Twas the night before Christmas...

Hey Steve, look who's typing in their blog.

This is most likely going to be a solid short post! I'd rather be doing like 27465 other things right now but I haven't posted in a while AND if I don't do it tonight then I probably won't do it til after the new year. So deal with me for right now :)

Running has been going pretty solid lately. Last Saturday I got in a quality 11 mile run before we got squashed by a snowstorm. We got 7 or 8 inches but it seemed like nothing compared to what they were building it up to be. Most of the snow melted during the week as it warmed up a bit. Friday night I went running after work and I did a tempo run in the streets of the neighborhood adjacent to my apartment since I knew I wouldn't have to dodge many cars. One point of my run took me to a section of dirt road...the first couple steps on it were pretty slick, so I carefully slowed and turned around. I thought I was in the clear, except for that damn last step before I hit pavement again. Emphasis on hit....I've always known to hit and roll when I take a fall and that's what I did, but I landed on my hip to start it. It was tender when I got up, but felt better as I started moving again. All day Saturday it was sore, but I still planned on doing a long run Sunday. It all went fine, it never hurt at all during the run.

Sunday's run was a little crazy, weather-wise. I woke up at 7am and we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. On December 23. In Michigan. Come on... when I went out to run at 8:15, the sun was coming up with blue skies and the temp was 47 degrees. There was still some snow on the ground, so it honestly felt like a crisp spring morning. What I knew though, was that Mother Nature was gonna give us a cold snap in no time. When I came back from 12 miles about an hour and a half later, the temp was 31 degrees....it felt good, but I wish the temp went up and not down. Oh well.

Other than that, I'm leaving Wednesday for Florida to see MSU play Boston College in the Champs Sports Bowl (the 28th) and then leaving a couple days later for Hawaii...gonna be there until January 15th. So, happy holidays to everybody and make good decisions into next year.

And I really like these quotes...

"[Leadership is] somehow getting 52 other guys to raise their level of play. To get them to believe in what we're trying to do. You do that by setting an example, by doing things the right way. I've always shown up, I've always been prepared, I practice every day. I practice hard. I study. No matter what happens on the field, I never point the blame at anybody else. Everything I do comes back to leadership, the example I want to set." --Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre, in Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Year issue

"I've got so many plays running through my mind. The funny thing is, it's not only about the touchdowns and the big victories. If I were to make a list, I would include the interceptions, the sacks, the really painful losses. Those times when I've been down, when I've been kicked around, I hold on to those. In a way those are the best times I've ever had, because that's when I've found out who I am. And what I want to be." --Brett Favre, on his favorite memory