Letting yourself get out of shape is like a credit card... It's lots of fun until you get the bill.

It was fun and I really took advantage of my post Ironman glory. I ate lots of Ben & Jerry ice cream and basically let the cold winter start while I was warm inside. No morning workouts, no evening workouts, no workouts period. Well, the bill came (it's actually been here for a while but I have ignored it as long as I could) and it's time to pay up. I have penciled out a racing season and it's starting up in the not too distant future. The first "race" will be a 10k on February 13th. I do not predict any PR race times for this one but I will strive to finish respectably. For several months all the races I have planned are running races as I feel putting in the running miles will help jump start my biking and swim training. It looks like the first triathlon will be in May and I know it will be competitive and fast so I need to get some consistency back in my training now. Currently my training plan is simply that, "consistency." I will do what I feel like doing but I can't be skipping days because it can get to be a bad habit and get me into that cycle of not feeling like I'm getting anywhere. After a good dose of that I can start to work in some quality workouts with more precise objectives. But for now it's Operation: Get My Ass Out The Door.

The Christmas Holiday is quickly coming to an end and the busy life of the Montoya Family will soon resume. We started off our two week break with a performance of the Nutcracker, starring our one and only, Emma! A ballet company from San Diego asked for children from the community to be a part of the show, and Emma was excited. She had two performances, one for the school kids in the morning, and one for everyone in the evening at Macy Center. Emma played a BonBon and had a lot fun dancing with Mother Ginger!

We then had a visit from Monique and Levi where it was nonstop food, fun, and dancing!

On Christmas Eve, we went to mass and had Green Chile Stew afterwards at Steven's mom's house. The girls and I played a new game called Headbands...Emma was really good at it all of a sudden. I couldn't figure why, until I realized that I was sitting in front of the refrigerator and she could see her picture in it! Ha! Emma and Grace also enjoyed spreading Reindeer Food outside and getting Santa's cookies ready for him as well before they headed off to sleep . A little Elf got to Santa's cookies before he did though! Unfortunatly with all the excited we had to go for a drive to look at lights at 11:00pm hoping the kids would fall asleep!

Christmas morning came too quick! Steven's grandma was the first awake; ringing the doorbell to find none of us were up yet! Steven started a fire and coffee as we waited for Emma and Grace to wake up. Soon after, the girls were excited to see that Santa had found their house and left lots to be opened! While Emma and Grace were looking through their stockings, Steven started breakfast and CC arrived as well. The girls spent quite the morning opening up gifts. At one point, Emma looked around and said, "Mom, I don't think he got me the dog. Moments later, she picked up a box just the right size and said, I have to open this one! I think this is it! As she began to rip it open, the box barked! She was so excited. At that point Christmas could have been over. Santa brought her the GoGo and me dog! Grace got lots of dolls and was most excited about a bag full of pretend bottles and pacifiers for her babies!

Emma learned how to make empenadas with her grandma and great grandma

This year, we spent our Christmas at home, and so did everyone else. Both of my sister's stayed home and so did Steven's brothers. My mom went to visit my Grandma in Wyoming, and even made the news! Love ya mom! We did however make it down to Las Cruces and stayed with my sister Kelly for two days. We went with Sydney, Thomas, Monique, and Levi to see Tangled in 3D! We even made it to dinner in El Paso at the State Line! I hope everyone had a nice Christmas!

Vegas Baby!

Sorry for the lack of pictures from the marathon and Las vegas in general, the camera jumped out of my jacket pocket and stayed in the backseat of a cab the morning of the race so all pictures came from my phone. Oh well, that's not the big news anyway.

Congratulations to my wife who ran her first marathon last weekend and did an amazing job! Her goal when training was to break 4 hours and she did just that and then some, finishing in 3:51. When I asked her afterwards if she'd do another she was pretty enthusiastic and I think she even has some dreams of qualifying for Boston. Looking back on Lindsey's accomplishment I am just so proud of her and I know her Dad would be to. I doubt it would of taken any convincing for him to meet us there but if he hadn't he would have been the first person she called. I know he was watching after you and I know you made him proud too. You did great.

And special thanks to Grandma Burns who graciously came over and stayed the weekend with Emma and Grace. It was great to spend time with my wife and take in Las Vegas. So thank you Sue.

Lindsey really looked good and was ahead of pace every time I saw her.

New York and Paris just a short walk away.

Ironman met the real Ironman... you figure out who's who.

Doing our best self portrait shot in front of the Belagio.

Thanksgiving 2010

We spent the Thanksgiving holiday with Grandma Burns in Alamogordo. We had a great time visiting family and playing with cousins. The feast did not disappoint and neither did Caliche's on Friday. Saturday we played miniature golf and raced go karts. In just 3 short weeks we will be celebrating Christmas, Lindsey's birthday, and a new year. But first, Lindsey has 26.2 miles to go this weekend in Las Vegas.

Time for things to slow down (a little).

Today is the day after the cross country season has ended for the 2010 season. We had our state championships yesterday in Rio Rancho and I have to say it was a good day and Socorro XC has lots to be proud of and an even brighter future to look forward to. On the boys side we continued our climb up the XC ladder and placed 7th as a team. We also had the 2nd best pack time (time difference between our first and fifth scoring runners) in the entire field regardless of classification and we avenged our loss to Ruidoso from the week before at the district championships. In 2009 we finished 10th and the year before we weren't able to qualify a team for State so we are improving but like running and endurance sports, it takes consistent work over time.

On the girls side we finished 8th as a team and had the programs first all-state runner as we had the 4th place individual finisher. The great thing about this girl is that she is a freshman and 2 of the 3 girls ahead of her were seniors. I hope she stays motivated about running and she surrounds herself with friends who encourage her to improve. Similar to the boys, the girls improved from the previous year where they finished 9th and from 2008 when we didn't even have enough girls to make a team.

Although I'm already looking forward to next season I am even more looking forward to my family and friends. I want to spend even more time with them and I don't think I've been to Las Cruces or Phoenix for some time. Not to mention Boise to visit my hot mess sister-in-law. Next weekend my nephew will be running in the state championships XC race for NM Junior Olympics and I am looking forward to that as he is a future star of NM XC. This month will also bring Thanksgiving in Alamogordo and I'm looking forward to all that delicious food and taking a turkey overdose induced nap. And in December, Lindsey will run her first marathon and I am so proud of the work she has been putting in. I haven't been to Sin City since I was too young to sin.

Well hopefully you can expect some more posts from now on... Now that I've got some free time ;)

-Steven

YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!

Congratulations Steven on your Ironman finish! It was awesome

to see you out there among the best! Mike and I had a great time following you on our bikes while you ran:) You accomplished such an amazing goal that you have wanted for so long. You did it with such heart and we are all so proud of you.

Steven,
You have been preparing for this day for quite some time now. I can't believe we leave tomorrow for Hawaii! I am excited to be there and experience all the events that take place this week in preparation for Ironman on Saturday, even the underwear run! You have been dedicated to your workouts and have pushed yourself to extremes in many ways, physically and emotionally. We will be your number one fans out there just like we were leading up to this. We love you and wish you a safe Ironman race. YOU ROCK!

GO IRONDADDY!