Sunday, November 25, 2007

Happy to Finally be Home

Hope everyone is full on turkey and pumpkin pie! I know I am. In fact I just polished off leftover turkey sandwich - yummy.

This seemed like the longest weekend EVER. I seriously thought it was never going to end. It is hard going away for every holiday. I couldn't get a minute to myself to decompress. Family is great but it wasn't mine (at the boyfriends house all 4 days) and I need some downtime. All I wanted to do was come home and sleep in my own bed and not have to do anything. So I am very happy to be home now. Running according to the schedule became a challenge this long weekend too. There was always something else to be doing, someone to see, somewhere to go.

Turkey day I was able to get out for a 6 mile run before the food eating competition began. I felt so much better sitting down to the huge spread knowing I burned some calories already. I had planned to run between 16-18 on Saturday but what do ya know but the boy's parents had a night out for a big steak dinner planned on Friday (yeah and I rarely eat steak and we had just had a steak dinner the previous weekend). Seriously two huge meals in two days not my idea of fun and I like to eat. So needless to say halfway through dinner Friday I nixed plans on running Saturday. Instead I helped rake all the leaves in the yard as Jacob's dad messed up his back and couldn't do it himself. Got home today around 3 pm and headed out for that long run. Thought I would be a mess after taking 2 rest days but I wasn't! It was a good run. Freaking cold with some snow, sleet, rain mixed in. The rain/snow mix felt like tiny pinpricks on my face for over 6 miles and my cheeks felt like I just had two shots of Novocain that hadn't worn off yet. My legs felt strong and I was able to maintain a 9:30 min/mile pace for all 16 miles. I was feeling very guilty about resting for 2 straight days and there only being 2 weeks left before the race. However, during the run I realized I needed the rest and didn't even know it. So that unplanned rest worked in my favor this time.

5 comments:

Nancy said...

I know what you mean about needing some downtime. I've had nothing but people for 4 days. They finally left around 1pm. My mother in law had the kids for awhile and I just laid around and vegged while I did laundry. It was seriously heaven. Great work on still getting the long run in later. You rock!!

Marcy said...

Ohhhhh girl I HEAR YA!!!! It so funny you say this because John said to me on Thanksgiving morning "God this is like a day of work" and it IS! As much as we love our family it can be exhausting after about the 75328947289 hour of being with them :-X

You're so funny! Even when I'm "all better" I'm pretty sure we run the same pace! You silly!!

RunToTheFinish said...

Agreed, I love family...but I sort of like it in small doses because I really like my alone time too...even if alone time is with D it's not the same as being with a whole houseful of people.

On the rest it's a strange lesson to learn, but sometimes the body needs it before we even know it.

The Laminator said...

I hear ya. Family time need to be short and sweat, like chocolate...Too much of a good thing and it's not so good anymore.

Anyway, make sure you cover up your cheeks out in the cold. You lose a lot of heat in your face because there are more blood vessels there per square inch than anywhere else in the body...my 2 cents.

Looking great for your marathon in 2 weeks. You should feel confident and proud.

Bill Carter said...

Glad you had a nice "family" weekend because that is what Thanksgiving is all about.. but I want to talk about that 16 miler. Awesome run and a nice pace as well. It is a really weird thing, but some of our best runs happen in those less than ideal conditions. I also agree that the little bit of rest over the weekend probably made a difference as well. Dallas is coming up fast and best of luck.