Christmas trees, bikes and running

They don't all go to together : )

Christmas trees - Growing up, my mom always kept up our tree for a long time, at least till the end of January. It makes sense to me because it is nice to see it and brings a smile. I've tried to keep ours up as long as possible in recent years and usually can't wait to put it up. This year I'm ready to get it down already. I want the space back and all the Christmas stuff to be put away.  I've already seen some trees out on the curb. How long do you keep up your tree? Ours is fake so I don't have to worry about it drying out.

Bikes - I have a mountain bike and for the 2 triathlons that I signed up for this spring/summer, I want to use a road bike. I don't want to buy one of these just yet and hear they are expensive. Do you think I could borrow or find one on Craig's List for the tris? What would you do?

Running - opportunities abound! I think that I will meet my goals of running with people for 2011. I'm very committed to it. On Saturday I sent out an email to my master's swim team seeing if anyone could run with me on Sunday morning at a trail nearby mid-morning. Most of the clubs meet at 8am and it is much easier for me to feed Kara, put her down for a nap and then go.  A friend in my lane agreed to run with me. It was great! She led the way and ran an even paced 8 miles with average of 8:38. It felt like I was pushing it a little but I needed to be pushed!  When I ran with my sister just a week ago, we did the same course and I led the pace and finished 8 minutes slower at the end.

When I sent out the email, I had other responses telling me about group runs and I ended up on a list for a couple of local clubs. Tomorrow there is a hill workout in the morning about 15 minutes away. I'm thinking of going, but my only fear is the darkness and tripping from not being able to see. Do you run in the dark?  Maybe I should get one of those head lamps?  I'm really psyched to have people to run with!

Happy New Year!