We were all thankful for our rest day when Monday rolled around. Everyone in my house seemed to get sick all at once. My brother picked up my sore throat and my mom came down with the flu. We also still had a dinner party to put on for all my brothers friends who are home for the holidays. All twenty-something of them. I love them, they're like family to me, but that is a lot of people to feed all by yourself. Luckily, I had help. Two of my best friends, who are absolute saints, came over to help out.
After a haphazard costco trip my brother sent out a note to all the guys and told them it was now a potluck. Turned out to be the best idea since we went from not knowing how to make enough food for all those people to not knowing how we were going to eat all the food everyone had brought! Later that night I actually had to finish off most of a gallon of milk just so there would be room for everything in the fridge! The guys really impressed me with their cooking skills, and they were dressed to kill. The whole night was a success.
The next day was Christmas Eve but since everyone was feeling icky they stayed in bed and I enjoyed leftovers with my dad. We watched some action flicks and hung out around the house since everything else in town was closed. The guys from the dinner party the night before all ended up joining me for the midnight candlelight church service that night after Dad had gone to bed.
The next day my mother was finally able to get out of bed for the first time all week! We watched our favorite Christmas movie, Miracle, and enjoyed more leftovers (seriously, there was so much food!). It was a pretty low key Christmas compared to years past but it was nice to have some days off and get to spend time with my family.
The biggest highlight of Christmas day for me was when I was finally well enough to go for a run! It had been 16 days since I had last run and I had only managed to get in about eight miles the entire month! My friends thought it was great because they finally had the chance to beat me for most miles run on our Nike+ Running apps but the urge to run was too much. After taking it easy and not doing any cardio for the entire time I had been sick I was desperate for a run.
I told myself I was just going to go see what I could do comfortably. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty but I didn't care, I just needed to lace up and get outside. I expected to run about 5 miles but when I hit what would have been the turn around at 2.5 miles I was feeling strong enough to keep going and turned it into a 6 mile run. Not bad for taking a few weeks off.
I should have stretched out after, though, because I was feeling pretty tight the next day! All the lifting I had been doing had kept my quads, and hamstrings in fairly decent shape but I hadn't done nearly enough for my calves. Whoops! Since I was a gymnast for years and years before I began running I have a tendency to run entirely on my toes, regardless of how far I'm going. Which means when I'm in top shape I have wonder calves that are so disproportionate to the rest of my body I actually have to go a size up in boots. But when I'm not running they shrink back up to a more normal size that isn't strong enough to support endless mileage.
I am, however, determined to reverse those effects since I spent my Christmas day signing up for races after I got back from my run. I've got my latest training schedule all worked out and am looking forward to building up my base so I can hit about a hundred miles a month and not just twenty or so. I didn't do nearly enough training for my last half and looked a bit like a ghost when I crossed the finish line. I don't want to feel that drained again. Especially since I signed up for my very first marathon that I will be running this summer!
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After four years of being a sometimes serious, sometimes not-so-serious, runner I'm ready to take the plunge and finally conquer 26.2 miles! The farthest I've ever run is a little over a half so I'm nervous-excited but also totally pumped to cross this off my list of things I've always wanted to do. Especially since my "Racing Bucket List" is pages long and most of them are a length I've never before attempted. Time to get started on making some dreams come true!
As you can see from the photo above I did sneak in one more run this week, too. Before my training program begins for real on the 30th. I dashed outside after work and managed to get in the three miles before the sun set. I then went back into the gym and did Fran before going home for the day.
When I got home I had some of my favorite broccoli and cheddar soup and watched an old favorite, You've Got Mail; with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (1998). I then passed out on the sofa and missed almost the entire Fight Hunger Bowl game in which my precious Huskies were playing. I ended up sleeping for so long I was hungry again when I woke up, but it was too late for any actual sort of meal so I grabbed a handful of the mini bell peppers I bought in bulk a couple weeks back and snacked on them, instead.
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas week!!
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| Ela, me, and Chara |
After a haphazard costco trip my brother sent out a note to all the guys and told them it was now a potluck. Turned out to be the best idea since we went from not knowing how to make enough food for all those people to not knowing how we were going to eat all the food everyone had brought! Later that night I actually had to finish off most of a gallon of milk just so there would be room for everything in the fridge! The guys really impressed me with their cooking skills, and they were dressed to kill. The whole night was a success.
The next day was Christmas Eve but since everyone was feeling icky they stayed in bed and I enjoyed leftovers with my dad. We watched some action flicks and hung out around the house since everything else in town was closed. The guys from the dinner party the night before all ended up joining me for the midnight candlelight church service that night after Dad had gone to bed.
The next day my mother was finally able to get out of bed for the first time all week! We watched our favorite Christmas movie, Miracle, and enjoyed more leftovers (seriously, there was so much food!). It was a pretty low key Christmas compared to years past but it was nice to have some days off and get to spend time with my family.
The biggest highlight of Christmas day for me was when I was finally well enough to go for a run! It had been 16 days since I had last run and I had only managed to get in about eight miles the entire month! My friends thought it was great because they finally had the chance to beat me for most miles run on our Nike+ Running apps but the urge to run was too much. After taking it easy and not doing any cardio for the entire time I had been sick I was desperate for a run.
I told myself I was just going to go see what I could do comfortably. I knew it wasn't going to be pretty but I didn't care, I just needed to lace up and get outside. I expected to run about 5 miles but when I hit what would have been the turn around at 2.5 miles I was feeling strong enough to keep going and turned it into a 6 mile run. Not bad for taking a few weeks off.
I should have stretched out after, though, because I was feeling pretty tight the next day! All the lifting I had been doing had kept my quads, and hamstrings in fairly decent shape but I hadn't done nearly enough for my calves. Whoops! Since I was a gymnast for years and years before I began running I have a tendency to run entirely on my toes, regardless of how far I'm going. Which means when I'm in top shape I have wonder calves that are so disproportionate to the rest of my body I actually have to go a size up in boots. But when I'm not running they shrink back up to a more normal size that isn't strong enough to support endless mileage.
I am, however, determined to reverse those effects since I spent my Christmas day signing up for races after I got back from my run. I've got my latest training schedule all worked out and am looking forward to building up my base so I can hit about a hundred miles a month and not just twenty or so. I didn't do nearly enough training for my last half and looked a bit like a ghost when I crossed the finish line. I don't want to feel that drained again. Especially since I signed up for my very first marathon that I will be running this summer!
.jpeg)
After four years of being a sometimes serious, sometimes not-so-serious, runner I'm ready to take the plunge and finally conquer 26.2 miles! The farthest I've ever run is a little over a half so I'm nervous-excited but also totally pumped to cross this off my list of things I've always wanted to do. Especially since my "Racing Bucket List" is pages long and most of them are a length I've never before attempted. Time to get started on making some dreams come true!
As you can see from the photo above I did sneak in one more run this week, too. Before my training program begins for real on the 30th. I dashed outside after work and managed to get in the three miles before the sun set. I then went back into the gym and did Fran before going home for the day.
When I got home I had some of my favorite broccoli and cheddar soup and watched an old favorite, You've Got Mail; with Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks (1998). I then passed out on the sofa and missed almost the entire Fight Hunger Bowl game in which my precious Huskies were playing. I ended up sleeping for so long I was hungry again when I woke up, but it was too late for any actual sort of meal so I grabbed a handful of the mini bell peppers I bought in bulk a couple weeks back and snacked on them, instead.
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Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas week!!
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