3...2...1...Buon Anno Nuovo!

Less than 24 hours remain in 2012. More than enough goals remain unchecked from 1 January. Actually, if I'm honest, a few still remain unchecked from 1 January 2011! (Damn pullups.)

Rather than wallow in defeat, I'm going to celebrate my 50% completion of my 12 for '12.

I....wrote my adorable girls (Caroline, Kiery, & Catherine) monthly, visited 3 new countries, completed level 4 of Italian, volunteered over 50 hours, ran a marathon, and learned to cook 3 new Italian dishes.

Not quite as satisfying as a few of my 2011 goals (flee Monterey & get a cat come to mind) but accomplishments none the less. Best part? In no way do these 6 completed goals (or the ones left waiting to be accomplished) even begin to define my year, let alone sum it up.

So, on the eve of another year...the one in which I turn 3-0...here are my goals partially to motivate, but mostly to keep me honest once the next 365 days have past. 

1. Obtain and maintain a weight in (classified) range.
2. Streamline rent payments
3. Running of the bulls
4. Monthly trip (3+ hours away)
5. Finish bedroom decorating by 31 January
6. Be social once a month
7. Blog more
8. Run a sub 2 hour half marathon
9. Learn to drive manual transmission (roll over from 2012)
10. Not ignore Ravi's illuminated dashboard lights
11. Write the CI girls monthly
12. 3 Unassisted pullups (3rd year on the list)
13. *Classified*

Yeah, this has gotten a little more sophisticated from the night Lindsay and I sat at the Brit writing our 10 for '10 goals on Sierra Nevada coasters! Same rules apply though- some of my goals are "classified" but rather than blocking them out I'm counting on the fact that our brains are not wired the same way and you can't decipher the visual I've picked for the goal.

Wishing you a fabulous sparkly 2013!

<3 Katie & Neeks

Week 2: Completed!

I, Sea Biscuit (SB) would like to announce to the known world that Speed Racer (SR) and I have completed week two of seventeen long weeks of training on our path to a 4 hour Paris Marathon time.

You did read that right- I said 4 hours. Why 4 hours? Well, most simply, if Oprah could do it, so can we. And yes, I did fess up to my SB nickname dubbed many years back in Monterey (some days I just miss my GWB and OG so much that if I refer to myself as SB to take me back to those times).

Week 2, that's right- we did move on to the next week, ended with a 9 mile run. Or you know, a 10K that had a 5K tacked on to it. All of our runs were outside this week in fabulously cool weather and our marathon day leggings made their debuts. For those that saw us, well, you really couldn't miss us with our purple and pink neon-ish awesome pants---right?

So far we're still on track and even though one of our cross training days rendered us near useless for lifting anything more than 5lbs the next day, our bodies are actually being good sports about being beaten back into submission.

The biggest challenge so far?

Actually staying in our 10:40 to 11:10 pace per mile. Do you have any idea just how slow a 10:40 mile is? SR asked at one point if we were supposed to be speed walking instead of running today. Hmm. I just realized that she may not appreciate being called S-R, so back to Speed Racer it is.

At any rate, week 2 of training is D-O-N-E and I'm ready for a shower, snack, and nap.

Paris Marathon Week 1A

Well, we did it! Week 1A of training is complete towards our next marathon: Paris in April 2013!

Why 1A? Well, we were so eager to start training again that we started a week early to either repeat a week mid training (to accommodate a 1/2 marathon) or have a mulligan week.

We called MULLIGAN loud and clear and officially kicked off this past week. Best part about our re-do? The workouts were so much easier! Sprints? No big deal. Timed runs? We covered more distance. Long run? Actually completed. And that's impressive considering it's been months (like our last race) since either of us had ran over 5 miles and we did 7 at a decent clip. 

Yay us! Yay for 16 more weeks of training until the main event :)