Turkey Trot Runfessions
I’ll be back tomorrow with an exciting (?) Thanksgiving recap (hint- there was an emergency trip to the store!) but since it’s the last Friday of the month, I’m joining Marcia as she opens her runfessional. On this Black Friday, I have to “runfess” that I almost didn’t run my Turkey Trot yesterday. The last few days have been crazy, and by Wednesday I was exhausted. As we crawled into bed on Wednesday night, my husband said “Couldn’t we just sleep in tomorrow?” It was tempting. I haven’t been doing any speedwork, so it’s not like I was going to crush this race. Why would I voluntarily get up at 5:30 am on a holiday, instead of getting a good night’s sleep? Then I thought about how I would feel if I didn’t run it. I could roll out of bed mid-morning feeling… groggy and awful. I told my husband we should run, but after the race we would re-evaluate the situation and decide if we want to do it next year. Thanksgiving morning dawned, hot and muggy! Will it EVER COOL DOWN HERE??? The race started at 7:30, and it was 75 degrees at that time. Ugh! Well, good thing I wasn’t shooting for a PR. I decided to just run and not stress about the heat, or my time, and simply have fun. Of course there was the obligatory young child dashing past me at the finish, but my favorite was this: Yes, a guy dressed in a full-body turkey costume beat me. By a lot. I asked him afterwards what his time was- 21 minutes. I give up! I heard someone say there were 1.700 runners at this race. There’s something touching about the fact that all these people- most of whom probably aren’t serious runners- got up early on Thanksgiving to be there. As we were walking back to the car afterwards my husband said “Well? Are we running it next year?” Oh…. I guess so. Did you run a race yesterday? – I may not have had the fastest time, but I think we won for “hottest Thanksgiving ever.” #nablopomo2022
Time to Trot!
To everyone celebrating today- HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I hope your day is filled with fun, family, and lots of delicious food. A giant thank you to everyone who reads this blog- I appreciate you guys so much. And now I’m off to run a race… Have a great day!
It’s Pie Time!
But first… I’m wondering if all the Canadians are amused that we’re in such a frenzy this week. It seems like Canadian Thanksgiving passed by pleasantly and festively without all the uproar of American Thanksgiving… we definitely make a big deal of things here. ANYWAY! I got out of work yesterday feeling jubilant- I have two days off in a row! All I have to do is go to the gym, get a Christmas tree, rearrange the living room furniture (to accommodate the tree), cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner (including three pies) and run a race. What a relaxing vacation! As planned, the dough for the pie crusts is in the refrigerator, and the pies will obviously be made today- Wednesday- so I can win at Thanksgiving. I would love to know where the phrase “easy as pie” came from- because making pies is NOT easy. I’ve tried to explain to my family that it’s really hard to make a good pie when you only do it once a year. Their solution to that is, I should make pies more often. Last year I made a pie for New Year’s Day, and a couple times I’ve made a pie for July 4th (although I think I somehow got out of that last time.) So, my pie-making skills remain… mediocre. I’m sure the pies will taste delicious! I’m using this recipe for the pumpkin pies, and instead of the brown sugar, one of them will be sweetened with this: This syrup is sweetened with monk fruit, and the pie really comes out very yummy, although one year my son did a blind taste test of both pumpkin pies and could immediately tell which one was sugar-free. That’s fine- more for me. (Yes- I will eat a whole pie.) You might be wondering why my family doesn’t help. OH, THEY WILL. I save the really unpleasant part for them. The third pie is an apple pie, and peeling all those apples really puts me over the edge- so that’s the task I delegate. Someone else can peel and chop those apples! I’ll do the rest. Good luck to everyone cooking today and tomorrow! IT’S PIE TIME!
Sleep
Saturday night I went to bed way too late, got less than six hours of sleep and then felt horrible on Sunday. Sunday night, I went to bed early, set my alarm later and got EIGHT HOURS OF SLEEP! It was amazing! But wait… shouldn’t that be the norm, and not something that happens once in a blue moon? Recently I’ve been listening to a podcast Nicole recommended, “Hit Play, Not Pause.” The host is Selene Yeager, who is the co-author of Next Level- Your Guide to Kicking Ass, Feeling Great, and Crushing Goals Through Menopause and Beyond. One of the guests was describing how she was running less and less but constantly felt overtrained- and then she had an epiphany. it wasn’t that she was OVERTRAINED, but UNDER-RECOVERED, because she consistently did not get enough sleep. I went back to Next Level to remind myself why sleep is so important for recovery. During deep sleep, our bodies produce human growth hormone, which stimulates tissue growth to build muscle and allow you to recover faster. Getting enough sleep also helps reduce cortisol levels, helps restock your glycogen stores, and helps your body burn fat. Progesterone and estrogen both have important roles in helping you fall asleep and stay asleep, so when those hormones drop during menopause, sleep is affected. Sheesh… is there ANYTHING that doesn’t get messed up from menopause? The truth is, I often stay up too late, look at my computer too close to bedtime, and drink caffeine too late in the day. My philosophy about age is to take it into consideration, but not use it as an excuse. The same goes for menopause- I’m starting to take it more seriously- but I can’t just use it as an excuse for letting my life fall apart. If I’m going to train for a 50K, I have to get my sleep in order. I love staying up late reading and drinking an iced tea after work, but I also need to get up early to run. I guess you can’t have everything… at least, not all at the same time. How is your sleep? Do you feel like you get enough? If you’re in your 50s or beyond, has your sleep changed?