regular daily intake, I fully intend on settling down on Wednesday into a normal diet and a new routine.

Equipped with Marathon: You Can Do It (The everyperson’s guide to running a marathon), a gift from my mom, I’m pumped to get started on a new plan. It’s a good read that includes a training plan, history of marathon, cross-training tips and eating guides, which do not include gingerbread cookies, dobos torte, brownies, cupcakes, peppermint bark or anything with ganache. How will I ever manage?

I haven’t made it to the point at which I actually set a marathon date, but I should have that nailed down by the beginning of 2008. Akron Half was a pretty sweet race last year, and might warrant a revisit in the full marathon. While I won’t be living so close to the race location by next September (as I am right now), the race should be worth the ride. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

My rec. center membership runs out at the end of this month, and then my new job in Cleveland starts a week later. We don’t quite have our living (or work-commute-traffic) situation figured out, but I’m considering getting a membership to something up north for early morning swims or after-work-traffic-avoiding runs on an indoor track.

It would be nice, however, if this weather kept up while I don’t have a track (forty degrees is so much sweeter than twenty!). But we’ll see. I might just be stuck with All Star Workouts and Namaste Yoga!