It's been awhile

I feel like I haven't blogged in forever. I also haven't really run in awhile, but no worries, I've been getting in some alternate workouts and devising a plan to get myself in prime shape by the time it gets warm enough for me to go run outside again.
Since much has happened, I'm going to throw down a couple trusty old bulleted lists to outline both past and future!

*Stuff that has happened*
-Took the GRE. It wasn't so bad, except for the fact it was on the same day as a GIGANTIC SNOWSTORM. I had to rush there since they were closing early. Prelim scores show me as being in the 96th percentile in Verbal (whoo!) and I don't care about my embarassing Math score. Writing scores are on their way. On the way home, I wiped out on the snowy highway at least 20 times and thought I would have to sleep in a parking lot.
-Saw my family, including the most adorable baby cousin ever, Joey.
-Hosted a little beer & chocolate tasting with my bro at Christmas dinner, which was a surprisingly big hit.
-Did a couple of kettlebell workouts from LiftKettlebells.com. I can't recommend these highly enough. If you're interested in kettlebells and know basic form, these two free audio workouts (either a 20 or 30 minute session) are intense, quick, simple, and incredibly well cued. Excellent.
-Drank too much beer and didn't eat well. Will look into fixing that.
-Made some new friends in the neighborhood.
-Hung out with some old friends I hadn't seen in awhile.
-Most importantly and awesomely, I started off 2009 with a dip in the Harbor with the L Street Brownies. It was seriously one of the most ridiculously life-affirming and joyful experiences I have ever had, though I still can't quite feel my toes. Next year (and yes, I am doing it next year, for sure) I am going to wear shoes. It was a balmy 8 degrees Fahrenheit with a wind chill of -11 or something.

*Stuff that is happening*
-Since I just can't manage to bring myself to blow snot rockets, I'm not running outdoors when it's below 35 degrees OR when the sidewalk is a solid sheet of ice.
-I am still going to do at least two treadmill runs per week, mainly tempo runs of around 20 minutes (plus warmup and cooldown). I'm going to try and keep them under a 9:30 pace.
-In addition, I'm going to try and do two HIIT sessions a week. That stuff makes even the elliptical into an intstrument of torture. Holy cow.
-Every weekend I'm going to get in at least an hour of cardio, whether the bike, elliptical or treadmill walking. If it's warm enough, I'll do a "long" run of 5 or 6 miles.
-Finally, I am going incorporate more weight training. I started the one hundred pushups challenge today.
-And I'm going to post all my boring workouts in this blog, forcing me to say something interesting whenever I work out. Let's get this party started.

Today's workout
HIIT on elliptical : 5 min warm up, 8 x 20 sec hard & 1 minute easy, 5 min cooldown
Hundred Pushups Challenge : Week 1, day 1. 6, 6, 4, 4, 6
Other : Captain's Chair. I have never used this instrument of torture and I'm not entirely sure I did it right, but I tried 3 sets of 12 and felt pretty tired after that.