December: The Ups and Downs

December had it's ups and downs but I have to say that most of it was positive. Sometimes I tend to judge my life basEd on how running treating me because it is such a big part of my life and something I love to do. I have so many things to be thankful for and I want to share some of those things instead of focusing on the knee pain that I have been dealing with since late October.

I did not run a lot of miles in December but I am just thankful to be running again. I haven't talked much about this knee problem because I still don't know what the heck the problem is. I can say that it is getting better and I can run without much pain afterward. It used to be much worse so it is getting better. I am not 100% pain-free but I feel like I am 75% there. Progress is all that I can ask for right now. I have been taking it easy on my runs and not focusing on pace. I just have to put that aside for now and focus on getting my knee back to 100%.

Mileage for December was low since I have been keeping my runs in the single digits. That is just how is it is right now. I am looking forward to getting back on track and running with my running club again because I miss them. 

Christmas Eve was really sad because Roxy took a turn for the worse and we ended up at the emergency with her. Unfortunately we had to put her down because she stopped eating and was wasn't even able to keep water in her tummy. She became really weak and there was nothing more that we could do for her. It was tough putting her down at 11:41 pm Christmas Eve since we were then sitting in a room holding her and saying goodbye at the stroke of midnight when Christmas began. We miss her a lot but find comfort knowing that we did all we could do for her and she had a great life with us. 

There were also a lot of positive things that happened this month. My sister arrived on Christmas Day from South Carolina to visit for the holidays and we had a great time. I only see her once a year since her husband is in the Navy and they don't get to travel often. The timing was good because we were distracted and didn't think about Roxy 100% of the time. My three year old nephew is so cute and just makes us laugh non-stop. I especially love how he tells on himself when he does something wrong. 

I hosted my annual Christmas party with my family and we all had a lot of fun visiting and catching up. I am especially thankful that my dad is still here with us and is doing better than we could have ever hoped for. He recently had a PET scan and his cancer is stable. It has not improved but has not spread or gotten any worse. His blood work also shows improvement since his cancer number has gone from a 79 down to a 4! He is not cancer-free but we are very grateful for this Christmas gift that we have been given.

I also thankful that my grandma was able to spend Christmas with us. She will be 88 years old this year and is pretty healthy. The holidays are especially hard for her because she misses my grandpa even more during these times.

We stayed at home to ring in the New Year. I think I fell asleep on the couch with all of my dogs and my son and my niece woke me up right before midnight so I could celebrate with them. This is probably the only photo you will ever see of me in my glasses because I look pretty horrible in them. I am thinking of having Lasik eye surgery this year but I am super nervous about it!

I am excited about 2015 and all that it has in store for me! I am still working on my goals and race calendar for 2015. I am trying not to get too hard ahead of myself until I get this knee problem under control. I don't want to sign up for a bunch of races and not be able to run them. 

How was your Christmas and New Year celebration?

Have you set new goals and signed up for some races?