Enjoying the peace that is a quiet Sunday morning.

The last few days have been uneventful which is fine by me and running is back to being kick-ass as opposed to mediocre - woo hoo!

Started the half-marathon training group yesterday and I'm definitely excited. I feel like the coach has a lot of wisdom to impart which I'm looking forward to as well. Although, I think her Louisiana accent helps quite a bit, too. It's just fun to hear her talk, haha. The run itself went well - 6 miles total. No pains to speak of but I definitely need to remember Kleenex in the future. It's amazing how much your nose can run, even if it hadn't been running when you started.

The company I work for has started their own "Biggest Loser" contest a couple of weeks ago. I can't say I'm impressed with my results so far (a .5lb over a week) but I guess I can admit that I haven't been trying all that hard - pizza one week, nachos another - combined with a lackluster week of running definitely showed on the scale. Ah well, a loss of any amount is better than a gain, that's for sure.

It's also got me following the actual "Biggest Loser" show on television. I think part of it is seeing the success stories of the participants and the other part is seeing Jillian Michaels kick ass. If I ever have a trainer, she's the type I'd need. Not only does she get results physically but she really helps them address the emotional side of why they got to where they are, which is usually more of an issue than just eating and not exercising. For those who might be interested, she does have a radio program that you can either listen to live online on Sunday mornings, or download to your mp3 player - KFI On Demand. Highly recommend it.

The New Year got me thinking about setting new running goals. I've seen a lot of improvement over the last few years and I can only attribute that to the things I've learned since I've started. I remember one of my first runs and oh my gosh, it was awful!

I had tried to do 5 miles with some people I knew and I can't think of many things I did right - ok, maybe one-I had gotten good shoes. But everything else was so far off that if I could go back and slap myself, I probably would. I wore the wrong clothes, didn't bring anything to drink, and did I mention this was one of my first runs - hello, 5 miles? Wow..I'm amazed I can run today because I didn't kill myself then.

But I guess my point is that you learn a lot of things along the way - both in running, and life in general. You realize your mistakes, learn the lesson(s), and grow as a person. So, stay with your goals and make the most of the new year, taking all the opportunities you can to learn along the way.