My legs might possibly fall off.

Imagine the scene. Danielle sitting at the airport gate, chatting with Audrey to see if their time in Boston will overlap and Danielle lamenting the fact she lost her car keys between her car and the airport. Danielle hangs up and hears "Danielle, come to gate C2 immediately, your plane is leaving in five minutes." Uh... So they put the wrong gate up on the monitor and I was too busy chitchatting away to notice the gate next to me loading to go to Detroit. A nice way to start my break. I did get on though, so never fear. And landed in Detroit and had to spend five hours hanging around the airport because Boston was snowed in and they wouldn't let our plane take off. I finally rolled into Boston at 3am. My poor mom! Having to pick me up in the middle of the night!

Anyway, I woke up at 11:30 the next day (I love break!) and had three hours to get ready to head up to Vermont to go skiing. Despite having a ski bum for a sister, I haven't been (downhill) skiing in three years now. Needless to say, my legs were pretty sore. But it was sort of like riding a bike - I was able to hit all the terrain by the end of day, even if I still don't do moguls in a very pretty fashion. Sunday night it poured though, so Monday there were approximately two trails open. But my dad and I skied anyway, and got some quality father-daughter time in on the chairlifts.

On Christmas, after three days of skiing, I decided I should do a long run. I was going to do it on Friday, but the plane delay sort of messed up my day. So I did a ten mile run from our house in Vermont.So, one might notice the elevation change there. There is a bit of a climb there. I would like to note that the elevation change there is the same as the elevation change (~900 ft) between Ames... and the ocean. So yeah, I am not exactly practiced in such running. I thought I was going to die. I mean, I knew it was like this before I set out, but it was only after I ran two effortless sub-9 minute miles to start that I knew I was in trouble. I would also like to note that my half-marathon training lately has consisted of only... long runs. Once a week, I run long and skip all my short runs. Totally not recommended. But anyway, I have no endurance. So when I hit mile six and started climbing I was already getting tired. That hill pretty much demolished me. My first five miles was 49 minutes. The second five miles? 70 minutes. Yes folks, I averaged 14 minute miles up that hill. It was not pretty. I was glad it was a remote gravel road, so very few people saw me suffer. And I am still in a world of hurt. I started walking the second I hit mile 10, even though it was all downhill from there (actually it was very steep so it was a little too much for my knees).

And since I forgot to bring any gels with me from Iowa, I had to improvise. I would probably not recommend Cadbury creme eggs as run nutrition. Besides the fact that they now make Christmas creme eggs, which is just plain wrong. Just like Halloween Peeps are wrong. Is nothing sacred anymore? What's next? Christmas candy corn?

Anyway, despite the fact that I swore I needed to do my short runs between now and PF Chang, I haven't run since because my whole lower body just hates me.

And did you know that there are like no free wireless places in the entire f%$@ing Boston area? I think all coffee shops in Iowa have free wireless. It's only the suckers that go to Starbucks and use their wireless for a fee. I only stomached paying the $10 day pass fee at Starbucks because I can use it tomorrow at the airport too. Gees!

After a whirlwind trip home, I am back in Iowa tomorrow to revel in the fun of politics! It's going to be good times! Obama is throwing a NYE party on campus - I might have switched candidates if he was providing an open bar, but alas cash bar. I'll still probably drop by since I typically have a lame NYE and I might as well hang out with a presidential candidate.

That last sentence just made me a little sad about my life :-)