MIA

The last time I took a 5-day break was when I forced myself to get off of my aching knee last summer. I gave myself exactly 7 days to see if my knee would feel better. When it didn't, I went right back into running.

I just took a 4-day break. Technically I have time to go hit the gym tonight, but I think I'm going to stay in.

My entire family lives in Wisconsin, or what I like to call "the armpit of America." Other than the fact that my family resides there, I can only come up with one good thing about heading across the stateline: I have a great view of the stars. Most of the stars get drowned out by light pollution here. Out there, it's nothing but endless sky. That's kind of cool.

Otherwise I pretty much think Wisconsin blows.

I spent the entire weekend there. We had our "postponed Christmas," so now I can finally tell people I got some good gifts?! Other than running magazine subscriptions and giftcards galore, the greatest gift I could have is spending time with my family ... and my Brooks sponsorship. :) I still am so excited about that. I tried to explain to my family, but none of them are runners (or even athletes, for that matter), so they kind of said, "oh, that's cool" in between sips of Barq's during football commercial breaks.

Did I mention that I think Wisconsin blows?

I've also had a slight twinge in my lower back on the left-hand side. I suspect it's from my chair at work. I spent a lot of time stretching this weekend, but I think sleeping in a new bed actually helped. I'll make this a 5-day break, and hope that the twinge will completely disappear. If not, I'll start determining the culprit...