New Year’s Eve Runfessions- A Thrill of Hope
Hi there! Well, here we are on the last day of the year. Thanks to Marcia for hosting the last “runfessions” of 2021- let’s get right to it. I only have one big thing to confess, and it’s this: I’m REALLY glad to see the end of 2021. Of course it had its shining moments like any other year: But other than that, to put it as eloquently as possible, 2021 kind of sucked. I dealt with my foot issue (plantar fasciitis and peroneal tendinitis) literally the entire year. I alternated between running, kind of running, not running, and pool running while I tried all sorts of remedies. Let’s not forget the bonus hip injury where I ended up in PT, and the mysterious aching knees after that. By November I was receiving shockwave treatments and running short distances, but running just felt hard. The week before Christmas I had a mysterious digestive issue and my running took a further hit, and THEN, as the icing on the cake, I got Covid on Christmas Eve. At that point is was almost a relief to give up on the whole thing and rest. In a post on Christmas Eve, Elisabeth shared a line from Oh Holy Night: “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” That line ran through my head all day long. “A thrill of hope.” I felt it! Not just for me, but for the whole weary world. I actually had Covid- the thing we’ve all been trying so hard to avoid for the past 20 months- and it really wasn’t that bad. It wasn’t fun, but I was vaccinated so the omicron variant wasn’t dangerous to me. The next variant will be weaker, and the next one after that weaker still. I can see our way out of this whole mess. And for some reason, on Christmas Day I started to walk a little easier.. Something turned a switch in my brain that day, and now instead of expecting pain when I step down, I expect it to feel good. It might have been the ibuprofen I was living on- or maybe it was a Christmas Miracle. Whatever-I’m looking ahead with true optimism to the new year. I’ll be fine. We’ll all be fine! Goodbye 2021! Hello 2022- I’m ready for you. Would you say 2021 was a good year for you? Are you ready for 2022?
Quarantine Fun
Hello all! In case you missed my last post, there’s good news and bad news; the bad news is my son and I had Covid over Christmas, but the good news is I’m enjoying a lovely vacation at home this week. We’re both feeling much better, but sound terrible because we’re coughing a lot. I’m following the CDC guidelines and staying home for seven days, which means I won’t go back to work until Friday! Let’s return to Christmas for a moment. I got some amazing presents: The foot spa (YES!), a recipe binder, two books- Rosamunde Pilcher’s Winter Solstice and Jessie Itzler’s Living With a Seal, sweatpants and cozy socks from my daughter (ah, she knows me well), “Run More, Worry Less” tank top which I love and want to wear every single day (I’m wearing it right now), a portable tripod for my phone, and then at the bottom is my little stocking with some stocking stuffers- a sugar-free chocolate bar and some Starbucks Earl Grey tea bags, my favorite! Santa must have known I wouldn’t be able to go out to Starbucks for a week so he made sure I would still have my favorite tea. Somehow there were two other presents that didn’t make it into the picture- new running shorts from Athleta, and another book, I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh. I wasn’t in my finest form on Christmas Day, and we didn’t even remember to take a picture of the tree until most of the presents were opened. I did get a picture of Muffin with her presents though: My son loves to give gifts that somehow involve self-improvement on the part of the recipient. His present was the recipe binder, which was billed as “the best gift you never knew you wanted.” The idea (or, his idea for me) is to have all my recipes in one place instead of rifling through various cookbooks, or scrolling through the internet. I’ve started this project, since I have the time: My sister will especially appreciate this gift because I will no longer be badgering her at every holiday, “Do you remember which recipe we used for rolls last year?” or “Can you send me the recipe for peanut butter balls again?” Good quarantine project. We’re also watching all the Harry Potter movies, and I’m reading the Rosamunde Pilcher book. So life is good. Except…. At this time of year I’m always fighting off post-Christmas depression. I just love everything about Christmas so much- the lights, decorations, the excitement of buying gifts, mysterious packages from Amazon arriving at the door, the cookies, the anticipation… when it’s over, everything just feels so blah. It’s always been hard for me, ever since I was a kid. I’ve tried everything- taking down the tree and decorations right away, leaving them up until January 6th (it’s bad luck to leave them up after epiphany!), planning a fun New Year’s celebration- and nothing works. I think the only way to prevent it would be to not care as much about Christmas in the first place. My husband likes Christmas, but he doesn’t LOVE it, and when it’s over he’s ready to move on to the next thing. So I just have to remind myself that post-Christmas depression is the price to pay for the amount of joy I get from the season. It will come again! My sister reminded me that before we know it, it will be July 4th and after that we’ll start to see Halloween things around. (Yep, we’re pretty nutty!) In the meantime I have to get through this low phase. I always do. I’m off to read my book! I would love to hear how other people deal with the end of the holidays. Do you get sad? Or are you excited to move on to the next thing? I’ll be happy to hear any suggestions!
How Omicron Stole Christmas
What a week! Let’s see… I got my new orthotics, my son and I both got Covid, and we celebrated Christmas. WAIT! What was that middle part??? I’m linking up with Kim and Deborah, but it won’t be a traditional weekly rundown. More like a brief check-in! Let’s get started… The first part of the week was uneventful. I had some stomach issues and my workouts were lackluster. A couple Peloton yoga classes and some short runs. I got my orthotics on Tuesday, started getting used to them and was able to get out for a short run on Thursday with them. But then… Thursday night my son and I both started to feel sick. I woke up on Friday with a HORRIBLE sore throat. My son didn’t have a sore throat, but he was tired and achy. I also had a cough and congestion, but the main thing was the throat. I remember having a terrible sore throat once in seventh grade, so let’s say it’s the worst sore throat I’ve had in 42 years. It was hard to even drink water. Advil helped slightly. Christmas Day dawned, and my son and I both took our Advil. We all opened presents, listened to Christmas music, and tried to enjoy the day. My son had a fever though and was super uncomfortable. We did our best! I was able to taste the delicious food we had- but it was just so hard to swallow. Today, I went to urgent care and got a positive Covid test. When they gave me my results they said “Everyone has Covid.” Honestly, I’m relieved. If I’m going to be this sick, I want it to be omicron and get it over with. My son and I are both feeling slightly better today, so we’re on the mend. So, did this ruin Christmas? Well… “ruin” is a strong word. We didn’t end up in the hospital and the house didn’t burn down. We still had our presents, our family, and some delicious meals (although some of us were able to enjoy those more than others.) It was just like when the Grinch stole all the presents, food, and decorations- Christmas came, just the same. Thanks to a crap-ton of Advil. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! I can’t wait to hear about everyone’s weeks of workouts and celebrations. Happy Boxing Day!
Holiday Traditions
Well, here we are- the big week at last! I have three days off in a row- my usual Tuesday and Wednesday, and then I’m off on Thursday for… Festivus. Yes, we take Festivus very seriously around here! I had to do a bit of finagling to get the day off. Obviously I didn’t tell my boss why I needed the day off- I vaguely alluded to an important “family celebration” and I had to get someone to cover my shift. And guess what… my sister sent me this: It’s hard to explain how Festivus evolved for our family. In the early days, we used to air grievances, but that ended up getting out of control, ha ha, and didn’t feel very nice two days before Christmas. One year we also tried to replicate the Festivus dinner that George’s mom served, and that was pretty funny. The Festivus dinner was meatloaf on a bed of lettuce, and we modified that to be a Tofurkey roast on a bed of lettuce, with a bowl of peas on the side. While that was fun, it wasn’t extremely appetizing so we also dropped that. Over the years, our Festivus traditions have solidified into basically our own holiday, with a couple nods to the Seinfeld original. First things first! We go out for a bagel brunch. Bagels are obviously a Festivus food (thank you, Kramer.) Here’s a picture from several years ago- the Festivus bagel brunch: This picture must have been about five years ago- both my kids have much shorter hair now! Also, fun fact: that purple cup contains my giant iced tea. I was training for a marathon and had run 20 miles that morning! It still stands out in my mind as being one of the best Festivus’s ever. After the bagels, we split up; my husband leaves to do ALL his Christmas shopping. Yes, he waits until December 23rd. He’s insane, but in his defense, this is an extremely busy time for him, work-wise, and Christmas just kind of sneaks up on him. It’s so funny to me because I’ll have been working for weeks, getting all the kids’ presents bought and wrapped, stocking stuffers ready, etc. Then on the 23rd he’s like “I guess I should go to the store!” Surprisingly, he usually gets us some pretty good presents. Maybe there’s a lesson to be learned there! The kids and I do a little of our own shopping. We usually end up at Old Navy, and they pick out some things for my husband. One year we also went to Bed Bath and Beyond- earlier in the month my husband announced that he wanted a new steam mop for Christmas. I said, “Don’t be RIDICULOUS! That’s not a Christmas present!” But then on Festivus we bought his steam mop, wrapped it up really fancy, and hid it behind the tree. On Christmas morning we waited until everything else had been unwrapped, and then re-enacted the scene from Christmas Story where the kid thinks he didn’t get his BB gun. “Wait! What’s that? There’s one more present behind the tree…” The kids and I were laughing so hard and my husband had no idea what was going on- UNTIL HE UNWRAPPED HIS NEW STEAM MOP! Anyway, after the Festivus shopping trip, the kids and I go home and have a big wrapping party. (My husband is usually working at this point.) Of course the “Santa” present are already wrapped and still hidden away, but we wrap all the presents we’re giving each other- we really go all out and try to make them as pretty as possible. Then we arrange them under the tree… And at night we watch The Polar Express and have hot chocolate (you have to have hot chocolate when you’re watching The Polar Express!) So… our Festivus really has little to do with the original “holiday.” It’s really just a special day I spend with my kids. But we take it very seriously! Festivus has to be on the 23rd, and we have to do our usual activities. On Christmas Eve we have another set of traditions. For the last ten years, my friend and her two girls have come over and we decorate cookies “for Santa.” Her girls are one year older and one year younger than my daughter, and although my son is now 19 and the girls are 11,12 and 13, we still decorate the Santa cookies. Then we either have a Christmas Eve dinner or lunch with them. It depends on whether it’s an “early” or “late” year. The year we started this tradition, my friend was going through a divorce. Every year she and her husband alternate- on “early” years, she has the girls until 4:00 and then they go to their father. On “late” years, she doesn’t get them until 4:00. We just adjust our schedule to accommodate them. On “late” years they’ll stay at our house really late, and we’ll go for a walk after dinner to look at Christmas lights. On “early” years, we’ll finish the cookie decorating and lunch by 4:00 pm, and my kids and I will watch Christmas shows at night- Charlie Brown, Rudolph, The Grinch… all the classics. Once again, my husband will be working (he’s a trumpet player and always has a church gig on Christmas Eve.) Christmas morning we open presents and make cinnamon rolls. Then the rest of the day is spent lazily at home- no one comes over and we don’t go anywhere. I love it! It’s a nice way to end the busy, busy season. If anyone was eavesdropping on our family, they would think we were extremely strange. “Mom, is this an early or a late year?” “Did you get someone to cover your shift on Festivus yet?” Our holidays might be a little unusual, but I think traditions are important. My kids will definitely have a lot of happy Christmases to look back on. How about you?