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Weekly Rundown- The Hay is in the Barn!

Guess what?  I’m officially in my taper!!!  I had my last long run on Wednesday and now I just have to get through the next two weeks without doing anything stupid.  I’m linking up as always with Kim and Deborah for the Weekly Rundown.  Let’s just see how the week went!

Monday

I started off this chilly week with a 4 mile run.  It got down to the upper 40s every morning- I don’t think I’ve ever had so many photos of me running in a long sleeve shirt before!

Followed this run with plank and dead bugs.

Tuesday

I got myself to the gym for the 12/3/30 treadmill workout- 12% incline, 3 mph, for 30 minutes.  Followed by upper body and abs!

Wednesday

LAST LONG RUN before my race!  It was a planned 20 mile run, and just for something different I decided to go to the trail I used to run on when I was training for my 50K last year.  I wonder why I haven’t been running there lately?

Oh yes… now I remember.

This trail is SANDY.  I trained on it last year because my race had a lot of sand- but my race this year has NO sand (yay!)  I forgot how hard it is to run on the sand!  The trail is really beautiful though.

Everything was going well until mile 15, when I felt my left achilles.  Oh yes, it’s all coming back to me- long runs on this trail used to bother that achilles.  I tried to stick to parts of the trail with less sand, but by 18 miles that achilles was yelling at me, so I called it.

SIGH.  It was such a bummer, because the weather was beautiful and everything else felt great.  I had to remind myself that in the big scheme of things, it won’t matter that I ran 18 instead of 20 miles on this day, and it wasn’t worth it to end up with an injury.

Thursday

My achilles, along with many other body parts, was stiff and sore when I woke up, but I did my mobility routine and decided to try a run.  I walked a mile- so far, so good- and then started running.

My achilles said “NOPE!”  I cut this run short after a mile.  I was pretty sure the achilles was not injured, but just very angry.  And I don’t blame it!  Whose stupid idea was it to do a long run on a sandy trail???

I went home and doubled up on my core.  Don’t be too impressed by that- my core work has been pretty minimal these days, so it was probably good to do a little more.

Friday

I contemplated doing strength at home, but decided to go to the gym, and I’m so glad I did.  I did squats, deadlifts, overhead press with dumbbells, abs and low back.

I felt like this workout was so good for me.  I had some lingering soreness when I started, especially in my quads while doing squats, but it got better and better with each set.  I’ve had this happen before- I have lingering soreness from a long run, but “heavy” lifting (the term is definitely relative) helps it dissipate.  Anyone else have this experience?

Saturday

4 mile run, and my achilles felt perfectly fine.  PHEW!  I was 99% sure that it was just irritated and not actually injured, but that 1% doubt was stressing me out.  Actually this was my best run of the whole week!  The weather was perfect and I felt great.  Go figure.

Sunday

On tap for today- off!  Sleeping in, waffles, taking down the outdoor Christmas lights… wait, WHAT?  Yes, they’re still up.  I’m not sure if this makes it any better, but at least I haven’t been turning them on.  Today is finally the day!

So that was the week, with a little drama thrown in for good measure.  But that’s to be expected- there will be drama from now until my race on the 17th (last year I was convinced my foot was broken the week before my race,)  Buckle up for a bumpy ride while I navigate this taper period!

Sand running- yay or nay?- I can’t believe I ran a SANDY 50K last year- I must have been insane.

Does anyone in your neighborhood still have their Christmas lights up?- There are a couple people in our area who not only have their lights up but are still turning them on- I see them when I’m out for an early morning run.

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Weekly Rundown- That Was Weird…

What a week!  We thought we were getting a hurricane, and ended up with tornadoes.  Because the hurricane itself didn’t hit us that badly, most people in our area had little to no damage- except for those in the path of the tornadoes, where there was utter destruction.  Luckily we were in the first category, but everyone is left with the feeling, “What just happened?”  But of course… there were still workouts.  Thanks as always to Kim and Deborah for hosting.  Here we go… Monday It was a rainy day.  In the morning I did Caroline Girvan’s deadbug workout, and saved my run for later in the day.  I thought I might go to the gym and run on the treadmill, but there was no thunder or lightning, so I ran 3 miles outside. Tuesday I started the day with this 30 Minute Pilates Core Workout..  OUCH.  It was hard!  Followed it up with hip stability exercises, and that was it for the morning.  Later in the day we got news that schools would be closed Wednesday-Thursday because of Milton. Wednesday Hmmm!  I had a 10 mile run planned.  But there’s a hurricane coming.  Should I run on the treadmill?  Milton is still out in the Gulf of Mexico and isn’t due to make landfall on the west coast of Florida till night.  The weather seemed fine, so I decided to run outside.  Instead of going to my nearby trail (which is on the edge of the Everglades) I decided to stick to streets closer to home.  I was thinking it would be safer, in case of lightning. Once again, I was a little dismayed how hard 10 miles felt.  I thought about cutting it short, but instead did my trick of running 30 seconds/walking 30 seconds until I felt better, and ended up doing the whole distance. I went inside, took a shower and when I got out we had a tornado warning.  WHAT?   We turned on the TV and saw that a tornado was passing just to the west of us (you know, like where my Everglades trail is!) It was moving north, so didn’t affect us directly.  But several tornadoes went through our county and wreaked havoc, as tornadoes do. Lesson learned- take the weather seriously.  The outer bands of Milton spawned around 20 tornadoes throughout the state that day. Thursday Milton moved through overnight, causing some gusty winds but not much else.  We awoke to a beautiful, breezy Thursday!  Since we all thought the weather was going to be terrible, work was canceled for the day and I slept in.  But later in the day I decided to go for a run.  I had new shoes! I just ran 2 miles, then did a MadFit standing core workout.  Then we got word that schools would be closed AGAIN on Friday.  So many people in our county lost power in the tornadoes, and they were still going through every school to make sure there was no damage. Friday Okay, I’m so confused.  What day is it, anyway?  My daughter was home, but I had work (side note- it’s SUCH A RELIEF when your kids are old enough to stay home alone.  When they’re little, these school closures are brutal.). I went to the gym for leg day! Saturday 4 mile run before work.  I don’t know what’s up with this hazy photo.  It was a beautiful day!  Milton blew in some cooler, dryer air.  Not actually cool or dry- but coolER and dryER.  The end is in sight. Sunday On tap- sleeping in and watching the Chicago Marathon!  Then in the afternoon I’m hoping to put up my outdoor Halloween decorations.  I’m cautiously optimistic that we will have no more storms, so it’s time for outdoor decs! These storms are always scary.  Luckily everyone in our Florida blogging community made it through unscathed.  Our real life friends are all fine, although my daughter’s band director had a tornado go through his neighborhood!  He had damage to his house, but it’s still standing and, most important, he and his family are all fine.  PHEW. Did you have a “normal” week?- I’m trying to remember what that feels like. Are you getting fall weather?

Milton!

Hi there!  Usually I do a coffee date post on Fridays, but I’m all discombobulated this week.  It IS Friday, right?  We’ve had an eventful couple of days here… but we’re fine, our house is fine, and our friends are fine.  We’re VERY lucky. But, we had a tornado!  Actually a couple tornadoes went through our county.  We got a tornado warning, turned on the TV, and they were showing the tornado live, as it was caught on a traffic cam.  On the other side of the screen they showed a map of the county and where the tornado was going. It was scarily close to us, but we could see on the map that it would stay to the west and was moving north.  Remember- Florida houses have no basements!  Everyone in the path was urged to get into their bathtubs. Just about all our destruction from Milton came from these tornadoes.  Most of the county is fine, but the areas in the path of the tornado were obviously devastated.  The schools were closed Wednesday, Thursday, and they’re closed again today because so many people are without power, and they’re still making sure all the schools are structurally sound. Seeing the damage so close to home, and then all the flooding and wind damage on the west coast, makes me feel a little guilty- but we really had no issues from this storm (other than being temporarily scared by the tornado warning.) We had no damage and didn’t lose power.  I had a little unexpected vacation from work (we were closed for a couple days) and well…. I kind of …. cringe… (I’m very sorry!) enjoyed it. On Wednesday (when Milton was still out in the Gulf of Mexico) my daughter asked if her friend could sleep over.  Sure!  Because it’s always a good idea to be in charge of someone else’s kid in a natural disaster, right? I picked up her friend and we stopped at Target for last minute supplies.  Remember my storm snacks?  Well, the girls took a dim view of the Lesser Evil popcorn, keto plant-based cereal, and sugar-free chocolate chips.  They loaded up the cart with more “appropriate” supplies. I took the opportunity to get a couple more candles.  I figured, if we’re going to be stuck in the house, it might as well smell good, right?  I had such a good time smelling them all (I always think of the Girl Next Door Fall Extravaganza candle sniffing when I do this.) I love all the names… But this was my favorite: I ended up choosing these two: By the way, did you know that money spent during a storm doesn’t really count?  We were throwing things into the cart with reckless abandon.  My husband wasn’t too pleased (especially with the mocha marshmallow coffee.)  But we were ready to hunker down. The hunkering didn’t last long!  By Thursday morning the worst of the storm had passed, and we were left with a beautiful, breezy day.  We even opened our windows (for the first time since… March?) It wasn’t exactly COOL.  But it was less humid, and we enjoyed the windows open until 11 am, when I realized I was roasting and we had to turn the AC back on. Since I had a bonus day off of work, I decided to start working on my blog to fix the sidebar problem.  So if you never hear from me again, you’ll know what happened.  No, just kidding- I backed it up!  Hopefully I can fix the current issue and also clean up a few other things that have been bugging me. Now, back to regular life!  All our friends on the west coast evacuated.  Stephany went to Ocala; two more friends drove all the way to South Carolina, and others flew up to New Jersey.  We’ll be anxiously awaiting word from them on how their homes fared in the storm.  We’re so close to the end- PLEASE, no more hurricanes! Have you ever been through a tornado? Do you have a favorite fall candle scent? Top photo by Greg Johnson on Unsplash  

Reading and Eating

Well, it was my first post- Century Trilogy week of reading, so it was bound to feel a little blah.  But I’m happy to report that I finished this book, and can weigh in with my opinion: I liked it!  But I didn’t LOVE it.  The characters were interesting and I was curious to see where the story was going to go.  It’s a mystery, and I always love a mystery.  The thing I didn’t love was, the story was told from multiple timelines.  I think that could be super confusing if you listened to the audio version of this book (anyone who listened want to let me know?) Overall the ending was satisfying- but I wish the same story could have been told without the confusing time period switching back and forth.  But that’s my personal preference- I’m just not a fan of that style. Next up: I’m only about 1/4 of the way into this, but I’m liking it so far.  The premise is, a mysterious woman gets up on an airplane and walks down the aisle, telling each passenger when and how they’re going to die.  The passengers react with confusion, outrage, amusement… but six of them are given especially early death dates, and I’m just getting to the part of the book where we’ll see if the first prediction comes true. I’m not far enough into the book to say if I’m going to love it, or just like it.  But I’m enjoying it so far. On to the eats!  This week I made Suzanne’s Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew.  It was so good! I also decided to splurge on the weekend, and made lasagna (I always use the recipe from Isa Chandra Moscowitz’s Veganomicon.) And, storm snacks!  We were hoping that Milton would nudge a little bit north, but it’s actually tracking further SOUTH now.  The counties to the north of us now have a hurricane warning.  It looks like we’ll have a tropical storm, but if it tracks further south we’ll put up our shutters tomorrow (we have accordion shutters which are attached to the house- all we have to do is pull them closed and lock them.) Either way, I stopped at the store for snacks! WHY do we feel like we need and deserve junk food when there’s a storm coming???  The cashier actually asked the woman in front of me, “Are you having a party?” The woman said “No, I just want to make sure I’m stocked up in case I can’t leave the house.”  Hee hee. Wish us luck!  I’ll be here eating my popcorn, and anxiously watching to see how our friends on the west coast are faring. What are you reading now? What are your favorite storm snacks? Top photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

My Superpower Would Be…

You know that question, if you could have a superpower, what would it be?  After contemplating many possibilities (flying, being invisible) I’ve decided that I definitely want my superpower to be the ability to control the weather. We have another hurricane heading to Florida.  It’s forecast to hit the Tampa area, which is terrible (if you haven’t already read it, here’s Stephany’s post– her car was totaled in the flooding from Helene, and now she has to evacuate.)  After it hits the west coast, Milton will continue across the state- hopefully staying just to the north of us. But we have a tropical storm warning, so school has been canceled for Wednesday and Thursday, and all after school activities are canceled for this week.  For my daughter this includes a rehearsal, a concert, an audition for an all-county band, a football game and a band picnic.  WHAT are the odds that this storm would hit us in this week of all weeks, where so many things were scheduled???  I’m really cranky about this, because we were supposed to bring soda to the picnic, and now I have about 50 cans of Coke in my fridge.  Grr. (Yes, I know- people died from Helene, and I’m complaining about having too much Coke.  Yes, I feel like a bad person.) I hate not knowing what’s going to happen.  Did they cancel school for nothing?  Should we be putting up our hurricane shutters?  At least, it seems smart to prepare for a power outage.  Let’s see- do we have our battery powered fans?  Check.  Lamps?  Check.  Beer?  Check.  (WAIT.  How did that get on the list?)  Food?  Che-eck… a trip to the store is probably in order.  Water?  Nope.  I’ll start filling bottles with our purified tap water (or, if we have a boil water order, we can just start drinking Coke, heh heh.) I don’t mean to make light of the situation.  There’s no great outcome here.  If I say I hope the storm doesn’t hit Tampa, then I’m wishing it on someone else.  But since I can’t control the weather (darn!) I have an alternative superpower. From this article, “40 Simple Rules for Life”, #37: Separate almost everything into two: things you can control and those you can’t. Don’t waste time and energy on what you can’t influence. Yes, that’s a superpower right there.  I’ll prepare, hope for the best, and deal with whatever happens.  Sending love to all our fellow Floridians on the west coast!  Hope everyone is safe. Top photo by Mélody P on Unsplash  

39 Responses

  1. Yay for taper time! I am glad your Achilles is feeling better. Running in sand in so freaking hard. I’m glad your race doesn’t have sandy trails! You don’t need the extra challenge. I have rarely ran on sand. I can only think of one run on sand that I did in the Dominican Republic when I was visiting a friend in the peace corp. I have never been so sore, besides after marathons. Oof.

    Some do still have their Christmas lights up and I don’t hate it to be honest. It is kind of nice to see on dark nights?

    While you guys are having cooler weather than usual, we are having warmer weather. It’s like spring outside. I am going to go for a run tomorrow morning since it’s so mild out and there isn’t any ice! Woo hoo!

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    1. Okay, glad to know I’m not the only one with lights still up.
      Everyone up north is talking about the beautiful warm weather, and it’s making me nervous! I’m afraid this means it will be HOT down here for my race- but there’s nothing I can do about it. I hope you get your outdoor run in!

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  2. I can’t remember what year it was, I think it was 2022, but one of our neighbours had their outdoor Christmas decorations – snowman, giant decorative bulbs, etc. – up until May. So, you’re way ahead of them. A lot of our neighbours in Calgary would keep lights up – and lit – all through January and sometimes even until February, so you’re in good company!
    Yikes about the Achilles, I’m sure it’s just irritable, but that’s nervewracking!

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  3. Good call on heeding your Achilles — and look, it paid off!

    Sand running is big nope for me. It angers my calves, PF, you name it!

    We still have our backyard lights up—I like how they look. There’s a few neighbors who still have their front yard lights up—they look pretty so I’m not judging!

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    1. Hmm, maybe instead of taking mine down I should leave them up and turn them on again! Ha ha… once again, my husband would kill me. He would like them down ASAP.

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  4. I did a trail once that had quite a bit of sandy trails… I had never experienced this running and I remember how sore my ankles were after that! Definitely not worth it to continue that run and risk injury with your big race coming up!

    I read an article the other day that was talking about the taper, and how every time she had to taper for her race she was always convinced she was injured when in fact she was not!

    One of my neighbors actually just took her Christmas decorations down yesterday too!

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  6. Congrats on making it to the taper in one piece! Ha! I cringed when I saw the pic of your feet on the sand. Sand is tough! Glad your achilles calmed down and it’s all systems go! I’ve noticed some holiday lights still being lit. There were are bunch of large snowflakes lit at a nearby shopping center. Those need to go!

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  8. I hope that cooler weather sticks around for your race! It is so much nicer isn’t it? I am so excited for you and can’t wait to read all about this. Hang in there these next 2 weeks

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  9. Yes we have neighbors with Christmas light!?

    Big nay on sand… I’m klutzy enough on the road.

    So excited for your race.

    Your race is Sat? l’ll be in Boca Sun-Tues (after your race) and in Delray Tues-Sat (before).

    We could walk on your trail or just meet for tea/coffee.

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  10. Geez! I hope that achilles stays quiet. I always feel so fragile during my taper. I think you will do fine for your race. Your training has gone so well!

    My next door neighbor still has her tree up! But the guy behind us still has his lights up and he turns them on every night. He can’t blame the weather, that is for sure–he just must really like having them up.

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  11. To each his own- but I can’t imagine still having my tree up. I mean I love it- in December. I think it would depress me now.

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  12. As soon as Christmas is over I want my tree and decorations down and house back to normal! It also makes me sad to see it up past Christmas but maybe that’s just me. But I’m okay with my lights being up outside longer- it’s nice to see them at night and I don’t mind the decor when I’m out running in the dark. We just took our lights down though a week ago. Ihaven’t run on sand in a while but it definitely hurts! I can’t imagine a 50K! WOW!

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    1. Yes, I know what you mean- the Christmas decorations indoors start to feel like clutter. Outdoors can be kind of nice. I did get most of mine down today though!

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  13. There’s a guy who lives in the apartment building across from us and he still has a Christmas tree up in his window. Last year I think he kept it up until almost Easter. I’ll keep you updated on that. My neighbors have two tiny poodles who have made it impossible for them to have Christmas trees for several years. Well, this year they put one up and it’s still up! I see the lights on occasionally when I walk Hannah at night. I’m amused at all the people who are trying to keep the Christmas cheer going all year long.

    Reply

    1. Honestly, I just can’t imagine having the tree still up! It would make me so sad. I get wanting the lights though- I did keep one string of white lights in my living room and they’re lit right now. They helped cheer things up in January, but it’s about time for them to come down too.

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  14. Yay for the taper! Boo for “Achilles Trail”. The only sand running that I’ve ever done is at the beach on the shoreline where it’s packed down – that definitely would not have cut it for your race last year.

    TWO MORE WEEKS…..SQUEEEEEEEEEE!!! It’s exciting.

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  15. I don’t do well on tapering time as I get anxious about readiness, injury, and lack of long runs to kill the anxiety. hahaha… but it does magic to prepare our body for the race.
    glad your achilles is fine and no major issue. I have yet to feel better to my sore legs and lifting. usually t’s the reverse order.
    I’m ordering tailwind to try for my next run. hope I like it so I get more calories in.

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    1. I love Tailwind! I mean… I don’t love the taste (but it’s okay.) But I love the way it makes me feel. i use one of the caffeinated ones and it’s like magic. I hope you like it.

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  16. Yay, for taper. That is my favourite part of a training plan. I’m glad you didn’t injure yourself on that run, and good on you for being sensible and calling it. One of the long runs I do has a short section that’s sandy … but luckily it’s very short. When we run Torquay to Bells Beach I have to remember not to go around a particular section of the cliff trail that is very sandy, I forgot in January and as I was running remembered… oh yes, I was supposed to turn right at the last junction. There is also a run near my parents place every year that is 10km along the beach, and the beach is not a hard sand beach. That’s a hard no from me.

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    1. Yeah… I don’t really need to run on sand ever again. But I probably will go back to that trail at some point because it’s so pretty. Maybe for a shorter run.

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  17. Yeah, I hate running on the sand, too. I’m glad your Achilles pain was only temporary. I actually enjoyed taper time, but I do know a lot of people get the taper crazies. You’ve got this! You put in the hard work, now relax and let your body rest until race day.

    I just took down my mom’s Christmas tree and mantel decorations on Thursday so I totally understand still having your outdoor lights up. 😉

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    1. I’m actually surprised at how many people are okay with it! My husband unfortunately is not one of them, and he’s very happy that I got (most) of them down today.

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  18. We have neighbours that leave a tree up on their porch with lights for months. The first year they put up an outside tree I commented how much we loved seeing it from our living room window so they left it up. Now it’s tradition – but especially sweet because the main reason they keep it up is so WE can see it. I mean, how sweet, right?

    Last year I left our artificial tree up in our basement until after Valentine’s Day and I still have our mantle all decorated with our faux evergreen (for Valentine’s now) + wreaths on the front door and an inside door.

    I’m so excited you’re in your taper. Running a long distance on sand sounds SO hard. I ran 5 km in bare feet on a beach once and really regretted that after!!!

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  19. Yes, running a 5k on a beach IN BARE FEET would be a regrettable life decision.
    i haven’t noticed anyone in my neighborhood that still has their tree up- at least not that I can see. That’s such a sweet story about your neighbors!

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  20. TONS of people in my area have their lights up still. And even more than that have wreaths and Christmassy decor on their doorsteps. (I still have my wreath up. Whoops!)

    Congrats on making it to this last bit before your race! How nice that the weather has been so refreshing for you lately. I love your shorts-with-hat-and-gloves combo. Only in Florida!

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  21. I’m actually one of the few people who like sand running, as long as it’s not super deep sand. It’s tough but I find it easier to keep my footing on sandy trails rather than rocky ones where I’m constantly catching my toes on rocks! But I probably wouldn’t want to do a long run entirely on sand!

    Hope you’re enjoying the taper so far! I always have mixed feelings about taper — excitement that the race is close but anxious about anything that could go wrong. Hopefully you’ll have no more drama before your race!

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  22. We don’t really have rocky trails around here- but yes, I guess rocks would be worse than sand! I did almost all my long runs on that sandy trail last year (whilc training for a sandy race) but now I’m remembering, I did end up with a sore achilles many times.

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  23. Oh my goodness! I can’t wait to see how it goes!

    Sand, especially sugar sand, is AWFUL for running. We had a ton of it at Ragnar Alafia and it was terrible.

    Enjoy your taper and good luck!

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  24. Oh boy, I got worried when I read the part with the sandy trail and the angry Achilles… I am so glad things resolved at the end of the week. Running on sand is so tough!

    Haha, I had to laugh about the Christmas light…. two houses down they have a bunch of lights (and all kinds of knickknacks) in their front yard and I am not sure it’s just Christmas decoration anymore. The lights are definitely still there…

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  25. I was so worried about your Achilles! Glad all seemed well a few days later. Fingers crossed that everything holds up – including your mental state :> – as you approach the weekend.

    Reply

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