Weekly Rundown- A New Start
Happy New Year! This was another crazy week. In addition to all the usual festivities, we celebrated a birthday. Actually, BOTH my kids have December birthdays- because I just thought that would be fun. Just kidding! I didn’t plan that at all, because I’m not insane. But it is what it is! Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown. Yes, I managed to cobble together workouts in spite of everything. Let’s just see how the week went… Monday A very, very rare run in cold weather. It was 40 degrees and rainy. I had to dig out my hat and gloves for this run! 4 miles that felt effortless (after I warmed up.) Tuesday I was looking for something to do that wouldn’t tire my legs, so I repeated (for the third time) Caroline Girvan’s Iron Series Day #20 workout- biceps, triceps, and core. It’s crazy- I still haven’t officially finished the series. I still have three more lower body workouts to do, but now I’m repeating workouts. I’ll get those last ones done one of these days! Wednesday A 14 mile trail run! It was in the 50s for this run, which felt AMAZING. I wore my new double hydration vest that I got for Christmas. This worked great, except for a couple user-error issues. I can’t seem to get the hang of reaching back with my left hand to replace the bottle- twice I ended up dropping it. I know I’ll get the hang of it with practice- I’m very good at replacing the right one. The other issue became apparent when I finished my run and went to enjoy a nice, hot sh-GAAAAAAHHHH!!!!!!! How is it even possible that I can chafe so badly, but not even feel it during the run? The tank top I wore for this run is much more open in the back than the ones I usually wear, so the hydration vest rubbed against my skin. This would have been prevented by simply applying lube- live and learn! Thursday Another repeat of Caroline Girvan. This time it was Iron Series Day #7- shoulders and triceps. Friday A 4 mile run that felt very different than Monday’s run- our cold snap is over and it was in the 70s and humid. Oh well! At night I took down our Christmas tree, which was sad but also a relief. I replaced it temporarily with New Year’s decorations- I still can’t bear to part with my Christmas card display! Saturday Day off! I worked in the morning and then made food for New Year’s Eve. My husband was working so it was me and the kids. We ate delicious food and watched Home Alone. There was a brief moment earlier in the week when it looked like the kids might have plans for the night- but they both ended up at home. Happiness! Sunday On tap… funny story. My son and I planned to go to the gym, but about five minutes before the ball dropped last night he said “You know… I really don’t want to go to the gym tomorrow.” Okay, me neither! Last week Birchwood Pie recommended Caroline Girvan’s Tempo Week series, and one of the days is called “Brutal Leg Day.” My first thought was “that sounds horrible!” but, well, I think I need to try it! Wish me luck. Did you celebrate last night? Do you like to go out or stay home for New Year’s Eve? – Definitely stay home. Are your Christmas decorations still up? – The only thing I took down is the tree. All the other decorations will come down this week.
Winter Runfessions- Florida-Style
Well, here we are “between the years” or, as my family likes to call this week, “in betweek.” We had some excitement down here over Christmas, which is that it got down into the 40s and actually stayed cold for three days! But before we get into that, thanks to Marcia for opening her “runfessional” as she always does the last Friday of the month. I have one big runfession, which is that after all my whining and complaining about the heat… 40s was a little TOO cold for me, ha ha. I know! 40 degrees isn’t really cold, and believe me, I know cold. I grew up in the Midwest and experienced windchill temperatures of 75 below. But… When my friend came over on Christmas Eve, our “Florida cold snap” led us to reminisce about our least favorite things about winters growing up. Getting into an icy cold car first thing in the morning (that moment where you had to sit down and felt your freezing cold jeans on your legs,) getting dressed under the covers in the morning because the thermostat was on a timer and for SOME STRANGE REASON didn’t heat up before I got out of bed, having cold feet for five months in a row…. and I remembered- oh yeah, I don’t like being cold! Actually, I hate it. Life is hard when it’s cold out. You have to wear layers and spend a lot of time shivering. Even with temperatures in the 40s (did I mention it was also rainy?) I had to dig out my hat and gloves for running, and it took a couple miles for me to warm up. 50s is good. 40s is… nippy. I know what you’re probably thinking. “Jenny, why don’t we put you in some sort of biodome, where it would never get too hot or too cold, Would you be happy THEN?” Well, yes. Yes I would. Tomorrow our temperatures will be back in the 80s and I’ll probably be complaining that it’s too hot again. But… now that I remember how miserable I was every winter growing up, I’ll take the heat. It’s a fair tradeoff. This “runfession” is short and sweet because today is my daughter’s birthday! I’m off to do the thing I least feeling like doing right now… wrap presents. Poor kid, it’s probably the worst birthday ever. Still, it’s special to her so we try to make the most of it. I hope everyone is enjoying the “in betweek!” Would you rather have it be too hot or too cold? Or are you moving into the temperature-controlled biodome with me?
Christmas 2022 Recap!
Well, another Christmas has come and gone, and for the 20th year in a row I was unanimously voted “Christmas MVP” by my family. I really go all out, and would do it even if no one else acknowledged it, because I love Christmas so much. But it’s nice, as the kids get older, to hear them express their appreciation. My husband is always appreciative of the fact that I handle almost every aspect of Christmas by myself- all the decorating (including outside lights,) baking, present buying (other than the presents he gives me, of course) present wrapping, and everything else that goes along with being “Santa.” I realized years ago that Christmas just isn’t that important to my husband. He thinks it’s a nice holiday, like Thanksgiving, Valentine’s Day and the 4th of July, but doesn’t see it as super-special. If I want the holiday to be special I have to do it myself. The other thing that has to be mentioned is that my husband works a LOT in December. He’s a trumpet player and plays a lot of gigs this time of year, including a midnight mass on Christmas Eve. The money he brings in makes all the other things possible- so he definitely does his part behind the scenes. Let’s start with Christmas Eve! We always host a cookie decorating party. The cookies came out… interesting, as usual. Here’s a plate we put together for our neighbor with some of the nicer ones: And here’s a couple OTHER ones. After cookies we ate dinner, took a walk and then our friends left. There was something new this year- my son played the Christmas Eve service with my husband! After they left, my daughter and I cleaned the living room and moved all the presents that were under the tree to the couch, to make room for the Santa presents. (Important side note: my kids obviously do not believe in Santa anymore. But they still appreciate that magical feeling of waking up on Christmas morning and being surprised by the presents under the tree, so I’ll keep it going as long as they want… probably until they have kids of their own!) Christmas Day… Santa came! We all opened presents… Here’s my haul: And here’s the Book Flood (combination of books we all got.) Funny story… originally my husband and I both got each other the David Goggins book. My son realized this and told my husband, so he returned mine and got the Lucy Foley book instead. Good call- we don’t need two copies. Our traditional Christmas breakfast is cinnamon rolls, which I failed to photograph. My family enjoyed them while I had gingerbread oatmeal (yum.) In the afternoon we had a charcuterie board with our fancy-schmancy vegan cheese which was ordered from Rebel Cheese in Austin, Texas. Christmas afternoon was very, very lazy. The only thing that marred it was that the Dolphins lost… but we had to let that go. Christmas dinner is always lasagna. After dinner my post-Christmas sadness threatened to overwhelm me, but I kept myself busy cleaning. I reminded myself that it’s still the holiday season, and in fact the “Twelve Days of Christmas” BEGIN on December 25th and go until January 6th, Epiphany. Let the festivities continue! At the beginning of the season, I vowed this would be “The Best Christmas Ever.” So… was it? Well, unlike last Christmas, no one got Covid, so that was pretty awesome. And we had a VERY unusual cold front, which made it extra exciting. So yes! It was the best ever… until next year. How was your Christmas? Is Christmas a big deal to you, or is it just like any other holiday? If you don’t celebrate Christmas, what do you do on Christmas Day? – A lot of people here go to the beach on Christmas- but not this year! It was in the 40s and rainy.
Weekly Rundown- a Christmas Miracle!
I’ll keep this rundown short and sweet because, well… IT’S CHRISTMAS! Our big excitement of the week was this: Yep, after all my whining and complaining about the heat, the universe decided to send a major cold front for Christmas! The week started off warm and balmy though…thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting the Weekly Rundown! Let’s get started. Sunday Gym day! I went on Sunday because to be honest, I knew I wouldn’t get there for the rest of the week. Monday 4 mile run! Tuesday I repeated a Caroline Girvan Iron Series workout- Day#20, arms, abs and core. This is a GREAT workout to do if you don’t want to tire out your legs- the core is intense. Wednesday 10 mile trail run! I had to do it after taking my daughter to school, and it was warm and muggy. Sigh! When is our cold front coming through??? Thursday Day off! Friday Since it was Festivus, I should have done “feats of strength” but instead ran 4 miles. Our high was 83 degrees today, but… Saturday It got cold!!! 42 degrees when we woke up, how exciting! It was a crazy day. My only time for a quick workout was in the early evening, and I did a strength workout while watching It’s a Wonderful Life. I did some single leg exercises that I don’t usually get to in the gym like Runner’s Touch and Bulgarian squats. Then I did some of the core moves from Carline’s Day #20 workout. I’m writing this on Saturday night, and look closely at our hourly forecast, specifically 3 and 4 am… The last time it snowed in South Florida was in the 1970s. Very, very unlikely that it will happen again, but I’m imagining some little kid waking up early on Christmas morning, looking out the window and seeing… SNOW. Oh, I hope that happens! I personally will be sound asleep. Sunday On tap for today… opening presents, eating delicious food, and reading on the couch. MERRY CHRISTMAS to everyone who celebrates. If you don’t celebrate, I hope you have a wonderful and relaxing day! Christmas recap coming up on Tuesday!