January, so far

I'm still having moments where I can't believe the new year is upon us... but it's 2017 and I only wrote "2016" a small handful of times!  I consider that a victory of sorts.  And here we are, over halfway through the first month of the new year.  We started it out by spending NYE at home--I had to work from 6am-4pm--making soup in the Crockpot and watching the ABC 7 New Year's holiday coverage, as has become our tradition.  Happy to say I made it to midnight, but it wasn't by a whole lot, haha.  The next day, we mostly hung out around the apartment, but we did make it out for a run!  It was really refreshing.

Speaking of, I'm hoping to get some good running in over the next few days.  We've been having some weird January weather lately... thunderstorms in the middle of the night... a high of 55 on the forecast for the weekend.  Just bizarre.  Anyway, I have been feeling a little cooped up lately and I definitely haven't been as active as I should be.  Plus, I know that what I need now is just to get back into the routine... I have been a little derailed from going out there and getting it done because of my injury and then winter, but I am bound and determined to make it happen for myself.  Real talk, I've gained about 10 pounds since my lowest weight over the summer, when I was marathon training.  10 pounds over ~6 months isn't that bad, but what I really feel like I'm struggling with is the decline in strength.  I know it's cliche but the start of a new year really is the perfect time to refocus on health.

One thing I am doing to that end?  I've started going to yoga!  Our gym has yoga classes several times a week so it was relatively easy for me to find one to fit my schedule.  And yeah, I am definitely still in the beginner, learning stages of this whole thing.  But I really enjoy going, I think it will help me with my goals of becoming stronger and more self-minded, and the only way I'll get better at it is if I keep practicing!  In fact, I have my eyes on tomorrow morning's 8:30 am yoga class.  It's good to have a routine, and I think this will also help me to keep running more regularly.

Besides all that, Tom and I have mostly been hanging out at home.  While this week is weirdly warm in Chicago, we dealt with some pretty brutally cold temps too and it hasn't really been nice enough to do anything but stay inside.  We've made a pizza in our brand new cast iron pan twice, the most recent time being last night (and it was PERFECT!  Also the reason why I need to run more, haha).  I saw La La Land last week and absolutely loved it.  We also had Tom's company party at Whirlyball which was of course a fun adventure!

I also decided to request some time off around my birthday...  we'll largely be stay-cationing, but I am hoping to go down and spend some time in the state's capitol with my sister's family.  We'll probably also be trying to find a neat airbnb in Wisconsin for a few nights as well.  Mostly, I just want to take some time to decompress and relax and celebrate turning 29.  We'll see where the week ends up, though!  Part of the beauty of it is not having any concrete plans and just seeing what happens!  ...January, you've been quite alright so far!