Birthdays, pies and miles…

This may be my most favorite picture ever…

Apparently I’ve been busy.   It’s the time of year where I swear I would have a large chunk of Christmas stuff done and so far I’ve managed to order cards online and that’s it.   Jasper and I are also signed up for a cookie making class…does that count?

I’m coming to the end of Dallas marathon training.  I managed a 20 miler last weekend.  While the temps have been pleasant every weekend seems to have torrential rains.  The 20 miler was done at the crack of dawn with a very gracious friend who met me for a large chunk and I ended up with just about 7 miles in cold and wet.   But it was done!!!   This weekend is more cold and wet and I plan to just manage want I can manage.   I’m still assessing goals, but mainly just thankful I have a group of friends coming with me to scratch another 26.2 off the list.

I also celebrated another birthday.   It was a nice quiet sushi dinner.   It was a good one….the last two years someone in the family (hint, his picture appears frequently in this blog),  had epic tantrums, epic enough that two years later I still remember them.  This year there were no epic tantrums.  No tantrums at all and was lovely.

And now it’s Thanksgiving…..and I’ve got 4 different pies on the schedule.    Pies first….miles later.

 

Piñatas, Olympians, and no logging for me…

  
Saturday I did a heavenly 20 miler.  It felt good to scratch that off my list.  When I haven’t done town lake in a long time, I really enjoy it.  I saw this new giant piñata art installation and Leo Manzano, who has won an Olympic medal in the 1500.   I had my phone and would have loved a picture but I suppose one does not interrupt Olympians mid workout to take selfies.   So instead I drooled over the piñatas.  I love cool artwork.   And the forecasted rain held off until the last mile and a half….now that’s a good run.

This week’s running news is I’ve abandoned keeping a running log.  I’ve gone back and forth on this over the years.  Daily Mile was fun and then I switched to Strava.  Strava is pretty darn cool, but this week I heard about the new Runkeeper app that syncs up with your Apple Watch.  I tried it a couple days and found it a bit buggy, and decided to give it up all together.  I never, never, never go back and read a running log.  How boring would that be?  It’s satisfying to see big mile weeks, but dangerously obsessive.   Also, it’s not like I’m a professional athlete sending data to a coach. No one will ever  look at my Strava page and think “Gee I wonder how doughy middle age women train?”  The Apple Watch has a nifty activity tracker which isn’t really a log, but it will record all my runs and I think that’s enough.  I’m not saying never again….it’s sorta fun to do with friends, and I might spin some sorta log into this blog and maybe it will entice me to post more.  But for now I am simplying my life.   It’s not like I don’t have 8 trillion other little tasks in the day.  

Back to the ‘mill this weekend.  Next weekend I hope to see the piñatas again!

Time flies…

BFFs

Another hectic couple o’ weeks have come and gone.  I’ve been in the treadmill a ton and have maxed out shows and movies.  Currently watching Girls on HBO and not loving it.  Loving Fargo….but I can’t binge watch it on the treadmill.  Gotta love first world problems.  But when I have gotten outside in the last couple weeks the weather is perfect.  When not dumping rain that is…I need to flag this post and read it in the late spring when I am thinking of signing up for a fall marathon.  I think a December marathon in Texas is the way to go.  Last weekend I finally got in a long run and it was heaven….perfect weather.    Other than the fact I didn’t eat enough and was really hungry towards the end, I felt good, and felt so much better all day than after a summer long run.  Plus the day before was Halloween and that day was cray cray.  Mike was out of town and Jasper and I hit his taekwondo class, then spend four hours at another fall festival.  We have two elementary schools in our neighborhood, so we know a couple kids who go to this other one.  So much fun to go to the fall festival and not work at it and I scored big in the silent auction.  Best score is a birthday party at a new bounce place that Jasper has fallen in love with.   We rushed home, carved a giant pumpkin and Mike got home for all of 24 hours before going out of town again to do trick or treating. It was a huge whirlwind and as a result I didn’t get any pictures.

This week I volunteered for a couple things at Jasper’s school and that made things a little busier than normal and I am ready for the weekend!   This weekend I’ve got a 20 miler, the new Charlie Brown movie, and a birthday party.   November is flying by and then time for a December marathon then Christmas!  Yes!