Weekly Rundown- Our Time to Shine
Hello! Welcome to the Weekly Rundown, hosted as always by Kim and Deborah (thanks, ladies!) Again a big thank you to San for leading NaBloPoMo, 30 posts in 30 days of November. As usual I didn’t fit in everything I wanted this week, but there were some great things, including a trail run and a weather miracle. Read on for details! Monday 4 mile run to start the week! Ah, it’s nice to finish a morning run in the daylight. Still tank top weather, but not for long… Tuesday GAH! After my incessant whining and complaining about the heat, I was actually glad this wasn’t a running day for me! Brr. I stayed inside and did the Caroline Girvan deadbug workout. I went up to heavier dumbbells and… ouch! That was hard. I followed that with an upper body strength workout- overhead press, lateral raises, and triceps (ahem… obviously). It’s been a while since I really pushed myself with upper body strength, and it felt good. Wednesday Long run on the trail! The running gods were smiling on me- it was 52 degrees when I started this run, and mid 60s when I finished. I felt great and completed 16.5 miles. PERFECT running weather- we really paid our dues for this. Thursday Oooookay. Everything felt good, except my low back, which obviously hates me. That part of my body was so stiff and sore. I did Adriene’s yoga for lower back pain. and later in the day I did her yoga for hips and lower back release.. It definitely helped! Friday I got out for an early run. Nothing really hurt, but my hips just felt… off. I started thinking about how I’ve done NO lower body strength at all this week… so I cut this run short (ran 3 miles instead of 4), went home, and did all my hip stability exercises. There, that’s better! After work I did Adriene’s yoga for lower back mobility,, and then it was time for a football playoff game! In the first half, our team did not look good, and we were tied 7-7. I got really sad, thinking it could be our last game of the season. But they came back strong for the second half and won 35-7. Second playoff game is next Friday! Saturday Oh, I had big plans for this morning. I was going to get up early, go to the gym before work, and do the Stairmaster AND a lower body strength workout. Hahahahahaha! We got home so late from the game, I didn’t get to bed till midnight. I ended up sleeping in. Then, I felt like crap all day. I had JUST SHARED the quote, “Follow your routine, not your mood.” I should have just gotten up and done that workout! Finally, I got out for a run in the late afternoon. This run felt AMAZING! I forgot- it’s no longer summer, I can run whenever I want. I ran 4 miles, nothing hurt, and I felt like I was floating. I should run at this time more often! Sunday Well, it was a great week except for one thing- I never did that lower body strength workout. Guess what’s on tap for today? Yep. How was your week? Any incredible workouts, or workout fails? How was your weather?
5 Random Quotes
…and when I say “random”, I mean it! I listen to so many podcasts while I’m running and driving, and there are often little quotes I want to remember. I’ll stop running, or wait till I’m at a red light if I’m driving, and put them in my notes app. Since I’m in a hurry, I don’t bother to include the source- surely I won’t forget, right? Hahahahaha. I have quotes in my phone going back years and no idea where they’re from. So here are five of them… Some people would take your problems and call them blassings. Follow a routine, not your mood. I don’t know where I’m going, but I know how to get there. — (this is a weird one! I think they meant, you need to know the steps you’re taking to achieve your goal, even if the outcome isn’t certain). Most of my problems are created by myself. You don’t lack motivation, you lack a better reason. Do you have a favorite recent quote or saying? Top photo by Jason Leung on Unsplash
Friday Coffee Date
Hi there! Let’s take a moment to catch up on life. How was your week? Mine had some pretty crappy things… let’s get those out of the way first. On Tuesday I was making dinner and my oven literally FELL TO PIECES. The handle came off in my hand, which caused the front of the oven to separate into two pieces and fall on the floor. Since I was roasting vegetables at 425 degrees, why yes, this WAS kind of dangerous! We tried to fix it, but we couldn’t get the handle back on, and without that the oven door won’t stay together. We talked about getting a new oven- could we wait until Black Friday? Oh wait. That won’t work, because how would we cook Thanksgiving dinner. SIGH. My husband discovered that we can get a replacement handle for this oven, and it arrives Saturday! So we’ll see if we can fix it. I mean- other than this (ahem, this teensy) snafu, the oven itself works just fine. In the meantime- luckily we have a microwave. In other news, Charlotte, our black cat, is now ill. YES. It was just weeks ago that we had a scare with Muffin. Luckily Muffin is fine, but it’s come to our attention that Charlotte has lost a LOT of weight. Too much. She needs to see a vet. The problem is, we recently decided to get pet insurance (my husband can get it through his work). It doesn’t kick in for another week, and we’re trying to wait until then to take Charlotte in. Charlotte is… old? We don’t really know how old she is. We’ve had her for nine years, but she was already an adult when we adopted her and no one knew how old she was then. We’re afraid that she may have something too expensive for us to treat, so we’d like to wait until this insurance kicks in. But we’re worried. However! The week wasn’t all bad. Our weather really cooled down, which feels AMAZING. Wednesday I had a day off with no appointments scheduled, and I had an incredible trail run in the morning. It was 52 degrees when I started! This is why we live in Florida! I have to remind myself of this next summer when I’m complaining bitterly about the heat and humidity. After my run, I settled myself on the couch with a big bowl of oatmeal, and tea. I ate, read blogs, and eventually drifted off into a nap, and Muffin snuggled up to me. This is my favorite way to spend time alone at home. More good things this week (in the spirit of Elisabeth’s HAPPY THINGS FRIDAY posts): -I found my Christmas cards- no easy feat, since they were stuffed haphazardly into one of the Christmas bins last January- and started addressing them! -Pumpkin spice everything: -Well, not everything… I started this carton of creamer! -High school football playoff season is here! Our first playoff game is tonight. -End of the government shutdown? I know this is a controversial outcome, but I’m happy for people to return to work. And, selfishly, we’re hoping that my son can get home for Thanksgiving without any issues. That’s it for me! How was your week? Any big problems? Any happy things? Are you enjoying a festive hot beverage right now???
Holiday Reading So Far
I’ve finished two books on my holiday TBR! The first was this one: A sleeper train full of passengers heading home for Christmas… the trail gets derailed, stranding them in the snow, and there are one… two… and then three dead bodies. Ooh! I enjoyed this. It was a fun mystery, the writing was fine, and the characters were interesting. My only complaint would be, because these people are ON A TRAIN, there’s actually not a lot of Christmas-y activities. Like they’re obviously not decorating trees and baking cookies. Hoping for a little more details on Christmas festivities, I moved on to this: Sophie Appersett is the daughter of an impoverished nobleman, and her parents are hoping for her to marry Ned, a wealthy merchant. The problem is, they don’t like each other… OR DO THEY? Ned is invited to Appersett House for Christmas, to see if the couple can learn to like each other. It’s a romance, so gee, I wonder what’s going to happen??? As you may know, I never read romances, but my goal was to read one this year- mission accomplished! This book was just fine. I liked it! There was lots of decorating for Christmas, snowy walks, and of course, mistletoe. The only thing is- wouldn’t it have been even better if someone had been found stabbed to death in the library? Then Sophie and Ned could have solved the murder together! Ha ha- I’m glad I read this, but I’ll stick to mysteries from now on. Speaking of which! Next up: And, I’ve put two more books on hold at the library- Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan (although Nicole warned me it’s sad) and another book by Alexandra Benedict, The Christmas Murder Game. These shorter, lighter books are really working for me right now- I just don’t have the brainpower to read anything complicated in November. Do you have any recommendations for my holiday TBR? Top photo by Daria Shevtsova on Unsplash