Standing at the Trailhead of Winter

Sunrise

For quite a few years, I lived close to Mom and Dad in Tennessee. They moved down in the mid 80's, having found a cabin that they fell in love with, on a hillside overlooking the Cumberland River. A year or two after they left the Midwest, I followed. It became a Christmas ritual for Mom and me to get together to bake butter cookies and decorate them. Even after I moved back to the Midwest, the kids and I continued the tradition of baking butter cookies and frosting them with all kinds of designs. This year, though, the baking got pushed to the side and I wasn't sure any cookies were going to be made. Yesterday, I found the energy to get started on them. I mixed up the dough, covered it, and let it sit until this afternoon. Once all the hoopla of the day was over, I spent some time rolling the dough, cutting the shapes, baking, then decorating. Nothing fancy by any means, but just going through the motions brought back lots of wonderful memories of being in the kitchen with M...

the relay will be over and my running days will be, too. Part of me feels like I'm giving up, but it's not like I haven't done a lot of research, haven't done a lot of reading as to why I feel so crummy every single time I run. In a nutshell, those who run tend to have long, lean muscle structure. I definitely do not have that. I'm average height at 5'5" and weigh a solid 145. Trying to get under 145 for me is nearly impossible, due in part to the rather large muscles I have all over my body. My legs, my arms, my torso all are thick with muscle. You know how everyone says women can't build muscle unless they take steroids? Well, I'm the exception. I build muscle rather easily. I joke often that I am borderline male, with excess hair growth to boot. Lucky me. To put these muscles to good use, that's where the bike comes in. Today I rode easy with Hubby. And I have to say, this was his best ride to date. He maintained a 14.96 mph speed for 10.58 m...