A Final Week Of Normalcy

As I look out my window at the fallen oak leaves in need of being blown into giant piles and then bagged, I take comfort in being able to put it off another day or two to when the fifteen to twenty MPH winds have died down. If they don’t get done by Thursday, though, all bets are off because once the hustle and bustle of the holidays hits, it will be Christmas central around here and fallen leaves will be the least of my concerns. Of course should Bill decide to take on the project solo, who am I to complain?

Monday started with a really good weight lifting session as I continue to focus on more intensive core work. Of course there were plenty of push-ups, lunges, rows, etc. and I’m starting to feel my strength come back to where it’s always been – until the last eleven months when I got oddly lazy for some reason.

I met Erin in her neck of the woods on Tuesday for a great catch-up run. Catch-up, meaning that we really hadn’t had much time together lately so it was great to be able to run, just the two of us and catch up on what’s been going on in our lives. We realized that we were going to be finishing our run around 5.25 miles, so Erin was kind enough to run on to 5.8 miles with me in honor of my recent birthday.

We finished just in time to admire a beautiful sunrise, but now that it’s just barely getting dark when we finish our runs around 6:30 AM, I don’t take my GoPro with me on those super early morning runs.

As soon as I drove home, I hit the trails behind my house for a few GoPro strides while capturing the fading sunrise.

Wednesday brought another solid lifting session and Thursday found me back on the trail at 5:30 AM. After waking up to pretty heavy rain hitting our bedroom skylights, I was thrilled to see seven of us were braving the elements and meeting to run. The rain pretty much stopped by the time we got a mile or so into our run and since it was rather warm and humid for mid-November, the rain felt quite refreshing. Once we turned to complete the last half of our five mile run, I started picking up the pace a little. 

I’m in a fun new Facebook running group that’s totally separate from my MRTT and Cruisers group, and this week’s assignment was to do a one-mile time trial. I’d forgotten all about it until out on my Thursday morning run, so I decided there was no better time than the present to get it done.

Normally I wouldn’t think of doing a time trial during the final mile on the uphill return to my car, but that’s exactly what I did. I picked it up a little more when I hit mile four and ran my final mile in 8:20. It wasn’t all that great since my 5K race pace is usually around a 7:50 to 8:10, but considering it was all uphill and at the end of a run, I was okay with it. In a month when I do my next time trial I’ll have to do it under the same type of conditions or it will seem like I’ve gotten faster than I really have.

Thursday evening Bill and I went to Uncle Julio’s for chicken fajitas for me, and a seared tuna salad for him. Bill spent several weeks in Austin this past summer so he got plenty of great Tex-Mex food while there. As a result, Mexican food hasn’t been at the top of his list when we go out, so I was thrilled when he suggested we go to Uncle Julio’s for dinner. 

Friday morning I split my workout between clients, and was happy to check off another week with three strength training sessions complete. 

I met my MRTT group at 7 AM on Saturday, a little later than usual, and enjoyed the company of a large group. Since many were recovering from running Richmond last Saturday, they wanted to run six miles. After bringing the group home, Eliza and I continued for two more miles to make it eight.

Photo courtesy of Erin

Eliza referred to our additional miles as our photo shoot miles since I grabbed the GoPro out of my car when we dropped our other friends off. We did a few running selfies, but quit quickly when the trail got bumpy and we were afraid we’d fall. How embarrassing would that be? “How did you hurt yourself, Deb?” “I tripped on a rock while taking a running selfie.” Duh!

We also set the GoPro up on its tripod for a few frosty grass pictures…

After my run, I headed home and watched College GameDay while I got ready to watch our Hokies play. We sold our tickets to the final home game of the season a couple of weeks before Frank Beamer, our head coach of 29 years, announced his retirement. Meagan purchased those tickets, and I couldn’t think of a better Hokie friend that I’d rather have sit in our seats and cheer our Hokies on than her and Barry! 

Metallica filmed a tribute to Coach Beamer that played before the game. Two words: Start jumpin’!

Coach Beamer has made such an incredible impact at Virginia Tech, and one of the things I’m most proud of are his high standards and how he really cares about his student athletes. You can hear it in the tributes from his players and members of the athletic staff in the following video.

Back to my workouts, this morning I lifted before stretching out one of my clients. With my turkey trot on Thursday morning I didn’t want to lift on Wednesday. I’ll lift again on Tuesday and then Friday. This week is going to be busy with my clients all wanting to get their sessions in before Thursday. I’m cool with that because it means I’ll have a four day weekend, and by this time next week my house should look like a Christmas wonderland!

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I’m linking up with Holly at HoHo Runs and Tricia from MissSippiPiddlin for their Weekly Wrap.  Be sure to check out not only the hosts, but the other great bloggers joining in on the fun!

Have a great week!

• Questions:
• What are your Thanksgiving plans?
• What’s your favorite type of food?
  
• Did you race this weekend?