Slept a good chunk of yesterday then another 8 hours last night - can you say "stress caught up with Cindy"?? Working at home today, will be able to get some things done around the house at lunch and in the hour between getting off work and the puck dropping tonight - 16 ounce curls are on the weight training plan this evening. Final house blitz tomorrow, then it's off to the airport. And thank heaven for the internet - major Christmas shopping is done, complete with phone call from Discover asking if someone stole my card. Things are coming together and I am actually starting to relax.

Not that it wasn't official before, but I'm a race junkie. Signed up for the New Year's Day 10K - I won't be out partying the night before anyway, it'll get me out of the house, and it's right in with the training miles for the half-mary. I am going to have such a kickass t-shirt collection by this time next year.

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Got dog back from groomers. Oh my. At least his hair grows out quickly. Slept pretty much ALL DAY. No longer feel any guilt for calling out of work - obviously needed the break. Looked at HRM's this afternoon, picked one out I liked to order later, then got email from active.com - 20% of Timex items through them - including the HRM I want! Sweet.

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Woke up at 2:30, couldn't get back to sleep, feeling mildly off, took off to the office, picked up the beeper & hit the gym at 6, figuring getting off my butt and moving would help. Morning crowd? Not pretty. Not that I'm a prize at that hour of the morning either, but I need the eye candy. Came home, got dog to groomers (they've already warned me he will look weird, but will smell nice), still felt kinda cruddy, had a smart moment and called out of work for the day. The heart rate thing on the treadmill is kind of freaking me out, cause it swings between "you're dead and have no HR" to "you're gonna stroke out" and I feel fine either way, but I keep slowing down when it gets high (and the HR drops quick at least) but it's effing with my pace. Not so sure on the accuracy of the machine-integrated monitors, but I'm starting to wonder if my confidence in my cardiovascular system may be slightly optimistic... Perhaps it's time to get a real HR monitor so I know what's going on and actually figure out WTF is my correct range. (The hazards of being an RPE kinda gal I suppose...)

If WWI was The War to End All Wars, why do we remember today as a day that will live in infamy? Guess it never really ends, does it?

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98% of free time today is being sucked up with "OMG, Grandma is coming" prep (three large bottles of wine have been purchased for her) and working late. Will run again tomorrow at the gym - wow that felt SO good last night - been over a week since a real workout, and surprisingly not painful.

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Conquered the fear of treadmills last night, even if I did have a bit of a death grip on the handlebars. I can see myself becoming a fan of this, especially in the winter. Big advantage - knowing what a sub 10 minute mile pace feels like. However, the heart rate monitor is incredibly distracting...

OK, I'm a little closer to being ready for Christmas - Santa Claus just came through the neighborhood on the fire truck. :-D Next, it's a Charlie Brown Christmas, then the gym to sneak up on an unsuspecting treadmill and try not to get thrown off.

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Another for the locals if you don't have your calendar marked already: registration for the 4/2/06 Cherry Blossom 10 miler opens Monday, 12/12 at 10AM http://www.cherryblossom.org/

Some spectacular housework avoidance this evening - I've even impressed myself. I've gotten to a point in my life where I know myself pretty well and I know exactly what it takes to get from point A to point B - it's quite the double edged sword, as I know I could have the house ready for my grandmother in 3 hours flat, and I could have the rest of my townhouse packed up in a day - not good for motivation as far as trying not to have to cram it all in at the last minute... At least I know I'm an event driven person - wish I'd figured that out a little sooner in life, but hey, never too late. (Of course, had I figured this out a couple years back, I'd probably be doing half IMs by now too.)

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Hmm, tomorrow's weather is looking a tad sketchy still. May have to get creative with the workout...

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For the locals - Quantico's 2006 race schedule is up - registrations start 1/1: http://www.quantico.usmc-mccs.org/sempfit/races.htm#races And apparently there are some races already listed on Active.com for which registration isn't open yet, and instead of saying "wait a week or so" it's just saying that registrations is "no longer available..." which sure makes it sound like something is already sold out. Fix the verbage folks!

Awesome, AWESOME weekend of football, hockey, several Purple Hazes, good food and fun. Should be enough to keep me sane for the next month. Back to superwoman status for the next 21 days, but a few thoughts before that insanity starts again: -- Downtown Norfolk has come so far in the last 25 years. -- The Marriott Waterside is awesome, especially the cityview rooms with everything lit for Christmas, and they give positively obscene military discounts. -- The Voodoo Rouge on Granby Street is very cool. -- There is no such thing as bad hockey when you're two rows back from the glass. Go Admirals!