Today at work, we lost a staff member. At the end of the day, we all gathered as the news was shared and tears were shed. Although I did not know this staff member that well, I cannot get over this feeling of sadness and feeling numb. I’m still unsure how to react to this, but it makes me realize how lucky I am to have such a wonderful family and group of friends. Life is precious and I intend to enjoy every minute of it!

So Sunday night I received a text message that my school district was closed! Woot! It was nice to know the night before. Even though I have the day off, I plan to work on report cards…in order to keep on top of things. But there is something to be said about working in my sweats and in front of the TV!

This past weekend, Heidi and I packed up and headed out to Black Butte Ranch for the weekend. My parents bought a house there a few years back, and I like to go over there a few times a year to get away. I love the fact that you drive a little under 2 hours and you feel like you are in a whole different place. For those of you who have never been over to Black Butte, it’s much like Sunriver, but much quieter and less people. Truth be told, I like it much better.

Honestly, I wasn’t really excited to go initially, but I ended up having a great time. Between Heidi, her boyfriend Robert and I, we knocked back 3 1/2 bottles of wine, played a ‘assisted’ version of Trivial Pursuit, shopped in Bend, watched sports, went sledding in the snow, and I did some work. It was the perfect balance of being busy and relaxing. Plus, I got some cute clothes!

With all the snow, my concern was driving back with all the snow. There was almost a foot of snow on the Santiam Pass and Hwy 126 was icy. I have never driven in snow or used my chains, so this was going to be a first for me. We left around noon, and had to chain up about one mile onto Hwy 20. Never having chained up before, Heidi and I got out the instructions, and began to chain up. After trying a while, we decided to solicited the help of the ‘chain up lady’, which was going to cost me, but I was willing to pay. After she told us it would be a while, Heidi and I went back to work and got the chains on successfully! Thanks goodness Heidi was there. The Santiam Pass was gorgeous, and was not a problem. Hwy 126 was icy and was more problematic than first thought. It was a slow trip home, finally arriving in Springfield a little over 3 hours later. I was pretty proud of myself for driving in the snow, but I guess when I have an SUV I don’t have to worry as much.

Overall, it was a great weekend, but I excited to return home to Ginger and see that Eugene had been hit with a few inches of snow! Woot for snow!

So I routinely tell people to, “make good choices”. Sometimes I wonder if I should be taking my own advice. I guess we are always good about giving advice to others, rather than taking the advice ourselves…

So I have come to realize, I am a social runner. Occasionally, it’s nice to go out and run on my own, but I find it more fulfilling running with someone else. It seems to make the time go faster. Today, I wanted to run and try out my new shoes, but Heidi and Susan, my two standard running partners were busy. Instead, I ran with Harrison, Heidi’s 65 pound Boxer. So I put on the running leash and we took off for a nice run. He was great company, but its hard when dogs don’t talk back. It was fun, but I think I will stick to running with humans.

Over the past few weeks, I have been doing lots of running….which is good since the Eugene Marathon is only 103 days away. Since I have been running, I have been running in various shoes and I am finding one common thread…lots of blisters! Well, I will have blisters no more. Today, with my sister Rebecca tagging along (PS-She has her own blog now), I headed out to the Eugene Running Company to get my first pair of running shoes. After settling on the shoe, I jumped on the treadmill to make sure the shoes were the right fit for my foot…and it was. So I am now a proud of owner of Brooks Adrenaline GTS 8 running shoes. Bye bye blisters; hello comfortable shoes!

After over two months of waiting, I finally have living room furniture…well a few pieces that is. Since moving in, Heidi and I have shared a small love seat, which Ginger generally occupies, and a crappy old TV stand. Not anymore. Yesterday, my two couches and entertainment center were delivered. My first reaction, “OMG…it’s so big” as I had my momentary freak out. But thanks to Heidi and her visiting family, we moved things around and I felt much more at ease with my furniture. My house truly feels like a home even more now, with a comfortable seating area and entertainments center. I love it! Now…back to relaxing on my new couch!

So I spent my Saturday night playing in a soccer game at 11:00pm…yes, that’s right. Thank you Kick City! Talk about a late game. In order to entice my team to show up to a late game, I made a good old spaghetti dinner before hand. We ate good food and played Rayman Raving Rabbids 2 on the Wii at Dylan and Susan’s. The game is pretty fun, and it was actually quite tiring. After a few hours of exhausting our arms, we headed to the game. We ended up losing…no surprise there! Despite the late soccer game, it was truly a fun evening.

After a long at work, I just relaxed with a jacuzzi bath with wonderful bath salts, beer and music. Man, I need to do this more often!

These were the words that I uttered after my wonderful run with Susan today. We ran down by the river (but no Matt Foley and the van…ha ha!) for a nice 3 3/4 mile run. For someone who was barely to run a mile a few months, I have greatly improved in my running and endurance, and it has also helped my soccer speed and endurance as well. And I feel pretty darn good about myself. I am starting to feel more like a runner. I enjoy my time on the open road, however, I find it is much more fun to run with a friend. As I prepare for my half marathon in May, I am so thankful to have such a wonderful support group of friends who keep me energized. Thanks especially to Heidi and Susan…I couldn’t be doing this without you.