Lately my life has felt a bit routine and I think it’s time to edit my “template”. While I was running the other day this sentence popped into my head: “Life is a template and YOU just need to customize it.” I love when I have these profound moments. It dawned on me that I don’t want to make a drastic change to my routine…I actually like a lot of my routine. I like the structure. I like where my text boxes and picture boxes are anchored. I just need to add a few unique colors or shapes. (Yep, I’m a graphic designer so these metaphors are working for me. 🙂

I thought about the new things I tried in 2016: I added some new media “customization” in 2016 when I listened to my first audiobook and my first podcast and they immediately worked their way into my routine. If you’re looking for a good podcast to listen to while running (or walking) I recommend DizRuns.

Diz Runs

Just lots of runner-to-runner kinda conversation. His first question to all his guests is “What is your favorite distance to run and why?” I love hearing the answers. On a recent episode an ultra runner’s response was “the 50 miler because I can sleep in my own bed”. That’s crazy! He even interviewed me on episode 248 earlier this year. I spent lots of summer nights walking for hours around my neighborhood just to finish up listening to the episodes in my cue. I want to do more of that in 2017.

I want to try some new workouts in 2017, cook some new recipes and maybe go as crazy as getting a new shade of tinted lip balm! Any suggestions?

Yesterday was Duncan’s 8th birthday. I can’t believe it.

lol

I force him to wear his party hat for 30 seconds every year

I remember picking him up when he was 11 weeks old on March 23, 2009. A 10-hour round-trip road trip just to bring home this bundle of curls.

He stared at me for a good hour of the drive before he finally curled up on my lap.

I’ve been dog sitting for Duncan’s cousin Casey. It’s been fun to see double doodles every minute of the day.

Door “flair”

content to co-exist

I got a lot of eyes watching my every move

i guess i’ll sit in the middle

Mr. SOTSS came to visit me the other night and brought me some roses. I love flowers on non-occasions. So special. Duncan was happy to snuggle between us. I had back-2-back crappy runs yesterday and the day before. 3 SLOW miles with my annoying hamstring tightness.

I did get to listen to an hour of a podcast between the 2 runs but that’s the only thing that was good.

I started to realize this hamstring tightness began right around the time of my birthday at the end of October. It basically feels likes there are resistance bands connected from the backs of my knees up through my glutes. I can’t seem to propel forward much which leaves me slogging through every run, especially hilly ones. Today I finally decided i’m taking a break. I’ll start with taking a week off and I’ll see how that goes. Maybe this will be the perfect time to customize that template with a new form of exercise 😉

Hope you all have a lovely fun-filled weekend, happy holiday and merry everything! Here’s my final holiday card that I promised I’d share.

The front

and the back

P.S. Thank you so much for reading my blog. I don’t make a penny on this blog. It’s purely because I love to talk about my life and running.

I have 2 posts that seem to get a lot of traffic. Ironically one is about cookies…..ok maybe not so ironic 🙂 Anyway, these are my 2 most viewed pages

My review of the Nike Aeroloft Vest and the Starbucks Toffee Doodle Cookies I made.

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