551!!

Remember when I said I wanted to hit '550 miles ran' this year? Well, I nailed 6 this morning in 58:06 and beat my goal by a mile! AND after tomorrow I will have successfully completed the Runner's World running streak, running at least 1 mile from Thanksgiving to New Year's day!! Since 11/22 I've run 96 miles! That's 96 miles in 40 days. I can't wait to see what my total mileage from all activities was this year on Daily Mile. That will include walking, rowing, and the elliptical and arc trainer. It's enjoyable to see those tallies!

Yesterday was Christmas 3.0 with my family. Just a small get together of 28 people. That was without my younger brother's family of 4, mind you. The family keeps growing since the nieces and nephews are growing up and starting families of their own. Mind boggling. When did I get that old? I ate really well yesterday, but that was pretty easy considering that there wasn't half the food we usually have at a get together. I guess everyone is starting to realize we overdo it just a bit. The dessert tables, however, were overflowing. My weakness...

You can't see it, but on the left-hand side of the picture I made the saltine cracker English toffee. I made it twice this holiday season, and it is amazing! Thank you Pinterest!

So, for Christmas I got several Kohl's gift cards, an Ulta gift card, and my niece, who picked my name, got me an iPod arm pocket and an iTunes gift card. I'll be christening the arm band on Friday in Miami! I'm still in denial that it's only 3 days away. I still have so much to do. Anyway, I finally downloaded some more Bruno Mars, my favorite hottie of the moment. Did you happen to see him perform at the Victoria's Secret fashion show? I watched it because I saw the models on several talk shows and I wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It was actually a very entertaining show, especially with Bruno's performance of 'Locked Out Of Heaven.' He just had a mesmerizing smile and some moves! (This is his performance at the Grammy's. )

I can't wait to be running my 8 mile leg when this song comes on! Maybe I'll James Brown it a bit on the course. NOT!!

With my Kohl's cards I got a few shirts, socks and some new sneakers! I broke them in with my 6 mile run this morning. Charlie had to throw his two cents in and say he thought it was a bad idea to be running in new sneakers for the race. Thanks for jinxing me, hon. They felt absolutely fine, except for the nice bleeding blister that was caused by the friction on the back of my ankle. I just need to wear socks that actually cover my ankle, NOT the no-see'um ones! They're my first pair of black running shoes (which thankfully hid the blood from my ankle nicely!).

I love the neon green on the soles. They'll look nice a lot longer than white shoes! Have I told you I can not believe that we leave for Miami on Thursday, only 2 days from now???

We're keeping it low key for New Year's Eve tonight. My sister invited us over, and she's only a 1 minute drive from my house, but I feel like being a home body tonight. If we weren't going away in a couple of days I would have had no problem being out and celebrating with the rest of the family, but since we are going to be away, I feel like we should spend time with the kids and enjoy the rest of their vacation. Tomorrow we're going to see 'The Hobbit' and I'm so excited!! We are HUGE 'Lord of The Rings' fans in this house. I wonder if Viggo Mortensen and Orlando Bloom weren't in the movies if I would enjoy them as much...? No, the story lines have me hooked, and I can watch the movies every time they are on.

Wednesday I'll probably be running around like a chicken with its head cut off, doing laundry, packing, grocery shopping... getting all my ducks in a row. We'll be at the airport before 5 am for our 6:15 am flight. If all goes according to plan, we'll be touching down in Miami at 12:50 pm and our team dinner will be a few hours later. After that it will be a fitful night of little to no sleep and the Ragnar start line at 7 am!!! I won't be blogging from the road, but I'll definitely have a tremendous amount to share with you come next Tuesday! It's going to be a whirlwind trip, but there will be memories made to last a lifetime. I couldn't think of a better way to start off a new year but with such an adventure!

I wish you all a very happy, healthy and successful new year. It's going to be the best year yet.