Hi there! I’ll admit I don’t have much to “runfess” since I did that last week. But I did run a turkey trot yesterday- my first race in two years! Plus there’s always some Thanksgiving confessions to make. I’m linking up with Marcia’s Runfessional today!
Last week I “runfessed” that I would find it hard not to “race” this race, but there was so much else going on this week, it turned out to be easy to put this race in the proper perspective. I showed up ready to have fun.
The race started with the usual crowd of runners. Even though I wasn’t planning to run fast, and had lined up in the front third of runners, I was still boxed in. But there was a guy right in front of me pushing a double stroller and aggressively shouting “EXCUSE ME!” People were jumping out of his way in alarm, and I realized my best bet was to run right behind him.
That worked great! The only problem was, I realized we were running at an 8:10 mile pace, and there was no way I had it in me to continue that. I slowed down a bit and finished the first mile in 8:40. Then, in a spectacular display of positive splits, I got slower and slower every mile.
Last week when I said if I ran too fast and hurt my foot again I would be in running jail, “Birchwood Pie” suggested my mantra for this race should be “stay out of jail.” Ha ha.. I did think of that, but the truth was my foot felt fine and so did my legs- my limiting factor was my breathing. That’s the way it always is for me- I usually finish a 5k gasping for breath.
I finished this one in 28:35, which is a 9:08 mile pace. Two years ago I ran a half marathon at a quicker pace, but you know what… I’ll take it! It’s where I’m at right now, and I just have to embrace it. I was really happy I did this race. My husband ran too, and it felt fun and festive to be running a turkey trot again.
Then, home for the Thanksgiving dinner preparation! It’s just the four of us, and it seems every year at some point we exclaim, “It’s a good thing we don’t have anyone coming over!” THIS year, what happened was, we put the apple pie in the oven and the filling oozed out and dripped allover the bottom of the oven. This happened in the first several minutes of baking, and a horrible burnt smell filled the house. When I opened the oven to check, a huge cloud of smoke billowed out.
The pie seemed fine, but the house smelled horrible and there was smoke everywhere. My husband said “Good thing we don’t have a smoke detector!” Wait! Is that a good thing? Shouldn’t we have a smoke detector? But in this case it really was a good thing- otherwise the fire department would have been there.
When that pie was done baking we let the oven cool down so we could clean it, and that put the whole dinner behind by about an hour. But that’s okay, because we weren’t having any guests. We’re just not the type of family that should have guests over for Thanksgiving.
Finally we got this feast on the table…
We went for a walk to try and digest a little, before coming back for pie!
After we ate so much we could barely move, my son tried to convince us it was time for a “family weigh-in.” WHAT??? Unlike most college freshmen, he’s trying to GAIN fifteen pounds. He’s 6’5″ and can’t seem to gain weight no matter how much he eats. He actually weighed himself and tried to convince the rest of us to join in. No! Stay away from me with that scale! All in all, it was a really fun day.
We also got our Christmas tree on Wednesday! We put it up with no decorations, but after Thanksgiving dinner I put the lights and tinsel on. We’ll decorate it (and the rest of the house) today when I get home from work, because my son has to go back to school tomorrow. So Pumpkin Palooza has come to an end, and we are now starting gingerbread season! Hooray!
Hope everyone is having a festive week!
Did you run a turkey trot?
Did you cook a Thanksgiving dinner?
If you celebrate Christmas, when do you start decorating?
34 Responses
Happy that you are happy with your turkey trot! So fun that your husband ran it with you. I had no idea your son was so tall! Wow (my sister’s BIL is that height). I always say I have the appetite of a much taller woman. 🙂
No turkey trot here. We were on the road. My mom had a meal delivered, I’d brought some extra desserts, and spent time refilling my mom’s pill dispensers. There was also a #videofail on taping my mom with a birthday greeting for my nephew. Oh well, my brother comes in today (I won’t see him as I’ll be going back next week) so he can do it.
I’ve done friendsgiving when we lived in TX, hosted the fam a few times. Nothing too major ever happened, but I have most definitely set off smoke detectors with other cooking — and I’m a good cook!
I forgot to mention that Bandit also made it memorable by throwing up at my mom’s. He does do that randomly, and very infrequently, but that was a first there. Luckily we cover the couch with towels for him already, and that’s where it was limited to.
Maybe everything was going a little too well, so Bandit had to throw up! Glad you got to spend the day with your mom.
OMG, please get a smoke detector! Or several depending on the size of your house. They don’t call the fire dept unless you get a fancy one with a monitoring service. When my kids were little, I used to joke that dinner will be ready when the smoke detector goes off, because I often got distracted and burnt something!
We had an uneventufl day in the kitchen, probably becuase I made my pies a day ahead!
Yay on the 5K! Love the medal!
Okay Coco, you’re right. Maybe this burnt pie filling was a warning form the universe to get a smoke detector.
wow I bet it felt great to get back out there and race again. You obviously have not lost any speed either! Nice job. Looks like a great Thanksgiving spread too
I’ve DEFINITELY lost speed, but that’s okay! I have some work to do to get it back- I’m not naturally a super fast runner. Anyway, it was a fun race.
Definitely echo the “get a smoke detector” – while it is annoying to turn them off when something burns it’s a pretty minor inconvenience in the longrun. One of our friends is a retired fire marshal and let’s just say…smoke detectors save a lot of lives! This same person once told me he never leaves a toaster plugged in (I guess that’s a common source of fires?) and now I NEVER leave my toaster plugged in. That one comment changed my behaviour overnight.
The turkey trot looks fun, most especially because everyone is in running shorts and tank tops. We had our first real snowstorm earlier this week and I would do just about anything to be somewhere warm and sunny right now…
Yes, it’s funny to me to see everyone else’s turkey trot pictures, and they’r dressed so warmly! What a big difference.
I’ll talk to my husband about the smoke detector issue… I know we used to have one, not sure what happened there. And I’ll unplug my toaster! That’s an easy one.
Yay for staying out of jail! My problem with my race yesterday is that I was scared of pushing myself too hard so I didn’t look at my Garmin and ran based on effort – that’s fine but I ended up running my 2nd mile 30 seconds slower and I think I could have avoided that if I had been aware of my pace. I have another 5k tomorrow so I get a “do over”. It’s just so much fun to kick off a holiday with a race.
We have a double oven and ended up with big messes in both of them yesterday. At first the house smelled like apple pie, and later in the afternoon it smelled like roasting turkey, and then right before our guests arrived it smelled like a smoke pit! Oh well.
Thumbs down on the family weigh in!
Ha ha… I definitely know the “smoke pit” smell. Good luck on your 5k do over! I think I could do better if I ran another one tomorrow (not start at an 8:10 pace for one thing)… oh well.
Well, my pseudo “dinner disaster” would be the hubby putting the turkey in the oven too early (IMO) and set the baking temp too high (Also IMO). When he checked the bird (almost an hour “early”), the popper was already out. SO, the meat was dry (even the dark meat) and there was barely any remaining drippings for the gravy. He kept saying that it must have just been a “really lean bird.” Okay, we’ll let him believe that for the next 51 weeks. I”m glad you got to do some trotting! The medal is cute, especially with that appropriate message on it!
Ha ha… well, I’m starting to think it’s a Thanksgiving tradition to have something go wrong with dinner. But I’ll bet you’ll put yourself in charge of the turkey next year!
Congrats on your turkey trot! Good to hear that you felt good – and that medal is so cute 🙂
And oh my gosh a family weigh in just sounds like a bad idea LOL
Yes, possibly the worst idea ever. Followed closely by doing yoga after Thanksgiving dinner (coming up in the Weekly Rundown!)
I was so happy to hear that you had a good run and were happy doing it. That’s the best way to spend any holiday!
You are right! Thank you!
We went to my sister’s for Thanksgiving. It was my job to bring the salad and guess what…the dressing spilled all over my back seat. While I cleaned it up, my car smells like vinaigrette. Ugh….
Ha… you had one job, Wendy! Seriously, it seems like there are always disasters on Thanksgiving.
Great job on the Turkey Trot! Sounds like a festive week. No Christmas tree here yet. I actually still have pumpkins on my porch. 😉
It was just today that we took down ALL the fall stuff and Christmas-ed up the house- it looks so festive!
Yay for a successful Turkey Trot!! So cool that your husband ran with you. Love the medal! 🙂
That vegetable crescent ring looks incredible. In fact, everything on your table looks really delicious.
And now I need to know: what’s the story behind THREE apple pies for the four of you?
Hee hee. There was one apple pie and two pumpkin pies. I don’t eat sugar, so one of the pumpkin pies was sweetened with monk fruit- I’m the only one that will eat that one. The rest of the family likes to have two different pies to choose from, so that explains the pumpkin AND apple. The only problem is, my son is the biggest eater and he went back to college today… we’re left with a lot of pie. But we can handle it!
Congrats on a strong trot! Glad your foot cooperated and what a fun medal.
Ugh on the pie fiasco. It LOOKS totally delicious though and that’s the most important thing. Haha!
Yes, that pie was delicious! You’re right… who cares if it practically ruined the oven, ha ha.
Great race!
Tell me more about the vegetable crescent ring! That sounds divine. We had Brussels sprouts, too, and they were divine.
Yes, I love brussels sprouts! The crescent ring has a filling of butternut squash, kale, shallots, and brussels sprouts, and you make a “ring” of cresecnt roll dough to wrap around. There’s a balsamic glaze on top. So good!
Congrats on NOT racing the turkey trot – it’s not meant to be a PR! 😉
I had to chuckle at your son’s suggestion to do a weigh-in AFTER the dinner that you just had… look at that feast! Everything looks delicious and I love how laid back you were about the apple pie burn smell and the delayed dinner. This is how it should be – a no-stress, laugh-at-yourself holiday!
Yes, I agree! We really did have fun and that’s the important thing.
Oh wow, your son is 6’5! My daughter hasn’t gained weight at college either. Good job on your race and I’m glad you didn’t get hurt!
Your daughter probably isn’t gaining weight because she’s so active- she’s been running, right? It was funny trying to feed my son all week- he ate SO MUCH. We’re definitely getting our money’s worth with his school meal plan.
Congrats on running a strong 5k! I love doing a turkey trot race – it’s so fun being out there with so many other people and our turkey trot has GREAT snacks at the end, hahaha.
Ours had some pretty good snacks as well! It is a really fun event.