Week 6 of 18: Training for the Flint Hills 50 and Trail marathon

Another week of crazy weather!  I guess this is paybacks from a very mild and uneventful 2017 winter.  The beginning of the week started out blizzard like and cold.   We were suppose to get a dusting of snow and instead we got this!

For the record my hubby is driving, not me:).  Inch-wise I think we only got a couple, but it was the 40 mph winds that made everything way worse.  Plus, the snow was super wet and the wind made the precip on the roads freeze as soon as the sun went down.  

Monday:  Rest day.  I needed it after last weekend.  Even though i didn't get both of my runs done on the weekend, I was wiped.  I also got a bit of bad news on Monday about my science job at KSU.  I kind of knew the end was near, and had kind of hoped my boss could some how re invent us like she did back when I was pregnant and we lost our funding previously.  That just didn't happen this time, and I totally understand.  We haven't set an exact date, but she said the words that we were pretty much done.  I am not sure how this is going to affect her lab space or any of our equipment, but I am going to begin the slow painful journey of bringing home 14 years of my life from my job that I have loved so dearly.  In some ways I had needed to hear this was the end, so I could start planning the next step.

Tuesday:  Speed work.  1200 meter repeats x 4.  On the mill.  Again.  We were suppose to get rain and thunderstorms Sunday night into Monday.  We woke up to rain, then ice pellets, and then crazy blowing snow.  This mean overnight from Monday to Tuesday, the roads froze up and got very messy.  The ladies and I decided to stay home and hit our mills instead.  First let me just say ARRRRRGGGHHHH!  While my watch had been behind in speed and of course mileage (since it thinks I am going super slow compared to the speed I know that I am going), today on a crucial work out, it decided to think that i was Kara Goucher and put me running at record speeds (for me).  Of course that meant that I was way ahead on my distances, so I am sure I didn't really do 1200 meter repeats.  Whatever I did, I did it as hard as I was told to, so there is that.  I guess I am going to have to go back to just hand timing everything, since I know how fast the belt is going anyway.  My watch is going to drive me, the very type A person insane!!!!!  I also started the show Ozark via suggestions from one of my good friends who has similar tastes.  WHOA.  I knew it was dark, but it took a 180 right off the bat from what I thought it was going to be and I am HOOKED!

Wednesday:  4 easy miles.  Okay, trying this whole run 5 days a week thing.  My idea was add in an extra easy run and let me be the one to decide mileage.  Coach put 5 miles on the schedule and after 4 on the mill, I needed to get dinner started and get my kid off of screens, so I got what I could.  I am probably not going to get up super early and get this run done, as I do need a few mornings of more sleep, so if this run doesn't get done post work, not going to freak out.  Some people will call this junk miles and not needed, but I call this mental floss and me time.  BTW if you look at my garminconnect data, it says I went 5.41 miles.  BIG NOPE.  I still don't know why it thinks i am going so fast.  I put that mill on 4.8 mph and watched some Ozark and took it super easy.  I want to keep using my watch for indoor runs to record the mileage, but I don't want it to fib my mileage either.

just enjoying another beautiful winter day by walking home from school

Thursday:  6 with strides.  Okay no excuses, tummy felt good, plenty of sleep, no bad weather.  Met Amber at the rec complex bright and early for conversation and loops.  She isn't training for anything, so looping is good for her because she can stop when she feels done and be right at her car, where out and backs force her into a mileage.  My dogs however were totally idiots.  They wanted to run right next to amber and kept cutting in front of her (while on leash).  Then another dog owner showed up to run and they barked their fool heads off at the poor girl and her dog.  They also pulled like sled dogs any time she ran by, which luckily was only 3 or so times.  She must have been doing some sort of speed work because she was SPRINTING full speed the whole time she was out. I hope she can forgive my dog for being so anti social.  I think in the meantime, if I run at the rec complex, I will only take one of the dogs.

Friday: cross and or strength.  I woke up feeling like I was yet again coming down with something.  Andrew has just had a little bit of congestion and coughing due to congestion, so I had been telling myself he wasn't really all that sick and I wasn't going to get it.  Apparently my body didn't share that optimism, and as the day went on, I felt worse and worse.  I started slamming Zicam as soon as I could and prayed it would take care of whatever this is that I might be getting.  The weather was so nice that I got to walk up to Andrew's school to pick him up and we got invited over for a play date plus wine.  While I knew I really needed to go home and do strength, some mom time with a super fun lady trumped that feeling.  We talked about our boys and all the fun that comes with raising a boy, until the boys got tired and started whining and crying about every little thing.  Hubby came and picked us up since we had previously walked, and then we got wraps from our local deli/bar and came home and all died.  Hubby had to work early on Saturday and i was feeling the effects of the wine and the cold my son had gifted me.

Saturday:  easy 5.  I woke up not feeling better or worse, just the same.  Head congestion that seemed to be moving fairly easily and no coughing.  The only bummer was the sinus head ache or possibly a little hang over from the wine.  Wine doesn't like me, and while I had had the equivalent of one big glass AND I had chugged two big bottles of Nuun water, that small amount can still make me have a head ache.  Hubby had to work all morning, so my choice was grind it out on the mill or wait till hubby got home and get a run in outside.  Well, it was beautiful outside, so I decided to wait it out.  The dogs and I got a very nice 5 miler in and some much needed vitamin D as the sun was out.

Sunday:   Long run 12 miles.  In retrospect, I probably should have ditched my Saturday run and just rested and recovered.  Maybe I should have ditched this run too, but I felt good getting up, even if little red was bright eyed and bushy tailed around 6:45.  Sigh.  Can't get him out of bed during the week at 7, but this weekend he was up both days before 7 ready to go.  Anyway, I got fueled and felt okay, so I thought I would go for it.  Seriously after 6 miles I thought about calling my hubby.  I just didn't feel right and my upper back where my lungs were actual hurt.  I still wasn't coughing and I thought to myself, even if I had to walk a little bit every mile that it would be okay, and I could finish my run.  I felt pretty spent post run and had to eat immediately, as I felt pretty yucky, but after having some lunch and making my hubby drive us to town, I felt better.  Neither Andrew or I have a fever, just head congestion, and I hope it stays that way.  I think we both just got a good old cold.  I am going to get to bed early tonight and have been drinking lots of water and taking lots of zicam. 

Here's to hoping it will be a better week next week with regards to health.  It looks like the weather will be typical cold Kansas but no snow or ice.  Have a great week!!!!

Is it January or February Runfessions???

Okay I never know whether to runfess for the month previous or the coming month.  I guess this will be the runfession for the following month.  Grab your favorite poison (mine right now is from a local brewery called Kansas Territory) and cuddle up.

I runfess I am falling in love with the treadmill.  WHO AM I?  The convenience is trumping all things right now for some reason and I am SO thankful I have one in my house.  You can't beat a fan, a bathroom a few steps away, and your favorite hydration plus tissues in the cup holders.  I dare say I am liking the time I have with the mill the best for speed work!!!!  I can't believe I just typed that.  Seriously.  I think part of it is that I never really get to watch movies or tv unless it is education or a cartoon, since little man is so impressionable as of late, so this is my one and only time to binge.  One thing I can't do is watch This is Us on the mill like a ton of other runners.  I need to be able to feel all the feels in that one and running while ugly crying just doesn't work. 

Right now i am working through Ozark and then I think I will need some new suggestions on what to watch!

I also runfess that I am super excited that Coleman Electric will be moving out of my house/dining room table, and into a rental shop/office.  I am ready to get this show super organized and super efficient when it comes to the office work part of running the business. 

The fun of running your business from your dining room table

I guess I will be the official office manager and I look forward to learning this part of the business.  I have started doing payroll and working on the safety program aspect of the business, as well as helping my hubby organize a good filing system.  We are also getting a new snazzy billboard as drivers are driving into Wamego and I can't wait to see it!  I am so proud of my hubby for building this business up slowly and surely.  He is a super businessman and I am so happy that he is building a business that all of us can be a part of.

A few yellows, one orange OOOPS, but mostly greens :)

For my final runfession I will let you know that I am relieved.  Andrew seems to be catching up in all areas in school, just like I thought he would.  He is starting to read me one sentence per page books, and is starting to really get his sight word note cards.  While I tried not to worry, even when we had to have a parent teacher conference yet again, it was always in the back of my mind that maybe he wouldn't and we would have to repeat Kindergarten.  While I know it is better to repeat K than other grades, I was just dreading it as I feared he would be super bored with the repetition.  We are still up and down with behavior but overall he has more green days than any other color.  I think twice a week wrestling helps for sure!

Hope you had a great January! I am looking forward to February with a fun and hard trail run in KC.

Week 5 of 18: Training for the Heartland 50 and Trail Marathon

Another week of training, another week of crazy weather!  I had been contemplating adding back an extra day of running for a while.  This week, I had a group run on a day I hadn't planned on running, so now I guess was a good time to try this plan.  My coach and I decided to stick to the Tuesday/Thursday and Saturday/Sunday plan, but add in a Wednesday run when I felt like it.  My body may hate this or I may love this and be so happy to be running 5 days a week again.  Who knows, but I won't know till I try!

Pork tenderloin and wild rice

Monday:  Rest day.  No school day due to holiday.  Add in negative wind chills and you get another day pretty much inside all day. Other than a brief trip to wrestling practice, we sat in the house and played games, read, and stared at screens.  I did cook a meal that I really, really liked.  Of course I say cooked, but i really only dumped stuff into the crock pot and then cooked some rice so not sure you can call it cooking.  Maple apple pork tenderloin plus wild rice.  YUM!  This will be a repeat meal for sure!

Tuesday: Speed work.  1000 meter repeats x 4 with a mile warm up and mile cool down.  I had to do this one on the mill thanks to the negative wind chill and the sheet of ice that is my road.  I won't lie, this one was tough.   I had the mill on 1% incline with the speed set at 6.6 mph for the repeats and of course walked the 400 meter recoveries.  Broken record, the speeds did not match up on my watch versus the mill, and neither did the mileages, as my watch reported 5.48 mile, while the mill reported over 6, but I did the workout, I struggled appropriately, I wanted to give up but didn't.  Alias Grace continues to keep my attention and it is taking everything in my power to NOT binge watch it post treadmill.  Since I was stuck in the house due to weather, I was also able to do my strength training and rehab exercises.  Boy am I going to miss these days where I can just run and work out and do whatever I want during the day.

Wednesday: Cross and possible group run.  Wednesday was a ball of stress at work and at home.  I am not proud that I had to have a couple of beers to de-stress, but it is what it is.  I have my bike and trainer ready to go, but instead I did some melting down, helped tony with a big project for his work, had a couple of beers and a cheeseburger to de-stress, and went to bed. I also decided not to drive back to Manhattan for the group run and Hoka event. I am kind of bummed that missed it, but I was not in the right frame of mind anyway to enjoy it.  I am glad that I was able to help tony get something done for the company that he was having issues with. 

The Wamego Wrestling Club-  There is so many of them that you can't see all of them!

Thursday:  6 miles easy.  On the mill thanks to waking up to a not so happy tummy. I had actually been up most of the night with gas and bloating and just plain tummy pain.  I decided to let the girls run without me and run post work.  We had the Wamego Wrestling Dual that night, so I had to hop on the mill immediately after work.  Let's just say I am so glad I chose the mill because running made pit stops frequent. I was very, very glad the bathroom was just a few steps away.  I also finished up Alias Grace.  I really need to read the book because the ending was SO weird.  So was she possessed?  Was that innocence all an act?  What did she actually do to Nancy and her master?  Does the book answer these questions????  I need to know!!!!

Friday:  Strength and cross.  I did neither.  We had set up for our local wrestling club's tournament and weigh ins, so post work and picking up Andrew, it was a mad dash to get to weigh ins and start helping with set up.  Post set up it was again a mad dash to eat, get snacks for the next day, and get home and get to bed.  We got in bed way later than I wanted to and then none of us could sleep.  I had to finally take melatonin to get some zzzzzs.  Andrew fell asleep around 9:30 and was up around 3 am for no apparent reason.

Saturday:  6 miles.  Wrestling tournament all day.  One exhausted mom=no running.  The plan was that for each table worked at each mat(the table being where the scoring is done electronically by a person punching buttons) that there are three workers who can interchange and all work the computer and get to watch their respective kid's matches.

Unfortunately this year, the ones of us who had experience had to be spread out on the tables, which meant us working the computers we got NO breaks for over 6 hours.  I had to score my own kid's match and work the clock while screaming and yelling for him.  Talk about stressed! I got 0 bathroom breaks and had a fig newton and half of a hot dog all day to eat with a few sips of a coke.  Needless to say at the end of the tournament, I was TOAST.  Horrible headache and major neck ache due to me being so stressed about getting things right.  Parents and coaches are BRUTAL at wrestling matches.  They will call you out if you get anything wrong the SECOND you push the button.  The system itself is easy to use, unless you screw up.  Since the matches move so quickly, once you screw up, it's like a tidal wave that is hard to come back from. And of course parents and coaches don't like it when you have to stop the match to get the ref to help you fix mistakes or help with a cranky computer.  I was at least lucky that I had a wonderful parent who wanted to learn and took a paper score for each match to double check my electronic scores.  I hope next year she will have the confidence to work the computer as I think she really got it in the end!

We saw MAJOR improvement this year.  If you remember last  year, we had three tournaments and all but the last match of the last tournament was immediate pin.  Sometimes he would even fall before the kid even took him down LOL!!!!  Andrew had three matches and the first went two rounds before he got pinned, the second match went almost a full three rounds before getting pinned, and then got pinned pretty quickly the third match. I knew he was tired by the third match, and while I would love for him to not give up, I wasn't surprised he got pinned so quickly.  We have so much to work on, BUT we saw SO many good things, which means he is absorbing what he is learning in practice.  We have two more tournaments to attend, and I think we are going to continue to see good things!  Plus, while his aggression isn't crazy yet, he is trying to fight back more this year.  Now if we can just get his confidence up enough to shoot and take down rather than avoid take down and ride, we will be good to go!

Sunday:  12 miles.  After a good night's rest, some hydration, and some advil (thanks horribly sore neck) I had a pretty good run.  Other than some south wind,  it was pleasant outside and the mud was only slightly annoying. 

The dogs however enjoyed the run and the mud and muck.  Glad aussies just dry and the mud falls off.  I do wish we had a mud room though with some sort of tub.  It would be nice to just plunk them in the tub post run and not to have to sweep the floors for several days.  I did end up taking my pack and some Nuun with me. I can't seem to get rid of this dehydration that I have had since Thursday.  I have been trying to get at least one to two bottles of Nuun down a day, but I just can't seem to catch up.  I did have to run a few loops around my neighborhood as I can only get about 10 on a true out and back without any back tracking.  Even had to re route thanks to a train sitting on three different crossings. Oh well, kept me on my toes!

I am ready to get some runs done outside but I am NOT ready for more snow and ice.  I am glad I have a treadmill but I miss my running partners and the dogs are not happy being stuck inside so much!

Have a great week!

Week 4: Training for the Flinthills 50 and Trail Marathon

Another week of crazy temperatures.  First spring like temps and then snow and ice.  Crazy Kansas winter!  Make up your mind!!!  Get ready for some random pictures as always :)

Monday:  Day off.  Wrestling changed to Monday night, thanks to activities at the high school. Andrew not only had a "green" day at school, he did all of his homework, and had a good wrestling practice.  Should I go buy a lottery ticket?  I was really worried that the Christmas/new years break might be super bad for Andrew, as he was in a good routine,  but now I think it was super good!

Andrew got a buff from Buff international.  He is still a little confused as to how you wear it

Tuesday:  800 meters x 5.  I got up not feeling great.  I had not slept well the night before and I honestly felt like I was coming down with something.  Lucky for me, Mel didn't feel well either.  I decided to try and get my run in, post dropping Andrew off at school, since I have lots of flexibility in my schedule right now (= no research going on:(.  I was hoping the extra sleep and having the sun up might make me be able to power through the work out.  I made it through, but felt super weak and not so great the whole time.  I think my body was fighting something off.  The flu is going around our town big time, as well as several little viruses, including stomach viruses.  You can't do anything about them but suffer through really, but I sure was hoping I wasn't going to have to suffer.

Wednesday:  Strength and Cross.  While I felt better, I still wasn't 100 percent, and decided that resting would be a better option.  I ate a good healthy dinner, thanks to another freezer meal class.  Chicken broccoli Alfredo in the crock pot was amazing!

I hoped lots of rest and zicam would beat this mess.  I still didn't have any real symptoms other than fatigue, but just had the feeling that something was coming down the pike.

Thursday:  6 miles easy.  Woke up to blizzard like conditions.  Ice pellets first, then blowing crazy snow.  Mel and I had already decided that we weren't running outside the night before .  The winter weather advisory had quickly changed to a warning overnight, and schools were canceled first thing in the morning. Predictions of up to 8 inches of snow quickly manifested. Lucky for us, we got more of a coating of ice and then some light snow, but they canceled school and shut down many businesses early just in case.  I don't mind being preemptive, even if they are wrong in the long run.

Friday:  Strength and Cross.  I got the strength done....well most of it. I combined my strength with my rehab exercises plus MYRTL and called it good.  I would like to get my bike trainer out and put it upstairs and get my bike on it so I can do cross in our bedroom.  Problem is that hubby put the trainer out in our scary shed that has all kinds of critters and scary things, and I am waiting on him to get it out for me.  I know, excuses.

Snow Geese!

Saturday:  Short long run.  Hubby had to work again, so I opted to switch long run days around.  Unfortunately, that meant the mill.  I had just finished up season one of Mind Hunter and was trying out some new shows to keep me from loosing my mind.  Lately, this strategy has been oddly working to get me through runs on the mill.  Today I started watching Alias Grace, and wow, it has already sucked me in during the second episode, which is good, because I might be milling it during my 12 miler.  I am kind of scared that I am getting SO use to running on the mill and not suffering outside like the rest of my buddies!  Of course the weather is suppose to get bad again tonight, so I may not have a choice.

Sunday:  Long, long run.  We woke up to a nice fresh blanket of snow.  I needed fresh snow to cover up the ice, so I could run outside.  I am doing better with my treadmill runs, but not ready to commit to 12 miles on the mill.  We slept in, thanks to staying up late to watch Wonder Woman (FINALLY), so I didn't get out till after 10 am.  When I headed out, the paved roads were pretty snow packed, and so was my route.  My yaktraxs did well on the deeper snow, but when the snow wasn't deep enough thanks to the wind blowing it into drifts,  or the rocks were too thick under the snow, they dug into my feet pretty painfully.  The part of my running route that the county has re rocked recently was the worst, and I seriously thought about just taking the yaktraxs off to try and finish.  Thanks to the rocks and the snow or lack of,  I was seeing almost 15 minute miles.  By the time I got back to the paved roads,  the city had bladed most of my paved route, and I had to stop and just take my yaktraxs off completely so I could stay upright and also not have them dig into my feet.  Then I got back to my neighborhood, which had NOT been bladed, and about busted my butt.  Aw, winter in Kansas.  I was even short over 2 miles, so I undressed enough to not sweat to death, and got on the mill to finish out.  I am glad that I at least tried to get my long run in outside, and hope this isn't going to be the theme of my long runs for the rest of this training cycle. 

We are suppose to get more snow tonight as I finish up typing this. We are off tomorrow for Martin Luther King day, so hoping we can get some sort of playing in the snow/getting out of this house done.  Thanks to my van's transmission going in and out of gears and the iffy roads, I have been pretty much too scared to drive much towards the end of this week, thus pretty much stuck inside.  We have been movie watching, playing video games, and generally acting like sloths for a few days now. 

Have a great week!

Week 3 Training for Flint Hills 50 and Trail Marathon

Happy New Years y'all!!!!  Here is to the first week of training in 2018.  We are still in the throes of some pretty low temperatures, so the mill maybe where it is at yet again this week.  Expect random pics because I am either staring at a wall on the mill or too afraid to take my phone out in the cold.

Lucky new years dinner.  Ham, black eyed peas, and cornbread.  Just can't do the green stuff!

Monday:  HAPPY NEW YEAR!  We were complete party animals and barely made it to midnight, so Andrew and I slept in.  By slept in I mean we slept till 9 am, which in the olden days use to be "early" for me.  I laugh at how 4 am is normal now and not even truly early.  I will admit, getting back to a normal routine after this long break, thanks to Andrew being sick and then being out on break is going to be super hard!!!!!   Mel and I were hoping to get out Tuesday morning to hit the gravel for some repeats, but the wind chill advisory meant probably another week of treadmill runs for us.  I did decide since I had a plethora of time to go ahead and move my strength work out and my MYRTL to my rest day and make another day my rest day.  Felt good to be able to take my time, do the exercises right, and not rush.

Any time I do mat work, she is right on top of me.  Sigh.

Tuesday:  400 meter repeats.  As previously said, we had hoped to get out and pound some gravel, but the wind chill advisory and the fact that I woke up at 4 am with a puking head ache changed all of that.  My sinus's felt like someone was poking me with a hot ice pick from inside and the pressure was killing me.  I managed to keep some Advil down and get a few more minutes of sleep before Andrew woke up.   I waited till early afternoon to hit the mill and actually enjoyed doing my work out.  GASP.  Who am I????  I turned on Mind Hunter and actually had no issues completing the 6 or 7 miles (watch versus treadmill).  Again, I sound like a broken record, but my watch and mill were not jiving on the times.  I set the treadmill according to the paces coach wanted and that was not reflected in my watch times.  At this point, I had to let it go and just trust that I knew I was running the pace I was suppose to run.

Wednesday:  Last day of break! Since I worked out Monday, I took Wednesday as my official rest day.  Took little man to Widgets, our local play place for kids (and adults).  Think Chucky Cheese, but with a huge structure they can play on in the middle that is 10 bucks to play in.  I usually just bring a book and get a drink and sit in the cafe while he plays.

Daddy joined us for lunch and then played a few games and won a few tickets for Andrew in the process.  You can turn the tickets into the office for prizes, so Andrew had quite the haul after daddy scored 1000 tickets on one game.  

Where a kid can be a kid and an adult can be a kid too!

Thursday:  6 miles easy.  Feels like 6 out, but we headed out anyway.  No wind, so no wind chill, yet both of us were very cold from the start.  I wore my usual get up, breath thermo tights and shirt with my saucony jacket over, and my normal gloves with hot hands.  Oddly enough, both of us had cold spots,  with Mel and her hands and mine and my chest.  I am not sure what we did wrong, because no wind chill, but it ended up being not a pleasant run for either of us.  Post running I know both of us took a very long hot shower, in which neither of us could warm up.  On the other hand, the dogs seemed to have loved finally getting out after several days cooped up in the house, and had epic beard cicles that I didn't get a pic of.

Friday:  Strength and cross.  Cross didn't get done, but strength did, and I am so happy that I finally did 2 x strength in one week!  YES!

Saturday: Long run.  Hubby had to work, so I was prepared to possibly brave 2 or more hours on the mill.  Part of me was SUPER dreading doing a long run on the mill, but part of me was kind of like, well, it's warm, I have a bathroom a few steps a way, and fuel and water right at my finger tips.  I had had two runners want to go running with me, and I had to let them know I couldn't :( . Then my running partner's wonderful hubby said at the last minute he could baby sit for us, so we could get out together.  YES!  He is a runner too, so he understands how soul sucking a long run could be on the mill.  11 very cold but manageable miles. We had a nice stiff wind from the east that we managed to have at our faces on the way out and at our backs on the way back. Perfect!  We just talked, took our time, and had fun.  I only took Stella so we could have a girls run and got no pictures because I was double gloved. How many more days till spring???

Sunday:  5 miles with some strides.  Since Stella got the run Saturday, Deuce got the run Sunday.  I decided I was going to try and more accurately track the dog's mileage this year. I charged up my old Garmin 230 and attempted to attach it to Deuce's harness.  I have to figure out a better way to keep the watch on the harness and yet be able to change it out for the dog since they both have their own harnesses.  I am still not really sure how to create accounts for both of them since they use the same device.  Right now I am just recording everything in a spreadsheet.

As much as the dogs sprint back and forth, we were only at 0.07 a part.  Interesting.

Have a great week y'all!!!  I am looking forward to slightly warmer temps this coming week:) . 

Week 2 of 18 Flint HIlls 50 and Trail Marathon Training

Before I get started, I wanted to tell everyone that the two big ambassador programs I tried to get in were both a bust. I am really bummed, especially about the second one, because I really, really care about their brand and would be a good match for their program.  The program did have non paid travel, but I was willing to travel to at least one race that was 6 hours away.  Unfortunately, that was the only race I could have made or would commit to the expense of, so that may have been a big deciding factor.  Oh well, I will try again next year and see what happens!

I am SO glad Christmas fell on a rest day, so I didn't have to juggle my schedule around.  Here are a pics from our Coleman Christmas.

I am one of those people who always feel like I didn't get my kid enough and then I totally over do it.  I tried this year to limit what Santa brought and have more stuff from us instead.  I am a work in progress, but getting better.  Santa brought a Thomas super station.  All of the trains in and on the station are his that he already had.  I had an amazing time organizing every single train he owns, and i think I seriously love this thing, more for the storage capacity than the actual toy.  And no, I have NO clue where we are going to put it.  

My child also loves all things 80s including the Ghost busters, so we got him the Ghost Buster's fire house and the Ghost buster's Ecto one.  Lucky for me, both were on HUGE sale on Amazon's black friday sales.  

If you saw my instagram feed, you saw that my hubby hadn't really bought me anything.  We weren't going to do presents, as we are going to have to buy and install a new furnace/AC outside unit for the house, but i had gotten my hubby a few inexpensive things (read a shirt and a 5 dollar stress relief game) and he decided he NEEDED to get me something.  Well, I always need more running socks, so running socks it is!  I have also always wanted a pair of goodr glasses, so why not at Christmas!  The socks were on sale at our local running specialty store, buy three and get one free, so I added a pair of Christmas socks to go with my thanksgiving socks that i got for my birthday.  I am so ready next year to jingle bell run and turkey trot!

Tuesday:  3, 2, 1 speed work ladder.  Same as last week's effort, but this time on the dreadmill.  We have had two dustings of snow, which equals super slick road surfaces due to thaw and freeze.  I just don't trust the surface when it gets that way since we have to traverse black top to get to our gravel.  Plus, I didn't really want to get up at 4 am since I have the week off.  We had had a rough night anyway, as daddy had come down with a nasty virus Christmas day, (maybe the same one as andrew minus the puking) and had tossed and turned and talked all night long.  Plus, the house was super cold for some reason, and I was just wide awake most of the night.  No big deal, I can dreadmill any time of the day.  It's weird how now I almost want to do speed work on the mill, versus just straight out miles on the mill?  I LOVE the fact that I can use my Garmin 235 indoors too for timed work like this!  Although, I am kind of doubting the accuracy of it all.  I know that my treadmill isn't that accurate either, but for the paces (mph + incline) I was using and the amount of effort that I was putting forth, the numbers didn't match up.  For instance, for the 1 minute interval in which I try and go all out, I was running 7 mph with a 1 % incline, which should equal a 8:32 pace, but my watch called it as an 9:52 once, an 8:41 once, and an 8:43 once.  Hmmmmm.  I was going 7 mph for all three 1 minute intervals, so go figure.  I also had a big discrepancy in the mileage.  My watch said 5.1 miles and my treadmill said 5.6.  Very weird.

Wednesday:  Strength.   I had two work outs lined up for us to do.  What happened?  The Christmas PURGE!  I need to reorganize Andrew's rooms, so I could fit the new toys in.  A little note, Andrew's room historically has been a storage room for us, since we don't have an attic or finished basement.  Over the years, we have slowly tried to purge or reorganize and get rid of stuff stored in there, but it has been a long process.  I still had quite a bit of baby stuff stored in there that I had forgotten about and I wanted to get all of that out and donated locally.  Andrew and I spent most of the day going through baby stuff and toys he no longer played with and donated a huge chunk of what was in his room.  I took a load that filled my entire van to Goodwill and felt SO proud of Andrew for making some super tough decisions.  We also packaged up a lot of toys that he wasn't really ready to get rid of, but that he really didn't play with anymore, so some day soon, some train crazy kid will get some awesome trains......someday.

This is half of the pile that went!

Post donating, the hubs and I headed over to Target to get some new storage stuff for Christmas decorations.  In getting a new furnace, we are going to loose our entire closet under the stairs to duct work, so I needed to down size Christmas stuff as well.  In the process of driving over to the big T, we witnessed a wreck.  After I pulled over, the hubs got out to make sure everyone was okay and tried to clear debris from the road.  Well, lucky us, we must have driven through some before he did his cleaning job, because post target shopping, we had a flat tire.

Lucky for me, the hubby got the flat off and the spare on, but the spare was in pretty bad shape.  We limped the car to the nearest gas station, and my hubby man handled the spare (which at that point was not attached to the rim anymore), and got it to attach back to the rim and inflate.  We were then able to drive to the only place open that did tires AKA Wallyworld to buy a new tire, since the old one was not replaceable.  We don't go to Wallyworld very often, so it was kind of fun to walk the toy aisles and see all the sales, and BONUS, our Wallyworld had a subway so we could eat as well.  I kept telling myself Andrew didn't need anything, since we just had donated a ton of stuff.  Why am I always drawn to little cheap crap that he plays with for a day and then stores never to be played with again?????

Thursday: 5 miles easy.   Okay, so the purge monster hit again, but for a good reason.  As I said earlier, we have a closet under our stairs where the new duct work for the new furnace we are getting is going in.  This is where I store 100% of my Christmas stuff including my artificial tree.  I am going to loose all of that storage area, so I had to condense and get rid of a bunch of stuff.  Lucky for me, last year, Andrew broke a ton of our ornaments putting them on the tree, so we had already lost a bunch of ornaments.

This year we were using all shatterproof ornaments, and they fit perfectly in one of those ornament organizers.  In fact I got all of our Christmas decorations in two Tupperware, one box, and three light bags.  The rest is going to Good Will next time we wander to Manhattan.  I would love to do way more decorating for Christmas, but we just don't have the storage for it.  I guess we will stick to lights and door cling decorations for now.

Post purging, I headed to the mill to pound out 5 miles.  Again, my watch and the mill were off, and I was going to go with what the mill said, since I was set on 5.2 mph, but my OCD got the best of me, and I had to finish up and make the watch happy.  It was about 6 more minutes of running to get it to 5, which isn't that bad in the grand scheme of things.

Friday:  Cross and Strength.  Nada.  Nothing.  More purging and resting.  Lots of resting.  Not going to feel guilty.  What I will share here is yet another freezer meal dish that I am super in love with!

Loaded sweet potato fries are amazing!  I didn't think that this would fill me up with no meat involved, but the protein in the beans did a great job!  We were both skeptical that this dish would be good, but it was better than good!  I really am enjoying helping out by doing some "cooking" around the house.  We have several dishes from both rounds of freezer meal classes that we like to make now, so they are well worth the price!

Saturday:  Long run.  When I got up, it was feels like -7 with a north wind of 10 miles per hour.  Yipeee.  NOT.  I managed to put on about 7 layers and head out with both dogs with the hubby having his phone in his pocket just in case we turned to icicles and needed a ride.  

I will have to say that I was pretty warm, and other than the discomfort of running into the tough wind and my eyelashes freezing together.  If I put my buff on and cover my eyes and mouth, it fogs up my glasses and the condensation freezes to my eyelashes.  If anyone has a cure or that, let me know!  I didn't take any pictures during my run because I was worried about my phone dying, plus I had two layers of gloves on and didn't want to take them off as it was a bitch to get them on in the first place.

Post running, we headed to the movies for a late lunch and some Star Wars.  WOW, Star Wars was amazing!  I don't want to type spoilers, but Ben, Finn, and Rhea love triangle anyone?

Andrew had some parts that didn't interest him, and thus we had some moving around and some talking, but the action parts kept him GLUED to the screen.  We some how accidentally got tickets to the 3D version, but the 3D version was in the eat in theater, and I will take that theater any day over the others.  

Sunday:  5 miles.  Back to the mill I headed.  Feels like -8, no thank you.  We had gotten out earlier and just that little adventure left me hating the cold.    I was suppose to do strides but instead put on Netflix and Mindhunter and did .9 of a mile running and .1 of a mile walking.  Then we started partying hard and I mean partying hard by getting in our pjs, bundling up in blankets, and watching Dick Clark's Rocking New Years Eve on the telly.  We had Mocktails at New York's midnight and little man crashed and we limped it to the real midnight and then promptly went to bed.  Such party animals are we!!!!

Have a wonderful New Year!!!!  I hope you had a safe and fun New Years Eve and are eating your greens and pork on New Years for good luck!  I know this southern household stuck on the prairie will be!  See you next year!!