update from the north pole

Lately, here in Iowa, it has felt like we live in the north pole. The snow just seems to keep coming, sometimes I wonder, where are we going to put it all?

This next picture is a little embarrassing but humorous at the same time. We had a window blow out and we never got around to getting it fixed resulting in the snow coming onto the porch. When Phil was shoveling, he had to shovel our porch out too... looks kind of messy, guess that didn't help matters.

On the bright side, I think we've gotten about two feet of snow in the past week ensuring a white Christmas this year.

These next few pictures show Wendell's new photography skills. I used to just delete the pictures but some are quite amusing so I've started keeping a few "good" ones ...

We've mostly been stuck at home the last few weeks. Wendell had a cold a couple of weeks ago so we didn't go out much (didn't want to make anyone else sick), then the snow came, and well the snow just keeps coming... hindering good travel weather.

On a fun note, I did run in another 5k last Saturday. It was my second one ever (my first one was at the Sweet Corn Festival in Adel in August of 2008) and I didn't do quite as well as my first one but I also had to "shuffle" through snow and wear a few extra layers to stay warm. My friend Sarah and I both ran three months post pregnancy. So on Saturday, Sarah and I (with her dad) ran at the Snow Shuffle at George Wyth Park here in Waterloo. They had Christmas music, carolers, hot chocolate and Santa handing out gifts. My mom came to cheer me on and took pictures but I'll have to get them at a later date. I must say it was quite festive and a very fun atmosphere. I even won a drawing prize of $10 off at a local store called Runners Flat. Unfortunately I just bought new shoes but maybe I can go buy some socks to keep my toes warm this winter.

I'm hoping to keep you posted on my running this winter. I can proudly say that I actually ran all of last winter, missing only a few days due to winter weather. Today, was another test to my endurance because it was dark and appeared cold when I peaked out the window when I woke up at 6:30am. However, it turned out to be a pretty easy run (as far as temperatures go). It was about 25 degree's out, but with wind of 6 miles per hour, it felt like about 17 degree's. I didn't have to wear all my winter gear because this is actually warm for a winter run. I had on one pair of sweatpants, (no leggings under the sweatpants), one pair of socks, a long sleeved tshirt, hooded sweatshirt, (no thermal shirt), scarf and stocking hat, and of course a sports bra and running shoes.

On a side note, I've found that I like running hills because they make me fee like I'm working harder so I ran a new path today (my old paths are on trails so I don't think I want to dig through that). I got through about 17 minutes and had to turn around because the snow was just getting deeper and deeper (the road wasn't quite as plowed as the others), and it was mostly uphill at that point, so I ran back home even though I only had another block or two to go. I also had to stop for a minute today because my side hurt... I actually can't remember the last time I had to stop because it hurt so bad, I wonder if it has to do with the cold or maybe it was the hills? But I did run about 34 minutes today... which is my normal running time so it worked out just fine.

Well, better go, my kids are calling me... next time I'll post on the Christmas plans for the year. We have 1 down and 7 to go; and a birthday party for Wendell next Sunday.