Hello December and what I can remember

I always struggle with a post title. But I like that this one rhymes…so that’s that.

Anyhoo…yet another month has passed and here I am to fill ya in on my little life and take a few minutes to reflect.

So get this? I actually ran 2 races in the last 30 days! There was the Fall Flat 5k trail run, the weekend before Thanksgiving, that I do each year to help benefit the nonprofit organization The Greenbelt Conservancy. They’re the organizers of the night hikes I go on as well and also the Cold Feat 10k trail run held in February. It had snowed a couple of days prior to race day and then warmed up and melted leaving things quite muddy.

What?!!!! Snow?!!!! but this weekend is the FALL Flat 5k, not the Winter Flat.

muddy race course

The entire course had to be tweaked to avoid some completely impassable areas but a good chunk of it was still super slick and I walked a lot of it.

I started to notice some aching on the inside of my ankle just before the race and wasn’t about to make things worse by losing my footing. (foreshadowing….i sprained my ankle anyway shortly thereafter because that’s my life).

The ankle pain seemed to be the very beginning of posterior tibial tendonitis. But since i was only running one or two times a week for short runs it wasn’t really bad and I immediately started looking up stretches and other pt exercises. The day after the race it hurt a bit more and then one night while walking Duncan I rolled my foot on a rock that was disguised by leaves. The sprain healed within 5 days and I was feeling much better but each time I run I’m achy for a few days after so I’m going to rest up the rest of the year and try my hardest to start 2019 healthy.

The other race was just about a week ago…another race I’ve done numerous years in a row now…the Big Chill 5k….a charity run where the entry fee is an unwrapped toy $15 or more. Always leaves me speechless when I see the back wall of the Rutgers University gymnasium just filled with toys that will go to kids who might not get a single other gift.

toys galore

this was the 2nd time we’ve ever run together.

And of course after the race me and the honey went out for breakfast….another tradition I look forward to. Heck, anytime we go out to eat I’m giddy!

One of our recent dates was on a cold and rainy evening and I was craving chili…and so we went to the local pub. Mission accomplished!

And speaking of cravings….I had a bee in my bonnet for ice cream the other night.

He knows how important my chip to ice cream ratio is!

Thanksgiving came and went so fast but the leftovers lasted much longer 🙂

A whole lotta carbs, wine and a diet lemonade to balance it all out.

And on Black Friday Mr SOTSS’ girls when shopping with his mom so we took the dogs for a nice walk in the park.

Laughing because I knew he was struggling to meet my photo taking requirements.

Oh and the girls and I decorated the tree. They placed all the ornaments and I put my signature ribbons on. Felt weird to relinquish the task to two teenagers but I was quite impressed. I didn’t even have to do any “rearranging”. 🙂

Our ornaments are officially mingling.

And I did a photoshoot for our Christmas card… while I can’t share it here, just know a little mayhem happened in the kitchen for our “holiday baking” themed card. Dogs were included too. It was a riot!

Mailing the cards

Oh, and there was my wreath fiasco. I bought a real one and 4 days later had a rotting wreath on my hands. Apparently we get too much direct sunlight. FAIL.

Day 1….fresh and green and so fragrant!

Day 4: Brown and stinky

So I went to HomeGoods and bought myself the realest looking fake wreath I could find. Moving on.

Yesterday I went on a nature walk through a holly tree forest with some friends…

Holly trees with berries are female. The male trees have no berries.

How cool is this trunk?

We were joking that my hair and the tree branch were both fairly gnarly.

There were a few Juniper berry cameos

and some scenic Goldenrod overlooking the bay even on a very gray day.

We also gave Chester a bath this weekend at the pet store where they have a do-it-yourself bath station. Poor Chester wasn’t too thrilled.

water torture

But it was worth the torture because he’s squeaky clean now.

Duncan and Chester make such a cute combo…

side by side

sometimes they are like art.

Duncan also is cute solo

Really cute!

Well I hope everyone has a lovely holiday season and I’ll see you back here in January.

5 Comments

  1. Love that you are getting out for races! Here’s to a healthy and happy New Year of running and adventure!

  2. It is great when our partners run with us. My husband has run every race I have done. Having him there was huge. I am so glad we have something we do together.

  3. Happy New Year!
    I love your hair 😉

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