Snow time!

This week has been all kinds of interesting.  Let's just start with the fun health stuff first and then go to snowmagedon.  I was getting ready to run, turned my body at a funny angle in front of a mirror and saw a knot in my neck area.  Upon further investigation, I found a very large squishy knot about the size of a small egg to the right of my thyroid.  No other symptoms luckily and labs all normal.  I've been following my thyroid very closely due to unexplained weight gain that I feel like is excessive and I know sometimes the thyroid can be a culprit.  Lucky or unlucky for me, it hasn't been.  Living in a small town has its perks as my doctor actually had several morning appointments the day after I found it, so I was able to quickly get in for an exam and to start planning how we are going to approach this whole mess.  Labs were first, then an ultrasound planned, and then talks of additional plans made once we knew more.  Spoiler alert: my labs were normal.  That made me feel a bit better about the C word.  I also posted on FB to get all the information I could, both good and bad about this kind of issue.  Mostly I've heard great stories of cysts and lymph nodes being pissed off and how easy the biopsies and surgeries have been.  I'll take the good.  As of typing this on Saturday, my body does seem a bit confused and seems to be mounting a response to whatever this is. I don't feel sick per se, but I don't feel 100 percent, almost like my body is fighting something off.  As always stay tuned.  

Since I wasn't feeling 100 percent this week and we had a major snowstorm hit, I got one heavy lift for upper body and three runs in.  I cut one of my runs short thanks to not feeling great and the wind chill not being very nice.  One four miler and one 5K for the runs before snow and a 3.25 miler post snow in some really slick dry snow.     I also did a home work out with my BOSU ball and Tony's 30 lb dumbbell that he had at the house.  Holy moly batman, I can barely walk as I type this.  I used my Peleton app and just told it I had nothing other than my body weight and I added the dumbbell and BOSU in as I could.  Since it was legs, it was more just holding the dumbbell while I did lunges or squats but for upper body, I will have to make my way to the shop to my different weights and kettlebells for sure.  

She didn't love her little booties, but she left them alone once we got started and they did the job of protecting her tiny little feet.  I had Tony drop us off on the gravel and pick us back up after I hit 3ish.  In town they had bladed the roads which just makes them slick messes to run on.  I did wish I had put on my yak tracks as I had them with me but left them in the dang truck when Tony dropped me off.  I was able to kind of straddle the ruts and keep one foot on fresh snow while the other stayed in the rut made by the tire tracks.  As long as I have one point of stability, I seem to be okay.  Still had a couple of OH SHIT moments where one foot slid a little too much but overall, not bad, just slow. You forget how good a workout snow running is.  It works so many muscles you don't normally use for sure!  

Pretty sure she's going to murder me in my sleep.  We tried on a bunch of Stella's old winter stuff, and all of her dog coats and booties were just too big.  These blue booties came from non-stop dog wear I think, and they did the job of keeping the snow from balling up on the bottoms of her feet.  She has such a tiny foot!!!  I think I will invest in some better booties for her since she seemed fine with them once we started going.  I've been using a little coat for her that my mom found somewhere that has fleece in it.  She seems to tolerate it well as well and it keeps her nice and warm without her overheating.  

We ended up getting about 5 inches of snow and luckily no ice, but more than that we had super cold wind chills.  We spent all weekend under blankets and cozied up to stay warm with all outlets dripping and our laundry room with a heater going constantly.  I am pretty sure our gas and electric bill this month will be at least 400 dollars if not more each.  Sigh.  Hi winter, glad you finally showed up, I guess.  Kill all the creepy crawlies please and thank you.  We did get out when the snow was coming down to play a little bit but due to the fact that it was such a dry snow, you couldn't build a snow man or even make snowballs.  Oh well.  

Have a great week y'all!