Last Sunday morning on Instagram I posted a picture of how cool the confluence of the two creeks meeting behind our house looked and captioned it, “Watching the water flow at the confluence of the two creeks behind our house is always entertaining especially during the summer after a heavy rainfall when one flows in muddy and the other stays crystal clear until the water from the two creeks swirls into an interesting mix as they merge. Currently the creek closer to our house is frozen while the other is flowing. Our blue heron Frasier seems unimpressed.”

 

By midday Monday when I finished up my run, the creek was frozen even thicker and I ventured onto it for a picture looking downstream toward the flowing water. I am constantly in awe of what Mother Nature has to offer, even in the small confines of our back yard. The following day I watched a fox run across our yard, hop onto the ice and run until he was out of sight. The last several days of the week brought the temperatures up to near 70° and heavy overnight rains had both creeks flowing strong when I got up on Saturday morning.

 

On Tuesday morning I had gum grafting surgery and was instructed to lay low the rest of the day and on Wednesday. Surgery went really well and I feel great; however, I did listen to my doctor and the only exercise I did after surgery until Thursday morning was yoga on Wednesday.

Thursday morning I met my friends for our usual run and we celebrated not having to wear multiple layers of clothes by doing a jump shot at the end. Two weeks prior on our Thursday run the windchill was -5°, one week prior the windchill was 2°, and this week the temperature was 41°. The girls were shocked that I hadn’t worn shorts and looking back, so am I.

We decided to choreograph our jump shot so Angela could do an easier jump and not risk reinjuring her back three days before her Key West Half Marathon. I took charge and started instructing everyone with what they should do bossing everyone around.

 

And here’s our fancy choreographed jump shot!

 

After a balmy couple of days, the cold and wind returned just in time for our Saturday morning run. We chose a new figure-eight loop in my friend Kim’s hilly neighborhood and I felt really good maintaining a 9:18 pace for just over seven miles while battling fierce head winds and hills and keeping up with these youngsters. We were often protected from the wind so it was a real shocker each time we turned back into it; however, we never really felt it at our backs helping to propel us forward.

 

No offense to my awesome running friends, but the highlight of my morning was meeting Kim’s new pup Bean (see him at the bottom of the picture?), and getting to “build something” with her little boy. Hanging out with that little dude makes my heart happy. 😀

Photo credit: Kim

On the home front, we gave our 16+ year-old basement furniture to one of our sons back in November, but our new furniture didn’t get delivered until this past week.

 

I can already confirm that amazing naps can take place on the new sectional! Perhaps a little too easily…

 

And in case you missed checking in on my blog this past week, you didn’t miss a thing because I haven’t posted since last Sunday’s Weekly Run-Down.

Looking ahead to this coming week, once again I hope to write my final post on tips to capture optimal running pictures, this one on photo editing techniques.

 

Here’s a run-down of my workouts from this past week…

 

Fitness tools beyond the equipment in my gym that I used during the week included:

Cameras used for blog photography include:

 

  • Questions:
  • Do you have a dog? If so, what kind?  
  • Did you have a temporary warmup this week? 
  • Are you a daytime napper? ~ I am if I’m really tired, but often I promise myself a nap that never happens… 

 

Have a great week!

 

Disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links which means if you click on the blue product link and then make a purchase, I will receive a commission for referring you. You will pay no more or less for the product; however, Amazon will show their gratitude for my referral by paying me.

 

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