I'm getting excited!

I leave for TNNA at 6:40 am on Saturday (thank you, Alaska Airlines, for moving me to a flight that leaves four hours earlier than the one I booked without asking me first). I can't wait to go to the show, now that my worries about Owen are somewhat dissuaded... One of the things I'm most excited about is flying on a plane by myself. I don't think I've done that since I had children (certainly not since I had Owen). I have two whole hours to do whatever I want, without having to feed anyone or entertain anyone (or keep anyone from kicking the back of the seat in front of them or screaming at the top of their lungs for no reason). I can read, or knit, or sit and stare into space. Heaven!

I also took a huge step in my athletic "career" on Sunday and ponied up my $90 to register for the 2007 Portland Marathon. I ran my first 10k that morning and was still coming off the high of running 6.2 miles without dying. Even though it was pouring rain, and there were some walkers who walked faster than I was running, I still felt great when I finished. It's so empowering to run that far and feel like you could keep going forever. I can't imagine what it will be like to finish a marathon. My next goal is to run the Shamrock 15k in March and possibly a half marathon in April (if not in April, then definitely in July). I am ridiculously slow (it took me an hour and 21 minutes to run the 10k, which is about 13:30 per mile - again, I was being passed by walkers, which is rather humiliating), but I totally love it when I'm able to shut out everyone else and only worry about what I'm doing (yet again, ignoring the walkers as they pass me).

The biggest frustration I have with all this running I'm doing is that it feels like I should be melting off pounds with all the exercise, but I'm not. If I can get back down to my pre-Sydney weight, it will be like shedding a Sydney (as in, right now I've got an extra 30+ lbs on me and so it's like I'm running with her on my back - or rather, on my midriff...). So that's my 2nd New Year's resolution - #1 is to run the marathon (or I should say finish the marathon, since I don't necessarily feel the need to run the entire way), #2 is to lose a Sydney's-worth of weight before the marathon. I am lousy at keeping resolutions, even though Bill and I faithfully make them every year, but these two I really want to plug away at.

Speaking of plugging away, I'm still working on the Classic Elite projects which are due at the end of the month, and I've got some submissions to send out. Chug, chug, chug!