I'm ready, how about you?

Sure feels like a good day to turn over a new leaf, start a new page, wipe the slate clean, yadda, yadda, yadda. Yeah, I know it’s the last day of 2008, not January One, but heck. We’ll get a head start on the rest of the pack.

I’m already regretting my decision not to run any races next year. PQ posted a photo of her Indy medal and I want one! It’s tentatively on the schedule for 2010. I was listening to music in the car last night mentally figuring out which tunes were the right beat for my running pace. She’s Having a Baby by Dave Wakeling was one surprising fit.

I informed my husband that I was definitely planning to run a full marathon in 2011, for my 60th birthday. I think he turned three shades of white. He was hoping my taking a year off would quell the urge to run more long-distance races. Hah! This is working just like depriving me of food: if sugar’s on the forbidden list, I want it even more.

He and I have walked outside the past three days during some unseasonably balmy weather. Today? I doubt we’ll be out there. Winter is roaring back with whipping winds and temperatures back down in the 40s (with overnight temps in the teens – brrr!).

If 2009 is anything like 2008, I might jump off a bridge. My father had more than his share of serious illnesses (and called us yesterday with this news: “The culture came back; I have MRSA.” But it’s still 2008, so it doesn’t get counted for next year!), my husband’s mother was hospitalized twice and my best friend died. I watched our retirement account shrink as my waistline grew, and I didn’t set a PR in Richmond. The good stuff? Three healthy baby boys, born May 12 and thriving.

I need to actively search for the good stuff, every day, and I think I’ll resurrect Project 365, with that as a loose theme. While I always tried to take interesting photos, by mid-March I was just going through the motions. Perhaps having a purpose will help me stick with it in 2009. (And I’m not going to make myself post a new photo every day, since I know alreadyrightnow that I won’t be at my computer from January 2 until January 12.)

Happy New Year’s Eve. I’m not the party-going type; I’m turning into my grandmother, who never missed a year-end ball drop at Times Square via television. Actually I’m worse than my grandmother: I think I’ve gone to bed early every year since the calendar switched from 1999 to 2000.

Because, really, it’s just another day. But so full of promise. A good night’s sleep is a great way to get a good start.