December Popsicles

Almost there... That's right folks, almost in full-on, without question, never-change-out-of-your-pajamas, sit-by-the-fire-with-a-cup-of-Peets, care-for-nothing-but-sport-family-and-relaxation, vacation.

The start of this weekend was Friday, when the Gods of the north country blew in an ice storm not to be forgotten. Indeed, it was pretty slick out there. The simple act of getting out of the car, in fact, took me three times longer than usual on account of being completely freaked out by walking on ice. That's Freak-Ed. Out. Because it was only 3 years ago or so that I slipped on a sheet of ice walking to my car and broke my upper arm bone in half. Ironically, that bone is called the Humerus. Yet it's not funny, like "Humorous". Not funny at all. And so, sufficed to say, I hate ice.

Luckily, the ice storm didn't hamper any of my workout plans for the week. I wrapped up my first block of base-training this past weekend. Friday night was a delightful 2 hour ride on the trainer (Guh. Thank God for DVDs) followed by a 1.5 hour trail run on the crunchy white stuff on Saturday. Today was all about lounging, and this coming week is all about recovery. Oh, and the timing couldn't work out better. In typical Joe fashion, I was running around the house last night trying to do about a hundred million things at once when I "stubbed" three of my toes on one of our dining room chairs while racing between the living room and kitchen. Now. When I say "stubbed" let me set the scene properly by saying Liz heard the "thump" and the "crack" from the other room, and thought that I had somehow cracked one of our chair legs. Thankfully, the Pottery Barn chair held, but my little toe certainly did not. Without a doubt, this little piggy that went whee-whee-whee all the way home found itself broken from this antic. Yeah, I broke a toe last night, and let me tell you folks, it ain't fun. But, I can walk, and I can run, and with a little bit of Advil (roughly 10,000 mg), I can cram my foot in my cycling shoe and get'on up on the trainer no problem. So, training goes on, and it's just one of the (what I'm sure will be numerous) whacky stories going into the 2006 season.

Speaking of 2006, I can't believe the holidays and new year are right around the corner! I don't know about all you blog-folk, but I'm thrilled. It's been an exciting, eventful, and accomplished 2005. And with vacation right around the corner and an entire stock of coffee beans waiting to be brewed up, rest assured it's going to be one fine-diddly-dandy Noel.

Keep it festive.