Most Liked IG Posts of 2016

Hope everyone has a fun & safe New Year's Eve tonight! I'll be lounging at home, nursing this icky cold and hoping that it doesn't last long. {Read: How to Get Over a Cold Quickly}

It's time to officially say good-bye to 2016.

Since I only really blogged for 2 months this year, I thought it would be fun to send off the year by sharing my Top 3 Most Liked Instagram posts for each month of 2016.

January

A photo posted by Clarinda (@enjoyingthecourse) on Jan 17, 2016 at 10:19am PST

A photo posted by Clarinda (@enjoyingthecourse) on Jan 10, 2016 at 1:54pm PST

A photo posted by Clarinda (@enjoyingthecourse) on Jan 4, 2016 at 7:05pm PST

2016 in Review

One of the things I love most about December is looking back at all the fun I had throughout the year. 2016 was no exception!

Here is a recap of the year. Well, since this blog was inactive most of the year, this might be new-to-you, instead of a recap. 😄 Unless you follow me on Instagram. Then this might be a recap after all. 😉

My Year of Running 2016

Wow! It's so hard to believe that this is the final week of the year! I've been enjoying reflecting on the year and reading lots of other recaps from other running blogs.

I'm especially excited to see that the Year of Running is still a thing. It started with Amanda at Miss Zippy (no longer blogging) and is now being hosted by Courtney at Eat Pray Run DC.

Without further ado, here is the 2016 edition of My Year of Running.

Week in Review 12/25

Merry Christmas!

Hope you all are enjoying a lovely day with family. I'm off to run the Las Vegas Strip in my Christmas hat. More on that next Sunday. :-)

In the meantime, here is my recap of last week.

12 Years!

Yesterday, I celebrated 12 years of marriage to my wonderful husband, Jeff.

Over the years, we haven't ever really given each other gifts to celebrate our anniversary. However, Jeff gave me a couple little traditional gifts for our 10-year, so last year we decided that each year for the next decade for our marriage, we would choose a traditional gift together. Year 11 is steel, and we bought a wine corkscrew.

The traditional gift for a 12 year anniversary is Silk. Since we are on a tight budget right now, and didn't want to buy actual gifts that we may or may not ever use like a silk scarf (for me) or a silk tie (for Jeff), I found a restaurant called Silk Road Asian Bistro.

My Year in Race Bling 2016

Today's topic for Tuesday's on the Run is Your year in race bling and/or pictures. I didn't run a lot of races this year, but here's the bling I managed to snag.

I didn't write a recap for all of them, but click on the pictures to read the recaps that I did write.

Week In Review 12/18

Wow! Can you believe Christmas is only 1 week from today? We don't really celebrate Christmas, but I am looking forward to running the Strip in a cute Christmasy running outfit.

But this post is about my week last week. :-)

I had a couple tough workouts, a few great runs, and a fun (but hard) experience volunteering at a race on Saturday.

Ugly Sweater Day

Did you know that the 3rd Friday in December is Ugly Sweater Day? Yep. That's today!

I donned my ugly sweater leggings to celebrate.

My company had an ugly sweater contest last week for our holiday party. We had some pretty good contenders.

I didn't participate, but I was one of the judges. How do you judge which sweater should win? Is it the ugliest? The most creative? Store bought? Homemade? So much pressure!

Enjoy Your Run

We've all been there. Out on a run that makes you question why the hell you do this.

A run that hurts physically or mentally.
A run when your body or mind just isn't feeling it.
A run that's a struggle to put one foot in front of the other.
A run that just doesn't go as planned or as you hoped.

"Find a way to enjoy parts of every run. Most of your runs should be mostly enjoyable."
~Jeff Galloway

I love this quotation so much! But it got me thinking, How can I make most of my runs mostly enjoyable?

Week In Review 12/11

Kind of a busy week with thrift shopping, happy hour, bowling, a company holiday and of course, all the normal running.

My Favorite Holiday Drink at Starbucks

If you knew me in real life, you'd know how much I love Starbucks. Their drinks are delish, of course, but even more than that, I love their rewards program and their customer service is some of the best!

Since I love it so much, I thought I'd share my favorite holiday drink with you.

It starts with a venti Chestnut Praline Latte.

What Running Taught Me This Year

Last week, I stumbled upon a new {to me} link-up called Tuesdays on the Run. I'm excited to join in the fun {a day late}. This week's topic is Something new running taught you this year.

Back in 2013, I shared 4 Lessons I've Learned about Running and in 2014, I shared 5 Lessons From Running I Haven't Learned.

So, what's something NEW I've learned this year?

Week in Review 12/04

Mostly a good week last week. #RWRunStreak is going strong and I'm keeping up with my Nike+ Run Club training program, too. The cold weather sucks, but at least it's helping me run a bit FASTER! 🏃

Ultimate Coffee Date - December 2016

Happy December! Since it's the first Saturday of the month, it's time for the Ultimate Coffee Date with Coco & Deborah. It's always fun to catch up with all of you on what's been going over a nice hot cup of joe (or tea, in my case this morning).

The last Ultimate Coffee Date seems both like it was a long time ago and that it was just last week. Anyone else feel this way about November? Just me?

How much to do you LOVE my new December mug?
Not much snow here in Vegas, but I still love it SNOW MUCH. hehehe

Stress Management Tool Kit Essentials

With Thanksgiving last week, the holiday season in now officially in full swing.  While this season should be filled with love and laughter, family and friends, it often comes with higher levels of stress. A couple years ago, I shared 4 Tips to Relieve Stress. Those are still some really great tips, but they do take some time. And, let's face it, sometimes during high stress, we need simple, quick, and easy solutions to help lower that stress.

I recently received a Wellness Newsletter at work. It was mostly about stress management, and one of the things it suggested was having a Stress Managment Tool Kit.

I couldn't resist sharing some tool kit essentials that can help you relieve stress anytime anywhere.

Week in Review 11/27

Hope you all survived Thanksgiving and are getting in the holiday spirit!

I started the #RWRunStreak on Thanksgiving as well as a new Nike+ training program. To help hold myself accountable, I thought it would be a good idea to do a Week in Review post each Sunday.

I'm mostly focused on running right now, but this frog doing yoga was just too cute!

Happy Thanksgiving

It's Turkey Day! Can you even believe it?!

This quote randomly found its way into my Inbox, and I really loved it!

Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow. --Melodie Beattie

I sincerely hope your day is filled with GRATITUDE, delicious smells wafting from the kitchen, family & friends, good food & fun!

Gobble! Gobble!
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What's your favorite Thanksgiving dish?
How are you celebrating today? We are skipping all traditional aspects of Thanksgiving and are instead heading outside to enjoy some of the gorgeous nearby trails. I love living in Vegas!

3 Ways to Celebrate Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is almost here! I thought I'd share some ideas to mix up your Thanksgiving Day celebrations and make the day a little more meaningful.

PJ 5k Recap

The PJ 5k takes place at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and is the only time Glittering Lights is open to foot traffic. It's 3 miles of really cool holiday lights and displays.

This was my 3rd year running this race, and it just keeps getting better!

Urban Running: Staying Safe

While I love to hit the mountain or desert trails, I still largely identify myself as an urban runner. There is something about running through the tall buildings and along the busy streets that I find really rewarding.

Running through urban areas does come with its own set of risks and since November is National Running Safety Month, I thought I'd share 10 tips on how to stay safe out on the streets.

Thankful Thursday #3

Thanksgiving is just one week away. What are your plans? Big dinner? Gathering with family or friends? We don't really have any plans yet, but I'm thinking maybe a picnic in the mountains. Hmmm. I'll have to think on that a little more.

But today, here are a few more things I'm thankful for.

Thankful Thursday #2

Happy Thursday!!

We're another week closer to Thanksgiving!

Time to take a few minutes to reflect on the things I'm thankful for this week.

Living in Las Vegas. I'm so grateful to live in a place that is so close to absolutely gorgeous hiking trails. Some of my favorites are Red Rock National Conservation Area.

Ultimate Coffee Date - November 2016

When I was preparing my blog to get it ready for its big revival, I was super excited to see that Coco and Deborah were still hosting the Ultimate Coffee Date on 1st Saturday of each month.

Because who doesn't love having coffee virtually with all their blogging friends?

If we were having coffee today, I would tell you...

Thankful Thursday #1

Happy 1st Thursday of November. :)

We don't really do much to celebrate the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, but I thought it would be a good excuse time to reflect on some of the things I'm thankful for with a revival of Thankful Thursdays.

This week, I'm thankful for...

Hello, Again...

Sixteen months ago, I made the decision to close down this blog. I had been feeling uninspired for awhile, and blogging wasn't really working for me.

But I kinda started to miss it!

... sharing my running adventures
... sharing random thoughts and experiences of my every day life
... the blogging community

And then a couple weeks ago, I got an email from GoDaddy reminding me that my domain would expire in a couple months.

So, I got to thinking.... Why not start blogging again?

Maybe a 16 month hiatus was just what I needed to get my blogging mojo back. Fingers crossed. :-)

I'm looking forward to sharing my thoughts, experiences, and tips with you all and hope that you'll enjoy my return.

Until next time...

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